Holiday Tentpoles

That's Ewan MacGregor and Jimmy Carrey about to lock lips in the much-delayed I Love You, Phillip Morris, finally seeing it's (limited) US release this weekend. Also in limited release is Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller set in the very competitive world of professional ballet, Black Swan, starring the always intriguing Natalie Portman and about whom much-Oscar talk has been bandied.  These are just two of the movies on my list to see this holiday film season.

Of course, I imagine Black Swan is not he movie for a gracefully aging group of friends to kick off the holiday season. Next week gives us The Chronicles of Narnia (they're still making those?): The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 3D (yawn...); Johhny Depp and Angelina Jolie in The Tourist (meh...) and in limited release, Julie Taymor's latest Shakespearean adaptation, The Tempest. The Tempest is a play I happen to know a little about. I've done it three times, first as Gonzalo, then as Prospero and last as the sound-effects designer. the play has been adapted for film by John Cassavates ( 1982's Tempest), Peter Greenaway (the lavishly produced Prospero's Books) and most notoriously by Fred Wilcox in 1956 as the iconic Sci-Fi classic, Forbidden Planet (itself scheduled for the inevitable remake in 2013). Tamor's last Shakespearean epic Titus, managed to turn in a bloody, sordid potboiler into an ironic black comedy. I can't wait to see what she does with this story of magic, monsters, spirits and forgiveness. This of course, despite my schadenfreude over the eminent demise of Tamor's latest Broadway project, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. What may the single worst idea in history for a musical is experiencing technical difficulties which prompted members of last Sunday's first preview audience to stand up and openly heckle during the second act.

Any movie opening the weekend of the weekend of the 17th has no chance against the juggernaut that is Disney's Tron: Legacy. Nerds all over the world have been drooling for this movie for almost 30 years. I saw the original in a theater (a Twin - remember those?) and it gave me a headache. Of course, I saw the trailer for Yogi Bear and that gave me a headache, too.

Christmas weekend sees Gulliver's Travels (why?); Little Fockers (really?) and True Grit (hmmm...). Of the three, True Grit is the one that appeals to me most, and mostly because its a Coen Brothers movie. The John Wayne original may have one its star an Oscar, but Wayne was actually a terrible actor and the 1969 original isn't always faithful to the novel on which it was based. Of course, with  cast like Jeff Bridges; Matt Damon and Josh Brolin, how you can you go wrong?

Enjoy the trailers of the movies I most want to see this season. I'll let you know which ones I actually get to:

Black Swan:



I Love You, Phillip Morris:



The Tempest:



Tron: Legacy:



True Grit:

So which ones (or one) do you think I'll actually get to see? I'm currently jonesing for cinematic satisfaction, so I certainly hope to get to as many of these as possible, though we all know that real-life interferes...

More, anon.

Prospero