This weekend we get
the first gasp of autumn Oscar contention. September is not usually a
time when the tippy top of awards hopefuls get released, but there
are two that have “prestige” written all over them. Whether that
translates to “good” is up in the air. There are also two
solid-looking counter-programming options. Let's see what's on the
agenda for this weekend at the movies.
Black Mass
Director: Scott
Cooper
Writers: Mark
Mallouk, Jez Butterworth
Starring: Johnny
Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson
The first of the
Oscar-y movies this weekend, Black Mass is a crime epic about
the life of Whitey Bulger, an infamous Boston gangster. Johnny Depp
gets back to more “serious” acting here, eschewing the silly
costumes and hats for, well, a “realistic” costume and a bald
cap. His Bulger has spooky blue eyes, the result of some wacky
contact lenses on Depp. He does a heavy South Boston accent and gets
into what hopes to be a meaty role about power and cowardice (Bulger
became an FBI informant).
Director Scott
Cooper did 2009's Crazy Heart, which won Jeff Bridges an
Oscar. It's possible – especially given Depp's long-dormant talent
and undoubted screen presence – he could get the cinematic pirate
back on track after 15 years of bad rock star impressions and
“kookiness.”
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
Director: Wes Ball
Writer: T.S. Nowlin
Starring: Dylan
O'Brien, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster
The first Maze
Runner movie got some praise as an out-of-left-field young-adult
novel adaptation. It had a neat look to it from what I saw of the
trailers – I didn't get a chance to catch it. Star Dylan O'Brien is
becoming a young leading man by the looks of things, as he was
considered for a time as the newest iteration of Spider-Man. This
middle piece of a planned trilogy appears to expand the scope from
the outdoor jail of the first film, with a grander adventure taking
place.
Pawn Sacrifice
Director: Edward
Zwick
Writers: Steven
Knight, Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson
Starring: Tobey
Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Lily Rabe, Peter Sarsgaard, Robin Weigert
Speaking of
Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire returns to the big screen for the first
time in a couple years as the mentally unstable chess master Bobby
Fischer. This biopic looks like it might do the thing too few biopics
do, which is to focus on a particularly interesting segment of the
subject's life. In this case, it is during the lead-up to Fischer's
highly publicized chess match with the USSR's champion. The stress on
all sides – family, the United States government, the public,
Fischer's own ego and possible voices in his own head – look
thrilling. This one could be an actual contender.
Sleeping with Other People
Director: Leslye
Headland
Writer: Leslye
Headland
Starring: Alison
Brie, Jason Sudeikis, Jordan Carlos, Margarita Levieva
Writer-director
Leslye Headland did a movie called Bachelorette a few years
back, and it was filled to the brim with foul-mouthed promise. It was
acerbic and a little mean, but in a good way. Seeing that she was
also a staff writer on the criminally under seen FX series Terriers
from 2010 is enough to indicate she is a filmmaker on the rise.
That was all before
the trailers for Sleeping with Other People hit. Now Headland
looks like she could head into the stratosphere of comedic directors.
She has stocked the romantic comedy with ringers, including Community
and Saturday Night Live MVPs Alison Brie and Jason
Sudeikis as a pair of sex addicts trying to avoid their addiction
while obviously falling in love. This one has been on my radar for a
bit and I am pretty thrilled about being able to see it finally.
No comments:
Post a Comment