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Pre-Slamdance Purchase: Magnet are ‘Down’ with Ben Wheatley’s Debut
Those who caught the film at Austin's Fantastic Fest (where the pic won a couple of awards) are already in the know as to why Ben Wheatley's Down Terrace is being referred to the kind label of “The Sopranos” if imagined by Mike Leigh or Ken Loach. If ever there was a genre that was in need of new wave its the "tired gangster film" from the U.K - the Toronto Int. Film Festival had a couple of them and my sentiment was that someone had to re-think the formula.
Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2010: Dustin Lance Black’s What’s Wrong with Virginia
Killer Film's Christine Vachon and Gus Vant Sant are making a blue chip bet that the scribe behind Milk and director on Big Love is no fluke. I don't know anything about his bio, but my understanding of the biz is when you have an original script and vet indie producers sign-up and you are joined by the DP of My Own Private Idaho and Kids, and get to play dollhouse with quality actors the chances at failure are minimized.
Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2010: David MacKenzie’s Last Word
If The Last Tango ever needed a remake, I'd hand over the assignment to David MacKenzie. The big question is: with Ewan McGregor on board, will MacKenzie be capable of mixing the fatalistic with pure raw sexual energy a la Young Adam once more? I surely hope so, and think so with this Children of Men/Blindness like plot denouement.
Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2010: Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone
With the addiction drama Down to the Bone (2004), Granik gave one women's plight in the face of adversity. It won plenty of kudos but tragically no one bothered to notice, and now half a decade later, the filmmaker delves back into the same sphere - and we thank her for it. These comes equipped with Jennifer Lawrence - a brilliant young actress I discovered in The Burning Plain and John Hawkes who looks from he was born from rural America.
Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2010: Francois Ozon’s Figurehead
I tend to prefer when Ozon works with "less", by less I mean a smaller ensemble as in Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Sous le sable, Swimming Pool and 5x2. So he once again won over critics when he stuck to a simple story as done with Le Refuge, and while Figurehead contains a stellar ensemble (he once again works with Ludivine Sagnier) that seems to be as big as Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale, I've got a feeling that the era in which it is set in and the famous play on which it is based on might only give the project wings. Look for women with crazy hairdos, men with lots of facial hair and lots of lavish trimmings from the bourgeoisie folk.
