Agora truly is a technical achievement. But the story itself, with two seemingly disparate narratives that seem to fight for screen time but ultimately tie in together, is somehow lacking; the film suffers because of its dual personality.
Fans of the annual Blacklist will notice top tier items from 2008 in Oranges (#2) and Butter (#3) are going into production. Butter still has some casting work before setting up shop in Louisana. The state will also be the host to the next Duplass comedy entitled, Jeff Who Lives at Home.
Call this a post-Oscars afterthought, but I think the inaugural 2005 blacklist for un-produced screenplays is working out to be a fairly good predictor/barometer in discriminating the output of quality films and misfires.
It is award season in Australia again and the time for the small number of people in the Australian film industry to come together and pat each other on the back for a mostly mediocre job well done. The most prestigious of the three major award ceremonies that occur over the next month is the L’Oreal Paris Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards. It is the ceremony that attracts big names and they like people to know that. Russell Crowe hosted last year. Who cares if he isn’t actually Australian?