Oscar 2009: Previsões

[MacGruber]

More reaction from The Reader

 

Roger Friedman of Fox News is reporting another strong positive reaction after a screening of The Reader .

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,454508,00.html

Winslet and Kross have sizzling chemistry in the film, and Ralph Fiennes—as the adult Michael—could not be better. Daldry is unsparing of Hanna as a villain, and makes no apologies for her participation in the Holocaust. Neither, frankly, does Hanna, and that’s what makes the movie so fascinating. There is no tendency to cliché. Rather, “The Reader” has also the earmarks of a Best Picture nominee, a movie about an intimate relationship set against the backdrop of an Important Issue.Winslet is a revelation in “The Reader,” and quite different than in “Rev Road”.  That she could have both movies in one season is really the achievement. In “The Reader” she not only ages drastically, but she manages to convey with depth the emotions of a sexually voracious 40 year old and an embittered, incarcerated 60 year old. And, as it turns out, each of these personas also shares one more: a concentration camp guard with no regrets.

“The Reader” has its own strong foundation in a David Hare screenplay, not to mention a vibrant musical score by Alberto Iglesias and a gorgeous palate supplied by cinematographer Chris Menges. The only problem now is convincing Academy voters that Winslet should be considered ‘supporting’ here instead of lead since she’s on screen most of the time. She will go into competition with Penelope Cruz, Viola Davis, Amy Adams, Marisa Tomei and Rosemarie Dewitt – just to name a few.

One thing about “The Reader”—unlike, say, “Valkyrie” and “Defiance,” you will not see any swastikas or Nazi uniforms. You will hear much discussion of the Holocaust, however, which makes it itself the opposite of “Valkyrie” in its subject matter and intentions.

PS The literati-oriented audience at “The Reader” screening last night loved it. Among the fans: famed book agent Lynn Nesbit, journalist Marie Brenner, and novelist Walter Moseley. Daldry took questions from the small group, not one of which was about Hollywood. Everyone wanted to discuss the Holocaust, the characters’ motivations, and the sublime execution of this landmark film.

http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=4038#more-4038

[Administrator]

 

 

 

3 críticos top já viram Gran Torino. Pete Hammond foi um deles' date=' que reporta:

"O consenso é o de que Clint Eastwood merece indicação ao Oscar por sua atuação".

 

¨

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/season/2008/11/crunch-week-as.html

 

[/quote']

 

 

Ahá!

 

Se isso se confirmar, vai ser a única bola dentro que dei até agora nas previsões, fora as obviedades de praxe.

 

[FeCamargo]

Kate Winslet... que ano. Dois filmes disputando o topo do Oscar. Será que teremos algo inédito? Uma dupla vitória? Esse cenário nunca esteve tão possível... e não estou sendo fanzóide!!! 

 

[MacGruber]

Para mim' date=' Milk é lock. Uma vaga é dele.[/quote']

 

 

Tb acho. Deve ser indicado e deve deixar Frost/Nixon razoavelmente longe das premiações.

[texer]

Tb vejo as coisas da mesma forma q vc, Fe. Até agora naum vejo concorrente mais forte para a Winslet nas duas categorias...

Será?

 

 

[Administrator]

 

Roger Ebert dá seus pitacos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deep Vote predicts the Oscars already

 

 

 

/ / /

November 17, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Roger Ebert

 

 

His code name is Deep Vote. He reads the mind of the Academy. He will

reveal to me the names of this year's nominees. Our annual rendezvous

is in the Anime section of a small Blockbuster in an obscure Midwestern

city. He pulls on latex gloves and uses a fingernail knife to slit open

a fresh pack of 3X5 cards. He writes down his predictions.

 

"Best Supporting Actor," he writes, "will be won by Heath Ledger. Period. For the other contenders, the nomination itself will be their reward."

 

"Best Picture, 'Slumdog Millionaire,' 'Frost/Nixon,' 'Doubt,'

'Revolutionary Road,' 'The Reader.' Maybe 'The Curious Case of Benjamin

Button.' Extremely strong possibility of 'The Dark Knight.' 'WALL-E' is

good enough, but voters will cover it in the best animation category.

'Synecdoche, New York' is easily good enough, but they're embarrassed

you had to explain it to them."

 

I haven't seen four of Deep Vote's picks, so I don't have an opinion.

 

He starts on a fresh card. "Best actor," he writes, "Frank Langella as Richard M. Nixon in 'Frost/Nixon,' a lock. Mickey Rourke in 'The Wrestler,' also a lock. Sean Penn in 'Milk,' another lock." He mentions Brad Pitt, Josh Brolin, Richard Jenkins, Ralph Fiennes. Can't say. He opens a fresh pack of 3x5s and writes down five words: Clint Eastwood in 'Gran Torino.'

 

I ask him why the special treatment. He writes down: "You seen it?"

 

"Not yet," I said.

 

"When you see it," he wrote, "you'll understand. Don't be surprised."

 

 

A fanboy sidles down the aisle with his head cocked at an angle,

searching for a title. He looks at us sideways, and asks, "Bakugan,

Volume One: Battle Brawlers?" Deep Vote points him to War Movies, and

moves on to Best Actress.

 

"Meryl Streep

in 'Doubt,'" he writes. "The best actress alive, maybe the nicest. But

her 15th nomination will be her award. She's building on her world

record for the most nominations. She's won twice, but will probably

never catch Katharine Hepburn, with four. Kate Winslet, but she may split her vote between 'The Reader' and 'Revolutionary Road.' Quite possily Kristin Scott Thomas

in 'I've Loved You So Long.' She's now starring on Ibsen on Broadway.

That never hurts. Academy voters can't stand Ibsen, but they like to be

associated with him. Anne Hathaway

in 'Rachel Gets Married.' Showed her serious acting chops. Mightg be

Sally Hawkins in 'Happy Go Lucky.' Devilishly tricky role, and she was

brilliant."

 

"Who will win?" I whisper.

 

"Melissa Leo

in 'Frozen River'," he writes. "Best performance of the year, hands

down. The public isn't sure who she is, but she's been working since

1984 and has 76 film and TV credits. Every actor in the business has

worked with her, except for Kevin Bacon. If they work together, the Game grows exponentially. Actors nominate actors.

 

"Best Supporting Actress," he writes, 'Penelope Cruz in 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona.' Marisa Tomei, fabulous in 'The Wrestler.' Rosemary DeWitt and/or Debra Winger in 'Rachel Getting Married.' Viola Davis in 'Doubt.' Coming up fast on the far turn, looking like she may cross the finish line with the rest of the pack, Sophie Okonedo in 'The Secret Life of Bees.''

 

"Best Supporting Actor, you know about."

 

'Best director, Jonathan Demme for 'Rachel Getting Married.' A lock. Ron Howard for 'Frost/Nixon.' Utterly fascinating. David Fincher for 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.' Danny Boyle for 'Slumdog Millionaire'--looks like it was a tough location shoot. Gus Van Sant, for 'Milk.' Very powerful.'

 

"Who will win?" I ask.

 

He speaks for the first time all evening. "Clint may squeeze in," he whispers. "Don't be surprised."

 

 

He nods significantly, and disappears into the Foreign Classics

section, at this late hour nearly deserted. Does Deep Vote know what

he's talking about? He showed me Entertainment Weekly's list of last year's Oscar winners. He had a check-mark beside every single one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[/quote']

 

Sorento2008-11-19 22:30:34

[Bart Scary]

Após ler essa crítica de The Reader, principalmente o trecho "Winslet é a que fica maior tempo em cena". Claramente ela é a principal, comanda o filme e leva nas costas... Na boa, seria FRUSTRANTE ela levar como coadjuvante por um filme que ela é a principal.

Até torço por uma dupla indicação... Mas espero que vença por Revolutionary.

[Administrator]

Os Gurus de Ouro (do MCN) atualziaram suas atabelas e - pasmem! - deixaram APENAS UM SONHO em último!

 

 

1

t3

Slumdog

Millionaire

3

3

2

1

2

2

3

6

1

2

4

3

2

1

1

2

16

138

2

t3

The

Curious Case of Benjamin Button

6

1

1

10

1

1

1

1

2

3

1

2

1

10

5

5

16

125

3

2

Milk

1

7

4

2

6

6

2

2

3

6

6

4

3

2

4

1

16

117

4

1

Frost/Nixon

2

2

5

8

5

4

7

4

4

1

5

1

4

7

3

3

16

111

5

5

Revolutionary

Road

4

5

6

4

4

7

4

3

10

5

2

6

5

3

6

7

16

95

 

 

[MacGruber]

Eles se superam a cada ano.

[thalesgn]

The Dark Knight em sexto por apenas 4 pontos!

 

 

 

O que eu estranhei mais foi Frost/Nixon tão alto...

[throdo]

Austrália dever ser o caso de filme indicado sem diretor. Pobre Baz Lhurman!

 

Duas vezes seguidas seria martírio! Se da primeira vez foi claramente algo inexplicável e injusto, algo me diz que dessa vez seria a mesma coisa... Luhrmann é o cara!

 

Agora é que eu não me concentro mais nos estudos mesmo... Lendo essas raves em cima de Australia, tou quase chorando com tantas palavras bonitas (espero poder dizê-las por mim mesmo, claro)!

 

Eu acredito, Sync, que Australia venha para aliviar essa carga pesada trazida por Crash, The Departed e No Country for Old Men (perdão por colocar estes dois junto daquele... ).

 

Aliás, bela assinatura texer...

 

PS: Ebert, definitivamente, é um ótimo paciente psiquiátrico...

throdo2008-11-20 01:41:13

[Sync]

Slumdog Millionarie? Aff... Não boto a menor fé nesse filminho.

 

 

 

 

[pantalaimon]

E Frost/Nixon realmente tem chances, ainda?Nem vi o filme mas só meu abuso pelo Ron já me faz achá-lo ruim.

 

E sobre Slumdog, eu adoro o Boyle, o último dele, "Sunshine", foi um dos melhores de 2007, e como é quase oficial o Oscar sempre indicar um "indie", acho que será ele, e não mais Happy Go Lucky, ou Rachel, estes sumiram dos comentários, ninguém mais falou.

[Administrator]

 

Slumdog Millionarie? Aff... Não boto a menor fé nesse filminho.

 

 

 

 

 

"Filminho"?

 

Pode-se saber a razão dessa implicância diante da ótima posição que o filme se encontra, exatamente na pré-temporada de premiações?

 

[Thico]

Eu também não botava fé no filme de Danny Boyle, mas depois do trailer eu fiquei pensando que fazia todo sentido ele ser indicado, ainda mais num ano em que os "favoritos" são tão precipitados, o que se torna mais arriscado de que eles frustrem na hora das indicações. Slumdog Millionaire é um filme que não parece ter a cara da Academia (mas Lost in Translation também não tinha, por exemplo), mas deve chegar lá, com o apoio maciço da crítica. E usando ainda o exemplo de 2003, esse ano não tem nenhuma fábula arrasadora de bilheteria para bater o filme-pequeno-adorado. HOJE, eu apostaria nele!

[MacGruber]

REVIEW: “Australia” (**1/2)

God bless Baz Luhrmann.  There are few directorial talents with the energetic potential he brings to his projects.  Danny Boyle comes to mind.  On good days, Fernando Meirelles does as well.  But one thing each of these filmmakers capitalizes on through their complicated sense of visual storytelling is the power of intimacy in the scripts they set out to film.

Somehow, Baz Luhrmann forgot about that.  Not that he wouldn’t be capable of tacking a project as ambitious as “Australia,” but at least right now, it has proven to be simply too much movie for the filmmaker at this stage in his career.

Visceral satisfaction it has.  Larger than life characterizations are its forté.  If you’re willing to let it, you’ll probably be swept off your feet.  But somewhere in the ambition, Luhrmann loses a grip on his own talents, producing something that is a considerable mess.

“Australia” is really two movies smashed together.  The 165-minute run time becomes taxing if only because each thread is so haphazardly meshed with the other.  It is all the more ironic considering the film is, at heart, about the power of storytelling.

The first half details the arrival of Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) to the Outback and her husband’s property at Faraway Downs.  She comes to the territory with a mind to sell off the land and bring her husband back home to England, but soon discovers the wicked and thieving ways of local beef baron King Carney (Bryan Brown) and his flunky Neil Fletcher (David Wenham).

There to meet her at the boat in the seaside burg of Darwin is the Drover (Hugh Jackman), a rough-and-tumble cowboy cut from the same cloth as Clint Eastwood’s many characterizations.  (Drovers move livestock across large distances, real cattle drive type stuff.)  A blue collar guy to say the least, with an impeccable physique that Luhrmann never shies away from displaying (and never fails to leave one feeling the need to do a few crunches), the Drover works with and lives among the indigenous peoples of the country: the Aborigines.

This distinction immediately presents the Drover as an equal rights kind of guy, an almost too precious detail that is played up for what’s its worth whenever the time is right.  But for his part, Jackman never milks the halo that has clearly been set upon his head in this light.

Young Nullah (Brandon Walters) is one of the Aboriginal children that reside at the property at Faraway Downs, but being a half-cast (half black, half white), he is sought after by local authorities who remove half-casts from their families (some have said out of fear of miscegenation).  These children became known as the Stolen Generations, and like our own history of slavery in the United States, like Apartheid in South Africa, it is a deep racial wound that the film seeks to illuminate and perhaps heal.

Lady Ashley, the Drover and Nullah, along with a tight little ensemble, set about droving the Ashley cattle to Darwin and the film’s first half comes to sputtering conclusion around the two-hour mark.  Then a whole other narrative kicks in, one detailing the particulars of the Drover and Lady Ashley’s inevitable romance, and their equally inevitable “adoption” of Nullah.

The Drover, though willing to work at Faraway during the “wet” (Australia’s rainy season), remains his own person.  “No man hires me, no man fires me,” he says.  So he still spends half the year — the “dry” — droving livestock.  It is, as you might imagine, a taxing arrangement for the couple.  But with the war heating up following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the characters of “Australia” will soon have bigger fish to fry.

The romance that sparks between Lady Ashley and the Drover ultimately falls flat dramatically, even amid eye-soaked third act sequences.  Part of the staleness stems from the couple’s first intimate encounter, a trite moment of intoxication that seems begrudgingly concocted to set the characters on their way.  But what really affects the impact of this central relationship is the ambiguity of Jackman’s Drover.

We never know much about Drover beyond his iconic mold.  Moments that threaten depth (asides concerning his ex-wife, heart-to-hearts with an aborigine cohort) are touch and go amid gratuitous images of his perfect body (the humor of which is not completely lost on Luhrmann).  Jackman’s performance is finely tuned, but he only has so far to go with such an empty archetype to work with.

Most distracting of all, we never know him by a proper name, just his career’s description.  It’s a peculiarity that ought to seem unsettling to Lady Ashley.  One couldn’t easily imagine screaming, “Oh, Plumber,” in the heat of passion.

Kidman is not particularly memorable in a role painted with vague brushstrokes that couldn’t hardly be compared to other heroines of the type: Scarlett O’Hara, Karen Blixen, etc.  It is, however, nice to see Bryan Brown getting some decent screen time (in a role that could have been more interesting), while David Wenham seems almost too familiar in the role of the film’s excuse for a villain.

The true find of “Australia,” however, is nearly reason enough to forgive the film’s numerous flaws.  Brandon Walters steals the heart in the role of Nullah, a character that could have crippled the piece had the performance not been a complete knock-out.

Walters isn’t necessarily called on to do much heavy lifting, but there are key moments when Nullah is in the spotlight, an embodiment of theme.  And Walters sells them with a twinkle of confidence in his eye.  I’m tempted to say a star is born.

Finally, the film’s considerable below-the-line artistry isn’t the stunning example one might have expected, but there are moments of true precision.  Much of Mandy Walker’s cinematography is concerned with capturing the picturesque beauty of the Outback, and when clumsy (near embarrassing) CG effects stay out of its way, it succeeds.

David Hirschfelder’s original score had slipped the mind by the time the credits rolled, while war and cattle drive sequences present a showcase for creative sound work.  On the whole, though, the film just isn’t the craft stand-out it could have been.  The hard work shows, of course, but one begins to imagine the production proving itself a daunting task to all involved.

So it is that the ultimate failure of “Australia” is Luhrmann’s preoccupation with grandiose filmmaking, paradoxically his greatest strength in past examples.  It’s a style not suited to a sloppy plot structure that could have used some more attention.  Vibrant visuals reveal the scars of a lacking narrative, leaving the frayed ends of a couple of interesting stories to dangle like spilled intentions the director never noticed dragging behind.

http://www.incontention.com/?p=3048

[texer]

 

Duas vezes seguidas seria martírio! Se da primeira vez foi claramente algo inexplicável e injusto' date=' algo me diz que dessa vez seria a mesma coisa... Luhrmann é o cara!

 

Agora é que eu não me concentro mais nos estudos mesmo... Lendo essas raves em cima de Australia, tou quase chorando com tantas palavras bonitas (espero poder dizê-las por mim mesmo, claro)!

 

Eu acredito, Sync, que Australia venha para aliviar essa carga pesada trazida por Crash, The Departed e No Country for Old Men (perdão por colocar estes dois junto daquele... ).

 

Aliás, bela assinatura texer...

 

PS: Ebert, definitivamente, é um ótimo paciente psiquiátrico...

[/quote']

 

Valeu throdo, q bom q existem fãs do Luhrmann aqui tb, além de mim e do Pan...

Acho o Luhrmann um diretor como poucos. Ele leva à sétima arte o espetáculo, o sonho... Quando isso é feito por um diretor como ele o resultado é fascinante, comovente.

Romeu+Julieta e Moulin Rouge! são filmes como poucos, que entretem e ainda conseguem emocionar. Acho q ele merecia ter sido indicado por Moulin Rouge!, e mais, acho q o filme deveria ter ganho, afinal naum considero nenhum dos outros longas indicados na época melhores q o musical do Luhrmann.

OBS: Essa semana penei, prq tive uma prova na quarta e tive q me manter concentrado, sendo q as primeiras críticas começaram a sair na Terça-Feira, premiére do filme na Austrália.

 

Já esperava esta recepção do InContention, ontem eles publicaram um post mostrando uma certa decepção com Austrália, elogiando somente o Brandon Walters e a parte técnica...

 

Agora a Review do Todd McCarthy da Variety:

 

Australia

(Australia-U.S.-U.K.)

By TODD MCCARTHY

 

A

20th Century Fox release of a Bazmark production, in association with

Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Film Partners. Produced by Baz

Luhrmann, G. Mac Brown, Catherine Knapman. Co-producer, Catherine

Martin. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Screenplay, Luhrmann, Stuart Beattie,

Ronald Harwood, Richard Flanagan; story, Luhrmann.

 

Lady Sarah Ashley - Nicole Kidman

Drover - Hugh Jackman

Neil Fletcher - David Wenham

King Carney - Bryan Brown

Kipling Flynn - Jack Thompson

King George - David Gulpilil

Nullah - Brandon Walters

Magarri - David Ngoombujarra

 

 

Embracing grand old-school melodrama while critiquing racist

old-fashioned politics, Baz Luhrmann's grandiose "Australia" provides a

luxurious bumpy ride; like a Rolls-Royce on a rocky country road, it's

full of bounces and lurches, but you can't really complain about the

seat. Deliberately anachronistic in its heightened style of romance,

villainy and destiny, the epic lays an Aussie accent on colorful motifs

drawn from Hollywood Westerns, war films, love stories and socially

conscious dramas. Some of it plays, some doesn't, and it is long. But

the beauty of the film's stars and landscapes, the appeal of the

central young boy and, perhaps more than anything, the filmmaker's

eagerness to please tend to prevail, making for a film general

audiences should go with, even if they're not swept away. Robust, but

not boffo, box office looks in store.

Putting his "Red Curtain

Trilogy" of "Strictly Ballroom," "William Shakespeare's Romeo and

Juliet" and "Moulin Rouge" behind him, Luhrmann here embarks on an

announced trilogy of epics, although it remains to be seen whether or

not the intended first installment, his long-in-the-works but thwarted

"Alexander the Great," is still part of the package. Although there are

no homages here per se, other than explicitly to "The Wizard of Oz,"

one feels a multitude of influences coursing through the images, from

the likes of "Duel in the Sun," "The African Queen," "Gone With the

Wind," "Red River," "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Searchers," "Out of

Africa" and "Giant."

 

But to a significant extent, the film is

also a mea culpa, in a vast popular-entertainment format, for the cruel

racial policies once imposed by the Australian government upon

Aboriginals in general and, specifically, half-castes, who were

aggressively swept out of sight. It was one of Luhrmann's best ideas to

make the film's narrator the prepubescent Nullah (Brandon Walters), a

charming boy who not only observes the vast sweep of the story but

provides its fulcrum.

 

One of Nullah's first remarks, that the

Englishwoman newly arrived at the remote Northern Territory ranch of

Faraway Downs is "the strangest woman I'd ever seen," gets a laugh, as

the sight of the prim, uptight and discomfited Lady Sarah Ashley

(Nicole Kidman) definitely looks comically absurd. Coming there in

September 1939 to deal with her husband's presumed infidelity, Sarah

could scarcely be more out of place on the rundown estate occupied by

rough cattlemen and Aboriginal help, and Kidman is unafraid to look

ridiculous as her character presents herself at the brink of hysteria.

 

Self-consciously

jaunty exposition and over-the-top boisterousness -- Sarah's lingerie

is spilled out in front of a saloon for the delectation of the rowdy

drunks -- gets the film off to a choppy start. But in broad, simple

strokes, and with characters that are archetypes rather than real-world

credible, Luhrmann makes very clear everything the audience needs to

know: Sarah, finding her husband murdered, determines to hold on to

Faraway Downs, which she can only do by driving 1,500 head of cattle to

the Darwin port, where the Australian military will purchase them; the

only one who can manage this is the Drover (Hugh Jackman), a rugged

Aussie cowboy who's himself an outcast due to his friendliness toward

Aboriginals; Sarah and the Drover are destined for each other, but only

after much squabbling; bad guys -- King Carney (Bryan Brown) and Neil

Fletcher (David Wenham) -- will try to thwart the drive, and Nullah

must be protected from officials determined to send him to Mission

Island, where half-caste boys are detained.

 

Manned by a motley

crew consisting of the Drover, Sarah, Nullah, Drover's Aboriginal mate

Magarri (David Ngoombujarra), a drunken bookkeeper with the colorful

name of Kipling Flynn (Jack Thompson), household helper Bandy (Lillian

Crombie) and Chinese cook Sing Song (Yuen Wah), the cattle drive starts

at pic's 55-minute mark, and one imagines it will last a while. But

after a dramatic stampede so CGI-heavy that it may as well have been

animated, and a campfire interlude that ignites the inevitable between

the Drover and the now loosened-up Sarah, the drive quickly comes to an

end after just 25 minutes, leading to a notable mid-pic lull in Darwin

during which it's unclear where things might be headed.

 

A fancy

dress ball provides the platform for official racism and disapproval of

the likes of Nullah, the Drover and even upper-class Sarah, who by now

is determined to adopt the orphaned kid. Shadowing them wherever they

go is Nullah's grandfather, King George (vet David Gulpilil), a

mystical practioner of traditional ways who provides the film with its

strongest link to the continent's native inhabitants.

 

After

everything had looked so bright by the end of act two, everything is

now in disarray, with the protags having gone their separate ways --

for his part, Nullah has announced his intention to do his walkabout.

Final third is dominated by the Japanese bombing of Darwin (on Feb. 19,

1942, two months after Pearl Harbor) and the Drover's stealthy

nocturnal attempt to rescue children from nearby Mission Island. Much

has been made of Luhrmann's admission of having shot several different

endings, and while pic irritatingly has several potential concluding

scenes, the actual finale is rather touching, with a mixed mood that

feels right.

 

Perhaps because it is largely an outdoor picture,

the film's style is less ripe and florid than Luhrmann's previous

three; although not as leisurely as many epics, the pulse is lower than

the director's standard alarmingly high rate. Lensing by Mandy Walker,

who shot such films as "Lantana" and "Shattered Glass" and previously

worked with Luhrmann on his Chanel No. 5 campaign with Kidman, is

excellent, but many of the images appear worked in different ways and

the CGI backgrounds, particularly in the Darwin sequences, are not of

the highest standard.

 

Crucially for such a glamorous big-star

vehicle, however, the leads are beautifully lit.

Alabaster-complexioned, with blonde hair pulled back tight and lips

puffed, Kidman could scarcely be wound more tightly at first. But

Jackman's Drover eventually works his ways on her, and she looks much

better with a tan and in more native garb later on. Her intrinsic

tension and worry are given a proper contrast by Jackman, whose sheer

competence at everything he does disarms the lady's disdain for his

uncouthness. Women and not a few men will marvel at a stripped-down

Jackman's sculpted torso as he rinses himself off in the campfire

light, and the actor, making his first film in his homeland in many

years, acquits himself manfully no matter what the occasion calls for.

 

But

equally vital is young Walters. Eleven when the film was made, the

attractive non-pro has a natural ease and winning way before the camera

as the character who represents the tension in the country's racial

divide and historical conscience.

 

Other perfs are as exaggerated

in line with the general approach, most notably Wenham's as the

ever-evil Fletcher; Luhrmann may as well have pasted a Snidely Whiplash

moustache on him and been done with it.

 

Score by David

Hirschfelder and other hands never stops, while production and costume

design by Luhrmann's wife and perennial collaborator, Catherine Martin,

are notable without being as dominant as they were in the "Red Curtain"

extravaganzas. Pic takes plenty of advantage of diverse natural

Australian locations.

 

 

[texer]

 

Agora a crítica do Roger Friedman da Fox News:

 

 

 

 

FIRST REVIEW OF 'AUSTRALIA'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first question about Baz Luhrman’s

epic nearly three hour blockbuster, Australia is: Is it the disaster

movie wags have been praying for, or is it actually good? You can’t

believe the number of people who’ve been secretly wishing for another

"Ishtar" or "Waterworld."

 

 

 

So the answer is:

“Australia” — which is set against the Japanese invasion of Australia

during World War II — is very good, and no one who made it has anything

to be embarrassed about. Granted, there is a corniness to it, and

there’s often an uneven tone that lends it a kind of comic book bigness

when it’s striving for seriousness. But that’s Baz Luhrmann, and that

may also be a kind of attitude to Australian filmmaking.

 

 

 

There

are a couple of ideas going on here. One is “Out of Africa,” but the

other is "Moulin Rouge," so you can almost do the math in your head

figuring out what would happen if one were added to the other. But

there’s no denying that “Australia” the movie is going to be a crowd

pleasing smash hit, a commercial piece of art that should reap a dozen

or so Oscar nominations and launch another dozen or so parodies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course the main attention is on Nicole Kidman

as Lady Ashley, the wife of an English aristocrat who comes to

Australia to bring her wayward husband home. Needless to say she

doesn’t, and instead inherits his ranch and an overly muscled, Clark Gable

type rancher man named The Drover with whom she will undoubtedly fall

in love. That’s Hugh Jackman. The two movie stars are just that —

really, shot lovingly like old fashioned sirens of the screen with

endless close ups, incredible backlighting, and glorious makeup.

 

 

 

Luhrmann

wants this to be “Gone with the Wind,” but it’s not no matter how much

of a subplot he tries to inject about aborigines. One them is a child

played by 13-year-old Brandon Walters, the most

simultaneously cloying or ingratiating kid who’s been on the screen

since the kid who played Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple

of Doom.” You’re either going to love him or hate him, but trust me,

it’s no simple thing, he almost steals the whole movie from Kidman and

Jackman.

 

 

 

“Australia” is no simple project.

There’s a lot of CGI — like, too much, and so much that at different

times you get the feeling that the stars are acting against either

green screen or rear projection paintings. I guess they’re amazing, and

for a generation raised on video games no one will care. But us older

folk may actually raise our hands in despair and cry, "Enough! We get

it."

 

 

 

And it’s the odd frisson of “Australia”

that Luhrmann can combine the grandiose with the intimate and get away

with it. I think that has a lot to do with Ronald Harwood’s

screenplay, which keeps things simple when they threaten to go

overboard. (They do go overboard sometimes, and that’s when you just

have to go with it. I mean, what can you do in a movie when Nicole

Kidman has to sing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” among countless

references to “The Wizard of Oz”?)

 

 

 

But the

intimate moments by and large work, the big speeches are kept to a

minimum, and you do relate to the characters. After about two hours the

movie comes to a chapter close. If it ended there it would have been

okay, a B-plus, and everyone could have gone home. But a second part

then begins that’s meant to be the equivalent of the first half hour of

“Saving Private Ryan” — just at the end of the film and not the

beginning. What then unfolds, again in CGI and in human, is the bombing

of Darwin, Australia by the Japanese.

 

 

 

This

actually happened on February 19, 1942 and is known as Australia’s

Pearl Harbor. Luhrmann doesn’t restrain himself from making it

completely spectacular, over the top, to the point where he knew no one

had depicted this before so he has the chance to chronicle his

country’s history. I think it works like crazy. And while there’s no

single shot like the Ferris wheel on the beach in “Atonement,” the

bombing of the ironically named Darwin (we should have evolved more

than this by then, no?) is profound and memorable.

 

 

 

Jackman, of course, replaced Russell Crowe

in this production. He’s People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” and he

wants to be taken seriously as an actor. Most of the time, he’s on it,

although there are moments when you can feel him straining to go big,

maybe break out in a song or crack wise. I give him credit for every

time he doesn’t do it. Kidman looks gorgeous, and maybe pulls off her

best total performance since winning the Oscar for “The Hours.” The

trick for her now is to not let her public persona overwhelm her

fictional ones, which is what’s happened to Angelina Jolie. In

“Australia,” she reclaims her career.

 

 

 

So throw

“Australia” into the mix with the list of movies I’ve told you about

this week, with Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt, The Reader, Revolutionary

Road, Frost/Nixon, Rachel Getting Married, Vicki Cristina Barcelona,

and, most likely, Benjamin Button and Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. Oscar season is on! Let the games begin!

 

texer2008-11-20 12:45:08

[Segundo]

Slumdog Millionaire.... tudo bem, mas Frost/Nixon, no TOP 5?

[Historiense]

Que medo desse Frost/Nixon.

Minha lista dos sonhos em diretor:

 

Baz Lurman; Gus Van Sant; David Fincher; Danny Boyle; Arnaud Desplachin.

 

NÓS CINÉFILOS EXIGIMOS RESPEITO!

UAHUAUHAUH

 

 

[D4rk-Schn31d3r]

Brad and Cate on Oprah

Author: Nancy Kriparos

19 Nov

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett were on Oprah today promoting the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Oprah did not express quite the same amount of enthusiasm as she did with Australia, but she did

encourage the audience to go see the film.  The topic of conversation ran the gamut from life with Angelina and the kids to rebuilding New Orleans and there were also a couple of clips from film.  There is short clip from the show as well as a transcript of the entire show on Oprah.com.

red alert?

[pantalaimon]

"Australia" está com 88% no Rotten, apenas uma crítica rotten( 7 freshs, de 8). É cedo pra comemorar, mas geralmente as primeiras impressões seguem como parametro certo para o resto, pelo menos não será um filme rotten por lá. Já "Twiilight" é o novo fênomeno de bilheteria?Falam em 65 milhões de arrecadação no primeiro findi, espetacular, pra um filme que custou menos de 50 milhões.

 

E "Frost/Nixon" não pode passar, prefiro qualquer outra coisa, mas não, NÃO.

 

E Historiense, interessante lista de diretores. Eu incluiria Sam Mendes, e tiraria Arnaud. E vitorioso, não sei, ainda torço por "Button", que seguirá o caminho de "Australia" mesmo, só saberemos de verdade o que se passa uma semana antes do lançamento.

[Tiago Ribeiro]

Será mesmo que a Winslet poderia levar dois Oscars pra casa? Acho que não. Claro que merecimento ela deve ter de sobra, pois acredito, como a maioria, que ela está fantástica como sempre The Reader e RR. Mas se a Academia sempre evita de um ator não levar Oscars seguidos, mais de 2 Oscars e coisas do gênero, imaginem um Oscar duplo. Acho difícil, mas seria genial se acontecesse.

 

[texer]

Austrália já está com 90% no IMDB, Pan.

 

Já Twilight está com míseros 41%... Decepcionante...

 

Acho q a disputa de bilheteria de Ação de Graças com esse filme será um desafio e tanto para Baz Luhrmann.

 

 

[carina]

não sei se alguem sabe mas antes da kate ter interesse pelo livro Revolutionary Road ,o diretor Todd Field leu o livro  mas não lembro o motivo pelo qual ele preferiu dirigir Little Children ,como ouve bastante comentarios sobre o botox da Nicole Kidman ,no programa Metropólis e no Leitura Dinâmica mostraram cenas de Austrália e achei que o rosto da Nicole não esta exagerado como foi comentado por aqui ,a Nicole estava precisando muito dar a volta por cima e quero ver ela indicada ,mas quero ver a Kate ganhando o Oscar