TheBraveOne Tagged Articles at Cinematical

L.A. Weekly columnist and blogger Nikki Finke claims that she has received, from three different sources, copies of an internal Warner Brothers memo from president of production Jeff Robinov. In it, Robinov claims "we are no longer doing movies with women in the lead." From a historical standpoint, it's bad; this was the studio that the films of Bette Davis (above) helped establish. From the standpoint of a civil rights issue, it's worse, The memo, Finke says, is a response to a pair of fiscal disappointments: the Jodie Foster vengeance opus The Brave One, and The Invasion, the most recent (and worst) version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers with Nicole Kidman in the lead: "as if three different directors didn't have something to do with the awfulness of the gross receipts," Finke suggests.

"But now the official policy as expressly articulated by Robinov is that a male has to be the lead of every pic made." Finke concludes by noting that famed anti-discrimination attorney Gloria Allred has been appraised of the situation. You don't have to be Finke to note that women's pictures are recent underperformers, compared to 2007's hit bromance movies about the love between men (300 to Superbad to 3:10 to Yuma). In Finke's column, Allred suggests a boycott of WB might be the answer. What do you think? However this comes down, there'll be plenty of actresses who'll be grimly satisfied to see in print what they might have suspected already.

It was just before noon on Labor Day, the last day of the Telluride Film Festival, and heaps of passholders were crowded into the Town Park in Telluride for the big passholder Labor Day Picnic, the second of two big feed parties the Telluride Film Festival throws for its passholders. Storm clouds hovered threateningly, but they were nowhere near as threatening as the clouds hovering on the brows of some of the eight women called there to put on a panel for the fest attendees. The panel topic: "Is There a Woman Behind Every Good Movie? The Gender Shift in the Film World."

An hour or so earlier, panelist Tamara Jenkins, director of The Savages, which sneaked at the fest, had gone off on a tangent during her Conversation with Juno director Jason Reitman over at the Courthouse about this very panel, and how being asked to participate in panels on women in film always makes her feel like she's on the "special olympics" panel. "It's either, oh, look, you made a FILM! Isn't that cute," she drolled in a cutsie "let's talk to the baby like it's an idiot" voice or, "You GO, girl" as she thrust her fists in the air. She laughed about it, but the annoyance wasn't a put on. She joked about all the implications of being labeled a "female filmmaker" rather than just a filmmaker ("Tell us, Tamara -- what's it like to direct a film ... while wearing a BRA?") but she made it clear that given her druthers, she'd far prefer that her gender wasn't an issue at all.

A while later, Jenkins was milling about in front of the platform schmoozing with the seven other female filmmakers who had been persuaded to participate in the panel: Diablo Cody (screenwriter of Juno); Tannishtha Chatterjee (Brick Lane); Alexandra Sun (producer of Blind Mountain); Laura Linney (The Savages); Jennifer Jason Leigh (Margot at the Wedding), Jyll Johnstone (director, Hats Off!) and Sarah Gavron (director, Brick Lane). This formidable group of women got up on the platform, and then we found that this panel about women filmmakers is being led by ... a man. Now, not that I have anything against men (heck, I like some of them quite a lot), but I wasn't the only one who found this a little odd. With all the women writing about film, teaching about film, making films, even staffing this festival, they couldn't find a woman to host this panel? I know Anne Thompson skipped out on Telluride this year, but surely they could have found someone. Anyone? Anyone?

Someone call Stephen Hawking and find out if we're in some kind of time warp, because a western was the number one movie in America last weekend. That certainly hasn't happened for awhile. Russell Crowe and Christian Bale's remake of 3:10 to Yuma took top honors, pushing another remake -- Rob Zombie's Halloween -- back to number 2. After being out for several weeks, Superbad and The Bourne Ultimatum are still clinging to the top five like William Shatner clutching his hairpiece in a high wind. Here's the breakdown:

1. 3:10 to Yuma: $14 million
2. Halloween: $9.5 million.
3. Superbad: $7.5 million.
4. Shoot 'Em Up: $5.7 million.
5. The Bourne Ultimatum: $5.6 million.

What's happening this week? We've got vengeance, giant lizards and traumatic memories of gym class. At my house we call that Tuesday. Here's what's coming out this weekend:

The Brave One
What's It All About: Jodie Foster stars as a victim of a brutal assault that leaves her boyfriend dead. Not believing the police will be able to solve the case, she sets out to avenge the crime herself.
Why It Might Do Well: Oscar-winner Foster is joined by Oscar-nominated Terrence Howard and Emmy-nominated Naveen Andrews (he's very cool on Lost), making for a cast worth watching.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Kevin Bacon's similarly themed Death Sentence died at the box office (proving that revenge is NOT a dish best served with bacon) so The Brave One may suffer a similar fate.
Number of Theaters: 2,700
Prediction: $15 million

Dragon Wars
What's It All About: Ancient prophecies are fulfilled and big nasty beasties with scales and pointy teeth lay waste to Los Angeles.
Why It Might Do Well: With all the buzz generated by the Cloverfield trailer (a.k.a. 1-18-08) it seems the public is in the mood for some kaiju-style devastation.
Why It Might Not Do Well: No star power to speak of, but then that never stopped Godzilla and his scaly pals.
Number of Theaters: 2,000
Prediction: $7 million

Mr. Woodcock
What's It All About: Seann William Scott (he who will always be Stifler) learns to his horror that his mother is about to marry Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton), the sadistic gym teacher from his childhood.
Why It Might Do Well: Balls of Fury -- another film with a lame double entendre title that refers to male genitalia -- made it into the top five last week, so why not this one?
Why It Might Not Do Well: This looks a lot like Thornton's character from School For Scoundrels, and I've rarely seen Scott stray far from the character he played in American Pie. I don't need more of either.
Number of Theaters: 2,200
Prediction: $8 million

The predictions are getting tougher each week as surefire blockbusters become fewer and farther between. Here's how I think this coming weekend will go.
1. The Brave One
2. 3:10 to Yuma
3. Mr. Woodcock
4. Dragon Wars
5. Halloween

Participation in our weekly box office competition was down last week. Come on, people, don't shy away just because the game got more challenging. Here's last week's results:

1. Bubba8193: 16
2. Ted W: 12
3. Matt: 10
4. Micah Claire: 8
5. Anna07: 7
5. Porcalina: 7
5. Gregory Rubinstein: 7
6. Ray: 4

Here's how the competition works:
Please post your prediction in the comments section below before 5:00PM on Saturday. One point for every top five movie correctly named, two points for every correct placement, and one extra point for the top movie.

The latest film from Neil Jordan is called The Brave One, but I'd be willing to bet money that the working title was The Stranger, since the word stranger is used repeatedly throughout the film to describe the alienated condition of the main character, a sotto voce radio personality played by Jodie Foster who turns into a piece-packing thrill-killer after being beaten nearly to death by some punks in Central Park and seeing her fiancé murdered by the same punks. That premise is oddly dated, of course, thanks to the extreme Disneyfication of New York City in the 90s, and The Brave One isn't brave or creative enough to simply posit an alternate 2007 in which those reforms never happened. Instead, the pre-existing societal ills that fuel Foster's character are laid out during a radio commentary she gives over the opening credits: chief among them is the fact that the Plaza Hotel is being closed down and her memories of Eloise are being tarnished! This is Death Wish meets Sex and the City, with all the seriousness that implies.

By choosing not to paint a portrait of a New York roiled by crime again -- at one point, a radio caller notes that the emergence of the vigilante is actually welcome, since New York has become so dull -- the film has little recourse except to make Foster's character one of the most unlucky people alive: after the brutal beating and murder in the park by a small gang of hoods -- her fiancé is played in a few early scenes by Naveen Andrews -- she becomes, in short order, the victim of knife-wielding, would-be rapists on the subway, walks in on a first-degree murder in progress and must defend herself against the killer, and happens upon a murderous pimp who mistakes her for a hooker. It's like a blood-and-guts version of that Lindsay Lohan movie where the main character's luck inexplicably turns to pot overnight. As long as the film has trouble looking for Foster instead of Foster looking for trouble, it's not saying much, really. It's only when her character starts to enjoy the violence that things start to get (mildly) interesting.

I'm not really connecting with the appeal of The Brave One, which looks like just another revenge film elevated slightly in prestige by the Oscar-winning talents of Jodie Foster and director Neil Jordan (as well as the Oscar-winning talents of Mary Steenburgen and cinematographer Philippe Rousselot and the Oscar-nominated talents of Terrence Howard, composer Dario Marianelli and production designer Kristi Zea -- hey, maybe the movie is worth seeing). But I tend to disagree with the tastes of the majority, so the movie is probably connecting better with mainstream audiences. Even if it fails at the box office, though, one of its screenwriters, Cynthia Mort, will come out just fine. Aside from being executive producer of a new sex-filled HBO series, Tell Me You Love Me, which she is also writing, and aside from scripting that Nina Simone biopic, in which Mary J. Blige is starring, the writer has just sold a pitch to Oscar-winning producer Graham King (The Departed).

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the pitch was for a murder-mystery thriller. Of course, it currently has no title and there isn't anything yet known about the plot. All that was said of the idea is that the film will be a "fast-paced morality tale" and "akin to the thriller genre films of the 1980s" (not sure what films The Hollywood Reporter is referring to with that description). King, who will produce the film, once scripted, through his GK Films, did admit the story pitched is one of the most dynamic and provocative he's heard in awhile and that it is an idea he thought must be brought to the screen. He referred to Mort as being, "at the top of her game." The Brave One is premiering tonight at the Toronto Film Festival, and Tell Me You Love Me debuts on Sunday, so we shall soon find out if King is correct about Mort's status.

Is it just me, or is Jodie Foster sort of channeling her last victim-gets-tough movie, The Accused? She's got the tough look and the short, wild hair (not to mention that she barely looks like she's aged). Granted, she didn't grab a gun and enact her own brand of justice as Sarah Tobias, but there's more than one way to skin a cat. Back in January of 2006, Cinematical first posted about Foster's latest film, The Brave One (not to be confused with the other that pops up on IMDb). Helmed by Neil Jordan, the film follows Foster's character, Erica, who is brutally attacked while on a walk with her dog and lover and decides to seek revenge when she wakes up to find her dog gone and lover dead. Considering the gun in her hands in this new poster to the right, you can see that she isn't thinking about bringing them to court.

Earlier this month, Jessica Barnes blogged about the film's trailer, which you can see here. It definitely tells a lot about the story -- which you might find spoiling, or obvious. Then again, that might only be the beginning. Regardless, it looks like a pretty solid story about that other path you can take when tragedy strikes. Many of us talk about what we'd do if a loved one met a violent end, but it's another thing to have it happen, the reality staring you in the face. This also looks like a nice return to something meaty and serious for Foster. It's been a long time since she's had a role she could really shine in.