TommyLeeJones Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Sundance Review: The Company Men
Filed under: Drama », Sundance », Theatrical Reviews »
Essentially a horror film for the white-collar workers over 50, The Company Men follows three suits (Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper) trying to come to terms with widespread downsizing at their company. Relatable (especially during these tough economic times), yes, but only for those who can relate to people who make well over six figures a year, live in beautiful mansions, fly around in private jets and belong to the most prestigious of country club golf courses. The film does touch on the depressing blue-collar lifestyle as well (so if you're making under a hundred grand a year, there's your "in"), and by the time we're handed an overall message that it's not what you do, but who you do it for, The Company Men breezes past its finish line with relative ease before leaving its audience to call home to say I love you.
It's not really important to know who held which job, just know that there's a chain of command at the billion-dollar global shipping company GTX and Bobby Walker (Affleck) is at the bottom of a group of managers who's first to be let go. Cocky, arrogant and convinced he'll land a new job within hours, Walker slowly heads down a grim path that eventually downgrades his upper middle class lifestyle significantly when it becomes impossible for him to land another gig. But with guidance from his loving wife (Rosemarie DeWitt) and a ball-busting brother-in-law (Kevin Costner in a scene-stealing performance), Walker rebounds enough to straighten out his priorities and become the film's most redeeming character.
As far as everyone else goes ... well, there's always stock options ... right?
The Top 10+ Sundance Movies to Watch
Filed under: Sundance »
Sundance is so close you can almost smell the slush-stained Uggs. Even if you can't make it to Park City - although you can watch some of the Sundance features on VOD! - we've cobbled together a handy guide to the movies that look the most interesting, have the most buzz, and are the most drool-worthy for us film nerds. For all your Sundance needs, you can hit up any of Cinematical's conveniently tagged articles here.
HOWL
Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Stars: James Franco, Mary-Louise Parker, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels, David Strathairn
This might be one of the hottest tickets at Sundance. Jam-packed with big names, including that body-pillow loving rapscallion Franco, HOWL zeroes in on one of America's most famous poets, Allen Ginsberg. With episodes from the poet's early life and his blossoming as a poety, from the trial itself, to the dramas he faced afterward, the story of HOWL sounds engrossing and illuminating. Plus, director/producer Gus Van Sant (Milk, Paranoid Park) is one of the exec producers.
Sundance Primer: The Company Men
Filed under: Drama », Sundance », Festival Reports »
One of the more high profile films premiering at this year's Sundance Film Festival is The Company Men, written and directed by John Wells, and starring Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones and Maria Bello, among others. Throughout his very successful career writing, producing and directing for television, John Wells has won six Emmy Awards (most notably for his work on The West Wing) and he's been nominated over 30 times for a wide range of awards. While he's produced a number of films over the years (Motherhood, Gigantic and I'm Not There, to name a few recent ones) and scripted films like 2008's Invisible Man, The Company Men marks Wells' first time behind the camera on a feature film.
Cinematical briefly chatted up Wells as part of our exclusive Sundance Primer series in an effort to learn a little more about the film before it screens in the Premieres section at Sundance next week. (Additionally, you can check out the newly released trailer after the jump.)
Cinematical: Give us the "dude on the street" description of your film.
John Wells: What happens to three men in the year after they're fired from their jobs working for a major corporation, with Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper and Kevin Costner.
Mirren to Play The Queen Again in Star-Studded Biopic?
Filed under: Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Casting », Newsstand »
The legendary Helen Mirren may once again be serving crown and country as Queen Elizabeth II. WENN is reporting that Mirren is being called upon to play the once and current queen in Mother: The Indira Ghandi Story, a biopic about the Indian prime minister who was asassinated in 1984.Tom Hanks and Tommy Lee Jones are also reportedly in talks to play Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, respectively, while Emily Watson is attached to play the formidable Margaret Thatcher. Director Krishna Shah calls it "the project of my life" so one hopes this could actually come together for him with this kind of cast. The film is scheduled to be released in 2010, which seems a bit too optimistic with so many schedules to coordinate, but we'll see.
Obviously, this should be filed firmly under "rumor," but it's an intriguing prospect. Indira Ghandi is certainly long overdue for a biopic, and the cast would be fantastic. It would be fascinating to see Mirren go back and play a younger Queen Elizabeth II, even for just a small part in a larger historical picture. Besides, with Michael Sheen doing triple duty as Prime Minister Tony Blair, it seems very appropriate that his onscreen monarch get another shot at the throne.
Tommy Lee Jones Ditches Matthew McConaughey's 'Lincoln'
Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand »
A mere month ago, it seemed like Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer was set for a top notch adaptation thanks to the arrival of Tommy Lee Jones. Jones was interested in directing and costarring in the film, which gave us all hope that he could help makeover Matthew McConaughey into something serious and shirt wearing. But alas, it's not to be. Variety reports that Jones has departed The Lincoln Lawyer, leaving it idling and spitting fumes.Jones departed for that vague and all-encompassing reason "creative differences." Variety reports that he had issues with John Romano's script, and neither Jones nor Lakeshore Entertainment were willing to budge. The studio is currently on the hunt for a new director, and hopes to be shooting by spring.
So, feel free to speculate on just what script issues there might have been. I know we have some Connelly fans who were looking forward to this, and who know more about the book than I do. Given that it is a star vehicle for McConaughey, and the character is a bit of a legal freewheeler, I wonder if the script is more of a comedic departure from the book. We've cracked a lot of jokes about bongo drums and shirtlessness, but could that actually have been what Jones departed over? It's sleazy and easy to jump to that conclusion, and I can't really believe a Connelly book could be adapted into Fool's Gold. But this is Hollywood. Stranger things have happened.
Tommy Lee Jones to Direct 'The Lincoln Lawyer'
Filed under: Action », Thrillers », Casting », Deals », Mystery & Suspense », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand »
I don't think there's enough Tommy Lee Jones on cinema screens, and I'm not alone in hoping he'd jump right back behind the camera again after his 2005 debut The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. But it looks like he's going back behind the camera, as Variety reports that he's in talks to direct and costar in The Lincoln Lawyer. At first glance, The Lincoln Lawyer might be a startling choice for Jones' next directing foray because it would appear to be Matthew McConaughey's attempt at a serious makeover. McConaughey is set to play Mickey Haller, a aimless lawyer who works out of the back of his Lincoln, and defends low rent criminals. One shiny day, he ends up with a case defending a Beverly Hills playboy against a murder charge, but it isn't all easy peasy and high paychecks. It's a Michael Connelly book, after all. Look elsewhere for bongo drums and shirtlessness. If it actually threatens to bubble over, just trust that stern glare of Jones to nip it in the bud.
No one knows what role Jones is interested in playing. Variety notes that "the playboy character" is the most logical choice for his stature, but Connelly's book paints him as younger and more hard-partying. They may rewrite it, or Jones may be eying a smaller part and spending most of his time behind the camera. It might take all his energy just trying to remind us of the days when McConaughey was just that Young Turk in A Time to Kill, and not the running gag of the gossip scene.
Shelf Life: Natural Born Killers
Filed under: Warner Brothers », Fandom », Home Entertainment », Shelf Life »
In the last several weeks, "Shelf Life" columns have examined venerated films from different genres or filmographies that were tangentially if not directly related to the week's new releases: Carrie in anticipation of Jennifer's Body, Dawn of the Dead before Zombieland, and so on. This week, we're looking ahead at a future Blu-ray release, next week's Natural Born Killers, because, quite frankly, who's seen this thing in the last decade?
That of course isn't to say it's not still an incendiary classic, but in retrospect, Oliver Stone's treatise on media savagery feels like both a product of its time and a random blitz of imagery that has since dulled our perceptions of (and reactions to) the film's overall effect. But then again, it just might have been ahead of its time, or maybe just a misunderstood romance, or some other unholy beast that looks a lot different 15 years after it debuted in theaters. As such, Stone's Natural Born Killers is the subject of this week's "Shelf Life."
Cinematical Seven: Great Modern Comedy Teams
Filed under: Brad Pitt », Cinematical Seven », George Clooney »
So many comedians don't really play well with others. They're mostly scene-stealers with little regard for anyone who gets in their way. So it's always a treat to find some that click together. If they click, their connection usually passes on to the audience. Two mega-comedians, Adam Sandler & Seth Rogen, team up for the first time in this week's Funny People. It remains to be seen just what kind of chemistry they'll have, or if it deserves to be repeated, but in any case, it's a good time to revisit some of cinema's greatest comedy team-ups. [Note: I thought I would stay modern and therefore exclude Martin & Lewis, Laurel & Hardy, Fields & West, Abbott & Costello, Hepburn & Grant, Hepburn & Tracy, etc. Just because it goes without saying.]
1. Simon Pegg & Nick Frost
They're friends in real life and it shows in their films Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). Pegg gets to do all the heroic stuff, and the romantic stuff, and he's great at it; his character arc and his performance in Shaun of the Dead are remarkably rich and subtle. But Frost has the hard job. He must balance his persona of annoying slacker with lovable sidekick, throwing in just a tiny hint of homoerotic attachment to his friend. This is an A+ in chemistry.
Terrific Trailers: The Fugitive
Filed under: Summer Movies », Trailers and Clips », Scenes We Love »
Most trailers of the '80s and '90s were pretty cheesy, despite the sultry tones of Don LaFontaine. They're edited badly, they give too much away, and are the wrong tone for the fillm. The Fugitive could have fallen prey to all of that, but it's tight and mysterious. I like how it doesn't even tell you whether Harrison Ford is innocent or not. Of course they were working from a very well known television series, Ford was never a bad guy, and it would be rather difficult to sympathize with a fugitive who was guilty. But if all you saw was this trailer today, you would be forgiven for wondering exactly who the good guy would be. Would it be Ford, or Tommy Lee Jones?
More Like 'No Money for Old Men': Tommy Lee Jones Sues Paramount
Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Deals », Mystery & Suspense », Paramount », RumorMonger », Celebrities and Controversy », Miramax », Paramount Vantage »
In last year's Best Picture winner, No Country for Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones played a weary sheriff chasing after a man who was chasing after some money. Well, according to the San Antonio Express-News, Jones is now himself a weary man chasing after some money, specifically from the pockets of Paramount.
It appears that a contract signed by Jones between Paramount and its subsidiary, N.M. Classics, Inc. contained two "mistakes" that may have prevented him from garnering up to, and perhaps upwards of, $10 million in the wake of the film's success. What's worse is that he was still deducted for any number of expenses, despite alleged awareness of the errors on the part of Paramount. As such, Jones wants an auditor to go through their books and figure out just how much he is owed.
Naturally, neither side of the case has made much in terms of formal comment. As his character might say, if this ain't a mess, it'll do 'til the mess gets here.
[Thanks to Movie City News for the tip.]
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