chris messina Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Review: Away We Go
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Romance », Theatrical Reviews », Focus Features », Summer Movies »
Burt and Verona (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) don't quite have things figured out yet. I mean, they pretty much have each other pegged, enjoying a marriage-less relationship, keeping each other warm on those cold Colorado nights, and they know that they want to bring a kid into this world -- well, want to or not, the baby's coming, and so they'll keep it warm as well.
Their parents won't be of much help. After all, his (Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels) are making plans to take off for Europe just before the baby's due, a trip years in the making and selfish as all get out, while hers passed away some time back. So Burt and Verona decide to visit other family and friends, looking for people they can depend on in places they could grow up in, let alone grow old in -- looking for a place that might help them figure out together the whys and hows of keeping it all together.
Casting Bites: Signs, Drool, and More!
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Casting »
As we come out of the weekend, Juno's dad and Claire Fisher's conservative boyfriend are teaming up for a new film. The Hollywood Reporter posts that J.K. Simmons and Chris Messina are joining Jessica Alba in An Invisible Sign of My Own. Described as an Amelie-style film, the indie "follows the transformation of a sheltered, math-obsessed teacher when a new science teacher arrives at her school." No word on who Simmons and Messina will play, but does it really matter when we have Alba not only taking over the whimsical shoes of Audrey Tatou, but also trying to be a math nerd? Strrrange casting!And have you ever wondered what Thelma & Louise would've been like had they driven all over the place with a corpse? THR also posts that Laura Harring, Jill Marie Jones, and Oded Fehr have signed on to star in a new dark comedy called Drool. Basically, Harring will play an abused wife who accidentally kills her husband (Fehr) as she plans to leave her "better" half with the help of her friend (Jones). What does she do? She decides to "drive the body cross-country." That just doesn't sound sanitary.
To some, he's a dancer from Fame. To others, he's Baz's Mercutio in Romeo + Juliet. (He needs to do more Shakespeare!) To most these days, however, he's Michael Dawson from Lost. And now THR posts that Harold Perrineau is going to executive produce and star in a new indie drama called Case 219. Based on Walter Dean Myers' novel Shooter, the film focuses on three misfit teens after a high school shooting.
And one more little bit: Henry Thomas has joined Dear John.
'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' Interviews -- Pénelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, Rebeccca Hall and More
Filed under: MGM », The Weinstein Co. », Interviews »
Gathered to talk about Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Pénelope Cruz, Rebecca Hall, Chris Messina and Scarlett Johansson all had similar praise for their director and writer -- even if they took different paths to get to the film. Cruz's agent actually reached out to Allen when Vicky Cristina Barcelona was in development, on the off chance Allen might have a role for her: "My agent said ... 'We found out you're doing a movie in Spain, do you want to meet Pénelope?' We met in New York, a very short meeting, which took less than one minute, and he told me 'I saw Volver, and I'm writing this story, it's not finished yet, but if it keeps going in this direction, the script, I think you could be right for this part. ...' He didn't tell me anything more about the story, or the characters, but I felt like we connected; we were laughing, and when I left, the people who work with him told me 'You've been there for such a long time.' ..."
Even after being asked, though, Cruz found the prospect of working with one of film's best-known directors daunting: "You can trust the director -- you're working with Woody Allen, you're working with a genius -- but that doesn't mean you're not going to be doubting yourself. ..."
Review: Ira and Abby
Filed under: Comedy », Independent », Romance », Magnolia », Theatrical Reviews », Cinematical Indie »
There is something very dated about therapy in movies. Sure, millions of real people continue to see psychiatrists, psychologists, analysts and therapists, but the depiction of therapy on screen feels so, I don't know, yesterday. Or maybe it's neurotic characters that seem old hat, but either way therapy has at least become dated by association. Of course, as a genre, romantic comedy needs the occasional shrink, because it needs that convention of neurotic characters and those neurotic characters generally (and generically) need therapy. One day, perhaps, someone can rewrite the book on romantic comedy, which hasn't been adequately revised or updated since Woody Allen turned in his version thirty years ago. Until then, we are stuck with movies like Ira and Abby, which utilizes not one, not two, but at least eight therapists or analysts.
The movie even makes a distinction about the difference between therapists and analysts (therapists talk; analysts listen) and hardly features a character that isn't one or the other. There are personal analysts, group therapists and marriage counselors, doctors assigned to every stereotypically Jewish surname known to screenwriters (Rosenblum, check; Goldberg, check; Silverberg, check; etc.). While neither of the two title characters is technically in the profession, Ira (Chris Messina) is writing his dissertation in order to become a psychologist and Abby (Jennifer Westfeldt) is constantly told she should open her own practice, simply because she's so good with people.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
