The Brave One Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Best Actress (Drama)

Nominees:

Cate Blanchett -- Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Julie Christie -- Away from Her

Jodie Foster -- The Brave One

Angelina Jolie -- A Mighty Heart

Keira Knightley -- Atonement

Predicted Winner: Keira Knightley

The sexy beanpole tomboy has blossomed into a full-fledged heavyweight as a dramatic actress, gracefully inhabiting the soul of an edgy, stylish flapper turned tragic, pining romantic heroine. The Cinematical writers are sold: Keira's time has come.

Now it's your turn to vote ...

Sylvester Stallone is ready to step into Charles Bronson's shoes. Variety reports that Stallone is in talks to direct and star in a remake of Death Wish, to be scripted by Michael Ferris and John Brancato. That's the writing team responsible for The Net, The Game, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines -- and Catwoman. Draw your own conclusions, but with Stallone in the director's chair, this could be another project that ends up better than it initially sounds.

Michael Winner's 1974 original starred Charles Bronson as mild-mannered Paul Kersey, a New York City architect transformed into a killing machine meting out street justice after his wife is brutally murdered and his daughter is raped. Four sequels would follow over the next 20 years, but with Bronson's passing in 2003, the search for a successor was inevitable.

Early September saw two new vigilantes hit the screen: Kevin Bacon in Death Sentence, a straightforward and enjoyable revenge flick misunderstood to be a message movie, and Jodie Foster in The Brave One, which drew more direct comparisons to Death Wish because it was set in Manhattan. It's hard to imagine that a new Death Wish will try to be profound or offer anything new on the subject, but if it's well made and Stallone restrains himself a bit, that may be enough.

Stallone has been working hard on the comeback trail and made some major coin for the backers of Rocky Balboa. He also has Rambo due out on January 25, 2008, a release date that's normally a death wish of its own, but the trailer looks fairly awesome as an action pic. If Rambo hits big, this deal for Death Wish will generate even more excitement. And if Sly's Death Wish hits big, MGM is prepared to make it into a franchise for him, which could sustain Stallone well into his 70s (Bronson was in his early 70s when he made his last Death Wish). While you contemplate that thought, MGM is hoping to start production before March 2008.

So I just returned home from checking out the New York Film Festival's closing night film, Persepolis, which is an amazing little animated flick about a girl coming of age during the Islamic revolution. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing it in December, it might get nominated for a Best Foreign Language Oscar (it's currently France's selection, so we'll see), and, heck, it might even win. An Oscar! For a film starring an animated girl from Iran! Go figure. The theater was pretty crowded, because from what I gathered people were still interested in films featuring women in the lead roles. I know I am. By now you probably see where I'm going with this -- in case you haven't heard yet, Warner Bros. chief Jeff Robinov is still simmering in some hot water over comments he allegedly made; how, ya know, he doesn't want to make any more female-driven films because ... The Invasion and The Brave One didn't do so well? Yeah, I don't get it much either.

Nikki Finke, the blogger over at Deadline Hollywood who broke the story, continues to go on and on about the fiasco, while, I imagine, folks over at Warners are scrambling to correct this PR nightmare. Finke reminds me of that girl from Can't Hardly Wait who runs around throughout the entire film trying to get people to sign her yearbook. Whatever happened to that girl after everyone completely dissed her? Where did she go after high school? What is she doing now? Let me take a wild guess ... Anyway, I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around this whole thing. If it's true, and Robinov did say those things, then why is he blaming the actresses? I asked a friend of mine, who saw both The Invasion and The Brave One, if he didn't like the films because of Kidman and Foster. His answer: "I didn't like them because they sucked. Kidman and Foster had nothing to do with that." And why did he go to see them in the first place? "I like Kidman and Foster." Heh. (I wonder if they changed the name to Legally Blonde: Invasion of the Purse Snatchers, if, then, people would've showed up to see it?)

I tried reading Finke's reports, but I just got a headache. They're filled with lines like, "And then a Warner Bros. rep told me ..." and "Three studio insiders claimed to have ..." and "When I got off the phone with the agent whose rep used to be a studio exec ..." Who gives a sh*t? Should we care about this story at all? Seriously. Warner Bros. could make 70 films in a row about homosexual kangaroos from Egypt, and it still wouldn't change the fact that my electric bill is too high. Should we boycott Warners? No. Why? There are very few guarantees in life: 1. A lot of folks making the decisions in Hollywood are morons. 2. 300 is and will always be a pile of crap. 3. Female-driven films simply don't do well at the box office unless they star Reese Witherspoon doing her best Valley-girl accent, and 4. There will always be something better worth seeing on any given weekend, be it on DVD or in the theater. Like Persepolis. So let Warners make their testosterone-laced, male-driven films, and the rest of us can go about our lives knowing there will always be a choice when it comes to what we watch, when we watch it and who we watch it with. Isn't that what's most important here?

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.

Hard as it is to believe in this lull of summer hallmarked by the usual hot-weather popcorn fare, we're edging ever closer to fall and the major fall film festivals, and Cinematical Indie will be bringing you heaps of coverage this year. Labor Day weekend, as always, means Telluride. Last year was our first year to cover the Telluride Film Festival; the fest is unique in that it doesn't announce its lineup until it actually starts, but that doesn't stop them from selling out passes well in advance of the fest every year, as film lovers converge on the small mountain town and triple its population for the weekend.

If you want to hit Telluride this year and haven't bought your passes yet, be prepared to pony up the big bucks; the Acme and Festival passes are sold out already, so you'll have to score yourself a $3500 patron pass if you want to attend. And good luck finding lodging in town at this point, unless you also want to dig deep and rent a spendy luxury vacation home -- but hey, if you that, drop me a line so I can come hang out -- we can talk movies while soaking in your jacuzzi overlooking the scenic San Juan mountains.

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.