The Latest in Theaters: Testosterone Time

It's a weekend of threes, with a trio of our favorite leading men headlining two major releases, three smaller films in limited release, and not a threequel in sight.

- Shoot 'Em Up: He's not your typical nanny: Clive Owen stars as "Mr. Smith", charged with protecting a newborn, with the help of a busty prostitute (Monica Bellucci), against a sweaty Paul Giamatti. This gonzo action flick from writer/director Michael Davis already had my attention with its tongue-in-cheek viral marketing, and then this clip showed up. In it, Owen and Bellucci are featured in what can only be described as one of the most unique combinations of sex and violence ever committed to film. Trust me: you'll need to take a cold shower afterwards.
- 3:10 to Yuma: Christian Bale and Russell Crowe star on opposite sides of right and wrong in James Mangold's remake of the Glenn Ford western. Ben Foster co-stars as what is already being labeled a "gay villain role".
- The Bubble: This OutFest winner from acclaimed director Eytan Fox (Walk on Water, Yossi & Jagger) centers on a gay romance in the politically charged city of Tel Aviv. In limited release, visit the film's official site for a list of upcoming engagements.
- Hatchet: Described as an "old school American horror", you have to wonder why they would release this (albeit limited) just one week after Halloween. Genre stars aplenty (Robert "Freddy Krueger" Englund, Mercedes McNab, a.k.a. Buffy's Harmony) evade the title weapon-wielding maniac in New Orleans.
- In the Shadow of the Moon: This award-winning documentary gives a rare look, through awe-inspiring space footage and candid astronaut interviews, of NASA's Apollo missions. A strong contender for this year's doc Oscar.

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Links via Imdb.com, BulletProofBaby.net, IESB.net, AfterElton.com, eBAR.com and StrandReleasing.com.

Movie Music: Toot Toot, Tootsie

Warners' 1927 production of The Jazz Singer was not, as most people assume, the first feature film to use synchronized sound, but it was the first to contain synchronized dialogue sequences. The very first line of spoken dialogue ever heard in a feature was the ad-libbed "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet!" (#71 on AFI's list of the top 100 movie quotes of all time), exclaimed by an excited Al Jolson before he launches in to his spirited rendition of "Toot Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye".

Another memorable musical moment from the film (pictured) is when Jolson, visiting his mother (Eugenie Besserer), serenades her with Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies", followed by the first conversation ever heard on film. But the most well known song from The Jazz Singer was Jolson's signature number, "My Mammy", sung (in black face) at the film's finale. This song was so popular, it was often used as a punchline in many movies of or set in the era, such as seemingly every cartoon made at the time, as well as in Singin' in the Rain, set during the dawn of the "talkies".

The Jazz Singer is finally making its debut on DVD October 16, and it looks like it was well worth the wait. Warner Home Video is going all out with a deluxe, three-disc edition, which includes an all-new digital transfer and refurbished soundtrack for the film itself, plus a host of bonus material: commentary from film historians, a slew of cartoon and live action short subjects, the new feature-length documentary The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk, plus such goodies as lobby card reproductions and a recreation of the original souvenir program book.

So what are you waiting for? Click here to pre-order The Jazz Singerfrom Amazon.com now!

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet!": In conjunction with the film's DVD release, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be holding a special, 80th anniversary screening of The Jazz Singer October 5 at their Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The restored version of the film will be seen for the first time in public at this event, hosted by Leonard Maltin.

Click here to purchase The Jazz Singer soundtrackfrom Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com, Wikipedia.org, AFI.com and Oscars.org.

Women We Love: Cate Blanchett

How does the cliché go? "So-and-so actor is so good, I'd watch him read the phone book"? Well, with Cate Blanchett, we'd watch her read a binary code; I'm sure she would make all those 1's and 0's riveting.

Most people "discovered" Blanchett with her brilliant, mesmerizing performance as Elizabeth; she made royalty sexy and alluring, earning her first Oscar nomination. Next, she delighted us with a string of supporting turns in a variety of films, from An Ideal Husband to The Talented Mr. Ripley to The Shipping News to The Lord of the Rings trilogy (her elfin goddess was so ethereal, she was downright scary).

More title roles in Charlotte Gray and Veronica Guerin followed, as well as her movie-stealing dual role as "herself" and her chain-smoking "cousin" in Coffee and Cigarettes, but it was her spot-on Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator that caught the Academy's attention again. She became the first actor to win an Academy Award for portraying an Academy Award-winning actor.

Last year was a big one for Blanchett, starring in three high-profile dramas: Babel, The Good German and Notes on a Scandal (another Oscar nod). However, this year is shaping up to be another busy one for the actress, playing two disparate icons in two very different biopics: Bob Dylan (yes, Bob Dylan) in Todd Haynes' I'm Not There and the Virgin Queen again in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. I have a feeling Blanchett will be very busy come awards time this year as well.

Links via Imdb.com and AwardsDaily.com.

Toon Talk: “I Wish I Were a Princess”

What little girl hasn’t said just that at some point in her young life? While it is not surprising that Disney has found a way to capitalize on these nascent feminine inspirations, what is surprising is that it took them as long as it did to recognize the moneymaking capabilities of a “Disney Princess”.

After all, Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora were around for decades without much out-of-the-ordinary going on. It took the one-two-three punch of Ariel, Belle and Jasmine to wake up the suits to the idea of a merchandise line based solely on these fairy tale divas. As more movies came out, some leading ladies made the grade (Pocahontas, Mulan), while others did not (Esmeralda, Megara), and it didn’t seem to matter much whether they were actual princesses or not. And forgive me if I sound jaded, but surely the in-the-works The Princess and the Frog was green lit at least in part to add a long overdue African American princess to the lineup. (“To bad Rapunzel isn’t a Latina,” I could here the marketers say, "we could really give Dora the Explorer a run for her money!")

Once the “Disney Princess” ball got rolling, nothing could slow it down. From dress-up dolls to easy-bake ovens to Halloween costumes to jewelry (real and fake) to band-aids to breakfast cereals … the list goes on and on. And that’s not even touching on the dozens of CDs, video games and DVDs produced, which brings us to the matter at hand: the latest DVD release, Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams.

This Toon Talk review continues at LaughingPlace.com.

Click here to purchase Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreamson DVD from Amazon.com.

Best of the Fests: Telluride and Venice Reax

With the Telluride and Venice film festivals both in full swing over the weekend, fest watchers and award pundits the world over have been abuzz about what's good and what's not. It's a veritable information overload out there, so I'll try to sum it up here, separating the hits from the hype.

One film has emerged as a clear victor and early Best Picture contender: Atonement, directed by Pride & Prejudice's Joe Wright and starring his Pride star Keira Knightley (pictured), The Last King of Scotland's James McAvoy and Oscar perennial Vanessa Redgrave. The epic romantic drama has English Patient written all over it, with some critics decreeing it an "instant classic", a term that may come back to haunt the pic if it peaks too early in the game.

I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' unconventional biopic of Bob Dylan, seems to play best to fans of the folkie. Meanwhile, Jason Reitman's follow-up to Thank You for Smoking, the comedic look at teenaged pregnancy Juno, benefited from being one of the few light-hearted flicks amidst all the gloom and doom dramas and Klaus Barbie docs.

More mixed reactions were delivered to such eagerly-awaited entrants as Sean Penn's true-life adventure tale Into the Wild, Noah Baumbach's "put the fun-in-dysfunctional" dramedy Margot at the Wedding, Ocean's buddies George Clooney as Michael Clayton and Brad Pitt as Jesse James, the Salvadorian The Hunting Party (starring Richard Gere and Terrence Howard) and Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah (or, as 'Rollerboy' over at AwardsDaily.com calls it, In the Valley of Eh).

The biggest divide in critical opinion comes from an unlikely source: Brian De Palma. Yes, the director of the so-bad-it's-good Dressed to Kill and the just-plain-bad Black Dahlia has delivered the controversial "fictional documentary" Redacted, centering on what seems to be every real documentarian's favorite subject of late, the Iraq war. As could be expected with such a hot-button subject, the film has already stirred-up impassioned reactions from both sides of the political spectrum, yet such controversies rarely lead a film to the Oscar podium (except in the actual documentary category).

Bringing up the rear are a few high-profile projects that apparently will be sitting out this year's trophy races: Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited has more to worry about then a troubled star (with all due respect and best wishes to Owen Wilson); Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream was roasted despite the presence of hunkalicious duo Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell; there was no love lost for Ang Lee's Lust, Caution; and it looks like Kenneth Branagh should have left well-enough alone with his Sleuth remake.

That pretty much wraps things up for these two fests, but there's more to come: the Toronto International Film Festival begins this weekend.

Links via TellurideFilmFestival.com, LaBiennale.org, GoldDerby.LATimes.com, ArtsIndependent.co.uk, Reuters.com, EW.com and TIFF07.ca.

Poster Post: Cowboy Up

Russell Crowe is a notorious outlaw and Christian Bale is the rancher charged with delivering him to the train on time in 3:10 to Yuma, opening this Friday.

James Mangold (Walk the Line) directed this remake of the 1957 western of the same title (starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin). This new take is already garnering some award buzz, specifically co-star Peter Fonda as a nasty bounty hunter. Ben Foster and Gretchen Mol also star.

The poster art above, reminiscent of a period wanted poster, was one of three designs released by Lions Gate.

Click here to buy 3:10 to Yumaposters from Amazon.com.
Links via Imdb.com, AwardsDaily.com and ObsessedWithFilm.com.

Great Performances: Felicity Huffman as Bree Osbourne

Felicity Huffman's brilliant performance as the pre-op male-to-female transsexual Bree Osbourne in Transamerica is a triumph on many levels.

Anyone who has seen Huffman on her television show Desperate Housewives knows that she is a beautiful woman, even with her frazzled working mother exterior. Yet in Transamerica, she is unrecognizable, and it is more then the make-up and frumpy costumes. Huffman physically transformed herself in the role, and is entirely believable as a biological male yearning to be female.

You can feel the aching to achieve what she so desperately wants, to fit in (to "pass") in the way Bree carries herself. Every gesture, every mannerism is controlled to the utmost, for fear someone may detect the masculinity buried deep within.

This control is shaken when her pending sexual reassignment surgery is jeopardized by a ghost from her past: a son she never knew she had. Toby, a scraggly street hustler, enters her life at what she thinks is the worst possible time. However, by getting to know him during their long, event-filled cross-country journey, she comes to realize that meeting him may have been the best thing that ever happened to her.

Huffman won several awards for her performance in Transamerica, including the Golden Globe and the Independent Spirit Award, and was also nominated for the Academy Award.

Click here to purchase Transamericaon DVD from Amazon.com.
Link via Imdb.com.