ScreenCrave.com » Roman Polanski

Blu-ray and DVD Picks For April 3 – 9

Damon Houx — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:00:56 +0000

With tax season upon us, it appears that studios are taking a break on collectors by not offering too much this week. That said, there’s a good Steven Spielberg film, and Roman Polanski‘s Chinatown – which is in the running for the best film of the 1970′s. There’s also Cameron Crowe‘s latest, and a Madonna concert film are among the notables, check it out…

New:

War Horse: Though a little hampered by the bio-pic structure of the film, Steven Spielberg’s War Horse is his homage to John Ford, David Lean, and the old school masters who’ve long informed his work. Jeremy Irvine stars as the boy who owns the horse, which he raises it until it’s drafted for World War I, and then the film follows the horse on its journey. It’s schmaltzy – like much of Spielberg’s filmography – but it’s very entertaining and has a great cast.
We Bought a Zoo: Cameron Crowe‘s return to cinema after the botched Elizabethtown is both a step forward and back. Matt Damon plays a widow with some kids who becomes the zoo-buyer, and there he meets Scarlet Johansson‘s zoo worker. As a widow, that means he doesn’t just jump her right away when she gives him signals. As to be expected, the soundtrack is great.

Classics:

Chinatown: Roman Polanski’s masterpiece, this 1974 film features career-best work from its director, its writer Robert Towne, and stars Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunnaway. A P.I. (Nicholson) is set to investigate if a man is cheating on his wife, but uncovers a murder and a conspiracy that effects all of Los Angeles. Simple, elegant, but very much a 1970′s picture, this is the definition of a classic.
Madonna: Truth or Dare: A big deal at the time of release, I’d bet the film feels quaint now. Madonna went on tour and was followed by a documentary crew. There’s a game of truth or dare at the end, brief appearances by other famous people, and a lot of masturbation – both literal (Madonna’s then rendition of ‘Like a Virgin’ involved simulating the act during the show) and figurative (the whole film).
The Poseidon Adventure: This 1970′s disaster movie is probably the best of that trend of movies, so if you’ve ever wanted to see one of the big disaster films, this is way more entertaining than The Towering Inferno or The Swarm. Gene Hackman leads an all-star cast as an ocean liner goes upside down and the survivors try to get out before they die. Well paced and well directed by Ronald Neame, it’s nonsense – but entertaining nonsense.
Titanic (1953): Ah, with the theatrical reissue of James Cameron‘s film, I guess we’re getting all the Titanic-centric films on Blu-ray. This is the least of them, but it does star Barbara Stanwyck, so it’s better than Titanic 2.

What are you picking up this week?

Jodie Foster and Kate Winslett in Carnage Trailer

Damon Houx — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:44:19 +0000

The trailer for the latest Roman Polanski film Carnage has hit, and it promises claustrophobia for its stars Jodie Foster, Kate Winslett, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz. The film – adapted from the play by Yasmina Riza – takes place in Foster and Reilly’s apartment one night when two sets of parents have a discussion about a violent incident that happened between their children, and it escalates from there. Check out the trailer…

As the film has already screened in a number of festivals, word is that it’s stagebound to a fault. Such is probably limiting the film’s Oscar chances. On top of which Polanski has not only already won an Oscar for direction, but is not exactly a person that could make an appearance to collect any such awards.

There are some who’ve already come to the film’s defense in regards to its limited locations, and perhaps it will have more of a fighting chance once academy members start seeing it. Since three of the four leads already have Oscars, if anyone is to be pushed forward, I would bet on Reilly – who’s the bridesmaid of the bunch. Carnage is set to be released on December 16 by Sony Pictures Classics, which suggests a limited New York/ Los Angeles run before hitting the art-house circuit.

Would you like to see John C. Reilly win an Academy Award?

First Image from Roman Polanski’s Carnage

Damon Houx — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:13:00 +0000

Empire has the first look at Roman Polanski’s Carnage, which stars Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz, and should be in theaters for Oscar season. The film is based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, and it appears that Reza adapted it to screen with the help of Polanski.

The play concerns two married couples (Foster and Reilly, Winslet and Waltz) who have a dinner together to discuss the fight their children got into, but which turns into a night-long discussion and argument. Foster compared it to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and that’s what the plot most reminds of off-hand.

Polanski has assembled a dream team of actors here, with only Reilly not having his own Oscar (since Foster has two, perhaps he could borrow one of her’s), though he has been nominated. This also reminds of his film Death and the Maiden, which was also based on a play, and also mainly set in one location. That isn’t one of his best works, but he managed to make it dynamic.

Carnage is Polanski’s follow-up to The Ghost Writer, which made a number of year-end lists, but was overshadowed by the director’s then-current legal entanglements. Polanski’s films will always be greeted with the director’s history a discussion point. And please go to Empire for additional behind the scenes pictures.

Are you excited for a new Roman Polanski film?

Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Join Polanski’s God of Carnage

Krystal Clark — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:54:34 +0000

Now that Roman Polanski’s legal troubles are no longer the topic of discussion, he’s continuing on with his career. The Oscar winning director has found four actors to star in his upcoming film God of Carnage. According to Deadline, he’s got his hooks into Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, and Matt Dillon. That’s a cast of three Oscar winners and one nominee, someone’s keeping it highbrow.

God of Carnage is based on the Tony Award winning play of the same name by Yasmina Reza.

It centers on two couples meeting to resolve a fight that took place between their nine-year old boys. These two young boys were playing in the school playground when one of them hits the other on his mouth with a stick. But as destiny would have it, a peaceful meeting between the two parents quickly turns into a loveless 90 minute action sequence for all to see. The play is full of violence, pain, fear and despair. Efforts to alleviate the mood have been made by adding a few moments of funny comedy.

The original show ran for 452 performances on Broadway and starred James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis. We hope that this will be a launching pad for Dillon’s career because after Crash, he’s starred in a string of sub-par movies. We’re not saying he’s the best actor in the world but we’ve seen worse, and he deserves better.

What do you think of the cast? Have you seen the play?

Additional Source: Reed Stickers

New DVD Releases: Kick-Ass, The Ghost Writer, Heroes

Andrew Payne — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:03:56 +0000

A good mix of DVDs this week as we get both an attempted blockbuster (Kick-Ass) and several smaller films that almost made Rotten Tomatoes explode with good reviews (The Ghost Writer and A Prophet). Plus, if you have kids, you can pick up a DVD to entertain them why you check out one of these R-Rated flicks with Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Of course, you may also be a glutton for punishment so there’s the final season of “Heroes” to help you there. Plus the DVD you can’t believe is real.

Check out the new releases below…

FEATURE FILMS

Kick-Ass

A couple weeks ago (with regards to The Losers) I remarked on how the instant comic/graphic novel to big screen success formula might be dead. Well, Kick-Ass is another example of why that just may be right.

It was hard to get much buzzier than this flick going in. Super-renowned comic, great trailer, tons of hype from critics and early screening geeks. This was poised to be the hit of the Spring.

Then it came out and delivered. Giving us a smart, funny, and obscenely violent romp that seemed a perfect fit for Summer. So in April it should have been a no-brainer blockbuster. Except it wasn’t. It didn’t even crack $50 million. Less than either one of those Amanda Seyfried movies with mail in the title.

But it wasn’t just that. Nobody talked about it. Nobody. For a week people seemed excited, and then when it dropped – everybody just seemed to sweep it under a fanboy rug. And now they’re dumping this movie on DVD with horrid TV Spots that make it seem like a movie made for 10-year-olds.

Yes, the graphic novel/comic flick may be dead – unless Scott Pilgrim can bring it back.

Or maybe you can bring it back by buying Kick-Ass on DVD.

The Ghost Writer

I haven’t seen this movie yet, but I plan to pick it up very soon on DVD.

Why? Because it got phenomenal reviews earlier this year. I like most of the actors in it, and I love a movie that isn’t made for 13-year-old boys and respects its audience.

There is one little caveat to renting this movie – it’s directed by Roman Polanski.

I’ve always felt a bit conflicted renting Roman Polanski films. It’s hard to reconcile supporting a man convicted of raping an underage girl who got away without any real punishment whatsoever. Still, the guy had made some damn fine movies – especially The Pianist – since his self-imposed exile.

I suppose I separate the man from his art, knowing that I can enjoy a movie without celebrating the man. But what does everyone else think?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

If you have no conflict, you can buy The Ghost Writer on DVD.

Also:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Buy Now
A Prophet – Buy Now

TV ON DVD

“Heroes”: Final Season

It’s easy to rag on NBC. In fact, it’s so easy that it’s not even worth doing anymore.

Except in the case of “Heroes”.

It’s interesting that this DVD comes out a couple days after the Television Critics Awards, because it was only a few seasons ago that “Heroes” won ‘Program of the Year’ at that ceremony (won by “Glee” this year).

This category basically seeks to define the TV show that year that won everyone over – critics, industry types, audiences, ratings, advertisers, everybody.

In other words, this was a show that couldn’t fail. A mega-hit in the making. Now? It didn’t even get to 100 episodes. Imagine that happening to “Glee” or “Modern Family” or “True Blood” or some other acclaimed buzz machine.

You can’t. Why? Because they’re not on NBC.

So when you buy “Heroes” on DVD, shed a little tear for NBC.

“Hawaii 5-0”: Season 9 – Buy Now
“Mercy”: Complete Series – Buy Now

And, Just So You Know, This DVD Exists…

See this movie to finally answer the question – “How can you save yourself if you’re already dead?”

What DVDs are you looking forward to picking up this week?

Roman Polanski Released From Swiss Prison

Krystal Clark — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:28:37 +0000

Over the past few months Academy Award winning director Roman Polanski has been living in the confines of Switzerland moving from prison to house arrest and now according to a report from the Los Angeles Times, he’s a free man. He’s been let go after being held on charges that stemmed from a sexual assault that took place over 30 years ago. What’s the reason for the government’s recent change of heart? Someone fucked up the paperwork!

Polanski was accused of raping a 13 year old girl, supplying her with alcohol and drugs in the form of a Quaalude pill in 1977. Since then, he’d been on the run from U.S. authorities, which eventually came to an end last fall with his surprise arrest in Switzerland. After being under lock and key for 7 months there was an error in the U.S. extradition request and Polanski has been released.

In its decision Monday, the Swiss justice department said it could not exclude the possibility that the extradition request was “undermined by a serious fault,” because the U.S. had failed to turn over certain documents requested by the Swiss with regard to the case.

Also, Swiss authorities said that, until 2009, the U.S. had not filed any extradition request against Polanski “for years,” even though it knew he had bought a house in Switzerland in 2006 and was a regular visitor there. That gave the director a reasonable expectation that he was not under threat of arrest and deportation from there.

As of 12:30 today, Polanski is a free man according to a Swiss official. Do you see what happens when you don’t have proper follow-through? This is not the type of error we need popping up in a major assault case. They literally had 3 decades to make sure their case was air-tight and yet something like this still happened. Thanks a lot random file clerk.

What do you think of the circumstances of Polanski’s release?

Interview: Ewan McGregor Talks About Working for Polanski

Mali Elfman — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:31:59 +0000

Roman Polanski‘s latest film The Ghost Writer is a subtle thriller that needed just the right cast in order to be pulled off. Cut to: Yet another amazing performance by Ewan McGregor. Within the tangled web of the film there is an ease about McGregor’s performance that allowed him to both lead us through the story as an outsider and become a part of it when needed. Unlike many of the other in your face thrillers out there today, this one needed stillness in order to be pulled. McGregor’s humor came off completely natural and set the tone for the films success.

We were able to join a roundtable and talk to McGregor about working on the film. There’s no question that many of us want to know what’s it’s like working with Polanski, Oscar winner and US-exile. There’s no doubt that the man is a genius and put a lot of his personal experiences in the film, so it’ no wonder he knew exactly what he wanted from his actors and wouldn’t have it any other way…

So, another writer?

Ewan McGregor: Yeah, I know – another writer. I think the thing is that writers like to write about the writing, you know? They like the world to know it’s a really difficult and exciting profession. Don’t you all? So you’re always writing about yourselves in a way. But it’s true I’ve played a few journalists and writers and people that sit at keyboards.

Talk a little bit about what your collaboration was like with Roman Polanski.

McGregor: I only spoke to Roman on the telephone before we started, before I met him in Germany. Because he was in Switzerland at the time and I think I was shooting Men Who Stare At Goats in New Mexico and Puerto Rico, so we didn’t actually get to meet before I turned up to start. I was doing costume fitting when he came in, and he’s an iconic man and a legendary director, so for an actor it was quite nerve-wracking to meet him. I was excited to meet him and he was very ghostly, and he’s kind of like a host before you get on set, because there’s two kind of different men, I think, in there (laughs). But when you’re off set he’s making you coffee and making sure everyone’s alright, and then when you start working, be it on the text or actually on the set, he’s very direct. His direction is not guarded or sugarcoated in any way – he’s really quite brusque, almost, with his direction. But the direction is always very interesting and it’s not a coincidence that he’s considered to be a great filmmaker, because he is a great filmmaker.

So how do you deal with it when the direction can be critical?

McGregor: You just have to listen to him and more often than, no, all of the time, he seems to be right. It’s kind of annoying, but
when you try it, it seems to be like oh yeah, he’s right. But I went through a process with him because we’re quite sensitive, actors, and if it’s not considered to be good or right, and Polanski wouldn’t worry about telling you that it was wrong, then it can hurt your feelings. But I have to say I realized very quickly that he was like that with everybody; he directed the props guy and the painter and the set dresser in exactly the same way. In fact, all of our camera crew were Polish, and they were in between setups or whatever, and he was often hanging out with them and you could hear them telling jokes in Polish. They were his buddies and he was almost the toughest with them, when he was directing where the camera should be or whatever, and so I realized it’s not a personal thing. It’s just absolutely about his manner about how he directs.

Can you talk about the sort of meta-movie aspect of this, which is that this guy obviously understands storytelling convention and yet he falls into all the traps and becomes a part of it…

McGregor: I think the writer in him draws him into it in the first place. What I liked about him as a character very much was his unimpressedness; he seems unimpressed by everything, really – people and certainly politicians, politics. I liked playing that – that was fun to play, but I thought he was a good ghost writer. You know, when I spoke to Robert Harris in Berlin recently, he was talking about the idea that there’s an inherent failure about being a ghost writer in the first place, and that you’re selling your wares without your name on it. you’re writing without putting your name to something, and there’s a kind of failed aspect about him, which I thought was quite interesting, and made sense to me about the ghost as well.

I think at first, Robert had the initial idea of writing a book about a ghost writer, a person whose job it is to ask questions, and what happens when that character feels that his subject, his client, isn’t telling him the truth. I think that was the very kernel, the seed of his idea in the first place, just that, and then he kind of wrote his story around that idea. I think it’s the ghost’s desire to find out what the truth is, to discover why he’s being lied to; that draws him into the plot, if you like. And then as he discovers more and more, it’s more about kind of survival – he feels like his life’s in danger and therefore he can’t help but carry on finding things out in order to survive, I guess. Not very successfully, as we see him at the end of the movie.

At the same time he seems to know what he’s getting into. When Olivia Williams’ character comes into his room, he says it’s a bad idea to sleep with her, but he does it anyway.

McGregor: Yeah, because he’s a single – you know, he’s not a, you know, he’s that kind of guy, I suppose.

Did you develop a back story for the character, or did you take your cues from the script?

McGregor: I read the script first, but there’s not a great deal of information about him in the script or the book. But I think that’s purposefully done on the part of Robert Harris and Polanski when they wrote the script. He’s called “The Ghost” and there’s a ghostly quality to him in that he’s amongst all of these people, but we don’t know very much about him. I didn’t feel like I needed much more than what was on the page in the script, because they wrote him really clearly, I felt. I played him exactly as I read him when I first read the script.

How did you decide on the accent you were going to use?

I mean, the kind of things that I thought about [were] we knew that there’s the ghostwriting side and we know that he’s written some best sellers about kind of cheesy celebrities – a magician and a pop or rock star or something. And then we knew in the book that he also went to Cambridge, which is where Lang, the ex-British Prime Minister went to University. So normally or stereotypically, a British actor would probably play someone that went to Cambridge with a standard English accent, like Olivia’s English accent. It’s beautiful when she speaks it, but when I use it I find it makes me feel posh, and it makes me feel kind of upper-class in a sense, that accent. I liked the idea that The Ghost was already out of his depth because he was writing the memoirs of the ex-British Prime Minister and he was someone who was used to writing memoirs of celebrities and magicians and pop stars. So he’s already kind of out of his depth, and I wanted him to be socially out of his class as well, because we’re obsessed with it in Britain. We can’t seem to get away with it (laughs).

So I mainly thought about that, and there’s a critic who’s on the television and there’s a real highbrow kind of intellectual critic show on BBC 2 in Britain late at night when no one’s watching, and there’s these three guys. There’s this guy who sounds a bit like The Ghost, or The Ghost sounds a bit like him, and he’s an intellectual but he’s got a quite strong London accent, there’s an Irishman, and then there’s a woman, and the three of them are extraordinarily intellectual. I liked that, and this guy’s clearly a very educated man, but he has quite a London-sounding accent, and I used that as an idea for The Ghost.

Would the political nature of the film be a hurdle it has to overcome with audiences, or do you think people like to see politicians held accountable?

McGregor: I think they should be; well, I can’t imagine anybody who thinks that they shouldn’t be accountable. It would be an odd position to hold. But I don’t know that it’s a hurdle. I mean, I don’t read reviews, but I haven’t heard of any criticism for the film’s politics. It’s a fictitious story, [but] it’s very very close to events as they are unfolding right now in Great Britain with our ex-British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and it was definitely written with him in mind, I would say. Robert Harris would probably tell you that it was loosely written roundabout Tony Blair. But I think it’s fairly obvious that it’s making a comment about him, and current events get closer to our storyline in the film as days go by, in quite a spooky way – rendition flights and the British forces having been involved potentially in interrogating or torturing prisoners on behalf of the United States of America, which would be illegal. All of these themes in our film are certainly things that have transpired to maybe have happened in British politics, but I don’t think it would be a hurdle. If the character was called Tony Blair and Pierce was asked to do an impersonation of Tony Blair and it was more of a factual account, then we would be in trouble and so would the film, probably. But it was never our intention to do that; it makes comments about politics and politicians and the fact that
they in our film become accountable in that he’s charged with war crimes and will have to face the panel or the jury.

Talk about working with Pierce Bronsan and how you two developed your on-screen relationship, since it’s key to the film.

McGregor: Yeah, it’s great. Pierce is an actor I’ve always watched, and there’s a handful of actors you wonder if one day you might work with, and Pierce was always one of those. I’ve always enjoyed working with him. My experience as The Ghost was kind of a unique one in that I was there from the beginning to the end, and I was always there – I was always on set. I became kind of like one of the crew, really, and then other actors would come in and out. But for the first week or so, I was mainly on my own; I just did the stuff with The Ghost on his own, and then I think Olivia came out and we did the stuff on the beach.

Then when Pierce arrived, we were up in a place in North Poland and we had really bad weather problems in that we had really good weather and we needed really bad weather. So we were supposed to start doing some stuff on the set in the house, which everyone’s very disappointed to find out isn’t a real house. But because we had bad weather, we had weather cover, which was the scene on the airplane in the private jet, which is really a big, long scene, it’s a seven-page scene, and it’s the end of Pierce’s story. It’s his big moment, his big scene, and there’s a confrontation between The Ghost and the ex-British Prime Minister just before he’s shot in the airport.

So it’s like the end of a story, and Roman phoned up Pierce, who I think had just arrived in Germany, and said, “we’re thinking of maybe starting with that. Is that okay?” I mean, I’ve heard him talk about this, so he said, yes, that’s fine, but then you suddenly find yourself in that little jet set – that’s really fun to say, “jet set,” when it means something – but he’s on the jet set and having to wade through seven pages of dialogue with me and be directed by Polanski for the first time, which was something I’d become very accustomed to.

But I was in the position where I was able to watch everybody else’s reactions to him as they came in – you know, when Olivia arrived or when Tom Wilkinson arrived. Whenever the actors came in, I would be able to watch them as Polanski tore them to shreds (laughs). No, he didn’t tear them to shreds.

Can you talk about the ending and what it means to you? It’s interesting as if he feels compelled and believes the truth will protect him. Can you talk about how he continues to find stuff out for his survival. Why do you think he reveals that he knows what’s going on? ***SPOILERS AHEAD***

McGregor: I think because he’s discovered it and he can’t help but let her know. I think it’s just that kind of gut reaction. I don’t know what his intention is after that – whether he’s going to go off and reveal it. I suppose so. It’s a slightly defiant moment at the end where he goes ‘fuck you’ to her and wants her to know that he knows. I don’t think it matters one way or the other. They were on to him anyway and I think probably that’s why he’s been invited to the book launch which could cast doubt on the actual fact whether Amelia Bly is in fact involved in it as well because he comes as her plus 1. Whether they were bringing him there to do him in or not, I don’t know. But the nice thing is that it wasn’t in the script, nor was it in the book.

At the end of the script, The Ghost leaves the party, the book launch, and walks off into the crowd and she runs out of the door after him and can’t see him. He’s gone because he’s a Ghost and he disappears into the crowd in London, in the London street, and we don’t know what happens to him and we don’t know if he’s going to reveal her.

Polanski, one day on set, you know we’d been shooting for some weeks when he came up to me and he went, “I have an idea for the end” and he described this ending to me and I thought it was amazing. It is an amazing… it’s a beautiful shot. It’s a very clever shot. It’s one shot. I don’t think the camera moves. If it does, it just follows me out the door and then it’s static. It’s a beautiful piece of storytelling. It’s classic filmmaking. It’s classic Polanski. You can imagine other directors having 50 shots in that sequence and he just pans the camera and leaves us to imagine what’s going on off camera, which is great.

Check out our review of the film and see McGregor in The Ghost Writer now!

The Ghost Writer: Movie Review

Mali Elfman — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:31:29 +0000

Roman Polanski hits the big screen with his new psychological thriller, The Ghost Writer starring Ewan McGregor. Despite all the recent drama in his life, Polanski manages to pull another rabbit out of his hat and surprise audiences in a whole new way with this film. From his comedic jabs and clever dialogue to his dramatic use of tone and music, The Ghost Writer had me curiously invested in the film from start to finish.

Let’s take a closer look…

The Players:

Director: Roman Polanski
Writers: Robert Harris (novel “The Ghost”), Robert Harris (adaptation), Roman Polanski (writer)
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Timothy Hutton, Tom Wilkinson, James Belushi, Jon Bernthal
Score: Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography: Pawel Edelman

The Plot:

The former British prime minister hires a second ghostwriter to help finish him memoirs after the first ghostwriter mysteriously washes up on shore. As “The Ghost” who is never named begins his work on the project, things begin to go wrong for the ex-prime minister and suddenly his job turns into a mystery that he has to solve before its too late…

The Good:

The Humor: There was something very smart and human about the humor in this film. All of the jokes seemed to roll out of the situations naturally and different jokes got different laughs from the audience, depending on how far you were willing to go. My favorite: “He can’t drown all of you, you’re not kittens!” There were a few obvious quips about English Vs. Americans, the ridiculousness of politics and media, and being exiled – all of which felt extremely personal to the director and for lack of a better word, adult. It felt like Polanksi confronted many of recent problems and decided to take the high road by adding a number of subtle and yet humorous jabs at the situation.
The Story: Although you might be able to see where it’s going, it unfolds rather nicely and has a great pay-off at the end. Despite it’s long run-time, the film had a great old fashioned, detective story feel to it, that almost reminded be a bit of Vertigo in the way that things slowly unravel in an fascinating way.
Dialogue: Finally some good writing and some good dialogue. Often times when movies are adapted from books, the dialogue and story suffer from the transition — but not in this film. There were a number of great lines delivered by great performances. It was so much fun to actually enjoy watching people talk to one another in a thriller instead of just waiting for the next event to take place.
Ewan McGregor: He’s the lead of the film and rightly so. There is an ease about McGregor’s performance, which matched perfectly with the tone and humor of the film. The film needed subtlety in order to be pulled off and he does a great job of not only being the focus of the film, but also leading us through the story without ever being too obvious. As previously discussed the humor was quite natural and that’s mainly due to the wonderful performance given by McGregor.

The Bad:

Run-Time: This is a common problem with films being released lately. It seems like film-makers, studios, whoever is in charge thinks that in order for audiences to get their moneys worth they have keep you in the theaters for over two hours. The film was 128 minutes and it could have easily been reduced to under 110. There’s nothing wrong with a film that gets to the point in 100 minutes!
Accents: Although a number of them were quite good, it seemed like no one was allowed to use their real accents and yet they all wanted to. There were little slip ups here and there across the board, nothing major but it was noticeable at times.

Overall:

I found myself enjoying this film much more than I expected. It’s not as in your face as it’s competitor this weekend Shutter Island, but it’s extremely well made and fun to watch unfold.

Rating: 8/10

The Ghost Writer in theaters February 19th!

Photos:

Trailer:

Polanski’s Ghost Writer Gets Release and German Trailer

Mali Elfman — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:31:27 +0000

Putting the whole arrest and trial thing aside, Director Roman Polanski will hopefully be available in the coming months to see his latest film The Ghost Writer with the impressive ensemble cast of Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Eli Wallach, Timothy Hutton, Tom Wilkinson and James Belushi be released at the Berlin Film Festival on February 11. Hopefully he’ll even get a chance to talk to press about what he should be talking to them about, making movies.

If you’re not planning on making the trip out to Berlin, have no fear. Summit has just released a statement saying that the film will receive a limited release in the states starting on February 19, 2010.

Official Synopsis from Summit:

When a successful British ghostwriter, THE GHOST, agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister ADAM LANG, his agent assures him it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start—not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang’s long-term aide, died in an unfortunate accident.

The Ghost flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. Eastern seaboard. But the day after he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA—a war crime. The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, RUTH, and his personal assistant (and mistress), AMELIA. As The Ghost works, he begins to uncover clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA—and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind. Was Lang in the service of the American intelligence agency while he was prime minister? And was The Ghost’s predecessor murdered because of the appalling truth he uncovered?

Resonating with topical themes, this atmospheric and suspenseful political thriller is a story of deceit and betrayal on every level— sexual, political and literary. In a world in which nothing, and no one, is as it seems, The Ghost quickly discovers that the past can be deadly—and that history is decided by whoever stays alive to write it.

The only trailer we currently have so far is in German, most likely because it’s for the film festival. Hopefully we’ll get an American version ASAP, but you can honestly get a pretty clear idea of what he’s going for without a lot of the dialogue…

What do you think of The Ghost Writer? Are you excited to see Polanski’s film on the big screen?

Roman Polanski Hearing Date Set

Krystal Clark — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:52:31 +0000

A new development has been made in the long running Roman Polanski legal case. The Oscar winning director has been awaiting trail for his 1970′s sex offense charge, and finally a court date has been set. According to The Independent it will take place in California, which will be the director’s first time in the States in decades.

Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini said Judge Peter Espinoza will convene a hearing on the film director’s child sex case. This will be the first time the 32 year old charges will be processed through the U.S. judicial system since last month a state appeal court rejected Polanski’s bid to have it dismissed. The director is currently under house arrest in Switzerland, where he was apprehended last September.

Judge Epinoza has scheduled for an open hearing even though Polanski’s lawyers requested an in-chambers conference on the case. The director is accused of raping a 13 year old girl, supplying her with alcohol and drugs in the form of a Quaalude pill in 1977. Since then he’s been on the run from U.S. prosecution, which ended last fall with his surprise arrest. Since this is an open hearing we wonder if it will be made public, with camera’s in tow? They’ve done that with so many other high profile celebrity cases it wouldn’t be surprising if they decided to put Polanski in front of the camera for a change.

Do you think they should televise the Polanski trial?

Roman Polanski Has Been Granted Bail

Krystal Clark — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:19:45 +0000

Roman Polanski has been sitting in a Swiss jail for the past couple of months thanks to his historical arrest back in September. According to Reuters, the Academy Award winning director has made bail after an initial rejection from the Swiss court, but his freedom will come with a hefty price.

The Swiss Government has granted bail to Polanski after being held in jail for almost two months. The bail amount was set at 4.5 million Swiss francs ($4.49 million dollars), and will be in effect while he awaits his extradition to the United States. While on bail, the director will have certain restraints on his new found freedom. He has to surrender his identity papers and live under strict house arrest with an electronic ankle bracelet depending on how the extradition case goes.

His past as a professional bail jumper was one of the reason’s the government decided to reject his original plea for release, but with the amount of money Polanski will have to put up, their confident he won’t make the same mistake twice. The director’s lawyers even stated that “the potential loss of fortune would prevent the director from fleeing.”

After 30 years on the run and a pending court case for old and new charges, it wouldn’t be a smart choice for Polanski to do anything crazy with this limited free time. He probably just wants to get it over with and finally own up to his original crime.

What do you think about Roman Polanski being granted bail?

Swiss Court Rejects Roman Polanski’s Latest Offer

Laura Aguirre — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:33:56 +0000

The Swiss don’t trust Roman Polanski… not one bit!

According to the Associate Press, Swiss authorities rejected a new higher offer of bail from director Roman Polanski because they think he’ll flee the country once again. Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli said the offer was not made in cash and that it did not discuss plans that the 76-year-old filmmaker would flee Switzerland (sketchy, much?)

“We still consider the flight risk as high,” Galli told the Associated Press.

It has been weeks since Polanski was first arrested on September 26, when he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime award from film festival. The director of many classic films such as Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl by persuading her with champagne and a Quaalude pill during a modeling shoot back in’77. Initially, Polanski was charged with six felony’s, including rape by use of drugs, child molestation and sodomy. Polanski plead guilty to minor charges and a judge agreed to drop the remaining charges by sentencing him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. However, after only 42-days, Polanski was released by an evaluator, but the judge said that Polanski had to finish the 90 days. This of course never happened because Polanski skipped court on Feb. 1, 1978 and fled the country.

The U.S. has asked for Polanski to be “handed over,” but Galli has stated they they need time to make a deportation decisions that could take weeks (like it has) or months.

Legal experts say the director has little to no chance of being released from prison, no matter what he offers to the Swiss Criminal Court because of his fleeing tendencies.

For now, all Polanski can do is wait for the Swiss court to make a decision on whether or not he’ll be returned to the U.S., but like Galli said, that could take a while.

What do you think about the Polanski latest?

ScreenCrave.com » Roman Polanski

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