Fall is here & that means – Oscar season!  Yes, a few inspirational films scattered throughout a bunch of movies to slit-your-wrists-by.  Guess which ones I prefer.

On the heels of Oscar season comes the holiday movie season.  Blockbuster tentpole releases, family films (some crappy, some fun), & a few Oscar stragglers.

Here are a few upcoming releases that I’m excited about.  Hmmm… they all come out within 5 days of each other.

Australia

OK, I confess, I have never seen a Baz Luhrmann movie on the big screen.  I came to the party late. 

I have adored Strictly Ballroom for many years.   It’s charming.  It has that bizarre Austrailian sensibility.  It’s kind of a fairy tale with a wonderful “my goodness without your glasses you’re beautiful” moment.  And the end is kind of what I think Heaven is like.  “Forget the rules.  Everybody get on the dance floor and party!”

I think Moulin Rouge is genius!  Outrageous!  I concede it’s a love it or hate it kind of movie.  And I’m perfectly OK with the people who hate it.  I understand.  But I fall in the love it camp.  I mean, come on!  The guy took all these pieces that don’t really connect & made them make sense together in one crazy acid trip of a musical that is ludicrously romantic.  I think my most iconic moment in Moulin Rouge is the oversized gun bouncing off the Eiffel Tower in the most disproportionate way.  Why does that work?!

 Well, my chance to see Baz’s work in a theater is coming up.  On Thanksgiving weekend, his latest, Australia opens & I will be there.  The movie stars Nicole Kidman & Hugh Jackman & is set in pre World War II Australia (what a surprise!).  The trailer seems to point to a story within a story which I love.  I sometimes like Nicole Kidman & here she doesn’t seem to be doing her breathy thing which grates on me.  No problem with yummy Hugh Jackman & he’s speaking with his native Aussie accent.  Yippee.  Looks epic, lush, different, creating its own reality; all Luhrmann trademarks!

Australia opens November 26th.  Watch the trailer here.

The Soloist

Also in November, one of my current obsessions, Robert Downey Jr, is teaming up with a director who is quickly becoming a favorite, Joe Wright.  You know, the director of back to back epic romances Pride & Prejudice & Atonement.  Well, his next stars RDJ in the true story of a LA journalist who befriends a homeless schizophrenic musician, played by Jamie Foxx.  Excuse me while I have a brief stroke of happiness…t$sx%^q…OK, I’m back.

I actually stumbled across an interview with Steve Lopez on NPR last spring, the journalist who wrote the series of articles on which the movie is based.  Lopez chronicled his relationship with the former Julliard cellist and the column became quite popular.  The trailer looks awesome!  Inspirational not slit-your-wrists.  So happy to see Downey complete his comeback summer; popcorn movie, comedy, & now drama.  I’m not as familiar with Foxx but he looks like he will break my heart.  And I’m very excited to see how Wright handles a modern setting.  Sorry, no Keira Knightley in this one.

RDJ, many blessings on your head!  May you be surrounded by people who can help you handle success & kick you in the butt when you need it!

The Soloist opens November 21st.  Watch the trailer here.

Quantum of Solace

I’ve not been a huge James Bond fan but I have enjoyed the series’ leading men quite a bit!  When it was announced several years ago that Daniel Craig had been cast as the latest Bond, I was very happy.  I’ve thought he was completely yummy since his turn as an American in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.  (Yes, there he was surpressing his delicious British accent & there was American Angelina Jolie speaking with a British accent.  Ah, the mysteries of casting.)  But even without the British accent he was still completely hot!

I enjoyed Craig’s first turn as 007, Casino Royale, quite a bit.  The action sequences were awesome & I liked seeing the ”Bond in the beginning” take on the story.  The movie was a bit too long & I found the poker section kind of boring, but at least there was nice scenery.

The trailers for Quantum of Solace (bizarre name that is apparently the title of a short story by Ian Fleming) look amazing!  Same gritty action, maybe a better plot, and, of course, Daniel Craig!  Sigh for steely-eyed, six-pack abed, British accented hotties!

Quantum of Solace opens November 21st.  (ooo… moral dilema; will I see Bond or Downey… or both?!)  Watch the Bond trailer here.