Ole Christen Madsen's new film, Flame and Citron, comes out in Denmark in the end of March. In my opinion, Ole Christen Madsen is an extremely overlooked Danish director. Madsen doesn't make dogme films, which keeps him under the radar of international critics, and even on the outskirts of Danish cinema. I'm intrigued by this film's budget - at 10 million US dollars, it has the largest budget of any film ever made in Denmark. It's also worth noting that Mads Mikkelsen is starring, and I LOVE Mads Mikkelsen. As I've seen almost all of his films, I was more than a little overjoyed when he showed up in Casino Royale back in 2006. I can only hope that this film is available in the US sometime in the next year.

For those unversed in the Danish Resistance, 'Flame' and 'Citron' were two famous resistance fighters, charged with the task of "liquidating" Danish informers while Denmark was occupied by the Nazis. They later went on to kill a number of influential Germans occupying the country as well.

The Teaser trailer, with no dialogue (for those of us who don't speak any Danish, which is - face it - most of the western world):


The full length trailer can be found at Twitchfilm.net

In honor of the self-congratulatory spirit of the Oscars this year, I'm writing myself a self-congratulatory post. I should really bet money on the Oscars! I only got Costumes and Documentary wrong. I am a powerhouse.

I'm totally posting this before they announce best picture. This was maybe the most boring Oscars ever. It was certainly the most masturbatory, what with this ridiculous theme of 'congratulations to us for congratulating ourselves for 80 years!' they have going on tonight.

Predictions for Oscar - I have some.


Best Picture: No Country For Old Men
Director: The Coen Brothers (No Country For Old Men)
Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Actress: I really want to say Julie Christie, but Marion Cotillard will win this.
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem
Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton
Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody (Juno) And when she wins, a little piece of my heart will die.
Adapted Screenplay: There Will Be Blood Diving Bell and the Butterfly could easily win this category, or No Country For Old Men if they're feeling the Cormac McCarthy love especially strongly.
Cinematography: There Will Be Blood
Art Direction: Sweeney Todd Or maybe Atonement?
Costumes: Atonement The green dress cinched this months ago.
Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum I suppose this could go to No Country For Old Men, but I'm betting on the Academy being tired of giving them Oscars after they probably didn't 'get' the ending.
Score: Atonement
Special Effects: The Golden Compass
Foreign: Austria - Counterfeiters
Song: Falling Slowly - Once
Make-up: La Vien En Rose
Sound Mixing: The Bourne Ultimatum
Animated: Ratatouille
Documentary: No End In Sight

I'm not even going to bother with the shorts...I've seen them all, but honestly, I have no idea what the Academy looks for in those categories. I think half the voters just do 'eeny-meeny-miny-mo' to choose.
I look forward to being [mostly] right tonight.

So, it turns out that there are a lot of people who think Diablo Cody and her script are ridiculous:

Timothy Brayton writes just the sort of movie reviews that I like to read:

"I went to see Jumper with a female friend, who wanted to go because Hayden Christensen is pretty. I wanted to go because Rachel Bilson is pretty. Our post-film analysis concluded that because Jamie Bell is so pretty now, it makes watching him as a 13-year-old in Billy Elliot kind of awkward."

I sort of feel that way every time I see Jamie Bell now that he's all grown up.
You can read the rest of his review here.

Wristcutters: A Love Story

Maybe this makes me horribly biased, but I love the idea of this movie because it reminds me so much of 'Bröderna Lejonhjärta,' one of my favorite movies as a child.

I LOVE that the soundtrack is composed mostly of Joy Division.

Patrick Fugit is perfection. Why is he not in more?

Everytime I see Shannyn Sossamon, I wonder how many good movies she'll have to make before I forget about how abysmal she was in 'A Knight's Tale.' I didn't see 'One Missed Call,' but I'm guessing that pushed her back a bit.

Tom Waits? Hell to the yes! Figures that he'd do miracles and crap...Tom Waits = Magic. It's that simple.

It's really too bad that this film floated around in its own limbo for so long...it definitely deserved far more fanfare than it received.

The dialog is fantastic:
"I'm not going out tonight. It just makes me depressed."
"So, what you gonna do? Kill yourself?"

OMG WILL ARNETT!

'Gloomy Sunday' in the soundtrack? Je l'aime!

I wish all romantic comedies were this original, beautiful, and entertaining.





Unrelated:
According to IMDB, there's an Arrested Development movie coming out in 2009...IS THIS TRUE???
Edit: There is indeed a movie in the works, I found a yahoo article about it. I feel almost overwhelmingly happy now!

Juno: The feel-good movie for people who would like to think that they are above liking feel-good movies.

And, that soundtrack? God-awful. If I ever have to listen to the Moldy Peaches again, my metaphorical soul might just curl up and die.

I felt sorry for Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner every time they struggled to make their soulless, barren, despicable/shrewish characters relatable or likable.

Re the Asian girl outside the clinic: Was it just me, or was it slightly racist? She could barely speak English. The whole scene made me sad.

How could a girl as intelligent as Juno not know the origin of her own name? Juno was Jupiter's wife, not Zeus' wife. You're looking for the Roman version, not the Greek version, Diablo Cody.

15 minutes into the film, and I was already sick of the running gag of the boys in short running shorts.

Why are all the characters charictures? They're certainly all very quirky and odd, but Cody and Reitman seem to mistake quirkiness for character development. NOT EQUAL.

My thoughts after watching 'Southland Tales':


God, I will never get Elbow's 'Forget Myself' out of my head.

Wait, Amy Poehler is in this?

Wait, Amy Poehler died already?

It's cute that Kelly thinks he's David Lynch.

Wallace Shawn: now doing the Sicilian on crack.

I can't believe they gave Justin Timberlake a musical number that he didn't dance OR sing in.

Present self. Future self. What?

What the hell just happened? (A question I asked myself frequently while I was watching Southland Tales)

I cannot take anyone from 'American Pie' seriously as a "Savior."

I'm a pimp, and pimps don't commit suicide.


I actually sort of liked most of it. And clocking in at nearly 2 1/2 hours, that's quite nearly a feat. It's a lot of sound and noise signifying nothing, but it's oddly entertaining in a bizarre, utterly meaningless way. It's completely ridiculous, but I forgive it, on the basis of being so very, very unintentionally hilarious. Folks, it's so bad that it's good.