Griff Now Invisible in America

I was surprised to learn that Leon Ford's bittersweet superhero movie Griff the Invisible had been acquired for an American release. Surprised because it's no longer 1995 when this probably would have done gangbusters over there. Instead, it's 2011 where Animal Kingdom can barely gross $1million and where foreign films (in a "foreign language" or not) take a lot of time and effort to reach half of that.

Still, released it will be on 19 August. In to how many cinemas and in what cities I am not sure, but I really liked it so I'd suggest going to see it. And that's even if you are burnt out on superhero movies like X-Men: Born This Way, The Green Lantern, Thor and Captain America. Plus, it's got Ryan Kwanten being adorable so, ya know, there's that.

I always find it curious to note how differently movies are marketed in America compared to Australia, whether they're Australian films or American films. The American poster to the left there has gone for an obvious mass-quirk concept with the hand-drawn images that are such commonplace these days amongst independent dramadies like Griff. It does, however, get the superhero message across better than the local poster, although the very first, Cannes festival poster by Jeremy Saunders is still my favourite. I'm not sure why that one was never used in any official release capacity.

The trailers, on the other hand, are very different and yet essentially the same. Although the US trailer doesn't include the image to your right, which is probably my single favourite shot from a movie so far this year. And for a year that has had Meek's Cutoff, Jane Eyre and The Tree of Life amongst its visual splendours that's quite a big call.


Australian vs American
So, do tell American, will you be seeing Griff the Invisible when you get the chance?

Australian Circles

The Film Critics Circle of Australia recently announced the nominees for their 2010 awards and I am, unfortunately, only just getting around to posting them. What can I say? I've been busy!

Naturally, David Michôd's Animal Kingdom lead the competition with its ten nominations, but the best result of the nominations was the haul of Claire McCarthy's The Waiting City. One of my favourite Aussie films of last year was sadly left off of the AFI list apart from one meager Best Cinematography nomination. I suspect Bright Star's absence - which fell within the AFI's eligibility window, but not the FCCA's as it was a late 2009 release - paved way for that, but it's nice to see nonetheless. Also surprising was the relatively strong showing of Shirley Barrett's snooze-fest South Solitary. I can be on board with Essie Davis' supporting actress citation, but the rest makes me raise an eyebrow. I wasn't aware of anyone actually liking that movie apart from an errant one or two. Other films to feature prominently were Bran Nue Dae, Tomorrow When the War Began, Beneath Hill 60 and Belinda Chayko's Lou, which came and disappeared in a blink. Nice to see it get some recognition here though.

In regards to those final two categories, isn't it interesting that even people outside of the American awards circle can still find themselves nominating the same films? My personal ballot of best foreign films - English language or not - wouldn't include any of those titles! Hmmm.

Best Film
Animal Kingdom
Beneath Hill 60
Bran Nue Dae
Tomorrow When The War Began
The Waiting City

Best Director
Stuart Beattie, Tomorrow When The War Began
Claire McCarthy, The Waiting City
David Michôd, Animal Kingdom
Rachel Perkins, Bran Nue Dae
Jeremy Hartley Sims, Beneath Hill 60

Best Actor – Leading Role
Brendan Cowell, Beneath Hill 60
Joel Edgerton, The Waiting City
James Frecheville, Animal Kingdom
Ryan Kwanten, Red Hill
Ben Mendelsohn, Animal Kingdom

Best Actress – Leading Role
Lily Bell-Tindley, Lou
Radha Mitchell, The Waiting City
Miranda Otto, South Solitary
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Actor – Supporting Role
Joel Edgerton, Animal Kingdom
Steve Le Marquand, Beneath Hill 60
Guy Pearce, Animal Kingdom
Kodi Smit-McPhee, Matching Jack

Best Actress – Supporting Role
Emily Barclay, Lou
Morgana Davies, The Tree
Essie Davis, South Solitary
Deborah Mailman, Bran Nue Dae

Best Foreign Film – English Language
Inception, Director: Christopher Nolan
The King’s Speech, Director: Tom Hooper
The Social Network, Director: David Fincher
Winter’s Bone, Director: Debra Granik

Best Foreign Language Film
Father Of My Children, Director: Mia Hansen-Løve
A Prophet, Director: Jacques Audiard
The Secret In Their Eyes, Director: Juan Jose Campanella
The White Ribbon, Director: Michael Haneke

For the complete list of nominations, including screenplay, editing, music and cinematography, click on over to Encore.

Jacki Weaver, Academy Award Nominee.

I think I predicted this back in March.


While I didn't do all that well with my Oscar predictions, I did foresee a couple of the notable things. How about Javier Bardem and I was so happy to see The Illusionist get the leg-up over Tangled and *shudder at the the thought* Despicable Me. Although I wish I'd kept Another Year in my original screenplay predictions instead of swapping it out for Blue Valentine. Meanwhile, in the Best Director category I correctly predicting a big omission, I just went in the wrong direction.

I thought Darren Aronofsky would miss out ala Baz Luhrmann in 2002 when everyone thought there was no way the branch could look at it and not recognise the direction. It was not Aronofsky though, but Christopher Nolan. I must say, I let out a laugh when his name was not read because, as a cinephile I was very distinctly in the minority in thinking that The Reader was the best film nominated in 2009 - give or take a Milk. Hearing all of Nolan's "fanboys" all but shit over that film and it's director Stephen Daldry for "stealing" Nolan's nomination. I am anticipating who these people will claim "stole" Nolan's nomination.

I find it incredibly insulting to throw around this "Inception directed itself?" line because, well, the five nominees all did fine work and earned their nominations. And then there's the issue of the four other directors who didn't get nomination alongside their movies in the Best Picture category. I feel a bit bad for the likes of Debra Granik and Lisa Cholodenko who have to listen to these people yammer on about Nolan being "snubbed" and yet there they are, also having directed Best Picture nominees and... well, I just think it's really poor form. Nevertheless, next year Christopher Nolan has a film in contention will we be seeing 10 nominees for Best Director? Hmmm...

One last word: Burlesque?

Okay, more than one last word. I can live with Burlesque not being nominated, but not nominated against *that* line-up? Or, more specifically, *that* song from 127 Hours? It's fitting that it's played during a shot that just hangs in the sky because it's the musical equivalent of air. It barely exists! I'm not even sure how it qualifies as a song to be perfectly honest with you. Add in the two animated tunes and it's one of the dullest lineups in that category's history. And that's from someone who tends to defend that category more than others. What a load of rubbish!

The Best (And Worst) Posters of 2010 - Part Three

For parts one and two of this three part look at the best and worst movie posters of 2010, by all means, click this link and then this one!


And so we come to the final instalment. We've already looked at the worst and handed out a few fun prizes, now we get to countdown the 50 best posters of 2010. I guess, if you want to get technical, it's more than 50 (as you'll see further down the list), but let's just call it 50 and be done with it, yeah? This list will be subjective, I'm sure, and you will all have your own opinions as to what the best posters were, but I hope this list works as a good summary of the very best that the year had to offer. I didn't think 2010 was that great of a year for the medium until I actually started making the list and realised I couldn't stop. That is always a good sign, I reckon, and while my #1 was glaringly obvious from the moment I saw it all the way back in January, I've had a great time siphoning through all the contenders and soaking in the beauty.

Let's start this bad boy!

50. The Human Centipede
49. Predators
48. The American


47. William S Burroughs: A Man Within
46. Sweetgrass
45. Tiny Furniture


44. GasLand
43. New York, I Love You
42. Burlesque


41. Life During Wartime
40. Frozen
39. Red Riding


38. A Film Unfinished
37. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
36. Survival of the Dead


35. Daddy Longlegs
34. The Tree
33. The Social Network


32. Monsters


31. True Grit
30. A Little Death
29. Piranha 3D


28. Howl
27. Music from the Big House


26. Devil
25. Fish Tank
24. Let Me In


23. The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights
22. Somewhere
21. Enter the Void


20. Shutter Island
For it's plot tease (put the pieces together) and shirking of cliché (Leo's big head for one).


19. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
For it's striking and uncharacteristic feminine pink-on-pink.


18. The Girl Who Played with Fire
For Noomi Rapace's pose. All she needs is a middle finger in the air and the other down her pants.


17. Rabbit Hole
For being unexpected, and excellent too.


16. The Four-Faced Liar
15. Four Lions
For Colored Girls
Completely coincidental that these three should sit side by side. They're here for the bringing the funny (#16 and #15) and for their artfulness (#14).


13. The Expendables
For its Mexican cockiness.


12. Machete
For it's blaxploitation goodness.


11. Animal Kingdom
For it's family portrait of menace.


10. Black Swan
For their boldness and impact.


9. Dawning
For the immediate itch under the skin that I get from looking at them.


8. And Everything is Going Fine
For it's striking and unique imagery.


7. Best Worst Movie
For it's shlocky inventiveness.


6. I'm Still Here
For creating it's own iconography and that typography.


5. I Am Love
For it's grandeur, elegance and that typography.


4. Carlos
For being retro is the best way possible (WHITE BORDERS! QUOTE MARKS!)


3. Love and Other Drugs
For selling the "rom" and the "com" and being sexy doing it!


2. Shit Year
For being the total opposite of "shit".


1. The Runaways
For dripping sex (literally). For the worn vinyl sleeve backdrop. For the "cherry bomb". For being the best poster of 2010.

And that's it, folks. Posters for 2010 are done and dusted and it's time to move on to 2011. Chime in with your thoughts/disbeliefs/crazy rants in the comment section. What was your favourite poster of the year?