Ralph Fiennes

Riveting, Must-See ‘The Hurt Locker’ is Flawless Filmmaking

BrianTT — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:48:17 -0600

CHICAGO – Filmmaking simply doesn’t get much more riveting than Kathryn Bigelow’s incredible “The Hurt Locker,” a cinematic experience unlike any other that you will have this year. Building and releasing tension better than her peers have in a long time, Bigelow has made not only the best Iraq War movie to date but the best film of 2009 at just over the halfway point.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

With “The Hurt Locker,” Bigelow takes viewers to the other side of the world to bring into relatable perspective a daily grind that most of us couldn’t even imagine. The leads in “The Hurt Locker” are soldiers in Iraq who diffuse bombs for a living, often in range of sniper fire and often with materials and equipment tragically unable to protect them should something go wrong.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “The Hurt Locker” in our reviews section.

“The Hurt Locker” is a visceral, daring, adrenalin-pumping experience that brings a profession that would seem nearly impossible to identify with into relatable, genuine context. It could be your friend, your son, your neighbor, or even you thrown into the nightmare of “The Hurt Locker”.

The film opens with a shocking death (that I won’t spoil) that allows Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner of “The Unusuals”) to join an expert group of bomb-diffusing soldiers in Iraq. The enemy often leaves a bomb in the middle of the road to kill passing troops. When someone sees something suspicious - wires sticking out of some garbage, metal where there should only be sand - they call in James, Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty).

Continuing reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “The Hurt Locker” review.

‘The Hurt Locker’ stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Evangeline Lilly, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, David Morse. It was written by Mark Boal and directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It opens in Chicago on July 10th, 2009. It is rated R.

(Left to right) Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie star in The Hurt Locker.
Photo credit: Jonathan Olley

HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: 2 Signed ‘The Hurt Locker’ Posters With Star Jeremy Renner

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:53:56 -0600

CHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 2 signed “The Hurt Locker” posters by star Jeremy Renner and a few other cast members and filmmakers! “The Hurt Locker” stars Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly and Christian Camargo.

“The Hurt Locker,” which opens on July 10, 2009 in Chicago, is the winner of the 2008 Venice Film Festival SIGNIS Grand Prize. The film will be showing at AMC River East and Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema in Chicago as well as CineArts in Evanston, Ill.

To win your “The Hurt Locker” signed poster courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is tell us your danger story in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and win can be found beneath the graphic below.

The movie poster for “The Hurt Locker” with Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce and Jeremy Renner.
Image credit: Summit Entertainment

Here is the synopsis for “The Hurt Locker”:

“The Hurt Locker,” which is the winner of the 2008 Venice Film Festival SIGNIS Grand Prize, is a riveting and suspenseful portrait of the courage under fire of the military’s unrecognized heroes: the technicians of a bomb squad who volunteer to challenge the odds and save lives in one of the world’s most dangerous places.

Three members of the U.S. Army’s elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad battle insurgents and each other as they search for and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad to make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike.

Their mission is clear – protect and save – but it’s anything but easy as the margin of error when defusing a war-zone bomb is zero. This thrilling and heart-pounding look at the effects of combat and danger on the human psyche is based on the firsthand observations of journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal who was embedded in a special bomb unit in Iraq. These men spoke of explosions as putting you in “the hurt locker”.

Acclaimed director Kathryn Bigelow brings together groundbreaking realistic action and intimate human drama in a landmark film starring Jeremy Renner (“Dahmer,” “The Assassination of Jesse James”), Anthony Mackie (“Half Nelson,” “We Are Marshall”) and Brian Geraghty (“We Are Marshall,” “Jarhead”) with cameo appearances by Ralph Fiennes (“The Reader”), David Morse (“John Adams”), Evangeline Lilly (“Lost”) and Guy Pearce (“Memento”).

“The Hurt Locker” is produced by Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Greg Shapiro and Nicolas Chartier. The screenplay is written by Mark Boal (the story of “In the Valley of Elah”). Barry Ackroyd (“United 93,” “The Wind That Shakes the Barley”) is the director of photography. The production designer is Karl Juliusson (“K19: The Widowmaker,” “Breaking the Waves”).

Editors are Bob Murawski (“Spider-Man 2,” “Spider-Man 3”) and Chris Innis. The costume designer is George Little (“Jarhead,” “Crimson Tide”). Music is by Academy Award nominee Marco Beltrami (“Knowing”) and Buck Sanders (“3:10 to Yuma”). Sound design is by Academy Award nominee Paul N.J. Ottosson (“Spider-Man 2,” “Spider-Man 3”).

To secure your free “The Hurt Locker” autographed poster, you must be logged into your HollywoodChicago.com Web site account. If you don’t yet have one, you can quickly register here. Having a free Web site account with a valid e-mail address is required to win this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup.

Next, simply tell us your best danger story. You must submit your answer using this confidential, Web-based submission form. Please do not comment in this Hookup. Your entry will be invalid if you only comment here and don’t submit into our Web-based form. Please only submit your answer using this submission form.

You must include your first and last name, e-mail address and physical mailing address in your submission. Your personal information will be kept strictly confidential and is only for awarding winning entries. Your personal information will not be sold or shared.

Tell us your best danger story now!

This HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film is simple: Two lucky HollywoodChicago.com readers will be randomly selected as the winners of our Hookup for two “The Hurt Locker” autographed posters! The winners will be sent the posters at our expense. Good luck!

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Blu-Ray Review: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes Shine in ‘The Reader’

BrianTT — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:16:08 -0600

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – The rollercoaster of reaction to Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader” has somewhat diminished the questionable quality of the actual film. A lot of critics, including this one, thought that the Best Picture nomination was more of a reflection of the power of Harvey Weinstein than the film itself and the controversy over Kate Winslet’s category placement (lead vs. supporting) and the argument that her award was more for lifetime achievement than what she brings to the role of Hanna Schmitz, steered the conversation away from the movie itself, now on Blu-Ray.

Watching the film again on Blu-Ray, I have three thoughts about the actual movie, now that it can be viewed outside of the awards season. One, Kate Winslet should have always been in lead. She’s the heart of the film and in over an hour of its total running time. How could you possibly compare that to something like Viola Davis’ ten minutes of work in “Doubt”?

The Reader will be released on Blu-Ray on April 28th, 2009.
Photo credit: The Weinstein Company

Two, the rest of the cast of “The Reader” was unjustly overlooked in Kate’s wake. In particular, Ralph Fiennes is spectacular here. Rent “In Bruges,” “The Duchess,” and “The Reader” and try and find the similarities between the roles or a flaw in any of them. With those three 2008 roles, Fiennes proved again that he is one of the best actors working today.

The Reader will be released on Blu-Ray on April 28th, 2009.
Photo credit: The Weinstein Company

Finally, “The Reader” is better than a lot of us in the critical community gave it credit for. I still don’t think it deserved even consideration for top five pictures of the year. “The Dark Knight,” “WALL-E,” “The Wrestler,” “Rachel Getting Married,” “Waltz With Bashir,” “Let the Right One In,” and “Happy-Go-Lucky” are all vastly superior. But arguments that it is one of the least-deserving Best Picture nominees of all time overshadow what the film actually accomplishes.

The best way to look at “The Reader” is to look at the individual parts, even if the complete sum is a bit lacking. Winslet is amazing. On second viewing, she’s even more deserving of the prizes she won in late 2008 and early 2009. David Hare’s screenplay is good, if not great, but is also unabashedly adult and intellectual. Think how many writers would have softened the sexual edges or looked for more of a Hollywood ending. Hare doesn’t compromise. Even Nico Mulhy’s beautiful score and Chris Menges’ subtle-but-perfect cinematography deserve praise.

“The Reader” may not have been quite as good as the Academy would have viewers believe, but it still well worth at least one viewing. Maybe even two.

In case you’re completely unfamiliar with the film (and it is shocking how such an award-given and Academy-buzzed film could make so little at the box office with just $34 million domestically), it’s a story about a man named Michael Berg (Ralph Fiennes) coming to terms with his past. When he was young (played by David Kross in flashbacks) he had a torrid affair with Hanna Schmitz (Winslet). Years later, they meet again when she is a defendant in a notorious case.

“The Reader” is about how people come to terms with the darkness of their pasts. There is a lot to like but I feel like the center of the film is not relatable. I never felt like I knew the young or old Michael and that leaves the entire thing at arm’s length. The unemotional nature of the writing and direction make for a film that feels a bit too cold because the lead character gets lost. He’s merely the connection between Fiennes and Winslet. I wanted a film as passionate as the performances by these two great actors.

The Reader will be released on Blu-Ray on April 28th, 2009.
Photo credit: The Weinstein Company

The Blu-Ray for “The Reader” is good but not great for such an acclaimed film. Where’s the commentary track? And why is the Blu-Ray picture so, well, “eh”. The daylight scenes are gorgeous in HD but a lot of “The Reader” takes place in Hanna’s tiny, dark apartment and there are definitely problems with the line definition in those scenes. “The Reader” should look better than it does in HD. The audio is serviceable in English 5.1 TrueHD.

The special features for “The Reader” are all interesting, if bizarrely organized and paced. Do we really need to see Kate put on makeup for over 12 minutes in “Kate Winslet on the Art of Aging Hanna Schmitz”? Probably not, although I sometimes feel like any time spent with the lovely Kate is worth it. The 42 minutes of deleted scenes are overwhelming but come commentary or introduction-free. When that much footage is cut from a major film like this, shouldn’t the director, editor, or writer discuss why?

Other featurettes include “Adapting a Timeless Masterpiece: Making The Reader,” “A Conversation With David Kross & Stephen Daldry,” “A New Voice: A Look at Composer Nico Mulhy,” and “Coming To Grips With The Past: Production Designer Brigitte Boch.”

Ignore the positive buzz about Winslet’s continually impressive career and forget the critics who screamed when “The Reader” landed an Academy slot instead of more-deserving films. Ultimately, even with so-so special features and video quality, “The Reader” is definitely worth seeing for yourself.

‘The Reader’ is released by The Weinstein Company and stars Kate Winslet, David Kross, Ralph Fiennes, Lena Olin, and Bruno Ganz. It was written by David Hare and directed by Stephen Daldry. It will be released on April 28th, 2009. It is rated R.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Video: New Trailer For Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘The Hurt Locker’

BrianTT — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:24:56 -0600

CHICAGO – Apple and Trailer Addict released the debut of the new trailer for Kathryn Bigelow’s highly-anticipated Iraq War movie “The Hurt Locker,” opening this summer from Summit Entertainment.

The film played well at the Toronto and Venice Film Festivals last year and opens this July. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, and Guy Pearce in the story of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal squad, a group of men who disarm bombs during wartime. The preview is excellent and we can’t wait to see this one. Check it out for yourself.

Watch more HollywoodChicago.com-hosted A&E videos.
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By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Duchess’ Looks Great, Ultimately Hollow

BrianTT — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:05:48 -0700

CHICAGO – Every year produces a movie or two that dazzles with beautiful costumes and lavishly recreated period settings but falls flat when it comes to character. Saul Dibb’s “The Duchess” is a gorgeously rendered film, a great fit for the HD format of Blu-Ray, but lack of character leaves a film that feels hollow.

Keira Knightley, so much better in last year’s “Atonement,” gets to wear most of the lavishly designed costumes in “The Duchess” as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, a headstrong young woman forced to marry an emotionally distant Duke (Ralph Fiennes) in the 18th century. Knightley needs to prove that she can do something that doesn’t require wigs and costumes. It’s getting repetitive for an actress of her age to be so limited in the roles she chooses.

Georgiana is a head-strong woman in a time and position that doesn’t really support female independence. Despite that, she becomes a fashion icon and celebrity in the social circles she runs in, until things get very complicated at home. The Duke takes a lover, Bess Foster (Hayley Atwell), and the Duchess herself falls in love with an ambitious young politician names Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper). “The Duchess” is a soap opera masquerading as serious drama with infidelity, love triangles, illegitimate children, social scandal, and gossip taking center stage over character.

“The Duchess” is a visual stunner and features a lovely score by Rachel Portman, nomination-worthy costume design by Michael O’Connor and an intriguing supporting performance by Ralph Fiennes, but if you take away the costumes and gorgeous sets, Dibb’s film is nothing but melodrama that would be right at home on a daytime soap opera. Great period pieces transport the viewer to another time. “The Duchess” never does.

“The Duchess” threatens to become more than just a series of melodramatic revelations and awkward conversations between Georgiana and The Duke, but feels too much like people playing dress-up and not genuine. It’s just a series of pretty pictures shot by a director who doesn’t let his film breathe enough for the characters to become real to the audience.

Now, of course, those pretty pictures are all the more vibrant on Blu-Ray and Paramount presents the film in 1080p High Definition with a striking Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. “The Duchess” looks and sounds spectacular on Blu-Ray and I think audiences will actually warm to the film much more with its few strengths amplified by the next-gen format than they did in theaters.

As for special features, “The Duchess” Blu-Ray disappoints. All that Paramount includes are three lonely featurettes, “How Far She Went…Making the Duchess,” “Georgiana In Her Own Words,” and “Costume Diary”. It’s a lackluster collection for a woman and a movie that never did anything in moderation.

‘The Duchess’ is released by Paramount Home Video and stars Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, and Charlotte Rampling, and was written by Jeffrey Hatcher and Anders Thomas Jensen and Saul Dibb and directed by Dibb. It was released on December 28th, 2008.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes Make ‘The Reader’ a Worthwhile Adaptation

BrianTT — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 08:56:53 -0700

CHICAGO – Two of the best actors working in film today, Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet, offer enough to make “The Reader” a cinematic book worth reading, even if it’s not the masterpiece it could have been with a few different choices by its director and writer.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

“The Reader” is a surprisingly ineffective film when approached on an emotional level, as if director Stephen Daldry and adapter David Hare are very consciously trying to keep the viewer at arms length, but Fiennes and Winslet are doing such quality work that it merits recommendation just as an acting exercise. Just as the great work by Michael Sheen and Frank Langella elevate “Frost/Nixon” to a recommendation despite the film’s flaws, “The Reader” could have been a better film but its two leads are perfect.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “The Reader” in our reviews section.

Part of the problem with “The Reader” is that its lead character, Michael Berg (David Kross) is such a non-entity. The adult Michael is played by Fiennes, but the majority of the film is a flashback to Berg’s teenage years in post-WWII Germany. When he was only fifteen, Michael met the stunningly open Hanna, who introduced him to the world of sex. Hanna and Michael would spend days bathing each other, making love, and the young man would read to the illiterate older woman.

Michael reads “The Odyssey”, “The Lady with the Little Dog”, and “Huck Finn” to his lover, until she disappears one day with no warning. Years later, while in law school, Michael sits in on a Nazi trial and discovers that Hanna had a dark, dark secret. Michael knows something about Hanna’s past that could affect the trial, but he stays quiet. “The Reader” is about how we deal with defining moments in our lives, both individually and as a nation.

‘The Reader’ stars Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Bruno Ganz, and Lena Olin. ‘The Reader,’ which was written by David Hare and directed by Stephen Daldry, opened in Chicago on December 25, 2008.

Continuing reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “The Reader” review.

Family of Heath Ledger Responds to ‘The Dark Knight’ Golden Globe Nomination

BrianTT — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:11:00 -0700

CHICAGO – Heath Ledger’s searing performance as The Joker in “The Dark Knight” has been earning acclaim all year and the late actor landed a posthumous Golden Globe nomination this morning when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association revealed their choices for the best of 2008.

The family of Ledger responded this morning with a statement republished by People Magazine. The father of the nominee for best performance by an actor in a supporting role said, “We thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for honoring Heath’s performance in The Dark Knight.”

Kim Ledger went on to say, “This nomination is deeply appreciated and is not lost on those of us who continue to love and miss him. We are so proud our boy’s work is being recognized in this way.”

Heath Ledger stars as the Joker in “The Dark Knight”.
Photo credit: Warner Bros., copyright DC Comics

To win the posthumous Golden Globe award, Heath Ledger will have to beat both Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. from “Tropic Thunder”, Ralph Fiennes from “The Duchess”, and Philip Seymour Hoffman for “Doubt”. The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards will be broadcast live on NBC at 8 p.m. EST on January 11th from the Beverly Hilton.

Heath Ledger passed away on January 22nd from an accidental overdoe of prescription drugs in his New York apartment.

Heath Ledger has already been nominated for best actor for “The Dark Knight” from The Australian Film Institute and supporting actor from the Golden Satellite Awards. This morning’s Golden Globe nomination is the second for Ledger with the HFPA choosing him for his work in “Brokeback Mountain” in 2005, a nomination echoed by the Academy Awards that year.

Read about all of the Golden Globe nominees.

Get the details on the Dark Knight Blu-Ray release.

Check out Adam Fendelman’s Five-Star Review of The Dark Knight.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Hookup: 25 Admit-Two Passes to Chicago Screening of Keira Knightley’s ‘The Duchess’

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:43:55 -0600

CHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 25 admit-two passes up for grabs to the Chicago screening of “The Duchess,” which stars Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Hayley Atwell, Charlotte Rampling and Dominic Cooper.

To win your free pass to the advance screening of “The Duchess” in Chicago courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is be one of the first 25 people to submit a comment in this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup. That’s it!

The screening will be held on Sept. 24, 2008 at 6 p.m. in downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.

“The Duchess” features Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Hayley Atwell, Charlotte Rampling and Dominic Cooper.
Image credit: Paramount Vantage

Here’s the plotline of “The Duchess” (source):

This is a chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana (the duchess of Devonshire) who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.

She is a vibrant beauty and celebrity of her time, but she is trapped in an unhappy triangle with her husband and his live-in mistress.

She falls passionately in love with an ambitious young politician. The affair causes a bitter conflict with her husband and threatens to erupt into a scandal.

To secure your free tickets now, make sure you’re logged into your HollywoodChicago.com account. If you don’t yet have one, you can quickly register here. Having an account with a valid e-mail address is required.

Then, simply add a new comment in the form below. In your comment, include an answer to this simple question:

What are your thoughts on infidelity today?

Like all Hookups here, this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film is simple: The first 25 people to comment below win! We will be in touch with the 25 winners to distribute your passes. “The Duchess” opens in Chicago on Sept. 26, 2008.

This HollywoodChicago.com Hookup is now closed.
As of 7:52 p.m. on Sept. 8, 2008, all passes to “The Duchess” have been consumed. If you continue to RSVP, we will be sure to contact you when new Hookups become available.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Advance ‘In Bruges’ Screening, Director Q&A Coming to Chicago

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:50:54 -0700

CHICAGO – A special advance screening for the new Focus Features action film “In Bruges” is coming to Chicago on Jan. 25 along with a Q&A with director Martin McDonagh immediately following the screening. “In Bruges” stars Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes and Brendan Gleeson.

Click here to download your free tickets!

Here’s the film synopsis:

Martin McDonagh makes his feature directorial debut on the film from his own original screenplay. His plays (which include “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” and “The Pillowman”) have brought him two Olivier Awards and four Tony Award nominations.

Colin Farrell in “In Bruges”.
Photo credit: IMDb

He wrote and directed “Six Shooter” (starring Brendan Gleeson), which earned him the 2006 Academy Award for best live-action short film.

“In Bruges” was filmed on location. Bruges (pronounced “broozh”), which is the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travelers from all over the world.

But for hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), it could be their final destination.

A difficult job has resulted in the pair being ordered right before Christmas by their London boss Harry (two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) to go and cool their heels in the storybook Flemish city for a couple weeks.

Clémence Poésy and Colin Farrell in “In Bruges”.
Photo credit: IMDb

Very much out of place amid the gothic architecture, canals and cobbled streets, the two hit men fill their days living the lives of tourists.

Ray – still haunted by the bloodshed in London – hates the place while Ken – even as he keeps a fatherly eye on Ray’s often-profanely funny exploits – finds his mind and soul being expanded by the beauty and serenity of the city.

But the longer they stay waiting for Harry’s call, the more surreal their experience becomes as they find themselves in weird encounters with locals, tourists, violent medieval art, a dwarf American actor (Jordan Prentice) shooting a European art film, Dutch prostitutes and a potential romance for Ray in the form of Chloë (Clémence Poésy) who may have some dark secrets of her own.

When the call from Harry does finally come, Ken and Ray’s vacation becomes a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions and surprisingly emotional consequences.

Discuss this on our boards here!

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com