Let the Right One In

DVD Review: ‘Timecrimes’ Will Be a Glorious Find For Sci-Fi, Horror Fans

BrianTT — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:46:36 -0600

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – There was a small window of time there where it looked like the Nacho Vigalondo’s excellent “Timecrimes” might be the next foreign language hit on the arthouse circuit. If not “Pan’s Labyrinth“-big maybe as buzzed about as “Tell No One” or “Let the Right One In”. That never happened (it didn’t even make $40k in theaters) but audiences are going to find this above-average genre pic on DVD.

“Timecrimes” is a movie likely to put a broad smile on the face of sci-fi or horror nuts grown weary of the cavalcade of crap produced by their favorite genres. Writer/director Nacho Vigalondo has crafted what is almost an oxymoron - a simple time-travel movie. So many time travel movies get deep into chaos theory or the butterfly effect, but “Timecrimes” is a piece with only four characters that delves into the idea of moving back in time.

Timecrimes was released on DVD on March 31st, 2009.
Photo credit: Magnolia

This is easily one of the more original and unique science fiction movies in years, a thrill ride blissfully unconcerned with the hyperbole that typically drags down the genre. It’s about a small group of people who happen to get involved in a nightmare that includes time travel. It’s a murder mystery that loops in on itself over and over again but actually holds together. It’s a cult classic waiting to happen.

Timecrimes was released on DVD on March 31st, 2009.
Photo credit: Magnolia

Karra Elejalde plays Hector, a man moving into a new home with his wife and about to have a very, very weird first day in his new abode. He’s sitting on his lawn, checking out the countryside with a pair of binoculars when he notices a woman undressing in the woods. Like most guys might do, he decides to try and get a closer look.

Before he can get too close to the naked chick, he’s attacked by a shrouded figure with a bloody bandage around his head. He flees for his life to a laboratory on the top of a nearby hill and escapes with his life. When he gets inside, he’s ordered into an odd machine for safety. When he comes out, he learns that he’s jumped just a few hours in time but now there are two Hectors in the time-space continuum.

“Timecrimes” gets increasingly complicated from there but it’s essentially always about Hector (even if there’s more than one Hector), his wife, the naked lady, and the man in the lab. It works in on itself like a jigsaw puzzle, but, unlike a lot of sci-fi entries, it actually holds together upon reflection.

Ultimately, “Timecrimes” is straight-up fun. It’s darkly humorous and consistently entertaining. Vigalondo doesn’t yet have the visual sensibility that could have elevated “Timecrimes” to genre perfection, but his film is always entertaining, weird, funny, and consistently surprising.

Timecrimes was released on DVD on March 31st, 2009.
Photo credit: Magnolia

This cult hit in the making comes from Magnolia entertainment and they’ve done a great service for such a low-grossing film, giving it an extensive DVD treatment (although I do wish they had made the Blu-Ray option a possibility.) The film is presented with its original 1.85:1 aspect ration and accompanied by English and Spanish 5.1 & 2.0 Dolby Digital tracks. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Watch it with subtitles (even if Magnolia has been accused of producing some pretty lackluster ones recently.)

Special features include “Making of Timecrimes,” cast and crew intervies, a short film called “7:35 de la manana,” 5 featurettes that make up the “Creation of Timecrimes” internet game, a make-up featurette, a photo gallery, and a teaser trailer. There are mega-hits with a thousand times the box office gross of “Timecrimes” with less impressive special features. Maybe Magnolia has seen the future and know “Timecrimes” will eventually have a huge, loyal following.

‘Timecrimes’ is released by Magnolia Home Entertainment and stars Karra Elejalde, Nacho Vigalondo, Candela Fernandez, and Barbara Goenaga. It was written and directed by Vigalondo. It was released on March 31st, 2009. It is rated R.

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

Blu-Ray Review: Sink Your Teeth Into One of the Best of 2008: ‘Let the Right One In’

BrianTT — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:31:16 -0600

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Tomas Alfredson’s “Let the Right One In” was one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2008, an arthouse sensation that has been so beloved by everyone who has seen it that it ranks among the best films of all time on IMDB based on user votes. Based on the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist, “Let the Right One In” is a masterpiece of its genre, one of the most essential vampire films ever made. The Blu-Ray is a little disappointing, but the film itself makes up for it.

The theme of nearly every piece of vampire fiction is isolation. The vampire is the outcast, the count in a creepy castle who will outlive or kill everyone he’s ever cared about. “Let the Right One In” brilliantly melds that idea with one of the times when a lot us felt like outcasts - puberty.

Let the Right One In will be released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Magnolia Home Video

Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a lonely, bullied 12-year-old in early ’80s Sweden, a time when the country was essentially behind the iron curtain. Oskar longs for love and friendship in his cold, depressing neighborhood.

Into this darkness enters someone new, Eli (Lina Leandersson), a girl who looks to be about Oskar’s age but is actually much, MUCH older. Eli not only meets Oskar at night but doesn’t seem bothered by not wearing socks or shoes on the frozen tundra of the playground they share. And when locals end up drained of their blood, it become clear exactly why Eli is a little unusual.

Let the Right One In will be released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Magnolia Home Video

As more and more people start to disappear, Eli becomes reluctantly closer to Oskar, seeing in him someone similar and someone to who might possibly accept her. It’s the most untraditional love story in years and not just because of their age or the fact that she’s a vampire but in the beautiful details of Lindqvist’s excellent screenplay.

Oskar teaches Eli a warmth that she hasn’t had in years and Eli teaches Oskar to stand up for himself with the bullies at school. They communicate with morse code and see a kindred spirit in one another, even though she worries that this can only end in tragedy. The final scenes are shocking and violent but in an amazing way that no one will see coming.

Don’t rent or buy “Let the Right One In” expecting the action of an “Underworld” movie. This is an exercise in mood, not fake blood. There are moments of incredible violence but it’s not what defines the film. “Let the Right One In” is a movie about isolation. The first color I think of when it comes to mind is not red, but white - the stark landscape, constant snow, and a frozen lake.

The title of “Let the Right One In” refers to an old tenet of vampire mythology - that a fanged creature must be invited in before they can enter. But, like all great horror movies, there’s more to the title than just the practical reading. It may sound cheesy, but we all need to know which one to let in to our hearts and lives, something both Oskar and Eli have struggled with for their entire lives.

“Let the Right One In” was the best horror film of 2008 and one of the best films, period. See it.

Let the Right One In will be released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Magnolia Home Video

I would usually end that last sentence with “Buy it” but the Blu-Ray for “Let the Right One In” could have had a more extensive collection of special features. This is a film that will build a huge following over the years. So, I expect a Special Edition eventually and probably sooner than we might think that will put this skimpy collection of extras to shame.

You’ll be able to burn through all the “Let the Right One In” special features in about 15 minutes. The featurette behind-the-scenes is mostly just an interview with Alfredson. It’s a great one but it could have been four times as long or Alfredson should have done a commentary. He clearly has a lot to say about the movie.

The deleted scenes are interesting and the last one, featuring Oskar and Eli making vampire faces at each other should have stayed in the movie. It’s a beauty. The photo and poster galleries are short and not that interesting. I am happy that Magnolia went with the great Swedish poster for the Blu-Ray cover instead of the American one.

As for the technical specs, “Let the Right One In” looks very good with a 1080P picture and a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Picture quality is essential for a mood piece like this, especially because so much of it takes place at night and this transfer looks very, very good.

The sound is just as good although the version that comes up if you hit play before going into set-up is the dubbed one. Ugh. Don’t watch “Let the Right One In” dubbed. Please. The Swedish 5.1 Dolby track is very good.

A great movie with a very good technical transfer doesn’t hit Blu-Ray every week. Yes, fifteen minutes of special features is a disappointment, but if you can look at this release as a place-holder for an eventual special edition, it’s a must-own just for the film itself.

‘Let the Right One In’ is released by Magnolia Home Entertainment and stars Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Peter Carlberg, Ika Nord, Henrik Dahl, Karen Bergquist, Mikael Rahim, Karl-Robert Lindgren, Anders T. Peedu, and Pale Oloffson. It was written by John Ajvide Lindqvist and directed by Tomas Alfredson. It will be released on March 10th, 2009. It is rated R.

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

The 10 Biggest Oscar Snubs of 2009

BrianTT — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:31:57 -0700

CHICAGO – Stories are released every year about the gap between the Oscars and public opinion. It’s a chasm that seems to be growing with every passing year. For the 81st-annual Academy Awards, this legendary group had a chance to close that gap and nominate two films for best picture that were critically acclaimed and commercially successful: “The Dark Knight” and “WALL-E”. But they blew it.

The two films did land a combined fourteen nominations, but were excluded from Best Director and Best Picture, proving that the Academy still has a long way to go when it comes to actually recognizing the best of the year. But they were far from the only mistake revealed on Thursday morning, January 22nd, 2009.

Before we discuss the serious snubs, Best Foreign Language Film is too much of a joke to be considered eligible. The likely winner, Waltz With Bashir, is very deserving, but the process is so flawed that it makes the inevitable win for Ari Folman’s excellent film a slightly hollow one. The fact that the Academy still employs a process that makes one of the best foreign films of the year (Let the Right One In) ineligible and ignores one of the most critically acclaimed choices like Gomorrah from even making the short list is mind-boggling to me. It’s not snubbing, it’s utter nonsense.

Picking ten snubs from this year’s list of nominees was shockingly easy. In fact, there wasn’t a single category that didn’t have a worthy contender on the outside looking in. And how do you rank them? What’s more painful - Sally Hawkins, Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, or Rosemarie DeWitt still being unable to put Oscar nominee next to their name? Instead, we’re picking the biggest snub per category with the big eight and then two notable omissions from the other categories rounding out a top ten (well, top eleven if you’re being picky).

Dear Zachary.
Photo credit: Oscilloscope

10. “Dear Zachary” for Best Documentary

Kurt Kuenne’s amazing dissection of pure evil and immeasurable good didn’t even make the short list for a category that’s almost as messed up as Best Foreign Language Film. Man on Wire will probably and predictably win but there were so many other choices they could have made to join it then the ones they did. Trouble the Water was powerful, so that’s a great nod, but it is mind-boggling to me that Werner Herzog gets snubbed for one of the best nature documentaries of the last few years, Grizzly Man, but nominated for a film that even he would admit wasn’t nearly as good, Encounters at the End of the World. But all of it pales in comparison to the most powerfully emotional experience that I had in 2008 - Dear Zachary. Like Foreign Language Film, this will be a category that I use for a bathroom break.

Winner Bruce Springsteen for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for “The Wrestler” on stage during the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2009
Photo credit: Paul Drinkwater/NBC

9. “The Wrestler” by Bruce Springsteen for Best Song

This is perhaps the most head-scratching snub of the day. It’s clearly not an anti-Boss thing, as they gave him the award for “Streets of Philadelphia”. No, I think there’s a deeper problem here. I think this category is broken. Maybe after giving the trophy to Three Six Mafia (deservedly, I might add), something snapped. How else do you explain the THREE nominations for “Enchanted” in this category last year (snubbing Eddie Vedder’s great work on “Into the Wild” and tunes by John Mayer, Rufus Wainwright, and Bob Dylan) and now this disaster? Don’t get me wrong. The two songs from “Slumdog Millionaire” are both good and it will be ridiculously cool to see M.I.A. perform on the Oscars. And I love the track from “WALL-E” by Peter Gabriel. But did they forget the other two nominees? How about “The Wrestler” and “Dracula’s Lament” from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”? Come on. It’s not too late. Just pretend there were five all along. We’re gonna need a laugh after all the “Reader” and “Frost/Nixon” clips anyway.

Let the Right One In
Photo credit: Magnolia

8. “Let the Right One In” by John Ajvide Lindqvist for Best Adapted Screenplay

I know it will be a cold day in movie hell when a foreign horror movie gets a nomination this prestigious, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t snubbed. The script for Tomas Alfredson’s stunning study of vampirism and adolescence is easily better than three of the chosen nominees and arguably second only to Simon Beaufoy’s stunning work on “Slumdog Millionaire”. No offense to the talented people chosen for this category, but could it have been any more predictable? Take the award-winning plays, the F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation, and something called “The Reader” has to be a great adapted screenplay, right? “Let the Right One In” is a challenging, daring examination of childhood isolation through the lens of the vampire mythology. It’s a wonderful screenplay that was probably not even considered. It will stand the test of time far more impressively than “Frost/Nixon” or “The Reader”.

‘WALL-E,’ ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ ‘The Dark Knight’ Win Awards From Chicago Film Critics Association

BrianTT — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:21:57 -0700

CHICAGO – The Chicago Film Critics Association announced their winners for the best of 2008 and an animated robot, superhero movie villain, wrestling star, and former teen actress walked away with big prizes. “Wall-E” was the big winner of the day, taking home an amazing four prizes, the most presented to any one movie this year.

Pixar’s “Wall-E”, an animated masterpiece about the last robot on planet Earth, won the big prize for Best Picture and also took home Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Animated Film.

The Chicago Film Critics Association, which includes HollywoodChicago.com’s Publisher Adam Fendelman and Content Director Brian Tallerico, gave their Best Director prize to Danny Boyle for “Slumdog Millionaire”. The sleeper hit about a young man trying to prove that he didn’t cheat on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” also claimed prizes for Best Adapted Screenplay and Dev Patel for Most Promising Newcomer.

The Best Actor trophy for 2008 went to Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”, beating out Sean Penn in “Milk”, Clint Eastwood in “Gran Torino”, Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”, and Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”.

For Best Actress, Sally Hawkins in “Happy-Go-Lucky”, Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”, Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”, and Meryl Streep in “Doubt” all lost out to Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”.

Heath Ledger took home another prize for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of The Joker in “The Dark Knight”, stealing the prize from Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”, Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”, Bill Irwin in “Rachel Getting Married”, and Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”. “The Dark Knight” also won Best Cinematograpy.

Perhaps the most surprising win of the day was Kate Winslet’s for Best Supporting Actress for “The Reader”. Also nominated in that category was the most-common winner of the season, Penelope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”, Amy Adams in “Doubt”, Rosemarie DeWitt in “Rachel Getting Married”, and Viola Davis in “Doubt”.

The excellent Swedish horror sensation “Let the Right One In” won the prizes for Best Foreign-Language Film and Most Promising Director for Tomas Alfredson and “Man on Wire” took the trophy for Best Documentary.

The Chicago Film Critics Association

2008 CFCA AWARD WINNERS

BEST PICTURE: WALL-E

BEST DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ACTOR: Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Kate Winslet - The Reader

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: WALL-E (Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Slumdog Millionaire (Simon Beaufoy)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Let the Right One In

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Man On Wire

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: WALL-E

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Dark Knight (Wally Pfister)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: WALL-E (Thomas Newman)

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER: Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire

MOST PROMISING DIRECTOR: Tomas Alfredson - Let the Right One In

If you’d like to go back in time a few days and see the 2008 nominees from the Chicago Film Critics Association, read our coverage here from Dec. 15, 2008.

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

‘The Dark Knight,’ ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Lead Nominees From Chicago Film Critics Association

BrianTT — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:09:26 -0700

CHICAGO – The Chicago Film Critics Association announced its choices for the best of 2008 on Monday morning. The biggest blockbuster of the year, “The Dark Knight,” and the sleeper hit of the season, “Slumdog Millionaire,” tied for the most nominations and will compete for best picture of the year from Chicago film critics.

The Chicago Film Critics Association

“The Dark Knight”, the massively successful continuation of the Batman franchise, and “Slumdog Millionaire”, the magical tale of a young man forced to prove he didn’t cheat on a game show, scored six nods a piece, including Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Picture.

Four films nearly matched the big two this year for the CFCA with “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Doubt”, “Milk”, and “WALL-E” all landing five nods. Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married” scored four nominations and the Swedish vampire film “Let the Right One In” came away with three.

Major acting nominees for the Chicago Film Critics Association include Clint Eastwood, Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep, Heath Ledger, Penelope Cruz, and Kate Winslet alongside nominated newcomers like Sally Hawkins, Melissa Leo, Michael Shannon, and Rosemarie DeWitt.

The members of the CFCA, which includes HollywoodChicago.com Publisher Adam Fendelman and Content Director Brian Tallerico, are currently in the midst of their second and final round of voting and the winners will be announced on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 18 on WGN-TV in three chunks at 6:50 AM, 7:50 AM and 8:50 AM with Richard Roeper, Dean Richards and CFCA President Dann Gire. They will be released to the public immediately afterwards.

2008 Chicago Film Critics Association Nominees

Slumdog Millionaire

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL*E

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle—Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan—The Dark Knight
Andrew Stanton—WALL*E
Gus Van Sant—Milk

BEST ACTOR
Clint Eastwood—Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins—The Visitor
Frank Langella—Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn—Milk
Mickey Rourke—The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway—Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkins—Happy-Go-Lucky
Angelina Jolie—Changeling
Melissa Leo—Frozen River
Meryl Streep—Doubt

Milk

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert Downey Jr.—Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman—Doubt
Bill Irwin—Rachel Getting Married
Heath Ledger—The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon—Revolutionary Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams—Doubt
Penelope Cruz—Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis—Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt—Rachel Getting Married
Kate Winslet—The Reader

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
In Bruges—Martin McDonagh
Milk—Dustin Lance Black
Rachel Getting Married—Jenny Lumet
Synecdoche, N.Y.—Charlie Kaufman
WALL*E—Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—Eric Roth
The Dark Knight—Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan
Doubt—John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon—Peter Morgan
Slumdog Millionaire—Simon Beaufoy

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
The Band’s Visit
Che
A Christmas Tale
I’ve Loved You So Long
Let the Right One In

BEST DOCUMENTARY
American Teen
Dear Zachary
IOUSA
Man On Wire
Standard Operating Procedure

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung-Fu Panda
Tale of Desperaux
WALL*E
Waltz with Bashir

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Australia—Mandy Walker
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight—Wally Pfister
The Fall—Colin Watkinson
Slumdog Millionaire—Anthony Dod Mantle

WALL*E

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—Alexandre Desplat
The Dark Knight—Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard
Milk—Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire—A.R. Rahman
WALL*E—Thomas Newman

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Russell Brand—Forgetting Sarah Marshall
David Kross—The Reader
Lina Leandersson—Let the Right One In
Dev Patel—Slumdog Millionaire
Brandon Walters—Australia

MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Tomas Alfredson—Let the Right One In
Lance Hammer—Ballast
Courtney Hunt—Frozen River
Martin McDonagh—In Bruges
Steve McQueen—Hunger

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

8:54 p.m. update on Dec. 18, 2008: The 2008 awards from the Chicago Film Critics Association are in. Read our coverage here.