Remember when it was Hugo last year? It’s a great placement, to be the closing selection of 50th New York Film Festival (September 28 – October 14). The highly anticipated pic stars Denzel Washington, and was directed by Robert Zemeckis and is probably pretty good if it’s been chosen for this, as Rose Kuo said:
“Robert Zemeckis has shown his diversity as a storyteller in comedies, dramas and has skillfully translated narratives into special effect environments. It is a pleasure to see him bring to life this complicated, tragic-comic portrait of a man in crisis, with an exceptional and poignant performance by Denzel Washington.”
Denzel Washington is that actor I will watch in anything. And I mean, ANYTHING. But it’s always nice when he’s in a good movie. He really is one of the industry’s best.
I’m in the I’ll watch Denzel in anything camp as he is my favorite actor and in my opinion the biggest badass actor around lol. Followed by Tom Hardy, Liam Neeson and Jeremy Renner. In my opinion of course. Excited for the movie though.
Whoops, just saw Joe’s above post! Sorry! On another note, I saw the trailer, and I don’t quite know what to think. My first impulse was that the concept didn’t quite make for an overly enthralling film, but after reading the above comments about Zemeckis’ character-driven directing style and a more subdued performance from Denzel, I think I’d wanna keep this on the radar.
“Hugo” didn’t close the NYFF last year. “The Descendants” did.
@ghostofeaster – I couldn’t disagree more. I thought the trailer for this movie was extremely intriguing. Zemeckis is a talented filmmaker who makes good, satisfying movies. While I agree that he has lived in mocap land for awhile, I couldn’t be more enthused about his return to live acting filmmaking. I’m super psyched to see this.
I still really like Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forrest Gump, but seeing his more recent films, I kind of lost hope in Zemeckis….
Am i also the only one who thought that the Flight-trailer looked merely mediocre?
Denzel is probably the only actor if he’s in a movie good or bad I’ll check it out regardless. Everybody else…trailer and concept.
This is a good sign. And what a great one-sheet!
Hugo didn’t close NYFF last year though, Descendants did. And don’t forget, NYFF closed with Hereafter in 2010 and that didn’t turn out so well. I just don’t think this is going to be much of an awards player. It’s got a big name star with a big name director returning to live-action.
I’m holding out hope for a Hugo-esque “Work in progress” screening for something like Zero Dark Thirty, Life of Pi, Les Miz.
I think Washington is a great actor, even if he does a little chewing sometimes. This role seems a little more subdued so it’s nice to see he’s not going down the Al Pacino route.
God. That’s depressing. Does anybody else miss Al Pacino?
What Lies Beneath remains my favorite Zemeckis film, and Denzel Washington is nice. He’s in the Billy Dee mold IMO, and I’d take Billy Dee over anyone else most days. Regardless, this film looks amazing.
I think people will leave Streep off their ballots this year in favor of someone they favor. While she’s no doubt good, the movie isn’t getting the kind of reception that will make her an automatic nominee as she has been in the past. Unless, of course, there’s a shortage of others to choose from, but I find that unlikely at this point.
(I am of the opinion that Jennifer Lawrence is going to get back in the discussion unless The Silver Linings Playbook is a failure. But if she’s at least good in that, I can see a successful campaign for her to get a nom this year.
I don’t think a campaign for her getting a nod for the first film would be a waste of money. If she gets in the conversation this year, she will definitely be in the conversation for the rest of the series if those films are well-received. And if she can be in the actress discussion for the rest of the movies, who knows, maybe the films will garner enough respect for them to be considered in other top categories.
is Meryl in for another Oscar nod for Hope Springs? I havent seen it but herd she was great.
Then again, this is a very crowded year for Best Actor… :/
I have had a strong feeling ever since I saw the trailer that Denzel would be up for Best Actor. I feel like the Academy would love to welcome him back – he’s been missing for awhile. He looks fantastic in it.
I thought the trailer looked really good too.
I’m in the “I’ll Watch Denzel in Anything” camp. Regardless of the film, he’s never anything less than watchable. And he’s given some of my favorite performances. I can’t wait to see this.
When I saw that it was a Denzel Washington “action movie”, I thought “here we go again…”. But then I saw it was directed by Robert Zemeckis, director of the masterpiece Forrest Gump. And then I saw the trailer. Man, what a great trailer. Now I have high hopes for this movie, and if it’s closing the NY Film Festival, so much the better.
I remember first seeing Denzel in “St. Elsewhere” and thinking ‘this is a movie star.’
pussy^^
“Denzel is that actor I will watch in anything.”
Funny… He’s that actor I will avoid in anything. Can’t stand the mans acting.
Wasn’t sure about the movie until I saw that trailer. Damn good trailer. Denzel Washington can make any movie look good so I’m in.
So glad to see Zemeckis coming back to the real world, instead of falling further and further down the rabbit hole of technology everywhere, all the time. He’s really exceptional at finding the beating human heart of a story, and he doesn’t need all the fancy CGI to hold my attention. Hell, I think his best film of the last decade was just Tom Hanks alone on an island losing his damn mind.
And Denzel is indeed the shit. My dad doesn’t go to the movies very often, but he’ll make an exception for Denzel, no matter what the movie is.
You are right that this is an excellent sign that the film is probably very good.