Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The Other Boleyn Girl, or How February 2008 is 'Delayed Movie' Month

The Other Boleyn Girl trailer has been making the rounds and it reminded me how much I miss Natalie Portman. She is one of my favourite actresses working today and the trailer had me asking - why has it been so hard for me to seek out her movies in the past year? Whether it is the critically maligned Goya's Ghosts that hasn't seen the light of day in theatres near me; the sickeningly sweet and child-oriented Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium that I can't bear myself to watch or Wes Anderson's Darjeeling Limited (whose films I've never found the appeal of) I have yet to find a good Natalie Portman film since V for Vendetta (Paris Je t'aime is on my Netflix Queue)
Yet, 2007 was supposed to bring me two Natalie Portman movies I was looking forward to and they both got slated for a February 2008 release, which as I researched looks like a dumping ground for delayed 2007 films:

The Other Boleyn Girl
Original Release Date: December 2007
Current Release Date: February 29 2008

Clearly best-selling novel status and lavish production did not translate well for Columbia Pictures who pushed the release date back two full months for this film. Since I have not read the novel I only have the poster (which I hate - seriously, how horrible is it?) and the trailer (which I'm not a big fan of either - how many times can they say "sister" in it?) to go by I have to say I am less and less inclined to look forward to this Peter Morgan-penned Tudor drama. That said Eric Bana as Henry and Natalie's performance will probably outweigh all these promotional hiccups and I'll find myself there on opening weekend.

My Blueberry Nights
Original Release Date: 2007
Current Release Date: February 13 2008
Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman, David Strathairn, Norah Jones and Jude Law all in one movie? How could I not want to see this movie? True, it was not warmly welcomed at Cannes earlier this year but didn't every reviewer also tell me Natalie was the one worth watching? And why is every other country getting a Limited 2007 release except the United States: Canada (Nov 16), France (Nov 28), Switzerland (Nov 28 for the French speaking region) ... okay, maybe I'm starting to see a trend. Regardless I am still intrigued by this American Roadtrip movie - if only for Natalie and the cinematography.

Charlie Bartlett
Original Release Date: August 2007
Current Release Date: February 1 2008
You know, when I saw the poster I had no idea what this movie was. And then reading the synopsis: "Wealthy teenager Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) is failing miserably at fitting in at a new public high school run by the world-weary Principal Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.). As he begins to better understand the social hierarchy, Charlie's honest charm and likability positions him as the resident "psychiatrist" dishing out advice, and the occasional prescription with his partner and fellow student, Murphy Bivens (Tyler Hilton), to other students in need." I remembered watching a trailer for it. It looked kinda funny. And I love me some Robert... but then that other Robert movie next year is higher on my list of anticipated 2008 releases.

Penelope
Original Release Date: Spring 2007 --> August 2007
Current Release Date: February 1 2008

I always found it weird that in the trailer for this movie Reese Witherspoon was billed as an Academy Award Winner. Not to say that she isn't but c'mon does Nicolas Cage bill himself as Academy Award Winner for the National Treasure (1 & 2) trailers? Will Helen Mirren (when/if her name gets into the trailer)? Anyways.
I was actually looking forward to this because of... okay, mostly James (and Reese, and Ricci but mostly James) - and yeah, why not the quirky premise of a girl born with a pig-nose.

1 comment:

Vance said...

I haven't read the script but apparently the Charlie Bartlett script got raves from the crews when it was making the rounds while it filmed in Toronto. Apparently fresh and unexpected (oddly, filmed the same time Mr. Magorium's was filming here).

Hmm... Penelope looks interesting. How have I never even heard of it before?