We are very proud to present an exclusive clip from Valerie Donzelli’s “Declaration of War,” the moving true-life tale of two resilient young parents’ (Valerie and her co-writer/star Jeremie Elkaim) struggle with their child’s illness.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to great acclaim and is playing now at the Sundance Film Festival’s Spotlight program. It will be released in theaters in New York and Los Angeles this Friday, January 27.
Here’s a clip from the delightful short accompanying “Beauty and the Beast 3D,” now in theaters. “Tangled 2” will be shown on the Disney Channel later this year.
January is chronically the worst month of the year for movies as the studios release their back inventory of duds. But this month looks unusually promising. “Beauty and the Beast 3D” opens on January 13. That ballroom scene is going to be thrilling in 3D. And I can’t wait to tell you more about “Joyful Noise” with Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton as feuding gospel choir leaders. Parton has written three terrific new songs and the movie is a shot of sunshine to warm the chilliest winter day. I also loved “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock and junior Jeopardy champion Thomas Horn as a boy trying to make sense of his father’s loss on 9/11. Viola Davis and Max von Sydow give performances of heart-wrenching beauty. “Red Tails” is the story of WWII war heroes the Tuskegee Airmen. “The Undefeated,” coming out late January, is an uplifting documentary about the dedicated coach and players of a Memphis football team. “Carnage” has Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet in the story of two couples whose thin veneer of civility dissolves in a dispute over a schoolyard fight involving their sons.
And there’s some good news on television, too. One of my favorite new series of 2011 returns for a new season. “Switched at Birth” quickly transcended its outlandish premise for an engrossing drama about two very different families struggling to realign after discovering that their teenage daughters were — see the title. One family is wealthy and the other is not but the bigger divide is that one of the girls is hearing-impaired. The series’ respect for deaf culture is especially welcome. The exceptionally strong cast includes Katie Leclerc, Lucas Grabeel, Sean Berdy, and Constance Marie.
I’m also looking forward to the return of Royal Pains, though I hope there’s less Evan/Paige/Paige’s family drama, more for Hank to do than treat the patient of the week. I want to see lots more of Divya, too. Another of my favorites, Downton Abbey, returns to Masterpiece on January 8. Change comes even faster to the Earl of Grantham, his American-born wife, and their three daughters — beautiful and accomplished but unable to inherit the estate because they are female. WWI changes everything as men go off to war and injured soldiers are cared for in rooms once reserved for elegant tea service. (Fans must check out the hilarious Downton Abbey parody video produced as a charity fund-raiser.)
Project Runway All-Starslooks like fun, with fan favorites like Anthony, Sweet Pea, and Mondo and fashion superstar Isaac Mizrahi as one of the judges. The debut I am most eagerly anticipating is Smash, the backstage story of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe, produced by Steven Spielberg and starring “Will and Grace’s” Debra Messing, plus Oscar-winner Anjelica Houston, and American Idol star Katharine McPhee.
I just read something that made me very excited about James Cameron’s upcoming sequel to “Avatar.” The first one was a leap forward in technology of 3D and motion capture (now often called “performance capture” to emphasize the contribution of the actors). And now Cameron is making what I think of as an even bigger technological leap forward with the announcement that he is going to increase the frames-per-second (fps) rate. Ever since the movies went from silent to sound, the standard has been 24 fps. Interestingly, “The Artist,” this year’s silent, black-and-white release, was shot at a 22 fps rate, prevalent in the pre-sound era. The only reason film-making has been stuck at 24 fps is that all the cameras and projectors are set up that way. But increasing the fps makes the film images stunningly sharper, deeper, and richer. Cameron has said he will shot “Avatar 2” at 48 and possibly even 60 fps, and Peter Jackson is shooting “The Hobbit” at 48 fps. This is a much more significant improvement than 3D, especially post-production 3D, which has just been announced for “The Avengers.”
As home technology improves, with HD, bigger screens, and better sound, it is increasingly important for movie theaters to find ways to stay competitive. If these films, certain to be blockbusters, can inspire more theaters to install projectors capable of giving ticket-buyers the 48- and 60-fps experience, they will raise the standard for all movies going forward.
The first “Men in Black” is one of my favorite films of the 1990’s. The second was a terrible disappointment and clearly hacked up before release as shown by its slim running time and unsatisfying and conclusion. I keep hoping there is some director’s cut coming some day. I’ve been worried about the third in the series because of reports of chaotic filming and rumors that there was no script and they were making it up as they went. This new trailer looks encouraging, so here’s hoping.
