The Descendants
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It’s taken seven years for Alexander Payne to direct what is only his fifth feature. Or to put it another way, a skinny senator from Illinois had only just emerged on the political scene when Payne’s superb Sideways was released in 2004. Why the interminable wait for his fan base, who lapped that movie up along with About Schmidt and Election (which a certain politician once told Payne was his favorite political piece)? Well, Payne was producing, having knee surgery, getting divorced, doing a short, helming a TV pilot (Hung) and writing another script. But now he’s finally back working on the big screen and has reeled in no less a star than George Clooney (at considerably less salary than the fee he usually commands) to front The Descendants. As that then-senator might have put it, it’s the Audacity of Hype.
Do Payne and Clooney pull it off? According to Rotten Tomatoes they do, as The Descendants (at the time of writing) is rating a stellar 92% (though our own Richard Corliss is most definitely not among them). Clooney plays Matt King, an unassuming husband and father of two (he refers to himself as “the back-up parent, the understudy”), who must re-examine his past and – yes! – embrace his future when his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), lies in an irreversible coma in a Honolulu hospital after suffering a boating accident. This would give anyone pause for thought, but when he learns that she was also unfaithful, the emotions get ramped up to 11. In addition, Matt has to deal with his difficult daughters: Scottie (Amara Miller), is 10 (key attributes: angry and confused), and the older daughter Alex (Shailene Woodley) who has the anger if not the confusion.
And so Matt and his girls embark upon a road trip (where valuable life lessons will almost certainly be learned along the way) to find Elizabeth’s illicit lover. Oh, and Matt must decide what to do with the 25,000 acres of land on Kauai that’s been inherited from royal Hawaiian ancestors. Decisions, decisions and Clooney’s character is the one to make them. While the female cast has come in for praise, Clooney has been singled out for giving the performance of his career (he’s in pretty much every scene, and is given one of those moment-of-truth speeches, which might be the reason why). Not only is he the current favorite (at least in the eyes of British bookmakers) to walk away with a first Best Actor Oscar (he took Best Supporting Actor for Syriana in 2006) but Payne and the movie itself are also in prime position to win Best Director and Picture respectively. And if The Descendants does walk away with a clutch of little gold men, it’s unthinkable that it will take seven years for Payne’s next feature.
PHOTOS: George Clooney at Play
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
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Tagline: Forever Is Only The Beginning
One film which won’t be troubling the Academy (not in the “serious” categories) is The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. Will the Twihards care? Hell no! But how will they feel about essentially taking a page out of the Harry Potter playbook by the studio turning Stephenie Meyer’s fourth novel into two parts? Will it be deemed an opportunity to immerse themselves in the Twilight universe or a shameless way of getting more money out of them (our money’s on the former). If they do immerse themselves, which they will, this is the one where Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) go through a marriage, honeymoon, and the birth of a child (spoiler alert: they do it). And of course, that Jacob (Taylor Lautner) fella will be involved at various points (though presumably not during the key one).
This week’s Friday Flicks seems to be more preoccupied than usual with directors, which is no bad thing. And the latest Twilight surely benefits from having Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, Chicago, Dreamgirls) at the helm (he’s also on tap for Part 2). But had the studio really wanted to push the boat out stylistically, considering the source material, would, say, someone such as David Cronenberg been an even braver choice? Ultimately, however, the real-life spoiler alert is this one: nothing can dare jeopardize that PG-13 rating.
LIST: Twilight in TIME’s Top 10 Vatican Pop-Culture Moments
Happy Feet Two
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Tagline: Every Step Counts
Sure, George Miller may not have the cred of Bill Condon or Alexander Payne. But he did bag an Oscar for the original. And he made Babe. (That’ll do, George.)
In a previous life, Miller was in charge of the Mad Max franchise, but it’s hard to let one’s imagination run wild when the consideration of toy and video game tie-in’s are as important as the movie in question. Still, Miller does get to “direct” the likes of Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elijah Wood and Robin Williams. The plot is hardly of massive importance: Mumble (Wood) isn’t happy because his son, Erik (Ava Acres), is choreo-phobic. And because he doesn’t want to dance, Erik runs off and meets The Mighty Sven (Hank Azaria), who is a penguin who can fly. Mumble simply can’t compete with this charismatic role model, which is the perfect excuse to introduce some familiar and new characters. As always, if the audience goes home happy, that will be some feat.
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NewsFeed’s Flicks Pick: There wasn’t much competition. But after seven years away, how could anyone deny Alexander Payne his moment?