February is Oscar month, not just because the annual awards ceremony takes place Feb. 26, but because many of the films that will be recognized are also released in the coming weeks. Here’s a look at the most important ones.
Feb. 2
Scorsese’s Hugo is an opportunity for the director to use all the toys he has to play with as a director and entertain us while he teaches us something about the early days of the cinema.- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is short on action and quick thrills, but there is palpable tension everywhere in this search for a double agent in the British Intelligence Service during the peak of the Cold War. Directed by Let The Right One In director Tomas Alfredson.
- Perfect Sense is a love story that takes place during one of those strange end-of-the-world stories in which surreal events lead to the unthinkable. In this case, humans start losing their senses (no, literally) one by one, but at least the young couple takes advantage of the fact they still have a sense of touch during those cold nights leading to apocalyptic doom and gloom.
Feb. 9
With The Ides of March, George Clooney returns to the director’s chair with another political drama, following his award-winning and critically acclaimed Good Night, and Good Luck. in 2005. It is set during the Democratic primary contest in Ohio and will be intensely scrutinized by (at least) all of those political pundits whose eyes are otherwise focused on the current GOP primaries Stateside.- Man on a Ledge stars Sam Worthington (the main actor from Avatar) and Jamie Bell in a story that has an interesting premise — literally, a man on a ledge, ostensibly contemplating suicide — but the film is already being panned for not taking itself seriously enough.
- A Separation, an extraordinary Iranian film that is the favorite to win the Best Foreign Film statuette at the Academy Awards this year, premiered in the Czech Republic during the Iranian Film Festival.
- And The Muppets are back, accompanied by Jason Segel and Amy Adams, in a film that has seen big ticket sales and a warm reception by fans and strangers alike.
- Then, it’s time for silly season. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace will be re-released, in 3-D. Reach for a paper bag and try not to think of Jar Jar Binks or the worst child actor in history, Jake Lloyd, who plays the Dark Lord (Darth Vader, aka Anakin Skywalker) as a boy.
Feb. 16
- Winner of best actor at the Cannes Film Festival and winner of the Golden Globe for best comedy or musical, The Artist is the sensation of the year. A truly unique film that transports the contemporary viewer back to an era he/she has never known: The time of watching a silent film at the cinema. Prepare to be enchanted.
- Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds star in Safe House, a film set in one of the most beautiful cities on earth: Cape Town, South Africa.
- One of the most talked about films of the year is Shame, the newest film by Steve McQueen, a director whose debut feature, Hunger, was a shock to the system and proof that cinema has a very rich (even if the film uses a pared down, minimalist style, but stylish rather than gritty) future ahead of it.
Feb. 23
- This Means War is a comedy with a big starlet, Reese Witherspoon, and two kinda-knowns, Tom Hardy (from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and Chris Pine, the most recent incarnation of Captain Kirk who featured in 2009′s Star Trek. The boys star as two secret agents who are both dating the same girl. They know it, but she doesn’t know that they know, and while they all promise to be on their best behavior, the vast resources of the intelligence agency are deployed to make the individual dates memorable in many creative but unpleasant ways.
- There are two more Oscar-nominated films being released this week. The first is Spielberg’s War Horse, a film about a horse in wartime (yes, really).
- The other features Michelle Williams in a potentially award-winning role of Marilyn Monroe: My Week with Marilyn.
- And the last film of some note this month is a horror starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), called The Woman in Black. I am not holding my breath for this film, but let’s see how this plays out. Screenwriter Jane Goldman has produced a few very interesting films the past few years, including Kick-Ass and The Debt, so I’ll cross my fingers.
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