Hemingway’s Garden of Eden

Diagnosis: Film–Weekend of Dec. 10

How did I miss that The Tempest was going to be a thing? Seriously. MovieguyFAIL. Anyway, what are you planning on seeing this weekend? We’ve got a nice little variety of movies this week, ranging from fantasy to oscar bait…I mean…sports dramas.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Directed By: Michael Apted
Written By: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely
Starring: Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley
Release Date: December 10, 2010 (3,500 screens)
Synopsis: Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace where they meet up with Prince Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk, and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world.

Thoughts: I’ve been meaning to catch up with this series as they seem to be getting better with each film that comes out. I was less than impressed with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe but the trailers for Dawn Treader have rekindled my interest.

Diagnosis: Curious to see.

The Tourist

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Written By: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Starring: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie and Paul Bettany
Release Date: December 10, 2010 (2,600 screens)
Synopsis: Revolves around Frank, an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart. Elise is an extraordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path.

Thoughts: Oh look, it’s Johnny Depp and he’s not a pirate. I’m mildly intrigued, but will probably wait for this bad boy to hit netflix.

Diagnosis: Netflixing it!

And Everything is Going Fine

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Spalding Gray
Release Date: December 10, 2010 (1 screen)
Synopsis: From the first time he performed Swimming to Cambodia – the one-man account of his experience of making the 1984 film The Killing Fields – Spalding Gray made the art of the monologue his own. Drawing unstintingly on the most intimate aspects of his own life, his shows were vibrant, hilarious and moving. His death came tragically early, in 2004; this compilation of interview and performance footage nails his idiosyncratic and irreplaceable brilliance.

Thoughts: This could be an interesting documentary, actually.

Diagnosis: Curious.

The Company Men

Director: John Wells
Written By: John Wells
Starring: Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper and Tommy Lee Jones
Release Date: December 10, 2010
Synopsis: The story centers on a year in the life of three men trying to survive a round of corporate downsizing at a major company – and how that affects them, their families, and their communities.

Thoughts: *cough* OSCAR BAIT *cough*

Diagnosis: Pass.

The Fighter

Director: David O. Russell
Written By: Scott Silver & Paul Tamasy
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams
Release Date: December 10, 2010 (4 screens)
Synopsis: A look at the early years of boxer “Irish” Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before going pro in the mid 1980s.

Thoughts: Not my kind of film, but an interesting trailer.

Diagnosis: Pass.

Hemingway’s Garden of Eden

Director: John Irvin
Written By: James Scott Linville
Starring: Jack Huston, Mena Suvari and Richard E. Grant
Release Date: December 10, 2010 (14 screens)
Synopsis: A young American writer completes his service in WWI and travels across Europe with his wife and her attractive Italian girlfriend. Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway.

Thoughts: The trailer you’re about to see is full of Mena Suvari and that one guy from Boardwalk Empire. They dye their hair white and try to have a threesome. Can you tell I haven’t read the source material?

Diagnosis: Curious.

The Tempest

Director: Julie Taymor
Written By: Julie Taymor
Starring: Helen Mirren, Felicity Jones and Djimon Hounsou
Release Date: December 10, 2010 (5 screens)
Synopsis: In Julie Taymor’s version of ‘The Tempest,’ the main character is now a woman named Prospera. Going back to the 16th or 17th century, women practicing the magical arts of alchemy were often convicted of witchcraft. In Taymor’s version, Prospera is usurped by her brother and sent off with her four-year daughter on a ship. She ends up on an island; it’s a tabula rasa: no society, so the mother figure becomes a father figure to Miranda. This leads to the power struggle and balance between Caliban and Prospera; a struggle not about brawn, but about intellect.

Thoughts: What? This is a thing? How did I miss that this was a thing? I want to see this.

Diagnosis: Want to see.