Marshall and the Movies

Well, folks, summer is officially come and gone.  It’s fall, for better or for worse.  At first, it will bring us frustration with Hollywood’s garbage, but later, we will get some good Oscar material.  Who knows, maybe we will even get some this month!

This might not be a terrible September.  The poll indicated that there are a variety of movies of interest scattered throughout the month.  This weekend’s “The American” and “Machete” each received a vote, as did the September 24th opener “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.”  I’m not sure if the two votes for “Legend of the Guardians” were in jest as I ripped the movie apart, but nonetheless, I still have to mention its popularity.  It tied for first place with “The Town,” which I will declare the winner because that’s the kind of authority that I have as the author.  Here’s what I wrote in the September preview post:

I have absolutely no idea what to make of the trailer for “The Town.”  But with a cast including the likes of Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, and Ben Affleck for the former, which opens in wide release this weekend, I’m definitely in.

I was intentionally vague because I featured the movie in an Oscar Moment only three days later.  Here’s what I had to say there:

…the trailer is a muddled mess and just watching it did not sell me on this being one of the ten best movies of the year.  We are resting on the laurels of the people involved to call it an awards prospect.  Would I be writing this if the movie were directed by Antoine Fuqua and starred Matthew Morrison from “Glee?”

Here are my reservations about calling this a contender for the big prize.  We’ve seen studios roll out Oscar hopefuls in September, seeing if they gain enough footing in the awards race.  They reserve the big guns for November and December, and any movie that disappoints in those release slots dooms the studio.  So these mixed-bag candidates often find a home in early fall.  Usually, the movies are either action or drama with the starpower on (and perhaps off) the screen to generate buzz provided that the movie is any good.

I’m definitely excited for this just as an attraction for a pretty slow month.  Here’s the trailer another time because that’s the territory that comes along with the shameless advertisement.

And onward to what you can expect from “Marshall and the Movies” in September!

Fincherfest! What better way to celebrate the week leading up to the hotly anticipated release of “The Social Network” than by revisiting director David Fincher’s previous films?  I’ll cover each and every one of the versatile filmmaker’s movies the last week of September.

Oscar Moment Week! After the dust settles from the Toronto and Venice Film Festivals, I am dedicating the entire week of September 20-24 (at the very least) to covering the hottest products emerging from the festivals.  I’ll for sure cover the big names premiering at the festivals like “Black Swan” and “127 Hours,” but hopefully there will be some discoveries worth writing about as well.

Classics Corner!  Seriously! Things got pretty hectic at the end of the month, so I didn’t get to write my monthly column in the timely fashion that I had laid out.  But I promise it will be back once, if not twice, in September.  Boo yeah!

Podcast!  Maybe? I make no promises here as I don’t have any sort of definite recording schedule set up for the podcast.  But if not this month, then at least by October.  If they do happen, look for it at the end of the month.

Save Yourself! I’m back with a Best Picture nominee you absolutely need to avoid – and it’s going to stir up some intense conversation.  Prepare yourself because that post is headed your way in the next few days.

And all this is just on top of the weekly “F.I.L.M. of the Week” column, reviews and Oscar Moments that pop every so often, and, of course, the random factoids.  All features are subject to change, and I may wind up adding some features later too.  But I’m sure going to try hard to stay on my schedule here.

Have a great September at the movies!  (P.S. – It’s weird to think that the second shameless advertisement ever was September 2009.  A year … woah.)