Dumbledore Gets an Upgrade

Fans of the Harry Potter series may have been staggering about hollow-eyed after The Deathly Hallows ended five years ago. With the closure of a story that defined most of their childhoods, there doesn’t seem to have been anything to fill the void left by one of the most successful franchises of all time. It’s not likely that Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will be another Harry Potter, but the formula is in place: a book turned movie about an “ordinary” boy who discovers a world of “extraordinary” kids and realizes he’s not so ordinary after all. In fact, he is the chosen one destined to save them all from a nameless evil. Except in this case, the wizened old headmaster has been replaced with Eva Green.

This original source material by Ransom Riggs was popular on the young adult scene for about 70 weeks and has an intriguing back story. Riggs, a collector of ephemera, came across a stack of vintage photographs that seemed designed to induce nightmares. Riggs, instead, gave them all backstories, and turned them into a close-knit community of orphans with special powers and watched over by a shapeshifting headmistresss named Miss Peregrine. The lead character is led to their orphanage in his quest to discover what happened to his grandfather, who also grew up in the orphanage. What follows is a story of time warps, vicious monsters, and the beautifully strange children who huddle together in their Welsh orphanage to survive the Blitzkrieg during WWII. It’s an enjoyable tale that has enough eeriness to spare for a film adaptation, and director Tim Burton should be the right man for the job. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children opens nationwide on September 30, 2016.

Gordon-Levitt Channels Edward Snowden

Sorry for the posting delay, but I wanted to make sure I added another trailer that I felt merited especial attention, given the timing and subject matter. Snowden, the upcoming Oliver Stone film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, tells the story of the young CIA employee who blew the lid off of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance program in 2013. Hailed as a whistleblower and denounced as a traitor, Snowden has spent the past few years exiled in Russia  and is now seeking President Obama’s pardon and permission to return to the United States.

Oliver Stone is certainly not the subtlest filmmaker, and having seen his interpretation of the Bush Administration in W., I have a pretty good idea how he has chosen to tell Snowden’s story. Nonetheless, Gordon-Levitt has done an amazing job channeling Snowden’s voice and mannerisms. I also think it’s an important story to tell, given the questions it raises as to how much we trust our government: a question that has arguably led to the populist disillusionment evident in our current presidential election. Whether Snowden is a hero or a traitor is a matter of perspective; the activities of the NSA PRISM program have since been denounced as illegal, but the exposure of international secrets can be seen as another matter. Either way, Stone’s movies have a way of generating discussion – in this case, how much of our freedom we are willing to give up for security. Snowden is scheduled to open in theaters nationwide this Thursday, September 15, 2016:

Kate Winslet Stuns as an Aussie Fairy Godmother in The Dressmaker

The agelessly lovely Kate Winslet stars as a sort of femme fatale returning to her hometown – and Liam Hemsworth – in the Australian Outback. The Dressmaker follows Winslet’s character, Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage, as she attends to her mother and confronts the town gossip over a tragic secret for which Tilly was accused and apparently for which she was never forgiven. Based on a novel by Rosalie Ham, The Dressmaker is billed as a revenge comedy-drama, which is evident in the events presented in the trailer. A resplendent Tilly stirs up the drab locals and eventually transforms them through her talents as a world-renown fashion designer. Despite her best attempts to win them over, she still must confront the painful past and shut down their accusations once and for all.

The Dressmaker premiered in Australia last year and received numerous awards, including Best Film and Best Lead Actress according to the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards. It is scheduled to release in America on September 23, 2016. Let’s see if the winsome cast and period-piece mystery story can find an audience here in the States. We could use a little resplendency right now: