#5
American Hustle
December 13
Speaking of directors on a role, following up The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell went straight to work on American Hustle and from the moment it was announced it not only looked like an Oscar contender, it had every appearance of being his third hit in a row.
Starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Amy Adams, Louis C.K., Alessandro Nivola, Elisabeth Röhm, Michael Peña and Jack Huston, the cast is overflowing with talent and the costumes alone would seem to make it a must see.
A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that’s as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving’s unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. Like David O. Russell’s previous films, American Hustle defies genre, hinging on raw emotion, and life and death stakes.
#4
The Counselor
October 25
Ridley Scott is a director we’ve all come to anticipate each and every project he puts out, but in recent years nothing has lived up to the pre-release hype and here he comes again with a hot cast — Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, John Leguizamo, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Natalie Dormer, Goran Visnjic, Rosie Perez and Dean Norris — and an original screenplay by Cormac McCarthy of all people. Once again, sign me up, I just can’t seem to temper my enthusiasm when it comes to Scott’s projects and The Counselor is no different.
Written by Cormac McCarthy, The Counselor centers on a present-day Southwest lawyer (Fassbender) who thinks he can dip a toe into the drug business without getting sucked down. A bad decision. He tries his best to survive it and get out of a desperate situation, but can he?
#3
Blue is the Warmest Color
October 25
My biggest regret coming out of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival was missing Blue is the Warmest Color, the most talked about, previously unknown film coming out of the festival. I won’t be missing it in Toronto as I’ll be catching it the first day and it isn’t stopping there as it will also show in Telluride and at the New York Film Festival.
In the lead role, Adèle Exarchopoulos has been talked about by everyone that’s seen the film and I can’t wait to catch her performance for myself.
At 15, Adele doesn’t question it: girls go out with boys. Her life is changed forever when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself, finds herself…
NOTE: The trailer below is not safe for work.
