Stoker trailer

Chan-Wook Park’s first American film.  Should be a doozy.

Nine

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, Fergie, and Nicole Kidman.

Nine is the film adaptation of the Broadway musical which was based on Frederico Fellini’s masterpiece 8 1/2.  So to clear up any confusion, this is technically not a remake, even if it kind of feels like one.  The story follows Guido, a popular and well respected director who’s struggling with the production of his latest film as well as the many women in his life.  This story worked in 8 1/2 because Fellini was able to intertwine reality with dreams, fantasies, flashbacks, etc., so the viewer got a close but surreal look into Guido’s mind.  With Nine, everything’s done by the numbers, the story and the music both begin to feel redundant after about 30 minutes, and it all amounts to an epic waste of talent.

Daniel Day-Lewis is one of my favorite actors, and yet even my own bias towards anything he’s involved with won’t stop me from chalking this up as one of the biggest disappointments of 2009.  Probably should have seen it coming, seeing that I consider Rob Marshall to be probably the 2nd best (Ron Howard’s all over this one) example of an utterly mediocre and overrated Hollywood director.  The performances are all flashy and fun, the costumes are great and even a few of the musical numbers were nice, but it never gets much deeper than that.

RATING:  5/10