trailer break: ‘Good’
Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer...
Nazis! I hate these guys. Oh, wait... some of them were good people caught up in a situation they didn’t realize would get so bad? Hmm. It looks like Viggo Mortensen may be playing the Most Lovable Nazi ever here, just a nice guy, a smart man who did something really stupid because maybe it didn’t look so stupid at the time. Still, couldn’t people tell who the bullies were, even before they did the worst of their bullying? Or perhaps the best we should hope for from a story like this is that it serves as a cautionary tale for us good people to stop the bullies the next time before they get too entrenched.
Good made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival this September, and seems to be getting a rush toward release by year’s end. I think the December 31 release date means it won’t be eligible for the Oscars (films have to play for at least a week prior to the end of the year, which means they have to open by December 25 to be eligible), so it might not be an awards thing. I think it’s probably a coattails thing, what with Defiance -- the Daniel Craig-fighting-Nazis movie -- and Valkyrie -- the Tom Cruise-is-a-Nazi-fighting-Hitler movie -- sure to be major players in critics’ awards and hence in Oscar-speculating fun. And do we ever get tired of movie Nazis? Not yet we haven’t.
Good opens limited in the U.S. on December 31; no U.K. release date has been announced yet.
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comments
posted by Newbs (Mon Nov 17 08, 3:07PM)
(mildly spoiler-ish below)
Saw this in Toronto -- it's really very good, but there's nothing lovable about either Viggo's character or the film as a whole. It feels very intimate though, like it's on stage, which is appropriate since it's based on a play by C.P. Taylor. But there are a few kind of epic, breathtaking moments, especially toward the end. And Jason Isaacs is amazing in it.
Viggo was on hand at the premiere, looking like sex incarnate. It was raining and he jumped the barricade to give autographs and let the girls fondle him. The whole thing was a circus... it's the reason I go to film festivals :)
Of the Nazi movies you mentioned, this is likely to get the least amount of attention. It's very small, and sobering... kind of like Schindler's List without the happy ending. I'd be surprised if it gets any Oscar nominations besides an Actor nod for Viggo; and maybe Adapted Screenplay.
posted by Allochthon (Mon Nov 17 08, 4:51PM)
Ooh, looking forward to this. I became a huge Jason Isaacs fan for "The State Within." Never knew he could act outside of Malfoy, but he's really quite amazing.
posted by Laurie D. T. Mann (Mon Nov 17 08, 5:44PM)
Jason Isaacs is a very good actor. He was unrecognizable and amazingly American in Friends with Money a couple of years back.
I'll probably go see Good just to see Isaacs and Mortensen in the same flick. However, Good seems to go way overboard over Mortensen's various seductions, and that's unfortunate.