The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
Release Date: November 16th
Directed by Bill Condon; Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner
At last, our long national nightmare comes to an end. Twilight ends, the hype dies down, and teenage girls may finally have a chance at discovering empowering and intelligent films and literature, instead of this puritanical misogynist garbage. And lest you think me unfair, I have seen these movies, and I have read the first book. I have done my research. And this is easily one of the laziest, most blatantly contemptuous cash-grab franchises in film history. I don’t care if they do have an Oscar winner at the helm. Condon makes no difference. These movies are awful, rotten to their core, and I cannot wait for them to return to the shadows from whence they came.
Anna Karenina
Release Date: November 16th (Limited)
Directed by Joe Wright; Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law, and Aaron Tyler-Johnson
If I may play Oscar prognosticator for a second, I think there’s a very real chance Keira Knightley may win Best Actress this year for her lead role in Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina. Knightley was a tremendously deserving nominee for Pride and Prejudice, her first collaboration with the director, and both she and Wright have only gotten better at their respective crafts since then.
That means Karenina is one of the key prestige films to watch out for this season, and as with all of Wright’s films, I suspect there’s more than mere pedigree beneath the surface.
He has a wonderful sense for character, a deft hand at relating thematic subtext, and, of course, a tremendous eye for visuals. All of that will serve the film well, and Knightley may have her meatiest role to date playing one of literature’s most well known characters. I’m very excited to see what she does with the part, and with no major competition to speak of (not, at least, among roles the Oscars care about), this could very well be her year.
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