London Film Festival: Steve Buscemi Interview and "Enchanted"

I just got home from a weekend at the London Film Festival. On Friday, I saw an exclusive interview with Steve Buscemi and today I saw the newly buzzed "Enchanted" with Amy Adams. Here are my thoughts:

Steve Buscemi Interview

Let me start off by saying that for the last three weeks I have been obsessing over getting tickets to this event. Even with my priority booking (I'm a member of the BFI), it was sold out when I looked for tickets. When more tickets were let out on October 12th, Steve Buscemi tickets were not available. I think went up for sale while I was at "Eastern Promises". This (and "I'm Not There, which I do have tickets to) was the event I wanted to see the most. Well, I took a train in yesterday and got in line for standby tickets. I was about tenth in line but I didn't think my chances were all that good. When I got the tickets...I about fainted.

Steve Buscemi is one of my all time favorite actors. C'mon, it's Steve Buscemi. This is the man who brought Carl Showalter, Mr. Pink, Donny Kerabatsos, and thousands of other character parts to life. He's also, though I haven't actually seen any of his films, a director. He's directed "Trees Lounge", "Animal Factory", "Lonesome Jim", and the new "Interview". He's also directed episodes of "The Sopranos" and "Oz". He's written some stuff too.

While I sat in my seat waiting for the interview to commence, I observed that it was going to be set up very similar to Inside the Actor's Studio, which it was. The interviewer (she actually did quite a bad job) came on stage and said that they were going to screen the trailer for "Interview" before Buscemi came on stage. The lights went down and everyone waiting for the trailer to begin. And waited. And waited. And waited. There were, needless to say, technical difficulties. At this moment, a shadow from the bottom right corner of the room, next to the door, spoke with his nasally and unbelievably recognizable voice:

"We'll just act out the trailer!"

The whole theatre burst into laughter at Buscemi's joke and finally the trailer started. After it had finished, the interview began. Buscemi talked about his thoughts on the industry, his opinion of himself ("I like to think of myself as a tree") and films today, directing, acting (he said that he sees all of his character parts as "normal people" who have to work out problems), and other very interesting topics. Buscemi really came off as a down to Earth professional. He said that in order for him to accept a role in a movie, it isn't about the other stars involved, the director, or any members off the crew...it's about the writing. He said that if he were to ever be in any film about an important cause...it had to be written well. While the questions that he was being asked were not necessarily good questions, Buscemi gave absolutely great answers. The interview as a whole was a very exciting experience and one that I really enjoyed.

After seeing Buscemi's interview, I headed into Leicester Square to see if Brad Pitt was going to show up for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" gala but he did not. The director, Andrew Dominik, and Robin Tunney both showed up. Dominik came off as unbelievably arrogant...and he's made two films.

Today, I took the train in to see "Enchanted". Before the film, I saw Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, and Alan Menken. The next couple pictures are all ones that I took.

Enchanted: In Review

I don't think I can name the last great movie that Disney has made without the help of the most brilliant animation studio today: Pixar. Well, Disney can now boast "Enchanted" as their last great movie. While the film definitely has some groan inducing moments (but just one or two...it is a modern children's movie so how could it not?), this is still a very pleasing film. Amy Adams, as buzzed about, is absolutely fantastic. She gives the best lead actress role I've seen this year. It is also one of the funniest performances I've seen this decade. If you've seen the trailer then you can probably get a pretty good idea of what her performance will be like during the beginning half. During the second half, Soon-to-be-Princess Giselle receives some major character development that could either make the Academy more favorable of her performance or less. Adams' performance is not one dimensional like many would think. Like I just said, there is some major character development. I hate to repeat myself but I must. Adams is a delight. She is the film's major highlight, obviously, and not only does she merit a nomination but she could be a potential contender for Best Actress considering how weak the category is bound to be this year. The screenplay, I thought, was pretty great. While some may think it is "ripping off classic fairy tale story lines", the film is actually "ripping ON classic fairy tale story lines" (The song "That's How You Know" is directed and choreographed to utter perfection to spoof on Disney musicals. It's one of the funniest scenes I've scene this year). The whole poison apple, true love's kiss, spell breaks at stroke of 12, villain turns into dragon, etc. etc. etc. is in the film and I thought it worked brilliantly. The songs were hilarious and the dance numbers were gut-bustingly funny. While parts were predictable, it is the predictabilities in the script that make it so strong. After all, aren't the films that this film is farcing predictable? So why shouldn't this one be?

As I said before, though, the film does have some flaws. Those flaws are areas in the script. While I said that the script is good, these flawed parts are obviously aimed towards children and kids will love the film even more thanks to these parts but will make adults and teenagers a little annoyed. Still, this film is one that will make you leave the theatre much happier than when you came in. Other Oscar possibilities that the film has, besides the obvious Best Actress, are in Costume Design, Makeup, Original Song, and (not much of a chance at all but still a possibility because of the way it spoofs other Disney films) Original Screenplay.

I must say, this is probably one of the most unlikely contenders for an Oscar in God knows how long. That being said, the film is a true delight and Amy Adams pleases big time. If her unexpected buzz continues to grow for this film, she will most likely receive a nomination and possibly win the Golden Globe. B+

Here's a picture of the program that you got in your seat-


"Lust, Caution" premiered right after "Enchanted" in the same theatre so when I exited back onto the red carpet to go to dinner, I saw someone who some of you may know (I took this picture)...

Seeing Ang Lee was unbelievably exciting.

Well, I'm afraid my next London Film Festival update won't be until a week from today when I'll be seeing one film that probably won't make much of a difference to anyone, "Rescue Dawn", but then I'm seeing one that is indeed on the Oscar radar for a possible Best Actor nomination, "Grace is Gone".

Until then, enjoy your week and I look forward to giving reviews for those two films a week from today.