He’s a performance artist, published author, gala host, former soap star, college student, professor, and one of the most prolific film actors currently working in Hollywood. This week, James Franco is keeping busy as the director and star of The Disaster Artist, which dramatizes outsider hero Tommy Wiseau’s efforts to bring his infamous The Room to the big screen, so we decided now would be the perfect time to take a fond look back at some of the brightest critical highlights from Franco’s bustling career. From indie flicks to blockbusters, he’s been in just about every kind of picture — and we’re ranking them here while inviting you to rank your own favorites. It’s time for Total Recall!
(Photo by Monterey Media)
As if it weren’t enough that Memoria served as one of a whopping nine movies Franco released in 2016, it’s also based on a short story he wrote — all of which might make it sound like the vanity project to end all vanity projects, if not for the universally positive critical reception it earned during its limited release. Granted, at five reviews, we’re dealing with a limited sample size — at a certain point, Franco becomes too prolific even for people paid to watch the movies — but a rave is a rave, and this quiet character study about a troubled Bay Area teen earned its share, with its author’s supporting turn as a concerned teacher helping anchor the drama. “Despite clocking in at a scant 70 minutes,” wrote Michael Rechtshaffen for the Los Angeles Times, “Memoria manages to make a hauntingly poetic impression.”
(Photo by Focus Features)
Sean Penn rightly received most of the many accolades afforded this 2008 biopic of assassinated political activist Harvey Milk, but director Gus Van Sant wasn’t content to let his movie rest on its star’s performance — he rounded out the cast of Milk with a number of actors whose seamlessly committed performances helped make it one of the most lauded films of the year. Franco fills a supporting role here as Scott Smith, Milk’s onetime lover (and, eventually, the executor of his will), who moves to San Francisco with him during the first act and helps him start his political career. Franco’s work earned him an MTV Movie Awards nomination for Best Kiss — and helped inspire Tom Long of the Detroit News to write, “Progress is slow, but Harvey Milk was one of the first to set the wheels in motion. He more than deserves a movie this good.”
(Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/Fox Searchlight Pictures)
(Photo by Columbia Pictures)
Long before Tom Holland swung into the MCU as Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire brought Marvel’s wall-crawler to the big screen in director Sam Raimi’s blockbuster trilogy — and Franco joined the core ensemble cast as Harry Osborn, Peter Parker’s best pal and the future Green Goblin. Harry’s tortured arc helped form the backbone of Raimi’s overarching narrative throughout the three films, and although Spider-Man 3 proved a dissatisfying low note for the end of this chapter in Spidey’s big-screen life, the movies together helped pave the way for the looming great golden age of superheroes at the box office; more importantly, as Mick LaSalle observed for the San Francisco Chronicle, they offered “Smart, fun entertainment made by people who took nothing for granted, including the audience.”
(Photo by Suzanne Hanover/Sony Pictures)
If an actor is playing themselves in a movie, should it count as one of their best performances? More often than not, we’d say no — but we’re making an exception for the gloriously loopy This Is the End, in which some of Hollywood’s sharpest young talent play exaggerated (or straight up invented) versions of themselves against the backdrop of the apocalypse. The end of the world, naturally, is witnessed from Franco’s abode, where he’s hosting a house party (including Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, Jonah Hill, and Emma Watson) when things go haywire. The end result, while decidedly not for all tastes, hits its comedic targets far more often than it misses; as Dana Stevens observed for Slate, “This Is the End, true to its subject matter, is as funny as hell.”
(Photo by 20th Century Fox Film Corp.)
(Photo by Paramount Pictures)
In addition to taking a supporting role, Franco also donned his producer’s hat for Goat, a harrowing drama from director/co-writer Andrew Neel about a college freshman (Ben Schnetzer) whose efforts to fit in on campus include pledging his older brother’s fraternity — a fateful decision that soon goes violently wrong, further complicating a young life already shadowed by horrific violence. Like a good number of Franco’s film efforts, it was destined for limited release and aimed outside the mainstream, but for many of the critics who screened it, this hard-hitting coming-of-age story — distinguished by a scene-stealing turn from former pop idol Nick Jonas — proved difficult to shake. “This isn’t an easy film to watch,” admitted the Washington Post’s Stephanie Merry. “But it’s even harder to forget.”
(Photo by Monterey Media)
One of several films drawing from Franco’s 2010 short story collection Palo Alto, this 2015 indie drama weaves together “Yosemite” and “Peter Parker,” a pair of stories from the book, to observe moments in the lives of three fifth-grade boys in 1985. As with other Palo Alto-derived movies, Franco produced and starred but didn’t write or direct; here, he handed the reins to writer-director Gabrielle Demeestere and appeared in one segment as Phil, a father taking a trip to the titular park with his son (Everett Meckler). While certainly not one of his more widely seen efforts, it ranks among his most satisfying for the majority of critics who reviewed it — including the Village Voice’s Alan Scherstuhl, who wrote, “Yosemite mines Franco’s fiction for its most vital quality: his unsentimental depiction of youthful insecurity, this time among fifth-graders.”
(Photo by First Look International)
(Photo by Warner Bros. courtesy Everett Collection)
In this Paul Haggis drama, Franco took a supporting role alongside Jason Patric as one of two politely dismissive Army officers who interfere with the efforts of a grieving father (played by Tommy Lee Jones) to uncover the facts of his son’s gruesome murder. Though its Iraq War overtones didn’t do it many favors with audiences, and some critics felt Haggis took an excessively heavy-handed approach, most were able to appreciate In the Valley of Elah’s message — and the hard questions it asked in a time of war. “After the potent final image faded to black,” wrote Aisle Seat’s Mike McGranaghan, “I had that very special tingle I get when I know I’ve just seen a great movie.”
On August 5 2010, a mine collapsed in the town of San José, Chile, prompting a seemingly impossible rescue mission that unfolded over the course of three months. This week’s The 33 dramatizes the event as a testimony to the human struggle against the elements, and in that spirit, our Spanish-language partners over at Tomatazos have offered up a brief list of similar stories to get you into the “rescue mood” before you purchase a ticket.
Even though it drifts away stylistically from the following entries, this space epic heads our list because it also shares some of their fundamental characteristics. Even when everything seems perfectly planned out, including daily chores, one small failure (a technical one in the Apollo’s case) is all it takes to make things go sour in a hurry, prompting all those involved to face risky situations in order to regain control. Kind of makes you believe “13 is an unlucky number,” dosen’t it?
This tale feels like something lifted straight out of a Eugène Ionesco play (the whole “eating yourself to survive” business), and it’s doubly shocking because it was, of course, based on a real story. It’s claustrophobic, anguishing, and crude; no wonder it got James Franco an Academy Award nomination.
Almost every character in this list is a victim of circumstance; that is to say, they obviously did not choose to be burned in space or trapped between a literal rock and a hard place. But not Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch,) the daunting protagonist of this film, who chose to leave his whole life behind and be “one” with nature. Nature, cranky as she’s wont to be, took care of the rest.
This J.A. Bayona flick hits closer to home when you realize that the suburbanite family onscreen could be yours; not that suburbanites are inherently threatening, but because of the prospect that you could be chilling at your favorite overseas resort, and then bam! The sea’s now all over you. And your child. And Naomi Watts. Now that’s a spooky image.
We just could not leave this classic survival film off the list, especially since it’s become a definitive reference on the matter. It’s the movie that made audiences think twice the next time they took a flight. It’s a safe bet to say that whenever people think of this story, they feel a knot in their stomach; and it all began with a simple plane trip above the Andes…
You can find the original article in Spanish at Tomatazos.com.
In the wake of the Oscars last night, our top two entries for this week’s column feature the co-hosts of the festivities, James Franco and Anne Hathaway. Unfortunately, while Franco’s film was a multiple Academy Award nominee (including a Best Actor nod for Franco himself), Hathaway’s film… Well, let’s just say her film didn’t impress critics as much. After that, we’ve got the latest actioner headlined by Dwayne Johnson, a music doc about one of LA’s prominent clubs, a musical featuring Cher and Christina Aguilera, and a certain Disney classic about an orphaned deer. See below to check out this week’s new releases!
This timely release comes on the heels of the Oscars, where the film was nominated for six awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, and a Best Actor nod for its star (and co-host of the evening’s festivities) James Franco. Directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire), 127 Hours tells the remarkable real life story of outdoorsman Aron Ralston, who embarked on a canyoneering trip in Utah in 2003. While he was passing through a narrow passage, a boulder broke free and trapped him within the canyon, pinning his right arm against the rock wall and beginning a five-day struggle to survive. 127 Hours was a hit with critics, who called it equally gut-wrenching and inspirational and praised Franco’s performance in particular. It didn?t come home with any Oscars on Sunday, but it did receive a Certified Fresh 93% Tomatometer, so if you missed it when it was in theaters, here’s your second chance. Be forewarned, though: there are some scenes that are not for the faint of heart.
And here we have the latest film from the other co-host of the Oscars, Anne Hathaway; this one, however, wasn’t nominated for any of the awards. Starring alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, a smooth-talking pharmaceutical salesman (and womanizer) named Jamie, Hathaway plays Maggie Murdock, a woman with early onset Parkinson’s disease who proves to be a wit-for-wit match for Jamie. The two begin a casual, sex-based relationship, but eventually they fall in love and must deal with the consequences. Directed by Ed Zwick (Glory, The Last Samurai), Love and Other Drugs failed to impress critics very much, earning just a 49% Tomatometer. The film suffered from a lack of narrative focus, and despite striking many as a refreshingly adult romance, the lack of balance between its plot elements ultimately was its undoing. If you’re fan of the stars, or just a fan of seeing them without their clothes on, this’ll be perfect for you.
Dwayne Johnson seems to have been focused on family films and comedies as of late, with roles in The Tooth Fairy, Get Smart, and The Other Guys. In fact, he hasn’t been in a proper action movie since 2005’s Doom. So, in some ways, it was refreshing to see him step back into his tough guy shoes for Faster, a revenge flick about a recently released ex-con (Johnson) who must dodge both the police and a hitman while he seeks retribution for those responsible for the death of his brother. Unfortunately, critics felt that the film’s leaps in logic were a bit much to bear, and the story was riddled with too many subplots that distract from the issue at hand. As such, it’s got a 45% Tomatometer score, and it may satisfy those looking for some cheap action thrills, but it probably won’t do much more than that.
Troubadours is a rock doc that definitely does not go to 11. Instead, it’s a celebratory look at a key moment in American pop ? specifically, the mellow, introspective singer/songwriter movement that coalesced around the famed L.A. club the Troubadour. James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Carole King, Jackson Browne and a bunch of other mellow rock luminaries are on hand to offer fond anecdotes about the time and the scene; if critics had a nit to pick with Troubadours, it’s that this amiable talking-heads portrait doesn’t go much deeper than surface level. However, fans of the music will be in heaven, and the DVD set comes with a bonus CD with cuts from Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Tom Waits, and 2011 Oscar winner Randy Newman, among others.
On paper, Burlesque must have looked like high-camp heaven. Cher and Christina Aguilera star class up a plot that’s older than dirt: a small-town girl goes to the big city, falls under the wing of an old showbiz pro, and becomes a star. Unfortunately, critics savaged the film, calling it a cliché-ridden mess lacking the kind of showstopping musical numbers needed to overcome the predictability of the plot. Still, if you’re in the mood for some old-school razzle dazzle, you could probably do worse, since they don’t make movies like Burlesque anymore, for good or ill. The DVD features a bunch of making-of featurettes, director’s commentary, a blooper reel, an alternate opening, and videos of the movies musical sequences.
Generations of children have been traumatized by Bambi. Now, with a sparkling new Bambi Blu-Ray, you and your family can experience the most horrifying mommy shooting in movie history — in high definition! Seriously, though, Bambi is yet another jewel in Disney’s crown, a beautiful, charming, and at times achingly sad perennial that continues to amaze nearly 70 years after its original release. Briskly paced, with plenty of adorable characters, Bambi may fall a notch or two below Snow White or Fantasia in the Mouse House cannon, but it’s a remarkable entertainment nonetheless. The Blu-Ray is chock full of goodies as well, including a making-of doc, deleted scenes, a look at some Disney artwork from the vault, a short film of Uncle Walt explaining the filming techniques, and a Silly Symphony animated short from 1937.
Film Independent, the non-profit organization behind the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, have announced their winnerss for the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The ceremony took place in Santa Monica on Saturday, February 26. See below for the full list of winners.
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93% |
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74% |
95% |
94% |
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— |
85% |
77% |
72% |
87% |
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93% |
95% |
94% |
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Aaron Eckhart
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James Franco
93% |
John C. Reilly
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Ben Stiller
74% |
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Annette Bening
95% |
Greta Gerwig
74% |
Nicole Kidman
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Jennifer Lawrence
94% |
Natalie Portman
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88% |
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94% |
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John Ortiz
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Mark Ruffalo
95% |
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72% |
94% |
Allison Janney
68% |
Daphne Rubin-Vega
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Naomi Watts
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| Best Screenplay | Best First Screenplay |
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– Monogamy |
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| Best Cinematography | Best Documentary |
| Best Foreign Film | John Cassavetes Award |
For all of RT?s awards season coverage, check out Awards Tour here.
Founded in 1947 by such cinematic legends as David Lean, Alexander Korda, Carol Reed, and Charles Laughton, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts is tasked with promoting cinema and education the public about film through screenings, lectures, and other events. However, it’s best known on these shores for the British Academy Film Awards – better known as the BAFTAs — which have honored the UK’s finest cinematic achievements since 1948 and are one of the most important pre-Oscar honors. Here now is the full list of winners.
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86% |
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97% |
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93% |
91% |
81% |
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93% |
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87% |
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96% |
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100% |
96% |
Colin Firth
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James Franco
93% |
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Annette Bening
95% |
Julianne Moore
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Natalie Portman
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95% |
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96% |
Pete Postlethwaite
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Mark Ruffalo
95% |
93% |
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93% |
Barbara Hershey
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Lesley Manville
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100% |
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82% |
98% |
99% |
| Original Screenplay | Adapted Screenplay |
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| Cinematography | Editing |
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| Production Design | Costume Design |
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| Special Visual Effects | Make Up & Hair |
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| Sound | Original Music |
| Film Not In the English Language | Short Film |
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| Orange Rising Star Award | Short Animation |
 The Eagleman Stag |
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| Matter Fisher |
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| Thursday |
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For all of RT’s awards season coverage, check out Awards Tour here.
This week at the movies, we’ve got a reformed supervillain (Megamind, with voice work from Will Ferrell and Tina Fey); a crazed cross-country trek (Due Date, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis); and some pained, poetic women (For Colored Girls, starring Thandie Newton and Janet Jackson). What do the critics have to say?
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Megamind shares some cosmetic similarities with a couple of recent animated features – namely, The Incredibles and Despicable Me. Still, critics say Megamind has a strong voice cast, strong visuals, and a loopy sense of humor that help to make up for a slightly stale premise and some pacing problems. After apparently defeating his nemesis, Metro Man (Brad Pitt), Megamind (Will Ferrell) finds that his fair city has taken a turn for the worse. Needing an image makeover, he imports a new rival to fight – and hopefully gain some popularity in the process. The pundits say Megamind is generally decent, with a few big laughs and some impressive artwork, but its many pop-culture references mostly serve to remind audiences of the superhero flicks they’ve seen — and loved — before.
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Director Todd Phillips scored big with The Hangover, and Due Date seemingly has all the elements in place for a stellar follow-up: it’s got a red hot cast, and its combination of cross-country tomfoolery and antisocial behavior would seem to be right in Phillips’s wheelhouse (he directed both Road Trip and Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies, after all). Unfortunately, the critics say Due Date is just so-so, an occasionally unpleasant trip that lacks the headlong comic intensity of The Hangover. Robert Downey Jr. stars as a dad-to-be who’s trying to be with his wife for the birth of their child. However, when he has problems with his flight, he hastily hitches a ride with an antisocial oddball (Zach Galifianakis); hi-jinks ensue. The pundits say Due Date benefits from its stars and several excellent cameos, but it slavishly follows the templates of a number of other road comedies and suffers from both poor taste and a lack of forward momentum. (Check out this week’s Total Recall, in which we list some memorable movie road trips.)
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On the surface, For Colored Girls has a lot going for it. It’s based upon a Tony Award-winning play by Ntozake Shange; it’s got a fantastic cast that includes Janet Jackson, Thandie Newton, Whoopi Goldberg, and Kerry Washington, just to name a few; and its director, Tyler Perry, has been riding a relative critical hot streak lately (his 2009 helming effort, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, got the best notices of his career, and he was a producer on the Oscar-winning Precious). Unfortunately, critics say For Colored Girls largely bowdlerizes the play’s evocative, impassioned language in favor of grim melodrama. For Colored Girls is the tale of eight African American women, each in the midst of a personal crisis, and how their lives intersect. The pundits say that while For Colored Girls was made with the best of intentions — and contains some dynamite acting — it’s ultimately undone by Perry’s over-the-top scripting and direction, and the result is a soapy, painful slog.
Also opening this week in limited release:
Finally, props to August M., Doomz Davo, Easter In The Batcave, Jacob The Basterd, and trukandji for coming the closest to guessing Saw 3D‘s nine percent Tomatometer.
