Showing posts with label Josh Radnor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Josh Radnor. Show all posts

Monday, December 9, 2013

Juno Temple Sizzles as Nanny in Trouble in Afternoon Delight

Juno Temple, 2013’s winner of the BAFTA Rising Star Award, the only award to be voted for by the public - Temple has established herself as one of the most versatile and talented young actresses in the past years.

Recognized as a true star in the making, Temple fearlessly takes on the role of McKenna, a club stripper, sex worker turned nanny in “Afternoon Delight” with co-stars Kathryn Hahn, Josh Radnor and Jane Lynch.


Official Poster - _Playdate

In the movie, a stay-at-home mom named Rachel (Hahn) took interest in McKenna after a lap dance meeting in a club where McKenna works. Rachel, thinking that her life had gone on a plateau one day tried to experiment with her husband Jeff (Radnor) by visiting a strip club to spice up their marriage. She eventually meets McKenna who gave her a lap dance. When Rachel wakes up the next morning, she finds herself restless and nothing is ever the same in her routine. She started to follow McKenna and tried to get to know her better.

McKenna, looking young and fragile, prompted Rachel to lead McKenna out of her current employment as a stripper and sex worker. When the opportunity presented itself, Rachel took advantage to take McKenna home after being evicted from where she was staying. Much to her husband’s hesitation to take McKenna in, Rachel arranged to make McKenna their temporary live-in nanny. Rachel’s obsession in helping McKenna would soon unravel truths about herself that will spill over changes not just to her but to their marriage as well.

Directed by Jill Soloway, “Afternoon Delight” has also won the directing award at this year’s Sundance Festival. “Beyond the comedic and cinematic concepts that were on my mind, I made a few feminist choices while writing. Often, when the Madonna/Whore trope turns up in popular entertainment, the bad girl gets thrown under the bus or otherwise metaphorically murdered so that the movie can fulfill a typical Hero’s Journey plot. I am deeply interested in another possibility, a less-told Heroine’s Journey that unravels in the shape of contiguous spirals. These interconnected circles form an emotional roller coaster for the audience as we allow dual protagonists to repeatedly switch places; both women veer through right and wrong multiple times,” shares Soloway.

Temple’s breakthrough arrived when she won the role of Cate Blanchett’s daughter in the Academy Award-nominated film “Notes on A Scandal.” Temple played Polly, the rebellious daughter of Blanchett’s character Sheba. She was most recently seen opposite Matthew McConaughey and Emile Hirsch in “Killer Joe,” based on the play by Tracy Letts and directed by William Friedkin. She was also recently seen in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises” opposite Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, and Anne Hathaway.

Temple’s other films include “Lovelace” opposite Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard, she recently wrapped production on Disney’s live-action fairy tale “Maleficient,” starring Angelina Jolie. She will also be seen next in ”Horns” opposite Daniel Radcliffe. Additional credits include “The Brass Teapot,” “The Other Boleyn Girl,” “The Three Musketeers,” “Mr. Nobody,” “The Year One,” “1939 St. Trinian’s,” “Wild Child” and “Pandaemonium.”

You can most definitely check out Afternoon Delight review HERE

Rated R-16, “Afternoon Delight” opens December 11 in cinemas from Axinite Digicinema, Inc.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Afternoon Delight Movie Review

Caught the Sundance winnah "Afternoon Delight" last night and I must say it was a good one. Not what I was expecting but still a pretty good one nonetheless. The film stars Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple and Josh Radnor.



First let's set the mood here: Starland Vocal Band - Afternoon delight

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Here's the synopsis for the film:

Hahn plays Rachel, a quick-witted and lovable yet tightly coiled woman living within the affluent Silver Lake neighborhood. At first glance, with their chic modern home, successful husband, adorable child and a hipster wardrobe, you’d think Rachel is living in full bliss until she felt the stabbing reality of emptiness when left alone at home and ponders on her lackluster sex life.

Spicing things up, she decides to visit a strip club and gets a private dance from McKenna (played by Juno Temple) and something cracks open in Rachel. Inspired by the experience, Rachel returns to the club to get to know McKenna, soon after adopts her as a live-in nanny. This bold move unleashes unimagined and colorful waves of change into Rachel’s life, marriage and community.


Here are some of the things that I'm much pleased about the film. 

- Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) is a pretty human character. I got to admire this film for showing the good and bad, the ups and downs of being human. Women can totally relate and if you're fancying some 'female empowerment' here, that's relative. IMHO, she's playing midfield here. More on Hahn later.



- Juno Temple as McKena is just about the sweetest thing. Fine she's also cute and all that but really, for a sex worker down on her luck, you don't see the stress or the frustration or sadness. She's fricking bubbly most of the times. Well except of course for that time when she was going bonkers, but that's still tolerable. 

- On McKenna, I liked the way that she's cool with everything. It's as if she was written to be the voice of reality, the poster child for temperance and control so when the moments where she and Hahn interact are there onscreen, you get to see the real divide. Pretty solid scriptwriting. 



- Josh Radnor in Afternoon Delight comes as a bit of a shock. Radnor's always been picky about his roles and this is the first movie I've seen him on (I know he made a movie recently but that's not yet arrived here locally and I'm too busy to actually look for it). Going back to the shock comment, yeah, it's a bit of a shock to see hopeless romantic Ted Mosby from "How I Met Your Mother" smoking weed, banging his wife bucknaked and nearly cavorting with Juno Temple. And he looks old and grizzled here, which is perfect for his role. Also my wife loves him now and I can't do anything about that. 



- Comedy-wise, I was expecting more but it comes in dribs and drabs. Might be a tad disappointed but you'll forgive everything once you really start reading into the story and the lives of the lead characters. If you're thinking French-Canadian American Pie, no dice. 

- Keegan-Michael Peele of the Key and Peele tandem is also lurking somewhere here in this movie. That could've upped the comedy factor but alas. His presence does cement the film's rep as a comedy. 

- Jane Lynch is also here. Nuff said.

- Afternoon Delight is a good movie for couples of all ages and sizes. But it'll get more oomph for the younger couples. Still, it's got hints of family drama in this. Too bad you can't bring your kids because of the sensitive matters discussed and tackled. 

I like the film's last part. It's subtle and simple and it'll probably make a stoner in the audience light up and raise their bongs. 

Also Moral Lesson - Do not bring your wife to a stripclub. It's a pretty weird thing and idea. 



AFTERNOON DELIGHT Opens December 11!




Special thanks to Axinite Digicinema; like their facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Axinite-Digicinema-Inc/132964500239793 

Monday, December 2, 2013

No Secret To Kathryn Hahn's Ever Delightful Talent

A natural talent with an engaging presence and undeniable energy, Kathryn Hahn has finally come to mainstream attention through a variety of supporting roles in recent past.


Her latest performance with Jennifer Aniston in “We’re The Millers” as the proper mom who engaged the audience laughing out loud when her character tried to explore her freaky side resorting to outrageous mishaps along the way. Her feature film credits include her stand-out roles in “Step Brothers,” playing John C. Reilly's outrageous and funny love interest 'Alice,' and “Revolutionary Road,” playing Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio's neighbor 'Milly Campbell.' Additional film credits include “Wanderlust,” “Our Idiot Brother,” “How Do You Know,” “The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard,” “The Last Mimzy,” “The Holiday,” “Around the Bend,” “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!,” “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” and “Flushed.”

Her TV credits include her recurring role as Lily Lebowski on the NBC hit show “Crossing Jordan,” “Four Kings,” “Hung,” “Free Agents” and most recently a guest-starring arc on the NBC hit show “Parks & Recreation.”

Hahn made her Broadway debut in the Tony winning play “Boeing-Boeing” alongside Bradley Whitford, Gina Gershon, Mary McCormack, Christine Baranski and Mark Rylance. “Boeing-Boeing” won the 2008 Tony in the category of Best Revival of a Play.No stranger to the stage, her theater credits also include “Dead End” (Ahmanson Theater, Huntington Theater Company), “Ten Unknowns” (Huntington Theater Company), “A Midsummer Night's Dream” (Williamstown Mainstage), HeddaGabler(Williamstown/Baystreet), “Othello” (Yale School of Drama), “Chaucer in Rome” (Williamstown Mainstage), “Camino Real” (Williamstown Mainstage) and “The Birds” (Yale).

This year, Hahn stars in a very offbeat role in “Afternoon Delight” where Jill Soloway nabbed the Directing Award at the recently concluded Sundance Film Festival. “Afternoon Delight” showcases Hahn’s brilliant talent where her role Rachel, is the movie’s spine. Rachel (Hahn) is a woman on her 30s who lives a seemingly perfect life until she felt a void in the life she currently treads. From her daily routine on attending to her husband’s and child’s needs from morning to evening, she felt she needed to fill something in between the gaps. Such restlessness led her and her husband to a strip club to spice things up where she met McKenna (Juno Temple), a stripper who gave her a lap dance. It turns out that the loudest clang she’s been hearing in her head is how hard it is to keep having great sex in their long-term relationship. From this self-revelatory recognition, she goes on beyond the limit of her curiosity that brought drastic changes in her life and marriage.


Hahn will also be seen next in Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” where she plays with an ensemble of a cast including Shirley McClaine, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott and Sean Penn. Hahn plays Odessa in the movie, Ben Stiller’s sister who is a performance artist. The film follows a timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams and embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.

“Afternoon Delight” will open in (local) cinemas on December 11 and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” will open January 22.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Sundance Film Festival Winner "Afternoon Delight" Focus on Sexual Awakening (Opens Dec 11)

Fresh from her remarkable hilarious role in the movie “We’re The Millers” with Jennifer Aniston, Katherine Hahn’s talent shines through in her first starring role in “Afternoon Delight” about a stay at home mom whose sexual awakening came in her 30s when everything looks just perfect.


Hahn plays Rachel, a quick-witted and lovable yet tightly coiled woman living within the affluent Silver Lake neighborhood. At first glance, with their chic modern home, successful husband, adorable child and a hipster wardrobe, you’d think Rachel is living in full bliss until she felt the stabbing reality of emptiness when left alone at home and ponders on her lackluster sex life.

Spicing things up, she decides to visit a strip club and gets a private dance from McKenna (played by Juno Temple) and something cracks open in Rachel. Inspired by the experience, Rachel returns to the club to get to know McKenna, soon after adopts her as a live-in nanny. This bold move unleashes unimagined and colorful waves of change into Rachel’s life, marriage and community.



Director Jill Soloway who came to prominence writing and producing episodes for the hit television series “Six Feet Under” helms “Afternoon Delight” as her directorial debut. Fresh from winning her Dramatic Directing Award in this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Soloway shares that, “Beyond the comedic and cinematic concepts that were on my mind, I made a few feminist choices while writing. Often, when the Madonna/Whore trope turns up in popular entertainment, the bad girl gets thrown under the bus or otherwise metaphorically murdered so that the movie can fulfill a typical Hero’s Journey plot. I am deeply interested in another possibility, a less-told Heroine’s Journey that unravels in the shape of contiguous spirals. These interconnected circles form an emotional roller coaster for the audience as we allow dual protagonists to repeatedly switch places; both women veer through right and wrong multiple times,” shares Soloway.

Soloway was moved by the idea of a female main character who could be an unlikely, complicated and utterly real screw-up of a woman. Having seen the Seth Rogens, the Jack Blacks and Albert Brooks as lovable but nebbish-y wrong-headed male leads, with the women presented as beautiful and perfect and interested in making great choices, Hahn’s role as Rachel in “Afternoon Delight” aims to remind us that women want the same thing from movies that any audience wants from life-- emotional honesty, raw comedy and the humanness of true flaws.

Winning the Directing Award at Sundance 2013 was a complete shock and a huge thrill for Soloway, “It is so validating. I’m so excited to share this film as it premieres and travels the world. And as for the future, I can’t wait to do this kind of work again and again.”



“It turns out everyone has lived the story about how easy it is to distract yourself-- from yourself-- with an idea about helping. It can be easier for people to open up when there’s a transaction-- financial or otherwise-- at play. But the loudest, clangiest bell has been the notion of how hard it is to keep having great sex in a long-term relationship. The moments of self-recognition in our collaborators and audiences around this truth have been revelatory. Ultimately, if this film were known for one thing, I’d want it to be a loved, hilarious, and relatable exploration of marriage and relationship in our highly connected, disconnected era,” concludes Soloway.

Rated R-16, “Afternoon Delight” will open December 11 in Phils. theaters from Axinite Digicinema, Inc.