Best Picture Reviews

Here are excerpts of the reviews I wrote of four of the five Best Picture nominees, in case you care. (I haven't seen Letters From Iwo Jima but Dane says it's good).

The Departed
The Departed is this years first real Oscar contender. It's a violent, greusome, obscene, masterpiece. It's got top notch performances and direction by one of the living best. There is virtually nothing wrong with The Departed. It's engrossing and engaging and amazing from the first scene to the very last shot. This is storytelling, acting and directing at it's ultimate best. This is a perfect cast and a perfect director and a near perfect script. It harkens back to the days of Scorsese's masterpiece Goodfellas (and perhaps even tops it, but that's debatable). There are so many scenes of brilliance as far as Scorsese's directing is concerned. I loved his choice to have Nicholson narrate the opening sequence and then not to have the narration return. I love the way he had Nicholson draped in darkness for the first 10 minutes of the film. I love the way he shot DiCaprio in all kinds of fog and smoke for the big China Town sequence. I love his use of lighting and telescopic filming techniques, the way he shot the scene with the mirrored wind chime. It's all so brilliant, I can barely find words to describe it. Another thing Scorsese does well is his use of music. The music in this film is perfect. From the opening Rolling Stones track to the sullen Pink Floyd cover to that blaring Irish music, it's all perfectly placed. The acting was amazing but when you have people like Nicholson, DiCaprio, Damon, Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin in a movie it's hard to not expect brilliant performances. Leonardo DiCaprio is an actor who has continually gotten better and better and better. While Jack Nicholson steals the show, DiCaprio has the clear stand-out performance. He manages to wear his emotions on his sleeve, playing such a vulnerable, terrified yet tough character. The crazy paradoxes to his character are impressive and DiCaprio just nails it. He really embodied this modern day tragic hero with such ease. This film is, for sure, the best film this year (so far, at least). Scorsese has been doing this for years but he's just as fresh and just as good as he was when he made Goodfellas. I think it's about time the Academy recognized Scorsese with that Oscar that have been alluding him for so long.
Grade: A+

The Queen
The film presents the Queen, Prince Phillip (a wonderful James Cromwell) and Prince Charles (a horribly miscast Alex Jennings) as people who loathe Diana for the way she came into their royal family, stole the hearts of the masses and then threw everything back in their faces. Who is right about Diana? The people who knew her (and, yet, possibly caused her so much misery) and ended up loathing her in death the way they did in life, or the masses who adored her and worshiped her every move yet never met her. While the Queen is off in seclusion, trying to shelter and protect the two young princes, the film presents archived news footage that flashes the beautiful Diana meeting and greeting the public and helping people less fortunate than herself. The Queen is portrayed as someone who cares more about the death of a buck than about the death of her former daughter-in-law. Yet, there are moments of genuine sadness in Mirren's masterful performance. It's hard to hate the character of The Queen because even after her cold and stoic determination to keep the death "a family matter," you must feel bad for the way the public hated her during that time period. She was a woman who was raised to be a queen. She is all procedure and protocol. She puts duty before self and doesn't show her feelings. Yet, she does at least try, at the end, to make up for the disasterious way the royals first approached the death. It's not a factual account of the death of Diana seen from the Royals family, but rather a wonderfully human comedy based on a national tragedy. At it's heart, what makes it work most of all, is an achingly accurate study, not only of a Monarch we feel we 'know' from television footage and photographs, but also of a deeply private woman who struggled to maintain her own personal dignity in the midst of intense and unkind public scrutiny. But, of course, it's Mirren who steals the show. Not only is this an extraordinary movie, but also it features the finest female acting performance of the year. Mirren captures the mannerisms as well, but it's more than that. She manages to be cold and icy yet, in those private moments, she shows the human side of the Queen. You can't possibly imagine anyone other than Mirren in this role. She's perfect, portraying the perfect amount of confidence and inner turmoil. She brings the personal struggle alive with such ease. At this point, the Oscar for Best Actress is Helen Mirren's to lose.
Grade: A

Babel
Babel, of course, is about communication, or rather miscommunication, in the modern world. It's a theme that seems to interest many a filmmaker as of late - the idea that technology has made instant communication so much easier, yet people seem to be more than ever incapable of understanding one another. Babel consists of a (sometimes monotonous) series of scenes in which people shout, scream, fight, talk over one another - always in a hurry to be understood without taking the time to understand. Innaritu's earlier works were pessimistic, to say the least. Babel is downright depressing. There are four intertwining story lines here taking place over three continents. Each story is crafted with art and beauty. The film is gripping. The cinematography is captivating. The acting is wonderful. While there are some things not to love about this movie, Babel simply could not have been better directed. The standout of the film, for me, is Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi who played Chieko, a deaf-mute school girl. Her performance, without uttering a single word, is more powerful and subtle than any performance you'll see in any other movie from 2006.
Grade: A-

Little Miss Sunshine
For me, Little Miss Sunshine suffers from what I will refer to as Sideways-itis. I remember when Sideways came out and everyone made such a huge deal about it, calling it the best movie of the year etc. I saw it and thought it was okay but nothing all that special. I feel the same way about Little Miss Sunshine. Sure, it's funny (especially the big dance number at the end) and when it's on, then it's on. But the movie isn't consistent and has as many boring dull parts as it does funny poignant ones. The film is funny... sometimes it's very, very funny. There are a few scenes where it's almost too funny (the dance number, the latter part of the hospital scene) but it also feels far too contrived and trying to hard to fit into that indie-dysfunctional family mold that has become so popular thanks to folks like Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. It feels as if there are several years, or at least months, worth of drama and suffering thrown into two days just to make a good script. And while it may try to market itself as a satire, beauty pageants seem to be a satire in themselves these days and there was already a perfectly good beauty pageant satire a few years back called Drop Dead Gorgeous. My problem isn't so much with the script (which is witty and funny and touching and emotional) or with the directing (which was perfectly nice) or even with the performances. The movie IS funny and smart and better than most movies that are made today. It's a classic road trip movie, it's a lovely tale of a strange yet alluring family and it's wonderful the way it shows determination and resiliance in the body of a seven year old who wants so desperately to be a beauty queen when anyone who looks at her can see she isn't a beauty queen at all. But, the message of the movie is probably best paraphrased by Dano's character when he says (something along the lines of) "Just do what you love to do and fuck the rest." It's the most perfect message for a society who wants nothing more than to suceed and do things better and faster and bigger than ever before. So, yes, the movie is good. I think I would have loved it more if I could have seen it before the media onslaught which built it up to be such an amazing, groundbreaking movie, the best of the year as some people called it. They released it in one city here and one city there and tried to build up hype and anticipation when all that really did is ruin the movie a little bit for me.
Grade: B

Oscar Predictions

A week from today is my very favorite holiday: Oscar night! In anticipation, here is a list of who will win, who might pull off an upset and who should win. This years ceremony is looking as predictable as last years. Although, here's hoping for some major upsets. The only race that seems to be anyone's game right now is Best Picture. Last year I went six for six with my predictions of the major categories. Let's see how I fair out this year.

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Who WILL win - Helen Mirren. She's the biggest lock since Titanic for Best Picture. I wouldn't bet against her if I were you.
Who MIGHT win - No one else even has a chance.
Who SHOULD win - Mirren really is that good. She lives up to all the hype and definitely deserves the Oscar.

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
Forset Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Who WILL win - Forest Whitaker is winning every other award. It seems very hard for anyone else to beat him.
Who MIGHT win - Peter O'Toole (close to 80 films, 7 Oscar nominations, no wins) could be a sentimental favorite.
Who SHOULD win - In a year where a lot of people gave one great and award worthy performance, Leonardo DiCaprio gave two. AND he got nominated for the lesser of those performances.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Who WILL win - Jennifer Hudson is the one to beat at this point... unless the Academy realizes that this is an acting competition and not a singing competition. Are they really prepared to imply that an American Idol reject is a better actress than Cate Blanchett?
Who MIGHT win - Everyone seems to love Little Miss Sunshine and Abigail Breslin (although I'm still trying to figure out why exactly). This is a category that is unpredictible and loves young children (see also Anna Paquin for The Piano).
Who SHOULD win - Barraza and Kikuchi are the heart and soul of Babel. Barraza is part of the most memorable and emotionally jarring scenes of the film and Kikuchi shows such subtlety without ever uttering a word. Can we call it a tie?

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
Who WILL win - Eddie Murphy has got the lead and seems to be the one to beat... BUT Norbit could hurt him really bad. (Personally, I think they should take his nomination away because of that movie).
Who MIGHT win - It really depends on just how much the Academy loves Little Miss Sunshine. Alan Arkin could get it.
Who SHOULD win - Paul Dano... oh, wait. I almost forgot - they DIDN'T nominate the best performance from Little Miss Sunshine! In that case, Mark Wahlberg if only for his delivery of the line, "Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe fuck yourself."

Best Director
Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Paul Greengrass - United 93
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
Martin Scorsese - The Departed
Who WILL win - Martin Scorsese. At least there better finally be some justice in this world.
Who MIGHT win - Well, the Academy loves Clint Eastwood the way I love Woody Allen.
Who SHOULD win - Scorsese. But then, he should have at least two Oscars by now. Plus, The Departed is his best work since Goodfellas. And, I don't want to live in a world where Halle Berry has an Oscar and Martin Scorsese does not.

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Who WILL win - It's really hard to say. There's no clear frontrunner so I'm going to give it to Babel over The Departed by just a hair.
Who MIGHT win - Again, it depends just how much the Academy loves Little Miss Sunshine.
Who SHOULD win - The Departed was as flawless a film as made in the last ten years, at least.

Hannibal Rising and Half Nelson

Hannibal Rising - Presented as a prequel to Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal, Hannibal Rising could have been a lot worse. That's not saying, however, that the movie was good. It has its share of ridiculousness. We learn that Lecter is a victim of brutal violence suffered when he was 8 years old, surviving bombings at the hands of war criminals. He watches as they kill his entire family. He breaks out of a Soviet orphanage and travels to France where he meets his Japanese aunt (!!). Somehow, he already speaks perfect French (although he is Lithuanian and shouldn't he speak German?) and is able to study medicine without having any education. Turns out, his Japanese aunt is a survivor of Hiroshima and is some sort of Super Geisha Samaurai who can kick major ass and trains Lecter into being able to cut a man's head off in a one single swoop of a sword (which is so damn silly that I nearly laughed out loud). Still, the movie isn't a complete mess. The beginning drags on for far too long and the end becomes absolutely ridiculous right down to the bad acting (I mean, like, Saw bad). Still, what's in the middle isn't all that bad. As part of a franchise, the movie doesn't do much damage. Still, it all just seems a little unneccessary. Is it really important to see where Lecter, the greatest serial killer in literary and film history, came from? Is it really important to debate whether he was born a serial killer or made to become one? Gaspard Ulliel does a fine job as Hannibal. He's mostly creepy but... there is no way in hell that this kid would grow up to look ANYTHING like Anthony Hopkins. Still, the film is a decent bloodbath complete with everything you would expect from the franchise right down to the cannibalism.
Grade: C

Half Nelson - This is the kind of movie that is such a gem that it becomes such a shame that no one is going to see it. How the brilliant director/writers managed to weave together - seamlessly - politcal commentary, commentary on the nature of modern family relationships, existential struggles, racial tensions and ironies, and the struggles with which we are born by simply being human, is beyond me. It's a gritty, sensitive, well controlled and emotionally harrowing film set in Brooklyn that manages to avoid the inspirational cliches of many teacher-student films and the obligatory violence of films set in the ghetto. Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling finally making the movie and giving the performance that I knew he could) is an idealistic eighth-grade History teacher in an inner city mostly black school who inspires his students by day and drugs himself at night with crack cocaine. Dan is well-liked by his students because he challenges them and doesn't treat them like kids. He coaches girls basketball on the side and is charming with every woman he comes in contact with. His parents were liberal activists in the 60s and 70s and, like them, he wants to make an impact on the world but is disillusioned with the current political climate and, out of frustration and just plain old fatigue, has drifted into a self-induced stupor. Dunne's life begins to spiral out of control when one of his students, Drey (Shareeka Epps), discovers him in the girl's locker room passed out for cocaine. Instead of becoming frightened or angry, Drey brings him water and helps him come down from his high. Drey is not without her own problems, however. Her mother works constant double shifts and is never home, her father is out of her life and her older brother is in prison for selling drugs. Drey is mature and street-wise beyond her age. Drey and Dan forge an unlikely friendship that satisfies emotional needs that Drey cannot find with her classmates and Dan cannot find with other adults. The emotional highlight of the film begins when Dan confronts Frank (Anthony Mackie), a suave drug dealer and associate of Drey's older brother who recruits Drey to be his collector. While Dan wants so desperately to steer Drey in the right direction, he is hardly a role model. This is a sort of tragic modern day classic. Gosling's performance as the charming but flawed teacher is so nuanced and touching that we root for him in spite of h is capacity for self-destruction. Gosling is spot on and that Oscar nomination is well deserved. Epps is equally convincing in her understated and powerful performance. This story is intense, deep, dark, depressing and, well, hopeful.
Grade: A-