Best Lead Actor 2016

05. Jake Gyllenhaal in Nocturnal Animals - Gyllenhaal has been making exciting, daring choices for years now (I still think his performance in Nightcrawler is one of the best performances ever), and Nocturnal Animals is no different. He plays two characters - a struggling author, and the character within his novel whose whole world is falling apart - and he does it with ease.

04. Viggo Mortensen in Captain Fantastic - There is a reason Viggo is getting a ton of attention for a small movie few people heard of - it's because he is intense and hilarious in it. He plays the father of six kids whom he teaches off the grid, and then the way they cope with being in society. It's a great little movie, and a great performance.

03. Ryan Gosling in La La Land - What can't Gosling do? He can act, he can sing, he can dance, he can be funny, he can be intense, he can be charming, he can be a cocky ass... and he can play jazz piano!? Give him all the awards.

02. Denzel Washington in Fences - If you want to see the finest pair of acting performances in a movie this year, go see Fences. If you want to see a powerful film about family and and struggle and disappointment, go see Fences. If you want to see Denzel play a man so unlikable, and yet respectable, go see Fences.

01. Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea - As a feminist, I find the allegations against Casey Affleck unacceptable. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior. But as a fan of film, I can't deny that his performance in Manchester By the Sea, as a man swallowed and emptied out by grief, is one of the best and most powerful of the year. It's a subtle, small, un-showy role, so naturalistic you feel like you are watching a documentary instead of a scripted movie. This performance feels raw and lived in, and despite what you think of the man and his actions, you can't deny the power of the performance.

Friday Top Five: Football Movies

Football season is back!! Hooray! So, this week, I am counting down my top five football "movies", with one exception. There is a reason "movies" is in parenthesis and you will find out what it is in a moment.

05. Lucas (David Seltzer, 1986)
First things first, when Corey Haim was young, there was no one cuter in the whole world. In Lucas, he plays a dorky kid who is in love with an older girl. This girl falls for his friend instead of him and in order to prove he is a man, or whatever, he joins the football team where he proceeds to get hurt. The movie is as much about football as it is about falling in love and getting your heart broken for the first time. It's funny and touching and the quintessential 80's movie.

04. Rudy (David Anspaugh, 1993)
This is the sort of movie that makes grown men cry. There is a scene in this movie that will literally make the biggest, toughest, strongest man weep like a baby. (It's the jersey scene). But more than being a simple movie about football, it's about following your dreams, never giving up, and all that jazz. A seriously great football movie.

03. Remember the Titans (Boaz Yakin, 2000)
Besides starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Gosling, Remember the Titans is the true story of the first year of a racially integrated football team and the way they made history despite a whole lot of drama. I've seen this movie so many times, and it's probably a tad heavy handed and it's probably a bit cheesy, but I love it nonetheless.

02. Jerry Maguire (Cameron Crowe, 1996)
This, to me, is the role that proved that Tom Cruise could be a huge blockbuster action star, and a an actual good actor at the same time. Jerry Maguire is a sort of perfect beast of a movie. Is it a perfect movie? Not by any stretch of the imagination. Is the dialogue that is so oft repeated these days ring true all the time? Not really. But, Jerry Maguire is a pure joy to watch and the sort of movie that gets better with time.

01. "Friday Night Lights" (various, 2006-2011)
So, I told you there was a reason "movies" was in quotation marks. It's because there's no way I was going to take about anything doing with football without mentioning one of the greatest TV series I've ever seen. (It's based on a movie, if that helps). Friday Night Lights was the rare sort of TV show that was five seasons of near perfection (the only misstep I can think of was that whole Landry/Tyra killing someone story line). The show was as much about angst-ridden high school kids and real life drama as it was about football. It was My So-Called Life with football. It introduced us to the most realistic portrayal of a married couple on television - Coach and Mrs. Coach (Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton), who both acted the crap out of their roles and also had incredible, natural chemistry. Plus, the talent involved was incredible. This show launched the careers of so many actors - Chandler who will soon be seen in the new Scorsese, Britton was on American Horror Story and now Nashville, Taylor Kitsch was in a slew of box office disasters but still has a chance to be a star, Scott Porter stole scenes in The To-Do List, Minka Kelly was in The Butler, and, of course, Michael B. Jordan is wowing everyone in Fruitvale Station. The list could go on, but the truth of the matter is that Friday Night Lights is exceptional television, the sort of show that stays with you long after it has ended.


Now, get ready for an entire day of football on Sunday and go Steelers!

Best of 2012: Best Actresses and Actors

Best Actress
10. Kirsten Dunst in Bachelorette - For giving a snarky, sassy, fun mean girl performance.
09. Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games - For becoming the most famous girl in the world by playing a tough, take no prisoners, bad ass role model.
08. Noomi Rapace in Prometheus - For that abortion scene alone.
07. RoseMarie DeWitt in Your Sister's Sister - For playing a complicated character with charm and ease.
06. Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea - For turning an unlikable character into someone we actually care for deeply.
05. Naomi Watts in The Impossible - For showing the strength of a mother taking care of her son even though she needs to be taken care of.
04. Brit Marling in Sound of My Voice - For being beautiful, ethereal, wicked and so stunning you can't take your eyes off of her.
03. Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild - For commanding the screen in a way that no one else did this year, and for being a tiny little force to be reckoned with.
02. Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook - For proving she's at a point in her career where she can do any damn thing she pleases, for that scene in which she yells in Robert DeNiro's face, for the dancing!
01. Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty - For being utterly fearless, for playing an unlikable character and commanding we take notice of her poise, grace and feral determination.

Best Actor
10. Tom Holland in The Impossible - For showing raw emotion in his first film role.
09. Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained - For managing to be the bounty hunting slave hero of a Quentin Tarantino movie quietly and subtly, something I didn't know was possible.
08. Dane DeHaan in Chronicle - For coming out of nowhere to become the most exciting new actor thanks to his Magneto meets high school coming of age monster of a performance.
07. Joaquin Phoenix in The Master - For being completely unhinged, out of control and wild.
06. Richard Gere in Arbitrage - For playing such a snake with so much charm and charisma.
05. Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook - For making me forget about all his douchebag, frat guy characters with that Hemingway scene alone.
04. Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master - For being terrifying and compelling all at once.
03. Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained - For being born to speak Quentin Tarantino dialogue.
02. Denzel Washington in Flight - For reminding us why he's one of the biggest, most likable stars on the planet, and for being a joy to watch as a boozy, egotistical asshole.
01. Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln - For becoming Abraham Lincoln, absolutely and undoubtedly, for continuing to prove why he's a living legend worthy of every award and then some.

Tomorrow - Best Films of 2012!

Screen Actors Guild Awards - Nominees and Thoughts

Critics groups have been announcing their nominees and winners for weeks now, but today marks the real start of award season as the Screen Actors Guild Awards announced their nominations. I'm told that Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained did not get their screeners out in time so that may be why there isn't a lot of love for them (disappointingly). Anyway, here are the movie nominees along with my thoughts on the whole things.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
John Hawkes - The Sessions
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Denzel Washington - Flight
Thoughts - Right off the bat, the big omission is no Joaquin Phoenix for The Master, a performance that some thought early off would be an Oscar winning sure thing. While I liked his performance a whole lot, I prefered the other performances from that film so maybe his weirdo ticky warts and all performance was more divisive than people first thought.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren - Hitchcock
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Thoughts - I've seen NONE of these movies. I would like to see at least 4 of them (well, really, all of them) but unfortunately I live in the sticks so it's going to take a while. Based on my eagerness for Zero Dark Thirty, however, I'm rooting for Jessica!

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin - Argo
Javier Bardem - Skyfall
Robert DeNiro - Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Thoughts - Kinda shocked and surprised to see Bardem for Skyfall. I thought he was great in the movie but not award worthy great. Sort of like Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises. The two male performances I'm most eager about this year failed to make the cut too - Jason Clarke in Zero Dark Thirty and Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained. Hopefully, it was just because a lot of people didn't get their screeners and these two can still gain some Oscar traction.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Nicole Kidman - The Paperboy
Maggie Smith - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Thoughts - Shocked by the inclusion of Kidman. I guess all these awards nominations and critics groups are really trying to make me sit through The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, huh? Fine, I'll do it!

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Thoughts - Les Mis and Silver Linings have the star studded casts, Marigold has the respected older actors, but literally every working character actor in Hollywood was either in Argo or Lincoln, so I'm pulling for one of those two.

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Bourne Legacy
The Dark Knight Rises
Les Miserables
Skyfall
Thoughts - Anyone this awards season who includes The Dark Knight Rises in anything at all is okay in my book.

Flight

I will admit to one thing right off the bat - I am not Denzel Washington's biggest fan. Sure, he's a great actor, when he tries. But for every Training Day, there are a dozen mediocre movies where he merely shows up and coasts along. When Washington is good, he's so good, and he can be similiar to Daniel Day-Lewis in the way that he never takes on a movie that he isn't going to completely rock the part. More often than not, I find Washington disappointing because he's capable of so much more. But, in Flight, he lives up to all of his potential and then some. This is, by far, the best part of his career and he nails it.

Flight is the story of pilot Whip Whitaker (Washington). He's a great pilot, and he knows it. He's cocky and selfish and proud. Whitaker is not a likable character at all. In fact, it sort of seems like Washington goes out of his way to fight his natural urges to be likable. Whitaker has a drinking problem, and a drug problem. The movie opens in a hotel room where he has had a romp with a hot flight attendant half his age. They wake up for their early morning flight from Orlando to Atlanta hung over from the night before, so they do a little coke to straighten themselves out. Once aboard the plane, Whitaker drinks some vodka too. Although drunk and on coke, Whitaker manages to fly the plane out of some initial turbulance and it's smooth sailing... until the last few moments of the flight when all hell breaks loose. What follows is an intense scene, probably the best plane crash ever put on film, and surely the greatest moment in a movie so far this year. Whitaker manages to land the plane, losing very few lives, saving almost everyone and becomes a hero.

Of course, eventually his toxicology screening comes back and it finds out his blood alcohol level was at 2.4! The film then follows Whitaker as he struggles with his alcoholism while trying to help a recovering heroin addict (Kelly Reilly). He also teams up with a lawyer who is almost as cocky as he is (Don Cheadle). Throw in John Goodman as a hilarious drug dealer and Flight is a compelling character study directed by Robert Zemeckis in his first live action movie since Castaway.

Reilly is killer as the heroin addicted Nicole. Goodman is one juicy scene away from a much deserved Oscar nomination (even though he looks like he is wearing his old costumes from The Big Lebowski). But Flight is entirely about the performance of Denzel Washington. He is in virtually every scene and he manages to make a man so unlikable feel compelling and fascinating. There is a particular scene in which he tries to convince a flight attendant to lie for him that would win him an Oscar (in a year he's not up against Daniel Day-Lewis, anyways). Washington is so damn good that words can barely describe.

The movie, however, I had issues with. Besides the heavy handed religious issues and the sometimes over-the-top zealot characters, my biggest problem was the Lifetime movie ending. Denzel's warts and all performance deserves so much better than what he's given at times. Still, Flight is definitely worth seeing because when it's good, just like Denzel's career, it's real, real good.

Grade: B-

Worst Movies of 2010

So, my Best of lists will be coming the first week of January (as long as I can see freaking Black Swan by then!!!!) but for now I thought I'd do my Worst Films of the year list...

10. Happiness Runs - Every once in a while, a really great movie goes straight to DVD. This is not that movie. Okay, okay. I only watched it in the first place for Shiloh Fernandez. But this movie (about the inner workings of a hippie cult and the teens who want to break away from it) is just plain awful.

09. The Killer Inside Me - Casey Affleck stars as a Texas sherriff who goes a little crazy and starts killing people, including his hooker mistress (Jessica Alba). I mean, Affleck's performance is pretty great but this movie has absolutely no point whatsoever. It's just very bad. Maybe it's because the story is so poorly laid out? I'm not sure. Just a big waste of time.

08. Date Night - Incredibly, incredibly unfunny. Thank goodness for James Franco, who is the only, THE ONLY, good thing about this terribly unfunny script. I mean, Steve Carell and Tina Fey are funny, right? Not in this movie! Mistaken idenities lead the suburban couple on a crazy night in NYC. It's watchable but it's not a comedy.

07. The Back Up Plan - Jennifer Lopez stars as a woman who becomes pregnant via artificial insemination and THEN meets the man of her dreams. Again, here is a romantic comedy that is neither romantic nor comedic. Just another huge waste of time.

06. Book of Eli - Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis... sounds like a great cast right? Too bad they are stuck in such a shitty post-apocalyptic movie about... the Bible? Who even knows or cares. Denzel walks across the country, fighting people, being a wannabe bad ass and also super annoying.

05. Hot Tub Time Machine - Why John Cusack!?!?!! Awesome name. Awesome premise. Awesome cast. But none of it works at all. Instead of some sort of soul searching 80s comedy, it's sexist and uses the lamest jokes of all time. Oooh, that girl is wearing leg warmers! Hilarious! Michael Jackson used to be black! Hilarious. Clark Duke is the only good thing about this movie. He needs to start picking better movies. He's above this crap.

04. Eat Pray Love - So, I loved the book. I really didn't think the main character was quite so... obnoxious in the book, but I could be wrong. Because in the movie, played by extremely likeable Julia Roberts, she becomes the most annoying person on Earth. Oooh, pity me because I'm rich and white and men throw themselves at me everywhere I go and I've never been single or alone for a day in my entire life. And I'm a writer and I have the ability to leave my job for a year and travel to Italy and India and Bali. Fuck you, must be nice.

03. Edge of Darkness - I knew I would hate this movie before I even saw it and I don't know why I wasted my money on a movie starring a racist, sexist, hateful person like Mel Gibson. Anyway, he's a cop. His daughter gets killed. Was it meant for him? He runs around like a man men and tries to solve the crime. The script is awful and nothing makes sense at all. Pure crap.

02. Daybreakers - Vampires, what a new and interesting development for 2010. Nobody makes vampire movies anymore! In this movie, it's the near future and pretty much everyone is a vampire. There are very few humans left and if they don't want to get bled dry, they have to come up with synthetic blood. They somehow put Ethan Hawke in charge of this. He should just call the guys from True Blood and see how they did it. Dumb times ten.

01. Legion - Just the worst movie of the year. I honestly tried to shut it out of my mind as much as I could so I don't exactly remember what it's about but there is a diner in the middle of nowhere and a pregnant waitress and a bunch of annoying rednecks and a good angel and a bad angel and a really shitty script and some godawful acting.

The Hangover, Land of the Lost, Taking of Pelham 123, Up

The Hangover - It's been a pretty great year for comedies. There was the bittersweet Adventureland and the laugh out loud I Love You, Man. Now there is The Hangover. And guess what? It's probably the best of this year's comedies (so far... I mean, Funny People is still on the way!). The movie starts at the end with three guys in the middle of the desert all worse for the wear. It seems they had a bachelor party misadventure and now they can't find the groom. Flash back two nights. The four guys check into a swanky Las Vegas hotel. They get dressed. They have a toast on the roof. Then... crazy stuff ensues. None of which we actually get to see. Instead, the film reopens on a trashed hotel suite. The couch is on fire. There's a chicken walking around. Ed Helms' dentist character is missing a tooth. There's a baby in the closet... and a tiger in the bathroom. Bradley Cooper's character has been in the hospital and, of course, the groom is nowhere to be seen. The movie is pretty straightforward - it sets out to answer what the hell happened. And it's all sometimes silly but always funny. Everyone - the director, the writers, the actors - are all really better than they have to be. When a movie is genuinely funny, it usually doesn't need to look particuarly good but this one most definitely does. It's a surprising film and it's definitely worth checking out.
Grade: B

Land of the Lost - Chalk it up to my love for Danny McBride but I was actually surprised that I didn't hate Land of the Lost. I thought it was going to be typical Will Ferrell stupidity... and it was sometimes. But for every terrible plot point and silly joke, there was something actually funny. McBride is a scene stealer, for sure and he got most of the best parts. Ferrell, Anna Friel and McBride travel through time and space and end up in a mysterious land full of dinosaurs and sleestacks and who knows what else. They must find a contraption that will get them home. The scene at the motel is one of the funniest things I've seen all year and, dare I say, funnier than anything in The Hangover. However, The Hangover sustains the laughs for the entire film... Land of the Lost, unfortunately, does not.
Grade: C

Taking of Pelham 123 - This remake sure is exciting. It also tries to be edgy and raw and rough and dirty. It just doesn't succeed at that all the time. The film follows Ryder (John Travolta), a disgruntled ex-con and ex-Wall Street genius who hijacks a Subway car. His hostage negotiations fall in the hands of Walter (Denzel Washington), a disgraced MTA employee. Ryder makes some demands, the two have a verbal tug of war. The movie is pretty fast paced and remains exciting for much of the film with the exception of a pretty boring stretch near the end. And director Tony Scott (of True Romance fame) tries to make things raw and dirty but you can only push the edginess so far in a studio film. Overall, Taking of Pelham 123 is a pretty decent way to spend an afternoon.
Grade: B-

Up - Up may be the most depressing kids movie ever made. The moral of the story, for me, is this: You dream big as a little kid and then you grow up and realize none of your dreams are ever giong to come true and everyone you love is going to die and you're going to be miserable and alone and then stuck in the middle of nowhere being followed around by an annoying kid, a creepy bird and a talking dog. Not really a kids movie. And while Up did seriously depress me (I'm not even kidding. I was near tears and not because it was heartwarming but because it made me realize how much life - mine and in general - sucks), it's still a pretty cute movie. I don't think it's as good as Wall-E but it is sweet and enjoyable and funny. And I'm finally not the only person in America who hasn't seen it.
Grade: B

Vantage Point + more

Vantage Point - The concept of Vantage Point isn't exactly bad. It's sort of interesting actually. The premise is: the President gets assassinated at a Summit meeting in Spain. Then, the same twenty minutes are shown multiple times from different points of view which all uncover different clues to lead you to the conclusion. If it had been executed properly, this movie could have been very strong. Unfortunately, it's absolutely predictible (at least I predicted it from twenty minutes in), the dialogue is terrible and the movie more or less dumbs itself down. It's not the cast that is to blame. Granted they don't have much to work with but William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Dennis Quaid, and Forest Whitaker are all strong actors. Still, the most interesting parts of movie, for me, was when they showed the story from the point of view of the seemingly background characters. There was a car chase near the end which was pretty fantastic at first and then just became more and more ridiculous. Then there were a lot of small things that just drove me kind of crazy. First of all, this international counter-terrorism summit is hosted, not by the prime minister of Spain or another high ranking Spanish politician but by... the mayor. Yeah, ok. Also, in such events, I would think the general public would not be allowed to show up, especially such a huge crowd. But what do I know. I also hated the way the movie assumed the audience was dumb (granted, most of them probably were because people on imdb seem to like this movie). It showed us something that happend in the past of Quaid's character. Then, literally, fifteen minutes later, it showed us again in flashbacks. Let's remind the audience why this character is so stressed and paranoid in case they already forgot. I also have quite a few issues with the ending. I'm trying not to give too much away but the reason the terrorists don't succeed with their mission is because the getaway car crashes... because they didn't want to hit a little girl. Now, before you say, awww, such nice terrorists, consider that they already assassinated a president, blew up a square full of innocent bystanders, orchestrated a detailed kidnapping plot and engaged in a high speed chase through small side streets of a Spanish village. But, no, god forbid we hit a little girl who is too stupid to get out of the road for a speeding vehicle! The thing that bothers me so much about this movie is that it actually could have been really good. But, alas, for now, Cloverfield still sits atop the Best of 2008 list... and that's kind of sad.
Grade: D+

Margot at the Wedding - Noah Baumbach, how I love you. Margot at the Wedding is a neurotic biting film where the laughs are as sharp as razor blades. They come fast and furious and are often enough to draw blood. It focuses on a disfunctional relationship between two sisters (Nicole Kidman is the titular Margot and Jennifer Jason Leigh is her sister Pauline) who haven't spoken in years. Margot and her son Claude come to stay with Pauline to celebrate her wedding to Malcolm (Jack Black who is somehow maybe channeling Napoleon Dynamite). The film is choppily edited and the piece has a structure which is all over the place. Still, I mostly enjoyed it. I didn't love it as much as The Squid and the Whale but it's still a strong film. Leigh is fantastic as a mostly mellow woman who has a serious lack of accomplishment and a penchant for temper tantrums (which are completely justified usually). Kidman as Margot is the best she's ever been in my opinion. She likes to make trouble for everyone to keep the focus on them and away from her own problems. There is a point when Margot and Pauline even become like an extension of the same character. There are a lot of clues to things that may hide under the surface (abuse, incest, etc.) but is never really investigated further. This is a very dark film but it's mostly enjoyable. I loved Kidman and I loved Leigh. I did have a few problems with the film (the babysitter while I guess she served a purpose, was just plain annoying and the next door neighbors who seemingly inhabited a whole different world). Also, I didn't exactly love the ending. Still, the movie is sharply written and the performances by the leading ladies are superb.
Grade: B

American Gangster - The very first scene in American Gangster shows a man getting lit on fire. That is a perfect way to start a film, in my opinion. It took me a while to give in and watch this movie. I couldn't get over the two hour and forty minute running time. Now, I love a long movie. There Will Be Blood was almost three hours long and I wish it would have been LONGER! Still, I love Daniel Day-Lewis and I love Paul Dano and I will watch them for ten hours if Paul Thomas Anderson wants me to. However, I don't really love Denzel Washington and I am just now starting to not hate Russell Crowe so the almost three hour time was daunting. I do love Josh Brolin but he's barely in this movie, unfortunately. Anyway, American Gangster follows Washington's Frank Lucas, a driver for a mob boss who dies and then decides to take over Harlem for himself. He goes oversees and starts smuggling pure drugs into New York City. It's twice as good as the other stuff on the street and half as expensive. He becomes a multi-millinaire and more or less runs the streets of Harlem. Crowe plays Richie Roberts, a cop who is honest on the job but not with his wife. He heads up a drug enforcement program and he begins to center his investigation on Frank Lucas after a while. While the film is long, it's mostly engrossing and enjoyable. While everyone keeps talking about Washington with this film (and he does play a badass, whatever), I liked Crowe's more subtle performance better. The different sides of his personality are always fighting with each other and his nuances are perfect. Then there's Ruby Dee. She's nominated for Best Supporting Actress at tonight's Oscars and she might win and... I don't think she deserves it at all! Sorry, but she had one good scene. It was a solid stand out scene but it is hardly Oscar worthy. Overall, I really liked the movie... until the last five minutes when they show what happened to all the different characters in real life. I won't ruin it but there is a certain turn of events that I feel is completely against the characters of the film and that sort of ruined the movie for me a little bit. It made me feel like I was lied to; there was a character I admired and learned to like that I just felt betrayed by. To sum up: Ruby Dee should not win Best Supporting Actress, T.I. is a sexy man... but not as sexy as Josh Brolin, and Russell Crowe totally blows Denzel out of the water here.
Grade: B-

Tomorrow - Oscar wrap-up!