Best Supporting Actress 2016

05. Rachel Weisz in The Light Between Oceans - As a grieving mother, she is the heart and soul of this movie, which maybe feels a bit melodramatic at times, but her performance is never anything less than perfection.

04. Rachel Weisz in The Lobster - Starring as the love interest in a romantic dark comedy may not sound like it is ripe for solid acting performances, but when the movie is as bizarre and wonderful as The Lobster, and the performance is a textured and complicated as Weisz', then you've got yourself an exception to the rule.

03. Jena Malone in The Neon Demon - One of the weirder movies of the year... Without giving anything away, I will say that Malone has a certain scene that took a ton of balls, and she nailed it. I have always been impressed with actors who are gutsy and fearless, and so that is why Malone earns a spot on my list. But trust me when I say the Oscars wouldn't touch this performance with a ten foot pole.

02. Michelle Williams in Manchester By The Sea - One of the things I love so much about Manchester By The Sea (and there are many things I love) is how restrained it is. They easily could have given Williams a huge sobbing emotional breakdown scene, but they didn't. And the fact that she is still on this list is a testament to how great she truly is.

01. Viola Davis in Fences - There is a certain scene in this movie, and it's about 5 minutes long, that is, I think, the best 5 minutes of acting in the entire year. And those 5 minutes belong entirely to Viola Davis. She is extraordinary, and as good as her scene partner Denzel Washington is, Viola Davis makes you forget all about his existence. She is strong and she is fierce, and the Oscars might as well already engrave her name on the Best Supporting Actress statue because she more than deserves it.

Sucker Punch

I know movies with the word "Suck" in the title are ripe for certain kinds of jokes, but I'm sure that's already been done for this particular film so I'm going to stay away from such generalities. Still, Sucker Punch is not good. With director Zack Snyder on board, I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting. I was sort of ambivilant about his first project, 300. It was fun, I guess, but nothing revolutionary. I hated Watchmen. I think Sucker Punch is at least as bad, if not worse than, Watchmen. And now I am very scared that he is in charge of rebooting the Superman franchise. During the two hours of this movie, all I kept thinking was, "Poor Henry Cavill." He thinks he is finally getting his big break, about to portray one of the most legendary superheroes of all time... and Zack Snyder is totally going to mess it up.

Anyway, back to Sucker Punch. First things first, it's not all bad. There were a couple performances that I'd like to single out as being pretty damn good. I've been on the fence about Abbie Cornish for quite some time now. I've seen her be very, very good in certain movies (Bright Star, Somersault, Stop Loss) but there's something about her that I don't quite like. I could never decide if I like her or not. Now I can say that I do. She's the best thing about a bad movie. Her performance is so layered and complex and it's really a joy to watch. Plus, she is the most ass-kicking of all the bad ass girls in the movie. Then there is Oscar Isaac as Blue, an actor I'm not at all familiar with but who completely wowed me with his volatile villainous turn. He's simply fantastic and I really wish the movie was better so it could be a vehicle for him to get better and bigger roles. Sadly, he's overshadowed by silly effects and bad writing. Jena Malone is also quite good in a rather limiting role. Another plus was the soundtrack. I loved the soundtrack. I can't say enough good things about the soundtrack. From the eerie opening version of Sweet Dreams, to the soaring crescendo of White Rabbit, the soundtrack fricking rocks! But, as far as good things go, that's where I've got to stop being positive, because the bad definitely outweighs the good.

Look, I'm all about movies that empower women. I'm all about the message of this movie which, I guess, is something like "You have all the tools to fight and free yourself from whatever it is that is holding you back. Take control of your life." The message is FANTASTIC. It's just, there seems to be a degrading sub-message that includes insinuating that you can only do that if you wear thigh highs, heels, cute mini skirts and a lot of eye makeup. I'm not sure the movie is sending the right message at all to young girls who might see these bad ass babes and think, "Okay, let me go buy a skimpy body suit and a push up bra and I can fight monsters too." And believe me, I know this movie is aimed at a certain demographic who enjoys that sort of thing and that's fine. It's also fine that a certain demographic will enjoy the slow-mo camera work that Snyder has already done to death (it would be a revolutionary form of camera work if he were to ever actually make a GOOD movie with his skills), the action scenes (that, I guess, were pretty good), and the incredible (and overpowering) CGI. I mean, the whole movie is practicially CGI. It's not necessarily that this is such a bad thing, per se, but when it plays off less like a movie and more like a series of splashy music videos, then we've got a major problem.

Even more of a major problem? There is no cohesive plot! I mean, I guess there is a plot. Yes, one exists. It's just that it's... stupid. I can't really think of a better word to describe it. Emily Browning (pouty lipped, cute and just fine in the role) plays Babydoll, a girl whose mother dies and then she is taken to Lennox House for the mentally insane by her awful step father. There she escapes reality via dancing seductively for high paying men and has to fight monsters / steal objects in order to escape and find freedom. She is joined by her ridiculously named friends Sweet Pea (Cornish), Rocket (Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens, who is far too precious to play tough), and the normally named Amber (Jamie Chung, somehow the most successful alumni of the Real World, even though there are surely more talented people to come out of that show). So, there is, indeed, a plot. The existence of everything in this movie relates soley to the visuals. Zack Snyder thinks it would be awesome if there was a fight scene with World War I fight planes and dragons and zombie Nazis, so be it! Let's do it! Who cares if it connects to the "plot" in the clunkiest, sloppiest, silliest way possible. People are paying for the visuals, I guess, not an actual story line. All of these things - dragons, zombies, Nazis, ancient ninja warriors, stripper / hookers, hot girls in Sailor Moon outfits, bombs, Samurai swords - sure seem like it would be fun if you rolled it all up and put it in a movie. Instead, it's just silly nonsense.

I could go on, believe me, I could, but I think by now everyone gets the point. If you are going to see this movie, make sure you are fully aware that it's going to be nothing more than a visual orgasm. If you are looking for a movie with any substance whatsoever, any real honest to God PLOT, then please go see The Lincoln Lawyer instead. Abbie Cornish and Oscar Isaac are GREAT, but even they can't save a movie that is buried under overwhelming and nonsensical effects, bad writing and just... silliness.

Grade: D

21, Leatherheads, The Ruins, Horrorfest

21 - The glitz! The glamour! The pretty, young things! It must be a gambling flick set in Las Vegas! 21 tells the semi-true story of a bunch of MIT geniuses who decide to use their math abilities for evil and not good - they take up counting cards and spend their weekends in hot and steamy Vegas instead of cold and snowy Boston and take the casinos for lots and lots of money. Because, you know, it's not enough that these kids be smarter than everyone else - they also have to be richer than everyone else and (for the movie's sake, at least) hotter than everyone else. The young leads of the film are Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth - and that's a problem. Sure, they are both young and pretty and they look great making doe eyes at each other. However, neither are exceptionally great actors. I mean, Sturgess is charming and good-looking but I think he only has two expressions - wide eyed innocence and angry greed. Bosworth knows she's pretty and knows she'll continue to get acting jobs so it seems she's content with doing the minimum required of her. So, the two leads leave all the heavy lifting to the big names in the cast - Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburn. They are both game for the challenge. Fishburn plays the same character he's been playing for at least the last ten years. Not that there is anything wrong with that. There's no one else I would want as my tough talking, moral yet sneaky, kick your ass if you cross me black man. Then there's Spacey. He's returned to form here. It's disappointing that he won the Best Actor Oscar for American Beauty which then put him in this habit of playing moral leading men. Kevin Spacey was never and will never be a leading man. He's much too interesting and too talented. He's at his best when he's playing different degrees of evil. His character here, the professor who starts the whole card counting club, isn't evil, per se. But he is a snarky sort of cynical sort of smartass. And there is absolutely no one that does snarky, cynical or smartass quite like Spacey. And so, Spacey is an absolute joy to watch. Director Robert Luketic wants to be Martin Scorsese while filming Casino but he's not. Instead he makes a shallow, glitzy, shiny, fun movie. And sometimes it's more than enough to be shallow and fun. This isn't a movie that wants to change your life. If you ignore the fact that it sometimes plays off as a vacation commercial for Las Vegas (has Las Vegas looked this much fun lately?!) and that the plot holes are the size of the Grand Canyon at times, then you'll surely enjoy the film.
Grade: C+


Leatherheads - File this one under 'wasted opportunity.' Director and star George Clooney does a decent job of creating a certain kind of atmosphere - jazz and football circa the 1920s. But good atmosphere can only get you so far. The story surrounds the beginning of professional football as we know it in 1925. Clooney stars as Dodge Connelly, the player / manager / public relations spinner of the Duluth Bulldogs, a rag tag group of guys who have never played a clean game in their life. But damn it if they aren't fun! After funding runs out on their league, Dodge gets the brilliant idea to recruit Princeton star and supposed war hero The Bullet (John Krasinski). At the time, recruiting college players was unheard of and Dodge's decisions will forever change the face of football. Enter Renee Zellweger to play Lexie Littleton a sassy little journalist who livens things up a bit. Now the major problem. The movie is boring as hell! For all that atmosphere, all that charm, all the zingy one liners and nice costumes - it never really goes anywhere. There is something that just doesn't click. The script is decent enough. The acting is solid enough. The directing is solid enough. It just doesn't work. I love slapstick comedy as a genre but something about everything coming together just doesn't click. Clooney and Zellweger fancy themselves Grant and Hepburn from Bringing Up Baby. They are not. If I had to pick a best performance, however, I'd go with Zellweger. She's been pretty hit or miss for me lately but this movie actually reminded me why I, at one time, loved her so. The role is really perfect for her. There hasn't been a more perfect role for her since Bridget Jones. She's got that face and that attitude and it looks like she really did belong in the 1920s. Clooney and Krasinski are both charming, funny guys. This movie should have been something pretty great. Instead, it just plays as a boring disappointment.
Grade: D+

The Ruins - Here's the thing: The Ruins isn't a bad movie by any means. As far as modern day horror movies goes, it's one of the better ones. While it's not for everyone and it's not nearly as good as the masterpieces it pays homage to, those who appreciate the horror genre will probably find the movie to be enjoyable at the very least. It's a little disturbing and graphic (which doesn't bother me but will surely upset some people... like the woman sitting a few rows behind me who apparently never saw a horror movie in her entire life) and a little cliched. The film moves along at a fast pace. It's got a short running time and a bunch of young actors who are hot AND can act (imagine that!). The thing I think I liked most about it is that the characters actually do things that a normal person would probably do in the given situation. (And this is a rarity in horror films!). There are a few really intense and solid scenes. Of course, there are a few not so great scenes as well. The acting is all believable (Jena Malone and Jonathan Tucker are the stars but Laura Ramsey steals the show). I'm not exactly sure that there is a great plot in there and I'm not exactly sure I loved everything about what they found when they got to the ruins but I didn't hate it enough to not recommend this film. It's not a great movie but it's definitely fun for people who are sick of watered down, cheap, lousy horror movies.
Grade: C
[For the record: this would have gotten a C+ but I absolutely hated the ending... especially after finding out what the ending of the book is... they really, really, really should have thought a little longer about keeping the ending the same.]

Mulberry Street - I know I've used the phrase "Worst Movie Ever Made" more than once on this blog but this time I'm serious. I mean, it's about Rat People, for Christ's sake. So, seriously, stay far away from this lousy, terrible, awful movie.
Grade: F