Film Friday: Reader's Edition

I'm pretty stoked about introducing this post to you.  The first reason is that I didn't have to write it for once.  The second reason is that I knew I'd be in good hands with one of my most devoted readers, and someone who spends 80% of conversations with me discussing film, writing for us (oh yeah, she's my sister, too).  

I took a little break from this column for a few weeks but I'm glad to make the comeback with some great thoughts from Emily on these films.  Remember the format: 1. Good New Film, 2. Good Older Film, 3. Bad Film.  If any of my other readers get the hankering to write about some favorites or anti-favorites, let me know and I'd be glad to let you contribute as well...provided that you're not a better writer than I am.

Be sure to check out some more of Emily's thoughts on life at her blog.

Waiting for Superman (2010)

Whether or not you agree with Davis Guggenheim, no one can argue that he lacks passion when he makes a film.  The filmmaker who brought us An Inconvenient Truth has taken a look at the American public education system to try an find out why it has become so woefully inadequate.  

The film is like a triangle with three sides: The first being the students that you follow.  You watch these kids and their families talk about the hopes they have for their future and the film does an excellent job of making you feel like you are also personally invested with these kids.  The second is the interviews with people on all sides of the education system: certain “change agents” such as Michelle Rhee (the now former chancellor of DC public schools), Geoffrey Canada (who runs Harlem Children’s Zone), and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates.  

The third is the startling statistics that Guggenheim provides.  Among these statistics are the declining reading and math scores, the comparatively low American education standards, union contracts and the undoubtedly the flawed tenure system.  One of my personal favorite (is that even the right word I want to use here?) moments comes when the filmmakers mock lousy teachers getting moved from school to school in a piece known as the Dance of the Lemons or the Turkey Trot.  

Full disclosure here: I’m an educator and so is my husband.  I was a member of one of the unions discussed in the film and my husband still is.  But there wasn’t much in the film that I disagreed with.  I appreciated Geoffrey Canada talking openly about the rough and horrible home lives many of his students come from and how good systems can overcome that.  Knowing that there are schools out there working in these kind of environments gives hope. 

No matter what your views are, this film is worth seeing if you’ve ever been in a public school, or will ever at some point have a child in public schools.  The film is best summed up by a quote from Michelle Rhee when she says, “We sacrifice what’s best for our children in the name of harmony for adults.”  A poignant and timely observation, no doubt.

7.5/10 

12 Angry Men (1957)

So there’s this movie that takes place almost entirely in one room.  You know none of the characters’ names.  There is no action, only dialogue.  The only actors in it are white men. There’s no leading man and, in fact, it’s a movie that relies mostly on character acting. It’s not a crime drama, because the crime has already happened.  It’s not a courtroom drama because the trial is over...save the verdict.  

I know.  It doesn’t sound like a promising premise but that’s exactly where 12 Angry Men takes you.  The film is based on a stage play by Reginald Rose who, as the story goes, wrote it after he served on a jury.  At the beginning, the jury is set to deliberate on a case where a teenager has been accused of stabbing his father.  A case that, if found guilty, would come with a mandatory death penalty.  The 12 men are all pretty satisfied to hand down a guilty verdict quickly, so they can get home and go about their business. But Henry Fonda (Juror #8) feels like if they are handing down the death penalty to a teenager, they at least owe it to him to discuss the case.  And that’s when the titular anger begins. In addition to the pressure of deciding a young man’s life, it’s hot in New York that day; very hot.  And as you’re watching the movie, you get hot too.

They go through all the evidence, the eye witnesses and the murder weapons and as this happens, each man comes to face his own prejudices and demons.  The movie almost feels like it was shot in real time, even though it’s not.  Director Sidney Lumet doesn’t have much to work with as far scenery.  But he makes the most of it: as the camera angles make the room appear smaller and smaller, the men sweat more and more making the viewer feel almost claustrophobic.  By the end, the viewer is as angry as the jury because you feel like you are there with them.  

This film forces us to take a look at our own narrow-mindedness without being preachy.  It’s political and patriotic, but in no way polarizing.  It’s realistic and simple.  12 Angry Men proves that movies don’t have to be over the top to be amazing.  It’s a pure classic that everyone should see.

8.5/10

Out of Africa (1985)

I’ve had Out of Africa on my Netflix queue for awhile and I was really excited about watching it.  In theory, it’s full of things I should love in a movie: Amazing scenery? Check. Meryl Streep? Check. Robert Redford? Check. Directed by Sydney Pollack? Check. Sweeping musical score? Check.  It’s my favorite movie genre (that being: People Who Have Romantic Problems During Wars A Long Time Ago).  

So the film has a lot going for it.  And the scenery and cinematography is truly wonderful.  It tells a somewhat autobiographical story of a Danish Baroness named Karen Blixen (Streep) who marries a crude, womanizer named Bror who brings her to Nairobi and then leaves her while he goes off on various hunting and war ventures.  She meets an independent and confident hunter named Denys (Redford) and forges a friendship with him that leads to a love affair after she kicks Bror out. Denys makes no secret of the fact that, while he loves Karen deeply, he has no intention of marrying or being tied down and ultimately, their love is destined to fail.

This is a long, drawn out movie.  I don’t mind a long movie but it’s the drawn out that made me dislike this movie so much.  About 30 percent of the movie could be done without.  Combine that with Streep and Redford’s completely aloof and somewhat dull performances, Streep’s heavy and sometimes inaudible accent and Redford’s total lack of one (the character is British) and you get a movie that tries really hard but just falls short of being interesting.  I know there are a lot of people that really love this movie but I found it was lacking many redeeming qualities and, quite frankly, boring.  I really struggled to stay interested enough to even finish it.  The genre will still catch my eye every time but this is one that might be better if you don’t waste your time.  All three hours of it.

5/10 (And all five points are awarded Africa, which is the most beautiful thing in the movie.)

Top 10 of 2010: Part II

If you missed it, check out my numbers 10-6 below.  Now, before unveiling my top-5, here are ten runners-up that just missed the cut, in no particular order:

Winter’s Bone

Easy A

The Kids Are All Right

Toy Story 3

Biutiful

True Grit

The Fighter

Inside Job

Cyrus

Catfish

5.  Blue Valentine

So what if I have a man-crush on Gosling?

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams give two of the best performances of the year in this relationship drama directed by Derek Cianfrance.  The film starts off with a minor tragedy and from there it doesn’t really let in many glimmers of hope afterward.  It was honestly a little bit grittier than I was expecting, though that doesn’t take away from the film, but I’m not sure it really added anything, either (sure, I’d love to see an abortion performed!).  However, the reason that it works so well is because the director really allowed Gosling and Williams to stretch their acting legs; it was obvious that there was a healthy balance between adhering to the script and giving the actors the freedom to perform their own interpretations of the characters.

Why This One Stuck With Me:

It’s simple: anyone who is married that has seen this would agree that aspects of the relationship in this movie are painfully realistic, and if they don’t then they are lying.  Some things I didn’t identify with personally, but a lot of things I did.  There is a universal nature to the portrayal while keeping it specific enough to tell an entertaining story.

4.  Another Year

I wrote in no uncertain terms how I felt about this movie by Mike Leigh about six weeks ago here, and time has only strengthened my stance that for me this is an unforgettable movie, although I realize that it’s not a film for everyone, unlike, say, The King’s Speech is (and I know that statement sounded douchey but I really don’t mean it that way—one of my biggest movie pet peeves is when someone makes a dismissive statement like “you just didn’t get it,” that kind of thing makes me want to pour a scalding-hot latte in the lap of whoever says it.  All I mean is that I recognize that this particular type of slow moving story without much of a rising and falling action is not really everyone’s cup of tea...it’s not always my cup of tea, either, for that matter.). 

Anyway, as I stated in my review, the film follows a retirement-age couple, Tom & Gerri, and their various friends and family members that come around during the course of a literal year in their lives.  I read something interesting recently about how director Leigh crafts the script for his films: he makes rough outlines for each character in the film, and then spends a great deal of time working with each of the actors he casts in order to write the arc of each character.  Only then is the overall script of the film put together.  I found this to be very intriguing and it explains the amazing detail that each of the characters in his films typically have, and this film is no different. 

Why This One Stuck With Me:

Time plays a bittersweet character in this film.  For some of the characters, such as Mary and Ken, the passing of the year in the film reinforces their feelings of loneliness, their inability to attain the relationship that Tom & Gerri have.  But for some of the other characters, time is good: the birth of a child occurs, a new relationship is formed, brothers are reunited, etc. 

Tom & Gerri are able to push through some of the bad things that happen to them throughout the course of the year because of their love and respect for each other, and because they take the time to enjoy the blessings they have.  Happiness many times is a choice that we all must make in the face of both good and bad in our lives.  No other film this year gave me so much to reflect on inwardly and made me think for such a long time afterward.

3. Exit Through The Gift Shop

The mysterious Banksy.

The most unique and fresh film of the year, undoubtedly.  As I wrote about back in the summer, this follows an odd (see: borderline insane) French man, Guetta, who films everything in his life, and is particularly interested in LA street art.  As this interest turns to obsession, he finds out about Banksy, a famous British street artist and begins to document his work.

But the real fun and interesting part of the story comes when Banksy tells Guetta that he should be making his own art.  Guetta comes up with the moniker “Mr. Brainwash,” and begins selling completely unoriginal art at ridiculous prices just because he has the endorsement of Banksy behind him.  Banksy effectively turns the camera back around on Guetta and begins to document this transformation, and the result is basically a big “screw you” to not only the art community, but also, the public at large who gets duped by Mr. Brainwash’s somewhat worthless art.

Why This One Stuck With Me:

This was the year of the “fakeumentary”: Joaquin Phoenix’s I’m Still Here was admitted to be fake, while there are questions as to the events depicted in Catfish and this film.  For me, however, it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other whether or not this film is “real,” and perhaps even makes it better if it’s not.  I mean, what is the definition of “real” anyway when it comes to documentaries?  It’s not as if no documentary filmmaker has ever manipulated the facts of their subject in order to make a point (*cough* Michael Moore *cough).  And it’s even less of a big deal here than say, a film supporting a particular political viewpoint, because Gift Shop is really, at it’s core, just a commentary on society in general, and that point is made whether it’s completely real, completely fake, or somewhere in between. 

2.  Black Swan

One of the only films in my top-10 that I haven’t written about at some point.  From the first scene, as Nina (Natalie Portman) dances an oddly freaky duet in her dream with the Swan King, I knew that this was going to be unlike anything I had ever seen, and it absolutely was.  Nina is cast as the swan princess in “Swan Lake,” and goes through an unforgettable transformation as she tries to shed her sheltered, over-mothered persona in order to be able to play the role of the sexy and confident black swan. 

Portman’s performance was great, obviously, but the real star of the film for me is director Darren Aronofsky.  I love “director-centric” movies just in general, and Aronofksy’s style is ever-present--he never lets you forget that he is there, controlling every suspenseful, hallucinogenic moment as Nina tries desperately to set herself free from her own restraint.  Adding to the horror elements of the film is the score by Clint Mansell, which, for the most part uses Tchaikovsky’s score from the original ballet.  It is extremely effective. 

Why This One Stuck With Me:

Have you ever seen a ballet-centered horror film?  Kind of hard to forget, really.  On top of this, Aronofsky is one of maybe five modern directors that I would say is responsible for getting me into film, and he is definitely at the top of his game here in a fully-realized piece of cinema.  Black Swan doesn’t have the humanity of The Wrestler, or the visual beauty of The Fountain, or even the visceral grittiness of Requiem for a Dream, though it does have a little of each.  But what it does have is a story that grabs you by the scalp and doesn’t let go; beautiful, dark, and richly-layered cinematography and camera-work; amazing performances by Portman, Hershey, and Kunis; and a few unforgettable moments involving random body parts.

1.  The Social Network

Was there any doubt?

I haven’t been shy at any point about expressing my fanboy-esque love for this film by David Fincher.  When it came out, I wrote a review here proclaiming it as the best movie to come out in some two years, and 3(!) rewatches have only made it better.  Since I’ve already reviewed it extensively here and in a live-tweet session I had a few weeks ago, I’ll spare you more gushing and skip straight to the “why it stuck with me” section.

Why This One Stuck With Me:

Instead of looking at the film from a broad perspective, since most of you have seen it by now, there are several great details that I’ll point out instead:

1.  Acting: When Mark meets with the Winklevoss twins, they ask him about the mp3 software he created (that Microsoft apparently tried to purchase), and he says he uploaded it for free.  The Winklevii ask him why he did this, and he just shrugs his shoulders with a cold blank stare, as if to say, “why not.”  Perfect acting by Eisenberg. Perfect.

2.  Screenplay: During the first scene of the movie, Mark says that he needs to do something to get the attention of the clubs.  He wants to be a part of an exclusive group, which leads to parties, and “a better life.”  At the end of the film, while facebook employees are having a celebration for their 1 millionth user (or was it 10 million? Can’t remember), Mark stays behind at the office after betraying his friend, missing out on a party of the club that he essentially himself created.  Brilliant writing by Mr. Sorkin.

3.  Cinematography: After the breakup scene at the beginning, we follow Mark on the Harvard campus as he goes toward his dorm while the opening credits roll.  The dark and glossy sheen typically used by Fincher is very present during this scene.  His digital camera captures so much detail, as lampposts and moonlight reflect the wet streets and ivy-league cobblestone walkways.  All of this is made appropriately ominous through Trent Reznor’s score in this scene. 

4.  Direction: Of all the many possibilities that I could point out, the one that stands out (and I tweeted about this earlier) for me is the scene in the San Fran nightclub with Mark and Sean.  As Sean is manipulating Mark, the waving beams of light flash across his face—bright hues of red, purple, green, yellow, etc.  Conversely, when the camera shows Mark’s face, softer colors of white, and muted yellows and pinks are reflected (full disclosure--the wifey pointed this out to me the first time we saw it--she is infinitely more perceptive than I am).  

This is just one detail that director Fincher incorporated into the movie, and when you put every little detail together like this, there is no doubt that it is one of the most accomplished works of cinema this year.

Top 10 of 2010: Part I

Last Saturday night I convinced the wifey and a friend to go check out Biutiful, the Best Foreign Film-nominee from this year starring Javier Bardem.  It was the last on my list that I really wanted to see before the Oscars on Sunday.  It was a great film, in my opinion--certainly memorable in many respects, mostly because of Bardem's ridiculously good performance and for the gritty texture of the Barcelona underbelly that director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu incorporated into the film.  (FYI--it's really depressing...it gave my wife a headache for the rest of the night (or did she just make that up for other reasons?  Did I just say that out loud?), so if you don't like watching grown men wearing diapers because they can't control themselves, or seeing red urine, or several dead bodies, or a movie that gives you a general feeling of hopelessness, then I wouldn't recommend it, even though I enjoyed it.)

Anyway, my point in bringing up this movie is this: I spent much of this winter and early spring prognosticating about the Oscars--I read blogs, saw any film I could that was nominated for anything, made my own predictions, etc., etc; but when I came home from a really great Oscar party at a friend's house, after all of the hooplah and hype of the Oscars ended, I didn't sit in my living room thinking about the results of the Oscars--I was still thinking about Biutiful, a film that won zero awards, and I didn't even care.

The Oscars can certainly validate a film, and obviously I think exceptional films deserve recognition.  But when it comes down to it for me, when I think about what films I really like, I don't think about it in terms of awards--I think about it in terms of why it stuck with me, why it was personal to me.  So, in each of the write-ups for my Top-10 of 2010, I tried to write a little about why the film stuck with me, because ultimately, that is what's important.


10.  The Ghost Writer

Roman Polanski’s most successful films follow the same, simple equation:  Atmosphere + Suspense.  It’s a winning combination.  Whether it’s the private-investigator thriller set in bleak, depression-era Los Angeles (Chinatown), or a Jewish man hiding out and fighting for his life in Nazi-occupied Poland (The Pianist), or a political-thriller set on a creepy and isolated New England island as in this film, the coupling of these two elements in his films build a beautiful crescendo resulting in an edge-of-your-seat experience.

Polanski: mastering the art of suspense, thrill, and subversion
of the American justice system.

Ewan MacGregor, who for my money is always worth the price of admission, gives a great performance as a cocky writer who gets in a little over his head on a gig to ghost write the memoirs of a recently ousted British Prime Minster (Pierce Brosnan).  Secrets surrounding the PM’s term have been locked up (literally), and MacGregor’s character begins to fear for his safety after he starts to suspect that something’s up. 

Why This One Stuck With Me:

It’s not that the story of political corruption was anything particularly new or groundbreaking, it’s more that the execution here from director Polanski was so tight and flawless that the whole thing was just a thrill-ride. 

(Yep, went through that whole review without making any statutory rape jokes about Polanski.  Ease off the man people! He made Chinatown for goodness sakes!!)

9.  Inception

Written about exhaustively on this blog, I’ve now had seven months to reflect and, recently, give it another watch.  My ultimate boil-it-down take on the film is this: it is a visionary, unique, yet flawed piece of filmmaking.  The entertainment value that Nolan brings to the table is enough to squeeze in here at #9.  The flaws come in the form of too much exposition in the writing and through what I think was horrible miscasting in Ellen Page (she really sticks out like a sore thumb). 

However, on my recent rewatch, I really upped my appreciation for many of Nolan’s shot selections and the general visual feast that the producers put together, not to mention Hans Zimmer’s Oscar-nominated score. 

(Okay, let’s get real though for one second: don’t we all know at least ONE person who thinks they’re really smart (even though they’re not) for liking this movie just because it seems smart to them, and doesn’t that really annoy you?  I can think of 5 people like that, right now.  Is that a mean thing to say?)

Why This One Stuck With Me:

The little things.  The zero-gravity/rotating hallway fight scene is good enough scene to cure many ills in the movie.  The beautiful design elements that made up Cobb/Mal’s dreamworld were pure art.  The inner-dream manipulation of Fisher was great writing by Nolan.  The look on Cobb’s face at the end when he (spoilers!) wakes up from limbo is a great piece of acting from DiCaprio. 

8.  127 Hours

Maybe Danny Boyle should have
directed the Academy Awards, too.

James Franco’s turn in this latest Danny Boyle film is undoubtedly better than his performance as host of the 83^rd Academy Awards (seriously though, was he high? Or just nervous?  Both maybe? I’m not sure which was more sad—his lack of enthusiasm or Anne Hathaway’s desperate attempt to make up for it.  Please join my “J-Lake for Host Next Year” campaign.  Thanks.) 

Boyle & Franco do a great job at providing the energy needed to sustain a story set almost entirely in a claustrophobic environment (screenwriter Simon Beaufoy should also be credited for this), while keeping the character and the story tender enough that you care about every minor success and failure that happens to him.

Why This One Stuck With Me:

The various sounds effects, split-screens, frantic editing, camera shots through tubes and in a Nalgene bottle, and a couple of trippy dream-sequences all made for a memorable film that has a harder edge than Slumdog Millionaire without succumbing to as much sappiness, yet does have a message worth telling. 
  

7.   The King’s Speech

Unfortunately, this fine piece of cinema is already drawing comparisons to Shakespeare in Love, Ordinary People, and Rocky (Best Picture winners that beat out “clearly” superior films), which I find to be a little bit of an overreaction.  This film is still really good in its own right, despite whatever “better” films it may have beat out. 

As I tweeted after I saw it, Colin Firth gave the most dedicated performance of the year, even though it’s not my favorite.  The chemistry between him and Geoffrey Rush was pure gold, and Helena Bonham Carter was certainly worthy of her nomination as a comforting wife to Bertie. 

Why This One Stuck With Me:

I’ve found that in many British movies, especially period pieces, there is a certain cold, standoff-ish type quality to the style of the film, (see: Gosford Park) and perhaps this has as much to do with rigid British subject matter as anything.  However, Speech deals with some of the same material (royalty, family politics) but with a warmer and more inviting approach.  Say what you want about Tom Hooper’s Best Director win, but his first two films have each made my top-10 of the year lists (The Damned United in 2009, which I wrote about here), and I think he’s got a great career ahead of him.

6.  L'Illusioniste (animated)

The art in The Illusionist is simply breathtaking.  

Like in another certain Pixar animated film that came out in 2010 (which just missed my list, by the way), the central character in Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist is a man who begins to feel that his usefulness in society is decreasing considerably.  This gorgeously hand-drawn film follows an aging magician and his stowaway partner (a young girl) through various beautiful locales in England, Scotland and France. 

Chomet’s story touches on several thematic subjects, which is pretty impressive considering its 80-minute runtime, and the fact that there is maybe 2 lines of dialogue in the whole thing.  At its center, as I mentioned, is a man facing the changes and progress of the mid-20^th century while trying desperately to hold on to his dignity, while his young friend is very much representative of that younger generation ushering in the change. 

Why This One Stuck With Me:

Because the Chaplin-esque nature of the film had me grinning ear to ear for much of it.   Because in my lifetime I can only hope to see such beautiful animation again.  Because the film’s story may intentionally allude to the demise of 2D animation—just as the magician in this story tries to work hard to provide shiny new things for his lady companion, but can’t quite give her all that she wants, so goes our society’s thirst for the new—whether it be computer-generated animation or 3D technology, or whatever the next new thing will be.

And because, despite this, for my money I find unequaled richness and depth in this most human of mediums. 

Side note: my last point is even further evidenced by the fact that this film played on exactly ONE screen for a measly two weeks in the 4^th biggest city in the nation.  So, so sad. 

Check back early next week for the unveiling of my top 5 of the year!

Official Oscar Predictions 2011

No Introduction Necessary. This column is all you need for you Oscar pool tomorrow night. Unless you want to win, of course. Then go read a blog from a real Oscar pundit.

Another quick note or two: A) be sure to check out the podcast in the post below with some more Oscar prediction chat. B) I will be tweeting some thoughts tomorrow night, so if you want some cynical insight on the way the night is turning out, then be sure to follow me at http://twitter.com/adamswindow.

The King's Speech will take
home the big one tomorrow.

Best Picture: The King’s Speech

% Sure: 70

Comments: Unfortunately I feel like I’ve already talked about this ad nauseum on here because of the amount of time I’ve discussed it with friends and read about it online, but I guess I haven’t really gone into detail about it on here yet. But this is the movie that will win tomorrow night, unless a welcome upset from The Social Network shocks the world. This was the movie that made people feel good, and it was a period piece about overcoming a disability, all things the Academy loves. So, there ya go.

Could Win: The Social Network

Should Win: The Social Network

Should Have Been There: Another Year or Blue Valentine


Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network

% Sure: 51

Comments: On the podcast yesterday I predicted Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech. As of this moment I am hereby switching my vote and going with the conventional wisdom that David Fincher gets his statue tomorrow night. It does irk me a little that if a voter thinks The King’s Speech is the best movie of the year that they wouldn’t vote for Tom Hooper, but that’s just me, I guess. A lot of times when there is a Best Director/Best Picture split, it is because the director made the more avant-guarde film of the two and people want to reward that while giving the overall BP award to the film they liked or enjoyed more, which is normally the conventional one. I guess that’s the case here. I know now that I have predicted this that Tom Hooper will win, so you might want to take that into account as well.

Could Win: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

Should Win: David Fincher, The Social Network

Should Have Been There: Mike Leigh, Another Year



Best Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

% Sure: 100

Comments: Unfortunately, this is the only acting category that I’m absolutely sure on. Which is sad, because I predicted all four correctly last year, and this year I’m in serious jeopardy of being able to get only one or two out of the four. I will be really happy to get just three correct. The worst part about all of this is that I spend otherworldly amounts of time reading awards blogs and such, and when it all comes down to it, my guess is going to be as good as anyone else’s on many of these categories. So why do I waste all this time researching this crap? I...I don’t know...

Could Win: Adam Sandler, Grownups. Because if you think about it, he has just as big of a chance to win as anyone who’s nominated that’s not named Colin Firth.

Should Win: Colin Firth (with all due respect to James Franco who I loved in 127 Hours).

Should Have Been There: Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

% Sure: 89

Comments: Natalie Portman will win. A few people are predicting an Annette Bening upset but that’s a pretty gutsy prediction considering that Portman has won just about every award that counts so far this season. HOWEVER, in 2008 Mickey Rourke was the frontrunner for Best Actor in another Aronofky-directed film, The Wrestler. What happened? He lost to Sean Penn, a respected Hollywood veteran playing a homosexual in Milk, just like Bening this year. So it won’t completely floor me if Bening steals it.

Could Win: Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Should Win: (My personal pick out of the nominated choices would be Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone, but Portman is a totally respectable winner if she does end up pulling it out.)

Should Have Been There: Julianne Lawrence, The Kids Are All Right

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale, The Fighter

% Sure: 85

Comments: This is by far my favorite of the acting categories. Any of the nominees would be a respectable choice to win, and even though Ruffalo is my personal favorite, Bale and Rush also gave two of the best performances of the year, and would be totally happy if either won.

Could Win: Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Should Win: Mark Ruffalo (Sue me. It’s my blog, I’ll pick who I want, leave me alone!)

Should Have Been There: Andrew Garfield, The Social Network

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

% Sure: 30

Comments: Anyone’s game here. In fact, I would say it is the one category in the entire list where there are 3 or even 4 nominees that I could see taking it. But that’s just me. You have a veteran frontrunner in Leo who almost spoiled her chances by taking out her own tacky “For Your Consideration” adds, which is leading some to believe that she won’t take it, despite her SAG win and Golden Globe win, among many others. Then, you have Hailee Steinfeld, a freaking 14-year old who somehow steals the show from Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon in True Grit. Category confusion, I think, kept her from being able to win some precursor awards, which is the sole reason I’m not predicting her.

Then, there’s Helena Bonham Carter who, for once in her life wasn’t playing a witch, an evil queen, or a cannibalistic pie-baker, and I enjoyed her understated, delightful portrayal of the Queen Mother in The King’s Speech. If she wins, it will be on the coattails of a movie that looks to win several other awards. Jacki Weaver is another interesting long-shot possibility, and in a just world she would be getting far more attention for her evil-mother role in Animal Kingdom. Amy Adams probably should just be happy to be there, but maybe I’m just biased since I thought she was only the 11th best actor in her movie (behind Bale, Leo, Walhberg, and the 7 sisters).

Final Odds Tally: Leo = 30%, Steinfeld = 25%, Carter = 25%, Weaver = 15%, Adams = 5%

Could Win: Steinfeld or Carter

Should Win: Steinfeld

Should Have Been There: Olivia Williams, The Ghost Writer


Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network

% Sure: 100

Comments: Aaron Sorkin is a beast, and this category is a lock. End of story.

Could Win: Toy Story 3

Should Win: The Social Network

Should Have Been There: I’m actually pretty happy with the lineup as it is.


Best Original Screenplay: The King’s Speech

% Sure: 99.5

Comments: Another easy call here for your Oscar poll. The only precursor it didn’t win was the WGA, but it wasn’t eligible because the screenwriter isn’t a member of the guild, so I don’t see that as a hurdle. However, a lot of people liked both The Kids Are All Right and Inception’s screenplays, so there’s a couple upset contenders waiting in the wings. I feel pretty safe on this category, but I did last year as well and I got both screenplay categories wrong, so who knows.

Could Win: The Kids Are All Right

Should Win: Another Year

Should Have Been There: Blue Valentine

The Illusionist would be my pick for animated
 feature, but no one asked me.

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

% Sure: 200

Comments: Pixar continues their streak of greatness with a third installment in their flagship franchise.  If this doesn’t win then I don’t know anything.

Could Win: How To Train Your Dragon

Should Win: The Illusionist (call me a snob, whatever. TS3 is great but The Illusionist is one of the most unique films of the year)

Should Have Been There: Just happy that The Illusionist got a nod.


Best Editing: The Social Network

% Sure: 85

Comments: Such a unique and noticeable editing style, switching back and forth between multiple storylines infused the movie with drama and anticipation. The only way it loses is if there is unbridled affection for The King’s Speech within the Academy. Oh wait...there is.

Could Win: The King’s Speech

Should Win: The Social Network

Should Have Been There: All good nominations.


Best Cinematography: True Grit

% Sure: 75

Comments: True Grit is the most prototypical candidate and the cinematographer and frequent Coen Brothers collaborator Roger Deakins is well overdue. True Grit has 10 nominations and by my calculation, this is the only one that it will win...I don’t think it can go home empty-handed, but that’s me.

Could Win: All of the other candidates are very close, but a certain King’s Speech bias could be enough to take this category. Are you sensing a pattern here?

Should Win: Either Black Swan or The Social Network (but I will be happy if True Grit does indeed win.)

Should Have Been There: The American


Best Art Direction: Inception The King’s Speech

% Sure: 25

Comments: I hate this category. When it comes down to it I’m going with The King’s Speech because it’s a period-piece and a Best Picture frontrunner. Inception and Alice in Wonderland could easily take it. In fact, I almost switched my vote just now to Inception. Ah, screw it.

Could Win: Inception

Should Win: Meh...Inception I guess.

Should Have Been There: Another Year

Best Costume Design: The King’s Speech

% Sure: 50

Comments: Once again, throwing darts at the board. Going with the frontrunner again, even though on yesterday’s podcast I picked Alice. At the very least I can get one of the two correct between this category and Art Direction if I pick the same for both. Then again, if it wins neither, I’m screwed.

Could Win: Alice in Wonderland

Should Win: The King’s Speech

Should Have Been There: The Fighter


Best Makeup: The Wolfman

% Sure: 75

Comments: Whatever.

Inception will deservedly take home 3 technicals,
by my count.

Best Sound Mixing: Inception

% Sure: 90

Comments: The Academy I think will go for the Best-Picture nominated blockbuster here.


Best Sound Editing: Inception

% Sure: 95

Comments: See above.

(My Should Have Been There for each of these categories is 127 Hours. I will never forget the sound of Franco gulping his own urine.)


Best Visual Effects: Inception

% Sure: 97

Comments: This should be more of a lock than it is considering the competition, but whatever. I think it will win for the same reasons that it will win the sound categories.


Best Original Score: The King’s Speech

% Sure: 75

Comments: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score from The Social Network could easily surprise here.

Could win: The Social Network

Should Win: The Social Network

Should Have Been There: Black Swan (it was disqualified, but oh well).


Best Original Song: “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3

% Sure: 65

Comments: I actually haven’t heard any of these. Great insight, huh?

Could Win: “If I Rise” from 127 Hours

Bardem's acting might be good
enough to get Biutiful a
foreign film win.

Best Foreign Film: In a Better World

% Sure: 51

Comments: Only seen one nominee, Dogtooth, and that’s not winning, but it looks to be a three-way race between In a Better World, Biutiful, and Incendies. Most are predicting what I am though. This category is always difficult to get a handle on.



Best Documentary Feature: Inside Job

% Sure: 65

Comments: I really, really, REALLY want to pick Exit Through The Gift Shop here, as it is a favorite of mine and because seeing what kind of stunts Banksy will pull if he won would be great. However, I’m sticking with the conventional and topical doc by Charles Ferguson as my prediction. It was a really well-made movie and would be a deserving win in most years, but this year I just felt that Exit was so original and fresh that it would be very disappointing if it loses. The steak-eaters in the Academy probably won’t go for it though.

Best Animated Short: Madagascar, A Journey Diary (although I can totally see Day & Night winning, and I’m going to be mad at myself when it does.)

Best Live-Action Short: Wish 143

Best Documentary, Short Subject: Strangers No More


That's it, and I'm on the record.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Oscar Time!

My friends and I recorded a little Oscar podcast in anticipation of the awards tomorrow night.  We go through our predictions and other dorky Oscar-related stuff.  Check it out below!  For the hearing impaired, I will be posting my predictions and some other thoughts later this afternoon or tonight.  For now, enjoy the podcast.  Sorry I'm not very technically savvy or I would have had it up sooner and in a better format.

Quick thanks to Mike and Allison for joining me on the pod and giving great insight.  Allison posted a couple of Oscar preview items on her blog, so be sure to check that out as well.

Adam's Rear Window: Oscar Podcast from Adam Brown on Vimeo.

Film Friday: 2010 Movie Awards

I’m baaaaaaaaack.  So I’ve been working on a solid Top-10-of-2010 list to share with you guys, but there are just a couple more movies from 2010 that I want to see before finalizing the list.  However, The Gay Superbowl (aka Oscars) are next Sunday night (and you can bet on an amazing Oscar predictions and preview column coming next weekend), so I thought before that I would take this time to pass out a few awards of my own. 

(Speaking of superbowls, have you ever noticed that all four superbowls are in February? The Straight White Male Superbowl (THE Superbowl), The Gay Superbowl (The Oscars), The Black Superbowl (The NBA All-Star Game), and The Bieber Superbowl (The Grammy’s).  It’s a little too much for 4 weekends in a row.  We should just throw in a Douche Superbowl (UFC Fight), and a Terrorist Superbowl (a World Cup match) as well so everyone can be represented.  I mean really.)

Anyway.  In lieu of my normal Film Friday column with 3 recommendations, here are my 2010 Film Awards.  There will be no “Best Picture” award because I have to keep the suspense up until my Top-10 list is released (although if you know me, it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out).  I’ve mixed in the “real” awards with the sarcastic ones, so pay attention.  Enjoy!

The Ghost Writer: Soooooo Underrated.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Best Retarded Teenage Boy Movie: Hot Tub Time Machine

Best Teen Movie Since Mean Girls: Easy A

Most Overlooked Movie: The Ghost Writer

Sexiest Actress: Mila Kunis, Black Swan (And it’s not even close.  She basically melts the screen just by looking at it.  Am I done looking like a pervert?  Yes.  Am I done thinking about Mila Kunis in Black Swan?  No......no I’m not.)

Movie Most Likely to Make You Depressed and Question Everyone in Positions of Power and Give You a General Feeling of Hopelessness: Inside Job

Biggest Waste of $200,000,000: Tim Burton in making Alice in Wonderland.

Biggest Waste of $335,000,000: Everyone who went to see Alice in Wonderland. 

Movie Most Likely to Make You Say “Did that really just happen?” More than 40 Times: Dogtooth (as I tweeted after I watched this, it is easily the most screwed up movie I’ve ever seen.  Easily). 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right (sorry Christian Bale, you were great in The Fighter but Ruff was better in this blogger’s opinion).

Comeback of the Year Award:  Goes to movies in general this year.  It was an incredible year for movies, nearly everything in my top 10 list is better than anything I saw last year, and that’s the honest truth.  Plus, kudos to the Academy for nominating 10 really good movies for Best Picture this year.  No complaints from me. 

Best Oddly Sexy Actress: Noomi Rapace, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Piercings? Tattoos?  Emo hair?  Works for her.)

Best Random Scene: The Rowing Scene in The Social Network.

Best Musical Score: The Social Network (never would have thought that a member of Nine Inch Nails would create one of my favorite scores). 

Biggest Letdown: Never Let Me Go (it was decent, but nowhere near its potential).

Biggest Surprise: The Fighter (I would say The Ghost Writer here but Roman Polanski directed it, so to say that it was a surprise that Polanski made a good film would be pretty stupid).

Best Cinematography: Black Swan

Best Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Best Creepy Mom: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom (narrowly edging Melissa Leo in The Fighter)

Best 3D Movie/Only 3D Movie I Saw in 2010: TRON: Legacy

The “Not As Annoying As Usual” Award: Shia LaBeouf, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps

The “Just as Annoying As Usual” Award: Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston for any movie they were in this year (they all kind of bleed together but I’m pretty sure they were both in one together).

Moore gave a great, conflicted performance
in The Kids Are All Right

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right (narrowly edging Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone).

The “Up and Coming Director” Award: Derek Cianfrance, Blue Valentine (although he worked on that movie for several years.  Let’s see if he’s got another one in the tank.)

The “As Good As Advertised” Award: The King’s Speech (it would also get the “movie most agreeable to critics, movie-watchers and awards bodies” award, which is why it will win Best Picture, but more on that next week.)

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network

Best Original Screenplay: Another Year

Best Dialogue in a Film: True Grit

Movie That Will Be Most Highly Regarded in Twenty Years: The Social Network (Yeah, I said it.)

Best Blockbuster: Inception

Gutsiest Studio: Warner Brothers, for letting Chris Nolan & Co. produce Inception, a completely original, non-franchise, non-superhero, non-sequel action thriller that you actually had to think a little to watch and wasn’t in 3D.  And they got their money’s worth.  Let’s hope this will encourage some studios to follow suit. 

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine (sorry Colin Firth)

The “Dear God Please Stop It” Award: Adam Sandler & Kevin James, Grownups.

The “Best Depiction of Mutilation of the Human Body” Award: 127 Hours (narrowly edging Winter’s Bone, Dogtooth, and Black Swan.)

Will there ever be a better lead acting duo than
Marlon Brando & Vivien Leigh? Don't count
on it.

Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network (duh.)

And Finally...in lieu of a Best Picture of 2010 award, I give you an award for:

The Best Movie I Watched for the First Time in 2010: 

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

(Words cannot describe the way I feel about this movie, although at some point I should try.)

Review: 'Another Year'

I saw this movie on Friday and decided to write an honest-to-goodness review of a film for once.  Sorry it got a little long-winded, hope you enjoy.  

There’s a scene in Another Year in which Gerri, a post middle-aged woman played by Ruth Sheen, is tending to her and her husband Tom’s (Jim Broadbent) allotment, a modest little garden outside of London, where they grow tomatoes.  It is autumn, and the sun is shining and the vines are bearing plump, lipstick-red, ripened tomatoes.  Taking a quick break from the labor, Gerri looks up to the England sky as a breeze gains momentum and passes through the meadow, and closes her eyes to enjoy this brief and beautiful moment in time.  This scene could tell you much about the film, or not; the film itself leaves it up to you to decide. 

Perhaps it was because I was enjoying my own little slice of life; a great day of January whether in combination with a day off of school.  Before going into the theater to watch the movie, I sat outside a coffee shop next door enjoying an espresso, neglecting my usual distractions of my iPhone or my laptop in favor of observing the other customers, their dogs, other folks passing by along the sidewalk, and the hustle and bustle of nearby shops. 

Perhaps I harnessed that joy I was feeling, that acute awareness of my simple blessings that comes along maybe once a month, as I walked from the coffee shop into the theater.  Perhaps that is why this film, directed by the Brit veteran Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies, Happy-Go-Lucky, Vera Drake) is one that had me smiling from ear to ear at points and nearly in tears at others, and was a viewing experience that I won’t soon forget.

Tom and Gerri (yes, you read that correctly) are the emotional anchors at the center of the narrative.  The long happily married couple work at modest jobs, but make enough to have a decent home, and entertain guests with good food and wine.  Among these guests are Gerri’s co-worker and friend Mary, a middle-aged, nervous, very single, wine-gulping and depressed woman, wonderfully played by Lesley Manville.  Another is Ken, an old school buddy of Tom’s who is equally as hopeless as Mary, but unlike her he seems to have accepted this fate.  There is Tom’s brother, an almost-mute who experiences the loss of his wife.  And lastly is Tom and Gerri’s son, a 30-something who comes by every so often, and maintains a balanced relationship with his parents. 

A very telling seen involves a dinner with Ken, who, after devouring plates of food as well as several beers and who knows how much wine, opines over a cigarette that things aren’t like they used to be.  When he was younger, people would “meet at the pub, have a few drinks, and go out for a curry,” but that doesn’t happen anymore.  Mike Leigh, who also wrote the script, consistently reminds us about the passing of time (the film is a literal year, broken into four sections denoted by the seasons); people change, get older, both a birth and death occur, a new relationship forms, while another may be squelched.

Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen give great
performances in Another Year.

Tom and Gerri understand that time is precious, and therefore treat each other, as well as their friends and family, with love and respect, despite their flaws.  Mary’s character comes into the forefront of the story as the year progresses—for all of Tom and Gerri’s stability, Mary’s contrasting instability becomes grating.  Her faint hope of finding a man to take care of her dwindles by every season, starting with spring and ending, for her, in the cold reality that is winter.  But the suggestion is that Tom and Gerri have found happiness because they have chosen it, whereas Mary or Ken may expect it to come by way of luck, and therefore remain disappointed in the way their lives have turned out.    

This is where the scene that I described at the beginning of this review becomes important.  By what methods do we find contentment—luck or choice?  Gerri’s choice to stop and delight in the breeze asks us this question.  Do we resent a spring shower that comes while working in the garden, or are we thankful for the moisture that it brings?  Do we invite friends into our homes for food and drink and company, or do we wait to be invited?  Some measure of luck is no doubt involved, but our decisions, over time, make us who we are. 

And so Another Year is exactly what its title claims—a small measure of time in the lives of no one in particular.  In this way, perhaps it tells us more about ourselves than it says about the characters in the film, which is a remarkable cinematic achievement in itself. 

Besides the wonderful direction, script, and acting, which I’ve already discussed, the cinematography, score, costumes and makeup, and particularly the art direction/set design add a genuine and wonderful feel to the film.  These technical elements will not go noticed by awards bodies due to their lack of flashiness, but perhaps added as much to the aesthetic of a film as any I’ve seen this year.  

9/10.