A Christmas Equation (?)

I'm not sure that the math is right but it's still true. Sometimes only Rankin/Bass will do... and any of them will do. P.S. if you're feeling perverse try JA's Rankin/Bass diversion

Anyway, if you like Christmas, I hope you're not having a Year Without A Santa Claus.

Happy Holidays!

Hundreds of Screens: It's (Not) a Wonderful Life

One of my favorite movie theaters in Manhattan is the IFC center. Unlike a lot of multiplexes it definitely has its own character. This is even more obvious on the inside where creepy heavy black curtains surround you in cavern like spaces. One time going to INLAND EMPIRE, I swear we thought we were in a Lynch movie before we even took our seats... so many hallways we were ushered through with curtains everywhere and fellow moviegoers disappearing into other rooms with unmarked doors along the pathway.(I haven't had that experience again so they either restructured or we were really inside a Lynchian nightmare) You couldn't mistake it for another theater. Before it was the IFC Center it was the Waverly and as such hosted one of the very first movie events I ever attended in New York. I can't remember details but it was a John Waters night and there was some sort of contest. Drag queens were everywhere and I thought 'New York moviegoing is spectacular!'


Not that that degree of special proved regular. The strange thing though is that every time I go to the IFC, which isn't often given its location, something memorable does happen.

The memorable thing isn't always good. Tonight my friend Ed suggested we attend It's A Wonderful Life. I thought "Perfect!" what a way to kick off a few days holiday with friends. The super long pre-show began with a few David Lynch moments (they sell his coffee there) interspersed with multiple trailers and then the movie began... without sound. Then the movie began again with what we thought was sound... was that sound?...without picture. Then the whole thing shut off. Nearly an hour after the scheduled start time they were saying "five minutes" so we left. But it's one of those movies we all know by heart, isn't it? So even as we stumbled off to dinner and on to other activities I'm pretty sure we still heard the bell ring many blocks away as Clarence got his wings.

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The Two Sandras

I didn't imagine this year for Sandra Bullock. Hollywood isn't often kind to its romcom superstars once they near 40. Meg Ryan got the boot at 39 once Proof of Life and the Russell Crowe affair scandal hit. Global love for Julia Roberts cooled at around 37 as soon as she did, speaking figuratively, in Closer. By standard pop-culture/Hollywood timetables everyone will be pretending they never loved Amy Adams, Drew Barrymore and Reese Witherspoon between the years of 2012 and 2015. This is all both a real shame and expected for careers built on warmth and *new romance* appeal in an industry that privileges youth over talent and in a country that's youth-obsessed. Aging is tough enough in real life. Imagine how tough it is for celebrities who are asked to constantly embody our romantic dreams and beauty ideals? But things are getting better for actresses in the grand scheme of things. I mean, the media powers-that-be used to take shots at actresses as early as their mid30s. The resurgent bankability of Meryl Streep is a well-documented and hopefully paradigm shifting success story. Though very few people have ever been able to measure up to Streep at any age, I still consider it a good sign.

Sandra Bullock's age (45) is a non-issue for a super mom story like The Blind Side, which has just become her biggest hit ever (if you don't adjust for inflation -- otherwise it's probaby still Speed) but I thought it was one of the more interesting components of The Proposal, which I finally got around to watching this weekend.

The hit comedy does a rather awkward dance (once very literally -- I don't wanna talk about that dread drumming rap sequence!) trying to juggle its slapstick impulses with its heart-tugging. But it's easy to forgive its messy and crude storytelling since its a project that lives or dies by charm and chemistry. Ryan Reynolds & Sandra have both. Thus, big hit!


Most screen romances between older women and younger men (Ryan is 12 years younger) not only notice the discrepancy but they obsess over it. This one doesn't. The ubiquitous "cougar" pejorative never enters the picture. Instead, the idea that She's the Boss sucks up any and all heteronormative panic that the movie can muster. [Spoilers!] The movie is so nervous about this power imbalance that it effortfully and repeatedly tries to right this "wrong". It has to take place on Reynold's turf (his parent's home) and by his rules (he rewrites her "deal" very quickly) and has to even present him as both the dominating sexual and emotional force of the relationship. It even has to reveal that he's also wealthy. The Proposal is so nervous about this power imbalance that it literally cedes him all the power in the relationship by film's end; Up to and including the totally embarrassing and highly improbable off camera co-worker shout out "Show her who's boss!" when the couple seals their surprise romance with a kiss. [/Spoilers]

Never mind that that kind of public display would get you fired at most corporations (especially since they are technically boss and subordinate -- imagine the legal liabilities) for this is a fantasy. And maybe it's a fantasy that the movie never makes an issue of her age either, but it's still the movie's sole step in a progressive direction. Otherwise the screenplay of The Proposal is pandering regressive stuff throughout. I wanted to offer it up like a helpless fluffy puppy for a bird of prey only... well... it's hard to hate on account of all the cuteness.

Rather surprisingly Sandra's broad comic moments were my least favorite part of the performance. And comedy is her bread and butter. The movie opens with a baldly obvious 'You loved the Devil Wears Prada. You'll love this too!' set up. 'Sandra is a bitch on wheels! Watch her subordinates freak out when she enters the building.' It's a "gird your loins!" comic set piece only it's not funny. Bullock is no Streep. The problem is that Bullock is not very good at playing bitchy. This only worked for her in Crash and then just marginally so. Her screen persona is too warm and cuddly. The thaw of the ice queen is only a fascinating onscreen trope when the queen is believably chilly. She's better at the small comic awkwardness of how and when to touch her fake fiance. Ironically, I thought she was much stronger in the dramatic parts of the film, where she reveals her loneliness, or when she tells Reynolds "I'm scared" when she admits her romantic feelings.


And weirdly, I find the reverse true of The Blind Side: While her overall restraint is admirable (there's a lot of cartoonish mugging, both dramatic and comedic, surrounding her) she's not a gifted enough dramatic actress to make the adoptive mother all that interesting. The true selling point is her indisputable star charisma, which she's smart enough to trust to do the heavy lifting / film carrying. What's finally endearing about the character is the tiny accumulation of comic details. She rarely pushes a laugh line but she still gets laughs.

in conclusion
Sandra Bullock "The Blind Side" > Sandra Bullock in "The Proposal"
(but her Blind Side comedy > Blind Side drama and her Proposal drama > Proposal comedy)
it's so confusing!

but
The Proposal > The Blind Side
(totally. though it's a low stakes contest)

Which Sandra do you prefer? And would you have nominated her for that comedic Golden Globe? Or do you still think she was best in Speed (1994) and While You Were Sleeping (1995) because... maybe I do.
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Recycled Experience: Play Time (1967)

What follows is the reprint of a year old piece I wrote on Jacques Tati's Play Time. I'm sharing it with you now because a Tati retrospective is currently at MoMA in New York right now (through January 2nd) and will be in San Francisco in early 2010. Go!
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Danger! Watching classic movies can be upsetting to your movie going routine.

When you see a classic like Play Time (1967), which I finally saw thanks to the urging of James, it can lay ruin to any chance you might have of enjoying a comedy made in the past 10 to 20 years. I'm tempted to avoid all new comedies until this one fully dissipates in my memory. They'll feel lazy, obvious and unambitious in comparison. Jacques Tati's near perfect barely verbal urban chaos comedy is mind blowing. I don't mean that in a cheap blurb whore way. When I wasn't giggling (I literally couldn't stop laughing well past the end of certain gags), my jaw was on the floor trying to process how Tati could have possibly staged all of these complicated laughs.

For those who are unfamiliar with this classic, it is without a traditional plot but it's a linear series of four or five comic setpieces. We follow a confused businessman (Tati himself as "Mr. Hulot", a character that must have influenced "Mr Bean") through labyrinthine office structures as he attempts to get a meeting and an American women's tourist group through a Parisian shopping spree. Eventually these two threads collide at the opening night of an upscale club in which almost everything that could go wrong with the launch of a new restaurant does (this final act will be extra hilarious if you have ever worked in the hospitality/restaurant business). Jazzing up the remarkable feats of comic choreography and nimble filmmaking (of particular note are the clever sound work and masterful set designs) are trenchant jokes about tunnel visioned tourism and manic consumerism.

modern urban cubicle absurdist slapstick

Play Time's only flaw might be its length given that its sight gags are both fleet of foot and piggybacked repetitive... making that two hour plus running time a little incongruous to such a buoyant sense of, well, play. Underlining the wonderment of its achievement is a subdued but gently amusing coda as the tourists leave Paris. It's like that slightly woozy last wind of energy before you collapse from a memorable all-nighter out with friends.

If you haven't seen it, you must. But another warning. It's not a film that will be loved by anyone with a short attention span. DVDs are a godsend for insatiable movie lovers but everything has a dark side and many great films can deflate quite a lot if their power isn't allowed to snowball. DVD culture has encouraged a staccato viewing experience. We're accustomed to stopping and starting movies and sometimes whole days can pass before we finish one. Most carefully crafted movies are meant for one sitting, unlike television which caters specifically to the idea of these break times. This is especially true of an intricate construction like Play Time. Tati's comedy has abundant stray laughs but its very best gags are all cumulative in potency. It gets beaucoup mileage out of super long set-ups which maximize each punchline. Even when you can see them coming for minutes ahead of time, they're no less funny in the telling showing.
A
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Detroit, Chicago, Utah, Etcetera

In past years I have sort of enjoyed the slow trickle of critics organization announcements, but this year they all gushed through journalism's infrastructure so quickly I lost track immediately in the deluge. I'm also slightly suspicious that nobody cares this year (or am I projecting?) since it's about the fifth year in a row with a large degree of consensus. Some years consensus makes a great deal of sense. Others, not so much. Since this happens every year now, I think it's a sure sign that all we ever needed was a few big groups. I'm still a bit perplexed why all of these little groups don't merge to become something more awesomely super-sized.


But in case you do care (and because I have a photoshop problem) here's a few more chosen because these are cities or states where I've actually lived or visited frequently.

Chicago Film Critics
Picture & Director The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow) Actress & Most Promising Performer: Carey Mulligan, An Education Actor: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon Animated Feature: Up Documentary: Anvil! The Story of Anvil Cinematography Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker Original Score: Michael Giacchino, Up Most Promising Filmmaker: Neill Blomkamp, District 9

Utah Film Critics
I'm trying to arrange a Sundance trip this year. Yes, Sundance coverage right here if everything pans out. So crazy that we've never covered it considering how many festivals we have covered at this point. (Katey is going too. Woohoo. Fun in the snow. Wintry vidcasts!) Picture & Director Up in the Air (Jason Reitman) Actress: Carey Mulligan, An Education Actor: Viggo Mortensen, The Road Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious Supporting Actor: Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles Screenplay: Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach Fantastic Mr. Fox Foreign Language Film: Thirst Animated Feature: Fantastic Mr. Fox Documentary: The Cove

For what it's worth, Christian McKay (Utah, San Francisco) and Woody Harrelson (NBR) are the only men who've been able to snag a trophy away from Christoph Waltz in the Supporting Actor category. Waltz has now won 18 prizes for his wicked performance as Col. Hans Landa in Basterds... starting with that summer biggie: Cannes.


Detroit Film Critics
They actually did go their own way in Best Picture (gasp) so I had to make them an illustration, too. I'm not sure how many film critics are left in Detroit though what with the economy the way it is there. Even when I still lived there aeons ago, they were the two big papers were starting to merge. Detroit needs a little burst of color for a pick-me-up, so a house carried by balloons seems appropriately uplifting. Picture & Director: Up (Pete Docter) Actress & Breakthrough Performance: Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe, Precious Actor: Colin Firth, A Single Man Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds Ensemble The Hangover

Let's see... how to cover everything else we've missed. Oh forget it. If I followed every group I'd get carpel tunnel merely typing "Christoph Waltz". Movie City News has a chart and a staff that has time for such a chart. Good on them. If you look it over you can quickly see that most every category has one clear consensus pick.

The most contentious of all categories in this year end hoopla is actually foreign film. Summer Hours and Sin Nombre have each won five prizes (neither of them are eligible in that Oscar race) with The White Ribbon trailing with three. What's interesting though is that a grand total of ten films have won this award which is way more honorees than in any other category, wherein the critics were mostly content to nod at each other agreeably. As for me I fall firmly into the Summer Hours camp in this three-way battle (see previous post). It's a quiet beauty, neither as obfuscating as The White Ribbon despite equally complex subject matter nor as reductively familiar as Sin Nombre despite its equally obvious "types". Not that all three films aren't very compelling cinema. See them!
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Which newish movie...?

Are you most anxious to revisit on DVD. And why?
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Curio: Alt Cross-Stich

Alexa here from Pop Elegantiarum. Cross-stitch used to connote that awful, cloying gift you got from your grandma at Christmas. (My dad was forced to hang one from my grandma in his college apartment that read "Make new friends, keep the old, one is silver, the other is gold." Oy.) But the rise of feminist cross-stitch has revived the craft, and has led to a few interesting offshoots, including some film-related examples.


Here is my favorite, a John Waters-inspired piece from The Dirt Track. Perfect for those of you that are hating Christmas this year as as much as Divine did in Female Trouble.

And here is a ubiquitous Lebowski entry from spamberly. (I must admit I have this one in our bedroom.)


Finally, here is a not-so-alternative example for the holidays from you heart us. Is it just me, or is A Christmas Story now so overplayed that hanging this would be similar to hanging a "I'm Dreaming of A White Christmas" cross-stitch? The cycle continues: my little-one's grandma would hang this one up for Christmas in a heartbeat.

Pandora's Link

Quiet Earth photos from Peter Weir's next movie The Way Back starring Ed Harris and Colin Farrell. Ah, I love Peter Weir. Can't wait.
Towleroad Speaking of Farrell, he was best man at his gay brother's wedding this summer. Loving families are so awesome. More celebrations in Ireland this weekend
movie marketing The Lovely Bones shifts gears for female fans
Sydney Morning Herald interviews Peter Jackson. There's quite a defensive tone and quotable snark to his response to critics who gripe that he didn't show the story's kick off murder. On this point I agree with the Lord of the Rings auteur, although I wouldn't have phrased it so damningly and I hope he doesn't think that's the extent of the criticism.
art of the title sequence on a few long steadicam openings. Boogie Nights is my all time favorite (in this field) but I thought it was longer than three minutes.

Welcome to Pandora
Cinema Styles plays mental tricks with "a brick wall". It's a thought provoking post.
Loyal Kng compares the actors with their Na'Vi
MNPP Avatar in 150 Words of Less
Mighty God King a conversation after Avatar (spoilers)
and finally you must read...
i09 delivers an insightful article gloriously titled "When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like Avatar?" Oh, the eternal narratives that spring from white privilege/guilt.

Regarding Mo'Nique... What Nick Said

I am sad to report that my frequent partner in movie gabbing, Nick, has opted out of future Oscar podcasts this year. He's soured on the season already because he only likes two of the twentyish movies in play. I've had my own Way Off Consensus years and it's true that they ain't much fun. They're very nearly its opposite. If you're feeling underwhelmed by this year's prestige crop, I suggest you read his brutal but razor sharp takedown of nearly every Oscar contender.

I do want to quote this bit on Mo'Nique because it's exactly what I've been feeling but was unable to vocalize.

...Mo'Nique's refusal to play the campaigning game, at least not in a straightforward way, which if/when she wins for Precious has the potential to set an inspiring precedent for letting quality of work, rather than vehemence of desire and scale of self-advertising, determine the eventual Oscar winner. This would entail a huge victory for actors, who ought to be able to prioritize their creative work over their own grossly expensive and almost inevitably canned gabbing about it, and also a victory for us, since the ubiquitous obsessions with horse-racing and self-perpetuating publicity are threatening to overwhelm what almost anyone has to say about the actual movies. And yet people have been giving her shit about it for months! For God's sake, why?

Hear! Hear!

I wish the Oscar bloggers/journalists who are doing this (you know who you are) would cease and desist immediately. Think about what you're doing! It's not good for the cinema or even for the Oscars cred to demonize an actor for not caring about it in the way that we expect them to care about and beg for it. In the end it should be about the work or, rather, it should be as much about the work as it can be given everything else that goes on. I'm not hopelessly delusional.

I think it's worth noting that refusing to take the Oscars seriously should not and does not (historically speaking) automatically cost you the statue if its obvious to a huge swath of the population, Academy and otherwise, that you've given a performance for the ages. One that people will be talking about for years. Plenty of actors before Mo'Nique have resisted the game or not played entirely by its rules. You may have heard of some of their names: Katharine Hepburn, George C Scott, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman... Oscar winners all. Kate actually won four.

a photo I snapped of Hepburn's Oscars. She never attended any of
the twelve ceremonies in which she was nominated.

Allow me to misquote another four time Oscar winner...

Deserve's got something to do with it.

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Screen Queens: Best of the Gay Aughts

MattCanada here with a bit of an overview and Best-Of Gay films for the last decade.

Gay cinema over the last ten years has been intrinsically tied to both the political gains made by gay activists and the intense battles surrounding everything from the worldwide fight for gay marriage to nationally specific issues like America's DADT and DOMA, and Britain's repeal of Section 28. The relationship between the political and the cinematic is always most pronounced in the medium's relationship to minority groups and their texts.

The Aughts have seen gay-rights become the most visible"social values" issue in America, and this has been reflected in a number of high profile American films dealing frankly, sexually, and politically with what it means to be gay in America. Milk, Far From Heaven, and Mysterious Skin employ gay filmmaking traditions, like those of Affirmation Documentaries (Richard Dyer's term), Sirkian melodrama, and New Queer Cinema, to examine the complexity of gay male American history.

Brokeback Mountain, in terms of cultural and critical impact, deserves to be in a category all its own. It is the defining film in the gay canon, one that has become The Gay Film to which everything else, before or since, is compared. Its mainstream success can be partially attributed to its de-gaying through the clever marketing technique of calling it a 'universal love story'. However, without a doubt, it lost the Oscar as a result of latent homophobia within what is generally perceived to be the liberal media elite. All in all, the visibility of male homosexuality in American cinema over the last decade seemed at an all time high.

a small sampling of important gay auteurs in the Aughts:
Eytan Fox, François Ozon, "Joe" Weerasethakul and Todd Haynes

Internationally gay film has continued to flourish, especially with the arthouse approved gay auteurs, the most notable being Pedro Almodóvar, Francois Ozon, Eytan Fox, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Brillante Mendoza. For me personally the biggest joy has been watching Quebec, or maybe more appropriately Montreal, become a mecca for intelligent, entertaining, and daring gay filmmaking, especially Jean-Marc Vallee's C.R.A.Z.Y, and Xavier Dolan's I Killed My Mother. English language Canada has not had the same high-profile successes, but has continued to see good work from the always intelligent and challenging John Greyson, as well as provocateur Bruce LaBruce.

Documentary cinema has continued to be an area where a multitude of disparate perspectives on gay life can be presented, and Paragraph 175, Tarnation (mentioned in an amazing post here the other day), Camp Out, Small Town Gay Bar, A Jihad For Love, For the Bible Told Me So, and Outrage have been a few of the breakout examples.

Finally, Latter Days and Shelter (previous post) have been two noteworthy gay film fest hits that became big successes within the gay community this decade. Their rankings at number 3 and 2 respectively on AfterElton.com's 50 Best Gay Films Ever speaks to this popularity, and while I can respect the latter, I think the former is just about the worst gay film I have ever seen.

So, here are my personal top 10 of the last decade:

10 Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom
Gay cinema is dominated by white men, white stars, and white standards of beauty. That is why it is great to see a film dealing with issues surrounding African-American gays and their different positioning within straight hegemony and dominant (re: white) gay culture. Hopefully this film's success will spur gay cinema to be more inclusive and ethnically pluralistic. This film is a lot of fun and provides a great showcase for a very talented cast.

09 Before Night Falls
Javier Bardem plays gay! Johnny Depp does drag!

08 I Killed My Mother
Innovative debut by Montrealer Xavier Dolan who at 18 astoundingly wrote, produced, starred in, and directed this film. There are flaws, but everything is worth it for the film's stylistic flourishes and the lead performance by Anne Dorval. (full review)

07 For the Bible Tells Me So
One of the best documentaries of the decade, and crucial viewing for anyone who wants to understand the intersection of Christianity and homosexuality.

06 Mysterious Skin
Gregg Araki is the most original and iconoclastic gay director of the last twenty years, and Mysterious Skin is his most accomplished work: nuanced, daring, and heartbreaking.

05 C.R.A.Z.Y.
The best growing up and coming out story I can remember, and the greatest use of a David Bowie song ever. Everything about this film works, and the soundtrack is incredible.

04 The films of Pedro Almodóvar
My favorite director made four films this decade and although only Bad Education (2004) was specifically gay, everything he does affects and is affected by gay cinema. I think he is now officially the most important gay auteur of all time.

03 Brokeback Mountain
Beautiful, iconic, and flawless.

02 Far From Heaven
Todd Haynes revisionist homage to the films of Douglas Sirk is masterful filmmaking, and it might even surpass the lofty heights of All That Heaven Allows (1955). Julianne Moore's lead performance is the best of the decade. How she lost the Oscar is beyond me.

01 Milk
I don't know where to begin... so much to love. The cast is magnificent, the editing is peerless, and no film dealt so explicitly with the issues facing gay people worldwide as this did. A perfectly made political film that uses the traits and tropes of the biopic to interrogate homophobia and cogently argue the needs and desires of the gay community.

Hope everyone enjoyed this list. What are your personal picks for best (and worst) gay films of the last decade?
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Mélanie Manly Laurent

Inglourious Basterds was always a conversation starter. But we didn't expect it to start this conversation. Mélanie Laurent is actually a man!

Actual screenshot (with web menu removed, highlight and "oops" added)

Best Supporting Actor, eh? We always thought it was an odd strategy to position Laurent right out of the Oscar race by vying for Lead Actress. But this is even crazier gambit. Oscar voters do have eyes, you know!

I'm joking. As far as I know Mélanie is still a woman but thanks to readers RJ and Jim T for pointing out this error on theWeinstein Co website. I'm sure someone will fix this pronto but for now let it stand as an amusingly literal and/or satiric demonstration of the absurd modern flexibility for Oscar categorizations.

Halfway House: Mercury Poisoning

halfway through the day, stop a movie halfway through. What do you see?

About 45 minutes into the soon-to-be Oscared documentary The Cove, we pause for a lecture on mercury poisoning. Basically it goes like this: dolphins swim in a toxic dump site, their bodies have too much mercury in them, it's not safe for us to eat them. Ewww times two. I don't like to think about toxic dumps or dolphin-eating.


I totally didn't need to know that dolphin meat was poisonous to be convinced that they shouldn't be eaten, thank you very much.

I have all sorts of issues, defendable and otherwise, with documentaries each year. It's difficult to explain but I'll try. With narrative filmmaking I feel like I'm mostly aware of what I'm watching and of how the movie is choosing to approach its subject and tell its story. With documentaries I often feel like I'm behind some invisible curve and without a ton of research on my own I have no clue in which ways I'm being manipulated and what is being left out of the argument or shoehorned in. What I'm reacting to, then, is not the filmmaking so much as the subject matter and spin. I'm guessing Oscar voters are this way too since they're choice of "best" each year is noticeably dependent on the likability or "importance" of the subject matter. I wholeheartedly endorse the likeability of dolphins and the importance of not killing them but I didn't always know if the movie was great.

The movie made me feel guilt above all else: Guilt for loving dolphins (our mass love of the ever-smiling animals has inadvertently caused the captivity and slaughter problem), guilt for being squeamish (I literally couldn't watch the damning slaughter climax. I left the room just like I did at the dolphin killing scene in White Squall many years ago) guilt even for previously hating Hayden Panetierre (!). Her appearance took me by surprise because I tend to ignore the pockets of pop culture that follow the every move of bad actors or tv stars. I had no idea that she was actually an activist, bless her. The shot of her dismay when she realizes she can't save the dolphins is the only time she's ever made me feel anything onscreen. I can't even talk about I Love You Beth Cooper. Don't get me started.

When The Cove wasn't making me feel guilty it was celebrating my love of cute animals and my love of the power of movies. Movie making technology plays a heroic role here and The Cove itself hopes too. Both of those realities will lock it in for an Oscar win, I think, no matter what its competition turns out to be when the nominees are announced in February. Because who in Hollywood wouldn't like to think of the movies as a force of good in the world?
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The Best Actress Five. Is Anyone Vulnerable?

At first I was a bit weirded out that SAG nominations could no longer work as a bellwether of shifting awards-season winds since all of the precursors were mashed together into one week's time. But what winds could shift anyway? Though we won't see the results until February 2nd, Oscar ballots go out to AMPAS members next week. With no real time lag to speak of (we hear that most Academy members return their ballots quickly) I don't think we should expect surprises, particularly because there was so very much agreement between the precursors.

~ Streep | Mulligan | Sidibe | Bullock | Mirren ~
three real life characters and two fresh young actresses. typical!

That sort of kills the suspense in Best Actress (I've thought the "win" was settled for quite awhile -- Streeps third -- but I did expect more drama as to who the final five would be) but not every year can be exciting. I can only imagine four possible spoiler nominees but I'd be quite surprised to see any of them actually pull it off. Visit the new refurbished BEST ACTRESS page for more. Discuss!

related: new podcast
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Brittany Murphy (RIP)

When Brittany Murphy turned 32 last month I made an joke about her extended absence from the screen. "She acts 'I hope not sporadically'" It was an affectionate joke, riffing on my favorite of her many fine line readings from Clueless. I genuinely liked to see her onscreen. I never imagined that the following month she'd be dead of cardiac arrest. With talented young actresses, I always hope for the best.

The last time I saw Brittany Murphy in the movie theater she was playing the hard living title character in the female ensemble feature The Dead Girl (2006). As "Krista" entered a serial killer's car I felt an awful rising pity for her but also anger that she was such a fuck-up. It was tempting if uncharitable to feel both things about Brittany Murphy offscreen as well. I have no idea what was happening to her when her stardom began to burn out and the media turned on her but it didn't look good from the outside.

<-- Brittany looking great in 2008

But it's smart to push the media circus aside when you like someone onscreen. And besides isn't it dangerous or at least naive to think we know what's going on in the personal life of any celebrity. Who can know? It's not like the paparazzi record your soul.

So our thoughts go out to her loved ones on this sad day. And thanks go out to Brittany for her penguin singing in Happy Feet, for gifting 8 Mile with some brazenly sexual energy, for understanding 'popcorn' star turns in Don't Say A Word, for the second most memorable crazy in Girl Interrupted and for topping much of the empty attitudinal posing surrounding her in Sin City to deliver something vividly human if still appropriately theatrical. And of course big props to her endearing contribution to her one bonafide classic Clueless.

I already missed her before she was gone.

Related post: Vanity Fair retro 2002 and Top 50 Actresses of the Aughts (2000-2005)

Oscar Podcast 2.2, Golden Globe Nominations

For the fourteenth episode of the podcast -- more specifically: season two episode two -- the original awards season commentators are back together (Nick, Joe, Katey and myself) though don't get used to it. Who knows what or who is next? Not I!

I can't host the podcast on my site anymore (bandwidth charges are killing me) so you'll have to either download from iTunes (enhanced podcast) or download the mp3 from Mediafire. We go on and on but why shouldn't you obsess on the Oscar race with us during your commute, spare time or workout?

Discussed
People: Sandra Bullock, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Reese Witherspoon, Emily Blunt, Kathryn Bigelow, etcetera. Hot Topics: Critics Groups, BFCA ballots, Globe Noms, Original Score, The Blockbuster Problem. The Movies: mainly The Blind Side, Precious and Up in the Air with cameos by Amelia, Bright Star, Avatar and Nine among many others.

Disclaimer: Please note that this podcast was recorded prior to the SAG announcement. Usually the SAG nomination announcement is further away from the Globes and shows the changing mood we near the Oscars. This year we will have less clue as to the shifting moods within the industry. This could mean significant surprises come Oscar nomination morning but it definitely means that some of our thoughts are already rendered obsolete by the nominating branch within SAG.

Join the conversation in the comments. The more the merrier!
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Linka Linka-Ma, GaGa Link La La

Popnography reveals the inspiration for Avatar. Hee!
/Film plays defense for the critical attacks on Avatar

Wordastic on the language of stressful holiday exchanges (with movie referencing)
Zach Young does a pretty great 2009 at the Movies montage but it's very very guy focused. Even when Nine enters in it's pretty much just DD-L
Culture Monster Annette Bening is really making a habit out of this Los Angeles stage star thing. Next up "Female of the Species" in February
Awards Daily "State of the Race" is Best Picture really anyone's game?
Cinematical For Your Consideration's post-nomination scene. I love it too. Catherine O'Hara is a genius. It's too bad about the rest of the movie though. Given the golden subject matter it should have been my favorite Christopher Guest movie but it's not even close.
In Contention Maggie Gyllenhaal switches to a "supporting" campaign for Crazy Heart. Wise move but I'm not rooting for her for once. I'll explain soon.
The Sheila Variations considers the creepy psychology of Sissy Spacek in Terence Malick's Badlands

Vogue Best Dressed of the Decade? Vote on the movie stars from each and every year. It's a trip through red carpet memory lane although they made some hideous choices, I must say
Boy Culture Matthew Goode for GQ

Everything I Know... on the worst stage musicals of the Aughts. Let's hope no one makes a movie of any of these.

Finally, Off Cinema, I'm absolutely loving this youtube original from the wonderful Amanda Palmer about the "pop music continuum". It's so generous of spirit and so dead right about the way people are always trying to tear female stars down. Boo! on the latter and Yay! on the former. Generosity of spirit forever. Here's "gaga, palmer, madonna"

And yeah, yeah, I do wish Madonna would try as hard with her music videos as she used to and as Lady Gaga now does (bless)... but generosity of spirit: think of all the mini movie musical masterpieces the big M has made over the past 25 years. If we can give Meryl props for letting loose and being silly we can also grant Madonna a few years of coasting through merely fun videos.

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Decade in Review: 2005 Top Ten

2009 is almost over and so many magazines and websites have already offered up their best of the year AND decade that I'm afraid y'all will get sick of the retrospectives before The Film Experience has chimed on. Remember: the tortoise wins! 2005's top ten list (in its original form) follows. New comments in red.

Public Favorites (Box Office): Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, War of the Worlds, King Kong, Wedding Crashers, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Batman Begins, Madagascar and Mr & Mrs Smith
Oscar Favorites: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Good Night and Good Luck and Munich
My Vote For UnderAppreciated: In Her Shoes, Happy Endings and The White Countess
Top Ten Runners Up (11-15): The Squid and the Whale, Match Point, The New World, Junebug and The Beat That My Heart Skipped. I like all five of these even better today than I did at the time... and more than a few things in my top ten list. I'd definitely reorder.

10 Corpse Bride
If there is one thing I value above all else in animated films, it's vivid character designs and cohesive artistic vision. In this area, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride has few equals. Credit goes to the titular auteur Tim Burton and co-director Mike Johnson's guiding goth-happy hands as well as one of Hollywood's finest production designers, Alex McDowell. (His past visually stunning credits include Minority Report, The Terminal, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, and Fight Club. And still no Oscar nomination for his troubles... tsk tsk Hollywood.)

Beyond its superb visual delights, Burton's best film in years also digs up rich voicework from its cast, and offers an enchanting tale both sweet and sour. Nowhere close to perfect but Corpse Bride's got magic to spare.

09 Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were Rabbit
(Another animated film that's blissfully not of the currently homogenous CG *only* school of animation)

I have been a fan of W&G for a long time and enjoying them for an entire feature was akin to visiting with supremely droll friends whom one never sees enough of. To sweeten the reunion, they brought along the sublimely silly Lady Tottington. They even uncovered a heretofore unseen sense of humor in Ralph Fiennes (who voices bunny-hunting Victor Quartermaine). W & G's last cinematic outing was in 1995. A plea to Nick Park: Please do not make us wait another whole decade for the next adventure.

Curious that I shoved two animated films into the top ten... especially considering how strong the runners up were. I blame this partially on my own childlike delight at stop motion animation (it gets to me on some primal level) but mostly on release schedules. I know I'm too susceptible to that but it's just the way I am. I am better at loving things I'm familiar with than brand new things I've just met. And I had JUST gotten a glimpse of Match Point and I remember that I had an awful awful time processing The New World and what was going on with Oscar qualifications that year. Like Nick recently mentioned, I wasn't even sure which version of the Malick movie I was watching. And I don't know that it even still exists. I'm nervous about what this says about me but I actually felt physically angry at the idea that a movie I saw in the theater was not the same movie that my friends saw in the theater which was maybe not even the same movie that critics were writing about for their readers who would never be able to see that one. In some ways I'm still angry. It makes no sense to be this bonkers about it but I even feel like there should be laws against that ever happening again.

08 Good Night, and Good Luck.
Seasonal truth: As surely as leaves fall in autumn, "prestige" dramas arrive in movie theaters. They are generally set in the past, always aim to be 'classy', wish to delight year-end awards voters with gorgeous production values, and plan to be good for you, too. Rarely however are do they deliver on all four counts. This recreation of the 1950s media war between journalist Edward R Murrow (played by the mesmerizing David Strathairn) and Communist hunting Senator Joseph McCarthy (playing himself in archival footage) gratefully hits all of its mark. It's a prestige bullseye for writer, director, star, and emerging activist hero George Clooney.

I have had no desire whatsoever to rewatch this. Does that mean I overvalued it or is one enjoyable viewing of anything reason enough to love a movie?

07 Kings & Queen
Ever since seeing Arnaud Depleschin's wondrously mutating film Rois et Reine about a single mother named Nola (the superb Emmanuelle Devos) and the four men (father, son, ex-lover, and fiancé) in her life I've been desperately trying to pin it down. Exactly what is it?

Whatever it is --melodrama, comedy, existential quandry-- it's as gripping as any fine novel. And to extend the comparison further, it seems just as rich and information packed. Like Nola herself, Kings and Queen is a mysterious and possessive creature: Ultimately unknowable but unwilling to let you withdraw from its world.

06 Brødre
I first saw this Danish drama @ TIFF in 2004 where it became one of my two favorites of the festival. A year later Brothers was released in the states to critical acclaim but made not much of a ripple at the arthouse box office, making it one of the many lost foreign pleasures of the year.

Hollywood may soon be utilizing director Susanne Bier. It's easy to see why. This drama about a young family turned upside down by the news that the husband has been killed in Afghanistan is emotionally potent without ever once feeling forced, despite story elements that would be either pedestrian or overplayed in lesser hands. There's nary a false note struck from the entire ensemble including Hollywood actress Connie Nielsen (making her first film in her homeland) who has never looked better or been more sympathetic onscreen.

Oops. Hollywood didn't take my warning about a story that would feel "pedestrian or overplayed in lesser hands". They went and proved my point just two weeks ago.

05 Me and You and Everyone We Know
Quirky. Edgy. Precocious. Artsy. Odd. These are all adjectives that truthfully describe Miranda July's debut film. Unfortunately all of these carry a whiff of negative connotation. Any of them alone can feel like mere attitudinal posing if a film has nothing to say. Thankfully Me and You and Everyone We Know, with its endearing cast of childlike adults and children playing at adult games has plenty to say about life and connections in this digital age. So quirky yes, but blissfully so. Me and You transcends any adjective you'd like to bestow on it.

One of Miranda July's funniest affectations in her performance/digital art is her tendency to use pre-recorded crowd cheering to punctuate her lines or do her own repetitous call/response with a lowered voice creating her own sycophant lover. I didn't need the prompting to express my adulation. In a year filled with promising debut filmmakers hers was the most endearing new voice.

This movie feels a bit like a lost oddball relic now. Not that it's aged poorly... just that it was always such an idiosyncratic unfashionable feeling thing that it stills feels a bit like an installation rather than a movie that came out. I hope she makes another film soon.

04 Caché
The last time I saw a Michael Haneke picture the title was The Piano Teacher. I was completely terrified, revolted, and stunned. Though nothing in Caché (also known as Hidden) reaches the peak of Isabelle's Huppert's performance accomplishment in the earlier film, I much prefer the newer film, which offers me the same visceral mix of reactions, albeit in different quantities. Perhaps in 2002 I just wasn't ready for the way Michael Haneke mercilessly dissects human weakness.

This mind-bender (and politically-minded story) about a rich French couple and the stalker-like videotapes that begin arriving at their door is masterfully told and rewards attentive viewing. The Austrian auteur uses no musical scoring, no quick editing, and no cheap Hollywood "gotcha!" scare tactics but still manages to thoroughly unnerve the audience. And unlike most tales meant to terrify, Caché also gives the intellect a workout. Michael Haneke may be the most gifted frightener since Alfred Hitchcock.

03 Pride & Prejudice
Confession: Prior to seeing this romantic romp from debuting director Joe Wright I had not read the Jane Austen novel nor seen the BBC miniseries which many consider definitive. I have since begun to fill in those gaps. For those angered at the films many liberties taken (300 plus page novels can't make it to film without cuts --sorry) I say pshaw! What matters is the spirit of the thing. And spirit the new Pride & Prejudice has in spades.

Austen's writing is full of memorable characters, delicious staccato banter and wit and breakneck pace. In this impressively cinematic transformation, the nimble cinematography, beautifully dexterous setpieces, and highly enjoyable performances have all been beautifully choreographed together to ape the high spirits of Austen's eternal charmer. For pure movie-movie fun and swoon-worthy romance, this film is tough to beat.

I am not at all embarrassed by my love for this film, but I do think I overstated the case with the bronze medal. I'd move Caché up a spot for sure.

02 A History of Violence
David Cronenberg, the legendary Canadian director, is a shining beacon to all fringe dwelling filmmakers with a taste for mainstream exposure. You can make an accessible film without losing any of your maverick qualities or subversive spirit. Cronenberg hardly sold out upon taking the reins of this graphic novel adaptation. His signature offputting bits, like his taste for body-horror are still present, just less visible. In one of the film's many masterfully pivoting scenes, Edie Stall (Maria Bello) suddenly vomits upon learning a disturbing truth about her husband. This isn't the in-your-face gynecological terror of Dead Ringers (another Cronenberg masterpiece) but damned if it's not psychologically connected to Mrs. Stall's genitals

...Violence is one of those rare movies that expands and contracts with the audiences expectations. For film fanatics wishing to get lost in the celluloid, it's as deep as you want it to be. For the more casual moviegoer it's a shocking thriller. Either way it's a superbly crafted piece of cinema.

01 Brokeback Mountain
When I read the famous short story upon which this instant classic is based it haunted me for weeks. In very few pages with precise and spare prose, Annie Proulx gave me a portrait of two lives and broke my heart in the process. The film version has that same lean spirit but miraculously never missteps in expanding her original story. This portrait has fresh details and a stunning humanism. Ang Lee paints the secondary characters, wives, mothers, employers, fathers nearly as vividly. In the process the confident auteur has deepened the tragedy of the original story. Brokeback Mountain is no longer just a small but perfect romantic tragedy. It's now an improbably behemoth portrait of tragedy spilling out all over; this is the price of love rejected and forbidden --both for all those who find it and all those who deny its place in society.

Brokeback, which felt like an instant classic at the time, has never disappointed on repeat visits. If anything its familiarity works for it. Like Jack and Ennis, this love deepens. Will it haunt for a whole lifetime?


How does 2005 hold up for you? Which were your favorites at the time and which have snuck up on you as enduring loves?
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Julianne Moore, Bird Woman

For no particular reason whatsoever, a Julianne Moore post!

Julianne may have just been snubbed by her fellow actors for a SAG nomination but the exotic animals still love her. As does her bank account.

Julianne Moore and cockatoo

Seems like she's always hawking some product. Remember Revlon and the Coach bags? Next up: Bulgari. She's worked for them before but a new campaign "eccentric charisma" is on the way. I can't even begin to summarize the press release but I must quote...

Julianne Moore's extraordinary combination of Pre-Raphaelite splendor, sharp intelligence and contemporary charisma was captured for the occasion by photographers Mert Alas & Marcus Piggot, who chose a setting with an Oriental flavor. Opulent and richly colored as an exotic boudoir, furnished with sumptuous pillows, plush brocades, purple satin and peacock feathers, this is the frame that transforms Ms. Moore's unique beauty into a contemporary odalisque - mysterious, luminous and sophisticated. The utterly unexpected presence of exotic animals underscore her irresistible eccentricity and a temperament that defies all preconceptions.

That's what called "laying it on thick" yes? So so many adjectives. But she deserves them all.
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Halfway House: Sell it to the Highest Bidder

Halfway through the day freeze a movie halfway through. What do we see?

I haven't done a bang up job keeping track of Olivier Assayas career. Quelle dommage. I had loved two of three films of his that I'd seen. Clean, about the misadventures of a recovering addict rock star (Maggie Cheung) did little for me but the diamond hard Demonlover and the layered Irma Vep (also with Cheung) both thrilled me. After numerous reader pleas, and the not so minor matter of those NYFCC and LAFCA foreign film prizes, I finally got around to L'heure d'été / Summer Hours (2009). It's three for four now.

51 minutes into Summer Hours, pragmatism triumphs over sentiment.

Halfway through this rich film, the three heirs to a family fortune decide to sell all of their newly departed mother's estate. It's largely composed of furniture, art and real estate. Their decision may make absolute real-life sense but -- Metaphor Alert! -- they're basically selling their childhood, their memories, and possibly France itself because they just can't be bothered with it... they're busy, OK!? Adrienne (the typically excellent Juliette Binoche) and Jérémie (Jérémie Renier) both live and work abroad and are very much citizens of The (Global) Corporation rather than of France.

At times I worried that the screenplay was a little too on-the-nose about all of this larger meaning but as the film unspools, Assayas's direct candor about his actual subject matter becomes refreshing. As The Boyfriend said to me afterwards "Wow. How many films do you ever see about Cultural Patrimony?"

Not many.

This centerpiece scene ends with the camera tracking the wife of the eldest sibling who leaves the room to find her husband Frédèric (Charles Berling), who quietly excused himself earlier. She finds this eldest and most sentimental family son sitting in their dark bedroom, alone. We already know he's heartbroken: his memories, mother, and siblings are drifting ever further away. But Assayas's cooly intelligent and ineffably sad movie never allows itself to drown in simple sentiment.

Frédèric's Wife: Are you crying?
Frédèric: Don't be ridiculous

Fade out. *