who would you cast in a film about an aging man who pathetically still tries to nail everything in a skirt no matter the relation to himself or loved ones? c'mon, can't be too difficult.
michael douglas playing this role was a little ( lotta ) too on point."solitary man" is a natural progression after his infamous sex trilogy- "fatal attraction", "disclosure", and "basic instinct". it's the epilogue as it were. there is even one scene in which he bangs a girl up against a wall ala he and jeanne tripplehorn in "basic instinct", although there is no sex in an elevator or on office equipment.
what those 3 earlier films had going for them is young hot people in believable hook ups. what this films has is a high squirm factor- in capital letters SQUIRM- and i hate captial letters!! my brain was screaming SQUIRM and at one point i actually said "no!" out loud in the theater- me who shushes noisy chewers!!
danny devito plays a college buddy who's still willing to take him in when he's out on the streets and my favorite performance was mary louse-parker as the rich society maven who exacts her pound of flesh when she's crossed. writer and co director brian koppelman neatly gives this characterless character an event to excuse his behavior so that sappy exwife susan sarandon takes him back- but life just aint that sweet and ass holes this big just don't land so softly after crapping on so many people for so many years.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
please give ( or counting my blessings)
i enjoy opportunities on tv or movies to recognize streets or shops i've visited on trips to manhattan, blessedly this gave me something to do while watching writer/director nicole holofener's slice of life film, "please give".
catherine keener, oliver platt, amanda peet, drag along catherine's younger sister elizabeth, rebecca hall and ann morgan guilbert (formerly millie helper on the dick van dyke show and yetta rosenberg on the nanny) on this long, slow death march towards pointless. along with sight seeing, i spent a lot of time wondering if rebecca hall is related to scarlett johanson- the resemblence was distracting- blessing number two.
this is a film ( i can't call it a story ) that follows a group of people who interact because an old lady(guilbert) who's attended to by two grand daughters (hall and peet) living next to a couple(older keener and platt) with a daughter (keener the younger) is on death's door. when the grandmother dies the couple will knock out the adjoining wall of the two apartments to enlarge their own. this death watch fits right in with the couples chosen profession- selling vintage furniture bought from the heirs of the newly deceased. these ghouls live and breathe death, so it's no surprise when the wife starts showing symptoms of deep, deep depression. the surprise would have been if she was ever anything else but.
the third blessing of this morbid movie was the discovery that ann morgan guilbert ( i like her) is still alive and kicking which is ironic as hers is the only character who actually dies. this film begs the questions- who green lighted this turkey? was is really the best project vying for funding? i have to believe it wasn't and that there is some twisted reason i blessedly will never know why people put so much effort into something so unworthy.
catherine keener, oliver platt, amanda peet, drag along catherine's younger sister elizabeth, rebecca hall and ann morgan guilbert (formerly millie helper on the dick van dyke show and yetta rosenberg on the nanny) on this long, slow death march towards pointless. along with sight seeing, i spent a lot of time wondering if rebecca hall is related to scarlett johanson- the resemblence was distracting- blessing number two.
this is a film ( i can't call it a story ) that follows a group of people who interact because an old lady(guilbert) who's attended to by two grand daughters (hall and peet) living next to a couple(older keener and platt) with a daughter (keener the younger) is on death's door. when the grandmother dies the couple will knock out the adjoining wall of the two apartments to enlarge their own. this death watch fits right in with the couples chosen profession- selling vintage furniture bought from the heirs of the newly deceased. these ghouls live and breathe death, so it's no surprise when the wife starts showing symptoms of deep, deep depression. the surprise would have been if she was ever anything else but.
the third blessing of this morbid movie was the discovery that ann morgan guilbert ( i like her) is still alive and kicking which is ironic as hers is the only character who actually dies. this film begs the questions- who green lighted this turkey? was is really the best project vying for funding? i have to believe it wasn't and that there is some twisted reason i blessedly will never know why people put so much effort into something so unworthy.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
sex and the city 2
sex and the city 2 is writer/director michael patrick king's attempts to show the ever after the princess marries her mr. big. her marriage and charlotte's new baby have both reached the terrible twos and each women struggles with how to keep the "sparkle" in their relationship.
based on candace bushnell's 'now have a life of their own' fictional characters, these women are four faces of eve (or eve-ry woman)-the good girl, charlotte, the bad girl, samantha, the career girl, miranda and carrie, the little girl who doesn’t want to grow up. the modern day pippi longstockings who lives in a mansion that has an attic filled with pirate gold. she has no parents, makes up her own rules, wears tiaras, and never has to grow old. she's the girl i always wanted to be- pippi, carrie not so much. carrie at heart is a self sabotaging drama queen in a tutu.
and speaking of queens and tutu's, a lot of the film's laughs are sight gags of over the top, bigger than a libarace wet dream, gay gliches running willy nilly. but back to the women...
these are four very self involved, selfish people. well, two are wives and mothers and two are much freer souls, so they balance each other out, because four women running amok wouldn't be as interesting. we need to see the flipside. but miranda and charlotte do allow themselves their me time when persuaded by their unencumbered counter parts. and this is probably why this show appeals to all women. because out of all the outrageous clothing, jewelry, shoes, handbags, men and locations- the most decadent extravagance of them all is their selfishness. women rarely get to live selfish, me first lives. look at your friends, sisters, mothers, and yourselves- selfless to an exhausting fault most of them.
so, these ambassadors of american womanhood take their carrie nation tent show to the least woman centric area in the world- the middle east. amongst un here to before seen luxury, they encounter and conflict with the locals. i have little patience with people who refuse to behave respectfully of another’s culture, especially while they are physically in it, so one storyline became tiresome at times. besides that, some carrie drama that would have been prevented if she’d learned her lesson the first time she made that same mistake, charlotte’s nanny and miranda’s office issues, there is very little story here. there is some women's lib posturing which comes off as anachronistic instead of enlightening. and it all happens far outside 'the city'- in a land where apparently it’s against the law to have sex. but there is plenty of the pretty to look at and luckily for the franchise, i’m easily distracted by shiny objects, yes even after 2.5 hours!
as for the men in this women first world, as my friend leslie pointed out, michael patrick king is setting the bar too high with mr big- a gorgeous rich clever man who only wants to cuddle with his wife in bed while watching black and white romantic comedies and then when she miss steps he punishes her with jewels. on top of that he’s appreciative, listens, and takes responsibility for his part in her episodes. all the men in sex and the city's world are idealized. they all consider themselves lucky to be with these strong, special, selfish women. the men may falter, they are only men after all, but they realize their mistakes and beg to come back into the orbit of these super star women. this has to be another big part of the universal appeal to women of this series, another rare extravagance- appreciative and grateful men.
overall, i liked this movie better than sex and the city 1, more pretty, less annoying drama.
based on candace bushnell's 'now have a life of their own' fictional characters, these women are four faces of eve (or eve-ry woman)-the good girl, charlotte, the bad girl, samantha, the career girl, miranda and carrie, the little girl who doesn’t want to grow up. the modern day pippi longstockings who lives in a mansion that has an attic filled with pirate gold. she has no parents, makes up her own rules, wears tiaras, and never has to grow old. she's the girl i always wanted to be- pippi, carrie not so much. carrie at heart is a self sabotaging drama queen in a tutu.
and speaking of queens and tutu's, a lot of the film's laughs are sight gags of over the top, bigger than a libarace wet dream, gay gliches running willy nilly. but back to the women...
these are four very self involved, selfish people. well, two are wives and mothers and two are much freer souls, so they balance each other out, because four women running amok wouldn't be as interesting. we need to see the flipside. but miranda and charlotte do allow themselves their me time when persuaded by their unencumbered counter parts. and this is probably why this show appeals to all women. because out of all the outrageous clothing, jewelry, shoes, handbags, men and locations- the most decadent extravagance of them all is their selfishness. women rarely get to live selfish, me first lives. look at your friends, sisters, mothers, and yourselves- selfless to an exhausting fault most of them.
so, these ambassadors of american womanhood take their carrie nation tent show to the least woman centric area in the world- the middle east. amongst un here to before seen luxury, they encounter and conflict with the locals. i have little patience with people who refuse to behave respectfully of another’s culture, especially while they are physically in it, so one storyline became tiresome at times. besides that, some carrie drama that would have been prevented if she’d learned her lesson the first time she made that same mistake, charlotte’s nanny and miranda’s office issues, there is very little story here. there is some women's lib posturing which comes off as anachronistic instead of enlightening. and it all happens far outside 'the city'- in a land where apparently it’s against the law to have sex. but there is plenty of the pretty to look at and luckily for the franchise, i’m easily distracted by shiny objects, yes even after 2.5 hours!
as for the men in this women first world, as my friend leslie pointed out, michael patrick king is setting the bar too high with mr big- a gorgeous rich clever man who only wants to cuddle with his wife in bed while watching black and white romantic comedies and then when she miss steps he punishes her with jewels. on top of that he’s appreciative, listens, and takes responsibility for his part in her episodes. all the men in sex and the city's world are idealized. they all consider themselves lucky to be with these strong, special, selfish women. the men may falter, they are only men after all, but they realize their mistakes and beg to come back into the orbit of these super star women. this has to be another big part of the universal appeal to women of this series, another rare extravagance- appreciative and grateful men.
overall, i liked this movie better than sex and the city 1, more pretty, less annoying drama.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
the secret in their eyes
if you are going to only one foreign film about the solving of a decades old murder of a young girl, skip the swedish and go argentinian. "the secret in their eyes" is the 2010 academy award winner for best foreign film. and that's all we knew about it when we went. my friend thought it had something to do with peron because it is partially set in the 70's. while that is historically correct, juan jose campanella, writer and director, brought to the screen a multi-layered story based on eduardo sacheri's novel of human relationships real and or imagined between co-workers and friends, lovers and victims, criminals and judges, god's law and man's laws.
this was unexpectedly funny, smart, neatly executed and a pleasure to watch. ricardo darin was very sympathetic as a detective who is called to crime scene, the murder of a young newlywed, which will change the path of many lives. the cast is excellent, everyone works together very well and very believably. i'm not going to tell you any more of the plot, you should discover it just as i did. this film is now my number 1 favorite film of 2009.
i still like "the girl with the dragon tattoo", but it's impossible not to compare the two because of the basic plot. "the secret in their eyes" has so much more going on that is by far the superior of the two.
animal abuse warning: a little dog is kicked - the actual kick is off camera but the dog rolls across the screen as it yelps. it was meant to be funny, and people did laugh i'm never amused by hurting animals.
this was unexpectedly funny, smart, neatly executed and a pleasure to watch. ricardo darin was very sympathetic as a detective who is called to crime scene, the murder of a young newlywed, which will change the path of many lives. the cast is excellent, everyone works together very well and very believably. i'm not going to tell you any more of the plot, you should discover it just as i did. this film is now my number 1 favorite film of 2009.
i still like "the girl with the dragon tattoo", but it's impossible not to compare the two because of the basic plot. "the secret in their eyes" has so much more going on that is by far the superior of the two.
animal abuse warning: a little dog is kicked - the actual kick is off camera but the dog rolls across the screen as it yelps. it was meant to be funny, and people did laugh i'm never amused by hurting animals.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
the girl with the dragon tattoo
a friend of mine read the book, "the girl with the dragon tattoo" and told me we had to see the movie. he is currently waiting for the second in the "millennium trilogy" and now i want to start reading it was well.
swedish writing meteor stieg larsson, wrote 3 books about a young tiny hacker girl who can handle herself. they are world wide best sellers. he died in 2004 before the third was published in 2007. american producer scott rudin just signed a deal for a 2012 hollywood version. rudin was hampered by the fact that larsson died without a will and his live in girlfriend who has no rights to his posessions, was hoarding larsson's laptop. meanwhile, the swede's were able to produce "Män som hatar kvinnor" and honestly no one needs to do it again. it's been done.
lisbeth salander is a punk hacker who befriends a convicted journalist and the two go after a 40 year old murder mystery. but there is so much more. the film is subtitled and i found the swedish language a little taxing at first but soon felt the rythym of it and forgot i was reading the film all together. now that's the mark of a good film! part of why this movie works is that we have never seen these actors before. lisbeth, played by noomi rapace, comes to us as a complete mystery with no preconceived notions as we have not experienced her in any other story. when i first saw the leading man i thought, gee movie stars aren't very pretty in sweden, mikal nyqvist is chubby with bad skin, but soon i realized that he is perfect for the role as the character shone through. and that's pretty much what it's supposed to be like.
see this movie in the swedish version. i am afraid hollywood will water it down just as they did "la femme nikita" by giving us the white bread "point of no return". and the two actresses rumored to be up for the role of lisbeth, kristen stewart ("twilight" and "the runaways") and ellan paige ("juno") are both very good, come to us with too much history. i just can't see them doing what lisbeth has to do. nor do i really want to.
swedish writing meteor stieg larsson, wrote 3 books about a young tiny hacker girl who can handle herself. they are world wide best sellers. he died in 2004 before the third was published in 2007. american producer scott rudin just signed a deal for a 2012 hollywood version. rudin was hampered by the fact that larsson died without a will and his live in girlfriend who has no rights to his posessions, was hoarding larsson's laptop. meanwhile, the swede's were able to produce "Män som hatar kvinnor" and honestly no one needs to do it again. it's been done.
lisbeth salander is a punk hacker who befriends a convicted journalist and the two go after a 40 year old murder mystery. but there is so much more. the film is subtitled and i found the swedish language a little taxing at first but soon felt the rythym of it and forgot i was reading the film all together. now that's the mark of a good film! part of why this movie works is that we have never seen these actors before. lisbeth, played by noomi rapace, comes to us as a complete mystery with no preconceived notions as we have not experienced her in any other story. when i first saw the leading man i thought, gee movie stars aren't very pretty in sweden, mikal nyqvist is chubby with bad skin, but soon i realized that he is perfect for the role as the character shone through. and that's pretty much what it's supposed to be like.
see this movie in the swedish version. i am afraid hollywood will water it down just as they did "la femme nikita" by giving us the white bread "point of no return". and the two actresses rumored to be up for the role of lisbeth, kristen stewart ("twilight" and "the runaways") and ellan paige ("juno") are both very good, come to us with too much history. i just can't see them doing what lisbeth has to do. nor do i really want to.
the ghost writer
roman polanski, thanks to movie magic, filmed a movie that takes place mostly on martha's vineyard while banished from american soil- gotta love second units!!
"the ghost writer" is a beautiful film, suspenseful murder mystery and political thriller. ewan macgregor is hired to replace a recently deceased by mysterious "accidental" means ghost writer working with a former english prime minister on his memoirs. pearce brosnan plays the thinly vieled tony blair character who's living in the borrowed martha's vineyard home of an mega-giant american contractor "friend." olivia williams is again great ("an education") as his long suffering wife suspicous of her husband's affair with his robotically efficient yet sexy personal assistance, kim cattrall. the cast is full of familiar faces from a bald blustering jim belushi as ewan's publisher, to the underused timothy hutton, tom wilkerson as the bad guy or is he?, and did anyone know he was still alive eli wallach.
this is the second movie in two weeks i saw that shined a spotlight on bush's administration. brosnan's character is brought up on charges by an international tribunal for possible war crimes for handing over political prisoners to the cia for torture- in short for being the president's beck and call boy. pretty much the same as blair is currently being investigated for being in bush's back pocket. the immediacy of this issue drives the mystery of this story. god fobid this hired writer should just write! no, he has to find out what happened to the first ghost and he ends up running around telling everything to anyone who'll listen so that the audience is just as confused as he is. and a confused audience is just what you want in order to sustain a good suspense movie.
i am a polanski fan- always have been. this movie proves that he still has the juice of his earlier days, "rosemary's baby" and "chinatown". but i even like his most recent, " the 9th gate" although it ends rather abruptly as though they just walked away from it one day. even then it's better than most pablum presented these days. i'm not going to discuss his crimes, just his art. i'll leave the first to the courts and the second to me. if you miss this movie in the theaters, rent it.
"the ghost writer" is a beautiful film, suspenseful murder mystery and political thriller. ewan macgregor is hired to replace a recently deceased by mysterious "accidental" means ghost writer working with a former english prime minister on his memoirs. pearce brosnan plays the thinly vieled tony blair character who's living in the borrowed martha's vineyard home of an mega-giant american contractor "friend." olivia williams is again great ("an education") as his long suffering wife suspicous of her husband's affair with his robotically efficient yet sexy personal assistance, kim cattrall. the cast is full of familiar faces from a bald blustering jim belushi as ewan's publisher, to the underused timothy hutton, tom wilkerson as the bad guy or is he?, and did anyone know he was still alive eli wallach.
this is the second movie in two weeks i saw that shined a spotlight on bush's administration. brosnan's character is brought up on charges by an international tribunal for possible war crimes for handing over political prisoners to the cia for torture- in short for being the president's beck and call boy. pretty much the same as blair is currently being investigated for being in bush's back pocket. the immediacy of this issue drives the mystery of this story. god fobid this hired writer should just write! no, he has to find out what happened to the first ghost and he ends up running around telling everything to anyone who'll listen so that the audience is just as confused as he is. and a confused audience is just what you want in order to sustain a good suspense movie.
i am a polanski fan- always have been. this movie proves that he still has the juice of his earlier days, "rosemary's baby" and "chinatown". but i even like his most recent, " the 9th gate" although it ends rather abruptly as though they just walked away from it one day. even then it's better than most pablum presented these days. i'm not going to discuss his crimes, just his art. i'll leave the first to the courts and the second to me. if you miss this movie in the theaters, rent it.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
the green zone
matt damon continues to prove he deserved his "sexiest man alive" title in "the green zone". he convincingly plays an army chief warrant officer charged with hunting and finding wmd in 2007 iraq. "the green zone" is an action thriller war film written by brian helgeland and directed by paul greengrass. the film is "credited as having been 'inspired' by" the non-fiction 2006 book "imperial life in the emerald city" by journalist rajiv chandrasekaran, which documented life in the green zone, baghdad. the green zone being the common name for the international zone of iraq— a 10-square-kilometer (3.8-square-mile) area in central baghdad, iraq, that was the center of the coalition provisional authority and remains the center of the international presence in the city.
this is a story about fictional people portraying a real occurrence in which real people searched for fictional weapons. matt does a great job as the disillusioned leader of wmd hunting squad, who cares more about the truth than his orders. he bucks the system, snakily played by greg kinnear, and teams up with cia operator brendon gleason (yes the cia is the good guy in this story) to find out who made deals with whom in order to get the u.s. into iraq. right wingers will say this movie is yet another example of liberal hollywood spinning it's conspiracy agenda. people who think for themselves will call it a history lesson.
kinnear and damon play off each other very well. at one point after watching damon throw kinnear around, i thought, next movie kinnear needs to add a line in his contract that'll allow him to throw damon around. but then my friend reminded me that the last time we saw these two on the screen together, they were literally glued to one another in "stuck on you" in which they played siamese twins! no wonder they have this great rhythm!
all though i am a peacenik, i love to see all the big toys our military has to play with. i love the big guns, helicopters, rockets, tanks- the works! and yes i am very glad if anyone has to have them that it is us!! i just wish they never used them...
also, my friend and i loved the scarf damon wore- very yasser arafat printed. i always felt guilty admiring arafat's scarf because he was the bad guy. but now that damon in the personage of this american maverick (a real maverick mr. mccain) wears one, that it is ok for me to openly like it! and maybe even buy one.
anyway, back to the movie: tight, suspenseful, and entertaining. if you miss it in the theaters, rent it.
this is a story about fictional people portraying a real occurrence in which real people searched for fictional weapons. matt does a great job as the disillusioned leader of wmd hunting squad, who cares more about the truth than his orders. he bucks the system, snakily played by greg kinnear, and teams up with cia operator brendon gleason (yes the cia is the good guy in this story) to find out who made deals with whom in order to get the u.s. into iraq. right wingers will say this movie is yet another example of liberal hollywood spinning it's conspiracy agenda. people who think for themselves will call it a history lesson.
kinnear and damon play off each other very well. at one point after watching damon throw kinnear around, i thought, next movie kinnear needs to add a line in his contract that'll allow him to throw damon around. but then my friend reminded me that the last time we saw these two on the screen together, they were literally glued to one another in "stuck on you" in which they played siamese twins! no wonder they have this great rhythm!
all though i am a peacenik, i love to see all the big toys our military has to play with. i love the big guns, helicopters, rockets, tanks- the works! and yes i am very glad if anyone has to have them that it is us!! i just wish they never used them...
also, my friend and i loved the scarf damon wore- very yasser arafat printed. i always felt guilty admiring arafat's scarf because he was the bad guy. but now that damon in the personage of this american maverick (a real maverick mr. mccain) wears one, that it is ok for me to openly like it! and maybe even buy one.
anyway, back to the movie: tight, suspenseful, and entertaining. if you miss it in the theaters, rent it.
avatar 3d
"avatar" is a wonderful ride, very entertaining and a great way to get across an important message- we are one with the earth and the universe. "avatar" is the story of a military man who goes native and helps his new family nation win against his old, evil empire. it is "dances with wolves"- if you liked that story then you'll like james cameron's version. cameron took jim harrison's story and updated it with all the bells and whistles necessary to keep the attention of this attention deficient next generation.
and what could be wrong with that?
and what could be wrong with that?
Friday, February 12, 2010
a single man
simple, clean, elegant. tom ford, formerly the creative mind behind gucci, brings "a single man" to the screen. ford wrote the screenplay based on the novel by christopher isherwood, who's becoming my favorite new obsession. born in england in 1804, friend of auden, woolf , a collaborator with swami prabhavananda on a version of the bhagavad-gita, writer of the screenplay "rage in heaven" starring ingrid bergman, george sanders and robert montgomery and whose short stories about his life in berlin became the musical "cabaret", isherwood was a buddhist leaning gay activist who considered himself to be "a serious comic writer." so "a single man" has many of my favorite things: beautiful clothes, homes and gay men, set in 1961. throw in colin firth (woo-hoo mr. darcy as a gay man!) along with tom ford, the most gorgeous man to pick up a sewing needle, and you have a movie that oprah called "delicious".
"a single man" in the cinematic verson of a buddhist koan, only once death is accepted can one truly live. but don't worry, it's not preachy, it's subtle. the whole story is subtle despite the main character, colin firth living for 16 years in a committed relationship with another man in suburban pasadena literally in a glass house. what's wild to me is that these 2 men live together in 1961 in southern california, while in wyoming 2 cowboys have to fake fishing trips in order to spend stolen moments together for fear of being caught and dragged by their appendages until dead in a ditch or beaten to death with a tire iron (see brokeback mountain).
colin firth gives his best performance to date, probably of his career. any other year, firth would be winning all the awards instead of just being nominated, but jeff bridges is the sentimental pick this season. julianne moore is great as firth's life long friend. i hope that ford finds other storys about which he's just as passionate to bring to the screen. i have heard he's starting his own clothing line which will no doubt be great, but we need him in the medium of film where less is definitely more.
"a single man" in the cinematic verson of a buddhist koan, only once death is accepted can one truly live. but don't worry, it's not preachy, it's subtle. the whole story is subtle despite the main character, colin firth living for 16 years in a committed relationship with another man in suburban pasadena literally in a glass house. what's wild to me is that these 2 men live together in 1961 in southern california, while in wyoming 2 cowboys have to fake fishing trips in order to spend stolen moments together for fear of being caught and dragged by their appendages until dead in a ditch or beaten to death with a tire iron (see brokeback mountain).
colin firth gives his best performance to date, probably of his career. any other year, firth would be winning all the awards instead of just being nominated, but jeff bridges is the sentimental pick this season. julianne moore is great as firth's life long friend. i hope that ford finds other storys about which he's just as passionate to bring to the screen. i have heard he's starting his own clothing line which will no doubt be great, but we need him in the medium of film where less is definitely more.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
2010 golden globes
the golden globes are one of my favorite award shows. everyone eats, drinks, kibbitzes and has fun. it was at the golden globes that brad pitt after winning for "13 monkeys" thanked the hollywood foreign press for "this maalox moment". another year after winning for best supporting actor, ving rhames, insisted that co nominee jack lemmon deserved the award, made him come on stage with him and take his statue. and jack did it! all hijinx no one would dream of doing at the oscars. this is the warm up act, the rules don't apply.
this has been a particularly weak year. i am at least looking forward to an award season in which no one is a sure winner. we may just hear more than one name for each category called over and over and over to the podium. that would be a nice change.
my picks are:
best movie drama: the hurt locker
best movie comedy/musical: 500 days of summer
best director: kathryn bigelow for the hurt locker
best screenplay original: mark boal for the hurt locker
best screenplay adapted: nick hornby for an education
best actor drama: jeff bridges in crazy heart
best actor comedy/musical: joseph gordan -levitt in 500 days of summer
best actress drama: carey mulligan in an education
best actress comedy/musical: meryl streep in julie/julia
best supporting actor: christoph waltz in inglourious basterds
best supporting actress: anna kendrick in up in the air
best song: cinema italiano from nine
best documentary: my favorite wasn't nominated - it might get loud.
golden globes are on sunday, january 17, at 5, on nbc.
this has been a particularly weak year. i am at least looking forward to an award season in which no one is a sure winner. we may just hear more than one name for each category called over and over and over to the podium. that would be a nice change.
my picks are:
best movie drama: the hurt locker
best movie comedy/musical: 500 days of summer
best director: kathryn bigelow for the hurt locker
best screenplay original: mark boal for the hurt locker
best screenplay adapted: nick hornby for an education
best actor drama: jeff bridges in crazy heart
best actor comedy/musical: joseph gordan -levitt in 500 days of summer
best actress drama: carey mulligan in an education
best actress comedy/musical: meryl streep in julie/julia
best supporting actor: christoph waltz in inglourious basterds
best supporting actress: anna kendrick in up in the air
best song: cinema italiano from nine
best documentary: my favorite wasn't nominated - it might get loud.
golden globes are on sunday, january 17, at 5, on nbc.
young victoria
hollywood royalty (martin scorcese) and actual royalty (sarah fergeson) have come together to produce a film about the longest reigning royal in english history- victoria. this story starts when she is very young and ends when she is a little less young. i wish they re assemble everyone from this movie and make "middle aged victoria", and "elderly victoria" and maybe even "dead victoria". i'd watch them.
the rule for quite a while in oscar world has been: play an english queen and win a nomination and or an oscar- helen mirren played and won for elizabeth II, judy dench for elizabeth I and cate blanchett was nominated (and was robbed) for a younger elizabeth I. emily blount as victoria is beautiful (difficult in the bizarre hair and dress fashions of the early 1800's) and gives a lovely performance, but she should be happy with a nomination. it's not her fault, the script isn't very meaty despite all the dramatic opportunities in her early reign. there really isn't that much for her to do that oscar likes to reward. the performance with which i was most taken was rupert friend who plays vicoria's much beloved husband, alpert of germany.(she built a huge gold statue of him as just one of her tributes to him) rupert was earnest, elegant and also lovely. he reminded me of a young omar shariff in "the mayerling" or louis jordan in "the swan" with his very chiseled features and gracious, believably royal demeanor. paul bettany, miranda richardson, and mark strong, give good supporting performances as the evil self promoting adults who are meant to protect and guide victoria in her earliest days. mark strong needs to stop playing villians, he's good yes, but i have only seen him play bad guys- "sherlock holmes", "rocknrolla", "miss pettingrew lives for a day" and "stardust". jim broadbent gets to have the most fun playing the spoiled, over privileged king william. just for grins, princess beatrice, 5th in line for the english throne, had a non-speaking role as an extra at the wedding of her great-great-great-great grandmother victoria. it helps having mommy as a producer.
the sets are beautiful- it was filmed in kensington palace where victoria acutally lived ( i've been there), windsor castle, blenheim palace, arundel castle and belvoir castle.(it helped having a duchess on the payroll) the jewels and costumes are gorgeous. there is not a lot to not like. but, the editing while sometimes is very fun, can be clumsy. also, the movie seems to just stop. it gets running at a good pace and then drops you off a cliff. the end it's over. which was disappointing because i could have watched much more of it.
the rule for quite a while in oscar world has been: play an english queen and win a nomination and or an oscar- helen mirren played and won for elizabeth II, judy dench for elizabeth I and cate blanchett was nominated (and was robbed) for a younger elizabeth I. emily blount as victoria is beautiful (difficult in the bizarre hair and dress fashions of the early 1800's) and gives a lovely performance, but she should be happy with a nomination. it's not her fault, the script isn't very meaty despite all the dramatic opportunities in her early reign. there really isn't that much for her to do that oscar likes to reward. the performance with which i was most taken was rupert friend who plays vicoria's much beloved husband, alpert of germany.(she built a huge gold statue of him as just one of her tributes to him) rupert was earnest, elegant and also lovely. he reminded me of a young omar shariff in "the mayerling" or louis jordan in "the swan" with his very chiseled features and gracious, believably royal demeanor. paul bettany, miranda richardson, and mark strong, give good supporting performances as the evil self promoting adults who are meant to protect and guide victoria in her earliest days. mark strong needs to stop playing villians, he's good yes, but i have only seen him play bad guys- "sherlock holmes", "rocknrolla", "miss pettingrew lives for a day" and "stardust". jim broadbent gets to have the most fun playing the spoiled, over privileged king william. just for grins, princess beatrice, 5th in line for the english throne, had a non-speaking role as an extra at the wedding of her great-great-great-great grandmother victoria. it helps having mommy as a producer.
the sets are beautiful- it was filmed in kensington palace where victoria acutally lived ( i've been there), windsor castle, blenheim palace, arundel castle and belvoir castle.(it helped having a duchess on the payroll) the jewels and costumes are gorgeous. there is not a lot to not like. but, the editing while sometimes is very fun, can be clumsy. also, the movie seems to just stop. it gets running at a good pace and then drops you off a cliff. the end it's over. which was disappointing because i could have watched much more of it.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
crazy heart
jeff bridges performance is the reason "crazy heart" is getting a lot of oscar attention. it should get your attention too as it is a good little film. it's sweet, funny, entertaining, and manages to make country and western music listenable- is that a word?
bridges plays a washed up, drunkard, country and western singer who hits the skids playing bowling alleys in towns like clovis, new mexico. we learned that bridges is musical from "the fabulous baker boys". we learned he can play an alcoholic in "the morning after". we learned that he is a phenomenal actor in "starman"(he was robbed of an oscar). so we knew he could play this role. he does it so effortlessly you don't even see him doing it. he just morphs into kris kristofferson right before your eyes and you can't even see the wires. bridges gives the best performance i've seen this year. it's so good you don't really realize it until after the film is over. it's a non performance.
maggie gylenhaal keeps up with bridges nicely as his possible love connection- the girl who always makes the wrong choices or she wouldn't be with him. a big surprise for me was when colin ferrell walked onto the screen. how come nobody mentioned that little bonus? and he sings!! ferrell plays a one time student to bridges character "bad blake", who surpasses and leaves him behind in the dust as he becomes c&w's new "it" boy. robert duval shows up as blake's friend and sometime employer. he also reminds us that this movie is easier to watch than his own "tender mercies"- duval's 1983 counterpart.
based on the novel by thomas cobb, scott cooper only wanted two things in order to do this movie- jeff bridges and t bone burnett. thankfully for us he got both. burnett wrote the music that was good enough for me to think about buying the soundtrack which is saying a lot given how much i detest c&w music. i won't buy it, but i did consider it. cooper and cobb deliver a believable story about people and turning points. it's never too late too turn your life around and hopefully for bridges, it's never too late to finally win an oscar.
bridges plays a washed up, drunkard, country and western singer who hits the skids playing bowling alleys in towns like clovis, new mexico. we learned that bridges is musical from "the fabulous baker boys". we learned he can play an alcoholic in "the morning after". we learned that he is a phenomenal actor in "starman"(he was robbed of an oscar). so we knew he could play this role. he does it so effortlessly you don't even see him doing it. he just morphs into kris kristofferson right before your eyes and you can't even see the wires. bridges gives the best performance i've seen this year. it's so good you don't really realize it until after the film is over. it's a non performance.
maggie gylenhaal keeps up with bridges nicely as his possible love connection- the girl who always makes the wrong choices or she wouldn't be with him. a big surprise for me was when colin ferrell walked onto the screen. how come nobody mentioned that little bonus? and he sings!! ferrell plays a one time student to bridges character "bad blake", who surpasses and leaves him behind in the dust as he becomes c&w's new "it" boy. robert duval shows up as blake's friend and sometime employer. he also reminds us that this movie is easier to watch than his own "tender mercies"- duval's 1983 counterpart.
based on the novel by thomas cobb, scott cooper only wanted two things in order to do this movie- jeff bridges and t bone burnett. thankfully for us he got both. burnett wrote the music that was good enough for me to think about buying the soundtrack which is saying a lot given how much i detest c&w music. i won't buy it, but i did consider it. cooper and cobb deliver a believable story about people and turning points. it's never too late too turn your life around and hopefully for bridges, it's never too late to finally win an oscar.
did you hear about the morgans?
in many ways i enjoyed did you hear about the morgans? more than it's competition, "it's complicated". mostly becuase morgans delivered. "comlicated" did not- see earlier review. granted "morgans" has less to offer but it doesn't drop the ball once. "it's complicated" had so much potential yet the sky was raining basketballs.
hugh grant and sarah jessica parker (for ease i call her serica) are two new yorkers who go into the witness protection program and are sent to live with sam elliot and mary steenburgen in wyoming. we've seen this plot line twice lately in "the proposal" with sandra bullock and "new in town" with renee zellweger as two displaced big city people who are very angry and don't adjust to life outside manhatten. most of those movies are about teaching them humility and life in the real world. in "morgans", hugh and serica handle their situation with grace, respect, and humor- which is new. sam and mary play a married couple in love with each other and their chosen lifestyle without being cartoonish (see betty white in "the proposal" or better yet don't).
the script is simple and tight. there's not only the main plot line, but a secondary story line, as well as intersecting stories. these people actually interact and effect one another! i swear hugh grant has his own scriptwriter who follows him from film to film because he can always be counted on for wry humorous quips. serica does a good job as the wounded wife- very understated. there's an appearance by wilford brimley, (love him) that just worries me- he looks bloated, uncomfortable and orange.
due to all the oscar worthy movies thrown at us at the end of the year, "morgans" should be closer to the bottom of you movie going list. but definitely put it on your rental list. it's a romantic comedy that's worth watching and that is sadly so rare.
hugh grant and sarah jessica parker (for ease i call her serica) are two new yorkers who go into the witness protection program and are sent to live with sam elliot and mary steenburgen in wyoming. we've seen this plot line twice lately in "the proposal" with sandra bullock and "new in town" with renee zellweger as two displaced big city people who are very angry and don't adjust to life outside manhatten. most of those movies are about teaching them humility and life in the real world. in "morgans", hugh and serica handle their situation with grace, respect, and humor- which is new. sam and mary play a married couple in love with each other and their chosen lifestyle without being cartoonish (see betty white in "the proposal" or better yet don't).
the script is simple and tight. there's not only the main plot line, but a secondary story line, as well as intersecting stories. these people actually interact and effect one another! i swear hugh grant has his own scriptwriter who follows him from film to film because he can always be counted on for wry humorous quips. serica does a good job as the wounded wife- very understated. there's an appearance by wilford brimley, (love him) that just worries me- he looks bloated, uncomfortable and orange.
due to all the oscar worthy movies thrown at us at the end of the year, "morgans" should be closer to the bottom of you movie going list. but definitely put it on your rental list. it's a romantic comedy that's worth watching and that is sadly so rare.
invictus
shortly after nelson madela took office as president of south africa, after serving 27 years as a political prisoner, he hit upon the idea of using the national rugby team, the springboks, as a rallying point for the unifying the blacks and whites of his country. rugby had been considered a white sport and soccer a black sport. the springboks had been playing so badly that they were voted out of existence by the sports council under nelson's new administration which was seen as a victory over there recent oppressors until mandela personally stepped in a prevented it by preaching forgiveness and the pitfalls of petty revenges. the guards at his prison had all been devotees of rugby and the springboks so mandela had taught himself everything about the sport in order to better understand his enemy.
nine
as a movie, nine, makes a great stage play. which is what is was and what it should have stayed...except then we would have missed out on the wonderful performances presented by this talented cast. so, go to this musical but expect a parade of videos and you will leave happy. and may even buy the soundtrack.
"nine" started out in 1982 as a tony award winning best broadway musical version of fellini's autobiographical 81/2 starring raul julia (love and miss him) as guido contini/fellini, a celebrated director as the voice of his era who has come down with laryngitis- he's run out of ideas- but still expected to produce the next masterpiece. as contini is hounded by producers and the press for a nonexistent screenplay he is imminently scheduled to shoot, the women of his life present him with his life in song and dance numbers. a story that was also done in 1979 in bob fosse's also autobiographical "all that jazz". in the 2003 revival of "nine" on broadway, guido was played by antonio banderas who won a tony as did the revival. the casting of daniel day-lewis was risky as he is not known for singing and dancing, but he is above all else a consummate actor and he acts the part of a singer of dancer just fine- a singer and dancer is the middle of a breakdown. in my research i did not find any production of this play in which guido contini was played by an italian- julia is puerto rican, jonathon pryce(love him)- english, banderas-spanish, john stamos-american and day-lewis- english. marcello mastroni is the only one in the original 8 1/2.
what director rob marshal is best known for is production numbers- see "chicago". and that's what really shines here. who knew penelope cruz could sing? and boy howdy does she! she plays carla, the mistress. jane krakowski of 30 rock won a tony for her portrayal of carla, but sorry jane i just can't see it after watching cruz- she is amazing. as are her costars, fergie, from the black-eyed peas, plays a prostitute who obviously can sing but she really legitimately belts out the anthem of this film, "be italian", while throwing sand around. marion cotillard, who sang her way to an oscar in the edith piaf bio-pic, plays the wife and nicole kidman who also previously earned her musical chops, in "moulon rouge", plays the actress/muse. and even a corseted judy dench as the costumer lip syncs (she couldn't possibly sing in that outfit) a tribute to the "folies begere" while sofia loren, as the mother, believably sings "guarda la luna", which is not in the original book,- better than i could!! but the best number in the film is kate hudson's. although we've never seen her sing and dance before, we're not surprised she's her mother's daughter as she kills "cinema italiano" a sixties mod dance number written especially for the film.
marshal is generally being pounced on by the critics and i think that is mostly because "nine" is not "chicago". well, it isn't. but, it is a very entertaining succession of awesome production numbers featuring incredibly talented people. and that' good enough for me.
"nine" started out in 1982 as a tony award winning best broadway musical version of fellini's autobiographical 81/2 starring raul julia (love and miss him) as guido contini/fellini, a celebrated director as the voice of his era who has come down with laryngitis- he's run out of ideas- but still expected to produce the next masterpiece. as contini is hounded by producers and the press for a nonexistent screenplay he is imminently scheduled to shoot, the women of his life present him with his life in song and dance numbers. a story that was also done in 1979 in bob fosse's also autobiographical "all that jazz". in the 2003 revival of "nine" on broadway, guido was played by antonio banderas who won a tony as did the revival. the casting of daniel day-lewis was risky as he is not known for singing and dancing, but he is above all else a consummate actor and he acts the part of a singer of dancer just fine- a singer and dancer is the middle of a breakdown. in my research i did not find any production of this play in which guido contini was played by an italian- julia is puerto rican, jonathon pryce(love him)- english, banderas-spanish, john stamos-american and day-lewis- english. marcello mastroni is the only one in the original 8 1/2.
what director rob marshal is best known for is production numbers- see "chicago". and that's what really shines here. who knew penelope cruz could sing? and boy howdy does she! she plays carla, the mistress. jane krakowski of 30 rock won a tony for her portrayal of carla, but sorry jane i just can't see it after watching cruz- she is amazing. as are her costars, fergie, from the black-eyed peas, plays a prostitute who obviously can sing but she really legitimately belts out the anthem of this film, "be italian", while throwing sand around. marion cotillard, who sang her way to an oscar in the edith piaf bio-pic, plays the wife and nicole kidman who also previously earned her musical chops, in "moulon rouge", plays the actress/muse. and even a corseted judy dench as the costumer lip syncs (she couldn't possibly sing in that outfit) a tribute to the "folies begere" while sofia loren, as the mother, believably sings "guarda la luna", which is not in the original book,- better than i could!! but the best number in the film is kate hudson's. although we've never seen her sing and dance before, we're not surprised she's her mother's daughter as she kills "cinema italiano" a sixties mod dance number written especially for the film.
marshal is generally being pounced on by the critics and i think that is mostly because "nine" is not "chicago". well, it isn't. but, it is a very entertaining succession of awesome production numbers featuring incredibly talented people. and that' good enough for me.
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