Critics' Choice Awards nominees

Award show Thursday January 8 on VH-1.

BEST PICTURE
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
The Wrestler

BEST ACTOR
Clint Eastwood - Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS
Kate Beckinsale - Nothing But the Truth
Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Meryl Streep - Doubt

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey, Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
James Franco - Milk

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Vera Farmiga - Nothing But the Truth
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
Kate Winslet - The Reader

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Milk
Rachel Getting Married

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant - Milk

BEST WRITER (Original or Adapted Screenplay)
Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley - Doubt

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Wall-E
Waltz With Bashir

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS (Under 21)
Dakota Fanning - The Secret Life of Bees
David Kross - The Reader
Dev Petal - Slumdog Millionaire
Brandon Walters - Australia

BEST ACTION MOVIE
The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
Wanted

BEST COMEDY
Burn After Reading
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Role Models
Tropic Thunder
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
John Adams
Recount
Coco Chanel

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Christmas Tale
Gomorrah
I've Loved You So Long
Let the Right One In
Mongol
Waltz With Bashir

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
I.O.U.S.A.
Man On Wire
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Standard Operating Procedure
Young At Heart

BEST SONG
"Another Way to Die" - Jack White and Alicia Keys/Jack White - Quantum of
Solace
"Down to Earth" - Peter Gabriel/Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman - Wall-E
"I Thought I Lost You" - Miley Cyrus and John Travolta/Miley Cyrus and
Jeffrey Steele - Bolt
"Jaiho" - Sukhwinder Singh/A.R. Rahman and Gulzar - Slumdog Millionaire
"The Wrestler" - Bruce Springsteen/Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler

BEST COMPOSER
Alexandre Desplat - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Clint Eastwood - Changeling
Danny Elfman - Milk
Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard - The Dark Knight
A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)

This multi-award-winning (including the Oscar for best documentary) feature is a great companion piece to this year's Milk. Made only 6 years after Milk's assassination, it goes beyond the day of the murders to Dan White's trial, and features interviews with some of the people in Milk's life, as well as reporters who covered him. The muted trumpet in the soundtrack is Mark Isham, who went on to be one of my favorite composers. Now he has 111 credits to date, including the moody music to Trouble in Mind (1985), The Moderns (1988), Short Cuts (1993), and The Cooler (2003). The Castro movie theatre is featured in much of the documentary footage. I was sorry to hear today that Milk is no longer playing there. One would think they could do good business with it.

Frost/Nixon (2008)

We saw Stacy Keach playing Frank Langella's Tony-Award-winning Richard Nixon in the Broadway Across America traveling production of the play earlier this year. It was pretty good, and I didn't really expect to love the movie. But I did. The cast is amazing: Langella (I loved him in Starting Out in the Evening (2007)), Oliver Platt (who is mesmerizing in almost everything he does--some of my faves are the now cancelled Huff from Showtime; one of my food movies, Pieces of April (2003); and the lead in Funny Bones (1995), which also features some wonderful arrangements of Duke Ellington music), Sam Rockwell (Choke (2008), Matchstick Men (2003), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), and many more), and Michael Sheen (Tony Blair in Peter Morgan's Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning screenplay The Queen (2006)) as David Frost. I am a big fan of Morgan's script for The Last King of Scotland (2006), and now he has written both this screenplay and the stage play which preceded it (he seems to have a thing about world leaders). Toby Jones' transformation into Swifty Lazar, like his metamorphosis into Truman Capote in the other Capote movie Infamous (2006), is a show-stopper (for me, anyway). For those who play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, Kevin's in it, too.

Chop Shop (2007) released 2008

This movie has 3 Independent Spirit Award nominations: for the director Ramin Bahrani, who wrote the script and also won last year's Independent Spirit Someone to Watch Award; for the director of photography Michael Simmonds; and for the star, young Alejandro Polanco. The DVD included a trailer for Bahrani's Man Push Cart (2005), which looked good. Chop Shop is about a 12 year old orphan in Queens NY with a strong work ethic: he's smart, he never stops working, and he always counts his money. The cinematography nomination was well deserved: Jack & I commented to each other what a good job he did day and night, with long lens shots, rainstorms, puddles, elevated trains, and Shea Stadium. It does have a slow pace: after about a half hour I turned to Jack and said, "When is something going to happen?" Right around then, something did. Yet we were pulled in to the life of this boy and those around him. Polanco is in just about every scene, and carries the movie effortlessly. He is another one to watch. Without a traditional three-act plot, without flashbacks, we observe a few weeks in the life of a society that I knew little about. I was grateful for the DVD-supplied English captions, which covered the occasional Spanish words as well, because sometimes the mix left the dialogue too quiet for me to hear. Though it's about a 12 year old, it probably is appropriate for older, mature teens and above, due to sexual situations and language.

Cadillac Records (2008)

Donnie said, when I told him I had saved it for Amy, "Ugh, the reviews have been awful." We liked it, Donnie! And she, Jack, and I were glad we saw it on Christmas day. However, it was not what I expected. I thought it was a Beyoncé movie but she didn't appear until an hour had passed of the 1:49 running time.

Cedric the Entertainer, playing Willie Dixon, narrated this picture that followed the friendship and partnership of Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody, Oscar winner for The Pianist (2002), pivotal in Summer of Sam (1999), and, a favorite of mine, Liberty Heights (1999), playing a Jewish boy named Van--all 4 of these, coincidentally, are period pieces) and Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright, who was wonderful as Basquiat (1996) and as Colin Powell in W. (2008) with many other roles in between), and the rise of Chicago's Chess Records from "race records" to "cross-over." Wright, Brody, and Ms. Knowles as Etta James all turned in powerful performances, as did Columbus Short (he played the maligned bespectacled writer on the late great NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) as gold-toothed blues harp phenom Little Walter, Eamonn Walker (he was in HBO's Oz, which I didn't watch, and Duma (2005), which I loved) as Howlin' Wolf, and Gabrielle Union as Waters' wife Geneva. Mos Def played Chuck Berry and Emmanuelle Chriqui (Sloan on HBO's Entourage) was Mrs. Chess (we couldn't decide if she was also the blonde he was dating in the first scene. If you see it after reading this, let me know).

Apparently the historical accuracy is arguable, according to those that post on imdb, but we still had a great time with the music, the cigarettes, and, oh, the cars. Afterwards I told Amy I had a credit on Amazon and asked if I should get the soundtrack of new musicians covering the oldies as played on screen. She wants the oldies. They are goodies.

Doubt (2008)

Wow. This is powerful. Amy Adams, Viola Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Meryl Streep are all current and potential nominees for their work in this adaptation of John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer prize winning play, adapted for the screen and directed by the playwright himself. Shanley, whose only other directing credit was for the uneven but absolutely wonderful Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), won the Oscar for writing the original screenplay for Moonstruck (1988). I had an acquaintance in LA whose claim to infame, for a while, was that he was the reader who had passed on (i.e. turned down) Shanley's Moonstruck script for Tri-Star Pictures. Anyway, Doubt is dark, taking place in a 1964 Catholic school in the Bronx, about a popular priest (Hoffman), who is suspected by two nuns, one the tyrannical principal (Streep) and the other a sweet teacher (Adams), of having more than an innocent friendship with the school's first black student, whose mother is played by Davis. I did not see the play, but in the movie, the weather adds a cinematic effect, frequently setting the tone. Just see it. Big screen is not essential, but the wind and rain (and one other thing) will do more for you in the cinema than in your living room. Read this interesting tidbit (the fifth item on imdb's trivia page) after you have seen it.

babetteflix on netflix

I changed my nickname on netflix today to babetteflix. If anyone is interested in looking at my ratings by number of stars, I have rated over 2000 movies in the 6 years I've been a member. Be aware that my ratings are whimsical and generous (lots of 5 star ratings). But I'm happy to be anyone's friend on netflix. It's anonymous. If you already have my email address, please tell me me your netflix screen name so I will know who YOU are.

critics' picks: NY & LA

Various critics from the New York Times weigh in (registration may be necessary to link).

Kenneth Turan's picks for the Los Angeles Times.

Turn the River (2007) released 2008

This good little movie about a woman pool hustler named Kailey (say KY-lee) has been nominated for an Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award for Best Feature Under $500,000 (this year). They used their money wisely. There was only original music, so they didn't have to pay for rights. They shot inside and out in New York (with permits) but kept the camera close, and there were no camera cars (used only for transporting cameras and equipment). Star Famke Janssen did her own driving -- including in Manhattan! Actor Chris Eigeman (from TV's Malcolm in the Middle; TV's It's Like, You Know, which was apparently enjoyed only by me; and Whit Stillman's Metropolitan (1990), Barcelona (1994), and Last Days of Disco (1998); among others) made his directorial debut with this script which he wrote specifically for Janssen, after they met co-starring on the independent movie The Treatment (2006). He has a cameo, blink and you'll miss it, as Mike Simms, one of the pool players in the beginning. I don't usually listen to the director's commentary (though I tend to like it when I do) and learned a few things, such as Janssen's name is pronounced FOM-ka (she's Dutch), and she really does pick all the bits out of her soup when she eats. She was brilliant as a highly conflicted character in the FX series Nip/Tuck a season or two ago, and I also liked her in Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998), Love & Sex (2000), and this year's The Wackness. Actors who played her opponents, John Juback and professional pool player Tony Robles, were the technical advisors. They must've been good, because there were no doubles used -- she did ALL of her own shots in the pool scenes, which were filmed in the first 6 days. Do watch the DVD extra called "Final Shot;" it's short. Rip Torn, whose resume as actor has 179 entries on imdb (some of my favorites: One Trick Pony (1980) with Paul Simon, HBO's Larry Sanders Show, Wonder Boys (2000), and both Men in Black (2000 and 2002) movies) went against type as kindly pool hall owner Mr. Quinnette. Matt Ross, who plays Alby in HBO's Big Love, was Kailey's ex-husband, playing it a lot like petulant and suspicious Alby, and young Jaymie Dornan (Bettie's little brother in The Notorious Bettie Page in 2005) was great as their son Gulley; he was 13 when they shot this one. Terry Kinney (whom I know best for TV's thirtysomething, because I didn't watch HBO's Oz, although he was in lots of other things) had a small but pivotal role. And, for certain of my readers, Richard Burst-Lazarus was a production assistant on this movie.

The River is what they call the last card revealed in a poker game; the one with the most fate, according to the director.

Role Models (2008)

A bit of profane fluff with lots of music references (after you see the movie, check out this post by another blogger. To do so before would spoil it). Jon had asked me for a suggestion a few weeks ago -- something to see that wouldn't be bloody nor depressing. This was something we planned to see and he reported it was a couple of entertaining hours. Jack & I agree. We laughed every couple of minutes. Paul Rudd is good at petulant (and so many other things, e.g. The Shape of Things (2003) and Knocked Up (2007)), and Jane Lynch is great at playing cheerful-with-a-shady-past, as she did in A Mighty Wind (2003) and For Your Consideration (2006). Christopher Mintz-Plasse, as Augie Farks (which name is worse? Poor kid) is still doing McLovin from Superbad (2007), and 12 year old Bobb'e J. Thompson has great comic timing as the foul-mouthed other kid. Yeah, it's predictable, but fun.

London Film Critics Circle and Screen Actors' Guild nominations

Slumdog Millionaire got six more nominations today, and Hunger, Happy-Go-Lucky, and Frost/Nixon got five each from the Brits. SAG gave Doubt five, Milk four, and two for Kate Winslet. Coming up, the updated awards/nominations list, sorted by movie.

download movie scripts!

I just happened on this website, RopeOfSilicon, which offers links from which to download pdf files of potential Oscar nominated or winning scripts. Could be fun! Also good for folks like me, with less than optimal hearing, who saw the movies in a theatre and may have missed lines here or there.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Before I saw it, I thought this would be easy to write. It was supposed to be a feel-good crowd pleaser about Jamal (Dev Patel), a kid from the slums of Mumbai, who played the Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire to get a girl. The good news: he survived his awful life. The bad news: there was some ugly stuff. The movie was very, very good, but not always easy to take. And, even though much of it showed Jamal and his brother as children (those actors are wonderful, too), and they had some good times, this is definitely not for kids. The ending was great, including the final credit sequence, and director Danny Boyle is piling up awards and nominations. The screenwriter Simon Beaufoy based his script on a novel with a clever premise (Q & A by Vikas Swarup) and Boyle came on because he loved Beaufoy's The Full Monty (1997). Irrfan Khan, who was so good in The Namesake (2006), played the Police Inspector and was the only actor I had ever seen before. Nonetheless, it's easy to write that you should definitely see this.

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007) released 2008

Using imdb.com as my primary reference for this blog I see more and more inconsistencies in the year attributed to a movie and its release. Possibly that's because I no longer live in one of the 10 biggest cities in the country, but it is also probably due to the vagaries of film distribution in general. This one was released in our second tier metro area yesterday and I enjoyed it at 5:15 in the campus-area theatre with one other (anonymous) viewer. It's a quiet, slow movie, like a New Yorker short story. Actor Henry O, as the Chinese Mr. Shi, stands like the letter S, with his hunched back, sunken chest, and trousers pulled up over his belly like Martin Short's Ed Grimley. The resemblance (to the manic character from SCTV and Saturday Night Live) ends there. Mr. Shi is thoughtful and a quick study, taking notes in his little book, as he tries to get along in his daughter's adopted Spokane. I like director Wayne Wang's previous work: Smoke (1995) with Harvey Keitel as part of a great ensemble; Chinese Box (1997) with Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, and Maggie Cheung; even Last Holiday (2006), a predictable chick flick with Queen Latifah. I never saw The Joy Luck Club (1993) all the way through, but always liked the bits I saw while channel surfing, especially the part where the Anglo man unknowingly insults his mother-in-law at the feast. There's lots of food in this as well (much of it going to waste). Co-star Feihong Yu as daughter Yilan was in Joy Luck Club, and gives a thoughtful performance here as well. This is an American film, but most of it is in Mandarin with English subtitles, and some of it is in Mandarin and Persian with none (Mr. Shi befriends an Iranian immigrant and they have conversations, speaking in their own languages and translating what they can). Wang's cinematographer on 4 of his 18 films (not this one) was the Iranian-born Amir Mokri, my film school colleague, of whom I think whenever I see the word Slumdog (I'll be seeing that movie tomorrow). Amir used to refer to himself and his fellow cinematography students as "schlepdogs." Anyway, this is slow; it may be too slow, depending on your mood. I checked my watch when the pivotal scene occurred, it was about an hour into the 83 minute film! Not too slow for me, though. It inspired pleasant memories of my dear departed Warren, who was also smart, helpful, friendly, and a quick study.

Nobel Son (2007) released 2008

This is worth seeing if only for Alan Rickman's (all the Harry Potter movies, Sweeney Todd (2007), Sense and Sensibility (1995), and, the movie that started him off, Truly Madly Deeply (1990), though it was not his first) deliciously detestable Professor Eli Michaelson. I didn't realize when I saw it that director/co-writer Randall Miller and his co-writer Jody Savin had the same jobs on the delightful Bottle Shock (2008), also featuring Rickman and Bill Pullman. This one is playing now, despite its 2007 completion year. The son, Barkley, is played by Bryan Greenberg (Prime (2005)), the creepy guy is Shawn Hatosy (whom I will always remember as the poor prep school kid in Outside Providence (1999) but who was also creepy in Alpha Dog (2006)), and the luscious ladies are the talented Mary Steenburgen (dozens of credits, my favorites being Life as a House (2001) and What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)) and Eliza Dushku (she was in Bottle Shock, too, but to me she'll always be the gymnast-turned-cheerleader in the tween hit Bring It On (2000)--sorry, I never saw a frame of Buffy), one of whom is sane, one not. This is hard to follow, not exactly chronological. I went with 2 friends to a matinee at the mall theatre yesterday, and, since we were by ourselves, we talked ("Huh? When is it now? Is it before? After?"). But it all works out rather nicely in the end. There is a gruesome bloody thing right in the beginning, so be prepared to look away if that's what you do (I put my hand up to cover the middle of the screen so I can see the edges and know when it's cutting away). But he cuts back to the gore way too many times. So to speak.

WALL-E (2008)

When I told Susanne in September I had started writing a blog about movies, she asked, "Have you seen Wall-E?" I told her I had not and she replied, "Well!" turning away dismissively. I finally watched it the other day on a netflix DVD. Frankly, I don't see what all the fuss is about, but animation isn't really my genre, although I did like The Incredibles (2004). 

Wall-E is about the titular little anthropomorphic trash compactor who lives on post-apocalyptic Earth. The apocalypse in this case was caused by so much garbage that all the humans were forced to flee. Wall-E spends his days making cubes out of the trash, looking at things that interest him, and bringing some of them to his lair to play with later. These include a videotape of Hello Dolly (1969), which opens the movie. Then he falls in love with an egg-shaped droid named Eve and follows her back to the mothership. 

Yeah, it's charming, but Best Picture of the Year? I'm getting a real attitude about this one. I liked very much the Apple computer jokes, e.g. when he reboots himself, he plays the musical chord that a Mac makes (FYI: that sound is called Sosumi, because when Apple Computer asked Apple Records years ago if they could use the same name, the latter said OK, as long as the former didn't get into the music business, and that's why they named that sound So Sue Me. Now, however, although Paul MacCartney is on board with Apple's iTunes, Ringo and John's and George's heirs, not so much). 

Wall-E's eyes do resemble the robot's from Short Circuit (1986), but the movie owes more to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), including a dangerous computer, long sequences with no dialogue, and a zero-gravity space ballet. I didn't hate it, and if I had a kid who would like this sort of thing (and would not be scared of the perils which our hero must endure), I wouldn't mind taking such kid to see it. Jeff Garlin and Fred Willard were fun. It could also start some educational discussions about trash, sedentary lifestyles, and deceptive appearances. But Best Picture? Really?

2008 Golden Globe Award nominees

Awards season continues. Much information on nominees can be found at the LA Times. This just in:

MOTION PICTURE CATEGORIES

BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"The Reader"
"Revolutionary Road"
"Slumdog Millionaire"

BEST MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY

"Burn After Reading"
"Happy-Go-Lucky"
"In Bruges"
"Mamma Mia!"
"Vicky Christina Barcelona"

FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE

"Baader Meinhof Complex"
"Everlasting Moments"
"Gomorrah"
"I've Loved You So Long"
"Waltz With Bashir"

BEST DIRECTOR

Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"
Stephen Daldry, "The Reader"
David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon"
Sam Mendes, "Revolutionary Road"

BEST DRAMATIC ACTOR

Leonardo DiCaprio, "Revolutionary Road"
Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn, "Milk"
Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"

BEST DRAMATIC ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie, "Changeling"
Meryl Streep, "Doubt"
Kristin Scott Thomas, "I've Loved You So Long"
Kate Winslet, "Revolutionary Road"

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Javier Bardem, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Colin Farrel, "In Bruges"
James Franco, "Pineapple Express"
Brendan Gleeson, "In Bruges"
Dustin Hoffman, "Last Chance Harvey"

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Rebecca Hall, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Frances McDormand, "Burn After Reading"
Meryl Streep, "Mamma Mia!"
Emma Thompson, "Last Chance Harvey"

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Cruise, "Tropic Thunder"
Robert Downey, Jr., "Tropic Thunder"
Ralph Fiennes, "The Duchess"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"
Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams, "Doubt"
Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Viola Davis, "Doubt"
Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler"
Kate Winslet, "The Reader"

ANIMATED FILM

"Bolt"
"Kung Fu Panda"
"Wall-E"

SCREENPLAY

Simon Beaufoy, "Slumdog Millionaire"
David Hare, "The Reader"
Peter Morgan, "Frost/Nixon"
Eric Roth, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
John Patrick Shanley, "Doubt"

ORIGINAL SCORE

Alexandre Desplat, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Clint Eastwood, "Changeling"
James Newton Howard, "Defiance"
Hans Zimmer, "Frost/Nixon"
A.R. Rahman, "Slumdog Millionaire"

SONG

"Down to Earth" (performed by Peter Gabriel, written by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman), "Wall-E"
"Gran Torino" (performed by Clint Eastwood), "Gran Torino"
"I Thought I Lost You" (performed Miley Cyrus and John Travolta, written by Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele), "Bolt"
"Once in a Lifetime," (performed by Beyonce), "Cadillac Records"
"The Wrestler" (performed by Bruce Springsteen, written by Bruce Springsteen), "The Wrestler"

TELEVISION CATEGORIES

DRAMATIC TV SERIES

"Dexter"
"House M.D."
"In Treatment"
"Mad Men"
"True Blood"

BEST ACTOR, TV DRAMA

Gabriel Byrne, "In Treatment"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Hugh Laurie, "House M.D."
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "The Tudors"

BEST ACTRESS, TV DRAMA

Sally Field, "Brothers & Sisters"
Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: SVU"
January Jones, "Mad Men"
Anna Paquin, "True Blood"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"

TV SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY

"Californication"
"Entourage"
"The Office"
"30 Rock"
"Weeds"

BEST ACTOR, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY

Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Steve Carell, "The Office"
Kevin Connolly, "Entourage"
David Duchovny, "Californication"
Tony Shalhoub, "Monk"

BEST ACTRESS, TV MUSICAL OR COMEDY

Christina Applegate, "Samantha Who?"
America Ferrera, "Ugly Betty"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Debra Messing, "The Starter Wife"
Mary-Louise Parker, "Weeds"

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

"Cranford"
"Bernard & Doris"
"John Adams"
"A Raisin in the Sun"
"Recount"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Judi Dench, "Cranford"
Laura Linney, "John Adams"
Catherine Keener, "An American Crime"
Shirley MacLaine, "Coco Chanel"
Susan Sarandon, "Bernard & Doris"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Ralph Fiennes, "Bernard and Doris"
Paul Giammatti, "John Adams"
Kevin Spacey, "Recount"
Keifer Sutherland, "24: Redemption"
Tom Wilkinson, "Recount"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Eileen Atkins, "Cranford"
Laura Dern, "Recount"
Melissa George, "In Treatment"
Rachel Griffiths, "Brothers & Sisters"
Dianne Wiest, "In Treatment"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
Denis Leary, "Recount"
Jeremy Piven, "Entourage"
Blair Underwood, "In Treatment"
Tom Wilkinson, "John Adams"

CECIL B. DEMILLE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Steven Spielberg

Milk (2008)

As expected, Milk delivers. If it's not in a theatre near you this week, just wait. I had seen the trailer a few dozen times and knew the movie was going to be powerful. No, I have not seen the documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)--maybe after Oscar season. One of the many things that impressed me about Milk was the body language. Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, and Diego Luna walked, moved their hands, and sat in chairs in character. Their voices were softer, their smiles winsome. Penn, who beautifully conveyed Milk's optimism and perseverance, has won a pile of awards, for acting in Mystic River (2003), 21 Grams (2003), I Am Sam (2001), Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and Dead Man Walking (1995), and for directing Into the Wild (2007), which starred Hirsch (Alpha Dog (2006), Lords of Dogtown (2005), and a favorite of mine, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)) in a great performance. Despite the distracting (and correct for 70s fashion) enormous eyeglasses, Hirsch was convincing as hustler-turned activist Cleve Jones. The very busy Josh Brolin (this year's W., last year's American Gangster, In the Valley of Elah, Grindhouse, and No Country for Old Men) was a scary Dan White, and James Franco keeps demonstrating more and more versatility from his stoner roots (Freaks & Geeks in 1999 to Pineapple Express (2008)) to teen heart throb (haven't seen 'em) to best friend turned nemesis in the Spiderman series to Milk's sweet boyfriend Scott Smith. I'm an Alison Pill fan (Dan in Real Life (2007), Pieces of April (2003), and especially 2006's brilliant-but-cancelled TV show The Book of Daniel) and wish she had had more to do as Anne Kronenberg, but there was a lot going on. The movie had just the right amount of documentary footage mixed into the portrayals, and faded the photos of the actors into those of the people they played at the end. From 1972-74 I was in my 20s living in the San Francisco Bay area, so it was fun seeing some of the sights of that time, including all those mops of curly hair. Interesting trivia: writer Dustin Lance Black grew up as a Mormon and was a writer on HBO's Big Love.

One of the main plot points was an anti-gay initiative, Proposition 6, in 1978. One cannot help but see the parallel to 2008's Prop 8, which unfortunately overturned gay marriage in California last month, and is now being appealed to the California Supreme Court. Would the vote on Prop 8 have come out differently if Milk had been released in October instead of December? Thursday on NPR, there was a story on All Things Considered about race, gay rights, and Prop 8. As I am white and straight, I can only channel Rodney King and wish that we would all just get along.

2008 Euro Film Awards

Read the Variety article here.

FILM
"Gomorrah," Matteo Garrone (Italy)

DIRECTOR
Matteo Garrone, "Gomorrah" (Italy)

ACTOR
Toni Servillo, "Gomorrah" (Italy), "Il Divo" (Italy-France)

ACTRESS
Kristin Scott Thomas, "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime" (I've Loved You So Long) (France-Germany)

SCREENWRITER
Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso, Roberto Saviano, "Gomorrah" (Italy)

CARLO DI PALMA CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD
Marco Onorato for "Gomorrah" (Italy)

PRIX D'EXCELLENCE
Magdalena Biedrzycka for costume design, "Katyn" (Poland)

COMPOSER
Max Richter for "Waltz With Bashir" (Israel-France-Germany)

DISCOVERY AWARD
"Hunger," Steve McQueen (U.K.)

FIPRESCI CRITICS' AWARD
Abdellatif Kechiche, "La Graine et le mullet" (The Secret of the Grain) (France)

PIX ARTE DOCUMENTARY
"Rene," Helena Trestikova (Czech Republic)

PRIX UIP SHORT FILM
"Frankie," Darren Thornton (Ireland)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Judi Dench

ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA
Soren Kragh-Jacobsen, Kristian Levring, Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," David Yates (U.S.-U.K.)

2008 National Board of Review winners

We're in Oscar season now, and these winners will affect if not predict Oscar nominations and winners. Some of these have not yet been released but you have probably seen trailers for them. I have started sorting the awards by movie and will post it soon.

The board, founded in 1909 in New York City, determines the awards by a vote of 125 plus members composed of academics, film experts and students in New York.

Film: Slumdog Millionaire
Director: David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Actor: Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, Milk
Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Foreign Language Film: Mongol
Documentary: Man On Wire
Animated Feature: Wall-E
Ensemble Cast: Doubt
Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Viola Davis, Doubt
Directorial Debut: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
Original Screenplay: Nick Schenk, Gran Torino
Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Spotlight Award: Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
The BVLGARI Award for NBR Freedom of Expression: Trumbo

Top Ten Films

Burn After Reading
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Frost/Nixon
Gran Torino
Milk
Wall-E
The Wrestler

Top Five Foreign Language Films

Edge Of Heaven
Let The Right One In
Roman de Gare]
A Secret
Waltz With Bashir

Top Five Documentary Films

American Teen
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Dear Zachary
Encounters At The End Of The World
Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired

William K. Everson Film History Award:
Molly Haskell And Andrew Sarris

2008 IFP Gotham Awards

home page

Now I don't have to immediately put these on my netflix list because here are my notes on the world wide web!

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
Winner: Sita Sings the Blues (director/producer Nina Paley)
Other nominees: Afterschool (Antonio Campos, director; Josh Mond, Sean Durkin, producers), Meadowlark (Taylor Greeson, producer/director), The New Year Parade (Tom Quinn, director; Steve Beal, Tom Quinn, producers), Wellness (Jake Mahaffy, director; Jake Mahaffy, Jeff Clark, producers).

Breakthrough Director
Winner: Lance Hammer (Ballast)
Other nominees: Antonio Campos (Afterschool), Dennis Dortch (A Good Day to Be Black & Sexy), Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy), Alex Rivera (Sleep Dealer)

Best Ensemble Cast
Winner: tie, Synecdoche, New York (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis, Tom Noonan) & Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz )
Other nominees: Ballast (Micheal J. Smith, Sr., JimMyron Ross, Tarra Riggs, Johnny McPhail), Rachel Getting Married (Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe, Mather Zickel, Anna Deavere Smith, Anisa George, Debra Winger), The Visitor (Richard Jenkins, Hiam Abbas, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira)

Breakthrough Actor
Winner: Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Other nominees: Pedro Castaneda (August Evening), Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married), Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Alejandro Polanco (Chop Shop), Micheal J. Smith, Sr. (Ballast)

Best Documentary
Winner: Trouble the Water (Tia Lessin & Carl Deal, producers/directors)
Other nominees: Chris & Don: A Love Story (Guido Santi & Tina Mascara, directors; Julia Scott, Tina Mascara, Guido Santi, James White, producers), Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog, director; Henry Kaiser, producer), Man on Wire (James Marsh, director; Simon Chinn, producer), Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (Marina Zenovich, director; Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Lila Yacoub, Marina Zenovich, producers)

Best Feature
Frozen River (Courtney Hunt, director; Heather Rae, Chip Hourihan, producers)
Other nominees: Ballast (Lance Hammer, director; Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh, producers), Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, director; Anthony Bregman, Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze, Sidney Kimmel, producers), The Visitor (Tom McCarthy, director; Mary Jane Skalski, Michael London, producers), The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky, director; Scott Franklin, Darren Aronofsky, producers)

Charlotte Sometimes (2002)

My netflix queue has 166 movies in it today. They love me because I pay my monthly bill and turn over maybe 4 per month. This one won the Audience award at the South by Southwest Film Festival and was nominated for 2 Independent Spirit Awards (for actress Jacqueline Kim and for the ensemble). Sometimes I take notes when I watch the awards show or read the nominees, sometimes I put movies in my queue on the laptop while I'm watching and then have to trust my reasons months later. This is a quiet little movie with good performances, moody music, some sex, and nice LA-area locations (Glendale and Los Feliz, I think). There's a scene where the 4 main characters are posing for a picture and one of them says, "Look Asian!" which is funny anyway, but also because the surnames of those cast members are Korean (Kim), Chinese (Eugenia Yuan), Japanese (Michael Idemoto), and Anglo (Matt Westmore). Writer/director Eric Byler is Chinese-American, and won the Special Jury Award at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival for the so-called sequel to this, Tre (2006) ("so-called" because there isn't one shared cast member). I have to admit that I didn't figure out who Charlotte was until 75 of the 85 minutes had passed. I wasn't giving it my full attention, I guess (now you will guess much faster than I did). I was also distracted by the Spanish subtitles. I had been trying to turn on closed captions, and selected "Spanish subtitles." On this DVD there is no turning back once you go Español. And there are no closed captions. When they are saying, "Come on," the translation is "Vamanos."

The Visitor (2007) released in 2008

This has so many indie nominations in 2008 I want to bring you up to speed. Richard Jenkins (the dead dad in HBO's Six Feet Under as well as many other understated and underappreciated roles--I particularly liked him as the cop, Josh Brolin's gay partner, in the fabulously funny Flirting With Disaster (1996)) finally got to star as a widowed college professor who has been invisible so long that having a real emotion is difficult. When he enters his long-unoccupied NYC apartment he finds a couple, who are Syrian and Senegalese respectively, squatting there. Jenkins carries the movie with the able help of his supporting cast and wonderful music: the score by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek plus music by others.

The Wackness (2008)

We saw this one day last summer when we were mostly caught up and we didn't expect much from it. But it was really good, starring Ben Kingsley (obviously Oscar winner for Gandhi (1982), and House of Sand and Fog (2003), Sexy Beast (2000), and HBO's Mrs. Harris (2005), among his best work) as a pot-smoking psychiatrist and Josh Peck (of Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh) as the teenage dealer he befriends. When Amy told me that the Nickelodeon actor had been chubby, it didn't surprise me, because the kid in this movie, who is slim, had the awkwardness of a fat kid about him, which served him well in the role (even without the roll). He resembles Rob Morrow (TV's Northern Exposure and Numb3rs) so much they should be cast as relatives. Also starring Olivia Thirlby (the friend in Juno (2007)) who has 8 releases (!) scheduled before the end of 2009, if imdb is to be believed.

2009 nominees for Independent Spirit Awards

The ceremony will be Saturday February 21, 2009 on IFC-TV (and repeated for a week or so after). I had watched about 1/3 of last year's telecast and was saving it for Jack when my DVR crashed and I lost the rest, but enjoyed the hilarious Rainn Wilson skits and unexpected singers. The shows are always good, and include lots of comedy.

Interesting that there is some overlap between these and the LA Times' list for potential Oscar contenders.

Best Feature
"Ballast" Producers: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh
"Frozen River" Producers: Chip Hourihan, Heather Rae
"Rachel Getting Married" Producers: Neda Armian, Jonathan Demme, Marc Platt
"Wendy and Lucy" Producers: Larry Fessenden, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani
"The Wrestler" Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin

Best Director
Ramin Bahrani, "Chop Shop"
Jonathan Demme, "Rachel Getting Married"
Lance Hammer, "Ballast"
Courtney Hunt, "Frozen River"
Thomas McCarthy, "The Visitor"

Best First Feature
"Afterschool" Director: Antonio Campos, Producers: Sean Durkin, Josh Mond
"Medicine for Melancholy" Director: Barry Jenkins, Producer: Justin Barber
"Sangre de Mi Sangre" Director: Christopher Zalla, Producers: Per Melita, Benjamin Odell
"Sleep Dealer" Director: Alex Rivera, Producer: Anthony Bregman
"Synecdoche, New York" Director: Charlie Kaufman, Producers: Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Sidney Kimmel

John Cassavetes Award (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)
"In Search of a Midnight Kiss" Writer/Director: Alex Holdridge, Producers: Seth Caplan and Scoot McNairy
"Prince of Broadway" Director: Sean Baker, Writers: Sean Baker, Darren Dean, Producer: Darren Dean
"The Signal" Writer/Directors: David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry, Producers: Jacob Gentry and Alexander Motiagh
"Take Out" Writer/Directors/Producers: Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou
"Turn the River" Writer/Director: Chris Eigeman, Producer: Ami Armstrong

Best First Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black, "Milk"
Lance Hammer, "Ballast"
Courtney Hunt, "Frozen River"
Jonathan Levine, "The Wackness"
Jenny Lumet, "Rachel Getting Married"

Best Screenplay
Woody Allen, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, "Sugar"
Charlie Kaufman, "Synecdoche, New York"
Howard A. Rodman, "Savage Grace"
Christopher Zalla, "Sangre de Mi Sangre"

Best Female Lead
Summer Bishil, "Towelhead"
Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"
Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"
Tarra Riggs, "Ballast"
Michelle Williams, "Wendy and Lucy"

Best Male Lead
Javier Bardem, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"
Sean Penn, "Milk"
Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"
Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"

Best Supporting Female
Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Rosemarie DeWitt, "Rachel Getting Married"
Rosie Perez, "The Take"
Misty Upham, "Frozen River"
Debra Winger, "Rachel Getting Married"

Best Supporting Male
James Franco, "Milk"
Anthony Mackie, "The Hurt Locker"
Charlie McDermott, "Frozen River"
JimMyron Ross, "Ballast"
Haaz Sleiman, "The Visitor"

Best Cinematography
Maryse Alberti, "The Wrestler"
Lol Crowley, "Ballast"
James Laxton, "Medicine for Melancholy"
Harris Savides, "Milk"
Michael Simmonds, "Chop Shop"

Best Documentary
"The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)" Director: Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
"Encounters at the End of the World" Director: Werner Herzog
"Man on Wire" Director: James Marsh
"The Order of Myths" Director: Margaret Brown
"Up the Yangtze" Director: Yang Chung

Best Foreign Film
"The Class" (France) Director: Laurent Cantet
"Gomorrah" (Italy) Director: Matteo Garrone
"Hunger" (UK/Ireland) Director: Steve McQueen
"Secret of the Grain" (France) Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
"Silent Light" (Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany) Director: Carlos Reygadas

Robert Altman Award (Given to one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast)
"Synecdoche, New York"
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams

Someone to Watch Award
Barry Jenkins, "Medicine for Melancholy"
Nina Paley, "Sita Sings the Blues"
Lynn Shelton, "My Effortless Brilliance"

Truer Than Fiction Award
Margaret Brown, "The Order of Myths"
Sacha Gervasi, "Anvil! The Story of Anvil"
Darius Marder, "Loot"

Producers Award
Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy, "Treeless Mountain" and "I'll Come Running"
Jason Orans, "Goodbye Solo" and "Year of the Fish"
Heather Rae, "Frozen River" and "Ibid"

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

I have been editing and thinking about the post for this for 11 days and tonight I had the bright idea of deleting it and reposting my draft with today's date but I forgot to copy the text first. Argh. So here goes, a fresh start (maybe with a little less of my usual OCD detail). Many critics have called Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut a masterpiece, but they have all said they didn't quite get it and need to see it again. I liked it a lot, but will probably wait for the DVD for re-viewing. Kaufman bent time and reality as the screenwriter of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Adaptation (2002), and Being John Malkovich (1999), as well as entertaining (me, at least) with the Chuck Barris story Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002). This movie begins in Schenectedy (which rhymes with synecdoche--sin-ECK-doe-kee, Skin-ECK-ta-dee--see my post on Changeling for a definition), where depressed Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Oscar winner for Capote (2005)) is directing a stage production of Death of a Salesman. He has a mean wife Adele (Catherine Keener, who was nominated for Capote (2005)) and a cute daughter Olive (Sadie Goldstein, the brat in Little Children (2006)). They move to New York City, where most of the movie takes place, and Caden begins directing a play-that-never-ends about himself, where scenes play out after they have occurred in his life, featuring doppelgangers of the characters.

Sounds simple, right? Wrong. Time is not linear and some details do not make sense. For example, there's a house that is always on fire but never burns down (Jack says that "The woods are burning" is an oft-repeated line from Death of a Salesman). Wonderful actresses dominate the movie: Keener, Goldstein, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Hope Davis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Watson, and Dianne Wiest. Hoffman's performance reminds me of the desperate character he played in the twisted Todd Solondz movie Happiness (1998) and the whole doppelganger conceit owes something to Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry (1997). Somebody on Wikipedia thinks he/she has the whole thing figured out (and has published lots of spoilers). There are plenty of laughs in this, but mostly from schadenfreude.

Australia (2008)

One can't write about this without using the word "sweeping." The cinematography (air, land, and water) is gorgeous, with an emphasis on "magic hour," that time before sunset when everything looks orange/pink. It's a romantic epic, a cowboy picture, a fairy tale, a World War II movie, a story about living with racial prejudice. It has a witch doctor who stands on one foot, boys singing, dusty campsites, elaborate costumes, and Nicole Kidman strutting with her shoulders pumping to and fro. Although at times the score was heavy handed (ominous or joyful, just in case we missed it from the plot), we weren't bothered, but amused. Perhaps it was a bit corny, but the magical boy Nullah was a great relief to me the day after seeing The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Don't drink anything before or during this movie--it's 2 hours and 45 minutes long. Director/co-writer/producer Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge (2001) had much the same look (and only 6 special effects companies instead of Australia's 11).

2008 British Independent Film Award winners

Earlier tonight, these were the winners (links are to the BIFA site):

•Best British Independent Film

Slumdog Millionaire

•Best Director of a British Independent Film

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

•The Douglas Hickox Award

Steve McQueen for Hunger

•Best Screenplay

Martin McDonagh for In Bruges

•Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film

Vera Farmiga for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

•Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film

Michael Fassbender for Hunger

•Best Supporting Actress

Alexis Zegerman for Happy-Go-Lucky

•Best Supporting Actor

Eddie Marsan for Happy-Go-Lucky

•Most Promising Newcomer

Dev Patel

for Slumdog Millionaire

•Best Achievement In Production

The Escapist

•The Raindance Award

Zebra Crossings

•Best Technical Achievement

Sean Bobbitt for Hunger

•Best British Documentary

Man on Wire

•Best British Short Film

Soft

•Best Foreign Independent Film

Waltz with Bashir

•The Richard Harris Award

David Thewlis

•The Variety Award

Michael Sheen

•The Special Jury Prize

Joe Dunton

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

The trailer is charming, about an adorable 8 year old German boy (Asa Butterfield) who happened to find someone his own age on the other side of a barbed wire fence which enclosed a concentration camp in World War II. It's a holocaust movie that got sadder and sadder and has been haunting me for days. I haven't read the book (fiction by Irishman John Boyne, who spelled it "pyjamas," as did the publishers and film distributors across the pond) but did some research on it. The family moved from Berlin to "Out-With" (Auschwitz) on orders of the father's boss, "The Fury," (the Führer). Both David Thewlis (Remus Lupin in the once and future Harry Potter movies) as the father and Vera Farmiga (The Departed (2006)) as the mother won British Independent Film Awards earlier tonight. Rupert Friend, who played the handsome Lieutenant Kotler, was also the generous young man in Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005). Definitely worth seeing but do something afterwards that will bring your spirits back up.

Quantum of Solace (2008)

You like 007? I think you'll like this movie (Judy, you will!). Daniel Craig in his second turn as James Bond is chased but not chaste in this Action-with-a-capital-A picture. Pursuit by car opens the movie (followed by the credit sequence over animation in the old '60s Bond style). Other chases are in airplanes, motorboats, trains, trucks. Many more are on foot, over roofs ancient and modern, through caves, tunnels, a burning building, and, my personal favorite, on scaffolding, including balletic swinging. Cartoonist Nicole Hollander has a definition for a chick flick: "Too much talking, not enough hitting." This is the opposite--with fights to the death and a high body count. 

Beautiful location shots around the world, gorgeous girls: Ukrainian lovely Olga Kurylenko with a tan is convincing as South American Camille (she says, "Get in!" and he does, and Bond keeps telling her to "Wait here," but she doesn't), British beauty Gemma Arterton plays the one-named Fields (in the credits her name is listed as Strawberry Fields), and Dame Judi Dench is stunning as always playing M. I particularly liked the scene in which M is removing her makeup while talking on the speaker phone. In The Devil Wears Prada (2006) Meryl Streep's bare-faced scene made her look old, dry, and brittle (as it was supposed to). In this, Dench's face cream gives her a glow that complements her natural twinkle. As in No Country for Old Men (2007), there is a bad guy with unfortunate bangs, though in this case, he is a sidekick to a badder guy, played by Mathieu Amalric, who was fabulous as the stroke victim (a good guy) in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007). Apparently the dead girlfriend and several characters are from the last installment, Casino Royale (2006), but I don''t remember the details. 

In this one, a bartender gives the exact recipe for the 007 martini (my parents liked white Lillet and so do I--get it at a specialty wine shop). According to the link, the recipe was in the last one, too. I really was not paying attention!

Four Christmases (2008)

It won't win any Oscars, but it had its moments. I had seen the trailer at least a dozen times so thought this would be a pleasant way to spend Thanksgiving afternoon with Amy before dinner with the family. We had a few laughs and did some cringing. A happily unmarried couple's (Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon) usual plan to ditch their families for an exotic beach vacation is scuttled and they have to spend Christmas day shuttling between the homes of his father, her mother, his mother, and her father, in the greater San Francisco Bay area. Noteworthy that one of the 13 producers was Peter Billingsley (best known as the lead kid in A Christmas Story (1983)--really? that recently?), who had a cameo as the patient Fiji Airlines agent. Also noteworthy that each of the 4 parents was played by an Oscar winner: Robert Duvall for Tender Mercies (1983), Mary Steenburgen for Melvin and Howard (1980), Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), and Jon Voight for Coming Home (1978). If you have seen the trailer you will know that Vince Vaughn's sidekick from Swingers (1996), Jon Favreau, played the muscled, mohawked, violent brother. You might not know that the other brother with few lines was played by country music star Tim McGraw. Another country music star, Dwight Yoakum, also seen in, among others, Sling Blade (1996) with Billy Bob Thornton, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) with Tommy Lee Jones, and Wedding Crashers (2005) with Vaughn, played Pastor Phil.

Outsourced (2006) released in 2008

We are lucky that this is playing at our aging art house theatre (now held over until Dec. 4). It has not enjoyed wide release since its completion 2 years ago and the filmmakers are begging us to buy the DVD and the soundtrack (which I ordered today). It is a delightful romantic comedy (if you have seen the poster you know he's gonna hook up) which I enjoyed thoroughly. I am a fan of Harvard-educated Indian director Mira Nair (especially Monsoon Wedding (2001) and The Namesake (2006), which was adapted from a wonderful book by Jhumpa Lahiri). Nair adeptly weaves compelling, timeless stories with splashy Bollywood images. This, the feature directorial debut of (American) John Jeffcoat, is lightweight and modern, about a 30-something man forced to leave his gray world in a Seattle call center and train his replacement in a colorful Indian city a couple of hours outside Mumbai (Bombay to us Yanks). Todd (Josh Hamilton) awkwardly learns to get along in this classic fish-out-of-water story. I thought Angelina Jolie was all lips and eyes in Changeling, but the lovely Ayesha Dharker (Asha) has giant peepers and smile in a face much smaller. Don't take the kids unless you are prepared to explain the meaning of Kama Sutra (there is no nudity, however). Sorry if that is a spoiler! Apparently there will be an NBC series next season based on this movie. See the original first. Available on netflix now. For more about the movie, check out the Outsourced blog.

Changeling (2008)

Impressive! Beautiful cinematography. Great sets, locations, wardrobe, gloves, and hats. Expect nominations in any of those categories (is there a Best Glove category? Yellow Submarine shoulda been a contender). We saved this for a weekend matinee because it is long at 2 hours 20 minutes. But it didn't feel long. The story is compelling and Angelina Jolie (who, Jack pointed out, was nominated several times for playing a woman with a missing husband in 2007's A Mighty Heart) was convincing as the bereft mother of a missing boy. She will probably gain a few nods for this performance as well, the true (with few licenses taken, according to my research) story of a woman's powerlessness against a corrupt police department and her determination to be heard. I have never watched the TV show Burn Notice on USA but have seen the trailer so many times (when watching Monk or Psych) that Jeffrey Donovan looked familiar. He was good as the patronizing police Captain Jones. Amy Ryan, whom we will miss as Michael's goofy ex-girlfriend Holly on The Office (and who won awards for her portrayal of a druggy mom in Gone Baby Gone last year) did a nice job in a small part in this, providing a line that got a smile when she said it and a big laugh when it was repeated later. That may have been the only laugh of the movie. I might refer to Angelina as "Lips," and if I did, it would be an example of the literary device synecdoche (sih-NEK-doh-key), meaning referring to a thing by one of its parts (it also means referring to a part by calling it the thing). I'm eager to see the movie of that name, opening soon, which promises to be even more inscrutable than the definition I just gave.

Soul Men (2008)

I would've rushed right out to see this, but saved it for Jack, who, like me, loved Bernie Mac's TV show. We like to go to 5:00-ish matinees on Fridays, and, for this one, the audience doubled when another couple joined us in the theatre. Yes, I know this movie is not great, and will not be playing much longer on a big screen. But we had a lot of fun with Samuel L. Jackson, the late great Bernie Mac, and his character's green convertible Eldorado named MUTHASHP, after Parliament's 1975 classic soul-funk album, Mothership Connection (Jack said the car was a character in the story). In Roger Ebert's review, he explains why classic cars are used so often in road trip movies. Whenever Sam and Bernie were together, it WAS great. The music was lots of fun, too. Musicians included multiple Grammy award winner John Legend (the pictures of his character's solo career were hilarious!), Sharon Leal (who acted and sang in an episode or two of TV's Boston Public and in Dreamgirls (2006) as the new girl), Isaac Hayes (who died August 10, 2008, the day after Bernie Mac) in a cameo, and others (see the complete cast list here) that I'm sure would be known to musical cognoscenti but not so much to me. Isaac and Bernie both looked pretty skinny, and apparently Bernie was ailing during the shoot, but he had plenty to give on screen, both to the comedy and drama. As the credits began to roll, one side of the screen featured a tribute mostly to Bernie and some to Isaac (so I don't need to alert you to stay), followed by Isaac's down-tempo rendition of "Never Can Say Goodbye." Bernie & Sam can sing their own numbers on the soundtrack album (and Sam's got some fancy footwork), but I'm disappointed that the Stanley Clarke (with George Duke and others) score is not (yet?) available.

Filth & Wisdom (2008)

Finally got my equilibrium back after Rachel Getting Married (but made sure to sit a row or two back from my usual spot--that wasn't hard because Mary Ellen & I were the only ones at the matinee today). I loved Everything is Illuminated (2005), directed by actor Liev Schreiber (wonderful in A Walk on the Moon (1999), the remake of The Manchurian Candidate (2004), and the gorgeous The Painted Veil (2006)), starring Elijah Wood (Frodo in the Lord of the Rings movies and Sigourney Weaver's son in Ang Lee's brilliant-but-depressing The Ice Storm (1997)) as a young Jewish-American man searching out his past in a Ukrainian village, and co-starring Eugene Hutz as the crazy Russian tour guide.

Hutz is the star and narrator of this ensemble piece, Madonna's directing debut. He is also the frontman for a Gypsy punk band called Gogol Bordello, which contributed several songs to the movie and appears on screen at the end. The only other actor in it that I had heard of before was Richard E. Grant, a Brit with a long resume whom I will always remember for his good and better first and fourth movies, Withnail & I (1987) and How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989). This movie is not for everyone but we liked it. Yes, we are in the minority. It's spotty, sometimes even hokey (despite starring a male character who, according to the Times of London, spanks other men for a living), and oddly uplifting. It can be summed up by the maxim, "Most folks are as happy as they want to be." Goof: when we first see Juliette in the pharmacy, her nametag is backwards, leading me to believe that the film was flipped for part of that scene.

Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Prolific director Jonathan Demme has easily moved between drama, both light and heavy (Handle With Care (1977), Melvin and Howard (1980), Swing Shift (1984), Married to the Mob (1988), Philadelphia (1993), and the Oscar-winning Silence of the Lambs (1991)) and documentary (Stop Making Sense (1984), Swimming to Cambodia (1987), and Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006)). In Rachel Getting Married, Demme sort of combined the two. There was a script, but also a lot of improvisation, and all the camera work was handheld -- sometimes the viewer could tell the camera operator was running behind the actor -- shot with only available light. I got carsick as a child, but the last time I remember getting motion sickness was crossing the North Sea on an overnight boat trip in, maybe, 1994. And, now that I think about it, the handheld camera in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives (1992) did make me a little nauseous. This one was worse. I had to close my eyes repeatedly once I realized it was not something I ate. Some of the footage was even shot by cast members who held cameras in the scenes (including filmmaker Roger Corman). So, if you are affected by motion sickness, try the back row.

Also, if you get antsy and/or irritated by family members disturbing everyone's serenity, you might want to skip this one. Anne Hathaway's Kym-with-a-Y is awkward and raw, ticking off almost everyone in her path. Fabulous performance. Last year Jack & I enjoyed Nicole Kidman as the neurotic Margot at the Wedding, but then saw a friend who had walked out of the next screening of the same movie, because she so hated the character. Rosemarie DeWitt (from TV's Mad Men) co-starred as Rachel, Bill Irwin was very good as Kym and Rachel's anxious father, Debra Winger was understated as their divorced mother, and the cast was dotted with celebrities and musicians, some of which I missed behind my eyelids. I'm looking forward to watching the DVD from across the room, maybe chapter by chapter. Not everyone is bothered by shaking cameras (it may be genetic), so you will have to use your own experience to judge (I've made a list of Motion Picture Motion Sickness--MPMS movies).

Other than that, I really liked it.

Zack & Miri Make a Porno (2008)

Kevin Smith, the writer/director of Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), and Jersey Girl (2004) (which won 3 Razzies, as in Golden Raspberry, Awards for worst actor, worst actress, and worst screen couple), and the slacker classics Clerks (1994), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), and Clerks II (2006), is sorta kinda trying to go mainstream with this raunchy, puerile, occasionally gross, sometimes corny, and often funny ensemble comedy. 14 year old boys will love it (but we liked it, too). David Denby of the New Yorker did not. Here is his review, riddled with spoilers. Seth Rogen is still playing the optimistic loser from Pineapple Express (which he wrote) and many of his Judd Apatow projects (Knocked Up (2007), Undeclared (TV 2001-2003), Freaks and Geeks (TV 1999-2000)). Elizabeth Banks, a 10-year overnight sensation with 4 movies due to be released before the end of 2008 (including a nice turn as Laura Bush in this year's W., and the mother of J.D.'s child in TV's Scrubs in 2006-2007), is cute, and her character supplies much of the corniness. Kevin Smith's real-life-wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith has a cameo as Betsy, the gal we first see at the reunion. The ensemble is rounded out by, among others, Kevin Smith sidekick Jason Mewes (he plays Jay, and has 3 features slated for release this year and 3 for next) as Lester, Traci Lords (best known as an underage porn star in the mid-80s, though she's done a lot of mainstream work since then) as Bubbles, current porn star Katie Morgan as Stacey, Craig Robinson (best known as Darryl on TV's The Office) as Delaney, Brandon Routh (the man of steel in Superman Returns (2006) -- which movie gets my vote for the best plane-crash-rescue scene ever; it's at the beginning) as Bobby Long, and, notably, Justin Long (best known as the Mac guy from the TV commercials, but he's done a lot of other work) who is hilarious as Brandon. DO NOT LEAVE WHEN THE CREDITS BEGIN. You will be well rewarded.

The Duchess (2008)

I did not expect to like this costume drama, because, as I mentioned in my post about about Atonement (2007), Keira Knightley irks me. However, spending a couple of hours with Ms. K, whose performance the LA Times deems Oscar-worthy, was entertaining enough that I didn't check the time nor the phone. The mile-high (and -wide) wigs should be getting a nomination, but probably won't, as hair and make-up are in the same category, and flashy prostheses usually trump elaborate hairdos. Hat-o-philes will enjoy the headgear, each one bigger than the next. The elegant locations, indoors and out, were also worth the price of admission -- I particularly liked the scene near the waterfall -- beautiful! Ralph Fiennes was detestable (by which I mean convincing as a detestable man) as the cold jerk of a husband, the Duke of Devonshire. Hayley Atwell, of Brideshead Revisited (2008) and Cassandra's Dream (2007) was luscious as Elizabeth Foster, and Charlotte Rampling (where do I start? Her resumé is long and rich. I must mention Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), the truly wonderful costume drama Wings of the Dove (1997), and Swimming Pool (2003)) was a force of maternal power.

The real Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Spencer, was an ancestor of Princess Diana, and the comparisons are inevitable: trend-setting, an adoring public, wit, warmth, and joie de vivre.

The Secret Life of Bees (2008)

The day after the election I was happy and weepy all day. This movie, based on the best-selling novel of the same name, is the story of a 14-year-old white girl affected by race relations in the 60s in the south. My waterworks started up again when they showed the clip of Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Three acclaimed singers (Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, and Queen Latifah) star in this, but all we get is Latifah and Keys humming a little bit to the radio, though Alicia Keys does have one song during the credits. Paul Bettany was good as the scary father. I must admit I liked him a whole lot better as the adorable tennis player in Wimbledon (2004) but, like many actors, he seems to have to venture to the dark side for meatier roles. Little Dakota Fanning isn't so little any more (15!), and did a great job. Kim asked me if it would be OK to take her 7-year-old. I think not -- there are some very sad things that a child would not be able to handle. PG-13 is right on the money for this one.

LA Times Oscar contenders as of early November 2008

Actresses: Kate Beckinsale (Nothing But the Truth), Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Penelope Cruz (Elegy), Dakota Fanning (The Secret Life of Bees), Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Nicole Kidman (Australia), Keira Knightley (The Duchess), Melissa Leo (Frozen River), Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City*), Kristin Scott Thomas (I've Loved You So Long), Meryl Streep (both for Doubt and Mamma Mia), Emma Thompson (Last Chance Harvey), Michelle Williams (Wendy and Lucy), Kate Winslet (both Revolutionary Road and The Reader). Read the LA Times online article about the actresses here.

Links are to my blog entries on the ones I have seen since I started posting in September. Those marked with a * I saw, I liked, but have not posted on the blog (and even though I liked Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker has no chance of an Oscar nomination for best actress this year).

Actors: Josh Brolin (W.), Daniel Craig (Defiance), Tom Cruise (Valkyrie), Benicio Del Toro (Che), Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man*), Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino), Michael Fassbender (Hunger), Ralph Fiennes (The Reader), Dustin Hoffman (Last Chance Harvey), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Synecdoche, New York), Hugh Jackman (Australia), Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Ben Kingsley (Elegy), Greg Kinnear (Flash of Genius), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Viggo Mortensen (Good), Sean Penn (Milk), Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon), Will Smith (Seven Pounds). Read the actors' article here.

What Just Happened (2008)

This could be the companion piece to Living in Oblivion, with trials and tribulations in the Hollywood studio system instead of the independent milieu. I'm a big fan of Barry Levinson's direction of Diner (1982), Tin Men (1987), Good Morning Vietnam (1987), Bugsy (1991), Wag the Dog (1997), and especially Liberty Heights (1999). I may be the only one who enjoyed Man of the Year (2006), but I'm with the majority in not caring for Envy (2004). Levinson directed Robert De Niro in this satire about a frustrated Hollywood producer, based on the book, What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line, by Art Linson, about his experiences as a producer. Linson also wrote the script. Bruce Willis and Sean Penn played themselves, Penn's wife Robin Wright Penn played Di Niro's ex-wife, and Catherine Keener the cut-throat studio executive. I noticed that many adults threw tantrums in the trailer (that's trailer, as in preview). More tantrums, and objects, were thrown during the movie (and not in a trailer, as in temporary lodgings for an actor). This is not great art, but Jack & I liked it a lot, and we recommend it.

Living in Oblivion (1995)

10 years after I left film school this satire (so close to the truth for film students and wanna-be movie-makers) made me laugh so hard I almost couldn't breathe. Apparently it was originally a short that was so popular that writer-director Tom DiCillo got more money to flesh it out into a full length feature, cutting the black & white original film into the color footage he shot later. Tom DiCillo had directed Brad Pitt as the lead in Johnny Suede (1991) and, rumor has it, Pitt was a pill to DiCillo and co-star Catherine Keener. In Living in Oblivion James Le Gros played the prima don movie star Chad Palomino, Keener the frustrated leading lady, Steve Buscemi the beleaguered director, Dermot Mulroney the eccentric director of photography, the always-good Kevin Corrigan the ambitious assistant cameraman, and the wonderful Peter Dinklage had a cameo as the token little person.

Our Halloween costumes 2008

I went as Sara Goldfarb, the mother in Requiem for a Dream (2000) (here's the imdb page), a role for which Ellen Burstyn was nominated for an Oscar. At the end, her hair was red with white roots, so I wore a white wig with red sprayed on the ends, a house dress, black tights, and oxfords. Darren Aronofsky, director of Pi (1998) and The Fountain (2007), directed this bleak, depressing, and brilliant picture that also starred Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans. I recommend watching it with a friend. The end will stay with you for a LONG time.

Jack, who often is told he looks like Richard Dreyfuss, dressed as his character Dr. Leo Marvin from What About Bob? (1991) (imdb), wearing a blue blazer and a tie, among other things. In his pocket he carried a book, Baby Steps, by Dr. Leo Marvin. The movie is hilarious, directed by the great Frank Oz (voice of Muppet Miss Piggy), with Bill Murray as Bob. Highly recommended, whether you're alone or not. Other Oz pix I recommend: In & Out (1997) with Kevin Kline trying to figure out his sexual orientation, and Bowfinger (1999) with Steve Martin (who wrote it) as an unknown movie producer trying to make it in Hollywood.

Warning: these links contain spoilers.

Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007)

John Landis (Animal House, Blues Brothers, etc.) produced, directed, and introduced this tribute. It must have been nice to document a career that had so much existing film and video. Landis then shot a fairly recent Vegas appearance. Many actors and comedians commented on Rickles' long and hilarious career, interspersed with clips and interviews with the man himself. Note to certain of my readers: Harry Goins was remembered lovingly for a few minutes in the middle. No mention of Harry's mother, Dorothy (nor his aunt, Audrey). Rickles' patient wife, proud mother, manager, musical director, and band were in it, and the elite of Hollywood and Vegas blew cigarette smoke, told gags, and reminisced about mean old Don.

2008 British Independent Film Award nominees

To be awarded Sunday November 30 in London.

Best British Independent Film:
• "Hunger"
• "In Bruges"
• "Man on Wire"
• "Slumdog Millionaire"
• "Somers Town"
Best Director:
• Mark Herman, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
• Steve McQueen, "Hunger"
• Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"
• Shane Meadows, "Somers Town"
• Garth Jennings, "Son of Rambow"
The Douglas Hickox Award/Best Debut Director:
• James Watkins, "Eden Lake"
• Rupert Wyatt, "The Escapist"
• Steve McQueen, "Hunger"
• Martin McDonagh, "In Bruges"
• Eran Creevy, "Shifty"
Best Screenplay:
• Enda Walsh and Steve McQueen, "Hunger"
• Martin McDonagh, "In Bruges"
• Simon Beaufoy, "Slumdog Millionaire"
• Paul Fraser, "Somers Town"
• Garth Jennings, "Son of Rambow"
Best Actress
• Vera Farmiga, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
• Samantha Morton, "The Daisy Chain"
• Keira Knightley, "The Duchess"
• Kelly Reilly, "Eden Lake"
• Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Best Actor:
• Michael Fassbender, "Hunger"
• Colin Farrell, "In Bruges"
• Brendan Gleeson, "In Bruges"
• Riz Ahmed, "Shifty"
• Thomas Turgoose, "Somers Town"
Best Supporting Actress:
• Emma Thompson, "Brideshead Revisited"
• Hayley Atwell, "The Duchess"
• Kristin Scott Thomas, "Easy Virtue"
• Sienna Miller, "The Edge of Love"
• Alexis Zegerman, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Best Supporting Actor:
• Ralph Fiennes, "The Duchess"
• Eddie Marsan, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
• Liam Cunningham, "Hunger"
• Ralph Fiennes, " In Bruges"
• Daniel Mays, "Shifty"
Most Promising Newcomer:
• Asa Butterfield, "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
• Dev Patel, "Slumdog Millionaire"
• Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, "Slumdog Millionaire"
• Bill Milner, "Son of Rambow"
• Will Poulter, "Son of Rambow"
Best Achievement in Production:
• "The Daisy Chain"
• "The Escapist"
• "Hush"
• "Shifty"
• "Telstar"
Raindance Award:
• "Clubbed"
• "Flick"
• "One Day Removals"
• "Zebra Crossings"
Best Technical Achievement:
• Wardrobe: Michael O'Connor, "The Duchess"
• Cinematography: Sean Bobbitt, "Hunger"
• Editing: Jon Gregory, "In Bruges"
• Music: Harry Escott and Molly Nyman, "Shifty"
• Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle, "Slumdog Millionaire"
Best Documentary:
• "A Complete History of My Sexual Failures"
• "Derek"
• "Man on Wire"
• "Of Time and The City"
• "Three Miles North of Molkom"
Best British Short:
• "Alex And Her Arse Truck"
• "Gone Fishing"
• "Love Does Grow On Trees"
• "Red Sands"
• "Soft"
Best Foreign Film:
• "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
• "Gomorrah"
• "I've Loved You So Long"
• "Persepolis"
• "Waltz With Bashir"
The Richard Harris Award (for outstanding contribution to British Film): David Thewlis

The Variety Award: Michael Sheen

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2006)

My iTunes library and my iPod are loaded with NPR podcasts that are beginning to pile up. Over the summer I listened to a 2007 episode of film critic Elvis Mitchell's The Treatment (KCRW in Santa Monica) in which he interviewed actor Jeff Garlin (best known as Larry David's pal on Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO). This movie is Garlin's feature film directorial debut (he directed one episode of Curb), and he also wrote and starred. He said Larry David was appalled that the title ended with a preposition, but everyone who heard the title laughed, so Garlin stuck with it. I watched the DVD yesterday with a Chicago native, who was tickled by all the Chicago location shots. Garlin's character, James Aaron, a member of the Chicago improv troupe Second City, is looking for love. It's absolutely delightful. Sarah Silverman tones down her usual vulgarity (a bit), Bonnie Hunt is good, and Mina Kolb is endearing as James' mother. That's Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson's voice) as the convenience store clerk, director Paul Mazursky as the sleazy producer, Dakota's little sister Elle Fanning as the "niece," and SNL alum Tim Kazurinsky as Bill Bjango. Check it out.

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

This made me think of a New Yorker short story, plunking the reader, er, viewer down into the middle of some action and leaving off at an equally arbitrary point. There wasn't a clear cut story line like most movies, but then, Mike Leigh wrote and directed this (and many others, including the brilliant Vera Drake, Topsy Turvy, and Secrets & Lies). He likes to let his actors improvise in order to help him finish the script; this was evident, especially in an early sequence when our heroine Poppy (Sally Hawkins) returned home from a night of pub-hopping with her roommate, one of her sisters, and another friend. The scene helped to establish her cheerful, childlike character (so different from Hawkins' somber Anne Elliott in the Masterpiece Theatre production of Persuasion in 2007).

One could say the movie was about Poppy taking driving lessons, but there were other sub-plots (I particularly liked the dancing one but wanted to know who was the chanting guy in a later scene and why was she there with him?). Towards the end of the movie Poppy's relentless jokiness started to wear on me, but many were captivated by her optimism the entire time. Eddie Marsan, as the tightly wound driving instructor, was very good and has been nominated for a British Independent Film Award as well as Hawkins (see my next post for the complete list). Special mention must be made of her neon wardrobe, described in the New Yorker as "carnival clothes."

Evan Almighty (2007)

While riding the stationary bike yesterday I saw the last 20 minutes of this movie about a modern-day Noah. It contained my favorite part: the flood. My second favorite part was the cast and crew dancing during the closing credits (including in front of the blue screens used for special effects). My third favorite part was when God (Morgan Freeman) shows Evan (Steve Carell) how the valley used to look before it was populated. But I remember enjoying all of this movie as well as its prequel, People's Choice Award winner, Bruce Almighty (2003) with Jim Carrey. Sometime last year I saw a documentary on TV about how the makers of Evan Almighty (at $175 million the most expensive comedy ever at that time--I don't know if there is a new winner now) strove to reduce its carbon footprint by planting trees, recycling wood from sets, and more. So now I like it even better!