After seeing the trailer, I thought that I knew everything about this movie before walking in, but I was wrong. Amy, Jack, and I laughed out loud many times all the way through this story of a divorced couple who have an affair even though the man has remarried. This is the fifth feature directed by Nancy Meyers (The Parent Trap (1998), What Women Want (2000), Something's Gotta Give (2003), The Holiday (2006); she wrote the screenplays for all 5) and I enjoyed them all. Before those, she co-wrote with her then-husband Charles Shyer, who directed their scripts for Father of the Bride I-II (1987, 1991), Baby Boom (1987), and, a personal favorite of mine, with reservations (loved the Shelly Long-Ryan O'Neal parts, didn't like the Drew Barrymore parts), Irreconcilable Differences (1984). Meyers knows comedy and her timing is excellent. There was only one line that bugged me (ask me and I'll tell you privately--it's near the end). Meryl Streep, about whom I wrote many words for Julie & Julia, can be funny, and she is here. Alec Baldwin is just a good actor; comedy, drama, he's got it (my faves are listed in Lymelife), and, apart from a few too many cuts back to him glowering with pursed lips, he is perfect in this role. Steve Martin is best known for comedy (from writing for the Smothers Brothers TV show, to The Jerk (1979), to Saturday Night Live in the 70s, to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Father of the Bride I-II, Bowfinger (1999, which he wrote and I also loved), Parenthood (1989), and much more), but he can do dramatic as well (Grand Canyon (1991), David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner (1997), Novocaine (2001), Shopgirl (2005, adapted by Martin from his own novel)). He gives his character warmth and depth and only really cuts loose in one sequence, which is a favorite of many. John Krasinski's (Away We Go) part was particularly well-written. Many have said it's too much like his character Jim from The Office, but we had no problem with that. Krasinski is going to have a hard time shedding that one, and we're in no hurry for him to quit the series to see if he can.
Next, the music was great, soundtrack by my hero Hans Zimmer, this time with guitarist Heitor Periera, and the nice use of songs (we really liked Gladys Knight's version of Since I Fell for You). There's a music cue called iSight Surprise--after you see the movie, you'll get it. Cinematographer John Toll (won Oscars for Legends of the Fall (1994) and Braveheart (1995), also shot The Last Samurai (2003)) made beautiful pictures with sweeping Santa Barbara vistas and luscious interiors.
My post about Away We Go brings up the chick flick issue. As always, Jack attended of his own free will. He now says it is, indeed, a chick flick, but he did, indeed, enjoy it (what a guy!). Baldwin and David Letterman had fun with that discussion the other night, with Letterman pretending to be outraged that something he liked was thought to be only for women.
All in all, this is an entertaining bit of fluff, worth seeing on date night (if you have/are a great guy), girls' night out, or with your family and grown children (rated R for the infidelity/adultery plot, and Baldwin's rear end--he told Letterman he had a "butt double"). Jack said "It's no Zombieland [our pick for funniest of 2009], but still..." ...it's got a lot of laughs.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
I suspect Arthur Conan Doyle purists will be heading for the door within the first 10 minutes, but Jack & I sat happily in our seats for two and a quarter hours (plus a plethora of previews). The collaboration between director Guy Ritchie, his modern writers, and star Robert Downey. Jr. delivers action, suspense, humor, and a little beefcake (sorry, boys, we did not see in the final cut the scene from the trailer when Rachel McAdams drops her robe to reveal her corset). Ritchie's early action movies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000) were great fun and recommended for anyone who enjoys this one. Of the writers, Lionel Wigram, credited with screen story, and Michael Robert Johnson, screen story and screenplay, are newcomers; Anthony Peckham (screenplay) adapted John Carlin's novel for Invictus and Simon Kinberg wrote the action movies Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), and co-wrote X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and Jumper (2008); and Sir Arthur is responsible for certain character details only. But Ritchie's style, with slo-mo action alternating with real time, is paramount. I especially liked the cinematic illustrations of Holmes' inner dialogue during his fight scenes (recalling writing teachers who instruct: say what you're going to say, then say it). Sally often tells me that there are some actors she would pay to see read the phone book. I feel that way about Downey (some of my faves: Chaplin (1992), Short Cuts (1993), Wonder Boys (2000), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Iron Man (2008), and Tropic Thunder). His Holmes is a buff, dissolute, fist-fighting ninja in olde England (nice that we saw the boxing on Boxing Day, December 26th). Jude Law's (first came to my attention as Oscar Wilde's lover in Wilde (1997), also good in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), the inscrutable I Heart Huckabees (2004), Closer (2004), and more) Watson is a Felix to Holmes' Oscar (different Oscar--that's an Odd Couple reference). More scenes with the love interest, Irene Adler (I've seen McAdams in Mean Girls (2004), Wedding Crashers (2005), and State of Play) would have been nice, but the movie didn't need any extra length. I have written about three of the supporting actors in other posts: Mark Strong (Body of Lies) is a suitably creepy villain; Eddie Marsan (Me and Orson Welles) is the befuddled Inspector Lestrade; and Kelly Reilly (also Me and Orson Welles) the patient Mary.
So far the only nominations have been Critics Choice for the score and Golden Globe for Downey, but I expect more for visual effects and the music from the reliable Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack was released digitally a few days ago (here's a long and thoughtful review) without 3 songs (I particularly liked the Irish jig during one boxing scene). Costumes were good, too. I winced watching the luscious silk trains dragging on the cobblestone streets, but I guess they had to put up with that in those days of bustles and parasols. As Holmes used his sense of smell to find clues I was grateful we didn't have smell-o-vision. Oh, and listen for the line, "I haven't a clue," somewhere; it made me smile. Plenty of crooked and stained English teeth are in evidence; I'm grateful not to have any of those either. About 5 minutes before the end Jack turned to me and said, "Here comes the sequel," which was confirmed at the end of the credits. And, of course, the movie was preceded by a trailer for Iron Man 2, which we will be seeing this summer.
When we saw Nine on Christmas day, there were lines for this movie and not for that. They were very different but I'd have to say that this one is better as long as you don't mind all the hitting. You know what Sylvia says is the definition of a chick flick: Too much talking and not enough hitting.
So far the only nominations have been Critics Choice for the score and Golden Globe for Downey, but I expect more for visual effects and the music from the reliable Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack was released digitally a few days ago (here's a long and thoughtful review) without 3 songs (I particularly liked the Irish jig during one boxing scene). Costumes were good, too. I winced watching the luscious silk trains dragging on the cobblestone streets, but I guess they had to put up with that in those days of bustles and parasols. As Holmes used his sense of smell to find clues I was grateful we didn't have smell-o-vision. Oh, and listen for the line, "I haven't a clue," somewhere; it made me smile. Plenty of crooked and stained English teeth are in evidence; I'm grateful not to have any of those either. About 5 minutes before the end Jack turned to me and said, "Here comes the sequel," which was confirmed at the end of the credits. And, of course, the movie was preceded by a trailer for Iron Man 2, which we will be seeing this summer.
When we saw Nine on Christmas day, there were lines for this movie and not for that. They were very different but I'd have to say that this one is better as long as you don't mind all the hitting. You know what Sylvia says is the definition of a chick flick: Too much talking and not enough hitting.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Nine (2009)
This is the fourth year in a row that Jack, Amy, and I have gone to a musical on Christmas day (last year, Cadillac Records; Walk Hard in 2007, Dreamgirls in 2006). Yesterday we enjoyed the spectacle, the smoke, the mirrors, the dancing, the costumes, the eye makeup, the vistas, and the high production values in a story about a Federico Fellini-type director in 1965 with writer's block. Some have called this a sequel to Fellini's 1963 autobiographical movie 8½, but I would call it an homage (and there is a recurring gag that made me think of the recurring gag from Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), where Allen's fans say, "We love your movies, especially your earlier, funnier ones."). Anyway, as far as we were concerned, the songs Cinema Italiano (danced and sung by Kate Hudson) and Be Italian (Fergie) were worth the price of admission.
In an interesting coincidence, Amy and I had watched the Glee episode about "hair-ography," choreography with flying hair, the night before, and Nine has lots of hair-ography, including in those numbers. I also appreciated the use of the big stage set for dancing and climbing and jumping. We had an inkling that this was based on a Broadway production but knew nothing of the source material. Today I bought the soundtracks to the movie and the 2003 Broadway version (after reading complaints on some websites that the songs from the movie weren't all in the play and vice versa) and will do that research later.
Speaking of research, imdb's trivia page for this movie has a lot of details of the sort I usually put in, so thanks to them for saving me time. You should especially read the big long bullet point about the cast and pretend I wrote it (I will add that La môme (2007), also known as La Vie en Rose, which won Marion Cotillard her Oscar, was a bio-pic about Edith Piaf, but Cotillard did little of the singing). I can't believe that Nicole Kidman had recently delivered a baby when this was shot--her waist is miniscule (perhaps that was part of the visual effects department's job). Black suits and skinny ties look great on Daniel Day-Lewis (in addition to his big hits I really liked The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005), written/directed by his wife, Rebecca Miller, daughter of playwright Henry), and I was surprised that he's not bad as a singer.
I was going to mention that this was the third 2009 number nine movie, after 9 and District 9, but imdb beat me to it and added a fourth that was new to me: $9.99 (2008). I like numbers, particularly nines and eighteens, so I was glad I didn't hate this one. It doesn't really have much of a story but is accumulating nominations and one should see those coastlines on a really big screen. If you keep your expectations reasonable, you won't be disappointed by spending a couple of hours with Nine.
I was going to mention that this was the third 2009 number nine movie, after 9 and District 9, but imdb beat me to it and added a fourth that was new to me: $9.99 (2008). I like numbers, particularly nines and eighteens, so I was glad I didn't hate this one. It doesn't really have much of a story but is accumulating nominations and one should see those coastlines on a really big screen. If you keep your expectations reasonable, you won't be disappointed by spending a couple of hours with Nine.
Me and Orson Welles (2008)
Jack, Amy, and I enjoyed this based-on-a-true-story tale, about the famed director's Broadway production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, taking place at the time Amy's grandmother/my mother was a freshman in college, autumn 1937. Fabulous but realistic costumes, sets, and motorcars decorate the mostly sepia cinematography by Dick Pope, who shot the lush period pieces The Illusionist (2006) and Topsy-Turvy (1999), as well as many of Mike Leigh's movies, including the dark 1950's Vera Drake (2004) and the brightly-colored Happy-Go-Lucky. Director Richard Linklater was first known for his quirky, independent work (Slacker (1991), Dazed and Confused (1993), Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004)), then his rotoscoped animated features Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006), as well as his more commercial Jack Black vehicle, School of Rock (2003), all contemporary, so this is new for him. Also new for him is working from a script that is not his own. Vincent and Holly Gent Palmo have no other writing credits besides adapting Robert Kaplow's historical novel for this movie (before this they worked in production offices and sets, occasionally for Linklater).
I asked Amy what she thought of Zac Efron's other work. She replied that she was "mad" that she paid money to see 17 Again (2009) and "he did what was needed" in High School Musical (2006) and Hairspray (2007). In this one, again, he did what was needed. He's a cute boy with lovely blue eyes, but I didn't care about his character, the "me" in the title. Perhaps that's why we liked it rather than loved it. The rest of the cast, though--that's another story. Contrasted with 22 year old Efron's dozens of credits, 36 year old Christian McKay is just beginning his career, and his dynamic portrayal of the mercurial Welles is turning heads and winning awards and nominations here and in his native England. Claire Danes (TV's My So-Called Life, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996), Shopgirl (2005), written by and starring Steve Martin) plays her usual beautiful girl who is so down-to-earth she doesn't know or care how lovely she is, and gets top billing with McKay and Efron. The supporting cast, Ben Chaplin (worked with Danes in Stage Beauty (2004), and has been in many dramas, but I so liked him in The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996)) as George Coulouris/Marc Antony, Zoe Kazan (I wrote about her relatives because she had a pivotal part in Revolutionary Road) as Gretta, Eddie Marsan (won British Independent Film Awards for Vera Drake and Happy-Go-Lucky, and has been in many other first class movies, e.g. Gangs of New York (2002), 21 Grams (2003)) as John Houseman, Kelly Reilly (the wonderful L'auberge espagnole (2002) and Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)) as Muriel Brassler/Portia, and James Tupper (all 36 episodes of Men in Trees and a few of Samantha Who?) as Joseph Cotten/Publius, are all essential in this ensemble. There's a reference to The Third Man (1949), which starred Cotten, when a cigarette glows in the shadows towards the end (of the movie and the cigarette).
Most of the movie was shot across the pond, with the Gaeity Theatre on the Isle of Man sitting in for the 1937 Mercury Theatre in New York, and other English locations playing old NYC. A nice regular length holiday entertainment that you can enjoy with your family of all ages (as long as you're not forcing them to go), this has music of the 1930s in original and cover versions.
I asked Amy what she thought of Zac Efron's other work. She replied that she was "mad" that she paid money to see 17 Again (2009) and "he did what was needed" in High School Musical (2006) and Hairspray (2007). In this one, again, he did what was needed. He's a cute boy with lovely blue eyes, but I didn't care about his character, the "me" in the title. Perhaps that's why we liked it rather than loved it. The rest of the cast, though--that's another story. Contrasted with 22 year old Efron's dozens of credits, 36 year old Christian McKay is just beginning his career, and his dynamic portrayal of the mercurial Welles is turning heads and winning awards and nominations here and in his native England. Claire Danes (TV's My So-Called Life, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996), Shopgirl (2005), written by and starring Steve Martin) plays her usual beautiful girl who is so down-to-earth she doesn't know or care how lovely she is, and gets top billing with McKay and Efron. The supporting cast, Ben Chaplin (worked with Danes in Stage Beauty (2004), and has been in many dramas, but I so liked him in The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996)) as George Coulouris/Marc Antony, Zoe Kazan (I wrote about her relatives because she had a pivotal part in Revolutionary Road) as Gretta, Eddie Marsan (won British Independent Film Awards for Vera Drake and Happy-Go-Lucky, and has been in many other first class movies, e.g. Gangs of New York (2002), 21 Grams (2003)) as John Houseman, Kelly Reilly (the wonderful L'auberge espagnole (2002) and Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)) as Muriel Brassler/Portia, and James Tupper (all 36 episodes of Men in Trees and a few of Samantha Who?) as Joseph Cotten/Publius, are all essential in this ensemble. There's a reference to The Third Man (1949), which starred Cotten, when a cigarette glows in the shadows towards the end (of the movie and the cigarette).
Most of the movie was shot across the pond, with the Gaeity Theatre on the Isle of Man sitting in for the 1937 Mercury Theatre in New York, and other English locations playing old NYC. A nice regular length holiday entertainment that you can enjoy with your family of all ages (as long as you're not forcing them to go), this has music of the 1930s in original and cover versions.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
New York, I Love You (2009)
Delightful. This artfully edited series of short films about love in the big apple by 11 directors, 18 writers and a host of stars does not proceed from start to finish, yet hops seamlessly from story to story and concludes satisfactorily. Jack and I both hated to see it end (it's 1:43 long). Many walks of life and ethnicities are represented. Almost as good as its blissful companion piece, Paris, je t'aime (2006), it will be followed, according to the credits, by Shanghai, and there will be Jerusalem and Rio as well, in the "Cities of Love franchise."
Natalie Portman (I wrote about her in Brothers) is in the Paris movie and, in this one, as I mentioned before, she directs one segment (her debut) and stars in another (Mira Nair's) as a Hasidic jewelry buyer. I knew Portman was Jewish but forgot she was Israeli (she is expected to be in the Jerusalem project). Here's an interesting anecdote about the Hasidic segment. We recognized little Taylor Geare from Brothers, even more adorable here (this was clearly shot before Brothers, as Ms. Geare is missing some baby teeth in the Portman-directed Central Park sequence). Emilie Ohana is also in both Paris and New York (she plays the videographer in NY, is somewhere in every sequence, but is not the star), and will be in Shanghai. Some of the featured actors: Rachel Bilson (played the other woman in Zach Braff's The Last Kiss (2006) and Hayden Christensen's g.f. in Jumper (2008)), Orlando Bloom (speaking of franchises: Lord of the Ringses and Pirates of the Caribbeanses), James Caan (The Godfather I-II, Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), much more), Christensen (Life as a House (2001), Shattered Glass (2003), Star Wars II-III), Julie Christie (my faves of many: Shampoo (1975), her Oscar winning Darling (1965), and her Oscar-nominated McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Afterglow (1997), and Away From Her (2006)), Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, He's Just Not That Into You), Drea de Matteo (best known as Adriana on The Sopranos), Andy Garcia (among many: Godfather III (1990), Hero (1992), Ocean's 11-13, and a personal favorite, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)), Irrfan Khan (I keep telling you all how much I loved Nair's The Namesake (2006), and he was featured in Slumdog Millionaire, among many others), Shia LaBeouf (both Transformers movies, a third coming up), Cloris Leachman (I could write a whole column just on her; for this I will choose TV: Mary Tyler Moore (1970-77), Malcolm in the Middle (2001-6), as the evil grandma; and movies: The Last Picture Show (1971), Young Frankenstein (1974), Spanglish (2004)), Olivia Thirlby (delightful in Juno (2007), Snow Angels (2007) and The Wackness), Eli Wallach (his segment is with Leachman and he also deserves a whole column, but he's getting The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966), Godfather III, The Two Jakes (1990), and Mistress (1992)), and many more.
Directors were: Fatih Akin (from Germany), Yvan Attal (an Israeli who lives in France, My Wife is an Actress (2001)), Allen Hughes (one of the (American) Hughes Brothers, Dead Presidents (1995)), Shunji Iwai (Japan), Wen Jiang (China), Shekhar Kapur (India, directed Cate Blanchett in both Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007); he filled in here for Anthony Minghella, who, before his death in March 2008 personally asked Kapur to take over the Christie segment), Joshua Marston (U.S., Maria Full of Grace (2004)), Nair (India, The Namesake, Salaam Bombay! (1988), Monsoon Wedding (2001), and a segment of another brilliant collection of shorts called 11'09"01 - September 11 AKA 11 minutes, 9 seconds, 1 image), Brett Ratner (U.S., three Rush Hour movies, Family Man (2000)), and Portman. Randall Balsmeyer, a title designer and visual effects guy, is credited with directing the transitions, and, from a look at the cast members, that was more than a little work. All of these directors except Balsmeyer, Hughes, and Nair are also actors.
Apparently, when this was shown at The Toronto Film Festival in September 2008, it had two more segments. One was another directorial debut, by actress Scarlett Johansson, starring Kevin Bacon, and the other was directed by a Russian, Andrei Zvyahintsev, with Carla Gugino and Goran Visnjic (ER), but they didn't make the final cut. We can unreservedly recommend seeing this, perhaps more than once.
Natalie Portman (I wrote about her in Brothers) is in the Paris movie and, in this one, as I mentioned before, she directs one segment (her debut) and stars in another (Mira Nair's) as a Hasidic jewelry buyer. I knew Portman was Jewish but forgot she was Israeli (she is expected to be in the Jerusalem project). Here's an interesting anecdote about the Hasidic segment. We recognized little Taylor Geare from Brothers, even more adorable here (this was clearly shot before Brothers, as Ms. Geare is missing some baby teeth in the Portman-directed Central Park sequence). Emilie Ohana is also in both Paris and New York (she plays the videographer in NY, is somewhere in every sequence, but is not the star), and will be in Shanghai. Some of the featured actors: Rachel Bilson (played the other woman in Zach Braff's The Last Kiss (2006) and Hayden Christensen's g.f. in Jumper (2008)), Orlando Bloom (speaking of franchises: Lord of the Ringses and Pirates of the Caribbeanses), James Caan (The Godfather I-II, Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), much more), Christensen (Life as a House (2001), Shattered Glass (2003), Star Wars II-III), Julie Christie (my faves of many: Shampoo (1975), her Oscar winning Darling (1965), and her Oscar-nominated McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Afterglow (1997), and Away From Her (2006)), Bradley Cooper (The Hangover, He's Just Not That Into You), Drea de Matteo (best known as Adriana on The Sopranos), Andy Garcia (among many: Godfather III (1990), Hero (1992), Ocean's 11-13, and a personal favorite, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)), Irrfan Khan (I keep telling you all how much I loved Nair's The Namesake (2006), and he was featured in Slumdog Millionaire, among many others), Shia LaBeouf (both Transformers movies, a third coming up), Cloris Leachman (I could write a whole column just on her; for this I will choose TV: Mary Tyler Moore (1970-77), Malcolm in the Middle (2001-6), as the evil grandma; and movies: The Last Picture Show (1971), Young Frankenstein (1974), Spanglish (2004)), Olivia Thirlby (delightful in Juno (2007), Snow Angels (2007) and The Wackness), Eli Wallach (his segment is with Leachman and he also deserves a whole column, but he's getting The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966), Godfather III, The Two Jakes (1990), and Mistress (1992)), and many more.
Directors were: Fatih Akin (from Germany), Yvan Attal (an Israeli who lives in France, My Wife is an Actress (2001)), Allen Hughes (one of the (American) Hughes Brothers, Dead Presidents (1995)), Shunji Iwai (Japan), Wen Jiang (China), Shekhar Kapur (India, directed Cate Blanchett in both Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007); he filled in here for Anthony Minghella, who, before his death in March 2008 personally asked Kapur to take over the Christie segment), Joshua Marston (U.S., Maria Full of Grace (2004)), Nair (India, The Namesake, Salaam Bombay! (1988), Monsoon Wedding (2001), and a segment of another brilliant collection of shorts called 11'09"01 - September 11 AKA 11 minutes, 9 seconds, 1 image), Brett Ratner (U.S., three Rush Hour movies, Family Man (2000)), and Portman. Randall Balsmeyer, a title designer and visual effects guy, is credited with directing the transitions, and, from a look at the cast members, that was more than a little work. All of these directors except Balsmeyer, Hughes, and Nair are also actors.
Apparently, when this was shown at The Toronto Film Festival in September 2008, it had two more segments. One was another directorial debut, by actress Scarlett Johansson, starring Kevin Bacon, and the other was directed by a Russian, Andrei Zvyahintsev, with Carla Gugino and Goran Visnjic (ER), but they didn't make the final cut. We can unreservedly recommend seeing this, perhaps more than once.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Three Monkeys (Üç maymun - 2008)
This Turkish movie won Nuri Bilge Ceylan the Best Director prize at Cannes and was nominated for the Palme d'Or but we found it just a bit difficult to follow. In film school they taught us to throw out some of the exposition because our audience is smarter than we think. Maybe Jack & I aren't smart enough to follow the Turks, or, at least, this one. The story tended to jump ahead from time to time, and then there were (possible) fantasy sequences, leaving us scratching our heads and saying wait, what? Perhaps if we had seen this on the big screen in a theatre we would have concentrated better, but streamed from netflix onto the laptop, then hooked up to the TV, with pixillation in the dark scenes, and the cat wandering in and out (and then an interruption of 3 hours when we had to leave) was too much. The title comes from the monkeys who hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil; but the people in the movie all had their evil ways. The online reviews have mostly been good (78% at rottentomatoes, 7.4 on imdb) so I guess we were just too distracted to enjoy it. I imagine the cinematography would have been great on a proper DVD on in a proper theatre. Turkey has submitted this as its entry for Oscar for foreign film (I have no idea how many contenders there are). This played for one night at the university in the fall--one night when we were unavailable--and I had been wanting to see it ever since. I think you serious film lovers should see it and tell me what you think, please.
The Vicious Kind (2009)
I don't know why imdb lists this as a comedy. It's pretty good, but not one bit funny! It's intense and cruel, with a few similarities to Mike Nichols' Closer (2004): there's a lot of mean-spiritedness, there are four main characters, Natalie Portman wears a pink wig in Closer and I'm pretty sure Brittany Snow is wearing a jet black one in Vicious Kind. Snow has come a long way from the Aryan princess Amber von Tussle in Hairspray (2007) and other teen roles, and here she plays Emma, the apparently vapid girlfriend of Peter (Alex Frost, who was featured in Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003), an ensemble piece set in a high school on the eve of a Columbine-type event). J.K. Simmons (I just wrote about him in Up in the Air) is great as always as Donald, Peter and Caleb's father, and gets more to do in this movie than usual. But the heavy lifting goes to Adam Scott (half of one of the unhappy and desperate couples in HBO's Tell me You Love Me, plus a long list of more credits), whose unhappy and desperate Caleb is a misogynist and misanthrope--he just hates everyone, particularly himself.
This is writer/director Lee Toland Krieger's first feature. He started as an assistant to Neil LaBute, who, to me, is a master of mean (In the Company of Men (1997), Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), The Shape of Things (2003), Lakeview Terrace) and served as an executive producer on this one. It won 4 film festival awards and has been nominated for two Independent Spirits, for Scott's acting and for Krieger's screenplay. Shot on location in snowy Connecticut, I was moved to look up that state's smoking laws, as Caleb always has a cigarette in his mouth. Either it was shot before October 1, 2003, or they decided to ignore the trends and have him smoke on private sets. Not a happy holiday picture (perhaps the title was a tip-off?), this is a slice of a seriously dysfunctional life and I suggest you arrange to do something fun after you see it, if you do.
This is writer/director Lee Toland Krieger's first feature. He started as an assistant to Neil LaBute, who, to me, is a master of mean (In the Company of Men (1997), Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), The Shape of Things (2003), Lakeview Terrace) and served as an executive producer on this one. It won 4 film festival awards and has been nominated for two Independent Spirits, for Scott's acting and for Krieger's screenplay. Shot on location in snowy Connecticut, I was moved to look up that state's smoking laws, as Caleb always has a cigarette in his mouth. Either it was shot before October 1, 2003, or they decided to ignore the trends and have him smoke on private sets. Not a happy holiday picture (perhaps the title was a tip-off?), this is a slice of a seriously dysfunctional life and I suggest you arrange to do something fun after you see it, if you do.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Up in the Air (2009)
You would have to look far and wide to find a reviewer who didn't like this one, and Jack, Amy, Rachel, and I vote with the majority. The hype brought dozens of moviegoers to the early opening at 2:00 PM on a work day. I loved director Jason (son of Ivan, who directed the comedies Ghost Busters (1984), Legal Eagles (1986), Dave (1993), and, of course, Meatballs (1979) and Stripes (1981), among others) Reitman's other two movies, Thank You for Smoking (2005) and Juno (2007), and this shares more than a few elements of both.
The leads are cynical yet hopeful and Anna Kendrick's Natalie reminded me of Ellen Page's Juno: petite, smart, and mouthy. George Clooney (see The Men Who Stare at Goats for my recent comments) is flying high with this role (the NY Film Critics split his acting award between this and Fantastic Mr. Fox) and I can't imagine anyone else occupying the character Ryan, who fires people for a living, so fully. I did not see Kendrick in the Twilight movies, but did enjoy her as the debater in the excellent Rocket Science (2007), and neither tightly wound character prepared me for seeing her on Letterman the other night with a lush mane of curly hair and a tiny little dress. Vera Farmiga (last year's powerful The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Departed (2006), more) fills out the main cast as the lovely Alex.
The movie was adapted by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (Turner adapted the 1974 movie The Longest Yard into a vehicle for Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, and Burt Reynolds, which helped me while away a plane ride a few years ago) from a novel of the same name by Walter Kirn (also wrote the novel Thumbsucker, from which the entertaining and edgy 2005 movie was adapted). In fact, every filmmaker above, except Ivan Reitman, has won or been nominated several times for this movie (here's my list in progress). Two interesting trivia bits from imdb (the link has a third bit that I consider to be a spoiler): 1. almost all of the people (not Zach Galifianakis (HBO's Bored to Death, The Hangover, more) whose character's firing is in the trailer, nor J.K. Simmons (Juno's dad, Burn After Reading, I Love You, Man, all Spider-Man movies, others) who are fired in the movie are real people who were laid off. The filmmakers placed ads in St. Louis and Detroit looking for participants in a "documentary." 2. Reitman began work on the movie in 2002, but his other two features came along first, which gave this one the advantage of being released in a real-live recession (or use the term of your choice).
Jason Bateman (TV's Arrested Development, Juno, Hancock (2008), Extract, more) is good in it, comedy guy Danny McBride (Tropic Thunder, and others that I liked less) is, too, and, as Ryan's sisters, Melanie Lynskey (Shattered Glass (2003), Away We Go, and many others) and stage actress Amy Morton provide exactly the right touches. The aerial photography is great (I, too, like to look out the window in airplanes). Apparently Jason Reitman flies a lot and personally perfected some of the methods to get through security checkpoints shown in the movie. Product placement: American Airlines, Hilton hotels, and Hertz are featured prominently. This inspired me to go to the desk afterwards to make sure that I got my points and free Wednesday popcorn coupon even though I have misplaced my theatre's loyalty card.
Bonus: a song during the latter part of the credits has a cute verbal intro. I suggest you stay to hear it, even though you can hear a live version from my link. Some people are upset it may not be eligible for an Oscar, nor will the Brad Smith song in this article and clip at the bottom..
2009 awards season
The awards are coming in fast and furious (but no sequels for F&F this year) (I think). I have an ongoing list of awards and nominations, sorted by movie title. It is obsessive and compulsive, but orderly. I've posted it on my alternate blog, the babetteflixlist, with live links to my posts about the ones I have seen. You will see that this list is incomplete. Obsessive, check. Compulsive, maybe not so much. I will be adding more when I can.
So far the frontrunners are Crazy Heart, An Education, Hurt Locker, Nine, Precious, A Serious Man, and Up in the Air. Some of the other ones sound very interesting to me and I hope to see Amreeka, Broken Embraces, The Last Station, The Maid, The Messenger, A Prophet, Red Cliff, Séraphine, A Single Man, Three Monkeys, White Ribbon, and Zero Bridge. Sorry, Clay, don't think I'll subject myself to the agony of Antichrist, though I was looking forward to linking some really scathing reviews we found in Philadelphia. I'll give you this one here.
Bookmark the list and check back from time to time. I will do my best to update it. I have positioned it after the alphabetical list. And, around the Oscars, I'll move it to this blog.
So far the frontrunners are Crazy Heart, An Education, Hurt Locker, Nine, Precious, A Serious Man, and Up in the Air. Some of the other ones sound very interesting to me and I hope to see Amreeka, Broken Embraces, The Last Station, The Maid, The Messenger, A Prophet, Red Cliff, Séraphine, A Single Man, Three Monkeys, White Ribbon, and Zero Bridge. Sorry, Clay, don't think I'll subject myself to the agony of Antichrist, though I was looking forward to linking some really scathing reviews we found in Philadelphia. I'll give you this one here.
Bookmark the list and check back from time to time. I will do my best to update it. I have positioned it after the alphabetical list. And, around the Oscars, I'll move it to this blog.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Invictus (2009)
Although it was overly long (2:12 should have been cut to 1:50 or so) Jon, Jack, and I enjoyed and were inspired by Morgan Freeman's Nelson Mandela in director Clint Eastwood's newest saga connecting the South African rugby team's World Cup competition to the end of apartheid. Invictus is starting to rack up nominations and awards in this year's races. Freeman (Oscar winner for Million Dollar Baby (2004), good in everything, notably Driving Miss Daisy (1989), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Se7en (1995), Nurse Betty (2000), Bruce Almighty (2003), Batman Begins (2005), The Bucket List (2007), and The Dark Knight) had apparently wanted to do a Mandela project for some time before journalist/author John Carlin told Freeman about his book, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation, and then Freeman brought Eastwood, his Oscar winning director/co-star of Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby, on board. See this link for more. Eastwood has become one of the grand old men of American cinema and has his own pile of accomplishments (Oscars for Unforgiven, Mystic River (2003), Million Dollar Baby, and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006); the wonderful Charlie Parker bio-pic Bird (1988), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), the Iwo Jima companion piece Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Changeling, and Gran Torino, to name a few). Matt Damon (I covered him in The Informant!) was fine. His character was a simple man, an athlete and team captain whose world view did change over the course of the movie, but that meant he moved from acting respectful to President Mandela to actually agreeing with him, and didn't really seem any different (here's a story about Damon meeting the character he portrays). The one who changed the most was Mandela's head of security, well played by Jason Tshabalala, and the rest of the newly-integrated team.
The music and photography were superb, as to be expected from the filmmakers and locations. I especially liked two aerial shots of gigantic airplanes, probably computer generated. I just wish the movie had been shorter. I suspect only rugby fans will love the last 15 minutes. Apparently I picked such a good time for my bathroom break that Jon thought I had checked a certain website. This was news to me, and now, fellow movie lovers, I have found it. It's called RunPee.com (I can't even type it without giggling), soon to offer mobile phone apps that will vibrate when you should run (or print the times before you leave!). Invictus is the first movie listed, and five break times are suggested. However, I don't agree with the 56 minute break, and my break wasn't there. And I make no promises of watching the clock to give you better break times.
One reviewer said that Eastwood wanted so much for this film to be taken seriously that he gave it a Latin name. Jon said he got a little tired of Eastwood telling us when to be inspired. "Next thing you know," he said, "Clint Eastwood will be making a Robert De Niro Christmas movie," a dig at Everybody's Fine, which he was shocked we didn't hate. But, Jon insists, he liked Invictus. And we did, too (as have the majority of critics--Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 78%). As I said, it was inspiring. Just right for a holiday movie with the family.
The music and photography were superb, as to be expected from the filmmakers and locations. I especially liked two aerial shots of gigantic airplanes, probably computer generated. I just wish the movie had been shorter. I suspect only rugby fans will love the last 15 minutes. Apparently I picked such a good time for my bathroom break that Jon thought I had checked a certain website. This was news to me, and now, fellow movie lovers, I have found it. It's called RunPee.com (I can't even type it without giggling), soon to offer mobile phone apps that will vibrate when you should run (or print the times before you leave!). Invictus is the first movie listed, and five break times are suggested. However, I don't agree with the 56 minute break, and my break wasn't there. And I make no promises of watching the clock to give you better break times.
One reviewer said that Eastwood wanted so much for this film to be taken seriously that he gave it a Latin name. Jon said he got a little tired of Eastwood telling us when to be inspired. "Next thing you know," he said, "Clint Eastwood will be making a Robert De Niro Christmas movie," a dig at Everybody's Fine, which he was shocked we didn't hate. But, Jon insists, he liked Invictus. And we did, too (as have the majority of critics--Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 78%). As I said, it was inspiring. Just right for a holiday movie with the family.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Brothers (2009)
This is really good, though tense. The children in this are so convincing I suddenly had flashbacks of director Jim Sheridan's In America (2002) and his debut, My Left Foot (1989), which had wonderful performances by young people as well (and his In the Name of the Father (1993) and The Boxer (1997) were great, too). Bailee Madison, as the older daughter Isabelle, is 10 now and portrays great ranges of emotion without even speaking, and Taylor Geare, as Maggie, shows wisdom and cuteness without appearing to try (her imdb resumé omits her real age, but says that she will be in a segment directed by Natalie Portman of New York, I Love You (2009)). Portman (who made a splashy film debut around age 13 in The Professional (1994), and was wonderful in Zach Braff's quirky Garden State (2004), Mike Nichols' intense Closer (2004) (which earned her an Oscar nomination), and her segment, acting only, of Paris, je t'aime (2006 - a sister film of New York, I Love You); yes, she was in Star Wars II-III, but I didn't like those) plays their mother in this drama about two brothers, one of whom is her husband. Tobey Maguire (first came to my attention in the searing The Ice Storm (1997), was great in Pleasantville (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999), Wonder Boys (2000), Seabiscuit (2003), and three Spider-Mans. 4 and 5 are in the works!) is the career Army captain who is presumed dead in Afghanistan, and Jake Gyllenhaal (I've liked him in everything of his I've seen: Donnie Darko (2001), Moonlight Mile (2002), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), of course Brokeback Mountain (2005), which got him his Oscar nomination, Proof (2005), Jarhead (2005), and Zodiac (2007)) is his brother, the screw-up ex-con. Sam Shepherd (I particularly liked his 1980's work--Resurrection (1980) is on my desert island list, Frances (1982), The Right Stuff (1983), Crimes of the Heart (1987), Baby Boom (1987), Steel Magnolias (1989)--all good stuff) also turns in a great performance as the flawed father of the brothers. Despite seeing An Education before this, we did not recognize star Carey Mulligan playing the wife of the Army private (she said her scene was shot late at night and was mostly improvised). Brothers is adapted from the Danish movie Brødre (2004), which piled up a bunch of nominations and wins at festivals worldwide. There is a lot of snow in this one, as one might expect in Denmark, yet it was shot entirely in New Mexico. This version features some songs by U2 and Bono (also prominent in Sheridan's earlier work). We enjoyed it thoroughly.
The Damned United (2009)
Playing on only one screen here, this movie mixes strong personalities; vintage (1969-74) sets, wardrobe, hair, and vehicles (the buses are fabulous); with soccer, or football, as they call it everywhere else in the world; and comes up with some good entertainment in this story about Brian Clough, manager of the Leeds United soccer team.
There is a long spoiler-filled list of goofs and factual errors on imdb but they didn't trouble Jack and me (although I did wonder about the Evel Knievel line, noted now as an anachronism). I see on wikipedia that people have criticized the author of the book on which the screenplay is based (David Peace: The Damned Utd) for inaccuracies, so we needn't blame the adapter Peter Morgan (nominated for Oscars and Screenwriters Guild Awards for the original screenplay of The Queen (2006) and adaptation of Frost/Nixon; and also winning two BAFTA, or British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards for the unforgettable The Last King of Scotland (2006), which starred Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, and another for The Deal (2003)), nor the director Tom Hooper (BBC's EastEnders, ITV's Prime Suspect, HBO's Elizabeth I and John Adams). Michael Sheen (played Tony Blair in both The Deal and The Queen, and David Frost in Frost/Nixon) turns in a good performance as the cocky Clough and I always like Timothy Spall (some of my faves: Secrets & Lies (1996), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), and many of you know him as Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter series), who plays Clough's wingman Peter Taylor.
Colm Meany plays Clough's nemesis, Don Revie (one of my favorite characters of all time is Meany's supportive father to an unwed pregnant girl in The Snapper (1993), he was also a great dad in the cover band saga The Commitments (1991), funny in The Van (1996), and contributed his skill to the ensemble piece Intermission in 2003, among many credits) with a perfect combination of arrogance and scorn, and Jim Broadbent (Oscar for the wonderful Iris (2001); played Gilbert, as in Gilbert & Sullivan, to Spall's "Mikado" in Topsy Turvy (1999); was a foil to Brenda Blethyn and Jane Horrocks in the must-see Little Voice (1998); was Bridget Jones' dad both times; was great in The Crying Game and Enchanted April (both 1992); Vera Drake (2004), and as the title character in When Did You Last See Your Father? (2007)) lends his considerable talents as the team's owner. Stephen Graham, the player with the bleached perm, was in, among others, Public Enemies (as Baby-Face Nelson), Snatch (2000) by Guy Ritchie, and Filth & Wisdom by Madonna, Ritchie's more famous ex-wife. I knew he looked familiar. Yanks may have a wee bit of trouble with the English accents, but Jack and I got most of it and enjoyed the movie.
Forgot to say: the rotten UK weather and soggy fields were a nice touch.
Forgot to say: the rotten UK weather and soggy fields were a nice touch.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
LA, Boston, and Washington Film Critics Awards, AFI, and British Independent Film Awards
Monday, December 7, 2009
Everybody's Fine (2009)
We expected something a bit more rip-roaring from Kirk Jones, the director of the hilarious British comedy Waking Ned Devine, but instead got a thoughtful family drama, a remake of a 1990 Italian movie of the same name (or Stanno tutti bene). This family, the Goodes, says everybody's fine when they aren't, and that could be the reason for the understated roles of some talented actors.
Robert De Niro (Oscars for Raging Bull (1980) and The Godfather: Part II (1974), and some of my favorites are Brazil (1985), Cape Fear (1991), This Boy's Life (1993), Flawless (1999), as well as his comedic roles in Meet the Parents and the sequel (2000, 2004, and one expected in 2010), and What Just Happened) plays Frank Goode, is a recent widower who is disappointed when his four grown children all cancel on a summer family reunion, and he decides to surprise each of them, traveling by train and bus from Elmira, NY, to Manhattan, Chicago, Denver, and Las Vegas (shooting locations were New York and various places in Connecticut--the house and office in "Chicago" are spectacular). Lovely Kate Beckinsale (first came to my attention in the delightful Cold Comfort Farm (1995), and was good in Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco (1998), Laurel Canyon (2002), and more) is bland daughter Amy in Chicago. Sam Rockwell (I last wrote about him for Moon) is equally under-utilized as brother Robert. Drew Barrymore (covered in Whip It) brings much-needed warmth to the movie as daughter Rosie in Vegas. We like the kid, Lucien Maisel, who plays Amy's son and looks a bit like Bill Maher. The appearance of the younger versions of Frank's children is a clever touch and nicely executed. Young Amy is played by Kate Beckinsale's own daughter (with actor Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon)) Lily Sheen, who, like her mother, has learned to speak with an American accent despite being a Brit. Other cameos: Amy's husband is played by Damian Young, known to Jack and me as Bill, Karen's almost-husband in Showtime's Californication; and Rosie's friend is Katherine Moennig, from another Showtime series, The L Word (she played Shane).
This isn't comedy and it's not De Niro's usual life and death depth. In fact, the actor himself agrees with me, that he should have shown a little bit more intensity, in this interview. But Paul McCartney numbers among the movie's fans, and wrote a song specifically for it after seeing a screening (here's more). The soundtrack is by Dario Marianelli, Oscar winner for Atonement (I love Briony's theme--listen to clips here). There are going to be a lot of must-see movies this season; though this isn't one of them, it was enjoyable and we didn't dislike it.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Romance & Cigarettes (2005)
After the mayhem of 2012, we wanted to watch something funny and, we hoped, smart. We picked this netflix DVD, written and directed by John Turturro, which we thought was awful and wonderful at the same time. I will attempt to explain why (leaving out my usual actors' bios).
Let's start with the cast and their real ages. James Gandolfini (born 1961)'s character is married to Susan Sarandon (1946), and they have three daughters, Aida Turturro (1962 - played Gandolfini's sister in The Sopranos), Mary-Louise Parker (1964), and Mandy Moore (1984). He is having an affair with Kate Winslet (1975), and Moore's character with Bobby Cannavale (1971). Winslet's character looks and talks very dirty, with a strange accent that I believe is supposed to be from northern Scotland but I can't be sure. One reviewer said that this movie just proves that Winslet is good in everything she does. She, like all the actors in the movie, hams and mugs to the max. Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Eddie Izzard, Elaine Stritch, and Amy Sedaris also have supporting roles.
Have I mentioned that it's a musical? Huh? The music swells, sounding very familiar, and then the actors sing along with the original (in most cases) vocalists. Oh, and occasionally firemen dance around the street in Queens. John Turturro has a forgettable part in this (Male Dancer & Singer), but does more in the other two movies he directed, Mac (1992), which won the Palme d'or at Cannes, and Illuminata (1998), which was nominated and also featured Sarandon, Walken, and his cousin Aida.
This one was shot in 2004, and finally released late in 2007 because he put his own money into it. It looked vaguely familiar to me, and I realized after a half hour that I had seen it but remembered only a few things, mainly Winslet's performance. If you borrow or rent it, have a back-up movie planned just in case. But you may be joining the cult following that this crazy project has inspired.
2012 (2009)
Judy, whose company did some of the special effects, said this was worth seeing on the big screen, especially "when L.A. falls into the ocean." Jack and I laughed, cringed, and generally enjoyed a good part of our 3 hours in the theatre (movie is 2:38). It's not really supposed to be a comedy--perhaps it takes itself a teeny bit too seriously. But, thanks, Judy, the SFX were spectacular. And the cast! Chiwetel Ejiofor (I'll list some faves for each. Kinky Boots (2005), Melinda and Melinda (2004), Tsunami: The Aftermath (HBO - 2006), Children of Men (2006), American Gangster (2007), and especially Talk to Me (2007)), John Cusack (The Grifters (1990), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Grosse Point Blank (1997), Pushing Tin and Being John Malkovich (both 1999), and, of course, High Fidelity (2000)), Oliver Platt (Funny Bones (1995), Pieces of April, and the depraved lawyer on Showtime's Huff (2004-06)), Danny Glover (Color Purple (1985), Grand Canyon (1991), 3 Lethal Weapon movies (1987-92), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), and Blindness), Amanda Peet (Igby Goes Down (2002), Something's Gotta Give (2003), Melinda and Melinda, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (TV - 2006-07)), Thandie Newton (Crash (2004), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Run Fatboy Run (2007), and How to Lose Friends & Alienate People), George Segal (he's done so much, but I have three words and a number: Flirting with Disaster (1996)), and the only one really using his comic timing, Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers (1994), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), No Country for Old Men (2007), and the hilarious Zombieland) as a crazy person. Gordon, the guy in the scrubs, is played by Tom McCarthy, who has done some acting, but is also the writer/director of two fabulous features, The Station Agent (2003) and The Visitor, both of which won him some Independent Spirit Awards. And fellow fans of Psych on the USA network will recognize "1987 Shawn," Liam James, as Cusack's son.
Perhaps the biggest problem was that it seemed like nearly an hour went by before anything blew up. I guess they wanted to give all those talented and expensive actors something to do. Then the earth's crust began to crumble, a city here, a mountain there, and the filmmakers took care to include recognizable landmarks amid the rubble, making it fun for anyone who knows the various locations. The stunt flying was great, too, and it became the disaster movie it was supposed to be. Last night David Letterman quipped the movie was "like a documentary," as Peet mugged for a camera in her face, demonstrating what it was like to look scared in front of a blue screen. We saw this movie because effects like these are best enjoyed on a great big screen, and the story dragged enough that we could stagger our bathroom breaks to fill each other in on the story if necessary. You can, too, but, if you have a big screen at home, you can wait for the DVD and use your pause button and your own facilities.
Perhaps the biggest problem was that it seemed like nearly an hour went by before anything blew up. I guess they wanted to give all those talented and expensive actors something to do. Then the earth's crust began to crumble, a city here, a mountain there, and the filmmakers took care to include recognizable landmarks amid the rubble, making it fun for anyone who knows the various locations. The stunt flying was great, too, and it became the disaster movie it was supposed to be. Last night David Letterman quipped the movie was "like a documentary," as Peet mugged for a camera in her face, demonstrating what it was like to look scared in front of a blue screen. We saw this movie because effects like these are best enjoyed on a great big screen, and the story dragged enough that we could stagger our bathroom breaks to fill each other in on the story if necessary. You can, too, but, if you have a big screen at home, you can wait for the DVD and use your pause button and your own facilities.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Coco Before Chanel (Coco avant Chanel) (2009)
The good news: it's French; the locations, especially the country estate, are lush; so is the music--composer Alexandre Desplat (nominated for Benjamin Button and The Queen (2006), also wrote for Chéri, Lust, Caution (2007), The Painted Veil (2006), Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), among others) won a World Soundtrack award; the yummy Alessandro Nivola (Frances McDormand's "younger man" in Laurel Canyon (2002)) is in it; actress Emmanuelle Devos, as Coco's first society friend, has some funny lines; and the hats are pretty great. The bad news: it drags (even at 1 hour 45 minutes it seemed too long); the color palette of the wardrobe is drab until the very last sequence; we never get to really see the first dress that Coco designs (that really cussed me off) as it is only shown on her while she is dancing with Nivola who blocks most of her; the fashion show at the end is so arty, with mirrors, that we don't really get to see much of that fashion either; Audrey Tatou can be charming or annoying--guess how I reacted here. Tatou was adorable in Amélie (2001), L'auberge espagnole (2002), and Priceless (Hors de prix - 2006). In The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Dirty Pretty Things (2002) her roles could have been played by anyone, and she was downright irritating in He Loves Me...He Loves Me Not (À la folie...pas de tout - 2002), though, because she played a stalker, perhaps that was intentional. Much is made of Coco's refusal to wear corsets, like her friend. But her friend is voluptuous and Tatou is skinny (trivia--the even skinnier Keira Knightley was apparently considered for the role). Some people have liked it. I didn't hate it, but it could have been much better.
Independent Feature Project: NY awards, LA nominations
The first major awards are out, The Independent Feature Project's Gotham Independent Film Awards. The nominations were announced a while back and the winners came out today. I like the category called Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You. See this link for a list of the New York winners with short descriptions of the movies.
A few hours later, the Independent Spirit Award nominees were announced. This ceremony will now take place Friday March 5, two nights before the Oscars, Sunday March 7. Here's the press release with a list by category a couple of screens down. I like the category of the John Cassavetes Award for the best feature made for under $500,000. Unfortunately, these are the hardest to see outside of film festivals and the biggest cities.
The Independent Feature Project honors, surprise, independent films. Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler crossed over last year. I imagine Precious will this year and who knows what else?
I've started my list of awards sorted by film but it's not done yet. I may post it when I've entered the IFP awards or I may wait. If you have an opinion, let me know. You can contact me via the box on the right side of the page if you don't already know my address.
A few hours later, the Independent Spirit Award nominees were announced. This ceremony will now take place Friday March 5, two nights before the Oscars, Sunday March 7. Here's the press release with a list by category a couple of screens down. I like the category of the John Cassavetes Award for the best feature made for under $500,000. Unfortunately, these are the hardest to see outside of film festivals and the biggest cities.
The Independent Feature Project honors, surprise, independent films. Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler crossed over last year. I imagine Precious will this year and who knows what else?
I've started my list of awards sorted by film but it's not done yet. I may post it when I've entered the IFP awards or I may wait. If you have an opinion, let me know. You can contact me via the box on the right side of the page if you don't already know my address.
Monday, November 30, 2009
#3 rule in movies
Any movie located in New York City will have a shot of the lead actor walking on a crowded sidewalk, looking all the more crowded by the use of a zoom lens that makes the other people seem closer and reduces the depth of field, or sharpness around the actor. See all rules.
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
This is the other movie we saw over Thanksgiving weekend, and chose it because we love Wes Anderson and George Clooney. It was cute, and if you have kids who will watch a movie on the big screen, definitely take them. The violence is cartoonish and there is only one death, though the mean humans try very hard to kill all the foxes and all their furry friends. I've enjoyed every movie that Anderson has directed: Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998-my favorite), The Royal Tenebaums (2001-next favorite), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), and The Darjeeling Limited (2007)). He wrote them all, and this one he adapted with the help of Noah Baumbach (writer/director of The Squid and the Whale (2005) and Margot at the Wedding (2007), as well as co-writer of Zissou) from a story by Roald Dahl.
In the story, Mr. Fox is self-confident and cool, but he is super-cool, i.e. Clooney-ized, in this version. I wrote a lot about Clooney in my post about his last one The Men Who Stare at Goats. We're not sure why Anderson bothered to cast Meryl Streep (I wrote a mini-bio for Julie & Julia) as Mrs. Fox, as she didn't have a lot to do, but, hey, why not? In fact, the voice cast was impressive: Anderson regulars Jason Schwartzman (see I Heart Huckabees (2004), his cousin Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006), and Bored to Death now on HBO) as Ash Fox, Bill Murray (see Ghost Busters (1984), What About Bob? (1991), Groundhog Day (1993), Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003), and Broken Flowers (2005)) as Badger, and Owen Wilson (great in Meet the Parents (2000) and Tenenbaums) as Coach Skip; plus Willem Dafoe (so many...I choose Wild at Heart (1990), The English Patient (1996), Auto Focus (2002), and Inside Man (2006)..he will have nine 2009 releases, including the controversial Antichrist) as Rat, Michael Gambon (to me he'll always be The Singing Detective (BBC-1986), and to others Harry Potter's Albus Dumbledore (forever)) as Bean (a human), Sofia's brother Roman Coppola as Squirrel Contractor, Garth Jennings (director of Son of Rambow) as Bean's son, Adrien Brody (loved Liberty Heights (1999), Son of Sam (1999), The Pianist (2002-won Oscar), and really liked Hollywoodland (2006), The Brothers Bloom, and Cadillac Records) as Field Mouse, chef Mario Batali as Rabbit, Brian Cox (Running with Scissors (2006), lots more) as Action 12 Reporter, and Anderson himself as Weasel. All this should please the adults and the kids won't give a rat's cuss. That's an amusing convention of this movie. There is no profanity, only the word "cuss," as in, don't cuss with me, and what the cuss? Our ticket seller saw fit to warn us that the animation was like nothing else he had seen. It is stop motion with handmade puppets. This wonderful 2-1/2 minute featurette will describe it for you. If you have time, I suggest you go deeper and watch some of the other videos linked on that site.
We enjoyed the movie and recommend it to parents to take their kids (the DVD is bound to be awesome, if they include the tech stuff), and for adults looking for something light and entertaining. I've added it to my list of Movies to Watch With Your Kids.
In the story, Mr. Fox is self-confident and cool, but he is super-cool, i.e. Clooney-ized, in this version. I wrote a lot about Clooney in my post about his last one The Men Who Stare at Goats. We're not sure why Anderson bothered to cast Meryl Streep (I wrote a mini-bio for Julie & Julia) as Mrs. Fox, as she didn't have a lot to do, but, hey, why not? In fact, the voice cast was impressive: Anderson regulars Jason Schwartzman (see I Heart Huckabees (2004), his cousin Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006), and Bored to Death now on HBO) as Ash Fox, Bill Murray (see Ghost Busters (1984), What About Bob? (1991), Groundhog Day (1993), Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003), and Broken Flowers (2005)) as Badger, and Owen Wilson (great in Meet the Parents (2000) and Tenenbaums) as Coach Skip; plus Willem Dafoe (so many...I choose Wild at Heart (1990), The English Patient (1996), Auto Focus (2002), and Inside Man (2006)..he will have nine 2009 releases, including the controversial Antichrist) as Rat, Michael Gambon (to me he'll always be The Singing Detective (BBC-1986), and to others Harry Potter's Albus Dumbledore (forever)) as Bean (a human), Sofia's brother Roman Coppola as Squirrel Contractor, Garth Jennings (director of Son of Rambow) as Bean's son, Adrien Brody (loved Liberty Heights (1999), Son of Sam (1999), The Pianist (2002-won Oscar), and really liked Hollywoodland (2006), The Brothers Bloom, and Cadillac Records) as Field Mouse, chef Mario Batali as Rabbit, Brian Cox (Running with Scissors (2006), lots more) as Action 12 Reporter, and Anderson himself as Weasel. All this should please the adults and the kids won't give a rat's cuss. That's an amusing convention of this movie. There is no profanity, only the word "cuss," as in, don't cuss with me, and what the cuss? Our ticket seller saw fit to warn us that the animation was like nothing else he had seen. It is stop motion with handmade puppets. This wonderful 2-1/2 minute featurette will describe it for you. If you have time, I suggest you go deeper and watch some of the other videos linked on that site.
We enjoyed the movie and recommend it to parents to take their kids (the DVD is bound to be awesome, if they include the tech stuff), and for adults looking for something light and entertaining. I've added it to my list of Movies to Watch With Your Kids.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Despite all the buzz and favorable word of mouth by people we know, Jack and I were not eager to see this, afraid it would be awfully depressing. But we left the theatre not drained but entertained. There was some humor and hope in this bleak tale of some of the saddest circumstances one could imagine taking place in our very own society. In case you've been hiding under a rock, I'll fill you in: in 1987, 16 year old Claireece Precious Jones is not only fat, she is pregnant, lives in Harlem with her sadistic abusive mother, and is having a hard time in school and in life. When it gets too rough, Precious escapes into her fantasy life, starting right at the beginning of the movie. And, though one would think she would give up, she doesn't. Earlier this week I happened upon David Letterman's interview with the star, Gabourey Sidibe, who is sweet and bubbly and said that watching the movie would make viewers happy about their own lives (here she is on Ellen, but be warned, there is a mild spoiler in the interview). That's when I began to relax about seeing it and I'm very glad we did. Now 26 years old, Sidibe had not acted before but has another project in the can and possibly a third in pre-production. Mo'Nique, best known for loud and predictable comedy, delivers the most amazing performance in the movie, as Precious' mother. Her voice is low and scary, because we know that she can blow at any moment. She is the winner of one of the 8 awards so far for this movie, and is a favorite for an Oscar nomination. Mo'Nique was in the only other movie that Lee Daniels directed, Shadowboxer (2005--a very good, very nasty and violent piece starring Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding, Jr.), playing a character named Precious. Daniels also was one of the producers of Monster's Ball (2001), which won an Oscar for Halle Berry. The rest of the supporting cast is good, especially Precious' young classmates, as well as Paula Patton (Deja Vu (2006)) as Ms. Rain. That's singer Lenny Kravitz as the male nurse, and, as you probably know, Mariah Carey as the social worker. Sapphire has written one novel and this is it, published in 1997, and Geoffrey Fletcher, who wrote the screenplay, had also not written anything before. If not for Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry putting their names on this project as executive producers a month after the Sundance awards, this movie would not be playing on 12 screens in my hometown. But it's really good and people should see it.
Maybe you know how we are about the end credits--we stay and watch them to the end. Jack & I were baffled yesterday because the closing credits faded in, and then, just as they reached full brightness, quickly faded out, making them difficult to read, nay, impossible when the practice here in the heartland is to turn up the lights during that time (and why are the credits in parentheses?). The opening credits, however, were clever, with phonetic spellings of the "street" pronunciations of the names and words. And, as usual, there are a few more songs in the movie than the 12 released on the soundtrack and the one listed on imdb (including Do It by Kravitz, perhaps from his next album--here's a link about it). Lastly, I must mention the disgusting food in the movie. It may cause you to crave fresh vegetables.
Maybe you know how we are about the end credits--we stay and watch them to the end. Jack & I were baffled yesterday because the closing credits faded in, and then, just as they reached full brightness, quickly faded out, making them difficult to read, nay, impossible when the practice here in the heartland is to turn up the lights during that time (and why are the credits in parentheses?). The opening credits, however, were clever, with phonetic spellings of the "street" pronunciations of the names and words. And, as usual, there are a few more songs in the movie than the 12 released on the soundtrack and the one listed on imdb (including Do It by Kravitz, perhaps from his next album--here's a link about it). Lastly, I must mention the disgusting food in the movie. It may cause you to crave fresh vegetables.
An Education (2009)
This is the first of three movies Jack & I saw over Thanksgiving weekend. We chose it because it was only playing on one screen, and a good choice it was. Winner of two Sundance awards in January, and nominated for 6 British Independent Film Awards, this engaging tale of a school-smart 16 year old in 1961 who falls for a man in his 30's was entertaining from start to finish. It's a British film, adapted by British Nick Hornby (he adapted his book Fever Pitch into a British movie of the same name (1997) about soccer, which someone else adapted into an American movie (2005) about baseball, plus two more of his novels were also adapted into delightful movies, High Fidelity (2000) and About a Boy (2002)), from a Brit's memoir (Lynn Barber), with a mostly British cast (more on that later), and directed by a Dane (Lone Scherfig). I love researching these posts, because now I realize that I have seen and enjoyed two of Scherfig's previous movies, both of which she wrote as well as directed: Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002) and Italian for Beginners (Italiensk for begynderetalian - 2000), the latter of which was the highest grossing Danish film ever, according to imdb.
In this one, (then) 22 year old Carey Mulligan is endearing and totally believable as the teenage Jenny, and American actor Peter Sarsgaard (some faves: Shattered Glass (2003), Garden State (2004), Kinsey (2004), Jarhead (2005), and Elegy) supremely flirtatious as the the beguiling older man. Special mention must be made of Alfred Molina (notables: Enchanted April (1992), Magnolia (1999), Chocolat (2000), Frida (2002) as Diego Rivera, Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Spider-Man 2 (2004) as Doc Ock, The Da Vinci Code (2006), and Silk (2007)) as Jenny's father, as well as cameos by the wonderful Emma Thompson (Pirate Radio, Last Chance Harvey, more) and Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky).
Like Pirate Radio and A Serious Man, also set in the 60s, music does much to set the scene. Imdb lacks any soundtrack info, so I found a list for you. And like Pirate Radio, singer Duffy performs a song (I thought it was a cover but have been corrected by one of my readers). This is rated PG-13, so you adults can bring your teenage girls (I would suggest 15 as a starting point) and then allow some time to talk about it. But we have no reservations about recommending it to any adults who don't mind a movie that is violence-free.
In this one, (then) 22 year old Carey Mulligan is endearing and totally believable as the teenage Jenny, and American actor Peter Sarsgaard (some faves: Shattered Glass (2003), Garden State (2004), Kinsey (2004), Jarhead (2005), and Elegy) supremely flirtatious as the the beguiling older man. Special mention must be made of Alfred Molina (notables: Enchanted April (1992), Magnolia (1999), Chocolat (2000), Frida (2002) as Diego Rivera, Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Spider-Man 2 (2004) as Doc Ock, The Da Vinci Code (2006), and Silk (2007)) as Jenny's father, as well as cameos by the wonderful Emma Thompson (Pirate Radio, Last Chance Harvey, more) and Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky).
Like Pirate Radio and A Serious Man, also set in the 60s, music does much to set the scene. Imdb lacks any soundtrack info, so I found a list for you. And like Pirate Radio, singer Duffy performs a song (I thought it was a cover but have been corrected by one of my readers). This is rated PG-13, so you adults can bring your teenage girls (I would suggest 15 as a starting point) and then allow some time to talk about it. But we have no reservations about recommending it to any adults who don't mind a movie that is violence-free.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Buzzmeter - early Oscar predictions
Here in the heartland many of the buzziest movies haven't yet opened. So watch for these, predicted by an LA Times panel of "experts." I gave you the Best Picture page first. Click on the line below the banner to switch to Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Actress (the website isn't bug-free, but it's fun to see what movies were chosen). Remember that some of the big categories will have 10 nominees this year, instead of 5. And, this just in (oh wait, apparently everyone else has known since March 2009): the next Oscar ceremony and telecast will be March 7, 2010, to avoid a conflict with the closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pirate Radio (2009)
Great fun for us boomers who loved the music of the 60s. This was originally called The Boat That Rocked, but released in the U.S. as the catchier Pirate Radio. For those of you who don't know, the movie is set in 1966 on and off the coast of England, when the British government forbade rock and roll on the radio, which spawned radio stations on boats, playing the music to which many of us came of age.
Writer/director Richard Curtis (writer/director of Love Actually (2003), writer of both Bridget Jones screenplays, Notting Hill (1999), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), and lots of stuff with Mr. Bean AKA Rowan Atkinson), based the movie on several actual pirate radio boats in the 1960s. Spoiler-ful trivia and origins here.
Philip Seymour Hoffman's (Oscar for Capote (2005), very good in Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), Magnolia and Flawless (both 1999), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Doubt, and so many more) character, The Count, reminded me a bit of his character in Almost Famous (2000), in both cases a hip guy who will not bend to the establishment at the expense of the music. Hoffman has been touted as the star, but this is an ensemble piece. It really centers on Carl, played by Tom Sturridge (he was in the terrific Being Julia in 2004 with Annette Bening), a young man who has been sent by his mother, for reasons that become apparent later on, to spend time on the Radio Rock boat with his godfather, played by the always perfect Bill Nighy (Love Actually, two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (as Davy Jones, with tentacles on his face), Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the very good The Girl in the Café on HBO in 2005). In the ensemble are two guys named Rhys. First is Rhys Darby (best known as manager Murray on HBO's Flight of the Conchords) who is a funny guy, playing one of the DJs, Angus (but I keep getting the names mixed up). Then, there is Rhys Ifans, an actor of great depth, who comes into Pirate Radio with a big hullabaloo, so to speak, about halfway through. Ifans was hilarious in Notting Hill, as the roommate in his underpants, scary-intense in Enduring Love (2004) (Nighy was in it, too), earnest and frustrated in Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002), and in this one his character is narcissistic and hilarious again, to name a few. Kenneth Branagh (actor/writer/director of a few Shakespeare adaptations (starting with Henry V in 1989) and others, actor/director of Peter's Friends (1992), Woody Allen alter-ego in Celebrity (1998), FDR in HBO's Warm Springs (2005), bad guy in Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), Nazi in Valkyrie), as the nemesis Sir Alistair Dormandy, is so pompous one thinks he will explode. His assistant has a funny name that made us smile every time it was uttered, and the trivia noted above refers to that funny name. The rest of the cast does a great job and there are notable cameos by my heroine Emma Thompson (acted in Last Chance Harvey, Brideshead Revisited, and more), who was married to Branagh 1989-95, and January Jones, pin-up girl and star of Mad Men on AMC. Jack and I enjoyed this a lot. Not as much as A Serious Man, set in the following year, 1967, but a lot.
I did some research into the music before we saw this yesterday, and thought I was all over it, as I had compiled a list of 40 songs (32 in the link above plus 8 more from the import CD). Imagine my surprise when, at the end, the screen filled with page after page of songs, changing way too fast for me (and I'm a pretty fast reader). But more detective work unearthed a list of the 60 songs in those streaking credits. Before you click, be aware that this list contains spoilers, describing the action on screen during each song. So I've put the songs in a separate spoiler-free post for those of you who are interested.
Writer/director Richard Curtis (writer/director of Love Actually (2003), writer of both Bridget Jones screenplays, Notting Hill (1999), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), and lots of stuff with Mr. Bean AKA Rowan Atkinson), based the movie on several actual pirate radio boats in the 1960s. Spoiler-ful trivia and origins here.
Philip Seymour Hoffman's (Oscar for Capote (2005), very good in Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), Magnolia and Flawless (both 1999), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Doubt, and so many more) character, The Count, reminded me a bit of his character in Almost Famous (2000), in both cases a hip guy who will not bend to the establishment at the expense of the music. Hoffman has been touted as the star, but this is an ensemble piece. It really centers on Carl, played by Tom Sturridge (he was in the terrific Being Julia in 2004 with Annette Bening), a young man who has been sent by his mother, for reasons that become apparent later on, to spend time on the Radio Rock boat with his godfather, played by the always perfect Bill Nighy (Love Actually, two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (as Davy Jones, with tentacles on his face), Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the very good The Girl in the Café on HBO in 2005). In the ensemble are two guys named Rhys. First is Rhys Darby (best known as manager Murray on HBO's Flight of the Conchords) who is a funny guy, playing one of the DJs, Angus (but I keep getting the names mixed up). Then, there is Rhys Ifans, an actor of great depth, who comes into Pirate Radio with a big hullabaloo, so to speak, about halfway through. Ifans was hilarious in Notting Hill, as the roommate in his underpants, scary-intense in Enduring Love (2004) (Nighy was in it, too), earnest and frustrated in Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002), and in this one his character is narcissistic and hilarious again, to name a few. Kenneth Branagh (actor/writer/director of a few Shakespeare adaptations (starting with Henry V in 1989) and others, actor/director of Peter's Friends (1992), Woody Allen alter-ego in Celebrity (1998), FDR in HBO's Warm Springs (2005), bad guy in Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), Nazi in Valkyrie), as the nemesis Sir Alistair Dormandy, is so pompous one thinks he will explode. His assistant has a funny name that made us smile every time it was uttered, and the trivia noted above refers to that funny name. The rest of the cast does a great job and there are notable cameos by my heroine Emma Thompson (acted in Last Chance Harvey, Brideshead Revisited, and more), who was married to Branagh 1989-95, and January Jones, pin-up girl and star of Mad Men on AMC. Jack and I enjoyed this a lot. Not as much as A Serious Man, set in the following year, 1967, but a lot.
I did some research into the music before we saw this yesterday, and thought I was all over it, as I had compiled a list of 40 songs (32 in the link above plus 8 more from the import CD). Imagine my surprise when, at the end, the screen filled with page after page of songs, changing way too fast for me (and I'm a pretty fast reader). But more detective work unearthed a list of the 60 songs in those streaking credits. Before you click, be aware that this list contains spoilers, describing the action on screen during each song. So I've put the songs in a separate spoiler-free post for those of you who are interested.
Almost forgot! There's a wee bonus at the end, after all the music credits.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Lorna's Silence (Le silence de Lorna - 2008)
I want foreign films to be embraced in our middle-America, middle-size metropolis, embraced enough that there will choices of screening times, especially my beloved matinees, which don't interfere with socializing, dinner, or sleep. I usually love foreign films, with their different pacings and locations, and the opportunity to learn new words in other languages. But I am sorry to report that neither Jack nor I liked this much (I did learn a few insults in French, but I've forgotten them already). Sorry because I seem to be agreeing with the hating reviewers instead of the judges at Cannes and elsewhere. And sorry because I really liked L'enfant (The Child), by the same Belgian writer/director brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, in 2005. Those Cannes judges especially liked the script, but we found the plot hard to follow, especially at the end. Even some self-professed Dardenne fans on the imdb message boards were confused. Albanian actress Arta Dobroshi is lovely and tortured as Lorna, who is caught up in a green card (it's probably something else in Belgium, maybe a blue card?) scam, and Jérémie Renier (L'enfant, In Bruges (2008), Summer Hours) is just plain tortured as the junkie, Claudy; and I hope to see more of them in different material. Sorry sorry sorry. To the theatres: please keep showing the non-blockbuster imports. I promise we'll buy tickets.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Good Hair (2009)
Chris Rock's documentary about black people's hair won the Special Jury Prize: US Documentary at Sundance early this year. Jack & I saw it this afternoon with seven other people, many of whom laughed and groaned along with us at the pain, time, and money spent on taming certain natural tresses and the businesses that thrive as a result. I can't give you an accurate demographic report, since some came in after the lights went down, but at least five of the nine of us were white boomers. Rock is a good host, keeping it low-key but always going for the laugh, and peppering the celebrity interviews with academics, scientists, and field trips. Before the movie was released last month, another documentarian began a lawsuit against Rock, claiming that she screened her festival-winning 2005 doc for him two years ago. You can compare the trailers for Good Hair and My Nappy Roots (warning: the Good Hair trailer has probably 2/3 of the gags from the movie in it). Of course Good Hair is funny. It's Chris Rock! I haven't seen the other movie so have no comment. This one is an interesting social/fashion commentary with plenty of wretched excess and some bad words, plus shots of Rock's adorable little girls.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Rudo and Cursi (Rudo y Cursi - 2009)
First time feature director Carlos Cuarón, brother of Alfonso (they co-wrote Y tu mamá también (2001), which Alfonso directed, and were Oscar-nominated for the screenplay, among much recognition) brings back together the stars of Y tu mamá, Gael García Bernal (good ones: Amores Perros (2000), El Crimen del Padre Amaro (2002), Che Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), a strange kid named Elvis in The King (2005), and King of Ward Three in Blindness) and Diego Luna (I liked Before Night Falls (2000), Frida (2002) and Milk; Amy liked Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)) in this amusing tale of two soccer-playing brothers. Luna plays Beto, nicknamed Rudo, which means rough, and Bernal plays Tato, nicknamed Cursi, which means corny (translations courtesy of Carlos in an interview). Third time was a charm for us on this one. We tried to see it locally, but a scheduling snafu stopped us. It came out on DVD a week later. We took the netflix DVD with us when we visited Jon & Kathleen in September (there's your blog-check, Jon!), but fell asleep. So today we finally watched it. This is not your usual sports movie: you will see more of the soccer, excuse me, futbol, fans than you will of the game. It is, as Carlos says, about brotherhood. As far as we could tell from the subtitles, the language is colorful--lots of insults and hazing. I read about the soundtrack long before the movie was distributed in this part of the country (and knew the song "I Want You to Want Me," which Cursi sings in Spanish, but didn't know it was Cheap Trick). Perhaps Carlos needs some seasoning as a director, but it was still entertaining and worth seeing. Not for soccer players under 16, as it's rated R for language, drugs, and sex (not to mention gambling).
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)
This movie is not for everyone (almost nothing is). But we enjoyed its skewed, dry humor, particularly the interplay between George Clooney's self-important wacko Lyn Cassady and Ewan McGregor's naïve reporter Bob Wilton; and Jeff Bridges was hilarious as the hippie army guy Bill Django. Perhaps not a good choice for Veteran's Day (in fact, we saw it last week, but then I got a cold--almost all better now, thanks), because it spoofs the armed services and the men in uniform.
Based on the 2004 book by Jon Ronson (with screenplay adapted by Peter Straughan, adapter of the more slapstick How to Lose Friends & Alienate People), the movie begins with a notice that "more of this is true than you would believe." Here are my favorite performances by the three stars (yes, Kevin Spacey was in it--he did not star). For Clooney it would have to be the comedies Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and O Brother Where Art Thou (2000); I also liked the Ocean's series, especially the first one (2001), the romantic comedy One Fine Day (1996), and all three that he directed: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), and Leatherheads (2008). His next one, acting only, Up in the Air (2009), is generating a lot of buzz. McGregor started off with a bang with the excellent and dark Shallow Grave (1994) and then the even darker must-see Trainspotting (1996). Many of his other movies have not moved me, including the Star Wars I-III series (everybody who has written about this movie has pointed out that Clooney's group refers to itself as Jedi warriors), but I did like, and liked McGregor in Miss Potter (2006), Cassandra's Dream (2007), and Amelia. I am a Bridges fan, and especially liked his performances in Cutter's Way (1981), Starman (1984), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Fisher King (1991), and The Door in the Floor (2004), among others.
This is the feature directorial debut by Clooney crony Grant Heslov (wrote/produced Good Night, and Good Luck, produced Intolerable Cruelty and Leatherheads, acted in those and a bunch of small roles). Observation: I'm pretty sure that only one female human has a speaking part in this movie (some goats of indeterminate sex bleated): Wilton's wife, played by Rebecca Mader (red-headed Charlotte on Lost; like McGregor, a Brit using an American accent here). There is an elderly mother in one scene serving tea, and she got screen credit, but I don't remember her saying anything. The reviews, by professionals and amateurs, have not been kind, even though no goats, kitties, nor puppies were harmed. If you want to go with the majority, avoid it. We had fun and laughed often.
Based on the 2004 book by Jon Ronson (with screenplay adapted by Peter Straughan, adapter of the more slapstick How to Lose Friends & Alienate People), the movie begins with a notice that "more of this is true than you would believe." Here are my favorite performances by the three stars (yes, Kevin Spacey was in it--he did not star). For Clooney it would have to be the comedies Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and O Brother Where Art Thou (2000); I also liked the Ocean's series, especially the first one (2001), the romantic comedy One Fine Day (1996), and all three that he directed: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), and Leatherheads (2008). His next one, acting only, Up in the Air (2009), is generating a lot of buzz. McGregor started off with a bang with the excellent and dark Shallow Grave (1994) and then the even darker must-see Trainspotting (1996). Many of his other movies have not moved me, including the Star Wars I-III series (everybody who has written about this movie has pointed out that Clooney's group refers to itself as Jedi warriors), but I did like, and liked McGregor in Miss Potter (2006), Cassandra's Dream (2007), and Amelia. I am a Bridges fan, and especially liked his performances in Cutter's Way (1981), Starman (1984), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Fisher King (1991), and The Door in the Floor (2004), among others.
This is the feature directorial debut by Clooney crony Grant Heslov (wrote/produced Good Night, and Good Luck, produced Intolerable Cruelty and Leatherheads, acted in those and a bunch of small roles). Observation: I'm pretty sure that only one female human has a speaking part in this movie (some goats of indeterminate sex bleated): Wilton's wife, played by Rebecca Mader (red-headed Charlotte on Lost; like McGregor, a Brit using an American accent here). There is an elderly mother in one scene serving tea, and she got screen credit, but I don't remember her saying anything. The reviews, by professionals and amateurs, have not been kind, even though no goats, kitties, nor puppies were harmed. If you want to go with the majority, avoid it. We had fun and laughed often.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
A Serious Man (2009)
To paraphrase the rye bread ad campaign, you don't have to be Jewish to love A Serious Man. Jack isn't and we both loved it. And if you aren't, and/or you need a glossary of Yiddish/Jewish terms, I found one without spoilers. This is Joel and Ethan Coen's most Jewish movie so far (next they are expected to make The Yiddish Policeman's Union based on the novel by the talented Michael Chabon (Wonder Boys, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and others)). I've seen all the features co-directed and co-written by the Coen brothers, and this is my new favorite despite their winning the Oscar for No Country for Old Men (2007). Raising Arizona (1987) and Fargo (1996) are right up there, and each time I see clips from The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) on TV I like it better (not that I didn't like all the others, because I did!).
This is a Job-like story, set in 1967, of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg, Tony nominee for The Pillowman on Broadway in 2005), a nerdy professor in Minneapolis, whose son Danny (newcomer Aaron Wolff) is preparing for his bar mitzvah. In fact, none of the stars of this movie is a big name, as they were in Burn After Reading (which, by the way, grew on me with time), but instead character actors whose faces are familiar, such as Richard Kind (Spin City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, small parts in lots of things), Fred Melamed (small parts, some uncredited, in a number of Woody Allen movies), Fyvush Finkel (Picket Fences, Boston Public; his part is the bearded man in the prologue), George Wyner (Hill Street Blues and lots more), Adam Arkin (also Picket Fences, as well as Northern Exposure, Chicago Hope, West Wing, and others; son of Alan), and newcomers such as Wolff and Sari Lennick (some L.A. theatre work) who plays Larry's wife.
Joel Coen turned 13 in 1967 in Minneapolis, so clearly the Coens know a little something about bar mitzvahs then and there. Imdb has some interesting spoiler-free trivia about Joel Coen, and some spoiler-laden trivia about this movie that you might enjoy. The haunting score by prolific composer Carter Burwell (all the Coen movies and many more, including the excellent Kinsey (2004), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), In Bruges (2008), and Where the Wild Things Are) is well mixed with four Jefferson Airplane tracks from the 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow, Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun," The Art of Lovin's "Good Times," and a song by Russian opera singer Sidor Belarsky. The production design and sets are outstanding and worthy of nominations. I could go on about this but my time is limited, as we saw it on a road trip to Philadelphia, are now in New York, and it's about time to leave the hotel.
Jack & I were so impressed by the trailer that I gave it its own post. Seeing it will enhance your movie-going experience. And, as is my practice on babetteflix, I alert you to a small but amusing bonus at the very end of the credits. Don't leave early! This is a must-see movie. Its occasional slow pace is perfectly calculated for comic effect. Anyone with the patience for the pace is old enough to enjoy it.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Amelia (2009)
Director Mira Nair (Indian born, Harvard educated, New York resident) is known for her colorful, emotional work, including one of my personal favorites, The Namesake (2006), based on the page-turner by Jhumpa Lahiri, as well as Monsoon Wedding (2001) and others. And we were flooded with beauty and color on the screen: photography by Stuart Dryburgh (Oscar nominated for The Piano (1993), should have been nominated for The Painted Veil (2006)), and magnificent wardrobe by Kasia Walicka-Maimone, who was nominated by her peers for the costumes of Capote (2005). Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank (I think I'll be arrested if I don't call her that) (won for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004); I can't say any of her other work has knocked me out, so to speak) is a great canvas for Walicka-Maimone's creations. Swank also clearly worked hard on the voice, with a bit of a Katherine Hepburn influence, and she shows her character's enthusiasm for everything she loved. But I am not alone in opining that this movie is, like Swank's frame, a little thin. The Rotten Tomatoes site has a list of reviews here (some spoilers inevitable if you delve) with a score of 16 out of 100 at this writing. It saddens me that the talented Nair couldn't bring it more to life. It is based on two biographies of aviatrix Amelia Earhart: East to the Dawn by Susan Butler and The Sound of Wings by Mary S. Lovell, with the screenplay by Ron Bass (arguable chick flicks such as The Joy Luck Club (1993), When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), Waiting to Exhale (1995), and My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), all of which I liked, followed his deserved Oscar for Rain Man (1988)) and Anna Hamilton Phelan (Mask (1985) and Girl, Interrupted (1999)). The music, by composer Gabriel Yared (Oscar winner for The English Patient (1996), nominated for The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and Cold Mountain (2003)) seems tailored for the Academy, and didn't particularly move me. You will have to listen carefully to hear the name of the little boy Earhart befriends: future author Gore Vidal (spoiler alert for this link to an interview with him). More interesting, a lesbian friend of mine tells me that Earhart is regularly listed as one of many accomplished lesbians of history. Not in this movie, she's not, though, of course, Swank has already done that. Note: the scene in the preview where Earhart is standing on top of a flying plane is not in the movie.
If we hadn't had such high expectations, I might have been more generous in this posting. I still say, however, that it was not a waste of time, with the costumes, photography, and sets worth the price of admission.
If we hadn't had such high expectations, I might have been more generous in this posting. I still say, however, that it was not a waste of time, with the costumes, photography, and sets worth the price of admission.
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
As a fan of director Spike Jonze and all the voice actors in the big foam suits (later enhanced with computer generation by, among others, Jim Henson's Creature Shop), I can recommend this blockbuster to adults and older teens. But as a protective parent I have misgivings about showing it to children. Not having read the book I watched videos (one simple and another slightly more complex) to see if it was scary. It was not. But in the movie, the main Wild Thing, Carol (voice of James Gandolfini, his mouth-breathing audible, just as when he played Tony Soprano), is moody and slightly dangerous. I think that would have upset my daughter when she was under ten, so I worry about others' kids. Also, not having had sons nor younger brothers, I don't know if it would be a good thing to show, say, my little great-nephews that Max could run full speed through the forest, or worse yet, his house, without anyone getting hurt (maybe I'm more concerned for their mothers, my nieces!). But I'm not an expert on little boys.
THIS JUST IN: Anne has just told me that Maurice Sendak has a rejoinder for parents who are loath to take their kids to the movie. He said they/we should "Go to hell." Maybe I should lighten up.
Jack and I had eagerly anticipated this movie because of Jonze (Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002)) and the fabulous trailer, especially Arcade Fire's song, Wake Up, re-recorded for just this purpose. Apparently Jonze was inspired by Arcade Fire's CD Funeral (from whence Wake Up originated). Yet Arcade Fire doesn't appear anywhere on the soundtrack, available here for your listening pleasure.
That being said, we were glad we saw it. The Henson creatures were appropriately cuddly, until they weren't. Max Records was totally believable as Max, with a full range of emotion. It's always nice to see Catherine Keener (among my faves: Living in Oblivion, Lovely & Amazing (2001), The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005), Being John Malkovich), albeit in the small role of Max's mother. In case you would like to know ahead of time which excellent actor's voice is behind which Wild Thing, besides Gandolfini: Catherine O'Hara (faves: After Hours (1985), Beetle Juice (1988), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Capote (2005), For Your Consideration (2006) and Away We Go) is Judith with a horn on her nose, Forest Whitaker (excellent in everything, but some notable performances were The Crying Game (1992), Charlie "Bird" Parker in Bird (1988), Ghost Dog in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), and Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (2006)) is big round Ira--they are a couple and are pictured here. Lauren Ambrose (sister Claire in HBO's Six Feet Under, and co-star of Starting Out in the Evening (2007) with Frank Langella) is KW, Paul Dano (he was in 2 episodes of The Sopranos, won much acclaim for Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and There Will Be Blood (2007), and was also great in The King (2005)) is Alexander, and I wracked my brain during the movie trying to identify the voice of Chris Cooper (won an Oscar for Adaptation, first came to my attention in John Sayles' Lone Star (1996), was intense and perfect in American Beauty (1999), and I must also mention Seabiscuit (2003) and Capote), who is the voice of Douglas (a parrot). I listened ahead of time to a couple of interviews (one, two) to fix some of the voices in my memory. After you see the movie this trivia will be interesting. It was fun making this a double feature with Zombieland, especially since both were dark and cartoonish.
THIS JUST IN: Anne has just told me that Maurice Sendak has a rejoinder for parents who are loath to take their kids to the movie. He said they/we should "Go to hell." Maybe I should lighten up.
Jack and I had eagerly anticipated this movie because of Jonze (Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002)) and the fabulous trailer, especially Arcade Fire's song, Wake Up, re-recorded for just this purpose. Apparently Jonze was inspired by Arcade Fire's CD Funeral (from whence Wake Up originated). Yet Arcade Fire doesn't appear anywhere on the soundtrack, available here for your listening pleasure.
That being said, we were glad we saw it. The Henson creatures were appropriately cuddly, until they weren't. Max Records was totally believable as Max, with a full range of emotion. It's always nice to see Catherine Keener (among my faves: Living in Oblivion, Lovely & Amazing (2001), The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005), Being John Malkovich), albeit in the small role of Max's mother. In case you would like to know ahead of time which excellent actor's voice is behind which Wild Thing, besides Gandolfini: Catherine O'Hara (faves: After Hours (1985), Beetle Juice (1988), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Capote (2005), For Your Consideration (2006) and Away We Go) is Judith with a horn on her nose, Forest Whitaker (excellent in everything, but some notable performances were The Crying Game (1992), Charlie "Bird" Parker in Bird (1988), Ghost Dog in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), and Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (2006)) is big round Ira--they are a couple and are pictured here. Lauren Ambrose (sister Claire in HBO's Six Feet Under, and co-star of Starting Out in the Evening (2007) with Frank Langella) is KW, Paul Dano (he was in 2 episodes of The Sopranos, won much acclaim for Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and There Will Be Blood (2007), and was also great in The King (2005)) is Alexander, and I wracked my brain during the movie trying to identify the voice of Chris Cooper (won an Oscar for Adaptation, first came to my attention in John Sayles' Lone Star (1996), was intense and perfect in American Beauty (1999), and I must also mention Seabiscuit (2003) and Capote), who is the voice of Douglas (a parrot). I listened ahead of time to a couple of interviews (one, two) to fix some of the voices in my memory. After you see the movie this trivia will be interesting. It was fun making this a double feature with Zombieland, especially since both were dark and cartoonish.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Zombieland (2009)
If you have an aversion to seeing bile-spewing zombies chase, catch, and eat people alive, maybe you should skip this one. But if you can handle it, you will laugh long and hard at its cartoonish computer-enhanced violence, and the personality quirks of its heroes. Jack & I have dubbed it a road-trip-coming-of-age-buddy-horror movie: a whole new genre! Jesse Eisenberg (Roger Dodger (2002), The Squid and the Whale (2005), Adventureland) is still doing the neurotic, awkward virginal thing, but smart. So smart in this one that he becomes a survivor instead of a victim. His character, who doesn't get a name until late in the first half hour of this short (1:21) movie, narrates, and lists his rules for survival in a post-apocalyptic world where almost everyone has become a zombie due to a virus, and very few uninfected humans have avoided becoming lunch. Said rules materialize on various parts of the screen in metal letters, and then clank as they fall down, among the many clever visuals in this hack-fest.
Eisenberg teams up with Woody Harrelson (some of his best post-Cheers work: Natural Born Killers (1994), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Edtv (1999), North County (2005), No Country for Old Men (2007), and Battle in Seattle), whose character supplies everyone's names, and later they meet Emma Stone (I found a still of her in Superbad, but didn't remember her) and the now-teenaged child actress Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Definitely, Maybe (2008)); and travel across the country. There is a hilarious celebrity cameo that I will not spoil for you (and I don't mean Mike White, who is uncredited as "Victim in the Bathroom"). TV writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (The Joe Schmo Show) apparently pitched Zombieland as a series. When it failed they got to write and produce it for the big screen with some veteran producers, including Curb Your Enthusiasm's Gavin Polone, hiring first-time movie director Ruben Fleischer, and the results are first rate. The "Zombie Kill of the Week" is clearly a residual of the TV idea. The soundtrack listing (I was pleased that imdb put them all in for a change) belies the fact that kick-ass (can I say that?) rock and roll seems to dominate: Metallica, Van Halen, etc. (you can listen to clips on this site). On a personal note, although I laughed at the sport-killing, the high body count, and the wanton destruction of property, I was unhappy about musical instruments used as weapons--couldn't quite let go of that one. Here are two links you might like after you see it: this interview with Reese and Wernick, and imdb's trivia (both contain spoilers).
Believe it or not, Jack and I saw a double feature Wednesday. The testosterone-fueled Zombieland ended at 6:15 and we walked across the cineplex (with valid tickets, of course!) into a 6:20 show of Where the Wild Things Are, where the hormones were younger, but still pumping.
I FORGOT THESE BITS:
1. There is a bonus at the end. Don't be like the people from the flyover states and leave before the credits are finished. You will be rewarded.
2. I saw an ad today that said Zombieland is "As funny as The Hangover." Way funnier, in my humble opinion.
3. I plan to write that we liked Where the Wild Things Are. But we liked this one better.
Eisenberg teams up with Woody Harrelson (some of his best post-Cheers work: Natural Born Killers (1994), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Edtv (1999), North County (2005), No Country for Old Men (2007), and Battle in Seattle), whose character supplies everyone's names, and later they meet Emma Stone (I found a still of her in Superbad, but didn't remember her) and the now-teenaged child actress Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Definitely, Maybe (2008)); and travel across the country. There is a hilarious celebrity cameo that I will not spoil for you (and I don't mean Mike White, who is uncredited as "Victim in the Bathroom"). TV writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (The Joe Schmo Show) apparently pitched Zombieland as a series. When it failed they got to write and produce it for the big screen with some veteran producers, including Curb Your Enthusiasm's Gavin Polone, hiring first-time movie director Ruben Fleischer, and the results are first rate. The "Zombie Kill of the Week" is clearly a residual of the TV idea. The soundtrack listing (I was pleased that imdb put them all in for a change) belies the fact that kick-ass (can I say that?) rock and roll seems to dominate: Metallica, Van Halen, etc. (you can listen to clips on this site). On a personal note, although I laughed at the sport-killing, the high body count, and the wanton destruction of property, I was unhappy about musical instruments used as weapons--couldn't quite let go of that one. Here are two links you might like after you see it: this interview with Reese and Wernick, and imdb's trivia (both contain spoilers).
Believe it or not, Jack and I saw a double feature Wednesday. The testosterone-fueled Zombieland ended at 6:15 and we walked across the cineplex (with valid tickets, of course!) into a 6:20 show of Where the Wild Things Are, where the hormones were younger, but still pumping.
I FORGOT THESE BITS:
1. There is a bonus at the end. Don't be like the people from the flyover states and leave before the credits are finished. You will be rewarded.
2. I saw an ad today that said Zombieland is "As funny as The Hangover." Way funnier, in my humble opinion.
3. I plan to write that we liked Where the Wild Things Are. But we liked this one better.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)
Michael Moore's new documentary about the economy is a tad long at 2:07, but the last half hour, for the most part, is the best and picks up the pace. That's when he gets back to some of his signature comic stuff. No need to rush out for a big-screen viewing of this, unless you want to see it before it goes out of date--some of it already was by the time we saw it last week (you may have seen in the trailer his trying to serve the management of AIG with a citizens' arrest for their spending their bailout money on bonuses, aircraft, vacations, etc.). As usual, Moore talks to suffering citizens with sad stories, politicians (both with him and against him), and confronts "the man" (i.e. anyone in authority). On the twentieth anniversary of his documentary about General Motors, Roger & Me (1989), Moore returns to GM, which is oh, so pertinent to this story as well. Sicko (2007), about health care, was Moore's funniest and least combative (some people deplored his going after Charleston Heston, then National Rifle Association President, in Bowling for Columbine (2002), as Heston was 79 and frail at the time). This one won two prizes at the Venice (Italy) Film Festival in September of this year, with one other nomination. Love him or hate him, Moore always has something to say (rumor has it he's working on fiction these days), and I don't mind being in the choir to whom he preaches.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Gotham Independent Film Awards nominees
Here's an article from the L.A. Times. I haven't seen very many yet, due to my not living in NY, LA, or Chicago. The ones I have seen have links to the postings.
Best Feature: “Amreeka”; “Big Fan”; “The Hurt Locker"; “The Maid” and “A Serious Man”
Best Documentary: “Food, Inc.”; “Good Hair”; “My Neighbor My Killer”; “Paradise”; “Tyson”
Breakthrough Director: Cruz Angeles, “Don’t Let Me Down”; Frazer Bradshaw, “Everything Strange and New”; Noah Buschel, “The Missing Person”; Derick Martini, “Lymelife”; and Robert Siegel, “Big Fan”
Breakthrough Actor: Ben Foster, “The Messenger”; Patton Oswalt, “Big Fan”; Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”; Catalina Saavedra, “The Maid” and Soulémane Sy Savané, “Goodbye Solo”
Best Ensemble Performance: “Adventureland”; “Cold Souls”; “The Hurt Locker”; “A Serious Man” and “Sugar”
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You: “Everything Strange and New”; “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”; “October Country”; “You Won’t Miss Me”; and “Zero Bridge”
Best Feature: “Amreeka”; “Big Fan”; “The Hurt Locker"; “The Maid” and “A Serious Man”
Best Documentary: “Food, Inc.”; “Good Hair”; “My Neighbor My Killer”; “Paradise”; “Tyson”
Breakthrough Director: Cruz Angeles, “Don’t Let Me Down”; Frazer Bradshaw, “Everything Strange and New”; Noah Buschel, “The Missing Person”; Derick Martini, “Lymelife”; and Robert Siegel, “Big Fan”
Breakthrough Actor: Ben Foster, “The Messenger”; Patton Oswalt, “Big Fan”; Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”; Catalina Saavedra, “The Maid” and Soulémane Sy Savané, “Goodbye Solo”
Best Ensemble Performance: “Adventureland”; “Cold Souls”; “The Hurt Locker”; “A Serious Man” and “Sugar”
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You: “Everything Strange and New”; “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”; “October Country”; “You Won’t Miss Me”; and “Zero Bridge”
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