Oscar Nominations: Silver Playbook FTW

For no useful reason I dragged myself out of bed at 5:20 AM this morning in order to hear the Oscar nominations announced live. Well, there is a reason, but it isn’t useful: I like to hear the gasps when surprises emerge. Or the lack of gasps, like today, when Spielberg got his best director nom and not a sound came from the crowd, no murmurs, no polite applause, nothing at all. Which is kind of like my response to Lincoln, except I liked Tommy Lee Jones.

But what’s up with the Kathryn Bigelow snub? A vast, anti-woman conspiracy? Or maybe all those old white dudes in the Directors’ Branch are mad because she makes combat films that don’t feature muddy, carefully lit infantrymen slogging through Europe or Southeast Asia. Or it could be the torture thing but, c’mon, people, this is a movie! Y’all shouldn’t be letting a bunch of testy senators influence your Oscar vote.

Otherwise, good for Beasts of the Southern Wild, always a great thing when newcomers get recognized; makes you believe that the Academy can be shaken out of its torpor. And the Silver Linings Playbook sweep through all the big categories is satisfying – it’s a film that deserves attention: clever, well plotted, with actors who brought those characters to complicated life and deserve recognition for it. I am still surprised that Bradley Cooper pulled that off.

One more thing: the Academy shook up its schedule a little this time around, trying to get a jump on the Awards season momentum. They also changed to electronic voting, which had a few bugs and left some members angry and perplexed as they found the system difficult to manage. It’s possible that these changes have had an impact: the DGA nominees barely overlap with Oscar’s directors; there are also a lot of misses between the acting categories and SAG. Could be that voters were less influenced by Guild nominees, or that fewer voted because of the complications with the electronic voting switch, although Academy president Hawk Koch stated today that the new system actually encouraged more members to cast their ballots.

In any case, this is an interesting year for Oscar, and in the next six weeks prognosticators will be eagerly looking for signs of momentum among the nominees. My opinion? Free for all. None of the old rules apply.

Lionsgate Pictures

Sometimes a movie is better than the book it sprang from, particularly if the source material is a pop culture phenomenon: when a novel like that gets stripped down to its essential parts, a better, more compelling story can come to life. And if that story is filmed with visual flair and dramatic detail, it can make a really good movie.

That is what we have in The Hunger Games.

Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, the resourceful heroine of this dark story. It’s set in an oppressive future society where rebellion is contained through fear, near starvation and military might, and by forcing children to fight each other to death in an annual nationally televised event; a kind of murderous Olympics that sends a powerful message about the cruel might of the ruling class.

Katniss is intellectually and physically tough but emotionally vulnerable, and Lawrence does a fabulous job of walking that tightrope; we believe our heroine can kick ass as we simultaneously feel for her soft heart. So when she volunteers to take her little sister’s place in the Hunger Games, we aren’t surprised by her protective impulse and we immediately start pulling for her – maybe she can win it! – even though Lawrence’s face, in that moment, registers only shock and fear. But she is a rebel at heart – she has been slipping through the barbed wire of her District Twelve compound to hunt for food – and as the games progress her courage and her independent attitude begin to unnerve the powers that be (represented, menacingly, by Donald Sutherland) which, not surprisingly, doesn’t bother her at all.

It’s easy to imagine the emotions a kid – or anyone – might feel if they are thrown into an arena and forced to fight to the death. Fear, certainly. Panic, along with a deadly resolve simply to survive. But Katniss is angry, and that, in many ways is the source of her strength and the thing that makes her interesting. As she survives one competitor after another, she stokes a righteous rage about the casual cruelty of the Games and the unfeeling masterminds behind them. She begins to evolve into a warrior; she becomes dangerous.

Which brings me back to the notion of movies being better than books – Suzanne Collins had a remarkable concept when she started The Hunger Games trilogy, but the story - and Katniss -  lose tension and direction as the books progress. A good screenwriter could help get things on track; hopefully that will happen before the last film hist theaters.

With Woody Harrelson and Leny Kravitz in memorable performances as Katniss’ behind the scenes supporters during the games, and Elizabeth Banks and Stanley Tucci as colorful representatives of the evil overlords. Oh, and there’s a love triangle of sorts: Josh Hutcherson plays a mild mannered kid who gets thrown into the games with Katniss, and Liam Hemsworth is her buff hunting partner – unlike other tween stories, these relationships aren’t the heart of the matter although they do have influence. But the point here is Katniss, and the evolution of a hero. Hopefully the writers will remember that. Playing everywhere. Big hit. B+

Review: Friends with Kids

Lionsgate

It’s a shame that when Jennifer Westfeldt went to write this movie she didn’t bother to learn what it was about.  Friends with Kids attempts to explore the changes that occur in adult relationships when kids enter the scene, but there’s little authenticity to the situations Westfeldt creates; it’s like she assumes that once married people have children, their lives go to hell, and that’s all we need to know.   But, the story tells us, if you have kids without getting married - joint custody between friends - then everything is fine and you are miraculously able to manage your new family life with little disruption to the freewheeling single existence you haven’t had to leave behind.
  
This is just dumb.


But Westfeldt is determined to press her point, so she gives us a married couple with three year old and a baby – a pair pretty well settled into family life - who can’t manage a simple dinner party with old friends.  But the unmarried duo who have just given birth pull off a lovely little brunch because, apparently, single parents who are just friends don’t have fussy babies, or babies who cry, or need their diapers changed.  And, it seems, those babies sleep through the night, allowing their platonic parents to wake up refreshed, have time for showers, maintain perfectly pressed wardrobes, and consequently, pull together a tasteful Sunday brunch with time to spare. (I would suggest though, that if you are hosting a three year old at your chic Manhattan apartment you might be wise not to leave a crystal platter full of treats on a low table. It seems an obvious point, but not one Westfeldt wants to acknowledge, because if the three year old had climbed the low table, grabbed handfuls of sweets and crashed the platter to the floor, well, that would mean that the unmarried parents were as clueless as new parents generally are, and that kind of reality never makes it into this story line.)


Written, directed and starring Jennifer Westfeldt; she is consistently upstaged by her leading man co-star Adam Scott.  Cast also includes Maya Rudolph, Chris O’Dowd, Kristen Wiig and Jon Hamm – the last two are criminally underused (does Westfeldt not know that Wiig is a comedian?); if you are thinking of seeing this film because Kristen Wiig and Jon Hamm are in it, you are wasting your time.  C


  
  

John Carter, Silent House, and Eddie Murphy

Open Road Films

Big openings this weekend are John Carter, Silent House, and One Thousand Words.  Big holdover is The Lorax. 

So what’s the deal?  John Carter is a Disney movie starring Taylor Kitsch, the good looking bad boy from "Friday Night Lights".  He plays a Confederate soldier who gets transported to Mars and becomes a hero to the locals.  It’s based on a novel written in 1912 by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of "Tarzan and the Apes," but that came later.    Disney has high hopes for the film but the critics are lukewarm, although many say the visuals are wonderful and the plotline strange and entertaining; the rest were bored.  Thursday’s midnight ticket sales were just so so.


Silent House is a horror movie starring Elizabeth Olsen, a fabulous young actress who deserves to make some money. Word is that she does well here but the film disappoints, especially in the final scenes; early scares are pretty good.  In A Thousand Words Eddie Murphy plays a fast talking literary agent who gets his comeuppance when some kind of Zen curse threatens to strike him dead once he has spoken 1000 words.  So, Murphy has to do a lot of silent mugging – this from a funny man whose greatest gift is his comic delivery and ability to mimic voices.  The film sat collecting dust for four years, seems like it was too soon to take it off the shelf.  But the elephant in the room is The Lorax, which after its remarkable $70 million opening weekend looks primed to knock all the newcomers out of competition.  To sum up: slow weekend at the movies, at least for new releases. There are some holdovers still playing wide: if you want some action, try Safe House; if you’re after romance, look for The Vow, and if the Oscars are still on your mind, you can probably find The Artist playing at a theater near you.  

Oscar Wrap

Can I predict ‘em, or what?  Actually there were two big surprises at the Oscars this year: Dragon Tattoo’s win for best editing (well deserved) and Meryl Streep’s Best Actress score.  Everyone’s talking about Meryl this morning, and why not, as recently as Friday the odds of picking up a trophy were trending against her.  But the Actors Branch of the Academy, which seemed, after the SAG awards, determined to make The Help cast its fave, either mellowed towards Streep or was outvoted by the other Branches, because there she was, accepting the award with all the charm and presence we would expect from our most celebrated actress.  


The return of Billy Crystal in the hosting role was pleasant, but not invigorating; Billy did what Billy does.  There were some entertaining moments – Christopher Guest’s focus group, Emma Stone’s funny and charming bit where she attempted to find ways to extend her time on stage as a presenter.  (Ben Stiller made a perfect foil.)  Angelina Jolie’s apparent effort to strike a “sexy pose” by thrusting her leg through a thigh high slit in her Versace dress wasn’t so appealing.  It’s hard to guess what the actress had in mind when she did that – reminding the crowd that she’s still the good time gal who made headlines in the nineties?  Trying to divert the spotlight from her life partner? Just trying to divert the spotlight?  Jolie seems to want to be taken seriously – she just wrote and directed a film about the Bosnian war – but this stunt might indicate that the 37 year old is not ready to grow up.  Fortunately, her little move was counter balanced by the Descendants writing team when they picked up their award; two of the three men struck the same pose as Angelina.  That was funny.


All in all, the 84th Academy Awards were not memorable.  Of the nine films nominated, only one (The Help) qualified as a hit, and hardly anyone has seen Best Picture winner The Artist.  Ratings were down, due to awards season fatigue, and general lack of interest.  Seems like the old white dudes who are responsible for Oscar Outcomes have lost step with America; maybe they should pay attention to the underlying message of last night’s show, and get out occasionally to see a movie. 

Oscar Wrap: Final Predictions

Rocky won the Oscar.

The votes are in, the accountants are counting, and the winners of the biggest show biz contest are just a few days away from glowing in the spotlight.


So who will get the prize? Well, the predictable awards are still predictable: Octavia Spencer (The Help) and Christopher Plummer (Beginners) will take home the Supporting trophies; screenplay awards will go to Midnight in Paris (Original) and The Descendants (Adapted). 


Best Director looks like Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist, but there is some momentum for Scorsese and Hugo.  Not a lot of momentum, but some. Hey, it's Scorsese, all those old white dudes in the Academy love Scorsese. Some of the creative awards come down to these two films as well: Art Direction and Cinematography will probably go to Hugo, but their chances could get mowed down by an Artist juggernaut. Film Editing is leaning Artist.  In the sound categories it's Scorsese up against Spielberg (War Horse) with Scorsese predicted to pull out the win.  Spielberg, I'm sure, is honored to be nominated.  (Well, it's not him, really, it's his sound guys who are nominated but these guys take everything personally.)


The only really interesting contests are in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories.  George Clooney (Descendants) and Jean Dujardin (Artist) have been battling it out during the awards season, each of them picking up trophies, so there's no clear front runner, although the safe money is on Dujardin.  Some risk taking prognosticators are betting that Clooney and Dujardin will split the vote and Brad Pitt (Moneyball) will slip in and take the prize. Pitt might also have some sentimental momentum because he hasn't won before (nominated twice), and apparently he was quite the charmer on the awards circuit.


The actress contest comes down to Viola Davis (The Help) and Meryl Streep (Iron Lady).  Like the actors, Streep and Davis have split a lot of the early awards, but the current front runner is clearly Davis - she gave a bang up performance, the film was a box office hit, and there is a sense that the left leaning (mostly white) Academy likes the idea of giving the award to a black actress.  But there is a little awkwardness around Streep, since even though she has been nominated more times - 17! -  than any other human, she has only won twice, and it's been awhile since her name was inside the envelope. This thing could go her way.


Finally, Best Picture: any Oscarologist looking over your shoulder while you fill out your office pool ballot would tell you to check The Artist for the top prize, and that is far and away the safest choice. The only possible spoiler in this contest is the fact that there are eight other pictures in contention, enough to screw up the numbers even for an established front runner. Here's how the counting works: The Academy members are asked to rank their choices for Best Picture by preference -  this year, that'll be one through nine (this is the only category where voters rank their choices; for everything else, they check their favorite and move along).  The fine young accountants at PricewaterhouseCoopers take those ballots and stack them in piles according to the number one pick.  Then they take the shortest pile and redistribute those according to the second ranked film on each ballot, and they keep on doing that, redistributing the smallest pile, until one film has fifty percent of the votes.  So it's not just who loves you best that matters, it's also who loves you second and third best.  Other contenders for the throne are The Help and Hugo, with former front runner The Descendants bringing up the dark horse rear.  The Oscars will be telecast on Sunday, February 26; the actual show begins at 5:30 but there will be televised hoopla for most of the day.  

Review: Thin Ice

ATO

The latest Greg Kinnear movie has the perennial everyman playing a desperate, morally ambiguous insurance salesman trying to solve his personal and financial troubles through any means other than actually selling insurance.  He sets out to steal a valuable violin from a doddering, elderly client, gets caught in the act by a volatile, ex-con locksmith, and  from there everything tumbles towards disaster.


These kind of stories - where the main characters dig themselves ever deeper into trouble - are fun if they're done right.  The best ones have protagonists who are sympathetic in spite of their moral weakness, and their decisions, the steps they take towards their own ruin, are believable.  Think of William H. Macy's character in Fargo: we feel for the dude, even though he sets his wife up to be kidnapped and we never learn for sure why.  There's a charm to his sad sack demeanor, and his naive hope that everything will turn out okay somehow.  


Not so much here. Kinnear's Mickey is a low life in a suit, he puts on a good act but you get the feeling that he'd take advantage of anybody; even his efforts to reconcile with his wife - who he claims to love - are insincere. Kinnear tries mightily to make this work but Mickey is so one dimensional that we don't care too much about what happens to him.


What redeems the film are the supporting characters, especially Allen Arkin as the elderly client and Billy Crudup as the slightly crazed blackmailing locksmith.  These guys are fun to watch, and Kinnear's Mickey comes to life when he's with them.  Playing in limited release.  (Interesting production note: Originally titled The Convincer, Thin Ice was warmly received at Sundance, but distributor ATO pictures made significant changes to the film prior to release without director Jill Sprecher's approval.  The newly cut version has gotten a lukewarm critical response.) C+