'Selma' Wins Big at NAACP Image Awards

Selma won best picture last night at the NAACP Awards, while David Oyelowo, Common and Carmen Ejogo all won acting honors for the film. Curiously, Ava DuVernay did not win best director, which instead went to Antoine Fuqua for The Equalizer- really? Huh. Seems like an odd oversight there.

Outstanding Motion Picture: Selma
Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture: David Oyelowo, Selma
Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Taraji P. Henson, No Good Deed
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Common, Selma
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Carmen Ejogo, Selma
Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture: Antoine Fuqua, The Equalizer
Outstanding Independent Motion Picture: Belle
Outstanding Documentary: Through A Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture: Belle

Kids Reenact Oscar Nominees

If you missed any of the Best Picture nominees, you can catch up by watching these child actors imitate everyone from Martin Luther King to Stephen Hawking. Some people really love this stuff (I have to confess, I don't find it quite as hilarious as others do- for me it's amusing for about five seconds). Speaking of the Oscars, voting officially commences today, as people will decide what to vote for in what looks like a pretty close race between Boyhood and Birdman. This weekend it's two important precursor awards ceremonies- the DGA tomorrow night and the BAFTAS, or the British Academy Awards, on Sunday afternoon (11am on the West Coast). Those two can be pretty significant- DGA is historically the most accurate Best Picture predictor, while the Baftas can often signal if an acting winner is going to surprise on Oscar night. I'll be posting the results as soon as they come in.

TRAILER: "Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter"

I think this is one of the last movies from last year's Sundance Film Festival to finally get released (although there may be more that have to wait years before coming out). Kumiko was nominated for a couple of Independent Spirit Awards for 2014, but is now finally opening on March 27th. Babel's Rinko Kikuchi stars aasa lost woman on a strange quest- it looks pretty cool, I have to say.

REVIEW: "Top Five" (2014) Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson. Dir. Chris Rock

Sometimes you watch a movie that works because it never tries to be more than it is, and yet it becomes so in spite of itself. That's how it feels to watch Chris Rock's Top Five, a delightful comedy that succeeds simply because it feels so effortless and most importantly, honest in what it's about. Chris Rock is one of the great stand-up comedians who hadn't been able to transfer his material to the big screen, instead flailing in lower tier comedies like Down to Earth or I Think I Love My Wife, but this time he takes a page out of Louis C.K.'s book and just writes what he knows- and it's nearly a complete triumph.

Rock plays movie star Andre Allen, who's had a hugely successful career as a former stand-up starring in a franchise called Hammy the Bear, of which he's made three and now wants to be taken seriously by releasing a new film about a Haitian slave rebellion. But no one wants to see him in serious movies, preferring him to just "be funny" (a common theme that's plagued comedians like Woody Allen and Louis C.K.), while he's afraid he can't because the success had fueled his alcohol and drug addiction and he's now fearful for his sobriety. The film sees Andre at a crossroads on the weekend of his movie release as he agrees to be interviewed by a New York Times journalist (Rosario Dawson), while also getting ready to marry his fiance (Gabrielle Union) a reality TV star whose only devotion is to the cameras (ala a Kardashian).

The conceit of the film allows for a constant exchange of flirtatious banter and confessions between Rock and Dawson, who share a great chemistry as they talk and banter their way across New York City and into various areas of Rock's personal life, including his family back home, his addictions, relationships, the realities of show business when you're a black movie star, and leads to the question of how to stay true to your art in a world where success brings out your worst self. All of this is incorporated smoothly and hilariously- this movie is more consistently funny than any other comedy I saw last year, and because it came from a place of honestly through of all things, gasp, dialogue! Most movies set up the jokes from a mile away and you see them coming, but the humor in this one springs from the characters and the relationships between people (although there are two of the funniest, most outrageous sex scenes you've seen in a long time in here as well).

Top Five revives the old theory that the more specific a situation is, the more universal it becomes. Not only does this movie touch on the common ideas at work in a comedian's mind on all observations of modern life (this movie is so alive and about right now that it feels more relevant than any drama that came out in 2014), but there's a moving and heartwarming romance at the center of it. You root for these two characters so much that this could well be one of the most sophisticated romantic comedies of the last fifteen years, at home with the best of the sparkling back and forth of a Tracy-Hepburn pairing in an old Hollywood studio film, but fully plugged into modern day sensibilities. Obviously that's a pretty high compliment, but I know it when I see it. Top Five is entertaining, accessible, hilarious and insightful all at the same time- I can't say enough good things about it.

* * * 1/2

TRAILER #2: "Minions"

We get a look at Sandra Bullock's voicework in the new trailer for the Minions movie, as she plays the ultimate villain(ess) that the minions must go work for. Looks kind of funny, but I have to admit, I never even saw the Despicable Me movies (sorry, don't hate me!). They just didn't grab my attention.

TRAILER: "Poltergeist"

Okay, I really don't know why it was necessary to do a remake of one of my favorite horror movies of all time- can people just not tolerate non-CGI effects anymore? And what's Sam Rockwell doing in this mess? Don't be fooled by the advertizing either- Sam Raimi did not direct this film, only produced it. If he did, it probably wouldn't look like all the other generic, cheap horror movies that get made every year now. Ugh. Trying to sully what was such a classic of the genre. See the old one, people.

'Apes' Tops Visual Effects Society Winners

In kind of a surprise (most thought this would go to Interstellar), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes topped the VES Awards last night, making it the frontrunner for the Oscar in Visual Effects as well. Frankly, this is the deserved winner of the category, at least in my opinion, but I wonder if Interstellar could still win at the Oscar with a lot of non-visual effects people voting as well.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live-Action Feature: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature: Big Hero 6
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Live Action Feature: Birdman

TEASER: "Magic Mike XXL"

Okay, so, believe it or not, if you saw the first Magic Mike you'd know that it was actually kind of a downer, serious story about a male stripper, but that was the part people didn't like, so this new one clearly does away with all that and just goes full on trashy, exploitation mode. Frankly, without Steven Soderbergh or Matthew McConaughey involved, I can't imagine this is going to be any good, but all people really want out of this is Channing Tatum stripping anyway, so at least it's going to give you that. It's coming out in July.

Brits Re-Do Famous Hollywood Movie Scenes

Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue included a special on the new "British Invasion" by having British actors re-enact famous scenes from classic movies- but I'd say Keira Knightley kinds steals the show here by recreating Meg Ryan's deli orgasm from When Harry Met Sally, complete with a Judi Dench punchline.

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "About Schmidt" (2002)

Any Alexander Payne movie is worth checking out, but what's most impressive to me about this one was that he managed to wrangle a latter day Jack Nicholson performance that wasn't just "Jack being Jack." About Schmidt is the story of a tired old man who embarks on a road trip to his daughter's wedding and faces up to what he has and hasn't done with his life- and there's no hint of the twinkly-eyed, rascally Jack Nicholson here at all. I really believed this guy was an old, washed up every day business man and that's all. It's funny and moving, and Kathy Bates has a scene-stealing role, but this movie is all about Jack and his wonderful, character performance- maybe still the best of his entire career.

Trailer:

REVIEW: "Into the Woods" (2014) Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt. Dir. Rob Marshall

When I saw the stage play Into the Woods, I really couldn't imagine how it could possibly be turned into a film, since the concept is inherently so fantastical that it begs not to be taken seriously for a single second. That's less of a problem on the stage, since watching a play requires a more extended suspension of disbelief from the outset. But, as he did with 2002's Chicago, Rob Marshall manages to put together a pretty faithful adaptation of the play, by pretty much driving it straight down the middle with no embellishments, and letting Stephen Sondheim's songs do most of the work for him.

The setup of Into the Woods involves many familiar fairy tale characters, including Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk) all running into each other throughout the dark woods over the course of three nights as they run to and from various parts of their own stories, while two original characters, the Baker and his wife, try to perform the task of gathering items from these people in the service of a witch, who will lift her curse on them if they bow to her will. The pleasure of the story simply involves watching all the characters run past each other in a frenzy (which Rob Marshall tones down, as the play was practically a screwball farce) and sing the long-winded Sondheim dialogue. If anyone's familiar with his music you know there's less hook than verse in his lyrics, and most of the dialogue is sung throughout the entire film. But the actors here are good singers and perform their parts well, while Marshall does not make the mistake Tom Hooper did of trying to out direct the material with suffocating closeups and wacky camerawork.

The pace is straightforward, significantly slowed down from the stage play, and every character gets their moment in the spotlight, especially Emily Blunt as the Baker's Wife and Meryl Streep as the Witch (although neither of them hold a candle to their stage counterparts, Joanna Gleason and Bernadette Peters, who brought humor, energy and pizazz to their roles that couldn't be duplicated in a more serious rendering). The rest of the cast is admirable as well, with James Corden, Anna Kendrick and Chris Pine holding their own in what's truly an ensemble piece. I especially appreciated that every actor was allowed to simply speak in their own voice, whether American or British, an old-school touch from back in the days when Hollywood studios didn't worry about matching accents in musical universes, which everyone understood were mostly fantasy in the first place.

Into the Woods is enjoyable, if slight and a bit forgettable, aside from the music of course. That was something you probably couldn't say about the play, whether you loved or hated it- but by stripping down the high comedy and over the top manic energy, it becomes a competent production with nice costumes and production design, but nothing more than that. I still liked the movie overall, if only because by simply being a successful live action stage adaption, it's ten times the movie Les Miserables was. And since I held my breath going into this because of that film, this was a huge relief in comparison.

* * *

10 Great Romances for Valentine's Day

It's February everybody, and that means with Valentine's Day coming in just two weeks, it's time to direct you towards out February movie page, where you'll find ten of my favorite romances in honor of the holiday. I've got classic screwball romance, lush period romance, romantic comedy, every gooey thing you could want for the occasion- some of my favorites include Pride and Prejudice (above), Trouble in Paradise, The Lady Eve, Bridget Jones's Diary, Sleepless in Seattle...it ought to be more than enough to keep you occupied for the next four weeks. Just head to the Movies For Every Month page to see what defines romance in February, and click here for the full list of ten, trailers or scenes from the films included. Happy Movie Watching!