Pedro Almodovar is Back With 'Pain & Glory'

I’m always here for a new Almodovar film! This one is coming out in Spain next month and might be playing in Cannes this year. Called Dolor y Gloria, or Pain & Glory, it reunites him with Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz. His last two films got mixed reception (although I really liked Julieta), so it’s time for a comeback.

Lightning Round Reviews 2018: February, Part 1

This month I’ll be posting weekly in the effort to get all these reviews up- my self-imposed Oscar deadline for my top ten is fast approaching and I still have a handful of films left from last year to catch up with. This latest group is a mix of mostly good, a couple really good, and one dud. Enjoy!

THE WIFE * * * (Dir. Bjorn Runge)

Glenn Close is formidable in The Wife

Glenn Close stars in this minimal drama that almost plays out like a chamber piece. As Joan Castleman, she’s been the long suffering, supportive wife of an acclaimed author, Joseph Castleman, whose books have been bestsellers for the last 35 years, and who just won the Nobel Prize for literature. But there’s a big secret lurking underneath their so-called perfect marriage- it turns out Joan was the one who wrote all his novels. As the Castlemans fly to Stockholm for the Nobel Prize ceremony in 1992, Close takes us through all of Joan’s hidden emotions, as closeups reveal her to be the world’s most talented liar, a woman who can be believable as the supportive wife of an egotistical, self-indulgent man, taking care of him and cleaning up all his messes while standing by smiling as he belittles her own writing ability while giving her credit for being his “inspiration” and “muse.” But under the surface she’s fuming and furious. The move belongs to Close, who inhabits this woman on the edge of boiling over, and also to Jonathan Pryce, who’s wonderful as the arrogant, failed writer who has no problem taking credit for his wife’s words and basking in it, while stewing in his own resentment of her talent and taking it out in continual affairs. The movie itself is small and contained, taking place mostly in one hotel suite over the long weekend, with some flashbacks to the Castlemans meeting in the late 1950’s and seeing how they began to perpetuate this fraud (Joan not only wrote his books but was responsible for getting him published in the first place). It’s a tour de force of acting, a two-hander that makes the most of both actors’ longtime professionalism. Glenn Close makes it look easy- so natural as the meek and quiet housewife who protects her husband’s reputation, yet so commanding as she bursts through the screen with her righteous and earned indignation and searing takedown of the man she secretly detests and outwardly adores. It’s a powerhouse performance, perhaps one of her best. 

PRIVATE LIFE * * * 1/2 (Dir. Tamara Jenkins)

Will a baby make everything better or worse?

It’s really a shame Tamara Jenkins has only made three films in the last twenty years. Her debut film, 1998’s Slums of Beverly Hills was an acutely observed comedic gem, 2007’s The Savages another seriocomic dramedy filled with authentic observations of real life, and now, Private Life fits neatly in her oeuvre of real people dealing with life size problems that befall average families and couples. Even if your life is not that of middle-class New Yorkers Richard and Rachel Grimes, you recognize their pain, their feelings, their comforts. As a career driven couple in their forties they are now desperate to have a baby and have spent the last few years in fertility treatments of all kinds, as well as on the endless waiting list for adoption agencies. The angst-ridden trials and various failures have wreaked havoc on their marriage, but their genuine desire to figure out some way to make this happen now has them taking the risk of asking their niece, 25-year-old college student Sadie (Kayli Carter) to be an egg donor to increase their chances of successful IVF. As Sadie is drawn into their obsession and becomes desperate to please them, the strain of infertility pressures the lives of Richard and Rachel’s family members as well as themselves. As realistic as this film is regarding the struggles of childless middle-aged couples, it’s never a downer, as Jenkins’s knack for sharply realized human behavior plays itself out in the reality of everyday emotions, moving naturally from humor to sadness to angst and back again to warmth amidst familial rapport. As hard as it’s been on their marriage, this is a couple that fits together like a glove, and Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn are so perfectly matched it’s as if their relationship and dialogue fell out of the sky. We feel we know them, as well as Sadie and her parents (her mother played by Molly Shannon in pitch perfect concern/hysterical mode). The movie may be a little long and meandering, but that only helps it to feel ever more realistic and unformulaic, like stepping into someone else’s shoes. As far as I’m concerned, Tamara Jenkins hasn’t missed once, and I only want her to get more tries at bat.

A PRIVATE WAR * * * 1/2 (Dir. Mathew Heinemann)

An unimaginable job requires unique characters to do it

A Private War is a biographical film about a reporter that feels much more authentic than most journalism movies. This could be because of director Mathew Heinemann’s background in documentary filmmaking with a journalistic bent- he’s made films about the American healthcare system, Mexican drug cartels and the Syrian uprising- he understands the seriousness of purpose and the mission of truly dedicated journalists to uncover and relay the truth. Marie Colvin was one of those journalists- an American reporter who worked for the Sunday Times in London as a war correspondent and spent twenty-five years traveling to active war zones all over the globe, risking her life and putting herself in as much grave danger as any citizen or soldier embedded in the areas she visited. Rosamund Pike plays Colvin in a career-best performance- practically unrecognizable as she physically transforms herself every bit as much as Christian Bale does in Vice, but without the aid of makeup or prosthetics. Changing her walk, her voice, and way of carrying herself, she inhabits this woman so completely you forget who you’re looking at half the time. As the hard-drinking, hard-living Colvin, who’s addicted to the chase and riddled with post-traumatic stress from her time in war zones (she even lost an eye from a 2001 explosion in Sri Lanka), you respect her dedication to the job even if you can’t manage to understand how anyone could want to do it. The film follows her as she teams with a loyal photographer (Jamie Dornan) to cover the Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syrian conflicts from 2001-2012, on the frontlines of every major international conflict until finally, tragically prevented from doing so. Taking us inside the world of the fearless and dedicated war correspondents who risk everything to cover the stories the rest of us don’t see, this film gives you a new appreciation for the those who give their lives to bring us the truth, and a sense of hopelessness when you contemplate what kind of a difference these fiercely courageous citizens are making in the world, if any.

WIDOWS * * * (Dir. Steve McQueen)

Steve McQueen’s first film since 12 Years a Slave is a far more intelligent thriller than usual

Widows is not what you’d expect. A supposed heist film based on Lynda La Plante’s 1980’s BBC miniseries is not really a heist film at all (the heist only takes place in the last 15 minutes and until it happens we don’t even know what they’re planning to do). Instead, it’s an unconventional thriller starring a large ensemble cast that has a lot more on its mind than any one heist. Viola Davis stars as Veronica Rawlins, a woman whose criminal husband (Liam Neeson) dies in a job gone wrong. She is then threatened by the man whom Harry Rawlins stole from and ordered to pay back the debt herself, so she gathers the other widows from Harry’s gang to help her plan what would have been his next job. It sounds simple enough, but the film is nowhere near that concise. There are issues raised in this screenplay involving racism, politics, class conflict, inner city poverty, prostitution, corruption and greed. There is no scene where at least one of those underlying themes isn’t hinted at or explored with one of the many characters, from the other widows (Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki) to the corrupt candidate running for city council and his father (Colin Firth and Robert Duvall) to the rival gangsters after the money and trying to move up from the criminal underworld to the criminal political world (Brian Tyree Henry and Daniel Kaluuya). All of these conflicting issues and conversations make for an intelligent and far more interesting thriller than anyone would anticipate, even if the movie bites off more than it can chew, by bringing up so many issues with so many characters, that it effectively shortchanges many of them. Still, Steve McQueen’s surprisingly straightforward direction makes this a not inaccessible or dull film, and the level of ambition and strong performances (especially from Davis and Debicki) in a genre movie of this kind are so unique that it makes the experience worthwhile.

AQUAMAN * * (Dir. James Wan)

You just can’t take fish people seriously

Is it possible to make a lighthearted action movie about underwater fishpeople warriors, and yet also make it a two-and-a-half hour epic? Well, you can certainly try, but sitting through this thing will guarantee you come out of it at least a 50% dumber. James Wan gives it his all (he really throws everything at the screen), but this extra long, extra dumb origin story of Aquaman, King of Atlantis is one of the silliest, most ridiculous superhero movies you’ll ever see. But at least it knows it, right? Well, sort of. The movie plays up a tongue-in-cheek tone, letting us know that we’re all in on the joke together, as the half human, half Atlantean Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is very much a dudebro who spends his time half on the surface, half underwater rescuing submarines from pirate attacks. Then we get a little Thor drama, as his evil half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) wants to take over Atlantis and launch a war on the surface people, so Arthur is summoned to the sea to rescue the kingdom, take his rightful place on the throne, and save the world. He gets a love interest in Amber Heard, who plays Princess Mera, and a loyal godfather type in Willem Dafoe, who teaches him how to use his seapowers, but the biggest problem with the movie is that it goes on and on and on. It gives you your money’s worth if what you want is sheer spectacle, as Wan zips through locations for every action scene, from a submarine to the neon-colored glowing lights of Atlantis to the Sahara desert to an Italian seaside village, to the apparent forest in the center of the Earth’s core (really), back to the sea again. And he throws in crab people and water monsters on top of Atlanteans and Power Rangers looking assassins in armored robot suits. But my god is it relentless. I think I was overpowered and done with it by the 90 minute mark, only to have it throw another hour’s worth of action scenes at me. The one thing I’ll say is that Jason Momoa is fairly likable and has a goofy, charismatic screen presence- we always know he’s laughing with the audience, which is necessary to carry all this nonsense off, especially through the endless running time. A 90 minute, nutty cartoon might have been bearable, but this epic treatment for what amounts to a live action, but mostly animated, underwater war movie is mindnumbing. Although, who knows, if you’ve always wanted to see Oscar-nominated Willem Dafoe mount a seahorse and shout “Surface dwellers! To arms!” this may be the movie for you.

BUMBLEBEE * * * (Dir. Travis Knight)

The goofy Bumblebee is kinda cute

So, full disclosure here. I have never seen a single Transformers movie. Not one. So why did I decide to give this one a shot? Well, for one thing, I knew it wasn’t directed by Michael Bay. And second, I knew that it was a prequel, so there was no worry that I’d be lost. So having said that, how was the experience of sitting through my first Transformers film? Well, it was surprisingly sweet, actually. Director Travis Knight comes from animation, having directed Kubo and the Two Strings, and you can sense the touch of an experienced animation director all over this movie, which plays out like a cheery live action cartoon, more of a “girl and her pet” coming of age story than a wall to wall action movie. In fact, the action in this is not wall to wall at all, there are only two extended action scenes that I can think of, both relatively brief and efficient (but well animated with CGI of course). After a prologue that recaps the Autobots vs. Decepticon battle in space, Bumblebee is sent to Earth and winds up in 1980’s San Francisco, having lost his memory and vocal chords, hiding out in a junkyard as a beat up yellow Beetle. Enter 18-year-old Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld). Still grieving the death of her father and wanting to fix an old car to relive their father-daughter bonding moments, she winds up with a brand new robot friend. Yes, this is the classic E.T./How to Train Your Dragon/Iron Giant formula at work and it follows just about every step in that predictable blueprint, but thanks to Knight’s sunnily optimistic touch, it has such a doggedly cheery, earnest, heart-on-your-sleeve attitude about it that I found it winning me over practically through sheer force of will. Steinfeld is an immensely appealing screen presence and hey, Bumblebee is a pretty cool friend to have on your side. There’s not one note in this movie that isn’t telegraphed, and it is in fact so openly cheesy that it boggles the mind, but it embraces its cheesiness wholeheartedly, with every goofy cartoon character in on the fun and enjoying themselves along with Bumblebee, who’s just as lovable as all those previous movie alien friends. The kinds of pleasures it delivers are familiar and of the guilty kind, but in the end, pleasures are pleasures and I have to admit I fell for it.

New Footage Revealed in 'Apollo 11' Documentary

I thought First Man was one of the best movies of last year, but it ended up being a box office disappointment and was overlooked in end of the year awards as well. Maybe this new documentary that premiered at Sundance will fare better- apparently it’s filled with jaw-dropping footage about the famous space flight.

'Black Panther' Wins Top SAG Award, Rami Malek and Glenn Close Take Lead Acting Honors

Black Panther! Not a huge surprise (it was my alternate, I thought its best chance to win anything this season was the SAG ensemble), but this tells us pretty much nothing about Best Picture. It’s still a wide open Oscar race for the top award. Glenn Close sealed the Oscar tonight for Best Actress though, in my opinion, as she won her first SAG for The Wife, and Rami Malek did indeed manage to beat out Christian Bale here and now becomes the favorite for Best Actor. Mahershala Ali took home his expected supporting award and is cruising his way to the Oscar podium, while Emily Blunt (my dark horse pick) surprised and won for A Quiet Place (she’s not nominated for an Oscar at all). That would seem to clear the path for Regina King, but that category could be a shock winner on Oscar night. Stay tuned, as it’s the DGA’s turn next weekend.

• ENSEMBLE CAST: Black Panther

• MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

• FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Glenn Close, The Wife

• MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Mahershala Ali, Green Book

• FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place

Did Rami Malek wrap up the Best Actor Oscar for Bohemian Rhapsody?

2019 SAG Predictions

Okay guys, time for SAG predictions! The Screen Actors Guild Awards happening Sunday night are a huge barometer for the acting winners at the Oscars, with its ensemble prize an occasional Best Picture bellwether in a split guild year (if this is one of those- we don’t know yet). With the nominations now in, there are a couple of competitive races where SAG could be the decisive precursor (BAFTA can sometimes signal an upset winner if it differs). Let’s get to it.

ENSEMBLE IN A FILM

Fingers crossed for the Spike Lee joint

• Black Panther 

• BlacKkKlansman

• Bohemian Rhapsody

• Crazy Rich Asians

• A Star is Born

Well, I once thought that A Star is Born would be a big frontrunner, but the movie has stalled out in winning anything besides Song, and that’s likely where it’ll end up on Oscar night, with Bradley Cooper having been overlooked in director. I think there’s no chance for it to win here. My gut says this could be any of the B-titles: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman or Bohemian Rhapsody. And it’s really just a crapshoot, all of them are pretty loved in the industry, and there’s lots of actors in each ensemble cast. I’m gonna go with BlacKkKlansman, because I still want to think that it has an outside shot to win Best Picture, and if had the SAG win under its belt, that would be a huge indicator of its support going into the Oscars. And it does have strong support, because it got nominated for ensemble here, plus two individual acting nods. But it could very easily be either of the other two.

Winner: BlacKkKlansman

Alternate: Bohemian Rhapsody

Dark Horse: Black Panther

LEAD ACTOR

Christian Bale’s physical transformation as Cheney likely gives him the upper hand

• Christian Bale, Vice

• Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born

• Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

• Viggo Mortensen, Green Book

• John David Washington, BlacKkKlansman

This one’s really hard too. Malek and Bale both won Globes, and then Bale won the Critics Choice award. They’re both physically transformative performances in biopics (which actors like), and both movies are loved by the industry overall. I think it’s between them and whoever takes this will win on Oscar night, but I honestly have no idea which one to lean towards. 

Winner: Christian Bale (a former winner in supporting, but maybe because he’s more respected with a longer career, and sometimes that’s important to SAG)

Alternate: Rami Malek

Dark Horse: Bradley Cooper (he may have a shot, especially if people want give him something for his movie after being snubbed in directing by the Oscars, but the voting for this was probably too late for the sympathy factor to kick in)

LEAD ACTRESS

After seven Oscar nominations and no win to her name, will the SAG be Glenn Close’s first step on her way to finally take the statue?

• Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns

• Glenn Close, The Wife

• Olivia Colman, The Favourite

• Lady Gaga, A Star is Born

• Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Oy. Another coin toss. Glenn Close and Olivia Colman both won Globes and Critics Choice awards (along with Gaga in the latter), but The Favourite is obviously better loved as a whole (10 Oscar nominations) and Colman is highly likely to win the BAFTA. On the other hand, Glenn Close is now the most-nominated living actor to have never won an Oscar. That’s a fearsome position I didn’t know she’d reached. At this point I would think there’d be a lot of pressure to reward her for her decades long career, don’t you? And SAG does like veterans. I’m going with Glenn.

Winner: Glenn Close

Alternate: Olivia Colman

Dark Horse: Lady Gaga

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Ali will likely get his second SAG award in as many years

• Mahershala Ali, Green Book

• Timothee Chalamet, Beautiful Boy

• Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman

• Sam Elliott, A Star is Born

• Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

This one is much easier. Ali seems like the definite favorite, having won the Globe and Critics Choice award, and with how loved Green Book seems to be in the industry. The only thing is SAG has never repeated in this category, and he did win this for Moonlight just two years ago. So they could choose to go with another long unrecognized, veteran character actor like Sam Elliott (or Richard E. Grant for that matter). But I think it’s probably Ali’s. He’ll just be the first to repeat.

Winner: Mahershala Ali

Alternate: Sam Elliott

Dark Horse: Richard E. Grant

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Without Regina King in the mix, I think the SAG finally goes to Amy Adams

• Amy Adams, Vice

• Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place

• Margot Robbie, Mary, Queen of Scots

• Emma Stone, The Favourite

• Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

So the weird thing with this category is that the presumed frontrunner, Regina King (who won the Globe and Critics Choice award for If Beale Street Could Talk), did not get nominated here or at BAFTA. It could be some weird fluke, or it could signal that it’ll be tough for her to take the Oscar, especially if one alternative choice swoops in for both. I think Amy Adams is the likely beneficiary of King’s absence at this show but if Adams were to win here and then someone else takes the BAFTA (like hometown girl Rachel Weisz for example), that leaves a path for King to take the Oscar anyway. However, if Amy Adams wins here AND at BAFTA, and the Academy loves Vice that much (8 Oscar nominations to Beale Street’s 3, and Adams herself is on her sixth and overdue) that could mean Adams comes in and goes all the way, finally winning after so many nominations over the last decade. 

Winner: Amy Adams

Alternate: Rachel Weisz

Dark Horse: Emily Blunt (she was nominated twice by SAG this year and yet snubbed completely at the Oscars again- maybe she has a chance if there’s some sympathy for her after her big hits were ignored by the Academy)

Lightning Round Reviews 2018: January, Part 2

Here we are again, with the next batch of reviews for films that came out in 2018. I should be dropping about three more of these before the Oscars next month, so that I can finally produce my long-delayed top ten list before the ceremony. I’m a late critic, I know, but I like to try to see all that I can before officially ranking them. This was a mixed group, with some great choices, as well as some iffy ones. But I had quite a bit to say about each of them.

THE RIDER * * * 1/2 (Dir. Chloe Zhao)

A haunting western invokes natural beauty of many kinds

Chloe Zhao’s poetic western about a wounded rodeo cowboy is a graceful, meditative, forlorn look at life on the barren prairies of South Dakota, where one’s dreams are limited to the world around you, however much of it you can grasp for yourself. Using non-actors for the characters gives this film a realistic, near documentary feeling, while the atmosphere of the midwest washes over you as Brady Blackburn, who lives in poverty with his father and mentally handicapped sister, struggles to find a reason to go on after a life-threatening injury takes his horse-riding ability away from him. Brady’s entire identity is wrapped up in being a champion bronc rider, as he never finished high school and has no other ambitions or talents, just the thrill of the wind in his face as he rides over the vast wastelands of Dakota territory and excels every day at the rodeo. After a severe brain injury prevents him from taking the saddle ever again, he must get used to life without the thing that keeps him going, the only dream or desire he’s ever had. Zhao used the real life Jandreau family to portray the Blackburn family in this film, which probably made it easier for them to channel that familial rapport for the camera, while using other non-actors as fellow rodeo riders and cowboys, including Lane Scott, a bull rider who was permanently immobilized after an even worse brain injury than Brady’s. At such a young age, the desolation of having no future weighs heavily on Brady as he loses the only use for his life as he sees it, and after spending the film immersed in the world he lives in, you can’t help but understand the hopelessness of his perspective. The beauty of the land is no substitute for the promise of a future that holds some possibility. The humanity displayed in this film make it possible to empathize with those you don’t often see or hear about, as you contemplate how many must survive on the barest morsels of a dream.

CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? * * * 1/2 (Dir. Marielle Heller)

A scheming pair makes for a droll dramatic comedy

Lee Israel is a middle-aged, misanthropic, alcoholic, overweight lesbian, a once successful biographer who’s fallen on hard times and doesn’t possess the social etiquette or the desire to make the most of her literary connections to get back on top. As I write that description I realize how rare it is for women to get to play roles like this, the kind of typical male crank that stars like Jack Nicholson specialized in. But in Marielle Heller’s version of the book Lee Israel wrote about her life, Melissa McCarthy knocks it out of the park as she expands her comedic talent with a part that requires her to stretch into more dramatic territory. When Israel was flat broke with no book prospects on the horizon in 1991, she took to forging letters from famous writers and selling them to various memorabilia dealers around New York City, a stunt that landed her in legal trouble eventually, but gave her a thrill as she stoked the fires that illegal activity arouses in the lifelong law abiding citizen. This is a movie that’s less about her little scheme itself though, and more of a character study, as Lee’s foray into forgery emphasizes her penchant for alienating those around her, except for her friend Jack Hock (a delightfully caustic Richard E. Grant), a fellow former writer turned drinking buddy, who gleefully colludes with her growing literary racket. Their scenes together sparkle with a witty back and forth brought about by a sharp script, one that pierces the depths of this character through insights into the various personality quirks, miserly tendencies and self-destructive traits Lee possesses, the very factors that make her such an observant writer and talented impersonator. When she works on it, that is. With all the effort she out into this crime, I couldn’t help but think she could have easily written a whole satirical book full of fake letters in the voices of celebrities, one that would have probably sold pretty well. But that’s not Lee’s plight, is it? She doesn’t much fit in to the world, and she doesn’t want to. She’s happier on the outside looking in. Well, maybe not happier. But something. 

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY * * (Dir. Bryan Singer)

A cartoon version of the life and times of Freddie Mercury

The long-awaited Freddie Mercury biopic got made at last after all these years, following a troubled production that saw its embattled and accused director Bryan Singer fired after completing about 3/4’s of the film, and the movie that finally arrived is a by the numbers, greatest hits caricature documenting the rise of Queen in the most superficial way possible, led by Rami Malek as Mercury, struggling through the barrier of a distracting prosthetic dental piece. Bohemian Rhapsody is surprisingly amateurish in its direction, speeding through Queen’s rise like a made for VH1 TV movie- Freddie meets the band in the second scene, becomes lead singer in the third, suddenly they’re on the charts in the fourth, and we’re off to the races! Most of this movie is one montage after another, set to Queen’s music, as the band goes on tour and produces their hits, Freddie leading the way in flamboyant costumes and mannered acting, while the rest of the guys are paper-thin cardboard cutouts in 1970’s wigs. Freddie’s homosexuality is lightly touched on, as the movie prefers to spend more time on his ill-fated relationship with lifelong friend Mary Austin (Sing Street’s Lucy Boynton), and then he loses himself to various sojourns through leather bars in the early 80’s (set to another montage of course), as presumably we’re supposed to imagine this is when he contracted HIV. The whole movie is so cartoonish that Malek’s cartoonish portrayal isn’t out of place, but neither does it constitute good acting, as there’s not one note of authenticity in any frame of this film. However Queen rose to the top, I can pretty much guarantee it was nothing like this. If this movie is remembered for anything, it’s likely to be the recreation of the 1985 Live Aid concert at the end, which is nearly a shot for shot remake, and a sequence that lasts over 20 minutes (only cutting one song from the actual set), but even that is chopped up by Singer’s shoddy direction, which cuts too many times to people in the crowd watching in awe as their eyes well up. Come on. Nevertheless, ending the movie on twenty minutes of one of Freddie Mercury’s greatest performances (Malek lip syncs to the real thing) leaves the audience on a massive high coming out of the theater, which has to be the explanation for the incredible success of this laughable, strikingly bad film. Freddie deserved better. 

GREEN BOOK * * 1/2 (Dir. Peter Farrelly)

Why does it feel like I’ve seen this movie before?

There’s a certain kind of movie about race relations in America that keeps being made, and that’s for a reason. It’s the movie about a casually racist, but ultimately goodhearted white person who falls for the equally goodhearted black person, and through each other’s differences, they come to understand each other, respect each other, even love each other. We’ve seen it in the 1960’s classics starring Sidney Poitier, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, we saw it in 1989’s Best Picture winner Driving Miss Daisy, and we see it here again in Green Book, a film so old-fashioned in its sensibilities and its values, that not only is it set in 1962, but it could have very easily come out in that same year. All this isn’t to say that this kind of movie doesn’t have its pleasures, not least of which is the acting of the two leads, Viggo Mortensen as the casually racist Italian New Yorker hired to be the driver to Mahershala Ali’s Dr. Don Shirley, a closeted gay, black musician going on a tour of the Deep South. The two men are superb in this movie, bringing life into their characters and burgeoning friendship, so much so that they make you want to buy into it, even when you know you’re being manipulated by the familiar storytelling screws of this kind of road trip buddy movie. But I think the biggest issue with these kinds of stories are the perspectives from which they’re told. Despite the fact that Don Shirley is the eccentric genius and troubled soul of this narrative, for some reason this is the point of view of his driver, Tony Vallelonga, and how he learned to appreciate and respect the man he worked for. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? I think it should, because the thing is, we already know Tony’s point of view. We know it because we’ve seen and heard it all before. It was Rod Steiger’s and Spencer Tracy’s point of view in the 1960’s, it was Jessica Tandy’s point of view in the 1980’s, and now it’s Viggo Mortenson’s, but if there’s another thing this movie shows us, it’s that that point of view, that of the defensive, goodhearted white person who learns to love a “good” black person, it’s that it has not changed one bit in the last 50 years. The things that come out of Vallelonga’s mouth when he gets into an argument about race with Don Shirley are the words you hear from Trump supporters today on the same topic. We’ve heard it all before and the only insight to be gained from stories (even true ones) like these, especially about racism, are from the perspectives of the characters who experienced and lived it. Ali is fantastic as the elusive and somewhat tragic Don Shirley and for what familiar, basic comfort it provides to a mainstream audience, the story of this friendship and this journey should have been his.

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK * * * 1/2 (Dir. Barry Jenkins)

A delicate flower of a love story brought to the screen

James Baldwin’s 1974 novel could not have asked for a more faithful treatment, as Barry Jenkins, in his first film since Moonlight, takes great pains to visually convey every bit of the richness that is Baldwin’s words. Just about every single page is on the screen here, as the delicate and tragic love story of just barely legal Fonny (Stephan James) and Tish (Kiki Layne) plays out in heartbreaking fashion. As a filmmaker, Jenkins cares more about atmosphere and style than plot, but his reverence for Baldwin’s poetry leads him to pair his dialogue and much of the narration (recited by Layne in the film) with his own dreamlike approach to mood and environment. Early 1970’s Harlem is brought to life in rich colors, costumes and a swooning score that places us in the minds of the characters as we fall into their young adult romance as Fonny and Tish’s hopes for a future together seem bright and expansive against the reality of black life in America, at any time. The events that prevent them from reaching those dreams, as modest as they may have been, is a typical story in black America, one that rarely romanticizes or considers the dashed potential and innocence lost to so many, at so young an age. It’s a story of life interrupted, and stagnated, with a will to keep going based on a promise of some unknown fated date that you may never see. But maybe their children will. Or maybe their children will. This beautiful, moving tone poem of a film lovingly details and embraces those hopes, so emblematic of so many people, that stay unfulfilled. But the beauty of life and the power of love to keep going is the grace that Baldwin would have cherished to see brought to life in so loving a manner.

VICE * * 1/2 (Dir. Adam McKay)

Yes, Dick Cheney was bad- but didn’t we know that already?

If there’s one thing I know about Adam McKay, it’s that he’s never forgiven the Bush administration for the Iraq war, and rightly so. It also seems to be that he blames Dick Cheney for not only that, but every colossal failure and crime of that administration, and for seeking to usurp power and destroy the integrity of the executive branch of our government, and that’s pretty much the message you get out of Vice, the scattershot biopic about the man dubbed Darth Vader himself. But my problem is that’s pretty much all you get. In the first half, McKay films in his jokey, entertaining, half satirical manner as he charts Dick Cheney’s rise from an untalented, unambitious young screw-up to lackey in the halls of the power, as played by Christian Bale (who disappears into the part in his typical chameleonic style). His marriage to wife Lynn is interesting, as an exceptionally good Amy Adams makes her character a Lady Macbeth type whose only pursuit is in securing her own power through marriage to a powerful man and will accept nothing less out of him. As Cheney rises in Republican circles through the ruthlessness and callousness to decency that defines the party, he gains experience but does not possess the charisma of more talented players (even his wife holds a crowd better than he does) to run for the highest office himself. But then the Bushes come calling, and we kinda know the rest, right? I certainly do and had no desire to relive it, as we’re subject to every miserable misstep of the Bush years all over again as Cheney consolidates his power through manipulating W and running the administration himself as vice president, at least in the first term. The problem here though is that McKay rehashes these events with virtually no additional insight or a strong handle on what it is he’s trying to say about them. We remember 9/11, we remember the torture memos, we remember the falsified intelligence leading to the Iraq invasion, we remember Colin Powell’s UN speech, etc. This movie brings each one up again, but to what end? Why did Cheney do these things? What was it that drove him? Was he just an inherently evil man? Was he obsessed with power but terrible at his job, the way he’d been terrible at every job in his career of failing upward through white male privilege? Or was he completely driven (as I suspect, since this was the only thing he ever succeeded at in his disastrous career) by the desire to enrich his former oil company, Halliburton, with every move he ever made once he got in the White House, and was simply in over his head regarding everything else. You have to try to read into it, because McKay certainly doesn’t tell you what he thinks, other than that Cheney is bad. The second half of the movie plays like a lecture on what happened from the years 2001-2005, with occasional forays into satire, but not enough of those for the movie to be one completely. It ends up being an unnecessary recap that had me wondering what the point of it all was.

'Roma' and 'The Favourite' Lead the 91st Academy Award Nominations

The nominations are here! Roma picks up ten nods, tying the record for the most Oscar nominations for a foreign-language film and setting brand new records for Netflix in the process. It’s the first ever Best Picture nominee with no box office receipts, which is likely to change everything going forward, in my opinion (Netflix also got the Coen Brothers’ Ballad of Buster Scruggs in for three surprise nods in costumes, screenplay and song). Also getting nominated for Roma were its actresses, both Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira (!) in a surprise nom. The Favourite was right up there with ten nods of its own, but overall the Best Picture nominees weren’t a big surprise to me. Vice over performed today with eight nominations, including one for Sam Rockwell, while A Star is Born was snubbed for director, with Bradley Cooper getting Affleck’d in favor of The Favourite’s Lanthimos and Pawel Pawlikowski for Cold War (that always elite, fickle director’s branch also skipped over Peter Farrelly, lessening Green Book’s chances to win right after it took the PGA this weekend). Also of note, Black Panther got 7 noms total and becomes the first superhero movie ever nominated for Best Picture, Spike Lee is now a Best Director and Best Picture Oscar nominee for the first time in his career, and Paul Schrader is now a first time Oscar nominee ever, after First Reformed gets a screenplay nomination (the guy who wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull had inexplicably never been nominated for an Oscar until now).

BEST PICTURE:

• BLACKKKLANSMAN

• BLACK PANTHER

• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

• THE FAVOURITE

• GREEN BOOK

• ROMA

• A STAR IS BORN

• VICE

BEST DIRECTOR:

• Alfonso Cuaron, ROMA

• Yorgos Lanthimos, THE FAVOURITE

• Spike Lee, BLACKKKLANSMAN

• Adam McKay, VICE

• Pawel Pawlikowski, COLD WAR

BEST ACTOR:

• Christian Bale, VICE

• Bradley Cooper, A STAR IS BORN

• Willem Dafoe, AT ETERNITY’S GATE

• Rami Malek, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

• Viggo Mortenson, GREEN BOOK

BEST ACTRESS:

• Yalitza Aparicio, ROMA

• Glenn Close, THE WIFE

• Olivia Colman, THE FAVOURITE

• Lady Gaga, A STAR IS BORN

• Melissa McCarthy, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Both of Roma’s actresses got nominated today, setting a record for two acting nominees from the same foreign-language film

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

• Mahershala Ali, GREEN BOOK

• Adam Driver, BLACKKKLANSMAN

• Sam Elliott, A STAR IS BORN

• Richard E. Grant, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

• Sam Rockwell, VICE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

• Amy Adams, VICE

• Marina de Tavira, ROMA

• Regina King, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

• Emma Stone, THE FAVOURITE

• Rachel Weisz, THE FAVOURITE

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

• THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

• BLACKKKLANSMAN

• CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

• IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

• A STAR IS BORN

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

• THE FAVOURITE

• FIRST REFORMED

• GREEN BOOK

• ROMA

• VICE

BlacKkKlansman gets 6 nods, landing Spike Lee his very first Oscar nomination for Best Director- can he win?

BEST EDITING:

• BLACKKKLANSMAN

• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

• THE FAVOURITE

• GREEN BOOK

• VICE

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

• COLD WAR

• THE FAVOURITE

• NEVER LOOK AWAY

• ROMA

• A STAR IS BORN

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

• BLACK PANTHER

• BLACKKKLANSMAN

• IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

• ISLE OF DOGS

• MARY POPPINS RETURNS

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

• “ALL THE STARS,” BLACK PANTHER

• “I’LL FIGHT,” RBG

• “THE PLACE WHERE LOST THINGS GO,” MARY POPPINS RETURNS

• “SHALLOW,” A STAR IS BORN

• “WHEN A COWBOY TRADES HIS SPURS FOR WINGS,” THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

Bradley Cooper is left off the Best Director list after getting nominated everywhere else- after Ben Affleck’s famous snub in the same category, has the directors branch finally turned its back on actors turned directors?

BEST DOCUMENTARY:

• FREE SOLO

• HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING

• MINDING THE GAP

• OF FATHERS AND SONS

• RBG

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM:

• CAPERNAUM (LEBANON)

• COLD WAR (POLAND)

• NEVER LOOK AWAY (GERMANY)

• ROMA (MEXICO)

• SHOPLIFTERS (JAPAN)

BEST ANIMATED FILM:

• INCREDIBLES 2

• ISLE OF DOGS

• MIRAI

• RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET

• SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:

• BLACK PANTHER

• FIRST MAN

• THE FAVOURITE

• MARY POPPINS RETURNS

• ROMA

With 7 nominations, Black Panther is the first comic book/superhero movie ever nominated for Best Picture, 10 years after The Dark Knight’s infamous snub

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

• THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

• BLACK PANTHER

• THE FAVOURITE

• MARY POPPINS RETURNS

• MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING:

• BORDER

• MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

• VICE

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

• AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

• CHRISTOPHER ROBIN

• FIRST MAN

• READY PLAYER ONE

• SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT:

• BLACK SHEEP

• END GAME

• LIFEBOAT

• A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN

• PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE.

Cold War landed a directing nomination for Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski- this is the first time two directors of foreign films are nominated in this category since 1976

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT:

• DETAINMENT

• FAUVE

• MARGUERITE

• MOTHER

• SKIN

BEST ANIMATED SHORT:

• ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

• BAO

• LATE AFTERNOON

• ONE SMALL STEP

• WEEKENDS

BEST SOUND MIXING:

• BLACK PANTHER

• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

• FIRST MAN

• ROMA

• A STAR IS BORN

BEST SOUND EDITING:

• BLACK PANTHER

• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

• FIRST MAN

• A QUIET PLACE

• ROMA

In terms of snubs, the biggest shocker is probably the omission of Won’t You Be My Neighbor from the documentary race. Seriously? The movie that’s swept almost every precursor in that category missed out on a nomination? How? Another entirely offensive snub is First Man in score! How did this happen? What does the music branch have against Justin Hurwitz? What was easily the year’s best score didn’t even get nominated, I can’t believe it. And even though Roma got ten nominations, it missed out in editing, surprisingly (a really important category), where movies like Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody got in instead. Someone please tell me what is so great about Bohemian Rhapsody’s editing. I wonder sometimes if this editing branch doesn’t actually know their own craft. Roma would seem to be ahead now in the Best Picture race after Green Book got just five nominations and missed director, but I’m still not counting out Blackkklansman. It’s the only movie to get into Picture, Director, Acting, Screenplay and Editing, all the most important categories, and if there’s any hesitance towards Roma over the foreign-language/Netflix factor, I could see that film sneaking through on the preferential ballot. The Academy’s new membership makes for different results in the balloting than the other groups now, so watch out.

The Favourite led with 10 nominations, along with Roma, but is believed to be too divisive to win on a preferential ballot with AMPAS- we’ll see how it does with BAFTA next month

'Happytime Murders,' 'Holmes & Watson,' Donald Trump Among Razzie Nominees

Here we go with the annual Razzie noms for worst movies and performances of 2018. I appreciate the three nods lobbed at Trump just for showing up in two documentaries- he deserves any and all jabs at his all around horridness. Not too surprising about all those nods for that puppet movie The Happytime Murders and the massive bomb that was Holmes & Watson (stuck at 0% on Rotten Tomatoes). The Razzies also seem to have a special thing for Amanda Seyfriend, who gets multiple nods every single year it seems. Did she do something to piss you guys off, Razzies?

WORST PICTURE
Gotti
The Happytime Murders
Holmes & Watson  
Robin Hood
Winchester 

WORST ACTRESS
Jennifer Garner / Peppermint
Amber Heard / London Fields
Melissa McCarthy / Happytime Murders and Life of the Party
Helen Mirren / Winchester
Amanda Seyfried / The Clapper  

WORST ACTOR
Johnny Depp (Voice Only) Sherlock Gnomes
Will Ferrell / Holmes & Watson
John Travolta / Gotti
Donald J. Trump (As Himself) Death of a Nation and Fahrenheit 11/9  
Bruce Willis / Death Wish 

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jamie Fox / Robin Hood
Ludacris (Voice Only) Show Dogs
Joel McHale / Happytime Murders
John C. Reilly / Holmes & Watson
Justice Smith / Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kellyanne Conway (As Herself) Fahrenheit 11/9
Marcia Gay Harden / Fifty Shades Freed
Kelly Preston / Gotti
Jaz Sinclair / Slender Man
Melania Trump (As Herself) Fahrenheit 11/9

WORST SCREEN COMBO
Any Two Actors or Puppets (Especially in Those Creepy Sex Scenes) Happytime Murders
Johnny Depp & His Fast-Fading Film Career (He’s doing voices for cartoons, fer kripesakes!) Sherlock Gnomes
Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly (Trashing Two of Literature’s Most Beloved Characters) Holmes & Watson
Kelly Preston & John Travolta (Getting BATTLEFIELD EARTH type Reviews!) Gotti  
Donald J, Trump & His Self Perpetuating Pettiness / Death of a Nation & Fahrenheit 11/9 

WORST REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL
Death of a Nation (Remake of Hillary’s America...)
Death Wish
Holmes & Watson
The Meg (Rip-Off of Jaws)
Robin Hood  

WORST DIRECTOR
Etan Cohen / Holmes & Watson
Kevin Connolly / Gotti
James Foley / Fifty Shades Freed
Brian Henson / Happytime Murders
The Spierig Brothers (Michael & Peter) / Winchester  

WORST SCREENPLAY
Death of a Nation, Written by Dinesh D’Souza & Bruce Schooley
Fifty Shades Freed, Screenplay by Niall Leonard, from the Novel by E.L. James  
Gotti, Screenplay by Leo Rossi and Lem Dobbs
Happytime Murders, Screenplay by Todd Berger, Story by Berger and Dee Austin Robinson  
Winchester, Written by Tom Vaughan and The Spierig Brothers 

Melissa McCarthy will likely get an Oscar nomination tomorrow, but this puppet movie received some of the most savage reviews of last year

'Green Book' Wins the PGA

Wow. I guess the various scandals surrounding Green Book have not made a single dent in the minds of the people who love this movie, because boy do they love it. After winning the PGA tonight, many will be tempted to predict it as the Best Picture frontrunner and with good reason. The PGA winner has won the Best Picture Oscar 20 of the last 29 years, including last year, with The Shape of Water. The two before that it diverged, with La La Land and The Big Short losing out to Moonlight and Spotlight, respectively, so there’s some hope for something else (though I’m thinking it’s probably Roma or nothing, since Alfonso Cuaron is still expected to win the DGA). Yeah, this isn’t looking good. I’m sensing a backlash to the backlash a little bit too, with people who love this film becoming very defensive and protective over it regarding the criticism. But man, are we in for a shitstorm if this movie wins Best Picture. It would definitely be the most divisive winner since Crash. We’re in for a big three guild split it looks like too, with DGA likely to be Cuaron and neither Green Book nor Roma nominated for the SAG ensemble, so that one has to be something else. Even though the PGA is the only other group that uses the Academy’s preferential ballot, the makeup of the Academy has changed drastically in recent years, due to the effort to make its membership more diverse, while no other organization’s has (and that could explain the divergence from the PGA winner in 2015 and 2016). All this means we could be in for a surprise on Oscar night this year, but if Green Book won on this ballot here, it could win anywhere, so look out.

• Best Feature Film: Green Book

• Best Animated Film: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

• Best Documentary Film: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

MPSE Golden Reel & Cinema Audio Society Nominations

Time for the sound guilds to weigh in here, and I think we’ve got the full slate of guild nominations in now. It’s hard to predict the sound awards, particularly because I didn’t realize the sound editing categories had so many nominees. Obviously the Oscar noms will come from these lists, but which ones? Probably the musicals, like Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born. Likely First Man. And maybe Mission: Impossible and A Quiet Place (action films usually get in here).

MPSE GOLDEN REEL NOMINATIONS (SOUND EDITING)

Musicals will always make it into the sound awards too

Feature Film – Dialogue / ADR
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“First Man”
“Green Book”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”
“A Quiet Place”
“Roma”
“A Star is Born”

Feature Film – Effects / Foley
“Avengers: Infinity War”
“Black Panther”
“Deadpool 2”
“The Favourite”
“First Man”
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”
“A Quiet Place”
“Ready Player One”
“Roma”

CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY NOMINATIONS (SOUND MIXING)

I guess if this movie was known for something, it was sound

Motion Picture- Live Action

• A Quiet Place

• A Star is Born

• Black Panther

• Bohemian Rhapsody

• First Man

Motion Picture- Animated

• Incredibles 2

• Isle of Dogs

• Ralph Breaks the Internet

• Into the Spider-Verse

Keanu Reeves and Halle Berry Team Up for 'John Wick 3'

The John Wick series is a fun, cult franchise that knows exactly what its audience wants, and this third one looks to be continuing in that tradition, as the bounty on John Wick’s head is even higher, with even MORE people after him at all times. The plot of both movies is really just as simple as that (the second one is better). I like them though, so I’m looking forward to this. It comes out in May.

USC Scripter Nominees Snub 'BlacKkKlansman,' 'Infinity War' Leads VFX Society Noms

The USC Scripter award is a prestigious prize for an adapted screenplay that awards the script AND its source material. Since 2010, the Oscar for adapted screenplay has gone to the winner of this award, so it’s a pretty massive snub that the supposed Oscar frontrunner, BlacKkKlansman, didn’t even make it in here. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything, maybe it’s time for that stat to be broken again, but on the other hand, Beale Street did snag the Critics Choice award for its screenplay the other day. Hmmm. Some other surprise nominees here include Leave No Trace and The Death of Stalin, though I’ve always believed Death of Stalin would get an Oscar nomination in this category.

USC SCRIPTER HONOREES

• Black Panther, based on the character created by Stan Lee

• Can You Ever Forgive Me?, based on the book by Lee Israel

• The Death of Stalin, based on the graphic novel by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin

• If Beale Street Could Talk, based on the novel by James Baldwin

• Leave No Trace, based on the novel My Abandonment by Peter Rock

VFX SOCIETY NOMINEES

Ready Player One is a deserving nominee for that Shining scene alone

The visual effects guild weighed in with their choices for best effects of the year, with Avengers: Infinity War leading the way with 6 nods overall (I’m only posting the main three categories). It’s very odd to me that neither Aquaman nor Black Panther was acknowledged here, and I honestly don’t know what to expect of the Oscar nominees in this category. They might be very different. Are Welcome to Marwen and Solo really going to get in for this?

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Avengers: Infinity War
Christopher Robin
Ready Player One
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Welcome to Marwen

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
12 Strong
Bird Box
Bohemian Rhapsody
First Man
Outlaw King

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
Dr. Seuss' The Grinch
Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse