2012 National Film Registry - Complete List

[Forgot to post this last year, but the release of the 2013 list was a reminder, of course.]

Films Selected to the 2012 National Film Registry

3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
The Augustas (1930s-1950s)
Born Yesterday (1950)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
A Christmas Story (1983)
The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight (1897)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Hours for Jerome: Parts 1 and 2 (1980-82)
The Kidnappers Foil (1930s-1950s)
Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests (1922)
A League of Their Own (1992)
The Matrix (1999)
The Middleton Family at the New York World’s Fair (1939)
One Survivor Remembers (1995)
Parable (1964)
Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia (1990)
Slacker (1991)
Sons of the Desert (1933)
The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
They Call It Pro Football (1966)
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914)
The Wishing Ring; An Idyll of Old England (1914)

Review: "Flags of Our Fathers" a Haunting Look Back

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Running time:  132 minutes (2 hours, 12 minutes)
MPAA – R for sequences of graphic war violence and carnage and for language
COMPOSER/DIRECTOR:  Clint Eastwood
WRITERS:  William Broyles, Jr. and Paul Haggis (based upon the book by James Bradley with Ron Powers)
PRODUCERS:  Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Lorenz
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tom Stern (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Joel Cox, A.C.E.
Academy Award nominee

WAR/HISTORY/DRAMA

Starring:  Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, Paul Walker, Jamie Bell, Barry Pepper, John Benjamin Hickey, Robert Patrick, Neal McDonough, and Tom McCarthy

The subject of this movie review is Flags of Our Fathers, a 2006 war film from director Clint Eastwood.  The film examines the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II and its aftermath from the point of view of American servicemen.  The film is based upon the non-fiction book, Flags of Our Fathers, from authors James Bradley and Ron Powers and first published in 2000.  Eastwood also composed the film’s score with assistance from his son, Kyle Eastwood, and Michael Stevens.

In Clint Eastwood’s film, Flags of Our Fathers, a son attempts to learn of his father’s World War II experiences by talking to the men who served with him and discovers that friendship and brotherhood meant more to the men than the war itself.

The son, James Bradley (Tom McCarthy), knows that his father, John “Doc” Bradley (Ryan Phillippe), was in the famous photograph, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,” which was taken by photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945 and which became the most memorable photograph taking during WWII (as well as winning the Pulitzer Price for photography).  The photograph depicted five Marines and one Navy Corpsman raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi on the tiny island of Iwo Jima, and “Doc” Bradley was that corpsman (medical personnel).  The battle for that tiny speck of black sand, which was barely eight square miles, would prove to be the tipping point in the Pacific campaign against the Japanese during the war.

Through the recollections of the WWII vets, the son hears harrowing tales of Iwo Jima, and for the first time learns what his father went through there.  The military later returns “Doc” Bradley and the two other surviving flag-raisers, Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) to the U.S. and where they trio becomes props in the governments’ Seventh War Bond Drive.  This particular bond drive is an attempt to raise desperately needed cash to finish fighting the war.  However, Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes are uncomfortable with their celebrity and find themselves at odds with being America’s new heroes.

Flags of Our Fathers is the first of Clint Eastwood’s unique two-film take on the war movie.  The second film, Letters from Iwo Jima, depicts the Japanese side of the war.  Flags runs hot and cool – hot when Eastwood keeps the film on Iwo Jima and cool when the flag-raisers are back in America and dealing with public situations that make them uncomfortable.  The narrative, like Billy Pilgrim, the hero of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five, becomes unstuck in time, dancing back in forth in the wartime and post-war past, with an occasional foray into the present.

Flags of Our Fathers is at its best when Eastwood focuses on Iwo Jima and the veterans nightmarish flashbacks, in particularly “Doc” Bradley’s flashbacks while he’s on the bond drive tour.  He transforms the horrors of war into a taut thriller, in which the monster of violent death stalks the Marines on the battlefield.  Eastwood also makes his point at certain times with beautiful subtlety.  In one scene, Ira Hayes (played by Adam Beach who is, like Hayes, a Native American) is refused service at a restaurant because the owner “doesn’t serve Indians.”  After all of Hayes’ dedication, the routine bigotry he faces is stinging and heart-rending, and Eastwood captures that moment (and so many others where bigotry is as common as air) in an understated fashion that turns that quiet scene into a blunt object he slams into the viewer.

Flags is by no means perfect.  It lacks any great performances, and Jesse Bradford and Beach can only deliver soft performances since their characters are so thin.  “Doc” Bradley isn’t a stronger character, but Ryan Phillippe jumps between that haunted look or playing stoic, which gives Bradley more traction in the narrative.  Still, Flags of Our Fathers proves that Clint Eastwood is truly a great movie director, and that even his missteps here can’t hide this engaging look at brotherhood on the battlefield and surviving after war.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards:  2 nominations: “Best achievement in sound editing” (Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman) and “Best achievement in sound mixing” (John T. Reitz, David E. Campbell, Gregg Rudloff, and Walt Martin)

2007 Golden Globes:  1 nomination: “Best Director-Motion Picture” (Clint Eastwood)

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Updated:  Monday, November 11, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "Mystic River" is Really Good, But is Too Damn Bleak (Happy B'day, Laurence Fishburne)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 92 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mystic River (2003)
Running time:  138 minutes (2 hours, 18 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and violence
DIRECTOR:  Clint Eastwood
WRITER:  Brian Helgeland (from the novel by Dennis Lehane)
PRODUCERS:  Clint Eastwood, Judie G. Hoyt, and Robert Lorenz
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Tom Stern (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Joel Cox
COMPOSER:  Clint Eastwood
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/CRIME

Starring:  Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Kevin Chapman, Thomas Guiry, Emmy Rossum, Spencer Treat Clark, Andrew Mackin, Adam Nelson, and Robert Wahlberg

The subject of this movie review is Mystic River, a 2003 crime drama from director Clint Eastwood.  The film is based on Mystic River, the 2001 novel from author Dennis Lehane.  Mystic River focuses on three men who are reunited by circumstance after the daughter of one of the men is murdered.

Clint Eastwood’s film Mystic River was one of the most acclaimed films of 2003, and it earned several Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director.  However, thanks to the onslaught that was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at the 2004 Academy Awards, Mystic River only picked up the two “Best Actor” awards:  Leading Role (Sean Penn) and Supporting Role (Tim Robbins).

Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn), Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins), and Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) are three childhood friends reunited after Markum’s daughter, Katie (Emmy Rossum), is found brutally murdered.  Their reunion is at cross-purposes, however.  Markum is small time hood, Devine is the investigator with the State Police investigating Katie’s murder, and Boyle survived being kidnapped and sexually assaulted when the three men were boys.  When Boyle becomes the lead suspect, the reunion spirals towards tragedy.

Mystic River is a very good film, but ultimately it’s a bit too cold for too long.  At times, I could have sworn that I was watching Clint Eastwood directing a drama as a formal dinner party.  Mystic River is professional and slick, as well as being raw and gritty.  The film has weight and gravity, but it all seems so laid back and cool.  Not until the last 20 minutes does the film really begin to unleash a tour de force of film drama, but those closing scenes are alien to the rest of the film.

Mystic River really plays with the idea that people are interconnected; the action or inaction of one has inevitable, although unseen, consequences upon another – neat but pat.  Besides, the award winning performances of Penn and Robbins, Kevin Bacon and especially Laurence Fishburne have the roles that anchor the film and they almost steal the show.  In the end Mystic River is all good, but waits for the closing act to show how really good it can be.  If you like dour dramas with good acting, this one is for you, but it’s not an exceptional work of movie art.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards, USA:  2 wins: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Sean Penn) and “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Tim Robbins); 4 nominations: “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Marcia Gay Harden), “Best Director” (Clint Eastwood), “Best Picture” (Robert Lorenz, Judie Hoyt, and Clint Eastwood), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Brian Helgeland)

2004 BAFTA Awards:  4 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Sean Penn), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Tim Robbins), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Laura Linney), and “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Brian Helgeland)

2004 Golden Globes, USA:  2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Sean Penn) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Tim Robbins); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Clint Eastwood), “Best Motion Picture – Drama” (Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Brian Helgeland)

Updated: Monday, July 08, 2013

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Review: "Dirty Harry" is a Famous Mediocre Film (Remembering Don Siegel)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 126 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Dirty Harry (1971)
Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – R
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Don Siegel
WRITERS: Harry Julian Fink & R.M. Fink and Dean Reisner, from a story by Harry Julian Fink and R.M. Fink
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bruce Surtees
EDITOR: Carl Pingitore
COMPOSER: Lalo Schifrin

DRAMA/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni, John Vernon, Andy Robinson, John Larch, and John Mitchum

The subject of this movie review is Dirty Harry, a 1971 crime film from director Don Siegel. The film stars Clint Eastwood in what would become a signature role for him, that of San Francisco Police Department Inspector Harry Callahan A.K.A. “Dirty Harry.” Dirty Harry would yield four sequels, beginning with 1973’s Magnum Force. Writers Jo Heims contributed to the story and John Milius contributed to the screenplay, but respectively did not receive screen credits.

After a decade of political assassinations, the Vietnam War/conflict, social upheaval, rising crime rates, etc., perhaps America was ready for Dirty Harry, the police thriller starring Clint Eastwood in his seminal role as Inspector Harry Callahan, also known as “Dirty Harry.” Harry is a tough-talking, streetwise, pop-a-cap-first homicide detective who is a far-right wet dream. In this first film in the (thus far) five-part “Dirty Harry” series, Inspector Callahan must learn the identity of a rooftop sniper known as the Scorpio Killer (Andy Robinson), who has killed two people. Scorpio eventually buries a young woman alive and threatens to let her suffocate if the city of San Francisco doesn’t pay him a $200,000 ransom. Harry is determined to nail the killer – even if he has to break some police rules and violate some inconvenient Constitutional rights.

The film plays loosely and sloppily with police procedures and what are the rights of criminal suspects and the accused, doing what most films do – change real life facts for dramatic impact. The screenwriters (and for all I know the director and star) go to ludicrous extremes to show that murderers can get away with murder if an aggressive cop doesn’t get a warrant or read some criminal “his rights.” When Clint Eastwood says the word “rights,” it’s like he has fecal matter on his sneaky tongue. Less than a decade later, presidential candidate and later President Ronald Reagan (via his speechwriters and puppet masters) would play up the idea that criminals had more rights than victims to good effect, as the U.S. public just sits back and watches the country increasingly become a police state.

As for the film, it’s neither a good police procedural nor an effective right wing political screed simply because the script is garbage in spite of its good central concept. The characters (with such well-thought out monikers as The Mayor and The Chief) are wispy, and Harry, except for a few revealing moments, is little more than a cipher. In fact, it is Andy Robinson’s intense, passionate, and crazy performance as Scorpio that gives life to the cop/suspect dynamic. Eastwood handles his half of the cop/villain conflict with his signature acting style for this film – a snarl and half-whispered lines delivered through bad teeth – lines that usually end with the word “punk.” Don Siegel’s direction doesn’t help much; the first half of the film is a listless detective film, while the second half struggles drunkenly to be a good police thriller, which it occasionally is.

Although Eastwood’s best work as an actor is in westerns, a genre for which he seems tailor made, Dirty Harry is the role for which many film fans still fondly remember him. However, this first Dirty Harry film is little more than a cultural curiosity and a sign of its times. Except for a few moments that stand out as exceptional, Dirty Harry is a famous, but mediocre film.

4 of 10
C

NOTES:
2012 National Film Preservation Board, USA: National Film Registry

"Pariah" Gets GLAAD Media Award Nomination

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) promotes the image of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people in media. The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their accurate representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

GLAAD just announced the nominations for the 23rd Annual Media Awards. There are 116 nominees in 25 English-language categories, and 35 Spanish-language nominees in 10 categories. For a full list of nominees, go here.

The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in New York on March 24, 2012 at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square; in Los Angeles on April 21 at the Westin Bonaventure; and in San Francisco on June 2 at San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

Here are the nominees in the two film categories:

OUTSTANDING FILM – WIDE RELEASE
Albert Nobbs (Roadside Attractions)
Beginners (Focus Features)
J. Edgar (Warner Bros. Pictures)

OUTSTANDING FILM – LIMITED RELEASE
Circumstance (Roadside Attractions)
Gun Hill Road (Motion Film Group)
Pariah (Focus Features)
Tomboy (Rocket Releasing)
Weekend (Sundance Selects)

http://www.glaad.org/

 

Eastwood + Beyonce May Equal "A Star is Born" Remake

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Clint Eastwood is in talks with Warner Bros. to direct a remake of the musical, A Star is Born, and Beyoncé is in negotiations to star.  Deadline first reported the story, and Warner has confirmed it.  The article at EW.com has a few more details.

The original A Star is Born was a 1937 romance and drama starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March.  The best known and perhaps most popular version is the 1954 musical directed by George Cukor and starring Judy Garland and James Mason.  In 1976, the story was retold with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, which is apparently the most successful version at the box office.

If you visit the EW article, please read the comments section which is filled with the general moron-arama that is practically every Internet comment section.  So many seem up in arms about Beyonce ruining a classic and expressing dismay that the great Clint Eastwood would dirty himself by directing a no-talent like Beyonce.

I imagine that quite a bit of the complaints center around the fact that this possible Eastwood/Beyonce version mainly offends fans of the 1954 Garland version.  So all the (drama) queens are out in force to protect Garland.  Beyonce may not have 1/10th the talent that Garland had (as one wag put it), but nor is she 1/10th the pill-popper Garland was (Why did I go there, Lord?).  I think Beyonce is quite a talent and quite a star and doesn't need to measure herself against a woman who was dead long before Beyonce was born.

If all it takes is a Beyonce version of A Star is Born to ruin the Garland film then Garland's wasn't shit to begin with.  The simple fact is that A Star is Born is the intellectual property of a hugh corporation that can be exploited whenever the owners see fit and however they see fit.  The only one that can force you to see a new version is yourself, although I'm sure some people will see it just to complain about it.

I'll update when I get more information.

Museum of Tolerance to Honor Clint Eastwood at Film Festival

First Museum of Tolerance International Film Festival Scheduled for November 13-18, 2010 in Los Angeles

CLINT EASTWOOD TO BE HONORED AT FESTIVAL GALA ON NOV. 14

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Museum of Tolerance will present the First Museum of Tolerance International Film Festival (MOTIFF) November 13-18, 2010 in Los Angeles, it was announced today by Museum officials. Festival offerings will be screened at the Museum's three theatres including the 300-seat state-of-the-art Peltz Theatre.

The MOTIFF will be screening films from around the globe that shine a light on human rights issues both past and present. Intertwined with classic films that bolster the Museum of Tolerance's mission, the festival will offer moviegoers six days of education, understanding and culture.

The MOTIFF will announce its lineup of films (including Opening Night, Centerpiece, and Closing Night movies) in October. The Museum of Tolerance International Film Festival Gala will take place on Sunday evening, November 14. The evening salutes films and filmmakers who have embraced issues of Tolerance and Human Rights. A number of awards will be presented including the "Tolerance Award" honoring an accomplished filmmaker whose films have brought awareness to themes encouraging tolerance, justice and human rights.

Accepting the festival's first Tolerance Award is acclaimed filmmaker Clint Eastwood. "We believe Mr. Eastwood is a superb choice for this award, which celebrates those whose work shines a light on themes of acceptance, inclusion, tolerance and forgiveness. That is certainly true of Mr. Eastwood's outstanding cinematic achievements, with only the most recent examples being 'Letters from Iwo Jima,' 'Gran Torino' and 'Invictus,'" said Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founding Director of the MOTIFF and Founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its acclaimed Museum of Tolerance.

The Museum has named Randi Emerman as Executive Director of the festival. Emerman, who has been active in the film industry for two decades, has served as Executive Director of the Palm Beach International Film Festival since 2001.

"The Museum of Tolerance International Film Festival seeks to explore human rights issues and prevent hatred and genocide through the medium of film," said Rabbi Hier. "Cinema leaves a lasting impression on its audiences and is a valuable way to instill the museum's vision in a new audience. The MOTIFF is a powerful outlet for the MOT to further their mission of promoting respect and mutual understanding."

MOTIFF is currently accepting submissions and looking for films that speak out about or tell a story of human rights. Information about submitting films can be accessed at www.museumoftolerance.com/motiff. Filmmakers can also submit films at withoutabox.com. The deadline for submissions is September 20, 2010. The MOTIFF office phone number is 310-772-2408.

The educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Museum of Tolerance, founded in 1993, challenges visitors to confront bigotry and racism, and to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts. It hosts almost half a million visitors annually including 110,000 students. Because of the success of the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, the Center also opened the Museum of Tolerance New York in midtown Manhattan.

Countdown to Oscar 2010: National Board of Review Awards 2009

From the National Board of Review:

UP IN THE AIR NAMED 2009 BEST FILM OF THE YEAR BY THE NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW


New York, NY – December 3rd, 2009 – The National Board of Review named Up In The Air the 2009 Best Film of the Year. Directed by Jason Reitman, Up In The Air is the timely odyssey of Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizer and consummate modern business traveler who, after years of staying happily airborne, suddenly finds himself ready to make a real connection.

Below is a full list of the awards given by the National Board of Review:

Best Film: UP IN THE AIR

Best Director: CLINT EASTWOOD, Invictus

Best Actors: Tie
GEORGE CLOONEY, Up In The Air
MORGAN FREEMAN, Invictus

Best Actress: CAREY MULLIGAN, An Education

Best Supporting Actor: WOODY HARRELSON, The Messenger

Best Supporting Actress: ANNA KENDRICK, Up In The Air

Best Foreign Language Film: A PROPHET

Best Documentary: THE COVE

Best Animated Feature: UP

Best Ensemble Cast: IT’S COMPLICATED

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: JEREMY RENNER, The Hurt Locker

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: GABOUREY SIDIBE, Precious

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut:
DUNCAN JONES, Moon
OREN MOVERMAN, The Messenger
MARC WEBB, (500) Days of Summer

Best Original Screenplay: JOEL AND ETHAN COEN, A Serious Man

Best Adapted Screenplay: JASON REITMAN and SHELDON TURNER, Up In The Air

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: WES ANDERSON, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

William K. Everson Film History Award: JEAN PICKER FIRSTENBERG

NBR Freedom of Expression:
BURMA VJ: REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY
INVICTUS
THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS

TEN BEST FILMS (in alphabetical order):
AN EDUCATION
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER
THE HURT LOCKER
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
INVICTUS
THE MESSENGER
A SERIOUS MAN
STAR TREK
UP
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Five Best Foreign-Language Films (in alphabetical order):
THE MAID
REVANCHE
SONG OF SPARROWS
THREE MONKEYS
THE WHITE RIBBON

Five Best Documentaries (in alphabetical order):
BURMA VJ: REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY
CRUDE
FOOD, INC.
GOOD HAIR
THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS

Top Ten Independent Films (in alphabetical order):
AMREEKA
DISTRICT 9
GOODBYE SOLO
HUMPDAY
IN THE LOOP
JULIA
ME AND ORSON WELLES
MOON
SUGAR
TWO LOVERS


“The NBR is very proud to announce its honorees for 2009 – a year in which filmmakers’ voices and visions were innovative, exciting and eclectic. We are thrilled to honor Jason Reitman’s bittersweet and poignant film, Up In The Air, with wonderfully strong performances, writing and direction,” said NBR President Annie Schulhof. “The NBR is looking forward to this year’s gala at Cipriani 42nd Street with Meredith Vieira joining us as the evening’s MC.”

This year the NBR screened over 300 films – 181 narratives, 79 documentaries, 46 foreign language films and 11 animated films. The NBR, founded on January 25th, 1909, was originally founded as an anti-censorship organization and continues to honor excellence and freedom of expression in filmmaking today. The 108 members include knowledgeable film enthusiasts, academics, filmmakers and students from the NY metropolitan area. Many of the student members are past recipients of the NBR student grant program which enables students and young filmmakers to finish their projects and exhibit their work.

The 2010 NBR Gala wAS held on January 12th at Cipriani’s 42nd St. in New York City. Meredith Vieira served as the Mistress of Ceremonies. Once again, the accounting firm of Lutz & Carr tabulated the actual ballots.


THE NBR
For more than a century, the National Board of Review has been committed to freedom of expression in the cinema. Originally established to fight government censorship of motion pictures, the NBR has championed many films of significant social impact. The NBR continues that commitment today with its annual William K. Everson Award for film history, so named for the signature film historian and educator of modern times, a long-time NBR member, as well as its annual freedom of expression award. The NBR also celebrates the filmmakers of tomorrow with student philanthropy, which supports young filmmakers with financial aid that enables honorees to complete projects and exhibit them at various film festivals. For more information please visit http://www.nbrmp.org/

HISTORY
The National Board of Review was founded in 1909 in New York City, just thirteen years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George McClennan's revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses Christmas Eve 1908 on the grounds that the new medium supposedly degraded the morals of the community. To assert their constitutional freedom of expression, theater owners, led by Marcus Loew, and film distributors (Edison Biograph, Pathe, and Gaumont), joined John Collier of The People's Institute at Cooper Union to establish a National Review Committee, an anti-censorship group, that endorsed films of merit and encouraged the new "art of the people." In 1919 the organization first selected its "10 best movies of the year." The NBR later published a magazine called Films in Review, which was the first publication devoted to critical discussion of film, counting among its contributors Harold Robbins, Dore Schary, Stephen Sondheim, Alfred Hitchcock, and Tennessee Williams. During the era of the Hollywood blacklist (when others were silent), Films in Review vigorously opposed film censorship. Movies released between 1920 and 1950 carried the legend "Passed by the National Board of Review."

http://www.nbrmp.org/

God, I Still Hate This Movie: Million Dollar Baby

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 24 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux


Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Running time: 137 minutes
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, some disturbing images, thematic material, and language
DIRECTOR: Clint Eastwood
WRITER: Paul Haggis (based upon short stories by F.X. Toole)
PRODUCERS: Clint Eastwood, Paul Haggis, Tom Rosenberg, and Albert S. Ruddy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tom Stern
EDITOR: Joel Cox
Academy Award winner including “Best Motion Picture of the Year”

DRAMA

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter, Lucia Rijker, Brian (F.) O’Byrne, Anthony Mackie, Margo Martindale, Riki Lindhome, Michael Pena, and Benito Martinez

Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a crusty boxing trainer with a rep as a great cut man (fixing bloody cuts, bruises, and orifices during fights). Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) is in her early 30’s, and her boxing career has lasted because of her raw talent, unshakable focus, and tremendous force of will. Maggie shows up at Frankie’s gym one day and eventually asks him to train her, but he brushes her off because, as he tells her, she is too old and he doesn’t train girls. Eddie “Scrap Iron” Dupris (Morgan Freeman), Frankie’s longtime friend and the janitor/maintenance man of Frankie’s gym, encourages Maggie to chase her dream. Frankie managed Eddie in the distant past, and Eddie nudges Frankie towards training Maggie. Eventually, Maggie’s spirit and gutsy determination do win over Frankie, and he agrees to train her. They bond, and she rapidly climbs the ranks of women boxers. However, sudden tragedy strikes, and it will test the bond between a girl trying to replace her late, beloved father and a man left lonely by the estrangement of his only daughter.

I really didn’t connect with Million Dollar Baby. From the first frame, I knew that I wouldn’t care for or like this movie. Clint Eastwood’s performance has its moments, but I had to labor to find anything worth paying attention to beneath his gruff exterior, scowling, and gravelly voice. Sometimes, Eastwood’s best moments were quite and subtle – a glance, an expression, or stillness. It didn’t help that there were two raspy-voiced old men in the film. Morgan Freeman’s performance also alternated between flat and lukewarm. He has a few glorious moments (as when he teaches a lesson to an arrogant boxing trainee), but his voiceover reminded me of Harrison Ford’s listless and reluctant voiceover for Blade Runner. Freeman deserves an Oscar, and if he gets it for Million Dollar Baby, it will be a career achievement award because he doesn’t give an award-winning turn in Baby. [Freeman did go on to win an Oscar for this role.]

Hilary Swank, who won an Oscar for her leading role, is pretty good here. She gives a sense of solidness and realness to her gutsy hick girl character, but playing streetwise or common sense hayseeds seems her specialty. Her performance is more like a cakewalk than an achievement. She does, however, shine in the moments when she really has to bring the heat, as in the scene with Maggie’s family. Other than that, Ms. Swank is only a little above ordinary.

Million Dollar Baby is long and morbid, and it reeks of being one of those films made to get awards. In that vein, it reminds me of another overwrought Oscar-winner wannabe, The Hours from 2002. The script, by Emmy-winner Paul Haggis, is a bunch of re-cooked fairytales – the scrappy rural type that comes to the city to make it, the lost father finding redemption in a surrogate, and the wise old black man or (as Spike Lee says) Magical Negro. Eastwood doesn’t do a lot to make this really good, but his score for this film is very, very nice. That and a few other things make Million Dollar Baby decent enough to be a nice film to rent on DVD, but isn’t worthy of being a big award winner.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
2005 Academy Awards: 4 wins – “Best Picture of the Year” (for which the Academy only recognizes Eastwood, Rosenberg, and Ruddy as producers), “Best Achievement in Directing,” “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Hilary Swank), and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Morgan Freeman); 4 nominations: “Best Achievement in Editing,” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Clint Eastwood), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published.”


2005 Golden Globes: 2 wins “Best Director – Motion Picture” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Hilary Swank); 3 nominations for “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Clint Eastwood); “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” and (Morgan Freeman)

Oscar-winning Director is Also America's Favorite Movie Star

To view the chart that comes with this article, visit Business Wire or Harris Interactive.

Press release from Business Wire:

Clint Eastwood is America’s Favorite Movie Star

Johnny Depp is number 2 and, last year’s favorite, Denzel Washington drops to number 3

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--2009 may be the year that brought the movies back. Between Avatar, the latest Harry Potter movie, Julie and Julia, New Moon from the Twilight series, and so many others, box office revenues topped $10 billion – a new record. Clearly people love going to the movies – and within all the various types of movies out there, everyone has their favorite movie star.

This year there is a new number one for the Harris Poll’s favorite movie star list. Hopefully, we’ve made his day; Clint Eastwood is on top, up one spot from number 2 last year. In second place, jumping up from number 8 last year is the man of many characters, Johnny Depp. Dropping from three years spent at number one, Denzel Washington is at number three this year.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,276 adults surveyed online between December 7 and 14, 2009 by Harris Interactive®.

The Usual Suspects
Returning to the list after a one year absence is Miss Congeniality, Sandra Bullock, and Forrest Gump, or rather Tom Hanks, moves up two spots this year to number 5. He’s both Up in the Air and back on the list - George Clooney is at number six after two years off the list, and, proving that you can have staying power in Hollywood even after you are no longer making movies, John Wayne is on the list at number 7, down from last year when he was tied for number 3.

She has multiple Academy Awards and for the first time she has a place on this list - Meryl Streep debuts at number 7. With his long career, Morgan Freeman debuted last year on the list at a tie for number 9 and this year he holds that spot alone. Rounding out the list is the Pretty Woman herself, Julia Roberts, in at number 10, down four spots from last year.

Gone With the Wind
This year there are three additions to the list from last year, which means that three actors have dropped out of the top ten. Hancock is a distant memory and Will Smith, who was tied for third place, had no movies in 2009 and is not on the list this year. 2008 saw the new Indiana Jones and last year Harrison Ford was number 5 on the list but has dropped off this year. The third to drop was Angelina Jolie, who was tied for number 9.

For Ordinary People
Different groups have their own favorite movie stars. For women, Johnny Depp is number one while for men it is Clint Eastwood. Clint is also on top for the two older generations, Baby Boomers (those aged 45-63) and Matures (aged 64 and older). The younger generations split with Echo Boomers (aged 18-32) going for Johnny Depp and Gen Xers (those aged 33-44) saying Sandra Bullock is their favorite.

The Harris Poll® #11, January 26, 2010
By Regina Corso, Director, The Harris Poll, Harris Interactive

Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States December 7 and 14, 2009 among 2,276 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.


About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is one of the world’s leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what’s next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

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