2013 "Scripter Award" Nominations Announced

USC Libraries Name Finalists for 25th-Annual Scripter Award

Tie results in six sets of writers and screenwriters earning nominations

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The USC Libraries have named the authors and screenwriters of Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Perks of Being a Wallflower and Silver Linings Playbook as finalists for the 25th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. A tie resulted in six sets of finalists for the 2013 honor, rather than the typical five.

The finalists are, in alphabetical order by film title:

•Joshuah Bearman, author of the article “The Great Escape,” Antonio J. Mendez, author of The Master of Disguise, and screenwriter Chris Terrio, for Argo

•For Beasts of the Southern Wild, dramatist Lucy Alibar, who wrote the play Juicy and Delicious, and screenwriter Benh Zeitlin, who co-wrote the screenplay with Alibar

•Novelist Yann Martel and screenwriter David Magee for Life of Pi

•Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, and screenwriter Tony Kushner for Lincoln

•Stephen Chbosky, author of the novel Perks of Being a Wallflower, as well as the screenplay based upon the book

•For Silver Linings Playbook, author Matthew Quick and screenwriter David O. Russell

The Scripter Award honors the screenwriter or screenwriters of the year’s most accomplished cinematic adaptation as well as the author of the written work upon which the screenplay is based. The Friends of the USC Libraries established Scripter in 1988, presenting the inaugural awards to author Helene Hanff and screenwriter Hugh Whitemore for 84 Charing Cross Road. This year marks the award’s 25th anniversary.

Other previous Scripter winners include the screenwriters and authors of The Descendants, The Social Network, Schindler’s List and L.A. Confidential.

Co-chaired by Golden Globe-winning screenwriter Naomi Foner and USC professor and vice president of the Writers Guild of America, West, Howard Rodman, the 2013 Scripter selection committee selected the six finalists from a field of 82 eligible adaptations.

Serving on the selection committee, among many others, are film critics Leonard Maltin and Kenneth Turan; authors Michael Chabon, Kaui Hart Hemmings and Jonathan Lethem; screenwriters Geoffrey Fletcher, Gale Ann Hurd and Lawrence Kasdan; and USC deans Elizabeth Daley of the School of Cinematic Arts, Madeline Puzo of the School of Dramatic Arts and Catherine Quinlan of the USC Libraries.

The studios distributing the finalist films and the publishers of the original stories are:

•Argo—Warner Bros., Wired for Bearman’s article, and Penguin for Mendez’s book

•Beasts of the Southern Wild—Fox Searchlight and Diversion Books, publisher of the play Juicy and Delicious, upon which Beasts of the Southern Wild is based

•Life of Pi—20th Century Fox and Mariner Books

•Lincoln—DreamWorks and Mariner Books

•Perks of Being a Wallflower—Summit Entertainment and MTV Books

•Silver Linings Playbook—Weinstein Company and Sara Crichton Books

The USC Libraries will announce the winning authors and screenwriters at a black-tie ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013 in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on the University Park campus of the University of Southern California. Academy Award winners Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford are serving as honorary dinner chairs.

Brokeback Mountain screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana will attend the ceremony to receive the previously announced Literary Achievement Award.

Current silent auction donors and other sponsors include Bennett Farms, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Hawaii Five-0 and Eye Productions, Hungry Cat Santa Monica, L.A. Saddlery, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Namale Resort & Spa in Fiji, Paperblanks, PGA Tour, Picca Peruvian Cantina, the NFL, Pizzeria Mozza, Pleasant Holidays, the Sundance Institute, Terranea Resort, Tony Robbins, Montage Beverly Hills, the Wine of the Month Club, the USC Roski School of Fine Arts, the USC Thornton School of Music and the Friends of the USC Libraries board of directors.

For more information about Scripter—including ticket availability, additional sponsorship opportunities, and an up-to-date list of sponsors—please email scripter@usc.edu or visit scripter.usc.edu.

"Moonrise Kingdom" is Best Picture Winner at 2012 Gotham Awards

The first "best picture" winner of the 2012-13 movie award season is Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom.  The romance film about a preteen couple caught in the intense throes of young love picked up the top prize at last night's ceremony (Monday, November 26, 2012) for the 2012 Gotham Awards.

The Gotham Awards is an annual film awards ceremony that honors independent films. The Gotham Awards are part of The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers. The Gotham Awards also signal the kick-off to the film awards season.

Nominees are selected by groups of distinguished film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. Separate juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in making films determine the final Gotham Award recipients.

22nd Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards Winners:

Best Feature:
Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson, director; Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson, producers (Focus Features)

Best Documentary:
How to Survive a Plague
David France, director; Howard Gertler, David France, producers (Sundance Selects)

Best Ensemble Performance:
Your Sister’s Sister
Emily Blunt, Rosemarie Dewitt, Mark Duplass (IFC Films)

Breakthrough Director:
Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Breakthrough Actor:
Emayatzy Corinealdi in Middle of Nowhere (AFFRM and Participant Media)

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You:
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
Terence Nance, director; Terence Nance, Andrew Corkin, James Bartlett, producers

The Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant is a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs. This grant aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film.

Stacie Passon, director, Concussion WINNER

The 3rd Annual Gotham Independent Film Audience Award:
Voted on by an independent film community of 230,000 film fans worldwide. To be eligible, a U.S. film must have won an audience award at one of the top 50 U.S. or Canadian film festivals from November 2011 through October 2012. The nominees were announced November 5th, and the winner revealed at the Gotham Awards ceremony.

Winner:
ARTIFACT
Directed by Bartholomew Cubbins
Produced by Jared Leto and Emma Ludbrook

Nominees:
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Director: Benh Zeitlin
Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn

BURN: ONE YEAR ON THE FRONT LINES OF THE BATTLE TO SAVE DETROIT
Directors: Brenna Sanchez, Tom Putnam
Producers: Brenna Sanchez, Tom Putnam

THE INVISIBLE WAR
Director: Kirby Dick
Producers: Amy Ziering, Tanner King Barklow

ONCE IN A LULLABY: THE PS 22 CHORUS STORY
Director: Jonathan Kalafer
Producers: Steve Kalafer, Jonathan Kalafer, Bao Nguyen

The Bingham Ray Award (The recipient of this award was chosen by a close group of Bingham’s friends and colleagues.):

BENH ZEITLIN, director of BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

"The Descendants" Ascends to the Top

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 28 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Descendants (2011)
Running time: 115 minutes (1 hour, 55 minutes)
MPAA – R for language including some sexual references
DIRECTOR: Alexander Payne
WRITERS: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash (based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings)
PRODUCERS: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, and Jim Taylor
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Phedon Papamichael
EDITOR: Kevin Tent
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Patricia Hastie, Beau Bridges, Matt Corboy, Robert Forster, Barbara L. Southern, Matthew Lillard, Judy Greer, and Scott Michael Morgan

The subject of this movie review is The Descendants, a 2011 family drama from director Alexander Payne. The film is set in Hawaii and is based upon the 2007 novel of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings. The film, which is set in Hawaii, focuses on a man who tries to reconnect with his two daughters after his wife is seriously injured in a boating accident. By the time you read this review, dear reader, you will have heard that The Descendants is one of the best films of 2011. That’s for damn true.

Matthew “Matt” King (George Clooney) is a man with a lot on his mind. The Honolulu-based lawyer is the sole trustee of a family trust that controls 25,000 acres of untouched land on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i. At this time, King and his relatives must decide to whom they will sell the land, which has been in the family for 150 years and which they must sell because of a rule against perpetuities.

What else is on Matt’s mind? Recently, his wife, Elizabeth Thorson King (Patricia Hastie), was in a boating accident, and now she is in a coma. As he prepares to comply with his wife’s living will, Matt must deal with his taciturn father-in-law, Scott Thorson (Robert Forster). Most difficult is reconnecting with his two daughters, to whom he is not close. Alexandra “Alex” King (Shailene Woodley), at 17-years-old, seems to specialize in self-destructive behavior. Ten-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) shocks everyone with her brazenly inappropriate behavior. If that weren’t enough, Elizabeth had a lover, local real estate stud, Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard).

Director Alexander Payne, and his co-writers, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, won Oscar statuettes for The Descendants’ screenplay, but this film was certainly worthy of winning more Oscars back on February 26, 2012 during the 84th Academy Awards. It’s on my shortlist of films that can arguably be said to be the top one of 2011. I am not the biggest fan of Payne’s critically acclaimed films, Sideways (2004) and About Schmidt (2002), both of which featured dark humor, as they took a satirical view of Middle American life. Although I think both movies are good, I found significant things about them to be contrived, with characters that were more annoying (which I hate) than they were unlikable (which I can accept).

The Descendants is unfailingly human, especially compared to all the contrived dramas and fantastical special effects-laden films being released. Everything this film says about marriage, family discord, and friendship just feels so authentic, but Payne doesn’t turn this film dark and morbid. He handles this potent family drama with poignancy and splashes of humor that make the heartfelt substantive rather than manipulative.

The Descendants is a testament to the amazing things filmmakers and casts can do when they come together to tell a great story about characters with whom the audience members not only identify, but also recognize in the core of their souls. In fact, Payne gets great performances from his cast, and I can see why many thought Shailene Woodley as “Alex” should have received an Oscar nomination as best supporting actress. Truthfully, everyone in this cast deserves some kind of notice; each person makes his character seem real in the context of this larger circle of family and friends.

Yes, The Descendants is one of the year’s very best movies. It is the kind of drama that is hard to forget.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2012 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash); 4 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, and Jim Taylor), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Alexander Payne), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Kevin Tent), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (George Clooney)

2012 BAFTA Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Film” (Alexander Payne, Jim Burke, and Jim Taylor), “Best Adapted Screenplay” (Jim Rash, Alexander Payne, and Nat Faxon), “Best Leading Actor” (George Clooney)

2012 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Motion Picture – Drama” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (George Clooney); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Alexander Payne), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Shailene Woodley), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, and Alexander Payne)

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Review: "The Tree of Life" is a Spacey Family Odyssey

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Tree of Life (2011)
Running time: 139 minutes (2 hours, 19 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some thematic material
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick
PRODUCERS: Sarah Green, Dede Gardner, Grant Hill, Brad Pitt and William Pohlad
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Emmanuel Lubezki
EDITORS: Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, and Mark Yoshikawa
COMPOSER: Alexandre Desplat

DRAMA/HISTORICAL

Starring: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler and Tye Sheridan, and Kameron Vaughn

The Tree of Life is a 2011 family drama written and directed by Terrence Malick. In the film, the origin of the universe and life on Earth plays side-by-side with the memories of a middle-aged man having a spiritual crisis.

Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn), an architect, is unhappy, a lost soul in the modern world. While watching the planting of a tree, Jack’s mind drifts through his memories of life as a teenager in the 1950s. His family lived in a sprawling neighborhood in Waco, Texas. There was his father, Mr. O’Brien (Brad Pitt), and his mother, Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain), and two younger brothers, R.L. (Laramie Eppler) and Steve (Tye Sheridan).

When he reaches adolescence, Young Jack (Hunter McCracken) is faced with a conflict. He must choose between accepting grace or nature, as embodied by each of his parents. Jack’s mother, Mrs. O’Brien believes in grace, which is gentle, nurturing, and authoritative. Mr. O’Brien embodies nature and is strict and authoritarian. Mr. O’Brien, who easily loses his temper, believes that you have to take what you want and also that his wife’s emphasis on love is foolish. Mrs. O’Brien teaches her children that the world is a place of wonder. Through his memories, a kind of trip through time to the past, Jack will try to reconcile his complicated relationship with his father. He also hopes to return something precious that is lost to his mother. Also, various scenes concerning the dawn of the universe and the formation of the Earth play out between scenes of the O’Briens.

In some ways, The Tree of Life is an experimental film, particularly in the way that Malick uses literal visuals in an abstract way to tell a story about the meaning of life and about the reconciliation of parent and child. The juxtaposition of both the universe and Earth’s past and future vividly recall Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. In fact, the way The Tree of Life’s special effects are created (without computer-generated imagery or CGI) is reminiscent of the special effects in 2001.

Malick’s film is both ambitious and humble in that he attempts to encompass all of existence, but channels that through the infinitesimal lives of flawed people. Those characters cannot come up with the big answers, but through love there is reconciliation and, if not answers, then, there is understanding of the relationships most precious to us.

The Tree of Life is an impressionistic story, and the viewer will have to pick and choose through images and colors to decipher the family drama at the center of the film. And this is a real family story, full of startling conflicts and ugly battles. There is, however, convergence and peace and love and beauty. The cast has to receive a lot of credit for their work; these moving, layered performances bring the literal to this often fantastic film. The trio that brings the O’Brien boys to life: Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler and Tye Sheridan, gives performances of complexity and profundity that are rarely seen in young actors – even among those that have received Academy Award nominations.

The Tree of Life can be perplexing and achingly slow. Malick also needed to put more emotion on screen and could have made more of the film a conventional narrative. Still, The Tree of Life is moving and deeply spiritual and also more ambitious than most films that star actors of the caliber of Sean Penn and Brad Pitt.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2011 Cannes Film Festival: 1 win: “Palme d'Or” (Terrence Malick)

Monday, January 23, 2012

---------------------------

"The Descendants" Wins Satellite Awards "Best Picture"

The International Press Academy (IPA) is an entertainment media association with voting members worldwide who represent domestic and foreign markets via print, television, radio, blogs, and other content platforms for virtually every notable outlet.

Each year the IPA honors artistic excellence in the areas of Motion Pictures, Television, Radio, and New Media via the Satellite® Awards.  However, Negromancer is only concerned about the "Motion Picture" categories.

Motion Picture: The Descendants, Fox Searchlight Pictures

Nominees:
Moneyball, Columbia
Drive, Filmdistrict
The Artist, The Weinstein Company
Shame, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Focus Features
Hugo Paramount Pictures
War Horse DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
The Help DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
Midnight in Paris, Sony Pictures Classics

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn for Drive, Filmdistrict

Nominees:
Tate Taylor The Help DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
Alexander Payne The Descendants Fox Searchlight Pictures
Steven Spielberg War Horse DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
Michel Hazanavicius The Artist The Weinstein Company
Martin Scorsese Hugo Paramount Pictures
John Michael McDonagh The Guard Sony Pictures Classics
Tomas Alfredson Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Focus Features
Woody Allen Midnight in Paris Sony Pictures Classics
Steve McQueen Shame Fox Searchlight Pictures

Actress in a Motion Picture: Viola Davis for The Help; DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures

Nominees
Vera Farmiga Higher Ground Sony Pictures Classics
Michelle WIlliams My Week with Marilyn The Weinstein Company
Emily Watson Oranges and Sunshine Cohen Media Group
Charlize Theron Young Adult Paramount Pictures
Glenn Close Albert Nobbs Roadside Attractions
Viola Davis The Help DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
Olivia Colman Tyrannosaur Strand Releasing
Michelle Yeoh The Lady Cohen Media Group
Elizabeth Olsen Martha Marcy May Marlene Fox Searchlight Pictures
Meryl Streep The Iron Lady The Weinstein Company

Actor in a Motion Picture: Ryan Gosling for Drive, Filmdistrict

Nominees:
Leonardo DiCaprio J. Edgar Warner Bros.
Ryan Gosling Drive Filmdistrict
Michael Fassbender Shame Fox Searchlight Pictures
George Clooney The Descendants Fox Searchlight Pictures
Brendan Gleeson The Guard Sony Pictures Classics
Michael Shannon Take Shelter Sony Pictures Classics
Tom Hardy Warrior Lionsgate
Woody Harrelson Rampart Millennium Entertainment
Gary Oldman Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Focus Features
Brad Pitt Moneyball Columbia

Actress in a Supporting Role: Jessica Chastain for The Tree of Life, Fox Searchlight Pictures

Nominees:
Janet McTeer Albert Nobbs Roadside Attractions
Octavia Spencer The Help DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
Jessica Chastain The Tree of Life Fox Searchlight Pictures
Vanessa Redgrave Coriolanus The Weinstein Company
Rachel McAdams Midnight in Paris Sony Pictures Classics
Carey Mulligan Shame Fox Searchlight Pictures
Lisa Feret Mozart's Sister Music Box Films
Judy Greer The Descendants Fox Searchlight Pictures
Kate Winslet Carnage Sony Pictures Classics
Elle Fanning Super 8 Amblin, Paramount Pictures

Actor in a Supporting Role: Albert Brooks for Drive, Filmdistrict

Nominees:
Viggo Mortensen A Dangerous Method Sony Pictures Classics
Hugo Weaving Oranges and Sunshine Cohen Media Group
Kenneth Branagh My Week with Marilyn The Weinstein Company
Colin Farrell Horrible Bosses New Line Cinema, Warner Bros.
Andy Serkis Rise of the Planet of the Apes 20th Century Fox
Nick Nolte Warrior Lionsgate
Jonah Hill Moneyball Columbia
Christopher Plummer Beginners Sony Pictures Classics
Christoph Waltz Carnage Sony Pictures Classics

Foreign Film: Mysteries of Lisbon from Portugal, Music Box Films

Nominees:
Mexico - Miss Bala Fox International
Iran - A Separation Sony Pictures Classics
Belgium - The Kid with a Bike Sundance Selects
Hungary - The Turin Horse Cinema Guild
Argentina - Las Acacias
Japan - 13 Assassins Magnet Releasing
France - Mozart's Sister Music Box Films
Finland - Le Havre Janus Films
Russia - Faust

Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media: The Adventures of Tin Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn; Amblin, Columbia, Paramount Pictures

Nominees:
Kung Fu Panda 2 DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures
The Muppets Jim Henson Studios, Walt Disney Pictures
Puss in Boots DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures
Rango ILM Animation, Paramount Pictures
Rio 20th Century Fox

Motion Picture, Documentary: Senna, Universal

Nominees:
Project Nim Roadside Attractions
The Interrupters Cinema Guild
American: The Bill Hicks Story Variance Films
My Perestroika International Film Circuit
Cave of Forgotten Dreams IFC Films
Under Fire: Journalists in Combat Mercury Media
One Lucky Elephant Own Documentaries
Pina Sundance Selects
Tabloid IFC Films

Screenplay: Original: Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life, Fox Searchlight Pictures

Nominees:
John Michael McDonagh The Guard Sony Pictures Classics
Abi Morgan, Steve McQueen Shame Fox Searchlight Pictures
Rene Feret Mozart's Sister Music Box Films
Paddy Considine Tyrannosaur Strand Releasing
Michel Hazanavicius The Artist The Weinstein Company

Screenplay: Adapted: Alexander Payne, Jim Rash, Nat Faxon for The Descendants; Based On The Novel By Kaui Hart Hemmings, Fox Searchlight Pictures

Nominees:
From The Novel By Kathryn Stockett, Tate Taylor The Help DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
From The Book By Michael Morpurgo, Lee Hall, Richard Curtis War Horse DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
Based On The Story By George Moore, Glenn Close, John Banville, The Play By Gabriella Prekop Albert Nobbs Roadside Attractions
Adapted From The Work Of Herge, Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Steven Moffat The Adventures of Tin Tin: The Secret of the Unicorn Amblin, Columbia, Paramount Pictures
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian, Story By Stan Chervin Moneyball Columbia

Original Score: Marco Beltrami for Soul Surfer, Tristar Pictures

Nominees:
Michael Giacchino Super 8 Amblin, Paramount Pictures
Cliff Martinez Drive Filmdistrict
Alexandre Desplat Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 Warner Bros.
John Williams War Horse DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
James Newton Howard Water For Elephants 20th Century Fox

Original Song: Lay Your Head Down from Albert Nobbs

Nominees:
Man Or Muppet The Muppets
Gathering Stories We Bought A Zoo
Hello Hello Gnomeo & Juliet
Life Is A Happy Song The Muppets
Bridge Of Light Happy Feet 2

Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski for War Horse, DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures

Nominees:
Bruno Delbonnel Faust
Emmanuel Lubezki The Tree of Life Fox Searchlight Pictures
Newton Thomas Sigel Drive Filmdistrict
Guillaume Schiffman The Artist The Weinstein Company
Robert Richardson Hugo Paramount Pictures

Visual Effects: Robert Legato for Hugo, Paramount Pictures

Nominees:
John Frazier, Matthew Butler, Scott Benza, Scott Farrar Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures
Dennis Muren, Kim Libreri, Paul Kavanagh, Russell Earl Super 8 Amblin, Paramount Pictures
David Vickery, Greg Butler, John Richardson, Tim Burke Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 Warner Bros.
Ben Morris War Horse DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
Jeff Capogreco, Joe Letteri, R. Christopher White Rise of the Planet of the Apes 20th Century Fox

Film Editing: Chris Gill for The Guard, Sony Pictures Classics

Nominees:
Michael Kahn War Horse DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
Mat Newman Drive Filmdistrict
Joe Walker Shame Fox Searchlight Pictures
Kevin Tent The Descendants Fox Searchlight Pictures
Aaron Marshall, John Gilroy, Matt Chesse, Sean Albertson Warrior Lionsgate

Sound (Editing & Mixing): Dave Patterson, Lon Bender, Robert Fernandez, Victor Ray Ennis for Drive, Filmdistrict

Nominees:
Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Ben Burtt, Mark Ulano, Matthew Wood, Tom Johnson Super 8 Amblin, Paramount Pictures
Christopher Scarabosio, Craig Berkey, Erik Aadahl, Jeremy Peirson, John Pritchett, Kirk Francis The Tree of Life Fox Searchlight Pictures
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom, Richard Hymns, Stuart Wilson, Tom Johnson War Horse DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures
Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van Der Ryn, Gary Summers, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Peter J. Devlin Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures
Adam Scrivener, James Mather, Mike Dowson, Stuart Hilliker, Stuart Wilson Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 Warner Bros.

Art Direction and Production Design Gregory S. Hooper, Laurence Bennett for The Artist, The Weinstein Company

Nominees:
Jack Fisk Water For Elephants 20th Century Fox
Sebastian T. Krawinkel, Stephan O. Gessler Anonymous Sony Pictures Classics
Isabel Branco Mysteries of Lisbon Music Box Films
Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo Hugo Paramount Pictures
Jiri Trier, Yelena Zhukova Faust

Costume Design: Jacqueline West for Water For Elephants, 20th Century Fox

Nominees:
Lisy Christl Anonymous Sony Pictures Classics
Isabel Branco Mysteries of Lisbon Music Box Films
Michael O’Connor Jane Eyre Focus Features
Mark Bridges The Artist The Weinstein Company
Lidiya Kryukova Faust

New Media:
Best Extra Features: Star Wars: The Complete Saga, 20th Century Fox

Youth Release:
The Lion King: Two-Disc Diamond Edition, Walt Disney Pictures

Classic Release
West Side Story: 50th Anniversary Edition, 20th Century Fox

Best Overall Blu-Ray Disc:
Three Colors: Blue, White, Red, Criterion

Special Achievement
Best First Feature: Paddy Considine Tyrannosaur Strand Releasing

Best Ensemble: The Help, DreamWorks Pictures, Touchstone Pictures

2011 Gotham Awards Chooses "Beginners" and "The Tree of Life"

The Gotham Awards were handed out Monday night, November 28th. The Gotham Awards honor independent films:

21st Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards Winners and Nominees:

Best Feature (tie)
WINNER: Beginners (Focus Features)
Mike Mills – director
Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Miranda de Pencier, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen - producers

WINNER: The Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Terrence Malick - director
Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Grant Hill – producers

Nominees:
The Descendants
Alexander Payne, director; Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Meek’s Cutoff
Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani, Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia, producers (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

Take Shelter
Jeff Nichols, director; Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best Documentary
WINNER: Better This World (Loteria Films, Picturebox, Motto Pictures and Passion Pictures; ITVS in association with American Documentary
POV)
Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega –directors
Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega, Mike Nicholson – producers

Nominees:
Bill Cunningham New York
Richard Press, director; Philip Gefter, producer (Zeitgeist Films)

Hell and Back Again
Danfung Dennis, director; Mike Lerner, Martin Herring, producers (Docurama Films)

The Interrupters
Steve James, director; Alex Kotlowitz, Steve James, producers (The Cinema Guild)

The Woodmans
C. Scott Willis, director; Neil Barrett, Jeff Werner, C. Scott Willis, producers (Lorber Films; Kino Lorber, Inc.)

Best Ensemble Performance
WINNERS: Beginners (Focus Features)
Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos

Nominees:
The Descendants
George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Nick Krause, Amara Miller, Mary Birdsong, Rob Huebel (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Margin Call
Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Aasif Mandvi (Roadside Attractions)

Martha Marcy May Marlene
Elizabeth Olsen, Christopher Abbott, Brady Corbet, Hugh Dancy, Maria Dizzia, Julia Garner, John Hawkes, Louisa Krause, Sarah Paulson (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Take Shelter
Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Kathy Baker, Ray McKinnon, Lisagay Hamilton, Robert Longstreet (Sony Pictures Classics)

Breakthrough Director
WINNER: Dee Rees for Pariah (Focus Features)

Nominees:
Mike Cahill for Another Earth (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Sean Durkin for Martha Marcy May Marlene (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Vera Farmiga for Higher Ground (Sony Pictures Classics)
Evan Glodell for Bellflower (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

Breakthrough Actor
WINNER: Felicity Jones for Like Crazy (Paramount Vantage)

Nominees:
Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Harmony Santana in Gun Hill Road (Motion Film Group)
Shailene Woodley in The Descendants (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Jacob Wysocki in Terri (ATO Pictures)

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
WINNER: Scenes of a Crime
Blue Hadaegh, Grover Babcock - director-producers

Nominees:
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same
Madeleine Olnek, director; Laura Terruso, Madeleine Olnek, producers

Green
Sophia Takal, director; Lawrence Michael Levine, producer

The Redemption of General Butt Naked
Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion, directors and producers

Without
Mark Jackson, director; Mark Jackson, Jessica Dimmock, Michael Requa, Jaime Keeling, producers

Second Annual Gotham Independent Film Audience Award
WINNER: Girlfriend
Justin Lerner - director-producer
Jerad Anderson, Kristina Lauren Anderson, Shaun O’Banion - producers

New this year is the Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ grant. It is a $25,000 cash award for an alumnus of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs, which aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film.

WINNER: Lucy Mulloy, director, UNA NOCHE

Nominees:
Jenny Deller, director, FUTURE WEATHER
Rola Nashef, director, DETROIT UNLEADED

Review: Portman and Aronofsky Give "Black Swan" Its Wings

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 42 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Black Swan (2010)
Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use
DIRECTOR: Darren Aronofsky
WRITERS: Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz, and John McLaughlin; from a story by Andrés Heinz
PRODUCERS: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, and Brian Oliver
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew Libatique (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Andrew Weisblum
COMPOSER: Clint Mansell
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, and Benjamin Millepied

Black Swan in an Oscar-winning psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky. It is the story of a ballerina descending into delusion and paranoia as opening night nears and the pressure to be perfect builds. Black Swan isn’t entirely satisfying, except for the dark and gleaming magic director Darren Aronofsky and star Natalie Portman make.

Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina in a prestigious New York City ballet company. Her life is completely consumed with dance, and she lives with her obsessive mother, the former ballerina Erica Sayers (Barbara Hershey), who exerts a suffocating control over her daughter. Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), the artistic director of her ballet company, decides to make Swan Lake the opening production of their new ballet season. Thomas wants to replace prima ballerina, Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder), and needs to cast a new principal dancer. But this new lead must be able to portray both the innocent and fragile White Swan and her sensual evil twin, the Black Swan.

Nina is Thomas’ first choice to play the coveted role of the Swan Queen, but Nina has competition. A new dancer named Lily (Mila Kunis) impresses Thomas as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play the White Swan with innocence and grace and also capture the guile and sensuality of the Black Swan. Nina is a perfect fit for the White Swan, but bad girl Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. The two young dancers become friends, but as opening night approaches, that friendship twists into a treacherous rivalry. Nina struggles to access the dark side within her that will allow her to depict the Black Swan with perfection, but her new reckless behavior threatens to destroy her.

Black Swan is indeed a good movie; in fact, it is sometimes riveting, but not because of the writing. The script is shallow, and the screenwriters put the onus on the viewers to accept the great leaps of faith the writers make with the development of Nina Sayers. The depictions of her delusions and paranoia often seem contrived, but the writers handle Nina better than they do the other characters.

Vincent Cassel’s Thomas Leroy is such a stereotype that you can see Cassel fighting onscreen to make his character real or tangible rather than just be a type. Barbara Hershey is more successful in making Erica Sayers a character that electrifies the story every time she appears, but Erica is really a tired stage mother type. Mila Kunis is blood sugar sex magic as Lily, but I get the feeling that the screenwriters were afraid of where this character could take the story. Lily often seems like spicy seasoning overused in some places and woefully underutilized in others.

Black Swan’s success is in Natalie Portman and in the way Darren Aronofsky uses the camera to drink in every bit of Portman’s virtuoso performance. This duo makes Black Swan wonderfully creepy, almost always managing to stop whenever the entire thing seems on the verge of turning campy. Portman is passionate when being passionate is better than being intense. Black Swan looks good under Aronofsky’s bold direction. Watching this film, I believed that I could see him with a handheld camera just outside the picture frame gliding behind Portman.

Perhaps it is Aronofsky chasing Portman that makes this movie feel so wildly melodramatic. Everything that is so attractively lurid, sensational, and bracing about Black Swan is because of this director-star pairing made in heaven.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2011 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Natalie Portman); 1 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, and Scott Franklin), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Matthew Libatique), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Darren Aronofsky), and “Best Achievement in Editing” (Andrew Weisblum)

2011 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress” (Natalie Portman); 11 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects,” “Best Cinematography” (Matthew Libatique), “Best Costume Design” (Amy Westcott), “Best Editing” (Andrew Weisblum), “Best Film,” “Best Make Up/Hair,” “Best Production Design” (Thérèse DePrez and Tora Peterson), “Best Screenplay-Original” (Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, and John J. McLaughlin), “Best Sound,” “Best Supporting Actress” (Barbara Hershey), and “David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction” (Darren Aronofsky)

2011 Golden Globes: 1 win “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Natalie Portman); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Darren Aronofsky), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Mila Kunis)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

----------------------

42nd Image Awards Motion Picture Nominations

The nominees for the 42nd Annual NAACP Image Awards were recently announced. The press release is long, so I’m breaking it up over several posts:

MOTION PICTURE

Outstanding Motion Picture
• "For Colored Girls" (Lionsgate/34th Street Films)
• "Just Wright" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• "The Book of Eli" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
• "The Kids Are All Right" (Focus Features)
• "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?" (Lionsgate)

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
• Anthony Mackie - "Night Catches Us" (Magnolia Pictures)
• Common - "Just Wright" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• Denzel Washington - "The Book of Eli" (Warner Bros. Pictures)
• Jaden Smith - "The Karate Kid" (Columbia Pictures)
• Morgan Freeman - "Red" (Summit Entertainment)

Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
• Halle Berry - "Frankie & Alice" (Freestyle Releasing)
• Janet Jackson - "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?" (Lionsgate)
• Kerry Washington - "Night Catches Us" (Magnolia Pictures)
• Queen Latifah - "Just Wright" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• Zoë Saldana - "The Losers" (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
• Don Cheadle - "Brooklyn's Finest" (Overture Films)
• Idris Elba - "Takers" (Screen Gems)
• Justin Timberlake - "The Social Network" (Columbia Pictures)
• Michael Ealy - "For Colored Girls" (Lionsgate/34th Street Films)
• Samuel L. Jackson - "Mother and Child" (Sony Pictures Classics)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
• Anika Noni Rose - "For Colored Girls" (Lionsgate/34th Street Films)
• Kimberly Elise - "For Colored Girls" (Lionsgate/34th Street Films)
• Phylicia Rashad - "For Colored Girls" (Lionsgate/34th Street Films)
• Jill Scott - "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?" (Lionsgate)
• Whoopi Goldberg - "For Colored Girls" (Lionsgate/34th Street Films)

Outstanding Independent Motion Picture
• "Conviction" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• "Frankie & Alice" (Freestyle Releasing)
• "La Mission" (Screen Media Ventures)
• "Mother and Child" (Sony Pictures Classics)
• "Night Catches Us" (Magnolia Pictures)

Outstanding Foreign Motion Picture
• "A Barefoot Dream" (Showbox/Mediaplex)
• "Biutiful" (Roadside Attractions)
• "Four Lions" (Drafthouse Films)
• "Mother" (Magnolia Pictures)
• "Outside the Law" (Tessalit Productions)

DOCUMENTARY

Outstanding Documentary (Theatrical or Television)• "For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots" (PBS)
• "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel" (Metaphor Films)
• "If God is Willing and the Creek Don't Rise" (HBO)
• “Waiting for "Superman" (Paramount Vantage)
• "William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe" (POV)

Director and Stars Deliver the Goods in "The Savages"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Savages (2007)
Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – R for some sexuality and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tamara Jenkins
PRODUCERS: Anne Carey, Ted Hope, and Erica Westheimer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: W. Mott Hupfel, III
EDITOR: Brian A. Kates
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman, Gbenga Akinnagbe, David Zayas, and Cara Seymour

Writer/director Tamara Jenkins delivered some of the best screenwriting of 2007 with her drama, The Savages. Her stars, Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, in turn, delivered some of the best acting on screen all year.

Wendy Savage (Linney) and her brother Jon Savage (Hoffman) carry the emotional scars of an abusive childhood. Living in New York City’s East Village, Wendy is a long aspiring playwright who spends her days temping and spends her nights having an affair with her neighbor, Larry (Peter Friedman). Living in upstate Buffalo, New York, Jon is a professor of drama, struggling to finish his book on Bertolt Brecht. They suddenly get an unexpected call from Arizona informing them that their estranged and abusive father, Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco) is suffering from dementia.

Reunited, the siblings face the challenge of caring for their ailing elderly father in spite of their emotional disconnect from him and each other. They move him into a Buffalo nursing home, and Wendy takes up residence with Jon. Living under the same roof again, Wendy and Jon rediscover each other’s eccentricities, personal failings, and the other things that drove them crazy. However, they may finally have to face adulthood and learn what good there really is in being part of a family.

If a director is to keep a family drama like The Savages from becoming a sappy soap opera, she must draw nuance from both her script and her performers, which Tamara Jenkins does in The Savages, earning herself an Oscar nomination for “Best Original Screenplay.” This smartly written and beautifully played film is for people who love films that allow great actors to do the thing they do so well.

Laura Linney, who also earned an Oscar nod for this picture, wows with her deep and sensitive portrayal of woman adrift in her middle age and trying to get her bearings. Linney really sells the notion that Wendy Savage will, through this tragedy, find the things in her past that she can both cherish and also bring into the future to make her life better. Philip Seymour Hoffman, having a career year in 2007, shows off his diversity by also playing a sensitive creative type. Hoffman also enriches Jon by gradually revealing a strong, steady side to a character that seems unable to take the next big step in anything he does.

Tamara Jenkins reveals an uncanny touch in the way she examines how nature and nurture go into making us who we are, and she makes an attractive narrative of this. It is a film that, while compassionate, is unsentimental.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Laura Linney) and “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen” (Tamara Jenkins)

2008 Golden Globes: 1 nomination for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Philip Seymour Hoffman)

"Our Family Wedding" Unites Black and Brown

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 67 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


Our Family Wedding (2010)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual content and brief strong language
DIRECTOR: Rick Famuyiwa
WRITERS: Wayne Conley, Malcolm Spellman, and Rick Famuyiwa; from a story by Wayne Conley
PRODUCERS: Edward Saxon and Steven J. Wolfe
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Julio Macat
EDITOR: Dirk Westervelt

COMEDY/DRAMA/FAMILY

Starring: Forest Whitaker, America Ferrera, Carlos Mencia, Regina King, Lance Gross, Diana Maria Riva, Lipa Ontiverso, Anjelah Johnson, Charlie Murphy, Shannyn Sossamon, Anna Maria Horsford, and Warren Sapp

Our Family Wedding is a family drama and ethnic comedy about an African-American family and a large Mexican-American clan forced to unite when two of their brood decide to unite in holy matrimony. The families’ respective patriarchs, two overbearing dads, must put aside their differences in order to plan the wedding of a son and a daughter in less than two weeks.

Marcus Boyd (Lance Gross), a young African-American doctor, and his Mexican-American girlfriend, Lucia Ramirez (America Ferrera), a former law school student, have arrived in Los Angeles to tell their families that there are engaged to be married in two weeks. Lucia suspects that her father, Miguel Ramirez (Carlos Mencia), may not be crazy about her being engaged to a Black man. Marcus also suspects that his father, Bradford “Brad” Boyd (Forest Whitaker), a popular L.A. radio personality, won’t be crazy about him being engaged to a Latino woman. Neither has any idea just how much havoc their fathers’ over-the-top egos will wreak their special day.

Meanwhile, Lucia’s mother, Sonia (Diana Maria Riva), is busy planning the wedding of her own dreams – a huge, traditional Mexican-American affair. As insults fly and tempers flare, Marcus and Lucia will find their relationship tested, unless they can convince themselves that it may be their marriage, but it is their family’s wedding.

The best thing about Our Family Wedding is how awkward it seems, but this is not because the narrative is awkward. The film deals honestly with the animosity, prejudice, dislike, etc that actually exists (to some extent) between the African-American and Latino communities. In this movie, it is fun to watch the elders and older adults of both families squirm as they are forced to deal with each other because of their children’s impending nuptials.

Director Rick Famuyiwa does a fine job of channeling the actors’ performances to capture prejudice and bigotry in a way that is appalling, but also appealing in the context of a comic film. Forest Whitaker as Brad and Carlos Mencia as Miguel, the battling dads, deliver performances that feel quite real as self-centered, comically bigoted jerks who are not at all harmless. Their antics are really endangering their children’s marriage.

One glaring fault of the movie is that the screenplay really never decides if the movie is about Marcus and Lucia or Brad and Miguel. Brad and Miguel’s antics are funny, but they should have been the supporting act. This film’s largely untapped wellspring is in Marcus and Lucia, and the internal workings of their relationship are largely hidden. The script even fails to take advantage of the best supporting character, Lucia’s smart-mouthed sister, Isabel, sharply played by Anjelah Johnson.

Still, Our Family Wedding has a large cast of characters, and there is always someone who will do or say something stupid at which we can laugh. We laugh because we recognize the narrow-mindedness, the bias, the stereotypes, and the intolerance. I can give Our Family Wedding credit for being funny, but also credit for being real about the discrimination that lurks in our hearts and minds.

7 of 10
B+

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Daze of Love in (500) Days of Summer

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 59 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


(500) Days of Summer (2009)
Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual material and dialogue
DIRECTOR: Marc Webb
WRITERS: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
PRODUCERS: Mason Novick, Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, and Steven J. Wolfe
CINEMATOGRAHER: Eric Steelberg (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Alan Edward Bell
Golden Globe nominee

ROMANCE/DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Geoffrey Arend, Chloe Moretz, Matthew Gray Gubler, Clark Gregg, Patricia Belcher, Rachel Boston, Minka Kelly, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Richard McGonagle (narrator)

(500) Days of Summer is an uncommon romance. It is certainly sweet, whimsical, and charming, but not in a syrupy way. (500) Days of Summer isn’t a “chick flick.” It’s the kind of unique love story that crosses age and gender lines0 to capture imaginations and maybe even hearts.

The film focuses on Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a trained architect who works as a writer at a Los Angeles greeting card company. He is also a young man who believes in that one-of-a-kind love – the soul mate – that person destined to be his one and only. So when this hopeless romantic meets his boss’ new assistant, Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel), the fuse is lit and it’s Day 1 of Summer. Tom is so certain that he has found the woman with whom he will spend the rest of his life.

Problem is, Summer doesn’t believe in destiny – not at all, which doesn’t stop Tom from going after this lovely, witty, intelligent woman. Still, Tom and Summer begin to date, although she tells him that she does not believe in true love and does not want a boyfriend. When Summer suddenly dumps him, around Day 290, Tom begins to sift through the days they spent together, looking for clues as to what went wrong as he heads towards Day 500 and a revelation.

(500) Days of Summer uses a nonlinear narrative to tell the story, jumping backward and forward over the 500-day span of Tom and Summer’s relationship. I don’t know if that really does anything for the film. It feels more like a gimmick than a storytelling structure that would actually benefit the story. In fact, moving about in time so much causes the middle of this film to dry up to the point of being catastrophically dull.

What sets (500) Days of Summer apart from standard movie love stories is the role reversal. This time it is the male character, Tom, who is clingy and smitten and believes in true love, a role usually assigned to the female character. Summer is more like the guy character found in the typical romantic comedy (or rom-com). She’s doesn’t buy into destiny and the boyfriend-girlfriend dating game. Summer just wants to have fun with no strings attached and no commitment – a trait usually applied to shallow male characters.

I think that having the guy character be so lovelorn and infatuated is a novel idea, but having that character performed by a talented actor like Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes him more than just a novelty. Gordon-Levitt gives Tom richness and depth so that he is more than just charming and sweet. A love-struck fool, he is determined to grapple with the issues of love and romance in a way that will not always give him a satisfactory outcome.

Sadly, Summer is not as well developed as Tom, and the character is more of a supporting player. Luckily Zooey Deschanel is pitch perfect in her usual deadpan way, and her brooding turn as Summer makes the character more than the shallow creature that the screenplay seems to think Summer she should be. Deschanel has a way of surprising us in the way she makes Summer’s emotional displays, her smiles and frowns, seem unexpected and… well, delightfully surprising.

I cannot really call (500) Days of Summer a romantic comedy because, for one thing, it is even more a drama than it is a comedy. Secondly, because Tom’s relationship with Summer is also an arc in which Tom learns a lot, (500) Days of Summer is like a coming-of-age story. Its unique spin on love-at-first-sight is presented in a way that will appeal even to audiences who avoid romantic comedies and love stories. Any way you look at it, (500) Days of Summer may just leave a smile on your face.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
2010 Golden Globes: 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Weekend Box Office Results for Feb. 12-14 2010

U.S. Box Office Estimates for the weekend of February 12 to 14, 2010


1 Valentine's Day - Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution: $52,410,000

2 Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - 20th Century Fox Distribution, Fox 2000: $31,100,000

3 The Wolfman - Universal Pictures: $30,627,000

4 Avatar - 20th Century Fox: $22,000,000

5 Dear John - Sony Pictures Releasing: $15,300,000

6 Tooth Fairy - 20th Century Fox Distribution: $5,600,000

7 From Paris With Love - Lionsgate: $4,740,000

8 Edge of Darkness - Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution: $4,585,000

9 Crazy Heart - Fox Searchlight Pictures: $4,000,000

10 When in Rome - Walt Disney Studios Distribution: $3,429,000