2012 Academy Award Nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Nominees:

Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs (2011)

Viola Davis for The Help (2011)

Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady (2011)

Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn (2011)

London Film Critics' Circle Surrounds "The Artist"

The London Film Critics’ Circle is part of a larger organization, The Critics’ Circle, which makes an annual award for Services to the Arts. This circle is comprised of the five sections: dance, drama, film, music, and visual arts.

The 32nd London Critics’ Circle Film Awards were presented Thursday, 19th January 2012.

32nd London Critics’ Circle Film Awards winners:

FILM OF THE YEAR
The Artist

CRITICS' CIRCLE TOP 10 FILMS of 2011
1. The Artist
2. A Separation
3. Drive
4. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
5. The Tree of Life
6. We Need to Talk About Kevin
7. Melancholia
8. Shame
9. Margaret
10. The Descendants

The Attenborough Award: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
We Need to Talk About Kevin (Artificial Eye)

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
A Separation (Artificial Eye)

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
Senna (Universal)

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist (Entertainment)

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Asghar Farhadi - A Separation (Artificial Eye)

The Virgin Atlantic Award: BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER
Andrew Haigh - Weekend (Peccadillo)

ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Jean Dujardin - The Artist (Entertainment)

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR (Tied)
Anna Paquin - Margaret (Fox)
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady (Fox/Pathé)

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn (Entertainment)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Sareh Bayat - A Separation (Artificial Eye)

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Michael Fassbender - A Dangerous Method (Lionsgate), Shame (Momentum)

The Moët & Chandon Award: BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Olivia Colman - The Iron Lady (Fox/Pathé), Tyrannosaur (StudioCanal)

YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Craig Roberts - Submarine (StudioCanal)

The Sky 3D Award: TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
Maria Djurkovic, production design - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (StudioCanal)

The Dilys Powell Award: EXCELLENCE IN FILM
Nicolas Roeg

69th Golden Globe Award Winners - Complete List

The 69th Golden Globes Awards were given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on Sunday, Jan. 15th 2012 in a ceremony broadcast live on NBC.

2012 Golden Globe Awards Winners (For the year ended December 31, 2011):

FILM

BEST DRAMA PICTURE
"The Descendants"

BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL PICTURE
"The Artist"

BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese, "Hugo"

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
George Clooney, "The Descendants"

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"

BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTOR
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"

BEST COMEDY/MUSICAL ACTRESS
Michelle Williams, "My Week with Marilyn"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Chrisopher Plummer, "Beginners"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"

BEST SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE
"The Adventures of Tintin"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE
"A Separation"

BEST SCORE
Ludovic Bource, "The Artist"

BEST SONG
"Masterpiece" ("W.E.")
Music and Lyrics by Madonna, Julie Frost, Jim Harry

TELEVISION

BEST DRAMA SERIES
"Homeland"

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Kelsey Grammer, "Boss"

BEST DRAMA ACTRESS
Claire Danes, "Homeland

BEST COMEDY SERIES
"Modern Family"

BEST COMEDY ACTOR
Matt LeBlanc, "Episodes"

BEST COMEDY ACTRESS
Laura Dern, "Enlightened"

BEST MOVIE/MINISERIES
"Downton Abbey"

BEST MOVIE/MINI ACTRESS
Kate Winslet, "Mildred Pierce"

BEST MOVIE/MINI ACTOR
Idris Elba, "Luther"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Peter Dinklage, "Game of Thrones"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story"

Cecil B. DeMille Award: Morgan Freeman

The SEC Crowns "The Descendants" as Best Picture of 2011

Obviously, I've taken liberty with a film critics association's acronym.  But forgive me because this is the eve of an all-SEC BCS Championship Game.

Anyway, the Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) is a professional organization of more than 40 film journalists working in the print, radio and online media.  The group represents the Southeastern section of the United States: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Since 1992, SEFCA seeks to “promote the art of film criticism, the ethics of journalism and the camaraderie of peers among professionals working in the print, radio and online media in the Southeast.”

2011 SEFCA Winners:

BEST PICTURE
The Descendants

TOP TEN FILMS
The Descendants
The Artist
Hugo
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
Drive
Midnight in Paris
Win Win
War Horse
The Help

BEST ACTOR
Winner – George Clooney (The Descendants)
Runner-up – Michael Fassbender (Shame)

BEST ACTRESS
Winner – Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Runner-up – Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner – Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Runner-up – Albert Brooks, Drive

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner – Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Runner-up – Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

BEST ENSEMBLE
Winner – The Help
Runner-up – The Descendants

BEST DIRECTOR
Winner – Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Runner-up – Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner – Midnight in Paris
Runner-up – The Artist

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner – The Descendants
Runner-up – Moneyball

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Winner – Project Nim
Runner-up – Tabloid

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Winner – A Separation
Runner-up – The Skin I Live In

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Winner – Rango
Runner-up – The Adventures of Tintin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner – The Tree of Life
Runner-up – Hugo

The GENE WYATT AWARD
Winner – The Help
Runner-up – Undefeated

New York Film Critics Online Love "The Artist"

The New York Film Critics Online is a group of Internet film critics based in New York City that meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards.

A complete list of the 2011 honorees:

FILM
The Artist

DIRECTOR
Michael Hazanavicius, The Artist

ACTOR
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter

ACTRESS
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Albert Brooks, Drive

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life

SCREENPLAY
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, The Descendants

FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE
A Separation

DOCUMENTARY
Cave of Forgotten Dreams

ANIMATED FEATURE
The Adventures of Tintin

USE OF MUSIC
Ludovic Bource, The Artist

BREAKOUT PERFORMER
Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life, The Help, The Debt, Take Shelter

DEBUT AS DIRECTOR
Joe Cornish, Attack the Block

ENSEMBLE CAST
Bridesmaids

TOP PICTURES OF 2011 (alphabetical)
The Artist (The Weinstein Co.)
The Descendants (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Drive (Film District)
The Help (DreamWorksPictures)
Hugo (Paramount Pictures)
Melancholia (Magnolia Pictures)
Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics)
Take Shelter (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
War Horse (Dreamworks Pictures)

New York Film Critics Choose "The Artist" and Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep

Founded in 1935, the New York Film Critics Circle is, according to their website, “an organization of film reviewers from New York-based publications that exists to honor excellence in U.S. and world cinema.” Members are critics from daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, magazines, and online general-interest publications (that meet certain qualifications).

Every year in December, Circle members meet in New York to vote on awards for the year's films.  Apparently, they moved things up this year to have more clout in the awards conversation. Will they?  Well, The Artist is a black and white silent movie, which may get Oscar nominations, but will critical acclaim give it a best picture win?  I have not seen The Artist, but I'd be super surprised if it won best picture.

Here's the complete list of the 2011 winners:

Best Picture - The Artist

Best Director - Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist

Best Screenplay - Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin for Moneyball

Best Actress - Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady

Best Actor - Brad Pitt for Moneyball, The Tree of Life

Best Supporting Actress - Jessica Chastain for The Tree of Life, The Help, Take Shelter

Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks for Drive

Best Cinematographer - Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree of Life

Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary) - Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Best Foreign Film - A Separation

Best First Film - J.C. Chandor for Margin Call

Special Award -Raoul Ruiz

Review: Robert Altman Signs off with Sweet "A Prairie Home Companion" (Happy B'day, Robert Altman)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 157 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some risqué humor
DIRECTOR: Robert Altman
WRITERS: Garrison Keillor, from a story by Ken LaZebnik and Garrison Keillor (based upon the radio program “A Prairie Home Companion” created by Garrison Keillor)
PRODUCERS: Robert Altman, Wren Arthur, Joshua Astrachan, Tony Judge, and David Levy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Lachman
EDITOR: Jacob Craycroft

COMEDY/DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Marylouise Burke, L.Q. Jones, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, and Jearlyn Steele.

Director Robert Altman’s new film, A Prairie Home Companion, is a fictionalized version of Garrison Keillor’s long running, public-radio variety show, also titled "A Prairie Home Companion." In this film, A Prairie Home Companion isn’t the fabled national phenomenon that it has been for decades (since its first broadcast on July 6, 1974), but is rather an obscure local program performed at a small local venue, the Fitzgerald Theatre (where the real Prairie Home Companion is performed), and broadcast onto a single Minnesota radio station, WLT. The film opens on what is to be the show’s final performance after the better part of four decades, as the Fitzgerald has been bought by a Texas conglomerate that is going to demolish the theatre to build a parking lot.

There is much backstage drama – the death of a long time Prairie Home performer; a mysterious woman (Virginia Madsen) who seems to bring death with her stalks the halls and stage; and the theatre security, Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), is rather self-absorbed. However, the focus is on the stage and the performers. There is the whimsical, sad sack maestro, GK (Garrison Keillor), who seems to be an undertaker as much as he is the master of ceremonies and host. His stars include the country-singing Johnson sisters, Yolanda (Meryl Streep) and Rhonda (Lily Tomlin), and the cowboy duo, the Old Trailhands, Dusty (Woody Harrelson) and Lefty (John C. Reilly), and more. Still, the Prairie Home performers and crew await the arrival of the Axeman (Tommy Lee Jones), who will signal the end of both the show and the showplace.

Although Altman works from Garrison Keillor’s script and this concept is Keillor’s, Altman makes the film his own by employing the techniques that have made him a filmmaking legend: the improvisational chatter and babble, the characters overlapping dialogue, and the wandering, zooming cameral – sometimes orbital, sometimes a stationary eye, but always capturing the story that Altman is weaving.

The performances, although good, are mostly small, but the actors make the most of their moments. Each character is quirky, and each actor gives that part an idiosyncratic turn that makes this entire film seem special. In fact, the cast is in perfect harmony, and one can watch the actors building up to this synchronization as the characters continually interact with one another. In the end, the make Prairie Home’s final moments as a variety show an example of simple, heartwarming, old-fashioned harmony. Clearly the actors believe in their baggy and shelf-worn characters. It’s a testament to their faith in Altman and perhaps to a lesser extent Keillor’s creation.

Ultimately, A Prairie Home Companion is an unusual film, simple and sometimes profound. It’s a fantasy about a kind of public performance that has nothing to do with big event corporate entertainment or prepackaged amusements put together by media conglomerates, which have all the soul one would expect from plastic. A Prairie Home Companion begs you to watch such stellar talent create an idealized version of something from another time – variety radio programs – and watch them do it with such conviction that you don’t want to leave your strange new friends. You’re worried that someone might hurt them and stop what they do – you care.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, July 22, 2006

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Review: "The Devil Wears Prada" is Still Devilish Fun (Happy B'day, Anne Hathaway)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 156 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some sensuality
DIRECTOR: David Frankel
WRITER: Aline Brosh McKenna (based upon the novel by Lauren Weisberger)
PRODUCER: Wendy Finerman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Florian Ballhaus
EDITOR: Mark Livosi, A.C.E.
Academy Award nominee

COMEDY

Starring: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker, Emily Blunt, Adrian Grenier, Tracie Thoms, Rich Sommer, and Daniel Sanjata

Fresh out of college with her journalism degree, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) has decided to go to New York City to pursue her dream of serious writing, although her parents would have preferred Stanford Law School. Her impressive college resume lands her job at Runway Magazine, the fashion bible of NYC. Andy’s job is to be the assistant to Emily (Emily Blunt), who is in turn the assistant to the fearsome Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), Runway’s editor-in-chief and the most powerful woman in fashion. This is a job, as Nigel (Stanley Tucci), one of Miranda’s employees, tells Andy, a job that a thousand other girls would kill for. However, Andy isn’t much on fashion, and her wardrobe is more off-the-rack drab than haute couture. She’s really wrong for the job, and Miranda is a prickly, domineering, ice queen who quickly dismissed the two assistants prior to Andy. Still, Andy begins to like her new job, and that’s when it conflicts with her circle of friends, especially her boyfriend, Nate (Adrian Grenier). Now, Andy has to balance a burgeoning profession career with her personal life, even while’s she finds herself drawn closer to the dragon fire that is Miranda Priestly.

The Devil Wears Prada relies on two basic and familiar storylines – the fish out of water story and the career girl’s adventures, and the movie does both well because of its star. Meryl Streep’s name may be first on the marquee, and she gives a tour-de-force performance (as is her want), but this is Anne Hathaway’s movie. The girlish looks and charms she showed in Disney’s The Princess Diaries franchise and the dramatic chops she showed in Brokeback Mountain both come to play in The Devil Wears Prada, the former more than the latter. Her Andy Sachs is both spunky and serious, and Anne shows so much of that in her highly emotive facial expressions – done with exquisite subtly.

Of course, much of this film’s attention is on Streep’s flashy and brassy turn as Miranda Priestly, but ever the consummate professional and actor-as-artist, Streep’s theatrics are completely in the context of the film. She doesn’t stop the film cold when she turns on Miranda’s cold. Streep’s performance allows for this movie to have something that successful films need – great scenes. Great movies have several great scenes, and while The Devil Wears Prada isn’t great, it is easily the top comedy of 2006. Streep anchors the great scenes (or even builds them) that make this movie a must-see for movie lovers.

The Devil Wears Prada is one of those flicks that deserves and has earned such film critics’ clichés as “devilishly clever,” deliciously wicked,” “fiendishly clever,” etc., and even “scrumptious.” That’s because the script allows us to tag along on a crafty romp through the fashion world the movie has fashioned. As snarky as the comedy about the fashion industry in this movie may be, the ultimate treat is two outstanding performances by Streep and Hathaway. Their chess match, or test of wills, as it may be, is the pillar of this ingeniously constructed comedy.

7 of 10
A-

Thursday, July 20, 2006

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Meryl Streep) and “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Pat Field)

2007 BAFTA Awards: 5 nominations: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Meryl Streep), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Emily Blunt), “Best Costume Design” (Pat Field), “Best Make Up & Hair” (Nicki Ledermann and Angel De Angelis), and “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Aline Brosh McKenna)

2007 Golden Globes: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Meryl Streep); 2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Emily Blunt)

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"It's Complicated" is Complicated

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 39 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


It’s Complicated (2009)
Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
MPAA – R for some drug content and sexuality
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Nancy Meyers
PRODUCERS: Nancy Meyers and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Toll
EDITORS: Joe Hutshing and David Moritz
COMPOSERS: Heitor Pereira and Hans Zimmer

COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, John Krasinski, Lake Bell, Mary Kay Place, Rita Wilson, Alexandra Wentworth, Hunter Parrish, Zoe Kazan, Caitlin Fitzgerald, and Emjay Anthony

Whatever it may have seemed like in the commercials and trailers, It’s Complicated, a film from writer/director Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give), is not simply a bubbly comedy about a divorced woman having sex on the side with her ex-husband, while her new boyfriend is caught in the middle. This movie is a family melodrama, romantic comedy, relationship drama, soap opera… well, it actually is complicated.

A divorced mother of three grown children, Jane (Meryl Streep) doesn’t date much. Self-reliant, she focuses her attention on her thriving Santa Barbara bakery and restaurant. After a decade of divorce, Jane has an amicable relationship with her ex-husband, attorney Jake (Alec Baldwin), although Jane still feels uncomfortable in the presence of Jake’s hot young wife, Agness (Lake Bell). For her son’s college graduation in New York City, Jane finds herself staying at the same hotel as Jake, and an innocent meal with him ends with the two having sex.

Thus, begins an unimaginable affair between ex-wife and ex-husband that features frequent sexual encounters. Jake is cheating on Agness, and Jane is sort of cheating on Adam (Steve Martin), an architect hired to remodel Jane’s home. Adam is also healing from a divorce, and he is starting to fall in love with Jane. Jane finds herself forced to confront a number of issues, including if she really is in love with Jake, again.

Early on in It’s Complicated, in particularly the scenes that detail the beginning of Jane and Jake’s “affair,” the movie tries to come across as a bubbly romantic/screwball comedy. I say try because everything seems forced. Early in the movie, Meryl Streep, who hasn’t starred in many comedies, makes a vain attempt at playing the flighty heroine. Streep’s attempts at playing someone caught in comically awkward situations look ridiculous – all that laughing makes her sound like a horse. It is as if the only thing she can think to do with her character is laugh.

Alec Baldwin is usually next to Streep, also forcing it just as hard, doing his schtick. In this film, he just looks like a fat, middle-aged guy desperately trying to pass a reluctant turd. At this point, I have probably made It’s Complicated seem like an awful movie, but it really isn’t.

When the story leaves New York and returns to Santa Barbara, It’s Complicated seems to mature, leaving the silliness behind. The comic tone turns lighter, and the story gets serious about the implications of Jane and Jake’s affair. That is when Streep and Baldwin seem more like themselves, and the better parts of their talents show themselves. Suddenly, the NYC sequence seems like a bad dream, and the real story begins.

Once she makes the other major characters aware of the affair, Nancy Meyers really begins to play with the complications and story angles and situations such an almost taboo romance as depicted here offers. At that point, the audience can do more than just “Ooh” and “Ah” at the scandalous and embarrassing moments. They will feel engaged, because when Meyers really gets to the heart of this complicated matter, she forces the viewer to do more than just be a voyeur looking for easy chuckles. Meyers makes the viewer think: How do Jane and Jake get out of this? Should they do this? How does this affect everyone else? Whom should Jane choose?

It’s Complicated isn’t anyone’s best work – not Meyers, Streep, Baldwin, or even the passive Steve Martin. Still, it is good to see a thoughtful romantic comedy and love story in which the love interests are all over 50.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2010 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Supporting Actor” (Alec Baldwin)

2010 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Meryl Streep), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Nancy Meyers)

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Review: "Fantastic Mr. Fox" Actually Not Fantastic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux


Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
MPAA – PG for action, smoking and slang humor
DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson
WRITERS: Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach (based upon the novel by Roald Dahl)
PRODUCERS: Allison Abbate, Wes Anderson , Jeremy Dawson, and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Tristan Oliver
EDITOR: Andrew Weisblum (supervising editor)
COMPOSER: Alexandre Desplat
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/CRIME

Starring: (voices) George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Robin Hurlstone, Hugo Guinness Brian Cox, and Adrien Brody

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 stop-motion animation film from director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums). The film is based on a children’s book of the same title by author Roald Dahl first published in 1970. It is the story of a human-like fox who outwits his human neighbors and steals their livestock and food right from under their noses.

Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is a thief. To feed his family, he steals livestock from three wealthy local farmers, and during one such mission, he is joined by his wife, Mrs. Felicity Fox (Meryl Streep). However, the couple is ensnared in a cage, but escape after Felicity reveals that she is pregnant. Years later, the couple is living an idyllic home life with their sullen son, Ash (Jason Schwartzman), and Mr. Fox’s visiting young nephew, the soft-spoken and talented Kristopherson Silverfox (Eric Chase Anderson).

After 12 years of domesticity, Mr. Fox feels his wild animal instincts coming to the fore, and this bucolic existence starts to bore him. With the help of his pal, an unassuming opossum named Kylie (Wallace Wolodarsky), Mr. Fox soon slips back into his old ways as a sneaky and highly successful thief stealing chickens, turkeys, and apple cider from the wealthy farmers, Franklin Bean (Michael Gambon), Walter Boggis (Robin Hurlstone), and Nathan Bunce (Hugo Guinness). Doing this endangers not only his beloved family, but also the whole animal community, when Bean leads a vicious, total war campaign to capture Mr. Fox. Trapped underground and without enough food to go around, will the animals band together or will they turn Mr. Fox over to the farmers?

Fantastic Mr. Fox is what happens when quirky drowns whimsical. Instead of a fanciful animal fable, what Wes Anderson gives us with this stop-motion animated film is weird and peculiar. It is sometimes entertaining, even delightful, but still weird and peculiar. The script by Anderson and Noah Baumbach tries to impart wisdom, but much of it is lost in the idiosyncratic visual vibe of this film.

There are some good voice performances, especially Wallace Wolodarsky as Kylie. Because their performances, Jason Schwartzman as Ash and Eric Chase Anderson as Kristopherson end up being the best pairing in the film – the most interesting team.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a sometimes fun ride, although much of it seems awkward. The strange textures of the animation are a mixed bag. Fantastic Mr. Fox looks like a Tim Burton stop-motion animation picture done with tattered puppets and shabby sets. Ultimately, I find myself sitting on the fence about this film because it entertains and perplexes in equal measure.

5 of 10
B-

NOTES:
2010 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Alexandre Desplat) and “Best Animated Feature Film of the Year” (Wes Anderson)

2010 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Animated Film” (Wes Anderson) and “Best Music” (Alexandre Desplat)

2010 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Animated Feature Film”

Thursday, May 20, 2010

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Review: "Artificial Intelligence: AI" is a Solemn Look at Humanity's Demise

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 21 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
aka A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Running time: 146 minutes (2 hours, 26 minutes)
Rating: MPAA – PG-13 for some sexual content and violent images
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WRITERS: Steven Spielberg; from a screen story by Ian Watson (based upon the short story by “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” by Brian W. Aldiss)
PRODUCERS: Steve Spielberg, Bonnie Curtis, and Kathleen Kennedy
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Janusz Kaminski (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Michael Kahn
COMPOSER: John Williams
Academy Award nominee

SCI-FI with elements of adventure and drama

Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O’Connor, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Robards, William Hurt, Jake Thomas, and the voices of Jack Angel, Meryl Streep, Robin Williams, Ben Kingsley, and Chris Rock

In the future, humans have become technologically (if not morally) advanced enough to build humanly realistic robots called mechas to serve humanity. The most advanced is a robot called David (Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense), who can be programmed to have feelings of love for a human, a gift (or curse) no other robot has; he is, in a sense, an artificial kid. David moves in with Monica (Frances O’Connor) and Henry Swinton (Sam Robards), a couple whose own child, Martin (Jake Thomas) is in cryo-stasis, stricken with an incurable disease. After Martin is cured and comes home, Henry becomes angry that Monica still has strong feelings for David and wants David returned to his creators. Monica abandons David in the forest rather than return him to his creators for fear that they will destroy him.

David, who once heard Monica read Pinocchio to Martin, goes on a quest to find the Blue Fairy (voice of Meryl Streep) who made Pinocchio into a real boy, hoping that she will do the same for him. Joining him on his quest are Teddy (voice of Jack Angel), a supertoy that once belonged to Martin (and acts as a kind of Jiminy Cricket to David’s Pinocchio) and Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a love mecha designed to provide romantic and erotic pleasures to women.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, A. I. Artificial Intelligence was a project that director Stanley Kubrick had planned helm, but turned to Spielberg feeling that he could better served the potentially effects laden film. Some film aficionados still consider Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Spielberg’s early works to be his best films. Those movies were filled with a sense of wonder, awe, magic, terror, curiosity – basic emotions and feelings. Other people considered these films too manipulative and too sentimental. What the latter misunderstood was those films’ powerful visual storytelling; here, films worked the way they should. What we saw on the screen was supposed to move us, and the films certainly did. Alas, Spielberg grew up and started making serious grown up, big boy films that would be worthy of Oscar’s attention.

A. I. is a return of Spielberg the magician/storyteller, and the film’s screenplay is the first one written Spielberg has written without a collaborator since Close Encounters. He infuses A. I. with a sense of magic and wonder, but the film is about David’s determination to be a real boy. To that end, however, the film becomes a bit muddled as it nears the conclusion of that quest. At one point, David’s journey comes to an abrupt halt, and, in light of this, his determination seems pathetic, pitiable, and futile. On one hand, David obviously cannot be a “real boy,” in the sense of being an organic being. On the other hand, the issue is not the artificiality, but is whether are not his feelings for Monica are genuine. Upon that question does the movie hinge.

The performances are excellent. Osment has a natural gift to bring a character to life that is as rich and as uncanny as, say, that of Emily Watson. His hugely expressive eyes are, indeed, the windows to his soul. Unlike so many child actors, Osment can act rather than pretend; he literally takes on the identity of a fictional character. One has to see his work to truly believe how good he is. Jude Law is wonderful, charming, and has an air of danger about him as the confident mecha/dildo Gigolo Joe. Law transforms Joe into the perfect companion and very wise guide for David (although Teddy does his thing also), and Law seems perfectly at ease in his role next to Osment. Ms. O’Connor is the other gem in this film; she makes the evolution of Monica’s feelings for David natural and convincing, and she turns up the heat to make the scene of their parting quite tragic indeed.

The effects in A. I. are so prevalent, but like those in Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, they are natural and unobtrusive, integral to the feel of the film and it’s story. The playful colorful lights that fill the forest and the night sky reminds one of scenes from E.T. Frankly, the visual effects are beautiful; it’s just fun to see them.

Artificial Intelligence seems to reach a near perfect state, but then the film is marred by moments of forced sentiment. Some of the story in the film’s last half hour is cold and dry. Actually, the film is nearly ruined until its closing images sweetly dissolve. Don’t let that deter; it is still a special film. You can ignore most of the end. What you take from A. I.’s extraordinary first three quarters is magical: fine acting, engaging story, and a director who is still an accomplished magician who sometimes messes up when he lets his show linger on too long.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren, Scott Farrar, Stan Winston, and Michael Lantieri) and “Best Music, Original Score” (John Williams)


2002 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Dennis Muren, Scott Farrar, and Michael Lantieri)


2002 Golden Globe Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Steven Spielberg), “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (John Williams), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Jude Law)

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Review: God I Still Hate this Movie: "The Hours"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 39 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Hours (2002)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK/USA
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for mature thematic elements, some disturbing images, and brief language
DIRECTOR: Stephen Daldry
WRITER: David Hare (based upon the novel by Michael Cunningham)
PRODUCERS: Scott Rudin and Robert Fox
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Seamus McGarvey (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Peter Boyle
COMPOSER: Philip Glass
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Ed Harris, Stephen Dillane, Miranda Richardson, John C. Reilly, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, and Jack Rovello

Director Stephen Daldry’s The Hours is one of those prestige, award season movies. It’s no secret that Hollywood, or the film industry, if you will, reserves films of a serious, meaningful, thoughtful, artistic nature for release during the last quarter of the year, especially late November and December. That is a late enough release so that the films will, hopefully, still be fresh in the minds of Oscar voters come January or February, whenever ballots are mailed to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

This is like a big bake off to impress Oscar voters. Studios trot out their best baked goods to tempt the appetites of those who might award them one faux gold statue called “Oscar,” or maybe two, or three or so on. In a way, these films are often as formulaic as the trash the studios trot out during the summer and winter vacation seasons. Oscar contenders are made of varying measuring spoons and cups of serious acting by acclaimed thespians, scripts from the best scribes adapting the most recent literary sensations, veteran directors pining after that Oscar that would define their careers, and, of course drama. Oh the drama, be it initiated by disease, murder, family conflict, or international strife, the drama is so important. Comedies hardly ever win Oscars, and Oscar treats science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery like bastard children.

What does that have to do with The Hours? The Hours is so painfully and obviously aimed at earning awards for its cast and crew that it can’t help but show all its tricks. Like a clueless magician, The Hours spoils the show by showing its hand too early.

The story revolves around three women of different eras, two of them affected by the works of the third woman, Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman). From 1923 to 1941, Ms. Woolf lives in a small English country town at the behest of her doctor and her husband Leonard (Stephen Dillane) who feel London is bad for her unstable mental health. Ms. Woolf is working on her novel Mrs. Dalloway, a novel in which the story takes place over an entire day, but she’d really like to return to London social circles despite the fact that London eventually drives her wacky and makes her want to kill herself. In 1951, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore), a pregnant housewife, is preoccupied with the novel Mrs. Dalloway and is contemplating suicide on her husband’s (John C. Reilly) birthday. In 2001, Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) is living the novel the day she is planning a party for her long time friend, Richard Brown (Ed Harris), a poet who is dying of AIDS. As the story unfolds, we see how the women and the events of three eras are inextricably linked.

First, there is a better Stephen Daldry film, the wonderful Billy Elliot. However, the acting is good. How can it not be, considering the film’s stellar cast? The problem is the material. It’s so morbid and moribund, so depressed and stilted. Yes, Ms. Streep can emote. Ms. Kidman is simply mesmerizing as Ms. Woolf. The material just didn’t hold my interest. Sometimes, I couldn’t wait to see what Virginia would do next, so good was Ms. Kidman in creating this fascinating creature; other times, I couldn’t wait for her tired ass to just disappear. To be honest, if Meryl Streep wasn’t so good at emoting, her character would have been an empty shell, merely a melancholy mannequin. It seemed as if she were just there only to look earnest and sad.

And, in the end, that’s the best way to describe this film – earnest, yet sad. Nothing happens beyond people being anxious and depressed. The grimaces, the smiles to hide the emotional exhaustion, the pangs of emptiness, the feelings of regret, the etc., there was good material; it’s just that what made it onto the screen could leaving you asking, “if you’re so sad, what’re you going to do about it?” The Hours is oh-so serious with an oh-so talented cast and oh-so serious artistic intentions. In those moments between the interesting moments and dreary tedium, I could only ask, “Oh, so what?” This movie does have many good moments, and if you’re a fan of the three leads, it’s certainly worth seeing just to watch the stars.

Maybe, someone needs to have lived a long life filled with the bitter and the sweet, with lots of regret, and with lots of life experience to appreciate this film. Maybe, The Hours is geared towards an older audience, an older female audience of a particular intellectual persuasion. I think the occasionally witty Virginia Woolf character would have made for a good film had the character not been relegated to a winsome creature mindlessly chasing self-destruction. Of course, death is part of life, but the life/death struggle doesn’t always make for a good movie.

5 of 10
C+

NOTE:
2003 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Nicole Kidman); 8 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Ed Harris), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Julianne Moore), “Best Costume Design” (Ann Roth), “Best Director,” (Stephen Daldry), “Best Editing” (Peter Boyle), “Best Music, Original Score” (Philip Glass), “Best Picture” (Scott Rudin and Robert Fox), and “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (David Hare)


2003 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Philip Glass) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Nicole Kidman); 9 nominations: “Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film” (Scott Rudin, Robert Fox, and Stephen Daldry), “BAFTA Film Award Best Editing” (Peter Boyle), “Best Film” (Scott Rudin and Robert Fox), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Ivana Primorac, Conor O'Sullivan, and Jo Allen). “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Ed Harris), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Meryl Streep), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Julianne Moore), “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (David Hare), and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Stephen Daldry)


2003 Golden Globes: 2 wins “Best Motion Picture – Drama” “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Nicole Kidman); 5 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Stephen Daldry), “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Philip Glass), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Ed Harris), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Meryl Streep), “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (David Hare)

Review: "Adaptation" is a Film That Boggles the Mind

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 107 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Adaptation (2002)
Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)
MPAA – R for language, sexuality, some drug use and violent images
DIRECTOR: Spike Jonze
WRITERS: Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman (based upon the novel by Susan Orlean)
PRODUCERS: Jonathan Demme, Vincent Landay, and Edward Saxon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Lance Acord (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Eric Zumbrunnen
COMPOSER: Carter Burwell

COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Cara Seymour, Tilda Swinton, Ron Livingston, Brian Cox, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jim Beaver, Judy Greer, and Litefoot

Charlie Kaufman, a real, living, breathing person, is a well-known screenwriter. You absolutely must see the film made from his most famous script, Being John Malkovich. A few years ago, he struggled with writing a script adaptation of Susan Orlean’s best-selling novel, The Orchid Thief. He met with Ms. Orlean, and explained his troubles. They apparently came to an agreement that Kaufman would write a screenplay that would be in part about him wrestling with the adaptation of the novel and in part about the story in the book.  That screenplay became the movie, Adaptation.

So here’s the plot of the film Adaptation: Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is struggling in an attempt to write a screenplay based upon Susan Orlean’s (Meryl Streep) best-selling non-fiction book, The Orchid Thief. His twin brother Donald (Cage, again) moves in with Charlie, and Donald decides to write his own original script. With wild and joyful abandon, Donald takes a seminar and leaps into writing a typical Hollywood thriller about a serial killer, while The Orchid Thief slowly drives Charlie to madness.

Meanwhile, in a subplot, the film carries on and we meet Susan who goes to Florida to write an article for the New Yorker about an orchid thief named John Laroche (Chris Cooper), who’s been recently arresting for poaching plants on a federal reserve. Ms. Orlean is simultaneously fascinated with and repulsed by Laroche, a divorced and lonely man who lost his mother and uncle in an auto accident for which he blames himself.

In the other major subplot: as the film goes on, Donald convinces Charlie that Susan is hiding something, so they track her to Florida to learn the dark secret she shares with Laroche. It mostly ends tragically in a typically Hollywood fashion.

The amazing thing about this film is that it is so good, yet it seems to have almost nothing to do with the director, Spike Jonze, who collaborated with Kaufman on Being John Malkovich. But never doubt Jonze’s prodigious talents, especially if you’ve seen even one of his visionary music videos for acts like Beck or Fatboy Slim. Here he’s almost invisible as he navigates the eccentricities, shifting points of view, and multiple story threads that is Kaufman’s sexy script.

Of course, Kaufman turns out another outstanding script. The film credits list the screenwriters as Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman, but Charlie really doesn’t have a twin brother named Donald. Charlie’s attempt was to write a script about script writing, but he also covered such fertile territory as the necessity of change, human isolation and loneliness, writer’s bloc, the treacherous path that is adapting other people’s work, professional jealousy, sibling relationships, guilt, loss, etc. It’s all wonderfully done, but the part of his story that’s supposed to be the typical Hollywood film adaptation is kinda dull and uninteresting. That’s the joke. For the film’s closing segment, Charlie was able to turn Ms. Orlean’s novel into a conventional thriller, and he shows that that can be simultaneously intriguing and dull. The conventional can often seem exciting, but so often it ends in predictability. Thus, Kaufman does get to make his point about cookie cutter film shockers, but the irony is that even his satire of formula writing and filmmaking seems listless. Am I missing the point? I can go on all day, but the best way to tell you about this film would be to share it with you visually, like telepathy, sending sensory images of Adaptation into your mind. That ain’t gonna happen, and I can almost forgive the filmmakers for an ending that was too smart for its own good.

The performances are excellent, and two of them are spectacular. Cage’s Kaufman is his most inspired, witty, and imaginative performance in almost a decade. It the kind of work where he digs deep into himself to find the character the way he did in Leaving Las Vegas, for which he won an Academy Award. His performance as Charlie Kaufman earned his an Academy Award nomination. The second excellent performance was Chris Cooper’s turn as the flower thief Laroche. The lead in two John Sayles films, Matewan and Lone Star, Cooper won an Oscar for his role as Laroche. He earned it with his ability to show that the character was not only stunningly eccentric, but was also mostly just another guy bummed out by life who is doing his best to roll with the punches. It’s enough to inspire even the most blue of us.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Chris Cooper); 3 nominations: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Nicolas Cage), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Meryl Streep), “Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay” (Charlie Kaufman Donald Kaufman)


2003 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (Charlie Kaufman, Donald Kaufman); 3 nominations “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Nicolas Cage); “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Chris Cooper), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role” (Meryl Streep)


2003 Golden Globes: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Chris Cooper) and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Meryl Streep); 4 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Spike Jonze), “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Nicolas Cage), and “Best Screenplay - Motion Picture” (Charlie Kaufman, Donald Kaufman)

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