2013 Oscar Nominations Reaction

Best Picture
Mostly as expected. Inside Llewyn Davis didn't pan out.

1. 12 Years a Slave
2. Gravity
3. American Hustle
4. Captain Phillips
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
6. Nebraska
7. Her
9. Dallas Buyers Club
11. Philomena

8/9

Directing
Paul Greengrass is the omission from the DGA five, replaced by Academy favourite Alexander Payne.

1. Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
2. Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
3. David O. Russell, American Hustle
5. Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
6. Alexander Payne, Nebraska

4/5

Actress in a Leading Role
I didn't foresee the Academy snubbing Emma Thompson.

1. Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
2. Sandra Bullock, Gravity
4. Judi Dench, Philomena
5. Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
6. Amy Adams, American Hustle

4/5

Actor in a Leading Role
Redford was indeed left out, but so was Tom Hanks in a surprising move that I somehow half-expected.

1. Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

2. Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

3. Bruce Dern, Nebraska

6. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

8. Christian Bale, American Hustle

3/5

Actress in a Supporting Role
Sorry, Oprah! My beloved Sally Hawkins finally made it in.

1. Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
2. Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
4. Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
5. June Squibb, Nebraska
6. Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

4/5

Actor in a Supporting Role
Brühl missed out, and Cooper makes American Hustle the second Russell film in a row (after Silver Linings Playbook) to get a nomination in all four acting categories. That's some achievement.

1. Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
2. Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
3. Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
5. Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
7. Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street

4/5

Original Screenplay

1. American Hustle
2. Nebraska
3. Blue Jasmine
4. Her
7. Dallas Buyers Club

4/5

Adapted Screenplay

1. 12 Years a Slave
2. Captain Phillips
3. Philomena
4. Before Midnight
5. The Wolf of Wall Street

5/5

Cinematography
In a surprising move, 12 Years a Slave was left out, with a somewhat surprising nomination from The Grandmaster.

1. Gravity
3. Nebraska
4. Prisoners
5. Inside Llewyn Davis
9. The Grandmaster

4/5

Editing
And the surprise was Thelma Schoonmaker missing out and Dallas Buyers Club making it in.

1. Gravity
2. 12 Years a Slave
3. Captain Phillips
4. American Hustle
10. Dallas Buyers Club

4/5

Production Design

1. 12 Years a Slave
2. The Great Gatsby
4. Gravity
5. American Hustle
8. Her

4/5

Costume Design
The Grandmaster makes another surprising inclusion here.

1. The Great Gatsby
2. American Hustle
3. 12 Years a Slave
4. The Invisible Woman
- The Grandmaster

4/5

Makeup and Hairstyling
The love for American Hustle didn't spread here, with The Lone Ranger making it in.

2. Bad Grandpa
3. Dallas Buyers Club
5. The Lone Ranger

2/3

Original Score
12 Years a Slave missed another one here.

1. Gravity
3. The Book Thief
4. Saving Mr. Banks
7. Her
8. Philomena

3/5

Original Song
"Young and Beautiful" was snubbed in favour of the obscure "Alone Yet Not Alone". I should check it out!

1. "Let it Go" from Frozen
3. "Ordinary Love" from Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom
4. "Happy" from Despicable Me 2
5. "The Moon Song" from Her
- "Alone Yet Not Alone" from Alone Yet Not Alone

4/5

Sound Mixing
So Lone Survivor did end up in the mix for both categories. I knew I should have predicted it.

1. Gravity
2. Captain Phillips
5. Inside Llewyn Davis
9. Lone Survivor
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

3/5

Sound Editing
As usual, not my best category.

1. Gravity
2. Captain Phillip
4. All is Lost
7. Lone Survivor
8. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

3/5


Visual Effects
Now here's a snub: Pacific Rim is missing here.

1. Gravity
2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
4. Iron Man 3
5. Star Trek Into Darkness
10. The Lone Ranger

4/5

Foreign Language

1. The Hunt
2. The Broken Circle Breakdown
3. The Great Beauty
4. Omar
- The Missing Picture

4/5

Animated Feature Film
Pixar actually missed out this year, with Monsters University failing to make the grade.

1. Frozen
2. The Wind Rises
4. Despicable Me 2
5. The Croods
6. Ernest and Celestine

4/5


Documentary Feature
In a rather shocking move, both Blackfish and Stories We Tell are left out.

3. The Act of Killing
4. 20 Feet from Stardom
6. The Square
- Cutie and the Boxer
- Dirty Wars

3/5


So this was one of my better years, with a grand total of:
82/107

Oscar Nomination Predictions

Best Picture
I think passion votes will get Her and Inside Llewyn Davis into the mix, while the lack of passion makes Saving Mr. Banks in a riskier position. I'm not sure how to read Philomena and Blue Jasmine, both of which I suspect also harbour a significant block of passion votes. The top 4 are very safe bets.

1. 12 Years a Slave
2. Gravity
3. American Hustle
4. Captain Phillips
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
6. Nebraska
7. Her
8. Inside Llewyn Davis
9. Dallas Buyers Club
10. Saving Mr. Banks
11. Philomena
12. Blue Jasmine

Directing
I'm going with the DGA five, but am expecting there to be an omission -- my hunch is Scorsese.

1. Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
2. Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
3. David O. Russell, American Hustle
4. Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
5. Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
6. Alexander Payne, Nebraska
7. The Coen Brothers, Inside Llewyn Davis
8. Spike Jonze, Her
9. Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine
10. Jean-Marc Vallée, Dallas Buyers Club
11. John Lee Hancock, Saving Mr. Banks
12. Stephen Frears, Philomena

Actress in a Leading Role
These five actresses, all of whom have been SAG nominated, have been pretty stable the entire season, and I don't expect any major surprises here, unless it is a switch between Streep and Adams.

1. Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
2. Sandra Bullock, Gravity
3. Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
4. Judi Dench, Philomena
5. Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
6. Amy Adams, American Hustle
7. Kate Winslet, Labour Day
8. Brie Larson, Short Term 12
9. Julie Delpy, Before Midnight

Actor in a Leading Role
The top three are the safest bets. Redford seems to be in a much riskier position, missing out on key nominations (including the SAG), but I somehow feel that the performance speaks for itself and will sneak in. It's probably a foolish bet, as DiCaprio has apparently been campaigning hard and even won the Globe a few nights ago. Yet somehow I feel he'll be the big snub of the morning.

1. Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

2. Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

3. Bruce Dern, Nebraska

4. Robert Redford, All is Lost

5. Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
6. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

7. Forest Whitaker, The Butler

8. Christian Bale, American Hustle

9. Joaquin Phoenix, Her

10. Idris Elba, Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom

11. Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis

12. Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station

Actress in a Supporting Role
The top six are battling it out for the nomination, with Lawrence and Nyong'o being the only real safe bets. I think the Academy will spring for Nebraska and bring Squibb along with it, leaving poor Hawkins out in the cold for what was truly a great performance and matching the SAG five. Let's hope they both can make it in and superstars Roberts and Winfrey are the precarious ones.

1. Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
2. Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
3. Oprah Winfrey, The Butler
4. Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
5. June Squibb, Nebraska
6. Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
7. Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station
8. Scarlett Johannson, Her
9. Margo Martindale, August: Osage County
10. Sarah Paulson, 12 Years a Slave

Actor in a Supporting Role
The top four are safe bets, and I'm already betting that Leto will be the big winner. The next three spots, however, could be reversed on any other day: I'm just not sure how they will fall into place. Gandolfini has the SAG nomination, Cooper has Hustle's buzz, and Hill... well, Hill has something. Interestingly, could McConnaughey or Hanks become double nominees this year? It's a distinct possibility.

1. Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
2. Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
3. Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
4. Daniel Brühl, Rush
5. Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
6. James Gandolfini, Enough Said
7. Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
8. Matthew McConnaughey, Mud
9. Tom Hanks, Saving Mr. Banks
10. James Franco, Spring Breakers

Original Screenplay

1. American Hustle
2. Nebraska
3. Blue Jasmine
4. Her
5. Inside Llewyn Davis
6. Gravity
7. Dallas Buyers Club
8. Mud
9. Saving Mr. Banks
10. The Butler
11. Fruitvale Station
12. Prisoners

Adapted Screenplay


1. 12 Years a Slave
2. Captain Phillips
3. Philomena
4. Before Midnight
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
6. August: Osage County
7. Short Term 12
8. Blue is the Warmest Colour
9.
10.

Cinematography


1. Gravity
2. 12 Years a Slave
3. Nebraska
4. Prisoners
5. Inside Llewyn Davis
6. Captain Phillips
7. Her
8. Rush
9. The Grandmaster
10. Dallas Buyers Club

Editing
I'm rather comfortable with these five -- which means that something has to surprise, no?

1. Gravity
2. 12 Years a Slave
3. Captain Phillips
4. American Hustle
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
6. Rush
7. Nebraska
8. Her
9. Inside Llewyn Davis
10. Dallas Buyers Club

Production Design


1. 12 Years a Slave
2. The Great Gatsby
3. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
4. Gravity
5. American Hustle
6. Inside Lewyn Davis
7. Saving Mr. Banks
8. Her
9. Oz the Great and Powerful
10.

Costume Design


1. The Great Gatsby
2. American Hustle
3. 12 Years a Slave
4. The Invisible Woman
5. Oz the Great and Powerful
6. Saving Mr. Banks
7. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
8. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
9. Inside Llewyn Davis
10. Dallas Buyers Club


Makeup and Hairstyling
I think beyond the top two, any could make it in to the final three. I'm going with Dallas Buyers Club because... well, why not?

1. American Hustle
2. Bad Grandpa
3. Dallas Buyers Club
4. The Great Gatsby
5. The Lone Ranger
6. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
7. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

Original Score


1. Gravity
2. 12 Years a Slave
3. The Book Thief
4. Saving Mr. Banks
5. All is Lost
6. Rush
7. Her
8. Philomena
9. Captain Phillips
10. Frozen

Original Song
The top three here are the most likely to be nominated, particularly "Let It Go", which Disney has been campaigning hard on.

1. "Let it Go" from Frozen
2. "Young and Beautiful" from The Great Gatsby
3. "Ordinary Love" from Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom
4. "Happy" from Despicable Me 2
5. "The Moon Song" from Her
6. "Atlas" from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
7. "I See Fire" from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
8. "Monsters University" from Monsters University
9. "My Lord Sunshine" from 12 Years a Slave
10. "In the Middle of the Night" from The Butler

Sound Mixing
Will Lone Survivor fall into the five? Will Rush be left in the cold? What about All is Lost -- will it make it in both sound categories, or only for Mixing? These two are always the most difficult to predict, and this year is no different.

1. Gravity
2. Captain Phillips
3. Rush
4. All is Lost
5. Inside Llewyn Davis
6. 12 Years a Slave
7. Frozen
8. Pacific Rim
9. Lone Survivor
10. Star Trek Into Darkness

Sound Editing


1. Gravity
2. Captain Phillips
3. Rush
4. All is Lost
5. Pacific Rim
6. 12 Years a Slave
7. Lone Survivor
8. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
9. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
10. Star Trek Into Darkness

Visual Effects
I'm confident with my top 3, but beyond that I'm not sure.

1. Gravity
2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
3. Pacific Rim
4. Iron Man 3
5. Star Trek Into Darkness
6. World War Z
7. Elysium
8. Thor: The Dark World
9. Oblivion
10. The Lone Ranger

Foreign Language

1. The Hunt
2. The Broken Circle Breakdown
3. The Great Beauty
4. Omar
5. Two Lives
6. The Grandmaster
7. The Notebook
8. An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker

Animated Feature Film

1. Frozen
2. The Wind Rises
3. Monsters University
4. Despicable Me 2
5. The Croods
6. Ernest and Celestine
7. Epic

Documentary Feature
I suspect that Tim's Vermeer will make way for The Square, but there's this little part of me that is just comfortable with the five I have here.

1. Stories We Tell
2. Blackfish
3. The Act of Killing
4. 20 Feet from Stardom
5. Tim's Vermeer
6. The Square
7. The Armstrong Lie

2013 Flicks

So it's now early December, and critics' lists are starting to come out. Problem is that many of the films that they are listing haven't yet reached Kitchener-Waterloo, or I missed them. So this is a handy list for me to keep track of what I've seen and what I need to catch up with.

Thus far, my favourite flicks of the year are Blue Jasmine, Mud and Wadjda; and if you consider Caesar Must Die a 2013 film, then that, too. You may notice that almost all of the films listed as seen have ratings of B- or more... how could that be? I think it's that I have a pretty good sense of what I will like, and avoid what I think I won't. When I had more money or when I worked at the theatre I would give less thought to what I would see -- hence why my flickchart does include some sparkling gems like Battle: Los Angeles. But it's also that I tend to gravitate towards films that are critically acclaimed. Blockbusters don't really appeal to me, especially the glut of superhero movies -- but that doesn't mean that I avoid them entirely. I enjoyed Pacific Rim, checked out Star Trek Into Darkness, and will see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire when the crowds die down a bit.


What I've Seen
12 Years a Slave (A)
All is Lost (A-)
American Hustle (A)
The Angels' Share (B+)
A Touch of Sin (A)
Blackbird (A)
Blue Jasmine (A+)
Blue is the Warmest Colour (B)
Caesar Must Die (A+)
Captain Phillips (B+)
The Conjuring (B+)
Dallas Buyers Club (A)
The East (C)
Enough Said (B+)
Elysium (B)
Frances Ha (B-)
Frozen (A-)
Fruitvale Station (B+)
Gravity (A)
The Great Gatsby (A-)
Her (A)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (B)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (B)
The Hunt (A)
Inside Llewyn Davis (A)
The Iceman (C)
Kon Tiki (C+)
Lee Daniels' The Butler (B)
The Manor (B-)
Much Ado About Nothing (B)

Mud (A+)
Nebraska (A)

Olympus Has Fallen (B-)

Only God Forgives (B)

Pacific Rim (B)

Philomena (A-)

Prisoners (B+)

Renoir (B+)
Room 237 (B)

Rush (A)

The Sapphires (A-)

The Spectacular Now (B)

Star Trek Into Darkness (B-)

This is the End (A-)

Trance (B)

Wadjda (A+)

The Way, Way Back (B-)
The Wolf of Wall Street (A-)

World War Z (B)

What I Need to See
20 Feet from Stardom^
The Act of Killing^
August: Osage County*
Before Midnight^
Behind the Candelabra
Blackfish^
The Bling Ring^
Evil Dead^
Gloria*
Labor Day*
Monster's University^
Out of the Furnace
The Past*
The Place Beyond the Pines^
Saving Mr. Banks*
Short Term 12
Side Effects^
Stories We Tell^
The Wind Rises*
The World's End^

*Hasn't come yet
^Had an opportunity to, but missed it


What I Have No Real Interest in Seeing
42 (Sports movies don't do much for me.)
Don Jon (Looks like an ego-stroking project.)
The Heat (No.)
Fast & Furious 6 (Do I have to?)
Iron Man 3 (Yawn.)
Man of Steel (Ew, Zack Snyder!)
Oblivion (Looks dull.)
Oz The Great and Powerful (Looks terrible!)
Stoker (I've heard it's boring.)
Thor: The Dark World (Didn't see the first one.)
Warm Bodies (I don't know about this one, and I can't place my finger on it.)
We're the Millers (Looks stupid.)
The Wolverine (Another superhero film??)

"Recommend me some movies!" #3: Terrific Trios

Trios of many different genres, styles, movements and themes. I've purposely tried to expand it a bit beyond what I think are the 'best' and more towards personal favourites. They are almost all well-known and should be easy to find. Asterisks will show films that may be more difficult to locate.


Three Great Québecois Films
C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée, 2005) Recommended by me before, a queer coming of age film.
Maelström* (Denis Villeneuve, 2000) A dying fish narrates a strange, emotional tale.
The Decline of the American Empire (Denys Arcand, 1986) Intellectuals talk lots of sex.

Three Great Blaxploitation Films
Bone* (Larry Cohen) Also known as Beverly Hills Nightmare or Housewife, it's deliriously subversive fun.
Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (Charles Bail, 1975) Campy, ass-kicking Cleo in Macau and Hong Kong.
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (Melvin van Peebles, 1971) Revolutionary, landmark blaxploitation.

Three Great Heist Films
The Sting (George Roy Hill, 1973) This Best Picture winner is frothy and fun.
Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer, 2001) Gritty British thriller with dynamite performance from Ben Kingsley, who is terrifying as the psychotic Don Logan.
Ocean's Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001) Miles ahead of the original, Soderbergh's film is a stylish delight.

Three Great Cary Grant Screwballs
Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra, 1944) Cary Grant plays the lone sane member of a hilariously murderous family.
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) One of the great scripts of Classic Hollywood, it's the sharpest screwball around.
Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938) Grant shines with Katharine Hepburn, who is delightfully ditzy.

Three Great Anthology Films
Paris, Je T'aime (2006) 20 short films that range from droll character studies to vampire mysteries and beautiful love stories.
Germany in Autumn* (1978) Biting examination of post-War West Germany, featuring shorts from Fassbinder, Kluge and Schlöndorff.
Sin City (Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, 2005) One of the best neo-Noirs.

Three Great Americana Films
The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971) Stoic view of a small Western town as it transitions to a new era, featuring career-best performances.
Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincent Minnelli, 1944) One of the best American musicals, it's dripping with patriotism and sentimentality... but a closer look reveals much more.
Melvin and Howard* (Jonathan Demme, 1980) An unassuming man's life is changed when he is mysteriously named in the will of none other than Howard Hughes.

Three Great Biopics
Capote (Bennett Miller, 2005) The best biopic ever made, it's subtle, moving and an intense examination into the working process of one of the most controversial and game-changing novels written.
Milk (Gus Van Sant, 2008) Sean Penn walks away with his second Oscar, and Van Sant re-energizes a tired genre with some cinematic flair.
Yankee Doodle Dandy (Michael Curtiz, 1942) Most contemporary audiences know James Cagney for his gangster films -- but he was also a top song and dance man. Here he plays George M. Cohan, "The Man Who Owns Broadway".

Three Great New Hollywood Films Based on a True Story
All the Presidents Men (Alan Pakula, 1976) The breaking of and investigation behind the Watergate Scandal.
Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, 1975) A bank robbery goes wrong, and The People eat it up.
Badlands (Terence Malick, 1973) A young couple is on the run and madly in love in this tribute to Americana.

Three Great Shakespeare Films
Titus (Julie Taymor, 1999) Shakespeare's infamous Titus Andronicus goes postmodern.
Macbeth* (Orson Welles, 1948) Welles described his project as "a perfect cross between Wuthering Heights and Bride of Frankenstein", and it's an apt suggestion.
Romeo + Juliet (Baz Lurhmann, 1996) Whirling, kaleidoscopic and pure pop, it's a brave blend that somehow works, and works gloriously.

Three Great Mindbenders
The Trial* (Orson Welles, 1962) Another gem from Orson Welles, featuring spectacular set design.
Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977) It's hilarious, bizarre and gruesome, and totally worth watching.
Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, 1991) I still don't know quite what I watched here, but it was sure exhilarating.

Three Great Marriages Falling Apart
Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924) This silent epic was shorn by the studio, but in its remains it's still a crowning achievement.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Mike Nichols, 1966) Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are at each other's throats with wickedly witty vitriol.
Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963) Why would your wife suddenly despise everything about you, with only a flimsy excuse? Godard and Bridgette Bardot are a match made in cinematic heaven.

Three Great Documentaries
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father* (Kurt Kuenne, 2008) Guaranteed to get you sobbing, this is perhaps one of the most emotionally powerful films I've come across.
Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2005) The life and death of bear fanatic Timothy Treadwell.
Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1955) One of the first documentaries about the Holocaust, and still among the most poignant and devastating.

Three Great Queer Films
Poison* (Todd Haynes, 1991) Certainly not for all tastes, but those willing to go along with its genre games and whacked-out narratives will have a blast.
The Wedding Banquet (Ang Lee, 1993) Lee went queer long before Brokeback Mountain with this touching and funny adventure of a Taiwanese man pretending to get straight married to hide his gay relationship.
My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears, 1985) A young Daniel Day Lewis owns the screen.

Three Great French New Wave Films
The Butcher* (Claude Chabrol, 1970) The nouvelle vague goes horror with this chilling character study.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1963) And here, it goes American film musical with a jazz operetta that's sure to get you both dancing and crying.
Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965) Perhaps Godard's most accessible film, it has all of his experimental and political flourishes but with plenty of laughs, colour and playfulness.

Three Great Gangster Films
White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949) James Cagney is electric as a mama's boy turned psychopath.
The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston, 1950) A jewellery caper goes wrong in this classic noir.
Shanghai Triad* (Zhang Yimou, 1995) A provincial boy meets the criminal underworld of 1930s Shanghai in Yimou's Chinese neo-noir.

Quick Reviews

Jurassic Park (2013 Re-Release)
Just as thrilling as I remembered, it's one of Spielberg's adventure masterpieces.
But it being a Spielberg film, you have the precocious child motif: Tim is excellent, while whats-her-face is simply annoying. "I prefer the term hacker!" Sure, you do.
The 3-D, unfortunately, adds nothing to the film as it wasn't designed with it in mind. Instead, we get the downfalls of the process --the film has turned into a muddy, darkened mess-- without any of the supposed bells and whistles.
A+ (C for 3D)

Primal Fear (Gregory Hoblit, 1996)
-Edward Norton is excellent
-score is cliche and invasive in its banality
-a rather unassuming film, not particularly ambitious in straying from formula, but effective as a genre piece.
B

Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears, 1988)
I've seen this on stage, and it's just as crackling on screen. Close is simply on fire, and Malkovich does his best to keep up, and it's an admirable performance. Production design is sumptuous. I do miss the Stratford Festival's touch of an 80s score complete with fired-up, screeching electric guitar, though.
A

Trance (Danny Boyle, 2013)
Stylish, pumping and utterly whacked, the narrative twists and turns over itself in a thrilling if bewildering manner. Strong performances from everyone. But it's all a bit too 'much', isn't it?
B

Das Boot (Wolfgang Petersen, 1981)
That cinematography! Running Steadicam shots through a claustrophobic, tunnel-like U-Boat, swooping through doorways and gliding around people. As a technical achievement, it's superb. As a narrative, it does has its moments that drag, and it's far too long, but somehow it keeps our attention throughout its three-plus hours. [I watched Petersen's directors' cut.] Excellent cast.
A


It Came From Outer Space! (Jack Arnold, 1953)
Utterly wooden dialogue abounds in this Sci-Fi classic. It's a thin analogy that plays much better in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Ray Bradbury has done much better with more subtle work. Glacial pacing, lots of bland talking, a plot that creeps along like a snail. Skip this one.
D-

The Magnetic Monster (Curt Siodmak, 1953)
I'd never heard of this science fiction piece until I saw it in conjunction with It Came From Outer Space! on TCM. It's a surprisingly witty script, with a good pace and excellent use of stock footage. Game actors play along with the remarkably cerebral going-ons, with B-movie star Richard Carlson doing much better than Outer Space! -- and the scientist in me didn't have to turn off his brain completely. Fun stuff!
A-


Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler, 1943)
Yes, it is sentimental cinema, and unabashedly so. There is the contemporary charge is that it is "propaganda", a term thrown about far too loosely nowadays, but this does not recognize that it was needed and wanted by the public at large and largely void of any insidious motives. Brilliant performances and tight direction as always from Wyler. The flower show is simply one of the most beautiful scenes of Hollywood cinema, with genuine heart-warming pathos.
But there's also a fascinating Oedipus undercurrent between Greer Garson's Mrs. Miniver and her son, played by Richard Ney... who would go on to be Garson's husband just after filming. It strikes me that Garson's Kay Miniver is rather enamoured with her son beyond a simple maternal love: she really does seem to be in love with him. This, of course, could simply be the result of my knowledge that they would be married and my looking for something rather juicy. But it's tempting, no?
A+

Olympus Has Fallen (Antoine Fuqua, 2013)
Gruesome, one of the most violent movies of recent memory. The siege scene is chock-full of death: I shudder to think of just how large the film's body count is. Bystanders get mowed down, a plethora of armed officers are killed, blood flows. Fuqua has terse direction over the carnage, despite a rather poor script. Many "Why?" moments. (Why would you have all three people with the three parts to a super-important code in the same place?) Cheap CGI mars many of the set-pieces, with fake-looking smoke and effects.
C

"Cimarron" and "Driving Miss Daisy"

Oh, Cimarron. I've finally caught up with this 1931 Best Picture winner, and its (rather lowly) reputation --a spectacular opening sequence followed by a plethora of stereotypes that make modern audiences squirm uncomfortably-- isn't unwarranted.

Progressively Backwards

The film tracks the course of forty years --from 1890 to present day 1940-- as we see the Oklahoma settlement Osage (the name of a Siouan tribe) evolve from a midwest boomtown of an instantaneous 10,000 to a modern urban city, focusing on the lives of Yancey Cravat and his wife Sabra. Yancey is a strapping fella with big ambitions and a big heart; Sabra comes from a wealthy, well-to-do family who disowns her when she decides to follow Yancey as he ventures into the West to start a newspaper. Some have described Cimarron as a Western, which describes the first half or so of the movie quite well, and as a Western, thematically the film is about progress, civilization... and the White Man's burden to enlighten lesser peoples. Cimarron is incredibly --and dare I say it?-- hilariously racist, sexist and every other -ist you can think of, as it tries so hard to be "progressive".

Yes, that's right. It seems the Big Theme of Cimarron is that it takes a few Great White Men to lead a country, and that this can be a heavy burden, especially for those that love them. Yancey fights for what is 'right', cleaning the town of criminals, but also protecting those that are misunderstood by dominant society. As such, he treats his black servant boy with kindness, defends the town's Madam from old-fashioned ninnies who want her in jail, and particularly, patting the heads of the local Indians. Cimarron, you see, is a big pile of condescending hooey.

And the reason why it's so eye-rolling and guffaw-worthy is that the film still tries to have it both ways: as much as it says that 'we' must be nice to the lowly poor demographics, it wants to get a laugh out of them too.

Here's how a typical example plays out in the film:
Yancy and Sabra's young son Cimarron is playing out in the yard when a Tall Silent Indian approaches him. The young boy looks up, says hello, and is given a small gift from the nice man. Into the house he runs, presenting his prize to his mother... who then scolds him, shrilly yelling: "How many times have I told you not to talk to those dirty, filthy Indians?" Now at this point, it's hard to tell what the film is doing: is this supposed to be funny? Is this supposed to be an ignorant statement that we, in our enlightened 1940 selves, are supposed to gasp at? Or are the filmmakers expecting a great deal of the audience to agree with Sabra? I suspect that it might be the final, because we cut to Yancey discussing politics where he declares "the Cherokee are too smart to donate money to a race that robbed them of their Birthright."
That's right, audience! The Cherokee aren't villains or savages, but were robbed of their Birthright, so that's why they're sometimes aggressive or whatever. They're actually a noble race. All of them.

But the film seems to have something to say about nearly every archetype and demographic.

The Wacky Denizens of Osage

Ricky, the caricature of the stuttering town idiot who is mocked by everyone, including Yancey -- who also gives him a job as printer. See? Stuttering people can be useful! And they're pretty gosh-darned hilarious, too.

Mr. Levy, the Effeminate Urbanite Jew and merchant. The Black Hats at one point mock him as he rolls his cart full of womenswear down the street, eventually beating him and forcing him to drink some booze. He is saved by Yancey, and becomes a close friend of Sabra -- but never more than a friend, even though Yancey disappears for years (maybe even a decade) at a time and Levy is obviously enamoured with Sabra.

Isaiah the "coloured boy" help. Ohhhhhh boy. It's everything that you could think of. At one point, the entire town laughs at him because of his attempt to look "all Sunday like". A cartful of watermelon is pointed out to him as an irresistible treat. He's more comic relief, y'all. Oh, and gets killed while trying to save the white children from outlaws. How noble!

The schoolteacher "intellectual" Old Maid, with faux-soprano voice while speaking and melismatic alto when she sings. She's the local Temperance leader (of course) and is rather vocal about the shenanigans of...

Miss Dixie Lee, the local Madame,  Independent Woman and "a viper lurking in our midst!" She is, ultimately, the classic Whore with a Heart of Gold whom Yancey the lawyer defends from being run out of town. Obviously Sabra hates her. A lot.

Ruby, the Indian Princess and Sabra's hired help when Yancey goes off on an adventure for years. She's also Cimarron's love interest, which is another attempt at showing just how progressive the film is. Naturally, Sabra doesn't approve of her white son mixing with an Indian and making half-breeds, but she turns around by the end of the film to respect her daughter-in-law. See below.

Forward! To Destiny!

By 1907, Donna becomes a horrid little gold digger and "Cim" wants to marry Ruby. And what, pray, does Sabra think? Exactly what you'd expect.
But as we move forward in time, we get well-placed lines and images that help us feel oh-so-modern. Someone declares "Cuba will never be able to govern itself!". An advertisement shows us the "Latest Styles at Levy's". See see the first car in 1907, the temperance movement in full spring. Yancey Cravat runs for Governor, representing --what else?-- the Progressive Party. He's running on extending citizenship to "the red man", which Sabra vehemently opposes. Time further passes, Ricky's stutter gets better (hahahahahaha!), and in the final scene at the Savoy-Bixby hotel Sabra, whom has been elected member of congress, makes a big speech about progress and how wonderful her husband is. And where, pray, is her husband? Why, disappeared for years. We assume he lost the election way back when, but it's not explicitly said other than that he runs off due to "wanderlust". (And we're supposed to like this guy?)  But Ruby is accepted as part of the family! Yay! And she 'extends wishes using the words taught her as a child'... insert a cringe-worthy "Indian" greeting that's all so noble and crap. And Sabra introduces her to a crowd of people as her daughter-in-law! See? A change of heart. You can change, too!

The film ends with a reuniting of Sabra and Yancey, a little bit of tragedy, and the erection of a big statue. Hooray!



Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford, 1990)

A strangely fitting pair with Cimarron, Beresford's film is a loving tribute to Stockholm Syndrome in the American South. The film is a laughless comedy, instead being a gentle, sentimental character drama with some rather problematic ideology. It's another pat-yourself-on-the-back example of glib liberalism, the lesson seems to be that there are good whites, and the blacks that happen to work for them should be glad that they do. Huh?

Yessum, that's what it sure seems like. Hoke is everything you could want in a servant: lively, funny, dedicated. He'll do anything for Miss Daisy, and it's shown quite why other than he's a magical negro with a funny laugh. See? White people, especially when they're Jewish and, y'know, understand, can be benevolent and teach you to read and give you pie.

Frankly, I don't have too much else to say about Driving Miss Daisy. It somehow won Best Picture, with the big story being that Spike Lee's fiery Do the Right Thing wasn't even nominated, and a far better picture of American racism. Lee would go on to do some of his own problematic films (Bamboozled, I'm looking at you) but that the Academy went over DtRT for this is just embarrassing. Jessica Tandy's win for leading actress, on the other hand, isn't entirely wrong. It's a powerful performance, and easily the best thing about the film.

Oh, and the score? Ugh. Hans Zimmer and his keyboards doing daytime-TV riffs. Probably the best example of why I'm not the biggest Zimmer fan.

Short Reviews

From Dusk til Dawn (Rodriguez, 1996)
It's like two grindhouse movies stuck awkwardly together, with a sudden shift in tone and authorial vision. The first half if like hyperbolic Tarantino, with some of his most risqué and blatantly tasteless plot twists. The second half is Rodriguez going super cheesy and over-the-top with his porno horror comedy. Horror comedies never really work out, and this is no exception to that general rule. Yet there are some clever sight gags: a cross made out of a shotgun, a collection of trucker bric-a-brac, holy water filled condoms and water guns, a disco ball turned into a rotating gun of sunlight. A strange sentimentality and attempts at emotion that pervade the second half of the film strike as a little too much, and out of place amongst the mayhem -- and perhaps this entire stew is purposely incongruent.
Like most of Tarantino's scripts, there is a pervading element of morality, as characters grapple with conventional ethics. A rape motif runs through, with Tarantino himself as a crazed, raping, murdering and 'a little bit slow' psychopath -- and is unsurprisingly the most memorable character of the bunch. He doesn't understand basic ethics, and has a child-like behaviour mixed with brutal sadism, like an id gone wild. But is it the most powerful evidence I've seen yet of Tarantino's ideological problems? Oh yes.
B-

CSA: Confederate States of America (Willmott, 2004)
-as subtle as producer Spike Lee's Bamboozled, but thankfully without the awful melodrama.
-too much emphasis on race, and a belief that it is not the insidious and sly racism but the over-the-top minstrelsy that dominates American race relations
-full of questionable historical revisionism: Canada as Russia? Slavery really still exists?
-acting in commercials, recreations and meta-media is too hokey and corny, far beyond tongue-in-cheek into the eye-rolling.
-cheap jokes are the most effective
C

Galaxy Quest (Parisot, 1999)
-goofy, silly, obviously clever but still a delight. It doesn't bite too deep or too harshly, so that genuine fans of science fiction and acting has-beens will laugh at themselves rather than feel offended. It's gentle jabbing instead of mocking, and more of a celebration of Trekkie geekery than a tear-down.
-inventive visuals
-quick and clean narrative, a game cast (although more to be desired with the female roles, the only two worth mentioning inevitably love interests).
B


Winter's Bone (Granik, 2010)
Chilly drama
-Jennifer Lawrence's star-making performance is lived in, with nary a false note
-some could accuse the film of painting a portrait of the coal belt as a backwards cesspool, but instead the film is really showing the underbelly of any society: we do see so-called 'normal folk' doing normal things, like going to school or running a farm that is more than just scraping by.
-haunting moments, like in the climatic boat scene
-beautiful cinematography
A


Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Ritchie, 1998)
Tarantino-lite, with far too many self-consiously clever twists and turns. The plot is near impossible to follow, and I had no real desire to actually figure it all out, unlike the best of the subgenre. It's not thrilling, it's exhausting. Best moments are in the English goofiness and violent slang.
C


The Young Victoria (Vallee, 2009)
I'm a sucker for handsome costume dramas, and this one didn't let me down. Yes, the narrative is a bit too condensed, and ends awkwardly, but the production design is absolutely stunning and the acting top-notch. Jean-Marc Vallee directs with flair.
B+

Valhalla Rising ()
Molasses-slow and groggingly "heavy", elliptical to a fault. As a mood piece it's near parodic, but when it works, it is intense: a drug trip with droning guitars is simply stunning.
C-

Bernie ()
Rather delightful comedy with a fantastic leading performance by Jack Black. Just the right amount of whimsy, kitsch and dark humour, with a mockumentary twist that actually works quite well. Unsurprisingly, some of the real townsfolk were involved in the making of the film and even show up as interviewees.
B+