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Review: The Messenger (Moverman, 2009)

February 5th 2010 02:50

The Messenger (Moverman, 2009)

The Messenger is a quietly powerful film, co-written and directed by Israeli-born first-time director Oren Moverman. The Messenger is the type of film about war that most want to see these days, yet many don’t due to accessibility and limited releases. Like The Hurt Locker, The Messenger does not preach and does not take a stance. The Messenger is about people rather than war. Ben Foster gives the performance of his young career as Will Montgomery, a decorated and wounded soldier almost done with his tour who is given the job no one wants: a causality messenger for the United States Army. Forster is paired with Captain Tony Stone, played by Woody Harrelson. The rest of the film features Montgomery and Stone as they perform their harrowing job whilst dealing with their own psychosis. These men and broken and battered; they each possess a quite desperation and deal with it in their own ways. Montgomery reaches out to the widow of a recently killed soldier played by the always reliable Samantha Morton while Harrelson reaches out to anyone in a skirt for physical comfort and Montgomery himself for camaraderie and friendship.

Moverman films with claustrophobic intent, trapping viewers during the scenes in which Montgomery and Stone break the news to their unsuspecting victims. Moverman frames Foster’s face in tight close-ups as he flinches and holds back tears while someone is breaking down in anguish mere feet in front of him. His camera stalks the space in which angry parents yell and scream and spit upon receiving the news that their children are gone. Moverman is unflinching in his handling of these intense circumstances and the emotional impact is palpable. Moverman’s script is always authentic and does not feel manipulative. Foster is reminiscent of a young Sean Penn, straight out of Close at Range Colors, or Causalities of War; he even sounds like him. Harrelson turns in an excellent performance and once again reveals he is one of Hollywood’s most reliable (and surprising) character actors.

The Messenger is a haunting character study that will grip you and then shatter you apart. One of the best films of 2009, it, along with The Hurt Locker, will eventually become classics in this new genre of post-modern war films.

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The Year of Meryl: Two reviews

February 5th 2010 02:45

The Year of Meryl: Two Reviews for the Price of One – Julie and Julia and It’s Complicated

This year Meryl Streep starred in two very different films; a duel biopic and a romantic dramady geared toward middle-age adults. Streep proved once again that she can play any type of role. In Julie and Julia, Streep is mesmerizing as Julia Child. From her infliction to her mannerisms and unbridled enthusiasm you’d be hard pressed to find a more entertaining and smile inducing female performance of 2009. The film is not incredible and the narrative wavers when we focus for long moments on Julie (played by Amy Adams). Unfortunately, Julie is annoying and rather unlikable thus making Adams annoying. During these moments the audience will naturally long to return to Child and her husband Paul, played brilliantly by Stanley Tucci. However, there are a lot of lovely and entertaining moments within. Streep certainly deserves her award nominations. She is infectious.

From biopic to fiction, Streep then turned in a solid performance in the recent It’s Complicated. It’s Complicated is nothing particularly new or groundbreaking in the way of mature romantic dramady. In fact it’s what Nancy Meyers (writer/director) seems to be making her living off of as late. That said, It’s Complicated works overall due to the solid performances by Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. In addition, the actors and actresses playing Streep and Baldwin’s children all turn in solid work even though the scenes with parents and children do border on heavy-handed contriteness. The interesting thing about It’s Complicated is the title pertains to the viewers as well. This is not a film that contains a clear cut “winner” in the romance department. Baldwin and Martin’s characters are each charming and charismatic in their own way and both have wonderful chemistry with Streep. In the end, the film could have ended with either winning her heart and no one would have been disappointed. It’s always refreshing when there is no “villain”; well, aside from the evil bitch that is now Baldwin’s wife in the film but that’s just par for the course, isn’t it?

The major flaw with It’s Complicated comes from its length. At two hours the film is far too long and yet the characters still don’t feel as fleshed out as they should. Perhaps some of the cutesy scenes should have been edited to allow for some more character development.

Nevertheless, both Julie and Julia and It’s Complicated are entertaining and feature strong performances from Streep. While not the deepest films you will see from 2009, they are worth a viewing for some uncomplicated (despite the latter’s title!) fun.

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Review: Me and Orson Welles (Linklater, 2009)

February 5th 2010 02:36

Me and Orson Welles (Linklater, 2009)

Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles (based on a novel of the same name) combines fiction amongst the factual story of the opening of Orson Welles’ production of Julius Caesar at the Mercury Theater. The play was avante-garde and very well could have failed, thus taking down the Mercury with it. But it didn’t and Welles and his cast and crew would go to thrive at the theater and beyond its walls. One person who didn’t exist during this era in Welles young life (he was only 21 years old in 1938 when the film takes place) was the character of Richard Samuels played by Zach Efron. Efron plays Richard with bright-eyed wonder and innocence. His character is at times too earnest and whiney but it’s still a nice performance that proves he is more than a pretty face. Richard’s tale is a standard one; that one event that shapes the rest of your life, shapes who you are and who you will become. It’s engaging but the real story here are the scenes in the theater with Orson Welles, played by a virtual unknown named Christian McKay.

McKay is flat-out brilliant. His performance is a tour de force of anger, obsession, and passion. McKay embodies Welles through and through and the only fault within his performance is something beyond his control; he simply looks too old to be playing a 21 year old. Nevertheless, this can be completely overlooked. McKay should have received an Academy Award nomination this past week and the only reason he didn’t was because no one has seen this film. Sadly, even though Linklater is a respected and known name, the majority of his films have been low-budget and even though one would expect easier distribution for a man of his acclaim, the industry is still unkind to the indies and money is a necessity for proper distribution; the film barely received a limited release and distribution for the thousands of screeners needed was far too costly. Apparently some screeners were shipped but one must assume there weren’t enough to sneak McKay into one of the coveted five slots for Best Supporting Actor. There are a couple of moments in Me and Orson Welles in which we are treated to a glimpse behind Welles’ façade. These brief instances are fascinating and should make viewers long for a full-out biopic with McKay reprising his role. It’s also lovely to see Claire Danes on screen again; an actress whom is terribly underused and under-appreciated. Everyone should seek out this film, no matter how tall the task. You won’t be sorry.

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Reactions to Oscar Nominations

February 4th 2010 00:14

Reactions to the 2010 Oscar Nominations and Track Record

When the Oscar nominations are announced, it makes all the more sense why I do a dream ballot. I’m not jumping out of my chair from the actual nominations. I wish they looked more like my own picks. While I do love a lot of the films nominated, I do have my own passion films that I wanted in, namely A Single Man, Broken Embraces, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Messenger (review forthcoming).

So here are the nominees, reactions, and how I did. I will give my number for both my actual picks as well as when of my alternates and/or dark horses managed to get in. Alternates and Darkhorses count for .5 points each.

Actor in a Leading Role
• Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
• George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
• Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
• Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

My score: 5 out of 5
Reactions: Predictable, but also wonderful that Renner did get in. Was worried they might have screwed him over. I wish Ben Forster for The Messenger was in here. One day soon he’ll get the recognition he deserves. After watching this film I realize he’s a younger version of Sean Penn. And that’s incredible.

Actor in a Supporting Role
• Matt Damon in “Invictus”
• Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
• Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
• Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
• Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Original score: 4 out of 5.
Alt/Darkhorse score: 4.5 out of 5
Reactions: I put Tucci in for Julie and Julia as I felt they might end up going that way. He was so awesome in that film. So sad that Christian McKay, who was nearly as good as Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds did not get in here for Me and Orson Welles. The only reason that happened is not enough people have seen the film. Tragic.

Actress in a Leading Role
• Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
• Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
• Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
• Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
• Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Original score: 4 out of 5.
Alt/Darkhorse score: 4.5 out of 5
Reactions: The predictable 5, basically. This is how must assumed it would go. I ended up putting in Blunt instead of Mirren but having them swapped out for the alternate. Part of me thought they’d do that but I was mostly regretting the move.

Actress in a Supporting Role
• Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
• Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
• Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
• Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
• Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Score: 3 out of 5.
Reactions: The biggest shock category of the main awards. The Gyllenhaal thing makes sense and I’m sorry I didn’t at least put her as a dark horse like CinemaEnthusiast did. Cruz was also a surprise and upsetting since I can’t see how this performance could have topped her Broken Embraces one. Sad to see Samantha Morton snubbed here for The Messenger.

Animated Feature Film
• “Coraline” Henry Selick
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
• “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
• “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
• “Up” Pete Docter
Score: 4 out of 5
Reaction: predictable except the obscure Secret of Kells.

Art Direction
• “Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
• “Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
• “Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
• “The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray
Score: 1 out of 5
Reactions: Wow. These did not go according to plan. Nearly everyone had the same variation of predictions for this category and.. yeah. So terrible.

Cinematography
• “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
• “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
• “The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
• “Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
• “The White Ribbon” Christian Berger
Score: 4 out of 5
Reaction: Very cool for Harry Potter.

Costume Design
• “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
• “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
• “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
• “Nine” Colleen Atwood
• “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell
Score: 3 out of 5
Alt/Darkhorse score: 4 out of 5
Reactions: Didn’t think Bright Star, Young Victoria, and Coco would all get in.

Directing
• “Avatar” James Cameron
• “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
• “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
• “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman
Score: 5 out of 5
Reactions: The DGA line-up that everyone expected. Could have been cool to see a shocker in this category.

Documentary (Feature)
• “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
• “The Cove” Nominees to be determined
• “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
• “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
• “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa
Score: 3 out of 5
Reactions: Didn’t go the way most (including myself) were expecting but then again, this category never does.

Documentary (Short Subject)
• “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
• “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
• “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
• “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
• “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra
No predictions/reactions.

Film Editing
• “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
• “District 9” Julian Clarke
• “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
• “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz
Score: 3 out of 5
Alt/Darkhorse score: 3.5 out of 5
Reactions: It’s funny that no one was predicting Precious here. I had it as a darkhorse because it felt very right to me. I almost put it in my main nominations.

Foreign Language Film
• “Ajami” Israel
• “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
• “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
• “Un Prophète” France
• “The White Ribbon” Germany
Score: 3 out of 5
Alt/Darhorse score: 3.5 out of 5

Makeup
• “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
• “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
• “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore
Score: 1 out of 3
Reactions: Wow. Could that have been more terrible? I guess it could have; could have gotten zero!

Music (Original Score)
• “Avatar” James Horner
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
• “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
• “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
• “Up” Michael Giacchino
Score: 2 out of 5
Reactions: Don’t know how this happened. Pretty cool for The Hurt Locker – most were not predicting that. Nor Holmes or Fantastic Mr. Fox. Basically, they went mostly for the big names. Should have seen that one coming.

Music (Original Song)
• “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
• “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
• “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
• “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnet
Score: 2 out of 5
Reactions: Again, completely terrible. I don’t know where some of these songs even came from. I doubt anyone did well in this category..

Best Picture
• “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
• “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
• “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
• “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
• “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
• “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
• “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
• “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
• “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
Score: 9 out of 10
Reactions: The Blind Side was the big WTF moment of the Oscar Nominations. Honestly, wtf? I group this film together with Invictus – they both got rather average reviews and were mainly talked about for a strong performance. I didn’t see anyone predicting this but really we should have seen it coming. I forgot how huge the box office was on this film—completely unprecedented. This was clearly an instance of Big Box Office having a play in the Best Picture race. It’s still interesting that they went for this overly sentimental film rather than Eastwood’s overly sentimental opus. What does it mean? Are they just growing tired of the man? It’s upsetting in a year that we have 10 nominees that they couldn’t nominate something else. I was betting money on a big comedy getting in such as The Hangover or at least (500) Days of Summer. Still, it’s incredible that A Serious Man got in.

Short Film (Animated)
• “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
• “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
• “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
• “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
• “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park
No predictions. Can’t wait to see A Matter of Loaf and Death. Really want to watch all of these. And oh wow, while typing this I recognized the snub in this category. No Partly Cloudy!!! That’s terrible.. I loved Partly Cloudy so much.. it may be my favorite Pixar short.

Short Film (Live Action)
• “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
• “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
• “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
• “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
• “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
No predictions/reactions

Sound Editing
• “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
• “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
• “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
• “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
• “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers
Score: 4 out of 5
Alt/Darhorse score: 4.5 out of 5

Sound Mixing
• “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
• “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
• “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
• “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
• “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
Score: 3 out of 5

Visual Effects
• “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
• “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
• “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton
Score: 3 out of 3

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
• “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
• “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
• “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
• “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Score: 3 out of 5
Reactions: Best thing about the Oscar Nominations? That In the Loop actually got recognized for something!! What a delightfully wicked and utterly quotable script. So happy this is in here. Was on the dream ballot.

Writing (Original Screenplay)
• “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
• “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
• “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
• “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

Score: 4 out of 5
Alt/Darkhorse score: 4.5 out of 5
Reactions: This is a near perfect category. Not only is A Serious Man in but they nominated The Messenger. That was my darkhorse.. so cool. The only thing missing in this category is (500) Days of Summer. Which now brings me to my

General Reactions: Very, very surprised that (500) Days of Summer was completely shut out. This film took critics and seemingly everyone by storm. Was not expecting this. Interesting to see Invictus shut out for everything except two acting nods. Avatar completely shut out in writing and acting category. It has Picture, Director, Editing and a ton of tech noms but the tired and true tale is that a film must have editing, directing and acting noms to win best picture. The films in that category are: Inglourious Basterds, Precious, and The Hurt Locker. If we go by history, these 3 should be the Front Runners. Wonderful to see Up get a Best Picture and Animated nomination. And on a final note, considering the amount of overwhelming fluff pieces Oscar sites like to publish I am very surprised that no mention has been made of Lee Daniels and how his directing nomination is rather a milestone. For months there have been tons of articles regarding Bigelow and how she was going to join only a trio of women to be nominated for Best Director but moreover, will most likely be the first to win. Daniels, however, is second only black man to be nominated for Best Director and he’s openly gay to boot. Worth mentioning when everyone is all about ‘milestones’, if you ask me. He has no chance in winning, but it’s still pretty cool, even if myself personally didn’t think it is a deserving nomination.
So, what’s everyone else’s reactions regarding the Nominations?

ETA: my name is on this list for predicting 9 out of the 10 nominees for Best Picture. I love that shit. I can be quite the fame whore sometimes

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Have to say I'm so surprised there were actually people that got all 10!!

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Oscar Dream Ballot

February 2nd 2010 04:18

For some of these I’m picking from all of the submissions rather than the shortlists. And some categories I’m not doing because I just don’t care.

Oscars Dream Ballot
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It's time! Oscar Nomination Predictions

February 2nd 2010 02:40

Best Picture

The Hurt Locker

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PGA Reaction and DGA Predictions

January 31st 2010 00:37

The PGA awards were held last weekend. I could not in good conscience vote for Avatar.
Therefore, I vote for what I felt should win and also, what my gut was telling me: The
Hurt Locker. And guess what? It won! Everyone was saying there was no way anything

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