Skyfall, 11/10/12, Best Original Song, Best Sound Editing, 2012
I was lucky enough to see Skyfall in the theaters on the big screen. Admittedly, I am not a huge James Bond fan in that I haven’t seen all the movies and probably don’t remember much of the ones I have seen; to me, they are in the moment movies, you don’t necessarily need to remember all the details for later, but you enjoy them while they’re happening. That’s how I feel about Skyfall, it was a lot of fun, with explosions and chases and great scenery, and an outstanding James Bond theme song by Adele. She won the Golden Globe, the Grammy and the Oscar for the song (and probably a dozen other awards); the song lyrics make more sense once you see the whole movie (as opposed to in the beginning). I don’t know if it just that Adele is so amazing, but it kind of didn’t seem fair for the other songs to have to compete with her. Javier Bardem will probably go down as one of the best Bond villains because he was creepy and evil and had this twisted enjoyment of being a bad guy. The movie ‘introduces’ Miss Moneypenny and shows Bond as more vulnerable than I think we’re used to, but it’s Daniel Craig and you know he’ll be just fine. This is the 50th anniversary of James Bond movies and I look forward to the next 50 (give or take), especially if Adele can sing all the songs.
Brave, 1/27/13, Best Animated Film, 2012
This is the only category where I actually saw all of the nominated films and I was not sure who would win. I kind of thought Frankenweenie might win because it was black and white, the writing was very clever and there were literary and historical references inserted subtly throughout the movie (enough to make me want to watch again and see what I missed the first time); but it wasn’t necessarily for younger kids and the subject matter (death and a lot of scenes in the cemetery) might have put a lot of people off from watching it. ParaNorman dealt similarly with death, with Norman being able to see dead people, including his grandma who takes up her seat on the couch. I liked ParaNorman too, and really enjoyed the special features on the DVD that talked about how the animation was done, from creating the molds, the scenery and the facial expressions. Wreck-It Ralph was fun to watch and you felt like you really were in the world of video games and the behind the scenes look at what Pac-Man did in his off time. I thought this might have the best chance at the Oscar. Pirates! Band of Misfits was probably my least favorite; it just seemed like it went on too long. But the winner was Brave, the story of a Scottish princess who is way too liberated for her parents when she decides to compete for her own hand in marriage (thus avoiding an arranged marriage and being required to give up her independence). It is one of the rare, really rare, movies (live action or animated) with a strong heroine (two if you include her mother), and I’m guessing that may be why it won. I think there’s enough action and pseudo-scary stuff that boys will like it too, but also encourage girls to pursue their dreams (although maybe not turn their mothers into bears).
Lincoln, 12/29/12, Best Actor and Best Production Design, 2012
I’m just going to say, at the risk of some controversy, that Lincoln was the Best Picture and Sally Field should have won for Best Supporting Actress as Mary Todd Lincoln. However, that did not happen. I will get used to that disappointment because Daniel Day-Lewis won as Best Actor for his embodiment of Lincoln. Lincoln won for Best Production Design; the sets were marvelous and seemed very realistic and 19th century, but I don’t know it could beat out The Hobbit or Anna Karenina. There has been a lot of criticism about some of the historical inaccuracies in the film, and I just don’t care, I loved it. Steven Spielberg and company pulled together a compellingly true story from American history with a powerful cast and brought it to life. Historical ‘misses’ aside, I told a friend of mine that her son (13) should watch the movie to get an idea of the debates that were held around ending slavery, even among those on the side of abolition; how it wasn’t just ‘let’s end slavery’, but there were different rationales and perspectives and justifications. If I was teaching, I would even use the historical inaccuracies as ways to start discussions in class (alas, I gave up the honorable profession before I even started, although many of my friends find me unbearably pedantic). Keeping the story together is the glue known as Daniel Day-Lewis. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie of his that I haven’t like (I didn’t quite get My Beautiful Laundrette or The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I’m not even sure I remember them); he is transcendent in his roles, embodying the characters, whether they are real or fictional. He brought a degree of humanity to one of our favorite and best loved presidents (so beloved we refuse to retire the penny, because Abe would be left with only the five dollar bill, and Lincoln and Jefferson would be on two forms of currency). He found a voice for a man nobody alive has ever heard speak; a man who gave some of the most important speeches in history, not just American history. Day-Lewis’s Lincoln has a most complex, yet seemingly very loving, relationship with Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field). A lot of people don’t like her; I’m not one of them, and I thought she showed everyone the juxtaposition of Mary Todd Lincoln’s fragility with her strength and belief in her husband (real or fictional, I do not care, she demonstrated those emotions). I believed was Mary. Tommy Lee Jones was up against some good competition in the Best Supporting Actor category (I thought Alan Arkin or Robert DeNiro would take it), but he was grumpy, passionate and savvy about the situation unfolding before him as Thaddeus Stevens. He got a lot of crap for the wig he was wearing, but, hello, it was the 19th century and perhaps he was more interested in the job at hand than his brown tresses. See this movie, discuss this movie and revel in the acting talent on the screen.
