2014 Oscar-nominees: August: Osage County, The Lone Ranger, 20 Feet from Stardom, The Croods

Aside from a few detours, I am really going to try to focus on the recently announced Oscar nominees. This weekend has been quite successful in that regard. So, here we go.

1/18/14 The Croods, Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film, 2013

The Croods tells the story of a family of cavemen trying to survive when their neighbors have perished due to encounters with very large reptiles, freak accidents, etc. Their precarious existence is guarded by the over-protective patriarch, Grug (Nicholas Cage); Grug and his daughter, Eep (Emma Stone), battle over the Grug's rules, with Eep longing for a little freedom outside of the cave. Eep finds an ally in Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who invents things, like fire, and explores the vast surroundings, which not surprisingly, causes friction among the Crood family (which includes Catherine Keener as Grug's wife, Ugga and Cloris Leachman as Ugga's mother, Gran). The Croods was okay, I'm not sure what got it nominated for Best Animated Feature, story-wise it didn't seem to break new ground; visually, it was very appealing, and originally was showing in 3-D. I didn't really care until there was about 20 minutes left, and then it mildly interested me. I didn't find myself having great belly laughs, or thinking that the word play was extra witty or clever.

1/18/14 The Lone Ranger, Nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Visual Effects

I'm gonna say, I watched The Lone Ranger and I didn't hate it. Was it great? No. But there were some funny moments and great action; it wasn't any worse than 2 Guns. Johnny Depp is Tonto and Armie Hammer is The Lone Ranger (aka John Reid). The men team up after a rough first encounter and much against John Reid's wishes. Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner) killed John's brother, Dan Reid, Texas Ranger. Tom Wilkinson is the other bad guy, Latham Cole, a greedy railroad bigwig. Tonto and the Lone Ranger (notice who is first in this pairing?) each have their own hang-ups and guilt trips and they must overcome issues from the past as they try to move on in the present. Honestly, when I watch Armie Hammer I have to try and remember where I have seen him (Mirror, Mirror and The Social Network), I don't know if that's good or bad, it just is. Johnny Depp, on the other hand, sticks in my mind, even if I can't remember the movie. He brings the same quirkiness to Tonto that he brought to Jack Sparrow, and delivers some great lines that did make me laugh out loud (that did not happen at all during the The Croods). I was ready to write the movie off, like a lot of people did, but I decided to just watch it and see what happened. I will say the movie could have been edited down by about 15 minutes and maybe some tweaks to the story, but it was a decent action-comedy. Back to Johnny Depp, I did enjoy him as Tonto, but he is such a big presence that you kind of forget the other actors; I mentioned Jack Sparrow, but for the life of me, unless I look it up, I cannot think of the other characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (I never cared that much to begin with). I really thought the movie should have been called Tonto. Helena Bonham Carter is a madam and I'm not sure why she is even here (it's a relatively small role), unless it was the obligatory part in a movie with Johnny Depp (please don't misunderstand, I love Helena Bonham Carter, it's just why here?). The movie is nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Visual Effects. There are only three movies in the Makeup category, and one of the nominees is Bad Grandpa. I'm not sure how The Hobbit and some other movies didn't get nominated, but I'm not sure about this one. As for the Visual Effects, it is up against Iron Man 3, The Hobbit and Gravity among others. If you skipped The Lone Ranger because of the bad reviews, I would say, check it out.

1/18/14 20 Feet From Stardom, Nominated for Best Feature Documentary, 2013

Well, you all now I love me a good documentary, and you make that a music documentary, I am so happy. I saw previews of 20 Feet from Stardom and couldn't wait to see it, but I'm not sure if it came to the Twin Cities or came and I missed it, but it's on Netflix now. 20 Feet from Stardom tells the stories of backup singers over the last 50 years or so, focusing on four singers, Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Judith Hill and Lisa Fischer; Love and Clayton have roots in the early days of rock, with Phil Spector, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles and others. Lisa Fischer has sung with The Rolling Stones, Sting, Luther Vandross and Tina Turner. Judith Hill was recently on The Voice and is trying to establish herself as a lead singer. There are many other singers interviewed and showcased as well. The movie introduces us to these singers, who have been on some of the biggest selling records in history (or at least in their time) and let's the back up singers, as well as the people with whom they have sung (Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Austin, Sting) speak to how influential they have been, but also the dream of being a solo act. It becomes evident that not everyone is cut out for the lead microphone, they may lack the ego or the timing is bad, and they are more comfortable singing back up. There are male and female singers interviewed, but in the main film, the focus is on the female singers of the 1960s and 1970s; there are some good clips in the extra features which I recommend that you watch. I think it was easier to construct a story by narrowing the focus, because otherwise, this movie could have been three hours long (one of the few times I would not object to a three hour long movie). It was interesting to hear, from the big name singers as well as producers and arrangers, that in some cases, the backup singers has more training or more flexibility in the types of music they could sing, and may be better singers than some of the newer names of today; the process of auto-tuning was derisively mentioned. This is the first documentary of the nominees that I have seen, so I cannot say if it should win, but I suppose it's fair to say it's my favorite as of now. I would recommend Standing in the Shadows of Motown which is about the house band of Motown Records, the Funk Brothers; it has some incredible music and great interviews and insight into the history of Motown. It won a Grammy. There is also a documentary coming out, partially funded by a Kickstarter campaign, called The Wrecking Crew which is about studio musicians from the West Coast.

1/19/14 August: Osage County, Nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, 2013

Family gatherings always seem to bring out the worst in us, maybe it's the stress of being all together and memories and hurt feelings being raised to the surface. There are a lot of universal truths in August: Osage County told with pointedly hurtful and occasionally insightful and funny dialogue. The patriarch of the Weston family, Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard) disappears and is eventually found drowned. This is the triggering event to bring his family together. Violet (Meryl Streep) is Beverly's drug-addicted viper of a wife, who doesn't bother with societal niceties, with her family or with strangers, Vi is also suffering from mouth cancer which does not seem to slow down her cigarette habit. Their daughters Barbara (Julia Roberts), Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) and Karen (Juliette Lewis) all have their own challenges with their mother as well as with one another. Margo Martindale is Mattie Faye, Violet's sister and Chris Cooper is Charlie, Mattie Faye's good-natured husband who must often wonder how he married into this hell on earth. The movie is based on Tracy Lett's original play and he wrote the screenplay. The dialogue is rich and packs a punch and is very colorful. Osage County is in Oklahoma, and it's as much of a character in the movie as any of the players; with the heat, wide open spaces, the potential for drought, emotional and climatological. Barbara is the oldest and there seems to be the biggest rift between Barb and Vi, possibly because Vi claims that Barbara was her father's favorite and she just left the family. Ivy is the sister who somehow got stuck in Oklahoma. Vi is constantly on Ivy about her appearance and lack of a man in her life. Ivy manages to hide her resentment as she hides other things from her family; in fact, there are a lot of secrets in the Weston family, and they all start coming out after the funeral. I think this is one of those things that resonates with a lot of viewers, it did for me anyway, although the secrets I'm thinking of are nothing like what comes out in the movie. Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts are really great together, and both have been nominated for an Oscar (I am typically not a Julia Roberts fan, I don't line up to see a movie because she is in it, but she kicks some ass in this movie; this may be the fifth or sixth Meryl Streep film I've reviewed in the past month). There are a lot of scenes that seem so exhausting, very much like real life. Julianne Nicholson as Ivy was touching and heartbreaking, and I wondered what happened to her after the movie ended (Nicholson was Detective Wheeler in Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and she was good in that as well, so it's nice to see her in a longer vehicle). Vi goes between being a hateful woman to someone you might just pity; we get the sense that her life was extremely hard and not full of love, and she didn't know how to love her children either, and the chickens are coming home to roost. August: Osage County was initially predicted to be nominated for a lot of Oscars, but only came away with the two actress nominations; this was due to the plethora of great movies this year (in my opinion), because I really think it should have been nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, perhaps Best Supporting Actor for Chris Cooper (who's portrayal of Charlie was not what I expected) and possibly Best Original Song for the song at the end of the film. To me August: Osage County was a fair representation of how many families interact with one another, and I like how Letts' screenplay doesn't sugarcoat anything (you can argue that it's a little over the top, I mean, they use the F-bomb almost as much as Martin Scorsese, and things are definitely added for effect, I wouldn't rule out anything when it comes to families) and things are not necessarily tied up with a nice bow. The cast is superb, but is it just me, or does Dermot Mulroney creep you out too?

Cate Blanchett seems to be the favorite for Best Actress for Blue Jasmine and Roberts has some competition from Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle and Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave (my choice is Lupita).