2014 Oscar nominated documentary shorts, Prisoners, The Grandmaster, The Act of Killing

Well, hello, it's been a while. Despite NBC's best efforts to ruin the Olympic watching experience, I still found myself watching and simply unable to keep up with the blog, even though I certainly watched plenty of television and movies. It's been a crazy two weeks of viewing, both the Olympics and movie selections, oh and can we add in the damn weather? But, it's a week before the Oscars and I have some catching up to do. The good news, I think, is that out of the 72 nominated films (by my count), I have seen 50 of them. Not bad, really. Twenty-two to go. Normally when I write the blog, I write the reviews in the order in which I watch them; it preserves some kind of order or something like that. I'm going to vary this for this post, to highlight the Oscar-nominated films and then talk about the other movies and television that I watched. So, hold on, because here we go.

2/16/2014 Prisoners, nominated for Best Cinematography, 2013

I'm going to say up front that when the previews for the movies came out, I was not lining up to see it. It just looked creepy and too dark. But, then it showed up on the damned list. Curses. Well, not exactly, it turns out I liked the movie, if you can like something like this. Briefly, two little girls are kidnapped during a family dinner. The parents are played by Hugh Jackman (Keller Dover) and Maria Bello and Terrence Howard (Franklin Birch) and Viola Davis. The families are obviously distraught and search the neighborhood, fixating on a young man, Alex Jones, (Paul Dano) who seems disturbed and perhaps not mentally competent. Jake Gyllenhaal is Detective Loki who is very good at his job despite being haunted by the demons of his past, although we never really know what they are, and Loki would prefer that the parents stay out of the investigation. Keller Dover gets Alex Jones and imprisons him and tortures him to try to get information on where the two girls are being kept. It was very violent and very graphic, and I'm not sure if it was really necessary to convey the message, but perhaps required to demonstrate that torture or excessive beatings do not always produce the desired results. Keller is relentless in his beatings and his determination, to the point of denying there may be another suspect. Melissa Leo, in another phenomenal role, is Holly Jones, claiming to be Alex's aunt. Melissa Leo is a chameleon and even if you don't like her role or the movie, she is amazing to watch. The movie takes a few twists and as a mystery fan, I appreciated the crafting of the story. To tell you anymore will ruin it. The movie is nominated for Best Cinematography for Roger Deakins (who has lately worked a lot with the Coen brothers), and while the photography does capture the darkness of the subject matter, I don't think it will win. I have not see all of the films, but I think Nebraska or The Grandmaster should win.

2/22/2014 The Grandmaster, nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Costume, 2013

There's a good chance that if I can't follow along in a movie, I'm not going to like it; I'm funny that way. I sort of followed the plot in The Grandmaster, but found out how much I missed when I read the synopsis in Wikipedia. I started to watch it again, and then decided I would just wait to get it from the library. I did like The Grandmaster in spite of the fact that the plot and narrative was a little confusing. The Grandmaster has a lot of martial arts action, and according to the subtitles (the movie was in Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese) there were several variations of Kung Fu, including Wing Chun. The movies takes place over several decades, beginning in the 1930s after the Second Sino-Japanese War up through the 1970s. Ip Man is one of the main characters and was a real person and the movie is based on his life (but I don't know how much of the movie is accurate or made up). It's hard to give a summary because there are so many things going on, but like I said, I liked it anyway. And here's why, it's beautiful, just beautiful, the camera work (it is nominated for Cinematography and Costume) is stunning; Philippe Le Sourd does a stunning job of using dark and light, as I was watching all I could think of was chiaroscuro, which is usually applied to paintings. Tony Leung is Ip Man and Zhang Ziyi is Gong Er, Ip's adversary and keeps her love for him a secret until the end. Zhang has been in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha, and the argument can be made she is as much the star of this movie as Leung. If you enjoy martial arts movies, you will like this because there are some incredible Kung Fu demonstrations. The soundtrack, which was not nominated, was a perfect fit for the movie and wonderfully evocative.

2/22/2014 The Act of Killing, nominated for Best Feature Documentary, 2013

I like to think that even if a documentary is not very good I can still learn something and find the experience valuable. I've had a day to think about this film, and I don't think I can say this about The Act of Killing. I think a few things went wrong: first, the movie is in Indonesian so there are subtitles, which is not a problem IF YOU CAN READ THEM (bet you could read that), which I had a hard time doing, they were small and blended into the film; the history of what had happened was not told very well, so I did not feel a sense of the why and the who; the main people followed in the movie did not create a sense of empathy or sympathy or anything, just disdain for me; I can watch difficult and hard movies, but I don't think I have heard the term 'sado-masochistic' as much ever in my life, but it was very applicable, it felt a little masochistic to keep watching it, and I almost turned it off several times. The director interviews men who were part of paramilitaries and gangs that tortured and killed communists in the 1960s in Indonesia. As if the original act of killing people wasn't enough, the director asks these men to recreate the acts of torture or killing for a movie, there are some elements of fantasy and bizarre instances of irony that I found uncomfortable to watch. There is a moment when a stepson of one of the murder victims, who is now participating in the filming, wants to tell the story of how his stepfather was killed by these very men, and he's laughing and they're laughing, and then they basically tell him that his story is too complicated for the film. Watching him laugh as he is telling the story, as if he is embarrassed for his father's murder, brutal. One of the main men in the movie does have bad dreams and wonders if what he did was wrong; his counterpart sees nothing wrong with what they did. I just wanted this movie to be over and based on some of the other documentaries for this year, I don't think this will or should win.

2/23/2014 Nominees for Best Documentary Short, 2013
Just getting to the movie theater was an adventure. Minnesota had the worst storm of this winter Thursday night/Friday morning, bad enough that highways were shut down and driving was discouraged. By Sunday, though roads in my part of the city were in really good shape (thank you MNDOT), but I was worried about the city of Minneapolis, which is where I had to go to see the shorts. So, I thought it would be a great idea to take the light rail and then walk the mile to the theater. It won't go down in the book of brilliant ideas, but it worked out okay.

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Synagogue, Prague, 2006

Terezin Memorial, 2006

Timing is everything. I just saw the entire list of nominees for the short category today and when I arrived back home to check on the state of events, I saw on Yahoo! that the woman featured in The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life died today at 110 years old. Alice Herz Sommer was from Prague, and was a pianist of some renown prior to the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. She and her son were sent to Terezin (Theresienstadt) in Czechoslovakia. The movie is not so much about life in the camp or the Holocaust, but Alice's attitude and strength and grace. She found her purpose and salvation in the music. Two of her friends, also survivors, are interviewed and they add another element and affirmation of the power of music during this dark time. There are many life lessons packed into 38 minutes, and I would have loved a longer documentary, just to hear her thoughts. You can actually buy this DVD from the film's website, and I may so I have it to share with people. You can also see some excerpts on Youtube. you may cry, but you will also smile at the resilience of these three friends, who have a much greater appreciation of life. It is interesting to me that they started this collection off with this movie, with it's message of forgiveness, life and inner strength; it sets the stage for the others.This is my favorite to win.

Karama Has No Walls

This short film is about the attempt at a peaceful protest in Yemen during the Arab Spring that swept the Middle East. It features footage taken by two young Yemeni men, and their first person perspective of how the intended peaceful protest exploded (almost literally) with the provocation of thugs and the military. In addition to the two cameramen, the film tells us a little about two young men who were shot during the fighting; one of them died and one of them, who was maybe 8 or 9, who lost his eyes due to a bullet to his face. Using the real-time footage certainly gives a sense of the chaos that was happening, and it's a story that needs to be told, it gives a feeling of the universality of war and death, and a parent's loss and grief transcend language, religion and country. I just felt the storytelling was not very strong, it relied so much on the first hand footage that when it came to connecting the footage with the two boys who were injured or killed, it seemed disconnected. I would have liked the stories to be a little more fleshed out, maybe not rely on the narrative text, perhaps actually have a narrator tell some of the story.

Facing Fear

After watching this, I think another title would have suited this film better, maybe "Facing Hate", but regardless, this is a powerful story of forgiveness and change and learning to share that lesson. Matthew Boger was brutally and savagely beaten by a group of neo-Nazis when he was 13 years old for being gay and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Matthew eventually got out of the street life and became the manager at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. During a visit to the museum, he unexpectedly meets one of the men who beat him, Tim Zaal, who had since given up the neo-Nazi beliefs he held and was working to educate others on tolerance. The film looks at the journey to Matthew's forgiveness of Tim and Tim's path to forgiving himself and how he changed the hatred he had of others. The two of them began presenting together at the museum and they say they don't know how many people have been impacted by their story, but one father speaks up and thanks them for sharing their experiences. At the end, Matthew tells how important Tim is to him and his life, and that when Matthew's partner was dying, Tim was the person he called. Hopefully this is a film that finds its way into schools and perhaps diversity programs.

Cavedigger

I'm not going to lie, this was the longest 39 minutes of my life. Cavedigger is about Ra Paulette who digs extravagant and elegant caves in New Mexico. He considers them works of art, and has received commissions to create caves for landowners. At first it was interesting, I mean, it's definitely cool to see these archways and rooms carved out of sandstone; Paulette uses only manual tools and works by himself. But it turns from a look into this creative outlet into a look into his tunnel-vision (no pun intended) and obstinacy, and then I just stopped caring.

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

It didn't take too long into Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall before I was in tears. This was a hard movie to watch and yet I am so glad I did. Jack Hall was convicted of murder over 50 years ago in Iowa and received a life sentence. And as is happening in many prisons around the country, with the aging prison population, Jack is getting sicker and close to dying. The movie is as much about Jack Hall's last days as it is about a program that was started in the Iowa State Penitentiary system, hospice care for dying inmates. So, while it is hard to watch the end of Jack's life, there was something so beautiful and tender about the inmates in the hospice program taking care of him, these big guys being so gentle with the 82 year old World War II POW. The end of life process is so personal and private, yet it is something we all experience, it's universal, so regardless of the fact the Jack was a prisoner, he still may have had to go through this in the outside world, it cannot be avoided. The men who take care of him have also been convicted of murder, and yet they have come to a point in their lives where they do want to give something back, they want to help take care of their fellow inmates. This hospice program was funded by donations and by inmate donations (they made some of the furniture and furnishings). One of the interesting things was a comment that Jack's son makes to his father's caregivers. He says his father used to be a segregationist, but that they have helped to change that (all the men shown in the hospice program in the film are black), and that he was so appreciative of the care they gave his dad. There was genuine respect for Jack's service in the war and love and concern. Another interesting item was Jack talks about his return from Europe after the war and how he had a tough time adjusting and if he ever felt threatened, he would fight back because that was how he was taught. It sounded eerily like the cases of PTSD from the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but 60 years ago I don't think they had a name for it. I was truly moved by this film and the story of all of these men. I think it's interesting to compare Jack Hall with Alice Herz-Sommer since they were both survivors of World War II and both in camps, Alice in a concentration camp and Jack in a prisoner of war camp. Alice survived with forgiveness and love and music in her heart, and Jack came out with anger and hatred and violence in his heart. I think it would be interesting to juxtapose the two and find the commonalities and differences. It's not easy, but if you can find it (check Youtube) I really recommend it. This would be my second choice to win.

As I was leaving the theater, wiping my tears because they would have frozen, I heard someone say that those films were all so depressing. I think that's a lazy observation; if you want 'light' perhaps a collection of documentaries is not where you should be. Were most of the films sad? Yes, they were. Were they depressing? No, I don't think so. I found an element of hope in most of them, if not all of them; the triumph of the human spirit, if that doesn't sound too over the top. Alice Herz Sommer triumphed and survived; the young cameramen survived and told the story of their country during an important period of time; Matthew Boger and Tim Zaal triumphed over hate and fear to become friends and share their story; even crazy Ra Paulette is an example of the rugged individualism that is cherished in this country; and the inmates in the hospice program overcame an apparent dead end life in prison to give comfort to inmates and their families. I don't think that's depressing at all.

I am going to save my non-Oscar related movies and television shows for another time. I think I am emotionally spent. The Oscars are next Sunday, and I am going to be blogging live (posting at the end) like I did last year. I hope to have another two or three movies completed, and this will be the most complete Oscar-night review I have done thus far.

Spring is almost here. Stay warm and drive safe.

2014 Oscar nominees: live action shorts, Despicable Me 2 and The Invisible Woman

As of this writing, I have seen 42 of the 72 nominated films for the 2013 Oscars, which should leave me about 30 to go ( I say should just in case I counted wrong). I should make a good run at it, I'm missing most of the foreign films and some of the shorts may prove to be a challenge, but I shan't give up yet. Thanks to my friend who sat through the live action shorts and The Invisible Woman with me, all in one day, and who drove to Uptown because I'm a big sissy. Please excuse any lost trains of thought or tangents I may go off on because I am watching Eddie Izzard's Sexie and he's very distracting (in a good way).

2/5/14 Despicable Me 2, nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song 2013

Um, I can't believe they are planning to make another Despicable Me and a standalone movie with the minions. It is entirely possible that my inner child was sent away to the naughty mat and hasn't been released yet, but I really didn't care about this movie. There were parts that were mildly amusing, and maybe they would have been better off as shorts, but they tried to make a story where I don't think there really was one. I don't think there were any technology or animation breakthroughs here, the story wasn't particularly deep, and I'm not sure why it was nominated aside form being a blockbuster. I have not yet seen Frozen or The Wind Rises, but I am thinking The Wind Rises will win (so far based only on the trailer I saw yesterday). Kids may be entertained by the minions, and it's harmless enough, but it's no Oscar-winner for me.

2/8/14 Nominated Live Action Shorts 2013

I was lucky enough to see all the live action shorts packaged up in one presentation, because otherwise they are hard to find, or you can't see them for years until they appear on a compilation. The nice thing about this presentation was that between each short, Oscar-nominated or Oscar-winning directors, writers and producers of shorts gave their insights on the importance of shorts as a learning tool, but also as a great way to focus on the narrative of a movie instead of peripheral characters, plot twists, etc., and I totally agree, you don't have a lot of time to get lost in the backstory or diversions, you have to focus. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, but I have found most of the shorts I've watched interesting if not really good. That's true for the following five shorts.

Helium, Denmark

You kind of knew this was not going to be a happy-go-lucky short when it opened with a little boy in a hospital. We don't know what is wrong with Alfred, but he is a very sick little boy and he's already been told (or overheard) his parents say that he will be going to heaven. He doesn't want to go. Then he meets Enzo, a new orderly at the hospital who connects with Alfred and tells him the story of Helium, a place different from heaven, but fun and wonderful. This helps Alfred be a little less frightened. It may not be a 'happy' movie, but it's not as hard to watch as you might think.

The Voorman Problem, United Kingdom

Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, television's Sherlock Holmes) is a psychiatrist sent to an English prison to interview and diagnose Voorman (Tom Hollander) who claims to be God and that he created the world nine days prior. The doctor does not believe it and Voorman offers to prove it by making Belgium disappear. The doctor opens a book and Belgium is gone, so what conclusion can you draw? It's a dark comedy head-scratcher, that's for sure.

Avant que de tout le perdre (Just before losing everything), France

The story here unfolds slowly and things aren't what they seem to be, and the ending leaves you wondering what might happen next. We see Julien heading off to school, except he's going the wrong way and we find out he needs to get cigarettes for his mom, and then he is hiding in a tunnel. A horn honks and he goes out to a car, and it's his mother, Miriam. They then pick up Julien's sister, Josephine, who is older, perhaps high school age, and they drive off to the store where Miriam works. It becomes evident that the three are on the run from Antoine, their father and husband. It's very taut and suspenseful as we don't know exactly what will happen next, will they be caught, will they make it out, will Antoine get violent in the store. Even as it ended, I still wasn't sure what would have happened if the movie lasted another ten minutes.

Aquel no era yo (That wasn't me), Spain

This movie packs a punch and I felt like someone kicked me in the stomach. It's about child soldiers in an unnamed African country. Two Spanish doctors and their driver are trying to leave a country but they are captured and accused of trying to convince the child soldiers to leave the fighting behind. The male doctor and the driver are killed by two of the child soldiers, leaving behind the female doctor. It's a brutal exchange and I found myself looking away and cringing. There is an attack on the compound by the President's forces and the woman escapes and she brings one of her child captors with her, telling him she will take him to a place where he will be safe and go to school, it's as if she needs to salvage something from this nightmare. Between the action, the film is narrated by an older version of this boy. The movie was made in collaboration with several organizations including Amnesty International and Save the Children.

Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I have to Take Care of Everything?), Finland

This was my favorite. I knew it was going to be funny when Sini (the female lead) answers the alarm clock thinking it's the phone. And pretty much the day goes downhill from there. Sini tries to round up her husband and two little girls because they have a wedding to attend. Nothing goes right: she can't find the wedding present, the girls cannot find their dresses, husband, Jokke, spills coffee on his shirt (well, I think Sini may have hit his elbow). Throughout this chaos, Sini asks if she has to do it all herself, she probably doesn't, but she's determined that she will. This was the shortest of the shorts, at 7 minutes, but it was packed with laughs; we laughed because it was funny, but also because the events of the day could happen to anyone. This was the last short in the running order, right after That wasn't me, and my friend and I were both so happy that we ended on this note. It probably won't win, because there are 'heavier', 'weightier' shorts that are more socially important, but I would like to see it win because the ending was joyous.

As my friend and I were taking a break between movies, she asked if shorts have to be so serious and heavy; clearly they don't, but this selection definitely was. They were well done and all different in their own way; different storytelling methods, different messages. That's what I love about the shorts categories, so much variety packed into 90 minutes; I mean if you don't like something, you know it will usually be over in less than 45 minutes. After a brief repast, we headed back to the theater for The Invisible Woman.

2/8/14, The Invisible Woman, nominated for Best Costume Design, 2013

I had not heard of this movie until it appeared on the list after the Oscar nominations were announced. It certainly seemed like a movie I would like, historical film about Charles Dickens and an aspect of his life about which I knew nothing, his mistress. Ralph Fiennes plays Dickens and Felicity Jones is Ellen (Nelly) Ternan and the film is told in flashback, starting out in Margate at the school that Nelly runs with her husband, and then back to when Dickens and Nelly meet. Ralph Fiennes also directs, and perhaps he should have just stuck with Dickens here; the movie just seemed uneven and it was hard to really connect with either Dickens (who fluctuates between a loving, caring father, doting lover, and self-centered child) or Nelly who doesn't ever really seem to be in love with Dickens, although she is definitely an ardent admirer of him. Nelly often walks alone along the seaside, and seems in perpetual mourning and sulky. Dickens and Nelly begin a relationship and I got the sense that it was with the tacit understanding of her protective, but ambitious mother (Kristen Scott Thomas). They keep the affair as secret as possible, but the viewer hears that there is gossip around London about it. Dickens's wife, Catherine (Joanna Scanlan) suffers the humiliation of the affair and asks that Dickens end it, which he refuses. The movie is based on a book which is based on historical events, so you can read more about the relationship if you like. I kind of thought I might, but at this time, I don't care. The movie was nominated for the costume design, and they are very good (to my untrained eye), but there really aren't any 'big' pieces, like in some of the scenes from The Great Gatsby, or wow moments like some of the dresses that Amy Adams or Jennifer Lawrence wore in American Hustle, so I would be surprised if it won. I'm disappointed I didn't like this movie better, I love Dickens and his storytelling and I don't think there have been any movies about his life, and I really like Ralph Fiennes, so my hopes were high. But, I'm a Cleveland fan, so I'm used to disappointment.

More 2014 Oscar nominees: Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club and Dirty War

The movies keep on coming. I may have seen more movies in the past two weeks than ever in my life, okay, that is probably an exaggeration, but I have spent a lot of time trying to get in the major movies before the Oscars. So, without further ado, here are three more nominees, plus one.

1/28/14 Captain Phillips, nominated Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, 2013

The biggest news about this film may be that Tom Hanks did not grab a nomination for Best Actor, although to be fair, it's a pretty packed field. Captain Phillips is a dramatization of the true story of the hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates (that is a really crappy sentence but you'll have to deal with it). The movie starts out kind of slowly as Captain Richard Phillips heads out to Oman to meet his ship and he runs the crew few a drill or two to keep them prepared for the real possibility of being hijacked by pirates. Parallel to the story of the crew is the story of the Somalis, deciding who is going to be on the attack boats; showing the desperation of some of these men as they know they won't make money if they are not picked. Barkhad Abdi (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) plays one of the 'captains' Abduwali Muse, and he's not the biggest or strongest guy, but you get the feeling he has more nerve and determination than most of the men. Once the introductions to the main protagonists is over, the action starts up and between the action of high-powered water cannons and a massive freighter trying to outrun pimped out speedboats there is tension of the crew trying to hide from the pirates in the depths of the ship. There are moments of fighting between the Somalis as they cannot always agree on the best method for dealing with their captives, and as a viewer you can sense that they may be afraid of the US Navy but they are more afraid of returning to Somalia without the ransom they are demanding. Hanks is strong as Captain Phillips, trying to keep his crew safe by outwitting the pirates, but also trying to relate to Muse and the others, and then demonstrating the ultimately frailty of the human psyche and how we all have our limits. The last 20 minutes or so of the movie seemed to move extremely rapidly. Abdi, who is making his film debut (along with several of his countrymen from right here in Minneapolis) gave me goosebumps; this was more than method acting, he probably had more understanding of the motivation of Muse and his friends than anyone can understand. It was so easy to hate or dislike his character because, after all, he was a pirate; but then when he talks about coming to America, you get a feeling that he really means it, that he doesn't hate America, he just wants a chance to be a part of the American dream. It sounds twisted, but when you look at Muse's eyes, you might believe it. Muse and Phillips have some great moments together (I really think there should be some category somewhere that recognizes these 1:1 moments, like in Philomena or here). There are some really great movies this year, and I think Captain Phillips may be squeezed out of the awards; Abdi is up against Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club and Michael Fassbender in 12 Years a Slave (in my opinion the two main contenders). Captain Phillips is still in some theaters but also available on DVD (in fact, I cajoled someone at work into sharing their Netflix queue with me; that's me, resourceful).

1/30/14 Dirty Wars, nominated for Best Documentary, 2013

Dirty Wars is a documentary that looks at the US's actions in Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen to target 'enemies' of the US and to eliminate them. It's a hard look at policies that get virtually no attention on the evening news (or the 24 news cycle), but Jeremy Scahill has spent several years looking into incidents of children and women being targeted in bomb attacks. US government officials dismissed the incidents as collateral damage, but Scahill tries to show the opposite. There is so much information these days, that it is extremely challenging to know what is real, what is mis-information, what is being skewed for our ingestion. I guess with my critical thinking skills, I am choosing to believe that there is some truth to what Scahill is presenting and it makes me angry. I think you should see Dirty Wars and make up your own mind. This is the second documentary of 2013 that I have seen (20 Feet from Stardom being the first), so I can't really say where it fits in with the other nominees, but I would say if it wins, there will be several government officials who might be less than pleased. That's a real shame, isn't it?

2/2/14 Dallas Buyers Club, nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Hair and Makeup, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, 2013

I finally saw Dallas Buyers Club and was ready to dismiss all the hype. Sorry, not going to happen. It was really good. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto are both immersed in their roles and become Ron Woodroof and Rayon/Raymond. Dallas Buyers Club is another dramatization of real events as Ron Woodroof, a macho ladies man is told he has HIV and only has 30 days to live. I think the easy stereotype is that Woodroof is just some hick idiot, but he becomes a quick study of his disease and the types of treatment that are available to him (this in the mid-1980s and the early days of AIDS/HIV). Rayon/Raymond is an HIV-positive transgender woman who annoys/creeps out Woodroof until they become reluctant business partners and eventually friends. Woodroof is a hustler and tries to find the best deals for the best HIV drugs to sell to willing buyers; and anytime there is a roadblock, Woodroof figures out a way around it, like creating the Dallas Buyers Club where he sells memberships, not drugs (these clubs appeared in New York City and San Francisco to help get drugs to HIV patients). There has been a lot of hoopla around the transformations that McConaughey and Leto underwent, including losing a huge amount of weight, but not a lot of discussion around the director. That seems odd to me, and Jean-Marc Vallee was not even nominated for Best Director, even though the movie was nominated for Best Picture and both actors were nominated in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories. Both actors are great, and both won the Golden Globe and SAG awards (although the Golden Globes split the award between 'drama' and 'comedy/musical' and Leonardo DiCaprio won in the 'comedy category for Wolf of Wall Street). The movie moves along at a good pace, it could easily get bogged down in medical or pharmaceutical terminology, but it doesn't; it keeps its eye on Woodroof, his determination to get the needed drugs for him and his club members and his fight with the medical community. You might think this would be a sad movie, and there are some moments, but Woodroof's spirit and the fact that he lived seven years longer than expected makes it triumphant.This true story focuses on one man, Ron Woodroof, but if you want a macro view of the early HIV/AIDS struggle, you should see How to Survive a Plague. 

The news of Philip Seymour Hoffman's passing on February 2, 2014, is still rattling around my brain. There have been a lot of eloquent tributes and comments about many more of his films than I have seen, so I don't have a lot of new information to add. I will say as someone who has been immersed in movies the last two years, I probably paid a lot more attention to him and his diversity of roles than I did before this movie project. I remember him as the accused priest in Doubt going to toe-to-toe with Meryl Streep, he was kind-hearted and gentle with the children, but so devastated at the accusations; as Truman Capote in his Oscar-winning role as Capote himself in Capote where he disappeared into the role and was Capote (I need to re-watch that movie); he was in The Master and was nominated as Best Supporting Actor in a movie I hated, and I think I would love to see that cast in something better (Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams). He was the bad guy in Mission Impossible III. Just looking at his filmography makes my head spin. It is a tragic loss.

The country also lost a great 2nd lady (but always a first lady to Minnesotans) when Joan Mondale died yesterday. Mrs. Mondale was known as 'Joan of Art' for her dedication to the arts, and she served on the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.