1/8/15 Of Human Bondage 1934
This was probably the most disappointing of all of the movies in this selection. First, for some reason I was certain it was on the list, only to find out that Bette Davis was nominated for the Best Actress award, but did not win, and the film did not win anything at the Oscars. Second, the movie was really not that great. It was based on the book by Somerset Maugham, which I have not read, and now have no plans to do so. It was dreary and annoying, kind of like our modern-day soap operas with the weak-willed man who is a sucker for the manipulating woman (sorry if that's too simple of an analysis). I really lost interest about 45 minutes into it. The saving grace is it was a relatively short film. This was Bette Davis' break out role, and it was definitely a tough role, but Leslie Howard in the lead was milque toast. A basic synopsis is Leslie Howard plays a failed artist with a club foot; he then tries his hand at medicine, but he falls in love with a waitress, Mildred, (Bette Davis) who is happy to use him, but doesn't really return his affections. And this is how the movie continues until Mildred dies a rather horrible death. I would recommend skipping this.
1/9/15 Snowpiercer not nominated 2014
I really am not a huge science fiction fan, especially of the dystopic sub-genre, it just doesn't usually interest me. However, I read an online interview with Tilda Swinton who co-stars in Snowpiercer by Korean director, Bong Joon-Ho, and it sounded really interesting and the author supposed that the film might be nominated for an Oscar or two. So, trying to get ahead of the nominations, I thought I would watch. What a treat. Seriously. It leans towards being very dark and serious, but then something will happen that will be humorous. The movie is set in the mid-21st century, so not too far in the future, and the has been devastating climate change - the world is frozen over. Survivors are on a train circling the Earth (now in its 18th year), with the passengers divided into classes, the lower classes are in the back of the train and eat a very gross protein bar, while the upper class eat meat and eggs and experience daylight. The train is driven and guided by a man who is unseen until the end of the film, Wilford (played by Ed Harris). His right hand man (or woman) is Minister Mason (Tilda Swinton); I say man or woman because Mason is addressed as "Sir" and is almost androgynous; in fact, Swinton is almost unrecognizable, looking a little like Edith Head or the character from The Incredibles and she provides some of the best humor at the worst possible times. I really think she should have received a Supporting Actress nod. The leader of the people in the tail section is John Hurt as Gilliam, but he is ready to pass on the reigns to Curtis (Captain America Chris Evans). Curtis is a reluctant leader, he wants change, but not the responsibility of leading the section in revolt that will get people killed. Circumstances come together to push Curtis to the front, to confront the demons from the past and deal with a future he cannot comprehend. There is a lot that happens, and I don't want to spoil it as it unfolds. It's a movie I would watch again because I'm sure I missed things, especially when the movie got going. Octavia Spencer, Jamie Bell and Ewen Bremner also co-star. Evans and Song Kang-ho (a Korean actor) really feature, and Evans is good, more emotive than his Captain America role, but also controlled. The movie has tension and some plot twists, interesting effects. This is probably not on anyone's radar, but it was at my library and I saw it on Netflix, so it's out there. Go get it.
1/10/15 Skeleton Twins not nominated 2014
I didn't really think this would be nominated , but when I saw the previews, I thought it was going to be pretty funny, and it came up from the library, so I grabbed it. It's funny, but it's not pee your pants funny. The funny is tempered by the serious and sad nature of the relationship between Maggie and Milo, twins played by Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. And I think that's fine, it just wasn't what I was expecting. Maggie and Milo have been separated for many years and still carry around unresolved feelings about their father's suicide, and have a distant relationship with their mother. Maggie is married to a seemingly great guy (Luke Wilson) but cheats on him with apparent regularity; and Milo is gay and a struggling actor in California. After a failed suicide attempt, Maggie brings Milo back home to New York state, and they reconnect, but it's not easy. Some of the funny moments are when Milo visits Maggie at the dentist officer where she works and they inhale quite a bit of nitrous; they also lip-synch to a Jefferson Starship song (and the name escapes me at the moment), and that was pretty funny. Like I said, it wasn't a side-splitting movie, but that's okay. Hader and Wiig are really funny; I'm a latecomer to appreciating Hader because I was not a loyal Saturday Night Live viewer, but I usually liked the sketches he was in (arg, I hate ending sentences with a preposition).
1/10/15 The Equalizer not nominated 2014
Again, this was not going to be nominated for any major awards, but you never know on the technical side, especially sound editing. And really, it's Denzel Washington, so I don't need to justify anything here. The Equalizer is a movie based on the television series from the 1980s starring Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a retired agent of a government agency. Washington plays McCall in the film. I never watched the series, so I didn't have any preconceived ideas of how it should be. McCall works in a Home Depot-type store and is a friend or mentor to a lot of the workers, even though he kind of keeps to himself. He's kind of Yoda-like, inspiring an overweight co-worker to work out and diet to get enough to apply for a security guard job. McCall has long given up his pat life, but he cannot help himself when he sees friends in trouble; we some of his retribution, but some we don't, leaving us to fill in the blanks (it's not hard, but it was nice that director Antoine Fuqua let us figure it out on our own). McCall is a well-read, type A insomniac who keeps late hours at a 24 hour diner where he befriends a young girl, Teri, in the escort business (played by Chloe Grace Moretz). After Teri gets beaten by her employers, McCall takes matters into his own hands, using past connections from his agency to get the lowdown on the bad guys. Whereas I don't usually watch science fiction, movies like this catch my attention (witness my willingness to watch Taken 2 and November Man), so I enjoyed it. It had a lot of action and great acting by Washington, and left the distinct possibility for a sequel, although Washington has historically avoided any sequels. I kind of thought it might be nominated for sound editing, but it was not to be. If you're looking for a movie to hunker down with during the winter, this would not be a bad choice.
1/10/15 Million Dollar Arm not nominated, 2014
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| On the road to Agra |
1/11/15 Calamity Jane, Best Original Song, 1953
WARNING: Leave your late 20th/early 21st century sensibilities in the closet or you risk being offended by the politically incorrect portrayal and references to American Indians and women as well. If you can do that, I think you might enjoy this 1950s musical about Calamity Jane, portrayed by the legendary Doris Day. Calamity Jane is set in Deadwood, South Dakota, in the late 1800s. The plot revolves around the tale-telling, gun-toting Calamity Jane and her promise to the mostly male population of Deadwood that she would bring famed entertainer Adelaid Adams to Deadwood. Instead, she brings Katie Brown, Miss Adams' maid, who has aspirations of being on the stage. After overcoming the initial disappointment of Katie not being Miss Adams, she is embraced by the town, and she also forms an unlikely friendship with the tomboyish Jane. Jane has a love/hate relationship with Wild Bill Hickock (Howard Keel), but has designs on Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin. As these types of plots usually goes, there are crossed wires and hurt feelings, but they are overcome with song. The movie doesn't tax your brain, has some rollicking songs ("The Deadwood Stage Whip Crack Away", "A Woman's Touch" and Oscar-winning "Secret Love") and Doris Day. I don't think today's audiences, myself included, really appreciate the kind of talent Doris Day had, and I've only had a little taste in The Man Who Knew Too Much, but she is really amazing, and I look forward to watching a few more of her films. After recently watching Hello Dolly! and feeling my attention wane, I didn't feel the same way watching Calamity Jane; it wasn't as lush (if that's it) and didn't have the dance numbers, but I liked it more (being PC aside).
1/11/15 2001: A Space Odyssey, Best Visual Effects, 1968, #15 AFI, National Film Registry
I am not quite sure how to review this iconic film, I mean it is on the American Film Institute's list of 100 best films, it was put on the National Film Registry as a film of historic significance, it has references that most people know, even if they have never seen the film. I feel like I should have seen this movie at some point in my younger days, that my dad would have inflicted it on me, I'm certain he read the book by Arthur C. Clarke, but I have no complete memory of it. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is set in the future (it seems very odd to say future given that 2001 is in our rearview mirror), and is complete with space travel and gadgets of the future. The movie does not have a traditional narrative, and as I was watching it, I was reminded of The Tree of Life a Terrence Malick film from 2011 which I hated, and yet, I didn't hate this move at all. Once I released my brain from trying to follow the story and just enjoyed the visual immensity and the aural festival, I really liked it. There is very little dialog, and really none of it matters except for the last 45 minutes or so (the movie is close to three hours) when HAL (the supercomputer) is confronted by the astronauts, Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood). This is one of the most beautiful films I think I have seen, incredible visuals (deserving of the Best Visual Effects Oscar), and the music is wonderfully apropos; I'm sure Richard Strauss never imagined how is waltzes would be used. There is an extremely long and detailed article on Wikipedia about the movie, its influences, etc. and you would be better off reading that for more information, because I am not up to the task. The movie may not be everyone's cup of tea and its length may be off-putting, but the section with HAL is well worth it. For those of us who periodically think computers are running the world, HAL does nothing to change that point of view.
1/14/15 Pride not nominated 2014
Pride is set in 1980s, Thatcher England and Wales among coalfields and the gay rights movement. Huh? Yeah, exactly. What an unlikely combination, but it works and works incredibly well. Pride was nominated for a Golden Globe and for a couple of BAFTA awards but not a single Oscar (although this year's Oscars may be more remembered for the many movies it snubbed than what was nominated). Until today when I saw Selma (review to come soon), I don't recall crying so much during a movie. As I was driving back from Selma, I was thinking about this, and it kind of made sense, two movies that had a spirit and showed the power of what people can do together. Pride focuses on a group of gay and lesbian young people in London, led by Mark Ashton, who decide to support the coal miners during their strike in 1984. The problem lies in the fact that most of the unions don't want to take support from the gay community, so the group, now called LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) picks a community and union to give their support. They find a small town in South Wales and begin to forge the most unlikely of alliances. For a pretty serious situation that includes a lot of hate and bigotry, the film handles it with humor (or humour since it's a British film) and affection. Dominic West (from HBO's The Wire) leads the cast of gay and lesbian activists as Jonathan Blake; the remainder of the actors may are relatively unknown in the US. The Welsh community is led by Dai Donovan (Paddy Considine), Hefina (Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake, Harry Potter, Nanny McPhee among others), Cliff (Bill Nighy - Love Actually, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). Ben Schnetzer plays Mark Ashton, the leader of LGSM, who brings an incredible enthusiasm and passion and a refusal to take no for an answer (mostly); I have not seen Schnetzer in anything before, but he was a dynamo and he must have been magnetic to be around, and probably frustrating because he was like a bull sometimes. It's important to remember the place in time that this movie occupies, decades removed from gay marriage and the openness we see from artists (Elton John had not yet come out), but in the early days of the AIDS epidemic; also the movie is based on real events and real people, some of whom are still alive, which made it more powerful to me. I was so excited about this movie that I emailed a friend of mine the next day, I thought a text late at night might be overdoing it, to tell him about it. I don't buy movies, but I will probably buy this one. Some people may be uncomfortable with the overt gay theme, but when you see middle-aged Welsh miners embrace 'the gays' as they are called, how can you be uncomfortable? It's a great lesson in tolerance and acceptance, from both sides.
WARNING: Leave your late 20th/early 21st century sensibilities in the closet or you risk being offended by the politically incorrect portrayal and references to American Indians and women as well. If you can do that, I think you might enjoy this 1950s musical about Calamity Jane, portrayed by the legendary Doris Day. Calamity Jane is set in Deadwood, South Dakota, in the late 1800s. The plot revolves around the tale-telling, gun-toting Calamity Jane and her promise to the mostly male population of Deadwood that she would bring famed entertainer Adelaid Adams to Deadwood. Instead, she brings Katie Brown, Miss Adams' maid, who has aspirations of being on the stage. After overcoming the initial disappointment of Katie not being Miss Adams, she is embraced by the town, and she also forms an unlikely friendship with the tomboyish Jane. Jane has a love/hate relationship with Wild Bill Hickock (Howard Keel), but has designs on Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin. As these types of plots usually goes, there are crossed wires and hurt feelings, but they are overcome with song. The movie doesn't tax your brain, has some rollicking songs ("The Deadwood Stage Whip Crack Away", "A Woman's Touch" and Oscar-winning "Secret Love") and Doris Day. I don't think today's audiences, myself included, really appreciate the kind of talent Doris Day had, and I've only had a little taste in The Man Who Knew Too Much, but she is really amazing, and I look forward to watching a few more of her films. After recently watching Hello Dolly! and feeling my attention wane, I didn't feel the same way watching Calamity Jane; it wasn't as lush (if that's it) and didn't have the dance numbers, but I liked it more (being PC aside).
1/11/15 2001: A Space Odyssey, Best Visual Effects, 1968, #15 AFI, National Film Registry
I am not quite sure how to review this iconic film, I mean it is on the American Film Institute's list of 100 best films, it was put on the National Film Registry as a film of historic significance, it has references that most people know, even if they have never seen the film. I feel like I should have seen this movie at some point in my younger days, that my dad would have inflicted it on me, I'm certain he read the book by Arthur C. Clarke, but I have no complete memory of it. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is set in the future (it seems very odd to say future given that 2001 is in our rearview mirror), and is complete with space travel and gadgets of the future. The movie does not have a traditional narrative, and as I was watching it, I was reminded of The Tree of Life a Terrence Malick film from 2011 which I hated, and yet, I didn't hate this move at all. Once I released my brain from trying to follow the story and just enjoyed the visual immensity and the aural festival, I really liked it. There is very little dialog, and really none of it matters except for the last 45 minutes or so (the movie is close to three hours) when HAL (the supercomputer) is confronted by the astronauts, Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood). This is one of the most beautiful films I think I have seen, incredible visuals (deserving of the Best Visual Effects Oscar), and the music is wonderfully apropos; I'm sure Richard Strauss never imagined how is waltzes would be used. There is an extremely long and detailed article on Wikipedia about the movie, its influences, etc. and you would be better off reading that for more information, because I am not up to the task. The movie may not be everyone's cup of tea and its length may be off-putting, but the section with HAL is well worth it. For those of us who periodically think computers are running the world, HAL does nothing to change that point of view.
1/14/15 Pride not nominated 2014
Pride is set in 1980s, Thatcher England and Wales among coalfields and the gay rights movement. Huh? Yeah, exactly. What an unlikely combination, but it works and works incredibly well. Pride was nominated for a Golden Globe and for a couple of BAFTA awards but not a single Oscar (although this year's Oscars may be more remembered for the many movies it snubbed than what was nominated). Until today when I saw Selma (review to come soon), I don't recall crying so much during a movie. As I was driving back from Selma, I was thinking about this, and it kind of made sense, two movies that had a spirit and showed the power of what people can do together. Pride focuses on a group of gay and lesbian young people in London, led by Mark Ashton, who decide to support the coal miners during their strike in 1984. The problem lies in the fact that most of the unions don't want to take support from the gay community, so the group, now called LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) picks a community and union to give their support. They find a small town in South Wales and begin to forge the most unlikely of alliances. For a pretty serious situation that includes a lot of hate and bigotry, the film handles it with humor (or humour since it's a British film) and affection. Dominic West (from HBO's The Wire) leads the cast of gay and lesbian activists as Jonathan Blake; the remainder of the actors may are relatively unknown in the US. The Welsh community is led by Dai Donovan (Paddy Considine), Hefina (Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake, Harry Potter, Nanny McPhee among others), Cliff (Bill Nighy - Love Actually, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). Ben Schnetzer plays Mark Ashton, the leader of LGSM, who brings an incredible enthusiasm and passion and a refusal to take no for an answer (mostly); I have not seen Schnetzer in anything before, but he was a dynamo and he must have been magnetic to be around, and probably frustrating because he was like a bull sometimes. It's important to remember the place in time that this movie occupies, decades removed from gay marriage and the openness we see from artists (Elton John had not yet come out), but in the early days of the AIDS epidemic; also the movie is based on real events and real people, some of whom are still alive, which made it more powerful to me. I was so excited about this movie that I emailed a friend of mine the next day, I thought a text late at night might be overdoing it, to tell him about it. I don't buy movies, but I will probably buy this one. Some people may be uncomfortable with the overt gay theme, but when you see middle-aged Welsh miners embrace 'the gays' as they are called, how can you be uncomfortable? It's a great lesson in tolerance and acceptance, from both sides.
