Run Fat Boy Run (#8)

Bland Fat Boy Bland.Starring Simon Pegg (Sean of the Dead), written by Michel Ian Black ( The State, and all the VH1 decade shows, and directed by David Schwimmer (Ross), Run Fat Boy Run, was a disappointingly generic comedy. I kinda felt like I had seen it already, even though I hadn't. Not bad, but kinda predictable. Destined for endless replays on the USA network.

Handicapping the Oscars: First Pass

So the Oscar nominations come out yesterday morning, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has 13 nominations. i tried to run out the clock on Button, but it looks like I'll have to see it this weekend. I've seen the other best picture pics, but I have some homework to do for the other major awards. Joe, what are your thoughts about the nominations?

I've listed the nominations in each category by my favorites. I have not yet seen a few of these movies, though, so this is just an early pass at handicapping the picks. 

Best picture

“Milk” 
“Slumdog Millionaire”

“Frost/Nixon”

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“The Reader”


I haven't seen Benjamin Button yet, so I can't really say whether it's deserving of the nod. I was a little surprised to see The Reader in this list, which I thought was a little lackluster and unfocused.

The other three are deserving of the nomination, however, and Milk should be the early front runner to win.

About Slumdog: It's a lot of fun, and it's a touching and uplifting story, but I don't know that it reaches the same level of overall excellence as Frost/Nixon and Milk. I can see it winning, and it won't be a travesty if it does, the way Crash winning was a few years ago. Still, what do we mean when we say best picture? the movie we liked best or the movie that was the best made, directed, acted, written, etc? I prefer the latter, but I don't think the emotional experience of seeing a movie should be completely excluded, either.

Best Actor

Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”

Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn in “Milk”

Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”

Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”


I've only seen Penn and Langella's performances here, and they both were excellent. I'd give the nod slightly to Langella, purely because he so thoroughly captured the menace and incredible intellect of Richard Nixon. I put Rourke at the top of the list because of the incredible and unanimous word of mouth.

Best Actress

Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

I've only seen two performances on this list, so I can't rank the performances at all. Streep and Winslet: Neither struck me as excellent. Streep played an overbearing, inscrutable nun, and it was hard to tell if she was hamming it up, or if the character was written with such little nuance. Winslet was better in The Reader.

Best Supporting Actor

Josh Brolin in “Milk”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”

Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”

Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”

Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”

I've seen four of the five (sorry, Michael Shannon). This is a tough field, as all of the performances were great. Ledger is the sentimental choice, and the work really does support his nomination. Downey winning would be a great story as well. But Brolin gives such a strong performance in Milk that he may spoil those particular parties.

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams in “Doubt”
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis in “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

Again, only saw Doubt, so no rankings. Of the two performances, Viola Davis is more deserving, although her limited screen time will hurt her chances. 

Best Director

“Milk”, Gus Van Sant

“Slumdog Millionaire”, Danny Boyle

“Frost/Nixon”, Ron Howard

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, David Fincher
“The Reader”, Stephen Daldry

Another strong slate in this category. Gus Van Sant's ability to take Milk from the bland, predictable biopic genre and transform it into a movie about a time and place makes him my choice. Danny Boyle is also very deserving for his use of setting and pacing in Slumdog. 

Slumdog Millionaire (#7)

I had high hopes for this movie. Everything I had heard had been positive, and people who I usually never talk movies with had been urging me to go see it. I also really enjoy the work of Danny Boyle, and think he is a film maker who has been making consistently good movies for a while now. Knowing that it did so well at the Golden Globes only added to my interest in seeing it. However, with so much going for it I was nervous that I was over hyping it in my mind, and setting myself up to be disappointed. Perhaps it’s a testament to how exceptional Slumdog Millionaire is that it delivered on all that hype.

The opening sequence drops you into the basic framing device for the movie, a young Indian male is doing quite well on his countries version of “Who wants to be a Millionaire”. The film quickly signals a grittier if not darker tone, by jumping in time to that same young man being tortured by the Indian police. From there the movie embraces the epic “in medias res” structure, as tried and true formula, drawn from literature (the Odyssey) and other films (Braveheart comes to mind). Doing so gives the whole movie a hopeful, fairytale type vibe. Even in the darkest, saddest moments I got the feeling the movie was building and building to a moment of triumph.

Thematically, I can’t think of a movie in recent memory that is a stronger statement for the idea of destiny or fate. Each detail of the movie is laid out in such a specific way, as if to suggest an underlying plan, connecting events over years, and physical distance. I was left wondering why, if not for the purpose of telling a compelling story, were these characters fated to suffer so much, before reaching a such a euphoric resolution.

Visually, Slumdog, combines the best of Danny Boyle’s work. The urban grittiness of Trainspotting, the frantic running action of 28 Days Later, and the fairytale sweetness of Millions, into a truly memorable and compelling mix. He also really has knack for working with child/young adult actors who all give solid performances. If anything some to the adult performances come across kind of over the top (I’m looking at you Indian Regis).

At the end of the movie, stay for the credits. Boyle keeps the high energy of the film going with a Bollywood style dance number that puts a emotional exclamation point on a really satisfying movie experience.

Defiance

What to make of Daniel Craig? He's helmed the successful reboot of the movie industry's most venerated franchise. He's starred in an indie darling. He's done fine supporting work in an Oscar-caliber film . So do we have Steve McQueen 2.0? Or is he just another square-jawed tough that never seems to rise above the material at hand? His movies make money, but it isn't yet clear whether he's smart about the projects he picks or if he's a face that can pack a theater all on its own. 

Craig is good in Defiance, the third of the World War II-tinged movies this Oscar season. He carries a little flame of humanity and conflict behind his eyes, which is all you can ask of a guy with Craig's face. If he does succeed as a star with drawing power, it'll be because he can do more than look rugged and handsome, which he does here.

Beyond Craig, however, there's not so much going on for Defiance. The film's direction and editing turns an incredible true story of hardship and survival into a sloppy action flick that at times has a little soul. There's barely time to register the character's names before they are already taking on the homeless and infirmed in the woods. In the first reel, two brothers, Zus (Liev Schreiber) and Asael Bielski (Jamie Bell is Billy Elliot fame) come home to find their parents killed by the Germans, discover a third, younger brother, Aron, (George MacKay)  hiding under the floorboards of the house, and head out into the woods, where a fourth , long-lost brother (Craig's Tuvia) tracks them down. The third brother goes wandering off and comes back with a small dentist office's worth of sick and scared Jews who have also fled from the Nazi slaughter in the villages. A decision is made then and there to keep and feed these stragglers.

In short, it's a mess. Tuvia's return is completely unexplained until much later in the film, and even then there's no confirmation; just hints at a tragic separation. The leadership of Tuvia and Zus is just assumed by everyone else in the forest. The entire first act is rushed and the film suffers for it. Tuvia's return to town to kill his parents' killers carries no emotional heft. His immediate disapproval of Zus' demands to form raiding parties comes immediately after the killings. Had the previous scene been given room to breathe, Tuvia's disapproval at more violence would have made more sense.

The raids do nothing but lead to camp members dying, and to increased attention by the Germans. The camp is forced to uproot and move deeper into the forest. Now come the Belarusian resistance fighters, who are none to pleased to find milk thieves and hungry, sick folk as their new neighbors in the metropolis-like forest. An uneasy peace is made.

As time passes, the hot-headed Zus becomes more and more disenchanted with the passive existence of the camp and the heavy-handed rule of his brother. He and other able-bodied men walk off and join the resistance fighters. The schism, some hour into the movie, finally gives a narrative drive to the project. Is it cowardice to hide in the forest? Is it worth fighting with allies who still hate you and your people? Is survival, in and of itself, the best revenge? To his credit, director Edward Zwick asks difficult questions and does not provide easy answers. The brothers' checkered past is not hidden, and their autocratic tendencies are uncomfortable to watch, even in the service of such great good. If only Zwick had done a better job of presenting the questions.

Schreiber does what he usually does: Lend structure and support with strong character work. He delivers Zus as a ill-tempered man who strives to meet his noble goals with less-than-noble tactics. His scenes with Craig and Ball carry the distinct flavor of a brother who wants, but doesn't always get, his way.

The film does not hide the Jewishness of the characters. Beaten down, starving and forced to live in makeshift cabins in the woods, the camp members still retain their cultural integrity. There's a wedding, complete with Chuppah and Horah . Camp elder Shamon Haretz (Allan Corduner) teaches the Talmud to the children. The scenes give the camp a sense of place and camaraderie, so the inevitable fissions and splintering takes on the weight of true separation. 

It also justifies a lot of the symbolism in the camp's second and final flight. After losing a few too many soldiers to the forest dwellers, the Germans send a full company to find and eradicate the camp. Tuvia leads the camp's feeling members to the edge of the forest, where they are confronted with miles of bog and a river. Tuvia has become Moses leading his people out of bondage and toward freedom. Shamon, now too sick, is carried at shoulder-height on a stretcher like the bones of Joseph coming out of Egypt.

This being Hollywood, of course, it isn't the promised land on the other side of the water. In the end, there's a bit too much Hollywood in the film, which drowns out the Bielski Brothers' story. Maybe Zwick was worried about the film's length, which was already over two hours, but a little more patience at the beginning would have made the film worthy of the story it tells. Instead, wait to rent Defiance.

Hamlet 2 (#6)

In a summer that has been hyped as big for comedy I was under whelmed by two of the biggest hits. Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder. Although different in tone, both lacked that quotable, better on repeated viewing, push the boundaries and surprise you with a laugh that sneaks up on you quality that I had expected from both. Where I felt let down by both of those movies, Hamlet 2 delivers.

From Pam Brady and Andy Fleming, two South Park writers, who worked on the tv show, movie, and Team America, Hamlet 2 spotlights a really exceptional Brittish comic named Steve Coogan. Coogan plays a failed actor, turned high school drama teacher, who takes his drama program getting shut down as an opportunity to stage his opus.

The plot is pretty standard, but clever parody on a couple of movie clichés; the teacher inspiring his students to success, the community coming together to make a work of art, a likable loser persevering in the end. It feels like it shouldn’t work, but it really does. Coogan, who I haven’t seen in anything before, but understand he’s a notable comic performer in England, really holds the whole movie together. His performance is a really unique mix of wide-eyed hopefulness, unhinged manic behavior, and quick clever one liners. Think a mix of Steve Carrel from the Office, Will Ferrell, and Stan’s dad Randy on South Park.

The movie is also full of strong supporting comic turns. Catherine Keener plays Coogans unsupportive wife. Amy Poheler plays a feisty ACLU attorney who helps make sure the show goes on. And in a surprising and enjoyable role, Elizabeth Shue, plays Elizabeth Shue, in a wry and self deprecating performance.

Hamlet 2 was really enjoyable. It was silly and clever, with great comedic performances, and some really clever and memorable lines. I'll definitely keep an eye out on more from Steve Coogan or this writing team.

Dear Zachary (#5)

This one made a few best documentary of the year lists, so when I noticed that MSNBC was broadcasting it, I put my DVR to work and saved it. (Turns out MSNBC picked it up as a distributor, and is now showing it fairly often)

Going in all I knew was the basic premise, that the filmmaker was "writing a letter" to his best friends son, following his fathers' murder. I found the film to be ghoulish at times, and more news magazine special then serious documentary. Visually it seemed to borrow a lot from 20/20 type production values which doesn't help to differentiate it. The story has tragic twists and turns, but throughout seems to be confused about the story its telling. What begins as a celebration of his friends life, turns into a graphic account of his murder and it's aftermath, which seemed to undermine it's premise. After a crucial revelation which I won't ruin here, the documentary morphs again to a advocacy argument for victims rights and bail reform. The filmmaker attempts to pull all the threads together by focusing in on his friends parents, but it doesn't quite come together.

Doubt

Doubt is a movie that succeeds despite a number of problems. Strong performances, smart pacing and strong tone help move the film past it's initial shortcomings and delivers a smart, taught drama.

Doubt starts with an 0-2 count. The film, of course, is based on a play by John Patrick Shanley, and it does not seem that there was a lot of work done to smooth out the emotions for the larger presentation. Also, the subject matter seems slightly dated; This was a movie that feels like it should have been made in 2003. It must have been extremely timely as a play, but it's right up against it's expiration date in late 2008.

Second, the characters are something out of every Catholic memoir. The twist, though, is that the easy-going priest, tough-as-nails nun, and idealistic new apprentice (here, Amy Adam's Sister James) are usually played for laughs. That was a winning formula for pictures like Heaven Help Us. Shanley plays it for drama.

Despite all these initial dings, Doubt is an engrossing film. Shanley welcomes us into a 1964 Catholic School. The turmoil of in the country is secondary to the turmoil within the Catholic Church itself. This is the time of Vatican II, and the reforms and liberalization of that council are brought alive by Father Brendan Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), a young priest who views the stern, scolding manner of the church as hopelessly outdated. Father Flynn likes to talk with the boys of the school, play basketball, and try to present an authority figure who can also be viewed as a friend.

Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep) will have none of that; She is the school's principal, and runs the place with an iron Habit. Discipline comes fast and severe in the school. Talking in class is worthy of a trip to her office. She advises the nuns to hang glossy framed pictures of the pope to act as mirrors. That gives the nun the ability to see the students misbehave while writing on the board.

Just how opposed is Sister Aloysius to any type of reform? She hangs pictures of Pope Pius XII, not the then-current Pope Paul VI or predecessor Pope John XXIII, both of whom presided over Vatican II. It's a subtle jab that most non-Catholics (and most Catholics, really) would miss, but it speaks volumes to just the kind of person we're dealing with with Sister Aloysius. That kind of subtlety permeates the script: Witness Father Flynn entering Sister's office and taking her chair behind the desk; a comment on the pervasive sexism of the time. The tables turn as the scene progresses and the sister's initial obsequience is replaced with moral outrage, and she dominates the room. Shanley's gift is in these details, even if the actors on screen slowly eat him alive as a director.

The national flux is also present at the school. Kennedy is dead and the civil rights movement is in full gear. Young Donald Miller (Joseph Foster) is the school's first and only black student. Everyone at the school tries to integrate Donald with the rest of the class, in their own ways. But Donald presents challenges beyond the race issues. There is polite talk about the biy's nature. That leads to some friction, and none of it serves Donald well. Father Flynn takes an intense interest in Donald.

Given this context, it's easy to see that Sister Aloysius does not like the new Priest at her parish. A simple gesture caught in the first frames of the film, combined with a crying Donald sent back to class after a meeting with Father Flynn, is all the evidence she needs to try and have him removed. An accusation is made, and Flynn and Beauvier spend the next hour battling over its implications. Sister James, new to the school, and new to being a nun, tries to broker a peace between her two mentors, and ultimately becomes a pawn in their game.

Doubt winds itself tighter and tighter as the story develops, leading to explosive outbursts as accusations and threats come to a head. Hoffman delivers a fine performance, presenting a priest struggling hard to loosen the reins of the church on its members. Flynn very well may have secrets, however, and Hoffman is careful to show a little deviousness in the corner of the priest's eye.

Streep meanwhile, is given a tighter box in which to work. What results is a new formula of The Devil Wears Prada's Miranda Priestly: Take out the urbanism, add in another cup of reserve and sneering condescension, and what results is a character tougher and more resolute than her remarkable work in that earlier film. It's hard to tell whether it's Streep playing too large or the character written that way. She does have one shining moment, when speaking with Donald's mother (Viola Davis in a small but powerful performance), where a flicker of humanity tries to peek out from the opressive nun-ness of the Sister.

There's too much Actor with a capital A on the screen in two critical passes. The two major clashes between Hoffman and Streep both descend into screaming matches, which is fine, and was warranted by the script, but it left no room for the two master performers to modulate their emotion, or create any hint of, well, doubt within themselves. Hoffman comes off better in the exchange, purely because his character has more flexibility within himself. Amy Adams's optimism and befuddlement at all things unpleasant whips a little air into the stifling debate and rancor Hoffman and Streep conjure up. Shanley would have done well to pull these two titans back just a little, to provide a little more range, and an opportunity to defend the odd twist at the end of the picture.

Still, Doubt does an admirable job overcoming it's original sins to deliver a taught and suspenseful movie. Shanley's script may still read as a play, but it reads as a good one, and the complexities leech themselves out around the block-like characterization. And if inflexibility and it's degradation of the soul is a central theme here, the twist in the last few frames of the movie undercut that message. No spoilers here, but the 180-degree change is not justified by previous events. It doesn't quite ruin the movie, but it's jarring to see.

That said, Doubt is well-worth an in-theater experience.

Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood is the last in the line of Hollywood tough guys. The vast majority of today's manly stars are more studly than anything else. They are descendants of the House of Newman, where your manliness is defined by sexiness and virility. Eastwood is the last great King of the House of Wayne. And while John Wayne defined macho, Lee Marvin defined tough, and Steve McQueen defined cool, Eastwood's lasting legacy to film may be in defining ornery. Dirty Harry Callahan, Blondie, Gunny Highway, Josey Wales. The man has made a career of not suffering fools gladly.

At 78, it's a thin line between tough-guy ornery and old-man crotchety. Eastwood walks that line with ease in Gran Torino. He plays Walt Kowalski, the last of the old factory workers in his Michigan neighborhood. Slowly but surely the remaining Polish working-class families have left, and in their place is America's new working class; a mix of ethnicities and races, none of which please Walt.

Don't hold it against him, though, because there isn't much left in this life that does please him. We meet Walt at his wife's funeral. We watch him seethe as his grand kids walk in, late, wearing football jerseys, mid-riff shirts and belly-button rings. He snarls at his sons, who spend the entirety of the post-funeral gathering counting the minutes and arguing with their wives about the etiquette of an early departure. He growls racist epithets at his new neighbors, a Hmong family, threatening them with his comparison to the Koreans he killed some 50-plus years ago. He forcibly removes his son from a birthday celebration for suggesting he move into a retirement community.

So it comes as a surprise to everyone, then, when Walt takes decisive action to defend the next door neighbor from a Hmong gang. The youngest son, Thao (Bee Vang in his debut film), is a dork. Dogged by his sister, mother, and grandmother, bullied by his cousins, and ignored by everyone else, Thao tries to fit in by joining the gang. His initiation? Steal Walt's 1972 Gran Torino. The boy fails, and finds facing the business end of Walt's army-issue M1 rifle. Just one night later, a carload of gang members come to take Thao away. The struggle spills onto Walt's lawn, and the M1 makes it's second of many more appearances in the film, this time to defend Thao.

Now a neighborhood hero, Walt bristles at the attention his foreign neighbors give him. Deliveries of flowers and food from a grateful Hmong community are met with racist derision. Overtures at friendship by Thao's sister Sue (Ahney Hur, also her debut) are parried. But the young woman is relentless in her outreach, and Walt soon warms to the family's hospitality.

Seeing his neighbors as people for the first time, Walt perches himself on the porch like a rooster overseeing the business of the coop. Any signs of danger are met with aggressive defense. Walt has found new meaning in late life. The young toughs of the neighborhood have found a new and challenging target.

If there is a hint of crotchety in Eastwood's performance, it's played for laughs, and any hint of doddering evaporates quickly when the going gets tough. Crotchety people complain about hoodlums. Ornery people threaten them with rifles and handguns. Eastwood knows he's 78, and knows viewers will wonder whether his fraying body can hang on to the bridle of his rage. It can, of course, and he toys with our doubt. Never has the prototypical old man demand of "Get off my lawn" carried such fearsome authority and malice. If Walt Kowaksi is indeed Eastwood's last on-screen performance, then he leaves the stage with his reputation intact, and in the process gives us one more great anti-hero to fear and admire.

While Eastwood shines, the remaining cast of unknowns struggle to keep up. Vang and Her get the most screen time with the legend. While Her has her moments, both show their inexperience. It's enough to take you out of critical scenes; Her's feigned nonchalance at a potential sexual assault feels a little too forward and defiant; Vang's screams of betrayal and frustration with Walt a the end of the film come off as too childish and outraged. Christopher Carley's Father Janovich, the young and determined priest set to save Walt's soul is another nuisance to Walt for his naivete, and to viewers for his grating performance.

The dialogue is also a bit too on the nose and uneven, which, when combined with shaky supporting performances, sometimes gave the movie a slightly amateurish feel. At those moments when the movie loses focus, it becomes a slightly-better better version of Falling Down. Overall, however, Eastwood's Oscar-caliber performance saves the film from Rental Hell and makes it worthy of an in-theater experience.

Sex and The City: The Movie (#4)

Sex and the City- The Moive-  This movie was 18 hours long. Honestly it was like a miniseries. That said I didn’t hate it. The first half really seemed like a victory lap, hitting on all the familiarities of the series for long time fans, and it wasn’t really until the second half that the plot kicks and you get some character advancement. All in all some funny bits, and solid story albeit with some really obvious foreshadowing, that fans of the show probably enjoyed a lot more then the uninitiated or uninterested.

Milk (#3)

MILK- Directed with a delicate and poetic touch by Gus Van Sant, with strong performances from a deeply talented cast, and anchored by perhaps the best performance of Sean Penn’s career, this may very well be the best movie of the year.  Milk is altogether an incendiary call to stand against injustice, inspiring biopic, history lesson, and inspirational call for hope and meaningful change through political action. Van Sant deftly cuts between documentary footage and photographic images from the media, which gives the story a powerful context that calls to mind not only the complexity of what Milk accomplished , but also how similar the contemporary political debate around gay marriage is. The only misstep, to nit pick a fine movie, was the wheelchair bound gay adolescent who calls Milk out of the blue, seemingly too coincidently, at his, not one, but two lowest moments in the movie. The character clearly is intended to inspire hope to our hero, reminding him why he is making the personal sacrifices he is, so he can inspire others. MILK is too good for such an on the nose moment, that I found distracting and not needed.

As an aside, I ask, is there a better actor working today then Sean Penn?  I’m eagerly awaiting the Spicoli as an adult movie that the world demands.

Valkyrie (#2)

Valkyrie- I was kinda meh on this one right after I saw it, but like it even less now that I’m sitting down to write this. I think it was problematic on a number of levels. I think the deck is staked against a movie like this to begin with. How do build suspense successfully in a movie about the plot to kill Hitler, when you kinda already know how that works out? Despite the intricacies of a plan, that was an assassination and a coup of the Nazi government, not a lot happens. There is a lot of talking, and walking, and then more talking, culminating in some shouting and then running.  Tom Cruise was kind of personality-less, and didn’t really carry the movie well. A range of great charcter actors like Bill Nighy, Terrence Stamp, and Eddie Izzard aren’t given much to do.  Very forgettable.

Kung Fu Panda (#1)

Kung Fu Panda- This was a nice surprise, from the appreciated clever use of the word awesome in the opening credits, to the exceptional character design, and well paced action; it was pretty enjoyable from start to finish. This was a great role for Jack Black, whose Jack Blackness was reigned in, more like School of Rock, then the awful Tropic Thunder performance. One nit pick would be somewhat pointless celebrity voice casting of all the supporting characters that had few, or no lines. Why cast Jackie Chan as a Monkey and then not let him say anything. The only thing that kept this from being a great animated movie was a clarity of theme or “message” in an unforced way.  The whole “there is no secret ingredient”, seemed a little awkward and not as effective as a culminating realization for the hero, should be. Overall though, it was enjoyable for its outstanding visuals, and silliness.

Popcorn Brothers Dig the Movies.

Its only been 09 for a few days and I've already seen four movies. What can I say I like the movies. Popcorn Brothers will be the place where my counterpart and I post a range of features, all stemming from our film addiction

Among the things you'll be seeing her, is a pretty regular update of every movie I watch this year. I'm hoping this will be part log, and part place for some quick thoughts about the movie.  I'm not sure if ambitous is the right word for such an endeavor, but I'm looking forward to it.

Joe