Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)

Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Max von Sydow

Ten year old Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) is a child genius living in Manhattan. The narrative of the film centers on Oskar and the loss of his father, Thomas (Tom Hanks) who was killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11. While going through his father's personal effects, Oskar finds a key in a small envelope labeled "Black." To keep the memory of his father alive, Oskar sets out on a journey throughout the entire metropolis of New York.  He compiles a list from the phone-book of everyone with the name of "Black"and searches the people out to see if his key fits a lock they may or may not have. Along the way, Oskar meets a mute neighbor of his who communicates to him only through written notes and a "yes" or "no" that is tattooed on his left and right hands. The mute (Max von Sydow) turns out to be his grandfather. While all this is going on, Oskar becomes increasingly estranged from his mother, Linda (Sandra Bullock.) The plot of the mysterious key gets lost in the middle of the story, then reappears towards the end.

A more fitting title to this movie would be "Extremely Annoying and Incredibly Obnoxious" because that is exactly how I would describe the protagonist, Oskar. He becomes increasingly obnoxious as the storyline plays out. Oskar's rapid fire questions to everyone he encounters and dialect that is way beyond the normal dialect of a ten year old child was enough to put me off from the get go. Through no fault of Sandra-Bullock's acting ability, the character of Oskar's mother was all over the place. First, she is disconnected from her child, then she is involved, then disconnected (and gone for that matter), then she re-appears at the end as if she was there all along. Although Max von Sydow is a veteran actor, and a powerful one at that, his character was all but useless in this film. He gave a fine performance, but The plot would have been just the same regardless if the mute "grandpa" was in film or not. Tom Hanks has limited screen time, but his character is ever present through the entire film. One cannot help but love everything that he does in any movie that he is in.

I will say that there were a few moments in the film that did tug at one's heartstrings. However, it wasn't the plot or the storyline that triggered those emotions in me; It was remembering the events of 9/11. Who could ever forget that horrible day?  I have mixed feelings on the film maker's use of 9/11 for that matter.  The grief felt by Oskar had more to do with the loss of his father, and not actually the tragic way he was killed at ground zero. Thomas could have died any number of ways and the rest of the plot could have remained just the same.  Did using 9/11 help the plot? I would say that it gave it the extra emotional element that made the audience feel that much sadder for the protagonist. On the other hand, one could argue that the writers exploited the most tragic event on American soil to further the effects of their fictional film. I guess the same could be said for Pearl Harbor...I'm talking about the Ben Affleck version of Pearl Harbor (2001)

Beginners (2010)

Written and Directed by: Mike Mills
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mealnie Laurent

Beginners is a tale about personal relationships and new beginnings. The narrative is seen and told through the eyes of Oliver Fields (McGregor.) The storyline jumps time back and forth between the present (actually 2003) and Oliver's childhood. Oliver's mother and father were married for 38 years; they were both very unhappy in their marriage. When Oliver's mother passes away, his father, Hal (Christopher Plummer) comes out of the closet and lives the rest of life the way he always wanted to...as an openly gay man.  Hal then passes away and Oliver is left to deal with taking care of all of his father's affairs and adopts his father's dog, a Jack Russel named Arthur. The dog's thoughts are shown on screen through subtitles. The dog seems to be tho only one in the film who is holding it together, actually. Oliver is a lonely soul who is afraid to trust anyone, for what I am guessing is a fear of abandonment. He does finally meet and begins a relationship with a French Actress named Anna (Melanie Laurent.)

This film deals with human emotions and relationships, but the narrative is excruciatingly slow. The character of Oliver's mother could have been expanded on more; why did she stay in an unhappy marriage, knowing her husband was a homosexual?  Why did Hal stay in the marriage knowing the same thing? Oliver's parents stayed together well into his adulthood, so staying married for the sake for their son was out a possible reason. However, I did like this film because it deals with real life issues, and it lets us know that it is never too late for a new beginning in life. I also like the narration through Oliver when describing different time periods in his and his parent's lives. I enjoyed seeing how the characters of Hal and Oliver evolved as the openly gay father and his son form a bond that they never had before. McGregor and Plummer gave good performances, but in my opinion, McGregor was the stronger of the two. However, Oscar buzz is swarming all around Plummer on this one. My guess is he is going to bring home the statue.

84th Annual Academy Awards Predictions

Ah...the Oscars! My "Superbowl night" to all you sports fans out there. Keep in mind that the Oscar winner has more to do with politics than it has to do with actual talent. Sometimes the winner of the award for a chosen category is much deserved; but more often than not, it's more about who "played the game" with the powers that be at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Although I think that George Clooney should be getting the award for Best Actor for his role in The Descendants, there was more buzz for Jean Dujardin for his role in The Artist. Meryl Streep is Hollywood Royalty, and she nailed her role in The Iron Lady, but the film was quite frankly, a bore. Viola Davis stole the screen with her heartwarming performance in The Help, and I feel she is deserving of her title. Speaking of The Artist; it was a great film, and I truly enjoyed it, but I don't think it was better than Moneyball or The Descendants. Moneyball will lose in all it's nominated categories for that matter, for reasons I have already stated at the start of this post. I have to give proper credit to Octavia Spencer; she was a main part of the glue that held The Help together...so she is much deserving of her award for best supporting actress. Nick Nolte should be getting the award for best supporting actor for his work in Warrior, but the film has all been forgotten about in the mainstream. Tree of Life was a brilliant masterpiece, and a true work of art...but it will bomb in all of it's nominated categories because it is considered "too artsy." I did not care for War Horse, but I can't argue with the excellent cinematography in this film. It must be noted however, that even if an actor or director or producer does not win an award for their nomination, the mere nomination is recognition enough in the world of film.


With all that being said, here are my predictions for the winners:

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Viola Davis (The Help)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Best Picture: "The Artist" produced by Thomas Langmann

Best Director: Michael Hazanavicius (The Artist)

Best Adapted Screenplay: "The Descendants" Written by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash

Best Original Screenplay: "The Artist"  Written by Michel Hazanavicius

Best Cinematography:  "War Horse"  Janusz Kaminski

The Red Carpet Event starts at 4pm (pacific time) on ABC networks, with the greatest host in Oscar history, Billy Crystal.

Take Shelter (2011)

Directed by: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon

Curtis (Shannon) and his wife, Samantha (Chastain) live in a modest house on the outskirts of an Ohio town with their hearing impaired daughter, Hannah (Tova Stewart.) Curtis has a good job working in construction which affords his family to live well. To their friends and other outsiders, it seems that all is well in Curtis's life. But to the viewer, we know something is amiss in his world. From the very start of the film, Curtis is having vivid nightmares of apocalyptic storms on the horizon, and people and animals out to harm him and his family. His dreams begin to bleed over into his waking life, and he takes measures to protect the family that he loves. Curtis also has a family history of paranoid schizophrenia, which his mother is afflicted with. Curtis feels that he is beginning to lose his mind, but he presses on by building out an old tornado shelter in his backyard which would allow his family to survive in a post apocalyptic world. Soon, everything he holds dear to him comes into jeopardy as his life starts to unravel because of his assumed paranoia. But is it really paranoia? Or is Curtis really seeing something that everyone else is not?

The question left up to the viewer is whether or not Curtis is in fact going insane. Director Jeff Nichols does a beautiful job of making Curtis's dreams and reality flow together so the audience doesn't know if he is in fact dreaming or not, the ending scene really emphasizes this fact. Most big-budget blockbuster films today rely on CGI to get them through, with minimal reliance on the acting capabilities of the cast. The exact opposite can be said about this film. Though CGI special effects were used, they are not what made the film great. Michael Shannon is a force to be reckoned with his acting abilities. With over forty five roles under his belt in the last ten years, he continues to shine as an actor who is capable of expressing believable emotions in any character which he submerses himself into. Fresh of her recent success of award winning films like Tree of Life (2011) and The Help (2011), Jessica Chastain has proven that she too is a fine actor. She really engages the audience in her role as the caring and understanding wife who is trying to hold her family together. 

The thing I enjoyed the most about this film is that is another example of how a little-known director can produce a film with powerful actors on a small budget...and get the Academy voters to take notice of his work.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011)

Written and Directed by: Morgan Spurlock

Have you ever noticed a character in a movie drinking a Pepsi? Do you notice that the "Pepsi" is being held in a way that the audience is noticing that the actor is in fact drinking that Pepsi product? Do you think that the actor is just drinking said Pepsi because he or she loves that particular soft drink? Ok, maybe I'm beating up a little bit on Pepsi here, (hopefully no one from the Pepsi Corporation is reading this) but the point I'm trying to make is that the brand of soft drink that a character in a movie is drinking, the shoes that they are wearing, or the hamburger they are eating is not by accident...it's called product placement.

 Film maker Morgan Spurlock exposes the world of advertising in Hollywood in his latest documentary The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Spurlock comes up with a clever idea of directing a film about branding and product placement in films, and has the film itself solely funded by branding and product placement through advertisers. Spurlock has many doors slammed in his face when trying to find sponsors for his film. Most "Big Name" brands want nothing to do with his film. However, he finally does find financial backing for the film, and he does in fact "plug" his sponsors, just as you would see in any other film.

The most interesting aspect of the film is when Spurlock is interviewing director Peter Berg. Berg explains in no uncertain terms how corporate sponsors have the most power in film making. Berg details how an ad executive will show up on the set of a film, to make sure that their brand is being advertised. Through contractual obligations, the ad agencies will order changes the script of his films because of product placement, and there is nothing that he as the director can do about it.  Berg makes the final comment that he  works for GE (General Electric), and they are a business. The bottom line of any business is to make money, and "they don't give a flying fuck about art."

Just as he did in Supersize Me (2004), Spurlock exposes us to something we already knew was there..but didn't realize to what extent. This eye-opening film exposes the true nature of not only what ad sponsors in film is all about, but what the world we live in is all about: making money! But do advertising agencies think that the general population is so dumb that we can't think for ourselves? Sure, advertising has it's place in our world, but the over-saturation in every single thing we see and do has gotten so bad that we don't even know we are being duped into a commercial. The one place where most people to go to escape is the movie theater; now even that simple escape is being turned into the moviegoer being duped into one big commercial.  Film is supposed to be an expression of art- not a plug for Burger King.

J.Edgar (2011)

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts.

As director of the FBI for forty eight years, J. Edgar Hoover was the most feared man in the United States Government.  Living by the motto of "information is power," he had the goods on everyone: who was sleeping with who, or who was harboring a dark secret. He kept confidential files on anyone in a position of power- even the eight presidents whom which he served under. He was an extreme moralist who surrounded him self with people who lived by his code of ethics, or they were fired. He lived with his mother until her death, and never married.  What few people knew was that Hoover himself was the one who was harboring a dark secret his entire life; Clint Eastwood's latest biopic, J. Edgar focuses on that very issue.

The narrative is told through Hoover (DiCaprio) in his later years, and a series flashback scenes of his life and career in public office. The screenplay by Dustin Lance Black focuses the story on personal relationships in Hoover's life, mainly the repressed gay relationship that Hoover had with his assistant director, Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer.) However, unlike Black's screenplay, Milk (2008) this film does not portray scenes of gay sex. In the one scene where you think it's going to happen, it doesn't.  The film instead portrays the two men repressing their homosexual feelings (not unheard of in the mid 20th Century) and settling for a lifelong companionship. There were two other close relationships in Hoover's life; his mother, Anna Marie (Judi Dench), and his personal secretary, Helen Gandy (Watts.) The film shows how his overbearing mother most likely shaped Hoover into the man he was, and how he never had an intimate relationship with another woman. The one woman whom Hoover attempted to show interest in turned out instead to be one of his closest confidants, Helen Gandy. Helen ended up being the one person whom he entrusted all of his confidential information and evidence with.  The rest of the narrative portrays Hoover as a man obsessed with glory, and who twisted the truth in his actual work in apprehending criminals, but got results nonetheless. The most famous incident that gets the most screen time is the "Lindbergh Baby" case in 1932 which changed the way the FBI operated from that point on.

Through make-up and sheer acting ability, Leonardo DiCaprio is stellar in his portrayal of the head "G-Man."  Without a lot of pomp and circumstance, Clint Eastwood does an excellent job of showing who J. Edgar Hoover really was: a repressed gay man who was also a powerful man. There is no question after watching this film that Hoover was a man who got things done- even if he did not do them himself, and regardless of his sexuality.

Septien (2011)

Directed by: Michael Tully
Starring: Michael Tully, Robert Longstreet, Onur Tukel, Brian Kotzur, Rachel Korine

The plot of this film is about the Rawlings Brothers: Ezra (Longstreet), Amos (Tukel), and Cornelieus (Tully.) Cornelius has returned home after an eighteen year absence. The reason that the audience knows he has been gone that long is because in the very beginning of the film, there is a scene where Ezra asks Cornelius "Do you mind telling us where you have been for the last eighteen years?"...almost as nonchalantly as you would ask someone where they were the night before. What we don't really know is the reason as to why he left in the first place. Living on their (deceased) parent's farm in what appears to be somewhere in the rural south, the brothers all have serious demons in their closets. Ezra is a drag queen who thinks he is mom to his brothers, Amos likes to paint disturbing pictures, and Cornelius likes to hustle people in sporting contests, then blow the money on booze and drugs. Strange fact is that he has what appears to be a natural talent at any sport he plays; be it football, soccer, or tennis.  Cornelius is the one who is harboring something very dark in his past. An ex-football coach who is now a plumber named "The Red Rooster" is tied into Cornelius's past. The "Red Rooster" part of the narrative plays out in the end when a preacher shows up at their farm and performs some sort of exorcism, revealing the reason why Cornelius left eighteen years ago. 

Indie Filmmaker Michael Tully in his own words describes his latest film, Septien as a "wholly entertaining art film, and a late-night made for television movie from the 80's, combined with Southern Gothic Horror." I will say one thing- this film is most definitely art, and certainly entertaining...if that's your thing. This kind of film would most likely be found in an underground movie-house somewhere deep in Gotham. Fortunately for Michael Tully, the film's right were sold exclusively to IFC (Independent film channel.) So at least his film is getting some pretty good air time to people who may not have sought it out to begin with. As a true lover of Indie and "strange" art films, I really enjoyed this twisted flick...I'm sure though, that it's not every one's cup of tea.