Rarely does an actor have as amazing a debut year as you had in 1996. It started with Primal Fear – what a breakout! The movie was a slick Hollywood thriller, but your performance elevated it and announced the arrival of a special talent. Your audition tape burned through the industry, landing you juicy roles in Milos Forman’s The People vs.Larry Flynt and Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You before Primal Fear had even come out. By year’s end, all three movies had been released and you were winning critics awards for your work in all of them. You took home a Golden Globe for Primal Fear, and an Oscar nomination for the same. After this hat trick of superb supporting performances, leading roles seemed yours for the taking. Yet instead of going that route, you chose another supporting part for your next film, playing wingman to Matt Damon in the poker flick Rounders. Granted, you had the more colorful part, that of a cocky gambling addict whose irresponsible behavior gets him – and his friend – in trouble with the wrong people.
To me, you were the second coming of Dustin Hoffman. Like him, you had the combination of unconventional handsomeness and fierce talent that would make you a leading man even though your true nature was that of a character actor. Hoffman could have headlined any number of movies after The Graduate, but instead he chose to play second lead to Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy, a strategy you seemed to be following. Next up, you were front and center as a terrifying Neo-Nazi who reforms while serving jail time in American History X. You earned your second Oscar nomination. The following year? Fight Club.
It should have been the beginning of a legendary career, the kind to rival the 1970’s runs of Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Robert Duvall and Gene Hackman. But that trajectory never materialized. You were a movie star, no doubt, and your talent was unquestionable. But you didn’t take the roles that would have secured you the place in film history held by those gentlemen. I have to assume such roles were available to you, but I suppose it’s possible that you weren’t getting the offers. You followed up Fight Club by directing the comedy Keeping the Faith, written by your college friend Stuart Blumburg, and playing a priest who falls in love with a childhood friend (Jenna Elfman) and vies for her affection with another childhood friend, now a rabbi (Ben Stiller). Okay, fair enough – you had come off a couple of intense dramas. Keeping the Faith showed that you were interested in mixing things up, and it provided the opportunity to test your skills behind the camera.
But as the years went on, none of your films broke out. There were no movies that became cultural touchstones. No Best Picture nominees, and no additional acting nominations. It’s not that you didn’t do any good work, but rather that the dramas which should have been your showcase roles – like Down in the Valley, The Illusionist or The Painted Veil – were interesting, but not particularly memorable. You didn’t seem to be choosing projects that would push you as an actor. There were no creative risks, even though you clearly had the talent and intelligence to take them. In 2003, Martin Scorsese wrote a piece for Rolling Stone entitled, “The Leading Man.” He first talked about the greats he admired as a child, like Humphrey Bogart, James Dean and Marlon Brando. Then he talked about his contemporaries, like Nicholson and De Niro. When he got around to talking about younger actors, you were among those he cited. After describing Johnny Depp as an actor who would try anything, he segued to you. “Edward Norton is the same way,” Scorsese wrote. “I’ve been talking to Ed a lot. He has extraordinary energy and vision.”
Surely you did. But for some reason, it wasn’t coming across in the films you made. Where was your Chinatown, or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Your Taxi Driver, or your Raging Bull? Your Lenny, your Dog Day Afternoon, your Great Santini or your Conversation? Were you just not finding them? Or did you miss out on them because you opted for more commercial projects like Red Dragon, The Italian Job and The Incredible Hulk? Hey, nothing wrong with doing a comic book movie. Brando did Superman between Last Tango in Paris and Apocalypse Now. But around the time you were working on Hulk with the guy who directed The Transporter, Philip Seymour Hoffman was working with Sidney Lumet. Leonardo DiCaprio was working with Scorsese. Sean Penn was working with Gus Van Sant. I suppose that Spike Lee’s 2002 film 25th Hour had the potential to be one of those “special” movies that would leave a lasting impression on the cinemascape. Unfortunately it didn’t happen, despite a worthy premise, a talented cast and positive reviews. Even though critics like Roger Ebert and The New York Times‘ A.O. Scott included it among their top ten movies of the decade, it’s not widely regarded as a movie for the ages. Does that take away from the film itself, or your work in it? No, of course not. My point is only that it doesn’t seem right that an actor of your talent hasn’t appeared in a larger number of transcendent films. Frida was a good movie, but you played only a small role in that, and were really just involved because you were in a relationship with Salma Hayek at the time. (And if ever there was a case where sleeping with someone to get a part was justified, that was it.)
Look, no one expects you to have a crystal ball. Nobody ever knows what projects are going to connect and which ones are going to falter. I’m sure that during production of movies like Cuckoo’s Nest or Dog Day Afternoon, the people making them had no idea they would turn out to be enduring American classics. Sometimes a phenomenal script becomes merely a good movie at best. Maybe some of your choices seemed brilliant on paper. And sometimes, you gotta just do one for you. I mean, who would have passed up the chance to work with De Niro and Brando in The Score? Three actors of their generation together in one movie, and you being the one working with two idols? Of course you’re gonna make that movie! It was a fun caper flick, if not ultimately worthy of that trio of talent. That’s alright, though. Not every time at the plate has to yield a home run. Still, I have to think there were times when you knew you could be doing better. It’s just hard to believe that an actor of your talent and range couldn’t have been in more Great Films over the last decade.
You can’t control how your films are received, but there is one aspect of your career you can control: the projects you choose. This is why I write to you now. Last week I read that you have been approached to play a major role in a remake of Robocop. My heart sank at the news. There are so many reasons for you not to do this, high among them being that, like 99.9% of remakes, this one is unnecessary and will most certainly be inferior to the 1987 original. But even more important is this: you deserve better! You’re capable of more! The fans and moviegoers who know how talented you are want to see that talent applied to intriguing projects. If you aren’t finding the opportunities to take on dynamic lead roles, than at least go after meaty supporting parts with exciting directors. Even if 25th Hour didn’t take hold as a Universally Regarded Film Classic, working with Spike Lee and digging into that film’s complex material was absolutely where you belonged. The fact that you’re in Wes Anderson’s new movie Moonrise Kingdom is definitely a step in the right direction. He’s exactly the caliber of filmmaker you should be working with. If you like playing offbeat comedy, as you demonstrated with choices like Death to Smoochy and Leaves of Grass, then don’t stop at Wes Anderson. Seek out the Coen Brothers, or Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman. And don’t neglect your serious side. My God, what you could do in a Terrence Malick film! You bring exactly the kind of nuance and dignity required to shine in his projects, where much of your work would probably be silent and internalized. You should be working with Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell. Get back with David Fincher. Team up with Steve McQueen, who’s making his mark with movies like Hunger and Shame. You must have a passion project that you’re dying to get made; a story that speaks to you and that you’re determined to realize onscreen. Are you pursuing it? Are you meeting with exciting directors who can share your vision? Find filmmakers who can tap into your intellect and your vast abilities. I’m sure they’d be thrilled to work with you. Make no mistake: you could be one of the greats. The last decade should have been the prime of your career, but it’s not too late to take your rightful place as one of the best character actors ever. The talent is there; you just need the movies to match it. If you go after the best screenwriters and the best directors, the filmography you deserve will finally take shape. One thing I can promise you, though: movies like the Robocop remake aren’t going to get you there.
A list like this one would seem most fitting for delivery at the beginning of the year, but I tend to wait until the Oscars are over and we can focus completely on looking ahead. Besides, rarely is there a movie released in the first few months of a given year that would land on anyone’s “most anticipated” list. In fact, today’s release of The Hunger Games is probably the first movie of 2012 that lots of people have been legitimately excited about. But this is just the beginning of what could potentially be an outstanding year for movies. It’s not just that so many great directors have new films coming out this year, but that those films hold such promise, be it from the pairing of certain directors and certain actors, or the match of director to material, or both…there’s potential for some seriously awesome cinema this year, including many projects that have been long-gestating and will finally see the light of day…or the dark of a theater, as it were.
Plenty of surprises surely await, but looking at what I know is coming down the pike, here are some I’m especially pumped about.
21. (Bonus) UNTITLED TERRENCE MALICK MOVIE Director: Terrence Malick Cast: Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz, Barry Pepper, Amanda Peet, Michael Sheen, Jessica Chastain, Olga Kurylenko Release Date: Unknown
Terrence Malick seems to be making up for lost time. The director, known for long gaps between projects, was already deep into production on this film when The Tree of Life was released last year. And his next two projects after this one have already been announced, complete with titles and even principal casting. Pre-production is said to be underway on the first of them, meaning it’s reasonable to assume that this movie – which still lacks a title – will be finished this year. Of course, that doesn’t mean it will be distributed this year. We’ve been here before; The Tree of Life made my list of most anticipated for three consecutive years before it finally came out. So I’m hedging my bets and sliding this in at a ranking of #21, just in case it does appear by year’s end. Little is known about the film, other than it being a contemporary romantic drama concerning a man and his relationships with a European lover and a woman from his hometown in Oklahoma. Expect to see a lot of wheat blowing gently in the wind, accompanied by whispered voiceover of Affleck pondering the deep mysteries of love.
20. HYDE PARK ON THE HUDSON Director: Roger Michell Cast: Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Olivia Williams, Olivia Colman Release Date: December
We all know that Sean Penn is an amazing actor, but no way should he have won an Oscar for Mystic River over Bill Murray for Lost in Translation. Ever since that defeat, I’ve been hoping Murray would have another shot at the gold. This might be it. He plays President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a story set during a 1939 weekend visit to upstate New York by the King and Queen of England. The movie is said to concern a romance between FDR and his distant cousin and close confidant Margaret Suckley (Linney). I don’t know what tone the film is going for, though I’d guess it will be a light drama with refined comic overtones. Really, I’m just excited about the potential of a great lead role for Murray. Added bonus: the movie reunites him with Olivia Williams, who played his love interest in Rushmore and appears here as Eleanor Roosevelt. Rushmore…another movie for which Murray deserved Oscar attention (he wasn’t nominated). Even if this part puts him back in the race, his competition may be too stiff to overcome (as we’ll see further down the list). But if the movie and the role is good, his performance will be a reward in itself.
19.
SKYFALL Director: Sam Mendes Cast: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Helen McRory Release Date: November 9
I like the James Bond movies, but I’ve never been a hard-core devotee of the franchise. I’ve only seen eight of the official 22 movies, and most of those are from the later years. But I dug the re-launch of the series that was Casino Royale, and liked the direction they were moving in with a less conventional choice for Bond in Daniel Craig (though I’m told by friends that Craig is much closer to the Bond of Ian Fleming’s novels than any actor who’s played him previously). Quantum of Solace was less satisfying, but still I’ve been eager to see what was in store for 007. Complicated legal entanglements involving MGM, the studio holding the rights to the series, have held up the next installment, but now Bond is finally coming back. And in this year of great directors, it’s really because of Sam Mendes’ involvement that the movie cracks my top 20. Re-teaming with Craig, whom he directed in Road to Perdition, it will be fun to see what Mendes brings to the table. (One thing we know he brings is Greatest Living Cinematographer Roger Deakins, which means that whatever happens, this will probably be the best looking Bond movie ever.)
18.
THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES Director: Derek Cianfrance Cast: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Rose Byrne, Ray Liotta, Bruce Greenwood, Harris Yulin, Ben Mendolsohn Release Date: TBA
One of 2010’s best films was the brutally realistic and blisteringly acted Blue Valentine, and now its writer/director Derek Cianfrance re-teams with one of its stars, Ryan Gosling. The plot synopsis on the web describes it as the story of “a motorcycle stunt rider (Gosling), who considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician (Cooper).” Sounds like a more plot-driven movie than Blue Valentine, and who knows if Cianfrance can recapture the raw intimacy of that film…or if he even aims to try. Either way, I’m eager to see the results. Besides, Ryan Gosling seems to be good at playing stunt drivers. So there’s that.
17.
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
Director: Martin McDonagh Cast: Woody Harrelson, Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Gabourey Sidibe, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, Tom Waits, Kevin Corrigan, Zeljko Ivanek Release Date: November 2
I really enjoyed McDonagh’s feature debut, In Bruges, as well as his Oscar winning short film Six Shooter. His newest sounds like a similarly offbeat crime-comedy, with Farrell playing a screenwriter who gets mixed up in a friend’s dognapping scheme, both of them running afoul of a crazy gangster whose prized Shi Tzu is targeted. McDonagh’s work strikes a Tarantino-like balance of humor and violence, but he has a voice all his own, and here he’s got a quartet of leads – Farrell, Harrelson, Rockwell and Walken – that somehow seemed destined to star in a violent comedy about gangsters, petty criminals and dog-snatchers. In fact, I’m sort of amazed it took this long.
16.
LAWLESS Director: John Hillcoat Cast: Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Guy Pearce, Noah Taylor, Jason Clarke Release Date: August 31
There’s been positive buzz around this Depression-era drama – adapted by musician/screenwriter Nick Cave from the much more colorfully named novel The Wettest County in the World – about bootlegging brothers in Virginia clashing with corrupt local authorities who want a taste of their action. I don’t know a lot about it, but I have a good feeling. The premise sounds interesting, the cast looks great and director John Hillcoat has impressed with gritty, somber dramas The Proposition and The Road. I feel like he’s poised for a breakthrough, and this could be it.
15. ARGO Director: Ben Affleck Cast: Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Victor Garber, Clea DuVall, Titus Welliver, Richard Kind, Tate Donovan, Adrienne Barbeau Release Date: September 14
When Ben Affleck turned to directing, people were skeptical. He silenced those skeptics rather easily with Gone Baby Gone, and reaffirmed his talent behind the camera with The Town. Both movies earned Oscar nominations for members of their ensembles, and it’s believed that The Town probably came close to a Best Picture nomination. For his third trip behind the camera, Affleck dramatizes a real-life incident from the 1979 Iran hostage crisis in which the U.S. and Canada teamed up to rescue six U.S. diplomats being held at their embassy in Iran. Their plan? Claiming the diplomats were actually members of a film crew scouting Iranian locations for a science fiction film. It’s been nice to watch Affleck prove his mettle as a filmmaker after a string of bad movies as an actor, and Argo is shaping up to be another feather in his cap.
14. GANGSTER SQUAD Director: Ruben Fleischer Cast: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Michael Pena, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Mackie, Robert Patrick, Mireille Enos, Frank Grillo Release Date: October 12
After directing Zombieland, one of my favorite films of 2009, and last year’s 30 Minutes or Less, Ruben Fleischer is moving into less comedic territory with this movie, based on the true story of cops who were tasked with curbing the influence of East Coast mobsters in the City of Angels – particularly Mickey Cohen, who attained a strong foothold. (Cohen’s story was the jumping off point for 1997’s phenomenal L.A. Confidential.) Fleischer has enticed a tremendous cast to join him, which hopefully suggests that he’s got the chops to handle this kind of material. The era is proving to be a popular one; Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont is heading into production on a TV pilot for TNT called L.A. Noir, which focuses on the same period and some of the same characters. Here, the squad includes Brolin and Gosling, while Penn will play Cohen and Nolte will take on the era’s controversial police chief, William Parker.
13. THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT Director: Nicholas Stoller Cast: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Alison Brie, Rhys Ifans, Chris Pratt, David Paymer, Mindy Kaling, Chris Parnell, Kevin Hart, Jim Piddock, Mimi Kennedy Release Date: April 27
Jason Segel’s 2008 comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall was a pleasant surprise, and showed that the actor – who also wrote the film – had learned well from his mentor Judd Apatow. Now Segel re-teams with Marshall director Nicholas Stoller, and the two of them share writing duties (as they did on last year’s The Muppets) on a new comedy about a couple’s impending marriage after a prolonged betrothal. I haven’t seen any trailers, but I’m counting on these guys and their reliable cast to deliver a sharp, humane comedy.
12. KILLING THEM SOFTLY Director: Andrew Dominik Cast: Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, Sam Shepard, Garrett Dillahunt, Ben Mendohlson, Vincent Curatola Release Date: September 21
Formerly titled Cogan’s Trade (further demonstrating, along with the above-listed Lawless, that Hollywood will always go with a generic, flavorless title over one with a dash of individuality), this crime drama reunites Brad Pitt and director Andrew Dominik, who previously collaborated on the masterful The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford. But unlike that moody, patient Western, their latest is a present-day story involving a mob enforcer investigating a poker game heist. I’m not expecting anything as striking as Jesse James, but that movie is enough to make this one well worth getting excited about. Throw in James Gandolfini, who I happen to think should be featured in every movie ever made anywhere, and my hopes are high.
11. GRAVITY Director: Alfonso Cuarón Cast: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney Release Date: November
My many Oscar ramblings at the time made it clear that I was less than onboard with Sandra Bullock’s Oscar nomination and ultimate win in 2009 for The Blind Side. But I’ve always liked Bullock and thought she was an actress worthy of better movies than most of the ones she appeared in, so I hoped that her Oscar might at least lead her toward better material. Her first post-win role in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close was a step in the right direction. Now she’s got a project that could really be something special. Bullock and Clooney play a scientist and astronaut, respectively, who find themselves stranded in space after an accident on their vessel, cut-off from communication with Earth and running out of time and oxygen. In fact, if what I’ve read is accurate, the incident leaves them tethered to each other and floating outside their ship. So…the movie will pretty much be two actors in spacesuits dangling in the vastness of space. It’s a challenging set-up, but Cuarón has the chops to pull it off. He’s a director responsible for films both narratively and visually rich – including Y Tu Mamá También, Children of Men and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This one sounds pretty fascinating.
10. LOOPER Director: Rian Johnson Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels, Piper Perabo, Garret Dillahunt, Tracie Thoms Release Date: September 28
What would happen if you took 12 Monkeys,Timecop and Minority Report and tossed them into a blender? Other than destroying your blender, I’m not sure. But based on the minimal plot description I’ve seen, the result might be Looper. Coming from Johnson, the writer/director behind Brick and The Brothers Bloom, it could have a decidedly less mainstream vibe than any of the ingredients I mentioned (though admittedly, 12 Monkeys is pretty far out there for a studio-backed movie). Anyway, I don’t know if or to what degree any of those movies will indeed prove forebears to Looper. All I know is Johnson is an original filmmaking voice who earned my loyalty with Brick, and his newest effort involves time travel, which always peaks my interest.
9. THIS IS FORTY Director: Judd Apatow Cast: Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Albert Brooks, Megan Fox, John Lithgow, Melissa McCarthy, Jason Segel, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow, Lena Dunham, Chris O’Dowd Release Date: December 21
Among the great supporting characters in Apatow’s Knocked Up were Debbie and Pete (Mann and Rudd), the frequently squabbling sister and brother-in-law of Katherine Heigl’s Alison. Now they’re reprising their roles and taking center stage as Apatow turns his astute and hilarious lens on the joys and struggles of raising a family. Debbie and Pete’s kids will once again be played by Apatow and Mann’s real-life daughters, and while neither Heigl nor Seth Rogen is expected to appear, Jason Segel – who played Rogen’s buddy with a thing for Debbie – will be on hand. Apatow’s last directorial outing was Funny People, which I didn’t love as much as Knocked Up or The 40 Year Old Virgin, but the man is a comic god. The movie’s title is subject to change, but my anticipation is not.
8. BRAVE Director: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman Cast: (Voices) Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson Release Date: June 22
The latest from Pixar was titled The Bear and the Bow in an earlier incarnation, but apparently its Scottish highlands setting required that the word “brave” be somewhere in the title (think about it), so they just went with that and called it a day. From what I’ve gathered, it’s a dark-ish fairy tale involving Princess Meridia, a skillful archer who feels stifled in her parents’ court and whose desire for adventure leads her to a foolish decision that inadvertently endangers the kingdom. This is Pixar’s 13th film, and its first built around a female protagonist. Surely Disney executives are sweating that one, concerned that little boys won’t be interested in a movie about a girl…even though Disney’s Tangled grossed over $200 million. No matter. In Pixar We Trust.
7. GAME OF THRONES
Wait…sorry. That’s a TV show…
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A mark of how promising this year is: the remaining movies are all pretty much in my top three. Unfortunately, there’s seven of them, and bad as I am at math, I’m not that bad. But these are the ones I’m really, really, really dying to see…
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7. MOONRISE KINGDOM Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel Release Date: May 25
Wes Anderson’s latest, co-written with Roman Coppola, is set in the 1960’s and tells the story of a boy and girl who fall in love at summer camp and run away together, sending their parents, the police, the camp staff and pretty much the whole community into a frenzy. Doesn’t really matter to me what it’s about, though. It had me at “Wes Anderson.” The director’s regular collaborators Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman are on hand, and I’m loving the new crew of actors joining him for the first time. The trailer promises his usual quirky whimsy, and I like the idea of a story built around two younger protagonists.
6. LINCOLN Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Hal Holbrook, John Hawkes,
James Spader, Jackie Earle Haley, Bruce McGill, Tim Blake Nelson, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jared Harris, S. Epatha Merkerson, Walton Goggins, Lee Pace, David Oyelowo, Gregory Itzin, Gloria Rueben Release Date: November or December
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that Steven Spielberg is one of the great directors of all time, and Daniel Day-Lewis one of the great actors of all time. That these two should come together to tell a story of one of the great American presidents of all time is cause for cinematic celebration.
For the last who knows how many years, Spielberg’s slate of potential projects has included a movie about Abraham Lincoln, based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Pulitzer Prize winning tome Team of Rivals. With his Schindler’s List star Liam Neeson attached to play the 16th President, it seemed just a matter of time before the director would get around to it. But after years with no movement, Neeson bowed out of the project in 2010, feeling he’d grown too old to play Lincoln if the movie still got made. Just a few months later, Lincoln was announced as a go project with Daniel Day-Lewis onboard. This movie was always full of promise, but with all due respect to Neeson – who I’ve got nothin’ but love for – Day-Lewis’ involvement is a game-changer. This combination of story, director, lead actor, supporting cast, source material and screenwriters (including John Logan and Tony Kushner) makes this movie something to salivate over. I’d be happy with Day-Lewis doing a one-man show, but seriously, did you look at that list of actors Spielberg has assembled? With so many notable names, some will probably appear briefly as mere window dressing, but those are going to be some super nice windows. The most interesting piece of casting is Sally Field, who will play Mary Todd Lincoln. Field has spent the last several years working mostly in television, but she is, remember, a two-time Best Actress Oscar winner. It will be nice to see her with such a plum big-screen role, especially playing opposite fellow two-time winner Day-Lewis. (Field will also be seen as Aunt May in this summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man).
The film will not be a birth-to-death style biopic, but where exactly it will focus remains unclear. Spielberg has said it will cover the last four months of Lincoln’s life, yet news articles appeared long after that comment and stated the film will depict his rise to politics and his role in the Civil War.
5. THE MASTER Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Laura Dern Release Date: TBA
Wes is not the only gifted Anderson who’s back in the game this year. With Boogie Nights and Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson showed a dazzling skill with juggling ensemble casts in a way that did his hero and friend Robert Altman proud. Yet There Will Be Blood showed that he could just as easily build a film around a single dynamic character. The Master will probably fall somewhere in between. Details are vague, but the film is apparently set in the 1950’s and casts Hoffman as an L. Ron Hubbard-like figure named Lancaster Dodd, who starts a religious movement that grows into something cult-like. Adams will play his wife, while Phoenix’s role is said to be that of a drifter who is initially seduced by the charismatic Dodd and becomes a close confidant before growing disillusioned. The Scientology angle may prove a lightning rod, but I expect a filmmaker like PTA is less interested in making a thinly-veiled takedown of an easy-target than he is in psychologically exploring a figure who could create such a movement and possess the magnetism to attract a following. Just imagine what an actor like Hoffman will do with a role like that. Should the Academy go ahead and engrave his name on the Oscar for Best Actor right now? I might say yes, if not for the Daniel Day-Lewis factor.
4. PROMETHEUS Director: Ridley Scott Cast: Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Patrick Wilson, Rafe Spall Release Date: June 8
Alien. Blade Runner. Two of the best science-fiction films ever, both directed by Ridley Scott. In the years since Blade Runner‘s 1982 release, Scott has worked in a variety of genres and made films of varying quality. This year, he will return to sci-fi for the first time since that double-whammy. Adding to the intrigue surrounding Prometheus – indeed, one reason anticipation is so high for the movie – is the mystery of its connection to Alien. From the time the project was announced, there have been vague statements from Scott and some of his cast members saying that the movie “shares a DNA” with that 1979 masterpiece. Just how connected the two movies would be remained a mystery, though Scott has long expressed an interest in exploring the origins of the “space jockey,” the enormous mummified creature discovered in the derelict craft in Alien. Could Prometheus be that exploration, making it a sort of unofficial prequel to Scott’s early classic? The first teaser for the film hit theaters in December, and the answer seems to be “Hells yeah!”
The Alien franchise went sadly downhill after James Cameron’s epic follow-up to Scott’s original, but what’s exciting about Prometheus is that it appears to be a stand-alone story that will also serve to set-up the events in Alien. The script was developed in such a way that it could have worked with or without the Alien connection. But while Scott is still being coy in interviews, any Alien fan can see from the teaser that Prometheus will revisit some hallowed ground. Scott has even said that H.R. Giger – who designed the original Alien creature – did a little work for him on the new film. Alien and Aliens are two of my all-time favorites, so of course I can’t wait to see what Scott has up his sleeve. He recently gave an interview in which he said he’d had so much fun making the movie that he’s already mulling ideas for a sequel…which kinda blows your mind since the obvious sequel to this movie will probably wind up being Alien…which he already made! Whoa. The viral marketing campaign is underway by now, and includes this intriguing piece of promotion: a clip of Guy Pearce’s character speaking at a TED conference in the year 2023. The most hard-core of Alien franchise fans will note the significance of the character’s last name. New trailers and additional viral videos were released just last weekend, but I’m cutting myself off. I suspect that the less I know going into this one, the more satisfied I’ll be.
3. DJANGO UNCHAINED Director: Quentin Tarantino Cast: Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Don Johnson, Anthony LaPaglia, RZA, Sacha Baron Cohen and possibly Joseph Gordon-Levitt Release Date: December 25
When last at bat, Quentin Tarantino audaciously re-wrote American history with the celebrated Inglourious Basterds. His next film is said to pay homage to Sergio Leone and the spaghetti western, while provocatively examining race relations. Foxx will play the title role of Django, a freed slave who comes under the tutelage of a German bounty hunter (Waltz) and then enlists his mentor’s aide in liberating his wife from wicked plantation owner Calvin Candie (DiCaprio). I’m always excited to see what Tarantino has in store, but what feels especially promising about his latest is the casting of DiCaprio as the film’s chief bad guy, described by those who’ve read the lengthy script as a vicious and sadistic character who dominates the second half of the movie. This will be a complete departure for Leo, who has never tackled pure, unbridled villainy. Few stars of his stature – true A-listers, of which there really aren’t many left – are willing to take such creative risks. (Will Smith was initially offered the title role, but reportedly turned it down because it didn’t fit with his image. And that was for the hero’s part.) You know Tarantino can come up with some pretty sick shit, and I love the idea of DiCaprio playing in those waters. If the role is as dynamic as word of mouth suggests, we could be looking at a Best Supporting Actor frontrunner. But that would just be the cherry on top of what looks to be another Tarantino tour-de-force. Given the movie’s Christmas Day release date, I’m just hoping the Mayans are wrong about the world ending on December 21.
2. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Director: Christopher Nolan Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Matthew Modine, Nestor Carbonell Release Date: July 20
Where do you go after The Dark Knight? Sure, the ending of the 2008 sequel sets up a starting point, but how do you compete with a movie so spectacular and a villain so brilliant as Heath Ledger’s Joker? That film probably can’t be topped, but if anyone can match it, I believe Christopher Nolan can. His final Batman film will pick up eight years later, and evidence around the internet suggests that the director will bring the story back around to the League of Shadows, the organization in Batman Begins headed by the now deceased Ra’s Al Ghul (Liam Neeson). The central villain this time is the masked muscleman Bane (Hardy), who does have a connection in the comic books to Ghul and could perhaps be the new agent of destruction attempting to bring down Gotham City. But who really knows what surprises Nolan has in store. This is the conclusion of his trilogy, so all that seems certain is that he will try to deliver riveting action supporting a strong story that will bring his take on the iconic character to a rousing finale.
1. THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Director: Peter Jackson Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Evangeline Lilly, Stephen Fry, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace, Billy Connolly Release Date: December 14
Given my favorite film of the last decade, Peter Jackson’s return to Middle Earth naturally lands my number one spot. (And unless this film is somehow a massive fail, the second installment is safely atop my list of next year’s most anticipated as well.) It’s hard to believe that at this time ten years ago, the first Lord of the Rings film was fresh off four Oscar wins and still going strong in theaters, with the promise of The Two Towers already peaking fans’ excitement. An Unexpected Journey is an apt title for this film, given its complicated history; Hollywood politics are arguably a fiercer enemy than Smaug. MGM held the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s book, but the studio’s ongoing bankruptcy issues kept the film stuck in development hell. It was only a matter of time before things worked out, so Guillermo del Toro came aboard to direct the film and serve as co-writer with the original trilogy’s Oscar-winning scribes Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens. Jackson would serve as producer and creative godfather. Pre-production began with a great deal of design work, but the years dragged on and the rights remained ensnared. After two years of waiting, del Toro reluctantly abandoned the project to pursue a growing slate of other opportunities. Fans waited eagerly to see who would step in to direct, and before long Jackson committed to make the films himself. Few filmmakers other than del Toro would have been worthy – and in possession of the right style – to succeed Jackson, but who are we kidding? We all wanted Jackson to do the movies himself. Production is well underway, with a number of cast members from the original trilogy returning in small roles (though Ian McKellan’s Gandalf is once again a major character) and Martin Freeman assuming the role of a younger Bilbo Baggins from Ian Holm (who will still appear in a bookending sequence). The first trailer was revealed in December, and it shows that Jackson had no trouble slipping comfortably back into the world of hobbits, dwarves, wizards, elves and men.
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So there you have it. New movies from Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Ridley Scott, Judd Apatow, Sam Mendes, Alfonso Cuarón…and not just that those guys have new movies on the way, but new movies full of such potential. Scott and Spielberg wouldn’t automatically make my list if their films weren’t as likely to kick ass as their 2012 entries are. And then we have the younger directors on the rise: Rian Johnson, Derek Cianfrance, Ben Affleck, Martin McDonagh. Plenty of other great (or at least once-great) filmmakers have movies on the way too, and even if their films weren’t as exciting to me as the 20 listed above, it should be noted that we’ll see new work from Ang Lee, David O. Russell, Joe Wright, Curtis Hanson, Steven Soderbergh, Tim Burton, Woody Allen (of course), the Wachowski’s, Lee Daniels, David Chase (creator of The Sopranos, making his feature debut), Baz Luhrman, David Cronenberg, Oliver Stone and Kathryn Bigelow…though her ambitious movie about Seal Team Six just started production recently. I’m not convinced it will make its December 19 release date.
And who knows what smaller gems await? Sundance darlings and as-yet-unseen indies that might play the fall festival circuit on their way to late year, award-baiting release dates. We’ll see how it all shakes out, but right now 2012 is lookin’ real good.
As I’ve noted in some of my Oscar season write-ups, 2011 was not such a memorable year for movies. Most film critics and journalists agreed. Personally, there wasn’t anything in 2011 that I loved as much as I love my favorite movies from the past few years. Nothing hit the same heights as the likes of Inception, Precious, Slumdog Millionaire, The Fighter, The Dark Knight, No Country for Old Men, Toy Story 3, Atonement, The Departed or The Social Network. There were plenty of movies that I liked, and a few that I can even say I loved….but whatever magical alchemy elevated titles like the ones listed above, nothing in 2011 quite got there.
Normally I reject a traditional top ten list in favor of just a straightforward rundown of the movies that impacted me most during the year, ranking only the cream of the crop and then listing the rest alphabetically. This year there’s nothing I can claim as a single favorite, so it’s right to the alphabetical listing we go. And as you’ll see, there are still plenty of movies worth mentioning.
A note on the late arrival of this list: usually I’m able to catch up with the end-of-year releases by late January or early February, allowing me to get this out there during Oscar season while the previous year’s movies are still top of everyone’s mind. This year, a couple of contenders that I was determined to see before finalizing my list didn’t open in the Bay Area until late February/early March. So I waited. But hell, nobody I know sees as many current movies as I do anyway, so if this list is offering suggestions for you, you’d probably be looking for titles to rent or stream anyway. I could put this list out in August and it would come in handy for some of you. I’m still trying to get my parents to rent movies from 2007.
Anyway, let’s get to it. The best movies I saw in 2011 are….
BRIDESMAIDS
I’ve always found that on Saturday Night Live, a little bit of Kristen Wiig goes a long way. Her gallery of over-the-top characters tend to wear thin quickly. I enjoy her most when she plays normal people with a comic twist: Jason Bateman’s philandering wife in Extract, co-manager of the amusement park in Adventureland or the catty TV exec in Knocked Up. It was her small role in that film that prompted its director Judd Apatow to ask her if she had any ideas to pitch for a film of her own. Writing for herself (co-writing, actually, with her friend Annie Mumalo), Wiig smartly opts for a grounded character rather than a heightened one, and gives a great performance that goes beyond just comedy. She plays Annie – thirtysomething, single, deep in debt and generally not in the best place emotionally. When her lifelong best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) gets engaged and asks Annie to be her maid of honor, Annie’s personal life begins tumbling to new lows. The movie is full of the kind of awkward comedy that is painful to watch even while eliciting uncontrollable laughter, and Wiig is unafraid to look foolish. The worse things get for Annie, the funnier the movie becomes, yet we feel for her completely. Her explosive moment of catharsis at the bridal shower makes you want to cheer even as she humiliates herself in front of a mass of guests. The entire ensemble is terrific, but the standout supporting performance comes from Melissa McCarthy as the groom’s sister Megan. Like Wiig, McCarthy is an up-for-anything performer who plays beyond the comedy of a scene. She buries Megan’s social awkwardness under brazen confidence, creating a unique character and stealing the movie.
THE DESCENDANTS
There’s a lot to enjoy about this movie. It showcases a different side of Hawaii than the paradise getaway we usually see on film. It tells an engaging story in which a family’s tragedy dovetails with the stakes of a real estate deal that will affect the lives of a vast number of people in vastly different ways. (That might sound boring. It’s not.) It offers George Clooney the chance to explore the uncharted territory of playing a flawed everyman. But where I found it most interesting – and most relatable – was in its exploration of the small choices people face from day to day, and the effort to reconcile conflicting emotions and desires. When do we put our own credibility or ego first, and when do we keep it in check for the sake of someone else? When do we speak up in our defense and when do we hold our tongue? When do we correct someone’s mistaken notion and when do we let them keep believing a lie that offers them peace of mind? More specifically, how does a rebellious teen deal with resenting her father while feeling protective and defensive on his behalf because her mother is cheating on him? How does that father establish parent-child boundaries with a maturing daughter whose moral support he needs in confronting the infidelity? The answers aren’t always easy, but the characters in The Descendants try their best to navigate these choppy waters of everyday life. As usual, director Alexander Payne guides the movie with a sure, unassuming hand, and he casts to near perfection. Judy Greer, Robert Forster, Matthew Lillard and Beau Bridges are all great in small roles, and Amara Miller and Shailene Woodley are terrific as Clooney’s daughters – one too young to quite grasp everything that’s going on, the other able to grasp it all too well.
DRIVE
Director Nicolas Winding Refn draws inspiration from many sources to create one of the year’s most original movies. It’s a stylistic marriage of Michael Mann and David Lynch, with one eye and ear tuned to retro 80’s cool while the other eye and ear are cast toward creating something along the lines of a superhero origin story. This is no comic book movie, but Ryan Gosling’s unnamed character – referred to in the credits as merely Driver, and frequently clad in a signature scorpion-emblazoned white jacket – is, as the film’s evocative theme song proclaims, a real human being and a real hero. He’s a Hollywood stunt driver and mechanic by day, an occasional getaway car driver by night, and generally a man of few words and few friends who keeps to himself…until he becomes acquainted with his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), her young son Benicio (Kaden Leos), and soon enough her husband Standard (Oscar Isaac), just released from prison. When he steps outside of his usual boundaries, his life gets quickly complicated. Drive subverts expectations at every turn, from the inspired casting of Albert Brooks as a genial but calculating mobster to the progression of Driver’s relationships with both Irene and Standard. Even the title of the movie suggests speed and propulsion, when in fact it’s remarkably still, quiet and deliberately paced. The expertly executed opening sequence illustrates this quality, showing that a car chase doesn’t have to involve crashes and chaos to be thrilling and involving. (Take some notes, Michael Bay.) Refn never loses the sweetness and romance of the movie even when it takes a dark turn and becomes increasingly (at times shockingly) violent. Enhanced by a dreamy pop-synth soundtrack and beautifully lit camerawork, it’s the moodiest, most atmospheric movie of the year…and probably the closest to a single favorite I could name.
HANNA
From Joe Wright, director of Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, comes an art-house action film starring the amazing young Irish actress Saorise Ronan. Seriously, this girl is already in Kate Winslet/Cate Blanchett territory. Just from a technical standpoint, look at the accents she’s done in a mere five years of work: British (Atonement), American (The Lovely Bones), Russian (The Way Back) and now German. Hanna casts her as the daughter of rogue CIA agent Erik Heller (Eric Bana), who has raised her in hiding and equipped her with a survival skill set that pretty much makes her a killing machine. When the time comes to make their presence known, Hanna ventures out on her own to incur the pursuit of Heller’s icy former handler, Marisa Viegler, played with relish by Blanchett. In the process, Hanna begins to understand where she came from and why she’s so special. It’s a showcase role for Ronan, who brings the same laser-like focus, intensity and intelligence that helped earn her an Oscar nomination for Atonement at age 13. And sweet Jesus, does she kick some ass! She’s like the lovechild of Jason Bourne and La Femme Nikita.
The supporting cast also includes standout work from Jessica Barden as a girl Hanna’s age who befriends her while traveling with her family. Blanchett and Ronan don’t get much screen time together, and I wish they’d had more – not just for the pleasure of seeing two such gifted actresses work opposite each other, but more importantly because the story would have benefitted from allowing their characters to learn a bit more about each other. Nevertheless, this is a stylish and intense fusion of drama, action and thriller built around a fascinating character and a gripping lead performance.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2
Just a few months shy of ten years from the first Harry Potter film’s release, the final film bowed and, just as J.K. Rowling’s final book did, ended the series on a high note. Strictly from a book-to-film standpoint, it might be the best adaptation of the series (oh yes, I still had issues with it, but they bothered me less this time around than they often do). Given how much material – much of it expository or going on in Harry’s head – had to be omitted, screenwriter Steve Kloves does a truly skillful job of constructing the narrative, finding clever and even daring ways around some of the missing material, as well as paying off some of the cuts from the last two movies which seemed harmful to the story at the time. As the films have progressed, many aspects have grown more impressive, so that here in the final film they appropriately reach their pinnacle. The visual effects are elegant and consistently strong, the music score by Alexandre Desplat is effectively deployed and draws nicely on John Williams’ original themes, and most importantly, Daniel Radcliffe does his best work to date. He was always fine, but he was also the weakest of the main three actors. Yet he improved as he grew, and really started to hit his stride in the fifth film (his scene with Gary Oldman in front of the Black family tree remains maybe his single best moment). This final installment demands a lot from Radcliffe, and he rises fully to the occasion, bringing Harry’s journey to a close with an emotionally rich and touching performance. I do wish some of the actors and characters had been given more to do in this swan song (Robbie Coltrane’s Hagrid was especially shortchanged), but on the other hand Maggie Smith got more screentime than she has of late, and of course Alan Rickman did not disappoint as he finally got to play the scenes that every Potter fan has been waiting for. Much more could be said (and I’ll eventually unleash my Potter-nerd series of deep-dives into all the books and films), but for now it should suffice that after a decade of magic onscreen and off, producer David Heyman, director David Yates, Kloves and their talented cast and crew brought the Harry Potter films to a highly satisfying conclusion.
MARGIN CALL
J.C. Chandor becomes a writer/director to watch on the strength of this debut film about a Lehman Brothers-like investment firm during the roughly 24 hours in which they realize they’re about to implode. The film is absorbing from the start, when young analyst Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) follows up on a request from his boss (Stanley Tucci) – who’s just been laid off – to investigate a possible problem. What Sullivan discovers turns out to be disastrous, and is soon making its way up a chain of command whose players scramble to grasp what’s about to happen and what consequences will result. There’s a fascination in watching the people at each level relate to their superiors and subordinates, especially since half of them seem to have only a partial understanding of what the crunched numbers represent. The cast includes Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore and Jeremy Irons, but this is not just a collection of name actors brought in to gussy up a flat story. The plot crackles with tension, and the characters are as sharply drawn as the Wall Street culture is observed, with each actor getting a chance to shine as they play out the anxiety that grips them deep into the night. And Chandor evocatively captures the feeling of such a long and tumultuous night, where the characters experience both urgency and fatigue amidst the eerie quiet and stillness of a normally bustling office now mostly deserted. Chandor’s movie is not a morality play, and he’s not interested in passing judgement on the characters for what they do. He is an observer, showing us objectively what happens at this company on this day, and how the people involved deal with it. There are no caricatures of evil bankers here, but three-dimensional individuals who embody complicated and varied attitudes. The movie works even if you don’t fully understand the financial machinations that drive the plot (and I admit that I didn’t). It’s still a compelling drama and character piece, as well as a race-against-the-clock thriller devoid of Hollywood artificiality. An impressive piece of work all around.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Woody Allen doesn’t doesn’t do “fanciful” too often, but when he does, he usually does it well (one of my favorite Allen movies is The Purple Rose of Cairo). Midnight in Paris is no exception, and something about it struck a chord with audiences; it’s his biggest hit ever. Part of the appeal surely lies with Owen Wilson, who brings his usual off-kilter charm and doesn’t lose his way trying to do the neurotic Woody impersonation that can sometimes trip up the filmmaker’s surrogates. But it’s the affectionate magic of the story that really sells it, as Wilson’s Gil – a writer who pines for the artistic nirvana of Paris in the 1920’s – finds himself somehow transported to that beloved era each evening when the clock strikes twelve, bringing him into the company of such luminaries as Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway (a great performance by Corey Stoll). He also finds unexpected romance with a lesser known artist played by Marion Cotillard. This journey into a Paris past transfixed me as much as it does Gil, and I loved the romance of the movie – not romance in a “love story” sense, but romance toward painting, literature, music and all the art that inspires us.
OUR IDIOT BROTHER
This one’s not going to shatter anyone’s world, but I was completely taken with it, thanks largely to the open-hearted performance of Paul Rudd as the title character, Ned – not really an idiot at all, but rather a guileless, naive hippie whose lifestyle is a far cry from that of his three urbanite sisters (Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer, Zooey Deschanel). When he shows up for an extended visit, he bounces between living with the three of them, inadvertently complicating their already dysfunctional lives. It’s as simple as that, but the movie is pure sweet entertainment and often laugh-out-loud funny. As if Rudd, Banks, Mortimer and Deschanel weren’t enough, the impressive comedic ensemble also boasts Steve Coogan, Rashida Jones, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn and T.J. Miller, the latter two especially noteworthy as Ned’s ex-girlfriend and her affable new beau. What can I say? I was smiling from start to finish.
RANGO
After sitting through trailer after trailer for silly looking animated movies with the same types of goofy sidekicks and proclamations of 3D, it was a real pleasure to get to the feature presentation – a unique, smart, funny and beautifully animated movie in glorious, perfectly eye-popping 2D! Johhny Depp enthusiastically voices the title character, a domesticated lizard with a flair for the theatrical, who finds himself stranded in a desert town that’s experiencing a ruinous drought. The movie comes from Pirates of the Carribean director Gore Verbinski, who has created something special here that stands out in an already impressive and packed landscape of contemporary animation. While Pixar’s movies have a polished sheen, and Dreamworks often melds a cartoony look with stylized design, the animation in Rango has a gritty, organic feel that makes it stand apart from the crowd. It’s as stunning and gorgeous as anything out there, and demonstrates that Industrial Light & Magic – the visual effects titan behind Verbinski’s Pirates movies and countless others from Star Wars to Transformers – could carve its own place in the animation game if it continues down the road of producing features. Of course, to match the substance of Rango would require directors as inventive as Verbinski and screenplays as witty as the one here from the prolific John Logan. It’s packed with references to movies that will keep adults smiling (Chinatown is a particularly notable influence), not that they need any reason to smile beyond the clever setpieces, sumptuous visuals and amusing gallery of characters supporting Depp’s charming lead lizard.
A SEPARATION
This Iranian film from writer/director Asghar Farhadi, newly minted with the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, is a knockout drama that addresses universal experiences occurring in a culture we in the west know little about and are too quick to judge. The story begins with a husband and wife appearing in court because the wife has requested a divorce. She wants to raise their 11-year old daughter outside Iran, but her husband is bound to stay and care for his Alzheimer-stricken father. When the divorce is refused, the wife moves out, setting into motion a series of events that have heartbreaking consequences for two families. To say any more would be a disservice to how it all unfolds, but trust me when I say that this is an engrossing and immaculately constructed story, and an ingenious one for the way it takes such a simple domestic situation and lifts it to such devastating heights. The characters are decent people facing ordinary yet daunting problems, resulting in every nuance of every behavior feeling understandable at every turn. Nobody is completely right or completely wrong or free of guilt, and the tragic clash of pride and honor against self-preservation is riveting to behold. It’s a wonderfully acted and thoroughly explored story of people under pressure.
SHAME
This is a movie that one might list among their favorites of the year the way they might call Schindler’s List a favorite. It’s not exactly something you look to for entertainment, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t engrossed watching it. Michael Fassbender is magnetic as Brandon – handsome, successful, disconnected from his feelings and feeding his insatiable sexual needs however he can. His neat and ordered existence is interrupted by the arrival of his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan, equally impressive), whose emotional baggage spills everywhere while Brandon keeps his tightly contained. Much is left deliberately unsaid about Brandon and Sissy, both as individuals and as siblings, so it falls to Fassbender and Mulligan to fill in the blanks with intimation and suggestion. Sissy is all exposed nerves, but tries to mask her neediness by appearing flirty and vivacious. In a way, she functions for Brandon as a femme fatale…not in the usual sense (as a lover), but as a force of danger. Mulligan acutely captures these conflicting traits and creates a powerful bond with Fassbender. He, of course, is fully committed to the role, baring as much emotionally as he does physically. His stare is as penetrating as his well-utilized appendage, but for everything his gaze suggests outwardly, it also reveals what’s going on inside. Brandon is closely guarded, but we see him reaching for something deeper, pushing himself for more and then succumbing to his demons when he can’t get there. In addition to the excellent performances by Fassbender and Mulligan, James Badge Dale and Nicole Beharie are spot-on as Brandon’s boss and an attractive co-worker, respectively.
This is the second feature from director Steve McQueen, who co-wrote the script with Abi Morgan, and he draws on his art school background to tell the story with a simple but stark visual style. The crisp cinematography consists of some striking long takes that allow the actors to interact with a purity that serves the story well, and the antiseptic production design carries much of the load in drawing us into Brandon’s world. McQueen’s movie is an intelligent, provocative meditation on loneliness and addiction.
SOURCE CODE
A morning commuter train heading toward Chicago explodes. The event precedes a larger attack planned for the city itself that will claim thousands of lives. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Colter Stevens, an Air Force pilot involved in a groundbreaking project that allows his consciousness to be placed in the body of one of the train’s passengers during the eight minutes leading up to the explosion. His mission is to identify the bomber so that the bigger, impending attack might be prevented. Over and over, he is sent in for eight minute increments until he can gather the necessary information, and as complex as the mission sounds, it proves even more so for Stevens as the reality of his situation becomes clearer.
Ben Ripley’s clever script is Groundhog Day meets Twelve Monkeys, with dashes of Avatar and Total Recall thrown in. But though the plot drives the movie, there is a strong and moving through-line for Stevens, and Gyllenhaal gives one of the best performances of his career, taking in the many confusions and the disorientation of Stevens’ situation and displaying the subtle shifts he goes through as he tries to reconcile his personal circumstances with the intricacies of his assignment. Gyllenhaal shows us physically what a man is experiencing mentally. The more information revealed about the character as the movie goes on, the wider the range of emotions the actor has to juggle while still serving the tense, forward-momentum of the plot. Michelle Monaghan pairs nicely with Gyllenhaal as a fellow passenger, while Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright are both quite good in the tricky roles of the project’s administrators. Both exist for Stevens only as faces on the monitor of his capsule between trips back into the train, but they each find ways to enrich characters that might have functioned merely to serve the plot. Director Duncan Jones keeps it all moving fast, bringing the movie in at a tight 90 minutes. There’s no fat to be found, but it never skimps on the details, the character development or the emotional elements of the story. Don’t mistake this for a run-of-the-mill, tepid thriller. It’s an intimate sci-fi action movie that delivers on all fronts and invites both moral and plot-specific discussions after the credits roll.
THE TREE OF LIFE
There have been a select few filmmakers over the years whose work has such a distinct style and feel, their names have been adopted as adjectives. Hitchcockian. Capraesque. Spielbergian. Kubrickian. Altmanesque. Lynchian. I don’t recall ever seeing or hearing it, but surely Scorsesean has been used. I’ve definitely never seen Terrence Malick’s name adjectivized (yes, I just made up that word too), but in a directorial body of work that contains only five movies in a 40 year span, I don’t think anyone could argue that his style merits this treatment. So mark it down: today, I’m coining the term Malickesque. And of all Malick’s films, none are more Malickesque than The Tree of Life.
The usual elements are here: contemplative voiceovers, sometimes barely whispered; stunning cinematography, often consisting of lingering shots of nature; a grappling with philosophical issues. Also here is as authentic and mysterious a depiction of childhood – perhaps boyhood, specifically – as I’ve ever seen dramatized. The film follows a midwestern family in the 1950’s, where three boys share a youth that is both idyllic and ordinary, full of happiness but also tension. The latter tone is set by their father (Brad Pitt), a stern man who loves his family but has been hardened by dissatisfaction with his life’s progression. Their mother (Jessica Chastain) balances that with a warmth and love that’s like a protective shield. There’s no plot to speak of, so if you’ve come for plot, you’ve come to the wrong place. If you’ve come for depth of character, you won’t find that either…not in the traditional sense, at least, though Pitt, Chastain and newcomer Hunter McCracken as eldest son Jack certainly breathe full life into their characters and invite us to experience their inner lives. We never even know the names of the other two sons. There’s little dialogue spoken between the characters. Malick is American cinema’s premier practitioner of impressionistic filmmaking, and he pushes his art further here than ever before. Prior to settling into observing the family, there is a lengthy sequence that many viewers found frustrating: Malick walks us through the creation of the universe and the beginnings of life on earth. We see explosions of color dancing through the cosmos, the formation of the galaxy, the first bits of slime to crawl from droplets of water. Equally esoteric is the end of the film, which features Sean Penn (who makes brief appearances earlier) as the grown Jack. I don’t want to give away the ending…not that doing so would constitute a typical spoiler…since a spoiler usually requires a plot to spoil. Do I understand what Malick is trying to convey in these sequences, beneath their obvious surface? No I don’t…though I can’t beat myself up too much over that since Penn remains just as unenlightened. In the end though, I don’t mind that Malick’s intentions and the deep questions about life, the universe and God that so fascinate him are somewhat lost on me. I acknowledge and accept the movie with all of its mysteries, as well as its flaws. This is a filmmaker who offers a truly singular vision, and like David Lynch – another director with a wholly individual and abstruse voice – I am always willing to surrender to his work. I have my problems with The Tree of Life, but it holds me rapt nonetheless. If you haven’t seen it and decide to take the plunge, watch it on the biggest screen possible.
THE TRIP
A treat for film buffs and foodies alike, this mockumentary casts Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as exaggerated (and not always flattering) versions of…Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. It begins with Coogan inviting Brydon (somewhat reluctantly, when his girlfriend is unable to join him) on a week-long excursion through England’s northern countryside as he stays at nice inns and reviews upscale food for a magazine piece. It’s a kick to watch these two together since they obviously know each other so well and you’re never really sure where the line between their on-camera dynamic and their true relationship starts to blur. Their rapport is easy, but not necessarily comfortable, as Coogan is frequently irritated by Brydon and often slights and demeans him. They bicker frequently but also entertainingly as they riff on pop culture and impersonate other actors (their dueling Michael Caine bit is classic). Meanwhile, they’re eating some amazing-looking food, and we get a glimpse into the various kitchens as chefs prepare their dishes. You’ll be itching to go out for a really nice meal by the end. And so it goes as we accompany Coogan and Brydon talking, driving, eating and taking in some of their country’s history. There are plenty of laughs along the way, and it all leads to a surprisingly bittersweet coda. The film was culled from a TV series that aired on BBC, and as a result the DVD contains deleted scenes that run almost the same length as the feature. They’re well worth checking out if the movie leaves you craving more.
WARRIOR
This terrific family drama stars up-and-comers Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as brothers raised by a father (Nick Nolte) whose alcoholism tore the family apart, leaving them estranged from each other and from him. Tommy (Hardy) is a withdrawn Marine who served in Iraq, and Brendan is a high school physics teacher with a wife and two little girls. The three re-enter a common orbit when both brothers – who have backgrounds in mixed martial arts – enter an MMA tournament designed to bring the world’s best fighters together for a two-day elimination event with a $5 million payout. If you think you know where this is headed…you’re right. It goes exactly where you think it’s going. The film’s trailers made no attempt to hide it. But what matters is how we get there, and Warrior succeeds on the strength of a well-drawn script, restrained direction by Gavin O’Connor and a collection of strong performances by Hardy, Edgerton, Nolte, Jennifer Morrison and Frank Grillo (the latter two as Brendan’s wife and trainer, respectively). There are elements of the movie that may be traditional or predictable, but it overcomes that by getting the audience so invested in all three main characters. Tommy and Brendan both have a need for the money, and we want both of them to get it, just as we want to see them soften even a little bit toward their now sober father, Paddy. When the inevitable climactic scene arrives, it’s not just a physical match-up, but an emotionally fraught one, with Paddy bearing witness to a catharsis born from the damage he caused his family. One thing we don’t know from the beginning is how it will turn out, and though we get to see the immediate outcome, the long term resolution remains open-ended.
Sadly, Warrior didn’t catch on at the box office, but this is a movie that should have been a big hit. It’s a mature drama, but has all the elements of a Rocky or Karate Kid-like crowd-pleaser. One does not have to be an MMA fan to enjoy it, but the sport’s popularity should have raised the movie’s visibility. Hopefully it will find a new life in the home viewing arena, because it’s an enormously satisfying movie that deserves to be seen by a wide audience.
WIN WIN
What writer/director Tom McCarthy does is similar to what Alexander Payne does, yet he doesn’t get nearly the same degree of credit or accolades. Not that he’s ignored, but he deserves more attention and more praise for his sublime, original stories about ordinary people and the relationships that sustain them. His first two films, The Station Agent and The Visitor, are centered on closed-off characters who dare to open themselves up to friendships that wind up changing their lives. Win Win doesn’t follow quite the same course, but certainly shares a similar DNA with its predecessors and cements McCarthy as a gifted storyteller worthy of mass attention. In his latest, Paul Giamatti plays Mike Flaherty, a suburban lawyer, family man and coach of a failing high-school wrestling team. He’s a good person, but mounting money problems lead him to make a bad decision that involves duping an elderly client named Leo (Burt Young), who suffers from Alzheimer’s. The plan seems sound enough to Mike, until Leo’s teenage grandson Kyle (Alex Schaffer) shows up from out of state looking to stay. Mike and his wife Jackie (Amy Ryan) take the kid in, jeopardizing Mike’s ploy but soon offering unexpected benefits as well. Better to let the details unfold when you watch it, but suffice it to say the movie is a gem. Simple, real, yet more inventive than it might appear at first glance. There’s nothing fancy about McCarthy’s movies. The camerawork and production design are straightforward and the characters are completely ordinary, which is exactly what draws us in and makes it so easy to get invested. McCarthy’s characters are your friends, neighbors and family members, and it’s no surprise that he draws such consistently great performances, considering that he’s an actor himself. (He hasn’t been in his own work yet, but has appeared in plenty of well known films and TV shows including Meet the Parents, The Wire, 2012, Boston Public and Good Night, and Good Luck.) Giamatti and Ryan are terrific, as is Melanie Lynsky as Kyle’s mother – long estranged from Leo. Bobby Cannavale is a standout as Mike’s longtime friend Terry, but the real scene-stealer is newcomer Schaffer as the self-reliant Kyle, whose blonde-dyed mop of hair, nasaly twang and disarming nonchalance make him one of my favorite film characters of 2011.
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So those were my very favorites of the year. But because there were many others that I liked and feel guilty not mentioning, I’ll go through a few that didn’t rank quite as high as those above but still made a lasting impression. Consider this Tier Two:
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU
In this involving sci-fi romance, Matt Damon plays David Norris, a beloved politician who, on the evening of a crushing electoral defeat, has a chance meeting with a dancer named Elise (Emily Blunt). They’re forced to part suddenly, yet both are left feeling inexplicably drawn to each other. It soon transpires that their meeting was not so chance after all, nor is their chemistry without reason. When David stumbles upon the secret forces keeping him and Elise apart, he is determined to overcome them and unite with his true love. Damon and Blunt make a hugely appealing pair, and their love story and witty interplay are emphasized while the sci-fi elements are handled with a low-key realism. I dug it.
BEGINNERS
Christopher Plummer won an Oscar for his graceful performance as Hal Fields, a septugenarian who, after the death of his wife, embraces the homosexuality he had suppressed for years to live a “normal” life as a husband and father. But his part is fairly small in the scheme of Beginners. The film’s true focus is on Hal’s son Oliver (an excellent Ewan McGregor) and the budding romance he falls into almost immediately upon meeting Anna (equally excellent Mélanie Laurent) at a party. The movie is laced with quirks that writer/director Mike Mills – who based the film on his own experience with his late-blooming father – nicely balances with the warmth of the relationships as both Hal and Oliver sweetly embark on new personal adventures.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
I sat down for this movie having not read the book nor seen the Swedish film (I have seen it since). My reaction was that David Fincher had directed the shit out of a fairly ho-hum murder mystery that wasn’t much of a grabber in and of itself. But under Fincher’s guidance, the film sure is. The cinematography, art direction, score and sound design combine to create a visceral experience, kicked off so effectively by that brilliant, stunning opening credits sequence and sustaining the mood all the way through. Daniel Craig often plays hardened or icy characters, so I was pleasantly caught off guard by the normalcy and dry-humored kindness he brings to Mikael Blomkvist, while Rooney Mara throws herself into the role of Lisbeth Salander and achieves bewitching results. An actress would have to be considerably lacking skills to screw up such a dynamic part, so Mara has that advantage, along with the advantage of being largely unknown. But neither fact dilutes how impressively she embodies the character.
THE HELP
It may have been marketed too much like a lighthearted chick flick, but first-time director Tate Taylor strikes a successful balance between humor and gravity with The Help. It’s serious without being heavy, and has levity without being light. It avoids the pitfall of movies about civil rights struggles that focus on white protagonists by making Viola Davis’ Aibileen and Octavia Spencer’s Minny central characters who take charge of their own destiny, even if the opportunity is initiated by the young white journalist, Skeeter (Emma Stone). The almost entirely female ensemble is excellent across the board, with standout work from Davis and Jessica Chastain. Davis is a study in subtlety and immersion into character, adopting a weary gait and a frail stance that drive home her years of suffering, while Chastain reveals layers of depth as a flighty, ostracized housewife.
HUGO
I’m not sure what studio marketing numbskullery resulted in the title of this book adaptation going from the intriguing The Invention of Hugo Cabret to the completely generic Hugo, which suggests a movie about a mischievous yet lovable orangutan, but the result is a movie that’s both unexpected and completely natural for Martin Scorsese. Following an orphan named Hugo living in a Parisian train station, the film expands on Brian Selznick’s book by significantly beefing up the role of the station inspector, amusingly played by Sacha Baron Cohen. I could have done without this largely slapsticky subplot, preferring the main thread involving Hugo, his closely-guarded secrets, the old toymaker (Ben Kingsley) whose wrath he incurs and the toymaker’s godchild (Chloë Grace Moretz) who befriends him. The gorgeous production values are enchanting, and the film is at its best when it flowers into an affectionate love letter to the earliest days of cinema, made all the more poignant coming from one of the art form’s most learned and loving students. As a lifelong movie fan, I couldn’t help but be moved and even shed a few tears during the last third of the film.
MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
Sean Durkin’s haunting feature debut as writer/director follows Martha (Elizabeth Olsen, in an alluring breakthrough performance), a young woman who is drawn into a cult and eventually manages to escape, but not without severe emotional scarring. The film moves back and forth between Martha’s time with the cult and her attempts to re-adjust to normal life while living with her sister and brother-in-law, Lucy and Ted (Sarah Paulson and Hugh Dancy), at their lake house. The relationship between Martha and Lucy is prickly, but we’re left to fill in the blanks of their history on our own, and in doing so we can infer why Martha might have been drawn to the family-like atmosphere of the farm where the cult resides under the leadership of the charismatic Patrick (John Hawkes). Life there is serene, but also dangerous, and Martha never seems fully onboard with what’s happening around her, even while she embraces her own empowerment under Patrick’s tutelage. Unable or unwilling to tell Lucy and Ted what she’s been through, she grows increasingly anxious and fearful of being found by those she deserted.
The film moves between past and present with smooth, organic transitions that often left me feeling displaced, needing a moment to figure out where and when in the story I was. It’s an effective way to approximate Martha’s own state of mind after her escape…not always sure where she is, what’s going on or what’s waiting around the corner. Olsen beautifully captures Martha’s fragile state of mind, anchoring this unsettling examination of a woman frightened and adrift.
MONEYBALL
This is an odd one for me, because it’s a pretty impeccable film, and yet I just don’t love it. I don’t know why I don’t love it. I want to love it. I should love it. There’s not a thing I can point to that I have a problem with. It’s wonderfully directed by Bennett Miller, well acted by Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman and every other actor who steps on screen, and the script by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin is a home run. So why do I merely like it? I can’t explain…but I recommend it unequivocally.
THE MUPPETS
Though there were stories ahead of the movie’s release that described some old-school Muppet performers – including Frank Oz – as being unhappy with the script for the new film, director James Bobin and writers Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller do Jim Henson’s legacy proud with their affectionate movie that’s one part The Blues Brothers, one part Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion and one part Oz’s own The Muppets Take Manhattan. Segel plays Gary, whose adopted brother Walter has never quite fit in…because he’s a Muppet. When he accompanies Gary and Gary’s girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) to Hollywood and discovers that oil tycoon Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) intends to tear down the Muppets’ old theater, the trio sets out to find Kermit and help prevent Richman’s plan. The trademark Muppet goofiness, subversiveness, sweetness and unabashed positivity are all intact, and it’s a total kick to see the beloved characters back in action. I can pop in The Muppet Show DVDs anytime, but sitting in a theater and watching the whole gang recreate the opening theme song had me grinning ear to ear. Pretty much what the whole movie had me doing, in fact. The Muppets are back. Let’s hope they stick around.
TAKE SHELTER A patient and gripping film anchored by strong performances by Michael Shannon as Curtis, a devoted husband and father in rural Ohio who begins experiencing nightmares and waking visions of a coming apocalyptic doom, and Jessica Chastain as his wife Samantha, concerned by his increasingly odd behavior. The signs Curtis sees – oily rain, gathering storm clouds, lightning flashes, swarms of birds swirling in irregular flight – are presented in a chillingly matter-of-fact manner, and the movie continually unnerves us as we experience Curtis’ own doubt as to whether it’s all real or happening in his head. There’s a sad trajectory to the movie as his visions lead him to make decisions intended to protect his family, but which continually end up threatening their well-being in one way or another. Shannon exudes integrity as he tries to be the strong man, guarding his family from what’s happening to him, but ultimately having to admit weakness, explain his state of mind and seek help. The events slowly build to a quiet but intense climax, which itself precedes an intriguing final scene that appears to offer resolution but leaves us appropriately uncertain.
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And now for a couple of extras. During the Oscar season, I like to include my own personal slate of nominees alongside predicting the actual nominees, but this year I held off because of those aforementioned late-to-the-Bay-Area openings. Not that anyone cares now, but for my own sense of closing out 2011 and moving on to hopefully better things, I’m adding my picks to this post. In most of these categories, it was tough to come up with five nominees that felt worthy. I had to go with some padding for some of them. Nevertheless, here’s how my list of Oscar nominees would have looked:
BEST PICTURE
Bridesmaids; The Descendants; Drive; A Separation; Shame; The Tree of Life; Win Win
BEST DIRECTOR
Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive; David Fincher – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Bennett Miller – Moneyball; Steve McQueen – Shame; Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
BEST ACTOR
Demián Bichir – A Better Life; George Clooney – The Descendants; Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar; Michael Fassbender – Shame; Michael Shannon – Take Shelter
BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis – The Help; Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Saoirse Ronan – Hanna; Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady; Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Paul Bettany – Margin Call; Ryan Gosling – Crazy Stupid Love; Brad Pitt – The Tree of Life; Christopher Plummer – Beginners; Alex Shaffer – Win Win
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – The Help; Keira Knightley – A Dangerous Method; Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids; Carey Mulligan – Shame; Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Bridesmaids; Margin Call; Rango; A Separation; Win Win
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Coriolanus; The Descendants; Drive; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2; Moneyball
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Kung Fu Panda 2; Puss in Boots; Rango
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Drive; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Hugo; Shame; The Tree of Life
BEST FILM EDITING
Drive; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Martha Marcy May Marlene; Moneyball; The Tree of Life
BEST ART DIRECTION
Anonymous; Hanna; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2; Hugo; Shame
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Anonymous; Captain America: The First Avenger; Cowboys & Aliens; The Help; Hugo
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Artist; Drive; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Hanna; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Lay Your Head Down (Albert Nobbs); The Living Proof (The Help); Man or Muppet (The Muppets); Pictures in My Head (The Muppets)
BEST MAKEUP
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2; Hugo; The Iron Lady
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Captain America: The First Avenger; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2; Rise of the Planet of the Apes; Transformers: Dark of the Moon; The Tree of Life
BEST SOUND (Cheating a bit on this one, by going with my belief that there should be one Oscar for sound, honoring the overall sound design in a film):
Drive; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2; Super 8; Take Shelter
And just for added fun (fun for me, that is; I don’t delude myself that anyone else is having fun right now), here are nominees in a few categories that don’t exist at the Oscars, but deserve recognition nonetheless:
BEST POSTER
BEST CASTING
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Moneyball; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Warrior; We Need to Talk About Kevin
BEST ENSEMBLE
The Help; The Ides of March; Margin Call; Our Idiot Brother; Win Win
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I wasn’t actually thinking about the next two enough during the year to offer a slate of nominees, so my winners would be…
BEST OPENING CREDITS
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
(Best to experience it as part of the film as a whole, but if you want to see it – and learn how they did it – check it out here. And let the whole thing load before you start playing. You don’t want the flow of this baby interrupted by buffering.)
BEST CLOSING CREDITS
Super 8
Alright alright, I’m done. Here’s a final look back at the movies of 2011. Onward to what promises to be a much more satisfying year…
Actually, many pieces of my childhood have died over the years, but I’m referring to the fact that four famous folk who passed away during the last week-and-a-half had a notable presence during my formative years. I feel the need to pay brief tribute.
First, Davy Jones. I watched The Monkees frequently as a child. It’s been too long for me to remember many specifics other than the opening credits, yet just thinking about the show conjures memories of my first 10 years of life. (Or let’s say, years 6-10. I have no memories of years 1-2, and 3-5 are a blur.) Anyway, I’m not sure what the appeal of the show was when I was so young. What was I getting from The Monkees? Or, now that I think about it, from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which I adored for some reason? Or The Love Boat? (Actually, I think I know what I was getting from The Love Boat, even at that age). I suppose Davy, Mickey, Peter and Michael were just silly enough for me to appreciate their antics. And they recorded some pretty great pop songs. I even remember Jones guest starring on The Brady Bunch, my favorite show at the time. (Man, watching the end of that clip – and especially this one – I can’t believe now how many hours of my childhood were spent consuming that show. It is not good…) Needless to say, I was sad to hear last week that Jones died, too young at 66. I cycled through the Monkees songs on my iPod in his honor, and listening to “Daydream Believer,” was reminded of the music video, with its candy-colored striped sets and goofy finale where the bandmates all try to hog the spotlight. Sorry to see you go, Mr. Jones.
Second, Jan Berenstain. I almost didn’t notice this one in the days of post-Oscar hoopla, but I would be remiss not to mention the children’s author who co-created The Berenstain Bears, a favorite of mine when I was little. For some reason, I specifically remember poring repeatedly over The Berenstain Bears’ New Baby and The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room. Hadn’t thought about these in years, and reading this obituary in The Hollywood Reporter, I was surprised to learn that Jan was still producing new books in the series.
Next, Ralph McQuarrie, the man who designed Darth Vader, C-3PO and so much more of the Star Wars galaxy. He was one of George Lucas’ first and most essential collaborators on Star Wars. The two met a few years before Lucas really began working on the movie, when it was still just a vague idea in his head. According to J.W. Rinzler’s epic tome The Making of Star Wars, McQuarrie had been doing illustrations for Boeing when he met young filmmakers Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins, who were blown away by his work. When they were working on a sci-fi film of their own, they asked him to do some concept art. McQuarrie joined them for lunch one day with their friend Lucas, and the director remembered him when he started to write Star Wars. He hired McQuarrie to help illustrate a handful of early concepts, and the artist wound up creating some of the most iconic imagery in film history. He based his drawings on Lucas’ script pages, but added his own ideas and details which in turn inspired Lucas. McQuarrie worked on many other famous films and TV shows, and won an Oscar as part of the visual effects team for Cocoon, but his contribution to Star Wars is immeasurable. Here’s a nice article about his passing, from Entertainment Weekly.
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Finally, Robert Sherman. Though I undoubtedly heard the name over the years, it wasn’t familiar to me on its own. The headline about his death that I initially read touted him as the songwriter of “It’s a Small World,” but it was seeing he was the man behind the music from Mary Poppins that really got my attention. In reading further, I realized that Sherman and his brother were responsible for tons of great Disney music, including songs from The Jungle Book. I remember the first time I saw Mary Poppins. Couldn’t have been more than five years old (making this one of the few memories from 3-5 that’s not a blur…if my recollection is even correct). It was Thanksgiving, and the movie was playing on TV that evening. My mother told me that I’d really like it, and after dinner she brought me up to the bedroom with the TV, tucked me in and left me to watch while the grown-ups played cards or something and my older brother and cousins did who knows what. And of course, I loved it. What little kid wouldn’t? Flying nannies, chalk paintings you could jump into, rooms that clean themselves (almost), real people walking through a cartoon, and that magical word: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I recall my aunt buying me the record album, which had pictures instead of just black vinyl: Mary Poppins and Bert in their “Jolly Holiday” outfits on one side, Bert and the chimney sweeps doing their rooftop dance on the other side. Mary Poppins also taught me an early lesson in the difference between fantasy and reality. My medicine was never delivered with a spoonful of sugar, nor did singing that song help me clean my room. Mary Poppins was a liar…but how could I begrudge one with so sweet a voice?
Lady and gentlemen, I bid you all a fond and grateful adieu.
It’s been a week since the coming and going of another Oscar night. Dreams came true, hopes were dashed and cymbals were clanged. It was definitely a better show than last year, though a pretty middling one in general. Still, we must debrief. Or at least, I must debrief. You’re under no obligation to join me.
THE AWARDS
The inevitability of The Artist came to pass, though interestingly it scored the same number of wins as Hugo, with five each. Not that it matters now, but I just don’t get it. I thought The Artist was fresh and charming, but Best Picture? I never saw that, and I still don’t. It’s too much of a trifle. Enjoyable as it is, it’s also paper thin…and I don’t mean that to be a criticism of the movie. It’s not like it aimed high and fell short. It had no lofty ambitions, and accomplished exactly what it wanted to. But a Best Picture winner should have more meat on its bones. Best Director I can understand even if I wouldn’t have gone that way, but not Best Picture. And certainly not Best Actor, all respect to a delightful performance by Jean Dujardin. Seriously, Best Actor?!? The more I consider it, the less sense it makes.
My emotions are mixed around Best Actress. Meryl Streep’s win can’t be called a surprise exactly, since everyone agreed that the race had boiled down to her and Viola Davis. But most predictions also agreed that Davis would take it, so hearing Colin Firth announce Streep’s name was a curveball of sorts. I feel badly for Davis. She and Streep were both deserving, but Davis – as I said in my predictions post – is going to have a harder time finding roles that will bring her back to the Oscars. And even then, becoming a frontrunner again is always a stroke of luck. Davis is good enough and respected enough in the industry that she’ll probably be back sooner or later. But it would have been nice for her to ride this wave of acclaim all the way.
Yet at the same time…Meryl Streep!!! At last!! It’s been said before – by me, and others – that no one but Meryl Streep could already have two Oscars and still be considered overdue. But it’s been a long drought – 12 nominations since her last win, in 1982 for Sophie’s Choice. Every few years she’s back, and a part of that season’s narrative becomes, “Will this be Meryl Streep’s year?” It feels surreal, in a way, that it finally happened. You know that scene near the end of Terms of Endearment, where Jeff Daniels says to Debra Winger, “I’m thinking about my identity and not having one anymore. I mean, who am I if I’m not the man who’s failing Emma?” It’s kinda like that…who is Meryl Streep if she’s not the actress who keeps getting nominated for Oscars and keeps losing? And how long will it be before she’s overdue again? It was confirmed within the last few weeks that later this year she will begin filming an adaptation of the play August: Osage County, a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play in which Streep will take on the dynamic lead role of a dysfunctional Oklahoma family’s pill-addicted matriarch. The actress who originated the part on Broadway won a Tony, and if Streep isn’t back in the race next year for the comedic drama Great Hope Springs (due out this summer), surely she’ll be in the 2013 hunt. And probably several more after that.
Anyway, it can’t be denied that it was great to see her holding an Oscar again. As usual, she gave a down to earth and self-deprecating speech in which she paid tribute to the many friends she has made over her 35 years in the movie biz. Incidentally, Streep joins a select group of actors who have collected three Oscars: Jack Nicholson, Walter Brennan and Ingrid Bergman. She’ll need one more to tie the record of four acting wins, held by Katherine Hepburn.
No major surprises going down the line. I only managed a middling 15 correct predictions out of 24 his year, but admittedly I knew I was going against the grain in my picks for Best Actor (I stuck with Clooney), Best Adapted Screenplay (I followed my first instinct – Moneyball – instead of going with the favored The Descendants) and Best Visual Effects (where I should have known that Rise of the Planet of the Apes wouldn’t be able to fend off the more Academy-favored Hugo). In the below-the-line categories, the biggest surprise was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo‘s win for Best Editing. Few pundits saw that coming. Even winners Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall – who became the first back-to-back editing winners since 1936 (they won last year for The Social Network) – didn’t see that coming, and were so stunned that they could barely muster a speech.
Speaking of speeches, other highlights included Asghar Farhadi, writer/director of Best Foreign Language Film winner A Separation, offering a gentle and heartfelt reminder that Iran does not exist solely in a political context, and that there are plenty of people from that nation who respect all cultures and want to share experiences through art. (Of course, Iran’s political leaders were celebrating the win because it came at the expense of Israel’s nominated film. I prefer Farhadi’s point of view…and Jon Stewart’s as well). It was also nice to see The Artist‘s Ludovic Bource, winner of Best Original Score, stop on his way to the stage to hug or shake hands with his fellow nominees Alberto Iglesias, Howard Shore and John Williams, and then acknowledge them in his speech.
I was a little surprised by Hugo taking both sound awards, and by The Artist taking Best Costume Design despite the black-and-white that I thought would derail its chances. And while Hugo undoubtedly sported some fine cinematography from Robert Richardson, that award so should have gone to The Tree of Life. Pretty soon Emmanuel Lubezki may join Roger Deakins as one of recent history’s most unjustly Oscar-less lensers.
THE HOST Billy was back, and it was like he’d never left. Literally. He stuck to his traditional schtick, and it was just like a plate of comfort food, though perhaps one left sitting out to cool just a touch too long. Crystal is one of Oscar’s all-time great hosts, and part of the fun of having him there is watching him do his usual bits. I like seeing him insert himself into nominated movies for the opening gag…but the last few times he’s done it, he’s played the angle of, “Should I go back and host the Oscars again?” That gets a little old. I did like the Justin Bieber cameo though, a cleverly executed jab at the Academy’s foolish efforts to lure younger viewers. And Crystal’s deliberately cheesy Best Picture medley is always fun, but none of this year’s lyrics were too memorable (whereas, über-Oscar nerd that I am, I can still sing parts of his medleys from the early 90s, which had great lyrics for The Godfather Part III, JFK and The Prince of Tides, among others). Plus, couldn’t the song’s writers have come up with a better way to address Moneyball than just calling attention to Jonah Hill’s weight loss?
The monologue was surprisingly brief, with most of the time yielded to the opening film and the medley. Usually Crystal banters with the audience a little more, but he got right down to business this time. He had plenty of good one-liners throughout the show, but there wasn’t anything special for him to work with. No Jack Palance one-armed-pushups, no non-stop flow of New Zealanders winning in nearly every category (though NZ was represented by a win for “Man or Muppet” songwriter Bret McKenzie). It was a dry show by and large, fitting for a ho-hum year of movies, and Crystal did what he could with it. As we’d all hoped for and expected, it was an improvement over last year’s misguided Franco/Hathaway experiment.
THE PRESENTERS
It was a pretty good slate this year. We got some stalwarts like Tom Hanks, Michael Douglas and an ageless Tom Cruise, along with plenty of funny presentations that I thought worked well. Best in Show goes to Chris Rock for his hilarious introduction to Best Animated Feature…
…followed by Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis emerging from the orchestra pit to present Best Original Song.
Great stuff…but no joke about there only being two nominees for Best Song?
I enjoyed the bits by Ben Stiller and Emma Stone (preceded by a funny intro with Crystal and Melissa McCarthy), as well as the Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow presentation, though each one seemed to play only decently in the room. In fact, the audience seemed pretty stiff this year overall, which is too bad, because I thought these presenters did well. Kudos to Paltrow too, for selling her part of the stint with Downey. Award show banter often lives or dies on the strength of the straight-man – or straight-woman, in this case. If they can’t sell the joke, the awkwardness can be painful. But Gwyneth’s got the goods.
It was great to see Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy on the show, if only briefly. Next time, give them a bit more to do and invite some of the other Muppets to join them. (In fact, why not have Statler and Waldorf in the balcony all night, lobbing insults at the host?) The show also made smart use of the Bridesmaids cast by having the six women present a string of connected awards in pairs of two, rather than having them present one award and utter a single line each. Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph did an amusing “size does matter” riff about Best Live Action Short Film, while Rose Byrne and Melissa McCarthy carried forth a joke from the SAG Awards in which the Bridemaids ladies discussed a drinking game based around the mention of “Scorsese.”
Angelina Jolie seemed to get a lot of humorless attention for the leg-flashing stance she took upon reaching the microphone to present the Best Adapted Screenplay award, but it seemed obvious to me that she was just trying to be playful; same with Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez when they did their little spin-around before announcing the Best Makeup winner. But as I said, the crowd wasn’t so receptive to playfulness this year. Nor was the entertainment media apparently, as I read numerous comments in the day or two after the show about how Jim Rash, one of the adapted screenplay winners for The Descendants, was insulting Jolie when he mimicked her leggy pose. I read one headline that blared something like, “Award Winner Savagely Mocks Jolie.” Jesus people, bring it down a few notches. There was nothing savage about it. Jolie did something kinda funny, and Rash played with it. I doubt anybody’s feelings were hurt, and both Rash and Jolie’s gestures were all in good fun.
The most disappointing among the presenters – not that it was her fault – was Tina Fey. She’s been a highlight of the show in recent years, but this time she was given almost no material to work with. They had her out there to present three awards, but didn’t come up with anything funny for her to do. What a waste. Her co-presenter Bradley Cooper was funny…but that was more due to his goofy handlebar moustache. (The one joke Fey cracked can be seen in the Best Film Editing clip above.)
And by the way, congratulations to the show’s producers for entrusting Jennifer Lopez with presenting an award that wasn’t for music. She’s presented several times over the years, but I think that was a first.
THE PRODUCTION
-This is the Oscars. It’s the big leagues. It’s also 2012. Can we really not solve the problem of a microphone buzz persisting through the entire telecast?
-There were a handful of montages during the course of the show in which actors, against a simple black screen, talked about the magic of movies. One of the reasons we watch the Oscars is to see movie stars and great actors, so appearances by people like Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Gabourey Sidibe were all well and good, but the Academy has done this self-indulgent “power of the movies” stuff before. I’m a huge movie fan, and even I was rolling my eyes a little bit. On the plus side, the interviews were directed by Bennett Miller, so…that’s cool.
-The pre-filmed Wizard of Oz focus group bit starring Christopher Guest and his amazing troupe of improvisors was an inspired idea. I thought it could have been a little funnier, but it was still a treat to see that gang – Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, Jennifer Coolidge and Bob Balaban – together again.
Alas, no Michael McKean, Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Ed Begley, Jr. or John Michael Higgins. Maybe they’ll do another one next year. Imagine a crowd of similarly uptight characters trying to make sense of 2001: A Space Odyssey? Actually – that should have been a running gag through the show. Instead of listening to actors telling us how movies transport them, there should have been different focus group films with Guest and Company.
-Once again, the show’s director Don Mischer – also the co-producer – seemed to be operating from the booth as if he were blind. The guy seems bizarrely incapable of cutting to famous faces in the audience. He fared a tiny bit better this year than last, capturing some reactions from George Clooney, Steven Spielberg and others here and there. But the number of times the camera cut to a shot of the crowd featuring a bunch of total unknowns was staggering. Where was Gary Oldman all night? Or Rooney Mara, who was seen only when the Dragon Tattoo editors addressed her from stage? Natalie Portman? Viola Davis? Glenn Close? They were hardly featured at all. It’s like Mischer was sending his cameramen into the most remote corners of the audience to capture anonymous members of the crowd and then cutting to the shot that was furthest away from the nearest celebrity at any given time. I don’t care how many years of experience this guy has; any skill he may have once possessed is no more. Mischer has got to go. Somebody get me Louis J. Horovitz stat! (Note the first line of trivia next to his picture. I doubt Mischer will earn any such honors.)
-One thing I will give Mischer credit for – or maybe it goes to his fellow producer Brian Grazer – is letting nearly every winner complete a speech without getting played off the stage by the orchestra. Whenever a category has more than one winner, it seems like whoever talks second is doomed to be cut off. But in almost every case, multiple winners were not only allowed to speak, but actually finish! In fact, the only category where the winners got cut short was Best Documentary. One of the recipients did drop an F-bomb, but it was caught by the delay, and the speech still went on for a bit before they were cut off. They weren’t even up there that long. So obnoxious. Let people have their moment, damnit!
-Having the Best Actor and Best Actress presenters directly address the nominees isn’t working anymore. When it was first introduced for the 2008 awards, it was a neat and novel device: bring out five previous winners in all four acting categories and have each of them salute one of the current nominees. It was a great idea. But it worked because it was unusual and unexpected, and even though the comments were being read from a teleprompter in most cases, the gesture still felt personal and intimate. The next year, they tried for something similar, but it was clunky: dissing the two Supporting categories, the producers brought out former co-stars of each lead acting nominee and had them salute their nominated one-time co-star. Then those presenters exited the stage and the previous year’s acting winner came out to actually open the envelope and hand out the award. This year and last, the presentations were further streamlined by just having the previous year’s winner (opposite gender, in keeping with Academy tradition of one year’s Best Actor presenting the next year’s Best Actress, and vice versa) pay tribute to all five nominees before opening the envelope. But the magic is gone. That first time, it felt special to have, for example, Shirley MacLaine honoring Anne Hathaway, Robert De Niro lauding his friend Sean Penn, Kevin Kline paying tribute to Heath Ledger and Whoopi Goldberg addressing fellow onscreen nun Amy Adams. But now it feels stiff, it drags the presentations out and the presence of the teleprompter feels more noticeable, making the remarks seem less genuine. Next year, let’s just go back to reading the names and showing a clip. Or find another creative way to conduct the presentation. Maybe have video clips of fellow actors – not necessarily former winners, not necessarily former co-stars, but just a small assortment of respected actors discussing all the nominated performances in a given category and what they liked or admired about them. There are videos on the Academy website in which some of this year’s below-the-line categories are reviewed this way. Just an idea. But it’s time to retire this bit for a few years. Oh, and whatever is done, it should be done for the Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress nominees too. Where’s the love?
-The In Memoriam tribute was given an elegant presentation, but once again most of the names came and went without any reference to the films the deceased had worked on. A few clips or sound bytes were included for the most well-known in the montage, like Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Falk and Sidney Lumet. But for all the lesser known folks, particularly those who worked behind-the-scenes, it’s nice to see a sampling of the films they worked on so we have some context.
THE HONORARY AWARDS
Before winning Best Actress, Meryl Streep took the stage to call attention to this year’s honorary Oscars, which were presented back in November. These awards used to be given out on Oscar night, but a new tradition was started a few years ago to honor the recipients at a separate event, known as the Governors Awards. This year’s honorary Oscars, as shown in the highlight clip introduced by Streep, were given to pioneering makeup artist Dick Smith (The Godfather, The Exorcist, Amadeus) and James Earl Jones. Oprah Winfrey received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, which has been awarded over the years to people like Bob Hope, Audrey Hepburn, Paul Newman and Jerry Lewis. All three were in attendance on Oscar night, and while I do miss having these honors incorporated into the ceremony, the Governors Awards evening really allows them to be properly celebrated, without having to abbreviate the tributes so as to cater to an impatient TV audience. The acceptance speeches and clips of the presenters are available on the Academy’s website and are worth checking out. I especially enjoyed J.J. Abrams’ tribute to Smith:
THE DRESSES
When I arrived at the Oscar party I was attending, the TV was already tuned to the red carpet, though thankfully the sound was muted. I can’t abide the vacuous comments and stupid questions posed by most of the interviewers, but I do like looking at the beautiful belles in their dresses and gowns. Natalie Portman pretty much took my breath away when I first saw her on the carpet. Seriously, I think I lost my balance and had to grope for the wall behind me to steady myself. Dear lord, she looked good. I liked the Grace Kelly hairdo sported by Penelope Cruz, and Jessica Chastain’s dress was a standout as well. I haven’t looked up how the fashion police rated Jennifer Lopez, but I had absolutely no problem with her seashellish get-up. Michelle Williams, Cameron Diaz, Viola Davis, Kristen Wiig, Milla Jovovich, Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey and Gwyneth Paltrow all looked nice, and it has to be said: Janet McTeer? Totally hot. She was in disguise as a hulkin’ dude in Albert Nobbs, but in reality she’s a serious cougar. Anyway, to preserve my memory, here’s a sampling. It’s okay…I respect them all for their intelligence and acting chops as well as their ability to look good.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Every year, Oscar night leaves in its wake reviews about how the show is boring and stale, how the Academy is irrelevant and out of touch (complaints that also spring up after nominations are announced and provocative films like Shame are inevitably omitted) and how it can all be fixed. I wanted to weigh in on that, but I also want to get this post finished while this year’s show is still reasonably fresh in our memories. So I’ll save it for another time…not a bad idea anyway, since there’s more than enough to say on the topic to fill its own post. Instead, we’ll just end this Oscar season with a polite smile, and hope that the films in contention next year will be a stronger lot. Based on how 2012 is looking, that shouldn’t be a problem. (I’ll have more to say on that in the next few weeks.)
A final reminder of this year’s Oscar night, this clip comes not from the broadcast, but from the red carpet. It was a moment that merited unmuting the TV: Sacha Baron Cohen, in character for his new film The Dictator, encountering a legitimately unsuspecting Ryan Seacrest. General, I salute you.
Rarely does an actor have as amazing a debut year as you had in 1996. It started with Primal Fear – what a breakout! The movie was a slick Hollywood thriller, but your performance elevated it and announced the arrival of a special talent. Your audition tape burned through the industry, landing you juicy roles in Milos Forman’s The People vs. Larry Flynt and Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You before Primal Fear had even come out. By year’s end, all three movies had been released and you were winning critics awards for your work in all of them. You took home a Golden Globe for Primal Fear, and an Oscar nomination for the same. After this hat trick of superb supporting performances, leading roles seemed yours for the taking. Yet instead of going that route, you chose another supporting part for your next film, playing wingman to Matt Damon in the poker flick Rounders. Granted, you had the more colorful part, that of a cocky gambling addict whose irresponsible behavior gets him – and his friend – in trouble with the wrong people.
HUGO
Billy was back, and it was like he’d never left. Literally. He stuck to his traditional schtick, and it was just like a plate of comfort food, though perhaps one left sitting out to cool just a touch too long. Crystal is one of Oscar’s all-time great hosts, and part of the fun of having him there is watching him do his usual bits. I like seeing him insert himself into nominated movies for the opening gag…but the last few times he’s done it, he’s played the angle of, “Should I go back and host the Oscars again?” That gets a little old. I did like the Justin Bieber cameo though, a cleverly executed jab at the Academy’s foolish efforts to lure younger viewers. And Crystal’s deliberately cheesy Best Picture medley is always fun, but none of this year’s lyrics were too memorable (whereas, über-Oscar nerd that I am, I can still sing parts of his medleys from the early 90s, which had great lyrics for The Godfather Part III, JFK and The Prince of Tides, among others). Plus, couldn’t the song’s writers have come up with a better way to address Moneyball than just calling attention to Jonah Hill’s weight loss?
I Am DB 