Category: movies

MOVIE REVIEW: Away From Her


It seems as though every ten years, I need to see an Oscar-worthy picture starting with the letter A starring Julie Christie. On Washington Birthday weekend 1998, it was Afterglow, with Nick Nolte at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany. A couple of weeks ago, it was Away from Her on a DVD at home.

This is a story of a loving couple, Fiona and Grant, who both notice that she is forgetting more and more details about her life, and even where the frying pan goes. Ultimately, she goes to a facility, where her husband comes nearly every day trying to find his wife again. Unfortunately, not unlike the real-life situation of Sandra Day O’Connor’s husband, Fiona grows an attachment with another man. How he deals with it, and why, plus the glimpses of their 40 years of marriage, are the real driving forces of this film.

Julie Christie’s Oscar nomination is well-deserved. Gordon Pinsent, a character actor who I’ve seen (Shipping News, e.g.), but don’t specifically remember, does a lot of the heavy lifting in this picture and is also excellent.

I listened to just a little of the EXTRAS tracking, but Julie Christie indicated that she got involved with this film because of the wonderful dialogue of actress Sarah Polley, and because of the friendship they had developed working on a previous film. Still, Julie wasn’t sure of Sarah’s directing abilities until they got on the set, where Christie realized how confident first-time director Polley was.

There were a couple of distractions. One is the use of a Neil Young song that has a very personal, another context for me. (The movie also uses k.d. lang’s version of Young’s Helpless; the movie was shot in Canada.)
The other was that, before even the previews, were a bunch of stars, including movie co-star Olympia Dukakis, charging the audience to become more aware of Alzheimer’s disease. Dick van Dyke, for instance, mentioned that he had a 50-year-old friend with the ailment. It was very sincere but put me in the mindset that this was going to be a made-for-TV overwrought drama, rather than the fine film it turned out to be.

MOVIE REVIEW: Ratatouille


In the mid 1980s, I lived in this apartment in Albany where there was a big field in the back. I suffered the most virulent mouse invasion I’ve ever experienced. It wasn’t just mice in the low cabinets and along the floor boards. It was beasties in the upper cabinets. I remember putting a box of elbow macaroni on top of the refrigerator and discovered that a live mouse was still in it. Ultimately I set traps, usually four each night for about three weeks before the mouse hotline alerted its fellow travelers that this was not a safe house to be in.

The very premise of a movie about a rodent, a RAT, no less, preparing food was, to say the least, unappealing to me. Still, I went to the parlor of my church a couple Tuesdays ago, and saw Ratatouille with eight other adults, and no children. In fact, I may have been the youngest one there. I was totally captivated by this film. Among other things, there are scenes that are laugh-out-loud hysterical.

Establishing Remy as a sympathetic iconoclast foodie allows the rest of the story to flow, from Remy finding the once-famed Gusteau’s restaurant in Paris to saving the young man Linguini from culinary disaster to what follows. There is a frantic wonder in that early kitchen scene that was breathtaking. If the movie isn’t quite up to that level throughout, it’s still high on my list of favorite films for the year.

This is yet another PIXAR success. In addition to the wonderful writing and direction of Brad Bird, and luscious artwork, I loved the voice actors, including Patton Oswalt as Remy and Lou Romano as Linguini, plus Ian Holm, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett, and Peter O’Toole as the food critic Anton Ego.

ROG

ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Eastern Promises


A friend of mine has a Netflix account, and before she returned the film, she let me watch Eastern Promises a week ago Sunday, while Carol and Lydia went ice skating. I must admit, despite it being out for a while, I wasn’t sure what the movie was about. As it turns out, it’s the story of the Russian mafia in London, and this guy Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen) working his way up the system. It’s also about this young woman who died in childbirth, nurse Anna (Naomi Watts) trying to find the family of the baby, and how these two story lines intersect.

Mortensen is excellent, and deserving of his Oscar nomination. I had seen him only in lighter fare, such as the first Lord of the Rings film. He embodies and possesses this hardened character. Watts is also good, as is Armin Mueller-Stahl as the mob boss. I was also captivated by the storytelling prowess of tattoos.

All that said, I can’t say I enjoyed the film. There are ultragraphic touches throughout. In fact, after the scene that took place at 75 minutes in, I did something I absolutely hate to do; I put the video on pause to catch my breath, which one could not do in a movie theater. It does not surprise me that the director was David Cronenberg, who broke into films making violent fare; his last film, which I did not see, was A History of Violence.

More problematic, though, is the storyline itself. Maybe it was because of the language barrier, but occasionally I didn’t understand what was going on, why a certain person was killed, and worst of all, the ending. Also, there’s about a five-minute initiation seen, done entirely in languages I did not comprehend – no subtitles – which was interesting for a couple minutes, but which then became frustrating.

You know when you read the SPOILER ALERT synopsis and both you and your friend say, “Oh, is THAT what happened?”, a certain storytelling disconnect has occurred.

ROG

ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Charlie Wilson’s War


Back on ML King Day, Carol and I went to the Spectrum Theatre in Albany. One must always take advantage of those times when the child is in day care and the parents both have the day off.
The goal in Roger’s Oscar roulette is to see as many Oscar-nominated films before the actual awards (this year: February 24), whether it’s a gala affair or Golden Globes press conference, part 2.

Charlie Wilson’s War is a Hollywood movie. I mean that in all the good and bad sense of that term. To the good, the production values are more than adequate; to the bad, it’s rather bland.

An early scene involves a number of naked women. Is this titillating? It is not. It was, surprisingly flat and boring. In fact, the film felt that way pretty much until Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character shows up. It’s comedic and has a certain energy; his Oscar nomination is deserved, for this and other roles this past year.

Tom Hanks is Tom Hanks. I don’t know what else to say.

Julia Roberts has taken a lot of heat, not just for this role, but somehow for her whole acting career. I thought she was fine in Erin Brockovich, playing a real person, (though Ellen Burstyn should have won for Requiem for a Dream that year, rather than Julia). And her hair looks A LOT like the real woman she is portraying. But here, her performance is rather flat, and I don’t know why.

If you don’t know, this movie is based on a real Texas congressman who found a way to fund the Afghans fighting the Russians. Much has been made of the ending, with some suggesting a more specific conclusion, telling the audience that the money shelled out for Charlie’s war helped in the development of the Taliban. I tend to disagree; the oblique dialogue between Charlie and the CIA man Gust (Hoffman) is enough, without it either 1) being preachy and/or 2) having to resort to that clumsy overlay technique of text at the end of the film telling you what happens next, used in films based on fiction as well as reality.

The story was written by the late CBS News producer George Crile, and the real Charlie Wilson appeared on 60 Minutes seven years ago. The average grade in Entertainment Weekly for this movie is a B. That’s just about right. It was by no means a terrible movie-going experience, but it wasn’t extraordinary, either. Maybe its lack of honesty and bite (except for Hoffman’s character) hurts it as a film as well.
ROG

ROG

Oscar picks – first pass

This is what I THINK will win, not necessarily who I WANT to win. I claim my right to change my mind before February 24, as I actually SEE more of these pictures. The only ones I’ve seen so far: Charlie Wilson’s War, The Savages, Juno and Sicko.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
(DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah” (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises” (Focus Features)

Daniel Day-Lewis, because he’s Daniel Day-Lewis. Second pick: Depp over Clooney.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (Universal)
Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Bardem. Hoffman might have won in another year for his body of work, or even Holbrook, who’s an octogenarian.

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal)
Julie Christie in “Away from Her” (Lionsgate)
Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse)
Laura Linney in “The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in “Juno” (Fox Searchlight)

Cotillard, if anyone saw the film, much more appealing than she looks in the film, and Oscar likes that; Christie otherwise.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in “American Gangster” (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement” (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone” (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Blanchette, oddly nominated for Elizabeth, will win here over Ryan.

Best animated feature film of the year
“Persepolis” (Sony Pictures Classics) Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Brad Bird
“Surf’s Up” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

In the order listed.

Achievement in directing
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Julian Schnabel
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight) Jason Reitman
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) Tony Gilroy
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Paul Thomas Anderson

The Coens over PTA.

Best documentary feature
“No End in Sight” (Magnolia Pictures)
A Representational Pictures Production
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience” (The Documentary Group)
A Documentary Group Production
Richard E. Robbins
“Sicko” (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company)
A Dog Eat Dog Films Production
Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara
“Taxi to the Dark Side” (THINKFilm)
An X-Ray Production
Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
“War/Dance” (THINKFilm)
A Shine Global and Fine Films Production
Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine

No End in Sight over Sicko. No more Moore.

Best motion picture of the year
“Atonement” (Focus Features)
A Working Title Production
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight)
A Dancing Elk Pictures, LLC Production
Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
A Clayton Productions, LLC Production
Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production
Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production
JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

No Country over There Will Be Blood.

Adapted screenplay
“Atonement” (Focus Features)
Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
“Away from Her” (Lionsgate)
Written by Sarah Polley
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn)
Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

PTA over Coen – share the wealth. Or the upset special- Sarah Polley.

Original screenplay
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight)
Written by Diablo Cody
“Lars and the Real Girl” (MGM)
Written by Nancy Oliver
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
Written by Tony Gilroy
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney)
Screenplay by Brad Bird
Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
“The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)
Written by Tamara Jenkins

This is the Michael Clayton consolation award.

How the mighty have fallen. Eddie Murphy, who was nominated for an Academy Award last year for Dreamgirls, is up for severall Razzies for Norbit. In fact, the conjecture was that the release of thwe noxious Norbit trailer early last year cost Eddie the Oscar.

i get these notices from the New York Times, usually once or twice a day. Yesterday was particularly busy:
Fed cuts prime 0.75% – not a shock.
Dow sinks anyway – not exactly a surprise after the European markets tanked the day before.
Fred Thompson drops out of the race; hardly “news” since his poor South Carolina showing.
Heath Ledger dead at the age of 28. What? Nominated two years ago as Best Actor for Brokeback Mountain. I first saw him in A Knight’s Tale, light fare, then in a much more intense role in Monster’s Ball. Sad for his two-year old daughter and the rest of his family.

ROG

ROG
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