Image = Best of 2016 & Pre-Oscar Rants

My Best Movies of 2016:

Manchester By the Sea
La La Land
Denial
Florence Foster Jenkins
Captain Fantastic
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Other People
Sing Street
A Man Called Ove
The Meddler
 
Honorable Mention:
 
Hidden Figures
Lion
20th Century Women
Café Society
Genius

I’ve said this before and it needs to be said again. Katharine Hepburn won 4 Academy Awards (which is a solitary record) and she never attended a ceremony or campaigned in any way. And they weren’t all in the early part of her career. Kate won her 4^th Oscar in 1981. I HATE that The Oscars have become both a popularity contest and an annual exercise in “Who do we owe this year?” Here’s my soapbox about both the great and the overrated this year.

Casey Affleck

1 – Manchester by the Sea is a masterpiece. Kenneth Lonergan dramatizes and beautifully directs the subject of extreme grief with humor, humanity and an incredible use of eclectic music. Lonergan’s original script needs to win the Oscar for screenplay because there is nothing else like it. And here’s the blatant truth: Casey Affleck has been in the trenches in mostly supporting roles for 20+ years. His leading performance as a tortured man in Manchester is restrained and beautiful and the bottom line is… It is Casey Affleck’s year. I don’t care what has unearthed from his personal life during this awards season. He is THE Best Actor of 2016. Period.

2 – La La Land is also a modern masterpiece because Damien Chazelle achieved making a romantic musical in 2017 that is visually stunning and (spoiler alert) does not have a happy ending! The actors (Emma Stone & the great Ryan Gosling) are honest & vulnerable and it takes guts to sing on screen with naturalistic singing voices. The film deserves a lot of acclaim for being unique, ambitious & absorbing. I’ve seen it twice and it was better the second time.

3 – Now for the bitching:

Fences is a play on film, not a movie. Denzel Washington & Viola Davis did it on Broadway in 2010 and both won Tonys so I don’t see why it needed to be made into a film – except maybe vanity. The film is very dramatic but not at all cinematic. Denzel the Great as Director does nothing interesting with his film adaptation. His acting is interesting but not compelling because there is not enough editing. Denzel already has 2 Oscars (#2 owed to him). He does not need a 3^rd for this movie. I LOVE and greatly respect Viola Davis but I feel like the Oscars (and all the major awards this year) are making up for the incredible injustice of NOT giving her the award for Best Actress for The Help in 2011. I would give the award for Best Supporting Actress this year to either to Michelle Williams in Manchester or Naomie Harris in Moonlight.

Arrival is one of the worst movies I have EVER seen. Unbearably slow, boring, nonsensical and badly written. I don’t understand ANY of the acclaim for it.

And I know this is not going to be a popular comment – but – both Loving & Moonlight are so slow I stopped caring what happened on screen. The stories are significant but the filmmaking is so tedious that I cannot appreciate the finished product. I can acknowledge certain performances though – and I think Joel Edgerton was brilliant as usual, as were Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris.  

4 - Some major oversights this year:

Maybe the most underrated actress alive Annette Bening in Mike Mills’ lovely tribute his own mother, 20^th Century Women.

The entire cast of Denial. Tom Wilkinson, Rachel Weisz, Timothy Spall & Andrew Scott. All brilliant, as is the film.

Hugh Grant in Florence Foster Jenkins. I would give him every Supporting Actor Award for graciously holding his own opposite Dame Meryl Streep. And if not Hugh, runner up is the gorgeous & vulnerable breakout performance by Lucas Hedges in Manchester. Although another flagrant oversight is the remarkable 5 year old non-actor Sonny Pawar, who carries the first hour of Lion with ease.

Shafted for TWO great performances was Janelle Monae. Wonderful in Moonlight and scene stealing in Hidden Figures. It's shocking that she didn't get a nomination for Supporting Actress. 

The Meddler is arguably Susan Sarandon’s greatest role ever and the film got NO recognition. It’s wonderfully written & poignant. Susan & the movie are just brilliant. See it.  

And lastly - one awesome thing:
Because I am watching the Indie Spirit Awards right now, I have to say that I LOVE that Molly Shannon won for Best Supporting Actress for the very affecting Other People. Justice for a tiny little indie and an actress who can do both comedy and drama.

Image = Awards Season 2016

Tonight’s Golden Globes marks the official start of Awards Season and I’d like to talk a little about that.  I am not going to discuss every single nomination so far, but just some that I feel require discussion…

The nominations for the Golden Globes, SAG Awards and Independent Spirits are ALL over the place and this is VERY unusual.  It’s crazy and disconcerting but it’s also exciting.  There is no one big favorite movie this year and so… anything can happen.  As I said in my last blogpost, I am championing Spotlight for many reasons.  I have to have a favorite and there it is.  Room and The Big Short are my silver and bronze winners, and actually I would be happy if any of them won Best Picture because they are all so damn good.  

Even though the Academy Award nominations have not been announced yet, I am going to make some very early Oscar predictions.

Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl

BEST ACTOR: 

Because it is such a wide open field this year and he already has noms for every award… I am predicting that Eddie Redmayne may very well win back to back Oscars.  The movie The Danish Girl is flawed but his performance (and how AMAZING he looks in drag) is NOT!

I had to literally watch it through my fingers because it is riddled with graphic violence but I think Johnny Depp deserves a nom for Black Mass and Will Smith is back to his serious acting roots in Concussion and merits major consideration.  Bryan Cranston is also spot-on in Trumbo and has been on a roll of late winning Emmys and a Tony and everyone in the industry loves him, so he could steal the Oscar this year.  I am not going to see The Revenant and as much as I think he is way overdue, I would hate to see Leo win his Oscar for it because he almost died in the treacherous terrain and sub zero temps where they were shooting.  I also hate when the Academy gives people owed awards.  Matt Damon does not exactly re-invent the art of acting in The Martian but he expertly displays his mastery at being a charismatic movie star, reminiscent of Cary Grant and Clark Gable.

The real truth is that the finest performance of the year came from young Jacob Tremblay in Room and if he doesn’t get an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, there is no justice in the world.  I don’t understand both why The Globes overlooked him completely and why The SAGs think he is a supporting actor.  He is in every shot of Room and utterly captivating in every moment.

One side note about Best Supporting Actor – since the world is enamored with Amy Schumer and Trainwreck has garnered many noms so far, let’s also recognize Colin Quinn.  It’s a GREAT performance.   

Lily Tomlin

 

BEST ACTRESS:

I think Grandma is a perfect film and that Lily Tomlin was pitch perfect helming it.  It’s great that she got a Globe nom but I am totally shocked that she is not nominated for an Indie Spirit.  I thought that was a lock – and not even a nomination!  This makes no sense to me at all.  At 75 and having one of the greatest years of her career, I think it’s time Lily became an EGOT.

I’ve already said that I was underwhelmed by Carol and that I think Cate Blanchett should be nominated for Truth instead. 

There was a ton of Oscar buzz for Blythe Danner early in the year for her first starring role of her career for I’ll See you in My Dreams and so far – nothing.

Saoirse Ronan, Charlotte Rampling and Alicia Vikander all deserve recognition but I don’t agree with all the praise for Brie Larson.  She is a very natural actress and Room is a sensational film, but her performance was a bit one-note to be THE best of the year.

Since The Globes honor both film and television, let’s talk about TV.  An unfortunate side-effect of what critics have dubbed “too much television” is that many actors get snubbed.  Here are a few actors who are doing amazing work but never get acknowledged: 

Danielle Brooks

Hayden Panettiere on Nashville

Wendy McLendon-Covey on The Goldbergs

Danielle Brooks and Kate Mulgrew from Orange is the New Black
Anna Faris on Mom 

Tim Robbins on The Brink 

Will Chase on Nashville

There is also a big problem tonight with categorizing many shows that are quite un-categorizable.  Is Orange is the New Black a comedy or drama?  What about Transparent?  And - The Martian – about an astronaut left on Mars is not exactly a laugh riot but it’s in the Musical/Comedy category.  I think that we need a Dramedy category.  We can name it The Wonder Years Award.

Maybe since there is “too much TV” we need more nominations.  Or, split the nominations between network and cable & streaming.  I’m not sure what the answer is, but in the words of the legendary Nancy Meyers - something’s gotta give.

Image = Best of 2015

Spotlight
Me Earl & the Dying Girl
The Big Short
Room
Grandma
Star Wars
Bridge of Spies
Learning to Drive
Truth
Love & Mercy

Honorable Mention: 
The End of the Tour
Ricki & the Flash
Inside Out
Concussion
The Intern

2015 was not the behemoth for the annals of cinema history that 2014 was – not by a long shot.  But there was still a lot to enjoy this year.  From groundbreaking films like Room to guilty pleasures like Entourage and WAY underrated movies like Ricki and the Flash, there was enough to appease even this film maven.

Strangely, we are at the end of the year and there is still not a clear Best Picture.  I am choosing Spotlight as my best of the year for many reasons: the subject, the exceptional ensemble cast, the writing AND the fact that it is great in an understated way.  

While 2014 was 'The Year of the Actor', this year WOMEN ruled!  Lily Tomlin triumphed in both film and TV (Grandma and Grace & Frankie), Blythe Danner had her first starring role in her 5 decade career (I’ll See You in My Dreams), Charlotte Rampling was masterfully devastating in 45 Years, Brie Larson was heartbreaking in Room, Patricia Clarkson was self-effacingly wonderful in Learning to Drive, Saoirse Ronan came of age (both in the business and onscreen) in Brooklyn, Taraji P. Henson continued to wow us in Empire and on the red carpet, Viola Davis made history with her Emmy win for How to Get Away with Murder, no one on earth had a bigger year than Amy Schumer (Trainwreck, Inside Amy Schumer, hosting SNL, opening for Madonna, etc.) and Jennifer Lawrence continues her reign as the biggest thing in Hollywood (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and Joy) which completely baffles me, but that’s another story.

{NOTE: I realize that a few of the projects mentioned above are on TV but I feel they are worth including since we are in the second golden age of television when A LOT of high quality stuff is being produced in TV and the streaming space and the line between television and film is becoming more and more blurry}.

On the subject of women and 'women’s movies', I just have to say this.  I don’t understand all the fuss about Carol.  Cate Blanchett is always amazing, but the movie is incredibly slow and borderline melodramatic.  I am a bleeding heart liberal and I felt very little for these women struggling with their taboo lesbian romance because I was so BORED.  And Rooney Mara is incredibly blah to me as an actress.  She doesn’t hold a candle to or the space onscreen with Blanchett the Great.  I enjoyed the movie Truth and Cate’s affecting performance much more in that.

In my next blogpost, I will discuss the upcoming awards season. The nominations so far are all over the place, with very few through lines among the Indie Spirits, SAGs and Golden Globes.  This is both exciting and disconcerting, but may make for a very exciting Oscar race…

Happy New Year everyone!

   

Image = Academy Award Winner Julianne Moore

For months I have been saying that Julianne Moore will win the Oscar for Best Actress for the movie Still Alice, opening today.  I finally saw the film this week at an advanced screening and I am indeed correct.  I have never been so certain of a win by an actor for a relatively unknown film.

Still Alice is a beautiful, heartbreaking and incredibly compassionate portrait of a 50 year old woman who gets a diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s.  It’s not just a film about Alzheimer’s – it’s a very well made film about Alzheimer’s. 

It is a tiny little indie made in a month and it is amazing that it got made at all.  The universe aligned for it to happen in a short time.  It was financed by a small group of mostly women investors, including Maria Shriver & Trudie Styler; and the studio gave Julianne a month off from Mockingjay, which is usually unheard of in big budget land.  The other remarkable fact is that one of the directors has ALS and now has very limited mobility from the waist up and no access to speech.  So, the director couple (Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland) were experiencing a similar degeneration while making a film about a woman losing her memory.  It is no wonder that the film feels so empathetic.

In addition to Still Alice being a wonderful film – here are all the other reasons why Julianne Moore is going to win the Academy Award this year:

 

1 – She is due.  She has done consistently great work for 20 years and has been nominated four times already for both Best Actress & Best Supporting Actress.

2 – There is not a lot of female competition this year.  As I said previously, it’s all about the boys.  Moore's closest contender is Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything but I don’t think Jones is popular enough yet to be a real threat.

3 – The film is about early onset Alzheimer’s, a devastating subject and as usual, Moore does a great job in the title role.

4 – She’s an actor’s actor. Everyone in the business loves her and that’s who votes for Oscars.

For many years, I took Julianne Moore for granted.  I loved everything about Boogie Nights and then simply assumed she’d be excellent whenever I saw her show up in a movie.  She was so dependable that I didn’t really take notice of her.  But in the last few years she has grown on me and absolutely knocked me out in A Single Man.  I finally woke up to her talent and the world will next month as well when they say, “And the Oscar goes to… Julianne Moore.”   

Image = 'Tis the Season for Great Indies

I am more excited about this current season of films than I have been in a very long time.  It’s a wonderfully unusual year because it is chock full of indies with no big studio period saga in sight.  My how times have changed since the ‘80s…

It is also most definitely the year of the actor. 

Most of the buzz that has already come from festivals like Toronto & Venice is about films that feature a strong male lead – and there are many.  The one that I am most looking most forward to is Birdman – opening today.  I have always felt that Michael Keaton was incredibly underrated as an actor and Riggan in Birdman could be the role that changes this forever.

I’ve already seen St. Vincent, which is wonderful and I would be shocked if Bill Murray is not recognized for his multi-layered performance.

I can’t say that I am actually looking forward to seeing Foxcatcher (although I will most definitely see it!) because I know it will be dark & disturbing, but I am looking forward to hearing Steve Carell’s name A LOT during awards season.

On more than one viewing, I couldn't make it through the trailer for The Theory of Everything without sobbing and I am a sucker for a love story.  It looks like a gorgeous, heartbreaking tribute to a genius and Eddie Redmayne is a shoo-in just for the physicality of the performance.

It’s always good to play “gay for pay” and that’s what Benedict Cumberbatch does in The Imitation Game – yes a period piece, but still an indie.

And Whiplash could very well change the career & Hollywood status of already deeply respected character actor JK Simmons.

There may also be a few roles in very small films that get recognized.  Bill Hader is subtly great doing drama for the first time in The Skeleton Twins and Jenny Slate is one of my favorite performances of the year in Obvious Child.  Please don’t let me down, Independent Spirit Awards!

And it’s not technically an indie (or a small film) but I hope no one forgets about The Fault in Our Stars, one of the best written films I have EVER seen and a breakout performance by Ansel Elgort.  

The one & only film that has acclaim for an actress so far is Wild and Reese Witherspoon is already an Oscar winner so it’s tough to get too excited about that.  One film that may change this is Into the Woods.

But it’s all about the boys this year, which is fitting since the season kicked off with a little film called Boyhood.  

Image = Oscar Nominations Best & Worst

It is finally time to talk about The Oscars!  The good, the bad and the absurd.  Here's my take on the nominees – who & what deserves the acknowledgment and who doesn’t – and who did not make the cut.

THE BEST:

12 Years a Slave – This is simply the best film of the year and my pick for Best Picture.  Great script, wonderful performances, visually stunning and a period piece about a subject of great social significance.  I will be holding my breath to hear the name “Lupita Nyong’o” announced early in the evening because she is the Best Supporting Actress this year.  Also - Michael Fassbender's performance as a sadistic slave owner is one that I will remember forever.  If I was an Academy voter, it would be challenging for me to choose between Fassbender & Jared Leto.   

Philomena – I love everything about this movie.  Compelling true story, wonderful script and inspired performances by both Judy Dench and the incredibly underrated Steve Coogan (who also co-wrote the screenplay).  I am rooting for this film for Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Nebraska –  I love that the Academy is finally honoring small indie films like this.  Nebraska is a totally original and heartwarming film about a family dealing with a crisis in an unusual way.  On the journey, there is both great drama and delightful comedy, featuring two seasoned thespians - Bruce Dern & June Squibb.  It is also great to see Will Forte do something completely different and do it so well.             

Gravity – This film is visually stunning and technically groundbreaking, but I was not impressed with the script or Sandra Bullock.  Gravity deserves every technical award it is nominated for and Alfonso Cuaron deserves credit for helming such a revolutionary film. 

Cate Blanchett – It is about time for this exceptional actress to have a Best Actress statuette and I’m thrilled that Woody is the one to make it happen for her.  Period. 

Dallas Buyers Club – Some reviews of this film said that McConaughey & Leto are great but not the film.  I completely disagree. This is a great independent film about AIDS, which still plagues American society 30 years later.  It also raises critical questions about how much the government harms us under the guise of protection.  Its anti-establishment tone may be why Dallas Buyers Club is not nominated for Best Picture.  And yes - Jared Leto deserves the Oscar because his performance as Rayon is heartbreaking and wonderful.

Matthew McConaughey – It is his year.  Period.  For more on this – see my recent blogpost and this great article from The New Yorker about Matthew's McConaissance: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/0/the-mcconaissance.html


THE OVERRATED:

American Hustle – For the second year in a row a David O. Russell film is totally overrated and getting an absurd amount of acclaim.  Last year, Silver Linings Playbook was shoved down our throats and now once again there is outrageous hype over a not that special movie.  The only phenomenal thing about American Hustle is Christian Bale, who completely transforms himself, as usual.  The rest of the movie is all over the place.  It’s mostly serious but with moments of farce that border on ridiculous. The story gets very convoluted in the third act and the movie is at least 20 minutes too long.    

Jennifer Lawrence – How did this idol worship of Jennifer Lawrence happen?  It was intriguing when she was nominated in 2010 for Winter’s Bone.  No one had heard of her and it’s always fun to have a dark horse in the race.  But now – after she won the Oscar last year (which she did NOT deserve) she is a huge movie star and regaled as this brilliant actress and it’s all too much too soon.  She is only 23 for goodness sake.

Amy Adams – Please take a year off, Amy.  You were so amazing in Junebug, Enchanted and even Julie & Julia and since then, you have been churning out films every year and getting nominated over and over and losing over and over.  You are definitely talented but maybe be a little more selective in your career choices and maybe - oh I don’t know – change your hair and your voice every once in a while (your “English” accent in American Hustle does not count).  It seems as if you get nominated for simply making a movie every year and that’s just not what this is all about.

The Wolf of Wall Street – I really hated this movie.  To me, it is one note storytelling with a one note leading performance and it is entirely too long.  There is nothing redeeming about these debauched characters and after a short while the unabashed gluttony is exhausting.  The only shining light is a great breakthrough performance from the gorgeous and talented Margot Robbie.
   

Leonardo DiCaprio – I LOVE Leo, who has definitely been robbed in the past for Oscars (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and The Aviator) but I truly hope the Academy does not give him an owed award.  I hate when they do that.

*Note to Leo – Please take a break from working with Scorsese and maybe consider playing an original but fictional character just for a change of pace.  I think you are in a Marty/real life character rut.

Jonah Hill – WTF?  No one mentioned his name all season and then he gets an Oscar nod out of nowhere?  It’s fishy.     

August: Osage County – What a downer!  This movie was more depressing than 12 Years a Slave!  Wonderful ensemble cast (so great to see the great Chris Cooper again!) but once again I feel like its nominations are based upon hype versus substance.  Julia Roberts is good but not great and Meryl the great is good but a little too much of a caricature.  I enjoyed the Broadway play much more and the Tony Award winning Deanna Dunagan was a powerhouse because I really believed that she was that bitter and evil.  In terms of supporting players, I would have loved to see Margo Martindale honored for her performance.

THE FORGOTTEN:

Saving Mr. Banks – It boggles my mind that this amazing movie got so outrageously overlooked.  Emma Thompson is sensational and Colin Farrell is heartbreakingly wonderful.  It has everything – great script, wonderful supporting cast and the compelling story of a woman healing her childhood wounds through the creation of a beloved children’s book which becomes a huge Hollywood film.  And Tom Hanks is in it too.  What more does the Academy want?  In this stellar year for film, couldn’t they go ahead and make the Best Picture nominations an even ten?

Lee Daniels’ The Butler – This movie has Oscar written all over it.  It’s a slice of American history with a huge ensemble cast (and some ingenious casting) about the civil rights movement with a remarkable performance by Forest Whitaker.  And David Oyelowo deserves some recognition as well.  Maybe it was just released too early in the year?  It’s interesting that Harvey Weinstein didn’t push this one harder for Oscar glory.

All is Lost – This is a completely unique film in every way and Robert Redford kept me engaged throughout despite barely saying a word. Redford is the real deal and it is crazy that he doesn't have an Oscar for acting yet.

Oscar Isaac – I could not take my eyes off the screen when he was on it in Inside Llewyn Davis.  It is one of my favorite performances of the year.  Isaac is captivating in a critically acclaimed film and it is strange that the Oscars did not follow the trend of the enormous amount of praise this film has received all season.   

Who would you like to see take home Academy Awards on March 2?