A Single Man (2009)

Suggested advertising slogan: From the studio that brought you The Reader comes this year's boring self important entry in the Oscar sweepstakes.

What a painful viewing experience. Slow, boring, extensive slow motion flashbacks, almost no action, I'm just not sure how to provide any sort of analysis other than I never want to see this again. Colin Firth is good in the lead, but that's about the only thing I liked about the film.

And the ending is ridiculous.

Grade: D-

Oscar analysis, part 1

Finally got my computer back. That was annoying.

So I lost my computer, or more accurately, my internet access, right after posting my rough draft of my Oscar predictions. I actually would have made one change before the actually nominations, and it would have been a correct one: after I saw A Serious Man, I would have pulled Julianne Moore from supporting actress and correctly replaced her with Penelope Cruz in None. But I'll get to that later.

So since I never posted my analysis of my predictions, I will do that while also offering my opinions based on what I've seen, and offer up where I see the race going.


BEST PICTURE

Correct predictions: Avatar, The Blind Side, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, Up, Up In the Air.

Incorrect predictions: Crazy Heart, Julie & Julia

Instead, the nominees are: District 9, A Serious Man

Nominations analysis: I believe if there had been five as in past years, the nominees would have been Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, and Up in the Air, They've been the five strongest contenders all award season, and clearly the winner will come from one of these five. And I always felt that Up would get nominated. If there had been 10 nominees over the past 20 years, Pizar would have multiple best picture nominees over that period.
So I thought those six were slam dunks. Having no past year's patterns, figuring out the last four was tricky. I correctly thought two arthouse films would get in as major releases kind of collapsed. (Nine, Invictus, I'm looking at you.) I thought with all the buzz for Jeff Bridges' performace, Crazy Heart would slip in. Instead, it was A Serious Man that joined An Education. Guess I underestimated how many Coen fans are in the academy.
But I'm really kicking my self on the other one. I had always figured a pure audience pleasing film would get nominated, and set my sights on Julie & Julia early. But I failed to account for The Blind Side. And I should have seen the The Blind Side took away any support Julie & Julia would have gotten.
Likewise, I blew the analysis on sci-fi films. I had believed that Avatar would kill Star Trek and District 9's chances. And I do believe the people that thought Star Trek's spectacle was worthy thought Avatar's spectacle was worthier. But District 9 is more The Day the Earth Stood Still (original) than Star Wars, and I should have seen that intellectually, District 9 is different enough from Avatar and there was room enough for both.

Personal opinion: I didn't hold out any serious hope for the two films I liked the most that are not on the list: Adventureland and (500) Days of Summer. So by and large I like this list. (I still have not seen The Blind Side.) Of the nominees I have seen, in my view all but Inglorious Basterds are deserving. During the Golden Globes, I realized as picture drama was read I was rooting for Up in the Air. Avatar is an amazing cinematic experience, but Up in the Air touched me more.

Prediction for the win: Avatar is the film to beat. I think the academy is leaning towards rewarding the big film. But two small films, The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air, are the spoilers. I think they get director and screenplay awards for being the top contenders, but Avatar will win the big award.

UGH!!!

Just after I posted my Oscar predictions, my computer had its internet explorer destroyed by a virus. I killed the virus but have not had my internet explorer restored. The computer's now at the doctor, and I hope to be up and running next week.

Final Oscar Predictions

Well it isn't final yet. And I haven't written any analysis. But I am leaving this here on Tuesday, January 26 as a place holder while I debate these choices with myself. The lists are in order of likelihood, so I think Avatar is the most likely Best Picture nominee.

And I am officially giving up on the Documentary and Foreign Language categories. Until I can figure what in the world is going on with them, I give up even trying to guess.


BEST PICTURE

Avatar
Up in the Air
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
Up
Julie & Julia
Crazy Heart
An Education
The Blind Side


BEST DIRECTOR

James Cameron (Avatar)
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
Quentin Tarentino (Inglorious Basterds)
Lee Daniels (Precious)


BEST ACTOR

Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
George Clooney (Up in the Air)
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Morgan Freeman (Invictus)
Jeremy Renner ( The Hurt Locker)


BEST ACTRESS

Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)
Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Gabourney Sidibe (Precious)
Helen Mirren (The Last Station)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds)
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
Matt Damon (Invictus)
Christian McKay (Me and Orson Welles)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Mo'Nique (Precious)
Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)
Julianne Moore (A Single Man)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Inglorious Basterds
Up
The Hurt Locker
A Serious Man
(500) Days of Summer


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Up in the Air
An Education
Precious
Crazy Heart
District 9

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Up
Coraline
The Princess and the Frog
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs


BEST ART DIRECTION

Inglorious Basterds
Public Enemies
Sherlock Holmes
Avatar
The Young Victoria


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Inglorious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
Avatar
The White Ribbon
HArry Potter and the Half Blood Prince


BEST COSTUMES

Coco Before Chanel
Nine
The Young Victoria
Sherlock Holmes
Julie & Julia


BEST EDITING

The Hurt Locker
Avatar
Star Trek
Inglorious Basterds
District 9


BEST MAKEUP

District 9
Star Trek
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus


BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Informant!
Up
Sherlock Holmes
Avatar
The Fantastic Mr. Fox


BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"The Weary Kind" (Crazy Heart)
"Down in New Orleans" (The Princess and the Frog)
"I See You" (Avatar)
"You've Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger" (An Education)
"(I Want To) Come Home" (Everybody's Fine)


BEST SOUND EDITING

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Transformers 2
2012


BEST SOUND MIXING

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
District 9
Up


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Avatar
District 9
Where The Wild Things Are

Sunday 1/24/10

WHY I DON'T WATCH IDOL





I watched American Idol regularly for a few seasons. And the basic formula, in which only one singer is cut per week, is brillant because it invites rooting interests. That part of the formula still works.





But they lost me after the season Jordin Sparks. She was not the most talented singer that seaon. But she was the most marketable, and the not so subtle hands of the producers trying to get the winner they wanted, one year after having been stuck with a winner they hated in Taylor Hicks.





Honestly, that wasn't the main reason they lost me. I actually tried to watch the next season, and threw in the towel after half an hour. And I haven't been back. And the reason is on display right now.





In the Jordin season, there just wasn't as much fun throughout the season. And the reason was simple: the groundwork hadn't been laid. The opening episodes, in the tryouts, should be the establishment of the future stars. At that point, showing the tryouts of most of the contestants who make it, as well as a few who don't but just miss, would make for interesting television.





Then in the Hollywood sessions, the raw talent can start to shine, and the audience can develop its rooting interest. By the time the show is down to fan voting, the fans will know who they are voting for.





But we all know that is not what happens. Why do that when we can make fun of the pour untalented souls who dare to try out? There is a screening process to get to a televised tryout, so that make it even more ridiculous. They are sending through the weakest singers so America can point and laugh, and the judges can literally laugh.





This is high school behavior. The popular rich kids can sit on their butts and laugh at the others daring to gain their acceptance. So American Idol turns its first few episodes into insultfests, the real contestants get no airtime, and by the time the fan voting rolls around no one knows the majority of the contestants.





Well whatever, but I got tired of the bad taste in my mouth. And a funny thing happened when I stopped watching: I didn't miss it. I still don't. I'll probably never watch again.





USING OTHER AWARD SHOWS TO PREDICT OSCAR



Some analyses of the Oscar nominations have Golden Globe winners having an influence. Not really. They are not a true indicator. No one who votes for the Golden Globes is an Oscar voter. So why watch? Because most of the audience members at the event are Oscar voters. How the audience responds is the indicator.



So when Mo'Nique gets louder applause than her fellow nominees, that is an indicator the stories she isn't handling her campaign correctly are hogwash. She is still the heavy favorite to win supporting actress Oscar. The clear indicator from the evening was the standing ovation Jeff Bridges received. He is going to win the Oscar for best actor. That proved he is an absolute lock, and is also an indicator Crazy Heart could be a picture nominee.



However, there is crossover between the SAG awards and the Oscars. Like all guilds, they are an indication of strong candidates. The big news from last night was Sandra Bullock's win. I had her as barely in the actress race. Clearly, I was wrong. She will be nominated. I still don't think she will beat Streep, but for now, the nomination is the thing, and Bullock will get her first nomination this year. And this is also an indication The Blind Side is beloved, and has a shot at a picture nomination.

WHOOPS

I thought I had published this Sunday evening. I came back to my Dashboard to start preparing my Oscar prediction piece and saw it had not published yet. Sorry.

Nine (2009)

Towards the end of the credits of Nine, there is actually a credit announcing Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and some other fancy car I'll never drive as the official cars of Nine. That was immediately after a credit declaring the official watch of Nine.

Sadly, that's what at the heart and soul of Nine. It was coldly calculated to win awards, and does not have any apparent reason for being. It would be easy to blame director Rob Marshall (Chicago), but the problems lie deeper than that. It's not directed particularly well, but even if it was, I don't think the film would have worked anyway.

Your musical is in trouble when its score is forgettable. I've not seen Nine on the stage, but I imagine some of spectacle comes across better live, and overcomes the music, which just doesn't connect in the head.

Another big problem is the way the numbers are put together. The camera hurls around constantly and there are quick cuts galore, making it far too much work to follow. It wasn't quite Michael Bay: the musical, but it was way too close to that.

Making matters worse is the structure of the film. Basically, the film consists of the main character, a great film director, unable to decide what he wants to make. The film cuts from his life problems making his movie, to the fantasy musical world, and often cuts back to the real world in the middle of the numbers. If the frantic editing wasn't making the numbers weak enough, the crosscutting is maddening.

The cast is uniformly good. They are giving their all, and all are in good voice. But with the maddening technique, the mediocre music, and poor editing, I found myself being pushed away from the film. Even when there were moments to admire, I just didn't care what happened by the end of the film.

And I felt the gears moving. Too many times it really felt like this was supposed to be Chicago, part 2. Problem is, since that overrated film, we have seen many musicals better than Chicago, let alone Nine. Let me put it this way: Nine is just good enough to make me curious to see it on the stage, because with all its success, it had to be better than this. Grade: D+

Boycott (2001)

Somehow, I've never seen this HBO film. (and oddly, not on my list of films to see) So when I saw it on the TV listings this afternoon, I thought it an excellent way to honor Martin Luther King Day.

It's a portrayal of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, as well as the birth of the Civil Rights Movement. The focus is closest on King and Ralph Abernathy, and how King became seen as the leader of a movement he really didn't start.

I appreciated how the film did not portray them as always confident or sure what would happen, but finding themselves as leaders as the movement continues. And I definitely appreciated the casting especially Jeffrey Wright as King and Terrence Howard as Abernathy.

This is quality filmmaking, and I'm glad I finally caught up with it. Grade: A-