Mud

For some reason I'm excited by the trailer for Mud, the new movie from Take Shelter's Jeff Nichols and starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon. Maybe its the buzz from last May's Cannes where the film was warmly received, maybe because it continues McConaughey's stellar year into 2013. Maybe I'm just hoping Witherspoon finally made another good movie.Can't really say why.

 Check it out below. Will you be in line April 26?

Amour!

Amour is my # 1 movie of 2012. Over the next few days I will announce my superlatives for acting, writing and direction. Both Emmanuelle Riva and Jean Louis Trintignant will be included. In the meantime enjoy this lovely picture

Thoughts on the Oscar Nominations

Oldest and Youngest Best Actress Nominees in Oscar History

Hurray for the shorter voting period. It produced many surprises, worthy nominees and less reliance on precursors. I am happier than I usually am on nomination morning. While I was sad to see some of my favorites (Hawkes, Cotillard, Perks of Being a Wallflower) miss out, so many favorites made it.

I was very happy that AMPAS embraced Amour, Beasts of theSouthern Wild and particularly both Emmanuelle Riva and Quvenzhane Wallis. Look at them, this season still can become a real treat. Helen Hunt was nominated for a fantastic performance, so was Naomi Watts. And can I admit that I was very happy to see both Helen Mirren and Tom Hooper miss out? Mediocre work did not just coast through.

Not all was roses. Just look at the mostly aggravating Supporting Actor category. Waltz over Jackson from Django? Arkin for a fun but unremarkable performance? De Niro for shedding a measly tear after decades of coasting? Color me not impressed.

Let’s dig into the top 8 categories and see how I did with my predictions:

Best Picture

Amour

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django unchained

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

Very happy that Amour made it here as the first foreign language film in this category since Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon a decade ago. This is a pretty good list, not a dud in here. Now if Amour can continue surprising and actually manage to win. I know, I know but one can dream.

My Predictions : I predicted 8 but got all 8 correct plus Amour which I had as an alternate so I think 9/9.

Best Director

Michael Haneke -  Amour

Ang Lee -  Life of Pi

Ben Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

Steven Spielberg - Lincoln

David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook

The most surprising category with Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow missing out. I think there was an abdundance of deserving directors this year and not an intentional snub. Even the controversial Zero Dark Thirty got 5 nominations overall so I'm thinking Bigelow just missed out.

My Predictions : As with most everyone only got 3/5. But I'm happy to have predicted Russell despite DGA snub and to be surprised by Haneke and Zeitlin, directors of two movies that I loved.

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln

Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables

Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

Denzel Washington - Flight

Very sad to see Hawkes miss out when he gave such a beautiful and funny performance. Phoenix's thespian Olympics, look at me acting won voters' hearts. I admire but do not love any of these performances. Where are the French guys; Jean Louis Trintingnant, Matthias Schoenaerts and Denis Levant? And is AMPAS really going to give DDL a 3rd Oscar so soon after making Meryl wait almost 30 years. I guess so but I don't like it.

My Predictions : 4/5 Phoenix replaced Hawkes.

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"

Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"

Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"

I just love these 5 nominees. Yep Cotillard would’ve been great but she has one and her snub got us the delight that is Riva and Wallis together. And while the 8 noms that Silver Linings got implies that Lawrence is way ahead, I think we got ourselves a real competition here.

My Predictions : 4/5 So happy to be wrong about Riva.

Best Supporting Actor

Alan Arkin - Argo

Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook

Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master

Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln

Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

I already dissed this category. But happy to see Jones, he had the most personal and emotional arc in Lincoln. And Hoffman was unusually subtle and as good as ever. All 5 are previous winners so all bets are off.

My Predictions : 4/5 I had Di Caprio instead of Waltz.

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams - The Master

Sally Field - Lincoln

Anne Hathaway- Les Misérables

Helen Hunt - The Sessions

Jacki Weaver- Silver Linings Playbook

When I saw Silver Linings Playbook, I left loving Weaver and wishing she had more to do. Apparently it didn’t matter and she is in. Hathaway is way ahead but 6 weeks is a long time and people might tire of her specially if her acceptance speeches are as grating and high faluting as her interviews so far.

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Argo - Chris Terrio

Beasts of the Southern Wild - Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin

Life of Pi - David Magee

Lincoln - Tony Kushner

Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell

Very respectable list. I am in the minority that didn’t mind the framing subplot of Life of Pi that many blamed on Magee. Still I had hoped Perks of Being a Wallflower would’ve made it here.

My Predictions : 4/5, went with my heart for Perks.

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

Amour - Michael Haneke

Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino

Flight - John Gatins

Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola

Zero Dark Thirty - Mark Boal

Another good list. Wll Haneke surprise or will Tarantino or Boal win their 2^nd Oscar in this category?

My Predictions : 4/5. It’s a pattern. Had The Master instead of Flight.

Finally I really liked the nominations presentation. I was not very happy that they chose Emma Stone and not a recent winner/nominee as per tradition but she was funny and complemented Seth McFarlane well. I also liked doing away with the alphabetical order, that kept it flowing and surprising. While the Hitler joke was a dud Seth was charmingly off kilter and awkward which could work to his advantage at the big show.Hopefully he tested the material he wanted to and now knows what worked and what didn’t.
 

Are you happy with the nominations? What was your favorite nomination? Let me know in the comments or on twitter @ME_Says.

Final Oscar Predictions

It's strange picture of our dear Oscar, no?

Here are my final predictions in the top seven categories. If it were up to me Amour would win at least 4 of them. However I'm predicting it to just miss nominations in several categories.

Best Picture
1. Argo
2. Zero Dark Thirty
3. Lincoln
4. Life of PI
5. Silver Linings Playbook
6. Les Miserables
7. Beasts of the Southern Wild
8. Django Unchained

I am predicting 8 but if there were 10.
9. Amour.
10.Moonrise Kingdom.

Best Director
Tom Hooper has been blamed for all that is wrong with Les Mis. So despite the DGA nomination I'm thinking he will be snubbed. It's between Tarantino and Russell and despite Bafta nod to Tarantino I'm going with Russell. Just a hunch.

1. Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
2. Ben Affleck, Argo
3. Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
4. Ang Lee, Life of Pi
5. David O Russell, Silver Linings Playbook.

Alternate Michael Haneke, Amour.

Best Actress (previous predictions)
As much as it will hurt me if Riva is snubbed I think the lack of precursor love, Amour's late December opening and her being in France (while Wallis, Cotillard and Watts are campaigning hard) will hurt her, it will be the best surprise if I'm proven wrong.

1. Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
2. Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
3. Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
4. Naomi Watts, The Impossible
5. Quevanzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Alt. Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Best Actor (previous predictions)
I'm going with the SAG five. There is always at least one category that perfectly matches SAG and I'm betting it is Best Actor this year.

1. Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
2. Denzel Washington, Flight
3. John Hawkes, The Sessions
4. Bradley Cooper Silver Linings Playbook
5. Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

Alternate Joaquin Pheonix, The Master

Best Supporting Actor (previous predictions)
The most aggravating category. I don't love any of the front runner performances except for Jones. It looks like he is a lock in addition to Hoffman, De Niro and Arkin. The fifth spot could go to a number of actors. Leo is getting the most buzz of the Django men so he's in.
1. Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
2. Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
3. Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
4. Alan Arkin, Argo
5. Leonardo Di Caprio, Django Unchained.

Alternate Javier Bardem, Skyfall


Best Supporting Actress
Hathaway , Field and Hunt are locks. I'm betting award bodies love affair with Maggie Smith and AMPAS love of Adams continue this year.
1.Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
2. Sally Field, Lincoln
3. Helen Hunt, The Sessions
4. Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
5. Amy Adams, The Master.

Alternate Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook

Alternate Life of Pi

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Amour
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained

Alternate Looper
 

TOP TEN MOVIES of 2012

AMOUR

The most beguiling devastating film of the year. In presenting an unsentimental but moving portrait of the inevitability of life's end, Michael Haneke gave us a most necessary experience. There are so many humanly recognizable moments that had jolts go through my heart and body. This is art in the best sense moving, recognizable and a reflection of life. A masterpiece.

MAGIC MIKE

This was the most fun time at the movies in 2012. Not just for the man eye candy, but for the charming Tatum Channing, the on point choreography, Matthew McConaughey revealing his body and soul and surprising acting chops of Olivia Munn. On the other hand the movie didn't shy away from presenting the ugly underbelly of a stripper's life. In a summer full of stock super heroes Magic Mike gave us fully realized characters, and what a gift that was.

Rust And Bone 

A brutal and uncompromising story that rises above the conventional trappings of "two lost souls finding each other'' up until the melodramatic happy ending. Nonetheless Cotillard and Schoenaerts set the screen ablaze with intensity and passion. Cotillard proving that La Vie En Rose was no fluke and Schoenaerts becoming a major star and an actor to watch and idolize.

MIDDLE OF NOWHERE 

Previously reviewed.

ANNA KARENINA

Absolutely the most gorgeous movie of the year. It's a feast for the eyes with sets and gowns that are vivid and sumptuous. The much talked about theatrical setup works giving the story artifice that resonates and makes it wholly original. Keira Knightley, in the title role, is always best when unlikeable but here shines also when awash with desire and longing. Karenin is surprisingly sympathetic in this version and  Jude Law imbues him  with calm dignity and weary duty alleviating the performance to best in show. 

ZERO DARK THIRTY

Controversy aside Kathryn Bigelow has given us a taut thriller that is firmly of our time. In the story of Ussama Bin Laden's hunt we get the most brilliant behind the scenes expose since All the President's Men. The movie presents the story as is, with no judgement, no rah rah triumphs and no emotional manipulation. Just thrilling filmmaking.

THE SESSIONS

A deeply moving simple story. While on the surface it's about a man's quest to lose his virginity, it is really about the need we all have to connect with other people. The movie becomes alive because of two marvellous performances. John Hawkes with wry wit and humor and Helen Hunt, smart, naked, honest give us the ultimate mating dance.

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

Was there a more original work than Beasts in 2012? I think not. Creating an other worldly world that is firmly rooted in both fact and fable simultaneously and characters like you've never seen before, Benh Zeitlin announced himself a major cinematic promise. He also discovered two promising acting talents in Quvenzhane Wallis and Dwight Henry.

PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

Ah teenage years. The 90s. A pixie dream girl. A rebel. A awkward introvert who you know will turn into an accomplished artist. Sounds like a collection of movie cliches. However with Stephen Chbosky adapting his own novel and Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller's beautiful performances this was a lovely rumination of growing up and making life long friends.

END OF WATCH

What could have been another routine cop movie is instead a visceral portrait of male bonding. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena are the couple of the year.



Other movies I enjoyed but didn't quite crack my top ten include The Impossible, Lincoln, Bachelorette, A Royal Affair, Pitch Perfect , On the Road, Life of Pi and Looper. It was a good year for movies. What movies did you like in 2012? Tell all in the comments.

Most Memorable Movie Scenes of 2012

What makes a movie scene memorable? A recognized reflection; an image that moves you; a witty and smart line of dialogue. Sometimes you get all in one scene. Sometimes a scene encapsulates the movie or it can stand out separately and still be memorable.Sometimes it can be a performance or a piece of music that sticks in the mind. Here are few of my most memorable scenes from 2012 movies in no particular order.

MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

Setup: A mother, two daughters and a grandson sit down to have dinner. The mother tries to start a conversation. The daughters would rather not reveal anything honest. Years of resentment, avoidance, unhappiness, disappointment come crashing down.

Why: In one very economic scene the dynamics and history of this family are revealed. You understand tons about these characters. The scene reflects eloquently any family that sometimes is unable to connect.

HOLY MOTORS

Setup : It doesn't matter. There's a man, there's an accordion. Several other men with accordions appear. It becomes a parade.

Why : It's a jolting haunting beautiful scene in a movie full of very eccentric scenes. Even if you don't care much for the movie, this one sticks with you. Fanfuckingtastic!

RUST AND BONE

Setup : A woman recovering from losing her legs in a horrific accident tries to remember and heal. Katy Perry starts blaring.

Why : Because of the emotional punch Marion Cotillard throws at you. You feel it in your gut.

MAGIC MIKE

Setup : A few male strippers gather in a gym to workout. A seasoned stripper teaches the new kid a few moves.

Why : Because Matthew McConaughey looks fantastic and acts the hell out of the scene. Years of his sometimes charming, sometimes puzzling public persona has lead to this moment. He emerges a great character actor and a star for the ages.

ANNA KARENINA

Setup : A few members of the Russian aristocracy gather at the races. A horse falls down. A woman screams with concern for her lover. Her husband watches.

Why : It is unlike anything else we've seen at the movies this year. Joe Wright's choice to film the whole movie inside a theater comes to bright vivid life in this scene. He builds the tension; is Vronsky OK? What will Anna do? How will Karenin react? The visuals are sumptuous and the emotions heightened.

ZERO DARK THIRTY

Setup: Mission accomplished, time to leave the mission site. A lonely hunter boards a plane. Tears stream down her face.

Why : We don't know why Maya is crying. Is it relief? Is it sadness? Does she feel lost? Not knowing what to do next with her life? We don't know and the questions are what makes the scene moving and memorable.

THE SESSIONS

Setup : The sex therapist and her patient finish a session. As they are saying goodbye they both discover the emotional bond that grew between them. They decide to end the sessions. The therapist has a breakdown in her car.

Why : The emotional honesty of the scene. The way Helen Hunt plays it is moving and cathartic. You see all these feelings on her face as she starts crying alone in her car. She is at once happy, sad and grateful. Happy for her patient's breakthrough, sad because she will miss him in her life, grateful to have had the experience.



What were some of your most memorable scenes? Do you agree with these choices? I would love to hear from you.

Review - Les Miserables

Let's just get it out of the way, Anne Hathaway is the main reason to see Les Miserables. More importantly she is the only reason to love the movie. Her performance is emotional, pierces your heart deeply and might well up the tears. She doesn't shy away from going big with the emotion ; it is a musical after all. It's exactly the kind of performance people who love musicals are looking for. She delivers.


Now I wish the rest the movie delivered as well as Hathaway did. It had all the elements : the beloved musical full of big numbers known the world over, an acclaimed director (Tom Hooper) coming off a big Oscar win; fantastic cast led by musical theater vet Hugh Jackman. The movie has a lot of virtues but it is not the fantastic musical it promised to be.

The movie starts strong, bringing chills and flutters as you hear that bombastic store and the camera pans over the huge shipyard and comes to pinpoint Jean Valjean (Jackman) and Javert (Russell Crowe) the hero and antagonist of the piece. Brilliant set up from Hooper, and he carries these panoramic views that open the action to some of the set pieces giving them epic grandeur. Curiously the only songs he shoots this way are Crowe's. All the others are shot in extreme close up. I get that he wanted to differentiate the movie from the play by highlighting the actors emotional work, but it doesn't work for every number. It works with Hathaway's ''I Dreamed A Dream'' since that song is about Fantine being at the end of the rope and feeling hopeless, trapped and alone so the the claustrophobia works. But why shoot Eddie Redmayne's ''Empty Chairs at Empty Tables'' this way when it's a song about Marius looking at where he and his friends used to sit and argue? Literally why not show the empty chairs and empty tables instead of just Redmayne's bee stung lips?

Jackman and Hathaway

Jackman carries this and as he goes so does the movie. He brings a tenderness and fragility to the performance that makes it endearing. However his singing came off flat. He did not accomplish full lift off with the emotion. "Bring Him Home", his big number, particularly suffers from this. I hardly noticed it. His duet with Hathaway in "Finale'' though is amazing and made me wish there was more of the two of them together.

Samantha Barks, the newcomer and only member of the cast to have played her role on stage, sings beautifully. However she does not have much screen presence making Eponine forgettable despite her screen time. Amanda Seyfried does the best she could with the thankless role of Cosette but does not have any chemistry with Redmayne. The fault is not theirs but the plot's since we are supposed to take for granted that they fall deep in love on first sight and that love is supposed to carry the second half of the movie. Redmayne on the other hand was my big revelation from the movie. He has a great voice and gives it his all , faring well particularly in his scenes with his revolutionary comrades. The less said about Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter the better. They stuck out with their very broad characterizations that didn't belong in this movie. Was this what Hooper intended? Bonham Carter is the major offender with her atrocious singing and Tim Burton make up.

Crowe and Jackman

Crowe was another major surprise. That he brings pathos and gravitas to his villain are no surprise. But who knew he could belt out with such gusto making us completely understand his conflicted righteous character. I think the dismissive chatter about his performance is because he does not do well with the sung dialogue, his voice comes out as off tune in those instances. However he completely sold his two big numbers.

If you are a fan of the musical you will love this movie version. However if you are unfamiliar with it, you might go ''huh?"' several times. There are plot gaps as they had to get the movie in under three hours. The rebellion is front and center then forgotten, the jump between the years is sometimes jarring and might confuse some. The never ending close ups might give you vertigo.  However there is enough emotion to carry you through.

The Impossible - Scariest Time at the Movies

If you've been to the movies in the last couple of months chances are you've seen the trailer for The Impossible. You know pretty people on vacation, the tsunami hits, nature at its worst, tears, screaming. The most manipulative sentimental crap ever. It dared me not to tear up. Forget about that; the actual movie is very good, and while I cried many times it was not manipulative at all but rather a sobering horror story about the dark side of nature and human connection and survival.


The film tells the true story of one European family of five during the 2004 Tsunami in Thailand. They are British in the movie although Spanish in real life, as is the director J A Bayona (The Orphanage). The set up from the family plane trip to Thailand until the waves hit is intense and scary using horror genre techniques to get you on edge of your seat. Bayona builds up the tension using every trick in the book; the plane turbulence, the distant rumbling sounds of the waves - all serve as ominous signs for the horrors we are about to see. The immediate aftermath is also depicted effectively particularly the confusion, panic and disoreintation and the very horrific loneliness of separated people against nature.

Bayona has several tricks up his sleeve to keep us entertained and scared. There is a thrilling set up piece in the hospital as the separated family members search for each other. Another is a subplot about a young lost boy found by the family that pays off in a major way both emotionally and as an engrossing plot device.

Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor play the parents and Tom Holland is the oldest son. All three dig deep to expose how fragile we all are in the face of nature. Watts' character suffers the most both physically and emotionally. The physical part was very hard to look at; her body is battered, bruised and purple all over. However she is magnificent at portraying pain, anguish, resilience and utter and complete fear without resorting to sentimentality. I was mesmerized whenever she was on screen.

McGregor gives a fully emotional performance;only a hardened soul would not be moved by his break down scene. It is particularly effective because men are never really given a chance to get this emotional in movies. If George Clooney almost won an Oscar for one lousy tear in The Descendants, McGregor should get some hardware for this performance too.

Holland acts the audience surrogate and we are with him every step of the way. And what a harrowing journey it is. But it's also a very human experience as we watch the young man mature and understand what's important in life.

Some people may have issue with the movie concentrating on one family's story when the devastation was all consuming. Particularly because said family is white. It's not an issue since the movie does not pretend to be anything but this one family's amazing story of survival. Yes there are millions of similar human stories that happened during the Tsunami and maybe one day we'll see some of them on screen. And if we are lucky maybe one will be from a Thai filmmaker.

The movie works because of the performances and the genre elements that keep the viewer engaged. Because this disaster was felt in every corner of the world, there might be expectations put on the movie to tell a grander story. It does not but what it tells is interesting and moving.

On The Heiress and Jessica Chastain

Chastain as Catherine Sloper

Last night I saw the Broadway revival of The Heiress starring Jessica Chastain. In it she plays Catherine Sloper a spinterish dweller of Washington Square in New York in the 1850s. The play tells the story of her courtship by a handsome drifter and her father's opposition to said courtship. The parable is about whether Catherine is being courted for love or for her inheritance.

I was very excited to see The Heiress, mostly because it stars "'actor of the moment'' Chastain. I chose it as the one play to see this season. The 1948 film with Olivia De Havilland and Monty Clift is a devastating piece that shook me with its portrayal of familial cruelty.I was expecting another emotional roller-coaster. I guess with a setup like that I was bound to be disappointed.

But boy what a disappointment. Chastain was flat and unengaging when she needed to soar.First off she was miscast as the dowdy plain Catherine Sloper - her beauty could not be hidden behind the brown wig and 19th century costumes. She overcompensated by playing the awkward Sloper as too goofy, even getting close to physical comedy in the first act. Her voice did not project at all and came off timid and hesitant even at the end when the character is supposed to have grown and found strength. It's a pity because Catherine is a great part that if played well gives the audience a huge wallop of emotion. I kept imagining what Cate Blanchett could have done with it.

Strathairn and Ivey on opening night

The rest of the cast acquitted themselves well. David Strathairn started slow but found his groove quickly as Catherine's emotionally abusive father. Dan Stevens, of Downton Abbey, was serviceable. His American accent was good but I guess he concentrated too much on getting it right sometimes he forgot he had a part to play. The MVP was without a doubt Judith Ivey as Catherine's eccentric and romantic aunt who tries to bring the lovers together. She was everything Chastain wasn't - lively, present, funny, drawing and holding the audience's attention. If there was a star on that stage it was Ivey.

Finally Virginia Kull, an actress I have never heard of before, had a tiny part as the Slopers' maid. And boy did she make the best of it. Every little moment she had she made sure we were very aware of her. Her ambition to be noticed came through loud and clear. I loved her.I joked with my friends afterwards that if she was Chastain's understudy I bet she go ''all about Eve'" one night and make sure she gets to play the lead!