What kind of year has it been?

Well, any year in which The Campaign, The Help, The Watch and American Pie: Reunion don’t even make it on the ‘Flop 10′ list can’t have been a very good year, right? Or so you’d think…

2012 has been the year of the return of the hero. There was a new Spider-man (now toatz Amazing!) The dark knight rose, Bond was back and better than the last time around and the Hulk was not the lousiest Avenger on the assembly.

2012 was also the year of films about films and filmmaking. The Artist and Hugo scored big on Oscar night, while Argo – with its bonkers-but-real plot – is one of the favourites for the next big Academy ceremony. Meanwhile, Chronicle and The Cabin in the Woods were fresh efforts in the worn out genres of the superhero film and the slasher.

It was a mixed year for Charlize Theron. Young Adult – directed by Jason Reitman and penned by Diablo Cody – won over the critics, but not the audiences. Ridley Scott’s Prometheus must have earned its budget back, but was quite a disappointment – Despite the martketingf hype. Theron’s most succesful film was Snow White and the Huntsman, which she graced with a terrific menacing turn as the evil queen.

It was a year that proved that comedy is at its best when it is merciless. Despite the broad crudeness I laughed a lot during Ted, The Inbetweeners and A Few Best Men. More ‘family friendly’ comedy, like The Watch, was simply boring. And The Campaign was simply not pushing it far enough.

In the end, 2012 was the year of ‘finally…’ After all the troubles at MGM we finally had the new Bond, and finally the first part of The Hobbit. The Cabin in the Woods had been made years ago, but only saw its release this summer. And the Finnish makers of Iron Sky, finally, got the money together to finish their film.

But what I’ll remember most, is that any year in which Ted, Jagten, Skyfall, Chronicle and The Cabin in the Woods do not make it on the ‘Top 10′ list can’t have been a bad year…

Thursday Movie News Flash Update Blog-message

Things we have learned this week:

3D is silver, Silence is gold

Public support from Billy Crystal for allegedly racist Dutch folklore tradition?

Sam Worthington vehicle inspires illegal money showering in Rotterdam

The Expendables 2 has a vilain and, no, that is not a spelling mistake

The Avengers has a new title (in the UK at least)

and

Russell Crowe is expecting rain

Oscar’s logic: things to consider…

Tonight are the Oscars awarded, in a big ceremony in the Kodak theatre in Los Angeles. So over the last week(s) many people have tried to predict who is going to win. But what do we need to consider? Three types of Oscar logic work kinda against each other this year:

Oscar logic number 1: there is almost always one big favourite. This year that favourite is Michel Hazanavicius’  almost-silent black-and-white film The Artist. Last year it was The King’s Speech. Crucially, this big favourite will win awards, in the wake of winning best picture, almost automatically. Best Director and Best Original (or adapted, depending on the film) Screenplay for instance. Or some technical awards that other films might be more deserving of. So there is a chance that The Artist, apart from winning Best Film, will also win Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Music, Best Art Direction, Best Costumes, Best Editing and best Cinematography. And of course Best Actor for Jean Dujardin and Best Supporting Actress for Berenice Bejo.

Oscar logic number 2: The industry has certain demands. You wouldn’t believe it, but Hollywood thinks it is in crisis. Because of the economical crisis everwhere else of course, and because of piracy. So box office success and industrial demands do influence the votes. If a film has hardly been seen by anyone, then kiss your chances goodbye. Sorry Glenn Close (nominated for Albert Nobbs), but that is the deal. As to industrial demands: In 2009-10, Avatar broke all kinds of box office records. So it won awards. Technical ones, mostly, but still. In a strange, counter-sentimental move against Avatar and 3D the important prizes of 2010 were won by the little-seen The Hurt Locker. But this year 3D must be proven a viable option for the future, now that legendary directors Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese have adopted the format. Since Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin was criminally neglected by the Academy, Scorsese’s Hugo may have a shot at some prizes, especially Editing and Cinematography.

Oscar logic number 3: On the wave of The Artist Dujardin and Bejo may win awards for their performances, but there are other factors to consider: Best Actor is a career prize. It usually goes to actors who have a long-standing reputation in Hollywood. To win, it has to be your time. Cue Jeff Bridges in 2010, Colin Firth in 2011 and now George Clooney in 2012. Or, very perhaps, Gary Oldman. In the supporting categories the Academy tends to reward eccentric, extravagant performances in socially ‘relevant’  films. So Mo’nique in 2010, for Precious, and Melissa Leo last year for The Fighter. And this year Octavia Spencer for The Help.

I do not know what will happen in Los Angeles tonight. But whatever the outcome, the three types of Oscar logic described above will play their parts.

Oscar logic number 4. Pixar wins Best Animated Film. Oh, wait, they are not nominated this year. ..

Misjudged Eulogy of Early Cinema – the Hugo review

The two most Oscar-nominated flms this year are the fantastic The Artist, the big favourite that has received ten nominations, and Hugo, Martin Scorsese’s first 3D and first family film. It has received eleven nominations, mostly in technical categories, although Best Film and Best Director are also on the list. Curiously, both films are about the past of cinema. But whereas The Artist is a wonderful birthday party, Hugo is a bittersweet eulogy. At its better moments at least.

Because for the longest part of its running time, it is boring, standard fare. My list of things that I dislike about Hugo kicks off with its infuriatingly romanticized, stereotypical representation of 1930s Paris, a quality which the film curiously shares with another overhyped nominee, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris. But at least Midnight in Paris admitted that this representation was a fantasy. This is literally a film in which the Eiffel tower can be seen from every window in the city.

The second problem is the story, which is strangely two-sided. There is a bit about a young boy – the titular Hugo Cabret – living in the walls of a train station, operating the clocks and trying to rebuild the automaton his late father left him. And when this story is more or less told and done with (after a little more than an hour, a proper running time for a mediocre kids’ flick) another story begins, about an old and bitter shopkeeper and his mysterious past. Needless to say, that story is much more interesting, and I would have loved to see it as a proper drama on itself.

The third problem lies very close to the second problem. It is the actors’ performances. As the depiction of Paris, they are so stereotypical that it hurts. Starting with the young Asa Butterfield (Hugo), who for the sake of his youth will be spared harsh criticism. And continuing with the also-very-young Chloe Moretz, who we have seen in such better form in Kick-Ass and Let Me In. Far more problematic is the supporting role of Sacha Baron Cohen as the station chief, who is a stumbling cliche of a man, and a painfully underused Jude Law as Hugo’s father. The only major cats member who fare better are Sir Christopher Lee as a bookshop owner, also much too little in the picture, and Sir Ben Kingsley, as the ill-fated shopkeeper. Also, what is it with the thick English accents in a film set in Paris? What is the point of that?

The good things then. First of all there is the 3D, which is actually justified in some moments; for instance when showing the inner mechanics of the station clocks, or in flashbacks to the first years of the twentieth century. It isn’t perfect, but it shows at least a bit of potential for the technology. Unfortunately an inferior variety of the technology is used – the one with the heavy glasses that give me headaches – instead of the more common and superior RealD.

The second good thing are those flashbacks, which are the crown jewels of the film and which belong to the second, more interesting, part of the story. Without giving away too much, these are the scenes that won Hugo its Oscar nominations, the technical ones as well as the ‘ major’ ones. They are the ones that won over the hearts of film ‘connaisseurs’ (rather than fans or the regular audience) and members of the Academy. There may be some rewriting of history going on in the process, when the First world War substitutes for copyright struggles and financial misadventures, but that fits the drama and is pardonable.

Director Martin Scorsese is a film connaisseur. A lover of the history of the medium and the art, as his many documentaries on the subject clearly show. In interviews he says that he wanted, for once, to make a film that his children could enjoy, who are too young for Taxi Driver or The Departed. But it was a mistake to make his first 3D film, and an ode to early cinema at the same time. The three objectives fit crudely together, much unlike the perfect mechanisms of the clocks and the automaton.

A Film to Love and Cherish – the The Descendants review

Point one: one thing we must immediately stop doing is acting surprised when we see George Clooney giving a good film performance. Yes, he started out in a weepy hospital-soap and became initially known for his good looks. But since he took the piss with that image in Robert Rodriguez’ From Dusk Till Dawn he has showcased acting talent and versatility. He can do comedies, action flicks, heist movies and political thrillers and dramas. He oozes movie star charisma, but is not averse to roles that undermine his carefully maintained image. And in recent years he has done a number of really well-judged character roles. In Up in the Air, The American and now in The Descendants he showed that he is a dramatic actor of the same quality as more ‘respectable’ actors of his generation, like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sean Penn. The latter two already have their Oscars. It really is Clooney turn now, and his performance in The Descendants is a genuinely award-deserving turn. Step aside, Jean Dujardin, this is Clooney’s year.

Point two: It has taken Alexander Payne quite a while (Sideways came out in 2004), but the darling director of American indie cinema has delivered a film that is by far his best one to date. Fans of his earlier films, like Election, About Schmidt and the above mentioned Sideways may be a bit disappointed that the rough edges and cynicism of these critiques of American society are gone. But The Descendants has instead a heart and an emotional sincerity that I previously found lacking, or unconvincing, in Payne’s work. The spectacle and hype surrounding the other candidates for Best Film, Hugo and The Artist, may have drawn attention away from the incredible quality of The Descendants, but this is typically a film that people will continue to love and cherish over the years.

Point three: What a stroke of genius to have Hawaii as the location for this film. The story of The Descendants – estranged father has to rebuild the relationship with his daughter and re-evaluate his life as his wife lies in a coma – could arguably take place anywhere. But by choosing a place that has so seldom been seen in film as itself (Spielberg filmed Jurassic Park in Hawaii, but there it represented Costa Rica), and definitely has not been represented as a place where real lives take place (rather than as a holiday destination) Alexander Payne makes the place important. And he makes its difference to other American, more cinematically known, places such as LA or New York very important. Arguably, the story of The Descendants could take place anywhere. But it could only play out the way it does in this film in Hawaii. This previously un-cinematized location draws attention to those things about the story and the characters that are universal, and those aspects that are particular.

Point four: the film is not perfect. It starts of with a very ‘indie’ voice-over by George Clooney, which later does not return. It seems as if Payne started out making ‘just another’ independent film and then found out that The Descendants could be more than that, and was self-supporting, classical, enough to work without the vice-over. The film, which ahs a very reasonable running time of 115 minutes, drags a bit in the middle, when Clooney’s character Matt King takes his daughters and a boyfriend on a road trip.

Point five (last point): All the attention to Clooney’s performance, and all the fuss about it (which, as I argue above, is really no longer justified), and all the talk about Hawaii (which is an interesting discussion topic) draw attention away from some of the other, really good performances, most notably by Shailene Woodley, Matthew Lillard and Beau Bridges. The Descendants works really well as an ensemble piece too.

Thursday Movie News Flash Update Blog-message

Things we have learned this week:

 

The Artist has charmed the BAFTAs

Spielberg talks about Tintin 2 and says nothing

Hugh Grant is a cannibal (in Cloud Atlas)

Halle Berry vehicle Dark Tide finally gets a release (as VOD)

The Avengers are a bunch of Danish boy-toys

 

 

 

Oh,

and the apocalypse is nigh (well, coming in 2014)…

Romeo and ms Monroe – the My Week With Marilyn review

First of all: what a wonderful joy is this film. What a pleasure to watch it. You’d be inclined to say that this is a wonderful film the likes of which they don’t make anymore. Except that this film actually just has been made. A film that breathes old-fashioned Hollywood cinema, much like other recent and forthcoming films like The Artist and The Woman in Black. Films crucially and ironically, that are not American.

This is a lovely, formulaic love story that echoes Romeo and Juliet and The Prince and the Pauper, and the film of which it shows the making-of, The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). With the little twist that this film is about the romance between a princess and a third assistant director. Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), at the height of her fame, comes to England to make a film with Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). He, the famous Thespian, wants to become a movie star. She, the movie star, wants to be a serious actress. But the two clash hard, due to Monroe’s eccentricity and drug addiction and Olivier’s discipline and ambition. Caught in the crossfire between them is the young British third assistant director, Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), on whose memoirs this film is based. Colin thanks his job to Olivier’s wife Vivien Leigh, but falls for the charms of Monroe.

My Week With Marilyn is a serious film, but with a light touch. It is filled with British star actors in small supporting roles: Judi Dench, Emma Watson, Derek Jacobi, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper and Dougray Scott all turn up. But this is without a doubt Wililams’ and Branagh’s film. Both were, logically, nominated for Oscars for their roles. Williams, like Meryl Streep as the older Lady Thatcher in The Iron Lady, manages to go beyond impression or impersonation, and really inhabits Monroe and channels the tragedy of her short life. The casting of Branagh is brilliantly conceived. He is the only actor who comes close to Olivier in evoking Shakespearianism. And to have Olivier, as played by Branagh, quote the doomed Prospero from The Tempest, during the making of a film in which Olivier tries to reinvigorate and reinvent himself, is of a stunning intertextual complexity. Or it is just a little joke. The academic in me prays for the former.

Meanwhile England looks gorgeously green. The soundtrack leads and follows the action on-screen closely and the 99 minutes of movie-goodness flash by. The direction, by experienced television director Simon Curtis, is efficient and appropriately glamour less: there is plenty of glamour already on-screen with the presence of all these famous actors playing famous actors in beautiful period costumes.

This is a film that deserves all the praise showered upon it, and probably more. A film worth seeing in the cinema. Go quickly, before it disappears from the big screen.

The 2012 Oscar Nominations

It has taken me a week, apologies for that, but let’s comment on the Oscar nominations for this year. Obviously the nominations caught up with my predictions, so these are now a bit outdated. But let’s go through the list. 10 nominations for The Artist and 11 for Hugo make those films the big contenders of this year. Other films with many nominations are The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, War Horse, My Week with Marylin, The Help, Bridesmaids and The Tree of Life.

Oscar scandals are often about those films that are not nominated. Senna, in the documentary category for instance. And We Need To Talk About Kevin, for best picture and best actress ina leading role. And why is Spielberg’s Tintin not in the animation category? What does Puss in Boots do there? Harry Potter fans, hoping for a big sweep for Deathly Hallows Part 2 in recognition of the entire series will be a bit disappointed too, with 3 technical nominations (production design, make-up and visual effects).

Personally I was very happy to see Gary Oldman nominated for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I find, however, that film’s nomination for best adapted screenplay an odd thing. And I am very pleased that the overrated, pretentious wanna B film Drive is almost neglected (apart from 1 nom for sound editing).

I am stunned that Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain are nominated for Moneyball and The Help respectively, while their performances in The Tree of Life were far superior. And the one thing that film should not have been nominated for is best picture, because it is too unbalanced.

I could go on and on. I won’t. Here is the list. The titles in italics are the ones I think should win, and the titles in bold are the ones I think will win. Please note that I haven’t seen everything. I am for instance still waiting for War Horse, The Descendants (both out today in Holland), Hugo and The Muppets. And I refrain from predicting the short film and documentary categories, because I really have not seen enough to have a judgement.

Best Picture
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
George Clooney in “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

Animated Feature Film
“A Cat in Paris”
“Chico & Rita”
“Kung Fu Panda 2″
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”

Art Direction
“The Artist”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“War Horse”

Cinematography
“The Artist”
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

Costume Design
“Anonymous”
“The Artist”
“Hugo”
“Jane Eyre”
“W.E.”

Directing
“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Alexander Payne
“Hugo” Martin Scorsese
“Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
“The Tree of Life” Terence Malick

Documentary (Feature)
“Hell and Back Again”
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory”
“Pina”
“Undefeated”

Documentary (Short Subject)
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement”
“God Is the Bigger Elvis”
“Incident in New Baghdad”
“Saving Face”
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”

Film Editing
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“Moneyball”

Foreign Language Film
“Bullhead” Belgium
“Footnote” Israel
“In Darkness” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
“A Separation” Iran

Makeup
“Albert Nobbs”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”
“The Iron Lady”

Music (Original Score)
“The Adventures of Tintin” J
“The Artist”
“Hugo”
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
“War Horse”

Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets”
“Real in Rio” from “Rio”

Short Film (Animated)
“Dimanche/Sunday”
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore”
“La Luna”
“A Morning Stroll”
“Wild Life”

Short Film (Live Action)
“Pentecost”
“Raju”
“The Shore”
“Time Freak”
“Tuba Atlantic”

Sound Editing
“Drive”
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“War Horse”

Sound Mixing
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hugo”
“Moneyball”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“War Horse”

Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″
“Hugo”
“Real Steel”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“The Descendants”
“Hugo”
“The Ides of March”
“Moneyball”
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Artist”
“Bridesmaids”
“Margin Call”
“Midnight in Paris”
“A Separation”

That would, in my expectation, lead to 3 awards for The Artist and 4 for Hugo and a pretty even spread accross the board. Of course I hope for some recognition for Rango, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Deathly Hallows.

But we’ll have to see. The awards will be awarded in a Billy Crystal hosted ceremony in Los Angeles on the 26^th of February.

And the winner might be… [best actor]

The nominations for the 2012 Oscars will be announced on January 24, but on this site we have still three predictions to make. Best Film, Best Director and, today, Best Actor. A tricky category. Last year the little golden fellow went to Colin Firth for The King’s Speech, while he should have received it in 2010 for A Serious Man. In that year, ironically, Jeff Bridges won for Crazy Heart although his 2011 performance in True Grit. The point I’m trying to make is that the Best Actor award, even more so than the Best Actress one, is a career prize. It is not about the specific movie you happen to be in, it is about it being yuor turn. That is why there is only one big favourite this year, although there are many Oscar-worthy performances.

 

The big favourite:

George Clooney for The Descendants.

 

The other ones:

Jean Dujardin for The Artist

Brad Pitt for Moneyball

Leonardo diCaprio for J. Edgar

Michael Fassbender for Shame

and

Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (my favourite, could easily work as a career prize)

 

The career thingy is also the reason that, while they might score a nomination, it is just still too early for Ryan Gosling (Drive), Michael Shannon (Take Shelter) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50)

The Top Ten Best Films of 2011

Disclaimer: due to the usually late release dates of film in The Netherlands I have not yet seen some films that have already had their US/UK releases (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hugo, The Muppets). For the same reason some films are for me part of 2011 despite their first release in 2010 (True Grit, Black Swan). Finally there is one film I really wanted to see but did not get around to: Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive. I will pick it up on DVD or Bluray and get back in touch about it.

10 Tree of Life

Who would have though that a Terence Malick film, besides ethereal whispers and meditations on the meaning of (a) life, could feature dinosaurs? Brilliant!

9 The Adventures of Tintin

Another film in which the plot did not matter ebcause the visuals were so beautiful. Spielberg explored the possibilities of animation, motion capture and 3D and comes up with some of the most captivating action sequences and original transitions of the year.

8 Contagion

A film that literally gives you the creeps. I was scared to sneeze, to touch my face, to touch objects in public places. Well, for an hour or so at least. Soderbergh manages again, after Traffic, to mix topicality with suspense and entertainment.

7 Bridesmaids

I called it the best comedy of the year, and Bridesmaids is the ultimate proof that, despite the inevitable toilet humor, American comedy is still very much alive. Also: despite the involvement of non-funny-man Judd Apatow.

6 Source Code

The 2011 heir of Inception. A smart intelligent action sci-fi flick that only revealed its plot priblems upon retrospection, never during the movie itself. And upon finally seeing Duncan Jones’ previous film Moon (2009) one could argue that Inception is the heir of Moon…

5 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Based on the Jasper’s Take Award winning trailer my expectations were perhaps set too high, and my disappointment inevitable. But Thomas Alfredson delivers a moody, beautifully designed and shot thriller with outstanding performances accross the board.

4 True Grit

The best thing about True Grit is that it is not a typical Coen brothers film. It is first and foremost a gripping western and a great adaptation of the Charles Portis novel. The directorial peculiarities are restricted to the details, which is nice after the essential Coen film that was A Serious Man.

3 Carnage

I called it the best comedy of the year. Polanski does Sartre, but with laughs. And the old master is getting a bit sentimental in his old days, considering the last shot. Furthermore Carnage had the best ensemble performance of the year.

2 Black Swan

A film that touched me, literally, physically. I could not get up at first when the ending credits started to roll. Aronofsky may not be for everyone, but for me he is the most consistently overwhelming filmmaker of the last two decades

1 The Artist

It’s not original to think this is the film of the year, but it is. Especially for me, as I am closely studying both silent film and its musical accompaniment, and the aesthetic changes brought about by the introduction of sound. A film that forms a perfect tripple bill with Singing in the Rain and Sunset Boulevard. A feelgood film, a romantic adventure and a modern classic of the postmodern age, but without an ironic tone. The best film of 2011 was without a single doubt Michel Hazanavicus’ The Artist.