Bust out the bubbly and place your bets because the Oscar nominees have been announced! Yesterday, the nominees for the 87th annual Academy Awards were listed and, as with any post-nominee selection, controversy has filled the air. If it's not AMPAS President Cheryl Boone mispronouncing Dick Pope to "Dick Poop" (insert Beavis and Butthead laugh), than it's Al Sharpton ranting over how the Oscars have become "all white". Apparently, no one told him that 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture last year, or In The Heat of the Night won in 1968, or that Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Sidney Poitier, Louis Gossett Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker all have Oscars on their mantles. My point is this, the Oscars will never appeal to everyone since it is a select few having to sift through the films that are award-worthy, which in of itself is subjective.
Nevertheless, here's my usual list of predicted winners along with my gripes over over who got snubbed in the acting and directing categories, as well as which film will win Best Picture.
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall - The Judge
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
Edward Norton - Birdman
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash
Who Will Win- The odds in the favor for J.K. Simmons to win for his role as a tyrannical jazz-band conductor in Whiplash and I couldn't agree more since Simmons' gave a game-changing performance from his previous work as a comical ancillary character in the films of the Coen Brothers and the Spider-Man franchise.
Who Got Snubbed- I was surprised Josh Brolin wasn't listed for his role as the tight-assed, banana loving Bigfoot Bjornsen in Inherent Vice. His performance was hysterical and, in brief times, poignant even when he's eating half an ounce of weed. Also, Channing Tatum was seriously robbed for his heartbreaking and intense performance in Foxcatcher. His self-destructive portrayal of Mark Schultz was a Master class in acting. Finally, where is Ellar Coltrane for his naturalistic performance in Boyhood?
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Laura Dern -Wild
Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
Emma Stone - Birdman
Meryl Streep - Into the Woods
Who Will Win- My gut is definitely saying that Patricia Arquette will win for her role as a single mother in Boyhood. She goes through the emotional gauntlet of separation, abuse, and watching her children grow with such brilliance and stoicism that she will definitely win. If I had to choose a runner-up, it definitely go to Emma Stone for Birdman; her internal struggles along with her love-hate relationship with Michael Keaton is simply brilliant and moving.
Who Got Snubbed- I think Lorelei Linklater's 12 year commitment to Boyhood was seriously overlooked. Why is Meryl Streep nominated again when she already has enough gold to fill Fort Knox? Come on, Oscar committee! We all know and love Meryl Streep, but how about changing it up a little? It's bad enough she won three years ago for The Iron Lady when it should have went to Viola Davis for The Help, but unless she pulls another Doubt or Adaptation, just let her go!
Best Actress
Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Reese Witherspoon - Wild
Who Will Win- This is definitely Julianne Moore's year! She was overlooked many times before for The Hours, Boogie Nights, and a bevy of other iconic performances, so her performance in Still Alice as a woman with early onset Alzheimer's is sure to be acknowledged this year. If I had to choose a runner-up, I would say that Rosamund Pike's chilling and jaw-dropping performance in Gone Girl would be the alternate for getting the gold.
Who Got Snubbed- I was surprised Katherine Waterston was snubbed for her performance in Inherent Vice as the sleek femme-fatale Shasta Fay Hepworth. Her couch confessional to Joaquin Phoenix is reminiscent of Faye Dunaway's breakdown in Chinatown or Mary Astor's performance in The Maltese Falcon as she exudes the classical noir character.
Best Actor
Steve Carell for Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game
Bradley Cooper for American Sniper
Michael Keaton for Birdman
Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything
Who Will Win- I am definitely rooting for Michael Keaton for his revolutionary performance as Riggan Thompson in Birdman as he pulls it off with his class comedic chops along with such heartfelt sympathy. Steve Carrell would be a close 2nd since his performance as the wealthy and destructive John DuPont in Foxcatcher.
Who Got Snubbed- I was shocked that Ralph Fiennes was not nominated for The Grand Budapest Hotel. His funny and eccentric performance as the perfume-loving Gustave H. is a tall glass of water compared to the succession of horrific villains he's portrayed in the past.
Best Director
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Alejandro González Iñárritu - Birdman
Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum -The Imitation Game
Who Will Win- This is the most difficult and competitive list of nominees. In a perfect world, I would give a three-way tie for Richard Linklater, Alejandro Iñárritu, and Wes Anderson. I would be content if either one of those three won Best Director, but I'm sure Wes Anderson will win the Best Original Screenplay award leaving Iñárritu and Linklater a chance to win. All and all, I think the Oscar will go to Richard Linklater just for the fact that he committed to a film for 12 years that has resulted in a groundbreaking epic.
Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Imitation Game
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Who Will Win- It's no surprise that this year has been big in the field of Indie cinema, and the film to definitely come out as the best film is Boyhood. It has swept every award in its path, and will sure to be a big winner this year. The only upsets I would expect to compromise Boyhood's expected big sweep is Birdman since, like Boyhood, it is a film that has redefined modern film-making and storytelling with such humor and heartfelt emotions regarding the human condition.
Well, there's my list of who should be expected to grab the coveted and highly praised award for outstanding film-making despite the fact that this year has a been a bit stagnant in films. The winners will be announced on Feb. 22nd, and I will be giving updates live on Facebook on Sunday night. See you then!
Friday, January 16, 2015
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Foxcatcher
Four out of Four Stars
Bennett Miller, the director of Capote and Moneyball, delivers another powerful and fact-based film, Foxcatcher. On January 26, 1996, John E. DuPont murdered Olympic wrestler, David Schultz. Miller's new film chronicles the fatal relationship between John DuPont, David Schultz, and his younger brother, Mark. Miller manages to create a film that is as intensely and remarkably character driven as his previous films.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics, Mark and David Schultz won gold medals in competitive wrestling. Three years later, both brothers are working to make ends meet; for David (Mark Ruffalo), he is content in training for the 1988 Olympics and living the life as a family man. As for Mark (Channing Tatum), he craves to get another gold medal and to step out of his brother's shadow. Fate knocks on Mark's door as he is commissioned by eccentric millionaire, John DuPont (Steve Carrell), to train for the 1988 Olympics and live out on his sprawling Pennsylvania estate known as Foxcatcher. Mark embraces DuPont's warmth and fatherly presence until it turns into an intense and turbulent relationship based on DuPont's eccentricity and their individual desires to be recognized as winners; for Mark, he wants to not just be known as "Dave Schultz's brother" while John wants to win the acceptance of his mother, June (a chilling Vanessa Redgrave), with the grand illusions of trying to make America stand out as a supreme country through his wrestling team, Team Foxcatcher.
Steve Carrell, who has made a successful career with his presence as a comedic leading man, gives one of his most haunting and phenomenal performances as John DuPont by channeling his mannerisms and unpredictable behavior with the same deviousness and eccentricity as Welles did as Charles Foster Kane, whether it be gloating his mother's foxcatching trophies to his guests or doing lines of cocaine while riding in his helicopter. Channing Tatum gives a masterclass in acting with his portrayal of the naive, yet self-destructive, Mark Schultz as his unbridled ambition to be the best is conflicted while under the fatherly embrace of DuPont. Mark Ruffalo gives a remarkable performance as David Schultz as he walks the fine balance of being a relaxed family man and a tenacious coach towards his brother.
Dan Futterman (who wrote the screenplay for Capote) and co-screenwriter, E. Max Frye, deliver a solid script that screams Greek Tragedy such as tapping into the spite-fueled relationship between DuPont and his mother and the Cain and Abel relationship between Mark and David Schultz.
Greig Fraser's cinematography is stunning as in his previous work on Zero Dark Thirty as he captures the stark beauty of the Foxcatcher estate and his use of lighting adds an element of depth into the troubled psyche of DuPont and the mental breakdown of Mark Schultz. Foxcatcher is nothing short of an incredible and harrowing film.
Bennett Miller, the director of Capote and Moneyball, delivers another powerful and fact-based film, Foxcatcher. On January 26, 1996, John E. DuPont murdered Olympic wrestler, David Schultz. Miller's new film chronicles the fatal relationship between John DuPont, David Schultz, and his younger brother, Mark. Miller manages to create a film that is as intensely and remarkably character driven as his previous films.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics, Mark and David Schultz won gold medals in competitive wrestling. Three years later, both brothers are working to make ends meet; for David (Mark Ruffalo), he is content in training for the 1988 Olympics and living the life as a family man. As for Mark (Channing Tatum), he craves to get another gold medal and to step out of his brother's shadow. Fate knocks on Mark's door as he is commissioned by eccentric millionaire, John DuPont (Steve Carrell), to train for the 1988 Olympics and live out on his sprawling Pennsylvania estate known as Foxcatcher. Mark embraces DuPont's warmth and fatherly presence until it turns into an intense and turbulent relationship based on DuPont's eccentricity and their individual desires to be recognized as winners; for Mark, he wants to not just be known as "Dave Schultz's brother" while John wants to win the acceptance of his mother, June (a chilling Vanessa Redgrave), with the grand illusions of trying to make America stand out as a supreme country through his wrestling team, Team Foxcatcher.
Steve Carrell, who has made a successful career with his presence as a comedic leading man, gives one of his most haunting and phenomenal performances as John DuPont by channeling his mannerisms and unpredictable behavior with the same deviousness and eccentricity as Welles did as Charles Foster Kane, whether it be gloating his mother's foxcatching trophies to his guests or doing lines of cocaine while riding in his helicopter. Channing Tatum gives a masterclass in acting with his portrayal of the naive, yet self-destructive, Mark Schultz as his unbridled ambition to be the best is conflicted while under the fatherly embrace of DuPont. Mark Ruffalo gives a remarkable performance as David Schultz as he walks the fine balance of being a relaxed family man and a tenacious coach towards his brother.
Dan Futterman (who wrote the screenplay for Capote) and co-screenwriter, E. Max Frye, deliver a solid script that screams Greek Tragedy such as tapping into the spite-fueled relationship between DuPont and his mother and the Cain and Abel relationship between Mark and David Schultz.
Greig Fraser's cinematography is stunning as in his previous work on Zero Dark Thirty as he captures the stark beauty of the Foxcatcher estate and his use of lighting adds an element of depth into the troubled psyche of DuPont and the mental breakdown of Mark Schultz. Foxcatcher is nothing short of an incredible and harrowing film.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Rosewater
3 out of 4 Stars
Rosewater, Jon Stewart's directorial debut, is a fascinating adaptation of Maziar Bahari's memoir, "Then They Came For Me." In June of 2009, Bahari, a Canadian-Iranian journalist for Newsweek magazine, covered the build up and aftermath of the Iranian elections in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected causing thousands of Iranians to march to the streets in protest over what was considered a rigged election; thousands were arrested by the police and several were killed during the protests. Bahari captured the atrocities on film and was arrested, tortured, and held for 118 days in Tehran's Evin prison. However, he wasn't arrested over his raw footage of the protests, but over an appearance he made on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In the televised segment, Bahari compared America to Iran despite the misconceptions that Iran was anti-American. What was supposed to be a light television interview led by Daily Show correspondent/comedian, Jason Jones, who joked that he was an American spy, led to Bahari's imprisonment. His arrest made headlines leading to thousands of people to petition for his freedom.
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Bahari and gives a genuine performance that balances between humor and despair; such as when he reveals fake sexual encounters to appease his arresting officer known only as Rosewater, played by Kim Bodina, or when he his talking to the ghosts of his father and sister who were both arrested during the 1953 coup in Iran and the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. Bernal manages to use his solitary confinement to his advantage by having the music of Leonard Cohen and sounds of his family run through his head.
Jon Stewart, the host of the satirical fake news program, The Daily Show, gives an ambitious directorial debut that cuts against the grain of his nightly humor and satirical analysis of current events. That being said, the film does come across as another story of false imprisonment over a conspiracy or overly-paranoid police force as seen in Jim Sheridan's In The Name of The Father or Norman Jewison's Hurricane. Stewart does manage to make the topic relevant in terms of how social media devices, like Twitter and Facebook, have overshadowed the comments of fixed-news organizations since it is the people's perspective that trumps over newspapers and television. The result, a poignant David vs. Goliath story that may have been repeated many times before, but still manages to as relevant today as when the events unfolded in Bahari's life.
Rosewater, Jon Stewart's directorial debut, is a fascinating adaptation of Maziar Bahari's memoir, "Then They Came For Me." In June of 2009, Bahari, a Canadian-Iranian journalist for Newsweek magazine, covered the build up and aftermath of the Iranian elections in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected causing thousands of Iranians to march to the streets in protest over what was considered a rigged election; thousands were arrested by the police and several were killed during the protests. Bahari captured the atrocities on film and was arrested, tortured, and held for 118 days in Tehran's Evin prison. However, he wasn't arrested over his raw footage of the protests, but over an appearance he made on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In the televised segment, Bahari compared America to Iran despite the misconceptions that Iran was anti-American. What was supposed to be a light television interview led by Daily Show correspondent/comedian, Jason Jones, who joked that he was an American spy, led to Bahari's imprisonment. His arrest made headlines leading to thousands of people to petition for his freedom.
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Bahari and gives a genuine performance that balances between humor and despair; such as when he reveals fake sexual encounters to appease his arresting officer known only as Rosewater, played by Kim Bodina, or when he his talking to the ghosts of his father and sister who were both arrested during the 1953 coup in Iran and the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. Bernal manages to use his solitary confinement to his advantage by having the music of Leonard Cohen and sounds of his family run through his head.
Jon Stewart, the host of the satirical fake news program, The Daily Show, gives an ambitious directorial debut that cuts against the grain of his nightly humor and satirical analysis of current events. That being said, the film does come across as another story of false imprisonment over a conspiracy or overly-paranoid police force as seen in Jim Sheridan's In The Name of The Father or Norman Jewison's Hurricane. Stewart does manage to make the topic relevant in terms of how social media devices, like Twitter and Facebook, have overshadowed the comments of fixed-news organizations since it is the people's perspective that trumps over newspapers and television. The result, a poignant David vs. Goliath story that may have been repeated many times before, but still manages to as relevant today as when the events unfolded in Bahari's life.
Mr. Nichols, You Have Seduced Me.
Mike Nichols, one of the most prolific directors of both cinema and the stage, died on Wednesday at the age of 83. Born in Germany and raised in New York after he and his parents fled Nazi-occupied Europe, Nichols developed a passion for theatre and film at an early age. When he attended the University of Chicago, comic gold was struck when he fell into company with Elaine May, in which both of them formed the iconic comic duo, Nichols and May. Both received glowing reviews for their live performances on Broadway in the late-Fifties and early-Sixties before Nichols made his directorial debut with the controversial adaptation of Edward Albee's play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The film was a success and led Nichols to his second film in 1967, which earned him his only Academy Award for Best Director, The Graduate. For his work as a director on Broadway, he would be awarded thirteen Tony awards for his productions as diverse as Barefoot in the Park, Spamalot, and Death of a Salesman.
I remember the first time I watched The Graduate when I was 14. I was sitting in my brother's bedroom flipping through the channels until I saw Dustin Hoffman walking through an airport as the sounds of Simon & Garfunkel filled the screen. For the next two hours, I was hooked to the surreal and hilarious story of Benjamin Braddock's sordid affair with Mrs. Robinson. The last shot of the film, in which Benjamin helps Elaine, Mrs. Robinson's daughter, escape her own wedding via bus, left me scratching my head with its anti-climatic ending as both of them go from laughing to just staring aimlessly from the back of the bus as it drove off to wherever it was going. It wasn't until I graduated both high school and college that I felt like Dustin Hoffman in the back of the bus staring aimlessly and wondering what would happen next.
A second revelation I had regarding my connection to Mike Nichols was when I saw his 2003 adaptation of Tony Kushner's play, Angels in America. The story of two HIV/AIDS patients questioning their own mortality struck me at a time when I realized that death was coming close to those near and dear to me. At the time when the film was released, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and she would have another 5 years left to live on this earth. I would watch Angels In America as a form of catharsis as it channelled the anger and frustration of dealing with one of the most inevitable things in our lives, which is death. Rather than observing death in a morbid manner, Mike Nichols and Tony Kushner examined the power of beliefs; not in any religious sense, but in terms of an idea beholden to us that we need to face the day. Last week, after my second grandmother passed away, I retreated back to that film.
Mike Nichols once said, "A movie is like a person; either you trust it or you don't." Nichols' films ranged from the deeply poignant, such as Wit and Regarding Henry, to the deeply funny, like The Graduate or The Birdcage. In the case of his films, they were an extension of who he was as a comic, dramatist, a lover of film, and of the stage. Mike Nichols remains a person anyone can trust as were his films.
I remember the first time I watched The Graduate when I was 14. I was sitting in my brother's bedroom flipping through the channels until I saw Dustin Hoffman walking through an airport as the sounds of Simon & Garfunkel filled the screen. For the next two hours, I was hooked to the surreal and hilarious story of Benjamin Braddock's sordid affair with Mrs. Robinson. The last shot of the film, in which Benjamin helps Elaine, Mrs. Robinson's daughter, escape her own wedding via bus, left me scratching my head with its anti-climatic ending as both of them go from laughing to just staring aimlessly from the back of the bus as it drove off to wherever it was going. It wasn't until I graduated both high school and college that I felt like Dustin Hoffman in the back of the bus staring aimlessly and wondering what would happen next.
A second revelation I had regarding my connection to Mike Nichols was when I saw his 2003 adaptation of Tony Kushner's play, Angels in America. The story of two HIV/AIDS patients questioning their own mortality struck me at a time when I realized that death was coming close to those near and dear to me. At the time when the film was released, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and she would have another 5 years left to live on this earth. I would watch Angels In America as a form of catharsis as it channelled the anger and frustration of dealing with one of the most inevitable things in our lives, which is death. Rather than observing death in a morbid manner, Mike Nichols and Tony Kushner examined the power of beliefs; not in any religious sense, but in terms of an idea beholden to us that we need to face the day. Last week, after my second grandmother passed away, I retreated back to that film.
Mike Nichols once said, "A movie is like a person; either you trust it or you don't." Nichols' films ranged from the deeply poignant, such as Wit and Regarding Henry, to the deeply funny, like The Graduate or The Birdcage. In the case of his films, they were an extension of who he was as a comic, dramatist, a lover of film, and of the stage. Mike Nichols remains a person anyone can trust as were his films.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Inherent Vice
4 out of 4 Stars
Paul Thomas Anderson’s seventh film, Inherent Vice, is a surreal, kinky, and stoned epic of mammoth proportions. The fact that Anderson decided to be the first director adapt the wild prose of Thomas Pynchon is an achievement in of itself. Set in Los Angeles in the early Seventies, Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) awakens from his stony stupor when his ex-girlfriend (Katherine Waterston) tries to find sanctuary from her real-estate mogul boyfriend, his wife, and her boyfriend. In traditional noir fashion, not all is simple as it sounds as a bigger presence is involved with a cavalcade of characters thrown into Doc’s world; a heroin-addicted sax player from a surf-rock band (Owen Wilson), a coked-up dentist with the libido of a rabbit (Martin Short), and an LAPD officer/failed actor (Josh Brolin) busting anyone with long-hair and forming a strange love/hate bond with Doc.
The film is a hybrid of comedy, romance, and mystery inspired by the major film-noir flicks of the 1940s, such as Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep and Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear, except that rather than having Sam Spade chain smoke cigarettes and drink gimlets, you have Doc Sportello smoking endless joints and drinking tequila zombies. Anderson's perspective of Los Angeles in the Seventies has been shown before in Boogie Nights in all its hedonistic glory, but in the case of Inherent Vice, he manages to capture the mood of L.A. in an earthy, yet naive glow that mirrors the energy and fear that erupted in the wake of the Manson murders and the rise of Nixon's silent majority. No matter how you slice it, Anderson's film fits in the tapestry of other L.A. noir classics like Chinatown and L.A. Confidential, but with the comedic antics of a Cheech and Chong film or an episode of Gilligan's Island.
Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliantly-nuanced performance as Pynchon's anti-hero private eye. Unlike his last collaboration with Anderson on The Master, Phoenix reigns in his eccentricity with a relaxed, yet stoned, approach and manages to not make Sportello into a cliched character of the counterculture thanks to the sharp wit and dialogue of Anderson's screenplay. Josh Brolin's performance as Bigfoot Bjornsen is brilliantly comical and tragic as he tries to walk amongst the Indica-smoke streets with the power and authority of Jack Webb from Dragnet. Katherine Waterston gives a remarkable performance as Doc's former flame as she gives a raw and naked performance that is both sympathetic and mysterious. Despite being on film for only ten minutes, Martin Short gives a performance of comedic gold with the eccentricity and insanity as equally as funny as his alter egos like Ed Grimley and Jiminy Glick. Among the other actors who fill out the film, Reese Witherspoon as an assistant D.A. and Doc's part-time love interest, Benecio Del Toro as Doc's confidant and Owen Wilson each give solid performances.
Jonny Greenwood, in his third collaboration with Anderson as composer, creates a score that mirrors the Noir-fashioned sounds of Jerry Goldsmith mixed with the psychedelic sounds of the Laurel Canyon music scene of the early Seventies. Also, the music of Neil Young's Harvest album adds an emotional depth to the romantic interludes between Doc and the women in his life. Robert Elswit's cinematography is as excellent as his previous collaborations with Anderson as he manages to capture the long, strange trip into the underbelly of Los Angeles. Inherent Vice may be at times incoherent and somewhat dense as Pynchon's novel, but it is one hell of a trip!
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Four out of Four Stars
If there is at least one film that I implore you to see and embrace, it is Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's latest barnburner of a movie, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). The opening shot is like the opening line out of Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" as "a screaming comes across the sky" from above leading to Michael Keaton meditating in midair as he prepares for his first performance on Broadway with his adaptation of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," in which he stars in and directs. The next two hours is a gripping, funny, and naked look into the world of acting, celebrity, and redemption as Riggan Thomson (Keaton), a former big budget action star from the late-Eighties, tries to get through a hectic three days of preview showings and opening night of his first and maybe last chance of acting. Within the pressure of trying to reclaim his place in the spotlight, Riggan is blindsided by his masochistic, method-acting obsessed co-star (played by Edward Norton) trying to steal his mojo while his daughter/publicist (Emma Stone) and co-star/girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) try to tame Riggan's ego as he goes through a path of self-reflection and destruction due in part to the voices in his head telling him that "he should have done that reality show" and that "nobody wants to see that talky bullshit" he has sacrificed to put on stage. Birdman is a profound meditation on the age-old fight between art versus commerce while focusing on the desire for affection.
Michael Keaton gives a phenomenally funny and poignant performance as Riggan; many critics have questioned whether life imitates art in regards to Keaton's past success as Batman or Beetlejuice before petering out of top-billing status. Regardless of how close Keaton is compared to Riggan, his intensity, humor, and warmth fit perfectly in what is one of his finest performances in quite a while; his verbal sparring session with a New York Times critic shows he hasn't shown signs of slowing down, just shifting into second gear. Emma Stone gives a raw and powerful performance as he chews out his father hours before going out onstage or contemplating life on the theatre rooftop opposite Edward Norton. With a succession of previous successes on screen, Stone gives her best performance in Birdman.
It would be a travesty to label the rest of the cast as "supporting actors" as each of them give their pound of flesh on screen. Edward Norton is incredible as he satirizes the method-acting approach whether it is appearing drunk onstage to feel like Raymond Carver when he poured sweat and liquor over the typewriter or getting aroused when the stage curtains open up for him. Seeing him and Keaton clash heads and egos is like watching Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton duel on guitars. Zach Galifianakis delivers a perfect balance of humor and neurosis as Riggan's shrewd lawyer and only friend. Amy Ryan, as Riggan's ex-wife, gives a solid and stoic performance as she sees Riggan wrestle with his emotions in his dressing room. Naomi Watts, who plays a naive actress getting her first break on Broadway, savors every minute of her brief time on screen by giving a sympathetic and funny performance.
Alejandro Inarritu continues to raise the bar in his canon of films that focus on the human condition with a supernatural twist as he did with Biutiful and 21 Grams. Birdman is the ultimate film nerd's film as Inarritu manages to create a mesmerizing homage to the auteurs of the past; take the excess and surreal nature of Fellini's 8 1/2, the improvisation and layered characters from Altman's films mixed with the philosophical and supernatural style of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, put it in a blender and drink it all up. If there was an Olympic competition for cinematography, Emmanuel Lubezki would reign supreme as his work on the stedicam is fluid and balletic just like his previous work with Alfonso Cuaron. With an incredible cast and a visionary filmmaker at the helm, Birdman stands out as a raw, original, and powerful work of art.
If there is at least one film that I implore you to see and embrace, it is Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's latest barnburner of a movie, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). The opening shot is like the opening line out of Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" as "a screaming comes across the sky" from above leading to Michael Keaton meditating in midair as he prepares for his first performance on Broadway with his adaptation of Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," in which he stars in and directs. The next two hours is a gripping, funny, and naked look into the world of acting, celebrity, and redemption as Riggan Thomson (Keaton), a former big budget action star from the late-Eighties, tries to get through a hectic three days of preview showings and opening night of his first and maybe last chance of acting. Within the pressure of trying to reclaim his place in the spotlight, Riggan is blindsided by his masochistic, method-acting obsessed co-star (played by Edward Norton) trying to steal his mojo while his daughter/publicist (Emma Stone) and co-star/girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) try to tame Riggan's ego as he goes through a path of self-reflection and destruction due in part to the voices in his head telling him that "he should have done that reality show" and that "nobody wants to see that talky bullshit" he has sacrificed to put on stage. Birdman is a profound meditation on the age-old fight between art versus commerce while focusing on the desire for affection.
Michael Keaton gives a phenomenally funny and poignant performance as Riggan; many critics have questioned whether life imitates art in regards to Keaton's past success as Batman or Beetlejuice before petering out of top-billing status. Regardless of how close Keaton is compared to Riggan, his intensity, humor, and warmth fit perfectly in what is one of his finest performances in quite a while; his verbal sparring session with a New York Times critic shows he hasn't shown signs of slowing down, just shifting into second gear. Emma Stone gives a raw and powerful performance as he chews out his father hours before going out onstage or contemplating life on the theatre rooftop opposite Edward Norton. With a succession of previous successes on screen, Stone gives her best performance in Birdman.
It would be a travesty to label the rest of the cast as "supporting actors" as each of them give their pound of flesh on screen. Edward Norton is incredible as he satirizes the method-acting approach whether it is appearing drunk onstage to feel like Raymond Carver when he poured sweat and liquor over the typewriter or getting aroused when the stage curtains open up for him. Seeing him and Keaton clash heads and egos is like watching Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton duel on guitars. Zach Galifianakis delivers a perfect balance of humor and neurosis as Riggan's shrewd lawyer and only friend. Amy Ryan, as Riggan's ex-wife, gives a solid and stoic performance as she sees Riggan wrestle with his emotions in his dressing room. Naomi Watts, who plays a naive actress getting her first break on Broadway, savors every minute of her brief time on screen by giving a sympathetic and funny performance.
Alejandro Inarritu continues to raise the bar in his canon of films that focus on the human condition with a supernatural twist as he did with Biutiful and 21 Grams. Birdman is the ultimate film nerd's film as Inarritu manages to create a mesmerizing homage to the auteurs of the past; take the excess and surreal nature of Fellini's 8 1/2, the improvisation and layered characters from Altman's films mixed with the philosophical and supernatural style of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire, put it in a blender and drink it all up. If there was an Olympic competition for cinematography, Emmanuel Lubezki would reign supreme as his work on the stedicam is fluid and balletic just like his previous work with Alfonso Cuaron. With an incredible cast and a visionary filmmaker at the helm, Birdman stands out as a raw, original, and powerful work of art.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Whiplash
4 out of 4 Stars
The slow pace of a drum beat fills the screen. Then, it gradually gets louder and faster until you are grabbing the arms of your chair in anticipation as if you were riding to the top of a roller coaster. All of the sudden, the title card comes up and the next hour and forty minutes becomes a hair-standing, wide-eyed look at two people pushing beyond the boundaries of talent and mentorship. The film is Whiplash, the story of an overly-ambitious drum major (Miles Teller) at the Shaffer Conservatory of Music in New York who is chosen to play for the Conservatory band under the leadership of a tyrannical conductor (J.K. Simmons) and will go beyond any ethical code of conduct to turn his student into the next jazz virtuoso.
The performances in this movie are flat-out amazing! Miles Teller was fifteen when he started playing the drums and practiced 4 hours a day to prepare for the movie, which was shot in a period of 19 days. Teller's passion and drive as a drummer and actor are shown in full view in his performance as Andrew, a musician who will sacrifice his blood, sweat, and tears until it pours out over the drums. J.K. Simmons, an actor who has been type-casted for his comedic, yet sympathetic, warmth, gives the performance of his career as Fletcher, an instructor so sadistic that he would make R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket look like an agony aunt. Both Simmons and Teller clash on the screen like Ali and Foreman in the ring or Ginger Baker and Elvin Jones on the drums.
Witten and directed by Damien Chazelle, he drew from his own experiences as a high school student in a jazz ensemble group, in which his band instructor was a force not to be reckoned with. His static camera catches the energy and emotional swings with such unpredictability you would think it was a documentary. At first glance, you might think of this movie as "Rocky with drums" but, if anything, it draws comparisons to Raging Bull; from soaking a clenched, bloody fist into a bucket of ice after an intense drumming session to the dilemma of how one functions off the drum kit when the band stops playing. If you're looking for a film that pulls sympathetic punches in the style of Fame, Mr. Holland's Opus, or an agonizing episode of Glee, take a hike! Whiplash is a film that cuts deep with an intense and visceral edge that will make your jaw drop with amazement.
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