' ' Cinema Romantico: February 2006

Monday, February 27, 2006

Fearless Oscar Predictions

The 2006 Academy Awards are right around the corner and this blogger will do what is required of every movie critic - predict the winners. Before you laugh, let me advise that last year my friend Dan won his Oscar pool on the strength of my picks. So if you're looking to come out victorious in your own pool this Sunday, I recommend you copy precisely what you see below. But before my modesty gets too out of control, let's skip to the good stuff.

Best Picture – Crash. It's been a few years since we've had a good shocker in this category and I think we're due. "Brokeback Mountain" has been the front-runner for quite some time but buzz has been building that "Crash" is gaining ground. I in no way believe "Crash" is deserving of Best Picture (in fact, I would say it's the least deserving of the five nominees) but I am picking it to win.

Best Director – Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain. You can mark this one in stone.

Best Actor – Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Capote. He’s been winning everything so this pick makes sense. But lately I’ve been having a premonition the presenter opens the envelope, does a double-take and says “Terrence Howard”.

Best Actress – Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line. If this one doesn’t happen, I’ll throw a very large object (my chair, perhaps?) through my window while shouting swear words that have not even been invented.

Best Supporting Actor – Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man. I would imagine George Clooney would be the favorite for “Syriana” and I’m a big fan of Mr. Clooney. But my gut is telling me that Giamatti will spring an upset.

Best Supporting Actress – Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener. She’s good in this and deserving. I also hope this win opens her up to more roles of this nature. She’s a superb actress and worthy of better material than "Constantine" and “The Mummy Returns”.

Best Original Screenplay – Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale. In this case, justice will be served.

Best Adapted Screenplay - Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain. It won't be denied.

Best Documentary Feature – March of the Penguins. It’s received the most pub of all the nominees. Remember – pub counts. (But let the record show that "Grizzly Man" not receiving a nomination in this category is - as Woody Allen once said - "A travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.")

Best Animated Feature - Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I have seen none of the nominees. But it seems every critic is picking this so I'm picking it, too. Hey, at least I'm honest.

Best Foreign Film – Paradise Now. Again, I have been unable to view any of the nominees to this point but I have a hunch.

Best Cinemotagraphy - Brokeback Mountain. Sweeping vistas are hard to beat.

Best Film Editing - Crash. I would imagine this one had the most footage to wade through.

Best Sound Editing - King Kong. I believe this is the category Mike Myers made fun of a few years back. But only after having to deal with a mysterious radio in an empty building do you truly appreciate the subtleties of sound.

Best Costume Design - Memoirs of a Geisha. I'm able to use my keen fashion sense to ascertain "Geisha" will come out victorious.

Best Makeup - Memoirs of a Geisha. How can a film with such a title be rebuffed for achievement in makeup?

Best Visual Effects - King Kong. The best part of this category is that George Lucas and his schlock-fest "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" did not get nominated.

Best Art Direction - King Kong. This will win for bringing 1930's New York back to life (because that's what this award is for, right?)

Best Original Score - Brokeback Mountain. The woodwinds were very strong on this piece.

Best Original Song - It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp, Hustle and Flow. Why not?

Friday, February 24, 2006

Oscar Madness

With the 2006 Academy Awards growing ever closer, we will take time today to re-visit the worst decisions made by the Academy over the past 20 years. These will not be the most obvious or famous choices, however. Everyone knows Tommy Lee Jones had no business taking home the statue for “The Fugitive” over Ralph Fiennes for “Schindler’s List”. And then, of course, there’s the infamous Marisa Tomei victory (the urban legend states presenter Jack Palance read the wrong name and the Academy was too embarrassed to correct the mistake). And entire essays have been devoted to Costner beating Scorcese for Best Director in ’90. But we’re going to do on everyone’s favorite blog today is go over a few of the less obvious robberies. We’ll also address what is thought in many circles to be a robbery but was – in fact – the absolute proper choice.

Nine days and counting............

2000 – Julia Roberts for “Erin Brockovich” over Laura Linney for “You Can Count on Me” for Best Actress. I know, I know, Julia Roberts is a "big star" and deserved this for being a "big star" and blah, blah, blah. But I defy anyone in the world to watch these two movies back-to-back and tell me Julia Roberts was better than Laura Linney. It's not even a contest.

1993 – Dianne Weist for “Bullets Over Broadway” over Uma Thurman for “Pulp Fiction” for Best Supporting Actress. All Uma did was create one of the most indelible characters in cinematic history. Weist created a fun, diverting character in a good movie but come on. A bottle of Coors Light will give you a buzz but you don't say it's better than Sierra Nevada, do you? This was Uma's award and I will seethe until the day I die.

1989 – “Dead Poets Society” over “Do the Right Thing” for Best Original Screenplay. A disgrace to writers everywhere - wretchedly formulaic cuts down daringly innovative.

1998 - "Shakespeare in Love" over "Saving Private Ryan" for Best Picture. Whenever bad Academy decisions are brought up, this one inevitably surfaces. The most common argument is that "Saving Private Ryan" was the more "important" film. But as we all know the award is titled Best Picture not Best Important Picture. "Shakespeare in Love" was, is, and will always be a better film. Deal with it.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Everyone will want to discuss the first foray into directing by Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones when referencing this film, and that’s fine. He does a solid job. But allow me to go in a different direction. The script. Ah yes, the script. It was penned by Guillermo Arriaga who also authored the riveting “21 Grams” (a Prigge Top 5 Film in 2003). That movie was told with an extremely fractured narrative – bouncing back and forth, forth and back in time and cutting to scenes that narratively speaking had nothing to do with the preceding or following scenes. This was a criticism of the movie in some circles. I stand outside those circles – way outside them. To tell “21 Grams” in a linear fashion would have been a fatal mistake and I believe that even more strongly after seeing Tommy Lee Jones’ directorial debut.

“Three Burials” tells the story of Jones’ hardened cattle-man who befriends and provides work to illegal immigrant Melquiades Estrada. This is told in conjunction with the tale of a dense border guard (played ably by Barry Pepper) and his disinterested wife. Pepper’s border guard accidentally shoots Melquiades and kills him. This accident is portrayed as one of the most stupid variety – which is exactly right. There’s no rhyme or reason in the killing or in anything that seems to go on in this tiny border town. Thus when Jones’ cattle-man realizes the inept town sheriff is going to do nothing in relation to the obvious murder he chooses to take justice into his own hands and give Melquaides the burial he had requested in the movie’s most moving sequence.

These early scenes are portrayed in Arriaga’s distinct splintered style. We see the burgeoning friendship of the cattle-man and Melquaides. We see the crumbling marriage of the border guard and his young wife. We see a waitress at the local diner who sleeps around more from boredom than anything else.

But once the shooting has happened and Jones determines the person responsible, he kidnaps the border guard and sets off on what a subtitle helpfully calls “The Journey”. And this is where the movie weakens. Rather than continuing with jump-cut style of the first act it becomes a straight-forward narrative. It doesn’t fall apart, mind you, it just loses it momentum – it’s edge – it’s style. Suddenly, it just feels like a road movie on horseback with several diversions existing it seems merely to show something happening.

I adore the idea of Jones not simply seeking vengeance and taking Pepper along for the ride to properly burial Melquaides. This allows the film to rise above the revenge movie clichés and become something else. But I would have preferred to see this journey inter-cut with the rest of the story rather than standing on its own. It becomes conventional and the convention does not work as well as it might have.

Was it this way to start in the script? Did Jones make the decision? Or the studio? Who knows? But this blogger thinks it was the wrong way to go. That quibble aside, it’s still a worthwhile movie that shows Tommy Lee Jones may have more directing chops than I would have guessed.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Why I Love The Windy City

The Music Box Theater. Thursday night. 7:00 PM. "Casablanca". Humphrey Bogart. Ingrid Bergman. On the big screen.

Need I say more?

Friday, February 03, 2006

".....there was a third man....."

Last year about this time I wrote an essay that I sent out to family and friends explaining that I’d never had a chance to see one of the Greatest Movies Ever Made on the big screen. That, of course, changed last year in late January. But now – thanks to the great city of Chicago - it will change again. Late this evening I will be able to state that I have seen two of the Greatest Movies Ever Made on the big screen.

“The Third Man” was made in 1949 and set in a Vienna post World War II. Reportedly, the studio did not want it placed in such a bleak setting (mountains and mountains of rubble are viewed everywhere). As Roger Ebert stated in his book The Great Movies, if the studio had been granted its wish the movie would have been “forgotten in a week”. But the director Carol Reed did not budge and “The Third Man” is now cited as an absolute classic. In fact, a recent poll called it the greatest British film ever made.

It concerns the story of a hard drinking writer (!) named Holly Martins who comes to Vienna at the request of his old friend – a man named Harry Lime. But when he arrives he finds that Lime is dead and being buried. But as this is a movie the death cannot be all that it seems. And it isn’t. Martins speaks with Calloway, the investigator on the trail of who killed Lime. Calloway urges Martins to return home but Martins relents and begins his own investigation.

This leads Martins down many avenues but the most important one is to Anna, the girlfriend of Harry Lime. Martins falls in love with her, to some degree, but the feeling is not returned. Anna is clearly still infatuated with and in awe of the deceased Lime. As the story progresses, things are revealed about Lime and he is clearly not the man Martins thought he was. Anna knows these things, too, but her view of him is not diminished. And it becomes clear Lime may not be dead after all.

(Is he or isn’t he? Well, since the cover of the DVD shows Harry Lime I think that answer may be obvious.)

Harry Lime is one of the most ingenious creations of the cinema. Everyone in the entire film for the entire first hour talks about nothing but Harry Lime which almost makes him mythic before he even shows up onscreen. Of course, once he does show up he has to live up to that stature. And he does – through the writing of Graham Greene and the acting of Orson Welles. (Though it must be noted The Speech – to hear it once is to never forget it - was, according to Greene, written by Welles.) He has to show the charm he must have had to envelope Martins and attract Anna. But at the same time he must reveal shades of the sinister side he must also have had to become such a wanted man.

We’re introduced to Welles through perhaps the most famous entrance in movie history. I can act it out in my head yet I never tire of it. Martins is on a darkened street and senses someone in a doorway across from him. He yells out to the mystery person. A cat darts into the doorway and we see a pair of black shoes. A light turns on. The person is revealed as none other than Harry Lime - complete with a smile only Orson Welles could have managed to make friendly, evil and cool simultaneously. (And all this is accompanied by the movie's zither score which will remain stuck in your head in a good way for days after you see it.)

That entrance is the inciting incident for a final act that is among the most gripping ever filmed. You watch films nowadays and you realize how many of them contain no interest in building to anything. “The Third Man” isn’t like that. It slowly escalates the tension. By the time we get to Lime’s flight through the Vienna sewer system you're conscious of how it isn’t merely an arbitrary action sequence tacked on to give the film a “big” ending. It’s designed to fit in its place. The drama doesn’t come from us discovering Lime’s fate - it comes from Lime slowly becoming aware of his fate.

The final shot is justifiably famous. It is an extended take on a dark road as Anna walks toward Martins who lights a cigarette, waiting for her to reach him. Will she stop and talk to him or will she continue past? Forget the answer for a moment and let’s just focus on the fact that as you watch this you’re not sure what you want her to do. After all that’s happened, you could make an argument that you want her to stop but also that you want her to continue on and keep going. And that’s when you realize you can’t take a side. You can’t because the movie doesn’t. That’s what makes it great. No, no, no, no, that’s what makes it a classic.

(Note: As far as I'm concerned, the Gene Siskel Center stands with Wrigley Field and the Sears Tower and the Field Museum as an unforgettable Chicago landmark. It has allowed me to see Ingrid Bergman on the big screen and now it's allowing me to see Harry Lime on the big screen. Now If I could just convince them to do a revival showing of "Chinatown".)

Thursday, February 02, 2006

WWKWD??

At lunch this afternoon my Thursday edition of the Chicago Sun Times notified me the producers of the new James Bond film are making a serious consideration of casting the supremely talented Rachel McAdams as one of their Bond girls. My response is this..........

Don't do it, Rachel.

I'm not bashing other actresses who have portrayed Bond girls when I say that. Halle Berry was a Bond girl and she also owns an Oscar. But you have to be at a certain point before assuming the role of a Bond girl. You do it too early and you run a solid risk of being typecast. You've got too much ability, Rachel, to allow yourself to plunge into the pit of typecasting. Ignore this blockbuster, I say, and devote yourself to a few complex roles in some independent movies. Prove to Hollywood you won't play by their archaic rules. Show off the serious acting chops I know you possess. Then - and only then - should you go off and do a Bond movie.

And if you choose to ignore my advice (which is fine), at least allow me to make this plea - before you say yes to the role, look in the mirror and ask yourself, "What Would Kate Winslet Do?"

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

The 1st Annual Prigge's (Top 5 Movies of 2005)

The year 2005 was a bit rough for movies but that was to be expected after the previous year. It wasn't until July that I finally saw a great movie and fall produced a few very good ones but, all in all, it did not match up to greatness of the top-shelf films from 2004. But one mountain peak and a few rolling hills are better than a flat plain, I always say. In any event, let's cut to the chase. These are (insert drum roll) the Prigge Movies of the Year.........

1. Grizzly Man - What does it say about the state of cinema that the most poetic, genuinely moving and haunting film of the year was a documentary? I'm not sure, actually, but Werner Herzog's meditation on Timothy Treadwell, who spent numerous summers in Alaska with his bear "friends" (convinced they would never harm him though in the end they, of course, do just that), was the year's finest whether fiction or fact. It's a character study in the truest sense of the term. It shows sympathy for its subject but maintains a level of even-handedness. Can there be anything more tragic than a man who dies at the hand of the very thing he loves the most? The moment on film hours before Treadwell's inevitable death in which he can't quite bring himself to leave the frame will stay with you for the rest of your life.

2. Walk the Line - A film rarely contains one epic performance, let alone two - but Joaquin Phoenix and - most especially - Reese Witherspoon rip the screen to absolute shreds with two acting turns several levels above scintillating. It rises above the standard biopic cliches - even though all the cliches are here - through these performances and a feeling you're part of the rapport shared by Johnny Cash and June Carter. The only time this year I left the theater wearing a big grin with a desire to do joyous cartwheels in the parking lot.

3. Batman Begins - I in no way fancy myself a comic book expert (I don't even fancy myself a comic book novice) but I like to fantasize that I know a thing or two about movies and I can say this - Batman Begins is a fantastic film. It creates a rich gallery of characters that few movies - comic book or otherwise - can rival. It's also a blueprint for how to make an action film. Things don't just appear out of thin air - every piece is crafted to fit into its place. The action scenes actually contain complexity. Each time we see Batman go off to battle we see him learning and growing. At one point he is even defeated. We see the Batmobile show up but when it appears a second time the script puts Commissioner Gordon at the wheel so we get a fresh perspective rather than a retread of what we saw earlier. Even the subway line (The Wayne El?) is more than just a setpiece. It's mentioned early and then brought back as a key part of the action. The final lines between Hero & Villain actually come from somewhere and resonate. And then..............oh, forget it. Just go rent it, would you?

4. The Weather Man - An underappreciated gem. It seems to me this was a classic case of an advertising campaign gone wrong. It was clearly billed as a raucous black comedy - with the preview showing Nicolas Cage stalking the streets with a bow & arrow and being pelted by Big Gulps. Instead we received a more serious character study that dug deeper. I mean, God forbid a movie should be something other than "exactly what I expected". Kudos also to screenwriter Steven Conrad who wrote the best script (original or adapted) of the year but didn't even garner an Oscar nomination.

5. The Squid and the Whale - An intimate, sometimes humorous/sometimes dark look at the disintegration of a family. Jeff Daniels is the father, once upon a time a great author but now completely unappreciated (or so he thinks). Laura Linney is the mother, understandably distant from a man who refuses to acknowledge whose books are whose. And neither seems truly aware of the effect all this has on their two children. It's funny without being stupid, it's touching without being heavy-handed and obvious and has the perfect ending - a callback to an earlier moment that will make you smile and tear your heart in two.