Oscars 2011

In the long view of things, the movies have two purposes. One purpose is cultural reflection. The movies hold up a mirror to society, and through them we honor the truth of us, whether beautiful or ugly. The second purpose is that of escapism. This assumes that we know the truth and would rather not deal with it for a couple of hours. Both are legitimate purposes, but it has been the tradition of the Academy to honor truth not escapism. The Oscars generally deal with gravitas, choosing movies such as “The Hurt Locker,” over “Avatar,” or “Schindler’s List” over “Jurassic Park” or “Annie Hall” over “Star Wars.” And in a way this makes sense, because choosing truth over fantasy is the adult thing to do. Whether we liked the Academy’s choices in the past or not, we could at least say that they were taking their job seriously.  That is until this year.

This year we had some great comedies and great action movies that spoke truth. There was a rare combination of wit and real life and action with gravitas. Annie, the heroine of “Bridesmaids” saw her small business fail.  A trio of working men confronted with “Horrible Bosses,” could not quit because they feared they would not be able to find other jobs. A physics teacher and family man turns to an Ultimate Fighting tournament in order to save his house from foreclosure in “Warrior.” An army marine stationed in Afghanistan is sent on a mission to stop an impending terrorist attack in “Source Code,” reminding us that yes, we are still at war. And a harmless but “Idiot Brother” is imprisoned in exchange for a charitable act involving marijuana reminding us that, yes, after all this time, we still have idiotic drugs laws.

All of these were great movies that came out this year and they all have something in common: the Academy completely ignored them. Instead they heaped nominations on “Hugo,” something the director Martin Scorsese freely admits is a movie for children, “War Horse” a war movie that hides the horrors of WWI under a PG-13 veil, “The Help,” a story of how several hardworking African American women helped a young white girl write a best-seller, and that most infantile of movies which glorifies the cinema’s baby years, “The Artist.” “The Descendants” was at least modern, but how many people can say they face the problem of either keeping their vast tract of prime Hawaiian oceanfront property or selling it for millions upon millions of dollars. Oh those hard choices. If it wasn’t for Billy Beane in “Moneyball,” trying to figure out how to win a championship on a shoestring budget we could definitely say that the Academy apparently was not around for the last three years.  I am of the opinion that “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” was not nominated because it was a movie (it wasn’t), but as yearly tribute to Harvey Weinstein.

If I were to choose a movie to sum up 2011 it would be “Take Shelter,” a drama by Jeff Nichols that contains such stunning truth about employment, health care, gas prices, the weather, etc. it could best be described as a horror movie. But perhaps I would be better off choosing Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris,” as it is about nostalgia and explains pretty well why there were so many mainstream movies set in the early 1900s this year. (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Midnight in Paris, War Horse, The Artist, Hugo, A Dangerous Method, The Adventures of Tintin, let me know if I forgot any)

Anyway, as I’ve said before, the best part of being a movie critic is that you are never wrong. Here are my Oscar picks for this year. They are correct because they are “MY” Oscar picks, not yours or the Academy’s. If you want to be correct, go write your own picks down.

First of all there are those categories of which I have no clue how to judge and for which I intend to spare you of my ignorance.

Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Makeup


I have also not seen any movies that could be up for the following Oscars.

Best Documentary Short, Best Animated Short

Then there is that category, "Best Song," whose rules need to be rewritten or dumped entirely. In the last decade perhaps only two great songs were ever nominated for an Oscar ("Lose Yourself" by Eminem for 8 MILE and "Falling Slowly" for ONCE). Generally the nominations are almost by default as original songs are incredibly rare. So I propose we make the category Best Use of a Song, and in so doing can honor those moments in movies where the proper music can really elevate a scene.  

Best Use of a Song

“Hold On” by Wilson Phillips from BRIDESMAIDS
Insurance Parody of “Oh Holy Night” from CEDAR RAPIDS
“Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin from THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
“About Today” by The National from WARRIOR

Christmas Melody from A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS

Spoiler Alert for the video!!! Don't watch if you do not want to find out who wins the climatic fight! I strongly suggest watching the movie first as it was one of the best of the year.

Plenty of people hated "The Tree of Life." to an extent that really surprised me. Sure, it was disconnected and confusing but even if you did not understand a single scene, was it not just goddam gorgeous the entire time. Here is the trailer without the voiceover, just the music. Try to enjoy it.


Best Original Score
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn - John Williams
The Artist - Ludovic Bource

Take Shelter - David Wingo

Tower Heist - Christophe Beck

The Tree of Life - Alexandre Desplat

Again, ditto what I said for the last one. Have some faith and just go with it. 

Best Cinematography

Drive - Newton Thomas Sigel
Meek’s Cutoff - Chris Blauvelt

Midnight in Paris - Johanne Debas and Darius Khondji

Take Shelter - Adam Stone

The Tree of Life -  Emmanuel Lubezski

Best Foreign Film
Ip Man 2

Admittedly, I only saw one foreign film this year, but it was certainly good enough to win an Oscar.

Best Documentary

Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop

Hot Coffee

How to Die in Oregon

Into Eternity

Tabloid

Weirdly enough, two of the best and more important documentaries of the year, "Hot Coffee" and "How to Die in Oregon" are not eligible for the Oscar as they had debuted on HBO. This is one of the Academy’s main problems as HBO has in recent years routinely churned out better movies than most feature films seen in theaters. It makes no sense not to honor some of the years best simply because they were shown  first on TV (see "You Don't Know Jack," and "Temple Grandin"). Anyway the two HBO documentaries were perhaps the most important, but you cannot say they were the best made. That title belongs to "Tabloid," Errol Morris' funniest documentary to date.

One of the weirder snubs this year occurred in the Best Animated Feature category where the fantastic "The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn" was omitted due to it being considered a live action movie. Take a look at the trailer below and see if that makes any sense whatsoever.


Best Animated Feature

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Cars 2
Rango



I remember a couple of years ago, Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," rightly took home both of these Oscars, but the weird thing was that most of the design in that movie was digital (i.e. animated with computers). Building off of that logic, why not give the Oscar to a movie with the best design, even though it is entirely animated.


Best Costume Design
A Dangerous Method
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Midnight in Paris

Rango

Best Set Design

A Dangerous Method

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Rango

War Horse

Someday Director Zach Snyder will make a great movie. "Sucker Punch," is not it, but his futuristic use of almost entirely green screen surely points in that direction.

Best Visual Effects

Hugo

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Sucker Punch

Super 8

I may be incorrect in thinking this, but when I judge editing, I basically just go with a movie that had very complex logistics in structure and plot and yet was presented in a way that was completely understandable. "Source Code," a movie in which a marine travels through time and relives the same 8 minutes over and over again in order to find a terrorist fits that bill quite well this year. 


Best Editing

Drive

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Source Code

Take Shelter

How good was "Midnight in Paris?" Well, if someone who had never seen a Woody Allen movie asked me which one they should watch first (there are over forty of them), I would say it would not hurt to start with "Midnight in Paris." Here is a good moment with Ernest Hemingway. Not only is it hilarious and moving, but it really does sound like Ernest Hemingway. Now that's good writing.

Best Original Screenplay

Bridesmaids - Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo

Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen

Source Code - Ben Ripley

Take Shelter - Jeff Nichols

Warrior - Gavin O'Connor, Anthony Tambakis, and Cliff Dorfman

Michael Lewis had a few rather complex arguments he had about baseball when he wrote "Moneyball," in 2003 and they all centered around people making mistakes by placing a higher value on instinct over mathematics. Movies are inherently emotional, so to convey these ideas persuasively is not the easiest thing to do. However Zaillan, Sorkin, and everybody else (there were plenty) who wrote and rewrote this screenplay did a fine job of it. And they still convey the emotional side pretty good as well.

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

A Dangerous Method

Everything Must Go

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Moneyball - Stevean Zaillan and Aaron Sorkin

A suppporting actor does not need to be well rounded. He is merely there to support the story. And so the one dimensional vicious arrogance of Darren Shavali british boxer is a great performance in that it provides such a strong antagonist to the humble Ip Man. The same goes for John C. Reilly's varied performances this year in movies like "We Need to Talk about Kevin," "Terri," and most memorably in "Cedar Rapids." These characters propel a story forward and fill in the gaps while the main characters are thinking and adapting. Then of course there is Andy Serkis, who performed motion capture for Cesar the chimpanzee in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes." The Academy probably does not know how to properly judge such a performance (me too). However, I am confident in nominating him because I am certain no other actor in the world could have done a better job.

Best Supporting Actor
Andy Serkis – Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Darren Shavali – Ip Man 2

John C. Reilly – Cedar Rapids

Neil Patrick Harris – A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas

Viggo Mortenson – A Dangerous Method

I cannot even say that Keira Knightley had the best performance in "A Dangerous Method," but she can still rightfully win this category on any given year because it is usually so weak. This is due to most movies being about men (and thus there is stronger competition in the Actor categories) and also due to the fact that I, a man, generally see more movies about men. For example I did not see "The Help," "My Week with Marilyn," "Albert Nobbs," "Young Adult," nor "The Iron Lady" this year. I may update the actress categories when I see "My Week with Marilyn" and "Young Adult." I do not plan on going out of my way to see the others.

Best Supporting Actress

Maya Rudolph – Bridesmaids

Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Keira Knightley – A Dangerous Method

Cate Blanchett – Hanna
Jennifer Aniston – Horrible Bosses

I do not, however, need to watch those movies in order to be certain that Kristen Wiig had the best performance of the year in "Bridesmaids." It is a perfect performance both comedic effectiveness and emotional honesty, with a dash of some great physicality thrown in just for fun. Here is one of my favorite moments out of many. Let's see Meryl Streep do that.

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain – Take Shelter

Kristen Wiig – Bridesmaids

Michelle Williams – Meek’s Cutoff
Saoirise Ronan – Hanna

Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk about Kevin

It is obviously really really hard for the Academy to appreciate physical acting. That's why Jean Dujardin's nomination this year in "The Artist" really kind of irks me. It is all mugging and tap dancing. Now that is totally fine, but if the Academy thought that was applause worthy in any other year, than Jim Carrey would have several Oscars by now. In any case you cannot even say that Dujardin did the best physical acting this year. What about Tom Cruise doing most of his own stunts in "Mission Impossible" or the UFC fighters doing most of their own fighting in "Warrior." I argue that this sort of acting takes more skill than dramatically crying on cue. Anyway since I cannot give the final Oscar to only Tom Hardy or Joel Edgerton (perhaps they could split it), I will instead hand it to Michael Shannon for his very overlooked work in "Take Shelter."

Best Actor
Brad Pitt - Moneyball

Joel Edgerton - Warrior

Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

Tom Cruise – Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Tom Hardy – Warrior

The job of a director is to oversee the production of a movie in a way that complements the storytelling, making sure what should be seen is actually seen and what should not be seen is not actually seen. This is hardest to accomplish in an action movie, where the logistics can be so complicated that careful and comprehensive planning are required simply to present a sequence that follows the laws of physics. When a director does not do the job well, chaos can result in the end product (see Michael Bay). But when a director pulls off the kind of action sequences that can be seen throughout "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," it is clear we are seeing the work of a superior director. An absurd plot put aside, "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" was the most and best directed movie of the year.

Best Director
Brad Bird - Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Duncan Jones - Source Code
Jeff Nichols - Take Shelter
Nicholas Winding Refn - Drive
Terrance Malick - The Tree of Life



When it comes to a movie for Best Picture, I like to pick one that does everything well even if most parts of it are not done as well as other movies. "Take Shelter," had a great score and cinematography but not as good as "The Tree of Life." It was written and directed with perfect precision but not with the same genius as the writing in "Midnight in Paris," or the sheer skill of direction in "Mission: Impossible." It contained great performances, maybe not as memorable as those in "Bridesmaids" or "Warrior," but still very good. In short it was second place in quite a few categories, but overall it had enough to be the best movie of the year. And to boot it was a movie of our times. I think it summed up the many dreads of this 2011 quite well.

Best Picture
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Bridesmaids

A Dangerous Method
Drive
Horrible Bosses
Midnight in Paris

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Source Code
Take Shelter

Warrior

I will see you at the movies in 2012.

We Need to Talk About Kevin (3/5 Stars)

What fresh hell is this?

It is hard to talk about “We Need to Talk about Kevin,” because it is not really a movie about something. It has a fragmented structure that jumps freely around a pivotal event at a local high school in which a teenager named Kevin takes his favorite bow and arrow and lets loose quite a few notches into his fellow classmates. We see Kevin as a little child showing many warning signs of his coming infamy. And we see him in jail afterwards but only when visited by family. And we never really see the massacre as it is happening because the movie is not about Kevin. It is about his mother.

Kevin is seen entirely through his mother’s eyes, and in those eyes, he is and has been an evil bastard ever since the day he was born. He wouldn’t stop crying as a baby, he was defiantly opposed to potty training as a toddler, and was prone to sadistic pranks on his mother and little sister up until he finally murdered a bunch of people. This movie is absorbing and unsettling in its moments, but as a whole lacks an arc. There is plenty here that a student of film can learn about composing memorable shots or creating unspoken tension in a scene, but I can’t recommend the movie as a story. Enjoy it in the moment is all I can say.

Tilda Swinton plays Kevin’s mother, Eva, in a state of almost continual mental exhaustion. Several different actors at various states play Kevin, Ezra Miller most memorably as the teenager. It is anybody’s guess whom is to blame for Kevin’s sociopathic tendencies, but it is clear that Eva is more than ambivalent about being a mother, not that even she deserved a kid like Kevin. The kid seemed to hate her even before he should have known of her dislike.

As I said, this movie exists entirely in the moment, and there are some great ones here. There is a nice scene when baby Kevin won’t stop his infernal wailing and Eva actually pauses near a jackhammer on the street just so she can get some respite from the sound. Then there is this almost uncanny ability of the director, Lynne Ramsey, to make food look and sound really disgusting. Behold how Kevin makes a jelly sandwich or the consistency of the oatmeal poured into the sink. And I suggest waiting a day before eating scrambled eggs after seeing this movie. Finally Ramsey has composed some really nice shots that would look great as posters. Take the look of Tilda Swinton after she has given birth, or hiding in the supermarket, or staring at her vandalized home smeared in red paint. It is a memorable performance made pretty special by the way Swinton is framed and edited. Should Tilda have gotten an Oscar Nomination? Yes, I think she probably should have.

But as I said, the movie though unpredictable in chronological structure is predictable in the sense that the characters do not change. Kevin is always a little sociopath and the movie is just one scene after another in which he is inconsiderate and frighteningly hateful toward his mother. I do not know, perhaps some people are just like that without explanation. A pretty good question may be why Kevin did not kill his mother as well on that fateful day. Well, perhaps living the life she leads afterward, shunned by society and receiving little else but curses and dirty looks, is a fate even worse than death. Tilda sure seems to play it that way and Kevin seems smart enough to know it.