The Reader
Stephen Daldry, 2008 (9*)
This is Kate Winslett's finest performance in a stellar career, and was rewarded with her first Oscar® for best actress. She plays a woman, Hannah, whose spontaneous act of kindness to a sick teenager, Micheal, leads to his first love affair. Her favorite pastime when they are alone is to have Michael read classic literary works to her. Michael's life is changed by this women old enough to be his mother, yet she remains an enigma to him.
Later, at law school, he again crosses paths with Hannah, a defendant in an important legal case relating to the Holocaust, and certain facts are now obvious to him that only he knows. The film eventually includes Michael as an adult lawyer, played by Ralph Feinnes in a small but effective part. Kate Winslett shines throughout, making us understand this complex character, even if we cannot justify certain actions taken during wartime. The original novel by Bernhard Schlink was a favorite of mine, and director Stephen Daldry has done the novel justice, creating an intelligent and restrained of a deeply drawn female character, and her effect on the development of a young lawyer.
Unfortunately both producers Anthony Minghella and later Sydney Pollack passed away during the making of this film and never saw its completed form.
This is Kate Winslett's finest performance in a stellar career, and was rewarded with her first Oscar® for best actress. She plays a woman, Hannah, whose spontaneous act of kindness to a sick teenager, Micheal, leads to his first love affair. Her favorite pastime when they are alone is to have Michael read classic literary works to her. Michael's life is changed by this women old enough to be his mother, yet she remains an enigma to him.
Later, at law school, he again crosses paths with Hannah, a defendant in an important legal case relating to the Holocaust, and certain facts are now obvious to him that only he knows. The film eventually includes Michael as an adult lawyer, played by Ralph Feinnes in a small but effective part. Kate Winslett shines throughout, making us understand this complex character, even if we cannot justify certain actions taken during wartime. The original novel by Bernhard Schlink was a favorite of mine, and director Stephen Daldry has done the novel justice, creating an intelligent and restrained of a deeply drawn female character, and her effect on the development of a young lawyer.
Unfortunately both producers Anthony Minghella and later Sydney Pollack passed away during the making of this film and never saw its completed form.
[Note: definitely an R for nude sex scenes]
For Kate Winslett's other best performances, check out: Heavenly Creatures, her first (directed by Peter Jackson), Finding Neverland (her favorite film of hers), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky, 2008 (8*)
Golden Lion, Venice
This gritty film from Darren Aronofsky deservedly won Mickey Rourke many awards for actor in 2008, including the Golden Globe, but unfortunately not the Oscar. Its hard to imagine that he'll ever be better than this, and more than carries this powerful Aronofsky film about an over-the-hill wrestler now running into health problems from a career of drug abuse. Marisa Tomei also won many awards as supporting actress, but also not her second Oscar, as an aging exotic dancer in a bar, now being passed by for the younger girls. She and Randy (the Ram) strike up a believable friendship as both see some of themselves in the other.
This is another intimately personal film by Darren Aronofsky, which are usually about a character trying to make it through a tough life situation, and who are usually obsessed with one thing: drugs in Requiem for a Dream, math in Pi, brain research in The Fountain. In this case, Randy cannot see a life past the ring, it's all he's known for 20 years, and has no one in his life really but his fans. Not a pleasant story, but a realistic story on all counts, and you'll like it even if you aren't a wrestling fan, it's really about personal communication and character development. Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Mickey Rourke won 14 awards for actor for this, Marisa Tomei won 7.
Awards Page at IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1125849/awards
Golden Lion, Venice
This gritty film from Darren Aronofsky deservedly won Mickey Rourke many awards for actor in 2008, including the Golden Globe, but unfortunately not the Oscar. Its hard to imagine that he'll ever be better than this, and more than carries this powerful Aronofsky film about an over-the-hill wrestler now running into health problems from a career of drug abuse. Marisa Tomei also won many awards as supporting actress, but also not her second Oscar, as an aging exotic dancer in a bar, now being passed by for the younger girls. She and Randy (the Ram) strike up a believable friendship as both see some of themselves in the other.
This is another intimately personal film by Darren Aronofsky, which are usually about a character trying to make it through a tough life situation, and who are usually obsessed with one thing: drugs in Requiem for a Dream, math in Pi, brain research in The Fountain. In this case, Randy cannot see a life past the ring, it's all he's known for 20 years, and has no one in his life really but his fans. Not a pleasant story, but a realistic story on all counts, and you'll like it even if you aren't a wrestling fan, it's really about personal communication and character development. Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Mickey Rourke won 14 awards for actor for this, Marisa Tomei won 7.
Awards Page at IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1125849/awards
Valkyrie
Bryan Singer, 2008 (9*)Even if you know this story from high school history or reading William Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (excellent if you like WW2 history), director Bryan Singer and screenplay authors Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander have made an excellent suspense film with a tightly woven story of an attempt to assassinate Hitler just after the D-Day invasion, July of 1944. You find yourself actually wondering what the outcome will be, as if perhaps plunged into an alternate history story.
The film begins with chief plotter Col. Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) in North Africa, receiving battle injuries that would relegate him to a bureaucratic role for the remainder of the war. Along with many other Germans who could see Hitler destroying both Germany and all of Europe, they felt they owed it to humanity to forge a truce with the Allies immediately. These included men within the German army and the government, who began to covertly plot together, and it was no small conspiracy. Von Stauffenberg is brought into the group by superiors. The cast is excellent overall, especially Bill Nighy as General Friedrich Olbricht; other recognizable talents include Kenneth Branagh and Tom Wilkinson. Cruise is good enough, though a German actor may have been a better choice, he's just a little too American, better suited for Born on the Fourth of July, still his best role to date, receiving a best actor nomination.
Overall, an excellent suspense film, well-made, very authentic looking with just enough mix of plot development and action, while remaining pretty accurate to history. Singer is better at this type of film, like his The Usual Suspects, than the action films he's recently tackled; he's in his element again here.
In Bruges
Martin McDonagh, 2008 (9*)
This is a thoroughly enjoyable and creative black crime 'dramedy' (more drama than humor), about two affable hit men hiding out in Bruges, Belgium, the best preserved medieval city in Europe. Rookie director Martin McDonagh got the idea for this film while visiting the city once, and the two characters represent his own split feelings about the town: beautiful and historic on one hand, then boring when that becomes the everyday routine. In two terrific performances, Brendan Gleeson is the older, wiser hit man who enjoys touring the historic town, while Colin Farrell, new to the profession, is bored, anxious, and needs more excitement, more booze, more anything.
The pair quickly discover a film being shot in the streets and befriend both a dwarf actor, who's a funny character, and a crew member, the sensual Clemence Poesy, who offers Farrell just the escape he needs. The film begins slowly but escalates into violence, especially after boss Ralph Fiennes shows up, it's a dark comedy until then. In Bruges is really a film noir with some humor, and lots of swearing. The supporting cast from the hotel owner (Thekla Reuten) to a rude Canadian (Zeljko Ivanek, Emmy-winner for Damages) are all excellent.
The film has some artistic and even surreal moments, magically filmed. When you consider all the elements involved: a town as co-star, a dwarf in a surrealist film, drug-dealing con-artists, a hit on a priest, a kid-loving mobster - this turns out to be quite a unique script from McDonagh. Farrell won the Golden Globe for actor in a comedy (I think his most versatile performance to date, tho' Home at the End of the World was probably more difficult), and Gleeson (brilliant!) was nominated, as their onscreen chemistry was hilarious. Gleeson's performance is actually the more polished and professional, he's done this often. McDonagh's Oscar-nominated screenplay won several international awards, including the BAFTA®, for which the movie was nominated for Best British film.
Be sure to watch all the bonus shorts on the dvd, especially one with all the F-word outtakes from the whole movie, there's certainly over a hundred!
This is a thoroughly enjoyable and creative black crime 'dramedy' (more drama than humor), about two affable hit men hiding out in Bruges, Belgium, the best preserved medieval city in Europe. Rookie director Martin McDonagh got the idea for this film while visiting the city once, and the two characters represent his own split feelings about the town: beautiful and historic on one hand, then boring when that becomes the everyday routine. In two terrific performances, Brendan Gleeson is the older, wiser hit man who enjoys touring the historic town, while Colin Farrell, new to the profession, is bored, anxious, and needs more excitement, more booze, more anything.
The pair quickly discover a film being shot in the streets and befriend both a dwarf actor, who's a funny character, and a crew member, the sensual Clemence Poesy, who offers Farrell just the escape he needs. The film begins slowly but escalates into violence, especially after boss Ralph Fiennes shows up, it's a dark comedy until then. In Bruges is really a film noir with some humor, and lots of swearing. The supporting cast from the hotel owner (Thekla Reuten) to a rude Canadian (Zeljko Ivanek, Emmy-winner for Damages) are all excellent.
The film has some artistic and even surreal moments, magically filmed. When you consider all the elements involved: a town as co-star, a dwarf in a surrealist film, drug-dealing con-artists, a hit on a priest, a kid-loving mobster - this turns out to be quite a unique script from McDonagh. Farrell won the Golden Globe for actor in a comedy (I think his most versatile performance to date, tho' Home at the End of the World was probably more difficult), and Gleeson (brilliant!) was nominated, as their onscreen chemistry was hilarious. Gleeson's performance is actually the more polished and professional, he's done this often. McDonagh's Oscar-nominated screenplay won several international awards, including the BAFTA®, for which the movie was nominated for Best British film.
Be sure to watch all the bonus shorts on the dvd, especially one with all the F-word outtakes from the whole movie, there's certainly over a hundred!
Man on Wire
James Marsh, 2008 (7*)
Best Documentary (AA)
[Note: it's hard to be a spoiler here, it's on the dvd cover and the film description.. plus it's well documented history by this point]
This was an amazing event in 1974, and James Marsh has done an admirable job in assembling the story from the present day to re-create a documentary looking backwards. He's used the technique of interspersing interviews with the participants with documentary footage, similar to the style Warren Beatty perfected in Reds, and taken to its extreme by Ken Burns, best used in his Civil War, Jazz, and Baseball series for PBS. All that said, this may have had more impact if released either in 1975, or in 2002.
Philippe Petit is a French tightrope walker who liked to dazzle crowds and thumb his nose at authority by doing things like walking between the two towers of Notre Dame. He has to prepare these events at night when no one can see, then perform in the daylight to the delight of people below, then go to his expected arrest and public scolding. When he saw the plans of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, he became obsessed with walking between them when they were near completion.
Marsh carefully re-constructs the story leading up to the final event and tries to add as much drama as possible, but such an event is hardly earth-shattering in light of the events of 9/11, which oddly are never mentioned here. This is more in the realm of Cirque de Soleil, which is dazzling and athletic entertainment, this performance carrying a bit more risk of death than usual but as Philippe begins the film being interviewed from the present day, we already know the outcome from the beginning. However, this is a well-crafted film by Marsh and won the Oscar® for best documentary of 2008.
Best Documentary (AA)
[Note: it's hard to be a spoiler here, it's on the dvd cover and the film description.. plus it's well documented history by this point]
This was an amazing event in 1974, and James Marsh has done an admirable job in assembling the story from the present day to re-create a documentary looking backwards. He's used the technique of interspersing interviews with the participants with documentary footage, similar to the style Warren Beatty perfected in Reds, and taken to its extreme by Ken Burns, best used in his Civil War, Jazz, and Baseball series for PBS. All that said, this may have had more impact if released either in 1975, or in 2002.
Philippe Petit is a French tightrope walker who liked to dazzle crowds and thumb his nose at authority by doing things like walking between the two towers of Notre Dame. He has to prepare these events at night when no one can see, then perform in the daylight to the delight of people below, then go to his expected arrest and public scolding. When he saw the plans of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, he became obsessed with walking between them when they were near completion.
Marsh carefully re-constructs the story leading up to the final event and tries to add as much drama as possible, but such an event is hardly earth-shattering in light of the events of 9/11, which oddly are never mentioned here. This is more in the realm of Cirque de Soleil, which is dazzling and athletic entertainment, this performance carrying a bit more risk of death than usual but as Philippe begins the film being interviewed from the present day, we already know the outcome from the beginning. However, this is a well-crafted film by Marsh and won the Oscar® for best documentary of 2008.
Milk
Gus Van Sant, 2008 (9*)Milk is a terrific and inspiring film from Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy) about San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, brilliantly played here by Sean Penn, who really captures his mannerisms. I was in the Bay Area when all this happened, and I was appalled by U.S. voters, who recalled the attitudes of the Nazis who also attacked homosexuals - and gypsies, and jazz musicians - whatever 'the religion' told them was evil. The U.S. Constitution protects the state from religious domination - religions have freedom but cannot interfere in government, and vice versa; just the way you want it. The Webster definition of bigotry begins "opposing someone primarily on the basis of religion". Read this, Anita Bryant (featured in Milk in documentary footage): If your religion preaches bigotry and hatred, maybe its time to change religions. Democracy does not give a majority the right to suppress the rights of minorities. Milk realized all this and fought for gay rights as an American Constitutionalist, so he was either going to win or American was going to lose.
First an aimless corporate worker in New York when gay men were forced into the closet, he moves to San Francisco, looking for a more open attitude. There he becomes a storeowner and facing daily bigotry even there, decides to try to change at least the city government, so that at least one city would be safe for homosexuals. We see him start his political trail by gaining the support of other minority groups, and eventually becomes the first openly gay politician to get elected, to a city council seat.
This is based on the Oscar winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, but Van Sant makes it into a mythic fable of freedom and American democratic folklore, as it should be. Much of this is due to the cast: Sean Penn won an Oscar® for best actor. Oscar®-nominee Josh Brolin as Dan White, was terrifying as the voice of middle-class morality, who resort to guns and violence when they fail to get their way. Milk has the ring of a Capra film, with normal citizens taking steps to make government listen to their rights. Best of all: it’s a true story. Everyone who believes in freedom or just great films should see this one!
Frost/Nixon
Ron Howard, 2008 (7*)One of the best active directors, the reliable Ron Howard tackles the nearly anti-climactic closing chapter to this pivotal point in American history, as Richard Nixon was the first U.S. president to resign, forced to by impending impeachment by Congress for his part in the authorization and cover-up of crimes that flowed like a river after the Watergate break-in, not just that incident but a whole litany of other civil rights abuses as well. After his pardon by President-apointee Gerald Ford, the entire nation felt robbed of a criminal trial or an admission of guilt and an apology from Nixon.
Australian entertainer and talk-show host David Frost seized an opportunity to outbid other networks with Nixon’s agent for the rigtht to inverview him "live, on tape". Nixon was a Hollywood-style individual with a penchant for the big-time for the big fee, so a lot of the movie is about the financial wranglings made in order to set up the interviews, then we see a re-enactment of the actual interviews, conducted in a mundane, middle-class Republican businessman’s house.
Perhaps it’s the locale, or the staleness of this as a news event as many of us saw this when it happened in reality, but this film lacks the punch and intensity of other Howard docudramas like Apollo 13, Cinderella Man, and A Beautiful Mind. Frank Langella is brilliant as Nixon, deserved the Oscar for capturing his demeanor and style without actually imitating him. Michael Sheen (The Queen) is barely adequate as Frost, giving the character no personality whatsoever, which may have been accurate but hardly dramatic. Down a star for the overall lack of intensity as Nixon is treated more like a kindly, aging grandad, though a vital part of history that should be witnessed as a serving President circumvented the U.S. Constitution at every opportunity. Screenplay author Peter Jordan (an Oscar®-winner for The Queen), but for Howard, a competent but not outstanding volume in his overall filmography.
The Visitor
Tom McCarthy, 2008 (9*)
Once in a blue moon, you get an excellent little indie film, like The Visitor, with powerful performances by the entire cast. Richard Jenkins, an overlooked character actor (he played the dead father’s ghost on cable tv's Six Feet Under), received a well-deserved Oscar® nomination for best actor for his best career role, as a professor of emerging economies named Walter.
Director Tom McCarthy (Central Station) has written an intelligent and emotionally gripping screenplay about the plight of immigrants here, especially Muslims, affected severely by the backlash created by the 9/11 disaster. The story also shows how people can still mange to communicate and understand each other in spite of different backgrounds, in this case using music as the common link.
Jenkins as Walter, goes to New York City to give an academic paper, which he's not the least interesting in doing, and when he arrives at his seldom-used apartment, a young couple is living there, scammed by someone for the rent: a man, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman in his first role), a djembe (hand-made west African goatskin drum) drummer from Syria, and his girlfriend, a street vending jewelry-maker from Senegal. Walter befriends the couple after they willingly leave and allows them to stay until they can find a place. Walter, whose wife was a classical pianist but he lacks the talent, begins drumming with Tarek’s tutelage, and later tries to help Tarek with his immigration status.
The actress Hiam Abbass (Munich) is especially touching as Tarek’s mother, who shows up from Michigan to help her son, and grudgingly becomes friends with Walter. This is well-done all around, not sentimental or mundane in the least, and uses drumming as a metaphor for the universality of the heartbeat and a method of non-verbal communication between different cultures.
Once in a blue moon, you get an excellent little indie film, like The Visitor, with powerful performances by the entire cast. Richard Jenkins, an overlooked character actor (he played the dead father’s ghost on cable tv's Six Feet Under), received a well-deserved Oscar® nomination for best actor for his best career role, as a professor of emerging economies named Walter.
Director Tom McCarthy (Central Station) has written an intelligent and emotionally gripping screenplay about the plight of immigrants here, especially Muslims, affected severely by the backlash created by the 9/11 disaster. The story also shows how people can still mange to communicate and understand each other in spite of different backgrounds, in this case using music as the common link.
Jenkins as Walter, goes to New York City to give an academic paper, which he's not the least interesting in doing, and when he arrives at his seldom-used apartment, a young couple is living there, scammed by someone for the rent: a man, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman in his first role), a djembe (hand-made west African goatskin drum) drummer from Syria, and his girlfriend, a street vending jewelry-maker from Senegal. Walter befriends the couple after they willingly leave and allows them to stay until they can find a place. Walter, whose wife was a classical pianist but he lacks the talent, begins drumming with Tarek’s tutelage, and later tries to help Tarek with his immigration status.
The actress Hiam Abbass (Munich) is especially touching as Tarek’s mother, who shows up from Michigan to help her son, and grudgingly becomes friends with Walter. This is well-done all around, not sentimental or mundane in the least, and uses drumming as a metaphor for the universality of the heartbeat and a method of non-verbal communication between different cultures.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
David Fincher, 2008 (7*)I'm always a fan of David Fincher's films, each one is different, each has an element of fantasy, yet is made to seem real. Fight Club had Ed Norton battling his insanity, with friends; The Game found Michael Douglas running from unseen enemies as a birthday present from brother Sean Penn. Only Zodiac attempted to be factual, and that was based on the theory of a journalist. Here Fincher films an F. Scott Fitzgerald fantasy story from 1921, thanks to an excellent screenplay by Eric Roth, which he wrote before his Oscar® Forrest Gump.
Benjamin Button is born on the day World War I ended, and his mother died in childbirth. His dad, taking a look at the infant, who was born old, leaves him on the steps of a nearby house for the elderly, and mama for Benjamin becomes an African-American who works in the house, played by Oscar®-nominee Taraji P. Henson. While growing but remaining old he meets a little girl that becomes his lifetime friend, later played by Cate Blanchett. Even as a short, old-looking child, the role is played by Brad Pitt in an amazing Oscar®-winning makeup job.
We eventually discover along with Benjamin that he's not growing older but younger and he adapts to feeling better daily by taking his first job on a tugboat. Much of the film is about the awkwardness of this peculiar fact; much of his pain comes from watching his friends age, obviously toward death.
Fincher makes both the river journeys of the tugboat, New Orleans, and later some shots of Lake Ponchetrain look like the old hand-tinted postcards, so the early parts of the film are steeped in Americana. There's an elderly resident at the home who's been stuck by lightning seven times; Fincher shows these strikes in the style of 20's silent films. The later parts use a plot device of having Julia Ormand read Benjamin's diary to an invalid in a hospital who knew him, so we get Benjamin's story in retrospect and from his own words. The three time eras perhaps keep the film from seeming to be from any one era, and the modern era in New Orleans seemed oddly out of place, giving the film a reference to a present world far removed from Benjamin's.
This is a gentle, if lengthy, fable, running about 2 hrs, 48 minutes. The length kills the pace a little, but fans of film fables such as Field of Dreams and Big Fish should enjoy this, as well as fans of David Fincher. The cast is excellent and also includes Tilda Swinton. The film received 13 Oscar® nominations, the most for 2008, but lost to Slumdog Millionaire in nearly every major category. Three Oscars® for art direction, visual effects, and makeup.
Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle, 2008 (10*)Best Picture (AA,BAA,GG)
Slumdog was worth the wait, as it never came "to a theater near me", so I waited for the dvd. Fans of either British director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary) or Bollywood movies won’t be disappointed. You know you're in a Boyle film from the very beginning, when this story of two brothers growing up as orphans in the streets of Mumbai starts with Jamal (now almost an adult), played by Dev Petel, being brutally interrogated by police about fraud on a game show. The frank and brutal style of Trainspotting is evident throughout this film in tilted camera angles, blurred street montages, quick crowd pans, fast editing, even more trains. Its either Boyle or Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai (Chungking Express), both have similar action styles. Both cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle and editor Chris Dickens won well-deserved Oscars, as the pace and visual style of the entire film are knockouts – it only slows down a little toward the end, and after the first 90 minutes you’re nearly breathless.
The film begins in the present, then tells the story of Jamal and his brother Salim in flashbacks, wonderfully played by four young actors at two age levels when growing up. The story contantly shifts back to the police interrogation, and Jamal’s story of how he knows all the trivia allowing him to do well on the show. (Amil Kapoor is very good as the slick game show host). We get glimpses of Latika, a girl the brothers help when all are orphans, and who grows up into the gorgeous Freida Pinto, one of the most stunning actresses ever.
Without giving too much away, this is brutal story of crime and survival that is also a heartwarming and uplifting story. It shows the darker side of India: religious violence, torture, child abduction, street crime, child slavery. Basically, all the things you get from extreme poverty. Yet, in Jamal, we have a character based on hope and positive self-image, rising above his roots, who turns away from organized crime, continues to fight for survival, and search for his true love.
This had to be an excellent novel, based on "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup. The screenplay adaptation by Simon Beaufoy was an excellent and won an Oscar®. However, I think the real star of the film is A.R. Rahman's terrific music (one of the best scores in years), winning him two Oscars®, as he also won for the song "Jai Ho", shown over a mock Bollywood musical number during the film’s closing credits, with the entire cast dancing between trains. Hats off to either Boyle or Tandan for that terrific sendup, from a movie that was hardly musical, or even light-hearted.
I rarely give out a 10, but this will make the second one for 2008 films, Wall-E being the other. I’m very surprised that Indian co-director Loveleen Tandan didn’t also receive an Oscar®, as Danny Boyle did. Slumdog swept the Oscars® if you weren’t noticing, winning for picture, director, adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing, sound, music, and song. Eight Oscars®
Note: The film is in English; what little is in Hindi is translated with on-screen balloon subtitles coming from the character speaking, a novel way to do those. On top of the Oscars®, Slumdog won just about every critic's award this year that Wall-E didn't win.
A link to the awards page (75 won in all) at IMDB: Slumdog Awards
Vicky Christina Barcelona
Woody Allen, 2008 (7*)
Best Comedy Picture (GG)
Lightweight romance, heavier on that than comedy, from the Woodman about two friends, Scarlett Johansson, the more Bohemian (‘slutty’) one, with engaged friend, Rebecca Hall, the uptight one, who travel to Barcelona for a break because ‘soon-married’ Hall wrote her thesis on artist-architect Antonio Gaudi, whose work defines Barcelona. While there they meet Bohemian artist Javier Bardem, who announces he’d like a threesome with both on the upcoming weekend. Hall balks at his forthright demeanor, but not Scarlett, and they soon get together - but not until Hall spends a day with Bardem and changes her mind about him.
The fun times are thrown askew with the arrival of psychotic ex-wife Penelope Cruz (Oscar® winner for supporting actress!), hilarious in two languages as a homicidal rage-aholic, who once stabbed Bardem while they were married. ..so now there are three women in Barcelona all interested in Bardem at the same time! Unlike the New York trilogy of Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah & Her Sisters, there’s not a lot here to touch the heart and really make you care for these quirky characters, but it’s pleasant enough entertainment for a light romantic comedy. For once we didn’t get Woody’s ragtime music, we got a terrific Spanish/Brazilian music score that was both light and upbeat enough to fit the subject and its time.
Winner of 2 Indy Spirit Awards for Best Screenplay (Allen) and Cruz for Supporting Actress (loved her in this! remember: she acted in two languages) BAFTA award for Cruz also (British AA). Golden Globe winner for Best Comedy/Musical Picture.
Best Comedy Picture (GG)
Lightweight romance, heavier on that than comedy, from the Woodman about two friends, Scarlett Johansson, the more Bohemian (‘slutty’) one, with engaged friend, Rebecca Hall, the uptight one, who travel to Barcelona for a break because ‘soon-married’ Hall wrote her thesis on artist-architect Antonio Gaudi, whose work defines Barcelona. While there they meet Bohemian artist Javier Bardem, who announces he’d like a threesome with both on the upcoming weekend. Hall balks at his forthright demeanor, but not Scarlett, and they soon get together - but not until Hall spends a day with Bardem and changes her mind about him.
The fun times are thrown askew with the arrival of psychotic ex-wife Penelope Cruz (Oscar® winner for supporting actress!), hilarious in two languages as a homicidal rage-aholic, who once stabbed Bardem while they were married. ..so now there are three women in Barcelona all interested in Bardem at the same time! Unlike the New York trilogy of Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah & Her Sisters, there’s not a lot here to touch the heart and really make you care for these quirky characters, but it’s pleasant enough entertainment for a light romantic comedy. For once we didn’t get Woody’s ragtime music, we got a terrific Spanish/Brazilian music score that was both light and upbeat enough to fit the subject and its time.
Winner of 2 Indy Spirit Awards for Best Screenplay (Allen) and Cruz for Supporting Actress (loved her in this! remember: she acted in two languages) BAFTA award for Cruz also (British AA). Golden Globe winner for Best Comedy/Musical Picture.
Wall-E
Andrew Stanton, 2008 (10*)This terrific science fiction comedy is Pixar's best so far. It's rare that an animated film combines both a great story with terrific and imaginative artwork. You would think that after the Toy Story films, Cars, and Monsters Inc that the creativity there would slow down, but Wall-E tops them all. It's basically about a garbage compacting mobile robot living on an unpopulated earth. However, drones are being sent to try to find a return of life on earth, and naturally Wall-E comes into contact with life again (or there'd be no story), as we now know it, and with hilarious results. This film has a lot humor, as well as a lot of heart, making us all somehow care for what happens to a mechanical garbage man! Another rarity: a children's film that adults should enjoy just as much. Winner of over 35 awards already this year, for some odd reason it's not nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, and will have to settle for Animated Feature as a consolation prize.
Link to Wall-E's awards page at IMDB: Wall-E Awards
The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan, 2008 (8*)
The sequel to Batman Begins is another terrific film from director Nolan. Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne, as does Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman in their same roles. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the romantic interest in this movie, and Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking, Conversations with Other Women) is terrific as a district attorney who sees Batman as an ally and helps take on major organized crime from the legal and respectable perspective. Head villain this time is The Joker, played very darkly and realistically by the late Heath Ledger in his last role. Don't expect the humor we saw from Jack Nicholson as the original film Joker, this one's a truly homicidal psychotic with possibly the worst hair in the history of cinema, green(ish), greasy, and stringy. Perhaps a little long, down a star for slowing the pace, but still with some terrific action sequences and special effects.
The sequel to Batman Begins is another terrific film from director Nolan. Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne, as does Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman in their same roles. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the romantic interest in this movie, and Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking, Conversations with Other Women) is terrific as a district attorney who sees Batman as an ally and helps take on major organized crime from the legal and respectable perspective. Head villain this time is The Joker, played very darkly and realistically by the late Heath Ledger in his last role. Don't expect the humor we saw from Jack Nicholson as the original film Joker, this one's a truly homicidal psychotic with possibly the worst hair in the history of cinema, green(ish), greasy, and stringy. Perhaps a little long, down a star for slowing the pace, but still with some terrific action sequences and special effects.
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