Oscar Winners 2009

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The 81st Academy Awards Ceremony took place on Sunday.

Although not all reviews appear on here, this was the first time ever that I had seen every major film (except Doubt) and felt like I could legitimately whinge about the results if I was unhappy with them, like usual. But amazingly, the Oscars got it right this year! I was chuffed with all of the winners – except Best Actor – and loved seeing the Brits kicking ass across the board.

One slight grumble, however, with the BBC. I was well looking forward to watching the ceremony live but the BBC weren’t showing it. Sky Movies Premiere was the only channel showing it at 4am and I haven’t subscribed to that. Annoying. Anyway…

Here are the winners and my thoughts:

Best Picture

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Happy days! Slumdog repeated its success at the Globes and BAFTAs by taking away the top prize. I still can’t believe a British feel-good film triumphed at the Oscars. Let’s hope this is the start of something new.

Best Director

Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

Stephen Daldry - The Reader

David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon

Gus Van Sant – Milk

Danny Boyle is a legend. He has mastered all genres with genius camerawork, visual gags and grade-A soundtracks. And he is British. Well deserved.

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor

Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn - Milk

Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Tragedy strikes. This was the only category that got it wrong. Mickey Rourke should have won this hands-down, trailed by Langella. Unfortunately, it’s hardly surprising that America gave it to their golden boy Penn – especially as he was playing a liberal American politician.

Best actress

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jolie - Changeling

Melissa Leo - Frozen River

Meryl Streep - Doubt

Kate Winslet - The Reader

Winslett wins it. Finally! Great speech too. I loved the whistle from her Dad.

Best supporting actor

Josh Brolin - Milk

Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder

Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

This was only ever going to be Heath. The sad fact is, had he not died, he would never have received this award, even though he deserved it a thousand times over. The Academy would never have recognised a comic book film otherwise. The performance would have been dismissed, just as Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow had been dismissed in 2003.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Taraji P Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

Cruz – a very watchable and sexy performance. She breathes electrifying bohemian energy into Woody Allen’s film by storming in half-way through, splashing paint, ranting in Spanish, firing guns and snogging Scarlett Johannsen.

Best Animated Feature Film

Bolt

Kung Fu Panda

Wall-E

Wall-E. Pixar’s new greatest film.

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

I’ve not read any of the original books but nicely done Slumdog.

Best Original Screenplay
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Wall-E
In Bruges
Frozen River

Milk. I wish it had been Wall-E.

Best Song
Slumdog Millionaire – O Saya
Slumdog Millionaire – Jai Ho
Wall-E – Down To Earth

Slumdog. Standard.

Best Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

Slumdog again. Quality soundtrack. You wouldn’t expect anything else from Danny Boyle.

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In short, a very good year.

And it was a great time to force myself to see every Oscar-nominated film. This has been the most intense cinema-going two months I’ve ever had and it has really reminded me all over again of why I’m such a film-obsessive.

Same time next year then!

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REVIEW: Milk

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It’s been a whole three weeks since I last blogged a film review so I’ve got some catching up to do. In some ways, the wait has been beneficial in terms of writing these reviews, especially when it comes to Milk.

Had I written a review of Milk shortly after leaving the cinema, I would have been nothing but positive. But three weeks later, now that I have seen some much better films, I now realise that I have hardly thought about Milk. So I guess to quote Roy Walker: “It’s good but it’s not the one.”

Milk tells the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office. It is Oscar season after all so the true stories were bound to come flooding out (The Changeling, Che, Frost/Nixon) and therefore, as with all true stories, we know how this one ends: in this case, assassination. So when Harvey says in the first five minutes, “I doubt I’ll live to see 50,” it has a real poignancy that pretty much drives the rest of the film.

It is a fairly fast-paced film, considering it is about politics, and at no point did I get bored. But then again, any rags-to-riches tale is enthralling. Who doesn’t like seeing the good guys go from struggling underdogs to triumphant winners? So if you strip off all of the political context then you are essentially left with Sister Act 2, Cool Runnings or even Ten Years Younger. We love seeing people triumph over time and Milk absolutely tells that tale.

Although, that is obviously over-simplifying the film.

Aside from the zero-to-hero narrative, we see a lot of insight into Milk’s character as inspirational leader, idealist and all-round charming man. Plus, the gay rights movement (and the shockingly small-minded people that they had to face) is shown to us in point-blank, grainy newsreel. Gus Van Sant realises that there is no need to act every scene out when all of this really happened and archive footage will do the job.

The young stars are all great (James Franco, Diego Luna, the very likable Emile Hirsch) but this is clearly Sean Penn’s film. It’s very strange how the majority of films in Oscar season usually focus solely on one character and how that character is nearly always played by an A-lister. Whatever happened to the ensemble? What ever happened to the rising star? (Incidentally, the answers are best illustrated by other films from this year's Oscar season so all is not lost.)

So... Sean Penn. If I’m honest, I have never particularly liked Sean Penn. He is an over-serious actor who chooses over-serious roles, not counting his turn in Friends. He is one of those political actors (who all gratefully got their comeuppance courtesy of Team America) who feel that there views should be heard on all political issues simply because they are good at pretending to be other people. He also used to go out wth Madonna, he beat up journalists and – most criminally – after Chris Rock made a joke about Jude Law appearing in every film (“Who the hell is Jude Law anyway?”) Sean Penn marched onto stage and haughtily replied: “Jude Law is one of our finest actors.”

Why so serious, Sean?

But, ranting aside, there is no denying that the man can act. He deserved his Oscar for Mystic River (and even more so because 21 Grams was released that year) and I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if the Academy favoured him again.

Despite Penn’s heartfelt performance, I really hope Josh Brolin isn’t overlooked. Playing the frustrated politician Dan White who ends up assassinating Milk couldn’t have been pleasant but he actually brings humanity to the guy. We even feel a certain empathy for the man who is struggling to support his family but has all of his thunder stolen by Milk.

Looking back, this review is nothing but positive and Milk is indeed a very good film.

But I hardly gave it a second thought the next day. Recently, some films have been so good that I wanted to see them again and others have left me thinking about them for a long time after. Milk did neither of those things.

Overall, Milk deserves the nominations it has received this year. But it certainly doesn’t deserve to top it’s competition.

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The Oscar Nominations 2009

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The Oscar nominations are in!

The 81st Academy Awards Ceremony is taking place in exactly a month and therefore tradition states that the nominations are revealed today. These were announced at 1.30pm today and are as follows:

Best picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

No surprises there but I had hoped The Dark Knight would have featured.

Best Director
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry - The Reader
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk

Again, no surprises but where is Christopher Nolan for The Dark Knight? And what about previous Academy favourite Sam Mendes for Revolutionary Road?

Best Actor
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

It looks like Leonardo Di Caprio will never get an Oscar. And if only they had nominated Martin Sheen instead of Frank Langella!

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - The Reader

The biggest surprise here is that Kate Winslet was nominated for The Reader as opposed to Revolutionary Road.

Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

Go Heath!

Best Animated Feature Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

It has to be Wall-E. Personally, I would have put it in the Best Picture category – the Online Film Critics Society would have agreed with me. As Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers put it: "If there was ever a time where an animated feature deserved to be nominated for Best Picture it's Wall-E."

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

I’ve not read any of the original books but I would love for Slumdog to get awards wherever possible.

Best Original Screenplay
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Wall-E
In Bruges
Frozen River

Go Wall-E! This was a nice surprise. And I would love for the Academy to recognise Pixar’s genius for more than just animation.

Best Song
Slumdog Millionaire – O Saya
Slumdog Millionaire – Jai Ho
Wall-E – Down To Earth

I love both soundtracks - happy for either to win. But what about Bruce Springteen's title-track for The Wrestler, which won the Globe just two weeks ago?

Best Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

Wall-E again! Pixar are cropping up all over the place. But Slumdog will be hard to beat.

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I could go into all of the categories for Special Effects, Costume Design, Make-Up, etc (although I am adamant that Ben Burtt gets recognition for his monumental Sound Editing/ Mixing in Wall-E) but I will wait until the nearer the time when I give my full wish list.

The reality has just dawned however: I have a hell of a lot of films to see in the next four weeks...
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REVIEW: The Wrestler

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Welcome back Mr Rourke!

It is impossible to talk about The Wrestler without the obvious parallels between the character of Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson and Mickey Rourke’s real-life career. Every review I have read so far has mentioned the inevitable comparison and, to be honest, it is unavoidable.

In short, Mickey Rourke was a popular leading man back in the 80s. He started turning down roles in major movies, then chose to quit acting and return to professional boxing in 1991. Even being offered the role of Butch in Pulp Fiction couldn’t change his mind. At first. But eventually, when boxing didn’t work out, he attempted to break back into Hollywood but by that time Hollywood had shut the door. Rourke was therefore filed under ‘has-been’ and has rarely been seen again.

It’s not quite right to call The Wrestler his comeback (that came courtesy of Robert Rodriguez who cast him in Once Upon A Time in Mexico and gave him the kick-ass role of Marv in Sin City) but it is certainly the first time he has headlined a film in almost twenty years. And judging by this performance, it won’t be the last.

In short, Rourke is epic.

No-one else could play the role of an over-the-hill wrestler this well except an over-the hill ex-boxer/ex-actor like Rourke. He delivers lines like, ‘I’m just an old piece of meat’ with such pathos that you just know he is speaking for himself, as much as the character. And the script allows Rourke to shine. He becomes the character, switching adeptly between the tear-jerking moments (dancing with his estranged daughter), the drama (suffering a heart attack) and a healthy amount of comedy.

The comedy is another reason I like this film. It really shows that not all award-winning performances require woeful, understated deliverance like Kate Winslet in The Reader. This role proves that an actor can have fun with a role and win a Golden Globe – hopefully soon to be an Oscar. The moments of comedy are wide and frequent: playing NES with a kid who talks about Call of Duty 4, picking out clothes for his daughter (‘I think she is a lesbian, does that affect what I buy her?’) and his initial enthusiasm serving people at the deli counter. All brilliant.

And the physicality of the role requires somebody tough like Rourke. He is looking stacked throughout and he needs to be. Although pro-wrestling is largely fake, Rourke is thrown around the ring in a blur of shakey-cam flips and smackdowns. And everyone leaving this film will remember the insane, Jackass-style bout involving barbed wire, glass, drawing pins and – unforgettably - a staple gun. When the words ‘Fourteen minutes earlier…’ flash up on the screen, you know you are in for a treat.

There are other praises to sing (Marisa Tomei, Rachel Evan Wood, Aronofsky’s hand-held direction) but The Wrestler is Rourke’s showcase through and through. And when the film’s abrupt cut-to-black ending arrives, you will be left hoping that he gets the Oscar next month.

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REVIEW: The Reader

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This is quite a boring review to write because I didn’t feel very strongly about this film either way. I’ll therefore make it short.

The primary reason anyone will see this film is because of Kate Winslet’s Golden Globe-winning and Bafta-nominated performance as Hana Schmidt. In fairness, it’s a good performance. But it is ‘subtle-good’, as opposed to ‘Heath Ledger’s immortal, you’ll-never-forget-it Joker’ good. As for the Award-attention, it’s not exactly surprising. Since Titanic, Winslet has always been Academy-friendly and now she is playing a controversial, illiterate, often-nude Nazi. If she doesn’t get an Oscar this year, then she never will.

And that would be the greatest irony of her career, especially after Ricky Gervais made her say in Extras (paraphrased): “Holocaust films guarantee you an Oscar.”

Other than Winslet, you are left with a grim, cathartic film (a standard Stephen Daldry picture then) about a law student who has an affair with a tram conductor one summer, only to find out years later at Law School that she became an SS guard at Auschwitz. In short, there is little to make you smile but lots to make you cry. The harrowing scenes of the young Michael Berg (David Kross, who definitely should have been nominated for the Orange Rising Star Award) visiting the real remains of Auschwitz are particularly disturbing. There are also prison scenes, a suicide and – just to make sure you leave feeling glum – a final scene at a graveyard.

Ultimately, like Che, you have to be in the right state of mind to see this film: curiosity more than a desire to be entertained. This is definitely not Saturday night, popcorn-fodder.

I’m glad I saw it – powerful, emotional, thought-provoking, blah, blah, blah – but I won’t be watching it again. Ever.

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Lost Returns!

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The greatest show of all time is returning in six days times! I refer, of course, to Lost!

Now in its fifth season, we will be learning about how the Oceanic Six return to the Island whilst also finding out what happened to those who were left behind when the island shifted.

Wikipedia, as always, have been offering tantalising scraps of information whilst you can watch the Season trailer below.

REVIEW: The Spirit

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Before I even begin this review, I am going to have a rant about Orange Wednesdays. Yes, it’s great that people can get cheaper cinema tickets but I hate them. Why? Because Orange Wednesdays drag all of cinema’s greatest offenders out of their homes and into the multiplex. I’m talking about chavs, chavettes, texters, chatterboxes, popcorn-munchers and people who actually laugh at the Orange adverts. It drives me mental.

And I walked into an empty cinema, sat down and the next people through the door – who could have sat anywhere else – sat directly behind me. And then, the next woman through the door sat next to me. She asked me to move my coat and everything. What the hell?!

Films are a form of art. These reprobates don’t go to the museum or art galleries. But I have to suffer them in the cinema. Humph.

Anyway, snobbery over. The Spirit…

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I’ll start by getting the inevitable Sin City comparison out of the way. Yes, there are similarities: a black, white & red palette, gravely voiceovers, Frank Miller. But the comparisons end there - The Spirit is an incredibly ridiculous and bizarre film.

Despite looking like Sin City, The Spirit is less of a graphic novel film and more of a comic book film. In fact, it is less of a comic book film and more of a spoof of a comic book film. The passing tongue-in-cheek references to Robin, Superman and even Thor only confirm that. The whole film lacks the punch, thrills and gritty tone of Sin City and you feel that the film is missing one key ingredient: Robert Rodriguez.

The Spirit is certainly memorable for an infinite number of reasons but I can’t quite work out if those reasons are good, bad or just plain weird: we see a bouncing foot with a head, Eva Mendes photocopies her ass, Samuel L Jackson melts a cat. And that isn’t the half of it.

Maybe one of the big problems is that The Spirit is a costumed hero that you just cannot take seriously. I’m not sure if that is Gabriel Macht’s fault or just the way the character was written. Our leading man is obsessed with women, cats and his city – running jokes (hopefully intentional) that just get silly. One minute he is hamming up the gravitas, the next minute he is dangling from a building with his pants around his ankles. He is ridiculous. It is hard to feel for such a dumb character, even when he is in mortal danger, because he just keeps spurting out baffling quips. At one moment he even breaks the fourth wall to chat to the audience reminding me of Zach in Saved by the Bell.

If there is anything good about this film, apart from the sexy ladies (simultaneously wearing wetsuits, nurse outfits and there is even a belly dancer) and the style of the film (why don’t more films look like this?), then it would have to be our villains.

The best scenes by far feature Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson, as The Octopus and Silken Floss respectively, both clearly loving the free rein to chew the scenery. They both play over-the-top, cardboard cut-out villains, with more wardrobe changes than an Oscar host. We see Jackson dressed as a samurai, scientist, fur-lined gangster and, if you thought Tom Cruise’s turn in Valkyrie was the surprise Nazi of the year, wait until you see Jackson suited-and-booted in his finest SS gear.

Both villains get the clunkiest of the lines. Johansson snapping insult like ‘Fart’ and ‘Toe-cheese’ at her henchmen (these guys are irritating enough, even without a lisp) whilst Jackson gets to shout the following:

“I’ve got eight of everything!”
“Toilets are always funny!”
“Immortality: all five big syllables of it!”
“No egg on my face. Not one glob!”
“Mutha-fu…!” Final words. Classic Jackon.

As you can see, the dialogue is bonkers and certainly not what you would expect from king of the graphic novel, Frank Miller. The whole film sounds like somebody imitating Miller. And when the dialogue isn’t being ridiculous, then it is actually quite tiresome. And one point, The Spirit says: “I’m growing old just listening to you,” and we as the audience are inclined to agree.

Overall, I left the cinema feeling a bit baffled.

The Spirit is kind of cool in a silly, sexy way - but ‘Snakes on a Plane’ cool, as opposed to ‘Sin City’ cool.

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