The King's Speech and Black Swan

The King's Speech is an astounding film, a fascinating story with exceptional acting by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. This is why we go to movies. When you come out of this movie, you know that. No one should miss seeing it. Academy Awards will follow. Black Swan is a very good film. Natalie Portman is extraordinary. She portrays a dancer and a woman who is so psychologically damaged, it's a wonder she got the prima ballerina role in Swan Lake. I never pay much attention to make-up, but here, it is screaming and brilliant and impossible to overlook, especially the black swan.

A stretch of good movies since last blog entry

Because I only want to comment on 3 favorites since my last blog entry, I'll list ones that I've also seen that I think are very good: Carlos, Burlesque, Waste Land, For Colored Girls and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. The 3 favorites are: Genius Within: Glenn Gould, Fair Game and Client 9, The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer. Glenn Gould is an extraordinary documentary in so many ways. He was an amazing talent and psychologically complex. The interviews are thoughtful and penetrating, especially those with the woman, Cornelia Foss, and her children who he lived with for about 4 years. This movie is absolutely on the "must see" list. Then there is Fair Game. As good as this movie is, and Sean Penn and Naomi Watts are, it is hard to watch because it is so infuriating to be reminded again of the extent the Bush gang went to lie and trump up excuses for why we went to war with Iraq. Don't miss it but consider taking a tranquilizer before you go. Another very good documentary is Elliot Spitzer. This is a modern day tragedy about a legal hero who was brought down in a sex scandal. Why was he brought down when so many others in public life weather these kinds of storms? Better spin doctors? Anyway, he's far from down now. What a ride!

TV - 2 current shows are especially good

In Treatment is better than ever this season, especially with Debra Winger added to the cast as well as Amy Ryan. This is an extremely well written show and my favorite one going now that Mad Men is on break. Also, don't give up on Boardwalk Empire. After a slow start and a continuing issue of whether Steve Buscemi can pull off his big cheese role, this show is also getting better and Michael Pitt is a big reason that it is. He is engaging, tough, tender and unpredictable. Real Time with Bill Maher just concluded another successful season and continues to maintain its position among the very top tv shows.

Emmy alert: Debra Winger and Michael Pitt.

Ben Afflect Scores + Oscar Tip

Ben Affleck's first directorial effort was Gone Baby Gone, a very good movie. His second one, The Town, is even better. It's a bank heists movie with a very good script and an excellent cast, including Ben himself, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and Jon Hamm (Mad Men). After directing these 2 films, I'm putting him on my director's "must see" list. That list includes Woody Allen, and he doesn't disappoint with his latest, though far from his best, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger. The Anthony Hopkins character is an hilarious stand-out here. I feel compelled to comment on The Social Network because it's getting so much attention right now. I'm not a techie, but I did not find it to be an engaging movie anyway, even though I thought Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake were very good.
Oscar tip: Look for Jeremy Renner, Justin Timberlake and Anthony Hopkins to be strong contenders in best supporting actor category.

Joaquin, Jesus!

I'm Still Here is about as weird as it gets. I thought it was really funny, but with a slight reservation - is this real? Joaquin Phoenix seems to have completely lost it. Have you ever seen a movie that leaves you wondering whether you have been completely duped? Where does Joaquin go from here (underwater in a river in Panama)? Stay tuned.

George Clooney Goes Down Again! + Comments on Violence, and on TV - Mad Men Rolls and Rules

A while back I gave Up In The Air a - poof. Now comes The American,and it merits a - huh? There's no dialogue. George: Get back on it! In the meantime there are some good movies out there. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, a documentary, is clearly worth a visit. Also, Mesrine: Killer Instinct, part 1 of 2, (I can't wait to see part 2) is violent and then some, but the violence is realistic and understandable. It's not outrageous, extreme, ridiculous and completely unrealistic, as in movies like Inception. Another good film out there now, also with realistic violence, is Animal Kingdom. On the television front, Mad Men continues to roll and may be, as impossible as it seems, getting even better.

Two More Good Summer Movies + Disappointment and Book Recommendation

The Kids Are All Right is a movie about a 2010 family, lesbian parents of 2 teenagers who trace down their biological father. It's well written and acted and gets a solid recommendation here. The other recommendation this posting is Dinner for Schmucks. It starts out slowly and builds up to a very funny movie. A big disappointment is Inception. I just don't get the hoopla for this film. It starts with an interesting idea but quickly devolves into violence and explosions and who cares if these are fantasies of the characters, rather than the usual fantasies of the writers and directors? It's an absurd film with a kill ratio of about 50-1, bad to good guys. Christopher Nolan has come a long way down from his extraordinary film, Memento.
On another front - books, I recently finished Elizabeth George's latest, A Body of Death, and was totally engrossed in another multi-layered mystery in her Inspector Lynley series.

Three films to see, one is a MUST!

Winter's Bone must not be missed. It's intense, funny and creepy with a rare authenticity to it. There are two exceptional acting performances that stand out even in this movie with such a special cast, Jennifer Lawrence, a tough teenager, and John Hawkes, her bizarre uncle. Also out there now are Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work and City Island, which both have a lot going for them. I've been a Joan Rivers fan for a long time. This movie confirms her talent, humor and grit. City Island is a good solid movie and even though it's a bit sappy, it deserves to be seen anyway because it's a movie with a big heart.

San Francisco Film Festival + Chole

I saw 6 films at the festival this year, 2 exceptional ones involving couples' current relationship issues, one of my favorite topics: Everyone Else from Germany and Seducing Charlie Barker from USA. They both feature strong women. The first one centers on a woman who is determined to be independent and unlike everyone else, and the second one has an extraordinary script by Theresa Rebeck. I also saw 3 other very good films, The Practice of the Wild, featuring writers Gary Snyder and Jim Harrison, I Am Love, with the always absorbing, Tilda Swinton, and Transcending Lynch, which is about David Lynch in Brazil, touting his book and thoughts on transcendental meditation.

Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica) is on my short list of "must see" directors and his latest movie, Chloe, is worth the viewing and Julianne Moore is outstanding, however the movie has a ridiculous and disatrous ending and is ultimately unsatisfying.

2 New Good Movies + Best Movies of the 90s

This is no Chinatown but Roman Polanski has a good one in The Ghost Writer. A movie of great beauty and mystery, mixed with humor and tension. Another goodie out there now is The Art of the Steal. It is a documentary about the Barnes art collection and the battle that ensued over the years for control of this incredible collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art. There were specific instructions left by Barnes himself, but a serious conflict arose between those wanting to honor his intentions and the very powerful and wealthy who had other ideas for the people of Philadelphia and the art world.

Inasmuch as I recently posted on this blog my favorite movies of the last decade, I decided to go back and look over my annual letters in the 90s, which I sent to friends interested in our yearly Oscar pool. Here are my picks:

LA Confidential
Dead Man Walking
Leaving Las Vegas
American Beauty
Fargo
Schlinder's List
The Unforgiven
The Vanishing (Danish version, not American one)
The Sweet Hereafter
Breaking the Waves

I find it necessary to also add the following as "honorable mentions":
The Crying Game, Grace of My Heart, Holy Smoke, Thin Red Line, Last Days of Disco, Exotica, Strictly Ballroom, Mortal Thoughts and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover.

Two extraordinary films

Don't miss Werner Herzog's My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. My favorite movie of the year so far with a visual, verbal and musical beauty in the absurd and mundane. Flamingos. a basketball in a barren tree. The word from within. The exceptional cast includes Michael Shannon, Chloe Sevigny, Willem Defoe, Lido Kier, Brad Dourf and Grace Zabriskey. The producer is David Lynch.
The documentary, The Most Dangerous Man in America, Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, is a depiction of a profile in courage and also should not be missed. A modern day hero whose actions significantly effected the end of the Vietnam War and president Nixon.

Oscar Time - February 2010

Top 10

Hurt Locker
An Education
Inglorious Basterds
Revanche
La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet
Two Lovers
Bad Lieutenant: New Orleans
Adoration
The Last Station
Me and Orson Welles

Best Under the Radar Movies of 2009

Revanche
La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet
Adoration
Anvil
Police, Adjective
Tetro

Best Scene
The lengthy opening scene in Inglorious Basterds


Biggest oversights in nominations
Revanche for Best Foreign Language Film
La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet for Best Documentary
Nicholas Cage for Best Actor in Bad Lieutenant: New Orleans

Important note: For Best of the Last Decade see the Jan. 18, 2010 posting on this blog.

Best of the Last Decade

MOVIES

Gideon's Daughter
Traffic
Sideways
No Country for Old Men
Talk to Her
Little Miss Sunshine
Ghost World
Rivers and Tides
Crash
Lost in Translation
Touch the Sound
Memento

After posting today (3/26/10) to the blog the best of the 90s, with honorable mentions, I decided to add an honorable mentions list for the last decade:
Inside Man, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Edge of Heaven, Anniversary Party, The Hours, The Deep End and The Wrestler.

The best movie of the decade is Gideon's Daughter. A central element in this movie deals with a parent's two most, but equally, important responsibilities: protecting children to keep them safe and letting them go to help them become independent. This was a BBC production made for tv in 2005. The brilliant cast includes Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt and Miranda Richardson. Bill Nighy and Emily Blunt each won Golden Globes. The soundtrack is also extraordinary.


TV

Six Feet Under
The Sopranos
Mad Men
Real Time with Bill Maher
Nurse Jackie

Two Big Disappointments + a Gem

The two movies I anticipated the most last month were big disaappointments. Up in the Air - poof. Crazy Heart looked like a sure bet, but where's the story? Both of these movies involve a detached, vacant guy who seems to realize at the end of the movie that he's got no life. mmm. Crazy Heart showed up with Jeff Bridges, country music and the wide open spaces of the southwest and I was pumped up thinking about an old favorite of mine, Payday with Rip Torn, but it's not in the same league with that cult classic from 1972. Then there's La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet. Go see this lengthy but absorbing film, beautifully shot and edited with Paris never looking better.