Whoa! + It's About Time

Want some laughs right about now?  Check out Silver Linings Playbook.  This is one very funny movie, with a snappy script and good acting, especially by Jennifer Lawrence.  Robert DeNiro and Bradly Cooper also shine.  In response to some criticism out there, this is not meant to be a serious movie about bipolar disorders.    Yes, it is about time that Smash got nominated - for best TV Series, Comedy or Musical  - by the Golden Globes!

Television Shows and more Oscar Contenders

Homeland continues to be the best show running now.  Other good shows I'm watching are Boardwalk Empire and The Good Wife. Of course, other great shows like Mad Men, The Killing,  Real Time with Bill Maher and Smash are currrently on break.  I've seen a few more Oscar contenders:  The Late Quartet, Lincoln and Argo.  These are all good movies and well worth viewing.  I particularly liked The Late Quartet - an emotionally intense movie centering on the 4 musicians.  I see an Oscar nod here to multi-talented and always intriguing Christopher Walken

Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel and Sessions

Diana Vreeland . . . is an exceptional documentary, mainly because Diana Vreeland was such a visionary, an artist, a woman of extraordinary perception of the beauty of people, clothes, sets, designs with a sense of fashion and trends like no other.  The accolades from so many peers is no surprise.  This film has to get an Oscar nomination.  Sessions, a movie about a sex therapist with polio patient in an iron lung who can't move his arms or legs.  John Hawke (Winter's Bone) again gives a nuanced and fully dimensional performance.  At times you almost forget he has any disability.  Helen Hunt as the therapist and William Macy as the priest also give very strong performances.  There's Oscar potential here too.

Searching for Sugar Man

Here's a movie that is a must-see for everyone I can think of.  An astounding story, compelling music and lyrics, with a real kicker in the prioritizing of fame, not just by the "star" but his family and fans too.  I will see this again.

The Master and Emmys Big Plus and Big Minus

The Master is without question a must-see movie.  Philip Seymour Hoffman is perfect as the suave, warm, funny and compelling guru of the cult he leads.  Joaquin Phoenix is even better as the returning veteran humping the babe molded in the sand by his buddies.  He's quirky and spasmodic as he's drawn to the Hoffman character and his cult.  It is great to see Phoenix up and out of that river in Panama.  (See previous posting on this blog, dated Sept. 22, 2010).  There are such extraordinary scenes set up by writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson that you just want to last longer because they are so color-rich and captivating.  The movie sags somewhat in the latter half, but not nearly enough to make it anything less than the best movie of the year to date.  As for the Emmys, they hit it on the button when they showered Homeland with so many justly deserved honors, as it was clearly one of the best first seasons ever.  But how did the Emmys completely miss the boat on the other best first season offering this last year, Smash??  Maybe it's because so many actors stood out in this extraordinary cast that those voters just threw in their towels on this one.  Outrageous!

3 Duds and a Pearl

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a pearl glistening in the murky water.  Painful and mysterious with a harsh beauty.  On the other hand 2 Days in New York is disappointing and without substance.  Who'd have thought that Julie Delpy would stumble this badly.  She's too good as an actress and director, but writer - I'm not so sure after seeing this.  Two other duds fill out this post, Bachelorettes and For a Good Time Call....  These two movies are aimed at a younger audience, and if they are hitting the mark, then God help us.

Actor Is Surging

Matthew McConaughey is definitely coming on.  In his latest, Killer Joe, he's a real nasty guy.  It's another rivetting performance.  That's three in a row after The Lincoln Lawyer and Magic Mike.  This guy has been a cornball actor for quite awhile, but flashes of his talent showed through at times, as in Friday Night Lights.   Now in these recent wild performances he is clearly saying that he's a more serious actor than a lot of us thought.

Take This Waltz

Don't pass this one up.  Michelle Williams is at it again in Take This Waltz.  She is once more in a relationship that is just not working.  Think Blue Valentine.  Is there an actress out there who can shine as she does in this kind of film?  Her actng is so subtle.  Think My Week With Marilyn.  Sarah Polley wrote and directed Waltz, and came up with a serious and thoughtful film.  Also in the cast are Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman, neither in a comedic role, but SS does say, in one scene, that she looks so good that when she looks in the mirror, she'd like to fuck herself.  Also, in this movie, there is a special scene of naked women in a bath house, basic and natural, without edges, refreshing.  The title is based on a Leonard Cohen song.

Polissse and Bernie

Two movies stand out among recent films:  Polisse and Bernie.  Polisse, a french movie concerns a child protection unit in Paris.  It is, at times, horrifying, enlightening,, funny, excruciating, tough, loving, startling and sad.  Don't miss it!  Bernie is based upon a true story and an extraordinary man, played by Jack Black.  I've not been that impressed by him, until now.  This is an astounding performance about a man who is unfortunately, unbelievable.  Yet, apparently he really is like that!

DD for new movie + surprise

The highly touted and anticipated movie, Moonrise Kingdom, gets a double d here, disappointing and dumb.  There's another movie out there, Hysteria, that is far more engaging.  It speculates on the early development of the vibrator.  Very interesting and informative with performances by two under appreciated talents, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy.

Movies

I usually avoid the big budget, ridiculous movies, but I decided to give Dark Shadows a try, and it was worth it.  Captivating story of good guy/bad guy (gal).  Johnny Depp is wild, unpredictable and engaging.  So are others in this old time/recent time extravaganza.  This film also has extraordinary special effects.  I'd rate it higher if we saw anywhere near as much of Eva Green as we did in The Dreamers.  Then there is The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel.  The good Brits seniors, set in India with Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and others.  A light, good feel movie that has some serious messages.  Definitely worth the viewing.  Then there's Bobcat Goldthwait's God Bless America, about the loss of civility in our culture.  It starts out with the killing of the world's most horrible baby and goes on from there.  I love this guy's - humor?, but then again, I was a big fan of his earlier film, Sleeping Dogs Lie.  There, the couple grapples with the fact that she went down on the dog.  Oh my!  Not for everyone, but I can't wait for the next one.

It was a SMASH of a season!

If Smash does not pick up a host of Emmy nominations, I will be shocked.  The tv series has it all:  exceptional writing, both script and music, gripping performances by so many people in this cast, it's hard to single them out, an engaging story line about getting a show to Braodway and compelling character and relationships' development.  It is clearly one of the best opening seasons I have ever seen! and NBC has picked it up for a second season. 

Four TV Shows to Watch

Mad Men, Smash, The Killing and The Good Wife

2 Good TV Shows and New Movie

Smash is a good new show that gives a real insight into getting a Broadway show to production, well written with an excellent cast. This show needs to be watched from the beginning, so if you're interested, do that. Then there is The Good Wife. I just started with this in Season 3, and I'm very engaged in, and intrigued by, this show now, so I plan to go back and pick up all episodes I haven't seen.
Check out Friends With Kids, a funny, modern day relationships movie with a very good cast, including Jennifer Westfeldt, who wrote and directed it, and also Jon Hamm, her long time significant other.

Undefeated, Bill Maher and We Should Talk About Kevin

Undefeated is an inspirational movie and an excellent film, but it never should have beaten out Pina for best documentary at the Oscars. Real Time with Bill Maher continues to be one the the top shows on tv, always enlightening, serious, funny and topical. Have you ever seen a movie you don't want to walk out on but can't wait to end? Try We Should Talk about Kevin.

P.S. to last blog entry + Coriolanus request

Shame should be included in the Honorable Mention list, and it contains a pull-on-your-heartstrings moment when Carey Mulligan sings New York, New York.

As for Coriolanus and any other movie using Shakespearean English - subtitles please.

Oscar Time

Top 10
The Tree of Life
Pina
A Separation
The Artist
Carnage
Midnight in Paris
Sarah's Key
The Help
My Week With Marilyn
Like Crazy

Honorable Mention
Take Shelter
Into The Abyss
Melancholia

Best TV Series
Homeland
The Killing
Downton Abbey

New STAR
Jessica Chastain

Best Cast
Carnage

Sexiest Actress at Golden Globes
Kate Beckinsale (co-presenter, Seth Rogen, had an appropriate response)

Spectacular bursts of the imagination
The Tree of Life, Pina and the book, The Night Circus

Longest Dick
Michael Fassbinder in Shame
P.S. Wasn't George Clooney out of line at the Globes in his joking about this?

OMG! Another Astounding Film

Wim Wenders' Pina, a documentary about the acclaimed German choreographer, Pina Bausch, is an outstanding and extraordinary film. The dances and dancers are spectacular - unpredictable, funny and mesmerizing. Don't even think about missing this film.

Hold Your Horses

Whoa! Want to see a movie that is intense, agonizing and gripping all the way through with brilliant writing and acting? If so, get right out there and see this extraordinary Iranian film, A Separation. Holy Cow! Whew!

2 Absolutely Must Sees Now!

Carnage is the funniest movie I've seen in a long time with Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly. The story line starts with a playground incident between 2 boys. The parents get together to have a friendly discussion about the incident, and the plot escalates and escalates from there. With a cast and plot like this it seems it would be hard to miss and it doesn't. Directed by Roman Polanski. Also, there is an extraordinary tv series on PBS, Downton Abbey, now in its second season. There is a continuing interchange here between the staff and the family that can be funny, heart breaking and inciteful, and it's always engaging.