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83rd Academy Awards – Choices, Choices, Choices

What do you mean I’m just like all the others? I’m unique! I’m a beautiful snowflake!

Here’s what it all comes down to. Here’s where all the hard work, press tours and hour after hour of standing around on set while the lighting guys get exactly the right shadows to fall across the wall in background. This is the stage that everyone in the industry wants to walk across holding a tiny statue that never fails to surprise the new owner by how heavy it really is. To those people out there who say “Pish Posh” or “The Oscars are all politics and mainstream hype, I don’t need one.”, well, you’re lying. This year there are some categories which feel somewhat locked, a true front-runner eclipsing the poor remaining nominees in the glorious shadow of critical acclaim, but there are many still up in the air and the ceremony still promises to cause many baited breaths, sweaty fists and screams of joy and pain (and that’s just for the people in my Oscar pool). So before the sun sets on that fateful night, I will offer a few choice thoughts on the nominations this year: (I will mark the ones I have not seen with “*”)

Best Picture:

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right *
• The King’s Speech
• 127 Hours *
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone *

Originally I was a big fan of opening the Best Picture field up to 10 films and I would say at this moment in time I am still a fan, but maybe not as strong as before. Let’s be honest, the major push for opening the field was The Dark Knight being overlooked, but what it really did was open people’s eyes to the fact that the Academy needs to follow in the shoes of the Hollywood Foreign Press and create Best Drama and Best Comedy/Musical, but that’s for a much longer conversation. As to this year’s crop of fine films, the two heavyweights battling in the center of the ring are The King’s Speech and The Social Network. While many will claim The King’s Speech is much more attuned to the Oscar voting crowd (which they would absolutely correct in thinking), The Social Network was a tremendous achievement in making something extraordinary out of what most people previously wrote off as “that movie coming out about Facebook”. Fincher and Sorkin created a devastating and scathing pair behind the screen and it is that sheer power and talent which could very well push The Social Network across the big stage that night. Personally, I loved both films and I don’t care which one wins, but if I was a betting man, I would give the slight edge to The Social Network.

Best Director:

• Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
• David O’Russell for The Fighter
• Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech
• David Fincher for The Social Network
• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for True Grit

I was honestly not the biggest fan of True Grit. I found it to be a really well done film, but not to the tune of twelve Academy nominations. No Country for Old Men was far superior and the Coen brothers have possibly in my eyes become a victim to their own talent in previous works. All of these movies did feature amazing performances and I always give that credit equally to the actor and the director, because the director is truly the one to pull those performances forward. I think this could honestly be the free-for-all battle of the night, even a dark horse shot for the Coen brothers. I wouldn’t be really mad either way it went (maybe if the Coen’s got it I would be slightly miffed). If I need to cast a vote one way or the other, I am going to go back to Fincher and The Social Network.

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

• Javier Bardem in Biutiful *
• Jeff Bridges in True Grit
• Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
• Colin Firth in The King’s Speech
• James Franco in 127 Hours *

This is where The Social Network will lose its steam. In the acting realm, although still quite good, The Social Network gets beaten in each round. Colin Firth is the clear leader in this category and for very good reason. The man is the consummate technician and makes everything look simple, clean and honest (and as Jon Stewart points out, “can really wear a sweater.”) Much praise has been handed out to Franco and Bridges, while extremely strong and glowing remarks from people like Julia Roberts have surrounded the performance of Bardem, but the statue will likely be going home with the King of Britain that night.

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

• Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right *
• Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole *
• Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone *
• Natalie Portman in Black Swan
• Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine *

While I have heard many wonderful things about all of these performances and not actually witnessed any of the others myself, Portman will undoubtedly climb the stage with grace, humility and probably a good deal of care, since she is incredibly pregnant. The swan princess will bathe in the light of what her character strove for in the film, perfection.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

• Christian Bale in The Fighter
• John Hawkes in Winter’s Bone *
• Jeremy Renner in The Town *
• Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right *
• Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech

Once again going above and beyond pure emotional transformation, Bale put his body in harm’s way and mutated into the stringy, wiry crack addicted former boxing hopeful, Dicky Eklund. Rush was also quite excellent as the comic foil to Firth’s stammering rage, but I imagine we will not be seeing him share the stage with his regal co-star. Bale will deliver the knockout blow (hopefully, not for real).

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

• Amy Adams in The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech
• Melissa Leo in The Fighter
• Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit
• Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom

How could I avoid calling this anything but apt when you have two amazing performances by two amazing women battling it out inside a film called The Fighter. Hell, it practically writes itself. Steinfeld gave a good shot, but she’s young and has a great career ahead of her and I have no doubt we will see her name on this list again. Yet, back in the ring, Leo has been taking the kudos so far and while Adams was surprisingly raw, I believe Leo will continue her reign as champion of this category.

Best Animated Feature:

• How to Train Your Dragon
• The Illusionist *
• Toy Story 3

Right now my main issue here is that Toy Story 3 is listed in both Best Animated Feature and the Best Picture category and I thought you had to choose which one you wanted to be eligible for. Even though they have no shot at Best Picture this year, I find it a little unfair if the film were to take the top spot and then still claim Best Animated Feature as well. Seems like a touch of overkill. Yet, beyond that pettiness on my part, I enjoyed Toy Story 3 a lot, but it didn’t actually move me to the extent of many of my cinema-addicted brethren. I would like to see it go to How to Train Your Dragon, which actually just swept through the animation awards as well. Still holding great love for Pixar, but I have to give it to the other guys this year.

Best Art Direction:

• Alice in Wonderland
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
• Inception
• The King’s Speech
• True Grit

Once again, I kinda fell off the majority bandwagon this year in the praise for Potter Part 1. I am eagerly anticipating part two, partially because I know the big fight that is coming for our well-loved and well-worn characters, but also because I am hoping it will be better than the first half. As for this year, I’m a little torn between Inception and Alice in Wonderland, but I will have to toss my vote in with the more colorful and boisterous Tim Burton, the director of Alice (words that are rarely used to describe him).

Best Cinematography:

• Black Swan
• Inception
• The King’s Speech
• The Social Network
• True Grit

This comes down to the battle of characters with fractured minds and how well that was imagined and displayed out to us. Black Swan and Inception are my two favorites in this category. Beyond the similarities in the main characters, what we also have is a battle of the go-to cinematographers. Darren Aronofsky, director of Black Swan, went to his trusty friend Matthew Libatique, who also created the amazing visuals for Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain, while the director of Inception, Christopher Nolan, pulled in his top gun, Wally Pfister, who brought us the amazing sights of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and even Nolan’s big breakout Memento. Tough choice here…slight edge…Inception.

Best Costume Design:

• Alice in Wonderland
• I Am Love *
• The King’s Speech
• The Tempest *
• True Grit

The most outwardly obvious choice is Alice in Wonderland, due to the flamboyant and fantastical nature of the setting, but you can never see the silent killer coming from the subtle dressings of WWII England (The King’s Speech) or the roughness of the wild west (True Grit). I’ll stick with Alice, but I’m quite prepared to be wrong here.

Best Documentary Feature:

• Exit Through the Gift Shop
• Gasland *
• Inside Job *
• Restrepo *
• Waste Land *

Having only seen one of these at the moment, it’s obviously hard for me to really vote. On top of that, the one that I did see, Exit Through the Gift Shop, is widely debated as to whether it is even really a documentary or a piece of street art in itself, created by the mysterious Banksy. If that rumor is true, i don’t think it should be allowed to be in this category, but by answering the question it also loses all the power behind the film. Catch-22, there you have it. Words on the wind though put this between Exit Through the Gift Shop and Gasland.

Best Documentary Short Subject:

• Killing in the Name *
• Poster Girl *
• Strangers No More *
• Sun Come Up *
• The Warriors of Qiugang *

I am going to try to find a way to see any of these because every year I feel bad for not even making the effort after the filmmakers have obviously done such a good job in creating these pieces. Plus, one of them mentions “warriors” and I am hoping for some real life Kung-Fu stuff.

Best Film Editing:

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• The King’s Speech
• 127 Hours *
• The Social Network

I am going to run with Black Swan here because I felt that the editing here was incredibly important to giving the story its power and persuasion. Badly cut together we would never have followed the fragile ballerina into her fractured world. The editing mirrored her mindset and created the perfect environment for the character to morph and change along the way.

Best Foreign Film:

• Biutiful (from Mexico) *
• Dogtooth (from Greece) *
• In a Better World (from Denmark) *
• Incendies (from Canada) *
• Outside the Law (aka: Hors-la-loi from Algeria) *

Yep, not a good sense of anything here either except for Javier Bardem’s supposed masterpiece of a performance in Biutiful. Dogtooth has also gotten a lot of buzz around the indie houses, but it really hasn’t given me a sense of overpowering Bardem, who might end up the one man show this year.

Best Original Score:

• How to Train Your Dragon
• Inception
• The King’s Speech
• 127 Hours *
• The Social Network

OK, I give credit to Hanz Zimmer and his illustrious career in musical scores, but that damn tone from the Inception score just was played over and over and eventually played out. I found the Inception score to be overtly heavy and overbearing, at times, not all the way through.  While three of the others are all well known names in the field, I think this year will go to the new kid on the scoring block, Trent Reznor and Atticus Rose for their work on The Social Network. It was subtle and discreet, but intensely valuable to the overall mood of the film.

Best Makeup:

• Barney’s Vision
• The Way Back
• The Wolfman

Here’s where you start to find those movies that no one saw or very few liked, but had something special going on that the audiences might have missed while thinking, “This is a terrible film.” So, in that mindset, congrats to The Wolfman for scoring the nomination. Yet, since I have only seen one of these at the moment, I can only say that the wear and tear created on the weary travelers of The Way Back was truly exceptional and would make a deserving trophy winner that night.

Best Original Song:

• “Coming Home” from Country Strong *
• “I See the Light” from Tangled *
• “If I Rise” from 127 Hours *
• “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3

Glad we have the yearly toss to Randy Newman (he would be the Toy Story 3 nomination). The man could write a song about an ant basking in a misty ray of sunlight next to a puddle on the sidewalk and it would still delight the voters throughout the Academy (and honestly, I might hum along to it as well).  A.R. Rahman was the big music maker of last year with the music from Slumdog Millionaire, which might give him some buzz this time around, but I think everyone, whether they admit it or not, is deep down a country fan and that’s why my money falls under the dulcet tones of “Coming Home”.

Best Animated Short Film:

• Day & Night
• The Gruffalo *
• Let’s Pollute *
• The Lost Thing *
• Madagascar, a Journey Diary (Madagascar, carnet de voyage) *

Admittedly I have only seen one of these, but the one I saw was made by Pixar (Day & Night), so really, that’s all you need. Plus, as usual, it was incredibly well thought out, executed and overall brought pure enjoyment to everyone in the theater.

Best Live Action Short Film:

• The Confession *
• The Crush *
• God of Love *
• Na Wewe *
• Wish 143 *

If The Crush from the list above was actually just the trailer from the Alicia Silverstone movie from the early 90′s, I would pick that by a mile, but since I highly doubt that is the case, this is a complete crap shoot for me. I’m going to put my mark on Na Wewe, just because the title gives me absolutely nothing to go on. Mystery makes it intriguing.

Best Sound Editing:

• Inception
• Toy Story 3
• Tron: Legacy
• True Grit
• Unstoppable *

Yes, that’s right, it can now officially be called “Academy Award Nominated – Tron: Legacy“. Nerds around the world, please continue rejoicing at your leisure (or between episodes of The IT Crowd). I actually believe Tron might have a shot here, right next to Inception. Those two really did have a beautifully intricate and expansive soundscape, which without those the movies would certainly fall many, many notches down the totem pole. I’m leaning towards Inception, but the geek in me hopes Tron pulls through.

Best Sound Mixing:

• Inception
• The King’s Speech
• Salt
• The Social Network
• True Grit

Following nicely on the heels of my last commentary, I slightly shudder at the idea of “Academy Award Nominated – Salt“. Never saw that coming in a million years. Inception will likely take this jewel home.

Best Visual Effects:

• Alice in Wonderland
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
• Hereafter *
• Inception
• Iron Man 2

There was noting more exciting about the effects in Iron Man 2 over the original Iron Man, so I feel it kind of cancels itself out. Hereafter is too awkwardly mild in scope to break through the intensity of the rest of the crowd. As for Potter, well, I kind of find a movie mostly about kids in a tent a little light on visual effects. Once again Inception finds itself battling for supremacy against a strong opponent, once again the incredibly imaginative Burton and crew. In Alice the effects were actually the thing that impressed me most coming out of the film, the world, the characters mis-sized heads, everything down to the acid-trip induced minutiae. I think Alice deserves it, but Inception will likely take it.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• 127 Hours *
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone *

Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin.

Nuff said. (he wrote The Social Network)

Best Original Screenplay:

• Another Year *
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right *
• The King’s Speech

My feelings are torn between The King’s Speech, which was terribly beautiful, subtle and moving, and The Fighter, which surprised and enthralled me with its raw energy and depth. If either one wins, I am happy. Otherwise, sad, sad me.

There you have it. As you can see, my beliefs on who should win are heavily dependent on whether or not I got a chance to even see the film, which is really how it should be. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on who you hope for or just who you think will win.

Step Up 3D: Dance, Dance and… DANCE!

Both men decided too late that the Ultra-Mega-Burrito was not a good idea right before dance practice.

Rating: 8 out of 10

3D has become the banner of a film industry looking for anything to spark the box office back to its previous high water mark, but many films use it only for the monetary bump, not to enhance the viewing experience. A few rare choices in the last year have actually made the extra dimension worthwhile, like Avatar, Despicable Me and How To Train Your Dragon, with an honorable mention to the short film in front of Toy Story 3. Even going back to the beginning of the recent 3D craze there was My Bloody Valentine, which truly catered to the technology in the way it was originally intended. So, it was with a true touch of skepticism that I entered the theater, high-tech, battery powered 3D glasses strapped to my head and waited to see what the world of hip-hop and dance could do with their extra dimension.

Step Up 3D has very little to do with the previous two films in the franchise. Moose, the lone holdover from Step Up 2 The Streets, has traveled to N.Y.U. to fulfill his parents dream by getting an engineering degree and leaving all that silly dance stuff far behind. He finds that extremely difficult since on his orientation tour he accidentally enters himself into a dance battle and wins, making himself enemy number one on the hip-hop hitlist of a local dance crew known as The Samurai. Luke, the lead hero of the movie, takes Moose under his wing and initiates him into his own crew, The Pirates, as they attempt to win the upcoming World Jam and earn enough cash prizes to buy the building where they all live and train.

Some people might wonder how I could rate a dance movie so high, only one down the totem pole from Inception, which some would think of as a travesty even being mentioned in the same long, run-on sentence, but my ratings are based on what type of movie it is and if it fulfilled its main objective. Dance films have one driving force – to showcase dancers and their incredible talents. If they can pull together a coherent story and make an audience feel something beyond the rhythm in their seats, then they have moved beyond the grade of a common genre flick. Step Up 3D definitely showcased the dancers, and by default the incredible choreography, by really paying attention to the movement of the camera during the various dance sequences. There is nothing more that I despise than quick, unmotivated MTV-style cuts during dance sequences, fight scenes, highly technical action sequences and the like. All you end up seeing is a lot of limbs flying in front of camera with no context or character. Here, they locked the camera center stage numerous times and only moved back to open up the frame even more, truly featuring the talent on display.

Also, the 3D element did not feel like a last minute add-on for a couple bucks per ticket increase. There were very specific moments in the film where the dancers popped out from the screen and it enhanced the experience of watching their highly technical moves. Even in the non-pop-out moments, the extra depth into the screen really provided a sense of place and character to the dance sequences that I feel would have been lacking otherwise.

As for the acting, where most people don’t expect much, I was shocked by the power and passion displayed by one of the films co-stars, our one man connection to the previous film, Moose, aka Adam G. Sevani. Born into a musical family and dancing since he was a wee toddler, Sevani filled his moments with heart and passion where many others just filled the frame. He stole each and every scene with a touching sense of honesty and a purity towards dance which poured out of the screen. His plotline was technically the ‘B’ story, but he yanked it out of the background and made the entire movie revolve around him. The saddest part of the film ending is wondering whether Sevani will actually keep working on acting, along with his amazing dance skills. Dance as a part of our culture is becoming bigger and bigger every year, with help from numerous TV hits like Dancing With The Stars and So You Think You Can Dance (the latter featuring Adam Shankman as a permanent judge, who also helped produce Step Up 3D). You never know whether another Step Up could be in the future, but if it does find its way onto the big screen, they better bring back Sevani or they can count on my rating being much, much lower.

The End of the Page Recommendation: Best all-around film of the franchise so far, but if you don’t like dance flicks, this will not put the spring in your step.

Thoughts? How’s it compare to other dance flicks?

Inception: Dream A Little Dream In Me

I’m going to win this Dreidel game if it’s the last thing I ever do.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Everyone fears the sophomore curse, when you break out of the gate in any type of popular media with something so unique, so gripping and so monumentally accepted by the ravenous public that you set the bar high into the stratosphere, making it impossible for your second creative effort to even bask in the reflection of that initial glory. It frightens each and every person stepping out of the shadows and into the spotlight, but there is a misconception lingering making people feel safe after they are past their second credit. The cold, hard fact is each and every time you release something out to the public it is another audition to the world. If your newest effort becomes known as the best of your career, congratulations my friend, welcome back to the curse. It’s been right here waiting for you. Christopher Nolan felt the sting of the curse after his breakout indie darling, Memento, which he followed with a poorly timed remake of the chilly psychological thriller, Insomnia. Yet Nolan fought onward and grabbed hold of the frayed cape of the Batman franchise and resurfaced with a much more dark and gritty take on the legendary crusader in Batman Begins. This inevitably led to his crowning achievement in the comic book sequel, The Dark Knight, where the world witnessed the true beauty of a director and actor, in Heath Ledger, creating something that will be remembered and talked about for generations. As the accolades for The Dark Knight poured in, Nolan found himself right back in the lap of the curse, plotting his escape, scanning the horizons for a safe way out. Turns out, he found his escape not by looking outside, but by turning in.

Inception is the name given to a procedure where a person with incredibly specific skills and equipment can enter someone else’s dreams and gently plant the seed of an idea, which would then flourish and grow in that person naturally, culminating in the subject doing exactly what you wanted them to. Most believe it can’t be done, but one man, Cobb, says it is not just possible, but he’s done it before. Hired for one last job, Cobb builds a team of people to help him complete his mission and try to win his ticket home to his children.

The out and out winner here is the writing. While the directing and acting, which will be mentioned later, are both up to par, the writing of such an intricate, delicate and verbose script is an achievement worth high recognition. People are already talking Oscar race for this film, and while I might be on the fence right now in the Best Picture category (we still have quite a few months to go people), in the arena of Best Original Screenplay, this should be a shoe-in. Nolan is truly at his best when dealing with fragmented and fractured realities, achieving a tender balance between intrigue and confusion that makes the audience think, but not feel stupid if they all come up with different answers at the end. As for the ending, I’ll leave that for later, loudly hidden behind the spoiler warnings.

Moving onto the acting, Leonardo DiCaprio, who played our anti-hero Cobb, once again brims with sheer determination and builds layer upon layer into the role. The only fraction of a flaw in his performance in my eyes is it bordered on being too controlled. At times there felt perfect opportunities to let him fly off the handle or just peel back one more layer, showing his humanity, but the importance of the job and the need for sharp and complete focus kept him tightly wrapped up. Tom Hardy, playing Eames, the wise-cracking master thief of the group, steals many of the scenes not only due to his skill as an actor, but because he provides the only comic relief in the film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as Aurthur, brings back a little bit of his steam-train determination and tunnel-vision drive that he perfected in Brick. Overall all the performances were on point, but in the minority there were two people that I felt were under used and under developed, Michael Caine and Ellen Page. Caine is a tremendous actor that felt totally wasted in a partially unexplained cameo part (he’s mentioned as the grandfather to Cobb’s children, but it is never illustrated whether he is Cobb’s father or his stepfather.) As for Page, while they try with one line of dialogue to cover over her rapid acceptance of the world of dreams and being able to control them, she still ends up feeling rushed into the story more as a person to move the plot than a full fledged character.

***SPOLIER ALERT – SPOILER ALERT – DO NOT READ AHEAD IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM***

Now let’s talk about that ending. While I really do enjoy a nice ‘leave ‘em hanging’ closer, I think people are reading way too much into it. Yes, the top was still spinning, and yes the idea was to make you wonder if Cobb is still in a dream at the end of the film, but the theory that the entire movie was all a dream inside Cobb’s mind, showing his own journey to release himself of the guilt of pushing his wife to suicide, well, that just doesn’t sit right with me. The ‘whole dream’ theory robs the movie of all its importance and power and steals all the thunder from the other characters. I prefer to believe the top would have fallen in time; it was just really well balanced.

The End of the Page Recommendation: Nolan is on a hot streak that could see him crowned as one of the greatest directors in our generation, but let’s not pressure him too much, right? Inception is clever, intriguing and everything you want in a psychological drama, even if it draws a little long at the end. Worth seeing, if only for the ensuing discussion you will have immediately after.

What did you think of the ending? Does this top ‘Dark Knight’ for you?