It was a disappointing year for me, Oscar predictions wise, as I only got 15 of the 24 categories right. Following Entertainment Weekly's picks exactly would have also resulted in 15 correct predictions, and following the consensus picks from AwardsDaily's prediction chart would have gotten 16 correct. The one major variation from the consensus picks that I got right was Marion Cotillard for "La Vie En Rose." See my comments below for why I ended up choosing her. Unfortunately, at the last minute I decided to predict a great night for "No Country for Old Men," which led me to go against the consensus picks for Cinematography and Editing. Had I stayed with the consensus picks, I would have ended up at 17 correct, which would have been enough to share the win at Mike Ryan's Oscar party. On to my thoughts on the major categories!
Best Picture
Winner: No Country for Old Men
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood
Since I listed "No Country for Old Men" as my top movie of 2007, it's no surprise I was happy to see the Coen's win. The buzz was that "There Will Be Blood" was the only movie with a shot to top "No Country." I would have been seriously pissed if "There Will Be Blood" had won.
Best Actor
Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
George Clooney (Michael Clayton)
Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd)
Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah)
Viggo Mortenson (Eastern Promises)
As I mentioned in my review of "There Will Be Blood," I never like performances like Daniel Day-Lewis's as much as Oscar voters. I would have preferred that George Clooney won. I never saw "In the Valley of Elah."
Best Actress
Winner: Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)
Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age)
Julie Christie (Away from Her)
Laura Linney (The Savages)
Ellen Page (Juno)
I actually only saw two of these performances (Cotillard and Page.) I feel confident in saying that Cotillard definitely deserved the win, though, because her performance was simply astounding. The range she showed playing Edith Piaf was amazing. She's delightful as a young Piaf (20), healthy, and full of hope. She's equally wonderful as Piaf, wracked by illness and alcoholism, looking far older than her 48 years. She shows us the full gamut of human emotions and experiences, ranging from joy, love, and hope to illness, despair, and grief. "La Vie En Rose" isn't like other recent biopics about famous musicians such as "Walk the Line" or "Ray" where you feel like you've only seen a snapshot of the person, and never really got to know them. Because of the depth, power, and passion of Cotillard's performance, you feel like you really know Piaf after "La Vie En Rose" closes. Her performance was simply one of the best I've seen in the last 5 or 10 years. I ended up predicting she would win the Oscar despite all the buzz being for Christie, because I felt that anyone who saw "La Vie En Rose" would definitely vote for her. It seemed like there was some noise being made about Cotillard as the awards approached, and I felt this would mean that enough voters would check out her performance to catapult her to an upset victory.
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson's War)
Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild)
Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton)
I didn't see Affleck's or Holbrook's performance, but it was no surprise or disappointment to me that Bardem's memorable turn as Anton Chigurh took home the statue.
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
Ruby Dee (American Gangster)
Saoirse Ronan (Atonement)
Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone)
This was the major category with the greatest uncertainty, I thought. I saw predictions of wins for all of the nominees other than Ronan. I didn't see Blanchett's performance in "I'm Not There." Of the other 4, I'm glad that Ruby Dee didn't win (and she was probably co-favorite with Blanchett amongst Oscar prognosticators.) It's not that I thought here performance was bad, it was simply way too short to deserve an Oscar in my mind. She's on screen for less than five minutes! I had a very slight preference for Ryan's performance over that of Swinton or Ronan.
Best Director
Winner: Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men)
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton)
Jason Reitman (Juno)
Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
I didn't see "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," but considering how good I thought "No Country" was, I'd be surprised if it changed my feeling that the Coen's clearly deserved their win.
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages
Of the three I saw ("Juno", "Michael Clayton", and "Ratatouille") I thought "Juno" was the deserving winner. I'd be curious to see what I think if I ever get around to seeing "Lars and the Real Girl," though. From the previews, I though the concept seemed really unique.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: No Country for Old Men
Atonement
Away from Her
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
There Will Be Blood
I didn't see "Away from Her" or "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." I'm not going to complain about any win for a movie as great as "No Country for Old Men," but I was also greatly impressed with the job that Christopher Hamilton did in adapting "Atonement." Ian McEwan's novel isn't one where a lot happens. Instead, it's the time you spend in the characters thoughts and impressions that make the novel enjoyable. This doesn't really sound like a recipe for a good movie, though. The movie manages to capture the essence of McEwan's novel without resorting to anything clunky like voice overs or narration to reveal the character's thoughts.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The Singer (2006) (SIFF) - A
I went to see "The Singer," a French film with subtitles, because of one of the various SIFF guides' description of the movie. In effect, it talked about how it's easy to take Gerard Depardieu's excellence for granted, but then occasionally you see him in a role like this one, that truly blows you away. My feelings for Depardieu and French cinema have evolved a lot in the last few years. Unfortunately, my early exposure to Depardieu was in his American movies. When I first started to explore international cinema, the French movies that were hot in the U.S. would best be described as high on angst and mood, low on plot and character (the horrid "Betty Blue," which somehow got an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film is a perfect example.) As a result, for a long time I considered Depardieu totally overrated, and generally avoided French cinema. Eventually, I saw some French movies that I loved, and I realized that it had been silly for me to believe that all of French cinema would be like the movies I hated. Some of those movies (most notably "Ruby and Quentin" which made my top 10 for 2004) featured Depardieu, and I realized how wonderful he was acting in French.
In "The Singer" Depardieu is truly astounding as Alain Moreau, an aging lounge singer reduced to playing Saturday night dance halls, with aging audiences, wondering what happened to his life. It's the kind of performance that I really love: subtle, complex, full of depth, and without a hint of over-acting or theatrics. There's no clever trick like an accent or some kind of handicap. Instead, you slowly get to know Alain more and more as the movie unfolds, and different aspects of his personality and character are revealed.
The supporting cast is strong as well, especially Cecile de France (she was also excellent in another fine French movie from last year, "Avenue Montaigne") as Marion. Alain meets Marion at one of his shows, and strikes up a complicated relationship with her. Ostensibly, she is working for Alain as his real estate agent because he is looking to buy a new house, but there's definitely a connection there. Marion's far to young for Alain, and just as damaged as he is, so their relationship is complicated, and unusual. The result is a quiet, bittersweet movie that defies easy categorization. It's not exactly a romance, a drama, or a comedy, having some elements of each.
The movie is well enough written that even a decent performance by the lead would have resulted in a fine film. Depardieu's masterful performance makes this a movie I'd recommend strongly to everyone.
Final Grade: A
In "The Singer" Depardieu is truly astounding as Alain Moreau, an aging lounge singer reduced to playing Saturday night dance halls, with aging audiences, wondering what happened to his life. It's the kind of performance that I really love: subtle, complex, full of depth, and without a hint of over-acting or theatrics. There's no clever trick like an accent or some kind of handicap. Instead, you slowly get to know Alain more and more as the movie unfolds, and different aspects of his personality and character are revealed.
The supporting cast is strong as well, especially Cecile de France (she was also excellent in another fine French movie from last year, "Avenue Montaigne") as Marion. Alain meets Marion at one of his shows, and strikes up a complicated relationship with her. Ostensibly, she is working for Alain as his real estate agent because he is looking to buy a new house, but there's definitely a connection there. Marion's far to young for Alain, and just as damaged as he is, so their relationship is complicated, and unusual. The result is a quiet, bittersweet movie that defies easy categorization. It's not exactly a romance, a drama, or a comedy, having some elements of each.
The movie is well enough written that even a decent performance by the lead would have resulted in a fine film. Depardieu's masterful performance makes this a movie I'd recommend strongly to everyone.
Final Grade: A
In Bruges (2008) - B
"In Bruges" is a fun dark comedy about two hit men ordered to hide out in Bruges, a small tourist town in Belgium, after a hit gone bad. The two men's reactions are starkly different. Ray, played by Colin Farrell, hates Bruges. He's not interested in any of the touristy things, so he considers Bruges a "shithole" where there's nothing to do. Ken, played by Brendan Gleeson (you may have seen him as Mad Eye Mooney in the Harry Potter films or the father in 28 Days Later,") thinks Bruges is beautiful, and loves visiting all the medieval buildings, etc. Naturally, wacky adventures ensue for the pair in Bruges.
"In Bruges" features excellent acting. I'm not a Colin Farrell fan, but this is the best performance I've seen him deliver. Ralph Fiennes turns in a fun, memorable, change of pace performance as Ray and Ken's boss. The highlight of the movie, though, is Gleeson. He turns in a stellar performance, making you really identify with Ken, despite the fact that he is, after all, a hit man.
The first half of the movie is a inconsistent, with certain scenes dragging on, and some scenes not nearly as funny as the film makers seem to think. The second half, though, is quite strong, managing to be funny, moving, and suspenseful at the same time. If you've read much of this blog, you know that I usually prefer movies that leave the ending a little open ended, rather than wrapped up in a bow, and I loved the ending to "In Bruges." If you like black humor, I'd definitely recommend this movie.
Final Grade: B
"In Bruges" features excellent acting. I'm not a Colin Farrell fan, but this is the best performance I've seen him deliver. Ralph Fiennes turns in a fun, memorable, change of pace performance as Ray and Ken's boss. The highlight of the movie, though, is Gleeson. He turns in a stellar performance, making you really identify with Ken, despite the fact that he is, after all, a hit man.
The first half of the movie is a inconsistent, with certain scenes dragging on, and some scenes not nearly as funny as the film makers seem to think. The second half, though, is quite strong, managing to be funny, moving, and suspenseful at the same time. If you've read much of this blog, you know that I usually prefer movies that leave the ending a little open ended, rather than wrapped up in a bow, and I loved the ending to "In Bruges." If you like black humor, I'd definitely recommend this movie.
Final Grade: B
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) - C
"Sweeney Todd" was a major disappointment to me. Ever since the previews came out last summer, I've been telling people that somehow the idea of Johnny Depp as a singing, murderous, barber was really appealing to me. I was even more excited when the reviews for the movie were really good. Unfortunately, my reaction to "Sweeney Todd" was similar to my reaction to almost all of director Tim Burton's movies (2003's excellent "Big Fish" is the one major exception): visually appealing, but I just couldn't connect to the story or characters.
Burton's vision of London as a pit of filth, despair, and vermin is stunning. The set is wonderfully grotesque, and whenever the camera pulls back to give you a view of London as a whole, the effect is haunting. Unfortunately, that's about the only really positive thing I can say about the movie. Since I've never seen the original Sondheim musical, I'm not sure if my problems with the story and characters are the result of the musical or the movie adaptation. I found all of the major characters unlikeable and impossible to relate to, and the minor characters felt paper thin, making brief appearances to move the plot along.
I also have to question the wisdom of casting all the major parts in a musical with people whose singing talents range from passable to kind of competent. "Moulin Rouge" showed that you can make a movie musical work without having top flight singing talent with the right music and script, but the songs in "Sweeney Todd" are far more challenging. Also, even though I doubt Nicole Kidman or Ewan McGregor could carry a musical like "Sweeney Todd," they are both noticeably more talented singers than Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, or Johnny Depp. Some of the minor characters in "Sweeney Todd" clearly have a background in stage musicals, and the difference between the quality of their songs and the main character's songs is ridiculous. I can't quite make up my mind if the movie would have been better if all of the singers would have been on the level of the main characters. On the one hand, there wouldn't have been any moments where I thought "that was a really good song and really well performed," but it would also have avoided the problem that after hearing one of the good songs, listening to an uninspired Depp and Carter duet was almost like being slapped in the face.
The fine cast (I normally really like Carter, Rickman, and Depp) try their best to carry the weak storyline when they aren't forced to sing, but I felt there just wasn't much for them to work with sadly. I'm kind of shocked that Depp was nominated for an Oscar. It's not that he's bad, but his role just isn't very weighty, and didn't feel at all Oscar worthy to me. The cast did manage to keep the movie out of the "this movie sucked" range for me, but I wouldn't recommend this movie, even to lovers of musicals.
Final Grade: C
Burton's vision of London as a pit of filth, despair, and vermin is stunning. The set is wonderfully grotesque, and whenever the camera pulls back to give you a view of London as a whole, the effect is haunting. Unfortunately, that's about the only really positive thing I can say about the movie. Since I've never seen the original Sondheim musical, I'm not sure if my problems with the story and characters are the result of the musical or the movie adaptation. I found all of the major characters unlikeable and impossible to relate to, and the minor characters felt paper thin, making brief appearances to move the plot along.
I also have to question the wisdom of casting all the major parts in a musical with people whose singing talents range from passable to kind of competent. "Moulin Rouge" showed that you can make a movie musical work without having top flight singing talent with the right music and script, but the songs in "Sweeney Todd" are far more challenging. Also, even though I doubt Nicole Kidman or Ewan McGregor could carry a musical like "Sweeney Todd," they are both noticeably more talented singers than Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, or Johnny Depp. Some of the minor characters in "Sweeney Todd" clearly have a background in stage musicals, and the difference between the quality of their songs and the main character's songs is ridiculous. I can't quite make up my mind if the movie would have been better if all of the singers would have been on the level of the main characters. On the one hand, there wouldn't have been any moments where I thought "that was a really good song and really well performed," but it would also have avoided the problem that after hearing one of the good songs, listening to an uninspired Depp and Carter duet was almost like being slapped in the face.
The fine cast (I normally really like Carter, Rickman, and Depp) try their best to carry the weak storyline when they aren't forced to sing, but I felt there just wasn't much for them to work with sadly. I'm kind of shocked that Depp was nominated for an Oscar. It's not that he's bad, but his role just isn't very weighty, and didn't feel at all Oscar worthy to me. The cast did manage to keep the movie out of the "this movie sucked" range for me, but I wouldn't recommend this movie, even to lovers of musicals.
Final Grade: C
Definitely, Maybe (2008) - B
Recently, I had a conversation with my good friend Jenny about the decline of the romantic comedy. It seems that so many romantic comedies these days are all about the "hook" which will make the movie look different enough in the previews and ads to draw viewers. Unfortunately, it seems most recent romantic comedies use up all their creative juices on the clever hook, and then simply fill the rest of the movie with completely generic characters, story, and dialogue.
The hook for "Definitely, Maybe" is that Will Hayes, played by Ryan Reynolds ("Just Friends" and "Blade: Trinity") is just about to get divorced, and his grade school daughter Maya, played by Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine"), demands that he tell her the real story of how he met her mother. After trying to put her off with the explanation that "it's complicated," he eventually agrees to tell her the story, except that he is going to change all the names. Maya loves the idea of a "romantic mystery story" where she can try to figure out which of the women in the story is her mother.
Will's story prominently involves three very different women. The first is his girl-next-door college sweetheart Emily, played by Elizabeth Banks ("Seabiscuit" and "Invincible".) The story starts in 1992, as Will plans to move to New York City for two months to work for the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. He promises Emily that nothing will change, and that he will be back after two months, but naturally she is worried.
Once he's in NYC, Will meets the other two women in the story. First, he meets April, played by Isla Fisher (she's the one who marries Vince Vaughn in "The Wedding Crashers,") because she works in the copy center of the Clinton campaign. She's the opposite of Will. He's hopelessly idealistic, optimistic, ambitious, and earnest, while she's a slacker, cynical, and apolitical since she doesn't think any of it makes a difference (she's working at the Clinton campaign because $12/hour is better than her last job--babysitting.)
He meets Summer, played by Rachel Weisz ("About a Boy" and "The Constant Gardner,") because Emily asks Will to deliver a mysterious package to Summer, who she knew during high school. Summer turns out to be a free-spirited (she immediately hits on Will when she meets him even though she is currently dating her thesis advisor--a really great minor role for Kevin Kline) and talented writer.
At a certain level, "Definitely, Maybe" fits the description of a hook followed up by generic characters, plot, and dialogue. I can't really point to anything in the movie that I would say was out of the ordinary for a romantic comedy, other than the fact that it just feels more real than most movies of its type. For example, each of the three female leads fits comfortably into a standard romantic comedy archetype. The three women feel quite real, though, because the parts are well written, and each of the actresses (especially Isla Fisher) delivers an appealing performance that makes them believable, and easy to relate to. The various beginnings and ends to Will's relationships are also fairly standard, except that they feel a little more true than usual.
The movie did have a few weak points. I usually actively hate Ryan Reynolds. Somehow the way he talks always makes me feel that he is sneering at everyone, which drives me crazy. Here, I found him tolerable, but certainly wished someone else would have played the lead. I almost really liked the ending, because I thought they were about to leave it deliciously ambiguous, but then at the last second the movie decides to beat you over the head with a happy ending. Those last seconds felt so false compared to the rest of the movie, I wondered if they were added after test screenings. On the bright side, though, I thought of a much worse, much sappier, much more "Hollywood" ending early in the movie, and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't go down that path at all.
I toyed briefly with the idea of giving "Definitely, Maybe" an A, but in the end I felt that it wasn't quite good enough. If you enjoy romantic comedies, this is one of the better ones in recent years, but it's probably not quite good enough to make people who don't really go for the genre like it.
Final Grade: B
The hook for "Definitely, Maybe" is that Will Hayes, played by Ryan Reynolds ("Just Friends" and "Blade: Trinity") is just about to get divorced, and his grade school daughter Maya, played by Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine"), demands that he tell her the real story of how he met her mother. After trying to put her off with the explanation that "it's complicated," he eventually agrees to tell her the story, except that he is going to change all the names. Maya loves the idea of a "romantic mystery story" where she can try to figure out which of the women in the story is her mother.
Will's story prominently involves three very different women. The first is his girl-next-door college sweetheart Emily, played by Elizabeth Banks ("Seabiscuit" and "Invincible".) The story starts in 1992, as Will plans to move to New York City for two months to work for the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. He promises Emily that nothing will change, and that he will be back after two months, but naturally she is worried.
Once he's in NYC, Will meets the other two women in the story. First, he meets April, played by Isla Fisher (she's the one who marries Vince Vaughn in "The Wedding Crashers,") because she works in the copy center of the Clinton campaign. She's the opposite of Will. He's hopelessly idealistic, optimistic, ambitious, and earnest, while she's a slacker, cynical, and apolitical since she doesn't think any of it makes a difference (she's working at the Clinton campaign because $12/hour is better than her last job--babysitting.)
He meets Summer, played by Rachel Weisz ("About a Boy" and "The Constant Gardner,") because Emily asks Will to deliver a mysterious package to Summer, who she knew during high school. Summer turns out to be a free-spirited (she immediately hits on Will when she meets him even though she is currently dating her thesis advisor--a really great minor role for Kevin Kline) and talented writer.
At a certain level, "Definitely, Maybe" fits the description of a hook followed up by generic characters, plot, and dialogue. I can't really point to anything in the movie that I would say was out of the ordinary for a romantic comedy, other than the fact that it just feels more real than most movies of its type. For example, each of the three female leads fits comfortably into a standard romantic comedy archetype. The three women feel quite real, though, because the parts are well written, and each of the actresses (especially Isla Fisher) delivers an appealing performance that makes them believable, and easy to relate to. The various beginnings and ends to Will's relationships are also fairly standard, except that they feel a little more true than usual.
The movie did have a few weak points. I usually actively hate Ryan Reynolds. Somehow the way he talks always makes me feel that he is sneering at everyone, which drives me crazy. Here, I found him tolerable, but certainly wished someone else would have played the lead. I almost really liked the ending, because I thought they were about to leave it deliciously ambiguous, but then at the last second the movie decides to beat you over the head with a happy ending. Those last seconds felt so false compared to the rest of the movie, I wondered if they were added after test screenings. On the bright side, though, I thought of a much worse, much sappier, much more "Hollywood" ending early in the movie, and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't go down that path at all.
I toyed briefly with the idea of giving "Definitely, Maybe" an A, but in the end I felt that it wasn't quite good enough. If you enjoy romantic comedies, this is one of the better ones in recent years, but it's probably not quite good enough to make people who don't really go for the genre like it.
Final Grade: B
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Vitus (2006) (SIFF) - A
"Vitus" is a Swiss film (in German with subtitles) that I saw at SIFF. The movie is about a young piano prodigy, title character Vitus--actually I should really just say prodigy since his talents include academics and chess as well as music. About half the film covers when he is six, and the rest covers when he is 12. Vitus is an interesting movie because it starts off as a fairly typical movie about a young prodigy (you've seen it before: the family struggles to come to grip with how much to push the prodigy to realize his gift vs. letting him have a normal childhood) but then takes a really sharp right turn during the second half. It almost reminded me of the shocker in "Million Dollar Baby." Fortunately, the change is handled more smoothly in "Vitus" and the movie holds together fairly well as a whole, whereas I felt that "Million Dollar Baby" felt like two different movies awkwardly stitched together.
It's the post-shocker 2nd half that really made me like Vitus. The first half is pretty much just a reasonably well done prodigy movie, but the second half wanders into areas I've never seen before in a prodigy movie, and has some really great moments and surprises. Another strength of "Vitus" is the soundtrack. If you're a fan of classical piano music, which I am, hearing Vitus's various performances is great. If you like the idea of a sweet movie about a young prodigy with some major surprises and twists, you'll love "Vitus."
Final Grade: A
It's the post-shocker 2nd half that really made me like Vitus. The first half is pretty much just a reasonably well done prodigy movie, but the second half wanders into areas I've never seen before in a prodigy movie, and has some really great moments and surprises. Another strength of "Vitus" is the soundtrack. If you're a fan of classical piano music, which I am, hearing Vitus's various performances is great. If you like the idea of a sweet movie about a young prodigy with some major surprises and twists, you'll love "Vitus."
Final Grade: A
Monday, February 11, 2008
In the Shadow of the Moon (2007) (SIFF) - A
"In the Shadow of the Moon" is a British documentary about the Apollo missions. It takes a simple, but unique approach to the moon missions. There are only twelve men who have ever walked on a heavenly object other than Earth. Three of those men, Pete Conrad, James Irwin, and Alan Shepard, have passed away. The original goal of "In the Shadow of the Moon" was to interview all nine of the other lunar walkers, but in the end Neil Armstrong declined to participate, as he has in almost all public events since finishing his career as an astronaut. In addition, Jim Lovell who commanded the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission was also interviewed.
The movie really emphasizes the words of the astronauts. There are some scenes with on-screen captions, and archival footage of newscasts from the time, but other than that all the words spoken in the documentary are spoken by the Apollo astronauts. Hearing the astronauts recollections about their missions was wonderful, and it was fascinating to listen to the them reflect on how leaving the Earth affected their world views. Almost unanimously they expressed the view that seeing the Earth from that vantage point made them realize how petty the struggles of nations and tribes were in the grand scheme of things.
The other absolutely stunning feature of the film is a whole bunch of rarely- or never-seen footage from NASA's archives. Much of the footage had been in storage in liquid nitrogen for thirty years. Even though I'm a huge moon-buff and I've seen tons of documentaries and movies featuring footage from the moon missions, much of the footage from the film was new to me.
One scene in the footage that really amused me was video of the struggles of the Apollo 11 crew to successfully plant the American flag in the moon for the famous photograph. The scene is doubly amusing because that famous flag photograph is one of the oft-cited pieces of evidence from conspiracy nuts that the moon landings were faked. In the famous photo, the flag does not hang down, but stands out as if blown by the wind, and even has ripples in it, further making it appear that it is wind blown. Of course, there is no wind on the moon so conspiracy nuts have claimed that this photograph could not have been shot on the moon. NASA's official explanation is that to make a good photograph, a rod was used to extend the flag horizontally, and that vibrations from planting the flag in the moon's surface created the bends in the flag. While I'm sure die-hard conspiracy theorists can come up with an explanation of how the footage from "In the Shadow of the Moon" was faked, it pretty much corroborates NASA's official explanation. The behavior of the flag while Aldrin and Armstrong struggle to plant it does not look at all like a flag blowing in the wind, and in fact looks exactly like NASA's explanation.
If you have even the slightest bit of interest in the subject of this documentary, definitely see it. I promise you'll find it both uplifting and inspirational.
Final Grade: A
The movie really emphasizes the words of the astronauts. There are some scenes with on-screen captions, and archival footage of newscasts from the time, but other than that all the words spoken in the documentary are spoken by the Apollo astronauts. Hearing the astronauts recollections about their missions was wonderful, and it was fascinating to listen to the them reflect on how leaving the Earth affected their world views. Almost unanimously they expressed the view that seeing the Earth from that vantage point made them realize how petty the struggles of nations and tribes were in the grand scheme of things.
The other absolutely stunning feature of the film is a whole bunch of rarely- or never-seen footage from NASA's archives. Much of the footage had been in storage in liquid nitrogen for thirty years. Even though I'm a huge moon-buff and I've seen tons of documentaries and movies featuring footage from the moon missions, much of the footage from the film was new to me.
One scene in the footage that really amused me was video of the struggles of the Apollo 11 crew to successfully plant the American flag in the moon for the famous photograph. The scene is doubly amusing because that famous flag photograph is one of the oft-cited pieces of evidence from conspiracy nuts that the moon landings were faked. In the famous photo, the flag does not hang down, but stands out as if blown by the wind, and even has ripples in it, further making it appear that it is wind blown. Of course, there is no wind on the moon so conspiracy nuts have claimed that this photograph could not have been shot on the moon. NASA's official explanation is that to make a good photograph, a rod was used to extend the flag horizontally, and that vibrations from planting the flag in the moon's surface created the bends in the flag. While I'm sure die-hard conspiracy theorists can come up with an explanation of how the footage from "In the Shadow of the Moon" was faked, it pretty much corroborates NASA's official explanation. The behavior of the flag while Aldrin and Armstrong struggle to plant it does not look at all like a flag blowing in the wind, and in fact looks exactly like NASA's explanation.
If you have even the slightest bit of interest in the subject of this documentary, definitely see it. I promise you'll find it both uplifting and inspirational.
Final Grade: A
Gone Baby Gone (2007) - A
"Gone Baby Gone" is Ben Affleck's directorial debut. It stars his brother Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan (the female lead in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang") as two romantically involved private detectives (Patrick and Angie) who are called in to help investigate the kidnapping of a little girl because they are the kind of people who can talk to people who won't talk to the police. There is also a fine supporting cast with Morgan Freeman playing the head of the missing persons unit in the Philadelphia police force, and Ed Harris as the lead detective assigned to the case. Amy Ryan, who portrays the messed up mother of the kidnapped girl, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Naturally, as Patrick and Angie look into the case, they find that it is not as simple as it seems at first, and everyone seems to have a secret to hide. As the mystery unfolds, the characters keep being put in situations where you have to wonder what you would have done in their place. Patrick, especially, makes two gut wrenchingly difficult moral choices, and I found it quite interesting to talk to people after they had seen the movie about whether they agreed with his decisions.
I loved how the script doesn't feel the need to give any pretty answers to the various moral dilemmas or pass any judgments on the choices the characters made. Instead, it simply presents what the characters chose and the consequences. The actors and actresses do a great job of investing you emotionally in the characters, so even when you don't agree with the decisions they made, you can sympathize with their point of view. In the end, I found the seamless blending of a briskly paced mystery/thriller with a thinking movie about big moral questions to be highly enjoyable.
Final Grade: A
Naturally, as Patrick and Angie look into the case, they find that it is not as simple as it seems at first, and everyone seems to have a secret to hide. As the mystery unfolds, the characters keep being put in situations where you have to wonder what you would have done in their place. Patrick, especially, makes two gut wrenchingly difficult moral choices, and I found it quite interesting to talk to people after they had seen the movie about whether they agreed with his decisions.
I loved how the script doesn't feel the need to give any pretty answers to the various moral dilemmas or pass any judgments on the choices the characters made. Instead, it simply presents what the characters chose and the consequences. The actors and actresses do a great job of investing you emotionally in the characters, so even when you don't agree with the decisions they made, you can sympathize with their point of view. In the end, I found the seamless blending of a briskly paced mystery/thriller with a thinking movie about big moral questions to be highly enjoyable.
Final Grade: A
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Persepolis (2007) - B
"Persepolis" is an animated film (in French with subtitles) based on the graphic novels Persepolis and Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi. The movie chronicles Satrapi's childhood and early adulthood, growing up in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution--actually I guess I should say the revolution against the Shah. One of the interesting things I learned about Iran from reading Persepolis is that the revolution did not start as Islamic, and the Islamic fundamentalists didn't take over immediately after the revolution.
The animation style in the movie is quite unique, not resembling anything that I can think of recently. There aren't quite enough frames for the action to be continuous, instead it looked almost like a flip book movie. As it turns out, this style of animation worked quite well with Satrapi's art, and I found the movie quite visually appealing as well as very true to the style of the graphic novels.
Having just read her graphic novels over the summer, it was also quite interesting for me to see the differences between the movie and graphic novel. Naturally, the movie greatly abridges the graphic novel, leaving out whole characters and incidents, but it also expands on certain parts of the graphic novel, giving more detail about what happened. Overall, I thought that the screenplay was excellent. It did a good job of not feeling like an abridgment of a longer work, and captured the essence of the graphic novels.
Now I happen to think that the Persepolis graphic novels fall into the category of good rather than great. As a result, the movie also fell into that category for me. If you loved or hated the graphic novels, I would adjust my grade accordingly.
Final Grade: B
The animation style in the movie is quite unique, not resembling anything that I can think of recently. There aren't quite enough frames for the action to be continuous, instead it looked almost like a flip book movie. As it turns out, this style of animation worked quite well with Satrapi's art, and I found the movie quite visually appealing as well as very true to the style of the graphic novels.
Having just read her graphic novels over the summer, it was also quite interesting for me to see the differences between the movie and graphic novel. Naturally, the movie greatly abridges the graphic novel, leaving out whole characters and incidents, but it also expands on certain parts of the graphic novel, giving more detail about what happened. Overall, I thought that the screenplay was excellent. It did a good job of not feeling like an abridgment of a longer work, and captured the essence of the graphic novels.
Now I happen to think that the Persepolis graphic novels fall into the category of good rather than great. As a result, the movie also fell into that category for me. If you loved or hated the graphic novels, I would adjust my grade accordingly.
Final Grade: B
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