86th Academy Awards: THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET  (COMEDY-BIOPIC)
Directed by Martin Scorcese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jean Dujardin, Cristin Milioti, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Favreau, Jon Bernthal
Rated R for sequences of strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language throughout, and for some violence.

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards 
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio)
Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill)
Best Writing- Adapted Screenplay

Martin Scorcese's THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is easily the most controversial film of the major Academy Award contenders.  Based on the autobiography by white collar-criminal Jordan Belfort, it follows its true-life subject from his sex, drugs and all around depravity-fueled rise and ruin as a stockbroker.
In his fifth collaboration with Scorcese, Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jordan Belfort, a young up-and-comer in New York City who lands a job at the prestigious L.F. Rothschild stock brokerage firm in 1987.  There, he impresses with aggressive salesmanship and is mentored by successful stock trader Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey, in an extended cameo), who charismatically advises Belfort to try the cocaine and to up his masturbation frequency to twice-a-day.  Belfort earns his broker's license just in time to have his momentum crushed by Black Monday on October 19, 1987 when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped a staggering 508 points.  Belfort considers another career, but his wife (Cristin Milioti) encourages him to take a job at a "boiler room" brokerage firm dealing penny stocks.  Belfort arrives at the shabby establishment built into a strip mall, and quickly becomes the office superstar thanks to his aggressive sales tactics, selling huge amounts of worthless penny stocks advertised in Hustler to naive middle-class investors.  Not long after, Belfort becomes acquainted with his unnerving apartment complex neighbor, Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill), who joins up with Belfort, and the two of them decide to open their own firm, bringing along some of Belfort's co-workers from the penny stocks trading office, as well as Belfort's long-time friends with experience in drug dealing.  At the new firm, Stratton Oakmont, Belfort teaches his salesman to sell their essentially worthless stocks without scruples and without mercy, and even brings his parents (Rob Reiner and Christine Ebersole) in to handle the company finances.  The company becomes a temple of excess and debauchery, with sex and drugs a regular, even casual, occurrence at the offices of Stratton Oakmont.  When Belfort meets a gorgeous woman, Naomi Lapaglia (Margot Robbie), at one of his lavish parties, he begins an affair with her and divorces his wife so he can marry Naomi (the consummation, he notes, requires a heavy dose of penicillin due to his disease-ridden sexual parts after rampant sex with a wide assortment of prostitutes).  The company rockets to billions of dollars in value thanks to ruthless, and often illegal, stock trading, under the management of Belfort and Azoff, but eventually, they draw the attention of the F.B.I., in an investigation led by Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler).  So, Belfort starts smuggling his massive fortune into a Swiss bank account managed by Jean-Jacques Saurel (Jean Dujardin), but his lifestyle of uncontrollable drug and sex addictions threaten to bring everything crashing down.
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is not an especially serious candidate for the Best Picture win, but it was quite a surprise to see it listed amongst the Best Picture nominees, and even more so perhaps to see Martin Scorsese included in the Best Director nominees.  That's not to say that the nominations are not deserved, but its controversial reputation and abundance of tasteless displays, in one of putting it, made it seem unlikely.  However, the Best Picture and Best Director winners usually go hand in hand, so Scorsese's nomination puts it ahead of DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, HER, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS and PHILOMENA.  71-year old Scorsese is widely considered one of the most talented filmmakers of the past half-century, but his history with the Academy Awards is one of many nominations and few wins.  THE WOLF is Scorsese's eighth nomination for Best Director, with only one win to date, that for THE DEPARTED in 2006, which seems to be considered overrated nowadays.  However, his legacy includes landmark films like TAXI DRIVER, GOODFELLAS, RAGING BULL, MEAN STREETS and HUGO.  THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is more in line though with the likes of CASINO and THE KING OF COMEDY, as a film that will likely take some time in order to be fully appreciated.
It's funny, for myself, I've heard time and again from acquaintances and strangers alike, THE WOLF described as "so indulgent".  Those are always the words people use!  People with little investment in movies, casual moviegoers sharing their opinion on a movie that they could have had no idea it was a potential awards darling with such talent behind it.  It's the kind of movie that brings out the critic in everyone, and I don't mean that in a bad way, because I like seeing that side in other people when it comes to movies.  It amuses me, but also bemuses me when it seems that everyone uses the same words; "so indulgent".  I see where they're coming from with that opinion though; over the extensive three-hour running time, there is an abundance of moral depravity on display from the seemingly endless parade of fully naked supermodel-type women, hard drug use in practically every scene and an absolute callousness toward the little man, not to mention it breaks the record for most uses of the word "fuck" in a major non-documentary film at a disputed count of somewhere between 506 and 569 uses (an average of three uses per minute).  Once you use that word so frequently, you hardly even notice anymore, in contrast to one use in a PG-13 film that stands out so prominently, and you can take that however you like.  The thing about THE WOLF OF WALL STREET though is that it's about indulgence, being told from the point of view of its main character, who is unreliable, low-minded, morally reprehensible and practically defined by indulgence.  Whether or not that makes it okay for the film is up to debate, but I can't help but feel that subsequent viewings over the next few years will make it all more coherent and justified, given that I got some inklings of something bigger upon first viewing but felt unable to take it all in.
One thing I can assure you; this is the first Academy Award nominee for Best Picture to depict the main character doing crack out of a hooker's butthole.  Sorry about that, but it's kind of what this movie is all about.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort

March Movies

March, if not necessarily one of the best months for movies, is usually one of the most interesting.  It is essentially the standard testing ground for unproven potential franchise films and reboots that take risks with blockbuster budgets, but the far less competitive time slots in March give them more room to prove their strength with decreased risk.  Some are failures, like March releases JOHN CARTER in 2012 and JACK THE GIANT SLAYER last year, while others, like THE HUNGER GAMES in 2012 and ALICE IN WONDERLAND in 2010, become colossal mega-hits with bigger sequels released in more competitive seasons.  The most obvious big franchise hopeful for March 2014 is Lionsgate's DIVERGENT, released on a similar date to Lionsgate's first HUNGER GAMES with a reminiscent marketing campaign.  Other noteworthy franchise pictures this March are sequels, with 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE, following up the March 2007 blockbuster 300, and Disney's March release is THE MUPPETS MOST WANTED, the sequel to their moderately successful Muppets reboot.  It's notably smaller than Disney's usual March release, but perhaps is a way to see how the brand manages in a more sparse landscape, as opposed to the first film's more competitive holiday release in 2011.  Most exciting, in my estimation, is Hollywood's first biblical epic of the major blockbuster era in the 21st Century, Darren Aronofsky's NOAH, a $130 million gamble on ancient religious texts as a cinematic source material for today.

March 7th
300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE    (ACTION/WAR)
Directed Noam Murro; Starring Sullivan Stapleton, Rodrigo Santoro, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Hans Matheson
Rated R for strong sustained sequences of stylized bloody violence throughout, a sex scene, nudity and some language.
300, the brainless and unfortunately influential fanboy action epic from 2007 gets this follow-up finally seven years later, after a lengthy gestation deciding whether it was a prequel focusing on the the first film's villain, Xerxes (initially, this film was to be named for him), or a sequel taking place after the first film's events.  After all, of those 300 in the title, 299 die, so a traditional sequel wasn't really in the cards.  So is this a sequel?  Well, kind of.  It takes place before, during and after the first film's events.  Again, the plot involves a highly-stylized, pulpy take on historic events in the Greco-Persian Wars, particularly involving the Athenian politician Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) and Queen Artemisia I of Caria (sexed-up Eva Green), and the Battle of Artemisium.  If you liked the original for reasons beyond Gerard Butler, then I'm sure this will be your thing.  Zack Snyder, who co-wrote the screenplay but has not returned to direct, has a video game-inspired visual style not too hard to replicate, and there will be no skimping on the blood.

March 7th
MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN    (ANIMATED/ADVENTURE)
Directed by Rob Minkoff; Featuring the Voices of Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann, Allison Janney, Ariel Winter, Stanley Tucci, Mel Brooks, Patrick Warburton
Rated PG for some mild action and brief rude humor.
DreamWorks Animation has found themselves in a bit of a rut lately, with the best of their past three films being the unremarkable THE CROODS, and this upcoming animated adventure/comedy-fantasy doesn't look like it'll be bucking the trend.  Based on the creepy Peabody's Improbable History segments from the creepy 1960s television cartoon, The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, Mr. Peabody is a hyper-intelligent talking dog (voiced by Modern Family's Ty Burrell) who lives with his adopted boy, Sherman (voiced by Max Charles).  When Sherman and one of his peers use Mr. Peabody's time travel machine without permission, they may have irreparably damaged the space-time continuum (isn't that typical), and Peabody and Sherman have to race to fix everything before it goes too far, all the while interacting with an assortment of comical historical figures voiced by a line-up of celebrities.  Rob Minkoff, who co-directed THE LION KING, one of my all-time favorites, actually has a pretty lackluster repertoire otherwise, having directed disappointments like THE HAUNTED MANSION and THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM, but I don't expect this film to be terrible.  I just don't think it looks particularly good.

March 7th
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL    (COMEDY/DRAMA)
Directed by Wes Anderson; Starring Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban
Rated R for language, some sexual content and violence.
Filmmaker Wes Anderson's style is very unique, arguably too unique, and this may just be his most Wes Anderson-y yet.  M. Gustave H. is the legendary concierge of the famous Grand Budapest Hotel in Europe between the wars, who, with his best friend and confidante, bellhop Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham), are caught up in the intrigues of their clientele, including a stolen painting and a family fortune.  Anderson, a critical darling, sometimes more deserving than at others, will most definitely be praised heavily for this film, plus it looks like one of his better ones, but for some it may be a matter of taste.

March 14th
NEED FOR SPEED    (ACTION/CRIME)
Directed by Scott Waugh; Starring Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Scott Mescudi, Imogen Poots, Dakota Johnson, Micheal Keaton
Rated PG-13 for sequences of reckless street racing, disturbing crash sequences, nudity and crude language.
Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul) is a blue-collar mechanic recently released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, who becomes part of a ridiculous cross-country race for vengeance and redemption.  As much as I love Aaron Paul as Jesse "Yo Bitch" Pinkman from TV's Breaking Bad, this is an adaptation of an Electronic Arts video game racing series, and it seems hard enough for Hollywood to adapt films from video games that have plot elements and characters, so that isn't promising.  Furthermore, they hardly seem to be avoiding the inevitable Fast & Furious franchise comparisons, and worse, it's been written/produced/directed by Scott Waugh, the hack behind the unintentionally comedic Navy SEALs porn stunt, ACT OF VALOR (2012).  Not interested.

March 14th
TYLER PERRY'S THE SINGLE MOMS CLUB    (COMEDY-DRAMA)
Directed by Tyler Perry; Starring Nia Long, Amy Smart, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Terry Crews, Tyler Perry, Cocoa Brown
Rated PG-13 for some sexual material and thematic elements.
Tyler Perry's latest is about single mothers from different walks of life who start a support group to discuss and solve their problems.  Tyler Perry's audience is what it is, and his movies rarely venture in interest beyond that audience.  If you like his unique brand of loony cultural humor and soapy treatment of domestic tensions, you'll most likely enjoy this, but otherwise, it's doubtful to be of any interest.

March 21st
DIVERGENT    (SCI-FI/ACTION)
Directed by Neil Burger; Starring Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Kate Winslet, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Maggie Q, Zoe Kravitz, Ashley Judd
Rated PG-13 for intense violence and action, thematic elements and some sensuality.
Based on a popular young adult book series, heroine Beatrice "Tris" Prior (Shailene Woodley) lives in a dystopian Chicago where the population is divided into distinct factions based on their strengths and personalities in order to create the most efficient society.  However, when Tris is tested to determine which faction she fits best, her test is inconclusive, labeling her a "divergent"; incompatible with any faction.  Made a fugitive in her seemingly-utopian but sinister society, Tris is taken in by an underground group of rebels planning a revolution.  DIVERGENT is yet another attempt to capitalize on the success of blockbuster young adult novel adaptations like THE HUNGER GAMES and TWILIGHT, while undoubtedly more influenced by the former, but both from the same Lionsgate/Summit studios.  I'm not sure how it'll go over, having not read the books, but in spite of the potentially troublesome HUNGER GAMES comparisons, the series seems to have a larger than usual and enthusiastic fan-base.  While many similar attempts to reach that audience, such as last year's BEAUTIFUL CREATURES and THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES, have consistently been disappointments, I think this has better odds of success and wide appeal, albeit not of THE HUNGER GAMES or TWILIGHT levels.  My main reason for interest in the film is director Neil Burger, whose last film was the very good 2011 thriller LIMITLESS, as well as up-and-comer Shailene Woodley, who was a very likable lead in last year's THE SPECTACULAR NOW.

March 21st
MUPPETS MOST WANTED    (FAMILY-COMEDY/MUSICAL)
Directed by James Bobin; Starring Tina Fey, Ty Burrell, Ricky Gervais; Featuring Muppet Performers Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, David Goelz, Bill Barretta, Matt Vogel, Peter Linz
Rated PG for some mild action.
After the Jim Henson's Muppet characters' reboot in 2011's THE MUPPETS, which paid direct homage to THE MUPPET MOVIE with "The Rainbow Connection" and a 'getting the band back together road trip' storyline, Disney's newest addition to their minor franchise is a film that appears to parallel THE MUPPET MOVIE's follow-up, THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER.  With the success of their new Muppet Show revival, the Muppets are touring Europe, where they get entangled with an international crime caper after Kermit the Frog is mistaken for a notorious criminal who then takes Kermit's place along with his dastardly sidekick (Ricky Gervais).  THE MUPPETS was a relatively minor hit in terms of established property franchises, but grossed enough on a moderate budget to justify this sequel, with director James Bobin and Academy Award-winning songwriter Bret McKenzie returning.  The big change for this sequel, however, will be the absence of Jason Segel, who wrote and starred in the first film, but how big of a change that is is not yet clear.  It's tricky to anticipate what a Disney film actually has in store, given their tendency to misrepresent films in their marketing (both THE MUPPETS and THE MUPPETS MOST WANTED have had lackluster marketing campaigns interspersed with occasionally inspired moments), but expect lots of self-aware humor and Muppet eccentricity.  I'm willing to give it a shot.

March 28th
NOAH    (BIBLICAL DRAMA)
Directed by Darren Aronofsky; Starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone, Logan Lerman
Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief suggestive content.
This is the most exciting film of the month for sure.  Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, best known for low-budget independent thrillers including BLACK SWAN, THE WRESTLER and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, has been trying to make this passion project of his for a long-time, but with the acclaim and awards attention given his last couple of films, he finally had the clout to get backing for a $100 million+ bible epic.  Based on the Noah of the Old Testament, of "Noah's Ark", the film considers Noah (played by Russell Crowe) as a guilt-ridden man chosen by God at the coming of a literal apocalypse. With his family, including his wife Naameh (Jennifer Connelly), son Ham (Logan Lerman, of PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER) and Ila (Emma Watson, of the Harry Potter film series), Noah constructs a massive ark to hold two of every land animal on Earth and his family, whilst also fending off the wicked descendants of Cain, who defy God and attempt to destroy Noah's family.  Raised Jewish but without a prominently religious background, it's unlikely to be bogged down in proselyting and will most likely follow a mythological approach (although downplayed in the marketing, giants and "Watchers" referenced in scripture are reportedly a presence in the film).  There was some concern a few months back when test screenings with various demographics had been poorly received, but were apparently studio cuts without Aronofsky's approval or knowledge.  Since then, it has been reported that the studio (Paramount) has relinquished approval of the final cut to Aronofsky.

March 28th
SABOTAGE    (ACTION/CRIME DRAMA)
Directed by David Ayer; Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard, Josh Holloway
Rated R for strong bloody violence, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity and drug use.
After John "Breacher" Wharton (Arnold Schwarznegger) leads a high-stakes raid on a cartel safe house, he and his elite DEA task force think their jobs are done, but one by one, each agent is being rubbed out, and everyone is a suspect.  Schwarzenegger's still trying to reclaim his action star status from before his political career, but with generally tepid response; apparently the audience for that brand of Reagan-era, R-rated brawny action flicks is aging out.  However, he does have TRAINING DAY-writer/END OF WATCH-director David Ayers writing and directing this time around, with a script loosely inspired by an Agatha Christie story, so it may be of some interest.  I wouldn't expect much though.

86th Academy Awards: AMERICAN HUSTLE

AMERICAN HUSTLE  (CRIME/COMEDY)
Directed by David O. Russell
Starring: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., Michael Pena, Jack Huston
Rated R for pervasive language, some sexual content and brief violence.

Nominated for 10 Academy Awards 
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor (Christian Bale)
Best Actress (Amy Adams)
Best Supporting Actor (Bradley Cooper)
Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Lawrence)
Best Writing- Original Screenplay
Best Production Design
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing

David O. Russell's AMERICAN HUSTLE has the most complicated plot of this year's Best Picture nominations to explain, being a character piece loosely based on historical events, or as the opening title prefers to put it: "Some of this actually happened."
At the center of the proceedings is sleazy conman, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who advertises phony investment opportunities and embezzles his clients' money after declaring the investments failures.  His equally devious but more ambitious partner-in-crime and girlfriend is Sydney Prossier (Amy Adams), a former stripper who takes on the guise of "Lady Edith Greensley", a British aristocrat of her own invention, which she uses to lend some "credibility" to their schemes.  They make an efficient partnership, but Sidney is frustrated by Irving's persisting links to his estranged family.  His blundering but charming wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) has him under her seductive thumb and refuses to divorce, and Irving is reluctant to pressure her, lest he lose access to her son from a previous marriage, whom he has adopted.  An FBI agent, Richie Di Maso (Bradley Cooper) has his sights set on Irving's and Sydney's criminal activities, and when he arrests Sydney, the ruthlessly ambitious Di Maso offers Irving a way out: assist in delivering four additional arrests.  Irving sets up a scam involving a wealthy Arab Sheikh looking for potential American investments, and when an opportunity to ensnare the popular mayor of Camden, New Jersey, Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), in public corruption, Di Maso becomes enthralled with the idea of catching such a big fish, despite the protestations of Irving and Di Maso's supervisor, Stoddard Thorsen (Louis C.K.).  What follows is an often comic, sometimes intense game of cat-and-mouse as each of the players in this charade campaign for their own interests and in conflict with their own consciences.
Ironically, despite having an especially complicated plot, matters of plot are relatively minor in AMERICAN HUSTLE, which is, in fact, a refreshing and eccentric character study, bolstered exponentially by an incredible ensemble cast.
Although at 10 nominations, it is only matched by GRAVITY for most Oscar nominations this year, it hasn't come out as a frontrunner for the top awards.  Certainly with 10 nominations though, and nominees in each of the "Big Five" categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay), it's already been significantly honored.  Eventually, David O. Russell is almost definitely going to receive Oscar gold, if mainly in recognition of his Best Picture/Best Director-nominated films that haven't won, including, to date, THE FIGHTER and SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.  However, yet again, it just isn't in the cards this year.  That's not to say it won't win any notable awards.  Jennifer Lawrence, the highlight of the film, has been currying favor with earlier awards shows, perhaps more for her highly favorable public persona than for the performance, and is favored to win for Best Supporting Actress.  Although she is excellent in the film, and basically everywhere, she isn't the most noteworthy of the nominations in her category, especially considering she won Best Actress just last year.  Other awards AMERICAN HUSTLE has a strong presence in are Best Costume Design and Best Production Design, the latter which it especially deserves for its glitzy and eccentric 1970s styles.  Christian Bale, in yet another transforming role, deserves greater attention for Best Actor than he's received, especially when one considers it was his follow-up role to THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, where he played a ripped and significantly more handsome Bruce Wayne.
AMERICAN HUSTLE is one of the more purely entertaining films of this year's Best Picture nominees, and can't quite be pinned to a clear genre, featuring elements of comedy, crime-thriller and romance.  It also has an unusually wide appeal for a film of its prestige (it's been aptly called "GOODFELLAS for people who don't like violence, and BOOGIE NIGHTS for people who don't like sex), but isn't resigned to formula, like some accused SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK of being.  Even in the midst of its acclaim, AMERICAN HUSTLE is one of the people's favorite of this year's Academy Awards, smart, fun, funny and exuberant without offending.
I predict AMERICAN HUSTLE will win for Best Supporting Actress and Best Costume Design.

From left to right: Amy Adams as Sidney Prossier, Bradley Cooper as Riche Di Maso, Jeremy Renner as Carmine Polito, Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld and Jennifer Lawrence as Rosalyn Rosenfeld in AMERICAN HUSTLE.

86th Academy Awards #3: HER

HER  (ROMANTIC-COMEDY/SCI-FI)
Directed by Spike Jonze
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson (voice only), Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pratt, Matt Letscher
Rated R for language, sexual content and brief graphic nudity.
Currently playing in some theaters.

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards 
Best Picture
Best Writing- Original Screenplay
Best Original Score
Best Production Design
Best Original Song ("The Moon Song")

Spike Jonze's HER is a love story between a man and his computer, among other relationships.  Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is a good-natured, lonely man who writes emotionally intimate "handwritten" letters for clients, like a slightly futuristic twist on Cyrano de Bergerac.  As talented as Theodore is at putting the deepest feelings of his clientele to paper, he is personally introverted and hurt by his ongoing divorce from his longtime sweetheart (Rooney Mara).  He has a few friends in his co-worker, Paul (Chris Pratt), and Amy and Charles (Amy Adams and Matt Letscher, respectively), a married couple who live in the same apartment complex.  One day, he decides to buy a brand-new, state-of-the-art Operating System (OS), designed with complex artificial and emotional intelligence and a personality customized specifically for him.  The result is the self-named "Samantha" (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), who acts as a personified presence of Theodore's network of computer devices in this not-too-far vision of the future.
In this future, the saturating presence of personal computers and networks has continued along their seemingly inevitable course to where practically everyone wears an earpiece, like an ear-bud without the cord, in their ear wherever they go outside of their own home, so that they can remain in constant communication with their assorted computers.  These act as cell phones, information browsers, radios and just about every personal electronic device, all connected to a person's computers and online profile, allowing them to have e-mails read, or have "Stumble Upon"-esque hot links read to them until something interests them, at which point they simply pull out a folding pocket touchscreen.
Slowly but surely, Theodore grows a personal affection toward the increasingly self-aware Samantha, and she toward him, filling the spot in his life that had been missing for so long.  But the nature of this romance brings about so many questions and personal, unfulfilled yearnings, such as Samantha's desire for a physically sexual relationship (they do manage a reasonably effective variation on sexuality), and Theodore's concerns about peer acceptance.
HER is the kind of movie that easily exceeds all but a few in smart, feel-good entertainment, but ironically, its originality prevents it from achieving the prestige of more "important" films.  No matter how freaking great it may be, the blue-bloods have a hard time giving the due respect to a film about a man-and-his-computer love story.  Without a Best Director nomination for Spike Lee, the Best Picture nomination is essentially an honorary presence in the top category, and its only real chance out of its five nominations is for Best Original Screenplay.   It also deserves the award for Best Production Design, for its ingenious and grounded futuristic world design, but up against some much flashier productions, it's likely to be overlooked.  For Best Original Screenplay however, it's won most of the precursor awards and it's a fittingly significant award without taking from the prominent Oscar films this year.  I predict it will win Best Original Screenplay.

Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore Twombly in HER.

86th Academy Awards #2: CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS  (THRILLER/DRAMA)
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Starring: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Faysal Ahmed, Catherine Keener
Rated PG-13 for sustained intense sequences of menace, some violence with bloody images, and for substance use.
Currently available for rental from most retailers, online streaming services and kiosks.

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards 
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Supporting Actor (Barkhad Abdi)
Best Writing- Adapted Screenplay
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing

Paul Greengrass' CAPTAIN PHILLIPS translates to the screen the news story that had the United States in a tense grip for three days as a pirate raid off the coast of Somalia had developed into an intense three-day standoff between the pirates and U.S. Navy, with the lives of American hostages hanging in the balance.
It's told as a story of two men, both fighting for their existence as working-class men.  Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), takes command of the unarmed freighter ship, the MV Maersk Alabama, reluctantly, but out of the necessity to make ends meet.  With a crew of 20 men, Phillips is tasked with taking the ship from Oman, on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula, around the Horn of Africa, to its destination in Mombasa, Kenya.  To do so, they must sail through treacherous waters, where there is a high risk of pirate activity off the coast of Somalia.
Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi), a pirate struggling to make ends meet in Somalia, takes the position of captain in an expedition to hijack a freighter ship in order to obtain ransom money.  Slight of size, he nonetheless proves his boldness and menace to his crew members and leads the attack on the Maersk Alabama aboard a small skiff, but once on board, the pirates are unable to work the ship and Captain Phillips is doing everything possible to mislead and debilitate them.  Ultimately, in an effort to get the pirates off the ship, Phillips is taken as Muse's hostage aboard the ship's enclosed lifeboat vessel.  With the intention of taking Captain Phillips back to Somalia and holding him for a multimillion dollar ransom, Muse's crew soon finds themselves in the no-win situation of a standoff with US Navy Destroyers and Navy SEALs.
Without a nomination for Best Director, this is essentially an "honorable mention" in the Best Picture category, and in fact, its odds outside of the sound categories are very slim despite a hugely positive response from critics.  Filmmaker Paul Greengrass is a hugely acclaimed filmmaker who's made a name for himself with searingly intense, grounded action-thrillers such as THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM and the controversial first major film based on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, UNITED 93.  Certainly for anyone who saw UNITED 93, he was the obvious pick for CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, having proven a deftness for crafting true-to-life suspense with well-rounded characters from multiple perspectives, and the absence of his name among the Best Director nominations was a bit of a surprise.  More surprising was the absence of Hanks' name amongst the Best Actor nominees, given it was one of the best performances of his twice Academy Award-winning career.  For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to have stuck as prominently in the minds of Academy voters as much as others, although a well-deserved but unexpected nomination for Best Supporting Actor was made for first-timer Barkhad Abdi.  Again, he's not a frontrunner, and I'm skeptical thus far about his versatility, but his was certainly a case of perfect casting.  Unfortunately, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS looks like it could be a completely shut out on Oscar night, not to make any specific point, but just for lack of attention.  It did win the BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay, for which it is also nominated in the Oscars, so there is potential for an upset there, but the competition is strong and it isn't altogether deserving in that respect.
Regardless of its slim chances for Oscar gold, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS is definitely one of the better Best Picture nominees this year.  I predict a shut out.

Barkhad Abdi, second from the left, as Abduwali Muse.

86th Academy Awards #1: DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB  (DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY)
Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee 
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Steve Zahn
Rated R for pervasive language, some strong sexual content, nudity and drug use.
Currently available for rental at most retailers and online streaming services.

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards 
Best Picture
Best Actor (Matthew McConaughey)
Best Supporting Actor (Jared Leto)
Best Writing- Original Screenplay
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Best Film Editing

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is a good movie, but it's mostly made up of some really good parts without being quite as good as a whole.  While I found the synopsis intriguing, and it actually made me very excited to see the film once I knew what it was about, it's probably the least interesting of this year's Best Picture nominees (not including to date, PHILOMENA and NEBRASKA, whic I've not yet seen).
Based on a true story, it's about electrician/rodeo enthusiast Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), living in Dallas in 1985 and a homophobe who openly expresses his disgust for gay persons.  He also happens to have a penchant for one-time sexual encounters with strange partners, this being some time before common knowledge spread that the AIDS virus, the "Gay Cancer", was not exclusive to persons who had had homosexual relations.  Suffering from dizzy spells and even blacking out, Ron wakes up in the hospital after an incident, where he is told by the doctors that he has AIDS, with an estimated 30 days left to live.  The new drug AZT is only one thus far approved by the FDA for human testing to counteract the effects of AIDS, at least temporarily, but with it only in the testing stage, Ron obtains it illegally, but it appears to have a more negative effect than good.  When he's given legal but unapproved substances to treat the virus and they appear to have a far more beneficial effect than AZT, he begins smuggling the substances into the States, where they are legal for his personal use, but not to sell.  Still resolved to make a profit, Ron starts the "Dallas Buyers Club", through which other HIV and AIDS victims can obtain the drugs for "free" with purchase of a $400 membership.  In spite of his anti-gay sentiments, Ron realizes that it's more lucrative for him to team up with Rayon (Jared Leto), an HIV-positive transgender woman, who has the connections inside the gay community where the majority of Ron's clients come from.  But while attempting to treat himself and others, while making a profit on the side, Ron is legally bombarded by the FDA and AZT manufacturers, as well as any health care professionals who stand to make a profit.
The main point of DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is Matthew McConaughey's performance as Ron Woodroof, for which he is a top contender for the Best Actor prize.  It's been a bit of a passion project for McConaughey since 2008, when he first signed on to star in the film, but even the minimalist $5 million budget to produce the film remained elusive until 2012, when the film was shot in a miniscule 25 days.  Prior to McConaughey's involvement, the script had been around since the mid-1990s, soon after Woodroof's death in 1992, and had gone through attempts to produce it with actors such as Woody Harrelson, Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling.
Up until the past couple years, McConaughey has been known for headlining bottom-of-the-barrel romantic comedies that catered to the least demanding of teen female demographic, such as HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS (2003),  FAILURE TO LAUNCH (2006) and GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST (2009) (roles which McConaughey has described affectionately as "Saturday characters", which loosely translates to "leading roles in incredibly awful movies") and even an ultra-dull Indiana Jones wannabe, SAHARA (2005).  However against all odds, the McConaughey who first made his name in independent films directed by Richard Linklater and some extra-ambitious big-budget films, like CONTACT and AMISTAD, has come back with a vengeance, a comeback that has been dubbed, "the McConaissance" (like renaissance).
It seems to have first started in 2011 when he starred as the titular character in the book adaptation THE LINCOLN LAWYER, quickly followed up in the same year in a supporting role as a comical district attorney in Richard Linklater's BERNIE, and then, in the same summer, as the menacing pervert of a titular character in William Friedkin's KILLER JOE.  In Summer 2012, McConaughey then stole the show as the proprietor of a male strip joint in Steven Soderbergh's MAGIC MIKE and earned further acclaim this past summer as the titular character in MUD.  In addition to DALLAS BUYER'S CLUB, McConaughey also filled out 2013 with a brief but very memorable performance in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, which featured him very prominently in the marketing.  He's gone from being the representative of shallow, loathsome romantic comedies that give the genre a bad name to being one of the top and most exciting acting talents in the film industry.
So while his Academy Award potential is very high, with an undoubted edge after winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama, the question is whether it's based on the actual merits of this performance or if it's more of a "comeback" award.  Despite the strengths of his performance, it appears to be the latter, considering the strength of the competition (and one of my favorite performances of last year, Tom Hanks in CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, wasn't even nominated), and he wasn't nominated for his even better performance in KILLER JOE in 2011.  However, if he did win, it wouldn't be such a great injustice, nor if he lost for that matter.  I'm skeptical that this particular performance deserves it though.
As a Best Picture candidate, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is an honorary presence, with practically no chance of winning the big prize, without a Best Director nomination to solidify its presence, nor the hype that propelled ARGO to the win without a Best Director nomination last year.  It's the sort of film that the Academy just can't pass up, given its importance of subject matter and moral complexity, but it's not especially noteworthy in terms of filmmaking or audience appeal.  Furthermore, Jean-Marc Vallee's direction is barely standard, and sometime disjointed, casting a pall on the film as a whole (the editing is partially to blame for the disjointedness, which makes its Best Editing nomination feel undeserved).
While I'm reluctant to discount the competition in the category, Jared Leto's performance as Rayon is highly deserving of the Best Supporting Actor award, for which he is the frontrunner by a significant margin.  As Rayon, a role into which he properly transforms, Leto is the comedy, tragedy and heart of the film, in a role that could have easily been cloying or simple awards bait.
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is the most Oscar-y of this year's major nominees, and as far as the ones I've seen so far (I'm still short two of the Best Picture nominees), it's the most disappointing, but it's proven well that it can't be underestimated.  I predict it will win Best Actor (McConaughey), Best Supporting Actor (Leto) and Best Makeup & Hairstyling.

Jared Leto as "Rayon", on the left, and Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof, on the right.

Happy President's Day

Happy President's Day!  Spend it with a couple of memorable movie presidents:

President Andrew Shepherd- Greatest Moment: Unabashedly embracing regulations for greenhouse gas emissions and firearms in an epic speech while up for re-election.

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT  (ROMANTIC-COMEDY/DRAMA, 1995)
Directed by Rob Reiner; Starring Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, Richard Dreyfuss, Shawna Waldron, David Paymer; Rated PG-13 for some strong language.

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, known for THE SOCIAL NETWORK and television series The West Wing and The Newsroom, claimed in TV Guide that he wrote most of the script for THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT while under the influence of cocaine.  Undoubtedly, this is no surprise, and perhaps refreshing news, to the conservative critics who disdained the film for its brazen Clinton-era liberalism, but hey, on crack or not, the liberals still have the best screenwriters.  Michael Douglas stars as popular Democratic President of the United States Andrew Shepherd, a widowed father facing re-election and attempting to pass a crime control bill, but Congressional support for the bill is coming up short from both parties.  The Republicans are vehemently against the President's passion project, but the Democrats resent the bill for being "toothless", exemplified by Lewis Rothschild (Michael J. Fox), the White House Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, who is infuriated by the watering down of the firearms regulations section of the bill.  A hardball-playing lobbyist, Sidney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening), has been hired by an environmental lobbying firm to petition for the Administration's support of an upcoming bill to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and despite their political positions, the single President Shepherd begins to court Miss Wade.  Their relationship starts to threaten each others' political careers, first as Republican presidential candidate hopeful Bob Rumson (Rumsfeld?), played by Richard Dreyfuss, starts to use the President's relationship to question his ethics and "traditional family values", and worse, as their respective bills may not pass if the other does.

An obvious path to Sorkin's The West Wing, it shares many themes that the series' earlier episodes would cover, i.e. gun control and "proportional response", similar character dynamics in an idealized White House staff, and Martin Sheen, who played President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing, co-stars in THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT as President Shepherd's White House Chief of Staff and close confidant, A.J. MacInerney.
The politics are undoubtedly liberal, so if that bothers you, it'll probably be difficult to enjoy, but it contains a total reverence for the democratic process and the Presidential Office, filled with Sorkin's trademark rich and snappy dialogue, plus a fun and funny romantic story at the core.

President Merkin Muffley- Greatest Moment: Almost averted total nuclear holocaust.

DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB  (COMEDY/WAR, 1964)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick; Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull; Rated PG for thematic elements, some violent content, sexual humor and mild language. 
Legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick decided to follow up his 1962 British black comedy, LOLITA, with a contemporary Cold War thriller about a nuclear incident, based on Peter George's novel Red Alert, also known as Two Hours to Doom.  The story told of a United States Air Force general who, in the midst of a paranoid fit, unilaterally launches a preemptive nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, sending B-52 bombers kept in perpetual flight near U.S.S.R. targets in case of nuclear attack.  Wing Attack Plan R was designed to allow retaliation should a first strike nuclear attack completely debilitate the U.S. Government.  While adapting the novel into a screenplay with the book's author, Kubrick began to realize that the intricacies and ludicrous thinking behind not just the scenario, but also the real world methods of nuclear intimidation were better suited to a dark comedy than a thriller.  That's how a story of nuclear annihilation became one of the best and funniest film comedies of all time, even at a time when nuclear annihilation very much seemed to be a real world possibility.
The story is basically the same, with USAF General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) launching a nuclear strike on the U.S.S.R. in an overblown fit of Freudian insecurity after a case of impotence.  While the U.S. Army battles their way into the Burpelson Air Force Base where Ripper is holed up with the only cease code required to call of the B-52 bombers, President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) calls together his top officers and aides in the "War Room" in an emergency attempt to deal with the situation.  Amongst the eccentric characters in President Muffley's council are the bombastic General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott), who's actually excited by the notion of going to war with the Commies, and Dr. Strangelove (Sellers), an ex-Nazi mad scientist and expert on nuclear technologies, as well as Alexei de Sadeski (Peter Bull), the Russian ambassador with confused priorities.
British comedian Peter Sellers, who co-starred in Kubrick's lurid comedy LOLITA, re-collaborated with Kubrick for STRANGELOVE, playing three distinctly different roles; the nebbish British RAF officer Group Captain Lionel Mandrake in an officer exchange program and Ripper's executive officer attempting to obtain the cease code, bumbling President Muffley who plays straight man to the War Room's over-the-top personalities, and the psychotic German Dr. Strangelove.  Initially, Sellers had intended to play a fourth character, the Texan bomber pilot Major T.J. "King" Kong, but an ankle injury made it impractical to perform in the constrained bomber set, so comic actor Slim Pickens was cast instead.
Despite its then-contemporary Cold War setting, the film's sense of humor, satire and comic performances remain as fresh as even the best comedies of today, plus, the opening credits feature a sex scene between airplanes.

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14 Love Stories: ETERNAL SUNSHINE

Happy Valentine's Day!

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND    (2004)
Directed by Michel Gondry
Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, Jane Adams, David Cross
Rated R for language, some drug and sexual content.
Availability: Available to rent from most streaming services and retailers

"How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd"                                                           -"Eloisa to Abelard" by Alexander Pope

Charlie Kaufman is one of the most creative and original screenwriters of all time.  In his first feature film, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999), people discovered an anonymous door in their office building which turned out to be a portal into B-list actor John Malkovich's mind, an effect which lasted fifteen minutes before dumping them out in a ditch by the New Jersey Turnpike.  For his 2002 film ADAPTATION, Kaufman had been commissioned to adapt the non-fiction novel The Orchid Thief.  Instead, he wrote a screenplay about himself (played by Nicholas Cage) struggling to adapt The Orchid Thief, with one scene even taking place on the set of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH.  Finally, Kaufman breaks through his writer's block, writing a script about himself trying to adapt The Orchid Thief before deciding to write a script about himself trying to adapt The Orchid Thief and so on.  It sounds headache-inducing, but for an invested viewer, it's about as fun as cerebral cinema gets.
The film which finally won him an Academy Award for Best Screenwriting was 2004's ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.  Like BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and ADAPTATION, it's an incredible mixing pot of genre elements infused with humor and genuine whimsy, and it's one of the most soothing screen romances out there.
Comedian Jim Carrey gives his best performance (not exactly saying a lot, but he really is good in this) as Joel Barish, an emotionally withdrawn and tightly-wound everyman who has a relationship with ball-busting "manic pixie girl" (despite decrying such a stereotype, she meets most of the qualifications) Clementine (Kate Winslet).  The story is told non-linearly, so before the film concludes, it isn't always clear what's happening before and after, as the film weaves through a neatly crafted maze of relationship stages, perceptions of memory, the real and the surreal.  Clementine's and Joel's relationship winds up on the rocks, and characteristically impulsive Clementine literally has her memory of their relationship removed from her memory.  Realizing that Clementine no longer even recognizes him, Joel tracks down the source of her selective amnesia to Lacuna, Inc., a bustling little company in New York which offers to literally remove the memories of a person's badly-ended relationships.  Busiest just around Valentine's Day, the company's founder Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) takes pity on Joel and offers to squeeze him into his schedule as well, an offer that Joel accepts.  After creating a mental map of the relationship in Joel's brain, the procedure is carried out by Stan Fink (Mark Ruffalo), and his assistants Patrick (Elijah Wood) and Mary (Kirsten Dunst) right inside Joel's own bedroom, after which they will leave and Joel's relationship with Clementine and the procedure will be completely unknown to him.  Once he's asleep and the procedure is taking place, Joel sees the events of his relationship with Clementine in reverse and starts to have second thoughts, as bit by bit, both the good and the bad memories begin to fall apart and out of existence.
Through its complex labyrinth of memories, emotions and perceptions, ETERNAL SUNSHINE weaves a tapestry of romantic memory and personal evolution, love and passion, often with a great deal of lighthearted comedy and an abundance of visual inventiveness.  It's in a vein similar to Woody Allen's ANNIE HALL, using fantasy, wish-fulfillment and cerebral ambitions to explore the paradoxical vast complexity and intimate simplicity of the romantic experience.