Gilmore Girls: Season 7 (2006-2007)

Probably about a year ago I watched the first two episodes of this show post creator Amy Sherman’s departure, and I felt disappointed. The momentum seemed to have been lost, and the witty dialogue not quite up to previous standards. But being a completist I had to finish it, and am pleased to report that the show regained its footing providing for an enjoyable final season, and despite some others protestations I approved of the way it ended. 4 out of 5.

My Oscar Picks for the 81st Annual Acadamy Awards

Best Motion Picture of the Year Nominees:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Ceán Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall

Frost/Nixon (2008): Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Eric Fellner

Milk (2008/I): Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks

The Reader (2008): Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Christian Colson

My prediction: Slumdog Millionaire
My personal choice: The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Nominees:

Richard Jenkins for The Visitor (2007/I)

Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon (2008)

Sean Penn for Milk (2008/I)

Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler (2008)

My prediction: Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Nominees:

Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Angelina Jolie for Changeling (2008)

Melissa Leo for Frozen River (2008)

Meryl Streep for Doubt (2008/I)

Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008)

My prediction (and preference): Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Nominees:

Josh Brolin for Milk (2008/I)

Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder (2008)

Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt (2008/I)

Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008)

Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road (2008)

Of course the late Heath Ledger is a lock for The Dark Knight, though this is a really strong category this year.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Nominees:

Amy Adams for Doubt (2008/I)

Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Viola Davis for Doubt (2008/I)

Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler (2008)

I hold out hope for a much deserved win for Viola Davis in Doubt.

Best Achievement in Directing Nominees:

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Stephen Daldry for The Reader (2008)

David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon (2008)

Gus Van Sant for Milk (2008/I)

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, though Van Sant might upset.


Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Nominees:

Frozen River (2008): Courtney Hunt

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008):Mike Leigh

In Bruges (2008): Martin McDonagh

Milk (2008/I): Dustin Lance Black

WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon

Dustin Lance Black for Milk

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published Nominees:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Roth, Robin Swicord

Doubt (2008/I): John Patrick Shanley

Frost/Nixon (2008): Peter Morgan

The Reader (2008): David Hare

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Simon Beaufoy

David Hare for The Reader, though I wouldn’t be disappointed if John Patrick Shanley got it for Doubt.

Best Achievement in Cinematography Nominees:

Changeling (2008): Tom Stern

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Claudio Miranda

The Dark Knight (2008): Wally Pfister

The Reader (2008): Roger Deakins, Chris Menges

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Anthony Dod Mantle

Wally Pfister for The Dark Knight

Best Achievement in Editing Nominees:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter

The Dark Knight (2008): Lee Smith

Frost/Nixon (2008): Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill

Milk (2008/I): Elliot Graham

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Chris Dickens

Elliot Graham for Milk

Best Achievement in Art Direction Nominees:

Changeling (2008): James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo

The Dark Knight (2008): Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando

The Duchess (2008): Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway

Revolutionary Road (2008): Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt

James J Murakami and Gary Fettis for Changeling

Best Achievement in Costume Design Nominees:

Australia (2008): Catherine Martin

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Jacqueline West

The Duchess (2008): Michael O'ConnorMilk (2008/I): Danny Glicker

Revolutionary Road (2008): Albert Wolsky

Albert Woksky for Revolutionary Road, Catherine Martins already won before I think.

Best Achievement in Makeup Nominees:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Greg Cannom

The Dark Knight (2008): John Caglione Jr., Conor O'Sullivan

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008): Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz

Greg Cannom for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, this film defiantly deserves this award.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score Nominees:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Alexandre Desplat

Defiance (2008): James Newton Howard

Milk (2008/I): Danny Elfman

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman

WALL·E (2008): Thomas Newman

A. R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song Nominees:

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman, Sampooran Singh Gulzar("Jai Ho")

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam("O Saya")

WALL·E (2008): Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman("Down to Earth")

A. R. Rahman and Sampooran Singh Gulzar’s “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire, though I quite enjoyed “Down to Earth” from WALL-E. Why is this catagory so often anemic?

Best Achievement in Sound
Nominees:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten

The Dark Knight (2008): Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty

WALL·E (2008): Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt

Wanted (2008): Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt

The Dark Knight

Best Achievement in Sound Editing Nominees:

The Dark Knight (2008): Richard King

Iron Man (2008): Frank E. Eulner, Christopher Boyes

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Tom Sayers

WALL·E (2008): Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood

Wanted (2008): Wylie Stateman

Wall-e, because I watched the special feature on how they did the sound for that sucker, and that’s an accomplishment (not my watching the special feature, how they did the sound).

Best Achievement in Visual Effects Nominees:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron

The Dark Knight (2008): Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin

Iron Man (2008): John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, Shane Mahan

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Nominees:

Bolt (2008): Chris Williams, Byron Howard

Kung Fu Panda (2008): John Stevenson, Mark Osborne

WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton

No question, Wall-E

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Nominees:

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)(Germany)

Entre les murs (2008)(France)

Revanche (2008)(Austria)

Okuribito (2008)(Japan)

Vals Im Bashir (2008)(Israel)

Vals Im Bashir, because that one I know.

Best Documentary, Features Nominees:

The Betrayal - Nerakhoon (2008): Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath

Encounters at the End of the World (2007): Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser

The Garden (2008/I): Scott Hamilton Kennedy

Man on Wire (2008): James Marsh, Simon Chinn

Trouble the Water (2008): Tia Lessin, Carl Deal

Man on Wire, I’ve heard of that one.

Best Documentary, Short Subjects Nominees:

The Conscience of Nhem En (2008): Steven Okazaki

The Final Inch (2009): Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant

Smile Pinki (2008): Megan Mylan

The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306 (2008): Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde

The Witness form the Balcony of Room 306

Best Short Film, Animated Nominees:

Maison en petits cubes, La (2008): Kunio Katô

Ubornaya istoriya - lyubovnaya istoriya (2007): Konstantin Bronzit

Oktapodi (2007): Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand

Presto (2008): Doug Sweetland

This Way Up (2008): Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes

This Way Up, I compared what I could see of these on You Tube and this one looked the best, it’s about two undertakers.

Best Short Film, Live Action

Nominees:

Auf der Strecke (2007): Reto Caffi

Manon sur le bitume (2007): Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont

New Boy (2007): Steph Green, Tamara Anghie

Grisen (2008): Tivi Magnusson, Dorthe Warnø Høgh

Spielzeugland (2007): Jochen Alexander Freydank

Spielzeugland , based on the strength of the title.

Milk (2008)

Gus Van Sant ably directs this bio-pick of Harvey Milk, an opera loving camera shop owner who became the first openly gay man elected to public office in the United States, and was later assassinated by a fellow member of the San Francisco city council. At age 40 Milk was a mostly closeted insurance man, but then with his lover Scott Smith (James Franco) moved to San Francisco in 1972, and after 3 unsuccessful runs for public office was finally elected to the city council in 1977, after re-districting left him running in a neighborhood composed mostly of “homosexuals and hippies” (though interestingly he’d build a political collation including union works, senior citizens, and racial minorities).

The timing for this film couldn’t haven’t been more symbolically providential, as the last act deals largely with a 1978 California ballot measure known as Proposition 6. Prop 6 would have resulted in the firing of all homosexual employees, and their sympathizers, from the states public school system. The measure was interestingly opposed by both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and ultimately went down to a stunning defeat. However said proposition also marked one of the first major legislative efforts of what would later be termed the ‘religious right‘.

Sean Penn gives a heck of a performance as Harvey Milk, an innately capable and charismatic individual who managed to focus a life time of feeling second class into a breakthrough political movement, though at the ultimate cost of his life. The whole film builds wonderfully well, we know at the start where this all is heading, they tell us in the first few minutes, but to see Milk push head long and willing into his ultimate destiny is the stuff of inspirational films. A supporting cast including Josh Brolin, Alison Pill and Emile Hirsch are consistently excellent, and the film just kind of soars on a cock-eyed (no pun intended) optimism. One of the best films of the year. 5 out of 5.

Pickup on South Street (1953)

Samual Fuller’s teasing direction and some well calibrated performances, particularly Thelma Ritter's character actressy Moe, and Richard Widmark’s subtlety complicated Skip, lift this mediocre script about street hoods, informants, communists and government microfilm to something proto-sublime. Jean Peters is quite the tart, and Milburn Stone vaguely Eisenhower like. Richard Kiley mostly perspires. You can tell this film was shoot on very little budget, but it works for a movie about people who live on the boarder of economic desperation, which in turn makes it kind of poignant for 2009, no. Still I didn’t care for it as much as Steve, a good film but not quite my cup of tea, I’m gonna give 3 out of 5.

Revolutionary Road (2008)

If you were to combine the last two films reviewed, The Reader and Magnificent Obsession, you’d probably get something like Revolutionary Road. This is a powerfully acted, well directed film that grafts deep character insights onto melodrama terrain. Based on the very well regard 1961 novel by Richard Yates , this is The Man in the Gray Flannel Suite by way of Alan Ball, which seems appropriate in that it was directed by American Beauty’s Sam Mendes. April (Kate Winslet) and Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DeCaprio, finally beginning to show his age) are a young 1950's married couple whose bohemian dreams become submerged beneath existentially oppressive suburban conformity. After appearing in a stinker of a community theater production and realizing that her long deferred dreams of being an actress are never to be, April revives and convinces Frank to agree to a long abandoned plan that the couple move to Paris (because “people are alive there, not like here”). For a while this seems to be the couples hope of salvation, as the emotional conditions in their marriage vastly improve while preparing for their journey to Europe, which they plan to embark on in several months time. However circumstances change when April gets unexpectedly pregnant, and the conditions at Franks stifling dead-end job take a financially promising turn. The couple becomes divided into two camps, embracing opposite but both very legitimate perspectives on the hopes and needs, financial and spiritual, of their family and their marriage. Tennessee Williams territory is thusly entered, and there’s a lot of shouting.

A beautiful period look is enhanced by period faces. The ensemble supporting cast all manage to somehow look very 1950's physically. The Kathy Bates of fondly remembered irreverence, becomes subdued, smaller, as the Wheelers semi-obtrusive real estate agent, she evens manages to do a nervous eye flutter thing, that I would have thought it impossible to fake. The actor who plays Bates husband looks remarkably like Milton Berle, and Michael Shannon as the couples son evokes Oscar Levant in a multitude of ways. Dylan Baker gets a scene chewing role as a wryly comic drunk of a sort that just doesn’t fully translate in a modern film adaptation. One of the great things about this movie is not knowing how it’s going to end, and being kind of shocked at the ballsy way it ultimately does. This is the second best movie of the year, only slightly below The Reader in my estimation, and the best film about 1950's America since Far From Heaven (2002). 5 out of 5.

Magnificent Obsession (1954)

Douglas Sirk first teamed Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman in this widely successful melodrama based on the book by Lloyd C. Douglas. Playboy and medical school drop-out Hudson inadvertently contributes to the death of Wyman’s saintly doctor husband. Later Hudson is accidentally responsible for Wyman’s going blind, and thusly stricken by a combination of guilt and lust (later love), he pursues her romantically under an alias, secretly pays for her living and medical expenses, and later becomes a neurosurgeon just in time to save her rattled brain.

Now one of the more interesting ongoing debates in the world of cinemaphiles is between those who think Sirk a subtlety supervise genius, who used melodramatic conventions to cast a cynical eye on a surficy time, and those who think he was just an exquisite purveyor of schlock. My experience with this film lead me in both directions. On my first viewing I was completely drawn in, I bought the whole thing and it seemed powerful drama, but on my second viewing (thank God I watched it twice), all the schlock seemed to come out and I realized what a schmaltzy, even ridicules piece of melodrama this film is. Sirk managed to trick me, which proves he was talented, as he sold me a load goods. I brought the car home only to realize it was all spit and polish of presentation, its story a tortured lemon. Whether this means Sirk was an artistic genius, or just a brilliant conman I don’t rightly know, most likely a bit of both, which if you think about it is really what every successful studio system autor had to be.

As befits a movie based on a book by a Congregationalist Minster, Magnificent Obsession is filled with Christian undertones, many of them provided by the kind of fascinating performance of Otto Kruger, whose serine artiest character can be seen as a stand in for God, the Holy Sprit, the Apostle Peter, or even director Sirk himself (the two were known to have something of a physical resemblance). Sirk regular Agnes Moorhead is here too as a loyal but somewhat stern nurse, and of course the cinematography is rich and beautifully done by Russell Metty . If you see one Sirk helmed Hudson/Wyman romance make it the deeper and more culturally significant All that Heaven Allows, still for high end camp little could top Magnificent Obsession. 4 out of 5.

The Reader (2008)

I recently had the pleasant experience of coming out of a local theater and knowing that I had just seen the best picture of last year. Far and away over 2008’s other contenders for the coveted Best Picture Oscar, The Reader moved me. More then the Hollywood conventional Benjamin Button, more then the cause celeb Slumdog Millionaire, both of which are fine films; The Reader was such an astoundingly well executed and riveting emotional journey, that I was just awed. It is the journey of one Michael Berg, played as a young man by the fine German actor David Kross (who learned English for the role) and later in life by the always fascinating Ralph Fiennes. It is a journey that is circumscribed by Berg’s ultimately decades long ‘relationship’ with the enigmatic Hannah Schmidt (Kate Winslet in the performance destined to win her an Oscar). The plot is somewhat complicated and thusly is best introduced by the films theatrical trailer, beyond which I wouldn’t want to say much. Only after seeing the film did I make the connection that it had been directed by Stephen Daldry, whose 2002 film The Hours I had found similarly enveloping and powerful, as well as tonally similar. The masterpiece of the year, certainly the film I would be casting my ballot for where I an academy voter. 5 out of 5.

James Whitmore: 1921-2009

Who didn’t like James Whitmore? Kind of rediscovered by director Frank Darabont and used winningly in his films The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Majestic (2001), it is as these kindly older men that we probably best know Whitmore. But James Whitmore was an active force on film, stage and television from the late 1940’s until only recently (2007 marked his last role), I‘ve even heard that James Dean had expressed admiration for him as an actor. Even in odd, not fully balanced pieces like The Next Voice You Here (1950), or a role that could be played by pretty much any one (the cop in Them (1954)), James Whitmore had a drawing presence, and a body of work I'm sure I’ve only scratched the surfice of. I must make point to remedy this in the future.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

This indie sleeper (no pun intended) that almost didn’t get a theatrical release, has become a cause celeb in the movie world right now, no doubt in part because of its able director Danny Boyle’s tireless promotion. Boyle believes in this project to an uncommon degree, all the more impressive because he first passed the script over when it was almost dismissively presented to him as a movie about a game show. It is about a game show, the most popular game show in the world, India’s version of Who Wants to be A Millionaire, but that’s just a framing device for a sometimes awkward, but sincere fable juxtaposed against the harsh realities of Indian street life. It’s a rare movie that can be simultaneously described as feel good and traumatic, and that in itself indicates that its going to have cohesion and tonal issues. Yet it has been described like Rocky, it makes you feel good, though to be honest I found that effect a little muted myself, but I think that’s because the expectation game set everything so high. Still a remarkable accomplishment, a beautiful looking film that through its embrace of certain story conventions, has provided opportunity for numerous Americans to see the appalling conditions under which most of the worlds inhabitants live… and they also get to see a Bollywood-type musical number, so good for the viewers on two fronts. Coming after the underdog year of Barak Obama, it also ironically captures something of our national mood, hopes and aspirations. My current prediction for this years Oscar best picture winner. 5 out of 5.

Frost/Nixon (2008)

This was one of the award season movies I was really looking forward to. I had seen most of the actual Frost/Nixon interviews several years ago and knew them to be compelling, and with that cast, director, and well regarded source martial (Peter Morgan’s 2006 play) behind it, I figured the story around those interviews would be well worth my time. Now it is good, better then average, but I was still disappointed, both Doubt and The Dark Knight would have been more deserving of its place amongst the best picture nominations. The only thing that was truly remarkable about the film was Frank Langella’s performance as Nixon, its possibly cinemas best, and there have been a goodly number of movie Nixon’s. So I’d say see this film on video, you’ll probably enjoy it, but graded on the Oscar season curve I was just a little put off. Still, 4 out of 5.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Very loosely based on the story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button provides a wide and very cinematic landscape for director David Fincher, as well as a significant change of pace from projects like Fight Club, Se7en, and Zodiac. However the story is very simple, it’s a love story played out over the better part of a century, and one that would be rather unremarkable were it not for the odd condition that renders Benjamin Buttons (Brad Pitt) case curious, he ages in reverse. This provides plenty of complication as he and his true love Daisy (Cate Blanchett) dance around each other for most of their lives, enjoying only a few years of loving domesticity in the 1960’s and early 70’s. Attached to all this are a series of enjoyable secondary characters, friends and family whose stories intertwine with Benjamin’s over the decades, including a man whose been struck been struck by lighting seven times, an audience favorite judging from crowed reaction during my showing. While it comes across feeling oddly contained for an epic of this scope, it is a theater worthy cinematic experience, an odd event film that’s a more existential Forest Gump. So well executed, so oddly compelling, and rightly paced (though everyone seems to describe it as long, but I didn‘t feel it was particularly so), that I deem it a 5 out of 5.

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)

We’ve all heard of Jonestown, the 1978 mass suicide by way of cyanide laced Kool-Aid that killed over 900 members of the cultic Peoples Temple Agricultural Project in Guyana. However few of use are likely to know much about that event, or the man behind it, beyond those few details. That is where this PBS produced documentary proves its worth. It’s a darkly fascinating story that centers of course on Jim Jones, the People’s Temple founder who as a small town kid in 1930's Indiana liked to kill small animals so he could hold elaborate funeral services for them in his fathers barn. Jones was attracted to minorities (adopting three non-white children) and charismatic religious services, this lead to his development of a kind of progressive Pentecostalism, a movement, centered on him, that eventually made it headquarters in California and attracted thousands of followers.

Jones started the compound in Guyana to get away from an increasingly quizzical press, and the families of members who were raising alarm about his cult of personality, and the dictatorial control he held over members (who would often deed him their property, and with whom he could apparently have sex at will, both male and female). Eventually a Congressman (Leo Ryan) came down to Jonestown to investigate the compound, some members expressed a desire to return to the United States with him, and all hell broke lose, Ryan and nearly a thousand others lost their lives. There’s of course much more to this story, much human cost vividly evoked by the stories of surviving members, many of whom still hold a certain fondness for the sense of community they felt as members of Peoples Temple. I learned a lot from this fascinating little expose of a hunting tragedy. 3 1/2 out of 5

The Emperor Waltz (1948)

It took me a while to figure out what exactly it was about this Billy Wilder comedy that distinguishes it from other Billy Wilder comedies. Then it hit me, this movie can actually be described as sweet and sentimental, something Wilder was generally loath to be; with his earlier film The Major and the Minor being the only other Wilder film I’ve seen that I would describe in those terms. I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that nostalgia drips through this movie, as it is set in the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the directors youth, though largely amongst the upper classes of which the Wilders were not a part (in his authorized biography Nobody's Perfect the director tells a wonderfully reveling little story about his childhood jealously of the crown prince).

One of those Bing Crosby comedies so many talented writers and directors seemingly served time doing, it’s a more then likable enough feature, in which Bing plays an American phonograph salesman (good gag with a dog) who falls in love with a women of the aristocracy (Joan Fontaine not stretching herself). The movie ends kind of oddly, of course Bing gets the girl, but only after being roused to moral certitude after a general orders some mixed-breed puppies drowned. What I liked the most about the movie were a very few musical scenes set in the scenic village of Fiddle. It was interesting to see musical numbers like this in a Wilder film, but I liked the way they were handled, and that moment with all the villagers on their string interments, just felt like an encapsulation of what a good sentimental, period musical could be. 4 out of 5.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)

The classic Mark Twain story as a Bing Crosby vehicle. Here Crosby is a blacksmith turned mechanic from 1905 Connecticut, who is unexplainably whisked back in time to 7th Century England. Once there he wows the locals with the magic of match‘s, a magnifying lens, and a farmers almanac, while romancing the red headed Rhonda Fleming, and saving the perpetually sneezing King Arthur (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) from the machinations of the evil Merlin ( Murvyn Vye). Entertaining, but far from boundary stretching. 3 out of 5.