The #TFS100 and 'Favorite' vs. 'Greatest'

     We movie-lovers, film-buffs, cinephiles, what have you, we are an eclectic bunch.  From all walks of life, from full-time writers to accountants, we come together to share our love of cinema with each other & the world.  And since its inception, we have thrived on Twitter.  So much so that one of us started an even smaller & more passionate community called the Talk Film Society (formerly the Tweet Film Society).  It's mission is simple: to talk & celebrate the best of the cinema.
     It's founder, Marcelo J. Pico, decided to do something ambitious this past June: create a list of the best 100 films as voted on by the Society's members.  We were each asked for our lists of the "25 Greatest Movies". Hundreds of you (I say "you" and not "us" because I didn't submit a list, having taken a Twitter break for a few weeks.  Oh, the stuff I miss...) sent in ballots.  And the results were, in short & in my opinion, disappointing.
     We all have a movie collection.  And by all of us, I mean everyone who watches movies.  Usually within that collection, we have a few DVDs with scratches from playing them numerous times.  For me, there are four specifically in that condition: DR. STRANGELOVE, BOOGIE NIGHTS, AIRPLANE! and WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.  These are the four movies that I consider my favorites.  If I have just finished a terrible, waste of my time movie, I usually put one of these in to make me feel better.
     That is what a favorite should be: something you never get tired of.  I would love to proclaim the glory, beauty & greatness of these movies.  Just one problem: I only think two of these movies are "great".  The other two are just "good" or "highly watchable".  But which ones?
     Let's begin with the one by Kubrick.  Simply put, DR. STRANGELOVE is a masterpiece.  It's dark satire about the possibility of nuclear war and its effects on man is just as biting now as (I assume) it was 50 years ago.  I hope to go into greater detail about this in the future.  P.T. Anderson's sophomore effort is still, to me, his finest (2.5) hour(s).  A glorious story of finding fortune, "fame" & "family" in the dark underbelly of the adult entertainment.  We feel for these characters.  We know these characters.  We hope for them to find some sort of happiness.  Again, I will love to get deeper into this later.  These two would probably land on my Top 25 somewhere.
     Let me repeat that: DR. STRANGELOVE and BOOGIE NIGHTS would probably land on my Top 25.  These are my favorites movies.  I think they are perfect movies, right?  Wrong.  I could nitpick these if given the time to re-watch and fully focus on them.  But I have seen better than both.  SCHINDLER'S LIST would be my #1 movie of all time.  It's harrowing look at one man's quest to save potential Holocaust victims is beautiful & disturbing at the same time.  CITIZEN KANE, my would-be #2, is a technical marvel and arguably the most influential film of all time.  The amount of praise I could place on these movies could be endless.  The total number of viewings: Two, each.  Why?  I am not afraid to admit it, both of my top 2 are tough watches.  The former because of subject matter & length.  The latter due to its almost academic nature.  
   Which finally leads me to the #TFS100 itself.  The first movie to grab my attention was #93 SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD.   As a celebration of geek culture, I kinda get the appeal.  But top 100?  Ehhh...  Then two movies 17 spots apart caught my attention.  Cult favorite DONNIE DARKO is #71 over Big 5 Oscar winner ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST at #88.  This really put chill down my spine.  I became worried that the Talk Film Society had recreated the IMDb Top 250.  As the list was revealed more & more, I noticed the same pattern: a blockbuster, followed by a cult favorite, then a oft-repeated action flick, then a revisionist masterpiece with the occasional modern masterpiece.  The same movies were appearing in virtually the same places.
    Then, #16 was revealed: THE BIG LEBOWSKI.  And that confirmed it.  The Tweet Film Society voted the Coen Brothers' 1998 cult hit as their best movie.  Not NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (#47).  Not FARGO (#24).  No.  The Dude is deemed the best.  That placement is proof positive that a majority of voters picked their favorites.
    At best, you could say each member voted for their biggest influences in becoming the film buff they are today.   But that is just spin.  A euphemism.  Their favorites were placed on a pedestal years ago.  Whether they be the movies their brother made them watch (DIE HARD), movies they grew up on (FIGHT CLUB) or a movie they discovered on its opening night (INCEPTION), nostalgia gets the best of us sometimes.  I don't mean to criticize anyone's opinion.  I just want to start a conversation about why THE GRADUATE is a better, but not necessarily more enjoyable or watchable, movie than TITANIC, THE PRINCESS BRIDE or DIE HARD.
    The best films leave that lasting impact that influence all of your love of cinema.  Especially on your favorites.  Our favorite movies are that comfort food that you reheat in the microwave and devour in 90 minutes.  But the best of the best are like a fine wine: preserved in a vault, just waiting to caress your palette.

THE (not so) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (opening weekend)

When a movie earns $91.6 million over a three day period, a celebration commences at a studio.  But today, in the board room of Columbia Pictures, a Sony Entertainment company, no one should be celebrating.  I mean, champagne may have been uncorked, but it certainly shouldn't have been flowing.

Simply put, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (TASM2) underperformed this past weekend.  Sure, $91.6 million won the weekend by about $75 million over the dreadful THE OTHER WOMAN.  But look beyond the real money.  You find the tracking projections, ranging from $95-100 million.  Swing and a miss there.  What is "tracking"?  Tracking is, simply put, the awareness of a movie's existence with the general public and their possibility that John Q. Moviegoer & family will buy a ticket opening weekend.  An inexact science, yes, but most of the time is very accurate.

I know what you're thinking right now: Almost, you just want to bury the movie because you hated it and aren't a real Spider-Man fan.  Well, it is true that I'm not a comic book guy (never have), I loved the original Raimi/Maguire trilogy and hated the reboot two years ago but I certainly didn't hate this installment.  Don't get your fanboy panties in a bunch.

Anyhoo, projections are just one part of the equation.  Box office receipts are just like a CEO's wallet, the larger the better.  Let's start with the original trilogy.  The first SPIDER-MAN, released in 2002 and seen by yours truly at 16, blasted opening weekend records with $114.85 million.  At the time, opening weekend meant something but movies with legs were still common.  SPIDER-MAN 3 performed even better, bringing in $151.1 million opening weekend; of which, $6.00 coming from then 21-year-old, colIflege junior me.

Aha!, you say.  You discovered 2004's SPIDER-MAN 2 and its $88.1 million weekend.  But, as 18-year-old me will remind you, I saw SM2 twice: on a Friday night with friends...(wait for it)...on Wednesday, June 30 at my hometown drive-in with my family.  That's right, SPIDER-MAN 2 opened on a Wednesday.  And, as we all know, official opening weekends are always recorded on the first Friday-Sunday.  Therefore, the first $64.25 million earned but SM2 doesn't count in this record.  There's more to this story, but I'll get to that soon enough.

But, you say defensively, TASM2 has the biggest weekend this year and kicked off the summer.  You're half right, it did kick off the summer.  But let's take a look at CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER.  Sure, this weekend it didn't do that well ($7.775 million), but what do you expect for a fifth weekend at the box office?  Let's look at my brother's birthday weekend, April 4-6.  $95 million.  Not a typo there.  The sequel to the reboot of the most popular Marvel comic book character was defeated by the maybe the fifth most popular one; in my opinion, rightfully so.  And did I mention Steve Rodgers had 300 fewer screens than Peter Parker?

The disappointment of TASM2, however, underlines a major issue facing the movie business today.  There are three advantages TASM2 had over the original trilogy a decade ago.  First, ticket prices.  Compared to the first sequel, SPIDER-MAN 2, TASM2 had an $2.25 higher ticket price.  If you adjust for inflation, SPIDER-MAN 2 goes from $4.5 million down to a whopping $31.4 million advantage.  Second item in TASM2's favor are the 3-D & IMAX upcharges.  Let's say I log onto my favor theatre's website and try to purchase tickets.  To go to the mid-afternoon matinee, that's $6.50.  Not too bad.  For the 3-D showing, $9.50.  OK, tolerable.  But the IMAX 3-D?  $13.50.  That will empty the wallet quickly.  But what if you have a dayjob and have to go at night?  Prepare yourself for $8.50, $11.50, or $13.50, respectively.  For context, my dad took 5 people to see SPIDER-MAN in 2002 and spent $25 for tickets.  A couple seeing TASM2 in IMAX 3-D at 7:30 on a Friday night spent more on two tickets than my now-retired father spent on five 12 years ago.

Which leads to this scary conclusion: When you factor in everything, SPIDER-MAN 3 ($174.8 million adj. opening weekend) sold TWICE AS MANY TICKETS opening weekend than TASM2.  And it's not just SPIDER-MAN with the problem.  It's an epidemic in all of Hollywood.  2012's MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS, the third highest domestic grosser of all time, is only 27th when adjusted for inflation, behind GREASE.  GREASE!  Audience sizes are going down.  The factors, from prices to quality of product to audience behavior, are too numerous and complex for this article.

TASM2 has its moment in the sun now.  With the weak competition, it will probably win next weekend too.  But with GODZILLA and X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST coming up in the following weekends, TASM2 will disappear into the background.  But how far back?  Sure the 56% on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't help, but fanboys don't listen to critics like me (or so they say).  But the CinemaScore (a polling of opening night audiences by an independent party) of 'B+' means word of mouth is mixed, at best.  Today, 50% second weekend drop-offs are normal.  Anything higher than 55% could be considered a disaster.  At worst, TASM2 needs a $43.5 million next weekend against the likes of an R-rated comedy and a poorly marketed animated flick.  After the worst first weekend of the summer since 2006, the summer movie season can only get better.  Well, at least until TRANSFORMERS 4...

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2

I do not own the above image.  Copyright Sony Pictures Entertainment.  All rights reserved.

As I sit here writing this, it has been about an hour since the end of the end credit crawl.  And since I don't have a working computer right now, I sit in front of my Kindle Fire HD my wife bought me two Christmases ago.  I also sit in the dark, alone, my wife having gone to bed as soon as we returned from the screening.  As she lays her head down, wandering off into Dreamland or Slumberland (whichever her preference), I know her last thought tonight is "My sweet & wonderful husband...HOW THE F$&^ DOES HE NOT LOVE THIS MOVIE?!"

Well, it's a bit complicated.  See, I don't hate all of Marc Webb's second installment of the rebooted Spidey comic book series.  For instance, the final 45 minutes: nearly phenomenal.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves, TASM2 is 142 minutes long.  Nearly two and a half hours that go by in a flawed blur.

Peter (Garfield) & Gwen (Stone) have graduated high school and are ready to move on with life together.  That is, as long Peter can get over the ghost of Gwen's father following him.  Meanwhile, Peter's childhood friend Harry Osborn (DeHaan) re-enters the picture to run OsCorp after his father's death.  An accident on Harry's first day appears to have irreversibly changed the life of Max Dillon (Foxx).  All the while, Peter is in constant but harmless conflict with Aunt May (Field) over the legacy and mystery of his parents.

All these stories but which one will carry the film and the audience?  Unfortunately, the answer is none.  None of these stories answer the call and come forward to dominate the narrative.  Instead, every story, at one time or another, tries it's best but is always overshadowed by another plot.  Every story, that is except the story that opens the movie, the mystery of Peter's parents.  Why start a movie like that if it's not going to be the main storyline?  Two more 8-10 minute sequences felt unsatisfactory.

Speaking of disappointment, I give you Electro.  Foxx plays Dillon like if Michael Strahan had never heard of football in his life.  Science nerd with a pocket protector, glasses, tapped teeth and circus-like theme music?  Sure why not.  Pre-accident, we feel sympathy for him but not as much as we should.  Dillon is angry with OsCorp for not giving him credit for the design of the new power plant.  However, instead of showing us a irritating event, screenwriters Kurtzman, Orci and Pinker use one of many stock characters to blurt standard exposition.  Would it have been that hard to show us Max being disrespected by cutting one of the ineffective storylines?

Post-accident isn't much better.  After what feels like an eternity, the moment in Times Square finally arrives where Dillon realizes what he has become is massacred by the aforementioned circus theme.  We realize Electro used to be regular guy Max. But the score, both in this scene and as a whole, is just terrible.  What's more, Dillon also never gets his miniature revenge on the aforementioned stock character.

TASM2 really shines when Peter & Gwen share the screen.  Their relationship, just like Garfield's & Stone's in real life, grows on you.  They are the center of the movie and the third act allows them to shine.  And when [REDACTED] happens, it is the real payoff of the movie.

All that said, the first 90-ish minutes plus flashes of the snarky Spider-Man I loathed so much in the 2012 edition creates a real mess.  It's only after the movie becomes a typical comic book movie that the movie becomes not only watchable but fun & interesting.  If you enjoyed the 2012 reboot, you'll love this.  If you're like me and didn't, you'll be all over the place on this.  If you're a fanboy, the comment thread is below and you need a Google account to scream at me about how this movie wasn't for me.

**1/2

THE OTHER WOMAN

I do not own the above image. Copyright Twentieth Century Fox.  All Rights Reserved.

            Ladies: If you found out your husband was cheating on you when you thought he was on a business trip, what would you do?  A normal woman (like my wife) would perform a castration on that man’s wallet & genitalia.  If you’re screenwriter Melissa Stack and director Nick Cassavetes, you make a would-be comedy about three women seeking juvenile revenge.

            Carly Whitten (Diaz) has it all.  A great job with a personal assistant at a top law firm in NYC.  An apartment every law student dreams of.  And, most importantly, a successful man Mark who fulfills every want and desire.  One night, Carly arrives at Mark’s house to surprise him, only to be met at the door by Kate (Mann), Mark’s wife.  From there, Carly & Kate (slowly) join forces to get to the bottom of Mark’s deceitful ways, eventually being joined by mistress #3 Amber (Upton).

            THE OTHER WOMAN has a setup that, if in capable hands, could be amusing.  Unfortunately, Stack’s screenplay (her first) is a mess and Cassavetes has less talent in his entire body than his late father, John, had in his left pinky finger.  Stack makes the fatal error of letting the audience know by the end of the opening credits that Mark is a cheater.  Regardless of how a movie is marketed, THE OTHER WOMAN (or any movie for that matter) would be better served with a sense of surprise.  Instead, after a montage of Mark & Carly moments, we are treated to a scene of Kate in bed on the morning after one of Mark’s trysts with Carly.  All this leaves the audience impatiently waiting for the 12-15 minutes it takes for the two women to meet.

            Cassavetes’ lack of comic talent behind the camera is easiest to see in the scene where we meet THE OTHER WOMAN herself, Amber.  Making their way to Martha’s Vineyard in “comedic” fashion, Carly & Kate stake-out Mark & Amber behind some sand dunes.  Now, Cassavetes decides to alternate between binocular lens close-ups of Upton and medium shots of Mann looking at her.  During this sequence, Diaz is not on-screen but can be heard talking with Mann.  After about 30 seconds of this, Diaz is finally seen in a medium shot that shows her lazily half-sunbathing, half-posing for the camera instead of searching for Amber that I guess is supposed to be from Mann’s perspective.  While it does match the sequence of shots before it, the shot become the model of the failed bits of humor throughout the movie.  A better alternate shot would have been a wide shot showing Kate looking for Amber while Carly is fully laid out, soaking it all in.

Sure it’s not “Who’s on First?” in quality, but it would have been the funniest moment of the movie.  I’m not exaggerating; I sat stone-faced most of its 110 unfunny minutes.  I cringed when Carly tackled Kate while running after Amber.  I was bug-eyed when Carly helped Mark reenact the “instant diarrhea” scene from 3 NINJAS in a bar.  I was flabbergasted when the movie shifted to the Bahamas for the ridiculously complicated third act.  Finally, I just held my head in my hands, watching in horror as the movie finally reached its climax in cheap fashion.

Mann tries her best for about an hour to make the movie tolerable.  But the material is so terrible, I can’t help but feel (in as little of a sexist manner as I possibly can) that Mann never went over her lines with her husband Judd Apatow, a man who knows unfunny when he sees it.  Upton could be watchable in a movie with the director of someone like Apatow.  But in Cassavetes’ hands she’s an injured puppy on the Beltway, just hopelessly lost.  Upton looks better in her weekly Fark.com comment thread.

But the real issue is Diaz.  If she’s such a huge star, why does she have an agent, a stylist and a plastic surgeon that hate her?  Does Diaz read these scripts before she signs on?  And why is she beginning to look like Ellen Barkin?  Not that there’s anything wrong with the 60-year-old Barkin.  But it’s almost as if Diaz is trying anymore, if you believe she’s even been trying in the first place.  Sure she’s had her moments, but they’ve all been in supporting roles.  With a resume that includes “movies” like this, THE SWEETEST THING and WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, Diaz needs the female version of a McConaissance ASAP.

            Even as I sit here, writing this review 11 days later, I can still smell the stench of THE OTHER WOMAN on my body.  And it’s the pungent smell of stale clichés, lame attempts at humor and lazy filmmaking.  The movie is being marketed as a wonderful “ladies night out” kind of movie.  Ladies, you deserve better.

½*

2014 Academy Award Predictions

Gravity ties Cabaret with 8 Oscars without winning Best Picture.  American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave win 3 each.  Frozen wins two.

Best Picture
12 Years a Slave
*American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor
Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Wolf of Wall Street)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
*Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
*Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Jonah Hill (Wolf of Wall Street)
*Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
*Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)
Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)

Best Director
Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) 
David O. Russell (American Hustle)
*Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)

Best Adapted Screenplay
*John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)

Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater (Before Midnight
)
Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street
)
Billy Ray (Captain Phillips)

Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope (Philomena)

Best Original Screenplay
*David O. Russell and Eric Singer (American Hustle)
Bob Nelson (Nebraska)
Spike Jonze (Her)
Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack (Dallas Buyers Club)
Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine)

Best Foreign Film
Denmark, The Hunt
Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown
*Italy, The Great Beauty
Palestine, Omar
Cambodia, The Missing Picture

Best Documentary Feature
*20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
Dirty Wars
The Square
Cutie and the Boxer

Best Animated Feature
The Wind Rises
*FrozenDespicable Me 2
The Croods
Ernest & Celestine

Film Editing
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
*Gravity
12 Years a Slave

Best Song
"Happy" (Despicable Me 2)
*"Let It Go" (Frozen)
"The Moon Song" (Her)
"Ordinary Love" (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)

Best Original Score
John Williams (The Book Thief)
*Steven Price (Gravity)
Alexandre Desplat (Philomena)
Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks)
William Butler and Owen Pallett (Her)

Best Cinematography
Philippe Le Sourd (The Grandmaster)
*Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity)
Bruno Delbonnel (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Roger Deakins (Prisoners)
Phedon Papamichael (Nebraska)

Costume Design
*American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years A Slave

Makeup and Hairstyling
The Lone Ranger
*Dallas Buyers Club
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

Production Design
American Hustle
*Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
12 Years a Slave

Sound Editing
All is Lost
Captain Phillips
*Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Sound Mixing
Captain Phillips
*Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor
Inside Llewyn Davis

Visual Effects
*Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

Short Film, Live Action
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)
Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)
*Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)
The Voorman Problem

Short Film, AnimatedFeral
Get a Horse!
*Mr. Hublot
Possessions
Room on the Broom

Documentary Short Subject
CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
*The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Stephen A. Mikalik, Academy Voter

I do not own the above image. Copyright Warner Bros. Pictures.  All Rights Reserved.

Best Picture
1. Gravity

2. Her

3. 12 Years a Slave

4. The Wolf of Wall Street

5. Nebraska

6. Captain Phillips

First, I believe only movies I give ****1/2 or more deserve to be Best Picture.  So, Dallas Buyers Club, American Hustle & Philomena are out.  My 3-6 are actually my personal 6-9 for the year.  As great as the nearly everything in Her was, Gravity, after a second viewing, holds up physically & emotionally.

Best Actor
Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Wolf of Wall Street)
*Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

This was way closer of a race than I thought it would have been.  DiCaprio & Ejiofor were the heart & souls of their movies, but without the perfect subtlety from Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave would have been almost unwatchable.

Best Actress
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
*Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

Like I said, everything in Gravity held up the second time, with Bullock at the forefront.  But, who are we kidding, Blanchett put on a clinic this year.

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
*Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Jonah Hill (Wolf of Wall Street)
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

In any other year, I could have voted for any 4 of these guys (sorry, Bradley).  In fact, as I was typing this, I changed my mind.  I changed from Leto to Fassbender.  The middle-of-the-night confrontation by lantern did it for me.

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
*Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)
Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)

As close as the race appears to be, in my mind, there is no debate.  Nyong'o is pitch perfect in the last half of 12 Years A Slave.

Best Director
Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) 
David O. Russell (American Hustle)
*Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)

If only one of my votes could count, it would be here.  If any little bit of Gravity was off, the entire movie crumbles.  Cuarón. Was. Perfect.

Best Adapted Screenplay
John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)
*
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater (Before Midnight
)
Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street
)
Billy Ray (Captain Phillips)

Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope (Philomena)

12 Years is great, but my goodness, I gotta give my personal #1 of 2013 something.  So why not give it to its best (and only nominated) element.

Best Original Screenplay
David O. Russell and Eric Singer (American Hustle)
Bob Nelson (Nebraska)
*Spike Jonze (Her)
Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack (Dallas Buyers Club)
Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine)

Not going to mince words: Only two of these scripts are Oscar-worthy.  My pick and Nebraska.

Best Animated Feature
The Wind Rises
*FrozenDespicable Me 2
The Croods
Ernest & Celestine

Only saw three of these.  Not an anime guy and foreign stuff barely comes to Pittsburgh.  DM2 sucks and The Croods starts off terribly before ending up ok.  Frozen was the lone bright spot in the animation world last year.

Film Editing
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
*Gravity
12 Years a Slave

Seamlessness is a thing of beauty.

Best Song
"Alone Yet Not Alone" (Alone Yet Not Alone)
"Happy" (Despicable Me 2)
*"Let It Go" (Frozen)
"The Moon Song" (Her)
"Ordinary Love" (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)

No explanation necessary.  Best movie song since "Falling Slowly".

Best Original Score
John Williams (The Book Thief)
Steven Price (Gravity)
Alexandre Desplat (Philomena)
Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks)
*William Butler and Owen Pallett (Her)

Gravity is close, but Her was consistently fantastic throughout.

Best Cinematography
Philippe Le Sourd (The Grandmaster)
Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity)
*Bruno Delbonnel (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Roger Deakins (Prisoners)
Phedon Papamichael (Nebraska)

Gravity was mostly special effects.  Inside Llewyn Davis is mostly spectacular.

Costume Design
*American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years A Slave

Best element of the most nominated movie.  Easily.

Makeup and Hairstyling
The Lone Ranger
Dallas Buyers Club
*Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

Don't really care.  So why not?!

Production Design
American Hustle
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
*12 Years a Slave

Toughest decision.  Again, Gravity was mostly digital.  This was all real.

Sound Editing
All is Lost
Captain Phillips
*Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Where's Rush?

Sound Mixing
Captain Phillips
*Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor
Inside Llewyn Davis

Seriously, where's Rush?!?!

Visual Effects
*Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

Like I said, everything had to be perfect.  These had to be the most perfect.  They were.

Entertainment, Film Criticism & POMPEII

I do not own the above image.  Copyright Tri-Star Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

            Just going to say it: Peter Bart is a moron.  Now, why in the world would I call Variety’s editor-in-chief and former Paramount Pictures executive a buffoon, joker, idiot, et cetera?  In his post-Oscar nominations column, Bart posed the question: “Ever try toget a critic to smile?”  I know what you're thinking: Why the typographical error?  Well, dear reader, if you read Bart’s column here, you’ll see that that is how Bart asks the question.

            But what you're really asking is if Bart is right.  I wish I could say that’s a simple question to answer.  I mean, if you ever join me for a movie once, you’ll know the answer is a definite YES.  You saw THE LEGO MOVIE right?  How does one not smile at the absurd humor of Legos™?

But Bart never brings that up.  Bart’s argument is with critics groups and their awards.  Two of the most acclaimed movies are 12 YEARS A SLAVE and INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS.  Bart argues that audiences, and in turn Oscar voters, prefer uplifting & fun movies while critics “ respond…higher on technique than on entertainment value”.  While it is true that the two movies I mentioned are wonderful on a technical level, are depressing at times and not blockbusters in any way shape or form ($52 million combined), the storytelling by the Coen Brothers is the best they have ever done and so near perfect that the viewer has ample opportunity to smile.

So, Mr. Bart, I took your advice and saw POMPEII, a movie made by a (supposed) crowd-pleasing director in Paul W.S. Anderson for purely popcorn-consumption purposes.  What I actually saw was a two hour Gladiator-by-way-of-Pearl-Harbor bland, dumb rip-off.

Milo (Kit Harrington of ‘Game of Thrones’ fame) is an orphan child-slave-turned-gladiator from Rome-conquered Scotland.  On his journey to Pompeii as a purchased gladiator, he serendipitously meets Cassia (Emily Browning), who herself is her way home to Pompeii, by mercy-killing one of her injured horses.  Yes, a meet cute thanks to a dead horse.  Once in Pompeii, Milo adjusts to life as a gladiator by being housed with African one-victory-until-free gladiator Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).  Meanwhile, Cassia’s father is trying to finish a reconstruction deal with Senator Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland).  The cost: Cassia’s hand in marriage.

All this sounds (not) very interesting but what about the stuff that blows up real good?  Well, over the course of movie, Mt. Vesuvius rumbles, grunts & groans, causing increasingly more damage that gets decreasingly more exciting.  The entire third act focuses on the main eruption, where the action feels less like a volcanic eruption and more like the most expensive Mystery Science Theater 3000 alien invasion.  All the while, the above stories have to be finished, by any means possible.

I must admit, I have never seen an episode of Game of Thrones but if Harrington is a main character, I may not want to wash.  Granted, the script by the married writing team of Lee & Janet Scott Batchler w/ revisions by Michael Robert Johnson severely lacks in interest in the characters.  But Harrington and (to a less extent) Browning aren’t that interesting on-screen to begin with and watching them try to convince the audience that their rich girl/slave boy love is real isn’t captivating.

Who’s supposed to smile during this?  Maybe a teenager who has seen maybe 8 movies in his life, 5 of which being Adam Sandler comedies.  Kiefer Sutherland was smiling, hamming it up for the camera, channeling his inner Donald Sutherland.  Tri-Star Pictures hopes to be smiling from the box office grosses.

But, for once, Peter Bart is right.  Film critics, for the most part, will not smile during or after POMPEII.  POMPEII represents the cynicism of people like Mr. Bart who believe this is what audiences want.  Expensive, underwhelming special effects.  Pretty faces.  Cookie cutter stories & dialogue.  But some people will show up.  People always do.  But I guarantee you, Mr. Bart, most will not be smiling.  There is little-to-nothing to smile about here.

*

Winter's Tale

I do not own the above image.  Copyright Warner Bros. Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

            There are times where a movie plays in front of me and my body does stuff that it normally doesn't do at the movies.  Sometimes my mouth goes agape, amazed at what I’m seeing.  Others I shift violently repeatedly in my seat, through fits of unease or boredom.  And every once in a while, I have the urge to stand up & leave, only to realize I have a public service to tell you whether to see a movie or not.  WINTER’S TALE performed the trifecta.

            In 1916, orphan Peter Lake (Farrell) has pissed off his boss Pearly Soames (Crowe) for the final time.  A professional thief, Lake goes off on his own, with a mysterious white horse as his companion.  On one of his first jobs, he discovers & falls for Beverly Penn (Brown Findlay), the older daughter of a widowed newspaper publisher.  Beverly is dying of tuberculosis and can’t physically love anyone.  Will the two star-crossed lovers be able to consummate their new found love? Will Soames find & end Peter’s life first? 

            Sounds like a straight forward story, right?  Too bad the marketing campaign is deceitful.  That mysterious horse?  It can fly and might be some sort Native American spirit.  Mafioso Pearly Soames?  He’s a demon whose job is to stop people’s miracles from occurring.  The first scene of the movie?  Peter Lake walking into modern-day Grand Central Station.

            Based on Mark Helprin’s novel and adapted to the screen by Akiva Goldsman, WINTER’S TALE is, to put it simply, a mess.  Right out of the gate, it makes no sense.  If you are going to place mythical creatures or fantastical elements in a real world setting, you need to have a coherent set of rules.  WINTER’S TALE neither has a set of rules nor is it coherent.  Crowe’s Pearly Soames’ mythology is particularly confusing.  He’s a demon yet he runs a crime syndicate.  Was he once human?  If he wasn’t, do his lackeys know?  Are they demons too?  He’s Peter’s boss.  How long have they worked together, considering Peter is supposed to be 21?  What pissed Soames off?  The movie takes place in 1916 NYC.  Do normal folks know of their existence?  Do they live in fear of their hopes & dreams coming true if it means possibly being confronted by Soames and his ilk?

            Similar questions arise throughout the secret, 45 minute third act that is not alluded to in any of the marketing.  Lake is still alive in modern-day New York, still waiting for a miracle to happen.  I won’t spoil it, but a few moments answer questions while still adding a few more.

            WINTER’S TALE looks gorgeous at times.  The $46 million budget had to go somewhere I guess.  The only thrilling & interesting moment takes place in the dark with a superstar cameo that needs to be seen to be believed. 

WINTER’S TALE reminded me of a failed cable television pilot extended to a full feature.  It reminds us once again that, yes, Goldsman is responsible for the screenplays to LOST IN SPACE and BATMAN & ROBIN.  During the end credits, my wife told me it reminded her of an episode of Supernatural.  Well, that explains a lot!

½*

Oscar Predictions

BEST PICTURE (There will be 9 nominees; listed by likelihood of nomination for ten)

1. American Hustle

2. 12 Years a Slave

3. Gravity

4. Captain Phillips

5. Nebraska

6. Wolf of Wall Street

7. Saving Mr. Banks

8. Inside Llewyn Davis

9. Dallas Buyers Club

10. Her

BEST DIRECTOR

Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave

David O. Russell, American Hustle

Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips

Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity

Martin Scorsese, Wolf of Wall Street

Alternate: Joel & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis

BEST ACTOR

Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips

Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Robert Redford, All is Lost

Alternate: Leonardo DiCaprio, Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock, Gravity

Judy Dench, Philomena

Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

Alternate: Amy Adams, American Hustle

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Daniel Bruhl, Rush

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

James Gandolfini, Enough Said

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Alternate: Bradley Cooper, American Hustle

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts, August: Osage County

June Squibb, Nebraska

Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels’ The Butler

Alternate: Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

12 Years a Slave

August: Osage County

Before Midnight

Captain Phillips

Wolf of Wall Street

Alternate: Philomena

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

American Hustle

Blue Jasmine

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Alternate: Gravity

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Alternate: Prisoners

BEST EDITING

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Rush

Alternate: Wolf of Wall Street

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smoag

Gravity

Pacific Rim

Alternate: Iron Man 3

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Atlas”, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

“Let It Go”, Frozen

“My Lord Sunshine (Sunrise)”, 12 Years a Slave

Alternate: “Ordinary Love”, Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

12 Years a Slave

All is Lost

Gravity

Her

Saving Mr. Banks

Alternate: The Book Thief

BEST SOUND EDITING

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Rush

Alternate: Iron Man 3

BEST SOUND MIXING

All is Lost

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Inside Llewyn Davis

Rush

Alternate: Lone Survivor

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Gravity

The Great Gatsby

Inside Llewyn Davis

Alternate: Her

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

The Great Gatsby

Oz: The Great & Powerful

Saving Mr. Banks

Alternate: The Hunger Games

BEST MAKEUP

American Hustle

The Great Gatsby

The Lone Ranger

Alternate: Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Frozen

Monsters University

The Wind Rises

Alternate: Epic