Tag: Frances McDormand

Oscar History: 2008

The 2008 Oscars will likely go down as the final year when only five films would compete in the granddaddy category of them all, Best Picture. The following year, the Academy would change it to ten and a couple years after that, developed a formula where anywhere from 5-10 movies could be recognized.

Many believe the reason is 2008’s exclusion of the critically lauded superhero sequel The Dark Knight, which had become the year’s highest grossing feature and was considered a major milestone in the burgeoning genre. Yet with the exception of its acclaimed Joker, Knight was shut out in the major categories.

Best Picture instead went to a true “little movie that could” – Danny Boyle’s out of nowhere critical and audience pleaser Slumdog Millionaire.

It would win out over David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon, Gus Van Sant’s Milk, and Stephen Daldry’s The Reader. It is a bit surprising that Oscar voters left out Knight and I would put forth that a decent argument could also be made for Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, which also stands as a creative high point in the comic book canon of movies.

In the Best Director category, it was a rare example of the five nominated auteurs matching the Picture nominees and Boyle would take home the gold over Fincher, Daldry, Van Sant, and Howard. Once again, Christopher Nolan would be on the outside looking in for his Knight direction.

Sean Penn would win his second Best Actor statue (2003’s Mystic River being the first) for playing gay activist Harvey Milk in Milk.

Other nominees: Richard Jenkins in The Visitor, Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon, Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button, and Mickey Rourke in a career comeback role as The Wrestler.

Certainly Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man could have been considered along with Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road, Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, and the Slumdog Millionaire himself Dev Patel.

After a number of nominations with no victories, Kate Winslet would win Best Actress for The Reader, beating out Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married). Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Melissa Leo (Frozen River), and the omnipresent Meryl Streep (Doubt).

It was a bit surprising to see Cate Blanchett’s work in Benjamin Button go unrecognized.

The Dark Knight would win its Oscar with the late Heath Ledger taking Supporting Actor as the Joker. Other nominees: Josh Brolin (Milk), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road).

While it was refreshing to see the Academy nominate a comedic performance like Downey’s in Tropic Thunder, an equally good argument could have been made for Tom Cruise’s role in that picture. Same goes for James Franco’s exemplary work as a stoner in Pineapple Express.

Woody Allen has directed several actresses to Supporting Actress wins and he did it again with Penelope Cruz in Vicky Christina Barcelona.

She would be victorious over Amy Adams in Doubt, Viola Davis – also for Doubt, Taraji P. Henson in Benjamin Button, and Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler.

I might’ve found room for Frances McDormand in the Coen Brothers Burn After Reading.

And that’s all for now on the Oscar History front! I’ll be back with 2009 in the near future…

Moonrise Kingdom Movie Review

There is a moment in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom when its central character, 12 year old orphan Sam (Jared Gilman), asks a fellow kid why he doesn’t like him. The response: “Why should I? Nobody else does.”

Such is young Sam’s lot in life. He’s been bounced around from foster home to foster home. Some might lazily (and accurately) describe him as quirky or eccentric, which is a term that could be used for pretty much every character in a Wes Anderson picture.

A chance meeting for Sam leads him to Suzy (Kara Hayward), a fellow 12 year old whose people skills are severely lacking as well. They become pen pals and hatch a plan to run away together. This all takes place on a small New England island circa 1965 and it is Sam’s Khaki Scout summer camp which allows for the opportunity to make an escape and pair up with Suzy.

Wes Anderson is known for his unique visual style and his screenplays (with Roman Coppola cowriting this time around) that rely on dry humor with occasional serious overtones. And that style is on full display in Kingdom, the director’s coming-of-age picture that follows the same path as many that have come before it. This might sound sacrilege to the legions of die hard Anderson followers. And don’t get me wrong – much of the clever dialogue and colorful characters you’d expect from his work is included.

While the picture’s two leads are young unknowns, this is filled with recognizable faces in supporting roles. We have Anderson mainstay Bill Murray and Frances McDormand as Suzy’s parents who are trapped in a loveless marriage. There’s Bruce Willis giving an understated performance as the island’s police captain who doesn’t have much to do until Sam and Suzy go missing together. Tilda Swinton turns up as a social services worker. And Bob Balaban plays an island local who serves as the film’s narrator, warning us of an impending storm that will work its way into the plot. The best supporting performance belongs to Edward Norton as Sam’s scout leader who cares a lot about his pupils and does a truly terrible job keeping track of them. On the downside, Anderson’s penchant for putting famous actors in over-the-top roles doesn’t always succeed here, particularly in the case of Harvey Keitel as a scout commander and Jason Schwartzman playing a scout official helping the young couple execute their grand escape. These two characters serve as examples of being too farcicial in a screenplay that doesn’t need them.

It is Sam and Suzy who are at the core here and if the casting of Gilman and Hayward didn’t work, neither would the entire movie. Luckily these young actors are very impressive and we enjoy watching their relationship blossom. These are two emotionally damaged kids who find a true friend in each other for the first time. Maybe it is true love as they believe. Maybe not. While the adults here spend most of their time worrying about Sam and Suzy, many of them are even more damaged. This includes Suzy’s parents and Willis’s character. Moonrise Kingdom has its fair share of laughs and it looks beautiful like every Wes Anderson production. Where it succeeds best is making you care just enough about Sam and Suzy that you hope they don’t grow up to be as unhappy and and lonely as the adults who populate their world.

*** (out of four)