Tag: oscars

Trailer Park: Captain Phillips, Gravity, The Butler

This evening I bring you a new feature on the blog called Trailer Park, in which I’ll review the trailers for upcoming movies that have recently debuted. With the summer movie season freshly upon us, we’re likely to see a nice helping of trailers for pictures coming out this fall and even next summer. I’ll try to do a new Trailer Park posting every week, at least. I realize there’s probably oodles of movie bloggers like myself who also call their coming attractions posts Trailer Park, but hey – it’s a catchy name and you don’t always have to be original.

So what’s my criteria for grading a trailer? Simple. Does the trailer make me more or less likely to wanna watch the featured title? That’s pretty much it. Two recent examples: the most recent trailer for June’s Superman epic Man of Steel was a masterpiece. I went from really wanting to see it to dying to see it right away. Seriously, it’s one of the most effective trailers in a loooong time.

On the flip side, there’s R.I.P.D., coming in July. When I first heard about the movie, I thought “Sci-fi action comedy with Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds?” Sure, why not? Then I saw the trailer, in which it looks like a third-rate Men in Black knock-off with terrible special effects. Jeff Bridges has got to be receiving better offers than this!

This inaugural Trailer Park post grade three titles from Oscar-nominated directors. All three pictures are in the early running for awards consideration. How do their trailers measure up?

We begin with Captain Phillips. Paul Greengrass, director of The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, and United 93 brings us this true life thriller based on the Somali pirate hostage crisis of 2009. The title character is played by Tom Hanks. Judging from the preview, we may just have the actor’s first real awards-worthy role since Cast Away over 12 years ago. Hanks is also sporting his New England Catch Me If You Can accent here. The subject matter coupled with what appears to be the perfect director doing the material bodes well. The trailer for Captain Phillips is terrific. Grade: A

Alfonso Cuaron is the brilliant director behind Y Tu Mama Tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Children of Men. It’s been seven long years since Children and film lovers have been eager to see what this visual genius comes up with next. The answer is Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts whose mission goes horribly wrong. This is definitely more of a teaser than full trailer, but there’s just enough there to let us know this will be a feast for the eyes, as are all of Cuaron’s efforts. I can’t wait to see a full trailer, but the final shot of Bullock barreling helplessly into space earns Gravity a B+ trailer grade.

Lee Daniels receive a Best Director nomination for his unexpected hit Precious and followed it up with last year’s critically panned The Paperboy. His latest feature, The Butler, tells the true life story of an African-American White House butler (Forest Whitaker) who served from the Eisenhower to Reagan administrations. From the Weinstein Company (they know how to get movies noticed by Oscar), The Butler looks tailor-made for Academy consideration. Another selling point: this is Oprah Winfrey’s first major film role in 15 years. I must admit, however, I’m not wild about the trailer. There seems to be almost too much information they’re trying to pack into it. And the brief glimpses of well-known actors playing the First Family – Robin Williams as Ike, John Cusack as Nixon, Liev Schrieber as LBJ, Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan, and Severus Snape as Ronald Reagan – are somewhat distracting. The Butler may turn out to be a great and inspiring picture, but the trailer is a tad underwhelming and only merits a B- Trailer grade.

So there you have it – my first crack at grading trailers. I’ll be back for more next week!

Movie Perfection: “I Wrote That A Week Ago.”

SPOILER ALERT: If you have yet to see Silver Linings Playbook, two pieces of advice: go watch it right now. After you do, read this post. If you have seen it, read on…

David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook is the kind of movie that restores your faith in movies. It is in many ways wholly original while also using time tested film conventions in fantastic ways.

It is filled with great performances. This is not only a showcase for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in her Oscar-winning role, but also for Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, and Chris Tucker, who for far too long only played alongside Jackie Chan in Rush Hour flicks. We need to see more of him.

The film is a triumph of direction by Russell, one of the most exciting filmmakers of his generation. He knows how to bring an electric sense of movie making to a scene. The climactic dance scene between Cooper and Lawrence is one example of many. Russell’s style brings a feeling of true nail-biting suspense… to a mid-level regional dance competition in Philadelphia. Not an easy thing to do.

The picture takes us on a journey bringing together two lost souls, Pat (Cooper) and Tiffany (Lawrence). They both have a vast array of issues, to say the least. Pat is suffering from mental health problems, some of which is due to his broken marriage. Tiffany is still trying to recover from the death of her husband and is failing most of the time.

All the characters in Silver Linings Playbook are flawed. You know, like real people. De Niro plays Pat’s dad. He’s a deeply superstitious football fanatic whose character defects may have contributed to his son’s own issues. Jacki Weaver plays Pat’s mom and she struggles with finding the right balance for how to help her son (and her husband). Chris Tucker was at Pat’s mental health facility that he was committed to. He’s chock full of issues, too. And even the secondary characters like Tiffany’s sister and her husband are stuck in a marriage that seems to be going downhill.

Pat and Tiffany find one another and become connected through agreeing to enter a dance competition together. Their motives are at first self-serving. Tiffany basically blackmails Pat into doing it by promising to give a letter to his estranged wife. You see, there’s a restraining order between them. Tiffany seems to just want the company of Pat and this is her way of achieving it.

When we reach the wonderful climactic dance scene, we are left so happy by their ability to pull it off. Plus it’s pretty damn funny. In a lesser movie, that dance would’ve been some masterpiece of movement that left us floored. Not here. It’s, well, realistic. And that makes it even better.

The big question we’re left with is whether Pat and Tiffany end up together. In a lesser movie, there would be no doubt. In a movie this original and at times unexpected, we really don’t know. We get our answer in an absolutely beautiful scene between them. Without going over every aspect, this scene leaves us as an audience totally satisfied. And when Pat reveals his love for Tiffany, he presents her with a letter that she begins to read aloud and then he finishes it. He knows the letter by heart because as he reveals to her, “I wrote that a week ago.” We realize that Pat has wanted to be with Tiffany for longer than we suspected. Longer than she suspected. And that line and those six words left me with a smile on my face that lasted until after the credits rolled.

Silver Linings Playbook presents us with two flawed and imperfect people whose flaws and imperfections compliment one another’s in a perfect way. What’s more romantic than that? The film is one of the best movies in recent years. And those six words uttered by Pat to Tiffany are another example of Movie Perfection.

Oscar History: 1996

1996 was a rather lackluster year for movies. The year’s releases, as a whole, didn’t come close to matching the couple years before it or what would follow in 1997.

The Oscars for ’96 reflected that. The big winner for the evening: the late Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient, starring Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Juliette Binoche. A good film, yes, but one of the less memorable Best Picture winners of the last two decades.

Patient would win over Fargo, the Coen Brothers quirky crime comedy/drama masterpiece. My vote certainly would’ve gone to that.

Jerry Maguire, Cameron Crowe’s sports drama/comedy, would also earn a nomination, along with indie titles Secrets&Lies (from director Mike Leigh) and Shine (from director Scott Hicks).

Other pictures that should have merited consideration in my view: Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting and Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott’s Big Night.

Minghella would win Best Director for Patient, beating out Joel Coen, Mike Leigh, Scott Hicks, and Milos Forman for The People Vs. Larry Flynt. Crowe was the only director not nominated whose film was.

In the Best Actor race, Geoffrey Rush would be honored for Shine over Tom Cruise in Maguire, Ralph Fiennes in Patient, Woody Harrelson for Flynt, and Billy Bob Thornton for his very memorable performance in Sling Blade. 

The Best Actor category gave a perfect opportunity for the Academy to honor comedy, which they rarely do. Eddie Murphy deserved a nod for his brilliant work in The Nutty Professor. The Academy, as usual, didn’t take the bait.

Frances McDormand would deservedly take the Best Actress prize for her terrific performance in Fargo. She beat out Brenda Blethyn in Secrets&Lies, Diane Keaton in Marvin’s Room, Kristin Scott Thomas for Patient, and Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves. Other deserving nominees not to make the list: Courtney Love for People Vs. Larry Flynt and Laura Dern for Citizen Ruth.

In the Best Supporting Actor race, Cuba Gooding Jr. inexplicably won for his part in Jerry Maguire over a much better choice, William H. Macy’s fabulous work in Fargo. Other nominees: Edward Norton in Primal Fear, Armin Mueller-Stahl for Shine, and James Woods in Ghosts of Mississippi. 

Once again, the Academy could have honored comedy here. An obvious choice would have been Nathan Lane in The Birdcage. For me, personally, I would’ve gone way outside the box and honored Bill Murray’s scene-stealing turn in Kingpin. Watch this compilation and tell me I’m wrong.

Juliette Binoche was a surprise winner for Best Supporting Actress for Patient, beating the odds-on favorite Lauren Bacall for The Mirror Has Two Faces. Other nominees: Joan Allen for The Crucible, Barbara Hershey for Portrait of a Lady, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for Secrets&Lies.

Finally, while Fargo won Original Screenplay (as it should have), they should have made room to nominate the excellent screenplay for Doug Liman’s Swingers with Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn.

All in all, the 1996 Oscars reflected the lackluster year that it was. I shall return soon with a recap of the 1997 ceremony.