A History of Violence

2005. Directed by David Cronenberg. Screenplay by Josh Olson, based on the graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt, and Ashton Holmes.

I came to A History of Violence in the unusual position of moderately liking the typically love-it or hate-it films of David Cronenberg's career such as Naked Lunch, Dead Ringers, and 1996's Crash. I found elements I liked in those films, but wasn't sold wholeheartedly on any them. A History of Violence, however, left me completely on the love-it side. It is a powerful film that deals intelligently with complex thoughts and emotions. It is also exciting, suspenseful, sexy, and captivating.

The heroics of a small town coffee shop owner put him in the national news and organized crime comes looking for him claiming he is not who he says he is. Whether or not this is true is the central mystery of the film, but it doesn't rely on plot twists for its power. Instead it uses the knowledge we gain to look deeper into character and consequence. The acting is very good, the direction is terrific, and the story will linger in your head.

My grade: A

It will be added to my top ten of 2005

Ask the Film Geek

Like Entertainment Weekly's "Ask the Critic" where readers can write in questions and their critics select ones to answer, I'm opening up the blog for questions from you dear readers (both of you). Unlike EW, I will try to answer all questions posed of me or at least comment on why I have no clue or where you can go for more info. So, if you are curious what I consider the top ten animated films of all time, if Tom Cruise is a better actor than Tom Hanks, what the worst film to ever win a best picture Oscar, or anything else that pops into your head - just drop me a line or use the comment box below. I've added my email to my profile. If I don't already know your email address, please put "blog" or something to that nature in the subject so that I don't discard the email as junk.

Our son, the film snob

We were recently at a party following our niece's baptism and another little kid starting talking about a Barney movie. Brady, our three year old, wasn't too excited about Barney and instead offered up discussion of Howl's Moving Castle. We've seen this film many times since it arrived in the mail about a week ago. Brady loves it as much as I do. He even repeated the name Hayao Miyazaki when the previews on the dvd said the director's name. Add Japanese animation to the very cool list of Brady movies that also includes Corpse Bride, Wallace and Grommit, Shrek, Disney classics, the Pixar movies, and the VeggieTales collection. Our son, the film snob - we're so proud!

Howl's Moving Castle

2005. Animated. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on the novel by Diana Wynee Jones. Voice cast of English dubbed version includes Christian Bale, Emily Mortimer, Jean Simmons, Billy Crystal, Lauren Bacall, and Blythe Danner.

"What a dump. When I think castles, this is not what I picture."

When making a short list of the greatest animation films of all-time, I would have easily included Hayao Miyazaki's stunning 2002 film Spirited Away. Howl's Moving Castle may be its equal and would certainly belong on the same short list. It was already a year of amazing animation, with stop motion brilliance of Corpse Bride and Wallace and Grommit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but Miyazaki's latest film not only deserved the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature but should have been competing for Best Picture as well.

Howl's Moving Castle is a magical, gorgeous, and captivating film of great imagination and even greater skill. The animation itself is as good as anything that has ever been done. The background and corners are filled with beautiful details. The movement and shadows are extremely impressive.

The story follows a young woman with little self confidence and even less ambition who has a spell cast on her by the Witch of the Waste. The spell makes her an old woman but the irony is that being of old age helps her develop into a far stronger individual with greater hopes and expectations. She comes to live in a mysterious moving castle occupied by an equally mysterious young man who leaves for days at a time.

As with Spirited Away, there was great care taken for dubbing the film into English so that the words match the lip movements. You can also watch it in the original Japanese and use subtitles if you prefer. The voice cast is fairly strong, though Billy Crystal can sometimes pull you away from the fantasy as his voice is so distinct and so typical of what we expect from Crystal. A slight disappointment in an remarkable film.

My grade: A

I will update my 2005 top ten to include this in the top three.

The 40 Year Old Virgin

2005. Directed by Judd Apatow. Written by Apatow and Steve Carell. Staring Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogan, Jane Lynch, Gerry Bednob, Leslie Mann, Shelley Malil.

"You framed an Asia poster?! How hard did the people at the frame store laugh when you brought this in to them?"

How funny is this movie? The deleted scenes are funnier than the stuff you find in most comedies. They may set up Steve Carell's Andy as a geek to beat all geeks, but they don't simply laugh at him, they love him. They develop such a complete character that behind all the toys in their original packaging and never ending collection of video games, you find a great guy and a great character. You really care about this guy, which is extremely rare in this type of comedy. The cast is wonderful. Carell is a comic genius who makes the transition from television to the big screen amazing well. He's hilarious in ways both big and subtle. Catherine Keener is always terrific and provides the perfect object of Andy's affection. Also standing out to me are Seth Rogen as Cal, the self-proclaimed pothead, and Gerry Bednob as the non-turban wearing Mooj. The 40 Year Old Virgin is crude and may not be for all, but it has depth and is about as funny as movies get.

My grade: A-

I'm rearranging my 2005 top ten to get this film in there somewhere.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Indecision 2004: Disc 2: Republican National Convention: Target New York

The second in this four disc set is fairly similar to the first disc in that the first two episodes are no better than your average Daily Show you could find nightly on Comedy Central (if you had cable or satellite). Episode two does contain a terrific Bush campaign film. Things get much better with the last two episodes. Episode three kicks things into high gear with the analysis of Senator Zell Miller's keynote address. It also has a great interview with Senator John McCain (how he lost the Republican nomination to Bush in 2000 is one of recent politics great mysteries). Episode four deals mainly with Bush himself as he accepts the Republican nomination for presidency. I wish we had a president that would make Jon Stewart's work harder, as Bush can make himself quite an easy target. It's not so good for politics, but it makes for great comedy. Lewis Black's Back in Black provides a great finish for Disc two.

My grade: B+

Review of Disc 1
Reviews of the last two discs in this set to come as I watch them.

North Country

2005. Directed by Niki Caro. Screenplay by Michael Seitzman based on the book by Clara Bingham. Starring Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sean Bean, Richard Jenkins, and Sissy Spacek.

North Country is a feel good movie that pulls the right strings without being overly manipulative. It has a good story at its heart as it follows the story of Josey Aimes, a female miner who brought a landmark case of sexual harassment against her company. Charlize Theron is not as good here as she was in her knockout performance in Monster, but she is still quite good and deserved her Oscar nomination. Fellow nominee Frances McDormand, one of the premier character actors working today, is also very good - though she likely received the nomination more for the role and what happens to her character than for the performance itself. The direction isn't terribly impressive but the story and acting pull it through. The father's transformation, in front of his union, is very effective and moving - even if you see it coming. And throwing in a ton of Bob Dylan songs never hurts.

My grade: B

King Kong

1933. Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Screenplay by James Creelman and Ruth Rose. Starring Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, and Bruce Cabot.

2005. Directed by Peter Jackson. Written by Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis.

"No, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."

There are effects in King Kong that still kick ass seventy-three years later. Of course, many of the effects are obvious today, as we know more about the tricks that are used and have seen more films using them, but it was groundbreaking in its day. Unfortunately, the film as a whole hasn't aged all that well. You watch more with appreciation than with enjoyment. The dialogue is flat, a fact that is magnified by it not being delivered well. Fay Wray is decent enough, though her main job is to scream, but Robert Armstrong is over-the-top while Bruce Cabot is a piece of cardboard that speaks.

So, it would seem that there are plenty of areas to improve if one was to tackle a sequel. Peter Jackson, as brilliant as his Lord of the Rings films were, failed to accomplish this, however. He added eighty-seven minutes without making any substantial improvements to plot, character, or dialogue (and improving the dialogue should have been easy). There are some impressive effects in the remake, but there are also moments that are obvious green screen. And it just drags at times. It can be quite boring in places. Perhaps the most frustrating thing is that it just goes overboard too many times. Instead of one or two dinosaurs (the original did have dinosaurs, though one at a time), we are flooded with dinosaurs. The characters run between their feet and it feels impossible that anyone would survive. A similar scene involves these wild, giant bugs and it would have been a good scene if there were only a few of them, but they are so numerous that it spoils the effect and takes us out of the scene with the complete doubt that there would be survivors. Naomi Watts is certainly equal to Fay Wray and Adrien Brody is a huge improvement over Cabot, but both are capable of better work - while Jack Black is simply bad. He has a great comic charm when he is cast in the right role (see High Fidelity: go now), but is completely miscast here.

The original is a work, though flawed, that is not to be missed. Feel free to take a pass on the remake.

My grade for the 1933 film: B+.
My grade for the 2005 film: C+.

Oscar Predictions

The Academy may have actually got it right this year - close enough anyway, at least for me. Usually the Academy's choices include some great pics, ignore some wonderful movies, and celebrate some pretty mediocre films in the main categories. It's a mixed bag where you live with the overrated to find some of your gems. This year, I'm quite pleased to say, the Academy's taste matches much closer to mine than in any recent year.

Let's take best picture for example. I've seen four of the five films. All four are in my top ten films of the year. Not only that, but my top three films are all here. And for the fifth, I just didn't get a chance to see it yet. I'm anxious to see Munich, it just hasn't happened yet (I crammed to get Brokeback and Capote in before the Oscars thanks to some babysitting by my mom). So four films that definitely belong here and the fifth likely does too; pretty impressive when you look at just about any other year and find at least one film nowhere near my top ten list. On top of that, two additional films from my ten best are up for Animated Feature and one more from my list is up for Documentary Feature. That's seven of my ten best up for a significant award. That leaves three films in my ten best. One is up for screenplay and acting. One is up for sound mixing and makeup. That leaves only Broken Flowers without an Academy Award nomination. I'll take that ratio any year.

So, on with the predictions. With the exception of the supporting actor/actress categories, the major categories seem predetermined. The surprise would be if there was an upset.

Best Picture:
What will win: Brokeback Mountain. It's a great movie: sweeping, powerful, tender, heartbreaking.
Who I'd vote for: Brokeback, though Capote is so close I could change my mind at any minute.

Best Director:
Will: Ang Lee for Brokeback.
My vote: Lee. He's shown tremendous range throughout his career and made his best film. A confident, terrific work.

Best Actor:
Will: Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote. He takes a real character that is certainly a challenge to mimic, but goes far deeper than that giving a deep, complete performance. I think if an upset would come about, it would be Terrence Howard pulling it off, but I'm not banking on that happening.
My vote: Hoffman, I've been a huge fan for years. Though Terrence Howard or Heath Ledger would get loud cheers from me as well. A great category this year.

Best Actress:
Will: Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line.
My vote: I haven't seen a single performance yet.

Best Supporting Actor:
Will: George Clooney for Syriana. This should be a close four way race with only William Hurt (A History of Violence) seemingly out of the hunt. I think anyone else could pull this off, but the most likely is Clooney and I think that is due to him also being nominated in the directing and screenwriting categories. The Academy won't reward him there, but they can give him a combined prize here.
My vote: Jake Gyllenhaal for Brokeback, though I'd love for Paul Giamatti to be an Oscar winner.

Best Supporting Actress:
Will: Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener. It should also be a close race.
My vote: Michelle Williams for Brokeback. This category is not as strong as the other acting categories. The performances I've seen (all but Frances McDormand, and she's always good) are very good but there isn't that one that just shouts out to me as Oscar winner. Williams is very good though.

Documentary Feature:
Will: March of the Penguins. And its good, with some terrific footage.
My vote: Murderball. But this is the best doc of the year.

Animated Feature:
Will: Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. And I will cheer loudly.
My vote: Corpse Bride. But I would vote for the brilliant Tim Burton film. But what a category. I can attest to two tremendous films, and the third is from the master of hand-drawn animation, Hayao Miyazaki - I just haven't seen it yet (I'd cheer for Howl's Moving Castle too, you just can't go wrong here).

Original Screenplay:
Will: Crash. It is the type of original work that often comes up big in screenplay but is often left out of the big category (though not this year).
My vote: Crash.

Adapted Screenplay:
Will: Brokeback Mountain.
My vote: Capote. Again a very close call and this time I'll side with Capote.

The only other category I'll mention is Original Song where I'm routing for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp." It does exactly what a song should do, its catchy, exciting, and perfectly serves the story as a central part of the film.

We'll know the rest within 24 hours.

Capote

2005. Directed by Bennett Miller. Screenplay by Dan Futterman, based on the book by Gerald Clarke. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr., Chris Cooper, Bruce Greenwood, Bob Balaban, Mark Pellegrino.

"Ever since I was a child, folks have thought they had me pegged, because of the way I am, the way I talk. And they're always wrong."

When I tell you that this is the best work Philip Seymour Hoffman has ever done, bear in mind that I would have easily ranked Hoffman among the ten best actors working today before seeing Capote. The performance, and the film, gets inside this character so vividly and completely; finding a man unhealthily driven by his ambition for fame and greatness. He is a master of manipulation and uses it at any, and perhaps every, given moment. He can be very cruel, but sometimes he seems to see very little choice - he has manipulated himself as harshly as he has the people he seeks information from. His desire to finish his book and close this chapter in his life eclipses the decency in him and becomes far more important than the subjects sitting on death row, one of whom who has given Capote all of his friendship and hope. It is a tale of destruction - of human life and of the soul. Surrounding Hoffman are a group of terrific character actors: Chris Cooper, Bruce Greenwood, Bob Balaban, and Catherine Keener as his friend, novelist Harper Lee, who sees most clearly through his deception. Equally impressive is Clifton Collins Jr. as Perry Smith, the convicted killer awaiting execution who puts his trust in Capote. It is a gripping, astonishing film.

My grade: A.

(My top ten of 2005 has been updated to include Capote at #2, though it could just as easily be #1 - a tough call).