Blue Valentine

This movie was never going to have a happy ending, I knew that going in. All I kept hearing was that was the most depressing movie of all time. Knowing that I took this to be a classic who done it? Like most people I want a fall guy, I want to know what happened here. I want to know why these beautiful and crazy kids are doomed to fail.

Enter Ryan Gosling as the care-free Dean, i doubt he had too much going for him before this story starts and is not too worried about his future. While talented at many things he lacks any ambition and just enjoys the moment. His partner in crime is the recently nominated actress Michelle Williams as Cindy. She seems much more cynical, promiscuous, and is always looking ahead to accomplish more. While opposites may attract these two philosophies of life seem to be at odds in the film.

Dean found everything he needs in this little family, instantly making him the more likable character. He treats his daughter like a princess and shows her all the adoration she could ever need. But apparently The Beatles were wrong and a little bit more than love is needed. Cindy has grown into the woman she had to be to help the family survive as a middle-class family in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Dean is more immature and found a job that lets him drink in the middle of the day and be there for his family.

These two actors are constantly looking for challenging roles, and in this movie it appears they have found one. How does one portray, in a believable fashion, a six year difference where everything has changed, it would be too much and unbelievable to go from one extreme to another so rather they both rely on subtly, Williams more so. There also seems to be a lot of free riffing and improvisation such as the scene on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Gosling is experienced with this kind of acting as he has gone out of his way to find strong independent movies. He easily could be making boat loads of money with huge box office numbers but has always gone after meatier scripts. He plays this role well with a lot of professional experience. His couterpart Williams seems to draw her inspiration more from her own past. At the time this movie was supposed to be made Heath Ledger passed away and out of respect to her and her daughter they delayed shooting. Upon learning this you have to wonder if some of this life experience went into the performance. She rolled effortlessly into this role and played it with such quiet strength, while maybe not the more likable of the two, the performance is stunning.

Writer/director Derek Cianfrance wrote this story in 2006 and in two parts. He says the beginning is a love story and the ending is a tragedy, but this isn't split into two distinct halves. Rather the stories are spliced together using high def digital video for the present, while the beginning of the relationship (which is always a little fuzzy) is shot on 16-mm film. This story telling helps to accentuate each moment.

But what is never seen is the middle, what happened between these two moments that left these people like this. To the story those moments are not important, it's not important to place blame but rather an examination of how two people can meet and what little it takes to fall in and out of love. Still the effect it can leave on you is overwhelming.

Much like a real relationship both sides have their demons and both sides contribute to the end. It's frightening how truthful this movie feels to watch a couple just fall out of love. And Cianfrance doesn't show us his hand, he may lead us in certain directions, but we never see how Cindy and Dean have come to this point in their lives after overcoming so much. Much like in real life they never say where it all went wrong all we are left with are the biggest moments of any relationship, the beginning and end of it. A-

Oscars 2011: First Glance

It's Oscar Season. Followers of this blog know that I love this time of year and like to draw it out as much as possible. So while I do plan on doing a post on my predictions for the awards, first here are a few things that caught my eye.

I knew that The King's Speech would be Oscar bait, I didn't think it would be leading the pack with 12 nominations. I thought it would be The Social Network. But the movie leading with all the best picture awards already didn't even garner second place. True Grit, which is a fun movie don't get wrong, took second with ten nominations.

This may be because of the glaring omission of Andrew Garfield as Supporting Actor. I genuinely thought all three men, Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Armie Hammer all deserved nominations for their performances, but that wasn't legitimately possible. Instead none get nominated and that is unfortunate.

Where was Nolan's nomination for director? Two years ago they expanded the Best Picture field to include blockbusters that don't get love from the Academy. So while Inception is rightly included in the best picture field it didn't get any love in the directing field. Nolan probably deserved more accolades for his directing than his screen writing. But if it were the other way around I'd probably still be bitching about it.

For lead actors Ryan Gosling got robbed. His performance with Michelle Williams is symbiotic, how is it possible for one to get nominatted and not the other. I imagine it was Javier Bardem who took his spot. Like most of America though I haven't seen Biutiful but I plan on getting to the bottom of this. I hear good things though, and to his credit Bardem becomes the first actor to be nominated as solely specking in Spanish throughout the film.

Call me crazy but I enjoyed Julianne Moore's performance more than Annette Bening's from The Kids Are Alright. Both deserved nominations and if only one was going to get the honor everyone knew it was going to be Bening but I thought Bening had a one strong moment where as Moore was consistently good throughout the movie.

Wasn't Waiting for "Superman" supposed to be the documentary everyone had to see to save our children? How did this movie not get nominated?

I love that Melissa Leo earned a nomination as the maniacal mother in The Fighter but where is the love for Barbara Hershey an equally if not more sinister parental figure for Black Swan because I'm not actually even sure if she was that evil or not.

Everyone is saying that The Town deserved more accolades. And with ten pictures being nominated for Best Picture it is really hard to snub a film anymore when it really only comes down to one or two films. What about directing or the screenplay. I actually agreed with the Academy on this one, and while it was a fun movie, unlike Nolan (who I would gladly substitute for Tom Hooper) I couldn't take anyone off the directing list for Ben Affleck.

What did you think. Am I wrong in any of these nomiantions? Is there someone else you thought got snubbed? Let me know

The King's Speech

Well if this isn't Oscar bait I don't know what is. A movie about the British monarchs that comes out in December. The only thing that is holding it back from pure gold is that it is actually doing well in the box office, people are going to see it.

It seems that come award season a couple movies always make it across the pond and infiltrate the system. This movie follows the same formula as the ones before it. It humanizes the monarch while still telling a story of perseverance. Already nabbing a couple awards it is sure to win a couple of Oscars as well. Had it not been for the suburb acting in this movie I'm sure this would just be another British film nabbing awards that no one would see.

The title of the film references two things. Both the slammer that Albert Fredrick Arthur George (His Majesty to you) possessed since an early age. It is this stammer he must overcome to deliver his most important address to the nation at the dawn of World War II with Hitler knocking on the doorstep.

But Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush make it worth it. Firth plays the stammering king who lives in the shadow of his father and brother, hauntingly played by Michael Gambon and Guy Pearce respectively. He once again dives into the role that calls for quiet restraint. He has become known for this type of role and continues to flourish with it. But his best moments are when he steps out of his quiet demeanor and stands up for himself. He is a shoo-in for best actor this year.

Firth's strong performance of the damaged son lacking confidence allows for his supporting cast to step out and excel as they try to raise him up. Helena Bonham Carter does well as the Queen Mum, her strong personality fits well as she interacts with some of the commoners. Her role is more limited in this story so most of the accolades not given to Firth will likely be given to his other costar. Geoffrey Rush steals every scene as the eccentric speech therapist who believes in his king. He delivers most of, if not all the laughs in the movie (Timothy Spall has some as Winston Churchill but I'm not sure if that's the writing or the fact that Timothy Spall is playing Winston Churchill). There is little to no nuance to the performance and while it may be the big named actors that get you in the theater it will be Rush who keeps you in your seat.

That seems to be what the problem with so many other English movies, they are often so serious that they keep fun loving American movie goers away from the theater. The performances and writing in the movie will keep the viewer engaged. All the characters are believable and it isn't until the final sequence that all the king talk really hits home, it is less about the monarch and more about the man looking to fulfill his duty.

Writer David Seidler had been looking to make this film for some time. And although he didn't need to, he asked for permission from the Queen Mum to make the movie. She in turn asked him to wait till after her death as the memories were still to fresh for her. After she passed away at the age of 150 he was finally able to tell the story of a man who fell by the wayside with so many larger personalities during this time period.

The story is an interesting one, but the execution is what brings the movie down a peg, it is formulaic. Fortunately the formula is how to win a lot of awards so it is a good path to follow. Even more fortunate are the male leads in the movie as they take the this story over the top which will have one of these men (though both deserve it) walking away with gold in February. A-

The Fighter

Recently it seems like a lot of movies are moving Northeast. The cities here seem to have split personalities from hoity-toity, ivy league elitism to gritty drug filled cesspools. Seeing this movie in Boston added a little something special to the screening. Boston often gets depicted as a tough place to live with a lot of characters who tend to be rough around the edges. The Boston accent is one of the most notorious out there and often gets butchered as actors try to pick up the nuances of Boston, but really just turn into a caricature of the city. The accent even trips up people who previously lived here, looking at you Affleck. It has been tough for Boston to shed this image even though Lowell, where the story takes place, is actually 30 miles north of Boston.

Cut to inside the theater where a man in his 60s is smoking the same unfiltered camels he has clearly been smoking for the past 40 years. A fight almost breaks out on the left side of the auditorium over the incident. Sorry Menino, the caricature is hear to stay, time to embrace it. That is exactly what director David Russell does with The Fighter, he allows the city of Lowell to breathe and really come into its own. Whether it's them walking down the street, talking with everyone they pass, or its the training they do in preparation for the fight. Lowell is heavily featured in this movie, for better or worse.

In fact one of the most subtle performances in the movie comes from the man who has tried to get this movie made for four years. Mark Wahlberg (here to be known as Marky Mark) stars and produces in this movie about the Irish boxer Mickey Ward looking to keep his career going as long as possible. He trained everyday for four years in preparation for this film to look and understand the part. He also shopped the film around to as many people as possible including Martin Scorsese. It wasn't until Russell came along, whom he previously worked with on Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees that all his efforts came to fruition. For all the effort Marky Mark puts into his film he chooses to stand aside as the lead character and let his co-stars do the heavy hitting. It is to his credit as his understated performance really helps the movie excel.

The hardest hitting performance in the movie is hands down Christina Bale as Mickey's half-brother and trainer Dickie. Just as Dickie stole the spotlight off Mickey in the family, Bale steals it away from Marky Mark. He is infectious, loyal and tragic all rolled into one as Dickie is cursed with addictions to both the lime light and crack that nearly destroy him. In his past life he was able to knock down Sugar Ray Leonard and it seems to be in that life that Dickie wants to live, and almost everyone is willing to cater to that. There is no one out there in Hollywood who would be better suited to take on this character. His method tendencies, which have gotten him in trouble in the past is what makes him perfect for this role in what is sure to finally get him a Oscar Nomination, and most likely be the heavy favorite to win among the Academy. Seriously how has Bale never even been nominated for the award?

Although it may be tough to see past Christian Bale, Melissa Leo also pulls out a fantastic performance as the mother of the boxing duo. She is trying to manage Mickey's career but it is never clear whose interests she really has at heart. It would be silly to try to cast her singularly as the monstrous mother as she is so much more than that. She is strong and determined to make sure the family stays together and has an army of daughters to ensure she achieves her goal at whatever expense. Opposing his mother is Amy Adams as the underachieving girlfriend, she proves her versatility as an actor branching out from her typical sweet demeanor. In this movie she shines as a character hardened by strife and the only one strong enough to pull Mickey away from the talons of his mother.

It is the relationships in Mickey's life that drives the heart of the movie. All the characters seem to know what is best as they battle over Mickey's soul. Marky Mark understands the talent he has surrounded himself with and it is to his credit that he decides to step back and allow the chemistry of the project to take over.

Inside the ring the cinematography differs from other boxing movie. In Rocky, for example, every hit seems to be a haymaker and for the most part that is what the audience wants to see, but not how a real boxing match takes place. To capture the feel of the fights Russell chose to use Beta Cameras, which is what would have been used to capture the fights in the early nineties. They also received help from the HBO film crews whose years of experience around the ring helped the fight scenes feel more plausible than previous boxing movies.

Boxing as a sport seems to be headed to the wayside with the emergence of mixed martial arts. Leaving most of us to only admire times and stories gone by. Wahlberg proves that he cares about this project and his passion is projected off the screen to the viewers. A-