A look at the taglines for this week's major releases. How do studios try to hook us when they only have a sentence?
Cop Out
Actual tagline: Rock out with your Glock out.
Can I just say that after Kevin Smith lost his second consecutive title battle with the studio over "A Couple Of Dicks" that it's a travesty that this film wasn't retitled "Black Cop/White Cop"?
That's of course the fake title to one of "Tracy Jordan" from 30 Rock's many film roles- it even has an awesome tagline already: "One does the duty- the other gets the booty!"
Although to be fair, Black Cop/White Cop is in fact about a black cop that disguises himself as a white cop. Also, re: "Glock out"... meh.
The Crazies
Actual tagline: Fear Thy Neighbor
OR: Welcome to Ogden Marsh, the friendliest place on earth.
Oh horror movies. I will never go see you in theaters, no matter whether you lazily repurpose lines from the Bible or try and use aggresive irony. Just not my thing, sorry.
From The Trailer: The good people of Ogden Marsh.... Are going crazy.
Funny how the fact that this is a remake of an early George Romero is mentioned nowhere in either poster or trailer.
As previously stated, this award is for the film that best interweaves effects, dialogue, and music into the overall sound design. Let's hop to it:
1. Avatar- Christopher Boyes (4 for 11), Gary Summers (5 for 7), Andy Nelson (1 for 12), and Tony Johnson (0 for 1)
I can't say there was anything interesting or unique about the sound mix in Avatar, but the scope remains impressive. It's hard to think anything will beat it- remember that while the specific branch members choose the nominees, the entire Academy votes on winners, so the bigger picture often takes the prize.
Even with Slumdog Millionaire pulling a hardly deserved win in this category last year, I think Avatar won't get overlooked in the categories where it merits winning. It's just too big.
2. The Hurt Locker- Paul N.J. Ottosson (0 for 1) and Ray Beckett (0 for 0)
But if anything's going to split the Sounds up, it's the wonderful mixing in The Hurt Locker- so many moments pack a sonic punch in this film: the split-second breakdown of the opening explosion:
...the lurch of the score when the car trunk opens to reveal enough bombs to level a city, or when Jeremy Renner follows the wire to find he is surrounded by bombs and it builds to a howl.
3. Inglourious Basterds- Michael Minkler (3 for 10), Tony Lamberti (0 for 0), and Mark Ulano (1 for 1)
I'm much more game for Basterds' inclusion in this category, as Tarantino films are always multiple sounds at once: part rambling talk-radio, part noise-maker, and part jukebox.
4. Star Trek- Anna Behlmer (0 for 9), Andy Nelson (1 for 12), and Peter J. Devlin (0 for 2)
That would be the same Andy Nelson from Avatar- something about the number of people with double-digit nominations makes me suspect this isn't a very big field. Star Trek might stand a better chance if it had a Best Pciture nomination, but the opening transition from Giancchino's score to the blips and beeps of the U.S.S. Kelvin is one of the most memorable moments of the year for me.
5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen- Greg P. Russell (0 for 12), Gary Summers (5 for 7), and Geoffrey Patterson (0 for 1)
Didn't see it. But I'm sure it was fine work with all the aircrafts, imaginary robots, and awesome dialogue like the following:
They really need to rename the two sound awards, to avoid the yearly confusion about which is which. Don't get me wrong, I don't think people at large care all that much about the tech awards, but at least all the rest are self-explanatory (we all know what costumes, makeup, visual effects, and cinematography are, right?).
To wit: sound effects editing should really be called Sound Effects Creation- it's for the making, from scratch, of footsteps and explosion sounds and gunshots to match pre-existing footage (or CGI-work). To a lesser extent Editing is also about cleaning up dialogue shot on-set and removing background noises and imperfections to make it better for the finished film.
Got that? Sound Mixing is exactly what it sounds like: mixing all of the finished audio together- the effects that the sound designers created, the on-set dialogue they've cleaned up, Additional Dialogue Recording in post-production, and the score.
An analogy: Sound Effects Editing is to Sound Mixing what Cinematography is to Film Editing- the first one designs the raw materials, the second one fits it all together.
Now, let's see what kind of effects our five nominees had to create.
1. Avatar- Christopher Boyes (4 for 11) and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle (0 for 0)
If this seems like another Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker category, remember this: Critics Don't Matter. Past winners of this trophy include Pearl Harbor, U-571 and Peter Jackson's King Kong. They like big things, expansive projects- Avatar fits that bill to a T and should win this award- Boyes is also the only heavyweight in the field with four sound wins.
It's got everything: explosions, multiple alien creature noises- they even made Sam Worthington sound like he had a pulse two or three times.
2. The Hurt Locker- Paul N.J. Ottosson (0 for 1)
Another war film, with plenty of explosions, lots of gunfire, and what must've clearly been difficult dialogue to record onset in blistering conditions. If people are really in love with this film, it has the potential to sweep (except for Best Actor), but considering the indie darling (Slumdog Millionaire) lost to the popular action movie (The Dark Knight) in this category last year, I wouldn't bet on it.
3. Inglourious Basterds- Wylie Stateman (0 for 4)
Not really one that occurred to me would be here, but hey- it had as much going on as any other. I wouldn't necessarily vote for multiple sounds of Christoph Waltz chewing things over a giant spaceship shattering every window in Johannesburg, but I don't get a ballot, do I?
4. Star Trek- Mark Stoeckinger (0 for 1) and Alan Rankin (0 for 0)
Another worthy entry, perhaps a winner in a weaker year. Between the background noises on the enterprise, the destruction of planets, and your various beeps and boops, there were more sounds to create than there were lens flares to perfect.
5. Up- Michael Silvers (1 for 4) and Tom Myers(0 for 1)
Pixar is a frequent combatant in Effects Editing, but has only won for The Incredibles, which Silvers shared. Up, however, is the least sonically diverse thing they've made in a while, and another thing that I think shouldn't have beaten out District 9.
So for the record that's my pick going to Avatar. But will it win any more than this and Visual Effects? Stay tuned to find out.
A ten part series on the Best Picture nominees, structured around four basic questions.
Part 5: The Hurt Locker
Was It Any Good?
Oh man was it good. Seriously, you should go rent it. After countless Iraq war films, we finally found the right combination of narrative hook (following an Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit from bomb to bomb) and perfect director (Kathryn Bigelow, who knows her way around the right amount of fear, thrills, and action).
The result? A tense, quick, terrifying trip to Iraq- one without any sort of "message" beyond taking us to the forefront of the new kind of war. It helps that the leads are virtually unknown- Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty all do such great work it's easy to miss cameos by Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, and Evangeline Lilly.
In fact I just watched it on DVD for the second time, after seeing it in theaters in August- I was mildly concerned that it wouldn't pack the same punch, since I knew what would explode and what wouldn't, but that just made it more gripping, somehow.
The episodic plot leads to so many memorable moments, and the fact that it's so true-to-life makes them stick with you. You know what I felt when Home Tree fell in Avatar? Not a thing. But when Renner pulls a wire and six IEDs shake out of the dirt all around him, my stomach dropped into my shoes.
Watching it again with all of the Oscar nominations in mind gave me an appreciation of the craftsmanship as well (the first time I was too busy being all like "No WAY!" and stuff). The surprise nomination of the score seems right on to me- it was half dissonant tones blended with engine noises, sirens, and car horns, and it even had a recurring vaguely western theme if you listen for it.
Shots are framed with smoke and fire- The Hurt Locker moves from garbage strewn city streets to arid desert to a harrowing night seamlessly- only when Renner's character returns to the states does the world seem alien.
What Did It Acheive?
Financially, not that much- though robust DVD sales are encouraging, The Hurt Locker would be the lowest-grossing Best Picture winner ever (which would make Avatar the highest-grossing loser, natch).
But it's a masterpiece of filmmaking, and should lead to huge career boosts for Renner, Mackie, and especially Bigelow regardless of what it wins or loses. I mean, her last movie was K-19: The Widowmaker!
And I'm trying not to take it personally, but a victory over Avatar would be a triumph of the critical success over the popular consensus, and I'm all for it. If I want the biggest ticket to win every time, I'll just watch the Grammys.
Will I Remember It Years From Now?
And how. I was astonished when I wrote the Sound Mixing category preview, how many specific scenes I remembered before I had even re-watched it. The individual subplots might not be terribly complex- Geraghty's in particular has the most predictable outcome in one late scene- but they're really just incidental to the experience of the film, if that makes sense.
Without a doubt the most frustrating and impossible category in the entire field. For the fourth straight year voters lazily nominated more than one song from one film, and with one French exception went to very obvious places.
The selection process is the problem, really. Members of the music branch either attend a special screening of the song clips, or watch a DVD of them at home. Then they have to give every eligible song a score between 6 and 10. Nominees are then determined from those scores:
"Only those songs receiving an average score of 8.25 or more shall normally be eligible for nomination. There may not be more than five nominations. If no song receives an average score of 8.25 or more, there will be no nominees. If only one song achieves that score, it and the song receiving the next highest score shall be the two nominees. If two or more songs (up to five) achieve that score, they shall be the nominees."
My question: what's wrong with a normal ballot? Just send in your favorites, count the votes up. Keep the no more than two per film rule, and we'll be fine. I know, in theory, that every voter in each category should see every film eligible, but forcing the Song vote to rate each one leads to inevitable homogenization- of course the two Disney songs get rated pretty high, they're Disney songs. But would they have been in everyone's top five?
Anyway, let's look at the nominees. You can even stream the audio, hooray.
from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyrics: Randy Newman (1 for 17)
Yawn. Pretty run of the mill Disney songs- "Almost There" is the song the girl sings about what she wants to do/be someday, and "Down In New Orleans" is the introduction to the colorful setting du jour.
from Paris 36 Music: Reinhardt Wagner, Lyrics: Frank Thomas (both 0 for 0)
Look, I'm sure this is fine, but it sounds like every French song ever to me. Sure, I'm only familiar with some selected Edith Piaf from the biopic last year, and that one song on the Rushmore soundtrack, but still.
from Nine Music and Lyrics: Maury Yeston (0 for 0)
Star of said Edith Piaf biopic, Marion Cotillard, sings instead of lip-syncs this year on this number from Nine. Still haven't seen the much-maligned film, but it sounds like a decent show-stopper. Call it my second favorite of the nominees.
from Crazy Heart Music and Lyrics: Ryan Bingham (0 for 0) and T-Bone Burnett (0 for 1)
If there were Oscars for Music supervising, Burnett would have several (he oversaw things like O Brother, Where Art Thou and Walk The Line). He shares his second nomination in this category with Ryan Bingham for the best of many original songs in Crazy Heart- the only song I'll be sad not to see performed this year, now that they decided to pull the traditional performances.
So give the statue to "The Weary Kind" in a laugher, and be at least glad we're spared the awful three-song mashup monstrosity that happened last year.
If I didn't have to work last Friday night, I was semi-considering driving out to Madison to catch the short films program that's playing in random spots throughout the country.
Seeing four of the animated shorts on the internet made it less appealing, though, as did the weather in these parts. So instead lets play depressing subject/catchy title roulette and see if we get lucky!
1. The Door
A mysterious tale that ends up focusing on the Chernobyl disaster. You can watch two brief clips on the official website of the film, and they both feature adorable little sick children. Uh-oh.
2. Instead of Abracadabra
A floundering young magician aims to impress his pretty nieghbor at his father's birthday party. It is by all accounts hilarious and well-crafted, but we all know the Academy just likes to kick comedy in the shins, year after year. Unless you're a comedy that also tackles An Issue, like the musical West Bank Story that won in 2006, set in Palestine. Watch a short trailer here.
3. Kavi
The titular young Indian boy works with his parents in a kiln, for a man who his father can't repay. The trailer looks okay, and the website is clearly full of activism about exposing modern-day slavery, but Indian poverty is soooo last year. I doubt it will get enough steam for a win here.
4. Miracle Fish
You can watch the whole 17 min film on some random website at the moment, but I honestly wouldn't reccommend it. Australian boy gets picked on at school, falls asleep hiding out in the nurses office, and awakes to find the school deserted. The reason turns out to be not profound or interesting at all.
5. The New Tenants
The trailer for this last one is full of recognizable faces and cryptic snippets of dialogue- so much that I'm guessing the 22 minute run-time isn't enough to elevate it above annoying film-school postulating and pretension. It certainly didn't make me want to look anywhere else to discern precisely what the plot it, anyway.
So in the end, The Door in a walk. Did you see that little girl with the big eyes and the radiation burn on her arm? That kinda thing gets to people.
A ten part series on the Best Picture nominees, structured around four basic questions.
Part 4: An Education
Was It Any Good?
I'd give it a solid three stars. A remarkable ensemble cast gets lots of mileage from Nick Hornby's script- a script that's decidely unhornbian, really.
Alfred Molina, Olivia Williams, Peter Saarsgard, Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike all put in memorable turns around Carey Mulligan's powerful lead performance. Emma Thompson even pops up for three scenes as the school headmistress.
Lone Sherfig's direction is solid, if not visually memorable. I did enjoy the score by the appropriately-named Paul Englishby.
Would I See It Again?
Probably not, though I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to avoid it. That's not necessarily a knock against the film- well realized coming of age stories just don't make up a large part of my dvd library, except for the Harry Potter series.
Maybe if I were more of an Anglophile I'd want a copy of it for the period setting, the vintage cars and old teacups and school uniforms. There's a certain Londonness to it that you have to admire- constant rain, a grey palette, a longing for Paris that everyone seems to share (or at least everyone we're supposed to like).
Primarily it launched Carey Mulligan to stardom, and perhaps elevated Nick Hornby to legit screenwriter status, but the latter was seemingly inevitable. And fans of "Bleak House" tell me so was the former.
It also snuck into the Best Picture race, of course, thanks to the new Rule of Ten, giving it three nominations and the ability to slap it on the DVD case in deceiving font sizes (e. g. "3 Academy Award nominations including BEST PICTURE").
Will I Remember It Years From Now?
A vague sense, I'm sure- though exact quotes are already slipping from my mind. I'm probably being unfair to how straight it was played: Nick Hornby is an idol of mine, and his work led to certain witty expectations.
One of the things I liked best about it sort of hurts it in this regard- it seemed real. The girl and her parents, the mature way people dealt with each other- even late film revelations are handled with a minimum of dramatic "Oscar scene" moments. Which is great, but not earth shattering. As much as I resent plot twists and "For Your Consideration" freakouts for the sake of themselves, they do stick in the mind a little better than things that could actually happen to people. Does that make any sense?
Another category in which I'm reduced to educated-ly guessing. Someday I'm gonna be a real film-critic type with access to foreign films and shorts in a timely manner.
Let's see what we're dealing with.
1. Ajami
An ensemble crime drama set in the Ajami neighborhood of Tel Aviv. I can't really get the thrust of the plot from the trailer, but it's drawn comparisons to City Of God, which are never a bad thing.
2. The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada)
A portrait of the fallout in Peru from the violence related to the Shining Path uprising, in particular the mass-rapes used by the army as a military strategy. The title refers to the folk belief that women so abused would pass the trauma and fear to their children through breast milk.
3. A Prophet (Un Prophète)
A French Arab moves up into the mafia after being sentenced to six years in mafia-run prison. This is my favorite trailer of the five, if that counts for anything.
4. The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)
An Argentine Justice Agent looks back to try and solve a 25 year old murder case, in a film that looks very sweeping and traditionally Oscarish.
5. The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band)
A village in pre-WWI Germany is beset by a rash of unexplained crimes. And even though this is the favorite for the Oscar (based on its Golden Globe win and nomination for cinematography), I will never see it, because Michael Haneke's films rub me the wrong way.
Spoiler Alert: you will never get answers to any mystery raised in The White Ribbon. None. You'll just get long, suffocating shots that make you claustrophobic, people awkwardly staring at each other, and heavy-handed metaphors about purity. I can say all this without needing to watch more than the trailer.
ETA: I'm abruptly switching my pick to Un Prophete on the basis of the Cesar awards and this category never going as planned. You think it'll be Waltz With Bashir? Nope: Departures. Pan's Labyrinth looks like a sure thing? Nope: The Lives Of Others. And so on.
A ten part series on the Best Picture nominees, structured around four basic questions.
Part 3: District 9
Was It Any Good?
For a largely unheralded August action-flick, it was pretty awesome. It starts out in the very trendy as-of-late documentary format- like a big-budget episode of The Office, only about the inner workings of the Alien Affairs department of MNU.
Copley was a welcome surprise, bringing gravitas to what sounds like it could be a very campy role- that is, (spoiler) slowly transforming into an alien. The aliens are well-realized CGI, with what sounds like a language all their own. Sure, the reasons they were there, leaderless, and unable to leave for the entire time were sketchy and unexplained, but it was worth it to get compelling extra-terrestrials who don't actually look that human for once (unlike James "she's gotta have tits" Cameron's attitude in Avatar).
The second half devolves into a splatterfest, sure, but if you can stomach it it's pretty emotionally satisfying. And the ending is the first Obvious Sequel Set-Up that's excited me in quite a while.
Check, and check. There's not a whole lot to be gleaned on repeat viewings, but it's still compelling and fun. The calibre of the nominations it recieved speak clearly to its quality: Picture, Editing, and Screenplay.
I'm on board for the DVD, and a potential District 10.
What Did It Acheive?
First, the budget: District 9 proved you can match things like G. I. Joe by spending just $30 Million, if you spend it wisely, and tell a smart story.
But here's the thing: I like this film a lot on its merits, but I wasn't taken by the political allegory. Yes, it parallels the events of apartheid, in particular the mass eviction from "District Six." But it doesn't really have much to add.
It has some clear bad feelings about xenophobia and government reliance on corporate militias, but not much beyond that those things suck.
And the racial undertones are a huge mixed bag- why are the aliens, the stand-in for the black population of the apartheid era, explicitly described as aimless, unintelligent, and worker-drone types? Why are the Nigerian gangs violent, voodoo-practicing cannibals?
But still, when the big ship started to move, I was like "Awe. Some." And I was at rapt attention.
Will I Remember It Years From Now?
And then some. If nothing else, it corrected my tragic lack of knowledge about South Africa under apartheid (yeah, I bet I'm not the only one to Wikipedia it right after getting out of the theater. Just saying.).
It's a shame that it's clearly not a player in Picture, Visual Effects, or Adapted Screenplay next month, and it would be a huge upset for it to win Editing. But this is the kind of thing people were excited about the expansion to 10 nominees for in the first place: the oddball films about aliens and things that normally get forgotten.
Some years I see a million documentaries, this year I saw none at all. But that doesn't mean I can't watch the trailers of the five nominees and spitball it- let's do this thing!
1. Burma VJ
Buddhist monks lead a Burmese uprising in 2007, and with all media banned, a group of amatuer Video Journalists sets out to televise the revolution at great personal risk.
2. The Cove
Not the dolphins! An animal cruelty expose by way of Paul Greengrass is the likely favorite this year. It's already had a significant impact on the dolphin trade in Japan, although unmentioned in the trailer is the fact that Japan has a yearly dolphin hunting season and features dolphin meat on school lunch menus.
I'd also like to point out that notable "Hey It's That Guy!" Fisher Stevens (he was the friend on "Early Edition" and the bad guy in Hackers! Remember Hackers? What were we all thinking?) produced this film, and will be an Oscar winner if it takes the prize.
3. Food, Inc.
Remember when they adapted the bestselling non-fiction book Fast Food Nation into a poorly recieved ensemble drama by Richard Linklater and we all wondered "why not just make it into a documentary?" Food, Inc. is that documentary, a by-all-accounts harrowing depiction of the terrible, terrible things we eat and the people that it's making rich.
4. The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
A study of the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers, a study of the Vietnam War, to the public to try and help end it. He faced up to 115 years in prison, but his defense was helped immeasurably by the Nixon administration doing several illegal things themselves to try and discredit him.
5. Which Way Home
Mexican children try to get to the United States on top of freight trains, travelling alone. This often ends badly.
Based on it's recent win from the editor's guild, this is The Cove's trophy to lose- not only is it innovatively paced and shot, it's affected actual change in a very short time. Food, Inc. looks like the clear runner up.
Let's knock off the other three nominee category. If only I knew anything at all about makeup...
1. Il Divo- Aldo Signoretti (0 for 2) and Vittorio Sodano (0 for 2)
Unheralded Italian film scores its lone nomination for the makeup team from Apocalypto. Since this is a biopic of Giulio Andreotti, I will assume this is an old-age makeup nomination. The trailer doesn't really make it clear.
2. Star Trek- Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow (all 0 for 0)
All new to the ceremony, the Trek team created some memorably seamless looking alien prosthetics- Vulcan ears, Romulan noses, and so on. Other than a campy throwback green-skinned girl, I found their work delightful.
3. The Young Victoria- Jon Henry Gordon (0 for 0) and Jenny Shircore (1 for 1)
Can we all agree to move past period pieces for Best Makeup? Come on, people. We get it, queens wore a lot of powder on their faces (Shircore's win being for Elizabeth). Did her hand suddenly turn into an alien tentacle? No?
That said, hairstyling is supposed to count for this award as well, and I sure they deserve it on that front.
Star Trek seems like a sure winner to me- biggest fan base, most unique work, and it's got the "looked over for Best Picture" vibe going on.
Time to play a guessing game with Doc short, which I haven't seen and aren't playing near me anytime soon (or ever). Let's go with titles and quick summaries, and then pick the most depressing one!
1. China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province Watch it on YouTube
Examines the fallout from the 2008 Sichaun earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people. An estimated 7,000 poorly-structured schoolrooms collapsed, and the Chinese government has downplayed and distorted the facts about the exact number of families that lost their only child (due to the one-child policy) because of these so-called "tofu-dregs schoolhouses."
2. The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
Former Governor of Washington Booth Gardner leads the fight for assisted suicide laws while suffering from Parkinson's. This film doesn't even have a trailer on the web yet...
Pretty self-explanatory from the title. It looks like it includes plenty of shots of former workers looking at the camera Errol-Morris-style and trying not to cry.
4. Music by Prudence
Prudence Mabhena, an unlikely singer from Zimbabwe born with arthrogryposis- an affliction of the joints and limbs that left her little more than a torso and head.
The story of the rabbits that lived happily in the Death Zone of the Berlin Wall until it fell. It looks like a black and white, live action Watership Down with Soviets.
So to sum up, earthquake victims, euthanasia, job loss, disabled Zimbabwean singer, and Berliner bunnies. If we're talking relevance, it's clearly either Disaster or Last Truck, and I'm willing to bet that the recent disaster in Haiti gives the win to the former.
A ten part series on the Best Picture nominees, structured around four basic questions.
Part 2: The Blind Side
Was It Any Good?
You know what? It was a lot better than I thought.
While there are some big issues with selective white blindness going on with this film, and indeed it carries a condescending tone overall, the performances actually shine through about 75% of the time. It led to an affecting story, and I'd say an effective movie overall.
That doesn't erase the clumsy way it handles an entire half of the city of Memphis (apparently you cross some line in the middle and go straight from mansionland to a crime-infested hood) and the backstory of its central character (I mean its central non-Sandra-Bullock character of course).
Nope. Not much below the surface of this one, despite all of the things it had going for it- especially Carter Burwell's restrained score.
It's a shame that while The Blind Side crosses $240 million at the box office, the VERY tonally similar and far superior tv show Friday Night Lights had to be saved from cancellation by DirecTV, and will get terrible ratings when it finally airs on NBC this summer.
The fourth season of that show features a shift in focus to the less affluent part of a smaller town, but it manages to tone down the contrast between the holy American-dreaminess of the football field and the seeming hellishness of urban living.
The Blind Side, despite touching characters, glides through this disparity only quick enough to make it seem nearly incontrivertably huge. The rest of the film is just a fish-out-of-water story, with some maudlin southern sentimentalism bleeding in here and there.
So no, not going on the shelf.
What Did It Acheive?
Other than to push Sandra Bullock toward a little gold statuette, not much.
And look, I don't care how much of the story is true. I'm sure Michael Lewis' book is great, but we're talking about Best Picture here. Being true doesn't get you anywhere with me. There's a book and a screenplay in probably half of the NFL Draft picks each year, if only because suceeding in sports is such a quintessentially American fable. But beyond a bookending voice-over by Bullock that feebly attempts to relate the importance of the starting left tackle (who protects a right-handed quarterback's blind side) to the themes of the film, The Blind Side doesn't really aspire to be more than about a family.
I suppose its prolonged box-office success is also an acheivement, one much heralded as a triumph for a humble little film that focuses on "family values" and so forth. And while it appeals to Christian values (when the Touhy's take Michael Oher in), name drops the NRA, and has a sly wink to George W. Bush, it doesn't get anywhere near polemic. The most charged moment in the film, on a left/right scale, is when Kathy Bates' character (a private tutor) admits that she's a democrat as if she's confessing to killing a man.
Will I Remember It Years From Now?
If it wins Best Picture, I sure will, but otherwise it will likely fade into a quiet oblivion. Sandra Bullock might not be the best of the five nominees (it's the only performance I've seen so far, but I'd put money on Helen Mirren anyday), but it wouldn't bother me if she won.
If I re-watched The Blind Side, I suspect I might grow much more impatient with its racial politics and "aw-shucks" narrow vision, but for now it's hard to dislike all that much.
Still, we couldn't have nominated Star Trek instead?
A look at the taglines for this week's major releases. How do studios try to hook us when they only have a sentence?
Shutter Island
Actual tagline: Someone is missing.
OR: Whatever happened to patient 67?
Some serious mystery for Leo and his patented face of seriousness. I hope that this film turns out to be more complex than DiCaprio turning out to be an inmate of the asylum he shows up to investigate, as the trailer seems to imply. I'm sure Marty knows we'd all expect that, anyway.
A short entry in the Oscarthon, with only three nominees and a clear winner already. Each individual nominee's name is followed by their record at the ceremony. Let's get to it:
1. Star Trek- Roger Guyett (0 for 1), Russell Earl (0 for 1), Paul Kavanagh (0 for 0) and Burt Dalton (1 for 1)
With Dalton's win for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button behind them, the Star Trek team seems nominated more for workmanlike efficiency than anything innovative.
For all the press about the casting choices that came with updating an old universe, the effects crew did just as well putting their own stamp on classic touched like warp speed and transporter beams. They also came up with some impressive effects involving planet destroying singularities.
2. District 9- Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken (all 0 for 0)
Not that I'm in the know among FX Academy members, but it's easy to think that this nomination was largely for stretching out a dollar.
With a $30 Million budget to $150 for Trek and $237 for Avatar, it certainly doesn't appear to have one-fifth of the effects-shots at all.
3. Avatar- Joe Letteri (3 for 4), Stephen Rosenbaum (1 for 1), Richard Baneham (0 for 0) and Andrew R. Jones (0 for 1)
The heavyweights from WETA digital, winners past for Lord Of The Rings and King Kong, are joined with the unstoppable James Cameron machine for aneasy trip to the podium.
Full 3D environments, special motion-capture face-cameras, these guys are the real stars of the highest grossing film ever, and I sincerely hope they each get time to speak up there.
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