Academy Award Prediction: Best Picture and Best Director of 2005

BEST PICTURE
BEST DIRECTOR

(For the first time that I can remember, all five films nominated for Best Picture also have their directors nominated.)

*Summary*

Brokeback Mountain (3/4 stars): Fairly ordinary romance film with competent performances from Jake Gyllehaal and the surprising Heath Ledger. Strong directing effort from Ang Lee. Overhyped because the protagonists are two cowboys.

Crash (3.5/4 stars): Interesting kinetic ensemble film. Spectacular direction from Paul Haggis, but not a memorable film overall due to lack of focus and Crash's nature as a "statement film" on racism.

Munich (4/4 stars): Stupendous performance by Eric Bana and magnificent direction by Spielberg.

Good Night. And, Good Luck. (3/4 stars): Well-made docu-cinema with an excellent performance from David Straithairn and surprisingly effective direction from George Clooney.

Capote (3/4 stars): A role-of-a-lifetime performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman. The film itself is not a huge magnitude better than average. Pacing problems from director Bennett Miller.

Bottom Line: This is an acceptable field, but it's not a strong one. I can only identify Munich and Good Night. And, Good Luck as two films that would contend for a nomination in any year of recent memory. The other three barely qualify as being the best film of any year.

Who will win?
Sadly, the Brokeback Bandwagon is overflowing with people who've never seen a gay romance film. Brokeback Mountain wins an undeserved Academy Award for Best Picture. This bandwagon will also likely tow Ang Lee to the plum directing prize.

Who should win?
Munich stands head and shoulders above all the other films in this field. This also means that the Academy pariah Steven Spielberg should take home the statuette. Not going to happen either way.

Bennett Miller's Capote (3/4 stars)

I like to tag the small group of actors that I consider Philip Seymour Hoffman to be a part of as "specially talented and criminally underused." I don't think the likes of William H. Macy, Ed Norton, Don Cheadle and John C. Reilly are underrated. Many people who enjoy movies won't recognize their names, but when you mention a character they've played in a memorable film, they'll say "oh yeah that guy he was great!!!'

These actors will rarely get a chance to lead a film because they don't have the "look" that Hollywood prizes so much. You know, the Cruise, Pitt, and even Keanu "look" (the last one being criminal, but whatever). They also don't have the Pacino/DeNiro/Hopkins-class screen presence that can make up for any lack of smashing good looks.

I think the two poster boys for success for these guys is Kevin Spacey, who was in this class himself until the breakout in The Usual Suspects. Now, Hoffman attempts to join him with a breakout of his own.

I'm considering Phil a mortal lock for the Academy Award. I've seen four of the five performances (excepting Terence Howard - I have no interest in his film) and Hoffman stands head and shoulders above the competition. Perhaps I'm biased, having seen many of his brilliant roles, big and small, go unnoticed. It's about time he got some glory. His Truman Capote is everything the man was reputed to be. Hoffman made me want to smack Truman around until I could understand what he was saying half the time.

What I find inexplicable is how Capote snuck into the nominee list for Best Picture. Sure, Hoffman put the production on his back and carried it into the spotlight, but it's not a remarkable effort for director Bennett Miller. He frames the story of how In Cold Blood was written competently, keeping the spotlight firmly focused on Capote and his inner demons that spawned during the writing of the landmark novel. However, his pacing could have been more even. There are times during the film that things move too deliberately. And I'm not giving him ANY credit for Phil's peformance. Sorry Bennett. Keener is ok as Harper Lee, Truman's partner in literary history (some say Capote actually wrote Lee's landmark To Kill a Mockingbird). However, there is no romance as Capote was gay.

Bottom Line: You have to see this for Hoffman's performance. However, have some patience due to the uneven pacing.

Next: A few more films with Oscar nominations. I hope to get through Walk the Line, Syriana, The Constant Gardener, Proof, Pride and Prejudice. Memoirs of a Geisha and *maybe* The New World before the Academy comes calling.

Dave McKean's Mirrormask (2/4 stars)

(Capote is coming up. Just a break because this was viewed, unscheduled, in place of game night.)



Neil Gaiman is my favorite fantasy author. His fantasy tends towards the dark and fantastic, or towards the real world with something just off. I've read most of his works; people are most familiar with his Sandman graphic novels or with his recent bestselling book American Gods. Neil also dabbles in screenwriting.

Dave McKean, the graphic artist, is a longtime collaorator of Neil. His work is... strange. He works in multiple media to create works that are just as off in terms of visual impact, as Neil's works tend to be off in terms of ideas and concepts. They complement each other very well in the published medium.

So. When word reached their fans that they were working on a film project, there was quite a bit of excitement. The budget wasn't big, and the film wasn't meant to be a Hollywood summer blockbuster, but even small art house runs were greatly anticipated by fans. They collaborated on the screenplay, and Dave took the director's chair.

The greatest success of Mirrormask is the near-perfect translation of Dave McKean's visual style to film. Everything from the dark reds, oranges, yellows and browns he tends to use, to the strangeness, to the twisted analogs of real-world things. The transition is spectacular, if a bit disturbing. If you like looking at these kinds of interesting imagery, you'll have a lot to see.

Unfortunately, what Dave doesn't quite get done is a proper application of film elements to the storytelling. Mirrormask is essentially a buddy road trip. The main character, Helena, is trapped in a fantasy world of her own making and needs to quest to rights a wrong and escape back to her world. Her sidekick is Valentine. Think C3PO with less poise and intellect.

The story is pretty simple. Since it's Gaiman, there are a few twists, but nothing you can't wrap your head around. The problem is in the actors and the pacing. Stephanie Leonidas is a reasonably-experienced 20-year old actress, but McKean gets very little from her emotion-wise. She's unable to project, and the result is an audience that is less-than-invested in her as a character. This is an even bigger problem because Helena's main trait that sets her off from the denizens of the fantasy world is her expressive face. Everyone else wears a mask. She might as well be wearing one too for the most part.

The story's pacing also leaves much to be desired. I know that Dave's visuals are a huge part of the film, but editing Mirromask into a properly-paced film must take precedence. It didn't, and you have a story that's unable to hold the interest of viewers as the characters skitter back and forth. The pretty pictures can only take you so far.

My favorite scene in a film that otherwise tested my patience was a very strange use of the Carpenter's standard "Close to You". If you see the film, I'll bet you'll find that bit at least noteworthy if not entertaining.

Bottom Line: I'm sure that Mirrormask has an audience, and will develop a cult following just because it looks so damned cool. However, I wouldn't watch it all the way through more than once without liberal use of fast forward. If you're a fan of Gaiman and/or McKean though, it's required viewing.

George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck (3.5/4 stars)

The first George Clooney-directed film I got to see was the underscreened "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". George did a decent job on that film, and the influence of his budd Steven Soderbergh showed in the film's style. In his current effort, Good Night, and Good Luck, George takes off on a completely different tangent. While some elements of the film still retain the gritty Soderberghian style, he elects to use a docudrama slant. He even goes to the extent of filming in black and white.

It's a great call, and it works extremely well.

In this telling of the events surrounding television journalist Ed Murrow's media battle with US Senator Joe McCarthy in the dark days of the Communist witchhunt, Clooney's choice of using stock footage of the real McCarthy rather than casting an actor is a gutsy call. Writing the screenplay around these snippets of historical footage, David Straithairn's Murrow is given the real thing to play against. It enhances the realism of the film and sucks you into the struggle.

Speaking of Straithairn, the role is essayed as a hardboiled, steadfast freedom-loving American. It's not a HUGE role, as the screenplay sticks completely to the story of the McCarthy conflict and does not touch at all on Murrow. This deprives the viewer from being able to invest in Ed as a person since we are not presented much beyond the straightlaced, stonefaced television journalist. Even when a close friend and associate dies, we are not given a window into how Murrow copes with the loss, or even the pressures of his job. He comes across as larger than life. This is the main weakness of the film.

Good Night, and Good Luck comes in with a running time of less than two hours. It can be argued that they might have invested some time in showing us more about Murrow. Ultimately, Cloney decided that the film is about the conflict, and is not about the character. Too bad, because putting in 20 minutes more of character backstory for Murrow would have, to my mind, made the film better.

Bottom Line: Overall, Good Night, and Good Luck is an excellent film and well worth the time. This is my dark horse for the 2005 Best Film Academy Award.

Paul Haggis's Crash (3/4 stars)

Crash opens with a complicated concept - people in LA avoid each other reflexively so you've gotta crash into someone else to touch them - but in reality the message is simple. The world has become a place where it's easy to find something to be afraid of - other people who are different. The media has turned everyone into the stereotype of their race and culture and even appearance.

People have to remember that each person is a unique individual capable of good things as well as bad. Sadly, that's easily forgotten when you're afraid.

The ensemble cast might be described as "powerhouse" with a prodigious number of recognizable names and faces - Sandy Bullock, Brendan Fraser, Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton, Loretta Devine, Ryan Philippe and Don Cheadle who also produced. There are so many characters that while the ability of director Paul Haggis to weave an effective tapestry of intersecting stories is impressive, the audience isn't able to latch on to anyone. In the film's 100 minutes, I saw snapshots of the lives of many people, but I didn't get to know any of them. Thus, I really didn't care much when bad stuff happened to them.

Crash attempts to sell an idea instead of tell a story. Haggis succeeds at driving home how media characterization of ethnicities has changed society. (Sorry, I'm not using the "r" word because it's loaded with so much baggage that it doesn't convey the correct idea anymore.) But he doesn't succeed in crafting a film that involves the audience. We're spectators to a wonderful show, not participants in a story who emotionally invest in a character. For the kind of film that Crash attempts to be, it falls a bit short of greatness.

So. While it's certainly worth your 100 minutes, Crash isn't in my book a contender for the best film of 2005. The Oscar still rests on the mantle of Munich.

Bottom Line: Very good, see it.

Steven Spielberg's Munich (4/4 stars)

Eric Bana was robbed.

And Mr. Spielberg? You're forgiven for War of the Worlds.

I'm yet to see two of the other three nominees (Crash up next), and I will before the awards are handed out, but dammit Munich is the best film of 2005.

This is how you take a moral drama and fold it into a kinetic action film. You watch the characters and you know how they're doing it and maybe WHY they're doing it, but you're not quite sure if THEY know what they're doing and why they're doing it.

Steven also controls his natural urge to grab an idea and hit his audience over the head with it until they cry. I was concerned when the epilogue began to drag a bit, but the final scene ended with the proper amount of uncertainty for the tone of the film. You don't know what happens. You know what YOU want to happen, and you know what is LIKELY to happen, God forbid, but Steven doesn't tell us what exactly happens.

Eric Bana should have gotten a nom for lead actor. Strong, rock steady performance of a man whose moral compass gets caught in a magnetic storm. He's got a port, but will the storm overwhelm the port? Is he in control? Was he ever in control?

The debate over Steven's treatment of terrorism and the "dialogue" of violent acts between the Israelis and Palestinians was not just handled well, it wasn't handled at all, which is important. Steve's a Jew, so we all know where Steve stands. It's irrelevant for Munich. This is just a story, and I did not detect anything in the way of an overt message. When you become as your opponent, you cede the moral high ground, and wrong and right all swirl into one really large pool of blood.

Bottom Line: Best Film of 2005. Do NOT miss it.

Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain (3/4 stars)

What's the big deal over Brokeback Mountain?

It's competently directed by Ang Lee. But it's Ang Lee, so we expect that.

It's got some competent performances. Heath Ledger sheds the last vestiges of the cringeworthy A Knight's Tale and shows that he belongs on the big screen. Jake Gyllenhaal proves that he can also act. He's still not as good as his sister Maggie, but he's improved a lot since Donnie Darko. Michelle Williams doesn't do enough here despite the charged minutes she gets in front of the camera. Anne Hathaway somehow blundered into this film, again by showing us her breasts.

Why is there so much hype?

Look, this is a drama/romance with longing as the central theme. They can't be together, and the feelings that Ennis and Jack have for each other prove to be their undoing in the end. I can name at least four films with a similar theme that, in my mind, are significantly better: The Remains of the Day, In the Mood for Love and its sequel 2046, and The Bridges of Madison Country. You want to give Brokeback the Oscar? No way. And I LIKE Ang Lee's work.

The problem here is that people are uncomfortable with the film. They can't ignore it because it's got a high-profile director and cast, and it's got two big outfits backing it (Focus and Paramount), so they overcompensate. Brokeback Mountain is a WELL-CRAFTED tragic love story, but the best film of the year it's not. By a LONG shot.

Bottom Line: See it, but keep your expectations low. It's not THAT great.

Ronny Yu's Huo Yuan Jia (aka Fearless) (2.5/4 stars)

I saw this film after some of the other that follow, but I'm going for a series of Academy Awards nominees so I'll put this one up first. You're going to have to wait a bit for my take on Brokeback Mountain. :)



This is reputedly going to be Jet Li's final film.

Strange that he decided to go with a project headed by a guy who directed the hits "Bride of Chucky" and "Freddy vs. Jason".

Regardless, this is as always Li's film. It's not as pretty as Ying Xiong, or Hero to English-speaking audiences. It's also not as well-directed. However, the energy that Li puts into his scenes show little decline from his landmark Once Upon a Time in China series. Wushu is a martial art that's fun to watch, and combined with the wire-fu tricks that have now become standard even in Hollywood, Huo Yuan Jia is entertaining for the length of its running time.

Scuttlebutt has it that the original director's cut was 2.5 hours, and they whittled it down to 100 minutes for non-Chinese audiences who apparently can't tolerate that much "kung fu" in one sitting. It's laughable if true, considering that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon clocked in just over 2 hours.

Bottom Line: It's Jet Li, and it's wushu in what's billed as his final outing. Catch it just for old times' sake.