Minutiae

Now that I think about it, Crash headlines are way easier to write than Brokeback headlines.

I was almost going to write a post-Oscar collection of thoughts, but Bill Simmons did a fine job of that already. My favorite line:

Part of me still thinks Jack Nicholson saw "Brokeback Mountain" on the winner card, took a deep breath, said to himself, "Screw it, I hated that movie," called an audible and said, "And the Oscar goes to ... Crash!"

With that in mind, I just have a few thoughts on last night's Best Picture category. I thought Brokeback Mountain was going to win. I really really did. Nothing in Hollywood tops their own ability to pat themselves on the back for breaking barriers on behalf of liberal politics. And that's not even an indictment. I lean left on a whole bunch of issues, and I support the fact that Brokeback was made. The fact of the matter, though, is that it wasn't the best film of the past year. It was well written, had above-average acting, and so on, but three of the four nominees were flat-out better than Brokeback.

Does that mean that Crash was the correct choice? Not necessarily. If forced to rank what were the best moves, as you see on your right, I'd go Capote or Good Night, and Good Luck at the top, and then Crash. Brokeback would be fourth, and we just won't get into my thoughts on Munich.

So did the Academy get it right last night? Eh. Crash featured a brilliant job by an ensemble cast, very good writing, and was an overall excellent movie. But, as Simmons said, at no point during the watching of the movie did I say "I'm watching an Oscar contender here." I still think that Capote and Good Night, and Good Luck. are the best films of the bunch, but if it means that Brokeback went home without an Oscar for Best Picture, I'm okay with Crash.

The Oscars are about two hours away, and I won't be in the house to witness them, so I guess there's no harm in posting a few predictions on tonight's awards. Now that I've seen all the Best Picture nominees, I feel that I have enough background to take a shot at some of the major categories. Tomorrow, I'll come back and edit this post with a "did win" addition.

( Less important awards under the cut... )

Best Original Screenplay
Should win: Crash (I'd say Good Night, and Good Luck., but too much of that script was archival footage)
Probably will win: Crash
Did win: Crash

Best Adapted Screenplay
Should win: Brokeback Mountain (turning a 90-page novella into a watchable movie is tough)
Probably will win: Brokeback Mountain
Did win: Brokeback Mountain

Best Animated Feature
Should win: Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit
Probably will win: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Did win: Wallace & Gromit

Best Direction
Should win: Brokeback Mountain (there's a difference between "best" and "most important" picture, and Brokeback wasn't the best but might be the most important film of the past year. That's why the people who brought it to the screen should be awarded, but not the film itself. It's not good enough).
Probably will win: Brokeback Mountain
Did win: Brokeback Mountain

Best Supporting Actress
Should win: Catherine Keener, Capote
Probably will win: Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain
Did win: Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener

Best Supporting Actor
Should win: Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man
Probably will win: eh...Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain? I hope Giamatti takes it.
Did win: George Clooney, Syriana

Best Actress
Should win: Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line (despite my crush on Keira)
Probably will win: Reese
Did win: Reese

Best Actor
Should win: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Probably will win: Hoffman, though I can't help but think they'll pick Heath Ledger from Brokeback
Did win: Hoffman

Best Picture
Should win: Capote, or Good Night, and Good Luck.
Probably will win: Brokeback Mountain
Did win: Crash

A sometimes witty, sometimes terrifying, always poignant look at racism.

Crash is the kind of movie you'd expect to hear Morgan Freeman narrate, his velvet honesty pouring over the scenes of senseless violence and prejudice dialogue. But to have an outsider's perspective looking at it would make the statement too explicit, giving the story no chance to tell itself.

The film follows more than half a dozen Los Angeles residents of varying racial backgrounds: the city's district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his wife (Sandra Bullock), a pair of young black men who jump from hijacked car to hijacked car (Ludacris and Larenz Tate), and a jaded veteran cop (Matt Dillon) and his rookie partner (Ryan Phillippe) among them. Each is both a racist and a victim of racism at the same time. Over the course of thirty-six hours, each life collides with another in a unique way that forces the characters to question or confirm their prejudices.

The cast list for Crash reads like the reservation sheet at a top-flight Hollywood restaurant (or the cast of the next Ocean's 11 sequel), but none of the actors could be considered the "star" of the film. Still, each shines, whether they are rollicking in the mud of ignorance or rising above prejudices. And as each is forced through some kind of crash (car or otherwise), the spectacular acting only intensifies.

There's really no way to express how moving or important Crash is, just as there's no way to exactly wrap up its plot in a single paragraph. Instead, and since Oscars are tomorrow and I need to get this review done now, I'll just jump right to the end:

Rating: * * * * of 5

Other Best Picture Nominees Reviewed: Munich | Brokeback Mountain | Good Night, and Good Luck. | Capote

Good Night, and Good Luck. found success by telling its history without embellishment. Watching Bennett Miller's Capote, you sense that the film's crew and actors went in a different direction with their "based on a true story" events; nevertheless, the film remains as compelling as Clooney's masterpiece.

The film, as if its title isn't enough to tell you, focuses on Truman Capote (<td valign="top">Philip Seymour Hoffman), the eccentric Breakfast at Tiffany's scribe. On the morning of November 15, Capote read a newspaper item about the murder of a family of four in Kansas the day before. His sharp writer's intuition tell him that the story would make for a great feature in The New Yorker, and, after calling his editor, he sets off to Kansas with friend and fellow writer Nell Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) to work on his story.

Capote's initial intention is to just write about how the townspeople were dealing with the tragedy, and tells local law enforcement that he could care less if the killers were ever found. But when they are, he becomes intrigued by them, particularly Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.), a quiet, articulate man with a troubled past. Believing an article is no longer sufficient to tell the story, Capote continues to interview Smith and others involved in the tragedy for what would become his most defining book, In Cold Blood. It takes him so long to research the book, in fact, that in the meantime, Lee has the time to write and publish To Kill a Mockingbird and see it turned into a movie. As hype for the book gives it a hard deadline, Capote struggles with his care for Perry Smith and the fact that only an execution for the two killers will give him closure. He may be close to falling in love with Perry - a fact that worries his partner Jack (what's with gay guys in movies being named Jack this year?) - but he has to reconcile that with the fact that, in his own words, the killer is a "gold mine."

Were it not for the fact that Brokeback Mountain looks like a runaway favorite for most of the major awards this year, Hoffman would be a lock for Best Actor, and has those who are familiar with the late author saying that Hoffman is Capote. But it isn't the dead-on impersonation that gets my attention. Capote's relationship with Smith, and his obsession with the story that became In Cold Blood, wrecked him emotionally, and Hoffman shows each face of him perfectly, from the prim, overconfident, arrogant party fly at the beginning of the film to the broken, battered man you'd expect after all Capote goes through.

Gently paced but now slow, attractively shot but not overwhelming, Capote is a beautiful achievement of a film. As I've already said, Brokeback may have the Academy convinced that it's the best picture of the past year largely for its social context, but look down the list just a little bit and they could find an equally important portrait of a gay man that also tells a compelling, fresh story.

Rating: * * * * (of 5)

Other Best Picture Nominees Reviewed: Munich | Brokeback Mountain | Good Night, and Good Luck.

Clooney's inside look at reporting in the McCarthyism era is fascinating, gratifying.

There are two ways that you can go about telling history. The first is to sensationalize it; to insert grand musical scores and fantastic explosions into a story where they wouldn't normally fit. This method may not get you onto Oprah's list of favorite people, but it's almost always guaranteed to get you significant return on your big-budget fantasy (unless you decide to involve Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett). The second method is to try to present the history as simply as you know how, and to let the facts carry the load. It's the road less traveled, but when it's done right, it makes for a better movie. Such is the case with George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck.

Good Night follows the battle between paranoid anti-Communist Senator Joseph McCarthy and legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) that took place largely on Murrow's show See It Now. As McCarthy called out citizens, politicians, and anyone who may at one time have seen a Communist from across the street, Murrow and his show's producers, particularly Clooney's Fred Friendly, worked to expose McCarthy as a fear monger. As they do, they face heat from McCarthy and from studio executives who prefer not to toe the political line when advertising dollars are at stake.

The term "period piece" is usually reserved for anything before the world wars, but Good Night is just that. From its crisp black and white presentation, to Strathaim's nearly dead-on portrayal of Murrow, with his rhythmic editorial delivery, slick black hair, and cigarette smoke curling into the frame as he speaks to America, details are the key here, just as they were to the journalists who looked to expose McCarthy. Clooney, his cast, and his crew are so meticulous with the movie that it's like jumping into the Wayback Machine and watching it all unfold in person.

At only an hour and a half long, the action of Good Night is tight, focused, and at many times thrilling. Clooney doesn't gum up the works by way of side plots, other than a brief look at a married couple on the production team. Fraternization among CBS employees was prohibited, and so knowing the relationship between Robert Downey Jr. and Patricia Clarkson's characters becomes an important cog in the story.

More than just entertaining, Good Night, and Good Luck. is a lesson in how little we learn from ourselves. You wonder what Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, or modern-day journalists think while watching the film. Moreover, judging from the speech that Murrow starts at the beginning of the movie and finishes after the plot unfolds, you take out of Good Night a sense of what journalism was, what people hoped it would become by now, and the state that it's in today (right, Mr. Blair?). Yet Clooney frames the movie with such sophistication, such understatement, that the film isn't weighted by its statement.

Rating: * * * * (of 5)

Other Best Picture Nominees Reviewed: Munich | Brokeback Mountain

Nominated for Best Picture for breaking barriers, 'Brokeback' otherwise follows form.

This may not be a popular opinion, especially among those who put it on the list of nominees for Oscar's biggest honor, but Brokeback Mountain is only considered so highly because of its social significance. I sensed that this would be the case all along, but after finally seeing it last night, I became sure of it.

The film follows a very simple love story arc: in the summer of 1963, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) find work as herdsmen on Brokeback Mountain. With nobody but each other for company, the stoic ranch hand and the energetic rodeo cowboy form a close friendship. During a hailstorm, the two share a tent and that friendship manifests itself physically, and despite each man's insistence to the contrary - "I ain't no queer," Ennis claims after their first night together to Jack's response of "Me neither" - the relationship inexplicably turns to love.

Jack returns to Brokeback the next year looking for his friend, but Ennis is married and raising two daughters. It's four years before the two can reconnect, and for the rest of the movie/their lifetimes, Jack and Ennis try to fight against life as it simultaneously gets in the way of their love and casts an expected disapproving stare onto it.

Masterfully acted by Ledger and, to a lesser extent because Ledger is so good, by Gyllenhaal, Brokeback is an emotional story about the all-encompassing powers of passion and love. Directly in the path of the whirlwind love that Jack and Ennis share are their wives, respectively, Anne Hathaway's Lureen and Michelle Williams' Alma, and the two actresses shine in their roles, each dealing differently with the imminent realization of her husband's dual life.

Brokeback's greatest strength to most, its quiet, plodding telling of the story, is one of its bigger weaknesses to me. Do I want a huge, sweeping statement about acceptance? Certainly not; with one, this wouldn't be the same movie. But for all its passion, some of the film's quieter moments seem less measured and more flat. Were this a story about a man and a woman in love, these moments would ruin the movie. Because of the significance of the subject, everything becomes over-exaggerated as brilliance. This manifests itself in other aspects of the movie, as well. Director Ang Lee has gotten praise for his framing of the movie, but you have to realize that it's set in the American West, and anything besides scenic views would be considered a disappointment.

Don't get me wrong, Brokeback Mountain is a good movie. Then again, they say that there are only a handful of stories to tell, and chief among them to many is that of doomed love. The trick is to breathe some innovation into the story and, with the exception of putting two males into the relationship, Brokeback (like, for instance, Match Point) doesn't do much to break the mold. It should be commended for the fact that it breaks barriers, and I am proud to have seen it, but not so commended as to get the Oscar nod.

Rating: * * * 1/2 (of 5)

Other Best Picture Nominees Reviewed: Munich

Brokeback Trailer Spoofs: Brokeback to the Future | Star Wars: The Empire Brokeback

Nods for the Academy Awards went out today, and I'm a little behind.

For somebody who sees as many movies as I do, awards season always sneaks up on me. Perhaps it's because I'm not all that into the self-aggrandizing, narcissistic way that Hollywood congratulates itself for good movies. In my opinion, that time could be spent making sure movies like Kingdom of Heaven or A Kid in King Arthur's Court never get made. Nevertheless, I try to make it a point to see the films nominated for Best Picture, especially now that I consider myself an amateur critic.

Last year, I managed to see three of the five nominated films (Finding Neverland, Ray, Sideways) before the statues were handed out, and finally saw the eventual winner, Million Dollar Baby, a few weeks ago. I'm a little behind this year, having seen only one of the five contenders (Munich, review here). Over the next month, then, I'll somehow try to see the other four nominees. I'll start, as I have promised since the beginning to see it once it was nominated for Best Picture, with the little movie I like to call "The Brokeback." Stay tuned over the next few weeks to see if I can carve out enough time to see the four movies.

In the meantime, vote below on which of my top 5 movies from 2005 is your favorite (no links, since I'm destroying the TypePad site tonight).

Poll #663744 Minutiae Movie Awards 2005 - Best Picture
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which of my five top movies of 2005 is your favorite?

Happy voting! If I get good response, maybe I'll make polls a regular thing.

Spielberg's newest epic has endless heart but virtually no pulse.

Perhaps I'm not the ideal audience for Steven Spielberg's Munich. Its opening scenes, a reenactment of the 1972 kidnapping and massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich, is a heartstopping, terrifying sequence. But since I was not yet born, even these chilling scenes and the well-crafted coverage by real-life newspeople in archival footage are little more to me than the recreation of the 1980 Olympic hockey games in Miracle were: devices of a filmmaker. It's not that I'm ignorant about the history - be it the sports history in Miracle or the long-standing conflict between Israel and Palestine shown in Munich - it's that a partially fictional account can't get me to pretend like I was there.

Aside from the wonderful opening sequence, there are two scenes that stand out to me from Munich. The first is when Avner (Eric Bana), the leader of a group of assassins secretly sent by the Israeli government after the Palestinians who planned the Olympic disaster, calls his wife, whom he has sent to live in New York for safety concerns. She was pregnant when he began his mission, and when she puts their daughter on the phone and he hears her voice for the first time, he breaks down crying. In the second scene, Avner speaks with a Palestinian national who has been hired to kill one of the same people that he and his crew are after. The two killers discuss the overexaggerated arguments for either side of the historical standoff and come away knowing that in this game, there is no winner.

These two scenes represent the thematic breadth of Munich: it juggles real humanity, passionate nationalism, and senseless war. Indeed, the scope of what Munich wants to talk about is epic, and with Spielberg at the helm, it can achieve that status without trying all that hard. You even want to give him credit for taking no sides in the conflict. But the thematic elements are compromised by the senselessness of the action of the film, and I'm not talking "war is dumb." Once Avner and his group start on their work, they're all business, and the pace of the movie is all wrong: they move from one killing to another without much to be interested in; even the bungled attempts are boring. In this film, there is no story arc, but rather a straight line. While it may seem that the molasses pace of the plot is meant to make the killing seem less sensationalized, it just makes the film drag and throws perhaps undue attention to the heavy-handed, flashback-laden ending.

Well acted, smartly written, and beautifully shot, Munich suffers from one very important thing: it's insufferably long. Perhaps if it had been loaded with something more to drive the plot along, the sheer length of the film could be tolerable. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict has raged on for generation upon generation, but that doesn't mean that Spielberg's movie has to feel a generation long.

Rating: * * 1/2 (of 5)