Jamie Daily

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
84th Academy Awards 2012
1/5 Stars
Nominated for 3 awards.
Nominated for Best Actor (Gary Oldman), Best Original Score (Alberto Iglesias), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan).
Watched January 12, 2013.

photo source: That Film Guy 

All of the reviews I have read about this film make me love Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but watching the film myself, I was seriously unimpressed with the majority of it.  I have not read the book and I have not watched the 1979 BBC mini series and therefore have never encountered this Cold War story of British Intelligence before.  Perhaps if I had I would be more of a fan, but as it stands, I saw a lot of great actors in a film that I struggled all 128 minutes to connect with.

 

Perhaps if the version I had watched had better sound I would have found it more easy to follow.  Once I had a slight grasp of the film's plot, I spent the rest of the running time trying to catch up.  I am a huge fan of films that stretch your mind and make you think.  A predictable plot can be entertaining, but a true plot twist that comes out of left field is something I greatly admire.  Tinker Tailor, on the other hand, was so quiet, and slow, and difficult to understand that I was unable to admire any of the genius that earned its nominations and instead wished I was doing anything but watching this particular movie.

 

Once I realized that the film was about a mole within MI6, and Gary Oldman who plays a man named George Smiley is rehired out of "retirement" (he was fired) to discover who it is, it was much more easy to follow.  Knowing this, however, did not make the rest of the viewing go by with ease.  There is a lot of secrecy and a few instances where Peter (Benedict Cumberbatch) has to sneak into MI6 that are supposed to be suspenseful.  I didn't know it was about the Cold War and I certainly didn't know it was supposed to be placed in 1970 until Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) showed up with his long hair.  These things could have been mentioned at one point or another in the film, but clearly I missed them.  In fact, the best bits of the film were with Ricki, who is Tinker Tailor's version of James Bond, without all of the fancy cars and sex.

 

All in all, I am a great fan of Gary Oldman and can't believe it took the Academy this long to recognize him with a nomination.  Perhaps one day, if I see a better version of the film I will have more admiration for it, but as it stands, I would not recommend it.  If you generally disagree with my advice, however, it might be a good one for you to watch, and afterwards tell me why I am wrong.

 

 

Sources: That Film Guy, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, The Guardian, John Likes Movies

Julia (1977)

Julia (1977)
50th Academy Awards 1978
1/5 Stars
Nominated for 10 awards, of which it won 2.
Nominated for Supporting Actor (Maximilian Schell), Best Actress (Jane Fonda), Cinematography (Douglas Slocombe), Costume Design (Anthea Sylbert), Directing (Fred Zinnemann), Film Editing (Walter Murch), Music-Original (Georges Delerue), and Best Picture (Richard Roth).
Won Supporting Actor (Jason Robarbs) and Writing-Screenplay based on material from another medium (Alvin Sargent).
Watched October 12, 2012.

photo source: toutlecine 

Julia (Vanessa Redgrave) is an eccentric, intelligent activist who was tragically and fortunately born and lived in the time of Hitler.  She was doomed from the beginning, and so it seems was her friend and eventual famous playwright Lillian Hellman (Jane Fonda).  They had a deep, loving friendship all through their childhood until Julia went away to Oxford to study.  It is here that a distance was created between them, not just in miles.  Lillian reflects romantically on her memories of her friend later in life as she attempts to write her first play, holed up in a beach house with her on-again-off-again lover Dash Hammett (Jason Robards).  It is the tragedy and unconditional love and devotion of Lillian's relationship with Julia that preoccupies her writing, but also fuels her greatness.  It is also this that is constantly driving her to visit Europe in hopes of tempting Julia out of hiding to spend time with her.

 

The movie is a mess, unfortunately.  It is supposedly about Julia, but is actually more halfheartedly about Lillian.  It is about their relationship, and yet we rarely see them together except for in Lillian's romanticized memories.  We very rarely see or know anything of depth about Julia, just that she is a shadow that haunts Lilly.  The affection in the relationship is primarily on Lilly's side, although Julia does eventually name her child after her friend.  All that we know about Julia is that she is daring, brave, and an activist first in Vienna and then in Berlin during the rise and dominance of Hitler and Mussolini.  

photo source: Share Files

What should be the climax of the film is infact the worst part.  On one of Lillian's inevitable tragic visits to Europe, she is approached by a "friend" of Julia's who asks her to help them smuggle money into Berlin.  This again begs the question of who actually loves who in the relationship--Lillian who is so willing to put her life on the line for her friend, or Julia who would willingly put her friend's life on the line for the cause?  Instead of an exciting point in the film, it is slow, seemingly pointless, and unfortunately feels like padding to fill screen time.  

 

The acting is wonderful and the imagery is good.  If the film had only been about Lillian with a little bit of Dash it would have been a hit, but because it could not decide who it was really about, it fell drastically short.  I enjoyed the darkness of the setting--rarely was it sunny and cheerful.  I found Lillian herself very interesting, with her chain smoking, writers block, and utter transparity with her emotions.  Jane Fonda did a very good job with her.  Vanessa Redgrave, on the other hand, wasn't given much to deal with in terms of Julia and therefor she did fairly well.  I'm not sure why Jason Robards won supporting actor, though.  Not to say that he didn't do well, but his character didn't feel very demanding.  

 

All in all, I wouldn't recommend the film.  If you are looking for something about the anti-fascist movement it might be of interest to you, although again, it is almost entirely about Lillian and her memories and not very much about what was happening in Germany at the time.  The writing, however, was interesting enough to possibly warrant a viewing.

 

 

Sources: Share Files, toutlecine, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert, The Best Picture Project 

Moneyball (2011)

Moneyball (2011)
84th Academy Awards 2012
5/5 Stars
Nominated for 6 awards.
Nominated for Best Picture (Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt), Best Actor (Brad Pitt), Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), Film Editing (Christopher Tellefsen), Sound Mixing (Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco, Ed Novick), and Writing-Adaptation (Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin).
Watched September 2, 2012.

 

 

"Baseball is a business.  Only we fans love it as a game" (Roger Ebert).

 

If you watched and enjoyed The Social Network, you should also enjoy this Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian script with a story less about the game and more about the management and business-driven backstory that the fans never see.  From a constant barrage of trading players to a stats crazed assistant, the characters of Moneyball challenge the once long standing traditions and beliefs of the baseball scout's world.  

 

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, the poorest team in major league baseball.  Although he constantly leads his low budget team to success, he is always saying that unless you win the last game of the year, no one cares.  In this brilliant look into the 2001 year for Beane, we see how he and his new Yale graduate assistant, Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), twist the scouting process to favor their payroll.  Brand was an economics major and has probably never played baseball in his life, but his obsession with the game leads him to have a deep understanding of the theories of one Bill James, author of a book that challenges the norms of baseball.  The traditional way of scouting is parodied in the film as being obsessed with the look of the player over the effectiveness.  Beane and Brand decide to flip the tables by buying runs and wins instead of multi-million dollar stars. 

 

Although the film was originally dropped by Sony and went through a few directors, Pitt stuck by the project and was rewarded by a classic Brad Pitt performance and academy nomination, well deserved.  His character has depth and heartache--being cared about by only his ex-wife and daughter.  In his adolescence, he rejected a full ride scholarship to Stanford in order to play baseball.  When that didn't pan out, he moved into management, where he is driven by a deep hatred of loss.  His baseball superstitions run deep and prevent him from ever watching a game.  Therefore, we as the audience rarely see more than a few snips of an actual game, but are instead treated to Beane's occasional sports radio, restless driving, or persistent work out sessions.  

 

photo source: AceShowBiz

Jonah Hill is likewise wonderful in this film, but in contrast to Pitt is in a role very unlike those of his past.  His general comedy acts disappear in this quiet, shy wasp of an analytic.  The only thing better than his performance is that he earned his first nomination.  

 

Beyond the notable acting, the cinematography is darker, grainier, and more beautiful than many high definition shots of the big blockbusters of today.  The sound mixing is to die for.  I have yet to see Hugo, which won this category, but at the moment I am sorely disappointed that Moneyball did not.  

 

Despite how many times I have seen this slow moving, two hour film, I can't stop loving it.  The contradicting character types, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Art Howe, Chris Pratt as Scott Hatterberg, the contrasts between the Athletics and the Boston Red Sox--everything comes together to form a formidable opponent to many nominees.  Apparently the Academy and I do not share opinions about what Moneyball should and should not have won.  

 

Please do yourselves a favor and add this Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill home run to your ever growing list of films to see! (Did you see what I did there?  Home run?  You can laugh, it's okay.)

 

 

Sources: IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Rolling Stone, LA Times, New York Times, AceShowBiz, Roger Ebert

Equus (1977)

Equus (1977)
50th Academy Awards 1978
2/5 Stars
Nominated for 3 awards: Best Actor (Richard Burton), Supporting Actor (Peter Firth), and Writing From/Based on Another Medium (Peter Shaffer).
Watched August 24, 2012.

 

photo source: MGM

There is so much to say about this film, and yet so little.  It leaves me speechless, both in the incredible skill of the actors, but most notably in the bizarreness of the story itself.  I know this is a classic, and I can certainly recognize it as an incredibly deep, probing, philosophical piece that any artist in their right mind would want to tackle.  It is a piece that actors should flock to because of its depth and difficulty.  However, beyond these attributes, it was an incredibly long two hours for me, full of way too much nudity and not enough horses.  Women apparently find horses sexy, according to the film Equus, and I am no different.  

 

If you have been living under a rock or are completely out of touch with Broadway, you don't know what Equus is.  For those of my generation, you might recognize it as the play in which Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) bares all.  It is a philosophical study of a boy's psyche as well as his worship--the dissection of what normal is and whether or not doctors have the right to define it and then restore it.  

 

Dysart: "Passion, you see, can be destroyed by a doctor. It cannot be created…The normal is the good smile in a child’s eyes. There’s also the dead stare in a million adults. It both sustains and kills, like a god. It is the ordinary made beautiful, it is also the average made lethal. Normal is the indispensable murderous god of health and I, am his priest."

 

photo source: ToutLeCine

Richard Burton plays Martin Dysart, who is the doctor in this case.  He is brilliant.  From his monologues to his dialogues, he is an emotional being completely wrapped up in his character.  Peter Firth, who plays the mentally disturbed youth Alan Strang, on the other hand, is equally talented as he struggles between his shy tendencies and the doctor's tricks to get him to reveal his secrets.  He is obnoxious, endearing, and terrifying all at the same time.

 

Alan Strang is a seventeen year old boy who is brought to Doctor Dysart after he blinds six horses at the stable he had been working at.  Dysart sets out to discover why Strang did what he did so that he can attempt to cure him.  He investigates Strang's home life, where his parents are very forthcoming, but as the film progresses, they show their devastation more and more.  At the stable, the owner is indignant - furious that his animals had to endure such cruelty, and equally angry that Strang didn't get the chair.  Jill, the love interest, won't show her face to the doctor - she is the last person Strang was with before the incident.  

 

Through days and weeks, Dysart uses different tricks to, in a sense, hypnotize Strang so that he will discuss things openly with him.  It is in these circumstances that we as the audience discover the truth, right alongside the doctor.  Strang has created a sort of religion, and the horses, whom he calls Equus, are his god, running parallel to Jesus.  The chains and the bit in the mouth of the horse represent the chains that Christ wore on His wrists, and the thorns on his brow.  In one revealing scene, we see Strang riding bareback (and naked) through a field.  His relationship and his worship of Equus is very sensual, which is why when he experiences the opportunity of love with Jill, it terrifies him - as if he has sinned against his god.  Not only that, but it is as if Strang believes himself to BE a horse.

 

If you love the play or have a morbid curiosity toward it, I would highly suggest seeing this film.  If you are an art lover and want to stretch your mind a bit, I would also recommend it.  For the rest of us, however, you might want to watch something a little more tame.

 

 

Sources: MGM, ToutLeCine, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Picturenose, Chandler Swain Reviews, I Love Philosophy, Dave's Movie Reviews

The Descendants (2011)

 "The Descendants" (2011)
84th Academy Awards (2012)
5/5 Stars
Nominated for 5 awards, of which it won 1.
Nominated for Best Picture (Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, and Jim Taylor), Best Actor (George Clooney), Directing (Alexander Payne), and Film Editing (Kevin Tent).
Won Writing--Adapted Screenplay (Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash).
Watched August 19, 2012. 

"George Clooney gives the performance of his life as a man in search of a moral compass on a Hawaii that is no paradise" (Guardian).

 

  photo credit: AcesShowBiz

I LOVE this film.  I saw it last year with my mom (back when I worked at a movie theatre and saw almost every movie known to mankind) and couldn't take my eyes off the screen.  The cinematography, coupled with the writing and acting create something beautiful, raw, and captivating.  

 

The Descendants is an Alexander Payne genius adaptation from the original book by Kaui Hart Hemmings.  It follows Matt King (George Clooney), the direct descendant of a Polynesian Princess who married an American missionary's businessman son.  He and his cousins are temporarily still owners of an impressive piece of untouched Hawaiian paradise, but due to certain laws toward trusts, the land must be sold, which would make the family multimillionaires--again.  Matt alone holds all the cards because he is the trustee.

 

This isn't the only trick life has handed him.  His wife (Patricia Hastie) was recently in a boating accident where she hit her head and is now in a coma.  Matt must take the driver's seat in parenting for his sassy 10 year old daughter Sammie (Amara Miller) and alcoholic, 17 year old daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley).  One life punch after another, Payne travels the fine line between comedy and drama, leading Clooney to his best performance to date.  

  photo credit: impassionedcinema

The ironic and distinctive character types come together in a brilliant clash in this character driven exploration of life, love, and the messiest parts of existence.  Enhanced by the incredible cinematography and classic hawaiian soundtrack, it is easy to lose one's self in this hilarious, devastating, island-hopping road to self discovery.  The only thing I could find wrong with "The Descendants" in the Oscars were its limited nominations, single win, and that Woodley didn't manage to score herself a nomination.  

 

It isn't a light hearted chick flick, or an action packed Die Hard film.  Nor is it a comedy in comparison with today's favorites of "Ted" and "21 Jump Street."  Despite all of this, do yourself a favor and see this film to experience Clooney's stellar performance, Woodley's exquisite characterization, and Payne's untouchable genius.

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7th Heaven (1927)

"7th Heaven" (1927)
1st Academy Awards (1929)
5/5 Stars
Nominated for 5 awards, of which it won 3. 
Nominated for Art Direction (Harry Oliver) and Outstanding Picture.
Won Best Actress (Janet Gaynor), Directing--Dramatic (Frank Borzage), and Writing--Adaptation (Benjamin Glazer).
Watched: July 13, 2012.

 

This film is the definition of a cheesy, wholesome romance.  There was passion, comedy, predictability, and it was all wonderful.  My memories of the 2011 French film, "The Artist," now pale in comparison.  It is difficult to hold a candle to an original silent film.  They were the norm in the 20s and no one had to be introduced to their artistry because they were already a well-appreciated genre.  Today, making a silent film is a novelty and an experiment; the filmmakers have to somehow make it understandable to today's society.

I loved this film.  Almost everything about it made me fall in love with 1920s filmmaking.  Even though the film was silent and occasionally overacted, I enjoyed every second of it.  I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm a huge romantic.  

Janet Gaynor, who plays Diane, is a genius.  Her range of emotions would put to shame many of today's actors.  Her ability to laugh and cry at the same time, and her completely genuine expression of "I'm not used to being happy.  It's funny… it hurts" are just some examples of why this 21-year-old won the first ever Oscar for Best Actress.  Presenting a prostitute as a pure innocent soul trapped by her circumstances is not an original concept, but Gaynor's angelic face and large, expressive eyes pull you into her life story and make you believe you have never seen a character like her before.   

The setting of "7th Heaven" is the early 20s in Paris.  Diane lives with her sister Nana (Gladys Brockwell), who is an abusive drunk.  After Diane confesses their misconduct to their wealthy relatives, Nana drags her into the street, where she proceeds to beat and strangle her.  Chico (Charles Farrell), who is a sewer worker, finally pulls Nana off of Diane and forces her to stop.  The rest of their love story is history.

As two so completely different characters - one who has given up hope in life, and one whose life goal is to move from the sewers to the streets - it is a wonder that they ever find love for one another.  Diane is rescued by a tall, handsome man, and thus falls hard and fast, but Chico, who is "a remarkable fellow," has his head up in the clouds and it takes him a little longer to come around. 

Once the director, Frank Borzage gets us to Chico's seventh floor apartment, time and space slow and blend.  Love is not a subtlety or mired in hidden symbolism.  Diane's timidity gives way to bravery as Chico tells her to never look down, but always keep her head up!  The passing of time has no meaning and all that there seems to be in the world is their story up in the heavens.   

I will say it again, 7th Heaven is very cheesy--so cheesy that if you aren't a sappy romantic (like me), or a film noir silent film advocate, you might want to think twice before you pick this film as your Friday night flick.  However, this is something I would love to add to my collection and will certainly think of watching it on any rainy afternoon I can.

 

 

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Sources: IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, New York Times, Cinema Sights, Shooting Down Pictures