Brad's Week In Dork! (8/31/14-9/6/14)

I'm pretty much all recovered from my Wisdom Tooth surgery.  A little jaw tension, a slight ache.  Saw the doc on Friday, and he told me I didn't have to worry about the other one until next year...unless infection or pain flares up.  Fingers crossed.  Sooooo - good news!  I guess.  This week was a whole heap of random.  On Sunday & Monday, I was pretty much still feeling the aftershocks from the surgery so I  just hopped from one film to the next on VOD, enjoying life from the couch.  No rhyme or reason, just what looked interesting in the moment.  It did lead me down a rabbit whole of Errrol Morris documentaries that I was not expecting.  Enjoyed all three, and will definitely seek out others.  I dragged myself out of the apartment on Tuesday, for an Alamo 100 screening of Singin' in the Rain & I went back for more with JAWS on Thursday.  As Matt said in his Week in Dork, nothing like seeing a classic on the big screen to make you fully appreciate the craft of storytelling.  Still, the big event of the week was the Baltimore Comic Con.  It might not have the big deal celebrities like San Diego or the endless array of Wizard Worlds, but if you're actually into comics there is no better place to be.  Great way to finish off the week.

Fading Gigolo:  Who doesn't love John Turturro?  From Barton Fink to Transformers, whenever the man is on screen I'm entertained.  His directorial efforts have left me a little cold, but they're always interesting in their subject matter.  Fading Gigolo is no different.  After his psychiatrist says too much, Woody Allen encourages Turturro to whore himself out for a three way.  Business booms from there, and Turturro's florist quickly finds himself knee deep in.....money.  Of course, simple sex is never simple.  The subplot of a jewish widow suffering crippling grief takes over the film, distracting from the cartoonish antics of Sharon Stone & Sofia Vergara's sexual predators.  Solid performances from Turturro, Allen, and Liev Schreiber, but Fading Gigolo is ultimately the kind of film you watch once.

Cuban Fury:  When I see Nick Frost why do I always ask, "Where's Simon Pegg?" but the same is not true when it's just Pegg on screen?  Nick Frost is certainly talented.  The man makes me laugh, but he always seems like half a double act.  Maybe it's simply that Frost is not always part of the cleverest of projects.  Cuban Fury is decent.  The story of a onetime salsa prodigy returning to the sport in an effort to win true love is chuckle-worthy and cute.  It's not ground breaking.  Chris O'Dowd being regulated to office douche bag is certainly disappointing.  Ian McShane as the salsa coach gets some laughs, but the film could have done more with him (a complaint often associated with McShane movies - ALWAYS MORE MCSHANE!!).  You could do worse than Cuban Fury, but it's no Edgar Wright film....a very tough, and probably cruel comparison.  Still.

Rage:  "Who did it?  WHO DID IT!?!!  WHODIDITWHODIDITWHODIDIT WHODIDITGWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Oh Nicolas Cage, you so crazy.  Except you really aren't these days.  The above quote is a five second scream almost worthy of yesteryear.  Almost.  I'm not going to use this space to continue the narrative of Nic Cage's disappointing direct-to-dvd downfall, but I don't mind lamenting for a bit.  Season of a Witch, I miss you - never mind Con Air, The Rock, and Adaptation.  Rage could have been a kickass revenger in which Cage brutalizes the bastards responsible for his daughter's murder.  Unfortunately, the film is a boring collection of scenes pretending to be hardcore.  Embarrassingly dull.  Can the upcoming Left Behind prove a return to that mega-acting glory?  I'm always the optimist.

The Thin Blue Line:  In 1976, Randall Adams was convicted and sentenced to death for the shooting death of patrolman Robert Wood.  Errol Morris' documentary, through dramatic reenactments and various interviews with the people surrounding the trial, makes a strong, and ultimately convincing case for Adams' innocence.  How did Adams end up behind bars?  Bad timing?  Poor decisions?  The terrifying morality behind the Texas judicial system?  Yeah, that last one.  The Paradise Lost of its day, thanks to The Thin Blue Line Adams was eventually released from prison.  Should be required viewing for all Americans.

Singin' In The Rain:  I've watched the film twice now, and I still agree with my Cinematic Resolution assessment, it's absolutely a "joyous outpouring" of cinema.  Gene Kelly is a tap dancing man's man - something I didn't even know was possible until I saw Singin' In The Rain.  Jean Hagen's blonde dimwit is a tad too obvious at times, and I never quite understood her romantic roadblock.  But, thankfully, the love triangle is not the showpiece, as Singin in the Rain is rather a rollicking tour through Hollywood's early history.  Like The Artist, Gene Kelly is not willing to let modernity roll him over, and thanks to a little nudging from partners Debbie Reynolds & Donald O'Connor, he invents a new style of storytelling.  I'd probably rank Singin' in the Rain as my third favorite musical, right behind The Blues Brothers & West Side Story.  Hard to beat a Mission from God & Shakespeare.

Tabloid:  Another Eroll Morris doc, but maybe not such the essential viewing for the American populace.  Let's see if I can give the content it's proper justice - In 1977, beauty queen Joyce McKinney was arrested in England for kidnapping Mormon Missionary Kirk Anderson & holding him prisoner in a Devon cottage where she chained him to a bed & forced intercourse.  They had been a one-time couple, and McKinney claimed that the Mormon Church had brainwashed her beloved.  Once the tabloid papers got their claws into the story, they uncovered that McKinney was a former S&M model, sometimes prostitute, who often used her sexual wiles to conquer the minds of men.  Or is McKinney a simple victim of love gone sour?  Also, what does this have to do with dog cloning???  It's a damn strange story, and who knows what really went down in '77, but Morris details a fascinating story.  These days McKinney regrets taking part in the documentary, saying that Morris misrepresented her side of the story, but it's hard to argue with the words coming out of her mouth.  Tabloid is bonkers all around.

The Unknown Known:  Who knows why, but for some reason Donald Rumsfeld agreed to be interrogated by Errol Morris.  I certainly see what Morris had to gain, but what did Rumsfeld?  That question is never really answered.  Well, the former Secretary of Defense certainly doesn't take a beating?  He can dish it better than he can take it.  And Morris does not come across as the Liberal Shining Knight.  I'm not a terribly political person.  The game has never interested me - disturbed me, scared me more like it.  The Unknown Known picks over some of the most disturbing history in modern America, filtered through Rumsfeld's participation.  He defends in some cases.  He questions in others.  He sometimes shrugs when the words are simply not there.  How will the Bush Jr administration go down in history's annals?  Time will tell - The Unknown Known is not the revelation some will want.

JAWS:  I love this film.  Sometimes it's hard to keep talking about the films you love.  How many ways can I say that Steven Speilberg's Jaws is one of The Great Films?  This is the second time I've seen the film on the big screen.  It's a whole different experience when Bruce stretches his 25 feet across the entire width of your vision.  It's genuinely AWEsome.  I've seen the film a hundred times, and you'd think there would be nothing new to see.  This go-around, instead of focusing on the genius of Robert Shaw's shark killer, I attached myself to Roy Scheider in a way that's never happened before.  The scene where his son mimics his movements around the dinner table - "Give me a kiss." "Why?" "Cuz I need it."  Just crushing.  I'm an emotional guy, I cry all the time at the movies, but this was the first time I teared up during Jaws.  I cherish the way Chief Brody can never finish a meal, that fear bubbling in his stomach.  And the way Brody pushes through that fear, eventually delivering him to that ship's mast, a rifle in his hand, and a final quip on his lips - "Smile you son of a bitch."  This film spawned forth an infinite spew of knockoffs, but what the wannabes never understood was that Jaws is not about the big beastie.  Jaws is all about character.  How these three very disparate men come together to tackle their own demons.  Brody, the failed New York cop fighting through fear to protect family & home.  Hooper, the rich kid oceanographer making a name for himself through a passion for fish.Quint, the emotionally wrecked sailor, killing sharks as revenge for all those sailors lost at sea.  I love Orca as much as the next guy, but it's just not Jaws.

Wayne's World:  Man, I used to love this movie so much.  I might not have watched it as much as Jaws, but I've seen it a few dozen times or so.  But I have not bothered with Wayne & Garth in several years.  Just one of those movies that floated out to sea.  Friday afternoon, I played a little game of Netflix Roulette & suddenly I was "Party On."  It's a cute film, but it's also completely rooted in my teen years.  I can't disassociate it from my teenager brain, nostalgia lost.  Rob Lowe, there's no better sleaze.

Double Indemnity:  "I'm rotten to the heart."  When most hear Film Noir most think Double Indemnity. With good reason.  It's a hateful bastard of a film.  Fred MacMurray is an insurance investigator who falls for Barbara Stanwyck's Femme Fatale, and agrees to bump off her husband in exchange for sex & money.  The guy's a dope.  The dame's a demon.  They deserve each other.  Billy Wilder is much beloved in Hollywood; he made every kind of movie, but his best were the ugly ones.  Double Indemnity & Ace in the Hole sizzle with mean, cold, rage fueled dialog.  Immoral men and women damning themselves with every word.  I love it.  If I took any issue with Double Indemnity it's that Barbara Stanwyck has never worked for me as a Fatale.  I've never understood her allure, how she pulled MacMurray's dope into her web?  Switch her out with Gloria Graham or Veronica Lake, and I get it, but Stanwyck is an off-putting creature.  The film though, is delightfully nasty.

Baltimore Comic Con:  There were not a lot of new faces in the crowd of Comic Book creators this year.  Sure, they're were some big guns (Greg Capullo, Francesco Francavilla, Eric Powell, Jim Starlin, etc), but they're regulars at this point and there was no need to wait in any lines.  I spent the majority of Saturday snapping photos of cosplayers and diving deep into the dealer's room.  I brought less money this year than I've ever had before, but thanks to $5 Trades, 50% off tables, and dealers willing to haggle, I walked away with more comics than any previous Balticon.  My favorite get was the X-Statix Omnibus which retailed for $125, but I scooped it up for $49.  I also grabbed volume 1 of Matt Fraction's Invincible Iron Man, Superman - Secret Origin, Walt Simonson's Thor, a few Shazam classics, and a treasure edition of Jack Kirby's 2001 A Space Odyssey.  Comics, man.  That's what it's all about.  Time & money deemed only one day for Baltimore this year, but I had as much fun as I've ever had.  Still, it would have been nice to sit in on some panels.  Next year, next year.

--Brad

The Oscars 2014 - Predictions & Desires

Here we go again.  The 86th Academy Awards.  This is the point where I normally talk about how we all know the Oscars are a bunch of bullspit, but it's sill fun to revel in the pomp & circumstance.  But you know what?  I'm not too cool for school anymore.  I love the Oscars.  Never in a million years would I agree that these are the Best Pictures, and I can think of only one occasion in which the eventual Best Picture matched my own personal pick (1992's Unforgiven).  So what?  It doesn't matter.  I love movies.  You love movies.  Any excuse to talk movies is wonderful, and a big damn overblown award show celebrating movies is just dandy.  As much as people scoff at the film selections, the weepy acceptance speeches, the awkward comedy bits, and the never-ending musical numbers, the Oscars still manage to cause conversation amongst co-workers & friends.  "That's a terrible movie!  How come such-and-such got snubbed?  Idiots!"  Fun, I say.  No more making excuses.  Never again will I start one of this columns with "We All Know It's Bull-blah-blah-blah."  My name is Brad Gullickson and I love the Academy Awards.  Always have, always will.  And this year I've really gone out of my way to transform the Oscars into my Super Bowl.

Not much of a challenge really.  The fact that you only needed to see 11 films to have witnessed the major award nominations (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, & Supporting Actress) is a bit of a bummer.  No nods to performances that outshine their films, or the unexpected genre selection.  Variety is not your friend this year.  Of course, that meant after the nominations were announced, I only needed to check off August - Osage County.  I patted myself on the back.  What a dedicated cineaste, I am.  So I started knocking out the documentaries and the foreign films.  Not content, I went a little crazy.  So much so that I currently find myself watching the Hallmark Holocaust Adventure, The Book Thief because The Academy deemed John Williams's score worthy.  Before the show airs tonight, I will have seen every nominated film with the exception of The Missing Picture, Ernest & Celestine, Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom, and the Documentary Shorts.  This is the closest I've come to total Oscar domination.  Feels good.  And a challenge to beat next year.

"Eat The Fucking Fish!!!"

However, the absolute niftiest aspect to this year's ceremony is that the Best Picture nominations range from pretty damn good to really damn good.  Two of my own Top Ten Films of 2013 actually found their way into the top category.  No Everything is Illuminated trauma schmaltz to scratch your head over this year.  Solid choices, all worthy of at least one watch.  Still, the races I find myself the most excited over are in the Documentary & Foreign Film categories.  The Act of Killing is easily one of the most (prepare for hyperbolic cliche labeling...3...2...1...) emotionally devastating films I have ever experienced, and the single most important film to find it's way into the awards ceremony.  There is not a stronger set of films than those found in Foreign Film.  I ranked The Great Beauty as my 8th favorite film of last year, but having now seen the others (again, except for The Missing Picture), I could easily sing them all with equal praise.  This year certainly has its oddities - Bad Grampa for makeup, Inside Llewyn Davis snubbing, the token John Williams nominee, and my usual contempt for all of the Original Song nominations.  But hey, it's alright cuz The Lone Ranger got some respect in the technical awards.  Fingers Crossed!

Moving into my actual Predictions....I got no idea.  I've read the Entertainment Weeklies.  I've studied the Vegas odds.  I've listened to all the podcasts.  It's a real crapshoot this year.  There are at least three films that have been predicted for the Best Picture since the nominations were announced over a month ago, and they have been seesawing one way or another the entire time.  Cate Blanchett & Matthew McConaughey seem like the only locks for Best Actor & Actress respectively.  However, there is always that heavy amount of pressing the Hollywood flesh, and the last 30 days of L.A. politics could win some folks a few upsets.  That always makes for a good show, and the 86th Academy Awards are gearing up to be the closest race we've had in years.

BEST PICTURE:

AMERICAN HUSTLE
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
GRAVITY
HER
NEBRASKA
PHILOMENA
12 YEARS A SLAVE
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Like I said above, I like all these films in some way or another.  Gravity is easily my least favorite.  I never bought into the narrative of scardy cat astronaut Sandra Bullock.  As a work of spectacle, the film is astounding, and it is one of the rare occasions where I thought 3D technology added to the experience of the characters.  Bravo for Alfonso Cuaron - enjoy your inevitable Best Director Oscar.  But I don't think the Academy wants to go down in history having chosen this technical achievement when there is an "important" film like 12 Years A Slave standing nearby.  This is the legacy award.  And it should be.  No other fictional film this year left me in such a puddle.  Solomon Northrup is witness to our own shameful history, and it's a perspective we rarely encounter in cinema - Roots...Beloved...Django Unchained...  It bothers me when I hear critics bemoan, "We get it already."  No you don't.  Shut up.  Watch.  I'm betting you'll be surprised by how entertained you are.  12 Years A Slave is not the film you necessarily"like" (this is America's awful mirror), but it's an unforgettable experience that you'll revisit time & again unlike those "important message movies" you've already condemned it as.

Of course, let's not forget about Shakespeare in Love.  An inordinate amount of votes for Gravity & 12 Years A Slave could pave the way for American Hustle, a movie-movie that is a whole lotta fun to watch.  Fun performances.  Fun music.  Fun costumes.  Fun crime.  But for all that Disco Inferno it's still just a Scorsese pretender.  Been there, done that.

If I had my way, I'd drop that gold statue on The Wolf of Wall Street.  Possibly the year's most divisive film, I was enthralled by its three hours of hateful excess.  I abhor these people.  I am deeply disturbed by the mocking tone, the reverence for exploitation, and the scott-free climax.  I hate my own laughter at the monstrosity on display.  At times it feels like the party version of The Social Network, and at other moments (especially after that final middle finger shot) I see it as the greatest condemnation of a lifestyle since Brian DePalma's Scarface (another film doomed to misinterpretation).  It's ugly.  And I like ugly.

Captain Phillips, Her, Nebraska, Phillomena, Dallas Buyers Club.  Decent movies.  But in ten years we will not be talking about them at all.

Prediction:  12 Years A Slave

Desire: The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR:

ALFONSO CUARON (Gravity)
STEVE MCQUEEN (12 Years A Slave)
ALEXANDER PAYNE (Nebraska)
DAVID O RUSSELL (American Hustle)
MARTIN SCORSESE (The Wolf of Wall Street)

The tone of Nebraska never set well with me.  The midwest...hardy-har-har-har, what a bunch of yokels.  Alexander Payne sure knows how to set his sights on people.  Sometimes it's a blistering pinpoint assault (Election), other times it simply seems mean spirited (Nebraska).  David O Russell loves to move his camera in crazy, unexpected ways and it's obvious that he knows how to eek a performance out of an actor.  Isn't it mind boggling that no other director has helmed two films to win nominations in all five major categories two years in a row?  Steve McQueen is almost an unseen hand in 12 Years A Slave.  He's performance based, but he also concocts shots with painfully pristine precision.  I dig his art.  However, it's looking like we're going to get a repeat of last year with a fun little split.  12 Years gets Picture, and Alfonso Cuaron gets Director for the astonishing amount of filmmaking trickery on display in Gravity.  You're going to see his film early on in the show sweep the technical awards, and it will climax right here, but go no further.

Me?  Again, Wolf Of Wall Street.  It's a power chord movie.  Slamming it's theme of American Excess home with the largest nail and the largest hammer.  Scorsese is 71 years old, but he attacks his films like a young man.  Some of his greatest visual flourishes have occurred in his last three films.  I am in awe.  Is Wolf of Wall Street comedy, satire, or porno?  People will be fighting this war for some time.  As they do with nearly every one of his big pictures (no one talks After Hours or Kundun, but perhaps they should).  The man's excitement for cinema is contagious, and yes, he's as much of a fanboy director as Quentin Tarantino.  His films always demand examination, and they're a delight to pick at.  He won for The Departed, but I wish the Academy had waited for this moral quandary.  People who miss 70s cinema look no further.

Prediction:  Alfonso Cuaron

Desire:  Martin Scorsese

BEST ACTOR:

CHRISTIAN BALE (American Hustle)
BRUCE DERN (Nebraska)
LEONARDO DICAPRIO (The Wolf of Wall Street)
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR (12 Years A Slave)
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY (Dallas Buyers Club)

This is just a tough, tough category.  I'd be perfectly happy with any one of these gents taking home Oscar.  Christian Bale brings an unexpected warmth to his conman, and manages to emote past his potbelly & hairpiece.  Bruce Dern is Bruce Dern.  He's old man awesome.  It's a character he could have done in his sleep.  Matthew McConaughey is certainly the favored, but is he the lock we think him to be?  Apparently, Leo has been beating the streets of Hollywood, and if we're going to get an upset this evening it's in the Best Actor category.  I really dig McConaughey and his McConaaissance.  But this is not my favorite recent role, nor do I really like Dallas Buyers Club.  It's fine.  But if I want to revisit this American Horror Story then I'll probably rewatch How To Survive A Plague rather than this obvious soap opera.  For me, it's Chiwetel Ejofor.  It's a performance properly filled with anguish and terror, but the movie owns our heart because Ejofor is a master of silent cinema.  The small gestures that lead to great triumph.

Prediction:  Matthew McConaughey

Desire: Chiwetel Ejiofor

BEST ACTRESS:

AMY ADAMS (American Hustle):
CATE BLANCHETT (Blue Jasmine):
SANDRA BULLOCK (Gravity):
JUDI DENCH (Philomena):
MERYL STREEP (August - Osage County):

Forget Meryl Streep.  I am done with her acting-acting.  Judi Dench, like Bruce Dern, can't turn in a bad performance these days to save her life.  Sandra Bullock is just fine, but she suffers from ham-fisted scriptwriting.  I do really love Amy Adams in American Hustle.  Her bizarre-o triple performance had me rooting for her whackjob romance.  This is her fifth nomination, and she's the only one of the group who has yet to win a statue.  But that doesn't matter.  If we're talking locks, there is only one this year, and that's Cate Blanchett.  No matter where this never-ending Woody Allen controversy goes, nothing is changing the fact that she's walking home a winner tonight.  And it's totally deserved.  Blue Jasmine might not be my cup of tea, but this super hero origin of a bag lady was a masterful depiction of despair.  I may never watch it again, but I cannot deny her the gold.  And neither will The Academy.

Prediction:  Cate Blanchett

Desire:  Cate Blanchett

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

BARKHAD ABDI (Captain Phillips)
BRADLEY COOPER (American Hustle)
MICHAEL FASSBENDER (12 Years A Slave)
JONAH HILL (The Wolf of Wall Street)
JARED LETO (Dallas Buyers Club)

Possibly my least favorite category this year.  Some solid work here, but not a one of these actors would have made my shortlist (where's James Franco's shit??).  Barkhad Abdi does some good stuff with a character that could have easily been a one dimensional villain, but I think Paul Greengrass probably deserves the most for that performance.  Michael Fassbender is utterly terrifying in 12 Years A Slave.  It's a flashy, big-bad role.  Jonah Hill sneaks in with a Moneyball repeat.  He's a funny dumbass monster, sure, but...really?  Jared Leto - I'm still working him out.  He's there in Dallas Buyers Club to transform McConaughey's bigoted redneck into a drug dealing hero figure.  It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  He'll most likely take Oscar, but Fassbender may sneak it away if 12 Years sweeps the show, and wouldn't it be cool if Abdi snagged it?  Still, being a comic nerd I've got to go with Rocket Raccoon.  He just plays the scumbag tool so well, and I really enjoyed watching his villain nature ratchet to extremes in the film's final moments.

Prediction:  Jared Leto

Desire: Bradley Cooper

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

SALLY HAWKINS (Blue Jasmine)
JENNIFER LAWRENCE (American Hustle)
LUPITA NYONG'O (12 Years A Slave)
JULIA ROBERTS (August - Osage County)
JUNE SQUIBB (Nebraska)

Julia Roberts looses because she tried to make Steep - "EAT THE FUCKING FISH!"  People who refer to June Squibb as "adorable" creep me out.  Sally Hawkins is perfectly fine in Blue Jasmine, but she looses shine next to Cate Blanchett.  This race comes down to Jennifer Lawrence's Science-Oven enthusiast & Lupita Nyong'o's systematic victim.  Tough call.  Both do great work.  Lawrence is a brilliant shrew, but Nyong'o wins because she's the perfect piece in a powerhouse story.  She has the shortest amount of screen time (18 minutes) of the nominees, but she makes everyone of them count.  From the flashy tearjerker confession, the Fassbender brutalization, and Alfrie Woodard's story hour.

Prediction:  Lupita Nyong'o

Desire: Lupita Nyong'o

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (Belgium)
THE GREAT BEAUTY (Italy)
THE HUNT (Denmark)
THE MISSING PICTURE (Cambodia)
OMAR (Palestine)

Jeez, I don't know here.  I haven't seen The Missing Picture, but I loved all of the other nominees.  Omar is a gripping crime tragedy set against the West Bank.  The Broken Circle Breakdown is a wallop of melodrama that really puts similar miserable concepts like August - Osage County to shame.  The Hunt contains my second favorite lead performance of last year (the 2nd being the equally snubbed Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis), as Mads Mikkelsen battles his town after a wrongful accusation of pedophilia.  The favorite looks to be Italy's Great Beauty, a Fellini obsessed tour through the wreckage of one-time novelist Toni Servillo.  The Great Beauty is a gorgeously somber film for the lost souls in all of us.  Criterion snagged the blu ray rights.  That's good enough for the snob in me, and I'm sure The Academy agrees.

Prediction:  The Great Beauty

Desire:  The Great Beauty


ANIMATED FEATURE:

THE CROODS
DESPICABLE ME 2
ERNEST & CELESTINE
FROZEN
THE WIND RISES

I spent most of this past week scarfing down these nominees, but was unable to locate Ernest & Celestine.  None of them particularly grabbed me on their initial theatrical run, and I don't think most of them will stick with me much longer.  The Croods was shockingly fun.  The nonsensical animal design won me over in the same vein as Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.  I love the Despicable Me minions, but I could not care less about the Gru storyline.  I appreciate Disney's attempt to play in the Princess genre, but was left cold by much of Frozen.  I'm going to sound a little bit like an ignoramus here, but I've never really enjoyed anime or the films of Miyazaki.  Princess Mononoke & Spirited Away were fun enough, but meh.  That being said, I was really taken by The Wind Rises.  The story of Jiro Horikoshi's cursed dream to build the ultimate flying machine is a complicated narrative for an American to engage, but Miyazaki excels in tackling the juxtaposition between art & war.  At the very least, The Wind Rises carries with it some of the most beautiful apocalyptic imagery I've encountered in an animated film, and it's rather bothersome to me that American Animation still finds itself caught in childhood.  Pixar has come close to telling adult stories, but I'm still waiting for the USA to mature.

Prediction:  Frozen

Desire:  The Wind Rises

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

20 FEET TO STARDOM
THE ACT OF KILLING
CUTIE AND THE BOXER
DIRTY WARS
THE SQUARE

20 Feet To Stardom is a solid episode of VH1's Behind The Music.  Cutie and the Boxer is a sad little look into failure.  Dirty Wars puts American foreign policy on trial, but fails to back up its claims with hard evidence.  The Square is a fascinating look into Egypt's ongoing political strife, and it's possibly the only film here that could stir serious global change if experienced by the right people.  But The Act of Killing?  God damn.  I've never seen anything like it.  And if we're going to talk about "important" films like 12 Years A Slave then we have to discuss Joshua Oppenheimer's weird-ass expose into the crimes of Anwar Congo.  Responsible for thousands of executions during Indonesia's Communist Revolt in 1965, Oppenheimer records Congo's reenactment of his proud duties as he plops them into cinematic genres like the musical and the film noir.  What is man capable of?  What are you capable of?  Dark questions and darker answers await us in The Act of Killing.  I'll be ok if The Square wins.  But if any of the other nominations set foot on stage, I'll be pretty peeved at The Academy's ability to shove their head in the sand.

Prediction:  The Act of Killing

Desire: The Act of Killing

CINEMATOGRAPHY:

ROGER DEAKINS (Prisoners)
BRUNO DELBONNEL (Inside Llewyn Davis)
PHILIPPE LE SOURD (The Grandmaster)
EMMANUEL LUBEZKI (Gravity)
PHEDON PAPAMICHAEL (Nebraska)

Will someone just give Roger Deakins an Oscar already!?!?!  Well, unfortunately, he didn't partner with The Coen Brothers this year and instead brought great beauty to an obviously mediocre tale of Law & Order.  Prisoners is junk.  Bruno Delbonnel blanketed Inside Llewyn Davis in snowy gloom, and it would be nice to see this film take some sort of gold home tonight.  Phedon Papamichael matched the starkness of the land with the starkness of the relationships in Nebraska.   Who doesn't love black & white photography?  Emmanuel Lubezki will probably take it during Gravity's early show dominance.  But I want Phillipe Le Sourd to go home happy due to his sumptuous and varied display of Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster.  Not a chance in hell, but...

Prediction:  Emmanuel Lubezki

Desire:  Philippe Le Sourd

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

AMERICAN HUSTLE (Eric Warren Singer & David O Russell)
BLUE JASMINE (Woody Allen)
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack)
HER (Spike Jonze)
NEBRASKA (Bob Nelson)

This is the only chance to award Spike Jonze as writer & director of Her.  Personally, I found the conclusion rather unsatisfying, but it's a clever deconstruction of our modern idea of human interaction. Dallas Buyers Club is...obvious.  You saw the trailer, and you immediately knew not only how the movie was going to end, but what the ride would be like as well.  It's an actor's film.  That's it.  Nebraska is sorta similar, but like I said above, I never felt a love for the characters from the filmmakers involved.  American Hustle, "BASED ON TRUE EVENTS", is a plot you've seen over and over again.  Fun characters, sure.  I'm going with Woody Allen.  Yep.  I'm as surprised as you are.  I've never been much of a fan, but ever since Midnight in Paris, I've been warming up to the creep.  I really enjoy the story's mindless jabber framing device. I like the flashbacking information dumps.  I like the odd revelations of the minor characters.  I may never watch it again, but I surly respect its script.

Prediction:  Her

Desire:  Blue Jasmine

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

12 YEARS A SLAVE (John Ridley)
BEFORE MIDNIGHT (Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, & Ethan Hawke)
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (Billy Ray)
PHILOMENA (Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope)
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (Terence Winter)

Prediction:  12 Years A Slave

Desire:  The Wolf of Wall Street

I loved 12 Years A Slave.  But there are a couple problems that I had with the script.  Brad Pitt's white savior being the biggest one.  Before Midnight is a fascinating watch, but I'm still bitter about where the writers took these characters after Before Sunrise.  Captain Phillips falls apart once the Navy shows up. Philomena is perfectly fine.  The Wolf of Wall Street takes a despicably proud biography and turns it against its creator.  F - U Jordan Belfort.  For that alone, Terrence Winter gets my vote.



--Brad