Oscar predictions for 2012

Well, here it is – my obligatory blog post on the 84th Academy Awards. Roughly speaking there are an estimated 450 million English language blogs on the internet. And of that generously estimated number I’d guess that close to two-thirds of them will create some kind of an entry about tomorrow evening’s Oscars. I have a good reason for doing mine though…well, not really. Anyway…

I’m going to keep this as short and concise as possible and only do picks for the six main categories. I’ll start with the Best Actor category.

1. Demian Bechir, ‘A Better Life’

2. George Clooney, ‘The Descendants’

3. Jean Dujardin, ‘The Artist’

4. Gary Oldman, ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’

5. Brad Pitt, ‘Moneyball’

Winner: Jean Dujardin, ‘The Artist’. He was brilliant in the year’s most surprising film.

Best Actress

1. Glenn Close, ‘Albert Nobbs’

2. Viola Davis, ‘The Help’

3. Rooney Mara, ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’

4. Meryl Streep, ‘The Iron Lady’

5. Michelle Williams, ‘My Week With Marilyn’

Winner: Michelle Williams, ‘My Week With Marilyn’. She was absolutely great in the lead role and made this movie work. She deserves this award!

Best Supporting Actor

1. Kenneth Branagh, ‘My Week With Marilyn’

2. Jonah Hill, ‘Moneyball’

3. Nick Nolte, ‘Warrior’

4. Christopher Plummer, ‘Beginners’

5. Max Von Sydow, ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’

Winner: Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn’. Really, I’m stumped as to why Philip Seymour Hoffman wasn’t nominated for his role in ‘Moneyball’. In my consideration Hoffman was better than both of his co-stars Pitt & Hill who each (curiously in my estimation) received Oscar nominations and I’d pick him to win this category for his memorable dead-on performance as baseball manager Art Howe. Branagh, however, was excellent as the acting legend Laurence Olivier and gets the nod here.

Best Supporting Actress

1. Berenice Bejo, ‘The Artist’

2. Jessica Chastain, ‘The Help’

3. Melissa McCarthy, ‘Bridesmaids’

4. Janet McTeer, ‘Albert Nobbs’

5. Octavia Spencer, ‘The Help’

Winner: Octavia Spencer, ‘The Help’. She was so very, very good – and quite funny too! Co-star, and competition, Chastain was equally good in a pivotal role, but Spencer steals the show again and again throughout the movie in a memorable performance.

Best Director

1. Woody Allen, ‘Midnight In Paris’

2. Michael Hazanavicius, ‘The Artist’

3. Terence Malick, ‘The Tree Of Life’

4. Alexander Payne, ‘The Descendants’

5. Martin Scorsese, ‘Hugo’

Winner: Terence Malick, ‘The Tree Of Life’. I know I’m part of a fairly small majority in my praise and admiration of this movie, but it is brilliantly told and filmed. This category is easily the toughest selection to chose a winner from as each of the directors is well worthy of the award. I wouldn’t be a bit disappointed if Scorsese won for ‘Hugo’ though!

Best Picture

1. ‘The Artist’

2. ‘The Decendants’

3. ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’

4. ‘The Help’

5. ‘Hugo’

6. ‘Midnight In Paris’

7. ‘Moneyball’

8. ‘The Tree Of Life’

9. ‘War Horse’

Winner: ‘The Artist’. Most deservedly too. Yes. It’s really THAT good. To pull off a silent film so successfully in an age of such advanced movie production technology, and where movie-goers expect mind-blowing computer graphics, has got to have something good going for it. And it does. ‘Hugo’ was also great and I wouldn’t be disappointed if it won the award.

Besides overlooking Hoffman in his previously mentioned Oscar worthy supporting performance in ‘Moneyball’, he was also neglected for his terrific performance in ‘The Ides Of March’. And that brings something else to mind here too – not a single Academy Award category gave a nomination to the absolutely riveting indie film ‘Drive’ starring Ryan Gosling. That is seriously just wrong! It was easily my favorite movie from last year and both Gosling and Albert Brooks should have gotten nominations as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively. Oh – and a nomination for adapted screenplay too!

Another huge oversight to me was the complete neglect of the movie ‘Contagion’. That had a terrific screenplay and also the most effective music score for any movie I saw last year and in any film in recent memory. It literally makes the movie pulsate with suspense and horror. Honestly, how does such a thing get overlooked? Unreal…

Pic of the week

HA!

Weirdest news story I’ve seen on the web this week

There’s stupid – and there’s REALLY stupid. Check out this story of an escaped fugitive who calls the police for roadside assistance when he experiences car troubles. Dumb! As John Wayne’s character Sergeant Stryker says in the film ‘Sands Of Iwo Jima’: “Life is tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid.”

Hits From Yesterday & The Day Before – BNL

Checking my iPod Touch ‘Top 25 Most Played’ listing earlier today revealed that I’ve given quite a bit of play time to the recent Barenaked Ladies [BNL] compilation Hits From Yesterday & The Day Before. A significant amount more time than any others actually.

With over two decades of playing together, and more than a few memorable melodies in that time span, the time was right for another compilation of hits by the Canadian folk-pop/rock group. And as a greatest hits collection the CD gets the job done very, very well. The songs are arranged in chronological order, which doesn’t help with the flow of the music but does detail the band’s sound progression as a group nicely. BNL are famously known for injecting their quirky banter and comedic humorous exchanges into their songs, combining it with solid musicianship. There are a handful of these prototypical songs present here along with other more mainstream recordings.

Most of my favs by the band are here including the lead-in track “If I Had A $1,000,000”, “Brian Wilson” and “The Old Apartment” to name just a few. They even had the foresight to include the live recording of “Brian Wilson” and the studio version of  “If I Had A $1,000,000”. The performance of the latter on the band’s live Rock Spectacle was no where near as good as the spontaneity of the studio version. Vice-versa, “Brian Wilson” just seems (to me at least) to sound much better when performed live. And, so apparently, did the producers of Hits From…

The only problem with this compilation is that, like one of the songs by the band here, “It’s All Been Done” – before that is. In 2001 BNL released the CD compilation of their hits titled Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (1991-2001). That CD had 19 tracks on it and covered a lot more of their popular material, and included a few rather obscure numbers. That collection rates much higher than this one. Hits From… has, as it’s first 9 lead tracks, cuts from that earlier compilation and then adds 5 more to the playlist. It ends up being a very curious release when you consider the material left off here as compared to the inclusion of a few of the selections chosen.

The main reason for the presence of this compilation is likely due to the popularity of the band’s theme song to the TV mega-hit show The Big Bang Theory. That theme song has never been released by the band before and is not available anywhere else. That the television show is now in it’s fifth season and is currently the number one show in the band’s native Canada probably had more to do with the sudden appearance of this CD than anything else. Well, that and the fact that the theme song itself was apparently in high demand…if you believe the media hype. Me? I really couldn’t care less for either. I’ve never seen the show and I can’t really say that I care for the song. Biggest complaint: where is the classic BNL song “Be My Yoko Ono”? The absence of that track here is a sin of omission!

All that said, most of what is present here is well worth listening to and it’s tough to argue with most of the songs selected for the album. I have to imagine it’s difficult to put together an entire compilation full of actual bona fide ‘hits’ for all but the mainstream’s biggest and most widely acknowledged artists. I also have a tough time imagining anyone but longtime BNL fans remembering such songs as “Call and Answer”, “Testing 1, 2, 3”, or “Easy”, but, happily, they’re all here. I could have lived without “Another Postcard” and the final track, “You Run Away” is instantly forgettable – that one, I have to believe, is here simply due it’s being the only track released as a single from their latest studio album, the 2010 release All In Good Time.

Still, this is a great introduction to BNL for anyone who only has a passing familiarity with them or hasn’t heard any other songs by them besides those that get radio airplay. However, I strongly recommend listening to the studio albums Gordon and Maybe You Should Drive to completely appreciate BNL. And if you can’t find these two CDs then you should still be able to easily locate the first BNL compilation Disc One.

The Museum of Russian Art

A week ago (last Thursday) I visited the The Museum of Russian Art [TMORA] here in the Twin Cities with a couple friends. I was surprised to discover that TMORA is the only museum in the United States that is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of Russian art and related artifacts. There are numerous other museums in North America with currently ongoing displays of Russian art and antiquities, but TMORA is exclusive in that it is the only museum that maintains a constant showplace for Russian art.

It was my first visit to TMORA and certainly won’t be my last. The exhibition at that time was titled Antiquities from Ukraine and included many rare objects and artifacts from a civilization that existed for over 7,000 years before completely disappearing sometime between 3,000 and 2,000 BC. The exhibit included items from each of that area’s succeeding dynasty’s that rose in prominence but fell to a superior enemy. The subtitle of the exhibit was Golden Treasures and Lost Civilizations and the majority of treasures displayed were – literally – golden. Very golden. The entirety of the exhibit was nothing short of fascinating and likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience for myself and any others who were fortunate enough to have seen them. All of the exhibited items were all on loan from the Ukrainian government and their Museum of National Cultural Heritage. I would like to have included some pictures of the items here but we were not allowed to take photographs – as is often the case with museum displays of items that are on loan from an outside source. However, you can see a variety of photos of those items on TMORA’s write-up of the display on their website.

That wasn’t the only exhibit at the museum during our visit. There was also a display of works by the Russian artist/painter Oleg Vassiliev; his paintings and a select few of his linocuts were on display on the second tier of the museum, while the lower level had a extensive gallery of his various works. Vassiliev worked primarily as a children’s book illustrator in Russia to earn his income while dedicating his spare time to his own creative aspirations as a painter and artist in his home studio. The bulk of the displayed works in the lower level are some of his drawings, self portraits and his children book illustrations. But the main focus of this gallery is on collected prints from his best known work The House With The Mezzanine series – based on the Anton Chekhov short story of the same name. Those prints are absolutely mesmerizing and unforgettable.

I don’t want to sound judgmental or influence anyone in a particular way, but the display of works in the lower level gallery were significantly superior to the paintings on the second tier. I liked – even admired greatly – a few of the of the paintings, but I was astounded by his House With The Mezzanine series as well his incredibly detailed and colorful children’s books illustrations. The Vassiliev lower level gallery is on display at TMORA until April 8 and I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Just go! You will not be disappointed – and you will remember the prints. They’ll leave an indelible impression on your memory and, if you’re of the same mind as me, you’ll want to see them again too. Here’s a few photos of what you’ll see.

This is one of the prints from the series The House With The Mezzanine and it was probably my most favorite of the collection displayed. I won’t give an explanation of the print as that would spoil the artist’s intended effect of seeing the series. Notice the reflection of the house in puddles. Amazing.

This is a series of linocuts that are exhibited on the wall along the entryway into the museum’s store. Each of them are very, very impressive and I could have looked at these for hours. I’m looking forward to a return trip soon! I hope you’ll plan to make a trip there yourself.

A flowchart for choosing your religion

Very handy! Also very funny…

10 flics – Robert Duvall

A few weeks back I posted an entry with my favorite Gene Hackman films and I liked doing that so much I’m doing a similar post on another acting favorite – Robert Duvall. I’ve seen some good reviews on the film ‘Jayne Mansfield’s Car’ recently, which features Duvall, but curiously I haven’t seen any movie clips or trailers of it yet. I searched the internet in hopes of finding one but I couldn’t. There’s a video compilation available on You Tube but it doesn’t reveal much more about the film than you’d be able to learn by reading the reviews. It was featured at the Berlin Film Festival this month and you can read a review of it here.

Duvall has been starring in feature films for over 50 years now, beginning with his memorable movie debut as the mute Boo Radley in the American classic ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. As I mentioned in the entry on Hackman it’s really, REALLY tough to pick just ten flics, but here’s my list.

1/ The Great Santini – I’ve always liked this movie and it hasn’t faded at all in the years since it was first released. Duvall plays the title character, Lt. Col. Bull Meechum, a career Marine aviator that has difficulty adapting to family life after his military service – in particular with his teenage son.

 

2/ The Godfather – Definitely one of the roles he’s most widely known for, arguably not because of his star turn as the family consigliere Tom Hagen, but more likely due to his presence in what is considered by many the greatest American movie of all time. And rightly so! I think his most memorable scene from this movie is when he is sent to Hollywood to request a ‘favor’ of a movie director.

 

3/ Apocalypse Now – If I had to pick a favorite this would be definitely be at or near the top of the list. Duvall is mesmerizing as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore the larger than life career military man who leads a helicopter attack on a Vietnamese village in one of the movies most unforgettable sequences. Several lines of his character’s dialogue are now indelibly embedded into the American lexicon.

 

4/ M*A*S*H* – Appearing as Major Frank Burns in director Robert Altman’s serio-comic classic, this could be considered his first breakout film role though he had pivotal roles in the movies ‘True Grit’ and ‘Bullitt’ prior to this film. This is the one I remembered seeing him in first though.

 

5/ Tomorrow – It’s a shame that this film from 1972 remains largely unknown and rarely seen today. I didn’t see this myself until five years ago and now I wouldn’t want to be without it. Based on a short story by William Faulkner and scripted by Horton Foote, it’s an incredibly moving story with tragic consequences. An absolute must-see!

 

6/ Tender Mercies – Duvall gave an Academy Award winning Best Actor performance as the broken-down, middle-aged country singer Mac Sledge in this 1983 film. He’s completely convincing and believable as the washed-up, alcoholic, one-time singing sensation that gets a chance to change his fortunes with a farm widow and her son. This just may be his best movie.

 

7/ Colors – Here Duvall stars in director Dennis Hopper’s then topical and highly controversial 1988 film ‘Colors’. As police officer Bob Hodges Duvall gives yet another enduring movie portrayal of a man-against-the-odds. Sean Penn is on hand to lend great support as his new partner on the beat. Still worthwhile after nearly 25 years, ‘Colors’ remains a touchstone film of the 80’s.

 

8/ The Apostle – A real labor of love for Duvall. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in this movie, earning himself an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He should have gotten more than the one nomination though. This is a genuine indie masterpiece and deserved far more recognition.

 

9/ THX 1138 – Most people I know don’t care for this early 70’s sci-fi classic as much as I do but I think it’s brilliant. I first saw it on TV as a late-night movie in the later 70’s and I never forgot the impression it left. The location shooting in and around San Francisco landmarks, the use of the unfinished BART system for chase sequences, the blinding white light prison that Duvall gets committed to are all very, very memorable. Bonus: its the first feature film directed by George Lucas.

 

10/ Get Low – The most recent film I saw Duvall star in was this terrific film that seemed to fly under the radar – which is unfortunate. It’s a great movie with some similarities in theme to both ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘The Apostle’. Duvall creates yet another memorable movie character as a aging backwoods southern recluse/hermit with a secret past and an odd last wish before dying.

 

If I’ve overlooked one of your favorites here please leave me a comment – I’d be interested to hear your point of view.

“A million to one shot…”

…but priceless just the same.

Pic of the week

It’s not quite the end of the week yet, but I’m declaring an early winner. I saw this pic today on Facebook – it’s one of the JPEGs that George Takei posted. If you’re on Facebook at all then you probably are aware of his unusual and unique profundity for photos he has posted there.

Weirdest news story I’ve seen on the web this week…

A headline announcing yet another frivolous lawsuit has become standard fodder on internet news websites ever since I can remember surfing the net. This is beyond ludicrous though – way, way beyond! Good luck with that by the way…