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Old School On The Golden Globes
 From Chicago, this is The Dope Sheet... I'm Sam Van Hallgren
If the Golden Globe nominations were a movie and I used the old
school Cinecast method of critiquing it, I would start with what I
liked about them.
Best Picture, Drama: "Babel" and "Little Children"
Neither film is currently in my personal top 5 of the year, but I
certainly liked both films a lot. And even more than the movies
themselves, I'm pleased to see films by these directors get
attention, especially when neither received unanimous critical praise
or made much of a dent at the box office. Inarritu [who was also
nominated in the best director category] and Field are ambitious,
young, smart and they're not afraid to try new things. A good sign
for the future of movies.
Best Performance (Male), Drama: Forest Whitaker
No question. Whitaker's Idi Amin is a performance for the ages.
[Too bad the movie lets him down.] But why is there so much room for
interpretation when it comes to the definition of a leading and a
supporting role? Idi Amin is a supporting player in "The Last King of
Scotland," right? There has got to be an easy way for some
independent body to sort this out.
Best Performance (Male), Comedy: Will Ferrell
OK, so this is the equivalent of Bill Murray getting nominated in
this category for "Lost In Translation" or Jim Carrey getting
nominated for "Man On The Moon." None of these films, "Stranger Than
Fiction" included, is exactly a comedy. But it's a funny man playing
straight in an occasionally funny film. And as Adam and I discussed
on the show, Ferrell gives a really good, nuanced performance. Nice
to see it recognized.
Best Supp. Actress: Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi and Emily Blunt
Love the love for "Babel." Barraza and Kikuchi are both fantastic
in the film. And, to return to the arbitrary definitions of leading
and supporting for a moment, both could easily be considered leads,
as they were the leads in their respective segments of Inarritu's
story. But I digress. Blunt, Meryl Streep's humorless British
assistant in "The Devil Wears Prada," was fantastic. I remember
thinking when I saw it that Blunt deserved some recognition. I'm glad
she got it.
The big surprise? What happened to Ryan Gosling (pictured) and
"Half Nelson"? I want to think that some kind of mistake was made.
After Forest Whitaker, Gosling's Dan Dunne was the most critically
praised performance of the year. Instead we get two nominations for
Leonardo DiCaprio ("The Departed" and "Blood Diamond"). Weird.
And I was personally disappointed that there was no love for "The
Science of Sleep" or "Marie Antoinette" but neither film made any
money or generated any critical heat, so I can't say I'm really
surprised.
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Filmspotting At Sundance
We've received a handful of emails recently wondering if we had plans
to attend Sundance in January. We do! We have been credentialed and
will be in Park City for the bulk of the week doing the show from the
film fest. Anyway, we know several of you have been to Sundance
before and we welcome any suggestions on where we should/shouldn't
stay, what we should/shouldn't do, etc... Help out a couple of
ignorant Midwestern boys.
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St. Peter: Remembering Peter Boyle
 This memorial of the great Peter Boyle was submitted by our friend and occasional Filmspotting guest host Matty Ballgame.
Tuesday, the film industry lost one of its most beloved character
actors, and, more importantly, my dear friend Lucy lost one terrific
dad. I'd like to thank Sam and Adam for allowing me to pay tribute to
Peter Boyle in the way an actor appreciates most -- by drawing
attention to his extraordinary body of work.
Start with "Joe," a gritty, reactionary timepiece film carried by
an amazing turn from Boyle as a blue-collar racist -- a terrifyingly
realistic performance that makes Archie Bunker look like Nelson
Mandela.
Next, if you're worried "Young Frankenstein" doesn't hold up,
just wait for Boyle's two show-stealing scenes: his interaction with
a blind Gene Hackman and his Puttin' On the Ritz duet with Gene
Wilder ... yes, they hold up.
He's great as Wizard in "Taxi Driver," and I wish his performance
as Joe McCarthy in "Tail Gunner Joe" was available to the masses on
Netflix. He's also hilarious in Dream Team, a flawed 80's movie, yet
filled with enough solid performances to hold your attention.
Finally, I think his turn in the sweet "While You Were Sleeping" is
the best of his later work.
I was lucky enough to know Peter, and he truly was one of the
sweetest, most intelligent and thoughtful people I have ever met;
thankfully, he leaves us with a body of work befitting his character.
After reading that beautiful tribute and touching conclusion, it
should come as no surprise to add that John Lennon was one of Boyle's
closest friends, even serving as best man at Peter's wedding.
Thanks, Matty.
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Overlooked DVD: Sherrybaby (A Response)
Here's what Adam wrote in last week's Dope Sheet about "Sherrybaby,"
his Overlooked DVD Pick -- which, as Adam noted, doesn't actually
come out on DVD until 1/23.
Laurie Collyer's feature-fiction debut, which premiered at Sundance in January, easily could have drifted into a sentimental story of redemption, and considering how many times Sam and I praise filmmakers for their ambition, Collyer deserves credit here for her lack of ambition. There isn't a lot of healing, or profound psychological revelations, in "Sherrybaby." We just get a character struggling to find her place in the world and accept responsibility for her choices. As Sherry, Gyllenhaal is so raw and destructive that she's hard to watch at times. Is there a braver actress working today?
I watched "Sherrybaby" on the way home from the most recent
taping. When I got off the train, I pulled out my cell phone and
called Adam. He didn't answer, so I left a message, which went
something like this: "Watched Sherrybaby ... I-ah ... why do they
make movies like this? What's the point? I just don't get it, so
you're going to have to explain it to me."
Back in February 2005, when Adam and I were originally discussing
the format of the show that became Cinecast [which then became
Filmspotting], one idea had us recording the show in the lobby of a
theatre immediately after seeing a movie together. The following week
we would discuss how our first impressions might have changed.
There are plenty of reasons why this idea never would have worked
[e.g., "it's a dumb idea"], but maybe the best reason is that too
many of my reviews would have sounded like that voice mail I left for
Adam. Incoherent raging, shaking my fist at the heavens, asking
questions no one had the answers to.
The next morning, because there is no life outside of
Filmspotting, I got Adam on the phone and we talked about
"Sherrybaby" for at least 20 minutes. Adam, it turns out, doesn't
mind stories about people who make a series of bad decisions on their
way to (finally) making a good decision. I, on the other hand, don't
find them the least bit interesting.
The question I kept asking myself while I was watching
"Sherrybaby" was, "A first-time writer/director assembles the money
and talent to make a feature film and she makes a film about a young
woman caught up in a vicious cycle of sex abuse, drug abuse and child
neglect. The character makes one bad decision after another until, at
the end of the film, she comes to a tiny realization. Why this story
and not another?"
This question was on my mind because I had the very same response
to another 2006 release, also a feature film debut and also a film
receiving a lot of praise for its lead performance -- Joey Lauren
Adams' "Come Early Morning," with Ashley Judd. In "Come Early
Morning," Judd plays Lucy Fowler, a small town girl who battles her
alcoholism and fear of intimacy by engaging in drunken sexual
encounters with anonymous townies. The two movies follow a near
identical formula. They start bad, get worse, there's a glimmer of
hope, then things get really, really bad, and then at the end, things
start to look up. In both cases, the bulk of the film is made up of
scenes that has the lead character doing the very worst thing [or
most humiliating thing, or most self-destructive thing] in any
particular scenario.
My problem is that there is no drama in this kind of narrative.
No surprise. I knew how each scene was going to play out as soon as
it started. In both cases, the characters [and the films] didn't
become interesting to me until they started on a path of making
active decisions -- in both cases, that meant at the end of the film.
I'm sure there are people like this in the world, I just don't think
they make for very interesting subjects for stories. Just because
it's true, I remember thinking as I watched "Sherrybaby," doesn't
make it interesting.
Also while I was watching "Sherrybaby," I couldn't help but think
of "Half Nelson," a film I loved, which features a young man making
making bad decisions while addicted to drugs. It troubled me for a
bit as I tried to distinguish between these movies. And the
difference, I realized, is that "Half Nelson" never failed to
surprise me. Even as Ryan Gosling's Dan Dunne made self-destructive
decisions, he made active decisions, too -- and in every moment of
the film you felt like his life was just about to turn around.
"Is there a braver actress working today?" Adam asks about
Gyllenhall. I'll admit, this rhetorical question annoyed me. Because
"brave" is what you call an actress when she plays a part where she
spends large parts of the movie nude, vulnerable, ugly, or physically
demeaned. Halle Barre is "brave" in "Monster's Ball." Charlize Theron
is "brave" in "Monster." Emotionally "raw" while nude = brave.
I'm not saying that Gyllenhall wasn't "brave" -- I think she's
fine in the film -- but is Meryl Streep less "brave" in "The Devil
Wears Prada" because she keeps her clothes on? Or Helen Mirren in
"The Queen"? Or Adriana Barraza in "Babel"? Or Abigail Breslin in
"Little Miss Sunshine"? To me, honesty is bravery. And, still, the
most honest -- and most brave -- performance of the year is Streep's
in "Devil."
[Adam's rebuttal: Yes, emotionally "raw" while nude does =
bravery. Come on, Sam. But even if Gyllenhaal never bared all as
Sherry, I'm confident I would single out her bravery -- because of
how exposed she is emotionally, not physically. There is NOTHING
redeeming about Sherry. Not even that she wants her daughter back or
to go clean, because she's actually not prepared to do any of the
things that would allow for those things to happen.
In contrast, Meryl Streep in "Prada" is almost cartoonishly evil
(I loved the performance the first time Glenn Close did it in "101
Dalmations"). But even more, we learn that she's an evil bitch who is
fantastic at her job, and we respect that; but unfortunately her
obsessive perfectionism makes for a cold personal/family life, and we
feel for her because she doesn't want to be alone, and in the end ...
what do you know, she does the right thing.
I liked Streep's performance -- a lot, actually. But watching her
chew up that role was like watching Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man."
Technically brilliant, fun to watch ... did it really challenge me?
Move me? A little. But only a little.]
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Filmranting
Filmspotting has been endlessly impressed by both the insight and wit
of your audio and email feedback. So much so, in fact, that we've
decided it's time for The Sheet to hit the fan.
The Dope Sheet is proud to introduce a new segment called
"Filmranting." We want all of you to send us your best rants about
the film industry. Whether you rail against broad Hollywood trends
or sound off about specific movies or artists, The Dope Sheet wants
you to bring it. In 500 words or less. Each week, we'll pick our
favorite rant to be featured in this forum.
For a taste of what we're looking for, new Dope Sheet editor Jeff
Huston provides the inaugural entry to Filmranting. Jeff, the Sheet
is yours...
---
From Tulsa, this is Filmranting... I'm Jeff Huston.
It's the most insulting time of the year. While you and yours
celebrate your particular holiday this season, Hollywood -- in its
own parallel universe -- begins a completely different one: awards
season. Yet while their onslaught of hype is filled with largely
disingenuous accolades and PR-scripted praises, they're not the ones
condescending to the masses. They leave that to willing accomplices
in the media elite.
For eleven months out of the year, respectable film writers
challenge the crass habits, practices and trends of the movie
business. Then inexplicably in the twelfth month, many suddenly
become shills for the Hollywood hype machine. I refer to the
intellectual insult that is the media's annual early-Oscar buzz
mantra, i.e. "The Oscar Race -- unlike past years -- is wide
open this season!" It's that bold highlight that grates me the most.
Banking on readers' memories being set in how past races have
ended rather than how they began, the consistent theme of early
prognostications is how there is no clear-cut frontrunner --
for once. To support their claim, writers "remind" us of past
predestined champs like "Return of the King" and "American Beauty"
(11 and 7 Oscars, respectively), or how it's clearly not anyone's
year like it was Ron Howard's (Picture and Director), or even how
there are no obvious dark-horses (an overly-intellectual oxymoron)
like "Crash".
It's not that this year's race isn't wide open; it is.
But it is every year! There was drama in 2003 as we
wondered if Jackson's unprecedented fantasy masterwork would finally
get its due. In 2001, "The Fellowship of the Ring"'s near-record 13
nominations did pose a serious threat to "A Beautiful Mind"'s
generic 8. And on and on. This is the rule, not the exception. So
why would writers annually have us believe otherwise?
The cynical truth: just as studios use the publicity to sell
their movies, publications use it to sell their magazines. They want
to hook us into the drama so that we come back for more until the
season ends. I can stomach that from the industry; hype is their
modus operandi. But for reputable writers to slum in this technique
for the purposes of their publications' own self-interests is an
insult to our collective intelligence.
Note to film writers: I don't follow the Oscar race every year
because of how you've cleverly contrived a dramatic narrative to suck
me in. I follow it because I'm rooting -- often beyond hope -- for
some filmmakers to be recognized in any fashion (David Gordon Green,
for one) while also, yes, finding a twisted entertainment in getting
pissed at the acclaim of others (the aforementioned Howard and
"American Beauty", to name two).
So a year from now as 2007 comes to a close, when you read such
revisionisms as "unlike last year when we all knew way back in
October that it was finally Scorsese's year, this year is wide
open," don't be duped. 2007 will be as wide open as this year -- and
as most years -- even if The New York Times would try and sell us
something different. Not that my rant is anything new;
Slate's been complaining since 2002.
---
Thanks, Jeff. And now to all of you -- send in your rant!
dopesheet@filmspotting.net
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Borat on Borat
To paraphrase the poet and literary critic W.H. Auden, the only kind
of criticism should be satire. If you're going to criticize an
artistic endeavor, Auden's argument goes, you owe it to the artist to
respond in kind -- with some art of your own. I've never forgotten
this axiom, even as I fail to honor Auden's every singly week on
Filmspotting.
Too often, "satire-as-criticism" is indistinguishable from crude
mockery. Here's a brilliant exception from one of my favorite
authors, George Saunders. From the "Shouts & Murmurs" page in the
12/4 issue of The New Yorker.
"BORAT": THE MEMO
by GEORGE SAUNDERS
Dear Ken:
Got your note, deeply honored. Being new to the company, really
appreciate opportunity to outline some ideas for "Borat" DVD. As Josh
mentioned, we do indeed have a wealth of footage that could be put to
good use as DVD extras. In other cases, have taken liberty of
suggesting some reshoots:
OPENING "VILLAGE" SECTION: How about a high-speed montage of the
actual difficult, brutal lives of the villagers in Romania--the hours
of debilitating toil, their oppression at the hands of their corrupt
government, premature loss of teeth, death of infants, etc.,
etc.--culminating in a panning shot of the village on the morning of
the day when they first realize they've been had, and that, as far as
posterity goes, they will always be remembered, if remembered at all,
as savages, rapists, prostitutes, etc., and they stumble out of their
little sheds or whatever, looking traumatized? (Would be good if one
or two could fall into depression/commit suicide as a result =
confirmation of their "subhuman" status? Rich social commentary.) Read
the whole piece here>>
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Jeff's Three Links
"The Nativity Story" had three kings. The Dope Sheet, by contrast,
can only muster three links. But at least they're to film-related
goodies that are both exciting and entertaining (which is more than
we can say for The Nativity Story...)
Premiere's 20 Most Overrated Movies of All Time
If Sam and Adam were to do a special podcast simply discussing
this list, the ensuing (and inevitable) knock-down drag-out would go
down in the annals of Filmspotting history. But that won't happen if
for no other reason than The Dope Sheet doesn't want to waste the
subsequent months constantly reassuring all of you that, yes, Sam and
Adam still love each other.
NPR's Will Ferrell Interview
In honor of the DVD release of the Uncut Edition of
Talladega Nights, do yourself a favor and download this
expansive 40-minute interview with Will Ferrell where you'll actually
hear him be... normal. Both fascinating and entertaining, it also
includes numerous clips from past films and sketches that will likely
have you laughing out loud.
Toy Story Requiem
This is just wrong. Some twisted geniuses over at Alien Panic
set a visual edit of clips from Toy Story 2 to audio from
Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream. Do NOT let your kids see
this.
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Dope Sheet |
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n. Slang.
A list of scenes from the script that have already been filmed,
or a list of the contents of an exposed reel of film stock.
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