Michel Hazanavicius from The Artist wins the Directors Guild Award and Pops a Hole in the Balloon (Fun) for Awards Season

In a not so surprising outcome, Michel Hazanavicius from The Artist won the Director's Guild prize last night for feature film.  Prior to the Broadcast Film Critics Awards and the Golden Globes this award season looked to have some mystery, but then came The Artist.


First and foremost I have to say I gave The Artist four stars out of five, and I do not think it's a bad film.  Many people have compared its trajectory slightly to Te King's Speech from last year.  As in, how can you hate this film, it's the most heartwarming, and like able of all of the nominees.  The Artist pays homage to the early days of film, and people are suckers for nostalgia.  I do admire the film, I laughed a lot, felt connected to the couple in the film (even though the script used the  A Star is Born type relationship), and while I was afraid that using silence was going to be a gimmick, it was not, and done well.  


I think my problem is not with the film itself but with the actual award shows themselves.  It seems as though many of them are afraid to pick something different.  In the last few years films match up and win straight through award season, and by the time the Oscars roll around things are way too predictable.  This makes me want to skip the award show.  Yes, I said it, the person who loves award shows, wants to skip them.  Where's the drama? The Excitement?  Every voting body can not think think that The Artist was the best film, that's some heard mentality going on there.  Has Mrs, Eleanor Shawn Iselin (the Lansbury verson) played cards with all of these voters?


I know I sound snotty, and I do not want to take anything away from Hazanavicius; his direction is solid, while  not the best this year, he did good work.  I think the voters get lazy, and feel as though sending this film through bolsters their ego and makes voting bodies feel as though they are a part of making something happen. Stop!  Pick, what you honestly think is the best.  I will step away from this now (for today).


Here is the official list of winners:

Best Director for a Feature Film
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Feature Documentary
James Marsh, Project Nim

Drama Series
Patty Jenkins, The Killing, “Pilot” (AMC)

Comedy Series
Robert B. Weide, Curb Your Enthusiasm, “Palestinian Chicken” (HBO) (Great Win)!!

Movies for Television and Miniseries
Jon Cassar, The Kennedys (Reelz Channel)

Reality Series
Neil P. Degroot, The Biggest Loser, “Episode #1115” (NBC)

Musical/Variety Series
Glenn Weiss, 65th Annual Tony Awards (CBS)

Daytime Serials
William Ludel, General Hospital, “Intervention” (ABC)

Pariah is No Outcast to Quality Film Making

Pariah (3 1/2 out 5 Stars)

Directed and Written by Dee Rees

Starring Adepero Oduye, Pernell Walker, and Kim Wayans

The subject matter of this film could have been twisted into a bad Lifetime movie.  There are times when studios twist dramatic stories into overwrought melodrama, but Dee Rees does not allow her semi-autobiographical story of her own coming become changed.  Rees has created an incredible film with depth, that never diverges into cliches or stereotypes.

Alike or sometimes Li who is coming to terms with her own identity as she flings dollar bills at women in a strip club with her friend Laura (Pernell Walker).  Alike knows she is a lesbian, but she struggles to embrace the scene where she hangs out with Laura.  Even though Alike knows she is different she is still trying to maintain her own integrity and find someone who she genuinely connects with.

Alike's struggle continues within her family; her mom (Kim Wayans) puts a lot of pressure on Alike to wear make-up, dress in pink, and hang out with more traditional girls.  Alike likes wearing a fitted, beaters, baggy clothes, and will change once she gets to school.  Alike has a close relationship with her father, but even he pretends not to see the real girl inside.   Here parents have a marriage built upon convenience and Audrey often takes out her frustration and anger with her husband on Alike, as if they are the same person. Alike lets out her pain and anguish in her writing, which helps her to express her emotional anguish.

Rees has constructed a gripping believable tale about a young black female who is trying to be herself, while staying connected to her family. The script and direction are solid, and work to make Alike's story incredibly tragic, yet real.  Rees stays true to her characters and uses the terrific acting to bring this film to life. Adepero Oduye is mesmerizing as Alike, and she has given one of my favorite female performances of the year.  Oduye plays innocent, naive, and broken well!  Pernell Walker who plays Laura has some great scenes as well, one particularly where she goes to she her mother after getting her GED.  Her mother looks at her disgust as she sees her daughter dead from her life in men's clothing.

This film is solid, and even though it slowed in the middle and rushed some of the emotional development, I was hooked.  This is the best film I have seen that chronicles the struggle being a black lesbian.  Saying this may not mean much, because few films tackle this subject matter.  I am glad Rees had the opportunity to make this film, her personal experiences help make this such a deeply emotional experience no one should miss.

Kelly Clarkson Rocks out at the Wang Theater

Last night Kelly Clarkson took the stage at the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theater.  One of my superiors asked me about the show yesterday, and asked the question "Has she come out with new, music lately?"  Now this statement could be because she has had no cable or internet for a while, but I do also think that even as a fan I was not exactly sure when he latest CD had been released until I had seen it on itunes.  What does any of this have to do with concert?  I think many people have written this 
young girl off as someone who had her moment and she is done, but this is not the case.  While I do think her most recent CD is not strong, the concert proved she was "stronger" than ever.


Clarkson came out and raged with one of the songs on her latest CD that is about to be her next bigger single called "Darkside."  This is one of the stronger tracks on that album.  The biggest bright spot to her set list (listed below) is that she did not make this concert about promoting her CD as many artists do; she blended the best music of all of her albums.  After Darkside she continued with two of her best songs from album Breakaway-"Behind These Hazel Eyes" and "Since U Been Gone."  For apparently never having a steady man this girl can jam about angst and heartbreak better than most female singers.

Even the covers she did were strong, although she told people who the one cover by Florence + the Machine after she done singing the song, I knew the song, but heard many people in the audience asking what song this was.  She tackled Heart and Carrie Underwood with a lot of energy.


The bottom line is there was no rise and fall in the energy of the show, Clarkson started strong and ended on a high note in her encore with her first single "Miss Independent"; she still has it!  I hate that the American Idol brand today tarnishes the the reputation of the artists from the beginning of the series.  Clarkson puts on a great show, and she is much more than the karaeoke brand today; she is energy, talent, and purely just a treat to watch on the stage.

Darkside

Behind These Hazel Eyes
Since u Been Gone
Hear Me
Gone
You Love Me

Heavy in Your Arms (Florence and the Machine)
Twitter request – Heart-What About Love
Medley of The Trouble with Love / Walkaway /How I Feel /I want you

I Know You Won’t (Carrie Underwood)
Don’t you Wanna Stay (with Jason Aldean)
Let me Down
Already Gone
Breakway
You Still won’t Know what its Like
Stronger
My Life Would Suck Without You

Never Again (Piano Version)
Because of You
Mr Know it all
Miss Independent

The 84th Annual Academy Award Nominations: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, Surprising, and Seeing into the Future

Today at 8:30 am EST/5:30 PST the Academy Award nominations were announced by Academy Award nominee from last year Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone) Tom Sherak the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences (AMPAS) or the Academy.

The Good

The Tree of Life and 3 nominations-Whether you love it, hate it, or well no matter what you feel, this film deserves respect.  While I myself stated it was a bit self indulgent for about 10 minutes, the film is still amazing.  Tree was largely ignored by many of the guilds, and the globes.  The only group who actually included it were the critics, way to go!  This was the best thing I saw this morning.

Hugo leading the nominations with 11-There is a lot of support for this film and it scored one more nomination than The Artist.  While I respect The Artist, I do not love it, it reminds me of The King's Speech last year (but better).  Scorsese took things in a different direction, and I am proud of his success.

Rooney Mara, Melissa McCarthy, Gary Oldman-These three names may not have been expected, sure they had some love from the Globes and SAG, but they were not locks.  Oldman did not have much of anything.  I have to say I love Mara's performance.  McCarthy is breath of fresh air, even with her leg up in the air.  These two woman could not be more different, and their performances are on completely different spectrum, but I am happy for them both.  Oldman stole Fassbender's spot, which is sad, but he is great in Tinker Tailor.

A Separation and Margin Call in the screenplay categories- The screenwriters know good work, and I glad they picked these films.  This year has not had the strongest screenplays.  The funny thing is that this year's original screenplays were much stronger than the adapted screenplays.

The Bad

No Dragon Score-The exclusion of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from Best Picture and Director does not bother me.  While the film is solid I would not place it as of the 10 best films of the year.  The film had a lot of strong technical aspects like the cinematography and editing (which it was nominated for), but the score was ignored?  Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross provided one of the best scores of the year, and took home the trophy last year for The Social Network.  How did this fail?

No Swinton, or Fassbender-Swinton is amazing in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and her in over Close is something I would challenge.  While I have not seen Close's performance she looks wooden and unemotional.  Fassbender had four amazing roles this year, but his best work was in Shame.  These are two performances the Academy will be kicking themselves for not nominating in the future.

The Ugly

War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close-Proof that the new Academy Awards system is a joke!  Before I say anything I have to say I have to say these are the only two Best Picture winners I have not seen.  A friend of mine has seen both and told me War Horse is not bad, it is just one of the best films of the year, and Loud is just not good and overwrought.  I do not want to see Loud at all, I think the film looks manipulative. I am choosing the word manipulative because the film appears to try and control your emotional experience more than in any other film.   I will see these films at some point, and prove myself right.

Drive gets one nomination-Is this a joke?  The Academy has pulled some dumb things, but only giving Drive one nomination in Best Sound Editing, and even snubbing Albert Brooks for Max Von Sydow is a huge mistake.

Take Shelter gets nothing! This film was flawless and has my pick for Best Actor and Supporting Actress this year.  Michael Shannon should have received a nomination, and Jessica Chatain should have been nominated for this film instead.

The Surprising


The Help gets only 4 nominations-  I expected The Help to have 8 nominations.  The nominations I expected but it did not receive were in screenplay, song, editing, and costume design.  The Help has three acting nominations, and a nomination for Best Picture.  This proves that support of this film is waning.   The Help is tied with The Descendants, Midnight in Paris.

Damien Bichir and Max Von Sydow-Even though Bichir had a SAG nomination for Best Actor, I figured that was a fluke.  I am excited to see the film, it looked wonderful.  Von Sydow is a veteran and well respected but received no pre-cursor nominations, I was shocked to see his nomination.

Looking ahead with the nominations announced, and bypassing my own bias, what happens next?  Who wins, will there be any surprises?

Hugo and The Artist appear to have the most support.  If Martin Scorsese wins the DGA, then Hugo will be a real threat.  Hugo has the most nominations this year with 11, and statistically speaking the film with the most nominations wins Best Picture.  For example The King's Speech had the most last year, but this is not always the case.  Many films have won without this statistic like A Beautiful Mind, The Departed and even Slumdog Millionaire (in recent years).  The Artist has ten nominations, and with such strong support for two films there will bound to be smaller win totals for the actual Best Picture winner.  Right now the The Artist is out front.

In the acting categories I think Best Actor is between Clooney Dujardin and Brad Pitt is a spoiler.  The Screen Actor's Guild will clear up this race.  The unknown Bachir and Dujardin may cancel each other out.  It seems as though each of them has a decent base of support but neither of them will take down the Clooney.

I have been predicting Viola Davis to win Best Actress at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards.  The Help received the most nominations, and has a great deal of support.  Many people thought it would be a threat in the Best Picture race.  Today's nominations prove that to not be true.  Where does this leave Viola Davis.  I am putting Davis out ahead slightly; she is in a Best Picture nominee, but look for Streep to provide a lot of challenge.

Today's Best Picture nominations prove that this system is out of touch, and two weak nominees weigh down the fact that great things did happen.  I am not thrilled with this year's nominees, but here's to hoping the Academy picks wisely.

Academy Award Predictions

I know I have been posting a lot about award shows, but tis the season.  Once the Academy Awards have happened, things will slow down on the awards front, but here are my predictions.

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-x (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
The Help 
Hugo
Midnight in Paris 
Moneyball
The Tree of Life 
War Horse


7 out 9-But I only predicted 8


Best Actor
George Clooney-The Descendants
Jean Dujardin-The Artist 
Michael Fassbender-Shame x (Damien Bichir-A Better Life)
Gary Oldman-Tinker Tailor Solider Spy
Brad Pitt-Moneyball


4 out 5 


Best Actress
Viola Davis-The Help
Rooney Mara-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep-The Iron Lady 
Tilda Swinton-We Need to Talk about Kevin x (Glen Close Albert Nobbs)
Michelle Williams-My Week with Marilyn


4 out 5


Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Brannagh-My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks-Drive x (Max Von Sydow-Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
Jonah Hill-Moneyball
Nick Nolte-Warrior
Christopher Plummer-Beginners


4 out of 5


Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo-The Artist
Jessice Chasstain-The Help 
Melissa McCarthy-Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer-Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer-The Help


5 for 5 


Best Director 
Woody Allen-Midnight in Paris
David Fincher-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Terrence Malick-The Tree of Life)
Michel Hazanivicius -The Artist 
Alexander Payne-The Descendants
Martin Scorsese-Hugo 


4 out of 5 


Best Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants
The Help x - (Ides of March)
Hugo
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 


4 out 5 


Best Original Screenplay
The Artist
Beginners x (Margin Call) 
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris 
A Separation


4 out 5 


Best Art Direction
The Artist 
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy x (Midnight in Paris)
War Horse


4 out 5 


Cinematography
The Artist 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo 
The Tree of Life 
War Horse


5 for 5!


Best Costume Design
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 x (Anonymous)
The Help x (W.E.)
Hugo
Jane Eyre


3 out 5 


Editing 
The Artist 
The Help x (The Descendants) 
Hugo 
Moneyball 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo


4 out 5 


Best Original Score
The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo x (The Adventures of Tin Tin)
Hugo
War Horse
W.E. x (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)


3 out 5 


Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol  x (Real Steel)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes 
Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon


4 out of 5 


Nomination Tally (Top Totals)
The Artist with 11 (Actual total is 10)
Hugo with 11 (Spot on!)
The Help with 8 (only 4 nominations -severely under performed)


60 Out of 74 (81 Percent)

The Artist Inches Closer to Winning Best Picture with a win at the Producer's Guild

Tonight Hollywood made a declaration, the declaration was one of silence.  The silent film The Artist was named the best theatrical feature by the Producer's Guild of America (PGA). In the 22 year history of the award  15 of those winning films went on to win Best Picture.  The Artist winning this award tonight proves to provide it with some pretty good odds as the Academy Awards draw nearer.  The interesting thing about the more recent years is that from 2000 to the present four films did not match up (Moulin Rouge,The Aviator, Brokeback Mountain, and Little Miss Sunshine).  This Guild has however matched exactly since 2007.  I think The Artist is going to win this award easily this year.  I will say the film's name is not engraved on the statue, heck the nominations have not even been announced, but I predict it will do well.

Listed Below is the list of winners in the film and television categories:

Theatrical Feature: The Artist

Animated Feature: The Adventures of Tintin

TV Drama: Boardwalk Empire

TV Longform: Downton Abbey

TV Comedy: Modern Family

TV News: 60 Minutes

TV Sports: ESPN’s 30 for 30

TV Variety: The Colbert Report

TV Documentary: American Masters

TV Reality: The Amazing Race

Movies that Put Life into Perspective: Mean Girls Edition

Last night I went with my friends to see a Midnight showing of the 2004 film Mean Girls at the Coolidge Corner Theater.  I have to say even though I own the film on DVD, watching the film on the big screen was an amazing feeling.  I did not see Mean Girls in theaters, but this was a chance for me to make up for that mistake.

While watching the film I thought about two things, well three. The first two had to deal with the quality of the film.  Tina Fey is a great writer, and I would love to see her write more films.  The dialogue is sharp and witty, and this is one of the most quotable films of the 2000s.  Rachel McAdams is brilliant as the evil teenage bully Regina George.  If this film were not part of that traditional high school/young adult genre her performance would been taken more seriously and she could/should have contended for the Best Supporting Actress category at film award shows that year.  This movie also made me think about my own high school experience, and if we actually ever escape the damaging world of high school when we grow up?

My high school experience was pretty different from Cady Herron.  I went to an all boy's military Christian high school in upstate New York.  The only similarities that existed between my high school and the one in the film were that the boys gossiped just as much as the girls in the film did, and there were a lot of bullies who thought they were hot shit.  The guys who were big men on campus were not known as the plastics though.  My high school had a lot of close minded individuals who felt as though they winners just because they played a sport, it was all boys high school, of course "masculinity" took over.

Sometimes I looks back on my high schools days and wish I had a more typical public school education.  I probably would have come out earlier, and been more comfortable with myself.  I think about this issue all of the time.  When I was in high school coming out was still pretty taboo, sure Ellen had come out, and there was Will and Grace, but there were still a lot of teenagers in the closet at the time, so I do not know if a different high school would have changed anything.  I also met some great friends in high school who were there for me, and still are no matter what.  I value my non traditional high school in some aspects.  I actually met a guy there who was my first, ironically.

I often leave the world of high school behind.  At the end of Mean Girls, like in any film, things are tied up in nice little bow.  Cady learns her lesson, Regina becomes a jock, and people start to realize that although they may have differences, they can work through them and accept people who are different.  I wish this happened more.  I think sometimes forget to leave the petty days of high school behind, and many people bring this to college (if they attend), and sometimes while in college they grow, but many people still do not learn.  The same happens when people go to work, they bring petty high school baggage with them.

This is a great film, and provides a lot of great context that made me think about my own high school experience.  I have a lot of conflicting emotions about high school, mainly because of gay identity.  There was nothing there for, and there is still nothing there for people who have questioned their orientation.  While I realize the school is Christian, the Christian thing to do would be to reach out and help people who are struggling.

I digress. Mean Girls, is one clever film, that has become a must watch film about high school. I love this film, it's just fetch, but I guess I should stop trying to make fetch happen.