Henry's Top 100 Performances of All Time: #69 - John Goodman as Walter Sobchak in The Big Lebowski

"Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."



Ben's gonna hate this pick. He hates John Goodman (I think it mostly springs from his SNL work) but Goodman's Walter Sobchak might be the best Coen Brother character of all time. Yes...better than The Dude.

To me it's not really that close. I like Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski but I love John Goodman. His dialogue with Donny (Steve Buscemi), with the kid, with everyone...it's just a perfect performance.

Best Scene: Walter confronting the kid...

Henry Saw: Alice in Wonderland

Just awful...


This movie is truly bad. It's a plodding, obnoxious, boring, maddening, total piece of crap. This is, without a doubt, my least favorite film of 2010 thus far.

The sad part is...it starts off okay. We open with a young Alice who is haunted by nightmares of a bizarre land and who seeks out her father for support. We flash-forward to a nineteen year old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) who is being forced into a marriage of convenience for herself and her mother. Strangely, the movie shines in this early 20 minute stretch. The faux-Jane Austin business, the awkward party scenes...brief glimpes of the White Rabbit...the first 20 minutes are really quite good.

Then Alice falls down the rabbit hole.

It's really hard to verbalize just how bad this film is from this moment on. We get an incredibly boring scene where Alice changes size a few times, a series of exposition scenes that have no energy, and then we come to the first scene with Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter. He's terrible. He's not inspired, or funny, or interesting in any way. He's quite repetitive and, despite the "manic" tone of the character, it really feels like Depp is sleep-walking through the role.

The only highlight of the film is Helena Bottom Carter's Red Queen. Her silly big head, her interaction with her subjects...everything about her character works. Her scenes are the only sequences where it feels like Tim Burton is trying.




The whole thing feels like an amalgamation of the Narnia movies, Return to Oz, and the worst films Tim Burton has made (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for instance). Alice just goes from CGI location to CGI location and the movie has no spark, no pace, and an apparent lack of interest in entertaining the audience. From the moment Alice goes down the rabbit hole it feels like Burton is just trying to get to the inevitable ending. There is nothing to hold your interest while we're in Wonderland (or "Underland" as the movie stupidly renames it). In short, I have no idea why this film was made.

Also, finally, let me just say again how unimpressed I am with 3D. It added nothing to the movie and I'm distressed by the fact that most major films will be released in 3D for the next few years.

What a miserable night at the movies...

Grade: D-

Best Scene: The opening sequences with Alice at the party

Henry's Top 100 Performances of All Time: #70 - Lee Remick in Days of Wine and Roses

"Thanks for the compliment, but I know how I look. This is the way I look when I'm sober. It's enough to make a person drink, wouldn't you say?"



I've always liked Lee Remick.

Well that's not entirely true. For most of my life I had no idea who she was. Finally, when I was a senior in college, I watched Anatomy of a Murder. Lee Remick stars as the wife of the defendant. I thought she was hot as hell. Something about her attitude on camera, her look, etc...I just dug her. Everytime I saw that Anatomy of a Murder was on TV I checked if the scene where she flirts with Jimmy Stewart in his office was on...just one of those things.

One thing I didn't do was seek out her work. She wasn't that good in Anatomy of a Murder...just kind of alluring. So when I decided to watch Days of Wine and Roses on Netflix On Demand I was pleasantly surprised to see that Lee Remick was Jack Lemmon's co-star.

Remick plays a straight-laced young woman who falls in love with a functioning alcoholic played by Jack Lemmon. Soon Lemmon has gotten Remick's character into drinking and it becomes an even bigger problem for her.

Remick is just fantastic in the film. She's honest, grim, both sexy and unattractive, and depressing. It's a great performance that suffers a bit due to a melodramatic and moralizing (though not severely) script. Still, it's a performance worth seeking out and a movie that...just perhaps...we've not heard the last of on this countdown...

Best Scene: The final meeting between Remick and Lemmon...

Some More Performances That Almost Made the Top 100

So I've been terrible about doing my Top 100 Performances of all times...that's about to change...but at least the interlude has allowed me to revisit my list and correct some mistakes. Here are some performances that made the cut the first time...but upon reassessment don't quite deserve to make the Top 100...



Dakota Fanning as Pita in Man on Fire:

This was the hardest performance to cut out of the list. It's not that Dakota Fanning is so great in Man on Fire. It's that she is SO great in everything. EVERYTHING. I had her on my list just to represent and honor her talent and creepiness. I really should watch what I say here, I'm certain she's monitoring me with her mind, and she's one of the scariest living people. She was amazing in I Am Sam (she easily out acted Sean Penn), she was fantastic in War of the Worlds (she ran circles around Tom Cruise), and she peaked (perhaps) in Man on Fire (where she taught Denzel Washington and Christopher Walken how it is done). She's not lost a step apparently - she was actually good in Twilight: New Moon and is getting great reviews for her work in The Runaways - and I really think she might, might, be the best living actress. We just haven't seen her masterpiece yet...I am both excited/terrified to see what she is capable of...




Denzel Washington as Alonzo in Training Day

Another hard one to drop...made easier by the fact that Washington will be on this list a bit later on. I guess this movie just feels too easy for Washington. At the time it was a big shock for Washington to play a bad guy. Well, upon reflection, he had already played Malcolm X and Hurricane Carter...and neither of those two men were saints. Washington is good in Training Day...hell he's great...but he's not Top 100 great.




Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Maybe I'm not being fair. I really loved Depp's performance the first two to three times I watched this film. The Kieth Richards business, the humor, the physicality...it's a great performance. But then came the sequel...and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...and then the other sequel...and I have to admit that it took a lot away from Depp's work in this first "Pirates" film. I still enjoy how out-there he is...and I admire the chance Depp took...but this performance has been greatly hurt by his subsequent work. Too bad...

The countdown will start back up soon...with much more consistency...

Something to be excited about: Eastern Promises 2...

One of the under-rated crime movies of the past decade is getting the sequel all its fans wanted...


Many critics loved David Cronenberg's A History of Violence but it was a film that left me cold and unmoved. Two years later Cronenberg re-teamed with Viggo Mortensen to make an excellent little crime movie that hardly anyone saw: Eastern Promises. It focused on the Russian Mob in London and how one mid-wife (played by Naomi Watts) got involved in one particularly upsetting case involving the mafia. Mortensen played the driver to the head of the mafia, a man with a lot of secrets, and his work earned him an Oscar nomination.

The film, which I won't spoil here, ends on a note that demands a sequel. Well now, thanks to Slashfilm.com I have learned that we will be getting said sequel. Steve Knight, who wrote the original, will script part II and filming starts in the winter. I am truly excited...I really thought that Eastern Promises was one of the better crime films I've ever seen and one of the first thoughts I had when I left the theater was that I wanted to know what happened next. I'm pumped.

In Honor of Spring Training...The Top 5 Baseball Movies of All Time

With Baseball season rapidly approaching...I thought I'd share what I feel are the Top 5 Baseball films of all time....


In the sake of full disclosure I should let you know that I've never seen The Natural or The Pride of the Yankees...and I am not a fan of any Kevin Costner Baseball film...

5. *61



Surprisingly, Billy Crystal's HBO film about the 1961 home-run chase between teammates Micky Mantle and Roger Marris is truly compelling. Thomas Jane and Barry Pepper are perfectly cast and create fully formed characters, warts and all, out of two baseball legends. The framing device is now kind of awkward (it involves Roger Marris' grown up children dealing with Mark McGuire) but this is a great little movie that even this Red Sox fan can appreciate.

4. A League of Their Own



Just entertaining. Obviously quotable ("There's no crying in baseball"), oddly involving, and containing some pretty cool baseball sequences, A League of Their Own is a very solid film. Well cast - this might be my favorite Tom Hanks role actually - and sharply edited...just a winning movie.

3. Bang The Drum Slowly



A touching movie that has almost no baseball scenes in it. Still, this film about a Yankee catcher (Robert Deniro) dying of cancer and how it effects one of the pitchers on the team (Michael Moriarty), is a stirring work. Filled with moving moments and fine acting this is a better version of the more hyped Brian's Song.

2. Eight Men Out



A retelling of the story of the 1919 White Sox who threw the World Series and almost ruined the sport. Starring John Cusack, David Strathairn, Michael Rooker, Charlie Sheen, and Jack Mahoney, Eight Men Out is a really focused and tight film. Directed by John Sayles, it shows us why the players were tempted to throw the game, how the media and public reacted, and what the fallout was. It perfectly recreates the period, never takes itself too seriously, and is filled with memorable moments. A great film.

1. Major League



The best baseball comedy, one of the best underdog sports films of all time, and probably the best script of any sports movie than I can think of. Major League contains so many great lines and scenes that I won't even try to list them all here. Major League is a perfect baseball film that carefully treads the line between absurd comedy and genuinely intense baseball scenes. A must see for any sports, or movie, fan.

Henry Saw: North Face

An excellent and stirring German period piece...


North Face (Nordwand in German) tells the story of two German mountain climbers' attempt to be the first to scale the Eiger mountain (one of the three tallest mountains of the Alps) in 1936. It's a fictionalized telling of true events, weaving in facts with necessary creative license to fill out the story, and it is one of the more gripping movies I've seen concerning the struggle to survive against nature.

The list of mountain climbing films is a relatively short one. The only ones I've really seen are Cliffhanger (which sort of counts), Alive (which also sort of counts), and the documentary Touching the Void. Touching the Void is an amazing film, and North Face isn't quite as good, but it is still an absolutely compelling watch.

The film's heroes are Toni Kurz (Benno Fürmann) and Andreas Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas) who are enticed by a childhood friend named Luise (Johanna Wokalek), who works for a newspaper, into trying to climb the most dangerous mountain face in the Alps. For the German media it is tied into the upcoming Summer Olympics and proving German superiority. When Toni and Andy arrive at the mountain there are reporters, spectators, and rival teams waiting for them. Their biggest rivals, and the other two other major characters in the film, are the Austrian climbers who know if Germany annexes Austria then they could be the ones thought of as heroes. The film then shows us in great detail the race between the German and Austrian climbers until the dire conditions force them to work together.



The acting is superb from the entire cast. Florian Lukas and Simon Schwarz (who plays one of the Austrian climbers) are the standouts but there really isn't a false note to be found. Even smaller roles, like those of the spectators at the hotel at the base of the mountain, all add an authentic flavor to the film.

Director Philipp Stölzl and cinematographer Kolja Brandt do superb work. We are constantly aware of the allure and the danger of climbing and the awe-inspiring beauty and incredible hazards of the mountain itself. At one point I wondered if the two leads were working actors or professional climbers who were acting their butts off - that's how believable the climbing scenes were. I later checked and saw that they are definitely actors but it just goes to show how impressive a job Stölzl did in making us believe everything on screen.

The film's flaws lie mostly with its editing; some moments are stretched to long while other scenes are cut too tightly together. There are a few overly sentimental and heavy handed moments involving Luise and the other guests at the hotel and parts of the ending, though based on how the events actually transpired, were frustrating in their pace and execution.



A harrowing and absorbing film that is filled with moments that will make you hold your breath, grip your seat, and move you with the climbers acts of heroism and brotherhood. If you can see this on the big screen I would make the effort, the cinematography demands as big a canvas as you can find, but try to catch this film any way you can.

Grade: B+

Best Scene: The moment when Andy and Toni must decide to continue climbing up or make their descent...

Henry Saw: Mother

This just did not work for me...


One reputable critic called Mother the best "Hitchcock" movie in years...this general statement was echoed in many other reviews I read before I saw Mother.

I don't think people know what a "Hitchcockian" thriller really is. Hitchcock's films, and I know I've said this before, were all about entertaining the audience. Is there loads of subtext in most of his movies? Yes. Do some of his movies double as entertainment AND art-house fare? Yes. But outside of the godawful Marnie...or the over-rated but well constructed Vertigo...Hitchcock's movies were brisk, fun, and absolutely aware of themselves at all times. Bong Joon-ho's Mother is none of those things.

A mother (never named) lives quietly with her twenty-eight-year-old son, Do-joon, providing herbs and acupuncture to neighbors. One day, a girl is brutally murdered, and Do-joon is charged with the killing. Do-joon is duped into confessing to the crime and it falls to his mother to try and prove his innocence.



Mother has a lot going for it. Bong Joon-ho is a very skilled director. There are several shots in the film that really resonate (there is one shot between the legs of the murder victim that is a true stand out). The film is always interesting to look at. It is also anchored by a strong performance from Hye-ja Kim as the Mother. Early on she captures the over-protective mother that I would think many can recognize. As she begins her investigation, and the film gets progressively darker, Hye-ja Kim nails the confusion and determination the character feels.

Unfortunately...Mother is just kinda boring. From the opening shot of Hye-ja Kim dancing in a wheat field, to a slow (slow) build up to the murder, to the drawn out scenes of the Mother talking to potential witnesses...it's just kind of dull. There is very little tension, the humor comes mostly from Do-joon's simpleness which is not that funny, and the big reveal is...not that surprising. Not that a twist ending is needed to make a thriller work, and some in the audience seemed genuinely surprised, but it did nothing for me.



The score was inappropriate at times, the editor should never work again (had this movie been 98 minutes instead of 128 it would have worked a lot better), and the acting from everyone except Hye-ja Kim is serviceable at best.

A definite disappointment. After seeing a strong trailer and reading some rave reviews I thought I was in for my third great movie experience of 2010 (Fish Tank and Shutter Island being the first two). Instead, Mother put me to sleep (for only 10 minutes or so), and left me nothing to chew on. It was all very ho-hum and again...I ask...did Hitchcock ever make a boring "ho-hum" film? Well...other than Stagefright...

Grade: C-

Best Scene: When the police first find the murder victim...

Henry Saw: Brooklyn's Finest

Better than some recent cop dramas...but still not very good



Outside of The Departed it is hard to think of a lot of good cop movies from the five years. Street Kings? Righteous Kill? Pride and Glory? Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans? All varying levels of bad. Brooklyn's Finest is better than all those films but still not as good as it could have been.

Brooklyn's Finest is directed by Antoine Fuqua and follows three different officers in the Brooklyn Police Department. Ethan Hawke plays a cop with a large family who is struggling to earn enough money to buy a new house. Don Cheadle in an undercover officer who has formed an overly strong bond with the criminal he is supposed to bring down (played by Wesley Snipes). Richard Gere is an alcoholic cop with one week left before his full pension kicks in. The movie weaves their different stories until they all (sort of) intersect in the last 20 minutes.



Don Cheadle's sections of the film are by far the best. Not only is he the best actor in the movie, but Wesley Snipes makes a nice little comeback in a key role, and their relationship really worked. Ethan Hawke's part of the film is filled with cinematic cliches but is at least is anchored by a solid performance from Hawke and Brian F. O'Byrne who plays Hawke's partner.

The Richard Gere storyline is painful to sit through and has the most illogical conclusion. It is by far the most stale and trite thread in the film and Gere sleepwalks through his role.

Fuqua, best known for directing Training Day, shows very little ingenuity in filming this familiar set of cop dramas. There are too many heavy-handed and obvious moments in his direction. The movie seems to think its showing us something new, or something important, when it is all things we've seen in almost every police film since the 1930s.



An utterly missable film. Brooklyn's Finest is still better than those movies I listed above...which is kind of incredible...but it is not worth the 2+ hours its takes to watch it.

Grade: C

Best Scene: A moment between Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle, and Michael K. Williams on a rooftop...

Henry Saw: A pair of movies set in Glasgow

Shallow Grave and Red Road...two very different movies...


Red Road is the first feature film from Andrea Arnold who directed the far superior Fish Tank. IMDB's plot description: Jackie works as a CCTV operator. Each day she watches over a small part of the world, protecting the people living their lives under her gaze. One day a man appears on her monitor, a man she thought she would never see again, a man she never wanted to see again. Now she has no choice, she is compelled to confront him...

This film consistently flirted with being good. It's interestingly shot, has a fairly compelling hook, but just never comes together. I got frustrated with the film's ambiguous plot and never connected with the main character. The plot twist, if it can be called such, was something I was able to predict early on.

This is a smart film, and it has a very solid set up, but it is far better in concept than execution. I read a lot of critics who thought this was a better work than Fish Tank...I don't see that at all. Fish Tank is complex, funny, upsetting and utterly engrossing. Red Road is cold, one note, and feels like a student film stretched out to 90+ minutes. Andrea Arnold is a director whose work I will seek out...but not because of Red Road.

Grade: C-

Best Scene: The early scenes of the main character watching the streets of Glasgow via CCTV




Shallow Grave shows a very different, if similarly grim, side of Glasgow. Whereas Red Road was centered around poor people living on the outskirts, Shallow Grave is about three fairly successful inhabitants living in the heart of the city, and whose biggest worry is finding a new roommate. Shallow Grave follow three flatmates who conduct a series of interviews to find a fourth. They finally agree upon one, a mysterious and handsome man, only to find him dead in his room a few days later. Near his corpse is a suitcase full of money and the movie, in true Treasure of the Sierra Madre fashion, follows how the three react to this new found wealth.

This was the first movie made by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) and it stands as one of the better directorial debuts of the last 20 years. Shallow Grave works as a dark (dark) comedy, a Hitchcockian thriller, and a British crime piece. The cast, which features an incredibly young Ewan McGregor, has tremendous chemistry and energy.

This is not a perfect movie...it's rough around the edges and a little too smart for its own good...but it is really good. If you are looking for an exciting, fresh, and clever genre piece...you could do a lot worse than Shallow Grave.

Grade: B+

Best Scene: The interview scenes at the beginning

Henry Saw: The Ghost Writer

A grown-up and worthy thriller...


Roman Polanksi's newest film feels like a real throwback even if it really isn't. There is something about a tight thriller composed of good acting, skillful direction, and little nuanced touches to add some flavor, that can't help but remind one of Hitchcock and...the early work of Polanksi. Polanski's last movie was the little seen Oliver Twist and, before that, the Oscar Winning The Pianist. The last time Polanksi made a genuine thriller was 1988's Frantic, another movie with a Hitchcock vibe, and one of his most entertaining works. Polanksi is best known for Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown, two of the all-time greats, and which both set a high standard for any conspiracy movie. While I would not put The Ghost Writer up in that rarefied air, it really is a well done film, and recommended to anyone who wants a movie aimed at thinking adults.

Ewan McGregor plays a ghostwriter hired to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). The first ghostwriter, a former aide of Lang's, died under mysterious circumstances. The Ghost is brought to a small island off the coast of Massachusetts where Lang and his wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) are staying. The job quickly becomes harder than he could have imagined when Lang is charged with orchestrating the illegal capture and torture of terrorist suspects for the CIA and is accused of war crimes...



This is not a flashy movie. Unlike Shutter Island, another thriller made by one of the greatest living directors, The Ghost Writer does not show off. Polanski lets the plot and his well chosen actors carry the film. McGregor, who has made some poor choices over the last decade, finally picked a proper role for himself. As the alcoholic and somewhat blank "Ghost" McGregor does a good job of playing a man who goes from being indifferent to reluctantly curious. It would be easy to accuse McGregor of underplaying the part, or sleepwalking through the first half of the movie, but that's the character. Brosnan fully inhabits Adam Lang. He's not playing Tony Blair, thank goodness, and he brings the right amount of smarm and conviction to the role. The standout is Olivia Williams, but then I've always liked her, who brings a lot of complexity to the role of Ruth Lang.

The one major flaw in the ensemble is Kim Cattrall who plays an English (her accent is all over the place) assistant to Adam Lang. She has a strange smirk on her face the entire time, I guess its supposed to be menacing, but it just makes her look like she's happy to be cast in a real movie made by a real director. Tom Wilkinson also shows up in a smaller role, the kind of job he can do in his sleep, but he's solid as always.

The plot is engrossing, filled with red herrings and maguffins, and deliberately paced. Polanksi never overplays a moment, never lets the score trick us into feeling something other than what we're watching on the screen, and puts little things in the background that you will have fun discussing after the film is over. The end of the film is the one place where Polanksi really flexes his directorial muscles, look for an excellent sequence where a note is passed among many hands, and he ends the movie with a perfect image.



There are brief moments where the film drags and its possible that the political and real life parallels could be a bit distracting for some audience members. Also, and this is a nit-pick, but there was some distracting over-dubbing of the F-Word in order to secure a PG-13 rating in the US (how many people under 17 are running out to see The Ghost Writer?). Those are the extent of my problems with this tightly made thriller.

The Ghost Writer is not a game changer...it's not a modern masterpiece...but its one of the best films of its genre in the last few years. I can't tell you to rush out and see it, it will work just fine on DVD, but definitely seek it out when you have the chance. It's a great director doing what he does best.

Grade: A-

Best Scene: The note being passed along...

The Oscars: Who Will Win and Who Should Win...

Let's get this on the record...



Best Picture
“Avatar” - WILL WIN
“The Blind Side”
“District 9″
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker” - SHOULD WIN
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

Best Direction
“Avatar” — James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” — Kathryn Bigelow - WILL WIN AND SHOULD WIN
“Inglourious Basterds” — Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” — Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” — Jason Reitman

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” - WILL WIN AND SHOULD WIN
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” - WILL WIN
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education” - SHOULD WIN
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” - WILL WIN AND SHOULD WIN

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique in “Precious" - WILL WIN AND SHOULD WIN

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“District 9” —
“An Education” —
“In the Loop” — SHOULD WIN
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” —
“Up in the Air” — WILL WIN

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Hurt Locker” —
“Inglourious Basterds” — WILL WIN AND SHOULD WIN
“The Messenger” —
“A Serious Man” —
“Up” —

Animated Feature Film
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” - SHOULD WIN
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Up” - WILL WIN

Art Direction
“Avatar” — WILL WIN AND SHOULD WIN
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” —
“Nine” —
“Sherlock Holmes” —
“The Young Victoria” —

Cinematography
“Avatar” — WILL WIN
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” —
“The Hurt Locker” —
“Inglourious Basterds” — SHOULD WIN
“The White Ribbon” —

Costume Design
“Bright Star” —
“Coco before Chanel” — SHOULD WIN
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” —
“Nine” —
“The Young Victoria” — WILL WIN

Documentary (Feature)
“Burma VJ”
“The Cove” - WILL WIN
“Food, Inc.”
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” - SHOULD WIN
“Which Way Home”

Documentary (Short Subject)
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” - WILL WIN
“Music by Prudence” - SHOULD WIN
“Rabbit à la Berlin”

Film Editing
“Avatar” —
“District 9” —
“The Hurt Locker” — WILL WIN AND SHOULD WIN
“Inglourious Basterds” —
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” —

Foreign Language Film
“Ajami” — Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” — Argentina - WILL WIN
“The Milk of Sorrow” — Peru
“Un Prophète” — France - SHOULD WIN
“The White Ribbon” — Germany

Makeup
“Il Divo” —
“Star Trek” — WILL WIN AND SHOULD WIN
“The Young Victoria” —

Music (Original Score)
“Avatar” — James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” — Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” — Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” — Hans Zimmer
“Up” — Michael Giacchino - WILL AND SHOULD WIN

Music (Original Song)
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36”
“Take It All” from “Nine”
“The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart” - WILL AND SHOULD WIN

Short Film (Animated)
“French Roast”
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty”
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)”
“Logorama” - SHOULD WIN
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” - WILL WIN

Short Film (Live Action)
“The Door” — WILL WIN
“Instead of Abracadabra” —
“Kavi” —
“Miracle Fish” — SHOULD WIN
“The New Tenants” —

Sound Editing
“Avatar” —
“The Hurt Locker” — WILL AND SHOULD WIN
“Inglourious Basterds” —
“Star Trek” —
“Up” —

Sound Mixing
“Avatar” —
“The Hurt Locker” — WILL AND SHOULD WIN
“Inglourious Basterds” —
“Star Trek” —
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” —

Visual Effects
“Avatar” — WILL AND SHOULD WIN
“District 9” —
“Star Trek” —


That's it. We'll see who wins on Sunday night...

Henry Saw: Some recomended films...

Recently watched some movies that were recommended to me by people I trust...with varying success...




The Petrified Forest:

This was recommended to me by my Uncle Craig. It's a 1936 film based on a play by Robert E. Sherwood. It stars Bette Davis, Leslie Howard, and Humphrey Bogart. The play and film are set in a small diner in the desert. Howard plays a poor writer who meets an infatuating waitress (Davis) and is charmed by her dreams of moving to Paris. Meanwhile, a vicious gang-leader named Duke Mantee (Bogart) is on the loose and plans to meet up with his girl at the diner.

The best parts of the film are the script and the actors. The script is a clever and relevant exploration of the era in which it was made. Each character has multiple dimensions (which is unique for the era) and the film doesn't sugar coat the endings (also rare for the time given the Hayes Code). Howard, Davis, and especially Bogart are very strong. Howard and Bogart had played their roles on stage but they seem as real and as fresh as in any other role they ever played. A strong film, a highly entertaining film, and further proof that movies from the 1930's had more to offer than poor musicals and schlocky melodramas.

Grade: A-



3 Days of the Condor:

This was also recommended to me by my Uncle Craig. ...The Petrified Forest is better. Much better. I thought this film was boring and useless. Robert Redford plays a nerdy CIA employee (codenamed Condor) who returns from lunch to find all his office co-workers have been assassinated. He kidnaps Faye Dunaway so he can hide somewhere no one knows. He finds out that there is no one he can trust, even his superiors in the CIA, as he tries to come in from the cold.

This is one of many conspiracy films of the 70's, all probably inspired by America's lost of faith in the government, that feel rather soulless. Network, The China Syndrome, Marathon Man, The Parallax View, Klute, and even Chinatown...they're all incredibly cold films. Only All the President's Men and The Conversation hold up in my opinion. 3 Days of the Condor is strangely unattractive given its cast and pedigree (Sydney Pollack directed the film) and just never pulled me in.

Grade: C


Harvard Beats Yale 29-29:

This was recommended to me by my Aunt Tiggy. I was kind of worried about this one. To use an old line...I knew how it ended. I'd read plenty of articles and blurbs about this game and was familiar with the overall story of the game. On November 23, 1968, Yale and Harvard's undefeated football teams met in Cambridge, with Yale heavily favored. The film combines interviews with 30 men of the men who played that day with game footage of all the key plays.

This could have been a really boring film...but a few of the men interviewed (including Tommy Lee Jones who was a running back on the Harvard squad) are so bizarre that it makes it a fairly entertaining movie. The movie never acts like the game meant more than it did (which is not to say it meant nothing) and is willing to broaden the spectrum of the film enough to fill its running time.

Look, if you don't care about Harvard, or Yale, or Boston, or college Football, or any of the select categories you could fit this film into...than this isn't a movie for you. But if you have any vesting interest in these things than I suggest you seek this little unambitious documentary out.

Grade: B



The Last Picture Show:

This one was recommended to me by my dad. Blegh...this one didn't work for me at all. The Last Picture Show follows three teenagers ((Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, and Cybill Shepherd) coming of age in a small town in Texas. It is one of the early classics of the New Hollywood generation (which started with Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate and ended with Raging Bull). Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, The Last Picture Show was nominated for 8 Oscars and won 2 in the supporting actor catagories (for Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman).

This movie just never clicked with me. It's not that its pretentious in any way (which was my original fear)...or that I wasn't interested in the characters (though the main character played by Timothy Bottoms is the worst character in the film)...it just never seemed to get anywhere. It's not that I can't appreciate a film whose ambition is to capture a time (the 1950's) and place (nowhere Texas) in which not much happened...but I guess I never found an "in" to the picture. Bogdanovich was ahead of his time in combining American archetypes with French New Wave styling...and full kudos to him. But, as someone who has seen Jules and Jim, and Band of Outsiders, and Breathless...I just wasn't that impressed. The film is overly long, ultimately empty, and one of the more boring film watching experiences I've had in a long time.

Grade: C-


That's all for now. I'll update you with the last few films I've watched for my Sunday night movie thing soon...

Henry Saw: The Art of the Steal

An interesting if uncompelling documentary...


The Art of the Steal is a documentary detailing the history of The Barnes Foundation, an educational art institution in Lower Merion (a suburb of Philadelphia), that is the home of more than 2500 pieces of art including works by Matisse, Renoir, and Cézanne. The movie focuses on the the leaders the Barnes has gone through since Albert C. Barnes died and how they have allowed and facilitated the museum to stray further and further from its founder's original intentions.

The Art of the Steal tells its tale in a straight-forward and linear manner. We start by finding out who Albert C. Barnes was, why and how he amassed one of the best private art collections in the world, and the altruistic reasons he created The Barnes Foundation. The Barnes Foundation was started as a school and was only open to the public on a select few days. The movie hinges on Barnes' Last Will and Testament which stipulated that the collection would continue to be part of the school and never be loaned, sold or moved.



The movie is made from a very biased angle. The filmmaker, Don Argott who directed and shot the film, is clearly on the side of the Barnes Foundation advocates who are angered that any aspect of Barnes' Will was challenged. I'm of two minds on the issue. The first time the Will was defied was when one of Barnes' disciples, who ran the Foundation for more than 25 years after Barnes' death, allowed the building to be open to the public 5 days a week. The advocates act as though this was the first step towards doom, an ultimate injustice, and an act against all that is good in the world. Now, I can sympathize with the idea that a man's Will should be binding, but is it really that bad that more people were able to see these amazing works of art? Is that really the worst thing in the world?

From that point the film follows how the Foundation was bequeathed to Lincoln University and how they appointed a series of ambitious men to run the Barnes who were more interested in political status than keeping the spirit of Barnes alive. It's not that I'm not sympathetic to the ideal of maintaining the Barnes Foundation as it was intended to exist, or that I thought any of the subsequent leaders were likable or did the right thing, but I guess I was never as moved as the movie wanted me to be.



The movie acts as though the idea of moving the collection to Philadelphia is the worst thing to happen since the Holocaust (it's possible that one of the talking heads actually says this in fact). Look, it's shady, it's a damn shame, but I just didn't feel the great tragedy of the proceedings like the filmmakers wanted me to.

The movie is well made, a little heavy of the classical music and a little repetitive in terms of who they talk to, but it's hard to complain about the craftsmanship. It's an interesting story, and I appreciate how passionate everyone involved is, but The Art of the Steal failed to completely suck me in. Worth a viewing, but unless you're are highly interested in The Barnes or the art world in general, don't rush out to see it.

Grade: B-

Best Scene: The extended scene about Richard Glanton's leadership. He's a polarizing and interesting character...