Brokeback Mountain

This past winter break I was at a reunion and speaking with my friend Josiah. I would argue we are about equal in terms of taste and so in the midst of discussion Josiah mentioned that outside of Magnolia he thought Brokeback Mountain was the best movie of the past 10 years. This of course got me to thinking. So I finally came to terms with it and decided to watch Brokeback Mountain, which brings me to this evening's first viewing of it. For those of you uninformed readers Brokeback Mountain is a movie about two herders who spend a summer in the mountains herding sheep, their time alone together leads them to take their friendship to the next level. As the summer ends they part and return back to their "straight" lives. The story then follows them through the next 20 years of their lives as they marry women and try to find happiness but continue, instead, to find each other. It is a sad movie about longing and love, though you're never sure what love looks like or who its between in this movie. Personally, I didn't see the hype. Is it a good movie? Yes. Is it well made and acted? Very much so. Yet I don't believe it to be the modern classic critics were so quick to adorn it with. The showcase here, the top of this movie's pyramid, is the performances. Heath Ledger as Ennis, our lead man, is a powerhouse without hardly ever talking above a mumble. Had he delivered this in any other year without Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing Capote he surely would have won. Jake Gyllenhal as Jack, Ennis' lover, is at the top of his game and the same for Michelle Williams who has some heavy scenes. I would like to point out however the brilliant, quiet and small role of Anne Hathaway as Jack's wife Lureen. Hathaway delivers a performance that is so keen and subtle and perfect that you believe her and you know there will be no teary eyed screams from her, she is a woman of dignity and pride from her teeth to her toenails, and her last scene is masterful. It is a crime how unnoticed she went. I think my greatest issue with the story is that it has been heralded by my peers, acquaintances, and critics as a sweeping romance, an enduring love story. Yet I am not sure if anyone ever loved anyone in the movie, I don't believe Ennis loved Jack as much as he needed him and vice versa, they were caught in a world they couldn't make sense of and hurt all of those who dared step in to the ring. Perhaps the only person I believed to have loved anyone was Cassie, Ennis' second girl, her exit scene is one of great grit and power and one of love, while it is easy to confuse passion with love, it is also easy to confuse need or desire with love. It is a good movie, but in terms of romances I'll take Moulin Rouge another movie about starcrossed lovers, or if you want to discuss gay themes I will take Milk.

A Couple Movies to Watch For

Now that we have seen the end of the year, the oscar nods have rolled in. They will almost surely award the perky and beautiful Slumdog over the faulty, but epic Ben Button and they seem to have missed the boat entirely with a Dark Knight snub. So now that its all over and we can take away some gems to look back on for years it is time to look ahead my friends. I bring with me just a few movies I am looking forward to...a couple look to be potential oscar contenders, another will define a genre or destroy a masterpiece, one is taking a note from Tarantino and Rodriguez(I think), a delightful spy game movie by the genius who brought us Michael Clayton, and the last doesn't have a trailer yet but I just can't help but know itll be great.

1. (500) Days of Summer


2. The Informers


3. Watchmen


4. Black Dynamite


5. Duplicity


6. Where the Wild Things Are

Oscar Nomination Predictions

Thursday is the day of truth, but for now here are my predictions.

BEST PICTURE
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Milk
The Dark Knight
WALL-E

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle-Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Christopher Nolan- The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant- Milk
Darren Aronofsky-The Wrestler

BEST ACTOR
Sean Penn-Milk
Mickey Rourke-The Wrestler
Brad Pitt- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frank Langella- Frost/Nixon
Clint Eastwood- Gran Torino

BEST ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins-Happy-Go-Lucky
Anne Hathaway- Rachel Getting Married
Meryl Streep- Doubt
Kate Winslet- Revolutionary Road
Angelina Jolie- The Changeling

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Heath Ledger-The Dark Knight
Josh Brolin-Milk
Dev Patel- Slumdog Millionaire
Phillip Seymour Hoffman- Doubt
Robert Downey Jr.- Tropic Thunder

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis-Doubt
Amy Adams-Doubt
Kate Winslet-The Reader
Penelope Cruz-Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Marisa Tomei- The Wrestler

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Rachel Getting Married
The Wrestler
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Milk
WALL-E

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
WALL-E
Horton Hears a Who
Waltz With Bashir

BEST MUSICAL SCORE
Thomas Newman-WALL-E
A.R. Rahman- Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Elfman- Milk
Alexandre Desplat- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
James Newton Howard & Hans Zimmer- The Dark Knight

Top 10 Movies of 2008 Based on Not Having Seen Everything

This list is compiled of the movies I have seen up to this point which excludes The Reader, Happy-Go-Lucky, Doubt, and Frost/Nixon, but without further ado, here it is:

10. The Fall
9. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
8. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
7. The Wrestler
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5. The Dark Knight
4. WALL-E
3. Rachel Getting Married
2. Milk
1. Slumdog Millionaire

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This year has been full of movies that delight in storytelling and David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is no different. In fact one might say this movie, over most others this year, is delirious in its ability to tell a story no one could believe in the most human and believable way. We meet Benjamin as the first World War ends and we say good-bye to our characters at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Styled in a similar sense as Forrest Gump we see this extraordinary life spanning the benchmarks in American history through flashbacks. Anyway, so we meet Benjamin, he is old at birth, like a man on his way to the grave. His father leaves him on the steps of a retirement home, ironically. He is taken in and raised by the care taker of the older folks in the home Queenie played with endearing heart by Taraji P. Henson. The first years of Benjamin's life are spent fairly normally until one day he meets Daisy, the granddaughter of one of the women in the home. She is a pretty little girl with red hair and dazzling blue eyes. She changes his life. From then we see his his journey through ports on a boat, through a touching affair with an unsatisfied woman played in perfect pitch by Tilda Swinton. Benjamin grows younger as he ages, so the next time he returns home it is much more youthful than when Queenie last saw him. Then there is Daisy who has been pursuing dancing and is now played by Cate Blanchett. Bradd Pitt becomes more apparent in his digression as well. Eventually fate and delightful storytelling lead them back to each other. Here is the emotional crux of the movie. Last year we saw Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, two lovers we knew deserved each other, but were torn apart by circumstances beyond their control. It is the same here. From the beginning we know that there is an inherent sadness in two people in love passing each other in age in opposite directions. To tell anymore is to spoil. Yet I must touch on the lavishness with which it is made, the immense heart that pumps the blood of the movie, and key perfs from Blanchett and Pitt. Blanchett and Pitt provide a surprising amount of chemistry to lead the audience to believe in this love. The greatest scene in the movie happens in a dance studio at night when the two have now far passed each other in age, Pitt a youthful 20-something, Blanchett approaching her 60s. It is a remarkable scene. Many have complained upon the length of the movie, but upon seeing it and experiencing it I believe it could not be any shorter. Once you reach the end, the real, final end you as the viewer have felt the journey and it is justified to reach the level of emotional pitch that the ending conveys. One of the best of the year and surely will live beyond this award season.

Milk

For a few years director Gus Van Sant has been making some off-the-beaten-path movies with his most notable being Elephant about a school shooting, and it is here in Milk that Van Sant returns to more conventional filmmaking but that does not diminish it's quality one bit. I mention Elephant because it, like Milk, is a movie about seperation and violence caused by it. Milk however is bigger, broader, and more important. In simple terms it is the story of Harvey Milk, played by Sean Penn, who runs for district supervisor in San Francisco in the 70s helping give the gay rights movement a gigantic shove and ultimately he was assassinated for his ideals, his passion, his ability to change, and his sexual preference. Those are not spoilers anymore than it is to spoil Titanic by telling you it sinks. It is fact. However what you need to see the movie for is the way in which it tells the story of not just the gay rights movement but the story of equality and fighting for what is right. It is the story of how one man set out to do something with his life and saved and changed thousands with it and many will hate this movie because it is about a gay man who is the reason that gays are still allowed to work, live, and be with everyone else and to those people I say, with all my Christian love, that your heart is wrong. The ending of this film and Harvey's life is such a grand depiction that you, those of you who find the idea of this film appaling, are hating people, that you would have rather seen their lives destroyed. It is a shame that it takes a gay man to stand up for his peoples rights when we as Christians are called to love all people as the same, that means giving them the same rights and fighting for them. Off my soapbox I must also commend Sean Penn for giving what I think is the best performance of the year, yes even over Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Never has Penn been more likeable than he is as Harvey Milk. The acting in this movie is great all around really, the ensemble is top-notch and flawless. More than anything it is an enjoyable movie which so few oscar contenders are with all of their weighty ideas and heavy handed production, Milk is accessible and expertly paced and simply a wonderfully told story. Slumdog Millionaire has my vote for Best Picture, but Milk would be a worthy alternative I think.

The Wrestler

From religious conspiracy to drug addicts to the final reaches of space and life director Darren Aronofsky has wooed, intrigued and boggled audiences with his visionary style and storytelling always reaching for the most bravado he could muster. This time, however, Aronofsky stepped back a little and produced his most heartfelt, striking gem of a movie in lo-fi. This time it isn't even Aronofsky's movie, this time it's all about the raved comeback performance of Mickey Rourke. The premise is pretty simple: an aged pro-wrestler name Randy "the Ram" Robinson who still fights in amateur events and works at a supermarket during the week is lonely and, well, aging. His best friend is a stripper named Cassidy and his only family, a daughter, hates him. Life is pretty down on this guy, but besides the cast of Slumdog Millionaire Rourke's Ram is the most charming and likeable character this year with Marisa Tomei's stripper a close second. Everything in this movie is turned way way down from Aronofsky's typical style, but he instead pulls in 3 wonderful pivotal performances, yes 3 of them, Rourke, Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood as his daughter. The story though is Rourke. He is the wrestler, a man who failed out of life for awhile, looking for a comeback and Rourke found it here after a few minor roles in the past couple years, most notably in Sin City as Marv. In Robinson Rourke delivers a lot of humanity through the screenplay that depicts wrestlers fairly as a people of performance, but who still get hurt. The difference is that Randy the Ram Robinson knows the pain that awaits inside the ring, but it is the unexpected pain of the outside world he can't handle. This tale is bold, true, and vulnerable and packs as much punch as the wrestlers who inhabit it.

Revolutionary Road

Last February as the oscars ended bloggers everywhere began the next oscar race by listing the most buzz worthy movies with Revolutionary Road by Sam Mendes (American Beauty) being at the top of everyones list. It was a formula made in heaven Academy Award winning director directing a screenplay based on an acclaimed book, the story is of american dysfunction (an academy favorite as far as stories go) with Kate Winslet (multiple oscar nominee) and Leonardo DiCaprio (also a multi-oscar nominee) who both brought their last joint effort Titanic to win 11 academy awards. How could this not be the picture to beat? Well it turns out it isn't. That is not to say it isn't a good movie because it most certainly is. The production is strong and the leads are wonderful. Winslet acts far and above anything I've seen her put forward yet and Leo keeps up pretty well as a couple trapped in a 1950s American suburban life neither of them wanted. Their entrapment leads to some of the most devastating onscreen arguments I can recall outside of the coldness of Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People. Their accusations sting and the truths behind them destroy each other. These moments are the bulk of the film. The other best part is the character played by Michael Shannon in a wonderfully nuanced role that reminded me of Ledger's Joker earlier this year. Shannon's character John has just been released from a mental hospital and is the son of the Wheeler's real estate agent, April and Frank Wheeler are Kate and Leo. John has the impeccable way of spewing direct truth to the couple in the most abrasive and jarring way and never bowing to ask forgiveness. The lulls in the movie come from the times the couple are parted and we are given obligatory exposition of Frank's tiresome job and April's saddness as a kept wife alone in the house all day. The scenes are essential but are without the same heart if thats what you can call it. Ultimately the film is a beautifully wrenching and horrifying way to look at a life where truth doesn't set you free it destroys you and where those who live in lies live comfortably. It is dark, unsettling, and for me it offered little redeeming value outside of a harsh reality check. Personally I prefer Kate and Leo to have their final words drifting in freezing water after a torridly passionate love affair, I don't know about you.