AND THE OSCAR GOES TO…

It’s that time of the year again, when those five words — or maybe “And the winner is…” — will be uttered repeatedly as one-foot-high gold-plated statuettes are bestowed upon a seemingly endless parade of actors, directors and assorted other Hollywood types, some beaming, others shocked, and still others tripping over the hems of their floor-length gowns, at the upcoming 83rd Academy Awards. [block_content]

For the second year in a row, the number of Best Picture nominees stands at ten (up from five, which is where it had stood for decades), there is — once again — an animated film in the group (the delightful “Toy Story 3”), and, inevitably, there is a film in the running for the night’s top prize that…well…shouldn’t (in this critic’s view) even be there.

And there is a movie that SHOULD be there, but isn’t.

But enough with the cryptic intro.  Here, briefly, are my opinions on some of the Oscar races — starting, naturally, with the race for Best Picture.  (Remember, I’m basing my picks on what — or who — I think SHOULD win, not the film or individual I believe WILL win.)

And — drumroll, please — the movie that I believe is the most deserving of all of them…my choice for the best of this year’s nominated films is…

The best of the bunch by far.  Superbly directed, beautifully acted, this moving and gritty true-life tale of an underdog boxer’s rise to the top — despite the interference of his drug-addled brother (who doubles as his trainer), strong-willed mother (who is also his manager), and assorted other obstacles — should take home the trophy. As Micky Ward, Mark Wahlberg is terrific, uber-versatile character actor/leading man Christian Bale is spot on as his troubled bro, Melissa Leo is sandpaper-tough as their mom, and the always beautiful (even here) Amy Adams shines (what else is new?) as Micky’s bartender girlfriend.  A great movie, from start to finish.

And here’s how I would rank the rest of the Best Picture nominees:

This dark and gloomy little-indie-that-could held me spellbound.  As Ozark teen Ree Dolly, Jennifer Lawrence stands out in her minimalist, understated way from the moment she sets out to locate her missing father to the scene in which she — well, see the movie and find out.  Strong supporting work (particularly from John Hawkes), a terrific script, and one suspenseful scene after another went a long way toward making this Sundance favorite absolutely captivating.

Led by the ultra-charming and utterly believable Annette Bening as one half of a lesbian couple trying to raise a pair of teenagers in sunny California (the lovely Julianne Moore is the other half), this warts-and-all comedy-drama could be the best depiction of family life to appear on screen all year.  Mark Ruffalo lends able assistance as the teens’ biological father, and the kids themselves — Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson — are as genuine as they come.  This is one of those movies that will make you laugh — a few of the moments are truly funny — AND cry.  Translation: it’s a reflection of life, itself.  And how can you beat that?

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film.  A typically talky Aaron Sorkin script? About a bunch of computer geeks? I went in half-expecting to be bored out of my wits…and yet, thanks to Sorkin’s screenplay, combined with some nicely-paced storytelling under the direction of David Fincher, and superlative performances from Jesse Eisenberg as the intellectually superior but socially inept Mark Zuckerberg — the founder of Facebook — along with ace supporting work from the likes of Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, and — well — practically everyone else in the cast, “The Social Network” was one of the biggest surprises of the year…for me, anyway.  A great film.

Only a meandering script and an unfortunate lack of good, old-fashioned, Wild West gunplay kept this Coen Brothers remake of the 1969 John Wayne classic from ranking higher on my list.  On the other hand, superb performances from newcomer Hailee Steinfeld and the ever-reliable and chameleon-like Jeff Bridges — not to mention some quirky dialogue, attractive scenery, and striking camera work — are the reasons it appears in my top five. I read somewhere that Joel and Ethan Coen wanted to make this “Grit” darker and more violent than its predecessor. They may have failed to do that, but they DID turn out a mighty good film…and young Miss Steinfeld is, unquestionably, a talent to watch.

A noble failure in some ways, a rousing success in others, Darren Aronofsky’s psycho-drama set in the highly competitive world of professional ballet ranks as low as it does because of the chances he took that didn’t pay off…but several notches above the rest of the list because of the risks he took that did.  Dark, disturbing images that might have been wholly in the mind of brooding ballerina Natalie Portman…or not.  Sexual images that might have been conjured up by her overactive imagination…or not.  The bottom line is, Portman & Co. might have been little more than plot devices (See her jealous mother drive her crazy! See her chief competitor drive her bonkers! See her GO bonkers!), but at least Aronofsky gave us something to look at, and wonder about, and puzzle over.  A more fully-realized performance from Portman — tormented from the get-go — would have helped, but, while “Swan” isn’t exactly a great movie, it’s not a bad one, either…and there WERE all those creepily nightmarish visions.

The lone animated film among this year’s contenders, and a fine one.  There are some frightening images in this film, too — some of which, ironically, might be too intense for children — but there isn’t a BARRAGE of them (they come at you sparingly, and mostly toward the end) and so, in a way, they’re more effective.  Terrific voice work by returning regulars like Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles and John Ratzenberger — as well as sparkling turns by newcomers Michael Keaton and, as the chief villain, Ned Beatty — make this installment in the series just as good as its predecessors, maybe better.  Sweet, funny, and — when it has to be — downright scary, Pixar’s latest addition to the “Toy Story” canon is another winner.

A cinematic tour-de-force starring James Franco, this fact-based drama about a thrill-seeking outdoorsman who finds himself trapped alone in an isolated canyon for five whole days — hence the title — would have earned one of the top spots, if not for one big problem: his predicament, dire though it was, didn’t draw me in emotionally until the very end, when he had already climbed out of his hellhole and reclaimed his life.  Franco is excellent, working, for the most part, with only his memories and his digicam to keep him company, and director Danny Boyle (departing completely from his previous Oscar winner, “Slumdog Millionaire”) puts Franco through his paces with originality, inventiveness and flair; but somehow the whole exercise seemed a tad…bland.  Maybe, despite Franco’s commitment to the role, I just couldn’t get on board with a flick about one man’s battle to survive.  Here’s a question that practically borders on blasphemy: Would it have worked better for me if Boyle had opened it up a bit more? As it was, I liked the movie, but didn’t love it.  And I wanted to love it.  Alas.

Stately, elegant, and subdued, this British import about a stammering monarch on the eve of World War II was well-acted, nicely written, and lovingly photographed, but — and I know I’m in the minority here — left me feeling kind of cold.  Colin Firth as the King? Excellent.  Geoffrey Rush as his maverick, ready-for-the challenge speech therapist?  Probably even better.  But the story plays itself out in such a tasteful, Masterpiece Theatre kind of way — there are few moments of heightened drama anywhere in David Seidler’s overly sedate script — that I kept hoping against hope that somehow, some way, the crown jewels would hit the palace fan.  A quiet film in which everyone’s emotions are buried so far beneath the surface that it would take a bulldozer to dig them out. Odds are that this is the film that will take home the Big One, but not in my book.

In many ways a film similar to “Black Swan”, with all its bizarre images, but an inferior film, too.  The characters are little more than props here, as well — Leonardo DiCaprio & Co. are fine, but if they aren’t acting in service to the bloated script, then I can’t identify cardboard characters when I see ’em — and writer/director Christopher Nolan, who delights in absurdly complicated plots (see “Memento” or even, for that matter, the last Batman), bombards us with one cluttered dreamscape after another.  The result is somewhat boring, even numbing.  And, frankly, there weren’t even ENOUGH eye-popping images; I expected a visual buffet, and ended up with a mere smorgasbord.  The real problem with this movie, though, is, indeed, the characters: The fearless hero? DiCaprio’s industrial espionage specialist, Dom Cobb — check.  The stalwart, unflinching sidekick? Joseph Gordon-Levitt — check.  The young, cute, but equally brave assistant? Ellen Page — check.  The crazy wife? Marion Cotillard — check…and the list goes on.  From first frame to last, “Inception” was a frenetic, confusing mess, filled with stock characters I had a hard time caring a whit about.  One of the top films of the year? No.  Enough to make me fear for Nolan’s next Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises”?…Yes.

OSCAR PREVIEW by Stuart R. Brynien