February 5, 2012

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Dave’s Annual Uninformed Super Bowl Prediction — Election Year Edition

February 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

For a number of years now, I’ve been attempting to predict the winner of the Super Bowl based on who would win in a football game between the teams’ namesakes. I’ve done this so many times now that, apparently, this match up has happened before.

Since this is an election year, let’s make things interesting. Instead of picking the winner based on who would win in a fight between actual giants and actual patriots, I’ll pick it based on who would win a presidential election between a giant and a patriot.

ABILITY TO KICK ASS FOREIGN POLICY

The patriot has a long history of winning wars, and a shorter one of what we’ll generously call “ties.”  The giant, on the other hand, can just walk over to any country, make a flicking motion and destroy most anything that’s pissing us off. Then he could say, “You just got America’d!” or something. And it’d be really loud, too, cos’ he’s a giant.

ADVANTAGE: GIANT

PATRIOTISM

Um…

ADVANTAGE: PATRIOT

CAMPAIGN SLOGAN

Patriot: “If you don’t vote for him, you know what that makes you, right?”

Giant: “He could fucking eat you.”

ADVANTAGE: EVEN

DEBATES

No matter who actually “won” the debate, the visual of the patriot being dwarfed by the giant’s left ankle would be pretty tough to shake.

ADVANTAGE: GIANT

MONEY SPENT ON HOMELAND SECURITY VIS A VIS SECRET SERVICE DETAIL

With the plethora of haters out there, the patriot would need all the secret service he could get (hmm, sounds dirty). What is somebody going to do the giant? Seriously. Unless they got Voltron or some shit, homeboy is going where he pleases.

ADVANTAGE: GIANT

“THE ISSUES”

This is a presidential election. Go watch PBS, you fucking nerd!

ADVANTAGE: EVEN

HEIGHT

If you consider that 18 of the winners of the past 28 presidential elections were taller than their opponents, it’s clear that size matters. Also, many, many voters will become obsessed with the size of the giant’s cock, which will just be incomprehensibly massive.

ADVANTAGE: GIANT…OH, GOD, THE GIANT

The giant would win the election in a landslide, which he probably caused (I’m here all week) and, therefore, the Giants will win the Super Bowl in a similar fashion. You’re welcome.

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Top Ten Movies of 2011

January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

2011 was a year of good-but-not-great films. The exceptions were movies that, for the most part, I didn’t see coming.

10. The Guard

“I can’t tell if you’re really motherfucking dumb or really motherfucking smart.”

A weird but effective mix of buddy cop film, character study, and fish-out-of-water dark comedy, The Guard came out of nowhere and knocked out a bunch of critics with its charm but never seemed to find an audience. Brendan Gleeson gives an Oscar-caliber performance as a smarter-than-he-lets-on cop in Galway who gets caught up in a major drug operation. Don Cheadle, playing an FBI officer assigned to the case, has an effortless chemistry with Gleeson but it’s Gleeson’s world, inhabited by snappy dialogue, creative direction, and strong supporting performances by Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, and a bunch of folks you’ve never heard of.

9. Life in a Day

“Best day ever.”

The concept was simple. On July 24, 2010, people all over the world submitted clips from their daily lives to YouTube for the Life in a Day project. Ridley Scott, Kevin Macdonald, and Joe Walker edited the choicest of those clips into one 95 minute film. The result is sublime. In turns poignant, horrifying, mundane, and inspiring, the film captures life at this moment in human history in a way no other document has for any other moment in human history. Simply the fact that this endeavor was possible is astounding enough, but the filmmakers don’t let technological awe stand in for real storytelling, which they dole out in spades with the help of their global collaborators, who all get a credit as co-directors.

8. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

“Soon you’ll know us all too well, with my apologies.”

Why did I watch a film that I’d already read as a book and seen as a movie once before? Because Fincher is that damn good. His direction feels as assured and effortless as it did with The Social Network, and yet still bears his indelible stamp. Add to that a fearless performance by Rooney Mara and a perhaps even more accomplished score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross than their previous collaboration on Network and you’ve got the best American remake of a foreign film since The Departed.

7. Hugo

“My friends, I address you all tonight as you truly are; wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, magicians… Come and dream with me.”

“It’s fucking magical!” is how I described this film to friends in a mock angry tone.  But it really is.  And it’s not just Martin Scoresese’s tribute to cinema; it’s a paean to the beautiful interplay between art and technology, of which film is only one expression. Also, it loves books. Asa Butterfield is a revelation, in one of the best child performances I’ve seen, not to mention the always strong Chloe Grace Moretz. Oh, and in the first couple of minutes Scorsese schools everyone else on how you actually do 3D.

6. The Descendants

“This is a unique and dramatic situation!”

Alexander Payne has a knack for taking situational comedy and grounding it with sharply realized characters in order to glimpse greater emotional truths. And he does all that pretentious-sounding shit without begin boring.  The Descendants may be his best work yet. Ditto Clooney. And he’s in good company. Shailene Woodley is positively incandescent; and Judy Greer, Robert Forster, and Matthew Lillard each do more with five minutes of screen time than most actors do with an entire film.

5. Attack the Block

“This is too much madness to explain in one text!”

This film knocked me on my ass. I saw what looked like a cool synopsis—aliens invade the hood—when scoping out films to see at SXSW. I got in line not even knowing if I’d get in. And then sat in the back of a packed Alamo Drafthouse as the crowd went on writer/director Joe Cornish’s frenetic, funny, and frightening old-school monster ride. In a year lousy with alien invasions (Battle: Los Angeles, Cowboys and Aliens, The Darkest Hour, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Falling Skies on TV) this one showed there’s still some juice in the concept if you know what you’re doing. Cornish adds an original setting and an original dynamic that would have been interesting even without bloodthirsty creatures—the unlikely pairing of a mugger and his victim. Plus a touch of (non-preachy) social message for good measure.

4. Moneyball

“I know you are taking it in the teeth, but the first guy through the wall… he always gets bloody… always. This is threatening not just a way of doing business… but in their minds, it’s threatening the game. Really what it’s threatening is their livelihood, their jobs. It’s threatening the way they do things… and every time that happens, whether it’s the government, a way of doing business, whatever, the people who are holding the reins – they have their hands on the switch – they go batshit crazy.”

I’ve never been happier to have my high expectations upset than by this film. Given Aaron Sorkin’s hands on the script, I was expecting the snappy repartee that made The Social Network such a joy to watch. But I forgot that (a) Steve Zaillian was also involved and, more importantly, (b) naturalistic Capote director Bennett Miller was at the helm, which is what prevailed. The result is a very authentic, compelling character study that happens to involve baseball, statistics, and business strategy. It’s not the film that Soderbergh would have made, which is fine, because it’s the perfect expression of Miller’s concerns as a filmmaker. And that’s the beauty of good adaptation.

3. 50/50

“No one wants to fuck me. I look like Voldemort.”

Dramedy gets a bad name because it’s a stupid word. But this is a dramedy. It’s very dramatic. Dude is dying of cancer. But it’s funny as hell. And it doesn’t really pick sides. It’s happy to do both in equal measure. More important, it’s good at both. Great, in fact. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is (of course) amazing, and Seth Rogen is his perfect foil (and would have gotten an Oscar nod if it weren’t for this).

2. Drive

“If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place. I give you a five-minute window, anything happens in that five minutes and I’m yours no matter what. I don’t sit in while you’re running it down; I don’t carry a gun… I drive.”

It’s clear that director Nicholas Winding Refn had 80′s crime dramas on his mind when he made this film, and that sort of fetishizing can result in the most derivative, indulgent work. In this case, however, it manifests as pure genius. Refn is a helmer who knows how to use all of his voices—quiet, brutal, sweet, menacing—very much like Gosling’s stunt/getaway driver taking his Mustang through all of its paces. But the other revelation, if it can be called that for someone we already knew was great, is Ryan Gosling. For all the worthy plaudits Albert Brooks is getting for his slice of vile in the film, it’s Gosling who’s giving (another) career-defining performance here. The silent cool he exudes can be mistaken for an archetype, but he’s doing some very subtle things here that are actually much harder than a louder, brasher performance might be because smaller moves have to say so much more.

1. The Artist

“…”

Sometimes a film comes along and just does everything right. From the clever plays on the very concept of a silent film that pepper the opening, to the playfulness of sequences that wouldn’t feel out of place in films of the era it depicts, The Artist just keeps hitting the right notes over and over and over. The film understands and celebrates the sheer joy of visual storytelling. And even in the final moment, after you’re sure the film has nothing more to say (pun intended), Hazanavicius finds a way to comment on something you probably didn’t even consider, but is in fact vital to the story (and the history) he’s recounting.

Honorable Mentions: 13 Assassins, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Of Gods and Men, X-Men: First Class, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part Two, Point Blank, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Too Big to Fail (yes I know it was an HBO movie but it was just so damn good).

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Oscar Nod Notes

January 26, 2012 By 1 Comment

Some initial reactions to the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards.

  • I’ll admit it. I’m one of those guys who’s gonna go watch A Better Life just because Demián Bichir got nominated. In my defense, it was already in my Netflix queue. I just upped it to number one, is all.
  • Hard to believe this is Kenneth Branagh’s first Oscar nod. Harder still to believe it’s Gary Freakin’ Oldman’s first (for a truly remarkable performance, btw).
  • How many movies does Michael Fassbender have to be in to get some love?
  • I’m a little surprised at the attention Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is getting. No awards love during the season. Middling reviews. Part of me (cynically) thinks it’s some sort of ten years out 9/11 thing. Part of me (randomly) thinks director Stephen Daldry has some sort of crazy good mojo since his last two films (The Reader, The Hours) also got nominated for Best Picture.
  • Which brings me to another dilemma only an Oscar dork like myself could concoct: Do I go out of my way to go see films that aren’t getting great reviews just because they’re nominated in major categories (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Albert Nobbs, The Iron Lady)? Would you? Of course not. You’re sane.
  • Biggest Oscar oversight in an acting category this year? Elisabeth Olsen for Martha Marcy May Marlene. (Full disclosure: I haven’t seen We Need to Talk About Kevin yet, so that might be worse.)
  • I have never heard of A Cat in Paris or Chico & Rita, but they sure look cool.
  • Still not sure if the Tintin diss was an eligibility issue. Anybody know?

  • I don’t usually give a crap about this category, but I’m really glad to see The Artist get nominated for Best Costume Design, and I hope it wins.
  • I know there’s no way it was ever going to happen, but isn’t Life in a Day custom-made for a Best Editing Oscar?
  • I’ve already said how happy I am about the “Man or Muppet” best song nod. And what great odds, huh?
  • In what may be the biggest surprise, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is up for Best Animated Short. I’m so used to thinking of it as an app that I never bothered to watch the movie. Wonder if when I do, I’ll keep trying to interact with it.
  • So can we get Drive a t-shirt that says “I was arguably the best movie of 2011 and all I got was this lousy Sound Editing nod?”
  • Just so we’re clear, it’s now “the Oscar-nominated Real Steel” (although, to be fair, people seem to like it a lot more than the Oscar-nominated Transformers: Dark of the Moon).
  • In case you were wondering, the Jim Rash that co-wrote The Descendants is that Jim Rash.
  • Congrats to Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) and Bridget O’Connor (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) on their screenwriting nods. They join the 70 or so women who’ve been nominated in that category. Out of something like 1,400 nominees total. Still better representation than female directors, tho.
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The Bigger Conversation Behind SOPA

January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

First off, a very cogent (and scary) summation of what’s at stake when we talk about SOPA.

So I’ve been following the SOPA/PIPA controversy with some interest/concern/freakout and have gone so far as to move most of my domains off of GoDaddy (though, from what I’m told, I should’ve done that a long time ago).  Frankly, there is another law that disturbs me far more at the moment, but (a) these bills are not yet law and (b) there appears to be some recourse to prevent that from happening.

DavidDylanThomas.com is still on GoDaddy, but that’s because I foolishly picked the “private registration” option back in 2005 when I registered it and had no idea what a pain in the ass that would make it to move domains later (has to do with access to a particular code authorizing the move). So that’s one thing this has taught me.

Another is that we can’t take internet freedom for granted. Aside from threats to net neutrality on one end we’ve now got poorly thought out measures to curb piracy that might cripple legitimate speech while doing nothing to curb piracy. (Dear SOPA, the web has already figured out how to beat you.) I would hate to think that Kiran is going to grow up in a world where the internet is a one-way broadcasting tool. (If a site becomes liable for what users post; goodbye comments sections, goodbye user-generated content, goodbye online discourse. It all becomes too risky.)

And at the end of the day this comes down to a principle that I’m seeing play out in both net neutrality and piracy controversies and that’s the principle of what you have the right to do versus what’s actually a good idea.

Companies who build the pipe have a right to dictate how that pipe gets used. That doesn’t make it a good idea to give privileged access to the rich. In the short term, there’s some financial gain to be had. In the long term, you basically break the internet.

Companies who own content have a right to charge as much as they like for it and to go after people who steal it. That doesn’t make it a good idea to charge as much as possible nor to create laws that provide crazy access to the government to curb free speech or turn people into felons for singing “Happy Birthday” online. In the short term, there’s some financial gain to be had. In the long term, you basically break the internet.

The economies of the internet allow, and even encourage, more altruistic behavior when it comes to concepts of ownership. See the economic model that keeps Craigslist alive. They don’t charge as much as they can. They charge as little as they can. This keeps them in business. If they charge one penny more, all someone else has to do is come along and charge one penny less. This works because the economies of the internet allow for the cheap distribution of information. (See What Would Google Do? for more on this.)

Collaborative consumption is another constructive paradigm for ownership that the web enables. ZipCar, Chegg, and even Netflix all derive value from not charging one person as much as possible for one item, but rather spreading costs and benefits as evenly as possible. Could such sharing-inspired models work for (now) intangible items like content?

The problem, of course, is that the cheap economies of the internet are built upon the not-so-cheap economies of things like building lots and lots of pipe and creating lots and lots of entertainment. Now in the case of the former, the initial build is a one-time (massive) expense followed by maintenance, and ISPs tend to charge sizable fees for access at which many users do not balk. Whether or not this is enough to make up for the cost of building out that pipe, I really don’t know (and if anyone does know, please tell). In the case of the latter, some, but certainly not all, of the entertainment is getting cheaper to produce, and in the case of the considerable amount that is anything but cheap to produce, there’s a serious problem because the low or free rates of access to that entertainment online don’t currently support the model. And we don’t yet know what will. So I can understand the urgency one might feel to protect that content.

But SOPA and PIPA, as most of us realize at this point, won’t protect that content.

Now, if you were to actually have some people who understand the internet write a law and a protocol for protecting copyright, you might get somewhere. Problem is, most content producers who are pushing for SOPA/PIPA don’t trust people who understand the internet. They think they’re “in on it.” So, here’s my plan. We get a bunch of folks who know what’s up to write a law that actually makes sense, then get someone the content owners trust (Richard Branson????) to actually present it as if it were their idea. We even get some prominent technologists to protest the bill to make it look like the Internet People are against it. This will make content owners like it even more. Then we just let Congress take its course.

Ultimately, though, the switch from content being physical to being information is going to force us to rethink the economic models behind distribution of that content and, even more fundamentally, the concept of ownership of content. Because now ownership of content is like ownership of information, difficult to define and even more difficult to control. We’re going to need to come up with a model that compensates both the builders of the pipe and the builders of the content in a way that respects the fact that content ain’t what it used to be. Physical.

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Social Media Education

January 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Pico Iyer’s “The Joy of Quiet” is the latest in a long series of missives decrying the overwhelming onslaught of social media and the virtue of the disconnect. It’s a perfectly fine article and I don’t disagree with him on any particular point, in fact it puts me in mind of a quote by David Bowie where, in the 90′s, he spoke of a friend who predicted that in the future to avoid the virtual and synthetic chaos of the world around them, people would come home and touch a piece of wood just to feel connected to something real. The retreats Iyer speaks of seem to resonate with that idea.

That having been said, there are certain issues that come up again and again in these sorts of articles that always seem a bit jarring to me. First of all, there’s the obvious question, which I’ve yet to hear adequately answered, which is the question of self-discipline. These articles usually mention some extreme disconnect solution of going someplace without internet access or locking one’s cellphone in the trunk during long drives or using software that prevents internet access for a period of time. The implication is that many people simply cannot just not use a tool if it’s available to them. They have to cut themselves off from it somehow.  It seems like the digital equivalent of stomach stapling.

I wonder, however, how much of this is a problem of discipline versus a problem of new technology. When we’re presented with a new option which we never had before, we tend to opt into treating it like it’s scarce, whether it is or not. When we get a new toy, we use it all the time, behaving as if it won’t be there forever, even if it will be. So when we have the option to use e-mail, we use it as often as possible, which is always. Ditto texting, rss, Facebook, Twitter, etc. These technologies offer the double-whammy of not just being new(ish) but also of always having something new to offer. And somehow we decide that new equals urgent.

But that’s the philosophical mistake, isn’t it? New doesn’t equal urgent. New equals new. (And usually not all that new. Usually a reiteration of something we’ve seen before.) But with a new technology that we haven’t quite wrapped our heads around how to use efficiently, we tend to default to more use and not less (granted, this is in the case of technologies that are easy to use; we easily default to less use with new technologies that are intimidating to use, which is why no one ever programmed their VCR clocks).

And here is where I agree quite strongly with Iyer, who writes:

The central paradox of the machines that have made our lives so much brighter, quicker, longer and healthier is that they cannot teach us how to make the best use of them; the information revolution came without an instruction manual.

And that’s just it. It’s not so much a question of self-discipline as it is a question of education. How do we actually use these tools?  What are they actually good at?  Just because we can check for new messages every second doesn’t mean we have to. But what if that’s actually something that needs to be taught? What if it’s not inherently obvious? It doesn’t seem to be obvious with other forms of consumption; why would it be so here?

At least, what if this needs to be taught to a generation that did not grow up with the technology in the first place? I wonder if the next generation, who has the ability to take this technology for granted, will actually achieve a greater balance between their social media life and all other aspects of their life. Something more seamless and without distraction (or, more to the point, where distraction is redefined altogether). Simply because for them, these technologies will be what the phone was for us. A part of the landscape.

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Top Ten TV Shows of 2011

January 6, 2012 By 4 Comments

I’ve been kind of disappointed with films this year (the amazing The Artist notwithstanding). On the other hand, I’ve been more than impressed with the selection of television shows in 2011. To wit…

10. Fringe

Fringe constantly reinvented itself in 2011, providing three completely different characters for the criminally un-nominated Anna Torv to play and ending Season Three on a note that allowed it to completely reboot in Season Four with completely different stakes. And no, I’m not just saying that because I helped write a book about it.

9. Homeland

At first I wasn’t even going to bother. Another show about terrorism? But the great reviews kept trickling in. And it was on right after Dexter. Turns out the Best New Show hype was for reals. The tone was so unique. Grim, but not humorless. And increasingly involving. A perfect balance of character study and plot machinations building to some pretty layered “Holy shit!” moments as the season wore on. And for a storyline that seemed to have a built in destruct sequence after one season, they set themselves up for what could be an amazing Season Two.

8. Dexter

After a solid but not especially memorable Season Five, Dexter returned to show there are still plenty of facets to explore in the life of everyone’s favorite serial killer/vigilante. This season it was religion and spirituality, and they didn’t skimp on the nuance. They could have easily gone with some wholly anti-religious crackpot bent, but instead the writers presented a much more challenging depiction of religion and how it plays out in different characters’ lives, brought home in particlar by an Emmy-worthy turn from Mos Def.  And though I was semi-spoiled for one of the season’s big reveals, the final seconds (indeed the final words) of the season were jaw-dropping in a way not seen since Season 4.

7. Boardwalk Empire

Building off an incredible first season, Boardwalk Empire reshuffled the deck to present new conflicts, new characters, and deeper insights into some of my favorite characters, Chalky White (Michael Kenneth Williams) and Eli Thompson (Shea Whigham).  All building to one of the most heartbreaking season finales I’ve ever seen.

6. Downton Abbey

This almost didn’t make the list as, until the end of the year, it just sat in my Netflix streaming queue waiting for Linda Holmes’ endless recommendations to reach a tipping point. Finally, in one marathon session, Dr. Wife and I knocked out the whole damn thing. We just couldn’t stop. Which is surprising because the machinations of upstairs/downstairs living in early 20th century England is not the sort of thing I’d usually be into. But if anyone can make that compelling, it’s Gosford Park scribe Julian Fellowes, who gives a stellar cast delectable dialogue.

5. Doctor Who

With the first two episodes of this season, showrunner Steven Moffat drew a Lost-like line in the sand declaring that the story arcs of previous years were nothing compared to what was about to unfold. While the characterizations were to remain just as compelling, the narrative thread was about to become an intricate web whose complexity was only hinted at in the (admittedly more solid) Season Five. But I happen to like complexity, especially when it’s rewarded throughout the season with jaw-dropping reveals that add to instead of detract from the coherence of the arc. Oh, and he happened to introduce a new villain on par with the Weeping Angels in terms of creativity and how-the-hell-do-you-fight-that? mind-fuckery.

4. Community

Ending Season Two as arguably the best show on television and running through what is hopefully only half of Season Three as maybe not that great, but certainly as ambitious, Community has redefined the boundaries of what the half hour comedy can be. Granted, I’m a big fan of genre-tweaking, which has become the show’s stock and trade, but the important thing is that they’ve done it without sacrificing character. In fact, they’ve kept all of those tweaks deeply rooted in character, perhaps never more-so than in “Critical Film Studies.”  Tell me one other show that could even come close to pulling off a meta-narrative exploration of storytelling that incorporates Pulp Fiction, My Dinner with Andre, and Cougar Town.

Also, Donald Glover. Always Donald Glover.

3. Luther

Four episodes. That’s it. Season One had only six episodes but even that seems indulgent compared the lean storytelling you get with Season Two of the best damn detective show on television.  Idris Elba continues to explore the dark recesses of the human soul with his searing portrayal of DCI John Luther and the crazy, clever, and genuinely frightening (instead of just novel, which is what you usually get in these stories) serial killers (and B-plot scumbags) he encounters. We also get to see the evolution of DS Justin Ripley (Warren Brown) from sidekick to driving force. My only complaint: not enough Alice (Ruth Wilson).

Oh, and who else desperately wants a Sherlock/Luther crossover?

2. Game of Thrones

Much adoration has already been thrown at this one, so I’ll only add that the hype you’ve heard is true. This really is one of the best shows on television. It’s utterly involving. Utterly unpredictable. Shockingly so. And yes, Peter Dinklage deserved that Emmy. And people who’ve read the novels tell me I ain’t seen nothing yet.

1. Parks and Recreation

When I first heard about Parks and Recreation I thought of it as the red-headed stepchild of The Office. And for the first half-season it was still trying to figure its way out of that box. But as it evolved in Season Two and especially in the one-of-the-best-seasons-of-telelvision-ever Season Three, it became it’s own wonderful thing. A sincere, natural, believable, and yet sweet, even verklempt-inducing comedy. And Season Four looks to be just as strong. I’ve already caught myself getting Up levels of weepy on more than one occasion. As much of my list as is devoted to dark, hour-long melodrama, the day of the half hour comedy is not nearly over, and there is so much more left to do. Parks and Recreation is doing most of it.

Honorable Mentions: Archer, Boss, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, True Blood, Breaking In

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The Dark Subtext Rises

December 19, 2011 By 6 Comments

Up until now, I’ve been pretty lukewarm about the next Batman movie. Not because of any lack of faith in Chris Nolan. Kind of the opposite. He knocked it so far out of the park on The Dark Knight that I honestly don’t know where he could go from there.

But I forgot something that I really liked about The Dark Knight and that was the simple question of relevance. Among the several things going on in that film is a little taste of terrorist psychology and politics. It makes The Dark Knight feel more vital because it taps into something that was going on at the time (well, still is, but it was a little fresher then).

Now that we finally have a proper The Dark Knight Rises trailer to over-analyze, I’m struck by a similar feeling. This time it looks like Batman vs. the 99%. Or an especially violent subset thereof. I have no idea if that’s actually where Nolan is going with all of this, but if it is, that’s one way to distinguish this chapter in a way that gets it out of the rather large shadow of its immediate predecessor.

So I’m a little more psyched now.

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State of Play

December 12, 2011 By 2 Comments

With the first batch of critics circles weighing in (Boston, New York, New York Online, San Francisco, NBR, Los Angeles, Washington), we’re beginning to get a picture of the films that might be in play for Oscar consideration.

Best Picture

The Artist is looking like the film to beat, with The Tree of Life, Hugo, and The Descendants also in the mix.

Best Director

A three-way between Martin Scorsese for Hugo, Michael Hazanavicius for The Artist, and Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life. Strangely, The Descendants director Alexander Payne’s name has not come up.

Best Actor

It had to happen someday: Brad Pitt (Moneyball) vs. George Clooney (The Desendants) for the gold. Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Michael Shannon (Take Shelter), and especially Michael Fassbender (Shame) might also make an appearance.

Best Actress

Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) vs. Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn) vs. Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin) which, if you ask me, bodes well for Williams since she’s the only one of the three without a statue.

Best Supporting Actor

Never thought I’d say this, but it’s going to boil down to Albert Brooks (Drive) vs. Christopher Plummer (Beginners). Plummer’s edge, simply because of seniority (think Alan Arkin beating Eddie Murphy in ’07).

Best Supporting Actress

If they can figure out which Jessica Chastain performance to herald (so far she’s won collectively for The Tree of Life, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Coriolanus, and Texas Killing Fields) she’d be a frontrunner, alongside Melissa McCarthy for Bridesmaids. If Vanessa Redgrave gets traction for Coriolanus, though, all bets are off.

Original Screenplay

50/50 is in the lead. As it should be.

Adapted Screenplay

Moneyball vs. The Descendants. I’d give a slight edge to The Descendants as Sorkin just won last year.

Documentary

If it were eligible, Cave of Forgotten Dreams would be an early favorite. It’s not, so let’s just say Project Nim or maybe Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.

Best Animated Film

Rango is looking like the film to beat.

Best Foreign

If Iran’s A Separation can make the final five—and not get nominated for anything else—it’s got a good shot.

Best Cinematography

Nobody understands it, but everyone agrees that The Tree of Life is beautiful.

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Links as Language: The Complete Talk

November 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I’ve been meaning to get this talk I give about using hyperlinks to improve your writing on video for a while now.  Finally, in it’s entirety, here’s the Links as Language talk from BarCamp Philly 2011.  Thanks to Maurice Gaston for shooting it.

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Best Picture, Best Earner

November 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

rain_man

I found out recently that You Can’t Take It With You not only won the Academy Award for Best Picture (not to mention Frank Capra’s third Best Director statue in five years!) but was also the highest grossing picture of its year.  That got me wondering how often this has happened.  As it turns out, more than you’d expect.

The Oscars have a rep for celebrating films that don’t do well at the box office, feeding into the (semi-true) myth of the critic/audience divide, but as it turns out, that’s a fairly recent phenomenon.  Up until then, the history is pretty cyclical.  You’ll have a decade where nearly a third of the Best Picture winners are also highest-grossers.  Then you’ll have a decade where only one fits both bills.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  It’s only in the last three decades where only one in ten has become the standard.

Here are the 15 films that have won Best Picture and have been the highest-grossing films (U.S. domestic box office) of their respective years of release:

1929 – The Broadway Melody

1934 - It Happened One Night

1938 – You Can’t Take It With You

1939 – Gone With the Wind

1944 – Going My Way

1952 – The Greatest Show on Earth

1957 – The Bridge on the River Kwai

1959 – Ben Hur

1965 – The Sound of Music

1972 – The Godfather

1976 – Rocky

1979 – Kramer vs. Kramer

1988 – Rain Man

1997 – Titanic

2003 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

A couple of interesting trivia points here.  Frank Capra is the only director to pull this feat twice (the aforementioned You Can’t Take It With You in 1938 and It Happened One Night four years prior).  Spielberg never pulled it off, but in 1993 he did have both the highest grossing film of the year—Jurassic Park—and the Best Picture winner—Schindler’s List.  As far as I know, no other director has pulled that off.

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