MOVIE CITY NEWS EARLY OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Over at Movie City News, Dave Poland has started his 20 weeks to Oscar column(s).  Great insight into what the Academy considers throughout the season.  Check it out; http://moviecitynews.com/2011/10/20-weeks-to-oscar-20w2o-charts-october-23-2011/.  His predictions have been a good barometer in the past couple years.

DENVER FILM FEST FULL SCHEDULE

The full Starz Denver Film Festival schedule is up and all tickets are on sale.  In addition to the Ellie Caulkins Opera House presentations I will be seeing 'Melancholia', 'Shame', and 'A Dangerous Method'.  Look out for those reviews as well as 'The Rum Diary' and possibly 'In Time' and 'Anonymous' next week.  Here's the festival's homepage, http://www.denverfilm.org/festival/index.aspx?detect=yes.

50/50

One of the most underrated aspects of commercial film in the last decade has been the ability by studios, directors, and actors to create organic heartfelt comedies.  This feat, which started way back in the thirties (see ‘It Happened One Night’ and ‘Bringing Up Baby’), seemed to disappear in the sixties and seventies to an extent with the counter-culture film movement and the revelation of teen comedies.  We saw a return in the nineties with lighter rom coms (mostly starring Tom Hanks) but the revolution of the last ten years has been something new entirely.   Example, ‘50/50’.

This phenomenon, which I to refer to as the Apatowan Effect, blends a cruder side of humor with classic comedy situations.  The difference in the Apatowan Effect and your basic new era crude comedy (‘Dude, Where’s My Car’ unfortunately that was the first example that came to my head) is Judd’s ability to interject realistic heartfelt human emotions into his story lines.  In that breadth other directors have begun to use variations of his formula to continually create box office hits that can combine laughs and tears, exactly what director Jonathan Levine has done with ‘50/50’.  This is Levine’s first large studio effort and it is a great debut.  He does well to borrow from such films as ’Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ and ‘Knocked Up’ from a pacing standpoint yet adds his own comedic touch in the delivery (this is also conducive of first time screewriter Will Reiser).  ‘50/50’ downplays the overbearing gag moments that Apatow films rely on and focuses heavily on the awkwardness, irony, and ignorance of its characters.

For those of you who haven’t seen the trailer or haven’t heard of the film it’s a film about a mid twenty something that gets cancer and how it affects his personal relationships with his best friend, girlfriend, and parents.  Pretty cut and dry.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Adam (the canceree) and he is joined with great performances by Seth Rogen (best friend Kyle, Rogen is also a producer), Bryce Dallas Howard (girlfriend Rachel), Anna Kendrick (his therapist/romantic interest Katie), and Anjelica Huston (mom Diane).  Gordon-Levitt has a knack for choosing characters he can play with ultra-average-guy realism (‘500 Days of Summer’, ‘Hesher’, ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’, and although I liked him in ‘Inception’ he felt somewhat out of place), something he does maddeningly well.  Gordon-Levitt does well to not overplay Adam, humming a pitch perfect emotional melody.  Rogen is great as always in his sidekick role and hones his softer side we saw throughout the progression of ‘Knocked Up’.  Dallas Howard and Huston definitely have their moments but are overshadowed by the awkwardly sweet Kendrick.  Kendrick, in a role similar to her character in ‘Up In the Air’, plays Katie with quiet confidence, relying on the moments she isn’t talking to shine.

Following the same critical success as the similar ‘Bridesmaids’ from earlier this year, ‘50/50’ seamlessly shifts between jokes and drama to create a perfect environment to analyze the effects of a life threatening illness, the end result being somewhere safe enough for us to laugh and real enough to relate, great film.

Grade: A -

Oscar Chances:

Best Picture: Possible (either this or ‘Bridesmaids’ should make it, this is my pick)

Best Actor (Gordon-Levitt): Possible

Best Supporting Actor (Rogen): Long Shot

Best Supporting Actress (Kendrick): Possible

Best Original Screenplay (Reiser): Highly Likely

IDES OF MARCH

Buy into something you believe and carry it with honesty or sacrifice loyalty to come out on top?  George Clooney’s fourth directorial effort weaves classic moral dilemmas into a political drama.  What a perfect setting for a moral discussion, right?  ‘Ides of March’ pits presidential candidate Mike Morris (Clooney) against campaign manager Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling), well not at first.  Myers is a world class manager, leading more campaigns than most that have ten years experience on him.  Teamed up with senior manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Myers and the Morris team are poised to lead their golden boy candidate to win the democratic primary.  What unfolds is a series of betrayals and uncovered secrets nearly destroying the campaign and ultimately leads Myers to leave Morris with a challenging ultimatum.  The big secret involves an attractive intern (Evan Rachel Wood and Myers’ love interest), ok I’ve already said too much.  After all is said and done somehow, although Clooney and Gosling are the ultimate charm super team, you leave despising both their characters.

Ever since Trey Parker and Matt Stone so eloquently presented George Clooney’s “smugness” in an episode of South Park I have been searching for a reason to dislike him.  I can’t (other than the fact “he’s too good” as Jerry Seinfeld once stated).  Clooney directs will the precision of a surgeon.  Each scene is brilliant in its own right but also wonderfully builds on the preceding.  The result leaves a final act that oozes revelatory anticipation.  Best of all, the plot is very believable and relevant in Academy terms (there is an election next year for anyone who forgot).  In addition to his skill behind the camera Clooney does well not to let you forget how good he is in front of it as well.  For the majority of the film Clooney basically plays himself; smooth, charming, comedic when the time calls for it, and incredibly likeable.  This all changes during the last exchange between Morris and Myers.  Clooney doesn’t get much more than 20 minutes of screen time so this last scene is paramount in determining his character’s motives and morals.  Clooney plays it brilliantly; a subtle nervousness peaks its head from under the blanket of confidence, it’s hardly noticeable but just where it needs to be.  Due to lack of range and screen time it may be hard for Clooney to collect let alone get nominated for his second best supporting actor Oscar.  Oh yea, Clooney wrote the thing too.

Gosling does well to pull his weight as the lead in ‘Ides’.  It’s eerie how similar Gosling and Clooney’s characters are but that’s basically the case, only more screen time and ability to show more emotional range for Gosling.  Because this is the more commercial film I would give Gosling the best chance to get another best actor nom for ‘Ides’ rather than ‘Drive’.  The supporting players are critical in this film and don’t disappoint.  I definitely would applaud Rachel Wood for her touching performance as the slightly scandalous and most of all greatly confused and lonely intern Molly.  Seymour Hoffman shouldn’t be forgotten either as his more recent career has seen him transition into a key supporting/character actor.

I believe ‘Ides of March’ suffers with some of the critics due to its political subject matter but it’s the exact type of film to stir up discussion with The Academy voters (plus it did well on the festival circuit).  My only worry is it had too early of a release to be a big contender come January/February.  All Oscar thoughts aside, ‘Ides of March’ is a taught political drama directed and acted with precision and confidence, highly recommended.

Grade: A

OSCAR CHANCES:

Best Picture: Lock

Best Director and/or Best Original Screenplay (Clooney): Highly Likely

Best Actor (Gosling): Highly Likely

Best Supporting Actor (Clooney or Seymour Hoffman): Possible

Best Supporting Actress (Rachel Wood): Highly Likely

Best Original Score: Possible

Best Cinematography and Editing categories: Possible