This is a really interesting group of Best Picture nominees. It runs the gamut of movie selections with a crime drama, war movie, somewhat of a biopic, an indie comedy, and an international modern morality type flick. All varied and all ones that I've already seen before so I basically know how this will play out for me. I must say that years like this or even categories like this where I've seen all the films is kind of annoying. Yes, watching some of them again is a lot of fun, as long as I haven't seen it like 5 times already. And changing my opinion on something after a re-watch is always a possibility but not very typical. It can be a chore to slog through movies I've already seen because it's always easier to watch something new and has helped contribute to the long delays between posts. Luckily as I keep going back in time I'll run into far fewer films that I've already seen.
2006 Best Picture
The Departed
Flip phones wooooo!! The first time I watched The Departed I loathed Jack Nicholson's character. Just absolutely hated him. I thought he was way too over the top and was hamming it up beyond what was needed but on subsequent re-watches, I feel his character fits the tone well. I can't explain why I thought he was awful but I think Nicholson gave a great performance. And it very well might go down as his last great one which I hope is very false. We need at least 3-4 more great ones from Jack! Okay, all that aside, I really enjoyed this film from Scorsese. It's just a lot of fun to watch and you can tell that the director and everyone acting in it had a lot of fun. There are some terrific acting performances and I'm surprised it only received Wahlberg's Supporting Actor nom. I think DiCaprio's Best Actor for Blood Diamond is partially due to his role here. There are also a lot of really inventive camera shots and angles that I normally don't notice but here were fun to see utilized in a way that didn't detract from the overall product. The music selections were a little cliche at times but overall I really liked how the music was incorporated into the film. All the little details it seems were really taken into account to give us the best possible experience and it's nice to see that much love on screen because it easily translates into more enjoyment for the average viewer. The jump cuts and editing can be a little too jarring at times. But I feel that the movie on it's own is just really fantastic. I enjoyed the twists and turns throughout the film and trying to figure out what was going to happen next was almost an added bonus. Though this may have been a remake of an Asian film, which many people on the Internet seem to hold against it, it is absolutely worthy to be called Best Picture.
Babel
Is it bad that I didn't really feel strongly one way or the other about this film? I think it might be because this kind of movie, one in which a bunch of different story lines that seem to have nothing to do with each other eventually all intertwine at the end, are supposed to say something profound about life and/or the world. The idea that the world is interconnected is nothing new and Babel doesn't really seem to say anything interesting about that fact. Not to mention it comes a year after Crash won Best Picture for a very similar type of film, though with a different meaning. The way the story is interwoven is done admirably. It never lingers too long on any one part and is relatively simple to follow. The Moroccan story is the most compelling and the actors, who are mostly locals, do a fantastic job of making the film feel real. It showcases how a very benign act can turn into something larger than life and is essentially the essence of the film. The weakest story is the US/Mexico one where the housemaid visits her son's wedding in Mexico with the two kids she takes care of and has trouble coming back across the border. It brings absolutely nothing new to the border discussion and hurts the overall message of the film for me. The maid is careless and we never really feel for her. I enjoyed the Japanese story and would have actually liked a full movie of this theme. It, too, was compelling even if it only felt tangentially connected to the overall story. In the end, Babel felt like an Oscar film only in ideas and not in execution.
Letters from Iwo Jima
Letters from Iwo Jima tells the story of that battle from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers. It's at times moving, but it has it's flaws as well. I don't like how dark the film looks, whoever thought using that kind of color filter was necessary should have known better, it's the major flaw of the film for me. The letters as a framing device is a wonderful humanizing touch and really holds the film together. The Japanese soldiers aren't just the typical murderous villains you've seen in the past, though the movie might make the Japanese out to be a little more noble and less vicious than they actually were. The film can be gritty and undeniably real in some places which keeps the film from feeling like a glossy, Disneyfied version of the battle of Iwo Jima. However, there are some hokey moments like everyone slowly standing while the dead American's letter is read aloud that does lean a bit toward the less believable Hollywood idea of war. The fade in transitions for flashbacks adds a nice throwback, old-timey touch that works well for me. The subtitles never detract from the picture as you easily get caught up in the action which helps the film feel like a lot less than 2 and a half hours. The film does drag a bit near the middle when there are a bunch of flashbacks and seemingly endless goodbye speeches. I understand this is to give background information for some of the characters but they still feel disposable even with these short scenes so they don't particularly add much depth to the Japanese soldiers. It's an idea that doesn't seem fully developed therefore it loses most of it's desired impact. Overall, Letters does have the air of being more important than it really is but it is quite enjoyable for a subject rarely seen in American cinema; especially for a film with subtitles.
Little Miss Sunshine
This is a fun little film. It's about a young girl who needs to get to a beauty pageant and her family's journey to get her there. The tone is almost hyperactive which mimics just how frenetic the Hoover family can be. They are a dysfunctional family that, yes, has some very one-dimensional characters. But those characters are really well done and the actors give their all in bringing them to hilarious life. To me, the story isn't so much about accurate portrayals of family members so much as it's about a family coming together to support one of it's own, even in the midst of their own craziness. It's heartwarming at times, absurd yet satirical without being too overbearing at others - a great mix. The issues I have are that it tiptoes the line of being a contrived mess. The obstacles that the family has to deal with and overcome on their way to California for the pageant are wholly unbelievable and patently ridiculous. It becomes a bit draining for the audience to keep suspending their disbelief but I feel the sharp wit and the superb comedic acting allow for forgiveness. The performances are what make this movie, though. As cliche as they can be, they certainly combine to form one formidable set of characters. They are a lot of fun to watch onscreen and it allows the film some leeway in the plot. Maybe I'd be way more harsh if it had actually won Best Picture, which was thought to be a possibility late in the race, but I'm satisfied with this indie darling that managed to get it's message across with a wonderful mix of comedy and drama.
The Queen
The Queen is ultimately about how the Royal family reacts and deals with a tragic event - Princess Diana's death. In a sense, it's a lot deeper than just another boring biopic with an actress doing an impression of a famous person. It gets across the feeling of a nation in the late 90s and captures the political upheaval and personal conflict of the monarchy. The behind the curtain scenes with the Queen shows how reluctant Elizabeth was to publicly mourn and honor the death of a woman who was no longer considered a Royal family member. Queen Elizabeth is almost incredulous and put off that the country demands her to have a Royal funeral and act as if one of her own has died. This leads to some great scenes between Martin Sheen's Tony Blair and Helen Mirren's Queen Elizabeth which is the highlight of the film. Mirren's contempt for Sheen is palpable in these scenes which she sees as a formality but he sees as a chance to establish his own power and help a nation grieve. It's like watching class warfare between the commoners and the stuffy British monarchy and it is utterly compelling. Even if you don't really care for the goings on of the Royal family, The Queen keeps the viewer engaged with the tension between the two opposing forces. Will Queen Elizabeth acquiesce or will she remain stubborn and indifferent to her people? There lies the essence of this film. It's not so much a cutesy biopic because we aren't really persuaded to feel any differently about the Queen than we did when we first met her. In fact, we wonder if Elizabeth was right in wanting to adhere to history and protocol by not doing anything. It's what makes The Queen such a captivating film.
I wondered who could actually win Best Picture for 2006 this year and found no one but The Departed. Babel was too much like the previous winner Crash, Little Miss Sunshine was an indie darling but definitely not the best of the year, The Queen was a stuffy, British movie that seemed obligated to me to be nominated by some obscure Treaty with Britain and Letters from Iwo Jima was a foreign film and slightly boring at the same time. So the obvious winner was Scorsese's first Best Director winner. Now, everything I just wrote was my initial response to looking over the list of nominees. Most of it is accurate still, though The Queen is more about class conflict and less about stuffy British whatevers. Letters wasn't as boring as I remember though certainly not all that exciting - it's a definite slow burner. Reading that over does give a slight twinge of embarrassment but it underscores how our remembrance of movies can be a little skewed. So I'm thankful that I got to watch them all again and clear up my memories of them. The Departed is the clear winner, while Letters and Babel are not as strong for me. I'll give The Queen the slight edge over Sunshine because it is a little more profound though no less enjoyable.
Oscar Winner: The Departed
My Winner: The Departed
The Queen
Little Miss Sunshine
Letters from Iwo Jima
Babel
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Leading Actor 2006
Favorite category time! And with 3 performances that I've actually never seen before which is always nice. A fresh take is great to have. Which also begs the question: Is a first impression definitive? I'll say usually yes. But sometimes it's easy to change your opinion. I know that there's been a few films and performances that just didn't click until the second or third time I saw them. But I also like to think I'm not being overly critical or hateful with this blog and have been very open with my mind. It's something interesting to think about because critics always write about a film after seeing it once, so how many would change their reviews after a year or ten? It will be interesting to revisit all of my reviews after some time and see how they all hold up. On to the performances, though!
2006 Best Actor
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
(I'll preface this by saying that I actually already wrote this review and it was the last one I had to write before publishing. Blogger screwed up somehow and I thought it was published but it didn't save anything I wrote which absolutely infuriates me. Second time this has happened! Grrrr. Anyway, I'll try to sum up what I wrote already.) It's really easy to see why Whitaker won Best Actor over the other nominees in this group. The performance is flashy unlike the rest of the nominees which absolutely sets him apart. Your eyes are glued to the screen whenever Whitaker is around and you end up wanting to return to him whenever the film focuses on the white doctor. Whitaker always seems to be holding back his acting abilities in other things I've seen from him and here he just absolutely let's go and turns everything up to 11. Ugandan President General Idi Amin is larger than life and quite the showman in reality and Whitaker is able to not only capture that essence but fully inhabit the character without devolving into caricature. He's loud, bombastic and full of bravado but is able to eschew the overacting in favor of a more balanced and nuanced portrayal. The way Amin can be angry and blaming everyone but himself for his failures one moment only to morph that anger into raucous laughing and figuring out a way to turn the situation into someone else owing Amin a favor is a difficult display of emotions to pull off. Amin is a multi-layered person but instead of everything being revealed layer by layer, it's all presented as one mix of layers throughout the entire film. Whitaker does a marvelous job of navigating that rough acting terrain that lesser actors would have stumbled around in. Whitaker seems to enjoy this challenge and it shows in his deservedly rewarded performance.
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Blood Diamond had the potential to be a very powerful movie with a message worth paying attention to. Instead, we got a self important, preachy mess with too many stock characters. One of the highlights, however, was DiCaprio's Zimbabwean diamond smuggler who helps a man get his family back so that he can get a huge diamond the man found. From the beginning, it's easy to guess how the story is going to play out. We know DiCaprio is going to convince Hounsou to take him to where he hid the diamond even though it takes a while to get to that point. Where DiCaprio excels is in how his character evolves throughout the story. It would be easy to have his character be a one-dimensional selfish smuggler that has an abrupt change of heart three-fourths of the way through to complete the most obvious character arc of all time. But DiCaprio takes the slow and subtle approach that works wonderfully well. His character stays obsessed with the big diamond but he comes to understand that helping Hounsou find his son and family is equally as important. That gradual realization is what sets DiCaprio apart from other actors. He's a soldier of fortune but even with all his personal problems, he shows he still has a heart beating somewhere in his chest. And it's not the sappy type of realization, either. It's not some Oscar bait-y moment where the score swells and DiCaprio has some lengthy monologue with tears in his eyes. It grows organically within the context of the film and feels like a real, natural moment. DiCaprio is for sure the best thing about Blood Diamond as he flexes his acting muscles as the brooding smuggler, showing that he's much more than a pretty face.
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
This is the Gosling we have come to expect in every film he's in. An actor in control of his craft. Dan is a drug addict that is able to function as a history teacher in inner city Brooklyn. Though he does come to school hungover, disheveled, and depressed. He lives off one night stands with bar floozies and flings with a teacher he works with. All of that summing up an addict that can't handle anything more than the drugs in their life. Gosling is actually a decent history teacher, shunning the required history "binder" and teaching real life history lessons to the kids so they understand dialectics and how/why history changes. Gosling inhabits the character as usual and gives a very natural performance. With drug addicts you typically get the extremes of the disease portrayed onscreen, but Gosling and the writers/directors forgo that easy avenue and let us into the life of a functioning addict. It's incredibly interesting and engaging to watch play out because Gosling is charming and doesn't need the coke/crack/alcohol to pick up women at the bar late on a school night. Luckily Gosling doesn't treat his character as a stale addict and we are entreated to a different portrayal of what an addict is and it makes us question what we know. That makes us question what we know and allows us to engage more as a viewer. It may not be the most flashy performance of the year but it definitely feels like the most real one of the year.
Peter O'Toole - Venus
I instantly liked O'Toole in this. Yes, instantly. He's delightful. He's funny and witty. He's charming. This is only the second movie of his that I've seen (the first being Lawrence of Arabia) and I'm very pumped to continue reviewing his performances if this is any indication of the quality. I know he's a hugely respected actor and basically is acting royalty and this clearly shows why. O'Toole shows that he is a force to be reckoned with. Just the way he acts is amazing. It's instantly powerful and engaging at the same time. We know O'Toole is one of the best actors of all time, but here he demonstrates just how easy he makes that distinction look. He is a hilarious actor. He does all of the British humor in a very subtle way, yet I was laughing hysterically throughout this movie and a lot of that was because of Mr. O'Toole. I can understand why the Academy liked his performance. If I had not watched it, I would have guessed it was the Academy rewarding an actor considered one of the best ever and wanting to see him nominated again and possibly win. But this nomination is absolutely warranted. It's fantastic and shows the depth of Mr. O'Toole's acting because it is so varied. He longs for the young woman but never makes it truly creepy or weird and we as the audience commiserate because we've all been in a situation where someone hasn't returned our favors. It's a universal performance that probably only Peter O'Toole could pull off.
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
Will Smith gives a very workman-like performance here. And I know that comes off as a put down but it's meant in a very nice way. That is to say it's a solid performance. A typical Will Smith performance. There's certainly nothing flashy and Smith tries to come off as an everyman and relatable character and I'd say that he does. However, does it really stand out? Especially among these nominees? It's competent and worth watching. I'd even argue worth nominating, just not worth winning. It's a great thing that Will Smith has achieved a level of acting that is this stable, on par with say Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington or even his fellow nominee Leonardo DiCaprio. That means must see characters and performances that are usually loved and you know that if he's in a film it will be a must see. Any sub par performance is just a blip. So Smith's father that experiences tough situation after tough situation only to persevere in the end (even if those tough situations dragged on for a bit) is a strong, well deserved nomination. My only negative, which is minor really, is that it doesn't set itself apart from the rest of the field. It's good, not great. It is absolutely Oscar bait-y but never devolves into the pedantic, weepy, cliche role we come to expect from those type of films. I imagine we'll see Will Smith nominated again some day.
Another great group of actors. And yes, this now seems like an echo of the previous reviews but it always seems to ring true. An interesting year since it was the first time in awhile that all of the nominees in this category were totally different from the Best Picture nominees. And it was 44 years between first and last Best Actor nominees for Peter O'Toole, a record. As I said before, it's obvious why Whitaker won this year. All the rest of the nominees turn in serious/quiet/subtle performances while Whitaker gets to flex his acting chops by bringing a fun, loud character to life. In saying that, I do like Peter O'Toole just a bit more. It's one that I'd like to watch again. Whitaker then Gosling next but I feel that could change with some distance from this category. I really enjoyed both of those roles. Then DiCaprio and Smith are next since I felt those were weaker especially compared to the others.
Oscar Winner: Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
My Winner: Peter O'Toole - Venus
Forest Whitaker
Ryan Gosling
Leonardo DiCaprio
Will Smith
2006 Best Actor
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
(I'll preface this by saying that I actually already wrote this review and it was the last one I had to write before publishing. Blogger screwed up somehow and I thought it was published but it didn't save anything I wrote which absolutely infuriates me. Second time this has happened! Grrrr. Anyway, I'll try to sum up what I wrote already.) It's really easy to see why Whitaker won Best Actor over the other nominees in this group. The performance is flashy unlike the rest of the nominees which absolutely sets him apart. Your eyes are glued to the screen whenever Whitaker is around and you end up wanting to return to him whenever the film focuses on the white doctor. Whitaker always seems to be holding back his acting abilities in other things I've seen from him and here he just absolutely let's go and turns everything up to 11. Ugandan President General Idi Amin is larger than life and quite the showman in reality and Whitaker is able to not only capture that essence but fully inhabit the character without devolving into caricature. He's loud, bombastic and full of bravado but is able to eschew the overacting in favor of a more balanced and nuanced portrayal. The way Amin can be angry and blaming everyone but himself for his failures one moment only to morph that anger into raucous laughing and figuring out a way to turn the situation into someone else owing Amin a favor is a difficult display of emotions to pull off. Amin is a multi-layered person but instead of everything being revealed layer by layer, it's all presented as one mix of layers throughout the entire film. Whitaker does a marvelous job of navigating that rough acting terrain that lesser actors would have stumbled around in. Whitaker seems to enjoy this challenge and it shows in his deservedly rewarded performance.
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Blood Diamond had the potential to be a very powerful movie with a message worth paying attention to. Instead, we got a self important, preachy mess with too many stock characters. One of the highlights, however, was DiCaprio's Zimbabwean diamond smuggler who helps a man get his family back so that he can get a huge diamond the man found. From the beginning, it's easy to guess how the story is going to play out. We know DiCaprio is going to convince Hounsou to take him to where he hid the diamond even though it takes a while to get to that point. Where DiCaprio excels is in how his character evolves throughout the story. It would be easy to have his character be a one-dimensional selfish smuggler that has an abrupt change of heart three-fourths of the way through to complete the most obvious character arc of all time. But DiCaprio takes the slow and subtle approach that works wonderfully well. His character stays obsessed with the big diamond but he comes to understand that helping Hounsou find his son and family is equally as important. That gradual realization is what sets DiCaprio apart from other actors. He's a soldier of fortune but even with all his personal problems, he shows he still has a heart beating somewhere in his chest. And it's not the sappy type of realization, either. It's not some Oscar bait-y moment where the score swells and DiCaprio has some lengthy monologue with tears in his eyes. It grows organically within the context of the film and feels like a real, natural moment. DiCaprio is for sure the best thing about Blood Diamond as he flexes his acting muscles as the brooding smuggler, showing that he's much more than a pretty face.
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
This is the Gosling we have come to expect in every film he's in. An actor in control of his craft. Dan is a drug addict that is able to function as a history teacher in inner city Brooklyn. Though he does come to school hungover, disheveled, and depressed. He lives off one night stands with bar floozies and flings with a teacher he works with. All of that summing up an addict that can't handle anything more than the drugs in their life. Gosling is actually a decent history teacher, shunning the required history "binder" and teaching real life history lessons to the kids so they understand dialectics and how/why history changes. Gosling inhabits the character as usual and gives a very natural performance. With drug addicts you typically get the extremes of the disease portrayed onscreen, but Gosling and the writers/directors forgo that easy avenue and let us into the life of a functioning addict. It's incredibly interesting and engaging to watch play out because Gosling is charming and doesn't need the coke/crack/alcohol to pick up women at the bar late on a school night. Luckily Gosling doesn't treat his character as a stale addict and we are entreated to a different portrayal of what an addict is and it makes us question what we know. That makes us question what we know and allows us to engage more as a viewer. It may not be the most flashy performance of the year but it definitely feels like the most real one of the year.
Peter O'Toole - Venus
I instantly liked O'Toole in this. Yes, instantly. He's delightful. He's funny and witty. He's charming. This is only the second movie of his that I've seen (the first being Lawrence of Arabia) and I'm very pumped to continue reviewing his performances if this is any indication of the quality. I know he's a hugely respected actor and basically is acting royalty and this clearly shows why. O'Toole shows that he is a force to be reckoned with. Just the way he acts is amazing. It's instantly powerful and engaging at the same time. We know O'Toole is one of the best actors of all time, but here he demonstrates just how easy he makes that distinction look. He is a hilarious actor. He does all of the British humor in a very subtle way, yet I was laughing hysterically throughout this movie and a lot of that was because of Mr. O'Toole. I can understand why the Academy liked his performance. If I had not watched it, I would have guessed it was the Academy rewarding an actor considered one of the best ever and wanting to see him nominated again and possibly win. But this nomination is absolutely warranted. It's fantastic and shows the depth of Mr. O'Toole's acting because it is so varied. He longs for the young woman but never makes it truly creepy or weird and we as the audience commiserate because we've all been in a situation where someone hasn't returned our favors. It's a universal performance that probably only Peter O'Toole could pull off.
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
Will Smith gives a very workman-like performance here. And I know that comes off as a put down but it's meant in a very nice way. That is to say it's a solid performance. A typical Will Smith performance. There's certainly nothing flashy and Smith tries to come off as an everyman and relatable character and I'd say that he does. However, does it really stand out? Especially among these nominees? It's competent and worth watching. I'd even argue worth nominating, just not worth winning. It's a great thing that Will Smith has achieved a level of acting that is this stable, on par with say Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington or even his fellow nominee Leonardo DiCaprio. That means must see characters and performances that are usually loved and you know that if he's in a film it will be a must see. Any sub par performance is just a blip. So Smith's father that experiences tough situation after tough situation only to persevere in the end (even if those tough situations dragged on for a bit) is a strong, well deserved nomination. My only negative, which is minor really, is that it doesn't set itself apart from the rest of the field. It's good, not great. It is absolutely Oscar bait-y but never devolves into the pedantic, weepy, cliche role we come to expect from those type of films. I imagine we'll see Will Smith nominated again some day.
Another great group of actors. And yes, this now seems like an echo of the previous reviews but it always seems to ring true. An interesting year since it was the first time in awhile that all of the nominees in this category were totally different from the Best Picture nominees. And it was 44 years between first and last Best Actor nominees for Peter O'Toole, a record. As I said before, it's obvious why Whitaker won this year. All the rest of the nominees turn in serious/quiet/subtle performances while Whitaker gets to flex his acting chops by bringing a fun, loud character to life. In saying that, I do like Peter O'Toole just a bit more. It's one that I'd like to watch again. Whitaker then Gosling next but I feel that could change with some distance from this category. I really enjoyed both of those roles. Then DiCaprio and Smith are next since I felt those were weaker especially compared to the others.
Oscar Winner: Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
My Winner: Peter O'Toole - Venus
Forest Whitaker
Ryan Gosling
Leonardo DiCaprio
Will Smith
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