THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S (1945)

I hate to be a Scrooge (on today of all days) ... but I am a movie critic!  Thanks to TCM (and my DVR) I sat down this Christmas morning to watch what I remembered to be a cherished Christmas movie from my childhood--'The Bell
s of St. Mary's' (1945) -- and when I stood-up, I wondered "what was I, as a ten-year-old, budding movie critic, thinking?!?"  For, despite Ingrid Bergman's radiant portrayal of Sister Mary Benedict, this movie is a stinker!

[SPOILERS throughout.]
First of all, only a parts of the movie take place at Christmastime. (It ends on Graduation day). Not only does the screenplay consist of a series of unconnected vignettes (mostly enjoyable, like the boxing lesson pictured), but the pace of each scene is dreadfully slow. Both faults lie at the foot of Leo McCarey, who threw this picture together to capitalize on the success of his previous year's collaboration with Bing Crosby (the superior, Oscar-winning "Going My Way").

As evidence of the slapdash nature of the story, we are expected to believe that the evil developer next door (who is threatening to condemn the Catholic school to build a parking lot!), has a conversion after ONE VISIT to his doctor who, prompted by Der Bingle's suggestion, tells him only one thing can help his heart condition. The next thing you know, the nuns are moving the schooldesks next door! And do not get me started on that same doctor's paternalistic, negligent attitude toward his OTHER patient -- Sr. Mary Benedict -- who "can't know she has a life-threatening disease," for her own good, of course. That results in a convenient, emotional conflict between the two stars, that doesn't get resolved until the last scene.

The fact that the developer is played by the angelic character actor Henry Travers (Clarence from "It's a Wonderful Life"), is a constant reminder of how a classic Christmas movie should unfold.

As I was searching for an image to add to this post, the first Google hit I found was this one: Richard Corliss of TIME Magazine had this one pegged long before me!

Not even Baz Luhrmann can ruin 'Gatsby'

The Great Gatsby (2013)

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Starring: Leonardo di Caprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire

So Aussie director Baz Luhrmann ("Moulin Rouge!" & "Australia," to name his best & worst efforts) thinks the great American novel of the 20th Century is missing something. So what does he add? Car chases and a hip-hop soundtrack. Oh, and he thinks filming it in 3-D is a good idea, too. All three additions are completely unnecessary, and the last two are an impediment to the storytelling. That said, this version of Gatsby is the most-faithful screen adaptation I have seen, because the one thing Baz does right is he makes liberal use of the text -- and no one can screw-up F. Scott's prose, right?

From the start, however, there is no doubt you are entering an artificial, CGI-fabricated wonderland that sprung from Tim Burton's imagination -- everything is too clear, too perfect, too MUCH. The mansions are bigger, the light sharper, the clothes crisper, and don't get me started on those curtains! Luhrmann stuffs the first hour of the film with so many tiresome 3-D tricks, it comes as a relief when the movie abandons them to concentrate on the story. The same can be said for the train-wreck of a soundtrack (the price paid for Jay-Z's producing credit, no doubt). It is not simply the anachronism of watching Twenties flappers dancing to Beyonce and sundry hip-hop 'grooves', it is that he doesn't pick a single style of music throughout. Instead, we get a mash-up of rap, pop ballads, Gershwin, melodramatic orchestrations, and (finally!) "flapper music." Notably, the climactic scene at the Plaza Hotel unfolds in blessed silence, proving that -- aside from the party scenes, which successfully convey the kinetic energy he was striving for throughout the film -- the remainder of the music was intrusive, not enhancing.  In other words, "Mr. Carter, keep your day job."

For the most part, the actors overcome these obstacles and deliver strong performances. Leonardo di Caprio was BORN to play Gatsby (I am unapologetic in my admiration for his performance: his best since "Django Unchained" ... which was his last!). Carey Mulligan is not so obvious a choice as Daisy -- I can see Michelle Williams or Kirsten Dunst filling that role nicely -- but she was able to make her fragile and sympathetic, even with her jarring American accent. Supporting actress Elizabeth Debicki is a real find. The only performance I had a problem with was Joel Edgerton's unlikeable Tom Buchanan -- all smarmy with his pencil-thin mustache. (and I loved him in Zero Dark Thirty!).

Too bad Luhrmann didn't see a rough cut of Joss Whedon's magical, filmed-on-the-fly "Much Ado About Nothing" before he started filming. He would have seen how it is possible to film a literary classic IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD! Without diminishing the artistry of the source material at all. It has all the sponteneity of a high school production, with wit and physical comedy to spare. It is as if you are watching an outdoor production of Shakespeare in the Park. Like such a production, the performances are uneven, but the film is carried by the charming leads and their notable support: Amy Acker as Beatrice; Alexis Denisof as Benedick; Clark Gregg as Leonato; and Nathan Fillion (Castle himself!) as Dogberry. If, like me, you have never heard of these people, you need to rent old episodes of "Firefly."

Back to the review at hand, all the extraneous matter in Gatsby acts as a distancing device for the audience. How can you care about characters who exist in a world you know in your heart never existed? The intrusive Art Direction is exemplified by the metaphoric 'green light' -- in my imagination it is barely seen through the fog of Long Island sound. In this movie, it is so close to the opposite shore you can reach out and touch it! So bright, as an ever-present, computer-generated beacon, it would keep Nick Carraway up at night! Subtlety is not in Mr. Luhrmann's vocabulary. His art department did get the other metaphor right: the omnipresent optometrist's billboard is rendered in all its creepy glory. I'll bet it looks even creepier in 3-D!

"To the Wonder" Dir: Terrence Malick

Remember when Terrence Malick used to wait seven-plus years between pictures? Not anymore. Nowadays he's churning them out like he's under contract at Paramount: Two films in the last two years, and he has three more in post! 

His making up for lost time is not necessarily to the viewer's benefit: he seems to be using each project to experiment with his cinematic technique, and the further he goes with each new film, the more he leaves this viewer--and coherent storytelling--behind. 

The interior monologues that so enriched the latter parts of both "The Thin Red Line" (1988) and "The New World" (2005) were effective as a respite from the story. As if Malick were saying, "let's stop the film and let these characters reflect on their situation." Coupled with his always lush cinematography (courtesy of longtime collaborator Emmanuel Lubezki) and constantly moving camera, these interludes were lulling and entrancing. Imagine an entire movie like those segments -- you don't have to if you saw "Tree of Life" -- and you may get frustrated. That's how I felt at times during Sean Penn's ramblings during that film, but I still consider it a near masterpiece (#9 on my Top Ten List!)

Let's just say "To the Wonder" does not have a levitating Jessica Chastain. Like "Tree of Life," it is autobiographical: the director met a woman in Paris, married her; they moved back to the States (Austin), where he rekindled a friendship with an old flame, and the couple eventually divorced. (I learned all of this after the fact). That is a surprise, since the movie is told almost exclusively through the eyes of the woman, Marina (the lovely Olga Kurylenko). The man in the relationship (Ben Affleck) is so lacking in substance, he might as well be a nonentity. 

I cannot blame Ben Affleck for his character not registering at all, because the camera is fixed constantly at the back of his neck, and I think I heard perhaps three lines of dialogue from him in the whole movie. (When Rachel McAdams shows up as the other woman, she is a veritable chatterbox by comparison). If this reminds you of Brad Pitt in "ToL," the father in that film was a a complex,at times terrifying mystery to his family and to us. Here, in a film that incessantly takes the perspective of the woman who loves him, you would think we would see more of him than the back of his head!

Poor Javier Bardem suffers a similar fate, as a priest. He wanders in and out of the movie like a refugee from another film. His presence is baffling, in that he seems to have no connection to the main couple, other than a common ZIP Code.

People in Malick films don't have conversations with anyone but themselves (none that we can hear, anyway). Instead, they constantly move around each other. Marina, in particular, is in constant motion: dancing around empty houses, open fields, Normandy beaches--she just can't stop! But what do we learn from all this movement? The ending reaches for a depth akin to ToL, but it feels unearned (looking up at the sky is supposed to be spiritual?). 

All that said, this work is miles ahead of the other movie of the moment that will supposedly "revolutionize cinema": I'm speaking of the film school pretensions of Shane Carruth's "Upstream Color."  For starters, the camerawork is exquisite. These guys can make Mont St. Michel and an EconoLodge in Bartlesville, Oklahoma equally beautiful. But this line of dialogue, from Marina after she returns to France, was too much:  "Paris is dreadful. I want to come back to the States." (and she is talking about OKLAHOMA!) 

Fearless OSCAR Predictions, Part II

CATEGORY
Want-THINK (If I only list one name, it means I Want AND THINK they will win)

BEST PICTURE
Zero Dark Thirty - ARGO

BEST ACTOR
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, LINCOLN

BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain/Naomi Watts (tie) - JENNIFER LAWRENCE, Silver Linings Playbook

at the OSCAR Nominees Luncheon

I hope they BOTH WIN!

BEST DIRECTOR
STEVEN SPIELBERG, LINCOLN

BEST SUPP. ACTOR
ROBERT DE NIRO, SLP

BEST SUPP. ACTRESS
ANNE HATHAWAY, LES MIZ

BEST FOREIGN-FILM
AMOUR Want AND Think! (Although "A Royal Affair" (Denmark) was quite entertaining)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Q. Tarantino, Django - M. HANEKE, AMOUR 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Tony Kushner, Lincoln - DAVID O. RUSSELL, SLP

CINEMATOGRAPHY 
Django Unchained - LIFE OF PI

COSTUME DESIGN
Lincoln - LES MISERABLES

FILM EDITING
Zero Dark Thirty - ARGO

PRODUCTION DESIGN
LES MISERABLES

ORIGINAL SCORE
Skyfall - LINCOLN

ORIGINAL SONG
"Suddenly" Les Miz  - "SKYFALL" SKYFALL

SOUND EDITING
Django Unchained - LIFE OF PI

SOUND MIXING
Skyfall - ARGO

VISUAL EFFECTS
Snow White - LIFE OF PI

Fearless OSCAR Predictions, Part I

I skipped the Best Documentary Shorts program this year (3-1/2 hours of depressing docs? No thanks) in favor of the Animated and Live Action Shorts Programs. NOTE TO ACADEMY: You have got to stop ripping-off the public by padding the 58 minutes of animated films nominated each year with the sub-par filler that fills your 90 minute program so you can charge a separate admission.

Now I feel qualified to pick winners in those two categories, as well as these other awards (that most people miss because they are TALKING during the show! -- pet peeve #1). Feel free to use these in your OSCAR pools!

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
This is no contest in my mind (even though I have only seen two of the five nominees). I am sure The Gatekeepers, The Invisible War, and How to Survive a Plague are worthy efforts, but there is only one clear choice:
WANT & THINK: Searching for Sugarman

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Usually the high gloss of a major studio like Disney is a turn-off to Academy votes -- and me -- but the Best Animated Short this year is Disney's own "Paperman." While I WANT that to win, I think the voters will choose an underdog (Like last year's excellent "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore").
WANT: Paperman
THINK: Adam and Dog (2nd choice: Fresh Guacamole).

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Did not see any of them, but unlike the DOC SHORTS category, I'm going to make a prediction!
WANT: Frankenweenie
THINK: Brave

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
I sincerely hope the voters do not send a message by choosing the Made-in-Afghanistan BUZKASHI BOYS, a sincere but inept and dramatically-inert effort to bring the struggles of Afghani children to a wider audience. The same intention guides the South African film about Somali refugees in ASAD, but the execution (using a similarly non-professional cast)  and light touch make this a clear winner in my book (and it features a cat!). The U.S. indie "Curfew" by Shawn Christensen, is the other worthy film in this category, but it is definitely a long-shot.
WANT & THINK: ASAD

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
I missed the memo that added "Hairstyling" to the roster of Oscar recipients -- if I were a Stuntman, I would REALLY be pissed now! By default, I WANT : HITCHCOCK.
But I THINK the voters will choose the most-UNdeserving nominee of this season (outside of Quvenzhane Wallis (more on that next post) : LES MISERABLES.

TOP TEN FOREIGN FILMS of 2012

I had no trouble picking a Top Ten among the foreign-language films I saw this year. Not only are these ten movies ones that will stay with you long after you leave the theater, most are by celebrated international directors who are at the top of their game, and a couple will prove to be lasting classics. The first five films in particular encapsulate everything I love about Foreign Films: they challenge, surprise, and engross you.

I pride myself on the scope of my selections, too -- my list goes from one end of Europe (Norway) to the other (Italy)! I can't remember the last time an Italian film made the cut. The country's absence has been missed.

I admit that I am drawn to more films from these countries than say Asia, but that is because I have been burned too many times by over-rated Asian films: examples that come to mind like Yi, Yi ... (Taiwan), Uncle Boonmee ... (Thailand) and anything created by the ponderous Chinese-Malaysian director Ming-liang Tsai, have made me gun shy. (I will go see anything by directors Zhang Yimou and Wong Kar-Wai, on the other hand).

Links are to my reviews - (Director) Country:

1. ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA - (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) TURKEY
I haven't written about this 157-minute cinematic masterpiece in full, but it is enthralling! Great characters, great faces ... haunting.

2. CAESAR MUST DIE - (the Taviani Brothers) ITALY
Another unexpected gem: Shakespeare performed by prisoners in a maximum security Roman prison...brilliant! (just now released in the US).

3. THE KID WITH A BIKE -  (the Dardenne Brothers) BELGIUM A simple story that will tear you up inside.

4. THE TURIN HORSE -  (Bela Tarr) HUNGARY

5. FAREWELL, MY QUEEN - (Benoit Jacquot) FRANCE

6. Rust and Bone - (Jacques Audiard)  France

7. Amour - (Michael Haneke) Austria

It is shocking that this unrelentingly bleak film received a Best Picture Oscar nomination. 

8. Elena - (Andrei Zvyagintsev) Russia

9. The Intouchables - (Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano) France

10. Oslo, August 31st - (Joachim Trier) Norway

The one French film I deliberately excluded was Leos Carax's HOLY MOTORS. Too impenetrable to be enjoyed.  I felt like I was missing too many of the cinematic references (and when that happens to the foreignfilmguy, you know they are obscure!).

TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2012

Unlike many of my colleagues, I found 2012 a thin year for quality American movies (this was decidedly not the case with foreign films, which I will list separately). But the December glut of releases more than made up for a lackluster year overall, accounting for six of my top ten. Here are my favorite movies of the year, in order, and the six directors I would have nominated for an Oscar (with apologies to Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master," which I inexcusably missed):

1. ZERO DARK THIRTY* - Kathryn Bigelow

2. LINCOLN - Steven Spielberg

3. ARGO - Ben Affleck

4. DJANGO UNCHAINED - Quentin Tarantino

5. MOONRISE KINGDOM - Wes Anderson

6. SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK - David O. Russell

7. LES MISERABLES

8. BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

9. BERNIE - yes, a comedy!

10. THE IMPOSSIBLE 

Honorable Mention:

The Deep Blue Sea - Rachel Weisz deserves that fifth Oscar slot for Best Actress

The Dark Knight Rises

Skyfall

Searching for Sugarman - documentaries do not usually make the cut, but this one is an exception

Saw & enjoyed:

Flight

Hitchcock (overlooking the many liberties it took with the truth)

Lawless*

Looper

* continuing a tradition from last year, these movies starred the lovely Jessica Chastain

2012 List #1: "Don't bother"

I have decided to break-up my 2012 year-end list into 3 separate posts. Here is my first list:

An alphabetical list of films I wish I hadn't seen in 2012.

ANNA KARENINA -- I felt like I was watching one very long perfume commercial.
DAMSELS IN DISTRESS -- the worst movie I endured in 2012.
THE HUNGER GAMES -- not a  fan.
HYDE PARK ON HUDSON -- a surprisingly limp effort, given the talented cast (I blame the director and screenwriter)
HYSTERIA--don't you hate it when a film imposes modern sensibilities on characters from the past? (Felicity Jones was great, though)
KILLING THEM SOFTLY . . . killing us softly with a surfeit of arch dialogue.
SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN -- what a waste of resources (everybody knows you can't introduce salmon into the Yemen!)
TWO DAYS IN NEW YORK -- Julie Delpy doesn't realize when she's being tiresome.

Oscar nominations recap

For an organization known for its predictability, the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards provided a few surprises today.

Surprise #1: 
The biggest surprise is cause for the biggest righteous outrage: BEST DIRECTOR. The directors of two of the most-heralded movies of the year -- Ben Affleck ("Argo") and Kathryn Bigelow ("Zero Dark Thirty") -- were snubbed! No one saw that coming. This sets up the real possibility that the winner of the Director's Guild Award will NOT also win the Oscar (that rarely happens). Rather than blame the two surprise nominees in this category (Michael Haneke, "Amour" and Behn Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild") I choose to single out the director who has gotten a free ride this award season: Ang Lee ("Life of Pi"). Only nominated for 'technical' awards, "Pi" has no chance in the Best Picture race. I think the Academy is trying to make amends for snubbing him for his last great film, "Brokeback Mountain," rather than for his work this year.

Surprise #2: 
"Beasts of the Southern Wild." This indie hit was so under-the-radar it got shut-out of BOTH the Golden Globes and the SAGs. But Oscar showed its love with 4 nominations! As much as I enjoyed the film and the lead performance by pint-sized newcomer Quvenzhane Wallis, I can't help but think somewhere Marion Cotillard ("Rust & Bone") and Rachel Weisz ("The Deep Blue Sea") are thinking "What's a girl gotta do to get a nomination?!?" At least Rachel has hubby Daniel Craig to console her.

Surprise #3: 
You can always count of the committee for Best Feature Documentary to overlook a worthy nominee in favor of 'making a statement.' But this year all the nominees appear worthy: the snubs came to the year's over-hyped and undeserving ("Bully"; Detropia"; "Ethel"; and "The Imposter.")

Surprise #4: 
A BEST MAKE-UP nomination for "Les Miserables"? Are they kidding? The make-up in that movie looked like it was applied with a trowel!

NO SURPRISE: 
Once again, this honor falls to John Williams, who received his 48th Oscar nomination -- an obscene amount for any one person -- this time for his ORIGINAL (I use that term loosely) SCORE for "Lincoln." Halfway through that movie I entertained the idea of giving the old man a pass this time. Then the trademark Williams bombast kicked-in, drowning the later scenes with a manipulative crescendo of self-important, "monumental-sounding" music (when none was needed). Did you notice that Daniel Day-Lewis's most effective scenes as Lincoln had no musical accompaniment? His words alone provided the music and the weight.

I would have given his slot to either Alexander Desplat's work in "Moonrise Kingdom" or to Danny Elfman's playful, spot-on score for "Hitchcock."

And don't even get me started on the snubs in the BEST FOREIGN FILM category!!