WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Watching the Watchmen

It’s not like I wanted it to fail. It’s not like I knew it wouldn’t succeed. There is a part of me though that is tickled to see that WATCHMEN hasn’t shattered any records upon its highly anticipated release. I am even more amused to see the film’s devout followers defend its sizable but hardly sizzling debut. After all, WATCHMEN is the third highest opening weekend for an R-rated film outside of the summer season. That matters, right?


Realistically speaking, WATCHMEN did do well. It just didn’t do what was expected. Opening in the same frame two years ago, Zack Snyder’s breakthrough film, 300, opened to about $15 million more than WATCHMEN did. Advance buzz seemed just as deafening as it did for 300 and midnight screenings for WATCHMEN doubled the gross of 300’s midnight screenings. Everything seemed on track as reports suggested that most WATCHMEN screenings were sold out all weekend. Yet, it never got to the heights it so clearly felt destined to reach, despite WATCHMEN boasting the widest R-rated release in history. Maybe it was the nearly three-hour run time that set it back. It certainly is a viable theory. The other is that it just didn’t matter that much to anyone outside of the comic-book crowd or, at the very least, as much as Warner banked on.


The rest of the Top 10 held very tightly … well, with the exception of THE JONAS BROTHERS: THE 3D CONCERT EXPERIENCE. After a disappointing debut last week, it plummeted nearly 80%. Maybe there is still time for the brothers to sneak a cameo into the upcoming Hannah Montana movie to redeem themselves. Meanwhile, sleeper hits like TAKEN and PAUL BLART: MALL COP inched up the charts well into their runs. Even CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC managed an upward move and it has already been declared a flop. The 2009 box office continues its record breaking run and this cynical world is watching and wondering when its all going to come to a hault.


No major studio risked opening any wide release opposite WATCHMEN. Platform releases stepped in to take advantage with counterprogramming. The most notable is the three piece homage to Tokyo, aptly named TOKYO! The film opened on just one screen and pulled in a per screen average of over $21K. The Swedish import, EVERLASTING MOMENTS, opened to mild but solid $10K average on five screens. And finally, indie drama, PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND, starring Elle Fanning and Felicity Huffman, opened on a handful of screens but did not report its estimates at press time.

NEXT WEEK: WATCHMEN will race for the top with RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, starring The Rock, who coincidentally hosted SNL this past weekend. Crazy timing. A young stud tries to get some in MISS MARCH after he fell into a coma before he could lose his virginity. Riveting. And THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT will try to creep out audiences who have been inundated with horror flicks all year now. The little ray of sunshine clearing the way is the potential indie darling, SUNSHINE CLEANING, opening on just four screens.

Source: Box Office Mojo

WATCHMEN

Written by David Haytor and Alex Tse
Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode and Malin Akerman


Laurie Jupiter: You have to stop this. Everyone will die.
Dr. Manhattan: And the universe won’t even notice.

Up until last year, I have to admit I had never heard of WATCHMEN. Apparently, I was too far removed from the realm of the graphic novel, formerly known as the comic book universe, to have heard of one of the most influential works of all time. This doesn’t surprise me really as I’m not that kind of geek. (I am a geek, just not that kind.) Still, it seems to me that a lot of the supposed die-hard’s out there only really learned about WATCHMEN around the same time as I did. I know that isn’t the case for everyone but you would think that a classic of this supposed magnitude would have worked its way into the pop culture lexicon somewhat deeper and earlier than it did if it was truly that important. Still, here it is now, smothered in all of its hype and lore, and the question is, does it matter as much as they’d like us to think it does? More importantly, is WATCHMEN worth watching?


The answer is that yes, WATCHMEN is at least worth a gander. It is a superhero movie of epic proportion, clocking in at somewhere close to three hours. It spends a great deal of that time demystifying the superhero image while delicately balancing that with maintaining the very same conventions it is trying to tear down. Tricky? Yes; but Zack Snyder, the freshly minted “visionary” director of 300, performs his own super feat by making it all fit together and maintaining a strong and mysterious intrigue almost throughout. The term, “visionary”, is used pretty lightly these days and, while I’m not ready to shower Snyder in accolades just yet, I will say that he has a good eye and, at the very least, a unique, if not bloody, vision. WATCHMEN, no matter how much or how little meaning can be derived from it, is nothing if not visually exciting. There is sometimes so much happening on the screen that you know you’ve missed at least one tiny detail that would have further filled the frame and satisfied your insatiable geek hunger pains.

Snyder’s accomplishment is only more impressive considering there isn’t very much of a plot to hold the film together. It is the mid-80’s and Richard Nixon has just entered an unprecedented third term as the President of the United States when the country is on the brink of the Cold War with Russia. A band of masked avengers, known as The Watchmen, have been forced to disband after the public turned on them and it would appear as though the former crime fighters are being hunted down and picked off. This is the set up but there is very little build past that. WATCHMEN meanders through vignettes about each major character that are engaging on their own but don’t serve to move anything further along. It isn’t as though this goes unnoticed either; I found myself occasionally removed and wondering if anything was actually going to happen. Unfortunately, when the film does find its focus is when it becomes much less effective. It practically plunges into cliché in the film’s final act – from trapped screaming children in a burning building to secret lairs in the arctic – leaving me wishing it was going nowhere again.

It’s not easy being a superhero (or green from what I've heard). And what is a superhero anyway? It’s just another guy dressed up in a silly uniform trying to find his purpose in the world before he comes home to a cold can of beans and a copy of Hustler to bring with as he crawls alone into bed at the end of the night. The Watchmen are just men (and women) after all. And try as it has so very hard for oh so many months now, WATCHMEN is just another comic book movie and not the genre-defining masterpiece it touts itself to be.

TAKEN

Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
Directed by Pierre Morel
Starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Jansen


Bryan: You don’t remember me? We spoke on the phone two days ago. I told you I would find you.

The film going world is certainly taken with a little movie called TAKEN. People couldn’t seem to be getting enough of it as its North American box office returns only dwindled by miniscule amounts week after week. This is after an already incredible run in Europe. (TAKEN was one of the biggest movies of 2008 outside of North America.) I felt it was time I saw for myself why everyone was so drawn in (a euphemism for “taken”) to what seemed to me like nothing more than a Bourne-esque action flick with a lesser budget and an oddly older leading man. Having seen it now, I can safely say that it is actually all of those things but it is also a somewhat tense, pretty brief and fairly satisfying thriller.


Seventeen-year-old, American good girl, Kim (Maggie Grace) had her father, Bryan (Liam Neeson), taken from her as a child. It was nothing dramatic; he was just more dedicated to his international government duties than his family. It would seem only fitting then, if one believes fate to be a vindictive concept with a dark sense of irony, that Bryan’s daughter would then be taken from him right after he has decided to leave his job so that he can reconnect with her. This is where the true depth and the true fluff of the film begin simultaneously. What I admired most about the film was that Kim wasn’t taken fro ransom or because of some wrong her father had committed in his past. No, she was taken for human trafficking purposes. It is so plainly put that it is frighteningly real. The film doesn’t stay very real though. You see, Daddy has a special skill set from his past secret government work; he finds people and he makes them pay. And so Daddy hops on a plane to track down his daughter and take on the entire British faction of the Albanian mafia.


Truth be told, I may not have been taken in by TAKEN but I will say that it was a good time. Even if your idea of a good time is not exactly fathers rescuing their daughters from international bad guys and avoiding misguided semi-automatic gunfire from five feet away by jumping dramatically behind couches. It’s no Bourne though.

THE INTERNATIONAL

Written by Eric Singer
Directed by Tom Tykwer
Starring Clive Owen, Naomi Watts and Armin Mueller-Stahl


Louis Salinger: I want some fucking justice.

In times of economic woe, it is easy to paint the institution with money as the face of evil. I’m not saying there isn’t reason to do so, just that it’s simply easy to do. Enter Eric Singer and his “banks as murderers” idea for THE INTERNATIONAL, a thriller that lives up to its name but not the genre it belongs to. This is to say that while THE INTERNATIONAL certainly spans the globe, it doesn’t provide much in the way of thrills along the way. In fact, it is often quite measured, relying on lengthy stretches of dialogue just so that the viewer can make sense of its unnecessarily complicated plot. Still, there is talent and beauty everywhere you look on screen, so there are distractions aplenty to keep you reasonably entertained; unfortunately, there is just one scene that you will remember after the fact.


Apparently – now brace yourself; this may be hard to comprehend – banks should not be trusted. I suppose, telling this story at a time where most of the population fortunate enough to have money to put into a bank already smells something rank on the rise, will help most people buy this crazy notion. You may have already suspected something afoul with the banks but did you ever imagine that the world’s largest banks would be conspiring with every arm of government and every major corporation on the planet to control the world’s cash flow? It is truly mind blowing and by mind blowing, I mean ridiculously trite. So much so that it seems somewhat beneath director, Tom Tykwer, to pick this as his first serious foray into big budget Hollywood heaven. Tykwer, most famous for his groundbreaking picture, RUN LOLA RUN, infuses THE INTERNATIONAL with an incredible sense of visual style that would certainly make any conventional script into a winner. Well, it would if it weren’t a script about killer banks.


Tykwer does give us an explosive shoot out at the Guggenheim museum in New York City that will certainly go down as one of the most intense, and not to mention artful, action sequences to grace screens this year. The clear, straight lines drawn by the panes of glass hanging from the ceiling or the bullets cutting across the room are interrupted by the lucid flow of the winding stairs and the general chaos of the situation at hand. It is all so full and surprisingly lush, considering how monochromatic the whole setting is, but yet it is oddly simple in its intricacies. Alas, one great scene does not a great movie make. Perhaps had the principles of this one scene been applied to everything that came before and after it, the whole thing would be riveting. Instead, everything seems to be figured out before it is even explained, leaving nothing new to discover. Apparently, banks are not the bad guys we should worry about; writers are. (I should probably mention that I work in a bank by day and write at night.)

CORALINE

Written and Directed by Henry Selick
Voices by Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French and Ian McShane


Coraline Jones: How can you walk away from something and then come towards it?
Cat: Walk around the world.
Coraline Jones: Small world.

I am not now nor have I ever been a ten-year-old girl. As a result, it is not so easy for me to get my mind in line with the pony loving thought process of this particular demographic. I am however, an admirer of animation and artistry. I may have been down by one when I sat to watch, CORALINE, Henry Selick’s long awaited follow up to the delectable, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, but at least I was bringing something to the table. What Selick brought was so much more delicious though. CORALINE is a wondrous experience. Its intricate, stop-motion style is inspired and the first of its kind to be shot entirely in 3D. And while its extravagantly colorful range is most certainly captivating, I still sat there somewhat puzzled. This quirky adventure was certainly new but what did it all mean?


Based on cult-favorite, Neil Gaiman’s cherished novella, CORALINE is about a young girl who has just moved to what seems like the middle of nowhere. Her parents, while well intentioned, do not have time for her. Instead, all they have time for is figuring out how to pay their bills – an animated film for the new economic crisis plagued world. And so, little Coraline, a spunky twig of a character who is voiced with an impressively fresh child-like strength by Dakota Fanning, sets out to find her own place in the world. What she finds is an entire alternative universe, somewhere at the end of a tiny tunnel she stumbles upon in her new living room. It is the world she knows but everything is eerily different, seemingly better in every regard. The most strikingly odd thing about this new world though is how everyone has buttons for eyes and if Coraline wants to stay in this world where she gets everything she wants, then she too will have to have her eyes sewn shut. Dark? Definitely. It is also blatantly symbolic and yet it all remains unexplained. Of course nothing is what it appears to be. The grass isn’t always greener apparently, even though Selick paints it so.


I am torn here. I don’t like when filmmakers spell everything out to me but it doesn’t seem to me that CORALINE is rooted in anything seriously meaningful at all other than the aforementioned greener grass cliché. The truth is that it doesn’t genuinely have to have a deeper meaning. Perhaps if I could think like a little girl, I would just enjoy Coraline’s unexpected and exciting journey. Try as I might though, I cannot fully. I guess, in order for me personally to appreciate the depth all of this beautiful animation conjures for itself, I’d still like a little lesson learned with my children’s story.

ENTRE LES MURS (THE CLASS)

Written by Francois Bégaudeau, Robin Campillo and Laurent Cantet
Directed by Laurent Cantet
Starring Francois Bégaudeau


Sit still and pay attention because class is now in session. This year’s winner at Cannes for the Palmes d’Or and Academy Award nominee for Foreign Language Film contender, ENTRE LES MURS (THE CLASS), is a surprisingly engaging experience considering what you are actually watching unravel on screen. Francois Bégaudeau is a teacher and a novelist. He wrote a book about his experiences teaching teenagers in a troubled Parisian neighborhood, translated that into a screenplay and now finds himself playing a version of himself in the film. It is now our turn to attend his class and watch in amazement as the games play out. The film rarely leaves the school grounds but it keeps its audience focused at all times, which is a lot more than I can say for Bégaudeau and his students.


Calling what happens in Bégaudeau’s classroom a game is a gross understatement. It is more like a war of minds and egos. The teachers all go in at the beginning of the session feeling defensive and preparing themselves for the worst, therefore often fulfilling their own prophecies. The students, well, it isn’t that they are so uninterested in learning; they just care more about social status and fitting in. So they spend the time they should be conjugating verbs coming up with witty quips and trying to look big and tough in front of their recess buddies. And with 30 or so of them and only one teacher, the odds are far from being in Bégaudeau’s favor.


The entire cast is stellar, as is required in order for the cinema verité approach to be believable. This is all the more impressive considering the majority of them have never acted before, including Bégaudeau himself. ENTRE LES MURS is a great film, funny one minute as the banter flies through the room like a renegade spitball and distressing the next, when the realization that scenarios just like this are happening all over the civilized world. It is also a heck of a lot more entertaining than I remember school to be.

CHE

Written by Peter Buchman and Benjamin A. van der Veen
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Starring Benicio del Toro, Demien Bachir, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Franka Potente


Ernesto Che Guevera: To survive here, to win, you have to live as if you’ve already died.

Steven Soderbergh, the Academy Award winning director of TRAFFIC, would like you to meet someone you already know. He insists though that you only think you know this man and furthermore, that it will take a little over four hours to get to know him the way one should. That man is Cuban revolutionary leader, Ernesto Che Guevera, and Soderbergh’s film is simply, CHE. Broken into two parts, the first entitled “The Argentine” and the second entitled, “Guerilla”, CHE seems daunting on the surface but once you break past that, it is a engrossing experience that is much more forthcoming and straightforward than you would have expected. I admit, I too expected a pompous overwrought work, given the run time and subject matter but Soderbergh continues to impress me with his subtlety and his touch, soft yet still commanding.



Over the course of the two films, Soderbergh gives us Guevera’s rise as a revolutionary and his ultimate and subsequent demise. Guevera is given to us via Benicio del Toro, a man who was practically ignored during awards season for no good reason that I can figure. Del Toro is a patient and practical Che. He understands his mission; he understands its importance concerning the greater good of his country; and he understands that he is just one man making up a much larger whole. Del Toro plays Guevera with such delicate restraint and an untold inner depth that is very rarely allowed to pass his guarded surface. It is an engaging experience to watch him embody this historical figure’s skin and it is his practically perfect performance that gives roots to a film about a man with no specific roots to plant.


CHE is not just about the man but also a telling history lesson that plays out as naturally as one would hope an epic of this size would. And while Soderbergh’s portrayal is decidedly fair and frank, his film is a might stronger than that.

GRADE: B+

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: In Your Face, Jonas Brothers!

Last year around this time, a certain teen queen unleashed her “Best of Both Worlds” concert to theatres in 3D. Having been billed as an exclusive one-week engagement, little girls everywhere came out in droves to catch Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus do her split personality thing up on screen to the tune of over $30 million. A year has passed and the smart folks at Disney decided to get another teen sensation back on the screen in 3D, only to find that audiences would opt to watch a man in grandma drag go to jail instead.


No, THE JONAS BROTHERS: 3D CONCERT EXPERIENCE could not topple TYLER PERRY’S MADEA GOES TO JAIL at the box office this weekend. This is even after Perry’s most successful film to date suffered a 60% drop over last week. Worse yet, the young Jonas siblings opened on almost twice the screens as Montana/Cyrus did and made less than half the cash. There was no urgency to catch the show opening weekend with some looming empty threat that the film would only be playing for a week, mind you. (It should be noted that as soon as Montana brought in the green last year, the one-week engagement was extended indefinitely.) It was a solid showing but it seems to me that there must have been a lot of little girls who just decided to stay home. Besides, the Jonas Brothers that big and in your face, 3D styles, would be pretty frightening, I think. For a boy band, they’re really not that cute … or profitable apparently.


Last week’s winner of 8 Oscars, including Best Picture, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, saw its already impressive gross improve another 45% this week. Albeit not my pick for Best Picture of the year, this is clearly the people’s favorite. In its 16th week in theatres, it shows no signs of stopping. It is Fox Searchlight’s first Best Picture winner and it is now their widest release to date. The Danny Boyle film has plenty more market internationally to conquer, home video sales still ahead and it will certainly surpass THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON to become the highest grossing Best Picture nominee from this year.


A couple of other big Oscar winners saw serious gains this week too. Both added hundreds of screens to capitalize on their Oscar visibility and both saw promising results well into their domestic runs. Audience favorite, Kate Winslet, took home the Best Actress Oscar for THE READER and the Weinstein Company sleeper hit saw its grosses increase 10% over last week for a grand total of just over $27 million. Not bad for a movie that seemed doomed to fall away into obscurity until it garnered five surprise Oscar nods. Focus Features’ MILK earned Oscars for Best Original Screenplay (Dustin Lance Black) and Best Actor (Sean Penn) did even better, increasing 37% over last week and bringing its cume over $30 million 14 weeks into its domestic run. Both other Best Picture nominees, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON and FROST/NIXON saw its returns dwindle this week as neither garnered any serious screen time during the telecast.


You don’t have to be an Oscar winner to perform well in limited release though. Foreign Language Oscar losers, THE CLASS and WALTZ WITH BASHIR continued to see their grosses grow despite missing out on the crown. And in completely non-Oscar related news, Joaquin Phoenix’s supposedly last film, TWO LOVERS, tacked on about 60 screens and soared over 500% and critical darling, GOMORRA, improved over 140% over last week with an average that would rival any title in the Top 10. You don’t want to mess with the GORMORRA boys.

NEXT WEEK: Everyone will be watching to see if THE WATCHMEN is worth all of this overblown hype as it opens on over 3500 screens. Given that there are no other wide releases expected next weekend, I guess people think it’s going to be big. The question now is how big but my question is rather why anyone cares at all.

Source: Box Office Mojo

The 2008 MOUTON D'OR AWARDS

As I might have already mentioned, me and sleep didn't get along too well in 2008. Not sleeping though leaves you with a lot of time you didn't know existed. Rather than toss and turn or, I don't know, read a book, the best thing I did with all this free time I discovered was to watch more movies. I don't watch enough apparently. And with that, I had the chance to see hundreds of movies in 2008 and these, my friends, are my favorites from that year. Ladies, gentlemen, loyal Black Sheep readers, I give you the 2008 Mouton d'Or Awards ...


THE DARK KNIGHT embodies "BIG". How could I give this one to any other than the second biggest movie of all time? The best part about Christopher Nolan's benchmark superhero film is that it brought back the substance to the usually overstylized popcorn flick.


From very big to very small is essentially the trajectory that director, Darren Aronofsky took with THE WRESTLER. He tried his hand at going big and, after smashing into a wall, not only realized what he was good at but became better at it. THE WRESTLER is one of the most heartbreaking experiences I've had at the movies in some time.


When I have a bad time at the movies, I get pretty angry. That said, I saw this film with my roommate and I thought he was going to kill someone pretty much all the way through this piece of crap. HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY is horrifically offensive but yet it plays out with this air as though it were racially responsible. It is crude, sloppy filmmaking and it is painfully unfunny. It is also the only film I have ever given an F-grade to. I enjoyed Harold & Kumar's first adventure but I would be very happy to never see them ever again. I've said it before but it bears repeating, this is a stoner movie that would be actually more horrible if watched high.


This one is very exciting for me. This is the first Mouton d'Or for Reader's Choice. These six films were the most mentioned during Black Sheep's Best of 2008 contest and Black Sheep readers have been voting on their favorite from the group for the last month. I was thrilled to see the six films that made the shortlist because I love these movies too. And IRON MAN was certainly one of the best times I had at the movies all year. Thanks for voting and good choice.


This award is named after my friend Trevor, the man who reminded how much I loved cartoons and, more importantly, showed me that animation is one of the most intricate and expansive art forms of our times. Now, while I loved the two other nominees in this category, there might as well have been only one nominee. There could only be one winner here because there is only one WALL•E. What Pixar did with this film was to bring animation out of this world. I'm sorry to be so corny but they seriously did. WALL•E wows me every time I see it and that little guy will hold a special place in my heart as one of the most endearing characters I've ever encountered.



Another Wally, another winner. Wally Pfister took THE DARK KNIGHT to unimaginable heights, literally. Watching Batman soar through the night skies has never been such a free fall and has never kept me on edge as though I were the one diving off Gotham's tallest buildings. The knight may be dark but Wally Pfister took that darkness and gave it countless shades.



Lee Smith's editing in THE DARK KNIGHT kept what could have been a long, overdrawn affair moving at a pace that never allowed for anyone to lose interest. If Pfister gave THE DARK KNIGHT depth, then Smith gave it edge.


Donald Harrison Jr and Zafer Tawil made beautiful music for RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. Variations on wedding themes and practice sessions for a band became original music but this is not why they won. It was the way in which the music is incorporated into the film that most impressed me. Rachel is marrying a musician and her house is filled with his musician buddies so there is never a quiet moment to be had. Its usage is intelligent and integral to creating the realism RACHEL GETTING MARRIED needs to be enjoyed.

Nominees from left to right: Josh Brolin (MILK), Ralph Fiennes (THE DUCHESS), James Franco (MILK), Philip Seymour Hoffman (DOUBT), Heath Ledger (THE DARK KNIGHT)

No one will ever know for sure whether THE DARK KNIGHT did as well as it did because of the fascination with Heath Ledger following his death or not. The truth is, it doesn't matter in the least. While THE DARK KNIGHT stands just fine on its own, it is Ledger's haunting performance as The Joker that gives it the ferocity and urgency that have made it a contemporary classic. Ledger is The Joker, in the manner in which he licks his lips or constantly fixes his scraggly hair or instills fear into all he encounters while seeming completely unaware the entire time. You cannot look away no matter how horrifying he is to look at and you also cannot help but leave THE DARK KNIGHT with a heavy regret that you will never get to see Ledger's original genius ever again.

Nominees from left to right: Penelope Cruz (VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA), Rosemarie DeWitt (RACHEL GETTING MARRIED), Taraji P. Henson (THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON), Marisa Tomei (THE WRESTLER), Kate Winslet (THE READER)

This winner is decidedly lower key than the last but she eliminated the very fierce competition with the same agrression as The Joker would have. Rosemarie DeWitt totally blew me away in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. Everyone was all over Anne Hathaway but as the title character, DeWitt is not only subtle and understated but simultaneously broken and hopeful. When she fights back, you do not want to be on the receiving end but when she reaches out to hold you, she is the first person you would want to get close to. I cannot wait for more from her.

Nominees from left to right: Benicio del Toro (CHE), Richard Jenkins (THE VISITOR), Frank Langella (FROST/NIXON), Sean Penn (MILK), Mickey Rourke (THE WRESTLER)

Of all the Mouton d'Or categories to decide on, this was the hardest. I am not ordinarily taken in by the plight of the male actor on screen. It is usually easier to get sucked into the higher drama of the female performance, but these five actors did exceptionally fine jobs and all are deserving of the win. There can be only one and Sean Penn is that one because his performance in MILK is entirely devoid of ego. I am not his biggest fan but Penn wore Harvey Milk's shoes as though they had been on his feet all along. His compassion and enthusiasm is infectious and Penn's performance is nothing short of transformed.

Nominees from left to right: Anne Hathaway (RACHEL GETTING MARRIED), Angelina Jolie (CHANGELING), Meryl Streep (DOUBT), Michelle Williams (WENDY AND LUCY), Kate Winslet (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD)

I am still sad that Kate Winslet will not be able to score her first Oscar for her smack in the face of a performance in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. She is hard on the outside and soft on the inside in THE READER but she is the complete opposite here. Her beauty, composure and style cannot hide her character's deep, unfulfilled sadness despite the grand effort. Winslet is consistently incredible to watch but her wasted suburban promise is so hollowing and disheartening that it raises the film itself and every one in it to her own particular level of excellence.


This is the second Mouton d'Or award for Peter Morgan. He won the Original Screenplay award a couple of years back for THE QUEEN and he takes the adapted category this year for his sharp and insightful work on FROST/NIXON. He took his own screenplay and expanded its world to an international level while keeping all the play's themes of redemption and public approval in tact. Morgan is a master of inversion, taking his audience behind the scenes to worlds they only know from the outside and as usual, he avoids sensation and sticks to substance.



The word "original" is what led me to my winner in this catgeory. Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon's WALL•E is the product of pure imagination. Not only did they envision a world where human waste has driven us from our corporate run planet but they managed to do so through one of the biggest corporations around. And instead of being preachy about the effects of humanity's lethargy, they decided to remind us what we are losing sight of underneath all this useless garbage, love. WALL•E is one of the most endearing love stories I have seen in years. The fact that it is told with little to no dialogue and that it is a love between robots is only a further testament to its beauty.


I was very disappointed that RACHEL GETTING MARRIED did not garner more recognition this award season. I believe it to be Jonathan Demme's finest work and a strikingly original piece that teeters between as many emotions as one would expect to find in the mind of an addict. With Demme at the helm, you felt as though you were actually at Rachel's wedding. The family felt so close, so real. The tension in the house was just as palpable as the love at the wedding itself. Demme's documentary approach to the film required realism and he made damn sure it was there the whole time. It was certainly the most fun I've had at a wedding in a very long time.


There you have it, this year's big Mouton d'Or winner. MILK for Best Picture! Of the five nominees, it is the only film that I felt was flawless. Dustin Lance Black's script is moving and meaningful. Harris Savides' cinematography is perfectly styled to fit the times. Danny Elfman's score is his most dynamic work ever. And the cast ... what a fantastic cast! It's reverence is like a swift punch to the gut, the kind that leaves you short for breath. Gus Van Sant has made his most sensitive and accomplished film to date and there is plenty to cry about over this spilled MILK. Not only is it a beautiful film but it is tribute to acceptance and humanity that is just as relevant now as it was when Harvey Milk was alive.

That's it folks, another year closed. Here's to you and to the year ahead. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you again soon.

Black Sheep @ The Oscars: BEST DIRECTOR & BEST PICTURE

For only the fifth time in Oscar history, the five nominees for Best Director are exactly in line with the five films nominated for Best Picture. It would seem silly not to focus on both in the same posting. Otherwise, the two separate postings would sound pretty similar. Besides, I’m fairly certain the same film will win in each category anyway.

Two of this year’s nominees for Best Director are here for the first time and they are here with the two films that stand the most chance of winning. And so, congratulations go out to Danny Boyle and David Fincher for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, respectively. Gus Van Sant and Ron Howard make their second plays for the top prize. Van Sant tried and failed in 1998 with GOOD WILL HUNTING but certainly stands a decent chance with MILK. Meanwhile, Howard already has an Oscar in this category for 2002’s A BEAUTIFUL MIND and is hopeful to repeat his success with FROST/NIXON. Oddly enough, the least known name amongst the bunch, Stephen Daldry, actually holds the most nominations with three total, including nods for BILLY ELLIOTT, THE HOURS and now for THE READER.

Here’s what the five nominees have going for and against them …

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Directed by David Fincher


Fincher has done what so many have tried to do for years now; he has successfully adapted a story to the screen that was thought to be an impossible tale to tell. The visual demands of following a character that ages in reverse were supposed to prove to laborious to be effective and convincing. Somehow, he managed to find a team who could make it happen. This epic sentimental tale is also completely removed from the dark work Fincher is famous for (ZODIAC, FIGHT CLUB, SE7EN), but yet he makes this work too without abandoning his visual sensibilities. The buzz throughout the year was that this gargantuan masterwork was the film to beat and while it has wowed many and is the top earner amongst the nominees, it did not impress across the board. Its detractors call it Fincher’s FORREST GUMP and consider it cold and empty. The lack of warmth, I feel, will ultimately leave it out in the cold come Oscar night.



FROST/NIXON
Directed by Ron Howard


I am not a Ron Howard fan. In fact, I was severely disappointed when he won his first Oscar for A BEAUTIFUL MIND. Howard makes very conventional and safe films that often feel heavier than necessary as they don’t have the insight to warrant the tone. There is something distinctly different about his work in FROST/NIXON though. It almost feels like Howard is having fun while he is working. His playful tone lends a breeziness to an intense game between interviewer and interviewee that could have otherwise played out in similar fashion to his previous heavy-handed work. The light tone though does nothing to detract from the seriousness of the task at hand and still keeps us guessing right through to the interviews defining moments. It is by far the best Howard film I’ve seen in ages but having already won one these guys, I doubt he’ll be returning this year to the podium.



MILK
Directed by Gus Van Sant


Van Sant is often hit or miss but he is almost always pushing himself in different directions. He does not often play towards the masses and does not seem to be the least bit concerned about doing so. And while I’ve heard the argument that he is doing just that with MILK, I cannot disagree more with the statement. MILK is not a plea to the straight masses to accept the gay and marginalized. It is the story of a man plead with humanity to embrace all as their brothers and sisters. It is a time in history that is being told at another time in history in order to learn from the errors of our past. And aside from being such an important film, it is also a beautiful and tender experience. Van Sant brought together a cast of contemporaries and infused them all with a sense of history that brought about the best ensemble performance of the year. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I loved BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN for what it gave to gay cinema. I can honestly say, as far as the genre goes, if you can call it that, MILK is a very close second to the cowboys. My sensitive heart is pulling for a MILK upset.



THE READER
Directed by Stephen Daldry


Daldry is certainly the surprise guest at this party. I don’t think people expected him to edge out Christopher Nolan for THE DARK KNIGHT but here we are. Obviously, some people put Daldry’s name down otherwise he wouldn’t be here. And the simple truth is that he definitely deserves to be here. In fact, with this nod, Daldry is now the first director in Oscar history to earn directing honours for his first three films. His work here continues to exhibit his strengths as a sensitive filmmaker with a deep understanding for his characters and their plights. He is not overly sympathetic but rather direct and forgiving. In that sense, given that THE READER focuses on Germans understanding how to forgive previous generations for their atrocious acts, Daldry was the perfect man for the job and the only one who could get it done as succinctly. Still, Daldry is the dark horse here, despite having the force known as Harvey Weinstein championing its campaign. A win for THE READER is certainly the least likely to happen in either category.



SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Directed by Danny Boyle


I think I’ve said enough about how I feel SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is not deserving of the top Oscars. Why not focus now on why it is still a pleasure to see it racking up all of these prestigious accolades. Boyle felt trapped after completing his last project, SUNSHINE, having filmed the entire thing on a space ship set. He wanted to get outside and paint a bigger, brighter picture and that is exactly what he did. Only, after he finished this work, the company that was due to distribute it, Warner Independent, folded., and Boyle & co. found themselves homeless and eventually hopeless as it seemed that, considering Warner Bros. did not know what to do with the film, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE was headed straight for DVD. Boyle managed to convince somebody to submit it to a couple of festivals in the fall and the audience reaction was practically palpable. And so goes the story of how a little movie almost went nowhere at all but ended up being the front-runner for the Best Picture Oscar.


There you have it, the big five. And despite the recent backlash in India upon the release of the film, Black Sheep still believes, even though he doesn’t want to, that SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE will take both Best Director and Best Picture. That said, I bet you didn’t need me to fill in those two categories on your Oscar poll.

Enjoy the Oscars and be sure to check out the winners of the 2008 MOUTON D’OR AWARDS this coming Saturday, February 21. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE isn’t even nominated there so it’s anyone’s game.