93rd Annual Academy Award Winners

BEST PICTURE

Nomadland

BEST DIRECTOR

Chloe Zhao, Nomadland

BEST ACTOR

Anthony Hopkins, The Father

BEST ACTRESS

Frances McDormand, Nomadland

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Daniel Kaluuya, Judas & the Black Messiah

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Youn Yuh-jung, Minari

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Promising Young Woman

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Father

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Soul

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

Another Round (Denmark)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

My Octopus Teacher

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Mank

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Mank

BEST FILM EDITING

Sound of Metal

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Tenet

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

BEST SOUND

Sound of Metal

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"Fight for You", Judas & the Black Messiah

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Mank

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

If Anything Happens I Love You

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Colette

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

Two Distant Strangers

Red 2 - DVD Review

Starring Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Mary-Louise Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Byung Hung-Lee, David Thewlis, Neal McDonough and Brian Cox.  Directed by Dean Parisot.

★★½

There's a certain breezy silliness to the whole affair, aging hitmen brought out of retirement.  Morgan Freeman's presence is missed, but Malkovich and Mirren still seem to be having a grand old time, and the script is clever enough that we don't feel bogged down by overdoing what made the first one work. Bruce Willis phones it in, to the point that I'm trying to remember the last time he didn't phone it in.

Thor: The Dark World - Movie Review

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Rene Russo, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi and Jaimie Alexander.
Directed by Alan Taylor.

★★★

The sequel to the superhero movie is the one with the most opportunity to be interesting. You've done your origin-story heavy-lifting in the first one, now give us a regular adventure.  Superman II, Spider-Man 2, and The Dark Knight are some examples of the successful superhero sequel.  Was Thor able to achieve the same success?

For the most part, yes. While The Dark World won't be hailed as a classic, it's still a ripping yarn that combines elements of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings with the already established Marvel sensibilities.

Thor is a little grounded after his first film and his detour helping The Avengers.  Now he must restore peace in Asgard and the nine realms, but a new, ancient menace has reawakened.  There's this billion-year-old space blob of destruction hidden in the middle of a distant planet, but when Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) finds herself sucked through a wormhole, she lands next to it and wakes it up.  Ruh-roh.

It takes us a while to get to that point.  I appreciated that most of this movie took place away from Earth, and it gave Jane the chance to be the fish-out-of-water this time around.  Portman seems to be having a lot of fun, and Hemsworth is more relaxed in his role. The real star though is Loki (Tom Hiddleston).  The villain in Thor's story the past two movies, he's been imprisoned for life in Asgard's dungeons, but Thor hits a point where he needs Loki's help, and I liked watching the whole time wondering if Loki was capable of turning a new leaf, or when was that inevitable betrayal going to happen?

Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo make fine godly parents, and they actually gave Russo a little more to do.  Idris Elba's back as the Guardian, although I could have sworn his character died in the first one.  No complaints.  Jaimie Alexander should be the next Wonder Woman. This movie had a little too much Kat Dennings for my taste.  She's fine here and there, but her shtick grew tiresome for me, like she still expected to have her 2 Broke Girls laughtrack follow her every line.

Noah - Movie Trailer

NOAH, starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone and Logan Lerman. Directed by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan).

DVD Reviews - Anna Karenina, Hitchcock, This is 40, The Possession

ANNA KARENINA (★★★) - Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald, Emily Watson and Olivia Williams.  Directed by Joe Wright.

I loved the artistic decision by the makers when faced with the challenge of adapting a thick book to film.  They made it like a stage play.  Sets become real locations, then back into sets, allowing for quick scene changes and transportations, and a heightened sense of theatricality.

Knightley's great as Anna, the proud wife of a boring general (Law) who has an affair.  My biggest problem with it was her lover, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Savages).  There was nothing attractive or charismatic about him. It made no sense why Anna would destroy her life over having an affair with this dork.

I liked everyone else.  Bonus points to Matthew Macfayden for showing the flair of a young Kevin Kline.

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HITCHCOCK (★★) - Starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, James D'Arcy, Toni Collette, Danny Huston, Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Wincott, Ralph Macchio and Kurtwood Smith.  
Directed by Sacha Gervasi.

Maybe it's just me, but I would hope that someone making a movie about Alfred Hitchcock would have a little more directorial flare to telling the story.  This felt like it could've been directed by Dennis Dugan.

It centers on the struggles Hitchcock went through to get Psycho made. He was riding a high from the success from North by Northwest, yet he faced many obstacles trying to get this tale told.  The whole thing flows along at almost a sitcom pace, and Mirren even gets one monologue that feels inserted in there strictly for Golden Globe nominating bait.  James D'Arcy does some interesting things as Anthony Perkins but it's a surprisingly small role.

It's not bad; it's just not good.  It's a paperback beach novel of a movie.

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THIS IS 40 (★½) - Starring Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel, Megan Fox, Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, Maude Apatow, Iris Apatow, Chris O'Dowd, Robert Smigel and Melissa McCarthy.  Directed by Judd Apatow.

This is hell.  This is a whiny, self-indulgent, meandering, laugh-free, plot-free demonstration of an upper-middle-class white family going through their first-world problems and general malaise of hitting the halfway point in their lives.

(Okay, it's not laugh-free; Melissa McCarthy's extended cameo was pretty funny. And how can you not smile at a movie that has Albert Brooks in the cast?)

Paul Rudd and Mr. Judd Apatow's wife and kids reprise their roles from Knocked Up to show how lame life is when you turn forty.  At least it can be.  "You reap what you sew" could be one of the morals of this movie.  Don't like your kids swearing? Maybe you shouldn't have sworn around them all the time.

I actually turn 40 later this year, so I could argue I was the target audience.  Not impressed.

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THE POSSESSION (★) - Starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick, Madison Davenport and Natasha Calis.  Directed by Ole Bornedal.

If you ever want to see a movie featuring a Jewish exorcist but want it to make The Unborn look like a modern classic, you're in luck!  Someone made this movie to fulfill your needs.

This movie is an Elvis impersonation of a horror thriller.  It hits the same beats of a hundred other movies, has the same pacing and ominous soundtrack, but it never succeeds to present an original idea or provide an actual moment of suspense.  Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who's resembling Javier Bardem more the older he gets, gives a sincere performance as a concerned father whose daughter is possessed, but it's for a lost cause.

Random Movie News - 9/22/12

- Hitchcock will now open in limited release on November 23.  It stars Anthony Hopkins as the famous director Alfred Hitchcock, and the film takes place during the filming of Psycho.  Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, Danny Huston, Toni Collette, Michael Stuhlbarg and James D'Arcy as Anthony Perkins.

- Terminators unite!  Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Worthington will star in Ten, about an elite DEA squad who steal a large stash from a drug cartel.  They think they've committed the perfect crime, but then someone starts assassinating squad members one by one.  Terrence Howard, Mirielle Enos, Malin Akerman, Josh Holloway, Joe Manganiello and Olivia Williams co-star.

- Elijah Wood will star in Grand Piano, a psychological thriller about a retired pianist forced back onto the stage by a psychopath (John Cusack) in order to save the lives of himself and his loved ones.  Allen Leach (Downton Abbey) and Alex Winter (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure) co-star.

- Victims from the Aurora theater shooting are suing Cinemark for not providing adequate security.  Which means you can expect the police-state mentality to spread to movie theaters now.

Random Movie News - 7/27/12

- Ralph Macchio has joined the cast of Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins as the famous director. The film centers around the difficulty Hitchcock had in getting Psycho made.  It co-stars Helen Mirren, Toni Collette, Danny Huston, Michael Stuhlbarg, James D'Arcy (Anthony Perkins), Jessica Biel (Vera Miles) and Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh.

- Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet, Thor) will direct the next Jack Ryan movie.  Based on the character created by Tom Clancy, Ryan will be played by Chris Pine (Star Trek).  Previously Ryan has been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck.  Branagh will also play the villain.

- Jackie Earle Haley (Dark Shadows, Watchmen) has joined the cast of RoboCop, and Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder) is also in talks to join.  It stars Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Hugh Laurie, Abbie Cornish and Samuel L. Jackson.

- Warner Bros has moved Gangster Squad from September 7 to January 11. It'll give them a chance to do reshoots. The movie, and trailer for it, contains a scene where gunmen shoot up a movie theater.  That scene will be removed, and the shootout staged in a different location.  It stars Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Emma Stone and Nick Nolte.

- Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) is adapting Jack Finney's 1970 illustrated novel Time & Again, about a man who enlists in a secret government experiment and time-travels to 1882.  Once there, he falls in love and is torn whether to stay in the past or return to the present.


- Brandon Sanderson has sold the movie rights for his upcoming novel Steelheart, in a near future where a handful of people develop super powers.  One of them, Steelheart, seizes control of a city and kills the father of a boy who grows up to join a rebellion against the super-villains.  Sanderson's best known for his Mistborn trilogy, and for helping complete the Wheel of Time series for Robert Jordan.


- Lady Gaga is the latest to join the cast of Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills, starring Danny Trejo, Mel Gibson, Zoe Saldana, Sofia Vergara, Michelle Rodriguez, Demian Bichir, Amber Heard and Charlie Sheen.

- AMC has cancelled The Killing after two season. The producers said they will try to find the show a home on another channel.  Although it had strong ratings in its first season, the cliffhanger finale upset viewers, and there was a steep decline in ratings for season 2.  The two stars meanwhile have attached themselves to high-profile films.  Mirielle Enos will appear opposite Brad Pitt in the zombie apocalypse action-comedy World War Z, and Joel Kinnaman will play the lead in RoboCop.

Random Movie Stuff - 12/7/11

- William Hurt is in talks to join Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) and Max Irons (Red Riding Hood) in The Host. Based on the Stephenie Meyer best-seller, it's about post-apocalyptic world where a girl has an alien soul controlling her brain.

- Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren will play husband and wife in Alfred Hitchcock & the Making of Psycho. Hopkins will play Hitchcock, the profilic director who had to scrounge for financing in order to make Psycho, which no studio wanted to touch.

- Angelina Jolie, whose directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey opens later this month, has her next two acting projects lined up. First is what's described as a scientific thriller for director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element), and then she'll star in a biopic about Gertude Bell for director Ridley Scott (Robin Hood).

- Chris Columbus's 1492 Pictures have acquired the movie rights to Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. Cyrus Nowrasteh (The Stoning of Soraya M.) will direct.

- Tom Wilkinson will play the main villain in The Lone Ranger, starring Armie Hammer (The Social Network, J. Edgar) as the Lone Ranger and Johnny Depp as Tonto. Director Gore Verbinski is working on getting the rest of those originally cast reassembled, including Helena Bonham Carter, Barry Pepper, and Dwight Yoakum.

- NBC is looking at Ryan Seacrest as a possible replacement for Matt Lauer on The Today Show.

- Harry Morgan has died at the age of 96. He's been in movies ranging from High Noon to The Apple Dumpling Gang to Dragnet, but he's best known for his Emmy-winning turn as Col. Potter on M*A*S*H.

The Rite - DVD Review

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Starring Anthony Hopkins, Colin O'Donoghue, Ciaran Hinds, Alice Braga, Toby Jones and Rutger Hauer. Directed by Mikael Hafstrom.

I like the occassional gothic demonic flick, even when I don't like them that much. They usually have elements I can cling to and revel in. This had nothing. It took forever to set up, and the third act had nothing unique or original about it. The script's not great, but the central problem is Colin O'Donaghue is utterly dull as the lead, a black hole of charisma. Not only can Anthony Hopkins not save it, he can't even make it passable.

Thor - Movie Review

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Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Clark Gregg, Rene Russo, Jaimie Alexander and Colm Feore. Directed by Kenneth Branagh.

I was going to say I'm a sucker for superhero movies, but I realize I'm pretty much a sucker for any genre as long as the movie's good.

Managed to catch this in 2D (yay!) and Thor did not disappoint. It had the grand special effects, the clashes of titans, the character journey, the Girlfriend and many of the tropes you'd expect. But they still have to be done well, and for the most part, yeah, it worked.

I find myself wanting to address my problems first. Many of the actors aren't given anything to do. Rene Russo is barely there as Thor's mother. The Warriors Three seem like a merry band I should want to hang out with, but I never cared about them. Idris Elba was cool as the gatekeeper, to the point that I wished his part was bigger. Stellan Skarsgard just has to follow Natalie Portman and fill in exposition points. The Hawkeye cameo was poorly executed and should have been cut entirely. The New Mexico town the Earth action takes place in is clearly one giant shooting set.

But I liked that it was family-friendly. I liked Chris Hemsworth as the central character. It's not a revelation or anything, I just find myself looking forward to his Thor bouncing off Downey's Iron Man or staring down the Hulk. Coming Summer 2012 - The Avengers Part VI: They're Finally Together! (Iron Man was Avengers I, Incredible Hulk was Avengers II, Iron Man 2 was Avengers III, Thor is Avengers IV, and we have Captain America in July...) I liked the unknown Tom Hiddleston as Loki, a complex villain that has more going on than at first revealed, and we're therefore not distracted by Famous Name playing him.

I liked the Asgard stuff. Done poorly, it could've generated Chronicles of Riddick flashbacks, but it had a solid design and I liked walking down its halls and flying over its towers.

Portman's Jane Foster as written isn't more than The Girlfriend, but she was able to get a couple moments out of her, like her self-surprised reaction to when Thor kisses her hand.

The City of Your Final Destination - DVD Review

**

Starring Anthony Hopkins, Laura Linney, Omar Metwally, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Hiroyuki Sanada and Norma Aleandro.
Directed by James Ivory.

This is a movie based on a book where I imagine the book was well-written and interesting, but it doesn't lend itself well to the screen. The movie doesn't move.

It's about a young man who wants to write a biography about a recently deceased author, but he goes to Uruguay to get permission from his "eccentric" surviving family. Chief among the skeptical relatives are Anthony Hopkins and Laura Linney, and despite defined, measured performances, their presense isn't enough shield the inertia in the story.

Like most Ivory projects, it's pleasant to look at, solid in the art direction and cinematography areas. There were times where I just expected Hopkins to say, "I think I'll take a nap" and then look at the camera and say, "Feel free to do the same."