Best Pictures #17: 2015 (88th) Academy Awards, My Pick for Best Picture

by A.J.

2015 (88^th) Academy Awards, My Pick for Best Picture

The 88^th Academy Awards for films released in 2015 was held on February 28^th, 2016 and the night went mostly as expected but still had a few surprises. The 2016 ceremony was mired in the controversy that became known as “#OscarsSoWhite.” From the moment the full list of nominees was announced the two became inextricably linked. No one could mention one without the other, and unfortunately the controversy was completely valid: for the second year in a row there was an incredible lack of diversity among the nominees, especially in the acting categories where all of the nominees were white. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced changes to the requirements for membership in hopes to increase member diversity. What, if any, effect the changes may have won’t be seen until the next batch of nominees are announced in January of next year.  

The eight Best Picture nominees for 2015 covered a wide range of subjects and genres but still encompassed many elements favored by the Academy. The nominees included: three movies based on true stories (Bridge of Spies, Spotlight, The Big Short) and one based on a novel which is partly based on a true story (The Revenant); a sweet, sentimental romance (Brooklyn); an independent, character heavy drama (Room); a thrilling adventure in a faraway land (The Martian); and, most surprisingly, an epic, big budget action movie (Mad Max: Fury Road). Room was the only nominee set in the present day. All of the other Best Picture nominees are set either in the past or the future. The Big Short was the most topical of the nominees with its events having taken place most recently (2005-2008) and the effects of its subject (the housing market collapse and resulting recession) still being felt by many, many people. It’s an entertaining and important film, and I’m interested to see how it will or will not hold up in the coming years. I think that despite winning no awards, the feel good, thrilling science fiction film The Martian will be a movie that audiences will re-watch and rediscover in the future.

Leonardo DiCaprio won Best Actor for The Revenant and while I’m glad he has an Oscar (he’s one of my favorite actors after all), I’m disappointed it’s for a simple one note performance in a rather unenjoyable movie. Alejandro G. Iñarrìtu won Best Director for The Revenant making him the third director to have back to back Oscar wins. The other two directors are John Ford for The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Joseph Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950). I don’t feel like I’m going out on a limb when I say that Iñarrìtu, when included with the likes of John Ford and Joseph Mankewicz, pales in comparison. The Revenant is a technically well-made film, but that is all it has to offer. The films that Ford and Mankiewicz won for are true classics. However, Iñarrìtu will now forever be part of a very small club.

The big surprise of the 88^th Academy Awards involved the big award itself, Best Picture. Spotlight won the Oscar upsetting The Revenant, which seemed as sure as a sure thing can be. The Revenant had won several awards leading up to the Oscars and the odds were heavily in its favor. However, it is a film that no one seemed to enjoy (I don’t recall reading any wholly positive reviews of the film). In the end, the Academy’s preferential ballot may have worked against The Revenant since the second choice of the voters can add up and outweigh the apparent first choice. Spotlight does have the hallmarks of a Best Picture winner (ensemble cast, true story, an important and serious subject) but this shouldn’t diminish its accomplishments or its win. It is undeniably an important film but it is also a solid, well-made, and riveting thriller. Spotlight won the first award of the night, Original Screenplay, and the last award of the night, Best Picture, and nothing in between making it the first film since The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) to win Best Picture with only one other award (the other win for that movie was also for writing).

Spotlight is a great film and I’m glad it won, but my vote for Best Picture would go to…

My Pick for Best Picture 2015: Mad Max: Fury Road

If I picked the winner for Best Picture of 2015 I would have to pick the full throttle feminist action film Mad Max: Fury Road. As much as I loved this movie when I saw it in theaters back in May of last year, I would have thought it crazy that this movie would have been my pick for Best Picture or that it would have even been nominated. Fury Road took home 6 Oscars for the "technical categories" (Editing, Costume Design, Makeup & Hairstyling, Production Design, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing), all of which were well deserved wins. I’ve seen this movie three times so far and each time there is something new to notice or appreciate. This is an era when anything visually spectacular in a movie is automatically assumed to be done by a computer, but this is not the case with Fury Road. The stunts performed in this movie are performed by real people doing exactly what it looks like they are doing. The flame throwing guitar is completely real and works as a guitar and a flamethrower. The War Boys swinging on poles like pendulums to attack our heroes are stunt men really swinging on poles. The stunt team worked on perfecting this stunt to the point that it was safe enough to perform on moving vehicles. Director George Miller (who had my vote for Best Director) was even able to convince Tom Hardy to shoot a few takes on top of the swinging pole, despite his fear of heights.

All of these practical effects and stunts foster believability in this wild, post-apocalyptic world. Max and Furiousa are not superheroes; you believe everything you see these characters do. All of the characters in Fury Road are bound by the laws of physics. They hurt and bleed and have personalities that the movie showcases instead of glossing over. The setting may be a dystopian fantasy and the genre is action, but this is a movie about people. Charlize Theron was not nominated for any awards for her performance as Imperator Furiosa, but it is a great performance nonetheless that carries this movie and gives every action importance. As good as Tom Hardy is as Max, this film would not work without Charlize Theron in the lead.

My Favorite Performances of 2015

by Lani

Each year before the Oscars I write up my list of favorite performances, which more often than not, are not the ones being recognized by the Academy. This year, I realized that many of my favorite performances were not in movies, but on television -- including Kirsten Dunst and Patrick Wilson on Fargo, Oscar Isaac in Show Me a Hero, and Mark Rylance in Wolf Hall. My favorite piece of entertainment all year was the Broadway production of Hamilton (I'm hoping to hear the phrase "Tony Award-winner Leslie Odom, Jr." this June). But my heart still lies with Hollywood, so here are some of the movie performances that I loved in 2015.

Girl Power!
Some of the best roles for actresses this year were women of action. They displayed physical strength and mental sharpness, often stealing the screen from the male action stars. Leading the charge were Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa and her squad of females from Mad Max: Fury Road. When the film begins, Furiosa is already in a position of power, trusted by the ruling tyrant to lead a unit of "War Boys" (in Latin, imperator is equivalent to commander). However, she truly shows her mettle when she defies her ruler, liberates his captive "wives," and sets off on a breakneck chase through the desert. Though my perennial favorite Tom Hardy plays the title character, Theron is the star of this feminist action flick.
Other members of my imaginary girl gang would include Melissa McCarthy as the CIA analyst-turned-field agent who, capably and hilariously, defied all expectations in Spy; as well as McCarthy's comedic foil Rose Byrne, who managed to find a level just shy of over-the-top as Spy's catty, tacky villainess. I was also pleasantly surprised by Rebecca Ferguson in Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation. In a role that was more than just a sexy sidekick, Ferguson, who was a new face to me, effortlessly held her own opposite the indomitable charisma of Tom Cruise. Sure, she could rock some stiletto heels, but she was sensible enough to remove them when the action ramped up.
But Girl Power isn't only about kicking ass and taking names, several other women impressed me with performances that conveyed immense strength of character and will (but unlike my action heroines, these actresses all got Oscar nominations): Saoirse Ronan as a quietly determined immigrant in Brooklyn, Brie Larson as a resilient young mother in Room, and Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett as women who refuse to deny their true selves in Carol.

Favorite Chameleon: Oscar Isaac in everything
In addition to his Golden Globe-winning performance in the HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero playing an ambitious, but beleaguered Yonkers politician, Oscar Isaac had several major film roles this year, each one a wildly different character. I started the year with Isaac in A Most Violent Year (technically a 2014 movie, but it didn't play in most theaters until January 2015) playing an immigrant and successful business owner who defiantly confronts his rivals and the New York D.A.'s office; then in December, I ended the year with Isaac as the coolest fighter pilot in any galaxy, Poe Dameron, in Star Wars: Episode VII-The Force Awakens. In between, he earned my vote (but sadly not the Academy's) for Best Supporting Actor as an eccentric tech billionaire who designs lifelike A.I. in Ex Machina. Was my vote swayed by his sweet dance moves? Well, they certainly didn't hurt.

Favorite Mystical Drug Dealer: Michael Shannon in The Night Before
Michael Shannon received a lot of critical praise, and a Screen Actor's Guild nomination, for his supporting performance in 99 Homes. However, I'll always have a fondness for his performance as Mr. Green, the oddly sagacious drug dealer to the three stars of the Christmas Eve comedy The Night Before. The film cleverly nods to many well-known holiday stories, like Home Alone and Die Hard; and Shannon's encounters with three friends (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie) during an evening of misadventure is reminiscent of the visits from the ghosts in A Christmas Carol and guardian angel Clarence from It's a Wonderful Life. This is a silly movie, and Shannon is clearly up for it. He brings a blend of dry humor and quiet menace to every scene. It's a small part and it wouldn't work if Shannon weren't so good.

Favorite Couple: Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson in Creed
The Class of 2015 had many memorable romances, from Eilis + Tony in Brooklyn to Melinda + Brian in Love and Mercy to Therese + Carol in Carol. However, my pick for cutest couple goes to Donnie and Bianca in Creed. Who'd have expected that the year's most effecting love story would be nestled inside the year's best boxing movie? But I suppose it's not that surprising since writer-director Ryan Coogler is a big fan of the Rocky series, which contains one of the great screen couples: Rocky and Adrian. (Not to mention Rocky and Apollo Creed.) In continuing the Rocky story, Coogler continued the tradition of underdog tales with big hearts. Jordan and Thompson are both immensely appealing performers whose scenes together capture the excitement and trepidation of new love. Donnie may be a headstrong jock, but he's also disarmingly sweet and sincere. Bianca isn't just a pretty girl watching Donnie from outside the ring; she's interesting and talented in her own right. He needs her more than she needs him; and when the climactic boxing match comes around, it's clear that Bianca is an equally important member of Donnie's inner circle as "Uncle" Rocky. (Oh, Creed, why did you only get one Oscar nomination?)

Favorite Cast in Sensible Slacks: Cast of Spotlight
The cast of Spotlight is a true ensemble with each member playing off the others flawlessly. The actors (including Michael Keaton, Live Schrieber, and Oscar-nominee Rachel McAdams) are playing real people and they feel like real people, which can't always be said of films based on true stories. Part of the realism does come from the mundane settings (offices, coffee shops, living rooms) and the gloriously accurate wardrobe (button-downs shirts, "business" slacks, and sensible shoes). An aside: I'm so used to seeing "career women" costumed and coiffed as either overly glamorous -- as if she actually has a movie star's clothing budget, style team, and 3-4 hours to get ready -- or dowdy to the point of becoming a non-sexual entity; so, seeing McAdams' exceedingly reasonable hairstyle and functional office wardrobe gave me great pleasure. Nevertheless, I give most of the credit for the film's true-to-life feeling to the measured, grounded performances of the cast. It's an important story and it's never overshadowed by a "star-turn" performance.

Best Cackling Monologue that May or May Not be True, but Ultimately is Not Important to the Movie: Samuel L. Jackson in The Hateful Eight
If you saw the film, you know which one I mean. If you didn't see the film, well, you can probably imagine what it sounded like. I didn't love this film, but I have to give respect to Jackson's facility as a storyteller. He once again shows that he is an ideal interpreter of writer-director Quentin Tarantino's idiosyncratic material.

Favorite Leading Lady: Elizabeth Banks in Love and Mercy
Love and Mercy is a unique biopic about musician Brian Wilson which moves back and forth between two crucial periods in his life -- the 1960s, around the time that Wilson masterminded the Beach Boys' seminal album Pet Sounds, and the 1980s, when his life was controlled by an exploitative therapist. It was in the '80s period that Wilson met Melinda Ledbetter, a pretty Cadillac dealer who turned out to be Wilson's salvation and eventually his wife. (They are happily married to this day.) Elizabeth Banks brings warmth, humor, maturity, and intelligence to her portrayal of Melinda. Though Melinda is a real person, her story could easily feel like melodrama because it is an improbable romance. Wilson (portrayed in this section of the film by John Cusack) is a man in the depths of mental illness, under the thumb of a shady egomaniac, who has driven away everyone who really loved him. Any woman presented with this man as a romantic prospect would be forgiven for running in the other direction, but Melinda didn't run; she chose to meet every challenge with love. The strength of Banks' performance is that she makes Melinda's choices seem plausible. Banks had a great year with a role in the final Hunger Games film, a stand-out performance in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp on Netflix, and her directorial debut with Pitch Perfect 2. However, I would place her performance in Love and Mercy as a career high-point which stands up to any of the award-winning performances from this year.

Best Pictures #16: 2015 (88th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee, Mad Max: Fury Road

by A.J.

2015 (88^th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Mad Max: Fury Road

Over the opening credits of Mad Max: Fury Road, our title character says in gravelly narration, “my world is fire and blood” and he could not be more right. Set in the same post-apocalyptic wasteland as The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, where oil, gasoline, and water are scarce, but not as scarce as civilization, this adventure finds Max (Tom Hardy—brooding and often silent) as almost a side character to the main narrative. The action really kicks off when Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) smuggles a group of women away from their captor in her massive “war rig” and is pursued by countless bad guys in suped-up weaponized vehicles—and Max is forcibly brought along for the chase. That is about all the plot there is in the screenplay written by director George Miller with Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris, but with a film as well-executed in direction, cinematography, performances, visual effects, and costume and production design as this one, that is enough.

The villain of Fury Road, Immortan Joe, (played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, who was also a villain in 1979’s Mad Max) is a cross between Darth Vader and Skeletor in appearance. He rules The Citadel with equal parts cruelty and tyranny, giving the people of The Citadel little water to live on and keeping women in a vault as his wives (or, put more bluntly, breeders). When he discovers Furiosa’s betrayal, he sets out with a massive war party, including, most memorably, a barge stacked with amplifiers and speakers and a man whose sole purpose is to play heavy metal riffs on a flame-throwing guitar. Immortan Joe’s minions are shirtless, chalk-painted men called War Boys, desperate to impress their leader and die gloriously on the Fury Road. 

Max, being “a Road Warrior searching for a righteous cause” after all, eventually decides, albeit reluctantly, to help Furiosa, but not until after they have an intense fight in the desert with the war party quickly closing in and Max chained to both a car door and a War Boy called Nux (Nicholas Hoult). However, despite Fury Road being nominally Max’s adventure, it is Furiosa’s mission which drives the story. She is our main character and Theron—who can perhaps be best described as “super badass”—is the real star and standout in this movie. Her performance is quiet, but perfectly measured; and our emotions—yes, there are emotions in Fury Road—are invested with her.

It might seem odd to call the gritty, violent, high-octane Fury Road a feminist action movie, but that argument is not a difficult one to make. Max does his fair share of driving and killing, but he does not swing in to rescue these women—they are equally his saviors. The group of young women led by Furiosa are not damsels in distress and this movie makes each of them feel like a full person and treats them accordingly. Though they are not all experienced road warriors like Furiosa, the women display other strengths like bravery and compassion. When one of the escapees, Capable (Riley Keough), finds Nux in the back of their War Rig, curled up in shame and humiliation at having failed Immortan Joe, she convinces him through gentle conversation to become an ally in their escape. Fury Road is a movie about women rescuing other women from male cruelty.

Though Fury Road is essentially one big, unrelenting chase, Miller finds ways to give the audience moments of respite and a chance to breathe. One of my favorite scenes in the movie happens when our protagonists’ flight comes to a halt. The engines of the War Rig have overheated and must cool down before they can continue, but Immortan Joe’s forces are only getting closer. Max gathers his weapons and begins to walk toward the pursuing villains. Furiosa asks, “What if you’re not back by the time the engines are cool?” Max quietly replies, “Well, you keep moving” and sets out into the blue tinged night. A battle ensues—we hear gunshots, but rather than jumping into the middle of the fight we stay with Furiosa and watch from a distance.

When watching Fury Road, you get the impression that George Miller was mostly left alone with little to no studio interference or notes from the marketing department. There are many unpleasant, grotesque images in this movie, but there are also many fascinating and exciting ones, too. The costume design, production design, makeup and hairstyling, and visual effects are all deservedly nominated for Oscars. Watching Fury Road again I noticed more and more intricate and impressive details. The score by Junkie XL was not nominated for an Oscar, but it is a great nonetheless, and used to perfection. Fury Road feels like it was a true collaboration between all of the people involved with the production both on and off camera.

This fourth installment in the Mad Max series comes 30 years after the third, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and for fans of the earlier films Fury Road does not disappoint. However, you don’t need to have seen any of the other Mad Max films to enjoy this one, since each film has its own standalone story which is explained and changed slightly at the opening of each movie. I was immensely entertained when I saw this film in theaters and again when I saw it on DVD. Everything I had enjoyed about the film the first time still had the same effect on me and my excitement for the film has not waned. This is an epic film of tremendous quality, which is usually not the case with big budget summer action movies or sequels. Fury Road is a full bore, action movie executed with noticeable care and meticulous thought at every turn.

Nominees: Doug Mitchell and George Miller, Producers

Director: George Miller

Screenplay: George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nico Lathouris

Cast: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult

Production Companies: Kennedy Miller Mitchell, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictures

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Release Date: May 15^th, 2015

Total Nominations: 10, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Director-George Miller, Cinematography-John Seale, Editing-Margaret Sixel, Production Design-Colin Gibson, Lisa Thompson, Costume Design-Jenny Beavan, Makeup and Hairstyling-Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega, Damian Martin, Sound Mixing-Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, Ben Osmo, Sound Editing-Mark A. Mangini, David White, Visual Effects- Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver, Andy Williams 

Best Pictures #15: 2015 (88th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee, The Martian

by A.J.

2015 (88^th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

The Martian

In real life, space travel is a very dangerous undertaking, but more often than not everything goes as planned. In movies, however, when characters venture into outer space, disaster is inevitable. I can’t think of any movies set in space where something does not go wrong. The Martian is no different in that respect, but in many other ways it is quite exceptional.

In the first moments of the film, the crew of Ares 3 must make an emergency evacuation from Mars as a dangerous storm heads toward their mission site. In the midst of the storm, astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is struck by flying debris and thrown far from the escape vehicle. Presuming Watney to be dead, the rest of the crew launches and begins their trip back to Earth; Watney awakes to find himself injured and alone on Mars. He makes his way back to the mission’s living habitat and immediately starts figuring out how he is going to survive on a lifeless planet with very limited supplies until the next Ares mission arrives or a rescue mission can be sent, either of which would not be possible for at least three or four years.    

Though Damon is all alone for the scenes on Mars, The Martian is not entirely a one man show like the survival films Cast Away or All is Lost. Once Watney is able to reestablish communications with NASA and let them know he is alive, we see the scientists and administrators at NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) rally to find solutions to keep Watney alive and get him home. The team on Earth is made up of a great ensemble of familiar and lesser known actors including Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Kristen Wiig, Mackenzie Davis, and Benedict Wong. We also check in with the other five members of the Ares 3 crew: Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Michael Peña, and Jessica Chastain. Jeff Daniels, as the head of NASA, and Jessica Chastain, as Ares 3’s commander, are both stand-outs playing competent, pragmatic, and decisive leaders. Between his performances in The Martian and in Steve Jobs as Apple president John Sculley (for which he should’ve received a Supporting Actor nomination), Daniels had a pretty good 2015. Chastain, no stranger to playing strong, badass characters, might be a bit young to be a mission commander, but she is completely believable as a good leader with natural authority. I know that if I were going to Mars, I’d feel secure with her as my mission commander.

What sets The Martian apart from other science fiction movies is its heavy emphasis on science. It is based on a novel by Andy Weir which began as a blog in which Weir would present a problem facing an astronaut stranded on Mars, then research and post a solution. If one of his readers noticed something was incorrect or just seemed amiss, he would go back and fix the inaccuracy. The film adaptation’s scientific accuracy has received the approval of NASA’s director of planetary science, Jim Green, and for science enthusiasts (a.k.a. geeks) like myself, this is very exciting. However, whether or not everything in the film is 100% accurate is not as important as how problem solving and the scientific method are portrayed. Each life-threatening problem that Watney faces on Mars is entirely likely and the solutions are plausible. There’s no moment where a character just tries something dangerous and hopes for the best—all the dangerous behavior in The Martian is backed up by meticulous calculations. I’ve never heard so many lines in a movie about how the math “checks out.”

Perhaps most important of all, and most accurate to real scientific problem solving, is how Watney’s rescue is a team effort. Science is about solving a problem in the best and most efficient way possible, and the characters in The Martian know that means putting several minds to work and accepting help. Watney solves the problems of living on Mars with the help of the people at NASA and JPL and uses the things left behind by his fellow crew members to help him survive (like the wood from a crucifix to start a fire). In an act of international cooperation between scientists—not governments—the head of the Chinese Space Agency volunteers their rocket booster to help send Watney a delivery of food and supplies. And it is a young, eccentric scientist working in Astrodynamics for another NASA mission (Donald Glover) who comes up with the daring plan to get Watney home.

Matt Damon has no one to act against in his scenes on Mars, but he still gives an engaging, lively performance that fills out all of his scenes and keeps the movie’s pace flowing steadily. Through his video logs he indirectly addresses the audience which is an obvious, but effective, way to engage viewers and let us know what Watney is doing and why. His scenes on Mars are compelling and funny, too—demonstrating that having a positive attitude is important to persevering through any life-or-death situation. The Martian caught a lot of flak from critics for being submitted to the Golden Globe Awards as a comedy, but it is a pretty funny movie. Watney makes jokes and wisecracks throughout the film, which Damon is great at delivering. Perhaps in addition to raising interest in science, The Martian will also make people realize that science fiction does not always have to be dark and dour.

The Martian presents science fiction in a way we rarely see done successfully: as a non-esoteric, engaging blend of real science and entertainment. I loved the pro-science message of The Martian and I hope it does get people more interested in science and the universe. I enjoyed The Martian when I saw it in theaters, but when I watched it again recently…I loved it. I wish this movie were a stronger contender for Best Picture and I think I’ll always be surprised that Ridley Scott did not receive a nomination for Best Director. Every shot of The Martian brims with serious, honest effort and execution and at the helm is Ridley Scott. Damon managed to snag an Oscar nomination for Best Actor which he is unfortunately unlikely to win, but which he completely deserves.

In Interstellar, my favorite movie of 2014, Damon played an astronaut whom others believed to represent “the best of us;” however, when put to the test, he demonstrated the worst sides of human nature. The characters in The Martian, are truly the best of us because they are able to put aside selfish impulses and rise to the occasion when a fellow human is in need. It is an ideal vision of NASA, but an immensely satisfying one. Everyone snaps into action, puts their brains to work, and sets aside self-interests—even if it means accepting help from other countries--and works together. If there ever is a manned mission to Mars, I imagine that it will bear many similarities to the expedition presented in The Martian; and hopefully, unlike the fictional mission, the real mission will be disaster-free. However, if you were stuck on Mars, you’d want people like the characters in The Martian working to keep you alive and get you home.

Nominees: Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, Mark Huffam, Producers

Director: Ridley Scott

Screenplay: Drew Goddard, based on the novel by Andy Weir

Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels

Production Companies: Scott Free Productions, Kinberg Genre, TSG Entertainment

Distributor: 20^th Century Fox

Release Date: October 2^nd, 2015

Total Nominations: 7, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actor-Matt Damon, Adapted Screenplay-Drew Goddard, Production Design-Arthur Max, Celia Bobak, Sound Mixing-Paul Massey, Mark Taylor, Mac Ruth, Sound Editing-Oliver Tarney, Visual Effects-Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence, Steven Warner 

Best Pictures #14: 2015 (88th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee, Bridge of Spies (2015)

by A.J.

2015 (88^th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Bridge of Spies (2015)

Bridge of Spies, like fellow 2015 Best Picture nominee Spotlight, is the most difficult kind of thriller to execute: a true story to which you already know the ending. Spotlight had the advantage of being a detective story in addition to being a procedural to draw the audience into the plot. Bridge of Spies is also a procedural except the main character doesn’t know what the procedure is and has to figure it out along the way. That may be shaky material to start with, but in the skilled hands at work both on and off screen the result is an excellent low-key but suspenseful Cold War thriller.  

Bridge of Spies has two distinct settings each occupying a half of the film and presenting a different challenge for our hero, insurance lawyer James Donovan, played by Tom Hanks. In New York in 1957, where the film begins, Donovan is selected by his law firm for the task of defending recently arrested Soviet spy Rudolph Abel, played by Mark Rylance. It is a thankless task since Abel certainly is a spy, but the courts and Justice Department feel it is important that Abel appear to receive a fair trial and competent defense. They want someone to give the minimum effort required. They found the wrong man for that with Donovan. Abel’s trial is just for show, but Donovan takes the case seriously saying that every person matters and everyone deserves a defense. He gives Abel a more than competent defense much to the chagrin and disdain of the judge, his firm, and anyone that recognizes him on the street. I couldn’t help but be reminded of John Adams defending British soldiers after the Boston Massacre of 1770 to prove that American justice is truly fair and impartial. I think it is safe to assume both men share the belief that everyone deserves a fair trial and capable defense.  

Hanks fits into the role of James Donovan with convincing ease and brings his everyman persona to a character that is a low key, quiet badass. In scene after scene we him doing what he does best, which is not just practicing law, but also negotiating for “his guy,” unintimidated by whoever the other person in the room is. Donovan is going to do not just what is asked of him; he is going to do what he knows is right and fair. Hanks is great at playing Donovan with believable confidence and conviction and without condescension or any hint of self-righteousness.

The second half of the film gives Donovan an even bigger, more complicated challenge and sends him to Berlin, just as final stones of the wall dividing West and East Berlin are being set in place. He is asked by the CIA, unofficially, to travel to Berlin and negotiate a trade with the Soviets: Abel for recently captured U2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down over Soviet airspace. Making things even more complicated, the East Germans have arrested an American student that was caught on the wrong side of the wall. Donovan becomes determined to get both Americans back even though he has only one Soviet spy to trade, the U.S. doesn’t acknowledge the existence of the German Democratic Republic, and the CIA has no interest in getting the student back.

Both halves of Bridge of Spies are interesting and engaging but the film feels like it really takes off once Donovan is sent to Berlin. The people and bureaucrats that he encounters, East German and Soviet alike, range from suspicious to bizarre. He has a particularly amusing encounter with the dramatically expressive East German Attorney General, and Abel’s supposed family is an odd bunch, too. Joel and Ethan Coen co-wrote the screenplay and, unintentionally or not, the Berlin scenes have the eccentric Coen Brothers feel to them. 

Tom Hanks owns every scene he has in this movie, except for those he shares with Mark Rylance. They do not have many scenes together, but are immensely entertaining to watch. Rylance, nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar, is a quiet, unassuming presence on screen and provides some unexpected wry humor. Whether we are watching Jim Donovan negotiating an impossible exchange or watching Hanks and Rylance show us more by doing less, it is always interesting to watching someone do something very well.

This may be a story about spies and the Cold War but it is much more in line with the slow burn character heavy spy stories of John le Carrè, author of the novel that was adapted into the excellent Oscar nominated film, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). Most of the action in this movie comes from people talking in rooms sizing each other up, trying to find out what the other person knows while revealing as little as possible of what they know. The tension of those interesting, suspenseful, and entertaining scenes comes from the well-written and well played characters. Human lives, more so than government secrets, are at risk, and the only person aware of that in Bridge of Spies is Donovan. He tells a Soviet representative, “We need to have the conversation that our governments can’t.”

There are several things that have to be done well for a movie like Bridge of Spies to work and, fortunately, they are all done very well. The screenplay by Matt Charman and Joel & Ethan Coen, which is deservedly Oscar nominated for Original Screenplay, provides the actors with great material to work with. The cinematography by Janusz Kaminski gives Bridge of Spies the look and feel of a noir film. The dull, muted color palette of the costumes and production design makes the New York and Berlin of the past feel genuine and real and not like an exaggerated memory.

It has been a long time since I’ve been excited to see a movie directed by Steven Spielberg, or been excited by a movie by him. Spielberg’s movies over the past ten years have been good but uneven (Lincoln, 2012, Munich, 2005) or well-made but unremarkable (War Horse, 2011). I admit that I was not excited when I saw Spielberg’s name as director for this movie, but having seen it, I’m very glad with the result. It feels clichéd but accurate to say that Bridge of Spies is a “return to form” for Spielberg; this is the kind of quality I expect from a master filmmaker like him. This is a tough story for any filmmaker to tackle, but Spielberg has shown that he is still a skilled craftsman and was the right man for the job. Bridge of Spies, the last Spielberg movie I enjoyed completely from beginning to end was The Terminal, released in 2004. That film was also the last time he worked with Tom Hanks, so I can’t help but think that they bring out the best in each other.

Nominees: Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

Director: Steven Spielberg

Screenplay: Matt Charman and Joel & Ethan Coen

Cast: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan

Production Companies: DreamWorks Pictures, Fox 2000 Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, Participant Media, TSG Entertainment, Afterworks Limited, Studio Babelsberg, Amblin Entertainment, Marc Platt Productions

Distributor: Walt Disney Studios, 20^th Century Fox

Release Date: October 16^th, 2015

Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Supporting Actor in a Supporting-Mark Rylance, Original Screenplay-Matt Charman and Joel & Ethan Coen, Production Design-Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo, Bernhard Henrich, Original Score-Thomas Newman, Sound Mixing-Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom, Drew Kunin   

Best Pictures #13: 2015 (88th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee, Spotlight (2015)

by A.J.

2015 (88^th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Spotlight (2015)

For Spotlight, the story of a real team of Boston Globe reporters who uncovered a wide-reaching child abuse scandal, the film’s greatest virtue seems to be its verisimilitude. Every review I have read by critics that either work for newspapers or have studied journalism, extolls the film’s accurate portrayal of journalists and their profession. Comparisons to Oscar-nominated All the President’s Men are ubiquitous and inevitable; both are dramatizations of true stories about journalists uncovering crimes and cover-ups involving powerful institutions. Like All the President’s Men, and two other 2015 Best Picture nominees—The Big Short and Bridge of Spies, Spotlight depicts a true story to which we already know the outcome. However, the film is so well-executed that we are right with the characters in each moment, feeling, as they do, what must happen, but unsure whether they will succeed.

Early in Spotlight, the Globe’s new editor-in-chief, Marty Baron (played with a laconic manner and inscrutable expression by Liev Schrieber) is summoned for a meet-and-greet with Cardinal Law, head of the Boston Archdiocese. Law tells him, “The city flourishes when its great institutions work together,” The Cardinal’s notion of working together implies that the Globe will protect the interests of the Church; a notion which puts Baron on guard. After reading a column about a sexually abusive Boston priest, Baron urges Walter “Robby” Robinson (Michael Keaton) to have his team of investigative reporters, known as Spotlight, make their next project about sexual abuse within the Church and the cover-up by the Archdiocese. Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Brian d’Arcy James are the three other members of the Spotlight team. The more they dig into the known cases of sexual abuse of children by priests, they quickly discover that they are not dealing with one or two isolated cases of abuse, but something far bigger and more disturbing. The frequency of the abuse, and lack of consequences for the abusers, points to an insidious cover-up, reaching all the way to Cardinal Law himself. However, the team needs hard proof to support their story and the search for that proof is where the plot of Spotlight builds its momentum.

Spotlight has an impressive cast, but the real stars of the movie are the devastating facts and the testimonials of the survivors. We follow the reporters down their investigative trail, searching through reams of papers, having conversations with lawyers and Church representatives, and tracking down survivors willing to share their stories. Court appeals to open sealed documents and searches for records in basement file cabinets are executed as engaging and suspenseful action. As reporter Sacha Pfeiffer, McAdams conducts several interviews with survivors of abuse. The scenes build slowly – the reporter knows she can’t push for answers; they have to tell their stories at their own speed. McAdams, as the stand-in for the audience, must patiently listen and these are among the most powerful and effective scenes in the film.

Every character, major and minor, feels like a real person; which is good because this story really happened to real people. Mark Ruffalo gets top billing and has received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for a performance which some feel is the best of the ensemble. With a pronounced accent and mannerisms, it is certainly the most noticeable. Even in scenes with Stanley Tucci (an actor who is always ready to steal a scene, or the entire movie) as an eccentric, sharp-tongued lawyer with crazy hair who is bringing a suit against the Church, Ruffalo somehow manages to be the showier performer. Ruffalo’s performance is not bad, but it does stick out among an ensemble of naturalistic performances. Keaton and the others seem to disappear into their roles instead of wearing them.

Tom McCarthy’s Oscar-nominated direction gives Spotlight a straightforward, but not dull, visual style. The camera and screenplay keep their focus on the characters and the investigation. This movie could have easily slipped into a series of fist-pounding speeches of righteous indignation (one scene with Ruffalo’s character that feels more obligatory than earned comes the closest) and made the Globe reporters into crusaders, but McCarthy and co-writer Josh Singer, along with the excellent ensemble, keep the tone of the movie subdued and grounded in reality.

Spotlight is smart enough to know that it doesn’t have to tell its audience when to feel frustrated, repulsed, and outraged—the facts speak for themselves. The Spotlight team naturally faces resistance from the Church and their lawyers, but, somewhat surprisingly, also from the community. Boston is a largely Catholic community after all (each of the Spotlight reporters is a lapsed Catholic); but more than that, they resist against having to acknowledge such an endemic problem exists, as if by denying the problem, they escape implication. Even the Globe staff had mishandled and buried past stories about sexual abuse by priests. One person who helped the Church cover up abuse cases says that he was just doing his job. The reporters of the Spotlight team are also just doing their jobs, and fortunately they are very good at their jobs.

Nominees: Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, and Blye Pagon Faust, Producers

Director: Tom McCarthy

Screenplay: Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer

Cast: Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams

Production Companies: Anonymous Content, First Look Media, Participant Media, Rocklin/Faust

Distributor: Open Road Films

Release Date: November 6^th, 2015

Total Nominations: 6, including Bes Picture

Other Nominations: Director-Tom McCarthy, Supporting Actor-Mark Ruffalo, Supporting Actress-Rachel McAdams, Original Screenplay-Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer, Editing-Tom McArdle