My Favorite Performances of 2012

by Lani

From where I sit, it hasn't been a great year for movies. There have been plenty that I liked, just read our Best of 2012, So Far post from July for proof. Unfortunately, I had a much harder time adding to the list in the second half of the year. None of the big fall releases brought me as much enjoyment as Bernie or 21 Jump Street (with great performances by Jack Black and Channing Tatum, respectively). However, I did admire individual performances by Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Denzel Washington, Joaquin Phoenix, Hugh Jackman, and Anne Hathaway, among others. I've compiled a list of some of my favorite performances of the year, but I won't be talking about the actors already mentioned. They have Oscar nominations and Golden Globes; they're doing fine. This time I've focused on the actors and performances who will not be getting much recognition this awards season.

Favorite Tom Hardy Performance: Tom Hardy, The Dark Knight Rises
I promise it only seems like I am the president of the Tom Hardy fan club. He's not even my favorite actor, but he manages to impress me year after year. In 2012, Hardy appeared in a few duds -- the unappealing romantic-comedy This Means War and dull moonshiner drama Lawless -- but his high-profile role as the villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises was a winner. Hardy and director Christopher Nolan received criticism from audiences because Bane's face was covered by a mask and his voice slightly muffled. I had no trouble hearing his dialogue, delivered in a voice suggesting Sean Connery crossed with Yoda, and thought his voice work expressed enough personality to overcome the barrier of the mask. And because he wears that mask, Hardy also uses body language to convey the character; his menacing swagger isn't just because he has a bulked-up body. Compare the physicality of Bane to Hardy's character in last year's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy -- spy Ricki Tarr was softer, more fluid. Or, in Lawless, as a man "who can't be killed" Hardy becomes increasingly stiff and immobile as his character sustains more and more near-fatal injuries. Which reminds me that Hardy's biggest triumph this year may actually be how in Lawless he manages to look extremely tough despite a wardrobe filled with cardigans.

Favorite Suicidal Adultress: Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea
This year brought two eerily similar stories of unhappy wives to the screen. Set among the opulent aristocracy of tsarist Russia, Anna Karenina was lovely to look at, but too chaotic to allow the stories to resonate -- which is a shame since Keira Knightley can wear the heck out of a fur hat. In the surely Karenina-inspired The Deep Blue Sea, the atmosphere is bleak, tweedy post-WWII England, but human nature hasn't changed. Rachel Weisz's performance garnered praise from critics when the film was released, but she's been overlooked for the major awards. Like Karenina, Weisz's Hester Collyer is driven mad by her passion for a young lover; however, Hester is still capable of some measure of British restraint. She is all plaintive neediness, quiet desperation, and blind love.

Favorite Ringer: Colm Wilkinson, Les Misérables
Les Misérables had many good performers (Eddie Redmayne, Anne Hathaway, Samantha Barks, and Aaron Tveidt among then), but they were let down by poor directing choices and a screenplay which left little room for context. Hugh Jackman was particularly well-cast as Jean Valjean, 19th century French superhero (he has the strength of 4 men, but no adamantium skeleton), finally breaking his streak of movies-I-don't-want-to-see. His Oscar-nominated performance is a worthy addition to the Valjean pantheon and was usually the best part of any given scene. However, in an early scene between Valjean and a kind bishop I found myself thinking, "This guy is killing it as the bishop! What a voice -- who is this guy?" Of course, it was Colm Wilkinson, the original Valjean on Broadway and the West End. Of course, he killed it. That's kind of his thing.




Supporting Performance Which Needs Its Own Movie: James Spader, Lincoln 
As Lincoln continues to receive praise (it's looking like the front-runner for Best Picture at the Oscars), I've yet to hear any acknowledgement for the film's most interesting, most alive performance: James Spader as Mr. Bilbo, a "gentleman from Albany" called down to D.C. to broker some back-room deals. Would the film have been 10 times better if Bilbo had been the main character? No. It would have been 100 times better.
Drunkenly luxuriating behind a greasy mustache and rumpled clothes, Bilbo stands out among the stiff collars of Washington, yet effortlessly speaks the local language of bribery and extortion. Spader is the only actor here who seems to feel at ease in his own skin; the difference between Bilbo and his two fellow wheeler-dealers, played by the usually fine John Hawkes and Tim Blake Nelson, is striking. Hawkes and Nelson are achingly dull and often look unsure of why they are even in the movie. If I were to learn that Hawkes and Nelson were forced to perform at gunpoint (likely by Spader), I would not be at all surprised. I don't give a hoot about the new Hobbit trilogy, Spader is the only Bilbo I want to see more of.

More Please?
Kerry Washington proved to be a woman worth fighting for as Broomhilda in Django Unchained, too bad it was such a small part. Perhaps the next chapter of the Django series could show Django and Broomhilda on adventures together. I know Tarantino is capable of writing a strong female character, a la Jackie Brown or The Bride. Unfortunately, he says he's retiring from making movies...
Alicia Vikander was also shortchanged by Anna Karenina. The sweet, evolving love story between Kitty (played by Vikander) and Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) serves as a counterpoint to the intensely passionate affair of Anna and Vronsky -- at least it's meant to, if one bothers to put it in the screenplay. With a bit more screen time this could have been a star-making role for Vikander.

Rookie of the Year: Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi
It's not a spoiler to say that the majority of this film follows the teenaged Pi, played by Sharma, shipwrecked in the Pacific, alone, but for a Bengal tiger. Since the tiger was created through special effects, Sharma was truly alone on that boat acting opposite air - a difficult job for any actor. At least Tom Hanks had a real volleyball to talk to in Cast Away. So I was shocked to learn that this was Sharma's first movie role. Was he perfect? No, but it was a fine debut.

My Favorite Performances of 2010

by Lani

The Golden Globes will be given out this Sunday. As every year, some of the nominations are a bit mystifying (was The Tourist supposed to be a comedy?), but I was happy to see that a few of my favorite films of 2010, like Inception and The Social Network, are in the running. The arrival of award season always inspires "best of" lists, and I am not immune. Since I have not seen every notable film of the year, rather than make a list of the best films of 2010 I have been thinking about which individual performances made the biggest impressions on me. Here's my list of favorites (not necessarily the best), in no particular order:

Tom Hardy, Inception
One thing I'm sure of after watching Inception? You don't want to be in a scene with Tom Hardy - that is, unless you're okay with him stealing it right out from under you. Hardy plays Eames, a "forger" recruited for Leonardo DiCaprio's dream-team. But he isn't there to make fake passports; within a dream, people can be forgeries, too. Among a cast with charisma to spare, Hardy was the standout for me.

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Jesse Eisenberg is not an actor whom I would usually describe as having an expressive face, but this trait is to his advantage in the role of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, a character who keeps his emotions and motivations largely to himself. But then, with slightest curl of his upper lip, Eisenberg conveyed operatic levels of bitterness, contempt, and betrayal. If there were an award for best lip-acting of 2010, Eisenberg would be a lock.

Armie Hammer, The Social Network
In The Social Network, director David Fincher used cutting-edge technology to create the characters of identical twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss by filming actor Armie Hammer opposite a body double, Josh Pence, then digitally grafting Hammer's face onto Pence's body. The effect is seamless, but it works so well because Hammer makes each of the brothers a distinct, separate character - allowing the audience to just believe him when he says "I'm six-five, 220 pounds, and there are two of me!"

Kim Hye-Ja, Mother
Though she has been acting in South Korean film and TV for 30 years, Kim Hye-Ja was basically unknown to American audiences until her starring role in director Bong Joon-Ho's noirish suspense film, Mother. As a single mother determined to clear her adult son of a murder charge, she is engaging and exasperating from minute to minute. She faces the world with an expression of innocence and naivete, but by the end of the film you wonder just how much she has chosen to forget.

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
I praised Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams a couple of months ago, and despite all the great films I've seen since then, their performances as the troubled couple at the center of Blue Valentine are still at the top of my list. As Roger Ebert noted in his review of the film, it is one thing for an actor to age onscreen from 24 to 60 - old-age makeup and physical tricks can do a lot of the work. It is much more difficult to show someone at 24 and then at 30. The physical differences are subtle, the real changes occur within. Critics have been singling-out Williams's performance, and I would love to see her win an Oscar for it; however, I can't help thinking of Gosling and Williams as a unit - one performance couldn't exist without the other.

James Franco, 127 Hours
As with Williams and Gosling, I have praised James Franco in a previous posting, but this list would not be complete without mention of his intense portrayal of a hiker stuck between a rock and a hard place in 127 Hours. After his hilarious role in The Pineapple Express (2008), an impressive supporting performance in Milk (2009), and this one-man showcase - I am convinced that Franco can play anything and I can't wait to see his next film.

Honorable Mention: Rosamund Pike, An Education and Made in Dagenham
An Education is technically a 2009 film, but I didn't see it until February 2010, which makes Rosamund Pike's performance as dumb blonde, Helen my first "favorite" of the year. The character is meant to be a contrast to the precocious, plain Jenny (played by Carey Mulligan); but Pike took what could have been a stock "bimbo" role and made her more surprising, warm, and real than I ever expected. Later in the year, I took notice of Pike again in a small, but memorable role as an upper class housewife who befriends a striking auto worker (Sally Hawkins) in Made in Dagenham.

Others of note: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone; John Hawkes, Winter's Bone; Hilary Swank, Conviction; Sam Rockwell, Conviction; Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech; Emma Watson, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Awards Season Has Begun!

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association hands out the Golden Globe Awards this Sunday and the two of us behind Cinema Then and Now will be watching! Below, we discuss our personal favorites and make some predictions about who will actually win.
Check out the full list of nominations here: http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/

Best Picture - Drama
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Up in the Air

Best Picture - Comedy or Musical
(500) Days of summer
The Hangover
It’s Complicated
Julie & Julia
Nine

AJ: Well, if I were picking for Best Comedy I would go with (500) Days of Summer.

Lani: A film which you liked a lot more than I did!

AJ: For me it hits every note needed to be an exciting, original, entertaining movie. The time-jumping structure has been used before, specifically in Two For the Road, but it's used effectively and properly to tell the story, not just for show. It's a very romantic comedy that can be enjoyed and by couples and singles, heartbroken or not.

Lani: Honestly, none of the nominees in the comedy category seem especially worthy, though I did enjoy The Hangover and the Julia part of Julie & Julia, so I have no horse in this race.

AJ: For the Drama category, I don’t know. It’s between Inglourious Basterds and Up in the Air. I guess I’d go with Inglourious Basterds, because I just really liked it. It was not the movie I was expecting to to see, but I was very satisfied with the film I did see. Up in the Air was really good, but not as original in execution and its story, though it does manage to stay away from a typical ending. However, I think Precious or Avatar has a better chance of winning. Everyone’s so jazzed about Avatar, they’ve convinced themselves it’s a good movie.

Lani: I think it’s probably a race between Avatar and The Hurt Locker. I haven’t seen The Hurt Locker, but it is almost surely a better film than Avatar. My opinion of Avatar, beyond the special effects, which aren’t that important to me anyway, is pretty low.

AJ: I think the Comedy/Musical category is always more interesting than Drama. Movies like The Hangover, which is a really funny comedy, can get recognized when they probably wouldn’t otherwise. Although it seems like whatever musical is released that year gets nominated, no matter how bad a film it is.

Best Animated Film
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
Up

Lani: For Best Animated Film it has to be Up.

AJ: Yeah, it has to be. I would really like Fantastic Mr. Fox to win because it was a really good movie, which just happened to be animated, but Up was the best movie of the year.

Lani: There were a lot of quality animated films this year, but Up was so excellent it seems the other films have no chance of winning.

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
James Cameron - Avatar
Clint Eastwood - Invictus
Jason Reitman - Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

AJ: I guess I would also give “Best Director” to Quentin Tarantino because I really liked what he did with Inglourious Basterds, the approach he took. He was able to let long scenes play out without losing the tension and suspense, and he kept a balance between those scenes and the action sequences. I like Jason Reitman’s movies, but I don’t think his directing style is all that original or noteworthy.

Lani: And I think Up in the Air really succeeds on the basis of performances and timely material rather than Reitman’s direction. I feel like the instances when his directing seemed evident were the weaker moments, for example I thought there was a creepy vibe between Anna Kendrick’s character and her boss played by Jason Bateman, which I’m sure was unintentional. If I was directing that scene I would never have let her rub his shoulders!

AJ: If there was an award for “Best Hard-worker” then I would give it the James Cameron. Avatar was a technical achievement, but it just wasn’t a great movie.

Lani: Unfortunately, I don’t think Kathryn Bigelow has a chance. Her film is recognized by many critics as the best of the year, but I’m skeptical if it will win any awards this year since it was not widely seen.

Best Actor - Drama
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Tobey Maguire - Brothers

Best Actor - Comedy/Musical
Matt Damon - The Informant!
Daniel Day-Lewis - Nine
Robert Downey, Jr. - Sherlock Holmes
Joseph Gordon-Levitt - (500) Days of Summer
Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man

AJ: Here's a good example of what I mean by the Comedy category being more interesting than the Drama category: Robert Downey, Jr., one of the best actors around, is nominated for playing Sherlock Holmes. He was good in the role and very likable, but at what other awards event would that performance get a nomination? For “Best Actor” in a drama, I'd pick Jeff Bridges. I think he’s a really good actor and in this film, as in most of his other films, you don’t see him acting, it all feels very natural.

Lani: I agree, his performance seemed very effortless. Bridges is definitely the frontrunner. Clooney could be recognized, but, ironically, I think the perception is that his performance was less difficult to pull off, as if he was relying on his natural charm, rather than transforming into a different person like Bridges did. What's funny to me is that in a hypothetical situation, Morgan Freeman portraying Nelson Mandela would seem like a lock for best actor awards. In reality, though, he’s playing Mandela in a movie which doesn’t really address the meatier aspects of Mandela’s life, so it’s not a very memorable role. I liked Invictus, but it was more of a sports movie than a movie about Mandela.

Best Actress - Drama
Emily Blunt - The Young Victoria
Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious

Best Actress - Comedy/Musical
Sandra Bullock - The Proposal
Marion Cotillard - Nine
Julia Roberts - Duplicity
Meryl Streep - It’s Complicated
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

AJ: I really don’t have anything to say about the “Best Actress” categories. I think picking the winner from this list of names is like a crapshoot. I don't even have an idea for who "should" win.

Lani: Well, I think Meryl Streep’s performance in Julie & Julia deserves recognition. Though her character was based on a real person, it could easily have become a caricature, with the funny accent, odd physicality, and large personality. But the performance was so natural; she did seem like a real person with real motivations and relationships.

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon - Invictus
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Penélope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Mo’Nique - Precious
Julianne Moore - A Single Man

Lani: In the supporting actor and actress categories, I’d say Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique are the frontrunners. I think Waltz is definitely deserving, his performance really carries the film for me, more so than the sequences with the Basterds. As far as supporting actress, if Mo’Nique does not win then I hope that Vera Farmiga gets the award. She took a character which doesn’t seem like a lot on paper and made her a real person. She and Clooney achieved such a natural rapport in their scenes together, it made Anna Kendrick’s performance seem forced.

AJ: Christoph Waltz should get the recognition here. He's given one of the best performances of the year. My only problem is that he's nominated in the supporting category though he carries the weight of the film. Anyone who has seen Inglourious Basterds knows that he's the star of the movie, not Brad Pitt, not just in a show-stealing way (which it is) but also in terms of who the movie concerns itself with.

Well, we will see if our predictions are correct Sunday night!

Gone With the Wind at 70

Yesterday marked the 70th anniversary of the premiere of Gone With the Wind. Earlier in the week, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled "Why We Give a Damn About Scarlett," which described the film's enduring popularity and the conflicted emotions it has inspired.

I must admit that my appreciation for this film grows upon each viewing. The first time I saw it was in elementary school; for some reason my classmates and I were required to watch it. It took two days. After the first day, I dreaded watching the second half of the film because I hated Scarlett. She was such a horrible brat, I couldn't understand why Rhett, Melanie, and the others kept hanging around her. After this viewing experience, I decided that I hated Gone With the Wind.

However, subsequent viewings have allowed me to see past the brattiness and appreciate Scarlett's full character, as well as the subtleties of the story. However, her single-minded pursuit of Ashley Wilkes continues to vex me, no matter how many times I've seen it. As the film apporaches the end of its running time, without fail I will start to think, "Surely she has gotten over this Ashley fixation by now." Then, she approaches him in the lumber office with that intense look in her eye and I have to exclaim, "Still?!" I suppose this reaction illustrates how powerfully the film draws in even the casual viewer. Despite a 4 hour running time, once I've started I find it hard not to watch the whole thing.

Will any films from 2009 be so well remembered 70 years from now? My personal experience has been that this was not a great year for the movies; and it certainly can't hold a candle to 1939, when Gone With the Wind as well as many other classics were released. The 2009 Golden Globe nominations were also announced this week, and just looking over the list of nominated films proves that this was a year of slim pickings. I hate to make lofty predictions, but I doubt we'll be celebrating the anniversary of It's Complicated in 70 years.