Best Pictures #103: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Killers of the Flower Moon

by A.J.

Best Pictures #103: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Killers of the Flower Moon

"Can you find the wolves in this picture?"

David Grann’s captivating nonfiction book, The Killers of the Flower Moon, about the series of murders of members of the Osage nation in Oklahoma in the 1920’s unfolds like a mystery. Director and co-writer Martin Scorsese’s epic length adaptation makes clear who the killers are right from the start. They are not masterminds—criminals in Scorsese movies rarely are—but they are white in reservation country and powerful, or close to power, and corrupt. When oil is discovered on the Osage land, its people become wealthy and make good lives for themselves. The catch is that many Osage are declared legally “incompetent” and are restricted access to their own money without a (white) guardian. Wolves in sheep's clothing circle and then the murders begin.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, a World War I veteran with a stomach injury who returns to Oklahoma looking for as little work as possible. His uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro), a wealthy and powerful cattle baron, who doesn’t mind if you call him “King'', sets him up with a job as a chauffeur, one of many who drive wealthy Osage clients. Ernest’s regular customer is Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a full blood Osage, who he falls for and eventually wins over. They marry, meaning that Mollie’s oil “headrights” will go to Ernest if she dies. If her sisters and mother die before her, their oil rights will go to Mollie then to Ernest. Uncle “King'' Hale is pleased with this.

Ernest is a different kind of role for DiCaprio, who turns in one of his best performances. Ernest has his own kind of charm and insists to his uncle that he’s not thick, but he is a dimwit. His love for Mollie seems genuine but he does not see that Hale pushed him to pursue and marry Mollie. He also has no problem following his uncle’s order to kill off certain Osage tribe members, even Mollie’s sister. His inner toil and conflict about what is happening arrives far later than they should have, in part because he is dim and in part because he doesn’t want to admit it to himself, but it makes for some strong and powerful scenes from DiCaprio. 

We spend less time with Mollie than Ernest or Hale, but she is the sympathetic center of the movie. In her early scenes she is quiet and reserved but with an easy to detect liveliness underneath. In the scenes where she must ask her banker, a proud member of the KKK, for her own money she conveys a quiet disdain and defiant dignity. She is diabetic and Hale has arranged for her to receive special insulin shots, with an extra ingredient he’s told Ernest to add. 

Why did the Osage not see that Hale was a villain? Many scenes of Killers of the Flower Moon reminded me of Henry Hill’s words in Scorsese’s Goodfellas, “...nobody ever tells you that they're going to kill you, doesn't happen that way... your murderers come with smiles, they come as your friends, the people who've cared for you all of your life.” William “King” Hale spoke Osage, knew and respected their customs, went out of his way to become involved in their lives, and even contributed $1000 to the Osage fund to investigate the killings. De Niro, giving one of his best performances in a very impressive career, is excellent as a wolf in sheep’s clothing; a gentle, avuncular personality who expressed nothing but concern and respect for his Osage neighbors while conspiring with lowlife scum to kill them. The setting and clothes are different but he is still just a greedy gangster. 

There is no way around Killers of the Flower Moon’s intimidating runtime of 3 ½ hours—actually 3 hrs 26 min but that may as well be 3 ½ hours—but it earns its epic length and uses it wisely. The murders did not happen in a spree but spread over years and we see only a handful of them. Life continues, happily even, and then one night someone is shot, then one day a woman succumbs to the “wasting sickness.” Jesse Plemons as Agent Tom White of the newly formed Bureau of Investigation—now the FBI—does not show up until just over 2 hours into the movie. His part is not big but Plemons is a welcome presence because a new chapter of the story begins and perhaps now relief is at hand.

Scorsese is synonymous with gangster movies and has been accused of glamorizing the criminal lifestyle. He has admitted that to a certain degree this is necessary to show the allure of the criminal life. However, the bulk of any of those movies is dedicated to showing that though these characters find wealth and power, and are at times relatable and even funny, they are not good people and their reckless, destructive, violent behavior was not worth anything. With his later movies like The Departed (2006), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), The Irishman (2019), and now Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Scorsese has gone out of his way to not glamourize these characters in any way at all. There is nothing appealing about De Niro’s “King” Hale; he is only a rich and endlessly greedy man. Ernest is an average guy but a puppet, not in control over anything about his life. Every other criminal they deal with, even if they are memorable–and indeed many are–they are not admirable in any way, even if they provide some dark comic relief.

The film’s epilogue, which I won’t go into detail on, is maybe the most striking and even experimental piece of filmmaking Scorsese has ever done. It is jarring and even confusing at first. The film makes a self aware and reflective comment on itself and asks the audience to do the same. The final line, spoken softly and plainly, lands like a gut punch, staying with the audience long after the credits roll. This is a difficult film, an entertaining film, a challenging film, a great film. Scorsese is a magician who, in what should be his sunset years, continues to amaze. 

Best Pictures #63: 2019 (92nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: The Irishman (I Heard You Paint Houses)

by A.J.

Best Pictures #63 
2019 (92^nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

The Irishman (I HeardYou Paint Houses)

“It’s what it is.”

Things aren’t stated directly in the mafia. They use codes and euphemisms but everyone involved understands clearly. So, when mob hitman Frank Sheeran is told by his boss and longtime friend, Russell Bufalino, “It’s what it is” about Frank’s other longtime friend and mentor, Jimmy Hoffa, his heart crumbles.  Those words signal a point of no return for everyone involved and set into motion the final hour of Martin Scorsese’s I Heard You Paint Houses, or, The Irishman. It is also the most poignant and compelling hour of filmmaking of any film I saw from 2019. The proceeding two and a half hours, also excellently done, bring the total runtime to 3hours 29minutes. This is Scorsese’s longest film, and, also, one of the best films in the career of one of, if not the, greatest living film directors.

We learn from an elderly Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), narrating his life story from a nursing home, that a “house painter” is mafia code for a hit man. De Niro’s narration is quiet and full of reflection and regret. He isn’t narrating so much as confessing. He tells an unseen listener about a road trip he and Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) took with their wives to attend a wedding, but the real reason for the road trip was “business.” The story of the road trip acts a spring board to flashback to the 1950’s when Frank went from a union truck driver looking to make extra money to a “house painter” to bodyguard and friend of Teamsters Union president, Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).

The screenplay, adapted by Steve Zaillian from the book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, allows the characters to build their personalities and inner lives through small moments like conversations in cars or restaurants. The back and forth between the actors bring the characters and the movie to life. There are several scenes that are as tense as they are entertaining, especially Hoffa’s meeting with a rival in the teamsters, who arrives late and wearing shorts. It’s the kind of scene that Scorsese specializes in.

De Niro gives one of his best and most “Robert DeNiro” performances. Narration aside, he says as little as he can with as few words as he can, even then stammering over phrases. Emotion is just below the surface of a quiet, stony exterior. Joe Pesci comes out of retirement to give one of his best and most unexpected performances. Unlike the hot head tough guy characters he is most famous for, Pesci as Bufalino is a calm tough guy. He never has an outburst or raises his voice but his aura is no less intimidating. Here, Pesci tries to mediates potentially violent situations. He asks an agitated Hoffa if there’s “another reason” for his actions in such a calm and inoffensive tone you get the feeling that Pesci’s version of Bufalino would have been a good therapist or marriage counselor. Al Pacino is over the top as Jimmy Hoffa but his acting style works because the real-life Hoffa was an outspoken, flamboyant, larger than life personality (Jack Nicholson’s performance as Hoffa in Danny DeVito’s film, Hoffa, is among his most ostentatious). Harvey Keitel, who starred in Scorsese’s first film has a small part as the mafia boss, Angelo Bruno. He sits like a king in his restaurant booth exuding a cool but threatening presence.

The digital de-aging of the actors to make them look up to 30 years younger than their actual ages works well enough; it helps that their ages are never specified. As an effect, the de-aging is far from convincing but not very distracting, except for one shot where young Joe Pesci’s face appears to be floating over his body. The overall effect, however, is no different than dying their hair darker. However, the performances do feel richer for having the same actors in the same roles throughout the film.

Films like Mean Streets, Goodfellas, and Casino (featuring Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci) have made Scorsese synonymous with the modern gangster picture. Each of those films glamorized the criminal life to a certain extent to show its insidious appeal. There is not a bit of glamour to be found in The Irishman. There is no luxury or appeal to Frank’s lifestyle. When not carrying out hits or driving a truck across the country, he acts as a go-between for Hoffa and the mob bosses trying to diffuse potentially dangerous situations.

The Irishman is an epic film. It sprawls not over picturesque landscapes but a life in crime. It feels episodic, any complete life story would, but it flows smoothly. The doo-wop song “In the Still of the Night” by The Five Satins opens the film and plays more like a dirge than a pop song. It sets the tone for the film perfectly. The brilliant score by Robbie Robertson feels like it grew out of the film’s contemplative, somber tone. This story explores what it means to survive a life of crime and what it leaves a person with. Frank entered the criminal world to make more money to take care of his family, but there are tellingly few scenes of Frank with his family. What was it all for?

This is a long movie and it feels like a long movie—I won’t argue that—but it is also thoroughly engrossing. I was completely immersed in these lives and this world without ever wanting to be a part of them. The first two-thirds of the film builds up emotions so subtly that you are taken by surprise and overwhelmed when those emotions come into play in the final act. When Frank and Bufalino go to prison, the film doesn’t jump over their sentence, we stay with them. Scorsese knows that the real power of this story is to stay with Frank as an old man instead of using a montage or epilogue cards. This biopic of Frank Sheeren is a sad, tragic movie, but it is so well executed cinematically and emotionally that it is a joy to watch. I was reminded of a quote from the great critic Roger Ebert, “No great movie is depressing. All bad movies are depressing”

Nominees: Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Emma Tillinger Koskoff

Director: Martin Scorsese

Screenplay: Steven Zaillian, based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt

Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci

Production Companies: TriBeCa Productions, Sikelia Productions, Winkler Films

Distributor: Netflix

Release Date: November 1^st, 2019

Total Nominations:10, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Director-Martin Scorsese; Supporting Actor-Al Pacino; Supporting Actor-Joe Pesci; Adapted Screenplay-Steven Zaillian; Cinematography-Rodrigo Prieto; Costume Design-Christopher Peterson, Sandy Powell; Production Design-Bob Shaw, Regina Graves; Film Editing-Thelma Schoonmaker; Visual Effects-Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda, Stephane Grabli

Best Pictures #59: 2019 (92nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Joker

by A.J.

Best Pictures #59 
2019 (92^nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Joker

“What kind of clown carries a fucking gun?”

The definition of bad taste is having your hero, or anti-hero in this case, who suffered severe trauma and abuse as a child, have his triumphant moment set to “Rock and Roll Part 2,” the most famous song by Gary Glitter. Of course, long before then you’ll know that Joker has no taste, no heart, and no brain. That wouldn’t be so bad if the film didn’t present itself as though it had meaningful subtext or social commentary. Instead this film thinks it is being edgy and shocking when it is actually so plainly mean and cruel and joyless that I found myself wanting to watch A Clockwork Orange as an antidote. This is a meanspirited film with no redeeming qualities, not even Joaquin Phoenix’s performance. Yes, it is a good performance, and at this point Phoenix is a lock to win the Best Actor Oscar, but, frankly, I’m not surprised that an actor willing to sacrifice his career to make a fake documentary about becoming a rap star, I'm Still Here, gives a fully committed performance. That’s just what Joaquin Phoenix does.

Todd Phillips, who previously directed comedies like Old School and The Hangover, said in an interview with Vanity Fair that he cannot make comedies like he used to because of the current “woke culture.” With that mindset he co-wrote and directed an origin story about Batman’s most formidable villain, the Joker. This supposedly standalone film tells the story of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a working-class clown (literally) that is constantly treated poorly by everyone he encounters, humiliated, and even randomly beaten. Still, he dreams of being a comedian and meeting his idol, late night talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro). His shut-in mother, Penny (Frances Conroy) is the only warmth he experiences, but it turns out she has been hiding dark secrets from him.

In addition to being meanspirited and misguided, Joker is also totally tone deaf. People of color are well represented in this version of Gotham: Arthur is senselessly beaten by a gang of Latino youths, his black female social worker is ineffectual, another black civil service worker won’t help Arthur learn about his past, and a black woman on the bus and a black co-worker are just flat out rude to him. The one person of color kind to Arthur is his neighbor, played by Zazie Beetz, but her role is not what it seems and her fate, and the fate of her child, are left to grim implications. Of course, all of the white characters are also mean, rude, or obstacles for Arthur. The one decent person in the whole movie is Gary (Leigh Gill), a little person that works with Arthur at the clown precinct (complete with lockers and a punch card timeclock), but he is also the target of cruel jokes about his size both from other characters and the movie itself. Phillips’s gripe with “woke culture” casts an extra dark pall over all of this.

After Arthur loses his job and government funded medications for his mental illness, he reaches his breaking point when three Wall Street types beat him after menacingly singing “Send in the Clowns” at him. He shoots and kills them and the mysterious vigilante clown becomes an urban folk hero for some reason. The violent mob of “protesters” wearing clown masks he inspires consists of mostly, if not entirely, angry men. I’m not sure what to make of the one we see carrying a sign that says “RESIST” just before young Bruce Wayne’s parents are murdered in front of him. That mob, angry at the wealthy, is reminiscent of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but that’s just one example of several potentially provocative points that the movie introduces and never follows up on.

If the standup comedy/talk show element sounds familiar that’s because it is straight out of Martin Scorsese’s King of Comedy, which starred Robert De Niro as a hack wannabe comedian obsessed with a late-night talk show host. If the working-class vigilante that has had it with the scum of the city sounds familiar that’s because it is the basic plot of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, also starring Robert De Niro. Those movies featured anti-heroes with skewed perspectives on what they see every day, but unlike Joker those films take place in something resembling the real world. Scorsese lets us know that the world of those characters exists in a larger world to which they are not tuned in.

Joker establishes firmly that its main character is someone with a serious mental illness that is not able to get the help he needs. When this character turns violent it should feel tragic but instead it is played as though this is a justified climatic triumph. This is an irresponsible and reprehensible film to say the least. Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange is perfect example of a film about an ultra-violent, mentally disturbed anti-hero that successfully presents provocative and challenging ideas about society, civility, and free will. To sum up, I’ll paraphrase the great critic Gene Siskel, which I think is only appropriate since Joker borrows so much from other films: Joker has the distinction of being one of the vilest and most contemptible films I’ve seen. This is a hateful movie. I want to hate it back but that means letting the Joker win, and as Batman said in The Dark Knight, “the Joker cannot win.”

Nominees: Todd Phillips, Bradley Cooper, Emma Tillinger Koskoff

Director: Todd Phillips

Screenplay: Todd Phillips & Scott Silver , based on characters created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert DeNiro, Zazie Beetz

Production Companies: Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, Joint Effort, Bron Creative, Village Roadshow Pictures

Distributor: Warner Bros Pictures

Release Date: October 4^th, 2019

Total Nominations: 11, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Director-Todd Phillips; Actor-Joaquin Phoenix; Adapted Screenplay-Todd Phillips, Scott Silver; Cinematography-Lawrence Sher; Costume Design-Mark Bridges; Makeup and Hairstyling-Nicki Ledermann, Kay Georgiou; Original Score-Hildur Guðnadóttir; Editing-Jeff Groth; Sound Mixing-Tom Oanich,Dean A. Zupancic, Tod A. Maitland; Sound Editing-Alan Robert Murray

Classic Movie Picks: May 2013

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

5/8, 8 PM & 11:30 PM - Don't Say No Until I've Finished Talking: The Story of Richard Zanuck (2013)
The latest TCM original documentary takes on producer Richard Zanuck, son of 20th Century Fox studio mogul Darryl F. Zanuck. The younger Zanuck was Fox studio president in the 1960, and well-regarded producer in his own right. Under Richard's tenure the studio produced Best Picture winners The Sound of Music, Patton, and The French Connection; it also turned out legendary flops like Dr. Doolittle and Star!, which led to his being fired...by his father Darryl. Richard was an independent producer from the 1970s until his death in 2012, bringing to the screen Jaws, The Sting, Cocoon, and Driving Miss Daisy. With such a distinguished career to cover, not to mention Zanuck's family legacy in Hollywood, this doc should have some interesting tidbits about "the biz".

5/20: Spy Spoofs
From a 21st century filmgoer's perspective, the early James Bond films can sometimes seem like a parody of 1960s culture all on their own. However, at the time, Bond was definitely more cool than kitsch. Dr. No, starring Sean Connery as Bond, hit theatres in 1963 and almost immediately inspired a new genre of secret agent comedies which served their martinis with a wink and tongue planted firmly in cheek.
8 PM - Our Man Flint (1965) - Probably the best-remembered film in the genre, this one stars James Coburn as American secret agent Derek Flink.
10 PM - The Silencers (1965) - Dean Martin had his own franchise starring as suave super-spy Matt Helm which included this film and Murderer's Row.
11:45 PM - Murderer's Row (1966)
1:45 AM - Carry on Spying (1964) - This entry in the British Carry On... series of B-movies may have contained the first Bond parody.
3:30 AM - Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) - The Goldfoot films are mash-ups of three 1960s genres -- beach party movie, spy parody, and horror-comedy -- starring Vincent Price as the super-villain of the title. Frankie Avalon plays Price's secret agent foil in the first film, while Fabian fills the role in the sequel.
5:15 AM - Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966)

5/22, 12:30 AM - True Confessions (1981)
I'm curious about this neo-noir based on the infamous Black Dahlia murder case. Not because of the mystery -- the Black Dahlia case remains unsolved, after all -- but because it was the first time Robert Duvall and Robert DeNiro shared the screen (The Godfather: Part II doesn't count because they had zero scenes together). Duvall plays a police detective investigating the murder of a prostitute with ties to prominent Los Angeles businessmen, as well as to his own brother, played by DeNiro, a monsignor supervising several generously funded church building projects. Both actors were at the top of their careers -- DeNiro had just won the Best Actor Oscar for Raging Bull and Duvall would soon win for 1983's Tender Mercies -- so why have I never heard of this movie? We'll see...

5/28, 8 PM - Hard Times (1975)

There was only one Jimmy Stewart, but at the same time there was also Henry Fonda and Gary Cooper. There was only one William Powell, too, but then you also had Melvyn Douglas and Don Ameche. Charles Bronson, though, was a singular presence in his era. I can't think of any contemporary who had quite the same quality. He certainly didn't have the look of a leading man, like co-stars Steve McQueen or Yul Brynner. With his round head, exceedingly lined face, and eyes hidden by a perpetual squint, Bronson sort of resembled a compressed Clark Gable. Then there was his athletic body. Sporting the sort of extreme muscle tone that was not yet de rigueur for all male action stars, Bronson often played the heavy or strong-man type. After notable performances in the ensembles of The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen, and The Magnificent Seven, he achieved worldwide stardom in the 70s with a string of violent, though simplistic, thrillers including The Mechanic and Death Wish. In the midst of those films, however, he got the chance to play a more complex character in Hard Times, the first feature by writer-director Walter Hill. Here Bronson plays a drifter during the Great Depression who gets by as a bare-knuckle boxer. He's surrounded by a strong supporting cast which includes James Coburn, Strother Martin, and Bronson's real-life wife Jill Ireland. TCM is showing the film as part of its Tuesday night spotlight of classic "tough guys" on film and I agree that Bronson deserves his place among other tough guy icons like Robert Mitchum and John Garfield. (Today, an actor who reminds me a bit of Bronson is Daniel Craig in a film like Munich or Defiance; however, it's an indicator of how much times have changed that someone with Bronson-like grit and physicality is now also portraying James Bond. Can you imagine Roger Moore as a street fighter?) 

BONUS: 5/14, 3:15 AM - The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
This thriller set on the NYC subway is scheduled late night after the Tuesday "tough guys"  programming in prime time and I think it fits the evening's theme, too. Though I'm not sure who's tougher -- Walter Matthau as a veteran transit officer or Robert Shaw as the leader of a gang of train hijackers.

Friday Night Spotlight: Second Looks
This month-long series programmed by actress & filmmaker Ileana Douglas features movies which weren't enthusiastically received at time of their release, but warrant a revisit for one reason or another. I'm interested to see Top Banana (1954) starring Phil Silvers on 5/17 and The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945) starring Jack Benny on 5/10; Silvers and Benny were two extremely popular comics who conquered just about every other medium -- radio, stage, TV -- but neither had much of a film career despite their talent.

However, the real story here is that A New Leaf is finally being shown on TCM! Sure, Ileana  picked it, but I like to think that my consistent mentions of this 1971 film by writer-director Elaine May made a difference, too. Consider this: in a July 2010 post about Walter Matthau's hilarious performance as a spoiled golddigger, I complained that A New Leaf was not available on DVD; then, a mere 2 years and 2 months later, the film came out on DVD (which I celebrated alongside the September 2012 classic movie picks)! Of course, it still hadn't been shown on TCM. And so I began my imaginary letter-writing campaign (it works sort of like The Secret) to get this darkly comic romance into its rightful place in the TCM rotation. Now, seven months after my first victory, I've done it again! So, on 5/31 at 8 PM, I'll be toasting the TCM premiere of A New Leaf!

Cheers!