And the nominees are...

It has been quite a while since I last posted here. I have been trying to think of a new direction, a fresh take on the whole movie blog thing. While I haven’t come up with a long term solution I thought the movie awards season would be a good time to reemerge as a movie blogger.

What I want to do is give my take on who I think the nominees for best picture will be this year. The way I’ll go about doing that is I will explain a little bit about the process and then give my predictions. From there I will give a more detailed explanation as to why I chose what I did. I figure some of you may just be interested in the pure meat of who I think is going to be nominated and others of you might want to read more into the process. I had a lot of fun taking the afternoon to work through this so I hopefully you will find the process insightful. 

Here it goes...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

2010, Rated PG-13, 146 Minutes, Directed by David Yates, Produced by Lionel Wigram, Screenplay by Steve Kloves based on the novel by J.K. Rowling, Cinematography by Eduardo Serra, Original Music by Alexandre Desplat

With: Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Rupert Grind (Ron Weasley), Alan Rickman (Severus Snape), Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange)

I left the theater feeling slightly disappointed; part one of the most successful franchise in history had left me wanting so much more. It often felt slow and more introspective than the in your face adventure you might expect from Harry and his friends trying to save the wizarding world, no, all of humanity from the evil exploits of Lord Voldemort. As time wore on, however, I grew to appreciate the finer qualities of the film and even more the finer qualities of the story itself. Rowling’s story, Kloves screenplay and Yates movie proved itself to be a thoroughly satisfying penultimate film in the Harry Potter series.

The Young Victoria

2010, Rated PG, 105 minutes, Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, Written by Julian Fellowes, Produced by Colin Vaines, Cinematography by Hagen Bogdanski, Original Music by Hagen Bogdanski

With: Emily Blunt (Queen Victoria), Rupert Friend (Prince Albert), Paul Bettany (Lord Melbourne), Miranda Richardson (Duchess of Kent), Jim Broadbent (King William), Mark Strong (Sir John Conroy)

“Some palaces are not what you think. Even a palace can be a prison” says Victoria. The Young Victoria takes the same imprisoned tone in its depiction of Queen Victoria’s life (at least the young part of it) except, instead of the dark dungeons of the standard 18th century prisons, the prisons are instead lavishly opulent castle with intricately detailed costumes instead of the normal scraps of clothing. What makes it more prison like however is the lack of detail and development in the story. The Young Victoria is an excellent movie to see but not nearly as exciting to listen to.

The Town

2010, Rated R, 123 minutes, Directed by Ben Affleck, Written by Peter Craig, Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard, Produced by Basil Iwanyk and Graham King, Cinematography by Robert Elswit, Original Music by David Buckley and Harry Gregson-Williams.

With: Ben Affleck (Doug MacRay), Rebecca Hall (Claire Keesey), Jon Hamm (FBI S.A. Adam Frawley), Jeremy Renner (James Coughlin), Blake Lively (Krista Coughlin), Titus Welliver (Dino Ciampa), Pete Postlethwaite (Fergie), Chris Cooper (Stephen MacRay)

Audiences are thrust right into the heat of the moment as the bank robbers quickly and efficiently bust into the first bank to be taken down in The Town. They take their time, they know exactly what they are doing yet not everything goes according to plan as flashes of intensity punctuate the moments of efficiency. The Town sets the tone for the entire film in the opening moments of the film. It takes its time with character development and plot reveals. It is meticulous in its details and efficient in its story line. At the same time, there are moments of great intensity and uncertainty. The tone and progression of the film makes it a wonderfully intense and methodical narrative that enthralls the viewer in the ebb and flow of a man trapped in a world of crime and distrust whose metaphorical perimeter is closely guarded by both those inside and out. 

The Expendables

2010, Rated R, 103 minutes, Directed, Written and Produced by Sylvester Stallone, Cinematography by Jeffrey Kimball, Original Music by Brian Tyler

With: Sylvester Stallone (Barney Ross), Jason Statham (Lee Christmas), Jet Li (Ying Yang), Dolph Lundgren (Gunner Jensen), Eric Roberts (James Munroe), Randy Couture (Toll Road), Steve Austin (Paine), Diselle Itie (Sandra), Terry Crews (Hale Caesar), Mickey Rourke (Tool)

80s action movies are known for the extreme action, deplorable acting, great one liners and twice over, action. The Expendables brings in an a-list cast of action stars both past and present in an attempt to bring back the lost art of an 80s action blockbuster and for the most part succeeds. Although the action is intense, it does not come frequently enough and there was a significant dearth of one-liners. In order to enjoy this film, which I did, you have to do two things: leave the notion of a cinematic masterpiece at home, and bring every guy you know along with you (thanks Roby).

How to Train Your Dragon

2010, Rated PG, 98 minutes, Directed by Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders,  Written by, William Davies, based on the novel by Cressida Cowell, Produced by Kristine Belson & Tim Johnson, Original Music by John Powell

With: Jay Baruchel (Hiccup), Gerard Butler (Stoick), Craig Ferguson (Gobber), America Ferrera (Astrid), Jonah Hill (Snotlout), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fishlegs)

For whatever reason, I seem to have developed a June pattern for animated children’s films. I suppose it has something to do with the summer feel and remembering the wonderful days of summer childhood. Whatever the reason may be I had the opportunity to see How to Train Your Dragon in theaters. The movie, which takes place in a land of storied Vikings and mythical dragons, is a mostly entertaining film with great visuals and a decent cast.

84 Charing Cross Road

1987, Rated PG, 100 minutes, Directed by David Jones, Written by Hugh Whitemore based on play by James Roose-Evans based on book by Helene Hanff, Produced by Geoffrey Helman, Cinematography by Brian West, Original Music by George Fenton

With: Anne Bancroft (Helen Hanff), Anthony Hopkins (Frank P. Doel), Judi Dench (Nora Doel

I do not often come across a movie that is about the love of books. As a book lover myself I was very intrigued about a movie that was about letters written between a British bookseller and a New York writer. What made it intriguing, unfortunately was also  not quite right for film. Almost the entire movie is letters being read as the actors silently act out their emotions. It is an interesting concept that makes the movie mildly entertaining but by no means take your breath away exciting.

Crazy Heart

2009, Rated R, 112 minutes, Directed by Scott Cooper, Written by Scott Cooper based on a novel by Thomas Cobb, Produced by Scott Cooper, T-Bone Burnett, Robert Duvall,  Cinematography by Barry Markowitz, Original Music by Stephen Bruton & T-Bone Burnett

With: Jeff Bridges (Bad Blake), James Keane (Manager), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jean Craddock), Colin Farrell (Tommy Sweet), Robert Duvall (Wayne)

I have always been interested in the creative process of songs. So many of them are heartbreaking and I wonder if that really happened to the artist. The tagline for Crazy Heart was “The harder the life, the sweeter the fall.” Let me just say that Bad Black (Jeff Bridges) had a hard life. The movie gives us an excellent and insightful picture into the life of an artist, but, moreover the life of a man struggling to overcome his past mistakes and confront his addictive present. It is a character driven film seen through the lens of music and life; both those elements of the film shine like a melodic sunset.

Eastern Promises

2007, Rated R, 100 minutes, Directed by David Cronenberg, Written by Steven Knight, Produced by Robert Lantos & Paul Webster, Cinematography by Peter Suschitzky, Original Music by Howard Shore

With: Viggo Mortensen (Nikolai), Vincent Cassel (Kirill), Armin Mueller-Stahl (Semyon), Naomi Watts (Anna)

The mafia lives in the world of secrets and deception, money and power, influence and intimidation. Eastern Promises fits squarely into that world in its depiction of the Russian mafia in London. It is a slow burn film that inches its way forward into a crescendo of twists and fights. It is a deep investigation into the underworld that while well focused undoes itself in the minutiae and teeters on the brink of monotony.

Salt

2010, Rated PG-13, 100 minutes, Directed by Phillip Noyce, Written by Kurt Wimmer, Produced by, Lorenzo di Bonaventura & Sunil Perkash, Cinematography by Robert Elswit, Original Music by James Howard

With: Angelina  Jolie (Evelyn Salt), Liev Schreiber (Ted Winter), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Peabody), Daniel Olbrychski (Orlov)

It is only fitting that just weeks after 11 Russian sleeper spies were captured and exchanged, that a movie would come out that delves deep into the idea of Russian sleeper spies. You can’t pay for that kind of marketing. Fortunately for the movie, Evelyn Salt, instead of being a housewife in the suburbs, is a highly trained CIA agent, which makes the movie much more interesting. Unfortunately the well done action sequences do not make up for the uneven and jumpy plot line, and poor character development.