El Luchador's Yays! and Nays!: Full List

All of my ranting and raving for the last month about this silly little award competition has finally come to an end and this list represents who I think is actually going to win, not who I think should. For those click on the link and you can read my rationale - or irrationale as it where - for each choice.

Best Original Screenplay - THE HURT LOCKER (Mark Boal)
Best Adapted Screenplay - UP IN THE AIR (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)
Visual Effects - AVATAR (Joe Letteri Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones)
Sound Mixing - AVATAR (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, and Tony Johnson)
Sound Editing - AVATAR (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)
Animated Short - A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH (Nick Park)
Live Action Short - THE NEW TENANTS (Joachim Black and Tivi Magnusson)
Short Subject Documentary - THE LAST TRUCK: CLOSING OF A GM PLANT (Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert)
Documentary Feature - FOOD, INC. (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein)
Original Song - THE WEARY KIND: THE THEME FROM CRAZY HEART (Ryan Bingham and T. Bone Burnett)
Score - UP (Michael Giacchino)
Makeup - STAR TREK (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, and Joel Harlow)
Costume Design - COCO BEFORE CHANEL (Catherine Leterrier)
Art Direction - SHERLOCK HOLMES (Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)
Film Editing - AVATAR (Steven Rivkin, John Refoua, and James Cameron)
Cinematography - INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (Barry Ackroyd)
Animated Feature - UP (Pete Doctor)
Foreign Language - THE WHITE RIBBON (Michael Haneke)
Supporting Actress - MO'NIQUE (Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire)
Supporting Actor - CHRISTOPH WALTZ (Inglourious Basterds)
Best Actress - SANDRA BULLOCK (Blind Side)
Best Actor - JEFF BRIDGES (Crazy Heart)
Directing - JAMES CAMERON (Avatar)
Best Picture - AVATAR (James Cameron and Jon Landau)

I have six going to "Avatar" as the big winner of the night. So print these up and use them on your Oscar pool. Kick the crap out of that one nerdy film student who professes to understand everything about the Academy. Put your degree in Communications against his BFA in Film Making and see who comes out on top, just don't tell him where all of these came from.

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Brooklyn's Flawedest

Out of Antoine Fuqua's filmography the one movie that has been held in the highest regard has been the cop drama "Training Day," which had a gritty edge that was mostly due to David Ayer's intense script. In his latest outing Fuqua tries to recapture that feeling on the East Coast with "Brooklyn's Finest," however where "Training Day" strove to point out the sometimes God-like power granted to, and abused by, the police in lower income neighborhoods, "Finest" strives to find significance in the worst cross section of society's overseers, and fizzles in its attempts.

Comparisons to Paul Haggis's "Crash" are easily seen as "Finest" is structured around three cops on various rings of a downward spiral, are connected tangentially, and whose story lines come together at the end in a seemingly cathartic explosion of violence, desperately trying to conjure some sort of higher meaning.

Ethan Hawke plays Sal, the obviously corrupt one, who just wants to get a house for his wife and kids. From the beginning he is struggling with his Catholic faith, and as he folds under his self-imposed pressure to provide for his family his religious ethics fall to the wayside.

Richard Gere is Eddie, the obviously apathetic one, who just wants to make to the end of this week so that he can retire with full pension. After twenty-two years on the job the violence, the bureaucracy, the Sisyphean nature of his daily grind has hollowed out what could have been a good cop, leaving just the shell of a man.

Don Cheadle is Tango, the obviously conflicted one, who has been undercover so long he is finding it hard to remember who his friends are, the cops or the robbers. On the verge of making Detective First Grade Tango is faced with the reemergence of Caz (Wesley Snipes), the neighborhood kingpin who saved his life while he was undercover in prison.

While each of these story lines are fine by themselves we have seen them all before. The themes represented by the three leads are well tread paths already expounded on in the likes of HBO's "The Wire," "To Live and Die in L.A.," "Donnie Brasco," and countless others. Along with the themes we have even seen specific moments before. In an early scene where Eddie is seriously contemplating taking his own life, going as far as to put the gun in his mouth, writer Michael C. Martin has taken almost directly from "Lethal Weapon."

And while this episode is a rerun Fuqua handles it adequately with one major misstep; there is no one to root for. All three of the leads are beyond flawed, not particularly charming, and mostly depressing. Only Cheadle's character has anything resembling a "Good-Guy" persona, but that quickly dissolves.

It is clear that Fuqua wants the audience to see the streets, the system, the game as the villain, but he doesn't provide us with a hero. Thus the action is okay, melodrama believable, and the acting above par (though making Ethan Hawke Irish instead of Italian would have been a bit more believable), but in the end the picture is vacant of pathos, and ultimately hard for the audience to connect with anyone on screen.

During the press round table Fuqua and his stars all professed to have deep respect for police officers and the work they do, though to watch the film it doesn't show. Had the film been about a single cop, a "Bad Lieutenant" say, then it might have gone to show the pressures of the job, and the weakness of one man. With the triptych structure of "Finest" it seems to be clutching for some larger message about the men of the profession as a whole. However with almost no redemptive moments in the film the viewer comes out with a feeling that all cops are corrupt, a fairly one sided and narrow world view.

The film is remarkable in the sense that it marks Wesley Snipes's return to the big screen after languishing so long in the direct to DVD market. His turn as the unfortunately named Casanova Phillips brings him back into the limelight, and provides the one character to get behind. Attempting to infuse a sense of humanity and world-weariness was a good touch, and something that was important to Snipes as he discussed at the press round table for the the film. Having been reluctantly held up as a sort of folk hero for his role as Nico in the 1991 film, "New Jack City," he wanted Caz to stray from that hard edged criminal persona, and it comes through, begging the question as to why Snipes has not been cast in these supporting character roles more often.

Per Fuqua another supporting character in the film is Brooklyn itself. While this film is not representative for the majority of the borough, "Finest" was shot in and around the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, one of the most violent in New York City, and there is a feeling of menace permeating throughout the film. Downplaying former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's crack down on crime in the 1990s and Mayor Bloomberg's current initiatives, one character in the film gives credit to the Internet and video games keeping kids off of the streets, but to watch "Finest" you would never know. The violence of the film is both punishing and even senseless, both on the street and behind closed doors. In this film no one is safe from the blood. Though it all comes back to the fact that there was little to latch on to in the film. Without any sense of right, just all wrong, the violence becomes gratuitous, almost exploitative, and because of that renders itself irrelevant.

In the end "Brooklyn's Finest" is not a bad film, it just isn't a great one either. Most of the flaws are held in the script and the direction not by the cast. For every good bit of acting there is a moment of confused moralizing to off set it. No matter the lengths to push the film's cruelty and hardness to extremes "Finest" lives somewhere in the middle of the road.






Rated R
Dir: Antoine Fuqua
Written by: Michael C. Martin
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle, Richard Gere, Wesley Snipes

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Best Picture

PROBABLY WILL WIN

AVATAR (James Cameron and Jon Landau) - This film was just a juggernaut, it was more pandemic than H1N1. Everyone saw it, and everyone was blown away, if not by the actual movie than by the visual accomplishment. Plus it made more than the Gross National Product of most developed nations. And at the end of the day these are movies. Movies made by corporations. Corporations that aren't making art, they are making money. So, like "Titanic" before it, "Avatar" can enjoy the rewards that all the money in the world can buy.


SHOULD WIN

A SERIOUS MAN (Joel and Ethan Coen) - Commerce aside, this really was the best picture of the 2009. It could have been the best picture of the decade, but it will never be showered with the accolades that an "Avatar" will because it is too impenetrable, too cerebral, too perfect. At least that's what the Coen Brothers's agent keeps telling them. I have a feeling that this movie wouldn't have even been nominated if the category hadn't been expanded to ten. It would have been "Avatar," "Blind Side," "The Hurt Locker," "Precious," and "Up in the Air," and this amazing little movie would have been left out in the cold like the Rabbi at the beginning of the movie.


Twenty four days, twenty four categories. This is the end of the Oscar race. I've pulled out all my Tarot Cards, shaken every Magic Eight Ball I own, pondered every bowl of chicken innards in the house, and this marks the end of El Luchador's Oscar picks. The small print on all of this is that if you use my picks on your Oscar pool on Sunday I get 10% of all your winnings. That's just the bidniss.

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Directing

PROBABLY WILL WIN

JAMES CAMERON (Avatar) - Like I've said a hundred (six) times before, this movie is just going to sweep, and in this category it really should. No matter what one thinks of the picture this is James Cameron's baby. He directed the hell out of every single frame of this movie, nothing was left up to anyone else. The guy who said film was a collaborative art didn't tell Jimmy Cameron. From what I've heard in his world film is like a Stalinist dictatorship.


SHOULD WIN

JAMES CAMERON (Avatar)

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Best Actor

PROBABLY WILL WIN

JEFF BRIDGES (Crazy Heart) - This guy has some pretty stiff competition in Jeremy Renner. I have a feeling that it is going to be an "Avatar" year, but it could be a "Hurt Locker" year. If that is the case then change every one of my picks from "Dances with Jakesully" to "Point Break 2: Bagdad!" If not then Jeff Bridges gets this one.


SHOULD WIN

COLIN FIRTH (A Single Man) - Even though most of the movie looks like a Vanity Fair fashion spread Firth puts the goods on screen... and I'm not talking about his junk, which he does too. This is one of the more subtle and understated performances I've ever seen. I guess drunk hillbilly beats erudite queen most days though. Art does imitate life. Wow!

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The Insanity Plea

Around this time last year we were treated to remakes of "My Bloody Valentine" and "Friday the 13th;" both were terrible rehashing of old material that was arguably not that great in the first place. This year Hollywood ups the ante by bring us updated versions of two classic horror films, Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and George A. Romero's "The Crazies," which were actually good on the original go around. If "Nightmare" is anywhere as fun as Breck Eisner's vision of "The Crazies," then maybe there is hope for this whole remake fad after all.

"The Crazies" kicks off in Ogden Marsh, Iowa where the local sheriff, Dave Dutton (Timothy Olyphant), is forced to kill a man who steps onto the field of the opening day high school baseball game with a shotgun and a dead look in his eyes. As the townsfolk start becoming murderously insane the army rolls in, there to contain the outbreak of a bio-weapon mistakenly let loose on the population. When Dave's wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell), is taken into custody the sheriff and his deputy, Russell Clank (Joe Anderson), must rescue her and high school student Becca Darling (Danielle Pannabaker) from the lingering maniacs, and make their way out of the hot zone.

The U.S. Army's negative roll in the picture is an obvious go to villain in a viral outbreak film, but the interesting thing about "The Crazies" is the faceless nature of the military. The "Army of One" slogan comes up in a scene where a solider, held captive by the four absconders, agrees not to inform his superiors of their presence if let go. "I didn't sign up to shoot innocent people," the soldier says. This is the face of the new military image in film, a body that goes against the will of the masses, and even the young men and women who make up the rank and file don't agree with their orders. Other than this one solider none of the military personnel are seen without a gas mask, a haunting image of anonymous authoritarian control.

However the true villains of this picture are the infected, those who have become corrupted by the malaise and paranoia brought on by that Military Industrial Complex. It is easy to see the citizens of Ogden Marsh, who have literally been driven insane by a random "mistake" of the army, to be a thinly veiled symbol of all citizens of this country who are daily confronted by a world dominated by tragedy, economic ruin, and wars raging around the planet. Are they really the bad guys, or is it the ones who drove them to kill? If the army is a faceless mass, and the populous is driven mad by their corrupt rule and clandestine dealings, who then is safe?

Eisner winds the film as tight as a drum, depending on the tense action instead of cheap scares and gore. A particularly creepy scene has a local principal running amok in a make-shift hospital ward with a pitchfork. Though judging from the characters involved and the amount of film still left to unspool through the projector the conclusion of the scene is obvious, but Eisner keeps you at the edge of your seat waiting to see how the inevitable will actually happen.

Drawing on his lawman past as Bullock on the HBO series "Deadwood," Timothy Olyphant proves his heroic medal as the Dutton. He is perfect as the expectant father out to save his wife and unborn child from the clutches of those big, bad shock-and-awers. Though his story arc is not terribly obvious the guilt he feels at the beginning over killing the man on the baseball field serves as a counter point for the various killings he does through out the film. All were motivated by self defense, but as the rules break down so does his morality, and where the bullet fired at the beginning has meaning and consequence, those fired toward the end have none.

Having appeared in many sci-fi/horror pictures in the past Radha Mitchell is no stranger to the screams that come with the genre, and thus also fits well into the film. The arc of her character mirrors that of her on screen husband, starting off as both life giver (pregnant woman) and life defender (doctor), but by the end is motivated by her self preservation to become a life taker. Another victim of the circumstance thrust upon her, an allegory for the lone soldier they met along the way, and his real life counterparts.

George A. Romero always brought an interesting intellectual edge to the horror genre and here Breck Eisner, and writers Scott Kosar and Ray Wright, keeps up the tradition. "The Crazies" is a fun, smart, terror of a film, and in the very least doesn't besmirch the source material on which it was based. If more films in this remake/reboot crazy era could follow the pattern this picture sets then maybe the box office landscape wouldn't be such a dismal wasteland of manufactured garbage. Is that too much to ask of Freddy Kruger?




Rated R, 2010
Dir: Breck Eisner
Written by: Scott Kosar and Ray Wright
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Danielle Panabaker, Joe Anderson

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The Title Says It All

It is easy to say, "They just don't make movies like they used to." These days it seems like everyone wants to recapture some sort of fake nostalgia for times that weren't so great in the first place. The latest is Kevin Smith's "Cop Out," which tries to bottle the 1980's buddy-cop action comedy magic from classics like "Downtown," "Running Scared," or "Turner & Hooch," but ends up with something that plays more like a TV pilot for a series no one bothered to pick up.

Smith makes his intentions crystal clear early on as NYPD Detective Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan) interrogates a suspect using quotes lifted out of everything from "Heat" to "Schindler's List." Hodges tells his partner Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) that he isn't stealing the lines he's paying "homage" to the films. Smith tries to do just that to that buddy cop genre, but typically an homage is meant to show respect and the amateurish nature of the whole picture does little to that effect. The piece of the film that comes even close to the mark is the synth score courtesy of Harold Faltermeyer, who is best known as the composer of "Axl F," the earworm worthy theme song from "Beverly Hills Cop."

Willis and Morgan, both huge talents in their own rights, have no business being on screen together. Chemistry between the two, who play partners who have been together for nine years, is non-existent. Of the duo Willis has an already established reputation on film and has little to lose, but for Morgan he is just now trying to expand his resume, looking for some sort of star potential, and this could have been a big break for him. As such Morgan finds his way into the funnier nooks and crannies of the script making his character watchable only because of his natural comedic talent, and Willis seems to be phoning this one in from the line at the bank.

Of the supporting cast Seann William Scott is the only one that does much with his character as the parkour jumping, wise cracking thief. Kevin Pollack and Adam Brody play the rival detectives, Hunsaker and Mangold, ubiquitous to this type of film, and have only a smidgen more believable relationship than the leads. As the drug dealing villain, Poh Boy, Guillermo Díaz recreates his character from "Weeds" with just a lot more ham.

The writing doesn't help matters much. The script from Robb and Mark Cullen is about as flat as the paper on which it was printed. The stakes in the picture are so thin as to be translucent, and they toss in a couple too many McGuffins for the audience to really care about any of them. Are they after the drug dealer, the Mercedes, the baseball card, the jump drive, or the beautiful Mexican woman? As for humor the funniest thing about the film was the original title, "A Couple of Dicks," which the studio made Smith change.

Add to that Smith's clumsy direction and boring editing. Since his first picture, "Clerks," it was obvious that the Smith's talent lay in writing. The dialogue alone in that picture, and his underrated follow up, "Mallrats," could have solidified his career as a top screen writer. However "Cop Out" marks the first picture that Smith has made for which he did not serve as the writer. Had this movie been a success it could have proven Smith as a go-to gun for hire in Hollywood, but unfortunately the film is clunky, poorly paced, and nothing he should ever include on his director's reel.





Rated R, 2010
Dir: Kevin Smith
Written by: Mark Cullen & Robb Cullen
Starring: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Seann William Scott

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Best Actress

PROBABLY WILL WIN

SANDRA BULLOCK (Blind Side) - "Since I voted for Mo'Nique for Best Supporting Actress it is okay that I vote for the white lady in the slightly racist football movie, right?" Then again I didn't see "Precious" so maybe that little girl is just honored to be nominated. I think Sandy is taking this one because she was good enough in that movie to make people over look the pretty ridiculous juxtaposition of the "White" life style versus that of the "Black" in this movie.


SHOULD WIN

CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG (Antichrist) - In this movie Gainsbourg gave one of the most harrowing, disturbing performances ever, one that deserves to be rewarded with more than just the psychological scars the role must have provided. She was so good in this movie that I never want to see it again.

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Supporting Actor

PROBABLY WILL WIN

CHRISTOPH WALTZ (Inglourious Basterds) - This is another category this year that will be almost unanimous. Waltz makes this movie, he is so fun and charming it makes you cringe that he's a Nazi. Plus if he doesn't win we'll all have to put up with another one of those "Hitler Hears About..." parodies on YouTube. Funny at first, now not so much.

SHOULD WIN

CHRISTOPH WALTZ (Inglourious Basterds)

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Supporting Actress

PROBABLY WILL WIN

MO'NIQUE (Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire) - I still haven't seen "Precious," but I guarantee this one is a lock. The rest of the women were are up for this category only because they needed five nominees, but it won't matter. Mo'Nique is the winner. That way it won't be racist when they give the award to Sandy Bullock instead of the little girl from "Precious."


SHOULD WIN

MARION COTILLARD (Public Enemies) - I know she had a little bit of trouble with the accent, but her final scene in the movie is the reason she should have at least been nominated. She was much better in the underrated "Public Enemies" than in the supremely overrated "La Vie en Rose," for which she won last year. And let's be honest, this award usually goes to a pretty girl, and between Cotillard and Mo'Nique she holds a slight advantage.

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Foreign Language Film

PROBABLY WILL WIN

THE WHITE RIBBON (Michael Haneke) - This movie ranks up there with "Antichrist" as being the most disturbing movies of 2009. People will vote for it because it is in black and white and it is ostensibly about World War 2. The closest rival that might take the statue is "A Prophet," but since that movie hasn't even come out in the U.S. yet it is a better bet to go with the scary future Nazi kids. Ugh, they give me chills just thinking of them. Creepy.


SHOULD WIN

THE WHITE RIBBON (Michael Haneke)

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Animated Feature

PROBABLY WILL WIN

UP (Pete Doctor) - We're finally into the big categories, ones that the layman actually care about. Sort of. Not only is this the best out of the nominees, this is definitely the best Animated Feature of the year. This is another home run for Pixar who are on a real hot streak. I hope "Toy Story 3" keeps up the pace. As for "Up," it was a perfect kid's movie. It entertained the kids, kept them from crying, and kept the adults glued to the screen as well. Above all of that I loved the "Star Wars," and "Indiana Jones" visual references in the finale of the picture. As for getting votes from the Academy, it is Pixar. They always win.


SHOULD WIN

UP (Pete Doctor)

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Cinematography

PROBABLY WILL WIN

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (Barry Ackroyd) - This is going to be the one that people don't vote for "Avatar" because all of the photography was actually digital; there wasn't much sculpting with light, more like electrons. This movie was lush and brilliant, like all of Tarantino's work. It might be a stretch to call this one, but out of the nominees this film has a lot of love for it circulating with the movie making crowd, and I think it will pull out the win.


SHOULD WIN

ANTICHRIST (Anthony Dod Mantle) - I have never seen full penetration or genital mutilation look so good. This film has some of the most beautiful imagery in cinema history. Every frame is crisp yet soft, vibrant yet muted. Mantle captures Von Trier's eerie vision with impeccable clarity, making the movie all the more disturbing.

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Into Shocked Corridors

In his long thirty-eight year career the living legend that is Martin Scorsese has made some amazing pictures ("Raging Bull," "Goodfellas") and some particularly dubious ones ("Bring Out the Dead," "Gangs of New York"). His latest, "Shutter Island," falls closer to the former category than the latter, but will never be counted among his best. Nonetheless this noir throwback starts out as a straight forward thriller, but ends up as a mind-bending example of why Scorsese isn't just a name, it is a force to be reckoned with.

From the opening sequence it is obvious that Scorsese isn't out to placate the masses. While U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) approach the titular island, on assignment to locate a missing prisoner, the soundtrack booms with the sounds of Polish Composer Antoni Wit's "Symphony #3," a dark, foreboding piece that isn't meant to bring the audience slowly into the mystery. It is there to pound the tone of the picture into their minds - make no mistake this will be hard, not only on the characters you are about to see, but you as well. The piece plays through in its entirety as Teddy, Chuck, and we are introduced to Shutter Island, and the evil it holds.

This piece of music is mixed in so loudly, dominating everything, and it is obvious that you are watching a film. You aren't immersed in the mind set of the character, you aren't made to empathize with Teddy, you are meant to watch with a clinical eye, making a diagnosis for yourself about the mental state of the characters on screen. At first.

As the film goes on, as Teddy and Chuck search for the missing woman, Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), who may or may not be missing, uncovering deeper motives Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) may have for bringing the Marshals to the island in the first place, the audience becomes acutely aware of a truth being withheld, not just by the characters in the picture, but by Scorsese himself.

Written by Laeta Kalogridis, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, the script pushes the audiences expectations back and forth until the end when it is never established as to where the truth lies. This is a dangerous prospect in the hands of many directors, but Scorsese keeps the film on the razor's edge without ever tipping in either direction. Just when you think all of the pieces fit together a certain way he introduces a new puzzle.

Looming somewhere very close to Sam Fuller territory "Shutter Island" has a self conscious camp that might not sit well with a lot of viewers. DiCaprio's performance itself melds well with the tone of the picture, but could be seen as slightly over-the-top. Ruffalo and Kingsley likewise rise to the strange challenge infusing their roles with touches of knowing winks to the more theatrical style of acting prevalent in Hollywood up till the late 1960's.

Like always Scorsese surrounds himself with the best staff possible. Robert Richardson takes Dante Ferretti's dingy production design to new heights with his lens, making each scene more oppressively gray than the last. The other star behind the camera is long-time Scorsese cohort editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Having cut almost every frame of the director's long filmography Schoonmaker has been essential in the sculpting of Scorsese's style. Here is no different. The editing conjures images of "After Hours," quickly paced and sharply constructed.

As in most of Scorsese's pictures, the soundtrack is built of various sources, from the Antoni Wit piece mentioned above to Naim June Paik, all put together by Robbie Robertson. Where "Goodfellas" had Tony Bennett and the Shangri-Las "Shutter Island" has avant-guard composers like Max Richter and Brian Eno.

All of this adds up to a very challenging picture. While my opinion of it wavered from glowing admiration to dismal disappointment then back again, all within the film's 138 minutes, it still had me pondering the conclusion after leaving the theater. "Shutter Island" is a very technical, cerebral film, one which may get a bad wrap for its initial aloofness, but as the film progresses the audience is sucked in, and by the final scene they, like Daniels, can't be counted on to know exactly what is going on (but not in a bad way).




Rated R, 2010
Dir: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Laeta Kalogridis
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Elias Koteas, Jackie Earl Haley, Ted Levine

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EL Luchador's Oscar Yays! & Nays!: Film Editing

PROBABLY WILL WIN

AVATAR (Steven Rivkin, John Refoua, and James Cameron) - Always a hard one to call, but I think this movie is just going to clean up like an illegal housekeeper at Bernie Kerik's house. BAM! Top that Denis Miller.


SHOULD WIN

AVATAR (Steven Rivkin, John Refoua, and James Cameron)

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Art Direction

PROBABLY WILL WIN

SHERLOCK HOLMES (Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer) - Again, this is another which always goes to period pieces, though "The Young Victoria" might be a slightly better bet purely on the Guy Ritchie backlash. However I am putting my money on this horse because of the dingy quality, the pure Whitehall filth that the film was infused with. To quote Ellen from Idol, "Hollywood is a filthy place," and they always stand behind their own. Though I do respectfully renew my objections to this not being a Production Design category. There isn't a Gaffer Category or a Key Grip Category; no, it is called Cinematography.


SHOULD WIN

SHERLOCK HOLMES (Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Costume Design

PROBABLY WILL WIN

COCO BEFORE CHANEL (Catherine Leterrier) - This is another one that I never really understand. The award always goes to a period piece, one that the designers may have just gone to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to study the designs, or gone to Barnes and Noble for some research books, or stopped by their local Internet for some vintage photos. Let's be honest, that isn't super hard. Yeah, deciding which ones to put up on screen takes a discerning eye, but coming up with something completely insane out of thin air seems like it would take a lot more work, creativity, and spunk. It is up between this and "The Young Victoria," but I am going with this because it is completely about the clothes.


SHOULD WIN

BRUNO (Jason Alper) - C'mon, half of the jokes are resting in those outfits. This guy should have been nominated purely on the cod piece Bruno is wearing when sexually embarrassing Ron Paul. On a side note, was that the same baby from the Lil' Wayne album cover?

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! and Nays!: Makeup

PROBABLY WILL WIN

STAR TREK (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, and Joel Harlow) - There really weren't that many big "Makeup" movies last year so I think people are going to vote for this because of the ears, the green girl, and the fact that they turned John Cho from Korean to Japanese to play Sulu. That and making Eric Bana look like Mike Tyson. And turning Zoe Saladena from a Na'vi into a human. Anything else? Nope, I think that covers it.


SHOULD WIN

VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR (Valentino Garavani) - Just watch it, you'll understand why he was robbed by the academy.

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! & Nays!: Original Score

PROBABLY WILL WIN

UP (Michael Giacchino) - I think this is one that the Golden Globes will be a predictor of. It is a smartly sweet score that harkens back to a time of adventure films and matinee serials. It is such a contrast to the work he has done for the slew of Bad Robot TV shows like "Lost," "Fringe," and "Alias" that it really shows his range. No matter what I think may be more deserved, Giacchino is right up there.


SHOULD WIN

THE INFORMANT! (Marvin Hamlisch) - The only word to describe this score is inspired. Talk about adding to a movie, this score made the film. Had the music been any different it wouldn't have been the same picture, and since that was one of the best, most intelligent, most interesting movies of the year this score played a huge part. It is nothing less than a travesty that it was overlooked

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! & Nays!: Original Song

PROBABLY WILL WIN

THE WEARY KIND (THEME FROM CRAZY HEART) (Ryan Bingham and T. Bone Burnett) - It is just a lock. There is no reason for it. Just going to happen.


SHOULD WIN

WHO CARES (It Doesn't Matter) - This is a dumb category designed for Musicals, but since there are so few of those these days, and since the ones that are out usually suck, why have it? Let's free up that broadcasting time for a Production Design or Casting category. Those are actually still relevant.

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! & Nays!: Documentary Feature

PROBABLY WILL WIN

FOOD, INC. (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein) - This is actually the only one of the nominees I've seen, but in reality this is the only one most people have seen, including Academy Voters. Much like Michael Moore's documentaries name recognition makes the ballad. If you've seen only one and it was good, which this film was, it is going to rock the vote.


SHOULD WIN

IT MIGHT GET LOUD (Davis Guggenheim) - It wasn't nominated. Ridiculous. Looking at all of the films the Academy chose they were only "Issues" movies, and great docs, like this or "Valentino: The Last Emperor," are skipped over because they deal with creativity and art. Unfortunately this country has lost sight of the importance of those things, that is why art and music education are the first to go during a budget crunch. Where other countries have governing bodies that set standards for food, beverages, art, music, film, basically regulating what can and cannot be called "Good," this one has nothing of the sort. Art and culture have become the weapons of politics and morality, and thus have lost any sense of import. People in this country can't even imagine a governing body telling them what is "Good" because it has been beaten into their heads that their individual opinions are just as valid as those of the educated or experts of any one field. If you are more likely to trust the opinion of a doctor, who has spent a lifetime studying the ins and outs of the human body than a lay person, wouldn't it reason to assume you might take the opinions of a film maker or accomplished musician in higher regard as well? Yes, a diagnosis is different from an opinion, but the difference between a "Serious Man" and a "Terminator Salvation" is not subjective. There are objective qualities that just make it a better film. And that is why this film should win instead of one of the many rejected "60 Minutes" pieces that are nominated, it is just a better made movie. Then again that's just my opinion, and I didn't even see most of the nominations, so what do I know?

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! & Nays!: Short Subject Documentary

PROBABLY WILL WIN

THE LAST TRUCK: CLOSING OF A GM PLANT (Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert) - I didn't see this movie. I couldn't find it. The trailer is online and it looks pretty sad, and really topical, and if you know nothing about it the death of American industrialism and the alienation of the middle class is hot right now. This one is going to get the votes.


SHOULD WIN

RABBIT A LA BERLIN (Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra) - The only reason I'm saying this is because it is about the people who were killed trying to escape Communism by climbing the Berlin Wall, and it is all told from the perspective of rabbits. That's kind of neat I guess.

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! & Nays!: Live Action Short Film

PROBABLY WILL WIN

THE NEW TENANTS (Joachim Black and Tivi Magnusson) - To be perfectly honest I have no idea what will win this one. I couldn't find any of them but "Miracle Fish" online, and for others couldn't even find a trailer. This is the only one that has celebrities in it, and since the Oscars are basically just self congratulatory love fests for the elite I have a feeling they will all vote for one of their own.


SHOULD WIN

MIRACLE FISH (Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey) - Don't know why other than the bits that I saw were very weird, and had a creepy tone. Good luck.

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El Luchador's Oscar Yays! & Nays!: Animated Short Film

On March 7th these are the categories that will get you the forty bucks from your Oscar Pool. A lot of people will get the Best Picture and the Actor awards, but the short subjects are the ones that will bring in the big bucks. Why? Because no one ever sees this stuff. But this year I went out pretty far out of my way to see as many as possible, they aren't easy to come by.


PROBABLY WILL WIN

A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH (Nick Park) - I loved this movie. In fact I love most of Nick Park's work, especially the "Wallace and Gromit" movies. They have such a great childlike wonderment that is absent from so many films these days. "Loaf and Death" is no different. Long time fans were treated to more of the brilliant same, and new comers jumped right in as Park opens the film setting up those beloved characters and their relationship as though it was for the first time. Strangely like "Up" this movie has a lot of great Sci-Fi references for the adult viewers, and it has a couple of funny dogs for the kids. Those that saw this will vote for it because it is a simple, fun, beautifully done little movie. Those that didn't will vote for it because it is a familiar brand that stands out amongst a field of unknowns.


SHOULD WIN

LOGORAMA (Nicholas Schmerkin) - Even though I loved "A Matter of Loaf and Death" this is one of the most interesting shorts I've ever seen. Built almost entirely of over 2,500 corporate logos this mini action film says a lot in a short amount of time. Yes, we get that consumerism is destroying the world, and capitalism will be the downfall of mankind, but damn this one is just very cool.

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The Morel of the Story Is..

After last year's "Taken" burst onto the scene director Pierre Morel became a hot property. According to IMDb that film took in over 145 Million domestically and even more in Europe, so the man had his pick of what to do next. His choice, "From Paris with Love," is a miscast mess. Showing off his sizable talents in Action movies in both "Taken," and his debut feature "District B13," Morel should have been a sure bet to take the reigns of this action-buddy comedy, but his previous work was under the watchful eye of his mentor, Luc Besson, who co-wrote and produced both films. With the latest picture it seems like Besson loosened the reigns, giving his protégé room to run, but it could be that maybe Morel should have been kept on a shorter leash.

The film stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as James Reece, a low level diplomat at the American Embassy in Paris, and a CIA agent wannabe. When he gets a call from his handler to step up to the big time it is in the form of helping out his new partner, Charlie Wax (John Travolta), a shaven headed death machine with a penchant for Quarter Pounders (though in Paris they are called a Royale with Cheese - Wax's words not mine). As the Wax/Reese partnership progresses it fumbles through all the requisite steps for a movie of this type; first Reece is annoyed by Wax's crazy, unorthodox ways, then he sees the method to the madness, and finally becomes one of the initiated into the boy's club of spy-dom.

One of the best rules of screen writing is to make your villain as interesting, or even more so, than your lead. Since Reece is little more than a one dimensional throw-away it wouldn't have been too hard, but as it is writer Adi Hasak barely even includes a bad-guy. The scene in which Wax actually describes the duo's underlying motivation is told through a confusing "drug haze," lifted directly out of "Training Day," and thus it is never clear who they are hunting, or why they doing it. They are just following the trail where it leads them.

Eventually the trail leads back to Reese himself, and his fiancé, Caroline (Casia Smutniak). The B-story of their relationship is the only thing that rings a little true toward the beginning of the film, but like everything else here, falls apart somewhere near the midpoint. The conclusion of this subplot is so absurd as to be laughable.

In an attempt to hide the lack of story Hasak tries to overcompensate with Wax's outlandishness. He swears at customs officials, kills whomever he pleases, snorts coke, and has sex with prostitutes, all in the name of national security. Unfortunately the whole thing is a little too contrived especially with Mr. Clean, John Travolta, trying to pull of the devil-may-car attitude. The "bad-ass secret agent type who doesn't play by anyone's rules but his own" is a little trite at this point, and Travolta does little to subvert this.

Rhys Meyers doesn't fare well either. He has a hard time coming off as believable as an erudite, uptight Ambassador's aide who plays chess and speaks a bevy of languages. As King Henry VIII on Showtime's "The Tudors" his charisma, arguably, may have worked as the petulant, sex-fiend monarch, but in "Paris" his atrocious American accent is massively distracting.

Almost as distracting is Travolta's overall look in the film, so much so that it bears pointing out. His shorn head and dark goatee are bizarre to say the least, and Costume Designer Olivier Béroit gussies him up as an emissary from the Ed Hardy Nation complete with an overly tight t-shirt, a couple too many medallions, and a super-bling earring that makes him look more like a pirate than a spy.

To top off Travolta's sartorial atrocity is a ubiquitous keffiyeh that, due to its symbolism amongst Muslims, could have been included as a way to offset the overtly racist connotations of the third act. When the villain is finally revealed to be a generic terrorist their only explanation for their actions is the conversion to a new "faith" that opened their eyes. The lack of any sort of political or moral convictions leaves one with the only conclusion that Islam was the sole reason for their decision to turn Suicide Bomber.

But the movie really isn't about politics or men's fashion, it is supposed to be about kicking butt. Where "B13" had the kinetic chaos of parkour, and Taken" had Liam Neeson's stoic determination, "Paris" feels like Morel just sat back and let it all happen. Since the characters are either uninteresting or wholly unbelievable it is hard to care about anyone, let alone the human targets the Reece and Wax plow through. Most of the fight scenes are blurs of punches and gunfire, though there is one visually interesting sequence in a mannequin factory, which is a little bit too reminiscent of Kubrick's "Killer's Kiss." Other than that the film is filled with little of the promise that Morel showed in his earlier work.





Rated R, 2010
Dir: Pierre Morel
Written by: Adi Hasak
Starring: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, John Travolta, Casia Smutniak

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