Meryl Streep, in Julie & Julia

approximately 52 minutes and 45 seconds*
44.3% of the film

The film

Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book.

You can find my short review of the film just by clicking HERE.

They should’ve just gone with Meryl all the way. Or at least for more that 50% of the movie. Meryl rules her scenes, but then we have all those boring whinny Amy Adams parts, which take the movie to an undesired recent reality.

Meryl Streep as Julia Child

Meryl Streep rules the Best Actress category! Now she finally has the most nominations here: 13 + 3 other supporting noms. Katharine Hepburn is history, with just 12 :) I guess you can say it’s finally time for Meryl to win, as it hasn’t happened in 27 years… Is this the right performance to win for? Probably not, she’s had better. But even so: autopilot-good Meryl = a fascinating performance nonetheless!

Meryl plays Julia Child, the famous French-inspired American chef, TV personality in her later life, American icon, a strong-minded independent woman, with a very distinctive voice and a remarkable height. Julia’s storyline (the woman in 1950s France discovering her passion for cooking) represents half the movie and the inspiration for modern Julie’s adventure of cooking all of Julia’s recipes. So it’s not a biopic, but a fine perspective on the life of an impressive woman.

It’s a comedy role because Meryl takes it there. Meryl IS Julia Child and takes the character (and the scenes) wherever she feels like it. With visible experience beyond words, Meryl doesn’t miss a detail: with pure joy of acting and being, she creates a fun character, a loving figure, always faithful to the happy nature of this woman.

It’s not a screwball comedy or laugh-out-loud, it’s all about feeling good, relaxed and having a nice time. And Meryl takes care of that, by giving us optimistic and love for life without looking stupid and never forgetting the dignity and the dramatic side of the character; and knowing how to create a subtly iconic figure, a role model that transcends into Julie’s (Amy Adams) storyline of devouring admiration.

But feel-good and joy is never enough for Meryl! She serves us as much of a dramatic punch without changing the genre of the movie: a tearful eye here and there, a breakdown scene somewhat hidden from the camera, the love and gratefulness while looking at her husband. Plus telling us the story without the words: the child that she could not have, that was her always-present personal tragedy.

Meryl makes it look too easy and that’s her biggest flaw. We take her for granted, and don’t realize what a generous actress she is, always thinking of the character, the story and most of all her scene partners. This movie needed to be all/more about Julia Child; it would’ve given an even bigger boost to the performance. And it’s not the big dramatic tour-de-force Meryl has gotten us used to. But even so: a great achievement and easily best element of the film! I was gonna go for 3 stars when I started writing; but this is what Meryl does to me and I gradually convinced myself of the lack of flaws. It’s an almost from me.



*the screen-time never includes photos, but does include voice-overs. And I didn’t expect so much screen-time for her, considering just half the movie is hers. The explanation: the camera’s always on Meryl in her scenes + the movie gets close to 120 minutes, unusually long for the genre. She actually gets more time on screen than in Doubt. :)

Best Actress 2009

No surprises here. We’ve been expecting this line-up for a month or so. Because The Last Station isn’t really out there, I suspected at one point that it might disappear completely from Oscar categories, but it looks like the DVDs got there in time and that Helen Mirren still has lots of starpower. Melanie Laurent could’ve stepped in, but in the end the actors seemed to show less Inglourious Basterds love than anticipated.

Right now, a month ahead of Oscar, it looks like a battle between Sandra and Meryl, with Sandra taking the lead due to hotness, SAG win, popularity and The Blind Side scoring a silly Best Picture nom. But that has nothing to do with my choices, and here I’ll revisit the movies and rate/rank them based on my subjective perspective.

I give you the 5 ladies that Oscar has chosen for 2009:

from left to right, I have the pleasure to introduce:

• Sandra Bullock, in The Blind Side
• Meryl Streep, in Julie & Julia
• Carey Mulligan, in An Education
• Gabourey Sidibe, in Precious
• Helen Mirren, in The Last Station

The first profile is coming soon.

Avatar embarrassment & some Oscar thoughts

Shame on me. Last night I went to see Avatar in Imax (one of those few you can find around Europe) and… and… I felt sick 1 hour into the film :)) no shockers, it happened the same to my sister a few days ago. I should’ve known better! I just felt a bit dizzy and like I might throw up… So there you go. I will catch the whole movie soon, but this Imax thing’s definitely not for everyone and slightly overrated. I won’t comment on the movie, as I’ve seen just an hour of it.


The nominations are here. Some points to make:

- Changing the campaign at the last minute is not a bad idea. Maggie moved from Leading to Supporting and it was the winning choice. Take note, Weinsteins, as you’ve f*cked up Marion’s and Melanie Laurent’s campaigns. Greedy. Greedy. Greedy.

- Helen Mirren CAN! Nobody has seen The Last Station, but the Dame can still get her votes! Good for her!

- The Blind Side for Best Picture… No shit! Are Hallmark-TV-dramas taking over the world?

- In my previous post I said nobody whispered when Penelope did A Call from the Vatican! And there you go… All those horny actors voted for her!

- Just the 4th female director to get recognition in this category! I hope she wins! And Lee Daniels… Does anyone know how many African-American directors got recognition here?! I can only remember John Singleton. Who am I forgetting?

- Most WTF nomination of the year: The Young Victoria for Best Makeup! What are you people thinking?! Some freckles on Paul Bettany, but that’s it! :)))

- Names coming out of nowhere: Paris 36, The Secret of Kells, Il divo, In the Loop, Harry Potter?! I’ve obviously heard of them, but who knew… Ok maybe not Paris 36…

- I expected more from Inglourious Basterds and hoped for surprises in Supporting Actor.

- NO nominations for 500 Days of Summer and Public Enemies is very disappointing.






*** I don’t have Internet all the time. So any reply on the messages might require some patience. Thanks :)

[click on it for a full-size pleasure]

Superficial. Rushed. Lack of emotion. Too much singing. Songs not blending. Rob Marshall is not Robert Altman. Sophia Loren's lost it. Fergie knows shit, but sings great. Penelope was counting her steps. Messy cinematography.

Marion deserved better. Underused Nicole. Delicious Judi. Daniel = wrong casting. Rob Marshall screws Kate Hudson. Bad directing choices. Maximum 3-4 nominations.

Nobody whispered when Penelope did A Call from the Vatican.
Saraghina needed to be fat & funny.

.

And now for the unusual selection for a Best Supporting Actress profile… It had to be foreign-language. It had to be unique and surprising. So I’m gonna write a bit about…

Roxane Duran, as Anna in The White Ribbon

Just to get something out of the way: in my opinion, The White Ribbon has the best ensemble of the year and probably the best child performances (as a group) I have ever seen in a movie, with ages from like 5 to 14! The best performance belongs to a boy, but considering we’re here to analyze achievements in Supporting Actress, I’ll mention one of the most moving female performances of the film…

Roxane Duran plays Anna, the Doctor’s daughter, a shy teenager, whose life hides more drama that we might’ve guessed at first. Her screentime is limited and she gets most attention in 2 important scenes for the character.

The first one is a minimalistic scene, a dialogue with her 5 year old brother at the kitchen table. Someone in town had died and the child does not understand what “death” means. So he keeps asking simple questions, one after the other, provoking rational, justified responses from her sister. It’s probably the best written scene in the film, due to its simplicity and how honest it feels. Behind this innocent dialogue is the truth about life and death and how all of us are really heading the same direction!

Each question gets more difficult for Anna and we soon realize that the dialogue is digging deep into her own past, revealing her mother’s death and how this drama still has an impact on her! Roxane’s acting is simple, natural, adequate and terrific! There wasn’t a second I didn’t believe she really is this well-intentioned, insecure girl living a traumatic life. Her eyes and the line-readings really tell us the story of the scene.

The other one is the incest scene (call it a SPOILER, but it isn’t really one, as this fact has no twist value for the story and it happens somewhere in the middle of the film). It’s a short scene, focused on the young boy catching his father touching Anna. Obviously, the boy does not understand and Anna is trying to protect him by reassuring him, with her trembling voice, that everything is fine and he must go back to sleep! It’s an uncomfortable scene, well acted and respectfully shot!

The screenplay doesn’t allow us to find out what happened to Anna in the end… If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I mean. But in just a couple of scenes, Roxane Duran manages to give a very touching performance which perfectly fits this acting group of enormous talent. [unfortunately, not even imdb shows her proper respect, as she’s not even mentioned in the list of actors; too bad].

[scroll down for Marion in Public Enemies]

[this link is a part of Stinkylulu’s Supporting Actress Blogathon; to find out more about it or to participate click immediately on Stinkylulu]

This was a demanding year for Marion Cottilard! In one film, her husband made movies; in the other one, her sweetheart robbed banks! I am happy to write some words of appreciation on her second-mentioned acting challenge…

Marion Cotillard, as Billie Frechette in Public Enemies

The gangster’s/outlaw’s girl has always been a very common supporting role for actresses! She’s sexy, always a bit suffering, but loyal enough to stick with him until the very end! They are tough women, but feminine, street-smart and with a very good instinct.

Marion plays Billie, a mixed race poor girl who becomes the love interest of bank robber John Dillinger. When they meet, Billie proves to be a stubborn girl, with a mind of her own, but gradually falls for his promises of a future simple life together!

It’s not hard to tell Marion was cast because of the French accent and the exotic look the role required. She’s charming in the cheap red dress and I can truly believe their attraction, as Marion has a very good chemistry with Johnny Deep. They make a nice pair and the success of the love story helps justify some of Dillinger’s actions in the film!

Marion gives a good performance and she’s charming all the way! Her face is very expressive; those gorgeous eyes suggest both the schoolgirl madly in love with the bad boy, but also the mature woman terrified of what’s going to happen. Her presence is very reassuring and it’s always a pleasure to see her on screen, as an escape from this all-boys-movie.

The screenplay doesn’t disappoint her! Marion seals the deal in a tough interrogation scene (actually 2 scenes), which I’d call one of the best acted scenes from 2009! Aggressed and humiliated, she doesn’t surrender; her blind loyalty puts her in two opposite situations: she’s a victim of the abuse, but at the same time Billie knows she’s on the smart side and reassures the police of how stupid her arrest was! Under that vulnerability, we can feel a victory of the character, as she knows that HER man outsmarted them all!

Marion is obviously very close to perfection and has no problem in going through all those emotions previously described! Her portrayal of a strong woman put in a vulnerable situation is both reinforcing and heart-breaking!

Fabulous, Marion! It’s ridiculous how the critics and the Academy totally ignored this performance! Can’t wait to see you in Nine! :P

Final conclusions - Best Actress 1980

Best Actress 1980 really looked like a weak category, right? I thought of that myself, but going into it again: 3 of the performances really made me happy! In the end: it’s a really interesting line-up, with very different performances! The uneducated biopic singer, the funny sweet blonde, the arrogant intellectual woman, the simple woman with super powers, the gangster’s tough ex-mistress! :D fantastic!

The ranking was difficult for me! #1 is a coin toss between the first 3 ladies (if that would be possible)! I have been a bit too generous with the other 2, but they still make for interesting Oscar cases. In a year with not so good reputation for women (leading AND supporting), Sissy & Goldie & Mary gave career-defining performances, becoming some of the worthiest nominees this category’s ever had.

Here is how I’ve appreciated them (again: just my opinion, not the universal truth). If you want to read more, just click on the name:

1. Sissy Spacek, Coal Miner's Daughter

Forget the singing, even though she’s great at it! Biopic performances rarely get this honest. Sissy refuses to do a glamorized, idealized version of this country legend and creates a down-to-earth character that you might not love, but definitely understand. She’s always in character and at the top of her game!
The highlight: break-down scene on stage!

2. Goldie Hawn, Private Benjamin

You rarely see pure wacky comedy getting recognition here! Goldie is unique: with unmatched charm and terrific comedy timing, she seduces us everytime she’s on screen. The line delivery is so delicious, but she keeps it real and grounded and despite the easiness of the film, we can really feel the journey of this woman.
The highlight: [After being issued with an Army uniform] Excuse me, sir, is green the only color these come in?

3. Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People
A haunting performance, even though the screentime is not on her side! She firmly controls a very calculated character and subtly underlines the hidden emotional tragedy of this woman! Her incapacity of real emotional connection is very believable and intelligently presented!

The highlight: the uncomfortable garden scene with her son.

4. Ellen Burstyn, Resurrection

Her presence in any film is always reassuring! It’s not easy when you get some kind of a paranormal storyline and a back-stabbing screenplay and manage to create a believable, balanced character! Her shining moments are the suffering ones, but Ellen does a fine job in making us believe in the healing power!
The highlight: The goodbye scene between her and the grandmother.

5. Gena Rowlands, Gloria
Gena Rowlands is an exceptional, intelligent, talented actress, but NOT a miracle worker. With the worst child actor as a screen partner and a screenplay that makes no sense, she barely survives this sinking ship. There are moments of terrific acting and kindness, but very often she drowns in the cliché of the-yelling-woman-with-a-gun.
The highlight: literally standing between the gangsters in the car and the kid; and pleading for his life.

The Academy's choice was pretty obvious. I'm sure they loved Mary Tyler Moore, who also had the Best Picture winner, but Sissy had the screentime; plus an excellent performance and an already established interesting movie career. The runner-up was for sure Mary; Gena Rowlands must've been 3rd because she was Oscar-less, Goldie 4th and Ellen Burstyn with the least chance of winning.

Other Best Actress years discussed so far:

1947
1957
1965
1977
1992
2000
2007
2008

What's next?

Tomorrow I'll post my profiles for Stinkylulu's Supporting Actress Blogathon, a bit earlier but I have to finish all by Saturday when I move back to Bucharest. Next Best Actress year? 2009 of course, and I'll start with that hopefully as soon as the nominees are announced February 2nd! Until then: possibly various other comments! :)

We'd be bored without Golden Globes...

Let’s not forget: those few Golden Globe voters love MUSICALS (Little Miss Sunshine lost to Dreamgirls, Juno lost to Sweeney Todd...) and movies with most nominations!

Here are my simple, early (not so early really, they’re on Sunday) Golden Globe predictions! I am not bragging and in the end it will probably not end up like this. I just want to have them posted, to be able to look back later!

Best Motion Picture - Drama: Up in the Air (alt: Avatar)
Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical: Nine (alt: It’s Complicated)
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (alt: none)

Best Actor - Drama: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (alt: none)
Best Actor - Comedy/Musical: Daniel Day-Lewis for Nine (alt: Matt Damon)
Best Actress - Drama: Carey Mulligan for An Education (alt: Sandra Bullock)
Best Actress - Comedy/Musical: Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (alt: Marion Cotillard)

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (alt: Woody Harelson)
Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique for Precious (alt: none)

Best Screenplay: Up in the Air (alt: Inglourious Basterds)
Best Original Song: Nine (alt: Avatar; yes, Avatar, not Crazy Heart)
Best Original Score: Avatar (alt: Up)
Best Foreign Language Film: A Prophet (alt: The White Ribbon)
Best Animated Feature: Up (alt: none)


Easiest prediction: Best Supporting Actress
Most difficult prediction: Best Actor - Comedy/Musical



Gonna be a bit of a full week here. My 1980 conclusions next and Stinkylulu’s Supporting Actress Blogathon!

Goldie Hawn, in Private Benjamin

approximately 77 minutes and 15 seconds
71.4% of the film

The film

A sheltered young high society woman joins the army on a whim and finds herself in a more difficult situation than she ever expected.

You can find my short review of the film just by clicking HERE.

A fun movie that I’ve always liked! Seen by many as superficial, indeed the film doesn’t set too many challenges. But I think it’s nicely balanced and the second, more serious part is necessary to define the trajectory of the leading character.

Goldie Hawn as Judy Benjamin

A leading comedy performance usually needs a weak category to make it to the final 5. It almost doesn’t even have to do with the quality of the performance. We know voters look at Drama actresses first and then, depending on their soft side or how competitive the field is or how famous the actress is, they might consider Comedy. Goldie Hawn was one of those lucky gals! With Private Benjamin, she had weak competition, charming personality, a well-settled comedic career AND a very worthy performance.

Goldie stars as Judy Benjamin, a very unlucky recent-widow, a lazy spoiled woman who is confronted with a life-changing experience: being in the army! Just like the movie itself, the role isn’t too complicated. The changes in the character are presented in a very unsubtle way, so what the screenplay doesn’t offer is MOSTLY demanded from the actress. The big word: charisma! For the movie to work, you need someone who knows comedy timing and is sweet enough not to get bored looking at her! And Goldie has what it takes!

The first half of the movie is pure silliness and a lot of situation comedy! Goldie is perfect at that and I subjectively admit I could never get enough looking at her! She’s pretty, she’s sweet, and likeable and adorable! And this helps! There’s no one who could hold a comedy scene like she does and, watching her acting the silly lines, I could only imagine how fascinating she would’ve been in a 1930s screwball comedy era! She takes a scene like looking up and cursing her dead husband and she makes it the funniest thing ever! :)

Her constant complaining is so deliciously funny, you can’t help but liking Judy! Even when she’s crying, it’s presented in a funny light, so the comedy isn’t thrown off balance. Goldie somehow manages to add more to the character and there’s often a look or a small gesture that hints the occasional drama of the character; fortunately, that supports the movie, without replacing the lightness of it.

When things go romantic in the second part, she doesn’t get more serious in the standard way! What Goldie does is to move the comedy from the situational army wackiness to the fool in love perspective. She is more grounded, but at the same time lost in this romance which feels uncomfortable even from the beginning. Goldie is fun as the cheated fiancé, with crazy red hair and a bit washed-up, but again manages to show a human side as she feels her life slowly becomes pointless.

I love Goldie! And I think this is one of her best performances! She gets to do lots of situation comedy and she’s perfect at it! She’s sweet and very natural and represents at least 90% of the film’s success! It’s all based on her unquestionable charisma! And she also gets to be a romantic lead, to slowly underline the woman who gives up her career and then finds little purpose in her new existence! And at the end of it all, it looks so effortless! .

Kreativ people find all kinds of stuff to do...



Andrew is nice. He has found a new way of celebrating blogging and bloggers. By telling us how nice and smart we all are. :) And my little blog has been included among his favorite 7, or something like that. It's all based on a pay-it-forward concept. But I won't fully do that :)

Instead, I'm writing short words of appreciation. To Andrew for being a good fellow blogger who's always been kind to me; and being a person really dedicated to movies. And to all other occasional readers for visiting once in a while and appreciating this type of selfish movie therapy I do for myself. And, because I also need to write a thing about myself, I'll just make public again the origins of my blogging: admiring Stinkylulu's work for months, maybe years. I wouldn't have started this a year and a half ago, had it not been for his wonderful blog. Thanks!



Getting back to facts: I'll finish with 1980 very soon, only that I found myself trapped in work, preparing to move back to Bucharest and all these 2009 films. 1980 will go down next week, plus Stinkylulu's Blogathon!

An overdirected movie. A bad directed movie. An unexpectedly terrible screenplay. Awful visual effects. Awful romances. Overscored. Superficial writing. Bad casting. Future Razzie nominee Mark Wahlberg. Horrible teenage love interest. Painfully bad screenplay.

Good Saoirse Ronan. Fascinating Stanley Tucci. Unexplainably underused Susan Sarandon (terrific).

Cheesy book + horrible screenplay = bad adaptation. A lovely mess.

Mary Tyler Moore, in Ordinary People

approximately 30 minutes and 28 seconds
25.3% of the film

The film

The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father, and the guilt-ridden younger son.

You can find my short review of the film just by clicking HERE.

It’s a very well structured family drama, with high-class acting and a smart feel to it. It’s about human relationships and the feelings displayed are faithful to reality. For the most of it, it’s a successful Best Picture winner.

Mary Tyler Moore as Beth Jarrett


There’s a scene towards the end of Ordinary People when Calvin is coming home from the psychiatrist and confronts his wife Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) about a forgotten aspect from their son’s funeral. Why did she care what shoes he wore that day? Their son had just died, but she still cared about matching shoes… To me, it’s the strongest moment of the film and it says so much about Beth. I understand Beth; and, very often, I act just like she does. Her incapacity of displaying any (love) emotion is defining for the character.

But did you check her time on-screen (it’s mentioned under the main photo)? At 30 minutes, she’s 3rd to last from all the years I’ve counted so far. We can see her for just 25% of the film, which makes it a 2nd leading performance, how I’d call it. Mary plays Beth, a cold intelligent woman, subtly dealing with her favorite son’s death and her dislike for the surviving one. We discover Beth as a mother, a wife and most of all: a strong opinioned woman who cares a great deal for appearances.

What is mostly required of the actress is to make Beth look like she’s always on the edge of her sit. Beth is kind to her husband, loving and slightly manipulative, but she feels terribly uncomfortable in the presence of her son. I do believe she doesn’t hate him; it’s just that hard to explain lack of human connection. They just don’t click. And Mary Tyler Moore is perfect for the part, because she can inspire both intelligence and class, and also the stiffness much needed for this role.

But Beth is no cold monster and Mary understands that. Instead of creating a frigid bitch, she underlines her incapacity of displaying emotion and her preference for image, and not substance. There are one or two scenes in which she tries to get close to her son or is plainly forced by the situation. Mary allows us to see the good nature of the character and relate to her. It’s emotional and tragic and she’s much aware of this, but it’s hard for her to change when there is so much regret and anger and untold words behind her relationship with her son.

When accused for her coldness and cornered for being the way she really is, Beth shows her vulnerability. I don’t know what anyone wants with me anymore. It’s her wish to continue living behind a wall of silence and not deal with all the problems. And who could blame her? Her final scene, after her husband’s confession is heartbreaking and, while she’s being forced into the truth of everything around her, we soon realize that in the end Beth is the real victim of the story, not her son. It’s Beth who lost everything. [Does all this sound confusing for someone who hasn’t seen the film?]

Mary Tyler Moore is responsible for all the character analysis mentioned above. She allows us to see Beth in a way other actresses might have not allowed us to. Her performance is so smart and balanced and empathetic that in the end you HAVE to understand her and feel sorry for her. Mary’s only weakness: the competition in her own film. It’s Timothy Hutton who has most screentime and in an excellent performance he manages to steal the show. His final scene in the psychiatrist office is greatly acted beyond words. Conclusion: I thought of giving Mary 3 stars, but it’s a deep performance and subtle like none other from this 1980 line-up. For that itself, it deserves .

Best Picture winners... and Scarlett

Because it's Christmas Day (already 7 pm where I live right now), I thought of revisiting my favorite movie; and I did. By doing so, I've checked (again) all the Best Picture winners between 1928-1939 included. It's a slow burning project I'm doing over at My Latest Oscar Film, the other blog.

I've posted there a ranking (included in the few words I wrote on Gone With the Wind). If you care to check it out, just click HERE.

But go now, don't let Scarlett waiting :P

Meeeeeery Christmas!

Alex in Movieland and My Latest Oscar Film wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with nice food, good deeds, warm feelings and excellent movies.

With not much to do over here, I myself am about to jump into the arms of Miss Scarlett O'Hara! Fiddle-dee-dee, just look at the time...

And excuse the quick, arrogant, I have no Christmas tree and I'm pissed about it photo :) Best of wishes, boys & girls!

Gena Rowlands, in Gloriaapproximately 78 minutes and 32 seconds
67.4% of the film

The film

A gangster's girlfriend goes on the run with a young boy who is being hunted by the mob for information he may or may not have.

You can find my short review of the film just by clicking HERE.

By far one of the messiest films I’ve seen in a very long time. The idea is good: but that’s all there is to it. For 40-50 minutes the film just goes in circles. Gena Rowlands can’t save it because she has nothing to work with. The dialogue is horrible and I think I was watching the worst child performance EVER. A mess.

Gena Rowlands as Gloria Swenson

I haven’t seen A Woman under the Influence (yes, I know I need to), but I have seen Opening Night and Gena Rowlands is spectacular in that Oscar-snubbed performance. And I don’t know… just by looking at her you can tell how cool & fabulous she is. She inspires a smart diva actress feeling! I’m sure that in a studio era she would’ve given Bette Davis a run for her money.

But this movie called Gloria is pure non-sense. She is incredibly above the material, but even so: there’s too much of a mess going on. Gena plays Gloria, a mobster’s ex-mistress, who due to some special circumstances ends up taking care of an annoying kid with a target on his head while her former gangster friends are hunting both of them. We don’t know much about Gloria, except that she did some time and that she’s an insider. There is nothing too deep about the character and for the most of it she just runs in circles from one NY location to another…

I need to underline yet again how stupid the screenplay is: it’s hardly believable and there is no character justification. People stupidly waiting to die, characters changing their minds every 5 minutes, a kid with lines a kid would never say, a mob guy on every bus & street corner in New York & an ocean of brainless screenplay solutions… And Gena is the middle of it all. Her screen partner is frustratingly incapable (that Razzie win for the kid is the most justified ever) and all that’s left for her to do it to take little and exploit it so much by trying to give a mood to the scene.

There are a couple of moments when she’s terrific; of course she is, because she’s frikkin Gena Rowlands. Caught up on the streets by the mob (all of them in a car), she is requested by old friends to hand over the kid. It’s a tough call for her: keeping him near is a death threat for her, but she knows that if she gives him up he’ll be dead. Gena helps us understand that, so her You wouldn’t shoot a kid, would you? (quoting from memory) is humble, begging and terribly effective. That’s a 5 star delivery!

As I said, she exploits the little material she’s given. Unfortunately, she sometimes takes it too far: pointing the gun at some gangsters and making crazy faces – that’s overacting to say the least. It’s not completely bad, but you can feel the desperation of the actress who is aware she’s doing a shitty role in a shitty movie. [Cassavetes actually had no intention of directing his screenplay, he just wanted to sell it. But when his wife got attached to the project, he was forced to step in]. Talking between her teeth, almost barking at the screen!

I imagined her final scene with the big Mafia boss is gonna give us some huge Oscar moment. It didn’t happen, as the dialogue itself was a boring cliché, with no real meat on it. Gena danced around it and did the best she could, just like she did the hour and a half before that.

This performance has one or two great moments and she was the only one who got me through this movie. I get sad when a wonderful actor doesn’t get the proper material. It could’ve been a great performance of a strong, tough, experienced woman. But it wasn’t; the worse of the film takes over the spotlight. How can I rate this?! It could’ve easily been a 3 or 4, but because I don’t know who Gloria is and I barely believe the information given to me: it’s a . With spots of 5. :)

Ellen Burstyn, in Resurrection

approximately 77 minutes and 1 second
79.8% of the film

The film

It tells the story of a woman who survives the car accident which kills her husband, but discovers that she has the power to heal other people.

You can find my short review of the film just by clicking HERE.

The movie starts well, as a mixture of drama and spirituality and after life, but after 1 hour it goes downhill, especially the screenplay. It’s a pity. The best thing about it: Maurice Jarre’s music which would’ve deserved Oscar recognition.

Ellen Burstyn as Edna

It’s not very often that a performance coming from a fantasy/sci-fi/horror movie gets recognition here. I actually didn’t keep track, but it’s easy to tell. Sigourney Weaver got it for Aliens, Ellen Burstyn for The Exorcist… and again for this little movie called Resurrection. It’s not really a fantasy, but it deals with afterlife, so there’s a paranormal thing going on. However, the easiest explanation for the nom is the dramatic requirement of the role, the personal experience of a normal woman dealing with change.

Ellen plays Edna, a 40-something married woman who after a sudden accident becomes a widow and a paraplegic. While almost experiencing death, she wakes up with a strange (energy) power of healing, both herself and others. It’s a good idea of a role, with the potential of a good performance, at it demands a lot: going through the real dramatic part, making the healing look believable and not overdoing the dialogue. And I can say that Burstyn does a very fine job, at least in the first 2/3rds of it.

Her most solid moments come in portraying the suffering Edna; she had lost her husband and she’s now in a wheelchair. The hospital scenes are good and there’s a great one at the cemetery with her saying goodbye to him. Ellen can see the truth in this simple woman, so the daily-life scenes are among the best.

The healing part doesn’t require big, flashy reactions from Ellen. She just closes her eyes and uses, through her hands, a power which is invisible to us. However, she does make it believable and it’s also because of her generally calming presence. She is very reassuring and although she represents the paranormal element of the film, she’s at the same time the person/actress who keeps it grounded. It’s all because we trust Burstyn and the character she’s creating.

That’s a plus for the understanding of the film, because it becomes pretty obvious early on that she’s the one carrying the whole picture on her back. By creating a relatable character, she sells Resurrection to us, the first part of it, that is. Her flashiest scene is the big healing one, a difficult case where we practically see Burstyn taking upon herself the sickness of the patient. It’s a well-planned acting moment, which doesn’t seem fake at all.

However, my favourite acting scene of hers is while saying goodbye to her grandmother towards the ending of the movie. A great scene partner helps and Burstyn is able to take us back to Edna’s daily-life emotions from the first part; her teary eyes seem so genuine and her honest acting creates a loving, natural, relatable scene: saying goodbye to someone you love and acknowledging you’ll probably never see them again.

And then there’s the downfall: the final 10 minutes make for an almost ridiculous ending. The old Edna looks like a witch. Beyond the unconvincing makeup, Burstyn fails in making us believe that decades have passed. It’s an incredibly bad and uninspired take which kills any side of believability. Just because you put on a wig (but no wrinkles) doesn’t mean 20-30 years have passed; it really was an unfortunate soap-opera move.

Burstyn does a fine job in creating a simple woman, dealing with too many new elements in her life. There IS a character arc and her presence throughout the film makes the whole power thing seem believable. It’s a relatable character and she’s nicely selling the film, except for the last part, where she really drops the ball. I give her , being more of a 2.5. I could totally understand why someone would see this more like a 2, but because she puts soul into it and I enjoyed the first part, I thought about being a bit generous.

Golden Globe predictions - Just Acting

I swear these are my last predictions before the big Oscar ones. I postponed my usual Best Actress posting to put this up. The Globe noms will be announced on Tuesday (I think). So these are the possible nominees. Hell, my predictions! Just in the acting category, because these are the ones I care mostly about. The photos, I guess, represent possible winners (and nomination locks).

Actor - Drama:

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

George Clooney, Up in the Air

Colin Firth, A Single Man

Morgan Freeman, Invictus

Viggo Mortensen, The Road

runner-up: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Actor - Comedy / Musical:

Matt Damon, The Informant!

Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine

Robert De Niro, Everybody's Fine

Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer

runner-up: the guy from A Serious Man

Actress - Drama:

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Helen Mirren, The Last Station

Carey Mulligan, An Education

Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones

Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

runner-up: Abbie Cornish, Bright Star [or why not Robin Wright Penn]

Actress - Comedy / Musical:

Marion Cotillard, Nine

Zooey Deschanel, (500) Days of Summer

Michelle Pfeiffer, Chéri

Meryl Streep, It’s Complicated

Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

runner-up: Bullock could easily sneak in instead of Pfeiffer or Zooey

Supporting Actor:

Alec Baldwin, It's Complicated

Alfred Molina, An Education

Christopher Plummer, The Last Station

Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones

Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

runner-up: Woody Harelson, The Messenger

Supporting Actress:

Penélope Cruz, Nine

Judi Dench, Nine

Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air

Mo’Nique, Precious

Susan Sarandon, The Lovely Bones

runner-up: Morton or Cotillard instead of Sarandon. I just don't see Julianne getting nominated here.

We'll see! Unfortunately I'll be at work when they'll announce them, but maybe I can see a recording of the live announcement when I get home (and ignore any info by then). Let's hope youtube will work fast.

The Precious experience.

I have finished watching Precious on an FYC dvd. I didn’t take any breaks from it, it was a continuous viewing. After I’ve finished it, I got up and sat on the balcony for 3 minutes, just to bread some air and leave it behind. To me it was a haunting, a bit traumatizing experience. It’s definitely not the feel good movie of the year. It struck some cords, but I guess that was the intention… I don’t think it’s a masterpiece and I hate that I’ll have to see it again (both Gaby & Mo’Nique will get Oscar noms). At the same time, I’d want everybody I know to see it; because it’s an unpleasant sit-through and an emotional blackmail, right now it makes me feel… wiser, a more profound person. But then again: I’ve finished it less than 30 minutes ago…

Mo’Nique’s Oscar win is gonna be one of the best this category’s ever had. Gaby will not win, neither will Lee Daniels (I think), nor will it get the Best Picture (not because I’m sure that there’ll be much better movies, but I can’t imagine that a lot of people would want to remember Precious, because of its heavily uncomfortable experience). It is over-directed, but that’s the way to do it especially in the first part, when the screenplay needs help. Impossible to rate it so soon: an 8 maybe, slowly heading towards a 9. Paula Patton was also great and Mariah didn’t have enough screentime. But Mo’Nique rocked.



I don’t usually watch movies from that year until December – January – February. So I need a lot of catching up to do. Recently seen future Oscar-nominees:
- Inglourious Basterds: too much tension, but delicious.
- District 9: highly overrated.
- Transformers II: great visuals, non-sense story.
- Julie & Julia: Meryl is fine, but otherwise a simplistic flick.

Probably the next ones: Public Enemies, Star Trek, The Hurt Locker, The White Ribbon, Broken Embraces,… I would add some animated, but I’m not a big fan, so I might wait for the Oscar noms.