6 NEAT THINGS ABOUT LAST NIGHT'S INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

  As boring as they were, last night's Independent Spirit Awards did have 6 neat things, including:

1.  WE DIDN'T HAVE TO SEE CHRISTIAN BALE ON THE STAGE WITH THE JERK HE PORTRAYED IN THE FIGHTER;

2.  WE DIDN'T HAVE TO SEE THAT FAT FUCK (thank you, Sheridan) SCOTT RUDIN ON THE STAGE ACCEPTING AN AWARD FOR THE SOCIAL NETWORK WHICH WAS INELIGIBLE FOR SPIRIT AWARDS BECAUSE IT WAS FINANCED AND RELEASED BY A MAJOR STUDIO;

3.  WE DIDN'T HAVE TO SEE COLIN FIRTH GIVE YET ANOTHER ACCEPTANCE SPEECH FOR HIS PERFORMANCE IN THE KING'S SPEECH SINCE THE FILM WAS ONLY NOMINATED IN THE BEST FOREIGN FILM CATEGORY (I kid you not).  GRANTED, FIRTH IS A CHARMER, A WONDERFUL ACTOR AND HE WILL GIVE WHAT I AM SURE WILL BE A VERY HEARTFELT AND TERRIBLY TASTEFUL ACCEPTANCE SPEECH AT TONIGHT'S OSCARS CEREMONY, BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, DONT YA THINK?

4.  WE GOT TO SEE 2 ACTORS, BOTH FROM THAT TERRIFIC FILM, WINTER'S BONE, WHO ARE NOT AT ALL WELL KNOWN (and who appear to be descendents of hillbillies in Kentucky), ACKNOWLEDGED FOR THEIR PERFORMANCES WITH SPIRIT AWARDS AND GIVE HEARTFELT ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES WITHOUT THE USE OF WRITTEN NOTES;

5.  BECAUSE SONGS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE SPIRIT AWARDS, WE DIDN'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO ANY OF THE GOD AWFUL OSCAR NOMINATED SONGS WHICH MERCIFULLY I BELIEVE ONLY TOTAL 3 NOW; AND

6.  NATALIE PORTMAN, IN ACCEPTING HER SPIRIT AWARD FOR HER PERFORMANCE IN BLACK SWAN, FINALLY GOT IT RIGHT AND MADE A VERY HEARTFELT AND SWEET SPEECH AND SPARED US THE MENTION OF HER HUSBAND AND HIS (presumably) MOY GRANDE PENGIS.

NOW BRACE YOURSELF FOR THE OSCARS TONIGHT.  SHORT OF JAMES FRANCO PULLING OUT HIS PECKER AND JERKING OFF, I CANT IMAGINE ANYTHING EXCITING OR UNEXPECTED TO OCCUR.

BUT YOU NEVER KNOW, RIGHT?

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...

  Hollywood's big night is just around the corner and it will be the culmination of an unbelievably long season of awards shows beginning in December with the Critics Choice awards, moving into January with the Golden Globes and then the SAG awards, not to mention the various guilds (producers, directors, screenwriters) that also give out statutes of various sizes to the best in their crafts. 
  There are so many that the Academy Awards have become anticlimatic despite their being the most anticipated awards show of the year.  At least they used to be.
  When I was a kid growing up in the 50s, I would circle the date on which the Academy Awards were held (usually in mid or late March) and count down the days until the big night.  My mother, who was as big a fan of movies as myself, would let me stay up late on Oscar night.  I couldn't contain my excitement and I would write down all the nominations and check the ones I thought would win.  Silly me.  Even at a young age I thought the Oscars were given out for artistic achievement and were not a popularity contest.  Little did I know that in many instances the major studios dictated who would win Oscars with their expensive advertising and publicity campaigns.
For many years employees at the various studios were were voting members of the Academy were urged  to vote for the nominees from their respective studios. 
  But Oscar night was the most exciting night of the year for me.  It was the one time that I got to see many of the giants in the motion picture industry. 
  In 1953, for example,  I got to see Audrey Hepburn take the Oscar for her enchanting performance in ROMAN HOLIDAY.  She won out over Leslie Caron (one of my favorite actresses, for LILI),  Ava Gardner for MOGAMBO and Deborah Kerr for FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.   I saw William Holden take the Oscar for STALAG 17 over Marlon Brando (JULIUS CAESAR), Richard Burton (THE ROBE),  Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster (FROM HERE TO ETERNITY).   And I got to see Frank Sinatra accept his Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.  It was this film that rescued
Sinatra from near obscurity as an actor.
  My point is Oscar night was memorable because you got to see many of the bigger than life movie stars that you never saw any other time except on the screen at your neighborhood theatre.
This was long before they began to appear regularly on late night talk shows and wherever else they could to publicize their upcoming releases.  
  Two years later (1955), I got to see Anna Magnani upset Susan Hayward (I'LL CRY TOMORROW) for her role in THE ROSE TATTOO.  Also nominated for best actress that year and at the Oscars were Jennifer Jones (LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING) and Eleanor Parker (INTERRUPTED MELODY).  Katherine Hepburn, as usual, did not attend as was her habit.  She was nominated for SUMMERTIME.  
  That same year I saw ERNEST BORGNINE accept his best actor oscar for MARTY, beating out James Cagney (LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME),  James Dean (EAST OF EDEN), Frank Sinatra (THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM) and Spencer Tracy (BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK).
  A small budget film, MARTY, in black and white no less, won best pic honors over big studio films like LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING (Fox), MISTER ROBERTS (Warner Bros) and PICNIC (Columbia).
  For some unexplicable reason, Doris Day was looked over for her performance in LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME.  Go figure.
  I could go on and on and on about all the greats that I got to see that one night of the year during the Oscar telecast.  Names like Susan Hayward, who finally got her Oscar in 1958 for I WANT TO LIVE, beating out icons like Deborah Kerr, Shirley MacLaine, Rosalind Russell for her wonderful performance in AUNTIE MAME and Elizabeth Taylor for CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF.
  I'll never forget the 1959 Oscars when my idol, Audrey Hepburn,( who was nominated for her performance in one of my all time films, THE NUN'S STORY), was upset by Simone Signoret for ROOM AT THE TOP.   I was a senior in high school that year and I cried when they announced Signoret's name.  I jumped up and down screaming, "Audrey Hepburn deserved the Oscar.  She was robbed.  I hate the Academy members whoever they are."
  But thru it all, I look back upon those years of viewing the Oscars when I was a teen as truly exciting experiences, a night when I got to see all the  stars who thrilled me every week when I went to the movies. 
  Joan Crawford.  Bette Davis.  Jimmy Stewart.  Charlton Heston.  Vivien Leigh.  Shelly Winters.
Grace Kelly.  Cary Grant.  Etc., Etc., Etc.
  Fast forward to the present and what you see on Oscar night are actors/actresses who have (for the most part) appeared on every late night variety show pitching their latest film and winners who have already received awards and offered mostly forgettable acceptance speeches at award broadcasts in December and January. 
  By the time the Academy Awards roll around, it's deja vue and NOT HIM/HER AGAIN.
  There's little excitement, not a whole lot of glamour and very little humor and surprises.
  I will always carry with me the memory of watching all those wonderful Oscar telecasts back in the 50s and even into the 60s but by the time I moved to LA and began working at Paramount Pictures I had no delusions about the Oscars. 
  They are more a popularity contest than anything else, at least in the acting categories (see last year's winner, Sandra Bullock) and if any real artistic achievement is acknowledged on Oscar night, it's more a fluke than anything else.
  The glamour of yesteryear is long gone and all that's left is hoping there will be a few 'moments' during the long, mostly boring 3-1/2 hour telecast.  For me, the last year there were any real surprises and excitement was 2002 when Adrien Brody took the best actor oscar (THE PIANIST), upsetting favorites Jack Nicholson (ABOUT SCHMIDT) and Daniel Day-Lewis (GANGS OF NEW YORK and Roman Polanski won the Oscar for best director (THE PIANIST). 
  AND THE WINNERS THIS YEAR ARE:

  BEST PICTURE  -  THE KING'S SPEECH                 (My Choice:  THE SOCIAL NETWORK

  BEST ACTOR -  COLIN FIRTH                                  (My Choice:  JAVIER BARHAM

  BEST ACTRESS - NATALIE PORTMAN                  (My Choice: NATALIE PORTMAN

 BEST SUPPORTING
 ACTOR - CHRISTIAN BALE                                       (My Choice: Anyone but Bale cause I'm
                                                                                            sick of seeing his face)
BEST SUPPORTING
ACTRESS - MELISSA LEO                                          (My Choice:  Melissa Leo

BEST DIRECTOR - TOM HOOPER                           (My Choice: David Fincher

BEST ORIGINAL
SCREENPLAY - DAVID SEIDLER                             (My Choice:  Christopher Nolan for
                                                                                                                 INCEPTION
BEST ADAPTED
SCREENPLAY - AARON SORKIN                             (My Choice:  Aaron Sorkin

BEST EDITING - THE SOCIAL NETWORK            (My Choice:  THE SOCIAL NETWORK

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY -                                     (My Choice:  THE SOCIAL NETWORK
THE KING'S SPEECH

BEST ART DIRECTION - ALICE IN                         (My Choice: Couldn't Care Less
  WONDERLAND

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - THE KING'S SPEECH (My Choice: THE SOCIAL NETWORK

BEST COSTUME
DESIGN - ALICE IN WONDERLAND                      (My Choice:  Couldn't Care Less

BEST MAKE-UP - THE WOLFMAN                         (My Choice:  Couldn't Care Less

BEST FOREIGN FILM -IN A BETTER WORLD    (My Choice:  BIUTIFUL cause I've seen it)

BEST SOUND EDITING - INCEPTION                   (My Choice:  INCEPTION
  
BEST DOCUMENTARY - INSIDE JOB                   (My Choice: INSIDE JOB

BEST ANIMATED FILM - TOY STORY 3              (My Choice:  TOY STORY 3)

BEST SOUND EDITING - INCEPTION                  (My Choice:  INCEPTION)
             
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - INCEPTION                 (My Choice:  INCEPTION)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT,
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM AND
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM -                    U R on your own

 

WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT THE INDEPENDENT FILM INDUSTRY?

    Here it is, only mid-January, and I have seen 2 films that will make my top 10 list for 2011 in less than one week.
    They are RABBIT HOLE and BLUE VALENTINE.  I realize that both films were released in December in LA and NY to qualify for the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards (the former being held on January 16 and the Oscars on February 27).  But I didn't see them until they opened in Washington, DC last week and I had already made my top 10 films of 2010 list so I will have to wait until the end of 2011 and include these 2 fine films at that time.
    RABBIT HOLE was adapted for film by David Lindsay-Abaire from his own play and what could have been simply depressing and sad is both funny and poignant thanks to the deft hand of director John Cameron Mitchell, who directed and starred in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."  Playing the grieving parents are Nicole Kidman (in her best performance to date) and Aaron Eckhart, who are trying, but not having much success, at getting over the loss of their young son (hit by a car while chasing after his dog) and getting on with their lives.  Eckhart is also terrific and Dianne Wiest, as Kidman's mother, adds dimension and warmth as she always does in any film she appears in.  Sandra Oh, as another grieving parent, is also a delight.  This is a film that may break your heart but will enrich it at the same time.  Its tears are well earned.
    I saw BLUE VALENTINE at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Md.  This magnificent deco palace built back in the 30s has been restored to its former glory and to view a film in this auditorium is a treat almost beyond description.  Comfortable seats and a state of the arts sound system (THX).  This is another film that could easily have been dismissed as derivative and oh so depressing, but, again, strong performances not only prevent a feeling of 'been there, done that' but make the story compelling and heartbreaking.  The old 'boy meets girl, boy marries girl, girl gets over boy and the two make each other miserable as the years goes by' scenario feels fresh here thanks to Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, two of the best actors in film today.  They are both appealing, easy on the eyes and in a word, brilliant.  Director and co-writer Derek Cianfrance
has taken a time worn theme and made it fresh, funny and riveting.   Great acting from everyone including the little girl who plays their young daughter.
    Make a point of seeing these 2 films.  Make the effort to find a theatre where they are playing and go, go go.  Or else we take the risk of seeing fewer and fewer of these kind of films made for our viewing pleasure.

AND (THE ONCE MEANINGLESS) GOLDEN GLOBE GOES TO...

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HAIL...HAIL...THE GANG'S ALL HERE..

Let's welcome the 112th Congress and especially the 87 newcomers to the House of Representatives, most of them Republicans and most of them elected thru the support of Tea Party members and a platform calling for major cuts in the Federal bureaucracy and a balanced budget.
There is, in fact, a means of beginning the process to achieving a major reduction in the national deficit:  START BRINGING HOME THE TROOPS FROM IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN AND OTHER COUNTRIES WHERE WE HAVE MILITARY BASES AND CUT THE SHIT OUT OF THE DEFENSE BUDGET.
Of course, this will never happen.  Not with this Congress nor with any of those in the future.  After 9/11, which scared the shit out of most of us, we gave the Prez carte blanche to send American troops all over the globe and to spend as much gelt as he wanted to ensure the safety of all American citizens. 
Bush should have been tried and convicted for lying to the American people and invading Iraq and being responsible as our Commander-in-Chief for the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens and children.  Obama doesn't have the balls to begin an orderly withdrawal  of troops from Iraq and Afganistan.  Did we learn nothing from Russia's invasion of Afghanistan?  Nope.  We didn't.  If we had we wouldn't be there.  We'd be in Pakistan where the real terrorists thrive.
If I sound cynical, it's because I am.  I have little regard for most politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike (though I loathe more Republicans than Democrats), who are in bed with corporate masters and preoccupied with fund raising activities for their next election campaigns.
It will be politics as usual, even with 87 new House members who will realize soon enough that 'the more things change, the more they stay the same'.
I'll end this little rant by sharing with you a letter to the editor in the Jan 6 Washington Post from Peter P. Cecere of Woodville, Va. in response to an article, "Our Asymmetrical wars":
    "The AF has developed a drone that "can see everything" in Afghanistan, but can it help us Wesrterners tell the good guys from the bad?
    And what good are powerful satellites that can read newspapers from outer space if only a handful of people among the coalition forces can read and understand Arabic or Urdu or any of the other tribal languages beyond the "courtesy level"?
    Our military continues to develop weapons of unimaginable lethality while we are befuddled by ragtag fighters who kill and maim our soldiers with cheap homemade explosive devices.
    All these years and deaths in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have given us litle understanding of the futility of these asymmetrical wars."

THINK ABOUT IT AND TALK AMONGST YOUSELVES

5 GOOD FILMS I DIDN'T SEE AND THE 5 WORST OF THE YEAR

  To be fair, I am listing 5 films that I didn't see but most likely would have been contenders for my top 10 list had I viewed them.  They are:
 
  ANIMAL KINGDOM - from Australia, about a family of thugs led by a demonic momma.  By the time I got around to seeing it, it was gone.
  TOY STORY 3 - I saw about 15 minutes of it at a multiplex while I was waiting to see the worst movie of the year (see list below).  What I did see was entertaining and sweet.  Maybe I'll watch it on cable this year.
  THE TOWN - another film about a group of thieves starring and directed by underrated talent Ben Affleck.  I just couldn't get it up to see it at the time it was playing around.
  LAST TRAIN HOME - from China a docudrama about a young couple travelling a great distance to visit their family in 'alledrerden'.
  TINY FURNITURE - about a recent college graduate who moves in with her mother and sister while searching for a job and love and (apparently) finding neither.  A little gem I'm told.

  And the worst movies of the year are:  (seen or sight unseen)

  HOW DO YOU KNOW - a romantic comedy from James Brooks who hasn't made a really good film since Terms of Endearment.  This one I've read is neither funny or romantic.  Too bad.  I like both Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd.
  BOOK OF ELI - I caught up with this piece of dreck on cable.  Mad Max Denzel ain't and the story is sooooooooooooooo predictable.
  LITTLE FOCKERS - mind you, I hated the original (Meet the Parents) so I can only imagine how I would have reacted if I had sat thru this shit.  Robert DeNiro, Blythe Danner, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand should be ashamed of themselves.  What?  They don't have enough gelt as it is?  They needed another big paycheck?  Babs:  go make YENTL - 30 YEARS LATER.  Anything but shit like this.
  BURLESQUE - giving new meaning to the term 'derivative', it features Cher in her first film in several years and Christina Aguilera in her first (and possibly last) movie role.  It's hard to watch Cher who has only one facial expression due to the several facelists she has had.  Christina can sing and dance but she can't act.  She's awful everytime she opens her mouth to speak some of the worst dialogue ever written for a movie.  A shonda.  Give me SHOWGIRLS anytime over this dreck.
  THE TOURIST - let's hear it for those journalists from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, Malta, Lithuania and Kazakhstan who nominated it for 3 Golden Globe awards:  best comedy or musical (it's neither), best actor (Johnny Depp) and best actress (Angelina Jolie).  I'm told ants have more chemistry than Depp and Jolie in this film.
  And the worst movie of 2010 was:
  SEX AND THE CITY 2 - The girls should be ashamed for making this embarrassment.  They should have flushed the script down the toilet and demanded a rewrite before agreeing to make this abominable sequel to the endearing original.
 
  Next up we'll talk about the upcoming Oscar noms, my picks and favs.  Meanwhile, talk amongst yourselves and Happy New Year Everyone.  God bless us all.
 

OH, NO...NOT ANOTHER TOP 10 FILMS OF THE YEAR LIST

  You asked for it (NOT), but I'm gonna give it to ya anyway, my 10 fav films o 2010 and here they are:
  THE SOCIAL NETWORK - Who woulda thunk a movie about the creation of Facebook would be so fascinating, but it is and Aaron Sorkin deserves kudoos for his brilliant screenplay, David Fincher deserves the Oscar nomination he will get for directing such a terrific ensemble cast, including Oscar to be nominee Jesse Eisenberg and maybe even Justin Timberlake.  This is the best film of 2010.
  I AM LOVE - my personal favorite film of the year with a beautifully nuanced  performance by one of my fav actresses, Tilda Swinton.  A feast for the eyes, great art direction, yummy looking food, beautiful music and one of the hottest looking (male) butts I've ever seen on the screen belonging to actor Edcardo Gabbriellini, who plays Swinton's young chef lover (to die for).
  THE GHOST WRITER - a masterpiece directed by Roman Polanski with an Oscar worthy performance by Pierce Brosnan (more than making up for his embarrassing job in Momma Mia),
this was a gripping conspiracy thriller that held my attention (not easy to do) from beginning to end.  Also featuring a terrific  performance by Ewen Mcregor (who was also terrific in I LOVE YOU PHILIP MORRIS).
  LEBANON - about the Israeli 'invasion' of Lebanon in 1982 and set entirely within a tank manned by 4 inexperienced soldiers; powerful and memorable.
  WINTER'S BONE - a sort of coming-of-age story with a mesmerizing and Oscar worthy performance by newcomer Jennifer Lawrence.  Bleak,  desolate and riveting, rent it when it becomes available on DVD.
  BLACK SWAN - the anti TURNING POINT that I expected to hate after reading James Wolcott's hysterically funny review in Vanity Fair (Black Swan Down), but didn't.  In fact, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen and what ballet dancing it did feature I enjoyed watching along with the Oscar worthy performances of Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.
  THE FIGHTER - along with The Social Network, it features the best ensemble acting of any year this past year, especially that of Oscar winner (you heard it here first) Christian Bale (for best supporting actor); look for Oscar noms as well for Melissa Leo and Amy Adams for best supporting actress, David O Russell for best director and I think it will grab one for best film too.
  PLEASE GIVE - a terrific little independent film with one of my favs, Catherine Keener, always a delight and terrific here.  So is Oliver Platt as her husband.  Any film with Kenner is good.
  A PROPHET - from France, about gangsters in prison, riveting (have I used that word too much here along with fab?), scary and compelling.  On the edge of my seat for (most of the) 2-1/2 hours.
  INSIDE JOB - a documentary about the financial meltdown of 2008 told in plain, simple English that even a dummy like me could understand and left me at the end angry and ready to throw a brick thru a window at the Treasury Department.  This along with JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK were the 2 best documentaries that I saw  this past year.
 That's it, folks.  You will notice that I did not include THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT or THE KING'S
SPEECH.  The former I liked and Annette Benning may very well win an Oscar for best actress next February but I thought the film was overrated; and Colin Firth will probably take home (and deservedly so) the best actor Oscar for King's Speech, but I found the film a bit too tastefully done and predictable, but sa-sa-sa-sa-sa--sorry, folks, nobody's perfect.