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Academy Awards A Personal View
In this strange, but delightful movie year, a widescreen 3-D movie like "HUGO" is competing with a black and white silent movie like "THE ARTIST," both of them great examples of modern movie art. |
By RON MILLER
of TheColumnists.com
This is going to be a good year for the Academy Awards. I can feel it in my bones. Of course, I'm at the age when you start feeling a lot of things in your bones and they aren't all good, but I'm an optimist and I think my instincts are on target this time.
First, the Feb. 26 Awards show is going to have Billy Crystal back as host. That is the best of all omens. Billy is the Oscar King and has been ever since Bob Hope finally faded away. No more talk show guys pretending to be Oscar host material. No more good-looking young movie stars trying to play the role of Oscar host. No more unfunny comedians adding Oscar-hosting to their resumes.
And, for once, Billy has good material to work with. There are lots of good movies in contention this year and some of them are pretty peculiar, even for Hollywood. If Billy wants to set something funny to music and parody the whole movie year. he should have a field day.
Yes, there are nine movies vying for the Best Picture Oscar instead of just five, which seemed to be a good formula for 50 years or so in Oscar history. But at least that's better than having 10 in competition, which they had during the past two Oscar seasons. At this time in movie history, it may not be possible to actually find that many Oscar-worthy movies.
Another gladdening factor is the glorious bow filmmakers seem to have made to diehard film fans this year. "The Artist," "Hugo" and "My Week with Marilyn" are all films that look back nostalgically at the movies. They are all excellent films, loaded with special treats for people who love movies. And Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" looks back nostalgically at virtually everything, especially writers, which was just one of the reasons that movie endeared itself to me from the opening credits on.
This is also a great year for remembering marvelous stars who are still doing great work after many, many years. Christopher Plummer, Max von Sydow and Nick Nolte are all contending for Oscars, along with the venerable Glenn Close and Meryl Streep. Each and every one of these actors is a treasure to behold. I wish they all could win.
In the Best Picture competition, I'm pulling for Martin Scorsese's "Hugo," the best 3-D movie since "Avatar," and an amazing change of pace for the director who gave us some of the grimmest, darkest films in movie history, including "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "The Departed." But I would be just as delighted if "The Artist" won because it's an inspired salute to the grandest days of the silent movie era, an infectious delight that is simply a joy for every minute it's on the screen.
That said, I have to admit I also loved "The Descendants" because of its great human warmth and the highly creative use director Alexander Payne made of the Hawaiian location atmosphere, including even the deliciously insipid Hawaiian music tha pervades the movie the way Anton Karas' zither music did "The Third Man" in 1949.
But then there's "The Help," a simply super movie with a knockout ensemble acting effort by everybody in the cast. It's an important movie with a deep social message that still resonates, especially in this bizarre election year where racism seems to rear its head every now and then.
Finally, I have to admit I was bewildered by much of Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life," but it's a richly photographed film and I know it will give up much more if I see it a time or two more, which I intend doing. Malick, who has only made a handful of movies over his long career, made one of my all-time favorite films--"Days of Heaven," and I've loved that film more each time I see it.
Here are my personal favorites among the
nominees in the six top categories:
BEST PICTURE: "Hugo"
because it's a spectacular work of art
in which Martin Scorsese re-creates 1920s Paris in stunning 3-D,
seeing the world through the eyes of a little boy whose curiousity
leads him to discover the reclusive French genius of cinema from
the turn of the century, George Melies, and help bring him back
to public view. Scorsese has revived dozens of the original Melies
films for us, but also shows us them being made in the early
days of the 20th century. This is one of the most astoundingly
beautiful films ever made, packed with a childlike sense of wonder.
The other nominees: "The Artist," "The Descendants," "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," "The Help," "Midnight in Paris," "Moneyball," "The Tree of Life," and "War Horse."
BEST ACTOR: George Clooney for "The Descendants." His subtle performance as a father trying to cope with the terminal illness of his wife and the unaccustomed responsibilities of fatherhood shows how accomplished he has become as an actor, resisting the pressure to be a hunky leading man and concentrating instead on serious issues and serious roles. I had the pleasure of meeting Clooney on several occasions during his days as a TV actor and am happy to report that he was always the kind of genial and thoughtful man he seems to be today.
The other nominees: Demian Bechir for "A Better Life," Jean Dujardin for "The Artist," Gary Oldman for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and Brad Pitt for "Moneyball."
BEST ACTRESS: Michelle Williams for "My Week with Marilyn." If someone had tolde me Williams wanted to play Marilyn Monroe in a movie back when I first met her as a supporting cast member in TV's "Dawson's Creek," I'd have laughed loudly. I always thought she was a gifted young actress, but I couldn't have imagined her ever inhabiting the character of Monroe the way she does in this movie. It's absolutely incredible. Saying that, I'll happily admit she has knocked me out with most of her work since she left TV and I now believe she's on her way to greatness.
The other nominees: Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs," Viola Davis in "The Help," Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady."
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christopher Plummer in "Beginners." Plummer has been a great character actor for years and years, but now he's getting all these plum roles in his old age--and eating them up! In this wistful little film, Plummer plays an elderly man who announces that he's homosexual after his wife dies and he's suddenly free to "be himself." His relationship with his grown son remains solid, even though it's an awkward situation for the son, who has relationship issues of his own, though not of the gender-bending sort. Plummer gets a glint in his eye for this part that is a delight to watch take form.
The other nominees: Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn," Jonah Hill in "Moneyball," Nick Nolte in "Warrior," Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids." As the chubby, unfeminine and most grossly unpleasant girl in this comic ensemble cast, McCarthy steals every scene she's in. No, you wouldn't want her at your wedding, especially if her bowels were showing signs of instability, but you'd probably howl at hearing somebody else tell you how she behaved. It's, in a word, a show-stopping comic turn.
The other nominees: Berenice Bejo in "The Artist," Jessica Chastain in "The Help," Janet McTeer in "Albert Dobbs," Octavia Spencer in "The Help."
BEST DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese for "Hugo" gets a narrow win over four other oustanding directors working at the top of their form. Scorsese had to reach into new depths of skill in order to make "Hugo" such an entrancing film for all ages. It's a yeoman effort that really stretched his talent and proved he's a lot more than anybody ever thought he was.
The other nominees: Michel Hazanivicius for "The Artist," Alexander Payne for "The Descendants," Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris," Terrence Malick for "The Tree of Life."
Just reading over that list of nominees, I don't see a single undeserved name on those lists. This was a great year for movies and I expect the Oscar show to end happily since it's hard to imagine anybody getting a major prize that doesn't deserve one.
©2012 by Ron Miller. This column first posted Feb. 20, 2012.
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