The Revenant

I am not the outdoorsy type. My idea of camping is to view a sun-dappled forest from the terrace of my hotel room clutching a glass of chardonnay and a can of bug spray. How I survived my years as a Boy Scout is a mystery and attributable to my stubborn force of will and need to please, not my ability to pitch a tent. So I love an opportunity to commune with nature from the comfort of a leather seat at a reserved seating movie theater. The Revenant is equal parts Rocky Mountain voyeurism and reminder that nature wants to kill you.

Alejandro G. Inarritu who won an Oscar last year for directing a claustrophobic look at the entertainment business in Birdman (2014) shifts gears and opens up his cinematic frame to the great western skies. Filmed in the Canadian Rockies- just north of where the real-life story occurred, The Revenant's  setting is stunningly beautiful. Nature looms over the shots with the mountains, forests, rivers and the sky itself becoming an audience of the film's action- the gorgeous tranquility of nature juxtaposed with the brutal story that unfolds upon its stage.

The Revenant is not for the  weak of stomach. The gut-wrenching brutality begins from the first scene with an attack from Native Americans setting the tale of survival and revenge/justice in bloody motion. It brought to mind the merciless opening to Saving Private Ryan (1998) and the purpose is similar- to make it clear that the rosy view of the classic western is a Hollywood-ized lie. The West that our ancestors faced was deadly- viciously so.

Leonardo DiCaprio is trapper and guide Hugh Glass (ironically named considering how un-fragile he turns out to be) who, along with his regiment, is being pursued through the wilderness by a group of vengeful Arikara natives who believe they have kidnapped their chief's daughter.

If the threat of being skewered and scalped wasn't enough, Glass is attacked by a pissed-off grizzly bear and sustains injuries that leave him barely clinging to life. The bear attack scene has gotten the lion's share of attention from the media- and rightly so. It's devastating and this along with the recent nature thriller Backcountry (2014) have convinced me that bears are assholes. Through the care of his commanding officer (Domhnall Gleeson) and his son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), Glass miraculously survives. But his suffering is just beginning. Resident racist prick John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) "volunteers" to stay behind to care for Glass so the rest of the company can escape to safety. It's not long before Glass is buried alive next to the body of his beloved son. Survival becomes vengeance as Glass crawls through the wilderness to track down Fitzgerald and make him pay.

Inarritu's camera is in constant, effortless motion, moving from expansive wide shots of nature to intimate extreme close-ups. Rather than wider shots of action scenes, we get a closer, more personal view of the butchery. We learn the terrain of these faces the same way we explore the mountain passes and rivers. Eyes are a focal point- gazing out of scarred faces into the darkness and the future. The use of light flares and breath steaming up the lens gives a documentary quality to the film without succumbing to the handheld camera technique so popular today. The camerawork smoothly propels the story from one savage scene to the next.

DiCaprio and Hardy are mesmerizing. Throughout the torture of Glass, we get the sensation that DiCaprio is not an actor going back to his trailer after Inarritu yells,"Cut!" He is a man having his body and soul broken. There is no room for ticks or flourishes. DeCaprio inhabits this role fully. Hardy is sensational as the moral-less Fitzgerald. There hasn't been a villain this cold since Ralph Fiennes' turn as a Nazi commandant in Schindler's List (1993).

The top prize of Best Film, Director, and Actor at this year's Academy Awards are this film's for the taking. Hardy's "screw-you-Oscar" attitude may cripple his chances- but he deserves the accolade.

If you can handle the gore- go see this film on the big screen. It is stunningly, terrifyingly beautiful.

It's an Honor Just to Be Nominated...

It's that time of year again when I get into heated arguments with co-workers, screaming matches with bar patrons that end with, "Go read Variety!", and scorched-earth Facebook comment wars with film fans. No, it's not the 2016 Presidential race, it's the Oscars and I have endless opinions about it.

And here they are: 

Best Picture

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

My guess this year is that The Revenant is going to do some sweepage. There's been lots of critical love for Mad Max, but it's just not the kind of movie that usually grabs the trophy. If I haven't nodded off into my cocktail, having overdosed on Cadillac commercials and movie trailers- perhaps there will be a surprise at the end of the Oscars telecast.

Snubbed- Inside Out, The Hateful 8, Carol, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (if the first one got nominated, why not this one?)

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston- Trumbo

Matt Damon- The Martian

Leonardo DiCaprio- The Revenant

Michael Fassbender- Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne- The Danish Girl

Leo should probably clear off a shelf for his first Oscar. He's a big movie star who went through physical torture for this film- and Hollywood loves when  actors suffer for a role. Watch out for the well-loved Matt Damon for anchoring Castaway in space.

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett- Carol

Brie Larson- Room

Jennifer Lawrence- Joy

Charlotte Rampling- 45 Years

Saoirse Ronan- Brooklyn

This is a great category. These ladies are all top-notch actresses- and yes, I think JLaw is a good actress. Loved her in American Hustle (2013). But don't look for Joy to generate any love. Brie Larson has all the buzz and this category loves a first-time, younger recipient. Cate could steal it- but since she gets nominated for opening her front door- it's likely she'll be in this category again real soon.

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale- The Big Short

Tom Hardy- The Revenant

Mark Ruffalo- Spotlight

Mark Rylance- Bridge of Spies

Sylvester Stallone- Creed

This category is also chocked full o' talent. My vote is for Tom Hardy because he has been working his well-toned ass off all year in Revenant, Mad Max, and Legend where he plays twins. He has publicly flipped the bird to winning the Oscar, but Brando and Kate Hepburn both stuck their tongues out at the honor and they both won multiple times. Ruffalo and Rylance are acting powerhouses who have probably earned this award many times over so there's a chance for them. Stallone might have some nostalgic support- but he already got all the Oscar gold he deserved from the Rocky franchise the first time out. Rocky beat Network! No Justice, No Peace!

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh- The Hateful Eight

Rooney Mara- Carol

Rachel McAdams- Spotlight

Alicia Vikander- The Danish Girl

Kate Winslet- Steve Jobs

Will Kate add to her statuette collection? Will Rooney get to homebase on her second date with Oscar? Hard to say.

Best Directing

Adam McKay- The Big Short

George Miller- Mad Max: Fury Road

Alejandro González Iñárritu- The Revenant

Lenny Abrahamson- Room

Tom McCarthy- Spotlight

Inarritu was last year's Oscar darling, so why should this year be any different? It's a good bet that the name the presenter calls out will be his... and that they will stumble all over themselves pronouncing it. Miller or McCarthy might slip in if there's an upset.

Snubbed- Todd Haynes- A brilliant auteur. He makes movies you want to watch on the big screen. Same could be said for Tarantino, but it looks like he's pissed-off everybody this year.

Best Original Score

Thomas Newman- Bridge of Spies

Carter Burwell- Carol

Ennio Morricone- The Hateful Eight

Jóhann Jóhannsson- Sicario

John Williams- Star Wars: The Force Awakens

This is a musical clash of the titans! It's Morricone vs. Williams. Williams won an Oscar for his first Star Wars score and the new one is beautifully evocative of that masterpiece. But Morricone has been cranking out some of the most beautiful film scores since the sixties and doesn't have a competitive statuette. (He was given an honorary award in 2007.) Give it to him. Give it to him before he dies.

Trivia- Thomas Newman (The Shawshank Redemption (1994), American Beauty (1999), Skyfall (2012)) has movie scoring in his genes. He's the cousin of folksy composer Randy Newman (Ragtime (1981), The Natural (1984), Toy Story (1995)) and the son of legendary studio composer Alfred Newman (All About Eve (1950), The Seven Year Itch (1955), Leave Her to Heaven (1945)).

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Big Short- Charles Randolph and Adam McKay

Brooklyn- Nick Hornby

Carol- Phyllis Nagy

The Martian- Drew Goddard

Room- Emma Donoghue

I'm leaning towards Carol on this one because the source material written by Patricia Highsmith is revered for its lesbian sexual rebellion. The Martian or Room could slip in for ingenuity.

Best Original Screenplay

Bridge of Spies- Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

Ex Machina- Alex Garland

Inside Out- Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen

Spotlight- Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy

Straight Outta Compton- Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge, Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

I like Inside Out because the script is wonderfully imaginative- but Spotlight is more likely to win because it deals with the Catholic church molestation scandal which is up there with Holocaust dramas for Oscar love.

Best Animated Feature Film

Anomalisa- Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran

Boy and the World- Alê Abreu

Inside Out- Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera

Shaun the Sheep Movie- Mark Burton and Richard Starzak

When Marnie Was There- Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Inside Out. Next?

Best Documentary – Feature

Amy- Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees

Cartel Land- Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin

The Look of Silence- Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen

What Happened, Miss Simone?- Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom- Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor

Amy's going to nab this one. Miss Simone was really wonderful, but Amy was more fucked-up than Nina- and nobody really wants to give Netflix an Oscar.

Snubbed- Meru, Listen to Me Marlon, and He Named Me Malala. How awesome would it have been to see Malala go up and accept the Oscar? I mean- Amy Winehouse won't be at the ceremony.

Well, that's what I think, folks.

What do you think?

The Golden Globs

I am not a fan of The Golden Globes. Started in 1944 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the awards ceremony was originally a big party that allowed Hollywood to let its hair down (read- get wasted) without intense scrutiny. Awards tended to go to those who played nice and did interviews for the various foreign publications that made up the group. The list of winners is impressive- often going to a performer or movie that was also up for the more coveted Academy Award- but the two awards shows do not always agree on the winners.

One of the oddest differences between the two shows is the strangeness of the Golden Globes lumping musicals and comedies together in the same category, resulting in head-to-head competitions like 1976's cagematch between A Star is Born and The Pink Panther Strikes Back.  And if they split the Best Actors and Actresses up by category- why not the Best Supporting awards? Do supporting actors and actresses in comedies and musicals deserve any less love? Also, Twiggy and Madonna have Golden Globes- so there's that.

The Golden Globes is not quite the Oscars and not quite the Emmys- so what is it? It's NBC's attempt to market an awards show that is not quite the Oscars (ABC), not quite the Emmys (Fox), and definitely not the Tonys (CBS). It also gives NBC child channel E! Entertainment Television yet another opportunity to trot out some obnoxious talking heads and insipidly grinning co-hosts to peck at the fashion sense of the nominees.

But let's take a look at what the globes got right for the movie categories this year:

Best Motion Picture, Drama- The Revenant
Can't wait to see this! Does Tom Hardy get naked in it?

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama- Leonardo DiCaprio- The Revenant
Leo was perhaps a little too dedicated to this role, making some grisly acting choices in the wilderness. Personally, I think he's never been better than his early role in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1994). Perhaps The Revenant will change my mind...

Best Director- Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu- The Revenant
Polish up that Oscar now Aly!

Best Animated Film- Inside Out
Done and done. I give the Golden Globe for best animated character to Bing Bong.



Best Original Score, Motion Picture- Ennio Morricone- The Hateful Eight
Morricone is a legend. Give him every award possible before he dies,

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama- Brie Larson- The Room
I hear she's amazing in this role. This will be a tight category for the Oscars.

Best Supporting Actress- Kate Winslet- Jobs
What award doesn't Kate win?

Now let's take a look at what the Globes got wrong, wrong, wrong:

Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy- Matt Damon- The Martian
The Martian is not a comedy. I mean you might laugh once or twice, but what about attempting to rescue an astronaut trapped on Mars is funny?

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy- The Martian
It's not a comedy!!! Or a musical!!!


Best Original Song- Sam Smith- "Writing's on the Wall"- Spectre
I know Bond themes. I love Bond themes. This song is no Bond theme.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy- Jennifer Lawrence- Joy
The Golden Globes have been known to court popular actresses by giving them a Globe in the hopes that they will give lots of interviews for their member publications- or at the very least increase sales of said publications by writing about the fact that a popular actress has won a Golden Globe.
Sorry, JLaw. Critics everywhere have been pissing on Joy and not because it's on fire. I'll hold my opinion until I see it... when it comes out on Netflix.

So, what did you think of the Golden Globes?