Best Supporting Actress Race

Variety reviews 'Push'

I am not going to stop 'Push'ing this film. So buying the book today!

An urban nightmare with a surfeit of soul, "Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire" is like a diamond -- clear, bright, but oh so hard. To simply call it harrowing or unsparing doesn't quite cut it; "Push" is also courageous and uncompromising, a shaken cocktail of debasement and elation, despair and hope. Everyone involved deserves major credit for creating a movie so dangerous, problematic and ultimately elevating. Marketing will be a problem, because the shorthand description is so unpalatable. But this is, for all its scorched-earth emotion, a film to be loved.
Adapted by Damien Paul from the work by onetime Harlem teacher and poet Sapphire, "Push" is the story of Claireece "Precious" Jones (newcomer Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe), a character who might have sprung from the collective brain of Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison and whoever carved the heads on Easter Island. With a jutting jaw and barely visible eyes, Claireece's face is a monument to the racial crimes of the past 400 years (that this miserable child of 16 can look in the mirror and fantasize seeing a blonde white girl is pungent shorthand for a raft of evils).

Mute and mountainous, a stolid outsider who can barely read, Claireece is pregnant -- again -- by her father, and on the verge of being kicked out of school. She's also cruelly oppressed by her mother Mary (Mo'Nique), whose daily routine consists of watching daytime TV, smoking cigarettes and treating her daughter like a slave (any historical parallels are not an accident). The situation is so dire that you almost have to laugh -- the way you might laugh, nervously, during the darkest moments of a horror movie.

"Push" is a horror movie, of course, and Mary is a monster, whose one glimmer of humanity -- which Mo'Nique, who is utterly brilliant, reveals in a tour de force soliloquy at the finale -- only makes her more horrible. Along with Mary's cruelty, Claireece's sense of hopelessness, and the awareness there are more Claireeces out there, the alarming thing about "Push" its capacity to show us just about anything, much like the warped human nature it surveys.

What's also remarkable is the balletic ability of second-time helmer Daniels ("Shadowboxer") to juggle emotional extremes. Claireece has her fantasies, and their visualizations -- of the girl as satin-clad pop star, movie star or supermodel -- work as relief valves. They're never funny, but they do humanize a character who has been reduced, by those who are supposed to love her, to a piece of meat, and who presents herself to the world as a very different, far less attractive creature than the Claireece we hear in voiceover.

Daniels never allows the film, however gothic and nightmarish, to lose its footing in the real world, and that world includes a certain amount of hope: Despite her mother's hostility, Claireece enrolls in an alternative school where a teacher named Blu Rain (Paula Patton) prepares young women for their GEDs. Patton is terrific, beautiful but carrying the weight of the world in her eyes. And Claireece's classmates, with their street-smart banter, give the film some needed levity.

Among the many delightful surprises in the film is Mariah Carey, who is pitch-perfect as a welfare counselor and serves as this demi-tragedy's Greek chorus. It's possible that many viewers won't recognize her until the final credits, but like so many things about "Push," the performance is disarming.

Production values are tops.

Diesel XXX Party

Remember when sex was fun and exciting, and people talked about it. Now we have tings like nipple gate and the such. Well over in the UK Diesel had a party and sent out this invite. It was so cheeky and funny I just had to post it as part of my Sexy Sunday

Pub Diesel xxx vintage retro sexy
Uploaded by CyberPeople

...................Bunnies...................

Don't you wish more people saw the fun side of sex?

Sundance Watch: 'Push' reviewed

This is a film that I was close to ramming down your throats last year. And it has to be said that, although I have not read the book yet, I am VERY excited about this film, and the prospects for its young brave star.

It screened last night to a standing ovation and a few people have singled out actress Mo'Nique as being amazing, as well as the lead actress Gabourey Sidibe who makes her film debut. Of course it is still early days and I am not going to even being to think about awards prospects for this....given the cast a subject matter it probably wouldn't get any anyway.

Of course this morning I was glued to the computer trying to find any information or reviews of the film. I found this from Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly:

Sometimes, a movie has to take you down -- and I mean down, really far -- in order to lift you up. Push (pictured), adapted from a novel by Sapphire (the film's full, rather awkward title is Push: Based on the Novel By Sapphire), does just that. The picture is utterly merciless in how it presents its heroine: a teenage girl from Harlem named Precious Jones who is a stunted, abused, childishly inarticulate, morbidly obese shell of a human being, with a face so inexpressive -- so utterly locked in -- that it might be a visor clamped down over her real features. The director, Lee Daniels, shows us the awful circumstances that have caused Precious to be the way she is (she is pregnant -- for the second time -- by her drug-addict father), and the actress Gabourey Sidibe plays her without a flicker of sentimentality, but with barely visible tremors of emotion that cue us to everything this arrested girl is holding back. Push shows us how a young woman who is nothing but a thick, bruised wall of walking scar tissue slowly emerges, pulling herself out of her living hell, and Daniels demonstrates unflinching daring as a filmmaker by going this deep, this far, this ruthlessly into the pathologies of rage and dependence that can still linger in the haunted closets of impoverished African-American life. Push is one of those films that make you think, "There but for the grace of God go I," but it's a potent and moving experience, because by the end you feel you've witnessed nothing less than the birth of a soul.

Be prepared for a lot of posts about 'Push'. It makes me happy that a gay film maker has gotten off to such a strong start, especially at one of the biggest festivals of the year.
For all my gay readers, please check out After Elton's breakdown of gay related films showing at Sundance. Here is to a happy queer 2009.

Oscar Prospects:
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actress

'Twilight' Abridged

Every month, the best movie magazine 'Total Film' does an abridged script. This time they did one that make me laugh and laugh. I have read 'Twilight' but stayed away from the movie for this exact reason.

So bloody funny.

FADE IN:

EXT. WASHINGTON

KRISTEN STEWART goes to FORKS, WASHINGTON and is INSTANTLY POPULAR at her new school.

ANNA KENDRICK
Oh my God I love your hair you're so pretty will you be my new best friend?

GREGORY TYREE BOYCE
Can I take you out sometime since you're so awesome?

KRISTEN STEWART
I guess this is what it looks like when the unpopular fat girl's pathetic daydreams get written down and published into a bestselling book. Aren't well-written characters supposed to have flaws?

Suddenly, ROBERT PATTINSON enters. The paleness of him and his family members reach blinding levels while the squeals in the movie theater reach deafening levels.

KRISTEN STEWART
Who's the albino Wolverine?

ANNA KENDRICK
Oh, him? That's Robert. He's universally acknowledged as the hottest boy in school but he doesn't date anyone because no girl is good enough for him.

KRISTEN STEWART
No girl is good enough for him, eh? Let’s see if that’s still the case in ten minutes

KRISTEN sits next to ROBERT

KRISTEN STEWART
Hey, your eyes are changing color from gorgeous to ultragorgeous. What's going on?


ROBERT PATTINSON
I totally love you. But you should know, I'm a vampire. And not a badass vampire, but an emo bitch vampire/

KRISTEN STEWART
The only way I will believe you is if you carry me up a mountain using special effects from the 70s.

He DOES.

KRISTEN STEWART
You are a vampire! How old are you?

ROBERT PATTINSON
Over a hundred, but to be fair I've spent most of that time working on my hair.

The two of them GAZE into each other's eyes forever. Eventually ROBERT and KRISTEN go to visit ROBERT'S FAMILY.

INT. GLASS MANSION

KRISTEN meets ROBERT'S VAMPIRE FAMILY.

PETER FACINELLI
Welcome! Don’t let me effeminate appearance mislead you. There must be something special about you for Robert to risk the lives of his family. Tell us about yourself.

PETER FACINELLI
Vampire baseball. Want to watch?

KRISTEN STEWART
Actually, as it happens, the very last thing on Earth I or any other sane person would want to watch is vampire baseball, but go ahead.

They play vampire baseball, which is stupid as it sounds. The game attracts the attention of some EVIL VAMPIRES. They Ttck KRISTEN but ROBERt and his FAMILY save her.

INT. HOSPITAL

KRISTEN is with ROBERT.

ROBERT PATTINSON
I we should break up. To keep you safe.

KRISTEN STEWART
From vampires?

ROBERT PATTINSON
No, from being typecast forever after this series is done. I'm screwed, but it's not too late for you.

KRISTEN STEWART
No. I want you to make me a vampire.

ROBERT PATTINSON
So, the next generation of young women are currently flocking to see a female lead starring in a movie by a female director based on a bestselling book by a female author, and in this movie the main character wants to become completely submissive and self-sacrificing for a male.

KRISTEN STEWART
I love you. Put a baby in me.

ROBERT PATTINSON
At least the other three books can't possibly be more misogynistic and depressing.

They ARE.
END

Leaves of Grass

Talked about this earlier, when mentioning Susan Sarandon, but forgot to mention Ed Norton is in fact, playing dual roles.
Liking the poster. Thinking now this stand a great shot of major awards buzz for him



I love the ominous bottom half of the poster. Not sure about the green lettering though. Almost as if the art department went "You know, green, for leaves and grass."

Best Supporting Actress Race

The Polish should design all movie posters.

Mini Review - 'Frost/Nixon'

Director Ron Howard certainly nows how to ratchet up the tension doesn't he?
Frost Nixon plays like the love child of a really good documentary and a mediocre TV movie heightened by some brilliant performances.
Michael Sheen is charismatic as David Frost, but doesn't seem to convey the desperation Frost surely must have felt when things started falling apart.

Frank Langella as Richard Nixon carries the film, and indeed, when he was not on screen I found my attention drifting to playing solitaire on my phone. The performance perfectly captures a man who is fearful of being revealed, but needing to get a great weight off his chest. The times Langella truly shines though, is not in the intense sparring scenes with Sheen, but instead in the quieter reflective moments when the very flawed man has time to ponder about who he is, and what the world thinks of him.

The screenplay, although gripping, also tends to become rather simplistic. I especially had to chuckle to myself when, near the end, they show Sheen studying hard for the last interview in a montage.
When in doubt, use a montage.

Although this is a major contender for awards season and expectations were high, I am not disappointed in the film. It kept me entertained for two hours and that is a relief considering that it could have been so much worse.

B

FRACK ME

I am so doing a Jennifer Jason Leigh and kaking my pants with excitement

Best Supporting Actress Race

Ruining movies

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Mini Review - 'Kung Fu Panda'

Well there really isn't much to say about this offering from Dreamworks studio.

It is no Pixar movie.

Basically an over weight endangered species follows his dream to be a kung fu master. However he is just not very good, until his trainer tempts him with food.

Talk about enabling overeating.

The film is stunning to look at, and the voice work is ok (bonus points to Pixar for always hiring character actors...they seem to always work the best), but one can not help but feel that the script process was rushed and story boarding was not thought out.
Sure the action pieces were impressive, but you felt no real danger.

And back to the voice acting. Why have an all star cast when no one stands out? I mean you have a film where Lucy Liu, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman and Seth Rogen do not even make an impact (James Hong makes the best effort as Mr. Ping). What is the point?

Maybe next time eh?

C

'Slumdog' fever - (I must be immune)

I do not think I have ever seen anything like this.
It seems that every high end critic knows something I do not about films.
It seems every awards body has seen something I have not.
Perhaps it is time to hang up my coat.

Maybe, just maybe, the awards race really is about the times in which we live, rather than the excellence in film making (I hear many people laughing at my very late realization) .
I mean right now, even though there is a recession, and more people are out of work than ever before, there is a ray of hope in the shape of President Elect - Barack Obama.
This hope has tapped right into the world view of film reviewers, and awards bodies everywhere (well the USA and UK).
Although 'Slumdog Millionaire' is not the best film ever made, nor is it the best film of the year, it most likely is the film that most perfectly captures this new sense of hope after many years of Bush inflicted darkness and war.

Perhaps I should be thankful that a film made up of an Indian cast, set in India is most likely going to sweep the Oscars (a very American (white) centric body of people), even in categories the film really has no place in being.

And I am thankful for that, as minorities have had a hard time breaking into Oscar's little elite club. But I have a reservation because it is at the expense of films that hardly ever get this chance at awards glory. 'The Dark Knight' and 'WALL-E' still could get hurt by this juggernaut. Two genre films that deserve to be in the final five for Best Picture, may end up brushed aside for more 'traditional' films. This is a shame as films should be judged purely on merit and not genre. In the case of 'WALL-E' it still has the animated category, but that is a consolation prize.

Now it seems the 'Slumdog' vice hold on the awards race has reached a pinnacle.

People got upset when Dev Patel got a SAG nomination in supporting actor, many feeling he was either lead or just not that good. Now BAFTA, that sometimes can throw curve balls that can affect the entire race, have not only nominated Dev Patel in lead, but Freida Pinto in supporting (for a role that mainly relies on her beauty) as well. In fact it is almost nominated in every category (so did 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' but that is more default noms and technical brilliance).

However this happens every year. Performances that may not be the best of the year, that get noticed in awards, suddenly get major haters proclaiming them the worst of the year (Check out the recent post by Ryan Adams over at Awards Daily if you don't believe me....poor Dev Freida don't deserve that amount of hate at all).

This all goes to show that this film is a cultural phenomena. People are celebrating how they feel when watching it, more than the merits of the film itself, which is perfectly fine - I have done this many times (hello Moulin Rouge!)
Added to this, the film is technically a foreign indie film for many people, so the feeling of seeing a 'high brow' film adds to the love.

There are two scenarios.

1) The Juggernaut keeps on going and the film wins everything.

2) It eventually hits a wall it cannot pass, and the Academy feel it is rewarded enough and throws some love around.

The Oscar nominations are next week, and for the first time I am feeling a little ill at the thought that things could go horribly wrong.
Perhaps I need to follow the attitude of Sally Hawkins' 'Poppy' from 'Happy-Go-Lucky' and think on the bright side.
But since BAFTA even snubbed her, I think even she may be a bit pissed too so I do not feel so bad.

And as for the 'Feel good film of the decade' quote...it surprises me how short memories are.

Best Supporting Actress Race