Review: "Greenberg" is an Excellent Character Study

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 103 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Greenberg (2010)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – R for some strong sexuality, drug use, and language
DIRECTOR: Noah Baumbach
WRITERS: Noah Baumbach; from a story by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Noah Baumbach
PRODUCERS: Jennifer Jason Leigh and Scott Rudin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Harris Savides (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Tim Streeto

DRAMA

Starring: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, and Jennifer Jason Leigh

Greenberg is the most recent film from filmmaker Noah Baumbach, the writer/director of the Oscar-nominated films, The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding. Greenberg focuses on a New Yorker returning to Los Angeles, the place where he grew up, to figure out some things.

Fresh out of a mental institution, 40-year-old Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) travels to L.A. to housesit for his brother, 15 years after he left the city. At a crossroads in his life, Roger, a carpenter, hopes to fix his wreck of life, while he fixes some things around his brother’s house. Roger meets his brother’s personal assistant, Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig), a sweet and considerate, but naïve 20-something. Roger needs Florence because he doesn’t drive, and the two begin an awkward relationship. Roger, however, has a quick temper, over-analyzes everything, and does not have a sense of humor when it comes to himself. Can Roger really fix himself?

Greenberg seems more like an extended chapter in a longer story than it does a self-contained film narrative. I have to give Baumbach credit for presenting a character like Greenberg who seems broken beyond repair and who is also funny, but mostly unlikable. I give him even more credit for writing a script and creating a visual narrative that makes Roger Greenberg so interesting and then dares to tackle his complicated ways.

Ben Stiller seems to shape his performance as Greenberg in a way to make readers always want to know more about the character, including his past and even his future. Stiller really sells the idea that Greenberg is broken and in need of repair. Greta Gerwig and Rhys Ifans are also quite good, creating engaging characters whose own stories matter well beyond their connections to the lead, Greenberg.

Like Baumbach’s other films, Greenberg is inimitably human, balancing the fragile with the sturdy and the mundane with the humorous. Baumbach and Stiller give us a wild adventure into the personality and connectivity turmoil of a complicated, complex character. The only problem is that sometimes, writer/director and lead actor hide too much of Greenberg’s nature and thoughts behind a wall of eccentric behavior and petulance. Still, such an all-too-human character in the cinematic world of vapid characters is welcomed.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, December 17, 2010

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Review: "The Squid and the Whale" Finds Comedy in Pain

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 90 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Running time: 81 minutes (1 hour, 21 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong sexual content, graphic dialogue, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Noah Baumbach
PRODUCERS: Wes Anderson, Charlie Corwin, Clara Markowicz, and Peter Newman
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert D. Yeoman
EDITOR: Tim Streeto
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/COMEDY

Starring: Jeff Daniels, Jesse Eisenberg, Laura Linney, Owen Kline, William Baldwin, Anna Paquin and Halley Feiffer

16-year old Walt Berkman (Jesse Eisenberg) and his 12-year old brother, Frank (Owen Kline), find themselves caught in the middle of their parents’ separation. Their dad, Bernard (Jeff Daniels), is a Brooklyn professor and writer who seems well past his prime as an author. Their mother, Joan (Laura Linney), is a writer with a burgeoning career. In fact, Joan is on the brink of stardom as she has a book deal, and The New Yorker is publishing an excerpt from her novel.

With their lives headed in different directions, Bernard and Joan are acrimonious about the past, present, and future of their relationship. As soon as their parents announce their separation to them, Walt and Frank’s steady foundation crumbles, and not only are the boys relegated to alternating days and a jumbled calendar when it comes to visitation, but their confusion and conflicted feelings also began to manifest in odd and troubling behavior. Walt passes off a song from a famous band as his own, and Frank begins to drink alcohol and chronically masturbate.

The Squid and the Whale is writer/director Noah Baumbach’s fictional account of his own parents; divorce. Of course, that sounds like an interest-killer, but Baumbach’s film is free of the kind of phony and cloying melodrama that often hampers even the best movies about divorce (or TV movies, that matter), simply because the filmmakers usually have “the best intentions” and “mean well” when such films. What probably makes The Squid and the Whale so good is that it is not only brutally frank and sometimes too frankly honest, but the film is also excruciating even in moments of levity. Divorce can be (very) destructive and painful, and just tears at the confidence and self-image of those involved. Baumbach is not out to provide cures, but to tell a riveting story.

The performances are… strong – no need of any special adjectives; they’re just strong. Jeff Daniels, more talented than most A-list stars, but lesser known than some “B-listers,” is haunting and hilarious as an academic whose fortunes have been on their way down for years. His Bernard Berkman (based on Baumbach’s father, the author Jonathan Baumbach) is hilarious in his intellectual snobbery and pathetic in his absolute belief that one shouldn’t engage in any endeavor unless there is the absolute guarantee of being an elite. Laura Linney’s Joan Berkman is a bit difficult to read. Complex and revealing her long held streak of independence, Linney’s Joan is one of the best and most fully realized female characters in recent memory. Joan is neither villain nor hero, but a person who wishes to have a life of her own not impeded by the sensitivities of insecure males.

The real stars of this film are Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline (the son of Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline) as the Berkmans’ children. Jesse ably creates Walt as a mimic of his father, and then shows him struggling to gain his own footing and identity, even as he seems to have whole-heartedly bought into Bernard’s superiority and snobbery. Owen is so intriguing as Frank, a sly imp as curious as a cat and one who dispenses information with the cunningness of a Beltway reporter.

As well made as The Squid and the Whale is, the film has an impeccable blueprint in its screenplay. Baumbach’s writing is the family drama as farce, but with an honest examination of love, family bonds, and dependency is jeopardy. There are no villains, just people, and if the film via its script has a weakness, it’s that it is so narrow. The end of the film shows promise for even richer characters and story, but still, what The Squid and the Whale does give us is extraordinary – an almost divine human comedy.

9 of 10
A+

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Noah Baumbach)

2006 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Jeff Daniels), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Laura Linney)

Sunday, April 23, 2006

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African-American Film Critics Choose Christopher Nolan

Didn't know they existed: The African-American Film Critics Association.  Apprently, the AAFCA is a nationwide group composed of African-American media professionals.

Like just about every critics group, they have chosed The Social Network as their "Best Picture."  The surprise, however, is that they gave Christopher Nolan their "Best Director" citation for Inception instead of to David Fincher for The Social Network.  They also seem to be the first group to notice Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice.

Best Picture: The Social Network


Runner-Ups/the rest of the Top 10:

2. The King's Speech
3. Inception
4. Black Swan
5. Night Catches Us
6. The Fighter
7. Frankie & Alice
8. Blood Done Sign My Name
9. Get Low
10. For Colored Girls

Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Inception

Best Actor: Mark Walhberg, The Fighter

Best Actress: Halle Berry, Frankie & Alice

Best Supporting Actor: Michael Ealy, For Colored Girls

Best Supporting Actress: Kimberly Elise, For Colored Girls

Best Song: Nina Simone "Four Women", For Colored Girls

Best Documentary: Waiting for Superman

Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted): Tanya Hamilton, Night Catches Us

http://www.aafca.com/

Review: "The Triplets of Belleville" Not Just Another Animated Movie

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 72 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Les Triplettes des Belleville (2003) – animated
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: France
The Triplets of Belleville – International English title
Running time: 80 minutes (1 hour, 20 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for images involving sensuality, violence and crude humor
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Sylvain Chomet
PRODUCERS: Didier Brunner and Viviane Vanfleteren
EDITORS: Dominique Brune, Chantal Colibert Brunner, and Dominique Lefever
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION with elements of comedy

Starring (voices): Béatrice Bonifassi, Betty Bonifassi, Linda Boudreault, Michèle Caucheteux, Jean-Claude Donda, Mari-Lou Gauthier, Charles Linton, Michel Robin, and Monica Viegas

Madame Souza discovers that her lonely grandson, Champion, whom she adopted after his parents apparently died, has a love of bicycles. She buys him one and trains him to compete, and years later he enters the Tour de France. During the race, however, two sinister men kidnap him, but Madame, with Champion’s dog Bruno in tow, follows the kidnappers to the great city of Belleville (a surreal version of Manhattan, circa 1930-50). There she meets three odd women, “The Triplets of Belleville,” an aged song and dance team from the days of Fred Astaire. They take her into their home, but can they help her and Bruno rescue Champion?

Les Triplettes des Belleville (The Triplets of Belleville) earned two 2003 Oscar® nominations (“Best Animated Feature” and “Best Music, Original Song”), but lost both including “Best Animated Feature” to Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo. Triplets, however, is not geared towards children, nor is its narrative as straightforward as Nemo. Triplets' plot and story are mostly told without dialogue; in fact most of the film’s dialogue is incidental or background conversation.

Almost like a silent film, Triplets has to both be seen and watched. More so than the 3D animation of Nemo, Triplets’ mostly hand drawn animation is the film. It is animation as both art and storytelling. The animation is not only gorgeous, but it is also the narrative. Facial expressions, the way figures move, and character design pretty much tell the story, establish setting, and define the players. It’s all wonderfully done, and deserves that description that occasionally falls on lavishly photographed films – the visual feast. Indeed, Triplets is a sumptuously animated film drawn with such sparkling variety, and that’s good because the plot and story are somewhat anemic. The kidnapping is hardly of any interest, but the pure execution of the animated film is something to behold..

There is something in quality cartoons and animation that greatly pleases the child in us and excites childlike wonder. Dazzling and eye pleasing, The Triplets of Belleville has that something, and it marks its director, Sylvain Chomet, as a filmmaker to watch.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2004 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Animated Feature” (Sylvain Chomet) and “Best Music, Original Song” (Benoît Charest-music and Sylvain Chomet-lyrics for the song "Belleville Rendez-Vous")

2004 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Film not in the English Language” (Didier Brunner and Sylvain Chomet)

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Washington D.C. Film Critics Elect "The Social Network"

Didn't even know this group existed.  Just how many film critics groups and associations are there?  Well, as it has been for most of the still young awards season, The Social Network won another best picture honor:

Press release:

The Social Network Has Lots of Friends in D.C.


Colin Firth and Jennifer Lawrence Named Best Actors; The Fighter Sweeps Supporting Actor Categories

Washington, D.C. — The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) today announced their 2010 winners, awarding The Social Network Best Film, Best Director (David Fincher) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). Colin Firth, who was nominated last year for A Single Man, won Best Actor this year for The King's Speech. Newcomer Jennifer Lawrence, who dazzled early in the year, took home Best Actress for her role in Winter's Bone.

The Fighter swept both Supporting Actor categories with awards given to Christian Bale as a drug addled ex-boxer and Melissa Leo as his controlling mother. Best Acting Ensemble went to The Town, director Ben Affleck's Boston crime drama.

"This was easily the most competitive ballot in the history of our association," said Tim Gordon, WAFCA president. "We have never had so many tight races. It just goes to show how popular several of these categories were with all of our members."

Best Documentary went to British street artist Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop, Best Foreign Film was awarded to Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful, and Toy Story 3 pushed past several strong contenders for Best Animated Feature. In other categories, Inception scored big, winning Best Original Screenplay (Christopher Nolan), Best Cinematography (Wally Pfister), Best Art Direction (Guy Hendrix Dyas, Luke Freeborn, Brad Ricker and Dean Wolcott), and Best Score (Hans Zimmer).

The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association is comprised of 39 DC-VA-MD-based film critics from television, radio, print and the Internet. Voting was conducted from December 3-5, 2010.

The 2010 WAFCA Award Winners:

Best Film:
The Social Network

Best Director:
David Fincher (The Social Network)

Best Actor:
Colin Firth (The King's Speech)

Best Actress:
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)

Best Supporting Actor:
Christian Bale (The Fighter)

Best Supporting Actress:
Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Best Acting Ensemble:
The Town

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

Best Original Screenplay:
Christopher Nolan (Inception)

Best Animated Feature:
Toy Story 3

Best Documentary:
Exit Through the Gift Shop

Best Foreign Language Film:
Biutiful

Best Art Direction:
Guy Hendrix Dyas, Luke Freeborn, Brad Ricker and Dean Wolcott (Inception)

Best Cinematography:Wally Pfister (Inception)

Best Score:
Hans Zimmer (Inception)

http://www.wafca.com/index.htm

Review: Jennifer Lawrence is a Star Born in "Winter's Bone"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 102 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Winter’s Bone (2010)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for some drug material, language and violent content
DIRECTOR: Debra Granik
WRITERS: Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini (based upon the novel by Daniel Woodrell)
PRODUCER: Anne Rosellini
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael McDonough
EDITOR: Affonso Gonçalves

DRAMA/CRIME

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Isaiah Stone, Ashlee Thompson, Shelley Waggener, Garret Dillahunt, Lauren Sweetser, and Sheryl Lee

One of the best things about independent films is the chance to see movie stars and big-time actors appear in films that are not standard Hollywood fare. Independent films are also the place to see actors deliver breakthrough performances that make them stand out to critics and audiences that may not have taken notice of them in earlier performances. In Winter’s Bone, actress Jennifer Lawrence, whose biggest acting gig prior to this was playing a daughter in TBS’ cancelled family sitcom, The Bill Engvall Show, made me take notice of her talent.

Lawrence plays Ree Dolly, a 17-year-old Ozark Mountain girl searching for her missing father, a crystal meth maker. Ree is essentially the adult in her dirt poor family, taking care of her younger brother, Sonny (Isaiah Stone), and younger sister, Ashlee (Ashlee Thompson), because her mother is largely incapacitated. Ree is informed that her father put up their (rundown) house and property as collateral for his bail and if he misses his trial date, Ree’s family will lose it all.

To find her father, Ree will have to take her search deep into the dangerous social terrain of the region she calls home. It is a world populated by paranoid locals deeply involved in the drug trade and in the manufacture of crystal meth. Undaunted, Ree asks questions and pokes around, and the only person helping her is her father’s unstable brother, Teardrop, played by John Hawkes (who gives this film its other standout performance).

Winter’s Bone deals with a number of themes: family ties (close and distant), rural poverty, and the power of gossip in small communities, among others. The strength of the film, however, is Jennifer Lawrence. More than the setting, she makes this story seem real and authentic – very real and authentic. This movie has moments of humor and genuine warmth to go with scenes that evoke fear and revulsion, and they all center on Lawrence for their strength. Lawrence best personifies the power visuals can have late in this movie when she must depict Ree’s emotions during the ultimate moment of her search.

At times, Winter’s Bone seems like the classic private investigator paradigm set deep in the woods, and at other times, it is like an urban thriller focusing on a crime syndicate or drug dealers, but replacing the concrete jungle with woods, shanty shacks, and trailers. That is how successful director Debra Granik (Down to the Bone) is at making this drama seem like something more – a character drama that is as chilling and thrilling as it is poignant. Jennifer Lawrence, who will appear in next year’s “X-Men: First Class,” is the budding star through which Granik channels the power of this story. Hopefully, Winter’s Bone will have another breakthrough – a larger audience.

7 of 10
A-

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

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"Black Swan" Leads Critics' Choice Movie Awards Nominations

Press release:

"BLACK SWAN" LEADS WITH A RECORD 12 NOMINATIONS FOR THE 16th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards

"THE KING'S SPEECH" & "TRUE GRIT" EACH SCORE 11 NOMINATIONS; "INCEPTION" AND "THE SOCIAL NETWORK" ALSO STAND OUT

AWARDS CEREMONY TO BE BROADCAST LIVE ON VH1, FRIDAY, JANUARY 14 AT 9:00 PM ET/PT

(Los Angeles, CA - December 13, 2010) - The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) has announced the nominees for the 16th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards. The winners will be announced at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards ceremony on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 9:00 PM ET/PT. This year's event will again take place at the Hollywood Palladium. This is the fourth year in a row that VH1 will broadcast the gala live on the network and the first year the show will also be broadcast internationally.

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 16th ANNUAL CRITICS' CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS:

BEST PICTURE
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges – "True Grit"
Robert Duvall – "Get Low"
Jesse Eisenberg – "The Social Network"
Colin Firth – "The King's Speech"
James Franco – "127 Hours"
Ryan Gosling – "Blue Valentine"

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening – "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman – "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence – "Winter's Bone"
Natalie Portman – "Black Swan"
Noomi Rapace – "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
Michelle Williams – "Blue Valentine"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale – "The Fighter"
Andrew Garfield – "The Social Network"
Jeremy Renner – "The Town"
Sam Rockwell – "Conviction"
Mark Ruffalo – "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush – "The King's Speech"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter – "The King's Speech"
Mila Kunis – "Black Swan"
Melissa Leo – "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld – "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver – "Animal Kingdom"

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Elle Fanning – "Somewhere"
Jennifer Lawrence – "Winter's Bone"
Chloe Grace Moretz – "Let Me In"
Chloe Grace Moretz – "Kick-Ass"
Kodi Smit-McPhee – "Let Me In"
Hailee Steinfeld – "True Grit"

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
The Fighter
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
The Town

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky – "Black Swan"
Danny Boyle – "127 Hours"
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – "True Grit"
David Fincher – "The Social Network"
Tom Hooper – "The King's Speech"
Christopher Nolan – "Inception"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Another Year" – Mike Leigh
"Black Swan" – Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin
"The Fighter" – Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson (Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson)
"Inception" – Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right" – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
"The King's Speech" – David Seidler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"127 Hours" – Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle
"The Social Network" – Aaron Sorkin
"The Town" – Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard
"Toy Story 3" – Michael Arndt (Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
"True Grit" – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Winter's Bone" – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
"127 Hours" – Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak
"Black Swan" – Matthew Libatique
"Inception" – Wally Pfister
"The King's Speech" – Danny Cohen
"True Grit" – Roger Deakins

BEST ART DIRECTION
"Alice in Wonderland" – Robert Stromberg
"Black Swan" – Therese DePrez and Tora Peterson
"Inception" – Guy Hendrix Dyas
"The King's Speech" – Eve Stewart
"True Grit" – Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh

BEST EDITING
"127 Hours" – Jon Harris
"Black Swan" – Andrew Weisblum
"Inception" – Lee Smith
"The Social Network" – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
"Alice in Wonderland" – Colleen Atwood
"Black Swan" – Amy Westcott
"The King's Speech" – Jenny Beavan
"True Grit" – Mary Zophres

BEST MAKEUP
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
True Grit

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
Tron: Legacy

BEST SOUND
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The Social Network
Toy Story 3

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled
Toy Story 3

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Inception
Kick-Ass
Red
The Town
Unstoppable

BEST COMEDY
Cyrus
Date Night
Easy A
Get Him to the Greek
I Love You Phillip Morris
The Other Guys

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
The Pacific
Temple Grandin
You Don't Know Jack

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful
I Am Love
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Inside Job
Restrepo
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
The Tillman Story
Waiting for Superman

BEST SONG
"I See the Light" – performed by Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi/written by Alan Menken & Glenn Slater – Tangled

"If I Rise" – performed by Dido and A.R. Rahman/music by A.R. Rahman/lyrics by Dido Armstrong and Rollo Armstrong – 127 Hours

"Shine" – performed and written by John Legend – Waiting for Superman

"We Belong Together" – performed and written by Randy Newman – Toy Story 3

"You Haven't Seen the Last of Me Yet" – performed by Cher/written by Diane Warren – Burlesque

BEST SCORE
"Black Swan" – Clint Mansell
"Inception" – Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech" – Alexandre Desplat
"The Social Network" – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
"True Grit" – Carter Burwell


About The Broadcast Film Critics Association:
The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) is the largest film critics organization in the United States and Canada, representing 250 television, radio and online critics. BFCA members are the primary source of information for today's film going public. The very first opinion a moviegoer hears about new releases at the multiplex or the art house usually comes from one of its members.

http://www.bfca.org/