Review - Avengers: Age of Ultron

Like the return of the swallows to Capistrano or the swarming of the Monarchs from Mexico, the arrival of spring each year is announced with almost natural periodicity by the flocking of moviegoers to the new episode of Marvel Studios' comic book superhero spectacular! Studio head Kevin Feige could probably set his own watch to the volume of ticket receipts pouring in, having masterminded the most lucrative business model in the industry; An interconnected series of lean, lighthearted action films that play to the people's love of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and an ever growing cast of other costumed do-gooders.

All signs would suggest that the fandom's appetite to see Earth's mightiest heroes teaming up again would be as insatiable as it was the first time they hit the big screen together in 2012's box office champ The Avengers. Writer-director Joss Whedon returns for this hotly anticipated sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and wastes no time in giving the public what it wants, kicking off the super-squad's newest adventure with that 'money shot' you've already seen a hundred times in the trailers and TV ads:

Oscar Postmortem Pt. 3: John Travolta must be stopped

This is about as silly a microcosm of last Sunday's Academy Awards broadcast there is, but I feel like this level of snarkiness merits its own post.

You'd think John Travolta would have learned to tread more carefully when the whole world is watching him on camera. Last year's infamous "Adele Dazeem" flub -- the hilarious mispronunciation of Idina Menzel's name -- seems destined to be one of those celebrity bloopers that stands the test of time, admittedly dogging Travolta far more than the sporting Menzel.

Banking on the longevity of this much Twitter-ized and parodied moment, producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron had the wherewithal to have Menzel and Travolta present an award together, with Menzel introducing him as "Glom Gazingo".

Cute banter ensued (in fact, the only funny presenter shtick of the night), but so did this...

[Menzel whispers:] "send help..."

... and social media exploded once again with a fresh wave of mockery to last us until next year.

When Aliens see a human being. pic.twitter.com/qVUBq5HNPG
— Sam Kalidi (@samkalidi) February 24, 2015

My Award Nominations: Best Supporting Actress

Unlike their male counterparts over in Best Supporting Actor, the five actresses chosen for my own personal ballot had a lot of competition to rise above in order to secure this nomination, and even as I write this they're not that secure. Ask me again tomorrow and I may have three or four new names surfacing as my favourites. That's because there's been a deep well from which to draw this year. So much so, that overlap between me and the Academy has been limited to a single performance (which is obviously going to win that Oscar, so you won't hear me complaining).

Check out my Best Supporting Actress contenders for 2014:

Review - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Phase two of Marvel's ambitious superhero roll-out is well underway with Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World having done great business last year, and now it's time to catch up with the nation's favourite super-powered son, Captain America. Of course, it doesn't feel so much like we're catching up with him, as it feels like he's merely passing by (“on your left”) as he runs laps around us and all box office competition.

That's how we first encounter Cpt. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) at the start of Captain America: The Winter Soldier; repeatedly outrunning and surpassing fellow morning jogger Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who comic book aficionados will recognize as the man who shall eventually become the good captain's jet-packing sidekick Falcon.

My Award nominations: Supporting Actress

Like it was with the men, work from Supporting Actresses this year was not quite as conspicuously strong as the leading roles, but there were a couple of real standouts in my opinion (and others' opinions too, going by the way awards bodies have been falling in line). Here are my top five:

Review - Her

Boy meets computer, boy loses computer in Spike Jonze's Her. But if you think this in any way resembles a typical love story, you'd be wrong... and right. Admittedly, how much you get out of this singular experiment in screen romance will hinge entirely on whether or not you can get past its bizarre premise. If not, you may find it to be unintentionally funny at best. But if you can bring yourself to buy it as more than a farfetched swing-and-a-miss, you may indeed discover a weirdly moving film whose subversive satire and thought-provoking themes border on the profound.

Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix following up his career-best work in The Master with yet another brilliant performance) can read people, but not connect with them. He works at a company that specializes in writing touching personal letters for people who lack the time or eloquence to do so themselves, and as gifted as Theodore is at anticipating the words that will move his clients, he is a lonely man – smarting from a painful breakup – who fears that he could never again be as moved as the readers of his ghost-written letters.

One Category at a Time: Original Song

After several years of embarrassment culminated in last year's laughable pair of Best Original Song nominees, the music branch finally got a clue and decided to abolish their asinine grading system, instead just letting the five songs with the most votes be the nominees. They also went the route of screener DVDs, allowing music branch members to evaluate clips of all eligible songs from the comfort of their own home.

The rule changes have instantly paid off with a respectable slate of tunes which we'll probably hear performed on Oscar night. That basically is what this category is for.

Review - The Avengers

The summer movie season officially kicks off with The Avengers, Marvel's grand culmination of its last four years of superhero movies, skillfully assembled by fanboy idol Joss Whedon from four distinct Marvel franchises into one fantastic whole.

We – that is to say, those of us who've been keeping up with Marvel's steady output of summer superhero spectacles since 2008 – already know the cast: Robert Downey Jr. as ego-maniacal billionaire Tony Stark (Iron Man), Chris Evans as quintessential soldier Steve Rogers (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth as hammer-wielding Norse god Thor, Jeremy Renner as enigmatic archer extraordinaire Clint Barton Hawkeye, Scarlet Johansson as expatriate Russian super spy Natasha Romanov (Black Widow), and Samuel L. Jackson as cycloptic S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury. Replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner is Mark Ruffalo, whose ease with playing “laid back” makes a smart juxtaposition with the green ball of rage that it The Hulk.

One Category at a Time: Best Supporting Actress

I'll admit to feeling kinda proud (and/or lucky) of nailing three of last year's five Best Supporting Actress nominees from a year out, especially going out on a limb for a young actress no one had ever heard of before named Hailee Steinfeld. Let's see if I can repeat the feat.

One contender who's already had her name bandied about as a nominee at next year's Oscars is the legendary Vanessa Redgrave for her turn as Volumnia in Ralph Feinnes modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's little-seen Coriolanus. Redgrave has six career nominations going all the way back to 1967 and one win for Julia in 1977, but has not been nominated since Howards End (1992). As a respected veteran and master of her craft, a juicy supporting role might be just what she needs to reenter Oscar's graces.

George Clooney's political drama The Ides of March features a stacked ensemble with potential for multiple acting nominations. The most notable female presence is Marisa Tomei, who, after receiving years of flack following her surprise Oscar win for My Cousin Vinny, has done a great job of keeping her career fresh and interesting by taking on challenging and varied roles that have subsequently earned her another two nominations. Might she stand out in a strongly male-dominated cast?

How about representation from a strongly female-dominated cast? The Help features an eclectic and promising one, not to mention potential as lite Best Picture appeal. I'm taking my chances on Viola Davis, who broke out onto the big screen with a nomination two years ago for Doubt. She plays a black servant in 1960s Mississippi who makes an unlikely friendship with young white college grad.

An ingenue who you might argue is due for a nomination is Scarlet Johansson. She costars alongside Matt Damon in We Bought a Zoo, Cameron Crowe's first narrative feature in six years, as the wife of a man who uproots his family so that they can revive an old zoo. Crowe has always written good supporting parts for actresses, so here's hoping Johansson will do well by him.

One actress who's poised to explode in a big way this year is Jessica Chastain, starring in no less than six films, including the aforementioned Coriolanus and The Help. But the one most people are excited about is Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life. Will she be nominated for this, or for something else? Maybe for Take Shelter or The Fields? Or maybe not at all? Her name should be pretty ubiquitous this year, and that's always an advantage to staying in the awards discussion.

Predicted five:
Viola Davis, The Help
Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus or The Whistleblower
Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life or Take Shelter or The Help
Marisa Tomei, The Ides of March
Scarlet Johansson, We Bought a Zoo

Best of the Decade #10: Lost in Translation (2003)

Sophia Coppola's Lost in Translation places a deadpan has-been actor trying to avoid a marriage past its prime and a young newlywed starved for her husband's time and attention in the foreign environment of Tokyo. Both characters (superbly played by Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson) are desperately lost and confused, facing hard transitional points of their lives, mirrored by their alien status in an unfamiliar city. But with each other, they are able to find fleeting but meaningful refuge from their unhappiness. It is not really a romance (as some have mislabeled it), but a quiet character study of two unlikely companions who rely on each other's love to muster the strength to move forward into uncertain futures.

BRILLIANT SHOT ALERT:

This opening shot of Johansson's bottom thinly veneered by a pair of soft-pink panties puts us into the relaxed yet observant state of mind that's perfect for watching Lost in Translation. She's neither naked nor clothed, just somewhere in between. It establishes a basic colour scheme (we come to associate Charlotte with soft pink) and communicates her restless desire for intimacy. Like the whole film, the shot is simple yet nuanced, sure of itself yet understated, beautiful but not in a sexual way. It's eternally memorable, and it gets my vote for the single best shot of the decade.

Catch up with previous "Best of the Decade" entries here.