Quick Review - Inherent Vice

I honestly didn't feel that inspired to write about this one, but since Paul Thomas Anderson is one of America's foremost auteur voices, I figured he at least deserved a separate post for his latest film Inherent Vice, rather than lump it in with the capsule reviews.

Suffice it to say that I land firmly on the thumbs-down side of this divisive L.A. noir as seen through a pair of aviator shades and a haze of pot smoke. It comes off more as an empty stylistic exercise than a trippy work of art to me.

Joaquin Phoenix stars as 'Doc', a perpetually baked hippie P.I. investigating the disappearance of a housing mogul and his ex-girlfriend. That's about as much of the plot as I can summarize, because after that things become impossible to follow.

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: Actor

The Best Actor race this year was at its most interesting and competitive before the nominations. The big question was which of the six leading men in the hunt would be left off the Academy's ballot. It was never a question of who would end up winning the whole thing, as that has been obvious for a couple of months now.

My Awards nominations: Actor

Guess I'd better get started on these. I was going to leave them for after the Oscars, but it sorta just dawned on me how much time we have to kill until then. I still have a handful of films to see, so I'll start out with some of the categories that I've already pretty much set in stone, such as today's category: Best Actor.

Gotta say, this was by far the toughest one for me to narrow down this year. There are at least ten or eleven absolutely terrific performances that would be welcome here, and the quality of this year's leading men is well represented by the Oscar lineup as well. But tough decisions have to be made, so the five that I chose are:

Sunday Top Ten: Oscar noms that'll make me smile

Poles officially closed on Friday for Academy Award nominations. While the accountants at Price Waterhouse Coopers crunch the numbers, we're left to ponder and anticipate. My predictions are likely to shift and slide during the next few days. What will stay consistent are my personal rooting interests. There are certain contenders in several categories who feel like they're on the cusp of a nomination -- contenders who I'd love to see make good on that possibility -- but who could just as easily miss the cut. Here you go, Academy; you have ten chances to make me smile on Thursday morning.

SAG shines light on some unexpected outliers

As the critics groups mostly fall in line with the same, repetitive choices this time of year, it's always a brief treat to see what the Screen Actors Guild nominating committee can come up with to surprise us.

The major talking points with this year's crop are the unexpected inclusions in the Supporting categories of Nicole Kidman in the critically polarizing The Paperboy and Javier Bardem for his charismatic Bond villain in Skyfall. Both Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor have had lots of wiggle room (at least more than the Lead categories which are beginning to solidify), and either of these nominations could have an influence on Academy balloting which begins in just one week.

The crowded Lead categories are naturally more noteworthy for the performances that were excluded than the ones they let in. Best Actor has seemed like a six-way race for some time now between Day-Lewis, Cooper, Jackman, Washington, Hawkes, and Phoenix all vying for five slots. It was Phoenix who suffered the unavoidable SAG snub, a victim of his film's challenging nature. I've been wondering if his undeniable performance is in fact deniable after all, but up against leading men in five more universally liked movies could be the kiss of death. For the leading ladies, it was Emmanuelle Riva who got left off the ballot, but Marion Cotillard got in. Let's not kid ourselves: two Lead Actress nominees for foreign films at the Oscars was always going to be a long shot, and with Cotillard more of a household name stateside than Riva, this could be the slate we see on Oscar night (although I'll be rooting for Quevanzhane Wallis, who was ineligible with SAG, to be nominated).

The Ensemble category filled out with all the usual Best Picture contenders, though some might be surprised by The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I'm not. If ever there was a film that could play to old Academy types, this is it. All nominees with brief thoughts after the cut.

Review - The Master

It's been five years since I sat in a darkened theatre puzzling over the cinematic output of Paul Thomas Anderson. It was the peculiar final scene of his celebrated opus There Will Be Blood, which now lives in simultaneous reverence and infamy for its uber-quotable “milkshake” line and the ongoing debate it inspires between “genius!” and “hackery!”. I'll admit the bewilderment was initially off-putting, but there was a fascinating quality to what I had just seen that held my gaze even though I didn't understand it. Such a sensation lingers over the entirety of his latest picture The Master, a spellbinding head-scratcher which has been impressing critics and confounding audiences everywhere.

We first meet Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) stationed in the Pacific during the closing days of WWII, indulging in all of his most basic animal instincts, from banal activities like eating and sleeping to more masturbatory and aggressive releases. Upon returning home, he struggles with his readjustment to civilian life, hopping from place to place, his unpredictable and violent nature being an unsuitable fit for polite society. It isn't until he meets Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a charismatic preacher of his own spiritual philosophical science called The Cause, that Freddie seems to find some direction and meaning. The high-minded Dodd also sees in Freddie a challenge finally worthy of his perceived expertise; an person he can liberate from animalistic vices and refine as an “enlightened” man.