Down, Oscar! Bad Dog!!

Well, it's all over and so's the shouting. Oscar Night 2011 ends with a whimper or two and not necessarily with any sort of bang at all.

Show-wise, it couldn't have been blander. The combination of James Franco and Anne Hathaway worked only in the commercials, not on the actual program. Anne seemed to be really out of her depth for the long haul and Franco, well, son, you've finally overextended yourself. all you had going for yourself was that smug grin on your mug that wore out its welcome before the first half-hour was up or about the time Kirk Douglas finally wrapped it up. In fact, he was grinning so much that he seemed to be channeling his stoner character from PINEAPPLE EXPRESS. The opening film was okay, but nothing we haven't seen before and, even "trimmed"(w/o those damn tributes...how dare they try to impose any kind of historical perspective!), the running time still crawled past the three hour mark. I wouldn't have called it worse than last year's bore-a-thon, but it sure seemed like amateur night or even a community theater award event (something I know a little about). But asses were kissed, not kicked like at the Golden Globes, though I really think Hollywood needs to be schooled by Ricky Gervais. Fortunately, there were a lack of Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber types (thank you, Lord!) but still had to endure even thirty seconds of the wretched mess known as Russell Brand. Please check out the trailer to his latest wreck, a remake of ARTHUR and tell me I'm wrong. Ick to Nth degree. In all, Hugh Jackman a couple of years back spoiled us. Time to return to a single host, one that's up to the task. Billy Crystal's passed his prime, but maybe they should be looking around for another version in the same mold.

I went 15 out of 25 for my picks, predictions and guesses, about 60% with no real issue with any of the results. Glad to see INCEPTION get some love along with the others, but I do think Roger Deakins' work on TRUE GRIT was snubbed. THE KING'S SPEECH might actually have deserved Best Picture. Don't know. Haven't seen it. I chose THE SOCIAL NETWORK. No surprises for the award winners and too bad 'cuz the show done needed it.

But worst Oscar show ever? Not hardly. I've been watching these babies since the Sixties and, even though it was pretty craptacular, it ain't the benchmark. It was probably the sloppiest and perhaps even the clunkiest in recent memory, but hey, I still ate it up with a big ol' spoon like I always do. Still, it has a kind of a stale taste to it, probably because of the barrage of award shows that precede it. The Academy Awards are the Super Bowl of these events and really need to treated as such by the producers. Otherwise, ABC, which has the broadcast rights until 2020, is going to regret its decision. Skewing to a younger demographic always gets you in trouble, especially when you aren't up to the task and the youth don't give a good damn to begin with.

Perhaps in the future, it would behoove the Academy to follow this edict:

IT'S THE MOVIES, STUPID!

The Bestest of the Best-2010 Edition

Let's light this candle!

FILM
After a decade long re-education in the subject of film, 2010 made me feel like a total slacker. I caught up with some long sought classics like Wolfgang Peterson's DAS BOOT, David Lean's version of Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS and Werner Herzog's brilliant remake of NOSFERATU. Other swell films on my list: Chan-Wook Park's THIRST, the hysterical Nazi zombie extravaganza DEAD SNOW (Ein! Zwie! DIE!) and Martin Scrosese's ode to Val Lewton, SHUTTER ISLAND. I ventured into an actual cinema only twice, a significant drop in attendance from years past. For this I can only attribute to a general malaise. (You remember him, don't you? General Malaise led the forces into Afghanistan...well, he wanted to, but he was too depressed to leave home.)
So I am WAY behind and therefore unqualified to even speak about the year in film, but that hasn't stopped me before, has it? As usual, here goes nothing. AVATAR, the great 3-D savior of 21st century cinema was actually more than worth the hype and praise foisted upon it, even if it disappears like so much cotton candy in retrospect. It took six months for me to go out again and this time I was rewarded with what I will name the #1 film of 2010: Christopher Nolan's sensational epic INCEPTION, a rare action blockbuster with both brains and heart. The finale had to be one of the finest in recent memory, again a rarity for a film over 2 1/2 hours in length. The one movie that stayed with me more than anything was Spike Jonzes' adaptation of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, a superb children's film for adults. I know it's a 2009 release, but why are you so hung up on time, hmmm?
TV
Another outstanding year of television helped make 2010 a little more tolerable, especially on the original programming side…and away from the dregs of the broadcast networks. (Don’t preach the gospel of GLEE to me. I’m not a fan. Without its musical numbers, it bores me to horrors.) The usual suspects: MAD MEN, BREAKING BAD, RESCUE ME, SONS OF ANARCHY, TRUE BLOOD, NURSE JACKIE and THE UNITED STATES OF TARA all had excellent seasons. These joined by swell newcomers like THE WALKING DEAD, JUSTIFIED, LOUIE, MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE and BOARDWALK EMPIRE.
Best of the bunch:
HBO’s TREME, the saga of New Orleans, post-Katrina and pre-oil spill. Superb performances by Wendell Pierce, Khandi Alexander, Clarke Peters, Melissa Leo, John Goodman, and (surprise surprise surprise) Steve Zahn, of all people. I never cared much for Zahn before as an actor, but his wily characterization won me over. He was featured what I consider to be the best TV moment all year, a rousing rendition of “Shame, Shame, Shame”, an ode to the government’s response to the disaster that hit that area not so very long ago. TREME was moving, rousing and always compelling a worthy successor to David Simon's masterpiece THE WIRE. Like its predecessor, TREME was criminally robbed of any sort of Emmy consideration. Stinking Philistines....
MUSIC
It was the Year of the Gaga and I’m fine with that. She’s brought the fun back to the music world. Meat dress? You go, nutjob! At least the Lady has the talent to back it up. She starts taking herself seriously and I am outta here. But if she keeps giving us lines like: “I want your ugly, I want your disease, I want everything as long as it's free, I want your love…” then she has a fan in me. I’m also a bit gaga for Florence and the Machine’s “Dog Days”. Flo’s like the next generation of Annie Lennox, though she actually looks like the illegitimate daughter of Andy Warhol superstar Viva. But really, what’s better than Cee-Lo Green’s “Fuck You”? Nothing.
BOOKS
On the non-fiction side, I was enthralled by THE BIG BURN: TEDDY ROOSEVELT AND THE FIRE THAT SAVED AMERICA by Timothy Egan and SIN THE SECOND CITY: MADAMS, MINISTERS,PLAYBOYS AND THE BATTLE FOR AMERICA'S SOUL by Karen Abbot. The best: THE LOST CITY OF Z: A TALE OF DEADLY OBSESSION IN THE AMAZON by David Grann. On the fiction front, my new favorite author has to be Nick Hornby for his books SLAM and JULIET, NAKED. I also to an inordinate amount of audio books this year since I am on the road so very much, my very favorites being Tom Wolfe’s BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES and my numero uno, Jeremy Iron’s unbelievably superb reading of Nabokov’s LOLITA, a one man performance of the highest caliber.
RADIO
The very best interviewer in the entire broadcast industry is Terry Gross on NPR’s FRESH AIR, a talk show I used to avoid for fear it would lull me to sleep while driving. How wrong could one be. At first listen, Gross sounds like everyone’s least favorite mousy substitute teacher, but she overcomes this impression with her sharp insights and often brilliant observations with her wide range of guests. I don’t listen to every show, but I give everyone a chance no matter what the subject matter because FRESH AIR has won me over more times than not and I end up actually learning something in the process. Amazing what an open mind can accomplish.
As for the WORST of 2010….I’d rather forget it, thank you very much.
You’re welcome.

2010: The Year We Break Contact

Where the hell was Roy Scheider when we really needed him?

In the movie 2010, we were told "something wonderful" would occur which, at the end of the film, turned out to be another sun. But that's Hollywood. What did WE get in the real world? Snooki. That's not a sun. That's more of a moon.

This year started out with such promise, but we all know that's just the self-delusion of time. The calendar changes and that's supposed to change everything for the good? What a bunch of gullible schmucks. Another decade in the still new millennium? It's gotta be good!

There were high notes to be sure that were hit right at the git-go, again perpetuating the myth of optimism in an increasingly cynical age. It holds about as much water as a cheese grater, a point proven when the tide turned in the wink of an eye. Oil spills, missing children, terrorist plots in our own backyard, political discourse leading up to a potential revival of the Civil War, 21st Century style combined with some personal kicks in the groin that aren't as easy to recover from as the year passed. It all became off-kilter, much like that hotel corridor sequence in INCEPTION.

But far be it for me to end this year on a down note. To tell you the absolute truth, I'm actually feeling a wee bit upbeat. It hasn't always been so over the last 36o-odd days, that's for sure, but as I've told my friends recently, life has a way balancing out. As I say, the yin, the yang and the whole damn thang. Perhaps it's all a balancing act after all. And sometimes, there's actually a net when you least expect one.

It's also me trying to be reflective and wax poetic at the end of the year, just like every other nimrod with a laptop and a blog to call his own. What have I learned in the year Twenty Ten? well, for one thing, the year isn't over for me until my birthday which falls at the end of January. I'm not done yet. I have a few deadlines to meet by January 29 and maybe we should talk then.

I also send you folks out there in the blogosphere the great wish of finding some balance in this cockeyed world o' ours. It's tough. You fall over a few times and most certainly will get knocked down too. There's no reason you can't get right back again, even if it is slowly. Let's just say you're an easier target on the ground and, if you're standing on your own two feet, you can push back. Balance, baby, balance.

Next up: The Best of 2010, just like every other nimrod with a laptop and a blog. (New Year's Resolution #1: Stop being redundant.)

Happy New Year, ye lads and lassies.

Exceptional Inception

I'm sad to say that's it's been a too long of a time since I've been in a movie theater, that last time being this year's birthday movie of AVATAR...and that was back in January, for Buddha's sake.

To be perfectly honest, there hasn't been a wealth of product out there to pique my interest enough to venture off to the cinema. Oh, I'm sure I would found something to see, probably along the lines of a more eclectic nature that I am increasingly drawn to instead of the dreary, mundane product that fill what pass for movie houses these days. Of course I'm talking endless sequels, reboots, remakes, recycles, rehashes all regurgitated back into the sausage maker to make more hot dogs of decreasing taste and nutrition. In other words, Hollywood's on safe mode right now, that means more of the same, literally and figuratively. Who is the worse off in all this? For a change, not the public because they're finally catching on and staying the hell away. Nope. it's Hollywood, hurting itself almost beyond repair and destroying its own legacy by denying creativity its due in favoring of endlessly producing the tried and true until its used-up and false.

This summer has told the tale perfectly. Few diamonds have sat in this rough as TV, once the vast wasteland, has overtaken the great god Film as the hope of the future. Why? Because in the last few years, it has returned to the source-the written word. Compare, if you will some of the output of this summer's movie season to TV's.

Film: IRON MAN 2, SEX AND THE CITY 2, video game adaptation PRINCE OF PERSIA (with Jake Gyllenhaal as Kevin Sorbo), SHREK FOREVER AFTER, GET HIM TO THE GREEK (with the supremely unfunny Russell Brand, who's also starring in an upcoming remake of ARTHUR for Chrissakes!)), THE LAST AIRBENDER, KILLERS, KNIGHT & DAY (basically the same movie), SALT (this year's WANTED), TOY STORY 3 (yes, it's Pixar, but I hold them to a higher standard so it's just another sequel), THE KARATE KID, THE A-TEAM (or as I used to call it THE EH TEAM) and the 547th remake of ROBIN HOOD.

TV: TREME (the best new show of 2010 that you've never seen), MAD MEN, BREAKING BAD, TRUE BLOOD, JUSTIFIED, RESCUE ME, LOUIE (Louis C.K.'s MUCH better show than HBO's LUCKY LOUIE) , THE BIG C, WEEDS, NURSE JACKIE, THE UNITED STATES OF TARA...are you getting the picture yet?

Bottom line: TV has intelligent, intricate stories with compelling characters and superb acting.

Film has...3-D.

Yeah, I know it's summer, give me a reason to leave home, huh? (I know I'm ignoring works like WINTER'S BONE, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP and GET LOW, but these little oasises-or is it oasi ...the plural of oasis-in the desert-haven't drawn me out either. Chalk it up to lethargy and pessimism, a deadly combination.)

I can only thank my lucky stars (or charms) for Christopher Nolan's INCEPTION, probably the best movie of the year thus far, a bold statement for someone who hasn't ventured out of the house all year. I needed a reason to go and INCEPTION has proved to be...well, the exception.

Here at last is an action film with a brain that is, by the box office take thus far, is undoubtedly being embraced by the public. Sure the imagery is incredibly fantastic and the pace non-stop, but the ideas and their delivery behind it all are garnering repeat viewings. The dream within a dream concepts set forth in Nolan's film have definitely struck a chord in audiences and certainly within me. I was also taken by the lack of cliches, such as the duplicitous team member, the obvious nod to a sequel (Its all about the franchise!) and the Gotcha! ending that would have ruined an absolutely perfect touching moment, one of the best in recent film history.

It's not a flawless work. Nolan has a tendency to blow his work all of proportion with piling on action scene after action without letting up much, almost unnecessarily pandering to today's short attention span audience. But unlike a hack like Michael Bay whose action scenes are played out like a game boy hopped up on Mountain Dew cocktails with Red Bull chasers, Nolan at least adds surprise elements of wonder within all the carnage, elevating his set pieces without sacrificing his premise. There is also no denying that the visuals are indeed spectacular such as the zero gravity fight scenes and Ellen Page's introduction as the dream architect. Still, there's a sense of overkill and INCEPTION could have benefited with at the very least, a ten minute trim.

Thank goodness for filmmakers like Christopher Nolan. With INCEPTION, he is on the path ascending to that pedestal of artists that work within the system and manage to turn out works of art within a damn fine motion picture, right beside directors like Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock.

I'm so pleased with myself that I held out to see INCEPTION at the best theater in Portland, the Roseway. I've sung its praises before and will continue to do so. A single screen cinema with crystal clear digital projection and superb sound, the Roseway Theatre is well-worth the 50 mile round trip from my home.

What can I say? I'm spoiled. And you know what else? I deserved it.