Oscar BUST!

See Oscar above.  He got kicked to the ground last night, and he will need some time to heal and get back on his feet.

My beef?  Very, very inappropriate jokes.  For those of you who might have missed the show, there was a song and dance number about women's "boobs" that hit an all-time low, comments about gays, and an anti-semitic tirade that made us wonder if we were not back in pre-war Germany.

Here's an example of one joke about Lincoln that will go down in history as one of the most unpleasant moments on TV:   "I would argue, however, that the actor who really got inside Lincoln’s head was John Wilkes Booth."

The rest of the show was normal Oscar stuff, with pretty gowns and emotional thank you's on stage.  

But with such a sour taste in our mouths, it was really tough to enjoy the annual spectacle.

Grade:  F   A truly failing, infamous moment in TV viewing.

Oscar Guesses!

Hi Folks!  Valerie and I hold an annual guess-who's-gonna-win event!  Here are my choices for the awards tonight.  Please list yours!  The winner gets our "Best Predictor" award: Recognition on this here website that provide you with a year's worth of bragging rights!  (haha)

David's predictions:

Best Picture:  Argo
Best Actor:  Daniel Day Lewis
Best Acress:  Jennifer Lawrence
Best Supporting Actor:  Christoph Waltz
Best Supporting Actress:  Anne Hathaway
Best Director:  Steven Spielberg

Django Unchained

Quentin Tarantino is a master of originality.  His films are unlike any other.

Remember Reservoir Dogs?  Have you ever seen such a tense story?  The "dogs" are holed up together after a botched robbery, and someone among them is the rat!  Then there's Pulp Fiction.  Wow.  John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson simply dazzled us as gangsters grappling with amorality and religiosity!  What about Kill Bill?  Who would have guessed that Uma Thurman would make such a great swordslady?

But wait!  Here comes Django!  Be prepared to admire Quentin's brilliance once again!

No spoiler, but the story is outlandish:  A German bounty hunter runs loose in the South, in pre-Civil War years, frees a slave, trains the slave to shoot and fight, recruits the slave to help him gather bounties, and sets off in search of adventure!   Outlandish is what Tarantino does best.  In spite of the crazy plot, we suspend our disbelief and somehow enter Quentin's bizarre world.

Check out that picture of Jamie Foxx!  Is he not one COOL dude?  He's a man with a purpose!  (sorry, folks, can't give that plotline away).  Jamie shoots 'em dead, just like the best of the Western heroes...but he tends mostly to shoot racial bigots!  Hahaha!

This film is totally involving.  Yes, it's unreal.  Yes, it's different.

DIFFERENT is why this reviewer lauds Tarantino, who is by far and away the most creative film maker in Hollywood.

Grade:   A plus.

Caution:  Not everyone agrees with my review!  But then, you can count on this reviewer to think for himself (yes...like my hero, Quentin!)

End of Watch

Cop-buddy movies are great!  In this one, Jake G and Michael Pena have a wonderful chemistry, and their banter in the squad car keeps the action lively and highly macho!   For a while, it seems like a typical cop story, where the good guys cruise the streets and make mincemeat of evil!

But there's a twist to this flick:  The cops find themselves in deep trouble.  They get involved chasing some very, very bad dudes, and the bad dudes are out for revenge.  Will the cops be tough enough to survive?

Of course, we come to care about the two cops because we get to know their spouses and see them as flawed human beings.  Neither is an angel, but each is basically on the side of truth, justice, and the American way.

Never the spoiler, I won't say how things turn out.  Consider this film a real nail-biter.  Unlike the Dirty Harry genre, where you know the hero is invincible, you're never so sure here.  The tension lies in whether the cops, reckless and tough as nails, will make it.

Jake G was masterful in Brokeback Mountain.  He was even better in Source Code.  Here, he is 100 percent street cop.

Is there any depth to this flick?  About zero.  But if you want mindless violence for ninety minutes, I recommend this action-packed, adrenaline-filled, awesome film!

Les Miserables

Or, The Miserables, as I heard someone recently say.  Yes, with the advent of the newest version of this classic, every conceivable pronunciation is out there.  It does not matter.  As Shakespeare said, "The play's the thing."

If and when you see this, blog readers, weigh in.  In the meantime I will strive for my usual brevity...but I may fail.

This current incarnation is masterful.  Set design, costumes, and most of all performances.  With every moment being in song, it requires tremendous skill to act through singing.  These players do just that.  Director, Tom Hooper's commitment to shun dubbed singing and have LIVE production was major gutsy, and it works, at least for me.  Seeing Hugh Jackman's neck veins pop out as he grunts Valjean's lines in parts, or Anne Hathaway's voice crack in emotion as Fontine lets go of her dream is raw and real and moving. (who knew, Anne?)  And despite some criticisms of Russell Crowe's un-operatic voice, I loved its authenticity.  It is as gritty as he and his character of Javert are.

Yes, it's long.  Tedious in parts.  So what?  You get your money's worth.

It is extremely rare for me to cry in a movie.  Les Miserables moved me to weep THREE times and is doing so again as I write this.  My daughter and I saw it together; she, too is not given to emotion, yet held on to me at the end in a tearful embrace.  Wow.  What movies can do.

Our meager audience (hey, it was a Thursday at noon) applauded at its conclusion.  For me it has not concluded, as I hear strains in my head of some favorite music pieces a week later.  AND, I was inspired enough to finally buy Victor Hugo's 1200 pg. novel and plan to learn much more about each of these compelling characters and Hugo's greater themes of justice, redemption, and always love.

Tomorrow's a rainy day.  A good day, I think, to delve into great literature inspired by great film inspired by great literature.

I hope you will enrich your soul by seeing this movie.

Taken 2

Check out the poster that spoofs Taken 2!  Hahaha!  Don't you love it?

First off, did any of my dear readers see Taken (that is, the original)?  It is a good piece of thriller movie-making.

In that film, a CIA operative's daughter, played by pretty Maggie Grace, is kidnapped in Paris by some very bad dudes who specialize in sex-trafficking.   Dad, who "does what he does best" (assassinations!), comes to the rescue.  The film sort of grabs you, if you like the go-get-the-terrorists-and-save-your-daughter theme.

So naturally, thinking I'd get more of the same, I watched installment two.  What a mistake!  The poster pretty much sums up of the folly of "taking" Taken to the next level.  But lest you think I will totally pan the sequel, I will point out a nice silver lining:  great action scenes!

Never the spoiler, I can't say much more than what the advertising clips provide:  last time they took his daughter, this time they are after him!  Well, sort of.   His wife just happens to be with him, so they're going after her too.  You see, the bad guys seek revenge, because Liam (our CIA hero) knocked off many of the terrorists' kin when he got his daughter back in the original film.

The silver lining:  As I suggested, the film offers really well-done chase, shooting, and running scenes, all in the streets and on the rooftops of Istanbul!  In fact, if I ever go to Isbanbul, I will think of the scenes in this film.

Here's a tip:  Maybe fast-forward through the stupid, insipid family scenes that open the flick, and go straight to the Istanbul part, where things really heat up!

Grade?  Hmmmm.....  I always assigned a D instead of an F because I was a soft touch in the classroom.  Here, I might generously say B-....  or is that C+?

If you see this flick, I hope you don't feel "taken!"

The Flat

The Flat is an outstanding piece of documentary filmmaking.  It provides a history lesson that no one can forget.

Arnon Goldfinger is a relatively well known Israeli filmmaker who got into family history in an accidental sort of way:  He lost his 98 year old grandmother and went with his mother to clear out the flat.  In doing so, he came across documents that shocked him.

What documents?  No spoiler, so I won't say much.  The filmmaker discovers that his grandparents may well have been best friends with a Nazi.  So?  Well, there's more to this.  The Nazi in question happened to be high in the inner circle of culpable Germans, up there with Adolph Eichmann and other renowned monsters.

The filmmaker basically goes on a quest for truth, which takes him back to Germany.  There, he questions folks who know the SS soldier in question.  He also gets his mother to talk reluctantly about what she knew.

The secrets of the past unfold like petals of a flower.  With each new truth, the filmmaker asks more questions.  It seems that many folks just want to forget the past.  But can we?  Aren't we all products of our past?  And if we flee from our pasts, how can we define our futures?

Arnon the narrator digs and probes.  He seeks answers.

Before long, so do we.  And the answers we discover are unsettling, to say the least.

A top-notch film that every person of every nationality and faith should see.

Grade of A.