OSCAR SEASON - Best Acting

And now on to Bri's annual acting awards. Not my Oscar predictions, just who I'd be voting for if they saw fit to give me a ballot. Again note that I haven't seen every performance worthy of a nomination. But of what I have seen, these are the standouts:

Best Actor:
5) Jeff Daniels - THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
Daniels does a superb job as a arrogant fool who fancies himself an intellectual.
4) Russell Crowe - CINDERELLA MAN
Crowe deserves more attention than he's gotten for his sweet-natured depression-era boxer.
3) Phillip Seymour Hoffman - CAPOTE
I was at first entranced by Hoffman's intriguing portrayel. Unfortunately, by the end of the film I could care less about his self-involved and affected Truman Capote.
2) Heath Ledger - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
It's got to be difficult to make such a repressed persona quite so affecting for the audience. Ledger succeeded.
1) Joaquin Phoenix - WALK THE LINE
A powerful performance as Johnny Cash that carried the entire film. And he didn't even lip sync.

Best Actress:
5) Renee Zellwegger - CINDERELLA MAN
A good if not exceptional performance as a good person struggling through bad times.
4) Keira Knightley - PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
She carried the entre movie. More a "movie star" quality performance than a great character creation.
3) Scarlett Johansson - MATCH POINT
A great job as the "other woman" in Woody Allens thriller.
2) Charlize Theron - NORTH COUNTRY
Another very good performance by Theron as a victim of harrassment.
1) Reese Witherspoon - WALK THE LINE
As June Carter Cash, Witherspoon easily rises up to meet Joaquin Phoenix' great performance.

Best Supporting Actor:
5) Randy Quaid - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
4) William Hurt - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
3) Al Pacino - THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
2) George Clooney - SYRIANA
1) Paul Giamatti - CINDERELLA MAN

Best Supporting Actress:
5) Sharon Stone - BROKEN FLOWERS
4) Amy Adams - JUNEBUG
3) Catherine Keener - CAPOTE
2) Frances McDormand - NORTH COUNTRY
1) Rachel Weisz - THE CONSTANT GARDENER

OSCAR SEASON - Best Films

And now on to my top 10 list for 2005. Despite some stiff competition a couple of movies really stood out for me this year. Do you want to know which two? Well, read the list.

10) Murderball - The most even-handed look at the disabled I've ever seen. It doesn't dare treat these men with kid gloves. They're fathers and fighters and some of them might just be annoying jerks.

9) The Squid and the Whale - A wonderful performance by Jeff Daniels is imperative to this story of adolescent confusion.

8) Junebug - An ambiguous portrait of conflicting family personalities. It's city versus country, intellectualism versus religion, art versus functionality, and self-involvment versus empathy. And a different person seems to win each round of the fight.

7) Grizzly Man - It's surprising how deep this look at a silly fool who played with grizzly bears really goes. It's humanity searching for answers, and in this case I don't think they found what they were looking for.

6) Munich - Despite a couple of lesser scenes, this still ranks as one of Spielberg's best works. An engrossing look at the cycle of revenge on a political scale. Eric Bana is well on his way to stardom.

5) Walk the Line - Two absolutely, undeniably great performances carry the whole film. Joaquin Phoenix is simply great as the man in black, but Reese Witherspoon ain't too bad either.

4) Cinderella Man - The most overlooked film of 2005. This sweet, endearing and yet powerful story about the underdog making it big is Ron Howard's best work. Paul Giamatti is the best actor working today, unless it's Russell Crowe. This film has 'em both.

3) Syriana - Perhaps the smartest movie of the year, this is a surprisingly in depth look at the world's need for oil. And it is a need.

2) Match Point - One of Woody Allen's best films, and quite a departure from his norm. Astoundingly smart, and well-paced, and well-written, and well-acted, and ... well, you get the point.

1) Brokeback Mountain - One of the best-written films of recent memory, these characters are perfectly fleshed out in nearly every way on the page. Ang Lee and Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are very much up to the task of bringing them to life on the screen. This is also a watershed movie we'll be talking about for a long time to come. 40 years from now they'll do documentaries showing this film as a defining moment when America grew up just a little in its attitude toward homosexuality.

OSCAR SEASON - Honorable Mention Films

It's getting to be that time of the year, boys and girls. The 78th annual Academy Awards are coming up on March 5 and we'll see who the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences sees fit to bestow their weird little statues upon.

2005 was an excellent year for film, and many movies deserving of the attention that a nomination usually brings will have to do without. I was certainly surprised by a nomination or two, but I think that the sheer number of quality work may have spread out the votes, making it more likely for darkhorses to enter the race. (Read "darkhorses" as "Crash".)

As pumped as I am, I think it's time for my yearly picks for the best of 'ought five'. Needless to say, I have not seen every quality picture made this past year, so there will certainly be some omissions. I have yet to see Terrence Malick's The New World, and probably 15 other films that have made the major critic's year-end top ten lists. However, I am pretty confident in the quality of the films I do select. So even though I may not have all of the best films, I think I do have a collection of good selections. Oh, I occassionally make a bone-headed pick, but as surprising as it is, they've been rare over the years. No, there will be no Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo in this list.

First I'll start with my honorable mentions for 2005. These aren't in my top 10, but they might be close, or they might have done something deserving of attention.

Good Night and Good Luck - George Clooney's excellent statement film about standing up to the goverment when it's necessary. David Straithairn is top notch as Edward R. Murrow.

The 40 Year Old Virgin - An hilarious and sweet sex comedy that should make Steve Carrell a star.

Pride and Prejudice - A very good Jane Austin adaptation. Keira Knightley has joined the ranks of major actresses with this work I think

Capote - Incredible Phillip Seymour Hoffman portrayel of the affected and conflicted Truman Copote.

Wedding Crashers - I think this might be one of the funniest movies in recent memory. Maybe even more so than 40 Year Old Virgin.

The Merchant of Venice - Al Pacino gives one empassioned and powerful Shylock.

Sin City - Mysogonistic and childish, but also beautiful and immensely creative Robert Rodriguez adaptation of a violent comic book.

The Constant Gardener - A very good flick that will probably get lost in the shuffle of good film this year. Rachel Weisz is excellent as a rights crusader in Africa.

Broken Flowers - Jim Jarmusch very nearly goes mainstream.

North Country - Two great performances by Frances McDormand and Charlize Theron are marred by a cheesy courtroom ending. Still a powerful look at sexual harrassment.

King Kong - Moments were rather silly, but others were quite powerful.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - A sweet, magical and surprisingly powerful adventure story. An homage to imagination, or if it's your cup of tea, that Jesus guy.

The Aristocrats - Stand up comedians being as funny and gross as they can be.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Yet another enjoyable Potter tale.

Batman Begins - Christopher Nolan reinvents and reinvigorates the Batman franchise.

HUSTLE AND FLOW (DVD)

Director: Craig Brewer (Minor film work, The Poor and Hungry)
Starring: Terrence Howard, Taryn Manning, Anthony Anderson

Hustle and Flow is an incredibly uneven movie, at times laughably silly, but often entertaining, and occasionally intriguing. Terrence Howard particularly shines, managing to give an edge of pathos to a ridiculous pimp character. Most of the other main characters are also compelling and enjoyable, if not well drawn in the page. Once again I also kind of liked Ludacris in a small, but important role as a famous hip-hopper. Seriously, this guy should keep going down the acting road. He's a compelling presence on screen. Good luck to him.

Plot-wise, Hustle and Flow is the story of a dirt-poor pimp, his hoes, and his big dreams of becoming a star. Basically he tricks out his ladies, and uses their cash to finance his dreams of stardom. There is comic relief in the form of a middle class, chubby black recording tech and the skinny white musician kid. I’ll not divulge the nice irony to the ending, where he attempts to get his demo tape into the hands of a famous rap star, but it’s one of the more effective pieces to the story.

My problem with this film lay primarily with the tone and construction of the story. In some ways, this is a story that has serious goals: the power of dreams and what we’ll do to chase them, class culture clashes, and emotional rage. Unfortunately, most of the characters and events in the film are broad, silly, and frankly quite goofy. Terrence Howard manages to bring a degree of seriousness to a character that was flawed as written (or at least as I imagine it was written). You see, this guy is just the bestest darn pimp in the whole wide world. He treats his whores with nothing but respect. Somehow this plot even tries to show Howard’s pimp as empowering the girls. I have no idea why anyone thought that was a legitimate notion, but they sure tried.

Solely from a philosophical standpoint I disagreed with some of the views on black culture as well. They show the stable black middle class in a poor light. Here, the nice well-off black character is bored beyond belief, needing the dream of rap stardom to get out of his life in the doldrums. The pimp and his whores however, are shown as compelling, misunderstood heroes. I'm not sure I can get behind those kind of portrayals.

Standouts: Terrence Howard in a quite good, although not quite Oscar-worthy performance.
Blowouts: Broad, occasionally silly, occasionally objectionable script.

Grade: C+