Johnny Simmons

I’m enjoying my last few days of freedom before school reopens (grrr), and it’s all going well. I should be more regular with the links, and there have been so many great bits since.

My favourite post of the week (thus far, I know it’s Tuesday) has to be Ryan’s entry for the Movie Meme focusing exclusively on Joe Wright. I’ll let The Soloist (passable as it was) go; I can’t wait for Hanna.

                    

Jose’s back with a vengeance and he loathed Knight & Day…which saddens me, because I did like it so. It's weird, I'm not usually fond of Cruise, but there it is - seducing me with a laughing Cameron Diaz and a caustic Viola Davis. Speaking of loathing. Know who (else) I loathe? Will Smith. Marshall warns you all from watching Ali...and though it's not horrid, I'd agree with him. (Speaking of Marshall, I only recently interviewed him for the LAMB, Check it out.) And while we're on the topic, I don't like George Clooney either. Fitz does, though, he takes a look at his favourite Clooney performance.

          

It’s been a while since I saw Sophie’s Choice a film that many believe the greatest performance of all time. Marcy offers up a thoughtful review of it. Is Meryl flawless in it?

               

I was moderately impressed with Antoine Fuqua’s Brooklyn’s Finest. Frank offers up effusive praise for the crime drama. How many of you have seen it? 

                     

What’s the best movie battle? Tough question? Heather doesn’t think so… here's her list.

I have a habit of becoming a dissenter, even if it’s not always deliberate. When I predicted (in my very first post) a lack of BP love for The Dark Knight it was more me hoping than anything else. I didn’t love the film, banana oil almost loathes it.  What are your thoughts on her feelings? I'm not the biggest Darren Aronofsky, I wasn't the biggest fan of The Wrestler in 2008 either. I'm probably not a fan at all, though I'll respect the man's talent. Carson reviews his 2008 The Wrestler, his direction is superb though I think the actual film is less so.

                 

I desperately need to see Woody Allen’s Interiors. Alex offers up an analysis of Geraldine Page in Woody’s drama. Slightly OT but I do love Geraldine in Sweet Bird of Youth…

          

Fletch needs your help with his marriage troubles. Well, not really...but there's a hypothetical situation and he wants your help. It involves Angelina, Brad and Jen...GO. Here's another hypothetical bit. You're going on a date...which movies would you NOT want to watch there? If you just had ate don't look, but Dan's list is full of excellent choices.

I may have said this before, but I’m rather spot on with knowing what I’d like. Most of the films I seek out are the ones I know I’ll love. Most often the ones I despise are those I see for the hell of it, or Oscar bait I watch for completion’s sake. Not to say that I’m omnipotent…surprises occur. A number of films ran through my head when I saw the title, but it kept coming back to a particular. It’s one that I felt even more of a desire to feature since it narrowly missed making my TOP 100 and I do love it. I’ve never been a big fan of Spielberg. He has two Oscars and even though one is often considered the best film of the nineties, and the other is considered the best in the war genre I wouldn’t have given him on either count. I like Tom Cruise even less. Whereas I’m neither for nor against Spielberg, Tom Cruise tends to annoy me generally. Hence, I felt the slightest bit of trepidation at seeing Minority Report. A Cruise / Spielberg blockbuster? I think not. How wrong was I in prejudging this? Very!          

Though it’s nowhere near as brilliant as 2007, 2002 was a brilliant year for films (2002 in review). There was the trimester of Chicago / The Hours / The Two Towers and those were followed by another trimester Gangs of New York / Minority Report / Spiderman. Each of these six had something that made me anticipate an appreciation for them, except for Minority Report. The story focused on a time in the future when a special band of policeman could anticipate crime and the perpetrators, essentially curbing it before it occurred. One day Chief John Anderton, Head of the Precrime department, sees himself projected in the precogs vision – he will commit a murder. There’s no reason to doubt them because the precogs visions are always accurate. Right? At its base Minority Report is about one man trying to find ascertain the truth around him and  Anderton must do the unthinkable going on the round with Agatha (the female precog) in two. It’s part action, part scifi and complete brilliance. I don’t usually find myself going agog at the genre (though I’ll continually pledge allegiance to Gattaca) but I’m always seduced by the adrenaline rush in Minority Report.

Spielberg creates a brilliant film and art direction and visual effects play an important part in the brilliance of the film, but what makes Minority Report stand apart is the acting. I’ve never found Tom Cruise so moving even in a role that reads as Tom Cruise doing Tom Cruise. I’d have given him an Oscar nomination for this, along with Samantha Morton who is simply outstanding. Neal McDonough, Max von Sydow, Collin Farrell and Kathryn Morris offer good support to the two thespians making the film as dependable for its human resources as it is for the technical ones. I never fail to be lost in the world of Minority Report, I never expected myself to be as enraptured as I was the first time but I was and I am. It’s still brilliant.

       

           

All because of the MEME.

I don’t live anywhere near Hollywood, but yet I hate the way that the mythical city/concept seems to exist. The mob psychology is unnerving. The success of one Twilight means that emotional vampires are in, Shrek’s success means three more parts on the way and so on. In the same way, the perceived poor performance of Knight & Day means that Tom Cruise is a poor actor and his star has gone out. There’s an irony – once a film allows itself to have a huge budget it must make that budget back (triple) or it’s a failure. I suppose the message there is: don’t have big budgets. But I digress. I was excited to see Knight & Day. Cameron Diaz still amuses me as a more than competent comedic leading lady and I’ve let go of my irrational hatred of Cruise. It’s not his fault that Oprah likes him so much.

Knight & Day is a curious film – it’s a comedy, but it’s also an action film and there’s a definite bit of romance in there. It’s an interesting genre (subgenre?) and one I can’t say I’ve noticed – positively, at least – before. But it works. After viewing the first thing that struck me was that Knight & Day was like a more aggressive (and at times less smart) version of Duplicity. Note: I really liked Duplicity (another "flop"). Knight & Day doesn’t have an impressive script going for it, it doesn’t have the charming Julia Roberts but what it DOES have is a pair of leads willing to entertain us backed by a band of well played supporting players. I cannot overstress how much Knight & Day depends on the Cruise/Diaz dynamic. The script is fine, but uninspired and the two make a brilliantly funny, but realistic pairing. Every moment between the two is golden, and you never get the feeling they’re “sinking down” to the level of the movie. They’re having fun – and sometimes, that’s just refreshing. It’s strange, seeing this I considered whether Cameron Diaz ever considered doing a Shakespearean comedy. I don’t believe I’ve seen any of her contemporaries show that ability to make the strangest of soliloquies sound so remarkably…normal.

Knight & Day has its issues, and they’re obvious. For the first ten minutes the film has trouble finding itself, and the last five minutes are only good (though Diaz in particular sells it) but the middle is a blast. Viola Davis and Paul Dano stand out as two supporting players that bring their A game. Davis just has a natural cadence to her that I realise stealing scenes just may be her habit. Sarsgaard plays Sarsgaard, but I like Sarsgaard so I’m fine with that. Mangold is a far way from Walk the Line, but despite the annoying amount of CGI (enough with the CGI) he knows when to step back and make his actors the centrepiece. I think I’ve been subconsciously waiting for something to calm me this summer at the movies. And though Knight & Day isn’t ostensibly calming it just might be the most fun to be had in 2010 release I’ve seen yet. That’s no mean feat.

The men were pretty matched. There were a few outstanding ones, a couple of fair ones and then the rest.

                   

Runners Up: Jeff Bridges in The Hours, Tom Hanks in Catch Me If You Can

Chris Cooper in Adaptation

Ian Mckellen in The Two Towers

Paul Newman in Road to Perdition

Dennis Quaid in Far From Heaven

John C. Reilly in Chicago

Cooper should have been nominated for American Beauty, maybe. But I wasn’t too hot on him in Adaptation. Still, I wasn’t that mad at him for getting his Oscar and stuff. It was cool seeing Newman and Reilly nominated, though absent from my five both did good jobs.

          

Stephen Dillane in  The Hours

Ed Harris in The Hours

Jude Law in Road to Perdition

Viggo Mortenson in The Two Towers

Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can

It was surprising that Jude didn’t pick up traction for his Road to Perdition performance. It was a haunting performance in a good film. It was no surprise that Dillane was ignored, but he was the perfect ally to Kidman and gave a solid performance. One reason the train scene works is because of the reaction shots of him. Viggo does his best work of the trilogy in The Two Towers and it’s a pity that no acting nods came his way. Christopher and Ed had the top two spots for me. I know many felt Ed was a major hambone, but he was my favourite. Figures.

          

Adrien Brodey in The Pianist

Leonardo DiCaprio in Gangs of New York

Hugh Grant in About A Boy

Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition

Guy Pearce in The Time Machine

Brodey is the best of this bottom five, but I still didn’t see what exactly the hubbub was about. And I’ll always be miffed that he has the title of youngest winner in this category. I don’t know how Leo picked up no traction for either of the performances he gave that year.

             

Tom Cruise in Minority Report

Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity

Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York

Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can

Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt

Leo wasn’t my favourite of the bunch, but it was an excellent performance that went completely ignored. There is no other actor that could have creditably sold the teenage and adult life of his character, and it goes to show that he’s been better than people give him credit for. No one could top Daniel Day Lewis’ monstrous turn in Gangs of New York, and when it looked like the SAG were on to something it’s a pity that Oscar couldn’t follow suit. Tom Cruise gave what is arguably my favourite performance of his in Minority Report where he brought all his assets to the table. Damon and Schmidt didn’t exactly take stretches, but both performances were effective and the single most important performance in both pieces.