Oscar Roundup: The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, 2010) ***1/2

Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Cast: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Lead Actress (Bening), Best Supporting Actor (Ruffalo), Best Original Screenplay

Story: A married lesbian couple (Bening, Moore) worry when their teenage children seek out their sperm donor father (Ruffalo).

Review: The Kids Are All Right is reminiscent of another Lisa Cholodenko film I saw called High Art. That film was a well-intentioned indie with a strong central performance by Ally Sheedy, but had sloppy editing and a screenplay that felt like it needed a few more rewrites. I have not seen anything by Cholodenko since, but judging by this latest effort, she has come a long way as a screenwriter and filmmaker, although she has not completely shed some of the problems that doomed High Art. Yes, the Kids Are All right does have sloppy editing and the pacing is very awkward during the first act. However, this time she is not only aided by a strong central performance from Bening, but also the usually outstanding work of Moore and Ruffalo. Furthermore, Wasikowska and Hutcherson provide solid support as the children. And after the film gets through the first act hiccups, it starts to come together as a vivid portrait of a complex family dynamic and how the powerful bonds of family can persevere despite not fitting into traditional stereotypical norms. It may not be a perfect film, but it is memorable and not one to be missed.

Oscar Outlook: There is a small chance Bening could pull off an upset in the Lead Actress category if the Academy decides to honor her entire body of work. It would certainly be better than many other "Career Oscar" decisions made by the Academy. The film has zero chance in any other category.

Trivia: This is Bening's 4th nomination. She has lost twice to the same actress, Hilary Swank. In 1999, both Bening and Moore were nominated for Lead Actress.

Oscar Roundup: Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010) ****

Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing

Story: With the promise of having his life restored and murder charges dropped, Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) leads a team of spies in a corporate espionage plot that attempts to plant an idea into their target's subconscious mind.

Review: Nolan follows up his triumphant The Dark Knight with another masterpiece. Inception is a premiere achievement in thoughtful, exciting, visually stunning filmmaking. It's rare for Hollywood to give us a film that has one of the most exciting action sequences of the year (the zero gravity fight scene) and also contain one of the most complex stories. Yet this is a trademark of Nolan since his career started, and his great success should be seen as a wake up call to the rest of Hollywood that your big budget blockbusters need not be dumbed down for the audience. Inception also contains (despite no acting nominations) one of my favorite ensemble casts of the year. Those that hated DiCaprio just because he was in Titanic (although he was great before that blockbuster in films like What's Eating Gilbert Grape? and This Boy's Life) now should be convinced that he is one of the most talented leading men in the business. The rest of the ensemble is filled with a variety of superbly skilled supporting players (including Levitt, who has also gone a long way to changing audience's perceptions about him). The ending of Inception has led to much debate. It's pretty clear what actually happened, but the genius of Nolan is that he doesn't hammer it home, nor does he cop out by not providing a true ending. The ending is open enough for the audience to question what happened, but the visual cues are there for you to figure it out. That's the kind of thought you don't see in other Hollywood blockbusters.

Oscar Outlook: Inception is a major contender in many of the technical categories. I expect it to take home 3 or 4 tech awards, but it actually could completely sweep them. It deservedly won the WGA award for original screenplay, but I expect it to lose out to King's Speech on Oscar night. It has no chance at Best Picture, despite being a better choice than either of the top two contenders (Social Network, King's Speech).

Trivia: Christopher Nolan has received three Director's Guild Award nominations (Inception, The Dark Knight, Memento), one of the best predictors for an Oscar nomination, but has mysteriously been snubbed each time by the Academy.