Albert Nobbs (Rodrigo Garcia) **

Albert Nobbs arrives as an Oscar bait picture featuring Glenn Close in a gender reversing role that was sure to get her nominated. Close is a terrific actress, one of the most reliable over the last couple decades. That she has failed to win an Oscar out of five previous nominations is certainly unfortunate, but this dull period drama comes across more as a calculated attempt to finally end that streak than a serious attempt to make a film with a compelling story. Also getting in the way is a supporting performance in the same film that completely upstages her every step of the way.

Albert Nobbs (Close) is a woman who has been passing as a man for 30 years. She's done this in order to make a living as a waiter, which has successfully led to her current employment at a quaint English hotel. One day she runs into another woman (Janet McTeer) successfully posing as a man, one who has actually managed to find a wife and live a relatively happy life. This inspires Albert to try and do the same so she sets her sights on Helen (Mia Wasikowska), a maid that works for the same hotel.

There's an interesting story within the world of Albert Nobbs, but it's not one the filmmakers chose to tell. As a main character, Albert is not very compelling. It's a low key performance from Close, but it's almost too low key. All of her emotions are kept so tightly within that it becomes really hard for the audience to have a strong emotional bond with the character. However, the movie comes to life whenever Janet McTeer's character hits the screen. She is complex, dynamic, and completely enthralling. It is one of the best performances of the year. A movie focused on her would've been much, much better.

Thus the problem with the film is that apart from the central conceit, Albert is a very dull character. She is so incredibly introverted that the screenplay often has to resort to a lazy and awkward device of having Albert talk to herself so we know what she's thinking. A voice over technique would've been a much better choice here. Also problematic is that Helen is such a thoroughly unpleasant character, there's little reason for us to want Albert to succeed in her quest, especially since Albert's goals (in stark contrast to the McTeer character) seem to be more about convenience of having a wife than any compelling romantic interest.

One of the mysteries in the film that Albert wants to solve is how and when the McTeer character told her wife. Albert constantly tries to find this out, but is often interrupted. I shared Albert's frustration, because the answer to this question is far more compelling than anything involving Albert's life. There is one time later in the film where Albert explains the reason she chose to dress as a man. It's the best scene Close has in the film and a truly heartbreaking scene, but it comes way too late and nothing surrounding this lives up to that one moment. At some point during the making of this movie, I wonder if anyone stopped and thought that maybe they were making the movie about the wrong person.

Haywire (Steven Soderbergh) ***

It's hard not to like Steven Soderbergh. This is a guy that can make an experimental drama, follow it up with a pure genre film, and back again. What's especially cool is that he brings the same thought and artistry to both. He essentially took a tv-movie idea in Erin Brockovich and made it feel like an offbeat independent film. He made a bank heist film with one of the most star-studded casts in recent memory and it never felt like a big budget Hollywood production. He did a sequel to that film that was even more strange than the original. Now here he is at it again with an exciting action film starring an MMA fighter that contains the same signature touch as his other films.

Haywire exists in an intriguing world of secret operatives. Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is one of the best, able to take down just about anyone in a fight. She's often called upon to handle unseemly tasks that exist beyond the realm of legality. One particular operation goes really bad, leading to the death of someone she was supposed to protect. The blame is immediately placed on her and she now must go on the run, trying to clear her name and find out who double-crossed her.

Like in many of Soderbergh's films, Haywire a features lots of time shifting between present and past. We first meet Mallory after she's been double-crossed and she quickly learns that even her closest allies are against her. After being attacked at a diner, she runs off with a bystander who tried to help her. We then flashback to earlier operations, leading up to the one where she was framed. There's not much point to this bystander character as his presence never amounts to anything, so he's a pretty odd inclusion to the story.

The real treat here is in the flashback sequences, particularly during an operation where Mallory ends up facing off against fellow operative Paul (Michael Fassbender). The long, extended fight scene between these two is incredibly exciting. This leads to a really fun chase sequence over building rooftops. Soderbergh takes a minimalist approach during these action scenes. He doesn't rely on a blaring score or rapid cuts to try and make things seem exciting, instead counting on his MMA star to deliver the goods.

Carano acquits herself nicely in the lead role. It's not the most deep or complicated performance, but she's never wooden and displays a quietly menacing confidence that suits the character well. The supporting cast is quite good as well, including appearances from the always great Michael Fassbender,  Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, and Channing Tatum. Haywire is a very entertaining film that proves once again that Soderbergh can take pretty much any idea and apply his own unique style with great success.

Top 10 Movie Project: 1933 Year in Review, Top 10, and Awards

For those unfamiliar with my Top 10 Movie Project, the idea came about a couple years ago as a means to catch up on classic cinema on a year by year basis. Each year I pick 20-30 films, including the major ones that are available and other films that pique my interest. At the end of the year, I do an annual wrapup, with reviews of each of the films I watched, come up with a top 10 list and my own version of the Oscars. Then I move on to the next year. I started with 1927, so this will be the 7th year I've completed.

Reviews of each of the films I saw for 1933 can be found here.

1933 proved to be an interesting year because the Hays Code had yet to be enforced, meaning there were some daring roles for women where they completely upended traditional sexual dynamics, such as Design for Living, Baby Face, She Done Him Wrong, and Female (until the ending). The Hays Code would come along the next year and heavily censor films over the next decade based on both sexual and political content. It was in effect until 1968, but stopped being heavily enforced in the late 1940s.

A year earlier, the Quigley Publishing company began compiling lists of the top 10 box office stars in Hollywood based on the polling of theater owners. This sets the stage for one of my favorite old Hollywood stories. Marie Dressler, a popular actress in the silent era, was so close to committing suicide that she was in a diner one night planning how she would do it. By a wonderful twist of fate, director Allan Dwan happened to be in that same diner and recognized her. He immediately cast her in his next film. That was in 1928 and after several years of great success, Dressler had become the biggest box office star in Hollywood, winning the Quigley poll in its first two years of existence. It's a fantastic comeback story and Dressler deserved it as she was a wonderful actress.

The return of John Gilbert is another interesting story from the year. Gilbert was a silent film star and his films with Greta Garbo made them the most popular romantic screen duo of their era. His career floundered with the onset of talkes and the reasons are controversial. Conventional wisdom for a while stipulated that his voice was too high pitched for the sound era, especially for someone who was supposed to be a romantic lead. That theory is strongly contradicted by many film buffs, including a passionate Leonard Maltin, who argue Gilbert's decline had more to do with studio politics. Having seen his reunion with Garbo in this year's Queen Christina, the latter opinion seems most definitely correct as his voice sounds perfect for a male romantic lead.

Some of my favorite directors that have been a staple of this project since the very beginning return this year with more great entries. The great Ernst Lubitsch makes his 6th appearance on my top 10 lists with Design for Living, while Fritz Lang makes his 4th appearance (and 2nd #1) with the wonderful Testament of Dr. Mabuse. The master of romantic melodrama Frank Borzage and future legend Frank Capra (still one year removed from his first notable classic) also make their 4th appearances. It was a pretty good year for films overall, but Hollywood still has not caught up to the quality of the late silent era.

Below is my top 10 list, in reverse order. Instead of including stills like I did in previous years, I've included Youtube links to the trailers of these films. When a trailer wasn't available, I included individual scenes.

10. King Kong (Merian C. Cooper, Ernest P. Shoedsack)

The original hasn't aged well, but still remains a compelling story.

9. Lady For a Day (Frank Capra)

May Robson's Apple Annie is an incredibly endearing character.

8. Counsellor at Law (William Wyler)

John Barrymore in another great character performance.

7. Queen Cristina (Rouben Mamoulian)

Garbo lights up the screen as the legendary Swedish queen.

6. A Man's Castle (Frank Borzage)

Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young in a compelling romance.

5. Little Women (George Cukor)

Katharine Hepburn leads a great ensemble cast in this exquisite adaptation.

 

4. The Private Life of Henry VIII (Alexander Korda)

Charles Laughton in an unforgettable performance as the famous king.

3. Design For Living (Ernst Lubitsch)

Miriam Hopkins, Fredric March, and Gary Cooper in a complicated relationship.

2. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey)

Political satire brings out the best in the Marx Bros.

1. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang)

Mabuse's rein of terror continues in this brilliantly suspenseful thriller.

Awards (winners noted with an *)

Director

Frank Borzage, A Man's Castle
George Cukor, Little Women

Alexander Korda, The Private Life of Henry VIII

*Fritz Lang, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Ernst Lubitsch, Design for Living

Lead Actor

John Barrymore, Counsellor at Law

*Charles Laughton, The Private Life of Henry VIII

Fredric March, Design for Living

Spencer Tracy, A Man's Castle

Otto Wernicke, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Lead Actress

Greta Garbo, Queen Christina

Katharine Hepburn, Morning Glory

Miriam Hopkins, Design for Living

May Robson, Lady for a Day

*Mae West, She Done Him Wrong

Supporting Actor

Wallace Beery, Dinner at Eight

Oscar Beregi, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Gustav Diessl, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

*Edward Everett Horton, Design for Living

Rudolf Klein-Rogge, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Supporting Actress

Binnie Barnes, The Private Life of Henry VIII

*Marie Dressler, Dinner at Eight

Glenda Farrell, Lady for a Day

Jean Harlow, Dinner at Eight

Elsa Lanchester, The Private Life of Henry VIII

Original Screenplay

*Duck Soup (Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby)

King Kong (James Ashmore Creelman, Ruth Rose)

Lady for a Day (Robert Riskin, Damon Runyan)

The Private Life of Henry VIII (Lajos Biro, Arthur Wimperis)

Queen Christina (H.M. Harwood, Salka Viertel)

Adapted Screenplay

Counsellor at Law (Elmer Rice)

*Design for Living (Ben Hecht)

Little Women (Sarah Y. Mason, Victor Heerman)

A Man's Castle (Jo Swerling)

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang, Thea Von Harbou)

Editing

Counsellor at Law

Design for Living

The Private Life of Henry VIII

*The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Queen Christina

Cinematography

The Bitter Tea of General Yen

King Kong

A Man's Castle

The Private Life of Henry VIII

*The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Art Direction

King Kong

A Man's Castle

The Private Life of Henry VIII

Queen Christina

*The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Costume

Cavalcade

Footlight Parade

Little Women

*The Private Life of Henry VIII

Queen Christina

Visual Effects

The Invisible Man

*King Kong

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

2012 Oscar Nominee Predictions

The Oscar nominees will be announced tomorrow morning. Thus I am continuing my annual ritual of trying to predict the nominees. I did not do so good last year, missing at least one nominee in each category, although I did get 9 of 10 Best Picture nominees correct. This year will be more difficult as the number of Best Picture nominees is not known beforehand. The new rules stipulate a minimum of 5 nominees and a maximum of 10 nominees, depending on how many reach a certain threshold of votes. Alternates are films/people I think have the best chance outside of my top picks. Wish lists are films/people I feel deserve a nomination that probably won't get one.


Best Picture

The Artist
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse

Alternates: Moneyball, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Tree of Life

Wish List: Bridesmaids, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

These six are pretty much locks for a nomination, so the question here is how many nominees will make the threshold. Most people are predicting 7 nominees, but I'm just not sold on Moneyball hitting the threshold, nor am I convinced of Fincher's DGA nomination carrying over to the Oscars. The Tree of Life might sneak in, but Malick's lack of a DGA nomination is problematic since that's a group where he would tend to have the most support. So I'm playing it safe and sticking to only six nominees here. I wish Bridesmaids could sneak in, and it probably would've under the previous rules, but I don't see it having much chance of getting enough 1st place votes.


Best Director

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicus, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Steven Spielberg, War Horse

Alternates: David Fincher, The  Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Wish List: Brad Bird, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Allen, Hazanavicus, Payne, and Scorsese all were nominated at both the DGA and Golden Globes, so they are pretty certain guarantees. The big surprise at the DGA's was Fincher's nomination for Dragon Tattoo. However, I think this will mirror Nolan's DGA nom from last year and get passed over at the Oscars. Spielberg is the safer choice and I think that's where the Oscars will go. Malick has an outside shot, but it would be pretty odd for him to miss out at the DGA's, but then get nominated for an Oscar.


Best Lead Actor

George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo Dicaprio, J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Alternates: Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Demian Bichir, A Better Life

Wish List: Matt Damon, We Bought a Zoo; Owen Wilson, Midight in Paris

Clooney, Pitt, and Dujardin are definitely in. The question then comes to Fassbender, who missed out on a SAG nomination, and Dicaprio, whose film was not well received overall. Oldman seems to have some momentum in the race and the well regarded actor has amazingly never been nominated before. There's a very, very good chance he will get in, but I'm just not sure who he will replace. Bichir was excellent and received a surprise SAG nomination, but very little support elsewhere.


Best Lead Actress

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Alternates: Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; Charlize Theron, Young Adult

Wish List: Keira Knightley, A Dangerous Method; Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids

I'm pretty confident about this group of five, which is pretty much the same group since the awards season began. Theron received some initial attention, but it has fizzled out. Mara could sneak in if Fincher's DGA nomination actually is a sign that Dragon Tattoo has more support than previously thought. If she does, then it will probably be at Close or Swinton's expense. I'm surprised and disappointed Knightley couldn't get more traction during awards season for her dynamic performance.


Best Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Alternates: Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids; Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus

Wish List: Marion Cotillard, Midnight in Paris; Elle Fanning, Super 8

There are fewer locks in this category than the others. It may only be a 6 woman race (Redgrave is a longshot), but the only nominees I consider to be certainties are Spencer and Chastain.  Bejo is probably good, but there is a small chance that category confusion (is she lead or supporting) could doom her. McTeer is probably in with both SAG and Globe nods (although Mila Kunis) missed last year. Among the remaining two, I picked Woodley over McCarthy because she has a chance to get some trickle down support from Clooney.


Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Alternates: Nick Nolte, Warrior; Ben Kingsley, Hugo

wish List: Patton Oswalt, Young Adult; Alan Rickman, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Now this is a bizarre category this year. The SAG nominations completely upended the race. They omitted early frontrunner Brooks and included Armie Hammer (for J.  Edgar) and Nolte. The Globes put Brooks back in and added Viggo Mortensen. It's not always the best idea to bet against the SAGs as a predictor, but I just don't see Nolte or especially Hammer getting in at the Oscars. Kingsley could sneak in riding on a Hugo wave.


Best Original Screenplay

The Artist
Beginners
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
A Separation

Alternates: Young Adult, 50/50

Wish List: Margin Call

Young Adult and 50/50 (along with Win Win)  received attention from the WGA, but The Artist, A Separation, and Beginners were not eligible there and I'm petty confident they'll swallow up those spots. If there's a surprise, previous winner Diablo Cody could get in for Young Adult.


Best Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Alternates: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Ides of March

Wish List: We Bought a Zoo, A Dangerous Method

Another test of how much support Dragon Tattoo has. I wouldn't be surprised to see it in, but I think (and hope) that it won't make it. These five seem like really strong certainties, although I wish something could get in ahead of the incredibly overrated script for The Help.


And that's it for this year. As usual I'll be skipping predictions for all the tech  categories. All I'd be doing is copying the guild nominees anyways. We'll see how I did tomorrow morning.

Red Tails (Anthony Hemingway) **

Here we have a movie that purports to tell an important story. It's about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first squadron of all black pilots, who overcame racism to find great success in World War 2. That's a worthy subject for a motion picture, but it's not really one that producer George Lucas and director Anthony Hemingway seem interested in telling. Instead, they've used the premise of the Tuskegee Airmen to fashion a standard Hollywood action film with fictionalized characters that are most are mostly one-dimensional cliche's. The result is a movie that mostly succeeds when the characters are in the air, but completely falters when on the ground.

The movie skips past the original training of the pilots in Tuskegee and puts us right in the middle of World War 2, where the Tuskegee squadron is doing routine missions where they bomb cargo trucks and trains. Colonel AJ Bullard (Terrence Howard) heads to Washington DC to try and convince leaders to give his squadron more dangerous missions and finds success after working his way through plenty of racism and doubt. The pressure is now on as defeat would almost certainly let the racists claim they were right all along, while success could lead to even more opportunities for black soldiers.

The really curious thing about this movie is the decision to come up with fictional characters to tell the story. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem if the fictional characters were at all interesting. For example, the great 1986 underdog basketball film Hoosiers did the same thing, but the fictional characters like Norman Dale and Jimmy Chitwood were memorable, fascinating people. Most of the people invented for Red Tails are not memorable whatsoever, certainly not as interesting as Benjamin Davis who was one of the first Tuskegee Airmen and eventually commanded the first all black flying squadron, later becoming the first African-American General in the Air force. The characters in Red Tails are caricatures that fit into specific types - drunk, jokester, hot dog, etc

It doesn't help that the dialogue in this film is atrocious, making it seem like they just patched the screenplay together from old war movies. The characters speak in generic and stilted dialogue, often forcing the actors to sound wooden or awkward, although the game cast does as good as can be expected with the material. I find it interesting that Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder is credited as a screenwriter on this. Boondocks was a very controversial and dynamic comic strip (and later animated series) that made some challenging satiric points about racial relations. Aside from one memorable line about the use of the word "colored", none of that insight or wit is evident here and I wonder if McGruder realizes this is a film that Huey Freeman would be ridiculing.

At least the dogfight sequences are suitably exciting. They really do a good job capturing the visceral thrill of combat flying, while making it easy to follow what's happening at all times. On those terms, I suspect many people will flock to this film and be very satisfied with it. But by attaching the significance of the Tuskegee Airmen, I think the film deserved more than the hackneyed writing delivered. It's not as if a more intelligent script would've turned audiences off, so there's no excuse other than general laziness. George Lucas talked about having trouble getting studios to back this project because it had a mostly black cast, so he took it upon himself to finance the film. If his goal was to show that you can make an action movie with black actors that's just as bad as most of the action movies with white actors, then I guess Red Tails is a tremendous success.

The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd) **

There aren't many politicians in modern history that are further from my ideology than Margaret Thatcher. As Prime Minister of Great Britain, she took a hard line against labor unions, slashed government spending on social programs and education, introduced a flat tax policy to pay for local services, and forged a strong working relationship with Ronald Reagan. Yet my problem with Phyllida Lloyd's film The Iron Lady, which is a biopic about Thatcher's life, is that it focuses too little on her politics. This is a woman who completely changed the political course of an entire nation and the filmmakers have taken the most safe, generic approach in doing a movie about her life. It's a frustrating decision that wastes the terrific casting coup of having Meryl Streep play Thatcher.

The Iron Lady tells Thatcher's story through a framing device. We first see her later in life, after her political career has ended and her body is weakening. She still sees images of her late husband talking to her. Her political career is seen through flashbacks as she remembers important points in her life. We see her initial failed attempt to win a seat in Parliament, followed by her later successes, while fighting sexism all along the way. The film also shows her courtship and eventual marriage to Denis Thatcher, who liked her specifically because she was an ambitious woman that wanted more for her life being a housewife.

The framing device is a pretty terrible idea. Margaret Thatcher is one of the most successful politicians in history, yet most of the movie focuses on her later years where she begins to lose her grip on reality. It's a disservice to a woman who accomplished so much. The dramatization of her political career is reduced to a timeline. We see bullet points - she's MP, then she's Education Secretary, then she's Prime Minister, Falklands War, IRA bombing, etc. In between each of these moments we go back to the framing device and more nonsense where she talks to her dead husband. This editing strategy robs the story of gaining any dramatic momentum. It also robs Streep, whose astonishing and fiery performance in the flashback sequences is far more impressive than in the present day scenes where she's buried under mountains of old age makeup.

It really feels like the problem is that the film was made by people who were uncomfortable with Thatcher's politics. Therefore, the story was designed to feature them as little as possible. Sure, we see her every now and then blasting unions and talking about how everyone should pay equal taxes, but these are mere soundbites and any scene where there is a political discussion is kept very short. There's very little about her close ties with Reagan and in fact, the US is dismissed as a nuisance during the Falkands War sequence. Her arguments in defense of her policies essentially amount to her refusal to compromise. There's nothing wrong with doing a movie about someone you disagree with, but at least show that or even provide a balanced perspective of the individual. Simply glossing over the positions of such an important political figure is a dramatically inept way to tell a story.

Another problem is that the casting of Streep seems to have influenced how they told the story. I really liked the few scenes with Alexandra Roach, who plays a young Margaret Thatcher at he beginning of her career. Some of the things that happened during this period are very important, but barely given any time in the story. She meets Denis Thatcher once, then the next scene with him he proposes to her. She decides to run for parliament, the next scene she loses her election (we see nothing of whether her gender, her politics, or anything had to do with her loss), and then the next scene she finally wins. There's barely enough time to show her first term, because we flash forward immediately years later where she is now the Education Secretary and Streep is in the role.

I admire Meryl Streep as one of the best actresses of the last three decades. I admire Margaret Thatcher for her accomplishments, if not for her ideology. The combination of the two should've been a slam dunk for a terrific movie. However, director Phyllida Lloyd and writer Abi Morgan ruined this dream combo by playing it safe and taking the most boring route through Margaret Thatcher's life. "The Iron Lady" was a very controversial politician, but there's nothing controversial about this bland Hollywood biopic.