Writers Guild Awards

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Midnight in Paris- Woody Allen

America's favorite screenwriter celebrates his fifth win from the WGA on his 20th nomination.  He previously won for Annie Hall, Broadway Danny Rose, Hannah & Her Sisters and Crimes & Misdemeanors.  This is his first WGA award (not that he cares) since 1989.  Allen received a WGA (but no Oscar nomination) for 2008's Vicky Christina Barcelona.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants- Alexander Payne, Jim Rash & Nat Faxon

This is Payne's third triumph at the WGA's, previously triumphing (with writing partner Jim Taylor) for both Sideways and Election.  He was also nominated for About Schmidt.  Rash and Faxon are both first-timers

Barring some unforeseen, Precious-like craziness, the Oscar will likely and predictably follow suit.

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY: Better This World- Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega
PAUL SELVIN AWARD: The Help- Tate Taylor- given to the script that best embodies the spirit of the constitutional and civil rights and liberties which are indispensable to the survival of free writers everywhere.

2011 Runners-up

As I slowly start to realize that the calendar year has changed (Hollywood makes that so hard when it's January\February offerings are so unappetizing), it's time to recount my favorites of the last year.  Before I get to the creme de la creme of 2011, first I'd light to indulge and highlight a few favorites that didn't make my final list.  Admittedly, 2011 was a bit shy in brilliant cinema, but here's a few runners-up that caught my attention and stayed with me enough:

BRIDESMAIDS
Certainly the best full-on comedy of 2011, and at times a deeply felt portrait of depression and self hatred.  Kristen Wiig co-wrote and starred in a tour de force performance that's ugly in that's utterly truthful and hysterical in its full on mania.  While the film sometimes feels shapeless and edited by shards (perhaps that's understandable to a degree, what with the wide range of improv pros in its ensemble...this must have been a monster edit to condense ever line reading into something that was coherent) and wears out it's welcome by a considerable run time, Bridesmaids need not be remembered as the female Hangover, but as an entity all of its own (and a surprise 2-time Oscar nominee) showcasing a wealth of talent, at least three whoppers of comedic sequencing (the endless toast, the airplane scene and the messy bridal shopping scene) and finally an ultimate coming out party for a star that's been at the sides for to long...that would be Wiig!

HUGO
My second (or third) favorite Best Picture nominee depending on the moment of the day is Martin Scorsese's loving and beautifully rendered ode to le cinema.  Who else could turn something so dependent on major movie studio cash (in 3-D no less) and come up with something so utterly non-commercial and lush and an ultimate statement on film preservation.  Part of the joy of Hugo is, I believe, just that-- how else could a film be so critically beloved and Oscar-approved if it wasn't directed by the medium's most loyal admirer.  The slow and dithering first act finally seep into the realm of the magical when the auteur let's loose on the films (and his) most personal passion.  It also helps that Ben Kingsley gives such a moving (and sadly un-nominated) performance as Scorsese's stand-in-- a passionate filmmaker obsessed with the wonders of the past and the hopes of entwining it with the future.

LEAP YEAR
Few people saw Michael Rowe's provocative film from Mexico, a Cannes winner at the 2010 festival.  Hardly matters, I suppose, for I'd hope the few brave moviegoers that did felt the same as me watching this difficult, raw and exposed portrait of a young woman, struck by guilt and shame, and only roused by the dangerous sexual ploys of her latest suitor.  Monica del Carmen and Gustavo Sanchez Parra may never become household names, but their intimate and soulfully rendered performances charge this voyeuristic and unsettling film.  Leap Year was notable, albeit only the small art house foreign language world, as a film full of sex, and that's more than true, but there's a genuine chill, not just from the content, but of the raw exposure that the actors dare to show and stillness that Rowe films it.  From a synopsis that might read as the NC-17-rated dramatic version of Bridget Jones's Diary comes an almost heartbreaking story of romantic longing and baggage that separates two people.  NETFLIX it!

MARGARET
I just saw, and just wrote about, but I can't quite shake Kenneth Lonergan's messy tapestry of a small personal tragedy woven into a greater post 9\11 mindset, thought-provoking drama.  Mostly I can't shake Anna Paquin's difficult, demanding and altogether stellar performance as a self-deprecating, self absorbent, hysterical teenager rapt by hormones and guilt-- it's such an exquisitely calibrated piece of acting that one certainly hopes that it's internal PR problems don't overshadow it's legacy.  That of which is a supremely flawed, but ambitious piece of filmmaking that feels all too literary and universally cinematic at once.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Every once in a while Woody Allen surprises us with something that reminds us why he is America's favorite screenwriter (or at least the Oscars) with something so undeniably charming and nimble and a perfect anecdote, not just for franchise filmmaking doldrums, but those who enjoy (and likely miss) the pitter-patter of delightfully witty banter.  While I feel that Midnight in Paris was ultimately too lightweight and slightly overrated (it's Allen highest grossing film in history, unadjusted for inflation) to get a shout out on my true top ten, I still feel more than smitten with his ode to Paris and his endless ruminations of the past.  For Woody Allen has never been hip, but a nerdy paean to his own neurosis-- that after a million pictures, maybe he's soften (and realized that not every one of films needs an Allen surrogate; though Owen Wilson is quite close to the model) and become playful and maybe even inventive like he was in the 80s with such confections as The Purple Rose of Cairo and Zelig again.  Whatever the case, Midnight in Paris, while not transcendent is still pretty lovely.

THE MUPPETS
Again with lightweight, but whatever, The Muppets was pure joy through and through, even when it stretched out farther than it needed to, and even though not quite every joke landed.  The film started with the wondrous refrain, "Life's a Happy Song," and for the most part lived up to it.  For me it was almost an awakening of characters I hadn't realized that I missed-- a silly and madcap caper with the best showbiz "let's go on with the show" attitude I've seen in years.

PROJECT NIM
James Marsh won an Oscar for directing Man on a Wire, and his follow-up was shortlisted this year for the Academy.  Unfortunately, it didn't make the final cut, but kvetching aside, Project Nim was one of the best documentaries of the last year for sure.  In recounting, using clever archival footage, reenactments and actor accompaniment, Marsh made a sad, unforgiving and poignant feature about a chimp that was raised like a human in the late 1970s.  While the animal abuse angle of the subject is the most emotional, the human aspect to Nim and the humanity in which his story is told is bold and unforgettable.

SUPER 8
What with Hugo and The Artist, 2011 was quite a year for the grand homage to filmmaking.  While The Artist payed tribute to the silent era, and Hugo delved even earlier, Super 8 was all about the age of Spielberg, and it was a nice and humble tribute that while may have delivered less than its blockbuster intent was a gleefully (perhaps too sincere) ode to the naivete of youthful creativity.  Whatever criticisms exist, and many are quite valid, even a fan must admit, there's a dash of magic and spark of awe that lights up in remembering J.J. Abrams homemade-felt dash of 70s-seaped, Close Encounters-inspired pastiche.

TABLOID
How does one tell a crazy story of an ex-beauty queen who kidnapped her lover and seduced him to turn his Mormon beliefs away so they can be together.  Well, one hires Errol Morris, the classiest and shrewdest American documentarian of modern times and the rest sells itself.  Tabloid was a genuine contender on my top ten, and stands as one of the best documentaries of recent year.  Of course the Academy wasn't going to bit...it's so weird, and playful with the subject too wild and Morris is clearly having too much fun baiting Joyce McKinney, a woman of a questionable past and perhaps even more questionable memory.  The film makes perhaps an obvious, not dishonest, note about the nature of infamy in our pop culture, and McKinney, through strangeness (and perhaps high IQ) is either a knowing or naive product of such...she's now best known as a crazy broad who cloned her dog.

YOUNG ADULT
Most of praise of the underrated dark comedy was given to Charlize Theron's beautifully ugly comedic performance as a writer of teen lit trying to woo back her old boyfriend, as well as writer Diablo Cody's anti-Juno antihero creation.  While I toast both (Theron is terrific in the role, even more specific and texture than her Oscar-winning Monster), I think the true champion of Jason Reitman's fourth feature as a director is film editor Dana E. Glauberman, whose lean finessing leaves a trim finished product without a wasted shot and with precise attention to Theron's terse and ingenious line readings.  Young Adult was a strong contender for my last slot, and I almost feel remiss to include it in the also ran pile, however despite it's paltry box office and zero Oscar interest, I'm hopeful not just for the films legacy, but for the opportunity to see more of Cody's dark side and Theron's funny side...she's got a gift!

2011 Halfway Report

Hard to believe that this year is already halfway over, it feels like just yesterday I was kvetching about The King's Speech and it's awards run (oh wait, it was-- I have difficulty letting go sometimes), however it feels like a good time to check in on the offerings already tasted.  It's been a bit shaky so far, and there's a succinct scent of desperation running through the Hollywood machine.  Box office is down, a critical apathy and a feeling of growing pains throughout the cinema.  3-D may not be the cure, as evident by the showings of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Kung Fu Panda, where the 2-D screenings had a higher attendance, and a sense of being ripped off by the steep surcharges for less than stellar viewing experiences...good luck to Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (which is experiencing higher pre-sales for 2-D showings.)  There's been a great few truly desirable films to come out in the first six months of 2011, yes Midnight in Paris, Bridesmaids, Super 8 and depending of the time of day The Tree of Life were all welcome, but there hasn't much in the way of magic yet this year.  For example, this time last year had "A" quality filmmaking with Toy Story 3, Winter's Bone and Please Give.

BOX OFFICE:
Highest Grossing Films of 2011 so far:

1. The Hangover Part II- $236 million
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides- $223 million
3. Fast Five- $207 million
4. Thor- $176 million
5. Kung Fu Panda 2- $147 million
6. Bridesmaids- $140 million
7. Rio- $139 million
8. X-Men: First Class- $124 million
9. Rango- $122 million
10. Hop- $108 million

What we've got here is five sequels (or prequel, reboot whatchacallit with X-Men), five films in 3-D, four animated features, one obvious advertisement for another film (a few others perhaps less obvious), four original scripts (only one of which is live action, the only one that's a genuine surprise: Bridesmaids) and zero films that had less than two credited screenwriters.  One wonders the fate of these films in the long run.  If I were a betting man I'd suggest that based solely on number The Hangover will be granted a third entry (hopefully they'll go to rehab), as will Fast & Furious (Fast Six?), Pirates will hopefully be laid down to rest, as it's the lowest grossing flick of the franchise (though $200-plus million can hardly seem underwhelming, at least to anyone except for bitter studio execs), Kung Fu Panda 2, Rango and Rio might be nominated for an Oscar, more because the animated slate this year is sad. Thor will return...in The Avengers, and that's it (hopefully Chris Hemsworth will be big though).  Hop will likely has already been forgotten.  X-Men: Fate Unknown and Bridesmaids will become a TBS staple forever and not the feminist revolt that pundits have branded it...whew!

Highest Per-Screen Averages of 2011 so far:

1. Midnight in Paris- $99,834 on 6 screens\$23 million so far
2. The Tree of Life- $93,230 on 4 screens\$4.3 million so far
3. Jane Eyre- $45,721 on 4 screens\$11.1 million
4. Bill Cunningham New York- $33,677 on 1 screen\$1.3 million
5. Win Win- $30,072 on 5 screens\$10 million
6. Kill the Irishman- $29,086 on 5 screens\$1.1 million
7. Beginners- $28,268 on 5 screens\$1 million so far
8. Cave of Forgotten Dreams- $27,820 on 5 screens\$4.1 million so far
9. Evil Bong 3-D- $24,775 on 1 screen\$91,250
10. The Hangover: Part II- $23,775 on 3,615 screens\$236 million so far

Any surprises?

AWARDS:

While it's silly to think about end of the year kudos in June, it's fun to tinker with the idea of what's already at play.  Of course the sad truth is that it's not much.  Last year by this time, we had two Best Picture nominees already in release: Toy Story 3 and Winter's Bone, and two more in July: The Kids Are All Right and Inception; the year before both Up and eventual winner The Hurt Locker had already arrived.  This year, and especially due to the Academy's loopy new rules, it might be harder to gauge anything.  The Tree of Life has opened, it's fairly timidly started expanding outside major cities, may have a chance as it's a auteur-drive meditation with astounding visuals and coming from a major director.  It's top win at this years Cannes Film Festival can't be reflective of any lingering Oscar chance, but it does offer a bit of prestige to a film that, while divisive and frustrating (my take), will likely be remembered by the critics later in the year, plus it has a marketing pro in Fox Searchlight who just last year managed Best Picture nominations for two hard-to-sell films with 127 Hours and Black Swan.  That being said it's also a huge longshot for anything outside of Best Cinematography; if Emmanuel Lubezki is ignored this year, I imagine a small (and geeky) riot in the streets.

The safest bet right now must be Midnight in Paris, which has proven to be a warm summery surprise from America's favorite screenwriter.  And while Best Picture may be just outside this inventive, charming Parisian tales reach, one must never doubt Woody Allen as a threat in the Original Screenplay category, or who knows, perhaps even a Best Director threat.  Already one of Allen's highest grossing films (one has to journey back to the mid-1980s and Hannah & Her Sisters time to see a Woody Allen film perform so well) and critically and commercially admired, it's easily his best chance in a longtime for some Oscar love.  The main problem may come from the fact that this is such an ensemble driven film, one in which no single performer has been universally acknowledged with a best in show stamp, one in which Allen is clearly seen as the film's star that the film may struggle in other categories other than writing.  But critical approval, audience love, and the "comeback" angle (a weird statement for a filmmaker that delivers a film promptly once a year) may work, and Sony Pictures Classics is usually a shrewd, if cautious, awards marketer...they sure as hell have more to work with this year and with their last venture with Allen, last year's dreadful You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

Two other critics darlings of 2011 were Jane Eyre and Win Win, and both did fairly respectable business so one can't entirely write either of them off.  However both films already somewhat seem forgotten only a few months after release and it will take a major campaign (from Focus Features and the very busy Fox Searchlight) to reignite passion for both.  It will also take critics groups to focus on both films fairly strongly.  As of now, I would suspect Jane Eyre's best chance at a nomination might lie in it's Costume Design, and Win Win's only legitimate prospect is in Original Screenplay, one must think that writer\director Tom McCarthy was this-close a few years back with The Visitor and The Station Agent.

Other possibilities (outside of tech nominations for a few of big bad blockbusters or a few animated features and a potential Documentary nod for Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams) are pretty sparse at the moment.  It would be nice to think that Michelle Williams may have a shot for her quiet, luminous work as a frontier wife in Meek's Cutoff, but that will never happen.  At this point, I'd welcome the idea of Michael Fassbender possibly getting recognition for his pre-Magneto, Magneto in X-Men: First Class-- he's a major badass and jolts the film with any spark it has, and coming from an actor (who's seemingly been a breakthrough performer for the last three years with Hunger, Fish Tank, and Inglourious Basterds) of such intense distinction and dangerous bravado, he makes a role that could never be described as awards bait utterly captivating.  Another non-baity, but entertaining possibility is Ellen Page in Super, the little-bitty superhero parody indie that did little in terms of box office, and has no chance of anything, but there's something utterly remarkable about her performance, playing a highly caffeinated strange young woman, there's a daring rawness to her go-for-broke buffoonery that elevates the silly little movie and incongruously charms and alienates at the same time.  Another no-shot, but worthy performance is Elle Fanning's expressive, muse-like work in Super 8 (after Somewhere and this, she's definitely showing up older sister Dakota, I'd argue.)  Kristen Wiig, while wonderful in Bridesmaids, will likely have to settle for a Best Actress in a Comedy Golden Globe nomination, if my crystal ball is accurate.

However, there's really only one performance in 2011 that I feel has the strongest shot of lasting until nomination day: Christopher Plummer for Beginners.  It may feel like a longshot because the film itself, a bit uneven and meandering, it is a twee and sometimes achingly precious little tale, but Plummer is terrific, and his reviews have been wonderful (his screen partner Ewan McGregor is also very good, but he's in the more recessive role, one of which awards bodies hardly notice), and while it while the film will have to continue to play well this summer, with a nicely calibrated marketing campaign from distributor Focus Features, and critics prizes to make this claim valid, I feel it's the strongest bet of 2011 thus far.  Plus he's Christopher freaking Plummer, and he's playing, no less, a dying gay man, which has always been a source of salivation for the Academy.

ME:
My 5 Favorite Films of 2011 so far:

1. Midnight in Paris
2. Bridesmaids
3. Super 8
4. Beginners
5. Meek's Cutoff

Why only five?  Well this years been fairly stingy with the goods, and while I could have included the nifty sci\fi puzzle Source Code, or the acid-like hallucination of The Tree of Life (a film in which my mood changes by the second) or the quiet humanity of Win Win, there's precious little to hold onto in the first six months of 2011...my wish is for a brighter second half.

Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen's beguiling and romantic fantasy Midnight in Paris, his first film set in France in a continuation of his European travels that started with the London-set 2005 feature Match Point, Owen Wilson plays an aimless writer utterly awe-struck by the beauty of the Paris streets.  That same sense of wonder and imagination possibly struck Allen as he set about putting together his richest, wittiest and tenderest film in ages.  On one end a sort of throwback to his hit-and-miss days of whimsy and invention that marked his earlier films, especially in the 1980s-- The Purple Rose of Cairo seems like the best companion film to this one.  On another hand, perhaps a more deeply personal film that Allen has presented in quite some time, as Wilson's character, Gil, a successful hack screenwriter trying to gain artistic creed with his first novel who believes he was born in the wrong era, perhaps Allen is presenting something more closer in spirit to himself than anything the enigmatic iconoclast has shown.  For Allen, an auteur whose best and most impassioned work is likely long past, was always an artist seemingly living in the past, just as his early work represented a future to be copied and replicated in romantic comedy from then on and forever.  His films, even the ones more timeless, have always seemed to be looking back, and reflecting on a bygone era either directly or subliminally.

To sublime delight Midnight in Paris is smart comedy that represents the very best of both of vintage Allen, preserving his undeniably knack for witty and offbeat dialogue and again presenting an ensemble of actors, whom either consciously or not, at least appear in on the joke, and a lovely sense of joie de vivre that permeates the spirited ninety minutes of celluloid.  Our romantic dreamer Gil, played with minimalist Allen-esque tics with superb amusement by Wilson, is vacationing in the City of Lights with his finance Inez (Rachel MacAdams) and her capitalist parents, played with aplomb by Kurt Fuller and Mimi Kennedy.  There's a few other side characters, including Paul, a woo-er of Inez's past, a "pseudo-intellectual" type played humorously by Michael Sheen.  But the fun begins one drunken evening when an old school carriage lifts Gil out of his bored little rut into a wonderland.  He's taken exactly where he feels he fits, a Golden Age-era of art and romance, mingling with the likes of Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein.

Is it a dream, or a hallucination, or a nervous breakdown...it's probably all and neither at the same time.  What's for sure is that for a lovely stretch of the film, the reality doesn't concern us a bit; instead we're lulled by a sense of sublime movie magic.  Gil meets a girl, a muse and flirt to various creative types, played by the always appealing Marion Cotillard, and while the role may appear a tad thin, the expressiveness of Cotillard's flirt radiates strongly with Gil's timidity and attraction.  And there it asks one of the oldest movie fantasy questions ever, either choose to live the fantasy where all may be golden and spectacular, but also artificial, or go back up the rabbit hole to the harsher, less golden real world.  This being set in Paris, lovingly filmed by Darius Khondji (Panic Room, The City of Lost Children) the choice may seem win win.  The spirit and pleasure of the film is however based in that it doesn't take itself too seriously embracing the pitter-patter of Allen's dialogue with nicely calibrated bits of French farce, that hopefully will appeal to both the most and least romantic of audiences.

The surprise, of course, and this might appear silly since it's happened many times before, but that Allen, after a few too many years of sub-par and painfully un-fulfilling films finds his groove in a movie that could have easily been made at any point in his career, and likely worked.  In recent films like Whatever Works and When You Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, it seemed like stale rehashes of works he did far better in the 1970s, and yet this one has a far more timeless appeal (there's really only one modern reference in the entire picture, when Gil and his soon to be father-in-law debate blue and red state ideals) and a gentler, less bitter take on his characters-- Wilson might be one of the more subtle talking mouthpieces for Allen-inspired neurosis to date.  There's an overall sense that by going back, and making this seemingly silly time-travel romantic travelogue, that Allen's career has come full circle.  Allen, once, and forever an emblematic staple of Manhattan, Midnight in Paris' opening montage has a brief reminder of the great one that started in one of the best films, Manhattan.  That one showcased his fair city while Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" provided the musical backdrop.  Here he showcases another great city with the same grandeur and affection.  Perhaps America's favorite old school neurotic has grown up.  B+

Midnight in Paris Trailer

 

Our first glimpse of the latest Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris.  It's a bumpy ride being an Allen booster, for which I blame my endless passion for Manhattan and Annie Hall back in my teens; both of which are timeless and seminal in my upbringing.  Of course since the glory days of the 1970s and the interestingly reflective and absurdest films of the 1980s, it's been hard...there have been majors ups (Bullets Over Broadway, Deconstructing Harry, Everyone Says I Love You, Match Point and Vicky Cristina Barcelona), yet there's been major downs (pretty much every other film), yet it would be sacrilege to turn away.  I like America's greatest screenwriter, I like Paris, I like midnight.  This one stars Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates, Rachel McAdams, and bearded Michael Sheen and a strangely hidden from the trailer Marion Cotillard.  It opens the 2011 Cannes Film Festival this May.