And the nominees are...

http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=nominees

Should Second Chances Always Be Given?

Last Chance Harvey suffers greatly from a script that feels like it follows Romantic Comedies 101. If this had been for a younger generation, a la Before Sunrise, it might have been more passable as realistic. Unfortunately for the plot but fortunate for the audience, the characters in this film are older, wiser, and played with brilliant subtlety by two of the most talented actors around.

Dustin Hoffman plays Harvey Shine, a slightly past middle-age musician, who finds his original compositions being turned into television jingles. Frustrated by threats of losing his job to a younger generation, Harvey takes off for an weekend trip to London to see his daughter married. It is at Heathrow that he meets Kate Walker (Thompson), a census taker that has had one bad date too many and spends most of her time on the phone with her eccentric mother (Eileen Atkins).

In a spiral of bad luck, Harvey loses his position of giving the bride away, his job, and his plane seat. Drowning his sorrows in the airport bar, he runs into Kate once again, and tries to strike up an awkward conversation. This is where the magic acting capabilities of these two screen legends truly begins. If Hoffman is ever hurting for work, he would make the worlds best used car salesman; Harvey is able to weave his way into Kate's world in a way that makes it plausible that two complete strangers, that shy away from most of life's awkward moments, would find companionship with each other in the span of an afternoon.

The film plays at an easy pace and tries to make the most out of the London location. The problems with this film emerge when it tries too hard to be something it is not -- a comedy. The subplot of Kate's mother fearing her neighbor is smoking human bodies in his backyard barbeque feel awkward and misplaced. So does the frivolous montage of Kate trying on dresses.

As with all films of this genre, there is a boy loses girl moment, that almost makes you groan out loud when it comes -- it is just too obvious and completely unnecessary. Too much time is spent at the beginning showing Harvey as inconsiderate and somewhat of a jerk to make it crucial for him to get the girl at the end. It is only in the palpable loneliness of Kate that the audience hopes for a happier ending for her sake. Whether Harvey is able to ultimately help her find that happiness is up to the audience to decide.

If writer/director Joel Hopkins would have left these characters in the actors more than capable hands, it would have been such an invigorating thing to see where they end up. Instead, the subpar script leaves the film enjoyable enough for a Saturday night rental, but not creating enough waves for an older audience to strike out to the theaters to see it, even with a senior discount.

Cut the Cake Already...

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually a big fan of Anne Hathaway. I enjoyed the Princess Diaries, thought she was great in The Devil Wears Prada, and I even didn't throw a fit when she was chosen to portray my beloved Jane Austen in Becoming Jane. That said, I know that she is talented enough to be nominated for an Academy Award for playing a recovering drug addict in Rachel Getting Married. I just wish I wasn't invited to the wedding.

It's not that this wedding doesn't feel authentic. It does. Perhaps that is the problem. It does feel like you are taking part in a weekend of premarital preparation before watching two become one. Between the overextended wedding toasts to the excruciatingly long rehearsal dinner, you are there to partake in it all, whether you want to be or not. And I, for one, felt more like a prisoner than a guest.

There's not a bad performance in the bunch; this is truly a character study at it's heart. Hathaway plays Kym, sister of Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), who has been given a weekend pass from the rehabilitation center she has been attending for the past nine months, to see her big sister get married. Kym is obviously dealing with some tough issues, unable to forgive herself for things she has done in the past while high. This makes you feel slightly sympathetic towards her, though she tries her darnedest to make you hate her. Meanwhile, poor long-suffering Rachel just wants her wedding to be about her for once, instead of everything being about Kym. After spending half an hour with her family, it is no surprise that she is working on a PhD in psychology.

Director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) tries to bring so much authenticity to Jenny Lumet's screenplay, that a good portion of the movie is filmed with hand held cameras. It gives the feel of a home video of the celebrations, true to authentic form, but mostly downright boring. The film is just shy of two hours, but feels longer, due to the unnecessary and strangely placed scene between Rachel's father (Bill Irwin) and her fiancee (Tunde Adebimpe) trying to see who can load a dishwasher the best,and the music video length portrayals of the wedding musicians. Unlike a real wedding, where you can quietly escape once the cake is cut and the couple have their first dance, Rachel's wedding just went on and on and... well, you get the picture.

The best thing to come out of this film is that it finally emerged Hathaway into the world of adult roles. While I highly doubt she will be chosen for the Academy Award, she should feel right at home at the ceremony; not only because she is that level of an actress, but because the program tends to continue on long after the enthusiasm for it has worn off.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is at the top of the nomination list for the 81st Academy Awards, and with good reason. The special effects, make-up, and cinematography displayed feels lightyears away from any other recent film. Which is strange for a story that is about such human elements and doesn't involve spaceships or creatures from another planet. Then again, how would one be able to relate at all to science fiction, if there was not that essential element of truth and recognition involved?

The film is adapted from an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, though despite the main idea, most everything else has been changed. The short story originally takes place in Baltimore and begins with the birth of an adult man well into his eighties who begins to get younger. The film takes full advantage of the latest in visual effects technology to make Benjamin a baby born wrinkled and arthritic like a man of eighty and growing into his body as his looks grow younger. The film also transfers the setting to New Orleans, making use of the post Hurricane Katrina filming discounts, and even using the hurricane as a subplot.

The story begins with Daisy (Cate Blanchett) dying in a New Orleans hospital as her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) reads to her from Benjamin's diary. We learn that after his mother dies in childbirth, Benjamin's father (Jason Flemying) is so distraught and disgusted by his mutant looking son, that he leaves him on the front steps of an old person's home, to be cared for by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson). Benjamin fits in here, at least looking the part, although he feels different from all the other tenants. He wants to explore, to play, to be the young child that he is inside, but his frail elderly body restricts him, as does his overprotective "mother."

Benjamin goes on all kinds of adventures that he just happens to fall upon. Regardless, never far from his thoughts is Daisy, who he met as a child when she visited her grandmother at the old folk's home, and who he keeps intertwined with throughout his life. It is a strange and mostly implausible love story, but isn't that almost always the case? Certainly in Eric Roth's screenplays, most notably similar is Forrest Gump. There is no denying that there are A LOT of similarities between Benjamin and Forrest. Most of them I could look past; the use of a humming bird in place of Forrest's feather motif, I could not.

Besides all the CGI effects, the period costumes and look of the locations makes the films almost three hour long time frame bearable. Not to say that the film could not have used more help in the editing department. It is simply too long, and there are several scenes that could have been shortened, if not omitted altogether. One scene in particular that tried to convey a message, but just seemed to relentlessly drag on is one that deals with an accident and all the factors that had to have taken place in order for the accident to happen. Yes, the story would have been different, had it not occurred, but the Groundhog Day stylization of it halfway through the movie was tedious and unnecessary.

There are moments of this film that fill poignant and memorable. The look of the film is beautiful. However, there is a coldness within the story, perhaps due to the director's other works (Se7en, Zodiac), that lacks the warmth this story needs to be a true epic. Instead of learning a new lesson regarding human life and relationships, the film sometimes feels like a discomposure of the message it is trying to portray. Still, for the picturesque qualities displayed, it is worth seeing at the discount theater or on a big screen TV.

"Believe those seeking the truth. Doubt those that find it."

There is no doubt that Doubt will be a heavyweight when it comes to this year's awards season. The film, directed by the author of the play it is based on, John Patrick Shanley, is the telling of life within the cloistered walls of a Catholic school in the 1960's and what happens when a priest is accused of giving "special" attention to the school's only African-American student.

Meryl Streep proves to once again be the queen of accents as Sister Aloysius, the no nonsense principal of the school. She is the kind of nun that gives shudders to those brought up in the parochial schools of yesteryear. Her counterpart, Sister James (Amy Adams), is young, intimidated more than intimidating, and more than willing to ease up on the ancient rules and allow some of the secular culture of the times inside.

That world comes through soon enough when Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is noticed giving special attention to altar boy Donald Miller (Joseph Foster II). What follows is Sister Aloysius's one nun crusade to have Father Flynn removed from the school, regardless of her lack of evidence as to the exact nature of the relationship between priest and student. In a conversational scene between Sister Aloysius and Donald's mother, Viola Davis proves that when it comes to Oscar nominated performances, sometimes it is not the amount of screen time you have, but what you do with it. It is one of the most powerful and heartrending scenes I've ever encountered on the big screen.

That said, this is a hard movie to digest and recommend. It is not only the uncomfortableness of the subject matter, but the way in which it is presented. No clear answers are given, one is able to make their own judgements, and undoubtedly will. There is a reason Shanley's play won the Pulitzer Prize; it is thought provoking, engaging, and highly well written. While the look and design of the film help bring the decade it represents to life, it is more for the performances that makes this a film worthy of watching.

And They Called it Puppy Love...

Who could say no to that face? The advertising executives for the new film Marley & Me are banking on not too many. Based on the international best selling book by columnist John Grogan, Marley & Me tells the story of the "world's worst dog." Of course, many of those in the audience or who have read the book could tell you horror stories about their own claims to that title, but Marley does his best to live up to his claim to fame.

The movie tells the story of John (Owen Wilson) and his wife Jennifer (Jennifer Anniston) and their relationship with their dog Marley throughout his entire life. That's right his entire life; meaning be prepared for a three hankie ending. The movie is rated PG but will probably resonate more with an older audience, especially those who have sent their own dogs to that big farm in the sky. Making it even less entertaining for the young tot set are the adult issues throughout the film; starting a family, career struggles, and the balancing act between the two.

There are cute and funny moments scattered throughout; but you have probably seen most of those in the commercials, so feel free to leave the kids at home. If you get overly emotional when it comes to dogs you might want to stay at home as well; better to wait for video so you can avoid the ugly cry in public. However, if you do decide to see it in a theater, rest assured you will not be the only sniffler in the room.