AMC “Best Picture” Showcase: The Official Report from # 27934 (= JIM CHUDNOW).

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AMC “Best Picture” Showcase: The Official Report from # 27934 [ = JIM CHUDNOW ].

I was fortunate enough to be one of the winners of AMC’s third Annual All-Day Pass to see the five Oscar Nominees in the Best Picture category. Each Pass consisted of a special numbered booklet outlining a general synopsis of the films involved in the Showcase, followed by a List of various categories in which the film received Nominations (such as Actor, Writing, etc.).

Things were handled in an unusually efficient way by the advertising agency responsible for the winning Passes, with very attentive, gracious and helpful work by their reps Jeff Marden, Shane Smith, Kathleen Sewall and Caitlyn (?). Everyone seemed surprised and pleased that, despite very snowy weather in Chicago, there was such a large turnout by the general paying public (@ $ 25-30 per pass) that it required two separate theaters to accommodate them.

In the row reserved for the Pass winners (from HollywoodChicago.com, etc.), I spoke to Brian Johansen (who showed us his handy Acer netbook), Jill Jackson (who Twitter-ed between films), Niki Conrad (who also did post-screening postings), and Dave Cook. While some of us had seen Kate Winslet in “Revolutionary Road”, none of the five of us had yet seen her in the nominated film “THE READER”.

Before each film, the ad agency people asked the audience a couple of Oscar Trivia questions for which prizes (such as umbrellas) were given out. Here’s the Report on my reactions to the films shown during the Showcase:

MILK”, a Focus Features film directed by Gus Van Sant: on the second time I’d seen it, the film “held up” just fine. Sean Penn fully deserved a Best Actor in a Leading Role nomination (and probably a win) for the exceptional work he did as Harvey Milk, the nation’s first openly-gay man elected to public office in the U.S. As he exclaims at one point during the film about the rights deserved by all citizens, “You gotta give them HOPE!”…

… This movie comes across as a lesson about fighting for Civil Rights as much as the story of the life of one man), and it boasts an extraordinary number of strong supporting performances— by Josh Brolin (nominated as Best Actor in a Supporting Role for playing assassin Dan White), James Franco (whose strong work as Milk’s partner Scott I found to be EQUALLY as deserving of a Supporting Role nomination), Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, Alison Pill and others. On second viewing, I was particularly impressed at the number of “small” facts contained in the film, about personal relationships and the inner machinations of a political system.

THE READER”: This Weinstein Company film (based on a German book) concerned an affair between a 15-year-old young man (very well played by David Cross) and a much older (frequently naked) woman (Kate Winslet) who likes him to read books to her and who later turns out to be charged with crimes as a guard in a Nazi concentration camp…

… There were a number of fascinating and well-done elements in the movie (which starred Ralph Fiennes as an older version of the boy)— but I also found a bunch of MADDENING essentials inherent in it (such as the bad choices people made by not speaking up in a timely manner about vitally important matters, the weak end to the film, etc.). While Winslet’s role MAY have deserved a nomination as a Best Actress in A Leading Role, I felt the film overall simply did NOT DESERVE a Best Picture nomination (as opposed to the far more inventive, involved and effective “THE DARK KNIGHT”), and most of the Pass-winner people mentioned above also found the film comparatively weak overall.

“”THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON” : in my original FANDANGO review of this film, I indicated amazement that the creators were able to make such a difficult story (of a person who ages “backwards”) actually “WORK”. On my second viewing this day, I continued to be highly impressed by the overall undertaking— the fine makeup & special effects, the impressive acting (by Brad Pitt as Benjamin, Cate Blanchett as the older version of his great love in life, and the exceptionally fine and large cast of SUPPORTING actors headed by Supporting Actress nominee Taraji P. Henson), and the massive epic scope of the film (covering 80 or so years in the lives of its large company of players).

… I kept being struck by numerous “little” things in the film which hadn’t “registered” so much during my first viewing: the way the audience consistently enjoyed the old guy who kept repeating how he’d been hit by LIGHTNING seven times (as shown by their consistent laughs to the silent-film-like, now-cheesy-looking-to-us “special effects” of the “lightning”); the way a SPACE ROCKET is shown lifting off from Florida during the sail-boating period enjoyed by Brad & Cate; the “return” of the HUMMINGBIRD and the Katrina-related reappearance of the backwards-running CLOCK at the end; etc.

… I even noticed a “CHICAGO” connection to the story of New-Orleans-based Benjamin: at one point, as a sailor, Benjamin works during the 1940’s World War II era in Murmansk near the Arctic Circle in what was then the USSR (& is now Russia). There are scenes in the bar at the “Winter Palace” Hotel there where Captain Mike (memorably played by Jared Harris) stands by a “sunburst”-pattern gold-&-beige wall sconce, and the bar and sconce is later viewed in scenes concerning a romance with Tilda Swinton. As I recall, that classic Art Deco painted-metal sconce (which I chance to own a copy of) was made around the late 1930’s by the Williamson – Beardslee company in CHICAGO (= 4432 miles = 7133 km from Murmansk)! Now, where else did you see that kind of information?!…

… The nearly 3-hour film suffered from a couple static-related projection delays during the showing, but the problems were quickly remedied. Some people found the film to be “too much” in certain ways. For example, Jill commented afterwards that the movie struck her as “long and bloated”, like “‘Forest Gump’, without the charm”. I, however, felt it STILL came across as a sweet and often-charming film, remembering some of the to-me very-accurate, “telling” observations made by people involved with MAKING the film, as mentioned in a booklet from the releasing studio (Paramount) which I got before my first-time viewing of the movie:

… Screenwriter Eric Roth (Nominated for Writing – Adapted Screenplay) spoke of how he wanted to be involved because he was really “interested in doing this… [as] I think it speaks to certain things going on in my life — my mom was dying at the time – and maybe this is a nice way for me to sort of say good-bye and talk about children and what happens in peoples’ lives, which I think is pretty universal”…

… Nominated-as-Best Director David Fincher remarked that he saw the film as being “… about mortality and life and the people and places we meet along the way, and the way we’re touched and affected by those people. And I do think it is scars that they leave, these impressions that remain. And the way you’re changed for better or worse by those around you…”…

… Fincher further stated that, “What we wanted to show is that no matter what direction you’re going, life is still complicated, life is still hard, life is still not a cakewalk. For him [Benjamin] it’s his malady, it’s his curse, it’s his disease. But not his affliction.”

… I feel, Fincher greatly SUCCEEDED in showing all that he wanted. Yes, the movie is often rambling— but I found it be fascinating, true-to-life, and frequently WONDERFUL. It’s a huge achievement, and was probably the BEST of the Nominated pictures in THAT sense. But, because it attempts so much (& possibly “TOO MUCH” for most audiences) and because it’s more meandering than concise, it is probably NOT as EFFECTIVE an audience-pleasing “all-wrapped-together” type film as “SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE”— which will probably win the Best Picture award because it is “easier” to deal with (besides being a joy to watch overall).

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE”: when I first saw this film, it was at an advance screening in a purposely-extremely-LIMITED-release type situation. As I recall, the film was actually created under the aegis of an independent-backing division of Warner Bros. Warners decided to disband that unit, & was fearful of even releasing the film (possibly because of its setting in slum-filled Mumbai, India & being about the Muslim minority there), and it was then taken over for distribution by Fox’s independent division Searchlight. They also were a bit unsure of the film, & wanted to roll the film out very SLOWLY, hoping word-of-mouth might sustain a gradually WIDER release of the movie, bit-by-bit. They were seemingly stunned by just how much the viewing public LOVED what they saw, and it eventually became a blockbuster upon wide release.

… When I first saw the movie, I was THRILLED by it: the cleverly-done story (showing how TV contestant “Jamal” — played by Dev Patel – knew the answers to obscure questions because of the unusual life he’d led), the fine acting, the life-loving charm of it, and the basically-happy ending of the film [which was the opposite of what “BENJAMIN” offered at its end]. I kept touting the film to friends, who’d never heard of it and thought the story-line sounded very strange. But, once others saw it, they ALSO found it to be fantastic…

… On my second viewing of the film at the Showcase, the film “held-up” just FINE… I was struck by how one of the characters comments during it that, “money and women— the reasons you make the most MISTAKES in life!”… [Or, did I quote that line from “FROST / NIXON”?! Ah, my notes written in the dark are starting to “run-together” again!…] In any case, I like the line, and “SLUMDOG” also has a significant level of sweetness and charisma inherent in it.

FROST / NIXON”: I tend to especially like historically-related stories, such as in this film— tho the general public often AVOIDS them (as was sadly the case in this finely-done work by director Ron Howard). Michael Sheen (as David Frost) and Frank Langella (as ex-president Richard Nixon) excellently recreate their roles from the stage version of the story. It remains a very powerful film, with first-rate work by supporting actors Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell and Oliver Platt. I still feel Langella’s (Nominated) work was one of the 3 best Actor performances of ’08— but the film is too “self-contained” (such as limited in its settings and interactions) to be able to win as Best Picture or for Editing or Directing or Adapted Screenplay.

Overall, the films I’d seen before ALL “held-up” well as fine works on their second viewing. As usual, there were various oversights, omissions and what-to-me seem like “ERRORS” in the Nominations made for this year’s Oscars. But, although undergoing 12 or so hours of movie-viewing at one time can be quite a “CHORE” in many ways, I found the AMC Showcase a surprisingly GOOD way of judging the relative worth of all the Best Picture Oscar nominees, and was pleased I had the opportunity of doing so.

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