Saturday, February 27, 2010

Oh No They Didn't: Some Words on The Last Station

The Last Station
Directed by Michael Hoffman
Starring: James McAvoy, Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, Paul Giamatti, Kerry Condon, Ann-Marie Duff
Grade: C -

Pantomime season has been and gone, but if you're sorry you missed it you may want to check out Michael Hoffman's The Last Station, a theatrical vision of War and Peace author Leo Tolstoy's final days in Russia. Playing less like an historical biopic than a domestic melodrama (largely independent of any real historical context anyway) The Last Station flaunts a carousel of characters devoted to Christopher Plummer's Tolstoy and proceeds to let them duel it out to win his ultimate favour. A bold move perhaps, but one that threatens to alienate its subject even as the emphasis upon accessibility descends the setup into soap opera-levels of simplicity.

The Last Station recognises and even promotes its own silliness, through the farcical nature of Sofya Tolstoy's thinly-disguised contempt for her husband's politics and the tactless nature with which she seeks to preserve her family's status. Helen Mirren as Mrs. Tolstoy flails around shouting, screaming, and smashing things, and has some truly absurd dialogue to spout, the height of which occurs after she jumps into the lake in a faux attempt at suicide, only to emerge with the clarity and single-mindedness of a woman possessed, barking orders at her staff to find out which train Mr. Tolstoy boarded after he left her. Mirren is disastrous, exhibiting everything that is wrong about the film with barely a second thought, reluctant to alter any perceptions of her one-track character, impulsive but so rehearsed that her acid-tongued remarks seem self-conscious and throwaway.

The Last Station's countless rowdy moments are blatantly for show, and engulf everything else the film has to say about devotion, idolisation, and adolescence, even though what it does say about these elements amounts to little more than tokenness. McAvoy conveys Valentin's affection and belief for Tolstoy well, and is the only member of the cast who really sells the historical backstory, but the familiar journey from boy-to-man (The Last King of Scotland is a better example of this) is lost in the melee of legal disputes and marital conflict. It also doesn't help that The Last Station seems to conclude that, however influential, Tolstoy was actually rather ambivalent about his own work, and a slightly eccentric figurehead that wasn't really worth all of the fuss.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Leo Working Overtime

A new old movie outlet has come to my attention in the last couple of weeks so allow me to share. If any of you Sky viewers are unfamiliar with the new MGM HD channel (Sky Digital 345) then please check it out. They have many interesting, awards-related MGM classics coming up in February, including the following:-

Alice's Restaurant (1969)
showing from Thursday 18th February

A movie adapted from an Arlo Guthrie song, with a sole Academy Award nomination for Director Arthur Penn (love him!).

A Dry White Season (1989)
showing from Tuesday 23rd Feburary

Marlon Brando's final Oscar nomination as a reluctant lawyer during the Apartheid. Cheery it doesn't look, interesting perhaps. More than Invictus anyway!

Equus (1977)
showing from Monday 22nd February

Richard Burton takes his clothes off, gets nominated and loses for the seventh and final time. I don't think it's available on DVD.

The Train (1964)
showing from Monday 15th February

King of the thriller John Frankenheimer directs Burt Lancaster (!!) and Jeanne Moreau (!) in a heist movie all in the name of art (!!!) Intriguing.

Two for the Seesaw (1962)
showing from Today

Divorcee Robert Mitchum meets dancer Shirley MaClaine and clearly life will never be the same again. Robert Wise at the helm.

Ulee's Gold (1997)
showing from Saturday 27th February


Peter Fonda's probable hurrah, beaten to the statuette by Jack Nicholson in 1997.

The Wild Angels (1966)
showing from Today

The divine Nancy Sinatra in a starring role alongside Peter Fonda. Horror guru Roger Corman directs. Surely unmissable?

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Blind......Side

Best Picture
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9”
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”


Prediction Score: 8/10

And the story of the year is clearly The Blind Side. I was guffawed at both hearing it mentioned and hearing it cheered. This is a film with only one real redeeming quality, and she's getting enough attention as it is. Aside from that, I'm not disappointed that District 9 is in the list, since it's at least a lot gutsier than Invictus or 500 Days of Summer.

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
James Cameron, “Avatar”
Lee Daniels, “Precious”
Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”

Prediction Score: 4/5

I'm really not a fan of this list. Bigelow and Tarantino were both great, but the others? And Lee Daniels has to go down as the worst Director nominee for a long while.

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney, “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth, “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”

Prediction Score: 5/5

Standard. Pleased for Jeremy and Colin.

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan, “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”
Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia”


Prediction Score: 5/5

The Young Victoria's strong showing in the techs may suggest that Blunt wasn't far away, but The Last Station does scream "BAIT!" so it's hardly surprising that Mirren was able to hold on.

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci, “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds”


Prediction Score: 4/5

I think I've probably already seen the best two performances (Harrelson and Waltz) but I'm generally pleased by this lineup.

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, “Nine”
Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique, “Precious”

Prediction Score: 3/5

It was a bit of a lottery up until the end, but I'm especially shocked that Samantha Morton couldn't manage to break into this five, given that The Messenger got a screenplay nomination and her role is exactly what Oscar likes. It's nice that Maggie Gyllenhaal finally has a nomination, though I'm not hearing too many people crow about her. Marion Cotillard gave two great performances this year and got shafted.

Best Adapted Screenplay
“District 9”
“An Education”
“In the Loop”
“Precious”
“Up in the Air”

Prediction Score: 4/5

I'm absoloutely delighted that In the Loop is nominated.

Best Original Screenplay
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“The Messenger”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”


Prediction Score: 4/5

Ditto for The Messenger. They really hate James Cameron's dialogue, don't they?

Best Animated Feature Film
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Up”


I'm sure 95% of people were like me and responded with a puzzled "Eh?" when The Secret of Kells was announced. I like that they so obviously saw all of the options.

Best Foreign Language Film
“Ajami” (Israel)
“The Milk of Sorrow” (Peru)
“A Prophet” (France)
“The Secret in Their Eyes” (Argentina)
“The White Ribbon” (Germany)


Best Art Direction
“Avatar”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“Nine”
“Sherlock Holmes”
“The Young Victoria”


Best Cinematography
“Avatar”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
“The Hurt Locker”
“The White Ribbon”


Best Costume Design
“Bright Star”
“Coco Before Chanel”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
“Nine”
“The Young Victoria”


Best Film Editing
“Avatar”
“District 9”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious”


Best Makeup
“Il Divo”
“Star Trek”
“The Young Victoria”


Best Music (Original Score)
“Avatar”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Sherlock Holmes”
“Up”


Best Music (Original Song)
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog”
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36″
“Take it All” from “Nine”
“The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart”


Best Sound Editing
“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Up”

Best Sound Mixing
“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”


Best Visual Effects
“Avatar”
“District 9”
“Star Trek”

Best Documentary Feature
“Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country”
“The Cove”
“Food, Inc.”
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”
“Which Way Home”

Best Documentary Short
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province”
“The Last Campaign of Booth Gardener”
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”
“Music by Prudence”
“Rabbit a la Berlin”

Best Short Film (Animated)
“French Roast”
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty”
“The Lady and the Reaper”
“Logorama”
“A Matter of Loaf and Death”

Best Short Film (Live Action)
“The Door”
“Instead of Abracadabra”
“Kavi”
“Miracle Fish”
“The New Tenants”