hapless geek’s Oscars Central 2015

The 87th Academy Awards is just under a month away, and hapless geek is back once again supplying the ammo to predict who leaves Tinseltown with that coveted golden statuette. Last year we predicted the top awards of the show in Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead and Supporting Actor, Lead and Supporting Actress, and Best Screenplay (Original and Adapted). We will add a couple more categories to the mix this year in Best Cinematography, and Best Animated Feature. Call us ambitious, but this is clearly our happiest time of year at hapless geek. We live for this stuff! 

We will work around the clock to provide synopses and opinions on the best films of 2014, and come February 22, we guarantee you will be prepared with as much insight and estimation to cheer or scream in disgust at your television screens as the winners are announced.

This year’s lineup of Best Picture nominees is the most varied and eclectic as we’ve seen, with no clear-cut winner in the mix. The eight nominees are as follows:

American Sniper










Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Imitation Game

Selma











The Theory of Everything










Whiplash

Over the next month, hapless geek will showcase these films and try to convince you why the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named them best in show for 2014. As you’ve come to expect from us, we’ll work hard to leave plot points and juicy details out of our Critiqued, but we will certainly provide information and opinions on the performances of the actors and directors, and tell you whether or not we think these films deserve the praise and the accolades. We’ll offer release dates for all eight films on DVD, Blu-ray or streaming on-demand (if applicable). By the night of the Academy Awards, rest assured you’ll have all the tools you need to celebrate or question who received what. The projected winners of the above films and the awards subcategories will be presented the weekend leading up to Oscar Sunday, so keep your browsers locked on hapless geek for the big reveal.

Please note: the following Critiqued will be presented in random order, not in preference order. The first Critique does not mean hapless geek considers it their first choice for Oscar gold. 

And now, the Critiqued envelopes please…

Read Article

2014 Oscar Wrap-Up

Oscar Sunday 2014 has come and gone, and the best and brightest of Hollywood were honored at the 86th Academy Awards. We at hapless geek enjoyed the night’s festivities, just as much as we enjoyed bringing our predictions of the top award recipients of the evening to you. Let’s recap our night with a final look at the night’s winners! 

Our guesses of the night—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress, and Best Original and Adapted Screenplay—can be found here and they weren’t too shabby. We went 7 for 8 in these categories, so here’s a rebuttal to why we got one wrong, and a boast about the ones we got right. 

Best Original Screenplay – Spike Jonze [HER]

Prediction: I’m giving this one to Spike Jonze for Her (review). While I loved Dallas Buyers Club a lot, the banter and overall writing of Her—especially for and between the two lead actors—was much fuller and richer than Dallas.

Result: We had no doubt about Spike Jonze’s screen play, we were concerned about how well-received American Hustle (see review here) was with the Academy after its popular acclaim. Her was not seen by a whole lot of people, to their detriment, and they may not have heard about it until it was too late—the film opened to 1,730 screens its opening weekend in January in the U.S., and lasted about a month. Comparatively, American Hustle opened to 2,500 screens ten days before Christmas 2013 and grossed almost $20 million its opening frame.

Best Adapted Screenplay – John Ridley [12 YEARS A SLAVE]

Prediction: Richard Linklater could be due after not scoring for Before Sunrise/Sunset, but my money’s on John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave. Believe it or not, the slavery film is the least controversial of the litter in this category, with Captain Philips, Wolf of Wall Street and Philomena (review here) all taking arguably unpopular liberties with the source material. That may hurt them all.

Result: Ridley campaigned hard for this film, and rightfully so. And to counter our above point, the 12 Years a Slave journey was not without its own controversy—but it was between writer and director, as Steve McQueen had a well-documented falling out with Ridley over a desired partial writing credit for the director that was declined. The tension could have been cut with a knife on Oscar night, as neither man acknowledged one another during their acceptance speeches (Ridley for screenplay, McQueen as a producer for Best Picture). Nonetheless, 12 Years was deserving of both statues.

(from left to right) Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett, Lupita Nyong'o and Jared Leto

Best Supporting Actor – Jared Leto [DALLAS BUYERS CLUB]

Prediction: This is a tough category. The newcomer Barkhad Abdi in Captain Philips (review here) throws a monkey wrench into the two-horse race between Jared Leto and Jonah Hill, in my opinion, but Leto was just amazing in Dallas Buyers Club and showed ridiculous range as Rayon. It pains me to say it, because Jonah Hill has been on a roll over the last three years, but my pick goes to Jared Leto.

Result: Leto was just waaaaaay too good in Dallas Buyers Club. The over-the-top nature of  The Wolf of Wall Street may have detracted from the great performances of their lead actors, at least in the eyes of the Academy, but it would have been a tough sell regardless compared to what a transcendent job Jared Leto did. Add to the fact that it’s been six years since he’s donned his acting hat after touring the world with his band 30 Seconds to Mars, to return to the silver screen in this fashion was just too much for Jonah Hill to compete with.

Best Supporting Actress – Lupita Nyong’o [12 YEARS A SLAVE]

Prediction: Jennifer Lawrence was the most entertaining out of the very funny ensemble of American Hustle, but Oscar just can’t ignore Lupita Nyong’o and her masterful performance. June Squibb may get a mention because she was the most colorful character in Nebraska, but if I was a betting man I’d say 12 Years a Slave wins this one.

Result: There’s not much else to say about this other than, we knew it. Personally, Nyong’o was believable and emotionally arresting in 12 Years, but we still contend Sarah Paulson got snubbed because Patsey wouldn’t have been so arresting without Miss Epps’ harrowing portrayal of a jealous and vindictive wife of a slave master. The plight of Nyong’o wouldn’t have been as powerful if a lesser actress played her foil. Additionally, the competition wasn’t as strong this year in the category; we mentioned June Squibb in Nebraska (review) being a sleeper, but Jennifer Lawrence was the only true contender to Nyong’o possibly losing this.

Best Lead Actor – Matthew McConaughey [DALLAS BUYERS CLUB]

Prediction: Matthew McConaughey, hands down. Leonardo DiCaprio was salaciously awesome in The Wolf of Wall Street, but McConaughey completely transformed himself for this role, which the Academy rewards more often than not. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Oscar finally comes to Leo after being overlooked twice before in this category, but it was just too striking a performance in Dallas Buyers Club (review) for McConaughey to lose.

Result: Dallas Buyers Club was an amazing character-driven piece. From the very beginning of the film, Matthew McConaughey made us believe he was Ron Woodroof. Granted, Leonardo DiCaprio made us believe he was Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street, but he’s also made us believe he was Howard Hughes, J. Edgar Hoover, Frank Abagnale Jr. and Jay Gatsby with equal believability. While rewarding a personality for previous accolades that yielded no awards is an unwritten rule in Hollywood, it stood no chance here. Neither did Chiwetel Ejiofor, Bruce Dern and Christian Bale for their respective performances. Oscar night was Matthew’s night. Alright, alright, alright.

Best Lead Actress – Cate Blanchett [BLUE JASMINE]

Prediction: Many people may have Cate Blanchett taking this home, but I wasn’t as floored by her performance in Blue Jasmine than in other roles she’s done, so I’m going to give this one to Sandra Bullock for Gravity. She carried 90% of this film, and while it wasn’t the most dialogue or plot-heavy work she’s done, it was captivating on-screen work nonetheless.

Result: We stand by our opinion on who we thought brought it better this year, but we also admit Blue Jasmine was a great role for Cate Blanchett to sink her teeth into. We still think she was better in her supporting roles like Notes on a Scandal, Benjamin Button and The Aviator, but we’d also portend since Blue Jasmine got very little publicity save for her performance this year, the Academy found it a great way to kill a couple birds with one stone. Dame Judi Dench and Amy Adams were both very solid in their roles, and Meryl Streep (with her record 18 Oscar nominations) is—let’s face it—Meryl Streep and is quintessential in August: Osage County, but Sandra Bullock did so much more with less in her performance and carried Gravity (review) essentially by herself. Nonetheless, Cate Blanchett was the most enjoyable character and showed the most range in Jasmine, even though that role was in our opinion plain Jane in regards unique characters portrayed on-screen.

Best Director – Alfonso Cuarón [GRAVITY]

Prediction: This is another tough one. Because of the sheer breadth of work that needed to be done for this film just to get made, smart money is on Alfonso Cuarón to win this one for Gravity. My heart wants it to be Steve McQueen, but my gut believes it’s Cuarón’s to lose.

Result: We need to qualify that for the amount of time this film took from conception to screen, no one in this category stood a chance against Alfonso Cuarón. We had a feeling that if Steve McQueen were to win this category, the film 12 Years a Slave itself would probably not win Best Picture. Gravity in terms of overall film quality could not contend with The Wolf of Wall Street (here) or Captain Philips, but cinematography, editing, mixing and visual effects were head and shoulders this film’s bread and butter—that was all the doing of its fearless leader, Alfonso Cuarón.

Best Picture – 12 YEARS A SLAVE

Prediction: After all the reviews were said and done and [we] had to choose which of these nine films was best of 2013, the strongest performances and most deserving accolades go to 12 Years a Slave. Steve McQueen was fearless in his approach to this material, and the actors he commissioned for it brought their A-game from top to bottom. The Wolf of Wall Street gets honorable mention but I feel McQueen did much more with less in 12 Years than Scorsese did.

Result: Powerful story, haunting performances by some of the top actors of today, and a director who has transcended movie-making and creates films that entertain and educate in the most inspiring of ways, 12 Years a Slave (review) was a no-brainer for Best Picture. Most moviegoers may have believed The Wolf of Wall Street was a shoo-in for this category, but most of those moviegoers probably didn’t want to stomach 12 Years a Slave either. As charged as the material was in 12 Years, it was darn good material nevertheless. The whole was so much more powerful than the sum of its parts, and the parts were formidable to say the least. Scorsese hit so many good notes with Wolf, and DiCaprio and Hill were amazing, but Ejiofor, Fassbender, Cumberbatch, Nyong'o, Paulson, Giamatti and Pitt were that much better. McQueen's masterful camera work and unflinching eye forced us to take notice, and the Academy rewarded them all.

Oscar winners Blanchett (top left), McConaughey, Nyong'o, Leto (bottom left), director Steve McQueen (Best Picture) and Alfonso Cuarón (Best Director).

So, there you have it, hapless geeks. The beginning and end of the biggest night in movies. For more news on those who won, who lost, and the remainder of the night’s awards, log on to the Academy’s official website, www.oscar.com!  

Read Article

Critiqued Special: And the Oscar Goes to....

We’re finally here! Oscar Sunday 2014 is upon us, and the best and brightest of Hollywood will be at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles to honor the best of this past year in cinema for the 86th Academy Awards. We here at hapless geek are excited to see what unfolds, but it wouldn’t be a party without some bets and predictions for who will take home the golden statue. 

We’ll be making our guesses on the top categories of the night: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress, and Best Original and Adapted Screenplay. For news on who won these and the remainder of the night’s awards, log on to the Academy’s official website, www.oscar.com!  

Best Original Screenplay

I’m giving this one to Spike Jonze for Her. While I loved Dallas Buyers Club a lot, the banter and overall writing of Her—especially for and between the two lead actors—was much fuller and richer than Dallas.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Richard Linklater could be due after not scoring for Before Sunrise/Sunset, but my money’s on John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave. Believe it or not, the slavery film is the least controversial of the litter in this category, with Captain Phillips, Wolf of Wall Street and Philomena all taking arguably unpopular liberties with the source material. That may hurt them all.

Best Supporting Actor

This is a tough category. The newcomer Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips throws a monkey wrench into the two-horse race between Jared Leto and Jonah Hill, in my opinion, but Leto was just amazing in Dallas Buyers Club and showed ridiculous range as Rayon. It pains me to say it, because Jonah Hill has been on a roll over the last three years, but my pick goes to Jared Leto.

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Lawrence was the most entertaining out of the very funny ensemble of American Hustle, but Oscar just can’t ignore Lupita Nyong’o and her masterful performance. June Squibb may get a mention because she was the most colorful character in Nebraska, but if I was a betting man I’d say 12 Years a Slave wins this one.

Best Lead Actor

Matthew McConaughey, hands down. Leonardo DiCaprio was salaciously awesome in Wolf of Wall Street, but McConaughey completely transformed himself for this role, which the Academy rewards more often than not. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Oscar finally comes to Leo after being overlooked twice before in this category, but it was just too striking a performance in Dallas Buyers Club for McConaughey to lose.

Best Lead Actress

Many people may have Cate Blanchett taking this home, but I wasn’t as floored by her performance in Blue Jasmine than in other roles she’s done, so I’m going to give this one to Sandra Bullock for Gravity. She carried 90% of this film, and while it wasn’t the most dialogue or plot-heavy work she’s done, it was captivating on-screen work nonetheless.

Best Director

This is another tough one. Because of the sheer breadth of work that needed to be done for this film just to get made, smart money is on Alfonso Cuarón to win this one for Gravity. My heart wants it to be Steve McQueen, but my gut believes it’s Cuarón’s to lose.

Best Picture

After all the reviews were said and done and I had to choose which of these nine films was best of 2013, the strongest performances and most deserving accolades go to 12 Years a Slave. Steve McQueen was fearless in his approach to this material, and the actors he commissioned for it brought their A-game from top to bottom. The Wolf of Wall Street gets honorable mention but I feel McQueen did much more with less in 12 Years than Scorsese did.

Read Article

Critiqued: The Wolf of Wall Street

Jordan Belfort was notorious for living in excess. Stock market fraud and swindling unsuspecting fathers and small-time businessmen were just another day at the office for the New York stockbroker in the 1990s. Belfort thumbed his nose at authority and convention to live the lavish life others could only dream of, if they weren’t in on the rouse themselves. However, it was also those actions that led him to spend time in federal prison for what was coined as a “pump and dump” scheme which ruined lives to the tune of $200 million. Belfort’s story was the inspiration for the 2000 independent film Boiler Room, starring Giovanni Ribisi, Ben Affleck and a young upstart in Vin Diesel, and now his memoirs have become the talk of Tinseltown, with Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.

The Wolf of Wall Street stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort, in a role that surprises and impresses with the lengths he went to inhabit the lifestyle of a man who just cared about his inner circle and the next big payday. This marks the fifth film DiCaprio and Scorsese have made together, and this one just appeared to be a party of debauchery and over-the-top moviemaking, a departure of sorts from their earlier films together. It had the frenetic pace of Gangs of New York, and the intensity of The Aviator and The Departed, but on a level that seemed a little uncharted for director and star. The hijinks in this film only escalated from the very beginning, and things got crazier the deeper in we got.  But in typical Scorsese fashion, it was a rollicking ride from start to finish. Imagine the penultimate chapter in Goodfellas, where Henry Hill, high on cocaine, insomnia and paranoia that the feds are watching his every move, races around town trying to get his drug deal done. The pacing of those scenes is pretty much what you experience the entire 179 minutes of Wolf.

This leads us to our one and only gripe about this film: it is entirely too long for a black comedy, even for a Scorsese black comedy. As much as you want to revel in the decadence and wickedness of Belfort and his cronies, there were certain scenes that just ran way too long for its own good. We clocked at least 25 minutes of unnecessary plot development that would not have detracted from the overall quality of the film. It slowed the pace of the film to a screeching halt sometimes, where we found ourselves waiting for the next scene to appear so we can continue following the story. This point just may keep Scorsese from the podium as Best Director at this year’s Oscars—that, and the controversy surrounding the content of the film supposedly blindsiding moviegoers expecting something completely different.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street

Despite the controversy, DiCaprio was masterful as Jordan Belfort. The things he did in this film were different from anything we’ve seen him do on-screen. There are such extensive uses of drugs and alcohol and wild sexual activity in Wolf, mostly by Belfort and his second-in-command Donnie Azoff, played wonderfully by Jonah Hill, that it’s surprising this film didn’t receive an NC-17 (“X”) rating. One particular overdose scene comes to mind here, but we won’t spill the beans. Hill is turned loose in this movie as a faithful follower of Belfort’s, mesmerized by the flash and excess of The Wolf’s lifestyle. Australian actress Margot Robbie plays Naomi, Belfort’s mistress turned wife, and holds her own quite nicely when pitted against the juggernaut DiCaprio. Friday Night Lights’ Kyle Chandler plays Belfort’s foe, FBI agent Patrick Denham, who is dedicated to bringing down the corrupt stockbroker. Other notable names in Wolf of Wall Street include Jon Bernthal, Rob Reiner, Jean Dujardin and a great cameo by Matthew McConaughey which helps to establish the kind of person Belfort will become.

This film is nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead and Supporting Actor for DiCaprio and Hill respectively, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire). Wolf was also nominated for four BAFTA awards and two Golden Globes, where DiCaprio took home the statue for Best Actor—Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Since the Oscars don’t separate acting categories between drama and musical/comedy like the Globes do, both DiCaprio and Hill have to compete with a tough lineup of actors. We think they are the underdogs to the favorites of the Dallas Buyers Club in McConaughey and Jared Leto, but you’ll see why we made our picks for all the major Oscar categories in our Predictions post right before the awards begin on March 2.  

P.J. Byrne (left), DiCaprio and Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street

On March 25, The Wolf of Wall Street will be released on Blu-ray and DVD. A four-hour Director’s Cut of the film is rumored to be available soon thereafter.

Read Article

Critiqued: 12 Years a Slave

There’s a certain kind of discomfort that accompanies Steve McQueen’s films. Exploring the human rights of jailed ideologists in Hunger was his debut endeavor into cinema that earned him international acclaim. The specter of sexual depravity and family dynamic is scrutinized in great detail with his second feature film Shame, a film that many folks haven’t seen, but should. Now everyone will be forced to take notice of McQueen’s directing prowess with 12 Years a Slave, a brutally honest adaptation of the autobiography of Solomon Northrup, a free man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. To take already uncomfortable subject material and make it that much more uncomfortable to watch takes sheer guts and an arresting conviction of talent, and McQueen achieves this in spades.

Helping McQueen to reach this level of discomfort is a cadre of equally talented individuals. Leading the way is Chiwetel Ejiofor, portraying the captive freed man Northrup, and delivers a harrowing performance, exhibiting a broad range of emotions and solidifies his already impressive resume as a leading man (for those who have not seen Redbelt, you’ll not understand that last statement). Joining Ejiofor is a McQueen staple in Michael Fassbender as Edwin Epps, the cotton field plantation owner and prototypical slave master who runs a tight ship and spares no rod at the sign of disrespect. At his side is the ignominious Mistress Epps, played with surprising—here’s that word again—discomfort by Sarah Paulson. It is a performance that has to be seen to be believed. Rounding out the bit players in the picture are Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alfre Woodard and a pivotal cameo from Brad Pitt, who also served as executive producer.

Sarah Paulson and Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave

Lupita Nyong’o is a relative newcomer to Hollywood, but did she ever make an impression. Her portrayal of the headstrong and defiant Patsey is another reason 12 Years a Slave is so impactful. The character undergoes tremendous physical and emotional turmoil that reverberates throughout the film, but it’s her sheer presence on-screen that earns her an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role. There is one scene in particular that we feel earned her this nod, and it is not undeserved, but we also feel Paulson should have received similar acclaim for her performance, because it was so against type (not counting her stint on American Horror Story) and it drove the very impressive performance of Nyong’o to achieve the level it had.

But let’s pause for a bit and talk about how this film looks and feels. Steve McQueen shoots beautiful pictures, as evidenced by his two previous features and his many short films. His signature movement, however, has a particularly added effect with Slave. McQueen tends to linger on some of his shots at pivotal moments in his films. These holds usually force the viewer to ask certain questions about what they’re seeing and pontificate what’s coming next. This is where McQueen makes his bones. What you expect to see next rarely ever happens. Now, we won’t be giving the particular scene away in Slave where McQueen utilizes this device, but what we can tell you is that it forces that discomfort and introspection as it relates to the film. And what your reaction to it will be dictates your feeling overall to how you watch the remainder of the film. Few directors have this ability, and McQueen has perfected it to the point where his Oscar nomination as Best Director is not only deserved, but should almost be expected on a yearly basis.

Along with McQueen, Nyong’o, Ejiofor, Fassbender and the film itself nominated for Academy Awards this year, 12 Years a Slave adds four more nods on the night, including Costume Design (Patricia Norris – The Elephant Man, Scarface) and Adapted Screenplay (John Ridley – Red Tails, Three Kings, Undercover Brother). These two awards could go the film’s way, but we won’t be surprised if Nyong’o captures the golden statue for Supporting Actress as the upset of the night.

Michael Fassbender, Nyong'o and Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave will be available on Blu-ray and DVD the Tuesday after the Oscars, March 4.

UPDATE: Of the nine categories 12 Years a Slave was nominated for, the film took home three, including the final award of the evening, Best Picture. Lupita Nyong'o received the first Oscar of the telecast, winning for Best Supporting Actress, and scribe John Ridley received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. hapless geek's 2014 Oscar Wrap-Up covers this film and many more and can be found here.

Read Article

Critiqued: Nebraska

Sometimes the perception of one’s life isn’t seen from the same angles others see them. You set your life up for maximum fulfillment, for financial stability, for the family. Whatever the reason, the goal in one’s life is to be happy and have purpose. In Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, that perception isn’t particularly reality.

Bruce Dern is Woody Grant, a quiet, set in his ways, alcoholic-in-denial old codger that is on a mission: he wants to make his way to Nebraska from Montana to claim a million-dollar prize, by any means necessary. This, of course, is not at all fun to deal with for Woody’s family. His earnest yet unmotivated youngest son David (played by comedian Will Forte) wants to be there for his family, but is going through his own issues in life, so to escape it all he decides to placate his dad and drive him to Nebraska to claim the prize.

In Woody’s way are relatives, old friends of his who’d love nothing more than to have a piece of his newfound fortune, and his no-nonsense, unapologetic wife Kate (played with reckless abandon by June Squibb) who turns out to be more of the glue that holds the family together than they realize. Along with their oldest and most composed son Ross (Bob Odenkirk), the Grants have a family trip for the ages.

Bruce Dern plays an aloof man ever so close to the light at the end of his tunnel and wants to settle all his accounts, and does it in a way that makes you think about your parents and the battle we all lose: the battle of time. You want Woody’s ending to be positive, knowing full well that it’s going nowhere in that direction. June Squibb has more fire and gumption than anyone else in the family and is not afraid to ruffle a few or all feathers, which makes her very entertaining to watch. Rounding out the cast is Stacy Keach, Dern’s nemesis and all-around creep, the man still living his life like the high school bully he seemed to be. 

It was an interesting decision by director Alexander Payne to not use color in this film. It wasn’t intended to make the film feel like a period piece, or draw attention to the characters any more than it would if it weren’t in black and white. In our opinion, it speaks more to the melancholy and the mood of the characters themselves. Recent films shot in partial or no color tends to detract from the whole, unless the performances of the characters are so engaging you’d gladly overlook it. For Nebraska, the beautiful landscapes of the North and Midwest United States can’t be appreciated because of the lack of color, but it also achieves the necessary objective of focusing on the story—unlike Payne’s previous Academy Award-winning film The Descendants. This film is more visceral in its storytelling and makes the viewer appreciate the character development over the scenery.

Bruce Dern and Will Forte in Nebraska

This film is nominated for six Oscars, including Lead and Supporting nods for Dern and Squibb, Cinematography and Directing. Great straight-man performances by usual funnymen Bob Odenkirk and Will Forte didn’t earn them any accolades, but were very convincing choices for the roles they played. Squibb’s endearing and at times shocking performance will earn her a lot of Oscar attention, but the category is very steep this year and may be tough for her to come out on top.

Nebraska just released on Blu-ray and DVD February 25, just in time to watch before the Oscars on March 2.

Read Article

Critiqued: Philomena

When I was a kid, many Saturday nights my sister and I sat with our mom to watch PBS and their block of British comedies: Keeping Up Appearances, Chef, Fawlty Towers and As Time Goes By. And as much as “the Bucket woman” tickled our fancies, it was the last show of the night that always intrigued me. As Time Goes By starred Geoffrey Palmer and Judi Dench as former lovers that rekindled their affair decades later. I can’t quite place the reason why this show over all the others fascinated me. Was it the dry humor? Was it the absence of a laugh track? There was something about that show that drew me in. After watching Philomena, I could finally put my finger on it. Dame Judi Dench is a master at her craft.

Dench, in all her sleuthing glory, portrays Philomena Lee, a woman who gained worldwide notoriety for attempting to find the son she gave birth to out of wedlock that was subsequently taken from her by Irish nuns in the 1950s. On her journey Lee’s accompanied by Martin Sixsmith, a writer down on his luck after getting sacked by the Labour Party as an adviser and sympathizes with her plight, seeing this as a worthy story to pursue. Sixsmith, played by Steve Coogan, helps to uncover more than just a stolen child, but an even larger conspiracy that unravels like a good British mystery. The film is based on Sixsmith’s book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, and is directed by Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, The Queen).

While Coogan’s and Dench’s chemistry radiate on the screen, the film itself is mediocre at best, relying on artistic license and slight exaggeration to push the story along in an entertaining fashion. Most viewers will see this as more an indictment on the Catholic faith than Philomena’s search for answers, and they’d be correct on most accounts. Every film needs an obstacle, and for this situation there were far less acceptable choices from the one ultimately used that would have hurt the film overall. I understand the reasoning behind the plot choice, and it certainly allowed Dench to sink her teeth into the story and show us why she’s so good.

Philomena is nominated for four Academy Awards, as well as three BAFTA awards (winning one for Best Adapted Screenplay) and three Golden Globes. While Best Picture seems to be a long shot, one category that may get some traction is for Alexandre Desplat’s original score, which is truly delightful and varied given the many moods the film takes on. Desplat has been nominated for an Oscar in six of the past eight years, so he’s certainly due for a golden statue.

For Dench, she has a massive hill to climb to win Best Actress this year, going up against Cate Blanchett, Amy Adams, Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock, and given her failing health as of late, her presence in Hollywood during the Oscar promotional tour has been miniscule, which unfortunately may also hurt her chances. What won’t hurt her chances is the performance she gives on-screen. Her ability to show compassion, wonderment, strength and vulnerability with just a few words and a wry smile is what makes Judi Dench one of her generation’s greatest actors.

Philomena is currently in select theaters and will be on DVD and Blu-ray this April.

UPDATE: No luck finding Oscar for Philomena this year, as they were shut out of all nominated categories, but it's still worth a watch. Look for it on Blu-ray and DVD April 15.

Read Article

Critiqued: Gravity

The first thing that should be said about this film is that it took over four years to make. Four. Principal photography only took about 3 months. The pre-visualization, post-production and all the rest of the preparation for the movie to reach your Cineplex took another 48 months to create. There’s a lot to be said about dedication to the craft if you’re Alfonso Cuarón and the team he assembled to create the feeling of weightlessness, zero gravity and sheer wonderment that can be seen in Gravity.

There are few films that are legitimately better to watch in 3-D as well. Avatar and Hugo come to mind off the top of our heads, and that’s just in the last five years. We can now add one more name to this list. Gravity cannot be explained or experienced watching at home, unless your home comes with a top-of-the-line 60-inch 3-D HDTV with the best Blu-ray player and surround sound system money can buy. Gravity is so grandiose in its scope, so beautiful in its peace and horrifying in its terror that viewing it on your smartphone would be doing the film a grave injustice.

Cuarón created a film that made you feel right next to the action and made us think twice about joining the Space Program. He co-wrote the screenplay with his son as well, but honestly, it’s less about the words being spoken than it is about the emotion those words evoked. The script created a sense of panic that was so apparent and so palpable it kept you on the edge of your seat. None more so than the panic that Sandra Bullock’s character lives in throughout the film. Her performance was a tour de force indeed, carrying a significant portion of the load on-screen. And this is not a personal affront to George Clooney, but he reminded me of Katie Holmes in Batman Begins: just big enough of a name to make you care and watch, but completely interchangeable in terms of character. It would have been just as powerful a film if instead of Clooney, Tom Hanks or Bradley Cooper was Bullock’s other half.

No, this film’s strength solely resides within the visual aesthetic. Gravity is breathtaking. The cinematography is thrilling and vast and its accompanying score adds to the tension of the piece. It can be argued that there’s so much scope to the film that it’s difficult to take everything in in one sitting, and there is a bit of truth to that, but let’s face it. It’s space, there’s much less to see in the surrounding atmosphere than any other film. It certainly doesn’t detract from the effect it has on the viewer. It’s a dizzying, emotionally drenching piece that regardless of its authenticity lends an entirely new perspective on how the uninformed view space exploration.

Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone in Gravity. Courtesy themovieblog.com

Gravity is currently nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and Cuarón has earned praise as the recipient of the 2014 Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for best direction. Cuarón is hoping to earn his first Oscar, having been nominated for Best Writing in both 2003 (Original Screenplay – Y tu mamá también) and 2007 (Adapted Screenplay – Children of Men) and for Film Editing in 2007 for Children of Men. Sandra Bullock is looking to earn her second golden statue for Best Actress, having won it in 2010 for The Blind Side.

Gravity will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on February 25.

UPDATE: Gravity was the big winner of the evening, taking home seven statues out of the 10 nominated categories, including Alfonso Cuarón's first Oscar for Directing.

Read Article

Critiqued: Her

There are few actors today that can make you feel like no one truly knows them by the roles they inhabit. There isn’t a particular mannerism or quirk that makes them iconic or unique, they just do the work they’re hired to do and deliver top-rate performances. They seem transformed on-screen, poised to embody the true meaning of “actor” and are willing to go to great lengths to bring authenticity and credibility to everything they put their name on. The late Phillip Seymour Hoffman was one of those actors, as well as Gary Oldman and Frances McDormand. And for someone who doesn’t seem entirely comfortable embracing his celebrity, Joaquin Phoenix never ceases to amaze us with the sheer genius of his work. Watching Her reminds us why we can’t help but love him as a leading man, character actor and everything in between.

He was gloriously uncomfortable to watch in Gladiator as the antagonist Commodus to Russell Crowe’s Maximus, he channeled the spirit of Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, and took a tacit and powerful turn in The Master by a less-is-more fashion that needed to be seen to be believed. With Her, Phoenix plays coy and quirky with a genuine and endearing flavor that, again, forces you to believe that not just anyone, but he, specifically, can legitimately fall in love with an artificially intelligent “woman” with every fiber of his being. He’s on a journey of self-discovery and seems desperate enough in his life to entertain the idea of a virtual companion in a way that isn’t sleazy or overtly sexual, but rather heartfelt and charming.

Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore in Her. Courtesy Huffington Post

Speaking of the AI supporting actress, we at hapless geek contend that if we had any kind of say in nominating for an Academy Award, a voice could be in the conversation this year. That voice, brought to us by the ultra-talented Scarlett Johansson, did just as much to make the viewer believe in the humanity of Samantha, a computerized bits-and-bytes entity that served as the “personalized companion” to flawed human Theodore, than Phoenix’s actual on-screen portrayal did. They cultivated a beautiful love affair that doesn’t seem so far-fetched in the fast-accelerating world of technology, and made us think about how easy it could be to lose one’s self to that fantasy.

  

A lot of these performances couldn’t be supplied with the proper intent without a strong and provocative script, and that was provided by the film’s director Spike Jonze. This type of script shouldn’t be a surprise to fans of Jonze, who was responsible for or contributed to films like Adaptaion. and Being John Malkovich. With Her, however, Jonze also forces a commentary on how difficult and potentially dangerous our reliance on technology can be, how emotional a connection it can create and how crippling the loss of that connection can be as well. It’s a struggle with self-consciousness with Her, and how submitting to carnal desires can be achieved in both traditional and non-traditional ways. The conceptual nuggets are aplenty in this film and Jonze—with the able help of Phoenix, Johansson and an equally impressive Amy Adams to boot—crafts them in the most beautiful of ways.

Joaquin Phoenix in Her. Courtesy zekefilm.org

Her is nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Score and Best Original Screenplay. It is scheduled to release on Blu-ray and DVD later this year.

UPDATE: Spike Jonze won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay this year, much to our delight. Check out the 2014 Oscar Wrap-Up here and see who else made Oscar night a memorable one.

Read Article

Critiqued: Dallas Buyers Club

Some stories just need to be told.

The AIDS phenomenon has gotten needed exposure over the last three-plus decades in popular culture, in film, song and stage—the 1985 film Buddies, critically acclaimed stage production Rent in 1996 (and its 2005 movie adaptation), “Streets of Philadelphia,” Bruce Springsteen’s award-winning original song from 1993 film Philadelphia, 2007 nonfiction book 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa—and these are only a few of the amazing and heartfelt stories depicting the harsh reality of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

But the story of Ron Woodroof was a labor of love for Matthew McConaughey, and did it ever show in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club. For what is sure to be an award-winning performance, McConaughey immersed himself in the struggle of a desperate, determined and dying AIDS victim in 1980’s America—no easy time to endure the debilitating disease in the wake of stereotypes, stigmas and ignorance about it. You may not agree with his methods, you may argue his ideals, but one thing you couldn’t do—and what McConaughey refused to let you do—was ignore the heart and sheer will of a man at the end of a very frail rope.

Admittedly, it was hard to watch his performance at times, a complete departure from the virile, chiseled specimen we’ve come to appreciate in prior films like Sahara, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and one of our all-time favorites Dazed and Confused (McConaughey’s first feature film). But recent roles of his, notably in Bernie, Killer Joe, Magic Mike and Mud, have shown viewers a range and dexterity in his performances no one thought he’d reach. The culmination of that journey was indeed found here with Dallas Buyers Club. He finally found a role that allowed him the canvas to grow and blossom into an artist and not just a pretty face who could ‘act good’. Charlize Theron did it in Monster; Sean Penn did the same with Milk. And in 2014, Matthew McConaughey will, in our opinion, exercise his Oscar demons with this film.

As for the movie itself, the best thing about Dallas Buyers Club is its simplicity. It was 1985 after all, when love was still free and petrol was less than a dollar a gallon. For most adults the only way to survive was to hustle, and Ron Woodroof was a hustler’s hustler. This is what made the story plausible—Woodroof kept the solution simple, no matter how complicated his journey became. He set things in motion that now have become part of the AIDS lexicon. He helped force government to view the situation differently than they were before, and he did it big, as only a Texan could.

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention another potential Oscar-winning performance. Jared Leto was flawless as Rayon, a cross-dressing AIDS patient who goes into business with Woodroof and is the clear conscience of the film. Jennifer Garner was solid as well, but didn’t contribute nearly as fierce as the two lead actors. McConaughey and Leto clearly lead the pack for Oscar gold this year, as they both have already won Golden Globe and SAG awards for their performance. But more importantly than that, they provide a voice to the AIDS story that’s worth its own weight in gold.

Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club.

Dallas Buyers Club is now available on demand, Blu-ray and DVD.

UPDATE: Dallas Buyers Club took home major awards on Oscar Sunday, winning on three of  the six nominated categories: Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and the two top acting categories - Best Supporting Actor for Jared Leto and Best Leading Actor went to Matthew McConaughey. Recap our coverage of this film and all the other winners in hapless geek's 2014 Oscar Wrap-Up here.

Read Article

Critiqued: Captain Phillips

Over the last six years, Oscar has chosen nonfiction adaptations as Best Picture contenders, and 2014 is no different with 5 films in the category inspired by true events. One such film is Captain Phillips, the story of the 2009 hijacking of a U.S. cargo ship off the coast of Somalia by native pirates. The film, starring Tom Hanks as the titular character, was directed by Paul Greengrass (Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum, United 93) and features newcomer Barkhad Abdi as the pirate leader Muse.

Watching this film you are reminded of past films with American political undertones like Zero Dark Thirty, Act of Valor and most recently Lone Survivor, preying on the sensibilities of the viewer and the opportunity for the “rah-rah” American pride propaganda vehicle to run roughshod, but Phillips quickly changes course, focuses the attention on the Somali plight, and the pirates’ motivation for doing what they do. This brings a very solid balance to the film, and even though you don’t want to root for the “bad guys” you can’t help but feel a bit sympathetic to the inspiration behind the attacks. Forced or not, the film brings to light the old adage of there being three sides to every story: yours, theirs, and the truth.

Greengrass’ direction isn’t without its flaws, however, and the most glaring detractor from this film is its length. There were a few moments that left viewers shrugging their shoulders wondering why this particular scene was so long or even there at all. It’s almost as if Phillips force-fed the drama in certain spots, instead of letting the story be told organically. But if anyone can evoke emotion out of an audience by using very little, it’s Tom Hanks. Greengrass could have shortened the film by about 15 minutes, more or less. However, the moments of tension from the cat-and-mouse approach of the pirate boat versus cargo ship and the crew members avoiding capture to the rescue of hostage Phillips was very palpable and paced beautifully. Even with the lengthy run time, Captain Phillips kept you on the edge of your seat.

People have come to know Tom Hanks as the true professional actor, and in this film he shows nothing short of brilliance, but the movie clearly belongs to newcomer Barkhad Abdi. It has been well documented that Abdi had no formal acting credentials before Captain Phillips, and it’s very hard to believe because he truly steals every scene he’s in, including those with Hanks. He has a presence on-screen that both terrified you and intrigued you, which made completely despising him impossible. The film explored the motivations of man and how far one is willing to go to survive, and the journeys both characters took were as varied as they were fascinating. Abdi’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor is well deserved and it is with hope that it helps springboard his career into the stratosphere.

Captain Phillips, courtesy scriptshadow.net

Captain Phillips is out now on DVD and Blu-ray. 

Read Article

Critiqued: American Hustle

David O. Russell has been on fire over the last handful of years, helping to make the likes of Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence household names with their superb performances in The Fighter (2010) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012), so the third time should be quite the Oscar-filled charm. These four actors take on the 1970s in all its big-haired glory with American Hustle, rife with cops and con men, espionage and elected officials, muddy marriages and mobsters with nary a minute to breathe. With all this going on in the film, the last thing you would expect is this to be billed as a comedy. But that’s what critics in America are categorizing this film as. The hapless geeks don’t want to paint that broad a stroke on this, though, so we’ll call it a seriously funny drama.

The intent of American Hustle we don’t believe was meant to be a funny one, but you can’t help but start snickering when you are introduced to Irving Rosenfeld, Christian Bale’s character, or the antics that unfold throughout the film between him and his nemeses, the mysterious Sydney (Amy Adams), ambitious Richie (Bradley Cooper), goody-goody Carmine (The Town’s Jeremy Renner) and Irving’s lovelorn wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence). Truly watching the master at work, Irving does what all good con artists do—know how and where to make a swift exit as soon as they enter a room. Quick on his feet as well as with his words, Irving (and Bale) takes the audience on a ride that is well worth the price of admission.

Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale in American Hustle.

Russell, however, seems to treat this film as an homage to Goodfellas, but with questionable camera tricks and sometimes uneven balance between character development and plot focus. Hustle is very top-heavy as well, which leaves the ending particularly bland and unsatisfying. Through no fault of the actors, it seems they too were left hanging at the end, and got packaged into a safe, secure finale with a neatly tied bow instead of any number of acceptable (and deserved) outcomes the prologue was moving towards.

But, as mentioned before, the journey towards that end was expertly crafted and executed—solidifying a nod to all four principals as Adams, Bale, Cooper and Lawrence have been nominated for the Best Lead and Supporting categories this year, as well as Russell receiving a nod for Directing. Jennifer Lawrence seems to have the clearest momentum for grabbing the golden statue out of the bunch, as this year’s Oscar class is quite formidable. With some real solid work from Renner and Louis C.K. in a very believable dramatic and comedic performance, Hustle is the type of film that will probably be praised years after its release, but not wholly appreciated at present.

Adams, Cooper, Renner, Bale and Lawrence in American Hustle.

American Hustle is a surefire rental, when it is released on DVD and Blu-ray later this quarter.

UPDATE: After coming up empty at this year's Oscars, American Hustle is back for a limited time in theaters before it's officially released on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday, March 18.

Read Article