The 82^nd Academy Awards were broadcast to millions on Sunday, March 7, 2010, and history was made. The first woman won the Best Director Award, Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker” and the Best Picture of the Year was an upset: “The Hurt Locker,” a little-seen film about bomb defusers, starring Jeremy Renner.

“Avatar” won 3 Oscars, when all was said and done, one for Visual Effects, one for Cinematography and one for Art Direction. “The Hurt Locker,” meanwhile, raked in the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow), Original Screenplay (Mark Boal), Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Mixing.

After those two gorillas in the jungle, the numbers dropped off rapidly: only “Crazy Heart” (with 2) and “Crazy Heart” and “Precious” with 2 apiece challenged for awards this night.

The evening opened with a lame song-and-dance number by Neil Patrick Harris, who had actually been good in this role on an earlier awards show. Neil Patrick Harris sang a song whose message whose message was “No One Wants to Do It Alone.” This is true, and is probably why Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin shared hosting duties for the 82^nd annual Oscars. I was disappointed in their performance, as they are both so funny and quick-witted, individually, but their scripted stuff was somewhat weak…although not as weak as Kathy Ireland’s red carpet interviewing. None of the people doing the red carpet interviews this year impressed, least of all Kathy, Sherry from “The View” or the editor of “People” magazine (I think). I never thought I’d say it, but give us back Joan and Melissa Rivers. Army Archerd just died, so he’s definitely out. What about somebody like Mario Lopez or Joan Hart or, really, just about anybody but this trio.

The winners this night were as follows:

Best Picture: “The Hurt Locker”

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow (first woman director to win)

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges (for “Crazy Heart”)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:  Mo’Nique in “Precious”

Best Animated Feature Film:  “Up”

Best Original Screenplay:  “The Hurt Locker” by Mark Boal

Best Adapted Screenplay:  “Precious”, Geoffrey Fletcher

Best Foreign Language Film:  “The Secret in Their eyes” (Argentina)

Best Original Score:  “Up” (Michael Giacchino)

Best Original Song:  “The Weary King” from “Crazy Heart

Best Art Direction:  “Avatar”

Best Cinematography:  “Avatar” by Mario Fiore

Best Costume Design:  “The Young Victoria” (Sandy Powell)

Best Documentary Feature:  “The Cove”

Best Documentary Short Subject:  “Music by Prudence”

Best Film Editing:  “The Hurt Locker” (Bob Murawksi and Chris Innis)

Best Makeup:  “Star Trek”

Best Animated Short Film:  “Logarama” (French, 16 mins.)

Best Live Action Short Film:  “The New Tenants”

Best Sound Editing:  “The Hurt Locker”

Best Sound Mixing:  “The Hurt Locker”

Best Visual Effects:  “Avatar”

Sandra Bullock’s acceptance speech was the most affecting of the night, for me, as she said, “To that trailblazer who allowed me to have this extraordinary opportunity—and to my lover, Meryl Streep.” Sandra also referenced a time when George Clooney had thrown her into a swimming pool and almost choked up during her acceptance speech. I also enjoyed Mo’Nique pointing out that, at least in her case, the award was truly given for the performance. I agree with that, having seen all the nominated performances, but it didn’t hurt any that Oprah got behind the film Big Time, so that somewhat contradicts Mo’Nique’s comment that politics was not a factor in her win. (She also shared TMI during her Barbara Walters interview, telling the world that she does not shave her legs and has an open marriage with her spouse.)

The evening ended on as always-hurried note, with the dynamic duo of Steve Martin and Alec Baldin signing off very quickly.

Most of the winners were not a surprise, with Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock and Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique winning, as expected.

What if there were 10 nominees for Best Supporting Actress this year, as is the case for Best Film of the Year this year, rather than just five? Who would those 10 nominees be?

First, let’s consider the 5 that Academy members have already nominated:

1) Anna Kendrick for “Up in the Air.”

2) Vera Farmiga for “Up in the Air.”

3) Maggie Gyllenhaal for “Crazy Heart”

4) Mo’Nique for “Precious”

5) Penelope Cruz for “Nine”

Let’s consider, for a moment, the current official nominees and their chances. I have not seen Penelope Cruz in “Nine,” but I watched a Charlie Rose roundtable discussion of the film in which critics from both coasts described the movie as a mess. It seems obvious that the two fine actresses nominated for “Up in the Air” are likely to cancel each other out. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s movie, “Crazy Heart” has not been distributed nationwide until recently, so few have seen it. It is also not that “showy” a role, nor is she onscreen that long. Mo’Nique, who has Oprah pulling for her, is a virtual lock on this award, from the performances I’ve seen (4 out of 5). In a moment I’ll return to the actual nominees and tell you why I feel they are as deserving as the additional five I’ve been asked to pick.

The others that I would recommend to the Academy as good or better than the current crop of nominees would include these fine actresses, and my reasons for recommending their performances this year:

6) Samantha Morton in “The Messenger”- Samantha Morton (5/13/77) has been nominated for two Oscars previously, once for “In America” in 2002 for her role as Sarah, who has lost a child, and again for “Minority Report” with her role as Agatha, one of the future-telling floating mystics in the pool whom Tom Cruise consults. She has also had roles as Hazel in 2008’s “Synecdoche, New York,” a puzzling film by screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. In “The Messenger” Samantha plays Olivia Pitterson, the wife of a soldier killed in Iraq. Her co-star in the film, Ben Foster (as Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery) talked about how excited he was to be starring opposite an actress of Samantha Morton’s caliber when he appeared with the film at the Chicago Film Festival. At the time, said Foster, Morton had just given birth and was often busy nursing her newborn child when not onscreen. Samantha Morton is a serious, fearless actress who has earned an Oscar nomination, more than nominees #1 and #2, above.

7) Sigourney Weaver in “Avatar” – Weaver (8/8/49) has been nominated for 3 Oscars during a long career. (She turned 60 in August).  In 1987 she came to fame as Ripley in “Aliens,” for which she was nominated as Best Actress. In 1999, she was nominated for her part in the film “Working Girl.” In 1989, her last nomination, she was nominated for playing Dian Fossey in “Gorillas in the Mist.” Weaver has also earned plaudits, including Saturn and BAFTA awards for her roles in “Alien Resurrection” in 1997, “The Ice Storm,” and “Galaxy Quest,” a 2000 spoof of her “Alien” roles that won her a Saturn award. Surely an actress who has been doing good work this long deserves a nomination more than an actress whose only previous leading roles were in the teen vampire movies “New Moon” and “Twilight”? This year’s role of Dr. Augustine in “Avatar,” the best-selling movie ever, would seem to be as worthy as Anna Kendrick’s or Vera Farmiga’s, and she has paid her dues much more than either of those decades-younger actresses.

8) Amy Adams in “Julie and Julia,” opposite Meryl Streep, was criticized in the role, for reasons that seemed bogus, to me. As Julie Powell, the young girl who decides to make every single recipe in the Julie Child cookbook, she did a good job…at least as good as Maggie Gyllenhaal’s role in “Crazy Heart.” In addition, Adams has been on a hot streak. She co-starred (again, with Streep) in “Doubt” as Sister James in 2008 and had a role in 2007’s “Charlie Wilson’s War” as Bonnie Bach. She also appeared as Giselle in 2007’s “Enchanted” and as Brenda Strong in 2002’s “Catch Me If You Can” with Leonardo DeCaprio.

9) Natalie Portman (6/9/81) played Grace Cahill in this year’s “Brothers.” She was the stay-at-home wife of 2 small daughters, left behind on the home front as her husband, Toby Maguire went to war. Jake Gyllenhaal plays toby’s brother in the film. For reasons that can be attributed to post traumatic stress disorder, Toby’s character becomes convinced that his brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) has had a relationship with his wife (Natalie Portman) while he was off fighting in the war. Ultimately, Toby has a classic Oscar-worthy meltdown. Natalie, who has previously played roles as varied as the lead in “V for Vendetta” (2005) and in 2 “Star Wars” episodes, must project strength for her children’s sake and the stand-by-your-man attitude of a good woman who truly loves her troubled husband. Natalie did a great job, and her previous role as Alice in “Closer”, Sam in “Garden State,” Sara in “Cold Mountain” and in the film “Anywhere But Here” are just a few of the wonderful performances she has provided audiences with, prior to this year’s overlooked film, “Brothers.”

10) The 10^th spot as a nominee for “Best Supporting Actress” should go to one of two female supporting performances from the film “Precious.” The unknown actress Paula Patton, portraying Ms. Rain, the teacher who helps Precious discover her potential, is one possibility, but far more intriguing would be Mariah Carey, who eschewed all make-up and fancy wardrobe for her role as the social worker, Mrs. Weiss. At first, watching the film, you can hardly believe this is the same Mariah Carey whose plunging cleavage recently graced the Golden Globes. Carey’s debut film, “Glitter,” was an unmitigated disaster. Director Lee Daniels made sure that Mariah (and, for that matter, rocker Lenny Kravitz in a small role as a male nurse) really inhabited roles that are the antithesis of their normal rock star images. Carey was recognized for the good job she did as the disgusted social worker who can hardly believe the self-serving, narcissistic rantings of Mo’Nique as Precious’ mother. Not only did Carey win a Palm Springs Award for Breakthrough Performance Award for her part, but she also won a Capri (Hollywood) role for Best Supporting Actress. In addition, she was nominated (as part of the ensemble) for awards by the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association, the Screen Actors’ Guild (cast nomination), the Broadcast Film Critics’ Association Best Acting Ensemble award, the Boston Society for Best Ensemble Award and was nominate for a Black Reel award.

If I ruled the Oscars and there were 10 nominees in the Best Supporting Actress category (rather than simply 5), these would have been my nominees. (And, no, I haven’t totally forgotten about Betty White’s turn as Ryan Reynolds’ grandmother in “The Proposal.”)

Elvis recently had a birthday (he turned 75) and I ignored his birthday, at the time, just like I try to ignore my own birthdays.

A McCarthy newspaper writer named Valerie Kellogg wrote “75 Things You May Not Know About Elvis” at the time of his birthday. Some of them amused me…not all, but some. Plus, we recently visited Graceland in Memphis, so I decided to throw out the less-interesting or more well-known “things you might not know” about Elvis, insert a few of my own, and shorten Kellogg’s article to a mere fifty. So here goes:

1)      Elvis’ first 2 recorded songs cost him $4 at Sun Studios in Memphis, where he recorded “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” as a gift for his mother, Gladys.

2)      Elvis is Norse for “all wise.”

3)      When he was 15 months old, Elvis almost died in a Tupelo, Mississippi tornado, which would have meant that he would have joined his dead-at-birth twin Aaron.

4)      At age 1, Elvis enthusiastically joined an Assembly of God church service choir in singing, wriggling away from his mother’s grasp to do so.

5)      At age 10, Elvis placed fifth singing “Old Shep” at a children’s talent show, thereby surpassing Michael Jordan, who got cut from one of his first basketball teams.

6)      Songs recorded: anywhere from 600 to 1,200. [With mixes like “A Little Less Conversation” being released many years after his death, that number could change.]

7)      Sometimes, Elvis would sign “Elvis” on a female fan’s left breast and “Presley” on the right. (There is no truth to the rumor that this gave rise to the term “double-breasted.”)

8)      Elvis’ maternal grandmother was Jewish, so Elvis added a Star of David to his mother’s gravestone in the mid-sixties. (Since most of the family is buried out back at Graceland in a weird circle that tourists visit, I assume it is this tombstone. It is just a stone’s throw from the really small tea-cup-sized swimming pool that looks like it belongs behind a Hampton Inn in St. Louis.)

9)      Other ethnic derivation for Elvis Presley:  Scottish, Irish, German, Welsh, Cherokee Indian and French. (A little something for everyone.)

10)  “Can’t Help Falling in Love”, a 1961 Presley hit, is set to the melody “Plaisir D’Amour,” an 18^th century French love song.

11)  Presley hated fish. He wouldn’t allow Priscilla to eat fish at Graceland. We all know he loved fatty, deep-fried goodies, and he also loved biscuits and gravy, potato/cheese soup and meatloaf with mushroom gravy. The dining room table at Graceland, however, was not very large, (considering Elvis’ fame and fortune). It is hard to imagine seating more than 11 or 12 comfortably in the cramped dining room. The room isn’t big enough and the table isn’t big enough.

12)  Presley preferred sponge baths.

13)  Presley worked as an usher at Lowe’s State movie theater in Memphis. He was fired when he was discovered taking free candy from the girl working the concession stand.

14)  Presley was honored, while in the Army, by his commanding officers for “cheerfulness and drive and continually outstanding leadership ability.”

15)  Germans called Presley “the rock-and-roll matador.”

16)  Elvis smoked thin German cigars.

17)  Elvis’ big disappointment while in Germany in the Army? He never got to meet Brigitte Bardot. (I think we can all relate to that.)

18)  Presley’s movie idol? Tony Curtis.

19)  Hair dye used? Miss Clairol 51D, “Black Velvet” and “mink brown” by Paramount, to make his hair look black onscreen in movies. He once dyed his hair with black shoe polish in his do-it-yourself days. He also dyed his eyelashes, which caused him health problems later in life. (Good thing he didn’t EAT the dye).

20)  In 1956, Elvis made “Love Me Tender” and in 1957, he did “Loving You.”  In the hiatus between filming these two epics, he had plastic surgery on his nose, had his teeth capped, and had his acne professionally treated.

21)  Elvis dated Natalie Wood, but only for a very brief period. He said he didn’t like the way she smelled. (No report on what Natalie Wood thought of the sponge-bathing Elvis’ scent.)

22)  “Unchained Melody” was a song he only performed during the last 6 months of his life.

23)  Unverified reports claim Elvis’ range spanned three octaves, but unverified reports of the day also said that the Colonel (Tom Parker) would have another singer interpret the song while Elvis listened and then Elvis would  record the song after hearing it sung by someone else. It is also true that Elvis never did a World Tour, which was because of legal problems that Colonel Tom Parker, his dictatorial manager, faced in travel outside the country. (The Colonel had passport problems.)

24)  Presley had a slight stutter.

25)  Elvis used A&D ointment to keep his lips soft.

26)  Elvis recorded 15 songs with the word “blue” in the title.

27)  Some strangely titled Elvis songs include: “Queenie Wahini’s Papaya,” “Yoga Is as Yoga Does,” “There’s No Room to Rhumba in a Sports Car.”

28)  Elvis began using “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” a 19^th century Strauss tone poem and theme of the 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” because he liked its rhythm and movements.

29)  UK viewers couldn’t see Elvis much-vaunted TV special “Aloha from Hawaii” because the BBC refused to pay the price for the 1972 concert.

30)  Presley and the Beatles met at his BelAir, California house in 1965, after Colonel Tom Parker forced Elvis to invite the Fab Five over. That same year, Elvis talked about joining a monastery. No word on whether he discussed entering a monastery before or after meeting the Beatles, who ended his reign as undisputed King of Rock ‘n Roll.

31)  Presley met Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in 1975 but Wilson says that the meeting went badly. Wilson made an unexpected karate move on Presley, after Presley had asked him specifically not to do so. (I now understand why Brian Wilson spent so many years alone “in his room”).

32)  When Presley met Richard Nixon in 1970, Tricky Dick said: “You dress kind of strange, don’t you? Elvis replied, “Well, Mr. President, you got your show, and I got mine.” We didn’t find out the extent of  Nixon’s “show” until Watergate, but it’s not hard to imagine Elvis drawling that statement to Nixon.

33)  The Washington Post broke the news of that secret meeting between Nixon and Presley. [I think we’ve all heard the stories of Presley’s fascination with law and law enforcement, his desire to be named a ‘special agent,’ etc.]

34)  When Presley met Muhammad Ali, he gifted the boxer with a robe that said “The People’s Champion.” Ali, for his part, gave Presley boxing gloves that said, “You’re the greatest.” [This surprises and confuses me. I thought Ali was “the greatest?” The two probably should have traded gifts.]

35)  Once, after receiving a kidnap/assassination threat, Elvis performed with a pistol in each boot.

36)  In the early 1970’s, Presley would impersonate a police officer and pull people over and hand out autographs. He had purchased police equipment for his 36^th birthday.

37)  Some members of the Memphis Mafia called Presley “Crazy.” He turned down the opportunity to play Kris Kristofferson’s role in “A Star Is Born” opposite Barbra Streisand, because the Colonel wouldn’t let him take the part. The chance was a career-making comeback opportunity, and ex-wife Priscilla urged him to take the role. Now THAT was “crazy.” What was NOT crazy was the way Priscila turned Graceland into a moneymaker after Elvis’ death.

38)  Once, while showing a woman a karate move in his Las Vegas hotel suite, he broke her ankle. (Sounds like an instant replay of the Brian Wilson bad meeting.)

39)  In Chinese astrology, Presley’s sign was “the dog.”

40)  Four psychics told actor Patrick Swayze that Elvis was his guardian angel. If so, Elvis didn’t do a very good job of watching over the recently deceased actor, who died too young of pancreatic cancer.

41)  The year before he died, Presley was prescribed about 10,000 pills. (I wonder what the count against Michael Jackson’s final year would be: which would score highest?)

42)  When Presley played Madison Square Garden in 1972, he rented the New York Hilton’s top floor.

43)  Presley’s pet turtle’s name was Bowtie.

44)  Other Presley pets:  a basset hound, 2 Great Danes, a Pomeranian, several horses, some donkeys, some peacocks and guinea hens, ducks, chickens, a chimpanzee, a monkey and a mynah bird. His golden palomino, Rising Sun, is buried at Graceland, along with his parents, his grandmother and his twin brother who died at birth.

45)  Presley’s pet chimp, Scatter, is thought to have died of liver disease, since the chimp had developed a drinking problem. Some think a maid, whom he had bitten, poisoned the chimp. (Wonder whatever happened to Bubbles, Michael Jackson’s chimp?)

46)  Presley believed he would die in his forties like his mother, Gladys.

47)  Presley had a strange “Madonna/whore” fixation. According to Priscilla Presley’s autobiography, once she gave birth to Lisa Marie, he no longer considered her sexually desirable because she was the mother of his only child. Presley did have a longstanding attraction to co-star Ann Margret, though, and always sent her a large floral tribute whenever she opened in Vegas.

48)  When Elvis was alive, there were about 170 Presley impersonators (1977). Today, it is estimated that there are around 250,000.

49)  Presley had one room of his Graceland mansion (the house that grew like Topsy and has many wings that were added to the sprawling structure) completely carpeted in shag carpeting and sometimes recorded there. The Jungle Room, a strange futuristic circular bed with fake fur: many “Elvis’ taste was all in his mouth” moments while touring Graceland.

50)  Elvis’ last words (to his girlfriend Ginger Alden, who had cautioned him against falling asleep reading in the bathroom) were; “Okay, I won’t.”

“The Lovely Bones” is Peter Jackson’s interpretation of the best-selling novel written by Alice Sebold. A 14-year-old girl who was murdered is still spiritually guiding her father from above as he continues to search for his daughter’s killer.

Jackson has become better-known in recent years for his CG extravaganzas like the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy or the most recent “King Kong” but there was a time (in a galaxy far, far away) when Peter Jackson could tell a murder story with the best of them, as he did with “Heavenly Creatures,” Kate Winslet’s film debut (1994).

If “The Lovely Bones” is any indication, that time has passed. Far from agreeing with Sean Patrick, who ended his review by saying “’The Lovely Bones’ is one of the most daring and original works in years and one of the best films of the last year,” I think the film was a semi-disaster, fairly slow-moving, and only good from the standpoint of the acting and the sets. I’m not alone in that assessment, with the objections I had being fairly widespread across the land.

Fortunately, “The Lovely Bones” had a great cast, especially in Saoirse Ronan, who plays the murder victim, Susie Salmon. (Saoirse has already been Oscar-nominated once for her part as the younger sister in “Atonement,” and rightfully so). Saiorse gives another wonderful performance here, as do Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg as her parents, plus a toupeed Stanly Tucci (who also has some sort of fake teeth thing going on) is great as the murderer, George Harvey, the Salmons next-door neighbor who just happens to be a serial killer.

Saiorse has been nominated as Best Actress by the Critics Choice Awards (as was Stanley Tucci for Best Actor); won the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuoso Award, won the Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by a Youth, Female, and won the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award, the Sierra Award, for Youth in Film (2009). She is very, very good, and I predict that she will do some amazing work in her upcoming films. Tucci, also, is Golden Globe nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role; has been nominated for a Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics Choice Award for 2010 for Best Supporting Actor; was nominated for the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards as Best Supporting Actor of 2009; is nominated for the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role by the Screen Actors Guild for 2010; and has been nominated by the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association as Best Supporting Actor for 2009. The above means that either or both could be Oscar-nominated for the March 7^th Awards show.

As George Harvey (Stanley Tucci) in “The Lovely Bones” says, “I took a risk and tried something new and discovered a talent I didn’t know I had.” Unfortunately, the talent George discovers seems to be killing girls and women, and the string started with his landlady Sophie Sanchetti in 1960 and continued through Jackie Meyer of Delaware, age 13; Leah Fox of Delaware in 1969; Lana Johnson of Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Flora Hernandez of Delaware in 1963; Denise Lee Ang of Connecticut, age 13; and our heroine, Susie Salmon of Norristown, Pennsylvania in 1973.

Let’s start with what’s good about the movie.

The cast is uniformly good…. in some cases (see above) outstanding. There is a minor quibble with the concept of having Susan Sarandon play a boozy Grandma Lynn. Her stint was more appropriate to insertion into the old television series “Malcolm in the Middle.” My husband read the book (I didn’t) and he doesn’t remember the grandmother in the book at all, nor was there so much emphasis on Susie’s status in the “In Between” after her murder (which I will address in a moment). On the positive side, I was struck time and time again by the careful attention to the details of 1973 life that the art/set director displayed. It is true that Susie’s schoolbooks bear the clearly visible legend “Fairfax County Schools” and that the clipping we see later is clearly labeled “Fairfax, Virginia,” while the voice-over tells us that this is Norristown, Pennsylvania, but you’d have to be semi-bored to be noticing these tiny little telling mistakes. Saiorse Ronan is an Oscar waiting to happen. She is luminous. The cinematography is also good, especially the creative scenes shot through the small dollhouse. The symbolic metaphor of ships-in-a-bottle, while useful, was not faithful to the source material and, ultimately, added to the problems that I am going to label “bad.”

The Bad:

In addition to the ships with bottles in them crashing on the shore, and Mark Wahlberg throwing the ships in the bottles to the floor to demonstrate how upset he is, the entire depiction of the strange “in between” world where Susie is now lodged did not fly, with me. Another critic mentioned it as being reminiscent of “What Dreams May Come.” I don’t have problems with using light and fake fog and weird other-worldly visions to illustrate this “in between” world, but maybe it would have been better for all of us if Jackson had stuck to telling the story, itself, without the special effects extravaganza stuff he has become known for in his latest films?

Here’s another “bad” thing. The 14-year-old girl is brutally murdered, (as were the others mentioned above). Her throat is slit. But all the victims turn up almost humming a happy tune like a Manson clan from the sixties or the cast of Big Love, in heaven, where there are lines like, “It’s beautiful, of course. It’s beautiful. It’s heaven. What are you waiting for? You’re free.” (*And, on behalf of “Field of Dreams,” I would like to remind all of you of the line that trumps any here, which is, “It’s not heaven. It’s Iowa.” So, maybe the In-Between is really Iowa? Naaaaah.)

I don’t think that we want to give anyone the incorrect impression that, once you are murdered, it’s all roses and fake fog and bright lines at the end of hallways. Lines like, “I began to see things in a way that let me see the world without me in it…Nobody notices when we leave.  At best, we might feel a whisper, or the wave of a whisper undulating down.” cloud the reality of a brutal death. I am certain that Susie Salmon felt a lot more than “a whisper or a wave of a whisper” as she was brutally murdered. (No spoiler there, as it’s a well-known fact that the book is narrated by a girl already dead.)

My husband, who read the book, tells me that this emphasis on the “in between” as a semi- Candyland and the annoying character of Asian Holly Go-Lightly who guides Susie in the In Between (actually a previous victim named Denise Lee Ang), were not in the book. I hope not.

The entire idea of a murdered girl finding happiness after her death (“These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence.”) was, to be honest, off-putting to me as a parent.  This film is every parent’s worst nightmare, and it almost seems to be making light of the horrific. Of this year’s films, Jackson’s depiction of limbo, aka the in-between, reminded me most of the Terry Gilliam flop that featured Heath Ledger venturing into a similar fantasyland. (When Ledger died, Jude Law and Johnny Depp filled in for him, creating a very confusing film, indeed, called “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” one of the biggest messes of the year 2009.)

The other issue that divided critics across the land was the idea that Susie feels worst about her unfulfilled teenage yearnings for Ray Singh (Reese Ritchie), who was about to give her her first kiss. There are better reasons to stay alive than to be kissed. Staying alive is reason enough to stay alive, she said redundantly, echoing the song title.

The film was slow moving, rousing itself (again, after the initial murder takes place) only during the scenes when the younger sister, well played by Rose McIver, breaks into the neighbor’s house to search for clues to her sister’s murder. As always happens when there is someone in a vacant house looking for the piece of evidence that will nail the suspect, the homeowner returns and peril threatens. That part, however, was far too short. Also, the way Lindsey, the younger sister, reveals what she has found upon her return home was ridiculous. Any kid I know, possessing this kind of dynamite information, would enter his or her house yelling at the top of his or her lungs, but Lindsey is quite restrained…restrained enough, in fact, to allow the neighbor to slip through the grasp of the authorities. (My kids spent the first ten years of their lives standing on the end of diving boards screeching: “MOM! MOM! LOOK AT ME!” That’s why I can’t believe that Lindsey in the film waits so patiently and in such an unhurried manner to reveal what she has found.  So much for Dad’s years spent ferreting out the truth, which includes a near-arrest and a near-fatal beating. When you DO find out the truth, you hold on to the evidence so long that the suspect gets away? [As the British would say, “Not bloody likely.”]

To conclude: slow-moving, artsy, good acting, great sets and period furniture and costumes and posters, wonderful acting turns from Saioren Ronan and Stanley Tucci. A good rental, but not worth the price of admission at the theater.

And somebody urge Peter Jackson to return to his hard-edged telling of a murder, as related in the 1994 film “Heavenly Creatures.” Lose the fog. Lose the light effects. Forget about the miraculous leafy tree and the gazebo. Just the facts, Peter, just the facts.

I’ve gone back to the year 2000 and attempted to highlight the Best Films of the Decade, with the decade starting in 2000. [This means, of course, that I’m one year short of 10 years of films, since 2010 has just begun.]

The criterion, for me, in listing my Best Films was whether I enjoyed them the most at the theater. Sometimes, the most heavily promoted films are not really that enjoyable. There are some “Best Picture of the Year” nominees that leave you completely cold after you have spent time watching them, so much so that you wonder, “How did THAT get nominated as Best ________________?” (Fill in the blank here). You may appreciate the achievement of a film like, for instance, “The Queen,” but did you really enjoy it that much, acting expertise aside?

Also, will this film hold up over the years? There are some films that were “hot” movies of that year, but the year was so weak that to name them as the “best” is simply to acknowledge that they were the best of a not-so-banner year.

I am not a huge fan of animated films, but some made my list. I like humor, but it should be somewhat witty, avoid formulaic situations, and not be so lowbrow that every vehicle in the parking lot is a truck with a gun rack, a rebel flag and a NASCAR sticker on view.

While acknowledging that Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy represented a huge achievement, the films were not as faithful to the books as purists would have liked, and, quite frankly, I was pretty bored throughout. (I looked down the row and my sister-in-law was asleep, although she later denied this.) The same is true of all the Harry Potter movies, for me. And, more recently, the “Twilight” films, representing, as they do, a teen phenomenon, are going to fall into the same category.

Some years were, of course, better than others, and that is why many Honorable Mention(s) follow some of the Ten Best lists. Other years have no Honorable Mentions at all. I’m not trying to suggest that your list of the Ten Best Movies of the Decade (to date) will match mine, but at least you’ll have a referent point for (maybe) picking a few from the past 9 years that you night have missed.  I should also note that the films are listed in no particular order.

Enjoy!

Best Films of 2000:

“High Fidelity”

“Traffic”

“Memento”

“Almost Famous”

“Cast Away”

“Erin Brockovich”

“Gladiator”

“Wonder Boys”

“Frequency”

“Meet the Parents”/”Galaxy Quest”

Best Films of 2001:

“A Beautiful Mind”

“Lord of the Rings”

“Mulholland Drive”

“Black Hawk Down”

“A.I.”

“Training Day”

“Monster’s Ball”

“In the Bedroom”

“Bully”

“Hedwig and the Angry Inch”

Best Films of 2002:

“About A Boy”

“About Schmidt”

“Adaptation”

“Bourne Identity”

“Bowling for Columbine”

“Minority Report”

“The Pianist”

“Signs”

“Rabbit-proof Fence”

“Spider-Man 2”

Best Films of 2003:

“The Fog of War” (documentary)

“Mystic River”

“Cold Mountain”

“In America”

“Seabiscuit”

“City of God”

“Monster”

“House of Sand and Fog”

“Under the Tuscan Sun”

“Pieces of April”

(*Honorable mention to “Finding Nemo,” “Master & Commander,” “Thirteen,” “The Cooler,” “Bad Santa,” “Lost in Translation,” “The Last Samurai,” “Calendar Girls,” “Love, Actually.”)

Best Films of 2004:

“The Aviator”

“Hotel Rwanda”

“Million Dollar Baby”

“Ray”

“Closer”

“Fahrenheit 9/11”

“Sideways”

“Spanglish”

“The Sea inside”

“Collateral”

(*Honorable mention to “The Manchurian Candidate,” “The Notebook,” “Mean Girls,” “Super Size Me”)

Best Films of 2005:

“Capote”

“Brokeback Mountain”

“A History of Violence”

“Crash”

“Syriana”

“Batman Begins”

“Cinderella Man”

“The 40-Year-Old Virgin”

“Good Night, and Good Luck”

“Walk the Line”

(*Honorable mention to “King Kong,” “Jarhead,” “Match Point,” “Transamerica,” “North Country,” “March of the Penguins” and “Munich.”)

Best Films of 2006:

“Last King of Scotland”

“The Departed”

“Little Miss Sunshine”

“Pan’s Labyrinth”

“United 93”

“Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima”

“Casino Royale”

“Dreamgirls”

“Bobby”

“Thank You for Smoking”

(*Honorable mention to “V for Vendetta,” “Blood Diamond,”  “Cars,” “Monster House,” “An Inconvenient Truth” (documentary), “The Queen,” “Babel,”
”Hollywoodland,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing” (documentary), “Who Killed the Electric Car” (documentary), “Children of Men,” “Little Children,” “A Scanner Darkly”)

Best Films of 2007:

“Michael Clayton”

“No Country for Old Men”

“Away from Her”

“Juno”

“In the Valley of Elah”

“Eastern Promises”

“American Gangster’

“Knocked Up”

“Charlie Wilson’s War”

“The Bourne Ultimatum”

(*Honorable Mention:  “The Savages,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “Waitress,” “Atonement,” “La Vie En Rose,” “The Diving Bell & the Butterfly,” “Elizabeth, the Golden Age.”)

Best Films of 2008:

“The Reader”

“Batman: The Dark Knight”

“Iron Man”

“Gran Torino”

“Slumdog Millionaire”

“Milk”

“The Wrestler”

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“Doubt”

“Zodiac”

(*Honorable Mention:  “Burn After Reading,” “In Bruges,” “Frozen River,” “The Visitor,” “Tropic Thunder,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Bucket List.”

Best Films of 2009:

“Up in the Air”

“The Hurt Locker”

“The Informant”

“Up”

“500 Days of Summer”

“Precious”

“Red Cliff”

“Avatar”

“Brothers”

“The Messenger”

(*Honorable Mention to “Star Trek,” “The Hangover,” “2012,” “Public Enemies,” “I Love You, Man,” and “Jennifer’s Body”)

Here is a collection of some of my favorite lines from the James Cameron movie “Avatar,” the 3-D extravaganza filling up Cineplexes this holiday season, which owes so much to similar spectacles that went before in its groundbreaking status, (like “Star Wars” in the ‘70s, “Jurassic Park” or “Lost World.”)

First, let me say that “Avatar” is an overtly political anti-war movie commenting on the Bush Administration’s war of blood and treasure. It is not that original in that respect, but the cinematic advances Cameron and crew engineered are extremely impressive and original and should garner Oscar nods. Another original touch is the language, created by linguist Paul Frommer, who created about 500 words for the natives to use.

Just listen to these lines (from an old-school military type not unlike Robert Duvall’s character Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in “Apocalypse Now”):  “I need to know how to force their (the natives) cooperation and come down on them hard if they balk.” Later, this same military mind (Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch) will say: “Find me a carrot that will get them to move. Otherwise, it’s gonna’ be all stick.” Colonel Quaritch adds, “It’ll be humane—more or less.” [As with all wars, mostly less.]  It’s interesting that Michael Biehn was considered for this pivotal military role of Colonel Quaritch, but, after three meetings, Cameron rejected casting Biehn, fearful that, with Sigourney Weaver already onboard, audiences would think it was “Aliens” all over again.

“Out there is the true world and in here is the dream.” This quote is from Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), the paraplegic marine who becomes an Avatar on the planet Pandora in the year 2154, replacing his brother, who has been killed in battle. When Jake goes native, he has the use of his legs again; he is being taught the culture by Neytiri, who is the daughter of a Medicine Woman of the tribe (Zoe Saldana) who says to him, at one point, “Learn well. Then we will see if your insanity can be cured.”

Jake and the others are there because, as team leader Parker Selfridge  (Giovanni Ribisi) says in one revealing exchange while holding a small gray rock, “This is why we’re here, because this little gray rock (dubbed unitanium) sells for $20 million a kilo.” Could the analogy between oil in Iraq (et. al.) be any clearer?

Through the use of what looks like a cross between a coffin and a tanning booth, Jake and the “good guy” team leader, Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) are transformed into the native Na’vi natives, complete with great height, blue coloring and tails. Grace is on the side of progress and peace and wants to help the Pandora natives, but the military is more interested in getting the biggest bang for its buck. [Or, perhaps, just getting the biggest bang. Period.]

The natives don’t like being invaded (imagine that) by a foreign power, and they say, “The Sky People have sent us a message that they can take whatever they want and nothing can stop them. This is our land.” There is also this line, “Our only security lies in pre-emptive attack” and the term “shock and awe” is used. By this time, only someone living in a cave since 2004 would have missed the point, a point that has been made before.

The natives on Pandora give us a sneak preview of Earth’s fate in 2154 with this line, “There’s no green there (on Earth). They killed their mother.” And the Pandorans note “The wealth of this world isn’t in the ground; it’s in the world around them.”

Supposedly, Director Cameron wanted to follow up “Titanic” immediately with “Avatar,” but the technology was not yet advanced enough to allow him to do all the things he wanted to do. However, when he saw Golum in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, he realized that the task could be accomplished. Forty per cent of the action in “Avatar” was live and 60% of it was photo-realistic computer generated. The 3D version, which I saw, was impressive, especially when the small white feathery dandelion-like floaters from the Tree of Souls (seeds of the Sacred Tree that transmits voices of the tribe’s ancestors) land on Jake Sully and in the battle sequences. I’m not keen on 3D glasses, in general, (although the opening sequence of the “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” film was impressive), but I genuinely enjoyed the film, despite the feeling that, thematically, it wasn’t breaking much new ground. Same formula we’ve all seen before: War is bad. Boy converts from warmonger to peace activist. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. It’s not a rocket science leap to think up these plot lines, but having said that, the plot moves along briskly and there are no dead or dull spots. Something is always happening onscreen and very often that something is extraordinary.

The movie’s concepts are both original and retooled. For example, native Americans (United States Indians) are ripped off, Big Time, even to the point that Zoe Saldana as the Na’Vi love interest, Neytiri, is Pocahontas-like in defending her man (Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington). The rituals and dances, chants and beliefs echo those of Native American peoples (and others), and the comment that “Every man is born twice” in the Na’vi culture smacks of any number of religions…[and I’m not referencing merely Christians who believe in an After-life but Buddhists, et. al.]

The anti-war polemic grew tiresome to some in my party (Republican Bush supporters, no doubt) and as the inevitable love interest/pacifist movement gained steam, Jake Sully utters the sentiment, “I was a warrior who dreamed he could bring peace.  Sooner or later, you always have to wake up.” (Please rush that memo to President Obama before we send off those 35,000 additional troops.)

“Avatar” broke opening Christmas weekend records set by “The Incredibles” in 2004, taking in $75.6 million dollars, $212.7 domestically and $600 million worldwide, according to the International Movie Data Base. Although it is estimated to have cost anywhere from $300 million to $500 million to make (I’ve seen both figures, and Cameron was coy during his interview with Charlie Rose on that program), it’s still raking it in at the box office. We’re in for many more 3D movie experiences, if the success of “Avatar” is any indication.

“Up in the Air,” a Jason Reitman-directed (and written, with assistance from Sheldon Turner) film stands a great chance of being named this year’s Best Film of the Year. It’s definitely a front-runner and will (no doubt) duke it out with the likes of “Precious,” “The Hurt Locker,”  and “Up in the Air.”

I had the feeling, as I watched the movie, that without George Clooney in the pivotal role of the commitment-phobic Ryan Bingham, who travels the United States terminating people from their jobs and accumulating frequent flyer miles (his goal is 10 million miles), this movie would not be nearly as strong. Clooney’s reputation as a ladies’ man helps us to accept him in the role and aids the film immensely.  I also had the feeling that Clooney’s expert light comedy touch might go unrewarded, again, just as Woody Allen’s comic film masterpieces did for so many years, (until “Annie Hall.”) [Personally, I would have given Clooney the Oscar for his performance in 2007’s “Michael Clayton,” portraying the title character.]

While “Precious” has Oprah in its corner, and “Invictus” has Clint Eastwood in its, Jason Reitman’s film, based on the novel by Walter Kirn, has both Clooney (a formidable asset), and the fact that unemployment in this country has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression. Lay-offs are as common as crab grass, but far more devastating. With the horrible economic conditions abroad in the land and unemployment rates of 10% becoming routine, the film capitalizes on the nation’s preoccupation with losing one’s job.

Everyone knows someone who has either been fired or fears he soon will be fired. The ability to empathize with the illiterate black teen-ager of “Precious” may not be as universal an empathetic emotion, so let’s give the edge to “Up in the Air” in that department, Oprah effect or no Oprah effect.  Plus, this is a fun and lightweight film, while no one would ever characterize “Precious” as that, nor “Avatar,” nor “The Hurt Locker.” I’ve already declared “Invictus” to be only mediocre entertainment, despite the best efforts of its fine stars, and the rest of the race (“The Hurt Locker?” “Up?”) is wide open at this point in time.

There are numerous vignettes of people being fired, since, in the film (if not the book) the company that is responsible for doing the dirty work of actually terminating employees is considering moving away from the use of real people to do the dirty work and is moving towards the use of long-distance technology (computers). Some of those getting the bad news are actors we recognize (J.K. Simmons, the father in “Juno,” as Bob and comedian/actor Zach Galifiakanas as Steve). Some are not

So, how does the movie measure up to the book?

In the book, Clooney’s character is obsessed with using big words and expanding his vocabulary. In the book, there are more women (other than Vera Farmigia, the female lead, as Alex Goran), more sex, and implications of drug abuse. In the book, Vera Farmigia’s character is desperate for Clooney’s character (Ryan Bingham) to return the affection she feels for him, but he remains indifferent and emotionally aloof. In the book, Ryan Bingham, the traveling terminator, talks about the physical toll of his constant travel, and there is no subplot involving using technology to replace face-to-face termination(s).  But who’s keeping track of such minor details?

The film based on the book is great fun! It is a lightweight soufflé that, ultimately, both entertains and enriches, with a message that relationships do matter and, without them, you may end up “up in the air” with choices drifting by you and floating all around, as an original song by Kevin Renick, (a fan who sent the song to Director Jason Reitman), puts it. I was taken with the use of the song by an unknown over the closing credits, because the daughter’s Nashville mentor, Rick Clark, was the person responsible for selecting the songs used in the film and this one seemed very apropos.  The music in the film opens with “This Land Is Your Land”, sung by Sharon Jones, a soulful rendition, as a plane flies above a variety of midwestern cities.

Much of the film was shot in St. Louis, although other Midwestern cities (Omaha, Des Moines, Dubuque) are also mentioned onscreen, as well as locations such as Miami and San Francisco.

Clooney’s terminator du jour takes up with Vera Farmigia’s character of Alex because they have much in common in terms of constant travel. Only a fellow frequent flier would find the prospect of becoming only the 7^th member to reach the 10 million mile club “sexy,” Lines like “To know me is to fly with me” resonate as the film progresses, and Ryan’s side-job as a motivational speaker who encourages others to “unload their backpacks” of responsibility serves as a nice counterpoint to allow Clooney’s character to express certain key philosophies in his life. Example:  “We weigh ourselves down until you can’t even move. And moving is living.”

As a woman of a certain age, I laughed out loud at Clooney’s young sidekick Natalie Keener, well played by Anna Kendrick. Anna is young and inexperienced. She has never actually fired anyone, so she is sent out on the road with Clooney by boss Jason Bateman (Craig Gregory) to learn what the process is really like, up close and personal. When she says, to Vera Farmigia’s character, “I really appreciate everything that your generation did for me,” and tells her that she hopes she looks as good as Vera does “in 15 years,” you have to smile. (Either that or cry.)

There is a telling scene in the film with dialogue that pretty well snaps into focus the idea that it is immature to shirk responsibilities and work so hard to remain unattached, footloose and fancy-free. The women in the film drive it home the most directly, declaring that they are  “grown-ups” who consider Clooney’s character’s approach to life immature. As he declares to rooms of rapt seminar listeners, “The slower we move, the faster we die.  We’re not swans, we’re sharks.” As they say, “You are an escape. A break from our normal lives. A parenthesis.”

Clooney tells his soon-to-be brother-in-law (who is experiencing a bad case of double approach-avoidance response, otherwise known as cold feet, on the day of his wedding to Clooney’s sister (played by Amy Morton, better-known from her continuing appearances as the neighbor on television’s “Two and One-Half Men”): “Life’s better with company. Everybody needs a co-pilot.” The prospective brother-in-law, played by Danny McBride as Jim Miller, has shut himself away reading “The Velveteen Rabbit” and is undergoing a moment of existential angst. He asks Clooney (who is sent in to convince him to go through with the wedding), “What is the point?” Clooney’s answer? “There is no point.”

Another great exchange has Clooney saying to his sister Julie Bingham, (Melanie Lynskey) “I tell people how to avoid commitment.” She responds, “What kind of f*****-up message is that?”

By film’s end, you’ll have your answer, and so will Clooney’s character of Ryan Bingham.

The Ten Best Movies of 2009

 The Ten Best Movies of the Year 2009…or any year…are always difficult to pick, even if you have been doing your homework and attending film festivals (Chicago, Toronto) in order to be able to see those that are most-lauded. The best of the best always seem to hit the Quad Cities late or not at all. [I remember having to drive to Iowa City to see Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” in 1994, which limped into town months late.]

 

The films I’m going to point out have not necessarily played the Quad Cities yet. In some cases, that is because they haven’t been officially released yet.  I hope they will arrive in town soon. Film festivals give you a chance to get an “advance peek” at a few and to hear about them from the actors, directors and producers themselves.

 

Please note:  These are in no particular order.

 

“The Hurt Locker” – Director Kathryn Bigelow took newcomer Jeremy Renner, an unknown (surrounded by a cast of unknowns) who plays a hell-bent-for-leather bomb defuser in 2004 Baghdad, and delivers a film that is one of the year’s best. Intense. Riveting.

 

‘Up in the Air” – Jason Reitman directs George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick in a film about a man who travels the world firing people and collecting frequent flyer miles. As the “New York Times” put it, Clooney and Farmiga are voted “the couple most likely to have an argument and get off on it.” I have a vested interest in seeing the film do well. The music for the film was selected by Rick Clark, my daughter’s mentor in Nashville for three years of her college classes in Music Business at Belmont University and she often assisted him with his selection(s) and with his Sirius radio show. (Clark also advised on the music for “Juno”). A sure-fire Oscar contender.

 

“The Informant” – Matt Damon played two strong roles this year, and this one, as a midwestern mid-level employee of ADM who turns informant for the F.B.I. was terrific. His turn in “Invictus” (a Clint Eastwood-directed film with Morgan Freeman undoubtedly bound for Oscar nominations) as a soccer player helping Nelson Mandela bring South Africa kicking and screaming into the post-apartheid period will undoubtedly score big in March as well. [Since the latter hasn’t played here yet, just remember, on March 7^th: “I told you so.”]

 

“Up” – Films with the word “up” in the title did well in 2009. (Next year “down”?) This is the Pixar animated film about the widower who attaches balloons to his house and goes…well…up…with a young stowaway aboard. I saw it in 3D in a theater on Sunset Boulevard with a live Disney show preceding it; the film’s a touching bit of animated magic.

 

“500 Days of Summer” – I was on my way to a showing of “The Cove” (a likely nominee for Best Documentary Oscar dealing with the trapping and killing of dolphins) and stumbled into the wrong theater. I stayed to see this romantic comedy. Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and Zooey Deschanel are young lovers, but the film’s ultimate message seems to be that there IS more than one perfect “love” for us if we just keep an open mind and a positive outlook. The “breaking-into-dance” scene, alone, makes it one of the more imaginative film treatments at the movies this year.

 

“Precious” – Undeniably gut-wrenching. Haven’t seen a film more depressing since “The Hours” or “Angela’s Ashes,” but it is powerful stuff. Oprah is promoting it Big Time, and it’s bound to garner nominations, probably for its unknown star, Gabriel Gabby Sidibe and others. Strong performances from Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz contribute and the film has generated major Oscar buzz. [Tickets in Chicago, where it premiered, went for $50, minimum].

 

Red Cliff – This is a film by the great John Woo. I wandered in not expecting much and found a film that makes “Braveheart,” “Spartacus” and “The Gladiator,” all rolled into one, look like a square dance. Back in top form after years of trying to fit into the Hollywood studio cookie-cooker mold with films like “Mission Impossible II “ and “Face/Off”, Woo returns to his native land and does this ancient Chinese story proud. (see www.weeklywilson.com and/or www.associatedcontent.com for complete review). It’s very long, and, yes, it has sub-titles, but it’s really a breath-taking film achievement.

 

“An Education” – Peter Svaarsgard’s film about a May-December romance is garnering much buzz for the female lead, Carey Mulligan as Jenny. (For those who care, Ms. Mulligan is supposedly Shia LeBouef’s off-screen girlfriend of the moment).

 

2012:  Sure, it’s CG generated, but it’s terrific audience fun. The actors are less important than the special effects, but John Cusack, Amanda Peet and Woody Harrelson don’t disappoint in this film about the end of the world in 2012. Woody Harrelson, this year alone, played Charlie Frost in 2012, Tallahassee in the fun flick “Zombieland” (they’re already making “Zombieland 2”, and Captain Tony Stone in “The Messenger.”

 

Toss-Up: “Brothers” and/or “The Messenger”: These films have similarities. Saw “The Messenger” in Chicago, with Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster. Foster was there, in person, answering questions after the screening. “The Messenger,” like John Irving’s novel “A Prayer for Owen Meany” deals with the soldiers who must give the bad news of the death of a loved one to military families. Co-starring as the woman getting the bad news is the Oscar-nominated Samantha Morton, who was so good in “Minority Report” and as Sarah in the 2002 film “In America.” “Brothers,” starring Jake Gylenhall, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman, explores the damage to the psyche that war creates. Jake and Tobey are brothers, one a screw-up, one a war hero. Fine performances, also, from Sam Shepherd as Hank Cahill, the father who always favored Tobey, and Mare Winningham as Elsie Cahill. The little girls are great. Taylor Geare as Maggie Cahill melts your heart in her scenes, and her little sister Cassie, played by Carrie Mulligan, is good as well. When Tobey returns from having been a POW (briefly) in Afghanistan, he cannot get it out of his head that his brother (Jake Gylenhall) and his wife (Natalie Portman) have been sleeping together. He is also consumed with guilt over his actions while held prisoner and something’s got to give. He comes home a totally different individual than when he left. Problems ensue Tobey McGuire turns in a riveting Ocar-caliber performance, the best of his career. The movie was filmed in New Mexico.

 

Honorable Mention:  I loved “Jennifer’s Body,” despite the gore, the new film scripted by Diablo Cody (of “Juno”) starring Megan Fox. Haven’t seen “Coraline” but hear it’s a likely nominee come March in some categories. Likewise, haven’t had a child to take with me to “Where the Wild Things Are.” Looking forward to “The Road” (Not yet released) – which looks like it will make a better film vehicle for Viggo Mortenson than the Cormac McCarthy book was a read, as it takes us into post-Apcalyptic America. “Avator’ (James Cameron returns on 12/18). I liked “Public Enemies” with Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard and Christian Bale in a Michael Mann-directed crime romance, because Johnny finally looked more like “People” magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” than he has in many of his screen outings. Also good: “Star Trek” with Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine and Eric Bana, “I Love You, Man” with surprisingly fresh performances from Paul Rudd and Jason Segel as buddies who bond, and the year’s most-watched comedy, “The Hangover,” good stupid fun in the “Animal House” tradition. I’m still waiting to see “Shutter Island,” the Martin Scorsese-directed film with Leonardo DeCaprio. (Where did it go?) Likewise, want to see “The Invention of Lying” (Ricky Gervais) and Sam Mendes’ “Away We Go.” (So many movies; so little time.)  

 

 

I’m going to come right out and say I liked the smash blockbuster movie of the season, using a direct quote from “2012:”  “Oh, baby! Bring it on!”

 I put off going to the opening weekend of the Roland Emmerich-helmed CG extravaganza because I thought that it would be as boring as I found Will Smith’s last ill-advised foray as super-hero Hancock (opposite Charlize Theron), but I’ve got to say that “2012” was fun to watch, and the world apparently agrees with me.

 

 “2012’s” domestic gross was $65.2 million, but that was just 28% of the story, as it took in $230.4 million worldwide over the weekend. It smashed the competition (primarily Jim Carrey’s Disney movie “A Christmas Carol” in England and, in the United States, where the take for “2012” was almost 3 times what Scrooge was able to muster ($65.2 versus $22.3).

 

I’ve got some thoughts about why this movie from the creator of “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow” is doing so well. It is cleverly constructed to prey on all the gloom-and-doom news stories of the day. About the only topical disaster that doesn’t weigh in is H1N1 or a virus-to-be-named later. But the movie works, and works well, primarily because it has colossal special effects and who doesn’t want to see Las Vegas, the Santa Monica Pier, Washington, D.C., and New York’s Times Square blown to smithereens. It’s fun seeing Vatican City collapse on the faithful and the Washington Monument almost take the President out, even if the movie does run a tad long at 2 hours 38 minutes. But who cares? It’s “Earthquake,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Towering Inferno,” and “The Poseidon Adventure” all rolled into one. (*I once took a busload of 8^th grade students to see a double-bill featuring “Earthquake” and “Towering Inferno,” which we dubbed “The Shake-and-Bake Special.”)

 

This film cost a quarter of a million dollars and 1,000 people at 15 separate special effects companies used 500,000 tons of steel and a blue screen 60 feet long to come up with some of the fun stuff. Fun if you like Mayan calendar predictions of disaster and cheesy dodging of cracking highways in a limo driven by John Cusack (much like the boulder chasing Harrison Ford in “Indiana Jones”) and all kinds of conflict set up for the ‘bad guy,” whose name is—rather cleverly in an obvious way)—Mr. Annheuser. (So, class, what do you automatically think when you hear the word “Annheuser?”)

 

One reason I liked the flick is that the cast is a very good one, even if the script really just takes us along for the CG ride. John Cusack is a familiar face (especially to those of us with Chicago connections) and he is the center of the film, playing struggling author-turned-limo driver Jackson Curtis for a Russian billionaire. He and his wife, Amanda Peet, are apparently separated and she has a live-in boyfriend, played by Tom McCarthy, a plastic surgeon and, coincidentally, the director of “The Visitor” and “The Station Agent.” McCarthy is coming at us again as an actor in “The Lovely Bones” next month.

 

Chiwetel Ejiofor, who played Huey Lucas in “American Gangster” and will soon be onscreen opposite Angelina Jolie in “Salt”, plays the black scientist, Adrian Helmsley. Two child actors round out the original Curtis family, one played by Morgan Lily, who was the lemonade-stand girl on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and one played by Liam James as Noah Curtis. People old enough to remember George Segal in his prime will enjoy seeing him again, and we must mention Thandie Newton as Laura Wilson, President Wilson’s (Danny Glover’s) daughter.

 

Oliver Platt gets to do the honors as the self-serving Annheuser, who provokes a debate on whether we mere peons down in the valley deserve to be told that the largest tidal wave in history is on its way, so batten the hatches! Annheuser, of course, is much more interested in “saving” the mucky-mucks, including the government and anyone with one billion Euros to buy a seat on one of the Arks being built in China. Annheuser’s attitude provokes debates between his character of a party-line politician and the good-hearted Dr. Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who asks, “When do we let the people know?” and “I think people have a right to know.” Other lines suggest that, “The moment we stop caring for one another, that’s when we lose our humanity,” and “we mustn’t start our future with an act of cruelty.”  Annheuser takes a much more hard-line approach (“What did you think? We were all just going to join hands and sing Kumbayah?”)

 

Woody Harrelson as the Dr. Demento of Yellowstone, radio’s Charlie Frost, predicting the Armageddon that is about to occur, is a hoot, but he’s much better served by his recent turn in “The Messenger,” where he plays straight. [I fear that Woody is going to become typecast in roles like “Zombieland” and this, with fewer serious roles in the mix, if he isn’t careful, but I’m sure the payday for this film was worth it. I remember thinking that Gary Busey would have done the part proud, as well.]

 

Sure, there are things that seem very inauthentic, like the limo driving as the road collapses and the plane making it off the runway as the runway disappears and the “it’s a suicide mission” bit aboard the Ark, but it’s a fun CG movie. Its awesome special effects should garner Oscar nominations come March.

 

Here are some other things that I found interesting, besides the bogus charge that the Mayans thought the world would end in 2012 because their calendar ended then (there have been active denials of this by official Mayan spokesmen, …whoever they are.)

A long list of “wrong” things or anachronisms in the movie exists on the Internet data-base IMDB, including the fact that aircraft carriers don’t paint the name of the ship on the ship’s deck, as appears with the carrier USS JFK that is swept to its doom.  Besides that, the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67 was decommissioned and mothballed in 2007, residing in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard now. The keen-eyed also noticed that, when Vegas is destroyed, there is a sign advertising Bette Midler’s Show, which is scheduled to end in January, 2010. I noticed that the Virgin Records store sign is still up in Times Square in New York City, although the last store closed in June of 2009 (in Los Angeles).

 

The script is ponderous, of course, with bad Russian accents to boot, and much pontificating (“Our culture is our soul and that’s not dying tonight.” “The moment that we stop caring for one another, that’s when we lose our humanity.”) The science, (for someone who dropped out of Physics after one day) was basically mumbo-jumbo, and I feel fairly certain that 1,578 miles of the Earth’s crust displacing because of temperatures rising across the globe is not my biggest concern.

 

But the thing that this film does so expertly is weave the rampant paranoia abroad in the land into a maelstrom of “fear and chaos spreading throughout the land,” (as the film’s own script puts it). Only 400,000 people can be saved. “I’m comin’ home, Dorothy” may or may not be a reference to the Wizard of Oz, but it’s definitely the case that one producer is from Wisconsin, so Cheeseheads everywhere will be happy to learn that there are at least three references to Wisconsin, including the fact that, after the Apocalypse, either the North or South Pole has relocated there.

 

And let’s give credit to Graham Hancock who wrote the novel “Fingerprint of the Gods” on which all this craziness is based. The scripting by Roland Emmerich (the director) and Harald Kloser leaves a lot to be desired, but who cares when we’re ramming speed in the race to self-destruction. (“We caused this thing; it was us!”)

In looking for the “Most Romantic Films for Audiences Over 50,” I couldn’t narrow it down to 10, but went for 25 and The Films of Richard Gere. Hope you like it. Let’s hear your nominees!

1)      “The African Queen” (1951) – Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart are Charlie Allnut and Rose Sayer in a Jon Huston-direcxted film based on a C.S Forester novel.

2)  “The Quiet Man” (1952) – John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in a John Ford film.

3)      “From Here to Eternity” (1953) – Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster in the surf on the beach, with an all-star cast including Montgomery Clift, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra in a come-back role, Ernest Borgnine and Jack Warden in a film directed by Fred Zinneman.

4)      “Sabrina” (1954) – Audrey Hepburn in a love triangle with Humphrey Bogart and William Holden.

5)      “Picnic” (1955) Who can forget the sexy dance performed by William Holden and Kim Novak?

6)      “Marty” (1955) – Misfit butcher Ernest Borgnine won an Oscar as a less-than-handsome man looking for love, and finding it in Betsy Blair’s Clara Snyder. Paddy Chayefsky story and screenplay.

7)      “The King and I” (1955)- Deborah Kerr as Anne Leonowens and Yul Brynner in the role of his life as King Mongkut of Siam.

8)      “An Affair to Remember” (1957) – Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant as Tory McKay and Nickie Ferrante, and a great theme song.

9)       “Raintree County” (1957) – Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift.

10)   “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961) – Audrey Hepburn as Holly GoLightly in a Blake Edwards-directed film from the Truman Capote novel, with George Peppard as Paul and Buddy Ebsen as the ghost of her past.

11)  “Splendor in the Grass” (1961) – Natalie Wood as Wilma “Deanie” Loomis and Warren Beatty as Bud Stamper, in an Elia Kazan-directed film from writer William Inge.

12)  “Love with the Proper Stranger” (1963) – Steve Mcqueen is Rocky Papasano and Natalie Wood is Macy’s shopgirl Angie Rossini, struggling with the fact that abortion is highly illegal in 1963.

13)  “Dr. Zhivago” (1965) – David Lean directed Omar Sharif as Dr. Yuri Zhivago and Julie Christie as Lara.

14)  “This Property is Condemned” (1966) – A Syndey Pollack film from a Tennessee Williams screenplay, which Francis Ford Coppola scripted and which starred Natalie Wood as Alva Starr and Robert Redford as Owen Legate.

15)  “Barefoot in the Park” (1967) – Jane Fonda and Robert Redford are Paul and Core Bratter in this Neil Simon play, and thenlove breaks out between Charles Boyer, as Victor Velasco, and Mildred Natwick as Ethel Banks, the mother-in-law.

16)  “Love Story” (1970) – Arthur Heller directed this film from Erich Segal’s book (and screenplay) starring Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw.

17)  “Ryan’s Daughter” (1970)- Sarah Miles and Christopher Jones in another David Lean film, from a script by Richard Bolt.

18)   “Grease” (1978) – John Travolta as Danny Zuko and Olivia Newton-John as Sandy Olsson made summer romance fun.

19)  “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1981) – It was hot the first time, with Lana Turner, and Jessica Lange and Jack Nicholson did  this Bob Rafaelson screenplay project justice, even if it does involve scheming to kill Jessica’s husband.

20)  “Dirty Dancing” (1987) – Patrick Swayze is Johnny Castle and “nobody puts Baby in the corner.” Jennifer Grey played Frances “Baby” Houseman (pre-nose-job) and Jerry Orbach was her dad.

21)  “No Way Out” (1987) – Kevin Costner and Sean Young getting it on in a limo. Hot, hot hot.

22)  “When Harry Met Sally” (1989) – Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. The most romantic thing about the movie is/are the cameos at the end with real-life couples who have been together for decades.

23)  “Ghost” (1990) – Demi Moore and the late Patrick Swayze as Sam Wheat and Molly Jensen.

24)  “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) – Nora Ephron directed Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Later they’d try “You’ve Got Mail,” but not as successfully.

25)  “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995) – Richard LaGravenese wrote the screenplay based on the Robert James Waller novel, and Clint Eastwood was Robert Kincaid, the roving photographer who catches the eye of Iowa farm wife Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep).

And last, but certainly not least, no list would be complete without the category: The Romantic Films of Richard Gere (at least those that worked). “Yanks” (1979); “American Gigolo” (1980); “An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982); “Breathless” (1983); “No Mercy” (1986); “Pretty Woman” (1990); “First Knight” (1995). There’ve been a couple of others from Richard that I won’t mention, but “Unfaithful,” where Richard plays the cuckolded husband to Diane Lane’s unfaithful wife, was romantic…just not for Richard.

I would have mentioned “It Happened One Night” (1934) and “Casablanca” (1942), but I added 10 years to someone who is “over 50” (meaning born in 1959) and, while those films definitely belong on the list, you’d be definitely “over 50” and probably over 80, if you saw Clark (Gable) and Claudette (Colbert) when that Oscar-nominated film was new. For today’s movie-goers (of which I am one), let’s not forget the very recent Best Picture of the Year, “Slumdog Millionaire,” a love story for the ages.