Category: For Your Consideration

For Your Consideration: Feb. 20, 2015

It’s a very special weekend, everybody: we have finally reached the end of the season of famous people giving shiny statues to other famous people. Who will triumph at the Oscars? “Birdman?” “Boyhood?” “The Imitation Game?” We’ll find out on Sunday night. But right now, we’re combining our Academy Award celebration with this weekend’s OTHER major event: yes, I’m talking about the release of “Hot Tub Time Machine 2.” Come take a step back through Oscar history with us, won’t you?

– Ethan

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004)

Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Jane Adams, David Cross

Available to rent or purchase from iTunes, Amazon Instant and Vudu, on disc from Netflix

10 years ago, Michel Gondry’s modern masterpiece only managed two Oscar nominations – Best Actress for Kate Winslet (deserved, though she somewhat pales in comparison to Jim Carrey’s unrecognized, career-best work opposite), and Best Original Screenplay. For comparison, “Finding Neverland” got six nominations that same year. So it goes. At least, in the best victory of the night that was otherwise dominated by milquetoast offerings like “Million Dollar Baby” and “Ray,” Charlie Kaufman took that screenplay award. The writer’s branch has always been the most daring part of the Academy when it comes to nominating genuinely great, oddball work, and this time even the rest of the membership couldn’t ignore the dazzling inventiveness and melancholy of Kaufman’s sci-fi-rom-com scenario.

– Ethan

“Ed Wood” (1994)

Cast: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, G.D. Spradlin, Vincent D’Onofrio, Bill Murray, Mike Starr, Max Casella, Lisa Marie

Available to rent or purchase from iTunes, Amazon Instant and Vudu, on disc from Netflix

20 years ago, Tiny Ethan was glad to be not yet old enough to recognize cinematic injustice. But I’ve had plenty of time since to make my distaste for “Forrest Gump” known, so we won’t linger on that. One of the few categories that wasn’t taken over by Zemeckis’ saccharine juggernaut was Best Supporting Actor, where Martin Landau was deservedly recognized for his work as aging film star Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s paean to the titular “worst director of all time.” This was something of a career award, the kind the Academy so dearly loves to dole out, for Landau: he’d come up with the Actors Studio decades earlier in New York City, befriended James Dean and Steve McQueen, and had two previous nominations (“Tucker,” “Crimes and Misdemeanors”) among his many workhorse credits. But Landau is also fantastic in “Ed Wood:” an appropriately Z-movie take on Norma Desmond, delusional and fierce and sympathetic, a former great at the end of his rope. It’s quite possibly the best acting performance ever put forward in a Burton movie – challenged, I think, only by Depp in the same film.

– Ethan

“The Godfather, Part II” (1974)

Cast: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Lee Strasberg, Michael V. Gazzo, G.D. Spradlin

Available to rent or purchase on Amazon Instant, iTunes and Vudu, on disc from Netflix

40 years ago, the first and only sequel ever to take Best Picture triumphed over one of the toughest (if a bit top-heavy) fields in Oscar history. I mean, how do you vote between “Godfather II,” Coppola’s other masterpiece “The Conversation,” and “Chinatown?” Some of the other choices might have been easier, though: Coppola’s father Carmine winning for Best Original Score was a decent way to make up for the controversy surrounding Nino Rota’s score for the original two years earlier; meanwhile, despite Fred Astaire standing as a sentimental favorite for his turn in the star-packed “The Towering Inferno,” Robert De Niro’s far superior performance won over in Best Supporting Actor – despite the actor, Hollywood royalty now but largely unknown at the time, never speaking a word of English in the film.

– Ethan

For Your Consideration: Feb. 6, 2015

Yesterday, Amy Pascal announced that she will be stepping down as co-chair of Sony Pictures when her contract expires next month. It’s not a particularly surprising announcement – after the notorious November e-mail hack aired her private, often unflattering feelings towards David Fincher, Angelina Jolie and any number of other key collaborators (not to mention jokes about our President that were at best ill-advised and at worst ignorant), Pascal’s time as a studio head was doomed, and Sony’s subsequent back-and-forth bungling of the release of “The Interview” was just icing on the cake. Why neither co-chair Michael Lynton, nor producer Scott Rudin, (the recipient and main participant in Pascal’s most cringeworthy email exchanges) seem to be getting quite the same grilling from the industry, well, I suppose that’s something to investigate another day.

In any case, Pascal is moving on to run her own production company, which might not be a bad thing. Since she started working for Columbia Pictures (now a Sony subsidiary) in 1988, Pascal’s shown an interesting knack for shepherding both successful prestige flicks and blockbuster fare (give or take an Amazing Spider-Man). This week, here’s three films that Pascal helped develop.

– Ethan

“A League of Their Own” (1992)

Cast: Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, Megan Cavanagh, Tracy Rainer, Bitty Schram, Ann Cusack, Anne Ramsay, David Strathairn, Bill Pullman, Jon Lovitz, Tea Leoni

Available to rent or purchase from Amazon Instant, Vudu, or iTunes, on disc from Netflix

That rare kind of film that manages to be just as charming and fun as it is enlightening. Penny Marshall’s “A League of Their Own” took a quickly-forgotten slice of American history, the All American-Girls Professional Softball League formed in the middle of WWII, and brought it to breezy, comical – and in the case of Tom Hanks’ Jimmy “There’s No Crying In Baseball” Dugan, iconic – life. Maybe now that she’s got some free time Amy Pascal can reunite with her former lead and get involved in Geena Davis’ female-filmmaker focused festival later this year.

– Ethan

“Casino Royale” (2006)

Cast: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Jeffrey Wright, Caterina Murino, Isaach de Bankolé, Tobias Menzies, Jesper Christensen

Available to purchase on Amazon Instant, Vudu and iTunes, on disc from Netflix

James Bond might be the most durable franchise in film history, but 2002’s “Die Another Day” sure did its darnedest to test that theory. As the series has managed to do in years past (“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” on the heels of “You Only Live Twice,” “GoldenEye” following “License to Kill”), the Bond production team – an always-complicated mess of developers at Eon Productions, MGM, the Broccoli family, and lately Sony – turned a complete 180, reinvigorating the franchise with a new actor, a new tone, and a hearty helping of theft from the latest action-movie trends. In this case, the dodgy CGI and horrifically absurd plotting of “Die Another Day” were replaced with the grit and brutal action of Jason Bourne and “Batman Begins” – which, led by the smirking, petulant Daniel Craig, ended up getting closer to the suave-but-troubled killing machine of Ian Fleming’s imagination than any previous attempt. The extended Texas Hold ‘Em tournament reeks of excessive mid-2000s fad-chasing, but otherwise “Casino Royale” is as thoroughly entertaining an action film as you could ask for.

– Ethan

“The Social Network” (2010)

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Rooney Mara, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Joseph Mazzello, Rashida Jones, Josh Pence

Available to rent or purchase on Amazon Instant, Vudu and iTunes, on disc from Netflix

Perhaps Sony should’ve taken a hint about cyber-security from Mark Zuckerberg’s antics in the opening sequence of David Fincher’s still-brilliant, moody and incisive critique of the pursuit of power in the digital age. “Citizen Kane” it’s not, but it also kind of is – certainly not so formally ground-breaking (although Fincher’s regular cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth is on great form here), “The Social Network” is still just as concerned with the alienating and paradoxical sacrifice of personal relationships in the name of wealth and influence as Orson Welles once was. The tools have changed, but the self-corrupting urges at the heart of our society stay the same. Eisenberg is cast perfectly as Aaron Sorkin’s desperately needy and abrasive take on the Facebook founder, while Andrew Garfield broke out as the in-over-his-head, not-so-innocent Eduardo Saverin; but surprisingly it’s Timberlake who threatens to steal the show as Sean Parker, playboy entrepreneur and modern Mephistopheles.

– Ethan

For Your Consideration: Jan. 30, 2015

Don’t call it a comeback – we just took a vacation, guys! It was a bit hard to keep in the swing of things over my winter break from school, but I’m back in the routine and that means it’s time to fire up our weekly FYC. Three film recommendations for your viewing pleasure – let’s see if you can spot this week’s theme.

– Ethan

“The Return of the Pink Panther” (1975)

Cast: Peter Sellers, Christopher Plummer, Catherine Schell, Herbert Lom, Peter Arne, David Lodge, Graham Stark, Burt Kwouk

Available to rent or purchase from Amazon Instant, iTunes and Vudu, on disc from Netflix

The third in the series of Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers’ Clouseau collaborations, “Return of the Pink Panther” doesn’t have the freshness of the original 1963 film, nor the more complete comedic vision of “A Shot in the Dark.” It’s rough around the edges and suffers from an interminably boring action-drama interlude in which Christopher Plummer half-heartedly attempts to be James Bond. But what “Return” does have is some of the most inspired set-piece gags ever given to Sellers, who at this point could squeeze a belly laugh out of a squint and a syllable of absurdly-accented dialogue. It’s a wonder that Gstaad is still standing after Inspector Clouseau is through with it. Tell me, do you have a rhhhuuuuuuum?

– Ethan

“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003)

Cast: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellan, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Andy Serkis, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto, Bernard Hill, Karl Urban, John Noble, David Wenham

Oh come on don’t make me look this up. It’s everywhere.

As countless other film trilogies and series have proven at this point, it’s immensely difficult to stick the landing. Peter Jackson may have had the advantage of shooting all three “Lord of the Rings” films together as a piece, but that was still no guarantee for the director that after over nine hours of story and two years of real time, audiences would still be right there with him. But that’s where we were. Mock the multiple “endings” of “Return of the King” all you want, but Jackson earned every one – “The Lord of the Rings” is a monumental feat of epic storytelling, that rare fantasy adaptation that feels just as bold and unbounded as the version in our imaginations. And “Return of the King” was the immensely satisfying conclusion, leaving us as the best stories do: sad to say goodbye, always wanting a little bit more, but safe in our knowledge that everything turned out as it should.

– Ethan

“The Return” (2003)

Cast: Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobranravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Nataliya Vdovina

Available streaming on Netflix, for rent or purchase from Amazon Instant

Director Andrei Zvyagintsev has made a stir this year with “Leviathan” (this year’s Golden Globe winner for Best Foreign Language Film and a contender for the same at the Oscars) a masterful and undaunted look at the crushing, rotting defeatism at the heart of Russian society and the overwhelming forces of oppression. But Zvyagintsev first burst on to the international scene with his impossibly assured debut “The Return,” a cold, hard slap of a film that announced the director’s interest in authority, the double-edged sword of familial bonds and the brutal weight of Soviet history. When two young brothers are suddenly reunited with their father after a 12-year absence, tension is already high, and laid bare in the isolated wilderness on what is supposedly a fishing vacation, the rift between father and sons becomes something primal, unspeakable. Working on a shoestring budget, Zvyagintsev and his cinematographer draw heavily on the visual aesthetic of Tarkovsky to shoot a landscape of unsettling beauty.

– Ethan