Razzies and Spirit Awards

Posted on March 7, 2010 at 11:58 am

Sandra Bullock certainly gets the good sport award for her gracious acceptance of the worst actress Razzie for her performance in All About Steve. She came out on stage with a wagon full of DVDs for everyone. If she wins tonight, that will make her the first person to win both an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year.

I really hated the movie, but I recognized that she had good intentions and a good idea and her performance was not the problem. And Bradley Cooper (her co-awardee for worst couple) was certainly blameless. The Razzie should go to the screenwriter. I also thought the Jonas Brothers’ award was mean-spirited. They weren’t acting; it was a documentary. But I completely support the Razzie for Land of the Lost.

Worst Picture of 2009:

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

Worst Actress of 2009:

Sandra Bullock

All About Steve

Worst Actor(s) of 2009:

All Three Jonas Brothers

Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience

Worst Screen Couple:

Sandra Bullock & Bradley Cooper

All About Steve

Worst Supporting Actress:

Sienna Miller

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Worst Supporting Actor:

Billy Ray Cyrus

Hannah Montana: The Movie

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel

Land of The Lost

Worst Director:

Michael Bay

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

Worst Screenplay:

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

On a happier note, the Spirit Awards for independent films were given out on Friday night. Eddie Izzard was surprisingly disappointing as the host and Ben Stiller ruined his segment with a trashy stunt, but the laid-back ceremony continues to have the best sense of passion and community of any of the award shows. “Precious” was the big winner with awards for leading and supporting actresses, best director, and best picture. All of their acceptance speeches were sensational. I especially loved seeing the documentary award go to Anvil, who also got a chance to perform with a great introduction from Dave Grohl. Here are the very worthy winners:

Best Film: Precious

Best Director: Lee Daniels, Precious

Best Actress: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

Best Documentary: Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Best Foreign film: An Education

Best Debut film: Scott Cooper, Crazy Heart

Best First screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious

Best Screenplay: Scott Neustader and Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer

Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, A Serious Man

John Cassavetes Award: Lynn Shelton, Humpday

Robert Altman Award: A Serious Man

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Anvil: The Story of Anvil

Posted on October 6, 2009 at 3:40 pm

If this story wasn’t true, they’d have to invent it. Indeed, they already did. “This is Spinal Tap,” one of the most outrageous, influential, and utterly hilarious movies ever made, is a “mockumentary,” a fake documentary about a heavy metal rock group on a disastrous tour in support of a disastrous new album. “Anvil: The Story of Anvil” is an actual documentary about an actual heavy metal rock group on a disastrous tour in hopes of making a new album and it is hilarious and touching and completely captivating.

Like all great documentaries, this is the story of a passionate dream. Guitarist Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner (not to be confused with one-b Rob Reiner, who directed “This is Spinal Tap”) met as teens in a small town near Toronto and have been performing together for four decades. They had a brief brush with success in the 1970’s, when they performed at a festival with acts that have since gone one to sell hundreds of millions of CDs, and their Metal on Metal album is considered seminal to the genre. But for some reason, they never made it despite subsequent alliterative albums like Worth the Weight and Hard n Heavy. The eternally optimistic Lips has a day job delivering school lunches. But when a European fan calls to say she has booked them on a tour, they drop everything and go. Everything goes wrong. But, as Lips says, at least they have a tour for things to go wrong on.

There are some nice little bows to “Spinal Tap” — a producer whose amps go to 11, a drive by Stonehenge. And the inspired title lets you know from the beginning that it is cheekily subversive, even of its own pretensions. It never takes itself or the band too seriously. But the passion of its characters for rocking out hard and for the partnership they share is perfectly suited to rock as the ultimate affirmation of life in the face of The Man in all forms, from club managers who don’t pay to recording executives who don’t get it to time that goes by too fast. The support of their families and their unquenchable commitment to the music is ineffably moving. It is funny and surprising but filled with heart.

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