Opening this Week: Avatar, Young Victoria, and Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Posted on December 14, 2009 at 3:38 pm

This week, I’ll be reviewing “Young Victoria,” with Emily Blunt as the teenager whose reign as queen of England defined an era. It is produced by Sarah Ferguson, former daughter-in-law of Queen Victoria’s great-great-great-granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II. And there’s also the romantic comedy about an estranged couple who are stuck with each other in the witness protection program, “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” with Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker. But the big news this week is “Avatar,” now officially the most expensive film of all time, from James Cameron, whose last record-breaking budget led to record-smashing box office returns: “Titanic.” “Avatar” is a 3D animated story about a world of 10-ft blue creatures with tails and the humans who interact with them via computer-generated substitutes. That review will be up late Friday; the others on Thursday night.

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Opening This Week

The Gathering

Posted on December 14, 2009 at 10:00 am

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	NR
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Tense family confrontations
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	1977
Date Released to DVD:	December 15, 2009
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00310P2H2

I’m thrilled that one of my favorite Christmas movies is available on DVD for the first time from Warner Brothers. It is the Emmy-award winning The Gathering and it stars Ed Asner and Maureen Stapleton as the long-separated parents of adult children. He is a wealthy man who has devoted his life to his business. He asks her for help in bringing the family together for Christmas because he has learned that he is dying and this will be his last chance to see them. It has been digitally re-mastered for this DVD edition. The sequel, “Gathering II,” is also available on DVD but has not been re-mastered.
I am very fond of these holiday family gathering drama with old tensions and insecurities revived as family members gather for the holidays and this is one of the best. Every member of the family has some issue to resolve and the performances are exceptional, especially the brilliant Stapleton, who shows us her character’s strength and vulnerability. This is a bittersweet classic of the season.

Critic’s Choice Nominees

Posted on December 14, 2009 at 8:43 am

The Broadcast Film Critics have announced our nominations, often the best predictor of the Oscars. I am hoping to attend the awards event, which will be broadcast on VH1 on January 15. I’ll be voting on these soon, so if you have favorites, let me know!
The BFCA consists of 235 television, radio and online film critics. It is the largest critics organization in the United States and Canada.
BEST PICTURE
“Avatar”
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Invictus”
“Nine”
“Precious”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up In The Air”
BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges – “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney – “Up In The Air”
Colin Firth – “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman – “Invictus”
Viggo Mortensen – “The Road”
Jeremy Renner – “The Hurt Locker”
BEST ACTRESS
Emily Blunt – “The Young Victoria ”
Sandra Bullock – “The Blind Side”
Carey Mulligan – “An Education”
Saoirse Ronan – “The Lovely Bones”
Gabourey Sidibe – “Precious”
Meryl Streep – “Julie & Julia”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon – “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson – “The Messenger”
Christian McKay – “Me And Orson Welles”
Alfred Molina – “An Education”
Stanley Tucci – “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard – “Nine”
Vera Farmiga – “Up In The Air”
Anna Kendrick – “Up In The Air”
Mo’Nique – “Precious”
Julianne Moore – “A Single Man”
Samantha Morton – “The Messenger”
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Jae Head – “The Blind Side”
Bailee Madison – “Brothers”
Max Records – “Where The Wild Things Are”
Saoirse Ronan – “The Lovely Bones”
Kodi Smit-McPhee – “The Road”
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Nine”
“Precious”
“Star Trek”
“Up In The Air”
BEST DIRECTING
Kathryn Bigelow – “The Hurt Locker”
James Cameron – “Avatar”
Lee Daniels – “Precious”
Clint Eastwood – “Invictus”
Jason Reitman – “Up In The Air”
Quentin Tarantino – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Mark Boal – “The Hurt Locker”
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – “A Serious Man”
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber – “(500) Days Of Summer”
Bob Peterson, Peter Docter – “Up”
Quentin Tarantino – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach – “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell – “District 9”
Geoffrey Fletcher – “Precious”
Tom Ford, David Scearce – “A Single Man”
Nick Hornby – “An Education”
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner – “Up In The Air”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Barry Ackroyd – “The Hurt Locker”
Dion Beebe – “Nine”
Mauro Fiore – “Avatar”
Andrew Lesnie – “The Lovely Bones”
Robert Richardson – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST ART DIRECTION
Dan Bishop – “A Single Man”
Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg – “Avatar”
John Myhre, Gordon Sim – “Nine”
Naomi Shohan, George De Titta, Jr. – “The Lovely Bones”
David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds Wasco – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST EDITING
Dana E. Glauberman – “Up In The Air”
Sally Menke – “Inglourious Basterds”
Bob Murawski, Chris Innis – “The Hurt Locker”
Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron – “Avatar”
Claire Simpson, Wyatt Smith – “Nine”
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Colleen Atwood – “Nine”
Janet Patterson – “Bright Star”
Sandy Powell – “The Young Victoria ”
Anna Sheppard – “Inglourious Basterds”
Casey Storm – “Where The Wild Things Are”
BEST MAKEUP
“Avatar”
“District 9”
“Nine”
“The Road”
“Star Trek”
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Avatar”
“District 9”
“The Lovely Bones”
“Star Trek”
“2012”
BEST SOUND
“Avatar”
“District 9”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Nine”
“Star Trek”
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs”
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“Princess And The Frog”
“Up”
BEST ACTION MOVIE
“Avatar”
“District 9”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”
BEST COMEDY
“(500) Days Of Summer”
“The Hangover”
“It’s Complicated”
“The Proposal”
“Zombieland”
BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
“Gifted Hands”
“Grey Gardens”
“Into The Storm”
“Taking Chance”
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Broken Embraces”
“Coco Before Chanel”
“Red Cliff”
“Sin Nombre”
“The White Ribbon”
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“Anvil”
“Capitalism: A Love Story”
“The Cove”
“Food, Inc.”
“Michael Jackson’s This Is It”
BEST SONG
“All Is Love” – Karen O, Nick Zinner – “Where The Wild Things Are”
“Almost There” – Randy Newman – “The Princess And The Frog”
“Cinema Italiano” – Maury Yeston – “Nine”
“(I Want To) Come Home” – Paul McCartney – “Everybody’s Fine”
“The Weary Kind” – T Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham – “Crazy Heart”
BEST SCORE
Michael Giacchino – “Up”
Marvin Hamlisch – “The Informant!”
Randy Newman – “The Princess and the Frog”
Karen O, Carter Burwell – “Where The Wild Things Are”
Hans Zimmer – “Sherlock Holmes”

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Awards

Quiz: Christmas Movies

Posted on December 9, 2009 at 3:59 pm

How many of these Christmas movie questions can you answer?
1. Two successful male performers have to step in for a sister act to perform one of their signature songs.
2. There are many versions of the Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol,” but only one has dual Marley ghosts. Which one?
3. And which version has an aptly-named performer playing the lead role?
4. Which classic television movie features the Heat Miser and the Snow Miser? Extra credit: Who is their mother?
5. Name three inhabitants of the Island of Misfit Toys.
6. What classic has a child recite the story of the nativity from the Gospel of Luke?
7. Which Christmas classic has two characters named Bert and Ernie?
8. Which movie has one character ask whether Santa sleeps with his beard outside or inside the covers?
9. Which movie features Cindy Lou Who?
10. What was the secret message revealed by Ralphie’s decoder ring?

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Quiz

From Swastika to Jim Crow

Posted on December 8, 2009 at 3:19 pm

Because this is the 20th anniversary of the Washington DC Jewish Film Festival, all of the previous festival directors were given the chance to pick their favorites from past years to put on this year’s schedule. That is how I got to see “From Swastika to Jim Crow” today.
Hitler came to power in January of 1933. In April of that year, Jewish professors started being dismissed from universities and within a month, most of them were gone. About 1200 came to the United States. And of that group, about 50 ended up at one of the traditionally black colleges. Finding themselves in areas segregated by law and culture, these “refugee scholars” were in “double exile.” They had lost their home, their country, their friends, their families, their jobs, and their language. And they were in a place where they were seen as triply suspicious outsiders — Jews, immigrants, intellectuals.
Interviews with the professors, their families, and their students and archival footage bring us into the world of these immigrants, who found they had more in common with their black students and colleagues than with the white members of the community. It is especially poignant when one explains that the black students were better able than whites to comprehend the information that came out about the Holocaust atrocities because “the notion of man’s inhumanity was not foreign” to them. The white community did not accept the refugee scholars but that does not mean they did not tell them how to live. One was threatened for entertaining students in his home. A newspaper headline notes: “White Professor Fined $25 for Eating with a Negro.”
One-time students, now distinguished scholars themselves, talk movingly about these professors, whose struggle, survival, and commitment to excellence and knowledge was itself an education.
An exhibit inspired by the movie is now at the New York Museum of Jewish Heritage and will go on tour.

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Documentary Festivals