Tis the Awards Season: Golden Globe Nominations

The Golden Globe Nominations have been announced! Check them out after the jump.

Tis the Awards Season: SAG Award Nominations

It's that special time of the year! It's awards season folks and boy is it shaping up to be interesting. After the jump check out the SAG award nominations. There were definately some surprises to say the least. Check 'em out after the jump.

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective Part 3: The 1990's - Schindler's List (1993)

Schindler's List

Release Date: December 15, 1993

Runtime: 195 Minutes

Awards: Won 7 Oscars-Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Picture, Best Screenplay

Read Jamie's thoughts after the jump!

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective Part 3: The 1990's - Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park

Release Date: June 11, 1993

Runtime: 127 Mins

Winner of all three Academy Awards for which it was nominated including Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects

Read our thoughts after the jump...

Review: We Need to Talk about Kevin

By Sean Knight
1 and a half out of 4 stars *1/2

            Director Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin is a grim and ugly piece of work.  It’s a film with a botched understanding of the human psyche.  It is so one sided and relentless in its depiction of a troubled child (i.e. sociopath), that it leaves the audience feeling exhausted and nauseous.  It uses blatantly obvious visual metaphors to get its points across and has no room for nuance or subtlety.  We Need to Talk About Kevin is a sensationalistic and exploitive picture with no soul.  It is one of the most disappointing films of the year.

            Tilda Swinton stars as Eva Khatchadourian, the mother of a trouble child, named Kevin, who will grow up to do unspeakable things.  Much of the picture involves her interactions with her disturbed son and her growing paranoia that he may be evil.  If this sounds like the plot of a satanic horror film to you than you’re not far off.  We Need to Talk about Kevin has more in common with The Omen than it does with a domestic drama.  Swinton does give a fully realized performance as Eva, and her work should be commended as she gives depth to a character who isn’t much more likeable than her devilish son.  She has moments of despair that are palpable.  The problem is that everyone around her thinks that she is crazy for thinking that there is something wrong with her darling boy.  But, from the first glance at this kid anyone can see that he has gone off the deep end.  And that is the major problem of the film – Ramsay doesn’t see any need to explore Kevin’s psyche or show any side to him other than that he is disturbed.  It’s too easy to show Kevin as a monster.  What would have been far more compelling would have been to see the different shades of Kevin.  Even monsters have feelings and moments of clarity.  But Ramsay doesn’t have time for that sort of nonsense.  She wants us to know just how horrible Kevin is right from the start.

            The visual metaphors start right at the beginning and are bashed over our head again and again right to the very end.  Eva’s house is damaged by someone throwing a large bucket of red paint on it.  She spends much of the film trying to clean it up while having flashbacks.  We see shots over and over again of the red paint on her hands obviously symbolizing her washing away the blood of the victims of her son. There is also a ham-fisted sequence in which Eva drives home on Halloween and sees children dressed as monster parading throughout the streets.  This, of course, torments her because her son is the real monster!  The obvious symbolism is tedious and childish.  Ramsay doesn’t have the ability to trust her subject matter or her actors to convey the proper emotions.

It should be mentioned that John C. Reilly has a supporting role as Eva’s husband who is completely clueless about his son.  He spends much of the picture trying to convince Eva that she is crazy.  There is no love between them and as such there relationship is null and void.  It’s a waste of screen time.  Ezra Miller does the best he can with the adult Kevin, but his constant sneering grows tiresome within the first few minutes.  There is a coda at the end meant to bring us some kind of closure with the violent events that have unfolded, but it comes off as cold and hallow.  We Need to Talk about Kevin exhausted me with it banality and trivial treatment of a serious issue.  A huge disappointment. 

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Directed by Lynne Ramsay

Release Date: December 9, 2011

Runtime: 112 Mins

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective Part 3: The 1990's - Hook (1991)

Hook

Release Date: December 11, 1991

Runtime: 144 Mins

Nominated for Five Academy Awards including Best Original Song, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Make-Up, Best Visual Effects

Winner of Zero Academy Awards

Read on after the jump...

Review: Shame

By Sean Knight
4 out of 4 Stars ****

Director Steven McQueen’s Shame is a deeply unsettling work.  Its tale of sexual addiction has shades of Requiem for a Dream, but it is far less manic.  There is an overriding sense of ambiguity to the picture that will be maddening for some and provocative for others.  It features a fearless raw lead performance from Michael Fassbender, as Brandon, and a fraught emotionally naked supporting turn from Carey Mulligan as his sister, Sissy.  Shame exposes a sickness that many would like to ignore with a frank, methodical, and bleak sensibility.  McQueen dazzles technically while using his techniques to draw the audience into a sexual character study rarely depicted on film.  As such, Shame wears it’s rating of NC-17 as a badge of honor and does not shy away from its provocative subject matter.  It is one of the best films of the year.

Shame doesn’t have much in the way of a typical plot.  Instead, it is a slow burn of two desperate and damaged souls slipping into utter despair.  The film starts by following Brandon through his daily routine of masturbation, picking up women on subways, sleeping with prostitutes, and loads of Internet porn.  This is Brandon’s world, which is turned upside down when his lounge singer sister shows up on his doorstep asking for a place to stay.  It seems she is on her way out of some kind of relationship, which is not explained.  Her relationship with her brother borders on incestuous and it is implied that there was some sort of abuse during their childhood.  Sissy loves Brandon and is looking for a soul to take care of so she can heal her own.  Brandon doesn’t have time to save Sissy and this struggle between them is at the heart of Shame. 

The New York backdrop becomes integral into the thematic structure of the film, as both Brandon and Sissy are not native New Yorkers.  They have come to New York to escape their past.  Many people come to New York chasing their dreams and with the thought of changing their lives.  Shame makes the argument that location cannot help damaged people.  In the case of Brandon, it actually makes his addiction worse, as New York is filled with opportunities for casual and, sometimes, dangerous sex.  There is a striking scene early in the film where Brandon and his boss go to see Sissie sing at a club.  The camera lingers in close-ups of both Sissy and Brandon as she sings “New York, New York” and has a semi inner breakdown. .  If you can make it there, than you can make it anywhere, so the song says. It becomes a poignant statement of lost souls desperately clinging to their last ounce of humanity in a city that has consumed them.

Though Shame is uncompromising in it’s vision of human sexuality and addiction, it is never gratuitous.  Yes, there is plenty of nudity to be found throughout the film, but the camera often keeps its distance offering the viewpoint of an outside observer.  It is not until late in the picture that camera gets in close to the sex and offers a graphic depiction of the torment Brandon is feeling during it.  This sex montage is essential into understanding Brandon and sympathizing with a character that is distant and border-line unlikable for much of the film’s running time.  The full frame close-up of Brandon’s face during orgasm is filled with hate, pain and despair.  It’s an astonishing feat of acting and one of the most difficult scenes in the film.

         Shame does not spell out its intentions for its audience and it offers far many more questions than answers.  You may never get to know Brandon and Sissie fully as human beings, but you do come to understand their torment.  Shame is a difficult sit and it will be a polarizing film for many.  For me, its ambiguity was an asset and its relentless bleakness was as disturbing as it was compelling.  Fassbender and Mulligan should be commended for giving such brave and dedicated performances.  And, with Shame, director Steve McQueen should be elevated into the category of filmmaker whose future projects should be awaited with great anticipation.  I applaud Fox Searchlight for sticking by McQueen and releasing Shame with the NC-17 rating.  It is time that we stop ghettoizing and compromising films and artists that push boundaries and challenge their audience.  Perhaps the release of the brilliant and haunting Shame will be a major step forward in accomplishing this.


Shame
Directed By Steven McQueen
Release Date: December 2, 2011
Runtime: 101 Mins

The Steven Spielberg Retrospective Part 2: The 1980's - Empire of the Sun

Empire of the Sun

Release Date: December 9, 1987

Runtime: 152 mins

Nominated for Six Academy Awards including Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Sound.

Winner of ZERO Academy Awards

Sean here.  J. Link viewed Empire of the Sun on her own and her thoughts on the film can be found below. I just wanted to throw in my quick two cents.  To me, this is Spielberg's most underrated film and one of his greatest accomplishments.  It is ultimately about the death of childhood and this was definitely the film that gave Spielberg the strength to go on and tackle Schindler's List. Empire of the Sun was Christian Bale's first screen performance and it is still his finest.  It's a shame that he has an Oscar for The Fighter instead of his superb work here.  The climactic images in the film are haunting as we see Spielberg putting the final nails in the coffin of leaving childhood behind.  He would try to return to the childhood realm with Hook, but would fail miserably.  If you want to see the turning point in Spielberg's career, for better or for worse, look no further than Empire of the Sun.

J. Link's thoughts after the jump...