Critical Week: Baby you're a firework

I've only had one actual press screening in the last week - Ang Lee's new drama Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. It's a fascinating idea, made with a striking technical approach and a solid cast. But even they can't quite sell the rather simplistic dialog. On disc, I also caught up with the Swedish comedy-drama A Man Called Ove, a delightfully engaging story about a grumpy old man who begins to understand why he's like he is. Zero Days is another expertly assembled and deeply chilling documentary from Alex Gibney, this time about how a computer worm invaded the world and changed the nature of warfare. Another film doesn't have a UK release date, so here are my comments...

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Hello, My Name Is Doris

dir Michael Showalter;
with Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Tyne Daly, Stephen Root, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Kumail Nanjiani, Peter Gallagher, Natasha Lyonne 16/US ***
The clever premise of this comedy is somewhat undermined by its slapstick slant. Field is terrific as the retirement-age Doris, who has been caring for her mother all her life, and is only now getting her first taste of freedom, so she develops a crush on a hot new employee (Greenfield) in her office. Where this goes is warm and funny, and sometimes movingly astute. But the film is infused with corny touches, from Doris' frankly absurd clothing to her quirky bumbling. Refreshingly, she's also realistically web-savvy and open to pop musicality, which allows Field to transcend the limits of the writing and direction. And the plot has some nice surprises up its sleeve, most of all the chemistry between Field and Greenfield. And it thankfully avoids sentimentality. And it's great to see not only Field in such a meaty role, but also the fabulous Daly as her lifelong pal. Both should really be on our screens all the time.

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I don't have any screenings until January 10th, but I still have several unwatched screener discs at home to catch up on, plus an endless supply of screener links, if I can cope with watching movies hiccupping and buffering along the way. There are also unwatched TV series to catch up on, as well as hopefully some non-screen time if the weather isn't too terrible.

Oscar night: out on a limb

Here are my hopes and expectations for the big ceremony on Sunday in Los Angeles. For the first time in about four years, I'll be in London watching through the night - the ceremony runs roughly from 2am to 6am, with Best Picture awarded just as the sun is coming up.

This year's awards race has been the strangest in ages, with no runaway favourite. Most but not all of the categories have someone who is odds-on to win (Supporting Actor is the hardest to predict), but Oscar voters have a way of confounding expectations. So as always I'm cheering for upsets...

P I C T U R E
Will win: Argo
Should/could win: Life of Pi
Also quite possible: Lincoln
Dark horse: Silver Linings Playbook

D I R E C T O R
Will/should win: Ang Lee
Possible: Steven Spielberg
Dark horse: Michael Haneke

A C T R E S S
Will/should win: Jennifer Lawrence
Very possible: Emmanuelle Riva
Dark horse: Jessica Chastain

A C T O R
Will/should win: Daniel Day-Lewis
Possible: Hugh Jackman
Dark horse: Bradley Cooper

S U P P O R T I N G    A C T R E S S
Will/should win: Anne Hathaway
Possible: Sally Field

S U P P O R T I N G    A C T O R
Will/should win: Alan Arkin
Very possible: Tommy Lee Jones or Christoph Waltz
Dark horse: Robert De Niro

O R I G I N A L    S C R E E N P L A Y
Will/should win: Django Unchained
Possible: Zero Dark Thirty
Dark horse: Amour

A D A P T E D    S C R E E N P L A Y
Will win: Argo
Should/could win: Lincoln
Dark horses: Life of Pi or Silver Linings Playbook

F O R E I G N    F I L M
Will/should win: Amour
Dark horse: A Royal Affair
(NB. I haven't seen War Witch or Kon-Tiki in this category)

D O C U M E N T A R Y
Will win: Searching for Sugar Man
Should/could win: How to Survive a Plague
Dark horse: The Gatekeepers

A N I M A T E D   F E A T U R E
Will/should win: Frankenweenie
Very possible: Wreck-it Ralph
Dark horses: Brave or ParaNorman

32nd Shadows Awards: Best of 2012

Here are my top 10 films of 2012, as well as my favourites in the main categories. Full top-10 lists in each category, and rather an awful lot more, are on the site...

TOP 10 FILMS OF 2012:

1. Life of Pi (Ang Lee)
2. Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard)
3. Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
4. Safety Not Guaranteed (Colin Trevorrow)
5. Amour (Michael Haneke)
6. Chronicle (Josh Trank)
7. Tabu (Miguel Gomes)
8. The House I Live In (Eugene Jarecki)
9. Sightseers (Ben Wheatley)
10. Pitch Perfect (Jason Moore)

DIRECTOR:
Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

SCREENPLAY:
Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain (Rust and Bone)

ACTRESS:
Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook, The Hunger Games)

ACTOR:
Denis Lavant (Holy Motors)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises, Les Miserables)

SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Eddie Redmayne (Les Miserables)

ENSEMBLE: Pitch Perfect

BREAKOUT FILMMAKER: Bart Layton (The Imposter)

BREAKOUT ACTOR: Dane DeHaan (Chronicle, Lawless)

MUSIC: The Master (Jonny Greenwood)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Life of Pi (Cloudio Miranda)

EDITING: Argo (William Goldenberg)

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Berberian Sound Studio (Jennifer Kernke)

EFFECTS: Life of Pi

STUNTS: Haywire

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GETTING BACK TO NORMAL:
OK, so arriving back home with eight hours of jet lag on New Year's Eve is great if you want to stay up late, but it's not going to help me get back in the correct time zone very quickly. Especially since I have hours (if not days) of work ahead to get caught up after a few weeks away. On the flight home, I was able to revisit Pitch Perfect, cementing its place in my top 10 of the year (it's just as funny and clever the second time round). And ahead of me this coming week is a teetering stack of DVD screeners to catch up with. My first actual press screening will be the indie horror film Midnight Son on Friday, with Ryan Gosling's Gangster Squad, Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand and the film doc Side by Side following soon behind.

Critical Week: Tiger taming

London critics have finally been able to catch up with some big awards contenders this past week, including Ang Lee's remarkable Life of Pi, a staggeringly beautiful film with rich, moving themes. Frankly it's difficult to believe that such a complex, delicate film made it through the Hollywood system. Even bigger is Tom Hooper's film of the long-running musical Les Miserables, with a powerhouse cast including Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne and Amanda Seyfried. It's a bit too much to fit in a movie, frankly, and rather exhausting. But also unmissable.

More award hopefuls appear in Hitchcock, an enjoyable, lightweight look at Alfred Hitchcock's battles to make Psycho. Anthony Hopkins plays the title role exactly like Hitch's screen persona, but Helen Mirren steals the show as his wife. There's probably no chance of awards attention for The Man With the Iron Fists, a messy 1970s-style kung fu romp cowritten, directed and scored by and starring RZA. Genre geeks might enjoy it, but not many others will. And finally there was the doc Ballroom Dancer, following a world champion's attempt at a comeback while he alienates everyone around him. Compellingly dark but not easy to watch.


This coming week I've got screenings of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher and Carlos Reygada's Post Tenebrus Lux, among other things. It'll also be voting time at the end of next week for a couple of critics awards - my own meagre contribution to the awards-season hubbub.