It’s that time again, awards season. We’ve weathered the Emmys, the Golden Globes,
the SAG Awards, and probably nine others (Are they still doing the Blockbuster
Awards? ‘Cause that would just be weird).
But we all know that these shows are just a ramp-up to the granddaddy of
them all, The Academy Awards. I must
confess that this year I saw fewer movies than I should have, it could’ve
because of my new job, but also because… Well, to be honest, there wasn’t that
much variety out there this year. I’m
not saying that every year has to reinvent the wheel, but when every one of the
frontrunners for Best Picture are either based on a true story, or based upon
what could’ve easily been a true story (I’m not 100% sure that Joaquin Phoenix
knew there was a camera on him in Her),
there’s not a lot of room for a Life is
Beautiful, a Beasts of the Southern
Wild, or even a Life of Pi. However, as we do every year, we will give
these films and more importantly the Academy Awards all the respect that they
deserve.
Gotcha!
Editor’s note: We
really, really tried to talk Brando out of adding that picture again, but he
insisted. Honestly, he doesn’t have a
lot going on right now, so we feel compelled to give him these small victories
every once in a while. Seriously, if you
see him on the street, offer him some free pizza or something.
I suppose that there was a lot to be celebrated this
year. This was the year that saw
Christian Bale stretch himself into a new role that we weren’t expecting,
Jennifer Lawrence turn in an amazing performance, DiCaprio make a movie with Scorsese,
and… wait just a tic…
See friends, this is quickly becoming my beef with the
Oscars: apparently we’ve only got so many talented people running around in
Hollywood and we keep having to nominate them and wait for a year when they
don’t get upset by a Marissa Tomei or Mo’nique, so they can get their damn
statue and get off the stage and on with their lives already.
Honestly, if DiCaprio doesn’t win this year, what else does
this man have to do? At this point, he’s pretty much played almost every role
out there that the Academy loves:
leading man in a dramatic role about a serious topic – Blood Diamond, mentally challenged – What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, sexually
confused – J. Edgar, unlikable
everyman overwhelmed by life – Revolutionary
Road, tortured genius – The Aviator,
likeable rouge in a dramedy – Catch Me If
You Can, over the top bad guy – Django
Unchained, someone that’s been directed by Christopher Nolan – Inception. I’m not kidding around, this list just keeps
going…
In any event, secure in the knowledge that the Academy will
cover the important topics of the last year in cinema, like Best Sound Mixing
(or as we call it, the “Best Time To Go Get Another Beer Category” because lets
be real, who cares?); I once again, though no one asked me to, will take up the
slack and bring you the winners of the categories that we all really care
about.
So without further ado, here are your 2014 Brando Awards!
(“And the Brando goes to…”)
BEST TRAILER: Dallas Buyers Club
I know that it’s odd that I’ve seen the film and I’m still
giving the award to the trailer, but this thing is almost flawless. You show McConaughey, known best for his role
in Dazed and Confused in which he
played a washed up has-been still partying with teenagers, acting a fool and
then facing the consequences of that sort of lifestyle. Immediately obvious is
the gaunt skeleton the actor has become to play the HIV positive Ron Woodruff,
but if you look closely, within the first minute you see him manifest denial,
anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (these are the five stages of
grief, folks), and then you see the hustler take charge and have positive
results. And even though this trailer is
impressive enough at this point to make you interested in the film, once that
Alabama Shakes song “You Ain’t Alone” starts playing, this kicks it up to a
different level and all of the sudden this trailer has a heart as big as
Texas. Add in the shots of our leading
man hugging not only Jennifer Gardner as his doctor and friend/possible love
interest, but also an almost unrecognizable Jared Leto as his cross-dressing
partner in crime, and this trailer becomes the one to beat for last year.
My favorite part of this trailer is the editing and cards
that fill us in not only about the backstory of who this guy is, but how being
that man enabled him to become what the story is about. Bonus points for showing (the always welcome)
Steve Zahn in a supporting role as a police officer who can’t help himself from
chuckling about Ron’s antics as he lies to the authorities about who his
clients might be. So good was this thing
the first time I saw it, that I actually made Kyle and his extended family stop
what they were doing and watch it on YouTube.
That isn’t something that happens often.
Side note: like I said, I’ve seen the film and I have to
say, it is not impossible that in just a short time, we may be watching
McConaughey stand on the Oscar stage saying, “Just keep O-S-C-A-R-I-N!!”
BEST MISCASTING – Joel Edgerton – The Great Gatsby
Any fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece has their own ideas
about who this character should be. He’s
written as an athletic bully that simply cannot come to terms with the fact
that not only are his best years behind him, but that his wife doesn’t love him
anymore and his mistress cannot agree to be more than an affair. In the novel, Tom is portrayed as the
undisputed master of his realm (and the only character not sucked in by Gatsby’s
tale) and he is certain that he is in complete control of his world, until the
moment arrives when he realizes that he isn’t.
And in the final showdown in the hotel suite at the Plaza, Tom breaks
down and confronts his wife’s lover, desperate to maintain some sort of power
in the situation.
To be completely fair, I think Joel Edgerton is a good actor
and his work in the film Warrior is
one of the best “good guy just doing the best he can” roles that I have seen in
a long time. But when I saw the trailer
for this movie and learned of his casting as Tom, I couldn’t help but think, “Well
that doesn’t fit, not even a little bit.”
And on the outset, it doesn’t.
But there were a lot of things in Baz Lurman’s opus to
extravagance (to be fair, almost every film old Baz directs could fit that mold)
that do not fit. Carey Mulligan’s Daisy is even more uninvolved than the book
sets her out to be, and Tobey MaGuire’s Nick is less of a narrator than someone
who is often getting in the way of the story.
This film really hampered Nick by not only having him be the narrator of
the plot after he’s experienced it (conveniently having him author the story he
is telling, much like Christian in Moulin
Rouge), but also by completely excising his romance with the vapid
socialite Jordan, which in the book was often Nick’s cover for keeping so
intertwined with the plot.
So while I was ready to turn away and count this film off as
a complete misstep, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Edgerton’s
performance was the one that I watched the closest. Giving up an inch and change to DiCaprio on
screen, Edgerton’s Tom has to intimidate though bluster and bravado and the
result is that he is compulsively watchable in this role, at times giving this
film what little energy it has. During
the aforementioned showdown at the Plaza, DiCaprio’s manic fury is drowned out
by Edgerton’s cold refinement and ability to dissect the fraud that he sees in
front of him. As a fan of this book it
was very difficult to side with the bad guy, but his performance made it
possible.
BEST IMPROVISATION – Chris Hemsworth - Thor: The Dark World
Some of the best moments on film occur because of great
improvisation (and fantastic editing).
We all know that Indy shooting the sword-toting bad guy in Raiders of the Lost Ark was one of the
best, but also note Tommy Lee Jones’ line “I don’t care” as a response to
Harrison Ford’s assertion that he didn’t kill his wife in The Fugitive. These are some
great moments on film that come from an actor taking a chance and asserting
their viewpoint of their character into the film.
And every once in a while, this impulse gives us something
else entirely: a sight gag. This film is
not a bad follow up to the unexpected enjoyment that was 2011’s Thor, but for the most of the movie the
seriousness of the plot didn’t leave time for the fun they were having the
first time around. Luckily for us,
Hemsworth loves playing this role, because when the film takes a break from the
crazy action that is presents, Thor and Jane head over to Darcy’s apartment to
figure out an earthly solution to an Asgardian problem. After Darcy opens the door and freaks out
about where Jane has been since she disappeared (Asgard, for a surprisingly
large chunk of the movie) and starts laying out the conflict that will become the
final act, there’s just not a lot for a god of thunder to do in a one-bedroom
efficiency apartment.
However, in a throwaway take, Hemsworth took the time to
hang his mystical hammer (and the source of his power) on the coat rack in
Darcy’s apartment, and the editors knew how good that moment was and put it
into the final film. I know it sounds
like I’m picking something out of nothing, but this scene made me laugh like
crazy in the theater, so it gets my vote, hands down.
BEST REINVENTING OF AN ACTOR – Sam Rockwell – The Way Way Back
If you’ve ever been on a flight home from a bachelor party
while one of your buddies was still in a hospital of the town that you were
visiting (Apologies to the gentleman, and his wife, for my part in that fiasco),
then you know that one of the last things that you would ever expect to do is
start watching the in-flight flick, and even more surprisingly turn out to love
it. But that is exactly what happened to
me with this film.
Hoping to kill a couple hours between Boston and home, I
tuned into the movie, and was immediately confronted with two factors that gave
me a long pause; first of all, this was an independent film (in fact at times,
its very much an independent film) and second of all, it had Sam Rockwell in
it, an actor that over the years I’ve simply come to hate. Granted I can’t swear that I’ve sampled his
entire catalogue, but in every role he plays, from the purposely manic Chuck
Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
to the unfortunately manic Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2, Rockwell seems to have one speed for every role he
takes: the actual narcotic speed. He’s
always about three levels higher in energy and excitability than everyone else
in the cast, and after a few films, I felt that I could predictably say the
following with conviction, “Oh, he’s in it? I can go ahead and skip that one.”
But then came this one performance and turned it all
around.
To be completely fair, Rockwell is doing a pretty good job
channeling Ryan Reynolds’ shtick from Van
Wilder in his role as Owen, the aging theme park manager who’s doing his
best to not grow up and actually face the real world. Not only is Rockwell compulsively likable as
he steals absolutely every single scene he’s in, an impressive feat considering
that he successfully outshines Mya Rudolph, Nat Faxon, (Dean) Jim Rash, Allison
Janney, and Steve Carell; but in the end its Owen that gives the film a lot of
the heart that it has. His mentoring of
Liam James’ Duncan
makes us love him, while his wide-eyed affection for Rudolph’s Caitlin as his
long-suffering girlfriend makes us root for him at the same time. Add in the fact that he gets literally all of
the good one-liners in the film and it’s a perfect recipe for turning around
this author’s opinion of the guy.
*As a side note, after watching this film I took a look at
2012’s Seven Psychopaths, and while
its not a perfect film; the writer in me absolutely loved it, and Rockwell’s
performance in that was much better than what I’d given him credit for in the
past.
BEST CAMEO – Pierce Brosnan- The World’s End
"I didn't know I was in it either!"
Wrapping up their Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy with their
most audacious and special effects laden effort yet, Edgar Wright and Simon
Pegg decided to ratchet up the stakes from a horror spoofing zombie apocalypse
and an action spoof about a town gone mad to an outlandish comedy about aliens
taking over humanity through the use of robot replacements. Borrowing heavily from most conventional
‘alien/robot replacement’ movie set pieces just like they did with their last
films’ respected genres, this film sets up the story in these guys’ signature
style, throwing us a lot of back story combined with lightning fast editing and
hilarious writing.
Pegg’s Gary King has gone nowhere since high school, but
he’s so self-deluded that he thinks his biggest regret is that he never
finished an epic pub crawl with his best buddies on their last day in their
home town. In order to get his life back
on track, he manipulates his four friends, all of whom have moved on with their
lives and agree to go along with the plan in an effort to intervene in Gary’s
life (although no one brought an Intervention Banner), into heading back home
and taking a second stab at ‘The Golden Mile’ the pub crawl encompassing twelve
pubs all in one night.
In proper Wright and Pegg style, this film is filled with
just as much pathos as it is zaniness and I was surprised by how unlikable they
made the loser-like Gary seem in the first reel. And just when I started to worry that these
guys might have lost their comedic edge, the boys get caught in a men’s room
with some aggressive college kids with blue ink coursing through their
veins. From then on it’s a manic romp
through The Village of the Drunk &
Damned, with the body count and the one-liners piling up by the
second.
The film does take a break from the action in order to
squeeze in not only a little exposition, but also the year’s best cameo. After only showing up in one flashback as the
only teacher that understood young Gary,
Pierce Brosnan’s Mr. Shepherd materializes in a pub to sit the boys down and
try to talk a little since into them (and to explain to the audience just what
the hell is going on). And while he
makes a convincing argument that submission to the will of the aliens could
make all of them happy again, once Gary’s well-timed burst of a foul-mouthed,
humanity-loving diatribe gets out, even the calm and collected Shepherd loses
his cool and demands that they toe the line.
This scene is also used to show how impossible it is to kill the
replacements, as Gary
has to dispatch his former mentor, only to have a perfectly whole replacement
walk in seconds later.
What makes this scene work so well is that even though
Brosnan is pimping for the bad guys the entire time, his standard charm and
likeability are right there in the performance, and he almost talks the boys
into his plan.
Bonus points as well for these guys getting not only a
second James Bond to be in one of their films (Timothy Dalton – Hot Fuzz), but also Bond Girl Rosamund
Pike as well.
BEST SURPRISE PERFORMANCE – Colin Farrell – Saving Mr. Banks
If you’re going to make a movie produced by Disney about
Walt Disney, you’re going to have to bring the best of the best to the table,
and in this day in age, that means you’re going to need Tom Hanks. But you’re also going to need a foil for such
a charismatic character, so you’ll need someone who can play controlling and
unlikable while not alienating the audience and Emma Thompson is the go to
actress for that type of thing. And if
you really want to push it over the edge, you’ll probably need to throw in a
nice guy with some legitimate acting chops in a supportive role to get through
to the ice queen, say someone like Paul Giamatti. Now that’s a cast that can make a film fly.
And who’s to say, it very well could’ve.
But in the end it didn’t have to, because the biggest
surprise in a film about a magical studio making a film about the world’s most
magical nanny was Colin Farrell, playing Thompson’s P.L. Travers’ father in the
film’s flashback sequences. Shown as a
loving but terribly flawed man who is killing himself slowly with alcoholism
(and kudos to Disney for allowing this harsh of material into such a personal
film), Farrell’s performance is what is going to cause the lump in your throat
by the end credits.
Equal parts endearing as he indulges his children’s every
fantasy, and maddening as he refuses to see the world around him crashing in
because of his unwillingness to put down the bottle and do the right thing for
his family, Farrell’s character spends the whole movie tragically attempting to
get his daughter to believe in a magic that he knows first hand doesn’t exist
in this world.
Known for his leading man looks and acting style, Farrell is
not known for performances that are as vulnerable as this one, probably because
he’s never really played one before.
Completely gone from this role is any of the cocky swagger of his most notable
characters, and as awkward as the scene is where he gives a speech at his
banks’ county fair, he pulls it off almost single-handedly. I’m not kidding around, I literally walked
out of the film thinking to myself, “who knew he could do that?” and really I
hope this role becomes a springboard that leads better roles for the actor.
Damn...
And there they are folks, the 2014 Brando Awards.
Last year, in an attempt to churn up some discussion, I gave
you my picks for best of all time from the seven major categories. And seeing as I still won’t predict who I
think will win on Oscar night until the actual night arrives (you’d understand
if you knew how cut-throat the Oscar watching party I go to can get), this year
I’m going to give you my list of runners up to last year’s best of the best. Feel free to comment away!
BEST SCREENPLAY: Nora
Ephron - When Harry Met Sally
BEST SUPPORTING
ACTRESS: Kathy Bates – Primary Colors
BEST SUPPORTING
ACTOR: Tom Wilkinson – Michael Clayton
BEST ACTRESS: Hilary
Swank – Boys Don’t Cry
BEST ACTOR: Gregory
Peck – To Kill a Mockingbird
BEST DIRECTOR: Mel
Gibson - Braveheart
BEST PICTURE: JFK
From all of here at SpoilerAlert Podcast, please do your
best to safely enjoy the Academy Awards.
“And the Oscar goes to…”
- Brando
