Awards Buzz

Best Ensemble? Best Assemble?

Let's start with Moonrise Kingdom. Like most of Wes Anderson's films, it has a striking look that sets it apart – a whimsical visual symmetry that amplifies its narrative themes. I guess the Oscars would put this in the cinematography category, although it's more than that.

I was glad to see that the National Board of Review gave something to Ann Dowd, who plays the restaurant manager in Compliance. It's not a glamorous or showy performance, but it's pitch-perfect. I found myself wondering if even our best A-List actresses could do this particular role so well – so simply and naturally. She got me to believe, or almost believe, in the story.

I loved Argo: Funny, suspenseful, smart, hip. But then I also really enjoyed Les Miz, which seems like a more complex, if more square, achievement. Lincoln, which certainly has its virtues, isn't on this level, mainly because Spielberg's direction is so old-fashioned. It takes, like, 20 minutes for a character to stand up and cross the room. And please don't get me started on The Master, which is the disappointment of the year, as far as I'm concerned.

Back to Lincoln, I love Daniel Day Lewis' performance. So understated. The character of Lincoln seems almost ghostly, as if he'd died BEFORE the movie began and had come back to earth to clear up some unfinished business – like passing the 13^th amendment. I wonder if the film's screenwriter, Tony Kushner, thinks of him as an angel in America. (I also got a big kick out of James Spader's very funny and fully imagined supporting performance in Lincoln.) But then I have to say that Hugh Jackman is brilliant in Les Miz. 

Was there a more visually beautiful animated film than Brave this year? The characters are pretty stock, the story unsurprising (except for one major twist), but the look of the film just knocked me out. All that great red hair! Is there a category for hair? (I can't get behind Frankenweenie; I like the original short version better.)

I like Silver Linings Playbook, which avoids most of the pitfalls of films about people with severe emotional damage. But I can't figure out a category to put it in. Screenplay maybe? Similar problem with The Avengers: It was, of course, awesome, but how to honor it? Best ensemble? Best assemble?

Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom is easily one of the best films I've seen this year: funny, poignant, inventive. I still prefer Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore and Fantastic Mr. Fox, but the new one's right up there. I love the devotion that Edward Norton's character has for the Khaki Scouts (i.e., the Boy Scouts), and, in fact, as an old Eagle Scout myself, I found pretty much everything about the Khaki Scouts to be funny.  I also love the way a certain character (I won't say which one) gradually emerges as the movie's true hero. I think Kingdom was influenced by Anderson's work on the animated Mr. Fox in that the characters in the new film are a lot like animated characters or puppets. The actors' performances are deliberately simple. Bill Murray, for example, is perfectly fine in his role, but his character doesn't have the complexity or personal style of a typical Bill Murray character. The role would have been exactly the same had, say, Jeff Bridges or Jeff Daniels played it. Which, again, is deliberate and just what this material requires. My guess is that Anderson may eventually return to animation.

Lanewatch

As I've mentioned before, Anthony Lane, the British film critic for The New Yorker, apparently has a master list of 10 topics, at least one of which he must reference in just about everything he writes. That list, you will recall, includes: Shakespeare, Dickens, Tolkien, 007, royalty, Harry Potter, Lewis Carroll, J.M. Barrie, Sherlock Holmes and something European (but not British). Lane's review of The Amazing Spider-Man references three of these: Shakespeare (in the first paragraph!), royalty (the fictional Queen Narissa, played by Susan Sarandon in Enchanted) and something European (Faust). He also references fellow-Brit Roald Dahl, as he did in his recent review of Moonrise Kingdom. A couple more nods to Dahl and I might have to add him to the master list.

Lanewatch

Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Ed Norton and Bruce Willis in Moonrise Kingdom

Anthony Lane's review of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom in The New Yorker reminds me that I left out one of his favorite references in my previous posting about him. In addition to Shakespeare, Dickens, 007, royalty, Harry Potter, Lewis Carroll, J.R.R. Tolkien and something European (non-British, often French), this British film critic also likes to reference J.M. Barrie, as he does in the Moonrise Kingdom review. (I also forgot to put Sherlock Holmes on the list, for an even 10.) In addition, his review carries a subtle reference to Shakespeare (the word "tempest" seems carefully chosen for its literary association), as well as to fellow Brits Roald Dahl and Frances Hodgson Burnett. He cites British composer Benjamin Britten, but I guess I have to give him that one: Britten's work is apparently an important element in Moonrise Kingdom.