Frost/Nixon

I do love Ron Howard, but for some reason I was not super excited about the prospect of seeing Frost/Nixon, but I still intended to see it because I know Ron Howard makes movies worth seeing. Well, I saw Frost/Nixon today and I can safely say that I was not at all disappointed in it, in fact I was enthralled by the film.

Frost/Nixon is the tale of David Frost who is a British television personality who decides it would be good TV, and exposure for himself to get an interview with Richard Nixon post his abdication of the presidency and the difficulties he faces when he succeeds in getting that interview. For me I think that this movie fell in the same category as The Queen and I was uninterested because I felt no need for another political history lesson. However, just as The Queen surprised me in its ability to entice me Frost/Nixon grabbed me and kept me rooted to my seat without ever feeling like I was watching a history channel dramatization; instead Ron Howard managed to make me feel like I was in the room with Frost and Nixon and their associates watching a game of tennis or a tug-of-war that neither personality could afford to lose.

What I did find delightful was Frank Langella’s portrayal of Richard Nixon. I’ve had the experience of visiting the Nixon library several times as it is remarkable close to my house and have therefore seen way more of Nixon than I ever wanted to; I believe due to this when I watched Langella in the Frost/Nixon trailer I couldn’t help but feel like he was a Nixon imposter, and it bothered me. However, between the talents of Langella and Howard when I was actually watching the film in its entirety Langella became Nixon for me. I am not sure that Langella deserves an Oscar for the performance, but he definitely deserves the nomination as he somehow captures the essence of Nixon’s stubborn ruthlessness and still manages to make him empathetic and slightly likeable.

So far out of all the films that actually scored a best picture nomination this year I’d have to say that Frost/Nixon would get my vote, but I do think they Oscar’s are a forgone conclusion this year and Slumdog Millionaire will be taking home the gold.

Director: Ron Howard
Writer: Peter Morgan
Richard Nixon: Frank Langella
David Frost: Michael Sheen
James Reston, Jr: Sam Rockwell
Jack Brennan: Kevin Bacon
John Birt: Matthew Macfadyen
Bob Zelnick: Oliver Platt
Caroline Cushing: Rebecca Hall
Pat Nixon: Patty McCormack

James Reston, Jr.: You know the first and greatest sin of the deception of television is that it simplifies; it diminishes great, complex ideas, trenches of time; whole careers become reduced to a single snapshot.

Defiance

Defiance Poster
Originally uploaded by AsceticMonk

The Oscar nominations are coming out tomorrow and though at one time I wanted Defiance to be on the list of nominees now that I have seen it I can safely say that the only nominations I truly would enjoy Defiance receiving are for Daniel Craig & Liev Schreiber. Not that Defiance is a bad movie, but in a year that had movies like Iron Man, Slumdog Millionaire, The Dark Knight & In Bruges a movie like Defiance has its flaws pointed out instead of ignored.

What is truly remarkable is the story of Defiance; it is about a group of Jews at the outbreak of Hitler’s Germany and genocide that manage to evade capture by the Nazi’s by creating a settlement in the forests of Belarussia. It begins with four brothers and near the end of the war has grown to over 1,200 Jewish refugees. There story is awe inspiring, perhaps only equal to the likes of Oskar Schindler.

What is wrong with Defiance is the fact that parts of the story seem to be missing – it is as if the director trusted his audience to put two & two together too often, or that there were merely scenes still on the editing room floor waiting to be inserted into the film. A prim example of this is the romance between Tuvia & Lilka; she comes to the otriad, throws Tuvia a few meaningful looks and suddenly an ancillary character informs Tuvia that everyone knows that Lilka is hands-off. While not a killing point to the film, the leaps in story telling that occur do make Defiance slightly less than it could have been.

Defiance is an entertaining movie, but not a great one. I do believe that perhaps the film might have been helped if it was released in summer instead of Oscar season, but perhaps I can hold out hope for Craig or Schreiber getting an Oscar nomination.

Director: Edward Zwick
Writers: Clayton Frohman & Edward Zwick
Tuvia Beilski: Daniel Craig
Zus Bielski: Liev Schreiber
Asael Bielski: Jamie Bell
Aron Bielski: George MacKay
Lilka Ticktin: Alexa Davalos

Gramov: How come it's so f---ing hard to like Jews?
Tuvia Bielski: Try being one.

Slumdog Millionaire

"Slumdog Millionaire" logo, opening credits
Originally uploaded by beastandbean

I loved Slumdog Millionaire but I don’t know if I can explain it in any way that does it justice. If I was writing a logline I would have to say that Slumdog Millionaire is City of God with a happy ending.

To put it in a simple nutshell the main character goes on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and is one question away from winning 20 million rupees and saving the girl of his dreams and the film flashes back and forth between preset and past to explain how Jamal got there and the mob and the police are involved as well. The mob because Jamals brother Salim has pulled himself out of the slums and into the mob and the girl of Jamal’s dreams Latika because she is the mob bosses girl and the police because Jamal is accused of cheating on the show because no one believes there could be another way for a “slumdog” like Jamal to get that far on the show.

The film is effervescent, colorful, engaging, and absolutely one of the most surprising films of the year. While I don’t believe that Slumdog Millionaire is the best movie of the year I do believe that it deserves the critical acclaim it has been getting and is worthy of a wide audience. Slumdog Millionaire is a powerful depiction of the life of this orphan in India and shows so well what happens to his life because of circumstances in and out of his control.

One thing that I found out about this movie amazes me. Danny Boyle shared the directing credit by listing Loveleen Tandan as co-director. Loveleen began as the casting director for the film and Boyle convinced her to stay around for production and as he learned how much she knew about India, the actors, etc. he used her more and more until she took charge of the second unit and finally Boyle decided she was the co-director of the film. I think that is a brave thing for Boyle to do and I love that he didn’t let ego get in the way of him giving credit where he felt it was deserved.

For fans of Danny Boyle it is very important that you stay through the end credits as you will love seeing the Bollywood sequence – and you never expected something that poppy to come out of the man that made Trainspotting.

Director: Danny Boyle
Co-Director: Loveleen Tandan
Writer: Simon Beaufoy
Jamal: Dev Patel
Middle Jamal: Tanya Chheda
Youngest Jamal: Ayush Mahesh Agrawal
Salim: Madhur Mittal
Middle Salim: Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala
Youngest Salim: Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail
Latika: Freida Pinto
Youngest Latika: Rubiana Ali