REX'S TOP 10 FILMS OF 2012

I mentioned my top ten films of the year yesterday when making my Oscar picks, but I'll go a little further in depth with each one now. Let's run down the list:

Honorable Mention:

21 Jump Street, The Hunger Games, Prometheus, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ted, Celeste & Jesse Forever, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Seven Psychopaths, Skyfall, Flight, Cabin in the Woods, Bernie, The Hobbit, The Impossible

10. Moonrise Kingdom- Wes Anderson films are the purest form of escapism one can experience in the theater. Take a look at his filmography and you'll find an array of unhappy adults, as if they never accepted that they grew up. He turned the tables this time, and shows two young runaway lovebirds Suzie and Sam (Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman) on a resort island in New England that are eager to be done with childhood, and start a life together. The scenes with the kids are extremely believable and tender, and take you back to those first stirrings of puppy love. Hayward, in particular, is quite impressive for a first-time performer. Had the role been written for 16 or 17 year-olds instead of 11, I think her maturity and composure would still have gotten her the part, which is perfect for her character, who is smarter than everyone thinks she is. Whether it's the production design, the quirky dialogue, or the foreign pop music, there's something for everyone to love in a Wes Anderson movie. This is his best since Rushmore.

9. Argo- And just like that, Ben Affleck is now a first-rate director. Talk about a comeback. He showed competence and moments of greatness in his first two directorial efforts, Gone Baby Gone and The Town, but Argo is elevated to another level. With a tightly wound script by Chris Terrio, Affleck is superb at presenting the chaos in Iran, and creating unbelievable suspense as Affleck's Tony Mendez tries to navigate this stranded group of Americans back to home soil. There's also an abundance of funny and surprisingly relevant, given it takes place in the '70s, insights about the Hollywood industry. I can't wait for Affleck's next product, and given his recent Critic's Choice Award &, as of last night, Golden Globe trophies for Best Director, his Oscar snub is becoming more glaring than ever.

8. The Dark Knight Rises- Like a younger sibling who can never possibly step out of the older brother's looming shadow, Rises' legacy may always be defined by comparison to the slightly better, universally rejoiced prelude The Dark Knight. But I thought it was a fitting conclusion to likely the best superhero franchise we'll ever see. With vibrant performances from newcomers Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and some poignant subtext about the gaping social classes, Rises is a smart, polished action movie, and on the technical side, it's as good as movies get. Some spectacular examples include the collapse of Heinz Field, the Bat Bike chase scene, and the bare-knuckle brawl between Batman and Bane (one of the best scenes of the trilogy). Director Christopher Nolan continues to toe the line between high art and commercial entertainment better than anybody in the business.

7. Magic Mike- When the trailer for Magic Mike came out last summer accompanied by Rihanna's "We Found Love" with glimpses of Channing Tatum stripping and an unknown actress as the love interest, I assumed it was going to be another terrible Tatum rom-com along the lines of Step Up or Dear John. But when I saw Steven Soderbergh, a great director, was at the helm, it made me curious. I assumed Soderbergh took on what looked like a chick flick so he could fund one of his smaller, experimental films. But then reviews started coming in, and they were mostly favorable. So I decided to give it a shot, and needless to say with its inclusion on this list, it's the most surprising movie of the year. I really enjoyed it. Yes, there's some guys in thongs, but the movie doesn't revolve around the job. It's a means to an end for these guys, and it makes them local celebrities of sorts. It's really about making it big, and creating the illusion that you've made it big. There is some really creative camera-work in the strip club scenes and later in a drug-induced romp. I discussed yesterday about, at times, we need a second opinion so we can know we possess some conscious idea of what we just witnessed. My prime example of last year was seeing Magic Mike and turning to my friend and asking, "Am I crazy or was McConaughey great in that movie?" The opinion was confirmed, and he alone is reason to see it. I don't think Tatum's a great actor yet, but he's getting better. He's shown he has range with 21 Jump Street, and in this movie, he shows he can carry a movie with his charisma. And yeah, he's a really good dancer.

6. Looper- This is one of the more enjoyable sci-fi movies I've seen in years. A wholly original concept about a killer's future self coming back to the future to kill his wife's future killer. Not at all confusing, right? Rian Johnson, whose previous Brick was a great throwback to the hard-boiled noir of 40's detective stories, lets his influences shine here. One can pick out references to Star Wars and Blade Runner, but the futuristic cityscape he paints feels grounded in a blue-collar reality, and this post-apoc society boasts a lineup of electric supporting characters. A nearly unreconizable Joseph Gordon-Levitt (in Bruce Willis makeup) commands the screen, along with a career-best Emily Blunt and villainous Jeff Daniels. This film had a modest budget, and it should be used as a model for how to create a cool, violent action movie without a major studio footing the bill.

5. Silver Linings Playbook- SLP is being described as a rom-com, but this is no ordinary rom-com. The story revolves around mental illness, sports obsessions, disillusion about exes, Hemingway novels, and a dance competition. Sound conventional? It's a really heartwarming experience, and I didn't feel better emotionally walking out of any other movie this year. This is the best acting ensemble of the year, featuring a terrific supporting turn from a long dormant Robert DeNiro. Bradley Cooper's manic compulsions are funny and heartbreaking, and Jennifer Lawrence was the best actor in any movie in 2012. I'm really happy about David O. Russell's Oscar nomination, because the free-flowing and bipolar camera movements was a character by itself, and that stems from the direction.

4. Zero Dark Thirty- The death of the most wanted man in the world is still fresh in our minds. We've heard stories and re-creations on History Channel of the raid on bin Laden's compound, but that doesn't compare to seeing it in motion. Beautifully realized by director Kathryn Bigelow, the last 40 minutes of the film are dedicated to the raid, and it had me at the edge of my seat, even with knowing well what the outcome would be. Everything before that involves what government officials had to sacrifice and compromise morally and emotionally to find bin Laden. Led by the spectacular Jessica Chastain, and memorable stints from Jason Clarke and Jennifer Ehle, the film moves from Chastain's induction into the CIA to her decade-long hunt for Osama. After Seal Team Six succeeds and returns to the base, the last shot involving Chastain's character is haunting and unforgettable, and represents how I think we all feel when we sometimes sleepwalk through life and then get a gut punch of a rude awakening, and finally get a grasp of what our lives have turned into. 

3. Django Unchained- A bold and provocative trip back in history that shows the cruelty of slavery in the South, and turns it on its head in this revenge exploitation joyride. I think it is clear that Tarantino has become his own biggest influence, and that's fine by me. With its eloquent dialogue, over-the-top violence, and post-modern soundtrack, Django sports all of the typical Tarantino tics, but that doesn't make it any less remarkable. QT is a master stylist, and he makes exactly the movie he sets out to, and the experience of going to a Tarantino film is unlike any other. All the actors are incredible, particularly Leonardo DiCaprio as a prissy, entitled slave owner who manages to come off as fairly sympathetic even though he lets a man get eaten by a dog. You can tell he was chomping at the bit to get as meaty a role as this. But Samuel L. Jackson's performance deserves some special recognition. I imagine a lot  of black actors who might have been offered this role would turn it down in fear of being criticized for taking on a house servant who turns on his fellow black man, but Jackson dives right in and it is a frightening effective go-around. There's a reason he's had a role, some very small, in every Tarantino movie since Pulp Fiction. QT knows how to bring his best out.

2. Lincoln- The last few Spielberg movies have been very Spielbergian, by that I mean sappy and a bit self-righteous. When I saw the trailer for Lincoln, I feared he was going to repeat that mistake, and with arguably the most important historical figure in American history. But luckily, Spielberg with the super-team of writer Tony Kushner, actors Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones, gorgeously brings to life Abraham Lincoln. It's incredibly inspiring, and grandiose in its House debates on the Amendment. And the big historic vote and the aftermath might have you wiping a few tears away. There are some moments where the glorification of Lincoln seem overbearing, but they also show his flaws as a family man, particularly with his wife and oldest son, and his ability to manipulate Democrats into voting for abolishment. Spielberg, Day-Lewis, Field, and Kushner all deserve to win Oscars, and the film itself is destined to win Best Picture.

1. The Master- There wasn't a film this year that was as challenging and strange as The Master. I've never been hypnotized, but I imagine my feelings while watching this extraordinary picture would be a comparable experience. The tale of a drifter who hooks up with a boisterous leader of a new religious movement, the film boasts some powerhouse acting moments. Joaquin Phoenix is explosive as the loose cannon Freddie, Philip Seymour Hoffman is incredibly animated and paranoid in his artificial divinity, and Amy Adams is quietly devastating as the master behind The Master. The film garnered some attention on its roadhouse tour showing in theatres in 70 mm format, which enhances the lighting and makes for a very quality picture crispness. I didn't get the opportunity to see it in that intended format, but I was no less blown away by the cinematography by Mihai Malaimare Jr. And try to get Jonny Greenwood's score out of your head as Amy Adams' eyes are turning black. Good luck. The real master here is writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson. From Boogie Nights to Magnolia to There Will Be Blood, PTA has cemented himself as the most dynamic living auteur. He almost always draws comparison to Stanley Kubrick, and his peers clearly think the world of him. Ben Affleck, in his Golden Globe acceptance speech last night, compared PTA to Orson Welles. High praise yes, but worthy also. PTA will never shy toward the conventional, he will continue to push the envelope of cinema like the giants of the industry whose path he follows (Kubrick, Altman, Ford). The Master was left out of a lot of categories it deserved to be in, but I think 10, 20 years from now, this film, more than any other, will be the one that people are still talking about. It's aptly named, The Master, because it's a masterpiece.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. 2012, a great year for movies! Hope 2013 is half as good.

-Rex

Follow me on Twitter @arm2001

OSCAR: Why can't we be on the same page?

The Oscar nominations were released this week, and like it usually happens, there were some head-scratchers. If you don't live in the vicinity of a theater that shows smaller indie or foreign films, you may not have even heard of two of the Best Picture nominees (Amour and Beasts of the Southern Wild), nor its two directors that were nominated, taking it away from whom seemingly everyone thought were locks in that category, Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow. Some people may feel Leonardo DiCaprio's outlandish turn in Django Unchained was more deserving than his costar Christoph Waltz's more cordial and conniving performance, who was nominated. Personally, I was most disappointed in the lack of recognition for The Master, in my opinion the best film of the year. There even may be some people who are perfectly content with the nominations, who loved Life of Pi and Les Miserables, and think the Academy's picks were spot-on.

 But it got me thinking, why does it matter to me, and other film goers, if our favorite performances or films get jilted? Why is it so important that our favorite on that February Sunday ends up with that little golden man in their arms? Why are we surprised when strange, challenging films are left off the list? After all, the group who decides the nominees, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is a largely unseen committee of Hollywood industry people who have almost always strayed more toward the conventional, safe, uplifting material than daring, provocative and weird. I think, more than anything, we like to be agreed with. A validation of opinion from a peer or really anyone confirms to us that a. we're not crazy, and b. it cements the idea that we are knowledgeable moviegoers, that   we can process what we're watching and discuss it afterward in an intelligent fashion. People like feeling smart, right? This can be as simple and obvious as "Dude, Cuba Gooding Jr. was legendary in Jerry Maguire" or as complex as a 2 hour discussion about how mind-blowing the last sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey is. This obviously applies to a level of cinematic taste, because judging by the box office, there are millions of people who think the Transformers movies are ground-breaking (I am not one of them), and would feel validated after conversing with a fellow Michael Bay fan about how Shia LaBeouf is a believable crier. (Oscars don't mean much to these people).

Naturally, we would like the Academy, in charge of bestowing the most prestigious Hollywood award, to throw us a bone. However, it is unreasonable to believe that the Academy, whose tastes are that of white conservative senior citizens, is going to honor all of those who we, personally, think are most deserving. But every year, we let ourselves think, hope, pray that these guys and gals will grow some balls and nominate a Master or a David Lynch film or another bizarre but critically-lauded flick (maybe these are just me) for Best Picture. Like comparing athletes or looking back on our New Years personal goals, we like to quantify things, assigning a number to something or someone so we can measure its accomplishments. Daniel Day-Lewis is most likely going to win his third Best Actor Oscar this year, the most ever, for Lincoln. Would anyone think he's a mediocre actor if he never won an Oscar? Would his performance in There Will Be Blood be any less astounding? Probably not. Does anyone really believe Dances With Wolves is a better movie than Goodfellas because the former beat the latter in the Best Picture race? I can't imagine there are many. In the end, a film or actor's legacy isn't measured by how many gold statues it wins. Best by Oscar standards is something you can hold in your hand but doesn't guarantee a lifelong approval, the actual best are hermetically sealed because films have a lasting impact on our lives, and the greatest of films compel us to pass it on to new generations. Do the best films ever get recognized as Oscar Best? Yep (The Godfather, On The Waterfront, The Silence of the Lambs all won Best Picture). One can only hope, each year, that Best means the BEST.  But no matter, because every year nominations are announced, and I let myself get angered, surprised, disappointed all over again.

Here's who I think were the BEST of 2012. Had I been in charge of the Academy, here are the actual nominees accompanied by who I would have chosen as the nominees in the 8 major categories, as well as honorable mentions, and my picks for who will win. I haven't seen Amour, it may be well-deserving of its nominations, but I'm going to leave it out for this discussion:

*should win

BEST PICTURE (anywhere from 5 to 10 nominees; 9 this year)

Nominees:
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained 
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Who I'd replace:
The Master*, Moonrise Kingdom, Magic Mike, The Dark Knight Rises, Looper
for Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Miserables, Life of Pi

I'm releasing a more in-depth and ranked Top 10 List tomorrow, so I won't get into the replacements here but talk about the films I took out. I really didn't like Life of Pi, there are some spectacular visual sequences, but there are some gaping plot holes, plus some almost unwatchable acting in the flash-forward sequences. Beasts of the Southern Wild almost made the cut. For a first-time director, it's damn impressive. I guess some of the more fantastical elements involving the wooly mammoth creatures didn't jive with me right, but the two leads are great in it. Les Miserables obviously has great music, but the time lapses that one can get away with on the stage didn't translate to the big screen. A lot of the songs are in extreme close-ups, which seemed like lazy filmmaking (Anne Hathaway's song excluded), and a missed opportunity for some choreography or at least a glimpse of the production design.

Honorable Mention:
21 Jump Street, The Hunger Games, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Prometheus, Ted, Celeste and Jesse Forever, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Seven Psychopaths, Skyfall, Flight, Cabin in the Woods, Bernie, The Hobbit, The Impossible

Will Win: Lincoln

You can argue that all of Spielberg's non sci-fi movies are made essentially to win Oscars. But this is the best chance he has because it happens to be his best movie since Schindler's List, it revolves around a beloved historical leader, it has a remarkable group of actors, and it's got a happy ending. Sounds like a sure thing to me. Silver Linings Playbook may sneak in if it sweeps acting and directing, but I don't see it happening. This is the kind of movie the Academy loves, and it is the BEST (of those nominated).

BEST DIRECTOR

Nominees:
Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Who I'd Replace:
Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master*; Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty; Ben Affleck, Argo
for Haneke, Lee, Zeitlin

Honorable Mention:
Ridley Scott, Prometheus; Zeitlin; Steven Soderbergh, Magic Mike; Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises; Rian Johnson, Looper; Sam Mendes, Skyfall; Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Will Win: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

There are plenty of worthy candidates this year. From camera composition to movement to performances, there wasn't a better-directed movie than Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master. Plus two of the top five scenes of the year: the first processing and the jailhouse confrontation, are directed by PTA. This is a no-brainer for me. The raid on bin Laden's pad is gripping filmmaking, the scene alone should have gotten Bigelow a nod. This is Spielberg's category to lose: the Academy loves him. Russell has a slight chance at an upset, again if Silver Linings sweeps, not likely though.

BEST ACTOR

Nominees:
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln*
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Who I'd Replace:
Nobody

Honorable Mention:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Looper, John Hawkes, The Sessions; Jamie Foxx, Django Unchained; Jack Black, Bernie

Will Win: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

This is the only category I think the Academy got completely right. These are the best performances in this category that I can remember. All deserving, and I think Phoenix is mesmerizing and is a miracle in physical transformation, but Day-Lewis is a lock. It's an incredible invention of a character we all know, but have never seen walking and talking. That's a lot of responsibility for an actor, but Lewis kills it, and if it wasn't already clear that he's the best living actor, he put all those doubts to bed.

BEST ACTRESS

Nominees:
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook*
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Who I'd Replace:
Kara Hayward, Moonrise Kingdom
for Riva, Amour

Honorable Mention:
Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games; Leslie Mann, This is 40

Will Win: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

It's a two-woman race between Chastain and Lawrence. Chastain is marvelous, particularly in the last shot of ZD30. But Lawrence, maybe more than any performance this year, blew me away. She is ferocious, and completely carried her movie on her own, even though there were some fine performances. Her talent and maturity shown with this character is well beyond her years.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Nominees:
Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Who I'd Replace:
Since this is hypothetical, and this category is stacked with worthy actors, I'm going to throw in six nominees.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained*; Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained; Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike
for Arkin & DeNiro

Honorable Mention:
DeNiro; Michael Fassbender, Prometheus; Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Dark Knight Rises; Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being A Wallflower; Jeff Daniels, Looper; Javier Bardem, Skyfall; James Badge Dale, Flight; Andy Serkis, The Hobbit; Tom Holland, The Impossible; Jason Clarke, Zero Dark Thirty
\
Will Win: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

This was a fantastic year for supporting performances from the fellas. Arkin's inclusion in nearly every awards show is baffling to me. He has a few memorable one-liners, and any other year might be worthy of a nod, but I feel he's taking up a spot for someone more deserving. DiCaprio plays so well off of Tarantino's dialogue, and his charisma shines with this sadistic slave-owner who still has Southern hospitality. I'd give Jackson a co-Oscar for giving a thankless, brave role as an Uncle Tom house servant. Hoffman and McConaughey might have given their best performances also, but I think Jones is going to get swept up in the Lincoln vacuum that's about to occur at the Oscars. Don't get me wrong, Jones is great, but in this ridiculously impressive year, I would have gone with my main man Leo.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Nominees:
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln*
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Who I'd Replace:
Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises; Jennifer Ehle, Zero Dark Thirty
for Hunt & Weaver

Honorable Mention:
Hunt; Cody Horn, Magic Mike; Emma Watson, The Perks of Being A Wallflower; Mae Whitman, The Perks of Being A Wallflower; Gloria Reuben, Lincoln; Emily Blunt, Looper; Kerry Washington, Django Unchained

Will Win: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

This is pretty close to a lock. Hathaway's not even in Les Mis that long, but her "I Dreamed A Dream" is pretty miraculous, and clearly the highlight of the movie. I personally prefer her as the cunning vixen Catwoman in Batman, but it will be a well-deserved Oscar for an emotionally-packed two minutes of singing. I thought Adams was haunting and is the most consistently great actress; I didn't think she had it in her after Contagion but Ehle was surprisingly a fireball of a CIA agent,  but Field's Mary Todd Lincoln really stuck with me. The pain she conveys as she mourns her son and the voraciousness with which she goes after her husband's contemporaries is a thrill to watch.

These will be brief, because I know non-film majors don't care about screenplay awards.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Nominees:
Amour
Django Unchained*
Flight 
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty

Who I'd Replace:
The Master; Looper
for Amour, Flight

Who Will Win: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

ZD30 could be an upset, as its writer upset Tarantino in '09 with The Hurt Locker over Inglourious Basterds. My argument for QT: Tarantino dialogue. Leo's post-dinner speech about the slave called Ben. Enough said.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Nominees:
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Lincoln* 
Silver Linings Playbook

Who I'd Replace:
The Dark Knight Rises
for Life of Pi

Who Will Win: Tony Kushner, Lincoln

Kushner is a Tony and Pulitzer-winning playwright, and as Sorkin showed with The Social Network, playwrights that come to the silver screen, the dialogue is rhythmic and poetic and its appropriate pauses in action enhance the editing, acting, and directing. It's an exquisitely written movie, and will be a well-deserved golden man for Kushner.

For those of you read this far, I hope you enjoyed it. I'll have my top 10 of 2012 tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

-Rex

Follow me on Twitter @arm2001

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK REVIEW

At some point in our lives, some more frequent than others, we feel we have lost some semblance of control. Whether it be work, relationships, or the way that we would like to feel, each person needs several rest stops of self-evaluation in a lifetime. For those of us not happy with what direction our life is heading in, they assemble a plan, an active strategy to turn things around so things start getting better.

That's what David O. Russell's very funny and uplifting new film, Silver Linings Playbook, explores. The main dilemma for the protagonist, Pat Solitano Jr. (Bradley Cooper), is that his behavior is erratic, at best. Pat is a bipolar, recently released from an 8-month mental hospital stint, where he was sent after nearly killing the man he discovered in the shower with his wife. Pat is capable of extreme violence and anxiety at a moment's notice, often caused by imagining his wedding song is playing, which he heard when he caught his wife. Pat's plan of returning to normalcy involves reading Hemingway novels and getting back into shape, so to show his estranged wife that he's getting his life together. He is incredibly disillusioned, as it seems the wife is completely out of the picture, having filed a restraining order against him, and is only shown briefly in the film.

Pat returns home to Philadelphia and is living with his parents Dolores and Pat Sr., played by Jacki Weaver and Robert DeNiro. Dolores is a nurturer, doing everything not to send Pat Jr. into an episode. Pat Sr. is a diehard Eagles fan, executing various superstitions during games. He tries to bond with Pat Jr. by asking him to watch games on Sunday, believing him to be a good luck charm. Pat Jr. is too focused on his manic quest to get back his wife. He finds a solution when he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a promiscuous young widow, who has a lot of issues of her own. Tiffany is acquaintances with his wife, and agrees to help him deliver a love letter of sorts, on the condition that he be her dance partner for a city-wide competition. Pat Jr. is reluctant to the idea, but gives in. As they train together, as one may expect, they grow close and Pat's condition starts to improve drastically. But as the playoffs grow closer, Pat Sr. insists that Pat Jr. become part of what he believes is destiny for their home team, and Pat Jr. is caught between two obligations, which eventually become inextricably tied together.

The film's ending might disappoint some people, as it travels down a road taken by many rom-coms of the past. But this one feels more substantial because of what came before it. The Pat Sr. storyline is particularly fascinating in that he doesn't try to bond with his son in any other way than watching the game. Pat Sr. believes that revolving your life around your sports team is the only way to live, it's his religion. A winning Eagles team means the rest of your life will fall into place. It's interesting that the team is the Eagles, a historically average team, because it shows that never losing faith in something shows character, and that eventually you will be rewarded, which ties into Pat Sr.'s big bet at the end. This is DeNiro's best performance in 15 years, which isn't saying much looking what movies he's been in, but it's nice to see that he's still got his chops. Bradley Cooper, free from playing the hot arrogant leading man or douchebag boyfriend of the love interest, delivers his best performance yet. His detachment from normal social behavior, and his ignorance about it, provides much of the comic relief. The rope that holds it all together is Lawrence in a towering performance. I knew she could act from Winter's Bone, but she exchanges blows with DeNiro, and wins. The choices she makes from gestures and inflections even to how she walks with her sex-kitten body are all so magnetic. A couple scenes, involving her and Cooper's first date & a revelation about her Eagles fandom, are as close to Oscar-worthy as you can get. You can tell how much she enjoys playing this girl. She honestly is too young for this part, but her acting ability is well beyond her years, and the wizened maturity she brings to this brutally honest and curious character are a thrill to watch.

The co-MVP has to be the director David O. Russell. I never thought of him as a technical director, but there are some incredibly inventive camera movements. This has two effects. One is it makes the bipolarity of Pat and general craziness of all the cast, its own character. There are several frantic swooping movements starting at waist level, and end with an abrupt screech in someone's face. The camera itself is manic, and it helps immensely with envisioning what Pat goes through with his illness. The second effect is that it supplants that this is what Philadelphia is like. People know each other's secrets and aren't afraid to confront them about it. Pat instructs his friend that he's living a sham of a marriage. For better or worse, everyone is in everyone else's business. The dance sequence, even though it's short, is one of the most fun visual scenes I've seen this year. Like with The Fighter, Russell's fascination with these characters is felt, and I really believe he's one of the best auteurs living. I've never been to Philadelphia, nor to my knowledge have I met anyone from there, but I completely believe this family of people and neighbors exists in the real world.

This film is incredibly optimistic and romantic about the idea that compatibility with someone else can turn things around, no matter how dark things may seem. Pat and Tiffany fix each other, and may be still as crazy as before, but for all of us there is a silver lining, that if realized, can fulfill destiny... if you believe in that sort of thing.

4 out of 4 stars

Opening Act

This is my first post of the new blog. I don't know what it will turn into, but for now, it's going to be a time capsule, if you will, for my thoughts about the latest movies and TV, and the ever-changing landscape of mainstream Hollywood entertainment. I've seen 32 movies this year, which I'm pretty sure is a record for me,  and not at all sad (don't be hating, you outdoor lovers!) Once I see Zero Dark Thirty and Silver Linings Playbook, (and Les Mis, just 'cause I feel like I have to give it a chance) I'll be releasing my first ever Top 10 plus Honorable Mentions, followed shortly by who I would choose as Oscar nominees this year. For a while now, I feel like I've had all this useless movie knowledge with no one to turn to except to a gracious friend after a few drinks at a party, so this is a vessel where I can unload the weight of my cinematic knowledge, and feel like I'm doing something productive with it. Hope you enjoy! Happy New Year, friends!

-Rex