Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson is his own genre of film. He's transcended independent cinema to become a singular cinematic force - like Hitchcock, the Coen brothers, or Disney, he's a brand. Some folks have loved everything he's done; others, like myself, remained somewhat on the fence. I liked the idea of Royal Tennenbaums more than I liked the actual film, and I respected The Life Aquatic more than I followed the plot. I really wanted to like it, Anderson's work. Finally, with Moonrise Kingdom, I do.

There's something really beautiful in the simplicity and nostalgia of Moonrise Kingdom, something that permeates the entire film, although I tend to feel that way about coastal Rhode Island anyway. It's been too long since Ed Norton was in a movie I wanted to see, but I love him in this - his kind side, the good boy, grown up. (See also: Keeping the Faith. One of my favorites!) The whole ensemble is delightful - from Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as our lovestruck adolescent heroes, to Bruce Willis showcasing his comedic skills and soft side, to Frances McDormand and Anderson regular Bill Murray as a couple of lawyers. The young actors playing Gilman's fellow 'khaki scouts' are also superb, helping to balance out the adult cast of characters.

It's full of childhood memories - not my childhood, persay, but of the things one would expect to find in a coming of age story - pieced deftly together in a much happier version of Romeo & Juliet. Retro without being kitsch, vintage but not hipster, funny without being vulgar or slapstick (as so many films are, these days). I love, too, that it's a story of youth without a depressing turn of plot - just a great story of two crazy kids that just want to be together.

Even if Anderson's other films aren't quite your cup of tea, I encourage you to check out Moonrise Kingdom. It's really a special place, a journey we're privileged to share.

The Trouble With the Curve

I remember hearing that Amy Adams was slated to play Clint Eastwood's estranged daughter, and that she would be hitting the road with her baseball scout father, because he's losing his eyesight and in denial about it. That's still it - the basic story. Of course, what they didn't tell us in the casting release was that there's a romantic subplot for Adams, one that pairs her with a young scout - one played by Justin Timberlake.

Here's the thing: each of our lead performers are in a different film. Eastwood is in a sad, tough drama, Timberlake is in a romantic comedy, and Adams is left to tie the two together. It doesn't quite work, which, I imagine, is why the film didn't do as well as I had hoped it would.

It's difficult to watch Eastwood getting older, or at least playing into the stereotypes and pitfalls of doing so. You've gotta figure, for a badass like Eastwood, it's got to be even harder to go through than it is to watch. It's rather heartbreaking. Clearly Eastwood's doing fine - he's just acting! - but still, there will come a day...

There will probably not be a day in which I buy anything about the chemistry between the three lead performers. I can't say that I really buy Adams as Eastwood's daughter, Timberlake as a former pitcher, Adams as interested in Timberlake, or the three of them in the same movie. Kind of strange.

Other than that, I don't really have much to say about the movie. I love John Goodman in everything, so his role as a staffer for the Atlanta Braves is great to watch. He's got such a fantastic voice. And what's up, Matthew Lillard? The actor, best known for his roles in She's All That and as Shaggy in the live-action Scooby-Doo series, plays the antagonist Braves staffer looking to force Eastwood into retirement. An unexpected but believable turn for Lillard - wherever will he turn up next?

Not the finest work from any of these folk - I'd wait to see what's on the other side of the Curve.

Pitch Perfect

Thankfully, it's not Glee: the Movie. Star Anna Kendrick has Tony-award-nominated musical skills, and she's already proven her acting chops with roles in Up in the Air and 50/50. I was most interested in seeing Kendrick take on this musical medium, since she's slated to star in the film adaptation of the musical The Last 5 Years (a show near and dear to my heart) - but let's get back to Pitch Perfect.

There's a lot that could go wrong here, but director Jason Moore does a nice job of keeping everything in the right key (badum-ching!). Beca resents having to go to college; she'd prefer to go straight to LA and pursue a career as a music producer. Only after striking a bargain with her dad does she give the whole "college experience" a chance, and as we all know from the trailer, she joins the ladies' acapella group - the Barden Bellas. They're one of four on-campus acapella groups, their chief rival being the Treblemakers. The goal, of course, is to win the regional competition at Lincoln Center in New York.

It's about being true to yourself, learning to trust other people, making friends in unexpected places, and taking chances - on people, and in experiences. It manages to avoid the pitfalls and cliches of so many freshman-year and collegiate movies, and even the predictable aspects of the story are understated enough to feel at least somewhat authentic. Kendrick and romantic lead Skylar Astin do a great job keeping the film grounded, even with Rebel Wilson's wild spirit on board.

Going into the film, the cynic in me really wanted to dislike it, but I had hopes that pulled through. It's a really fun film to watch, spares us the soap opera that is Glee and the pretension of other musical series. Pitch Perfect does pretty well to hold up to its name.

Notes

- Director Jason Moore was also nominated for a Tony, for his direction of Avenue Q.

- I actually saw a play Moore directed in New York: Peter Morris's Guardians, starring Katherine Moennig and my personal favorite, Lee Pace.

- Not Anna Kendrick's first movie musical! See also (if you can bear it): Camp

- Also not Brittany Snow's first movie musical - the actress played Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray

- Cast member Anna Camp previously guest starred on Glee

- I'm pretty sure if I find a guy like Skylar Astin's character Jesse, I will have found my soul mate.

Oscars 2013

So silly, it's barely even 2013, and it's Oscar season. It should be called Oscars 2012, since that's when most of the movies came out. However, since I can't actually vote, I'm going to pretend that someone cares what I think by posting my choices here. Admittedly, I haven't seen all of the films, and my feelings would/will probably change as I see more of them (I hope to, but it's a busy month) prior to the big night.

Here goes: my choice to win in italics, and I removed categories in which I had no preference/knowledge of nominees (like documentary, does anyone see those? and what is the difference between sound mixing and sound editing? I will not make random, uneducated decisions... though I have placed votes for people in roles I have not seen.)

PS: Use the "Oscar Nom 2013" label to see posts relating to any of the films I have seen and written about.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
* Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook"
* Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln"
* Hugh Jackman in "Les Misérables"
* Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master"
* Denzel Washington in "Flight"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
* Alan Arkin in "Argo"
* Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook"
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master"
* Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln"
* Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained"

Performance by an actress in a leading role
* Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"
* Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"
* Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour"
* Quvenzhané Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
* Naomi Watts in "The Impossible"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
* Amy Adams in "The Master"
* Sally Field in "Lincoln"
* Anne Hathaway in "Les Misérables"
* Helen Hunt in "The Sessions"
* Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best animated feature film of the year
* "Brave" Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
* "Frankenweenie" Tim Burton
* "ParaNorman" Sam Fell and Chris Butler
* "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" Peter Lord
* "Wreck-It Ralph" Rich Moore

Achievement in cinematography
* "Anna Karenina" Seamus McGarvey
* "Django Unchained" Robert Richardson
* "Life of Pi" Claudio Miranda
* "Lincoln" Janusz Kaminski
* "Skyfall" Roger Deakins

Achievement in costume design
* "Anna Karenina" Jacqueline Durran
* "Les Misérables" Paco Delgado
* "Lincoln" Joanna Johnston
* "Mirror Mirror" Eiko Ishioka
* "Snow White and the Huntsman" Colleen Atwood

Achievement in directing
* "Amour" Michael Haneke
* "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Benh Zeitlin
* "Life of Pi" Ang Lee
* "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg
* "Silver Linings Playbook" David O. Russell

 Achievement in film editing
* "Argo" William Goldenberg* "Life of Pi" Tim Squyres
* "Lincoln" Michael Kahn
* "Silver Linings Playbook" Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
* "Zero Dark Thirty" Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
* "Hitchcock"
Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
* "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
* "Les Misérables"
Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

 Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
* "Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"
Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
* "Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted"
Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
* "Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"
Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
* "Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
* "Suddenly" from "Les Misérables"
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best motion picture of the year
* "Amour" Nominees to be determined
* "Argo" Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
* "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
* "Django Unchained" Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
* "Les Misérables" Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
* "Life of Pi" Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
* "Lincoln" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
* "Silver Linings Playbook" Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
* "Zero Dark Thirty" Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

Achievement in production design
* "Anna Karenina"
Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
* "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
* "Les Misérables"
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
* "Life of Pi"
Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
* "Lincoln"
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Adapted screenplay
* "Argo" Screenplay by Chris Terrio
* "Beasts of the Southern Wild" Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
* "Life of Pi" Screenplay by David Magee
* "Lincoln" Screenplay by Tony Kushner
* "Silver Linings Playbook" Screenplay by David O. Russell

Original screenplay
* "Amour" Written by Michael Haneke
* "Django Unchained" Written by Quentin Tarantino
* "Flight" Written by John Gatins
* "Moonrise Kingdom" Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
* "Zero Dark Thirty" Written by Mark Boal