Podcasting Them Softly

Joy is a good, inspiring movie, filled with lots of heart and genuine emotion, about something honest and real and tangible, featuring the radiant Jennifer Lawrence in a sensational movie-star performance that easily cements her as THE hottest (both in terms of looks and acting ability) actress of the moment. Seriously…name me one other actress her age who can command the screen in the same exact fashion as she does – you can’t because there is nobody else doing this sort of thing. She’s the total package, and it’s abundantly clear that writer/director David O. Russell has found his muse. I’ve been a huge fan of Russell’s work since the beginning of his career; Three Kings, Flirting with Disaster, I Heart Huckabees, and Silver Linings Playbook are all great pieces of cinema. And if Joy feels relatively small or slight in comparison, it’s only because the narrative feels a bit more traditional in its scope, but when looked at up close, there’s plenty to chew on. Reteaming yet again with Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, Russell has assembled a sterling supporting cast which also includes Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, Edgar Ramirez, and Virginia Madsen, all of whom get a chance for some major scene stealing.

Russell again demonstrates his affinity and inherent understanding of the complexities of the dysfunctional home front and fractured family unit, with his cinematography (this time handled by Linus Sandgren) and editing (Jay Cassidy, Tim Cross, Alan Baumgarten, and Christopher Tellefsen were the cutters) neatly complimenting each other; the images have a simple and effective beauty to them while the editing is traditionally frantic yet coherent per Russell’s manic standards. Sandgren’s use of the close-up, especially with Lawrence, was very smart, as it helped to get into the character’s psyche, while offering the viewer a glimpse into her soul, not to mention her face, which the camera lovingly surveys and studies. Lawrence is a force of nature here, in almost every scene, serious one moment and funny the next, always sexy, always confident yet still somewhat vulnerable; it’s a big and juicy part that any actress would kill to get and she just owns this movie from top to bottom. De Niro gets some hearty laughs, and it was a treat to see the odd yet important relationship between Lawrence and Ramirez take shape. And here I haven’t said anything about the plot! Nominally a sort-of-biopic about the woman responsible for the Miracle Mop and the rise of QVC, Joy is above all else a story about perseverance and believing in yourself no matter the odds. Some people just don’t quit, and in Joy, Lawrence gets one of her most unique and thoughtful roles to date, portraying a strong and independent woman who isn’t interested in hearing the word no unless she’s the one saying it.

My top 10 from 2015 is getting harder and harder to pin down. There isn’t one bad scene in Mississippi Grind, the new film from Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, who previously crafted the masterful baseball/immigrant drama Sugar (and before that the harrowing Ryan Gosling on crack drama Half-Nelson). In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s a virtually faultless piece of work; upon first glance, I have absolutely zero to quibble about in terms of the decisions made by the filmmakers. It’s true that there’ll be flashier, more heavily promoted films than this one, but when a movie works as well as this one does, you must take notice. Actor of the moment Ben Mendelsohn can do no wrong; he’s immediately engaging, and here, stripped of his customary forehead grease and sweat, he’s able to create a character who we want to see win, something mostly new for him as an actor. He’s been in huge demand of late (peek his IMDB credits as they’re just insane…) but it’s always for the skeevy-drugged-out bad-guy or henchmen; in Mississippi Grind, he’s as close to “leading man” as he’s been allowed to get and he’s wonderful and warm and even affable. Ryan Reynolds was used perfectly here — as the colorful support — and he nails every single scene. His usual brand of cockiness is on full display here, getting lots of mileage out of facial gestures and his immaculate line delivery. The plot hinges on a degenerate gambler (Mendelsohn), who becomes convinced that his new friend (Reynolds) is the ultimate lucky rabbit’s foot. The two guys hit the road and embark on a trip to a high-stakes poker game in New Orleans, with all sorts of detours along the way. There’s an unforced sense of style to this film, akin to an effort from the 70’s (it’s been said that this movie was conceived as a riff on Robert Altman’s California Split), with cinematographer Andrij Parekh boldly shooting in 2.35:1 widescreen but never sacrificing intimacy. The ending is well earned and smartly calibrated on a creative level, there are a few nice twists along the way, and Sienna Miller and Alfre Woodard show up in juicy peripheral roles. This is one of the best movies from 2015, a simple story told in an honest, upfront manner, without the need for contrived stupidity or a dumbing-down of any of the elements. I absolutely loved every single moment of Mississippi Grind, and I have a feeling it’ll become a movie I revisit often. We Can’t Lose POWER.

Pennies from Heaven is a continually underrated film, featuring Steve Martin in his first dramatic role, with a stellar supporting cast including Christopher Walken, Bernadette Peters, and Jessica Harper. The film was a massive box office bomb, as it followed Martin’s blockbuster comedy The Jerk, and audiences probably weren’t ready to accept him in a lavish and ambitious musical where he was being asked to be taken seriously. Skillfully directed by Herbert Ross and smartly written by Dennis Potter, Pennies from Heaven allowed cinematographer Gordon Willis to make some bold stylistic decisions as an artist, as he deftly balanced the bleakness of the Depression era and the characters’ unhappy lives with exciting and brightly colored musical set-pieces that take on a fantastical/dreamlike quality. With the various characters breaking into song and dance all throughout, smart framing and rhythmic camera moves were required, and in this department, Ross and Willis made the film light on its feet while still grounding it in a hard and firm style that stressed the trappings of film noir and Chicago Art Deco flourishes. One of the more unsung gems from the 1980’s, this is a film that’s ripe for rediscovery, and further underscores the range of talent that legendary cameraman Willis exuded as a craftsman. A Blu-Ray is long overdue for this unsung cinematic gem.

Hal Ashby had such an extraordinary run of directorial efforts in the 1970’s, and one of this funniest, sexiest movies was Shampoo, a piercing satire of the sexes, which was co-written by star Warren Beatty and screenwriting legend Robert Towne (Chinatown). Shot in a casually stylish manner by the extremely prolific László Kovács (Five Easy Pieces, Paper Moon, Ghostbusters), this is a sex comedy in its purest form, with the shifting social codes and barriers firmly on display and ready to be picked at and smashed, while Ashby was up to his normal subversion of material from within the script’s fine details. Beatty is one of the ultimate big-screen womanizers in this film, bouncing from one beauty to the next, but none more alluring than the bewitching Julie Christie, who in this film, has one of the ultimate come hither glances that has ever been put up on the silver screen. Beatty, playing a composite of flamboyant real life hair dressers (some say that the infamous producer Jon Peters was an inspiration), is trying to get a loan for his business, while juggling the many women who have fallen under his spell, with the narrative set against the backdrop of the 1968 Presidential election. Jack Warden is absolutely hilarious (the scene with him walking into the plate glass window at the party is an all-timer), Tony Bill has some priceless supporting moments, and an extremely cute Goldie Hawn is also featured as one of Beatty’s many lovely girlfriends. Carrie Fisher has a brief appearance (her screen debut, actually), while the film, typical for Ashby, has an eclectic soundtrack and some seriously fluid editing. In the top five box office hits from 1975, this is yet another classic film that drops you in the middle of the action right at the start, and over the course of two hours, tells an intimate, funny, and ultimately sad story of people facing the many crossroads of life and passion.

One of the most aesthetically heightened films on Woody Allen’s resume, and boldly shot by master cinematographer Gordon Willis, who wasn’t used to this sort of stylistic affectations, Zelig is a brilliant comedy, and it’s the film that would mark the first time that Willis would receive an Oscar nomination. Simply put, this film is a cinematographer’s dream come true, as the narrative offered up nearly every artistic chance for a technician to feel truly unleashed. His highly inventive work on this film, in tandem with Allen’s clever screenplay, which effortlessly combined various film aging techniques, blue screen compositions, and old-fashioned stills photography, was done in an effort to credibly place the film’s main character, played by Allen, into a virtual archive of popular images from 20th century events. The film was shot and narrated in the style of 1920s black-and-white newsreels which were then intertwined with archival footage and re-enactments from real historical events, and also included color segments from the present day. This was years before computers and CGI would make these technical endeavors easier and more readily seamless, so it’s even more impressive in retrospect to see what Allen and Willis were able to create in this hilarious, touching, and extremely unique mockumentary that feels like one of Allen’s more under discussed efforts on his endlessly fascinating filmography.

They took an incredibly silly premise and they ran with it and had some fun. Considering the noted behind the scenes turbulence, Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man feels surprisingly coherent and uniform – it’s witty, it’s stylish, and it’s totally disposable in the way that most homogenized Marvel product feels. And that’s not necessarily a knock; say what you want, but the people at Marvel have built a cinematic brand that carries a certain expectation, and this effort, however minor in the grand scheme of the world building of the Marvel universe, is one of the more purely enjoyable. The action scenes pop with fantastic CGI, hurling the audience on a miniature level through all sorts of visual pyrotechnics and chaos; this is basically what a new-fangled version of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids would look like. Paul Rudd, as usual, is self-effacing and very laid back, all sorts of charming, and as always, a great sport. Michael Pena steals some scenes as he always does, and Michael Douglas clearly got a kick out of playing the sage mentor. However, whoever decided that the stunningly attractive Evangeline Lilly should be saddled with that horrendous short black wig should have been fired on the spot – why take away from her naturally gorgeous features? Cinematographer Russell Carpenter (True Lies, Titanic) has a field day with the action set pieces, which are cleverly staged and excitingly rendered; I’m VERY picky with CGI these days and the stuff here looked like it cost a pretty penny. This is harmless, easy to digest nonsense that has a smart sense of humor about itself. Nothing is taken seriously, and as a result, the film has a welcome comic buoyancy that separates it from most comic book/superhero movies.

One of the best films that John Travolta appeared in during his post Pulp Fiction glory daze, the 1998 social issues drama A Civil Action is still a pertinent and topical piece of adult-minded filmmaking, the sort of film that seems in short supply these days, written and directed by one of the classiest storytellers that Hollywood has at its disposal. Steven Zaillian’s fine-tuned screenplay and sensitive, adroit direction propelled this smart and troubling courtroom drama centering on the polluting of a small town’s water supply, and how big business is only too happy to try and skirt their responsibilities, never fully caring about the ramifications of their sloppy actions. Shot in varying shades of gray, black, and brown by Conrad Hall, the wintry atmosphere is a perfect visual hook for this steely and cold film, with an emphasis on naturalistic lighting and studied camera placement. An excellent supporting cast including John Lithgow, Oscar nominee Robert Duvall, James Gandolfini, Dan Hedaya,William H. Macy, Kathleen Quinlan, Stephen Fry, and Tony Shaloub helped to make the proceedings even more lively and strong, while the almost mournful score by Danny Elfman contributed to the somber, tough minded mood. I’m a huge fan of films of this nature, stories that are about something relevant and universal, because, this could be ANY town in ANY state facing a problem that we take very much for granted.

I can’t believe that Bad Santa (or Badder Santa, whatever version you prefer) is 12 years old. It’s one of the funniest films that I’ve ever seen. It never gets old. It only gets funnier with each viewing. There’s a diseased sense of misanthropy running through the rotted heart of this cheerfully vulgar film, and while it’s got a bit of warmth tucked into the nooks and crannies, this wild masterpiece of comedy ranks as one of the more transgressive cinematic offerings that have come along in many years. Billy Bob Thornton got the role of a lifetime as the ultimate drunk mall Santa, cocked out of his mind, and shambling from one disastrous personal embarrassment to the next. The numerous comedic set pieces in this film never seem like they’re competing with each other in an effort to out-due the last bit, but rather, everything is perfectly paced, with Thornton truly appearing totally smashed all throughout this movie; it’s a sublime and bravura performance when you really boil it down. His idea to knock off the various malls that he appears in at night with his sidekick, the insanely funny Tony Cox (this movie gets tremendous mileage out of the visual humor associated with a foul-mouthed African-American little person in an elf suit), produced all sorts of hilarity. John Ritter and Bernie Mac are both tear-inducingly-funny in their scenes, and when they appear together, the results are outrageous. And then there’s the kid, Thurman Merman, played with total innocence and deadpan charm by Brett Kelly; I’ll always wonder just how much he understood while filming, and just how much he was actually exposed too on set. Terry Zwigoff’s acerbic direction mixed perfectly with the hardcore-nasty screenplay by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (they also wrote/directed the absurdly underrated I Love You, Philip Morris), while Lauren Graham makes for an almost impossibly cute/sexy romantic interest for Thornton, the sort of girl that just so happens to have a sexual fetish for Santa. And just so we’re all clear — Fraggle Stick Car POWER.