Which Way Home (2007)

  This year's Academy Awards are over but I still have a bunch in my Netflix queue from years past.  This one got nominated way back in 2009 as part of my very first Oscar marathon attempt on this blog.  Fortunately, there are only a couple of these left and that's mostly because they weren't available until months after the ceremony.

This documentary follows a handful of child migrants making their way from Central America to the United States.  They range in ages from 9 to 17 and they are traveling alone for the majority of the journey, riding on the tops of freight trains from Guatemala and Honduras, through Mexico, and hopefully across the border.  This is a dangerous route for full-grown adults, much less children, and many die along the way. 

Their motivations vary from child to child.  Some have family working in the States that they have not seen in years, some are hoping to be adopted after their own parents have abandoned them, and others plan to work and send money back.  They have no idea what the United States actually looks like, beyond what they see in movies and television, and no concept of the distance between major cities.  Their hope and naivety make their stories that much more tragic.

The dangers they face are very real.  Every year, children are crushed under train wheels, robbed and violated by human traffickers, and killed by exposure to the elements.  They risk all of that just to be deported back to their home countries either by Mexican authorities or American. 

No matter your political leanings on the subject of illegal immigration, I think everyone can agree that the thought of children traveling thousands of miles alone is both terrifying and depressing.  The documentarian, Rebecca Cammisa, used a Fulbright Scholar grant in order to follow these children, which means the camera work is as bare bones as it gets.  I can't say that I enjoyed the experience but it was certainly eye-opening.

Blue Jasmine

  I was not impressed with this film.  Cate Blanchett is a great actress but this is essentially A Streetcar Named Desire.  It didn't feel original or new in any way.

After her husband (Alec Baldwin) is revealed to be running a Ponzi scheme, rich socialite Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) finds herself with nothing and is forced to move from Manhattan to live with her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) in San Francisco.  She is determined to make a new life for herself but soon discovers that she isn't qualified to be anything other than rich.  Meanwhile, she despises the men in Ginger's life, from her ex-husband (Andrew Dice Clay) to her current boyfriend (Bobby Cannavale).

Blanchett gives her best Blanche Dubois here but Cannavale is no Brando and there is no dramatic tension between the two.  Just a lot of scenery-chewing.  It's not sexy, it's not funny and the character is too brittle to elicit sympathy.  Minus the emotional connection, the only reason to watch is to see Blanchett's character's wardrobe.

Marvel One Shots

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I was sick over this last weekend.  I was still trying to get Oscar nominees out while I could but it was very hard to pay attention while trying not to succumb to the NyQuil coma.  At some point on Sunday, or maybe it was Monday, I just said "to hell with it" and broke out my Phase One box set.  Nothing helps you get over a cold like some Marvel goodness.

If you haven't seen any of the short films Marvel has included on their major releases (called One Shots), you owe it to yourself to check them out.  Chances are good you already own the movies anyway so why not spend a little extra time with them?

First up is The Consultant:  basically just an extended bit from the end credits sequence of The Incredible Hulk, it does introduce SHIELD Agent Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez), who shows up later.  Plus, any extra time with Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) is always worthwhile.  The two agents meet at a diner to discuss how they should handle SHIELD's request to bring on The Abomination to the Avengers Initiative.  Coulson thinks it's a terrible idea so they want to make sure General Ross (William Hurt) is so offended by the suggestion, or at least by the suggester, that he'll never agree.  Included on the Thor blu-ray.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer:  Even SHIELD agents have to stop for gas and road munchies, and Agent Coulson is no exception.  On his way to New Mexico to investigate the appearance of Mjolnir, he is saved from trying to decide between powdered donuts and fudge donuts by the attempted robbery of the gas station.  Included on the Captain America:  The First Avenger blu-ray.

Item 47:  A down-on-their-luck couple think they've discovered the answer to their money troubles when Ben (Jesse Bradford) manages to activate a fallen Chitauri weapon.  He and Claire (Lizzie Caplan) go on a bank-robbing spree before Agent Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez) is sent to retrieve the alien artifact.  Included on The Avengers blu-ray.

Agent Carter:  Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is having a hard time adjusting to post-war and post-Captain America life.  Her boss (Bradley Whitford) is a sexist jerk and she spends more time pushing paper than kicking ass.  But when a late-night mission comes in, Peggy sets out to prove that she's more than up to the challenge.  Included on the Iron Man 3 blu-ray.

Ranging from only a couple of minutes to about half an hour, each little piece brings something awesome.  The latter two were intended to set up TV shows Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and the yet-to-be-announced Agent Carter.  The plan is to have one of these attached to each new release, with All Hail the King being the latest.  I haven't seen that one yet but I'll be sure to mention it when I do.

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

  I don't think I'm a fan of the Coen Brothers.  I haven't enjoyed a film they've made since Intolerable Cruelty.  (I'm not including True Grit because it's a remake.)

Folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is barely making it.  He sleeps on a rotation of friends' couches, friend in this case being whoever he hasn't managed to piss off yet, and plays his guitar at low-rent bars across Greenwich Village, all the while disdaining more "commercial" ventures that might actually provide a paycheck.  But seeing as it's the middle of winter and he has no coat, he forces himself to sell out long enough to help his friend Jim (Justin Timberlake) record a novelty song in order to give the money to Jim's girlfriend Jean (Carey Mulligan) to pay for an abortion.  It's not that Jean doesn't want children, she just doesn't know if it's Jim's or Llewyn's and she'd rather not take the chance of it being a total fuck-up if it's the latter's.  Jean's kind of a bitch but she's not wrong.  Llewyn is the poster boy for poor decisions and has been apparently since the death of his partner, Mike.

The Coens have taken on Greek myth before so maybe this is their version of Greek tragedy, where you can chart the hero's downfall based on a central flaw in his character.  In this way the cat that keeps showing up is probably the symbolic equivalent of the chorus, a warning to change his ways that goes completely unheeded.  That's not my cup of tea, however, maybe you like that particular brew.

Oscar Isaac is excellent here as he makes what is essentially an unlikeable character at least sympathetic, plus he's a very good singer.  I'm not a huge fan of folk music but the songs included were very pretty.  I guess none of them are originals, however, and that's why it didn't get nominated for an Oscar except for Sound Mixing and Cinematography but that's just a guess.

Oscar winners (2014)

Did everyone have a good time watching the Oscars last night?  I've been sick as a dog since Thursday but I loaded my happy ass up on Dayquil just so I could get through the ceremony. 

Ellen DeGeneres hosted and did a great job which just goes to prove the old Hollywood adage:  if you want something done right, give it to the lesbians. 

No one says that?  Are you sure?  Well, they should start. 

The theme this year was "Heroes of Movies" and there were some cute montages to different kinds of heroes, from animated to real-life to super.  No host-led musical numbers this time, which was fine.  They wouldn't have fit the flow of the program and it gave more impact to the Best Original Song performances. 

There weren't any real trainwreck outfits this year, but the wax dummy that Kim Novak has become more than made up for that.  Holy shit.  She was so beautiful back in the day, it almost made me cry seeing what she looks like now.

Even Liza Minnelli looked better and she's been to rehab more times than Flava Flav. 

Moving on.  The only other thing that really annoyed me was John Travolta completely mangling Idina Menzel's name when he announced her to sing "Let It Go".  It is an unusual name, sure, but that's why you practice beforehand.  You don't think people struggled with Chiwetel Ejiofor? 

Anyway, here's a list of the winners.  Gravity clearly racked up last night while American Hustle will just have to be content with all its Golden Globes.

Best Picture	12 Years a Slave
Best Actor in a Leading Role	Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Leading Role	Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Animated Feature	Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
Best Cinematography	Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Best Costume Design	The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
Best Directing	Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Best Documentary Feature	20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)
Best Documentary Short	The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
Best Film Editing	Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
Best Foreign Language Film	The Great Beauty (Italy)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling	Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Best Original Score	Gravity (Steven Price)
Best Original Song	Let It Go - Frozen
Best Production Design	The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
Best Animated Short Film	Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)
Best Live Action Short Film	Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)
Best Sound Editing	Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
Best Sound Mixing	Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
Best Visual Effects	Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
Best Adapted Screenplay	12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
Best Original Screenplay	Her (Spike Jonze)

Aquel No Era Yo (2012)/Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (2012)

Nominated for:  Best Live Action Short    This is a Spanish short, set in Africa, and spoken mostly in English.

A pair of Spanish doctors are stopped at a checkpoint in Africa manned by child soldiers.  While they are trying to get through, a car full of rebels arrives and takes them hostage.  The general (Babou Cham) decides to use them as object lessons for his soldiers.

This was by far the hardest short to watch.  Like War Witch but condensed into 23 minutes of abject horror.

Nominated for:  Best Live Action Short    Did you ever have one of those days where everything just goes horribly wrong and everyone is looking to you for answers? 

Sini (Joanna Haarti) wakes up panicked because her entire family has overslept and they are due at a wedding.  She rushes around trying to take care of every crisis that arises only to find out that sometimes it's better to just say fuck it.

At only 7 minutes long, this Finnish short packs a lot of punch.  It helps that the material is so relatable.  Everyone has been in Sini's shoes at least once.  Is it enough to win?  Probably not. 

So that's all the Live Action shorts for the year.  I wasn't able to find any of the other categories, which makes me feel lied to, since Amazon and iTunes were supposed to have them, but tonight is the big night so it's not like I would have had the time to watch them all anyway.

Helium (2014)/The Voorman Problem (2012)/Avant Que de Tout Perdre (2013)

Nominated for:  Best Live Action Short    I finally found them!  Yay!  This short comes from Denmark and is about a janitor named Enzo (Casper Crump) and his tale of a magical world called Helium that he shares with Alfred (Pelle Falk Krusbaek), a young boy in the hospital.  Alfred has a terminal illness but fears that Heaven will be boring.  Enzo tells him that, instead, he could go in a lion-headed zeppelin to Helium and live in a house held up by balloons.

This was a really pretty film with some top-notch effects work showing all the wonders of Helium.  Be warned, however, this might induce a case of The Feels.

Nominated for:  Best Live Action Short    This short from the UK might be the closest thing to a horror film the Academy has recognized since The Exorcist.

Stuffy psychiatrist Dr. Williams (Martin Freeman) is called in to consult on a prisoner named Voorman (Tom Hollander) who believes that he is God.  The trouble is, he might be right.

It's only 13-minutes long but packs a wickedly funny punch.  As long as you don't mind the fact that God is kind of a dick.

Nominated for:  Best Live Action Short    And now we're off in a completely different direction, courtesy of France.

Miriam (Lea Drucker) is taking her two kids and leaving her abusive husband, Antoine (Denis Menochet), he just doesn't know it yet.  She goes to the store where she works in order to finalize some paperwork.  Her boss agrees to fire her so she'll get benefits and gets the accounting department to advance her money, while her co-workers take turns watching her children.  But everything could be completely ruined when Antoine unexpectedly shows up at the store looking for Miriam.

So far, I have seen poignant, funny, and now suspenseful.  You really feel Miriam's sense of determination in getting herself and her kids out of this terrible situation, and the helplessness of her co-workers.  They want to do more for her but they don't know how.  Sadly, this is also the most realistic of the shorts so far.