Out of Focus

JESUS CAMP AND TRIBECA SHARE AN OSCAR FIRST

About a month ago I think I mentioned that I've been helping out a bit on the Tribeca web site. If you didn't know, the Tribeca site has continuously changing content, highlighted by a now-weekly email newsletter. For the past couple months, I've been writing said newsletter and the associated website copy, a job I won't be handling too much longer -- except on a consulting basis -- because with my other duties, I simply don't have the time.

I call attention to this fact now only because the latest edition of the newsletter was sent on Friday, and personally, I think it's one of the best ones we've done yet. The highlight happens to be a conversation I had with Jesus Camp directors Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing on Wednesday to talk about their Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. Jesus Camp made my "Next Best" list, and although I only wrote a very brief comment in that post, I could talk about it for hours. It's a tremendous documentary about a very important subject, and I was personally excited to see it receive a nomination.

The Tribeca side of me was even more excited though to see Jesus Camp create Tribeca Film Festival history: it became the first film to world premiere and find theatrical distribution at the festival before going on to an Oscar nomination. That's a big deal, and I don't think, on behalf of Tribeca, a better film could have earned that distinction and signify what kinds of movies the festival tries to show.

More importantly, though, I don't know that this could have happened to cooler filmmakers. I met Heidi and Rachel briefly at the festival when I introduced their final public screening, which like the others was pretty damn packed if not completely sold out. These are two very smart and talented women who also happen to be fun and friendly. You can see so for yourself by reading the interview over at the Tribeca web site.

And as just another quick aside, I encourage you to sign-up for the Tribeca newsletter. We only send emails once a week (daily during the festival) without other solicitations or anything, and some really interesting and exciting things are on tap for the site in the not too distant future as we countdown with less than three months to go until opening night!

2006 IN REVIEW PART III: THE REAL WORST

(Ahhh ... a lost classic ... an unfinished post ... but it contains my Bottom 10 of 2006, so for posterity's sake ...)

Unlike Oscar, this year I HAVEN'T seen most of the films that received the dubious dishonor of one (or several) Razzie Nominations. Even so, I'm a Razzie voter, and I know in my heart that had some of my worst films actually been listed (as opposed to needing a write-in vote) on the main ballot, they would be up there. But ... that's not what happened. Even so, I'm going to list my Bottom 10 movies of the year and also share with you my Razzies nominating ballot. While it is definitely hard to argue with many of the Razzie nominees, there still are a few films that I wish could be expunged from the collective memory of our society.

1. The Black Dahlia
2. The Nativity Story
3. Let's Go to Prison
4. Crank
5. Poseidon
6. The Night Listener
7. How to Eat Fried Worms
8. Miami Vice
9. The Da Vinci Code

MORE OSCAR REACTIONS

(What happens when my brain just tosses out random thoughts and comments before I sit and compile them into some sort of first-person dialogue that I pretend to be average writing? Why, that would be the following, incomplete random nomination ... whatevers.)

Pan's Labyrinth: SIX nominations. That's huge for a foreign film, and with that many (including screenplay), why not best picture? What makes Babel better, honestly.

The shock and awe experience by a lack of picture, director, screenplay nod for Dreamgirls.

Three nominations for Best Song? Was there just no other original songs this year? And why the hell are they writing three new songs for Dreamgirls anyway? Because the entire production was apparently built around repeating the oscar success of Chicago. End credits ... I'm going to have to root for "I Need to Wake Up" now (even though my guess is that "Listen" will win -- even if it is an utterly inappropriate and ridiculous song for the story, that point in the story, etc.)

There should be a rule that when a movie is as thoroughly horrible as "The Black Dahlia," it should be utterly ineligible for any Oscar, regardless of how good the cinematography may be. There certainly were other films this year that deserve that nomination as much, if not more, such as: Letters From Iwo Jima; Apocalypto; Flags of Our Fathers; Marie Antoinette .. and I'm sure I'm forgetting, not including some.

The documentary category appears to be among the strongest of any this year: only seen JESUS CAMP and AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, but I've heard absolute raves about the other three.

This is the first year in recent memory that I had managed to have seen all the Best Picture, Director and Screenplay nominees before the nomination announcement. THe only films in the major categories (not include tech, shorts, docs or foreign) I havent seen this year are Blood Diamond, Venus, The Pursuit of Happyness, Monster House, The Prestige, Curse of the Golden Flower, and I'm certainly going to try to see all of them before the awards.

I haven't seen "Monster House," but I'm a little curious as to why it has received so much love (Golden Globe nom too) while Over the Hedge which was tons of fun and had several hysterical moments was completely neglected.

ABigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine: Another surprise

Usually, best pictuer nominees end up with lots of nominations because they also get notice in the three main design awards, and yet, this year, of 15 possible nominations in three cateogires, only one went to a BP nominee -- The Queen for costume design. Apparently, Babel, Departed, Letters and Sunshine all managed to be one of the best pictures of the year without any of them having the best Art Direction, Cinematography or Costume Design. It's hard to argue with the cinematography noms, other than Dahlia, but it's also hard to figure out how Departed and Letters didn't get one there.

When having a category like "Best Makeup" allows a movie like Click to receive an Oscar nomination, should we even have it anymore? Maybe it should move to the tech awards ceremony.

FINDING THE FUNNY AND IT'S BLOODY RARE

I just got home a little while ago from "Fresh Meat" -- a monthly comedy variety show produced and hosted by my friend Catie Lazarus at Comix on 14th Street. I've known Catie off and on for a couple years, but I'd never gone to her show nor seen her perform. A couple weeks ago, Catie and I had lunch while I was still seemingly dying from a cold, and the next week I heard from her that she was sick. My fault? Maybe -- a friend at work had renicknamed me "germy" because of how much I was constantly coughing. So when poor Catie called and said, "You got me sick! Are you coming to my show on the 23rd?" Well the implied Jewish guilt from here combined with my own don't-bother-mentioning-it-as-I-can-create-my-own-guilt-regardless-of-any-actual-fault-thank-you-very-much obviously meant that my answer would be yes.

Of course, I was seriously encouraged when I saw her lineup of guests which included the hysterical Jessi Klein (who I interviewed just about two years ago for Gothamist); the side-splitting, asthma-inducing storytelling of author Jonathan Ames; and the equally funny readings/performances of Elizabeth Spiers, David Rakoff and Annabelle Gurwitch.

The last time I laughed this hard at might have been at Borat. Rarely have I seen live comedy where virtually top-to-bottom, the program was this strong, and that's even more remarkable considering the fact that only Jessi and Catie are actual stand-up comics.

Catie is performing all over the place in the coming weeks, and "Fresh Meat" will be back at Comix on Feb. 13. As difficult as it is for me to find time to do anything social these days (and it will likely only get worse), I will most definitely be checking out Catie and her show again, and you should consider doing so too.

OSCAR OUTRAGE? NOT SO MUCH, BUT MAYBE I'VE JUST BECOME SUPER-CYNICAL

The film industry takes a brief break from Sundance obsession to reflect once more, and for the final time, on the previous year. That's right ... awards season officially entered its third trimester this morning with the Academy Award nominations, and now all we can do is sit and wait what comes out when the envelopes finally break their water.

I'll have more thoughts later when I can process more, but my most immediate reaction is one of ... meh. I just heard the people on NBC claiming shock at the lack of Best Picture and Director nominations for Dreamgirls, and I'm personally shocked at their shock. Big deal, it won the Golden Globe. Ever since nomination voting for the Oscars closed before the Globe awards have been announced, they have often been less of a true bellweather.

And I can't say that I'm all that surprised by the nominations that cause a wee bit of personal outrage, such as Adapted Screenplay for Little Children or all the super-love for Babel. I suppose the only thing I wasn't really expecting was the Best Picture nomination for Little Miss Sunshine, and yet, I can't claim total shock by it either. All it does is keep Little Miss Sunshine in the official race for year's most overrated film with Babel.

Some final (for now) quick thoughts as we wait for the bulk of the nominations:

• OK, one other pleasant surprise? Pan's Labyrinth (my top film of the year) receiving a Best Original Screenplay nomination. I would have been incensed had it not received a Best Foreign Film nod, but it's nice to see it receive some added recognition. However, even more than screenplay, it deserved a Best Director nod for Guillermo del Toro.
  
• I have mixed feelings on the Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Borat considering that so much of the film was improved and not actually written, even if I suppose the very nature of the creation still deserves applaud.
  
• I suppose it's wrong to say that Little Miss Sunshine was my only Best Picture surprise. I wasn't expecting Letters From Iwo Jima, even though it did receive lots of early critics awards. But that's a pleasant surprise. As far as films that seriously had a chance at the nomination, Letters at least deserved it, and ranks number three of the five for me.
  
• The Best Actress category appears to be by far the strongest and most-competitive cateogry with five tremendous performances that in any other year would be an odds-on favorite to win. With that said, Helen Mirren should be walking home with the award for The Queen this year. Of course, this category also holds a personal disappoint, as I would have loved to see Maggie Gyllenhaal receive notice for Sherrybaby.
  
• OK, one other big surprise (I guess I did have some) is Jackie Earle Haley for Little Children.
  
• I was also somewhat excited by Ryan Gosling's nod for Half Nelson. Gosling has quickly become one of the most talented, if still relatively unknown, actors working today, and his performance in this film was as strong as ever.
  
• I guess the other big surprise (wow, I'm really negating myself, no?) would be no Jack Nicholson but yes Mark Wahlberg for The Departed. Maybe I don't describe that as a shock because that's actually the way it should be, but Oscar getting something right is, often, a surprise.

More TK ....

2006 IN REVIEW PART II: THE TOP 10 -- AND THEN SOME

I actually have a lot of lists and "awards" to bestow this year, but the way I always get myself in trouble is by trying to do everything at once, and then eventually deciding it's too late to do any of it. Sure, everybody is tired of year-end lists, and most people got theirs done at the actual year-end. I'm perfectly content feeling like I have a somewhat comprehensive take on things by now: the day before the Academy announces its Oscar nominations. So there's more to come, but for the time being, I thought I would at least get this up and done.

I know everyone has been complaining about how 2006 was a bad year for film, and maybe overall it was, yet I still found myself with plenty of titles to choose from, and a few that I think will stand the test of time. The hardest thing for me, in fact, wasn't finding enough movies to fill my list, but rather determining any sort of order. Other than my top film of the year, I have a feeling that the rest of my top six or seven is relatively interchangeable, and several of those I include in "Next Best" on a given day could potentially crack that top 10.

So, without further ado: Below is the list; clicking on a title will take you to brief comments on that title (as will simply clicking on the "Continue reading ..."). The only films I included are titles which were released in New York during 2006 and were not nearly 40 years old. (Army of Shadows deserves a special and separate mention). There are also comments (after the jump) about what's missing. Other worthy notables (as well as a few other categories) will be for another post. And now ...

THE BEST FILMS OF 2006

1. Pan's Labyrinth
   
2. The Departed
   
3. Old Joy
   
4. Children of Men
   
5. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
   
6. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
   
7. The Road to Guantanamo
   
8. This Film Is Not Yet Rated
   
9. Borat
   
10. Apocalypto

NEXT BEST (in alphabetical order)

• 49 Up
  
• Fratricide
  
• Half Nelson
  
• The Heart of the Game
  
• Jesus Camp
  
• Lady Vengeance
  
• Letters From Iwo Jima
  
• Marie Antoinette
  
• The Queen
  
• Sherrybaby

WHAT'S NOT ON THE LIST
(but you might think it should be ...)

GOLDEN GLOBES POST-MORTEM: DOES HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF?

No no no no no no no no no no no no! I hope that this actually gets Babel out of Hollywood's system, but I fear the opposite. Crash didn't even receive a Golden Globe Best Picture nomination last year before going on to win the Oscar and officially become the most overrated film of 2005. Last night, Babel leaped ahead of Little Children and Little Miss Sunshine to become the clear favorite in this year's race for the overrated title. I'm a fan of Alejandro González Iñárritu -- I loved both Amores Perros and 21 Grams -- but Babel is at best an admirable failure and at worst a nonsensical and fragmented bore. How exactly do you give your director's awatrd to The Departed, your screenwriting award to The Queen, and call Babel the Best Picture? By any reasonable judgment, if Babel is actually that great, Iñárritu should have received a director's award for being able to coherently tell and integrate these four stories and themes.

I also just saw Letters From Iwo Jima yesterday, and really enjoyed it. I think it's a far superior film to Flags of Our Fathers, and Warner Bros. is ridiculous for not marketing it better. But giving the Best Foreign-Language Feature award to Eastwood is a joke with Pan's Labyrinth there as competition. Dreamgirls winning was kind of expected, but I'm guessing it's as much because of the HFPA's love of musicals as not wanting to award Borat with too much.

Speaking of Borat -- words can't express the genius of Sacha Baron Cohen. I don't know about you out there in interweb land, but to me, his very ability to give that speech without cracking much more than the slightest grin is a greater test of endurance than any trick I've seen David Blaine perform.

And looking at the television side of things, Ugly Betty? Really? It's a fun show, that's aired the rough equivalent of a full season on a cable network, but ... really? Compared to The Office? And yes, I know everyone loves Grey's Anatomy, but come on! That category was so flawed anyway ... in fact, why bother with it?

Anyway, the Globes weren't as infuriating to me as they usually are, until that Best Picture announcement by the governator. In fact, the only thing I found totally absurd about the show was ... exactly how much money did Nancy O'Dell and Maria Menounos receive to be insipid, barely used eye candy? And who was producing their on cameras? Whoever fed Menounos the question to ask America Ferrara about being cast in Ugly Betty after great resistance from the powers that be should be blackballed from ever working in celebrity or entertainment journalism again.

THE GOLDEN GLOBES PREVIEW: IF I PICKED THE WINNERS ... SORT OF

The awards have been flying around furiously, and even though the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is probably the least reputable group of all the critics who actually bestow honors upon the worlds of film and television, for some reason (read: a really large budget that allows for a really glitzy show), their Golden Globe Awards are the most publically influential honor a film (and to a lesser extent, a TV series) can win, second to the Oscars.

And so here we are, with the Golden Globes happening tonight, sneaking up on everybody who still isn't really used to them being in mid-January rather than the good ol' days when they were about three weeks later because ... well so was Oscar. I've been furiously (myself) trying to catch-up on all the movies that came out in 2006 that had so far eluded me. There are still a few more I hope to see before officially releasing my own Top 10 list (which I really, truly anticipate to arrive by this Friday), but I can't help myself from doing a relatively brief and somewhat quick prognostication for tonight's event.

The Globes are always slightly more unpredictable than the Oscars. They're known for nominations that make no sense and the occasional winner that is even less logical. This year's nominations are no exception, and I'm sure there are several HFPA members still enjoying whatever expensive swag received by The Weinstein Company since there is no other possible explanation for a that Bobby Best Picture nomination, especially when you further consider that while Emilio Estevez was (justly) shut-out of the director category, Clint Eastwood managed to score 40% of the nominations for two films that between them could only score one "Foreign-Language Film" nod. For my money (as I will also discuss in a further post), the three front-runners for the Out of Focus Lensy™ for "Most Overrated Film" of 2006) all received Best Picture nods -- Little Children and Babel for Drama and Little Miss Sunshine for Musical or Comedy. (Sorry, kids, but as much as I enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine, the praise it has received for being a great movie is a bit much. I think it's a much better film than Thank You For Smoking, for examplel; it's just not as good as some are making it out to be.)

The Globes could actually go any which number of ways tonight, so unless I think there's a shoo-in, I'm actually not going to predict. Work has been getting so all-consuming that I don't know that I have the brain power right now (as I sit in my office on this national holiday) to accurately predict. After the jump is a combination of who might win, who will win, who should win ... blah blah blah. In doing this, it just reminded me ... Oscar is more fun.

2006 IN REVIEW PART I: OUT WITH THE OLD, BEGINNING ANEW, AND ALMOST BECOMING ATTAINABLE

Happy New Year, everyone. My first resolution for 2007 is not to write more in this space, but rather to never again (after this very second) mention either why I haven't been posting or explain how/why I'm about to recommence in earnest. I mean, who cares, right? You certainly don't. And why create false expectations for myself. I would like to focus more energy on my writing, but my goal this year is to actually make what I've always called "unattainable" attainable.

And I'm not just speaking of my previous repeated mentions of averaging one film per day, although it is now time to report that I actually ... fell just short. Can you believe it? 357 movies in 2006. ARGH!!! If I had been paying closer attention to the actual count during December, I probably could have made it. But instead, I wound up eight short. (sigh) To once again lay out those ground rules, I count any feature length film that I watched in full, in one sitting, on DVD, cable or in a theater, although I can only count a film once per year. No edited for TV; no commercial interruptions: so for instance, TCM is OK, but AMC isn't -- Miracle on 34th Street during the latter's Christmas Day marathon doesn't count., But submissions to the festival I watch for my job do, so it doesn't have to be a theatrical release. Got it? Good.

Because it wouldn't be appropriate for me to actually list titles of submissions I've watched, I'm listing those simply as "TFF Submission" -- but if you are a filmmaker who has submitted your film to the festival, please know that it this point there is a much greater chance that I haven't seen your film than that I have.

Anyway, preamble aside, after the jump is my list for October, November and December for those of you (because I'm sure there are ... well ... none) who have been keeping track three posts, you can feel complete with this post here.

Best and worst movies and TV of the year -- I'm making my lists and checking them twice. Hopefully they'll be here next week, but I will say that if you haven't yet seen Pan's Labyrinth (which opened in select cities last week and I reviewed during the New York Film Festival), you should rush out to do so. When all is said and done, I doubt you'll see another title topping my list.

So goodbye 2006. You weren't as crappy as 2005, so I guess that means things are looking up? Yay 2007.