Author Archives: Alftuba

Jan 09 2014
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Plans and Goals

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Yesterday The Screen Life turned 1 Week Old!!!* …aaaand I missed it. Yesterday was also the first day I didn’t get a chance to post anything.

My plan for TSL is to, as much as possible, post something once a day. It could be anything: original reviews, essays, or other commentary, or just something amusing I found online. I want to get into a habit of regular posting. If I miss a day here or there, it’s no big deal. But if I start to miss several in a row, it will quickly grow more and more urgent for me to pick up the pace. I’m hoping this method of self-motivation will help TSL from quickly going the way of the Coelacanth.

I’ve seen so many blogs follow the same track: A regular two-posts-per-week schedule gives way to one every two weeks. That becomes once a month, and then every two or three or six months. It gradually slips into hibernation, occasionally hiccuping to brief life once a year or so before going dormant again. Eventually it fades into just another relic in the flotsam of the internet.

I’m certainly not knocking those writers – many of you reading this have likely had similar experiences with your own blogs. In my own experience, among close friends and family, the cause of atrophy is not a lack of dedication. It’s a simple case of “I’ve got more important things to do with my time.” And it’s true: in the grand scheme of careers and families and lives to live, a personal blog has a hard time competing for importance.

But I do have a very broad goal for TSL and its place in my life. I want to use it to practice and improve my speed and skills as a writer. I want to think of myself as a journalist. I want to grow readership outside my extended friends and family. I want to grow a brand. I want to use TSL as a professional calling card. Perhaps even one day I could develop a following large and loyal enough to be able to sell ad space. In the most ideal scenario – and surely the most unrealistic – I will have self-started my very own career as a professional critic and journalist.

I’m probably setting my sights way too high. Perhaps I’m even setting myself up for failure. If I can’t keep up with my one-a-day plan, will I get dejected and give up entirely? Maybe. I have had that tendency in the past. But I’ve been developing the idea of this blog in my head for years. I’ve noted some of the common pitfalls. If I can keep up this pace, if I can take a different track, if it can give me a possible chance of success, I want to give myself that opportunity.

Despite what I said before, several of my friends have had success and longevity in their blogs.  I look to them as role models.  If that’s you, and you’re reading this, please please please impart all the secrets of success you have learned. The comments section is right down there. Let me pick your brain!

I made 14 posts in the first 7 days. Either way you look, I think that’s a good start.

And there’s more coming! In the next few days you can expect to see posts on lots more more nominations (from BAFTA, Costume Designers Guild, Cinematographers Guild, Art Directors Guild and more), plus a push for my favorite blog reader.

To all of you who have stuck with me for the first week, and the more to come, thank you for reading The Screen Life!!!

-Aaron

 

*My brother also turned ** years old, yesterday. Happy birthday, Jay Fram!!!

**In the interest of privacy I won’t reveal the exact age. But it’s a nice big round number. Totally the new [**-10].

Jan 07 2014
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DGA Nominations

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The Directors Guild Awards have traditionally been one of the best predictors of the Oscars. Missing out on a nomination or win from the DGA significantly lowers a film’s chances of getting the same from the Academy. Until last year, that is.

Last year all hell broke loose. No less than three of the DGA nominees were not nominated for the Best Director Oscar, including the eventual DGA winner, Ben Affleck. As you may recall, Affleck’s Argo also went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars – a feat which is rare enough without a corresponding Best Director win, but almost unheard of without even a nomination!

The cause for all that chaos and confusion was easily traceable to a simple schedule change. It used to be that the DGA nominees were announced well before the Oscar ballots were due, which meant voters were more influenced by the announcement. But last year they were announced shortly after the ballots were turned in. With a high number of viable contenders, it makes sense that the two groups had differing lists.

This year, the Oscar ballots are due tomorrow (Jan 8), one day after today’s DGA announcement. There could be some slight influence, but with only 24hrs in between, that effect will probably be negligible. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the two lists ended up looking very similar again, just like old times.

This year’s DGA nominees are all very strong contenders. Three of them – Cuarón, McQueen, and Russell – are pretty much locks for Oscar nominations, and the other two are really good bets. That said, there are still a number of very strong contenders that didn’t make today’s cut, including the Coen Bros. for Inside Llewyn Davis, Spike Jonze for Her, and Alexander Payne for Nebraska.

The DGA Nominees for Best Director of a Feature Film are…

David O. Russell, American Hustle
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

The DGA also awards directors for Television and Documentary Film. As of this this posting, those nominees have not been announced. I will update this page with that information when it becomes available.

EDIT 1/13/14 – Here are the documentary nominees…

Cutie and the Boxer
The Square
The Act of Killing
Stories We Tell
The Crash Reel

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Jan 06 2014
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Snow Day Screen Survival

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This is what my front patio actually looks like right now.

I’ve been stuck at home for 4 days in a row – at first by a nasty head cold and now by the biggest snowstorm I’ve ever seen in St Louis. High temps are in the negatives, my car is blocked by 2ft drifts, and my nose is still running like the Mighty Mississip. All of which leaves me to turn to – where else? My screens.

The oft-used metaphor of a screen as a window is an apt one. Trapped as I am, my computer is my window to the outside world, the TV to worlds beyond. I can still be socially present, keep up with everything that’s happening, create original work (this blog), and keep myself entertained. (I know my poor fiancé is getting cabin fever, but I’m actually kind of enjoying this.)

My daily screen schedule has consisted of, in various order:

  • Phone:
    • Texts
    • Notifications
  • Computer:
  • TV:
    • NFL playoffs
    • Game of Thrones on HBO Go
    • Netflix
      • Sherlock
      • Dr. Who
      • Futurama
      • Star Trek Voyager
      • Various movies
    • MarioKart on the Wii
    • Assorted DVD’s

That’s a lot of screen time. Thank goodness for Google Chromecast, by the way. For those of you unfamiliar, it’s a $35 thumb-drive-looking thing that goes into your HDMI port and lets you stream from Chrome and a handful of other apps directly to the TV. It’s still got a ways to go – needs more apps to support it – but already this little dongle has revolutionized our TV habits.

The arguments for screens separating us from the real world have their validity, but on days like today, they serve just the opposite. I mean, what else would I do with myself? Read a book? Oh wait, yeah, I could do that.

Jan 04 2014
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Six Documentaries from Oscar’s Shortlist Available Online

Stories We Tell

The Academy has shortlisted 15 titles for the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Thanks to Indiewire for finding six of them that are currently available for streaming online – even more if you have an HBO account. Check out the full list here.

This is a great find; it’s usually very hard for the average person to get a chance to see these films. Most of them opened in very limited release and didn’t stay in theaters long when they did. The only one I’ve seen so far is Blackfish – I highly recommend it to everyone – but I’ve also heard some really excellent things about The Act of Killing and Stories We Tell. The latter was directed by the extremely talented Sarah Polley. The former seems to be in the lead for the eventual Oscar win.

The six available titles are:
“The Act of Killing” (iTunes)
“Blackfish” (Netflix)
“Cutie and the Boxer” (Netflix)
“Dirty Wars” (Netflix)
“20 Feet from Stardom” (iTunes)
“Stories We Tell” (Amazon Instant Video)

All of them have a pretty good chance of making the final nominations, but especially The Act of Killing and Stories We Tell.

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Jan 03 2014
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WGA Nominations

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Of all the various guild awards, the Writers Guild nominations are traditionally the least likely to match up with the Oscars. This is because their eligibility rules are notoriously strict, and every year several major contenders are deemed ineligible. This year that list includes, among others, Blue is the Warmest Color, Fruitvale Station, Philomena, Rush, and the prohibitive winner of the Adapted Screenplay Oscar: 12 Years a Slave.

There are still surprises to be had, though. In the Original category, Inside Llewyn Davis was eligible but still missed a nomination. The excellent Dallas Buyers Club nabbed its spot. Gravity missed the boat too, which is a real shame, though not all that surprising. All the talk surrounding that film has been how it’s screenplay is its weakest link. This is totally bogus, of course; just because it’s dialogue is sparse doesn’t mean it’s not a deeply layered and inventively structured story. It wouldn’t be tied for the lead in the Best Picture race if it’s script was really as unmemorable as they say.

In the Adapted category, the biggest surprise is Lone Survivor, which gets its first mention of the season. I haven’t seen that film yet, but from everything I’ve been reading, if this weren’t such a competitive year, I imagine we’d be looking at a potential Best Picture with this one.

Here the full list of WGA nominees…

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

  • American Hustle, Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell; Columbia Pictures
  • Blue Jasmine, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics
  • Dallas Buyers Club, Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack; Focus Features
  • Her, Written by Spike Jonze; Warner Bros.
  • Nebraska, Written by Bob Nelson; Paramount Pictures

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

  • August: Osage County, Screenplay by Tracy Letts; Based on his play; The Weinstein Company
  • Before Midnight, Written by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke; Based on characters created by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan; Sony Classics
  • Captain Phillips, Screenplay by Billy Ray; Based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty; Columbia Pictures
  • Lone Survivor, Written by Peter Berg; Based on the book by Marcus Lutrell with Patrick Robinson; Universal Pictures
  • The Wolf of Wall Street, Screenplay by Terence Winter; Based on the book by Jordan Belfort; Paramount Pictures

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

  • Dirty Wars, Written by Jeremy Scahill & David Riker; Sundance Selects
  • Herblock – The Black & The White, Written by Sara Lukinson & Michael Stevens; The Stevens Company
  • No Place on Earth, Written by Janet Tobias & Paul Laikin; Magnolia Pictures
  • Stories We Tell, Written by Sarah Polley; Roadside Attractions
  • We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks; Written by Alex Gibney; Focus Features
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Jan 03 2014
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“Blackfish” Poll Apparently Stacked by SeaWorld

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Blackfish is an amazing documentary about SeaWorld’s mistreatment of Orcas. (It made #12 on my best of the year list.) It hasn’t been very widely seen; box office returns were fairly low. Even still, it seems SeaWorld – giant corporation that it is – is doing everything it can to try to mitigate the damages. That’s not surprising: the film is incredibly damning. And since it release, they’ve battling backlash on all fronts. Several high profile musicians, including Willie Nelson and Trisha Yearwood and a bunch of others,  pulled out of their big concert series in response.

Not unexpectedly, many of SeaWorld’s efforts to contain the shitstorm have not reflected well on them. Just one example from the Orlando Business Journal…

On Dec. 31, Orlando Business Journal posted a poll asking readers: “Has CNN’s ‘Blackfish’ documentary changed your perception of SeaWorld?” As of midday Jan. 2, the results were staggeringly in favor of those saying the film hasn’t had any impact on their perception of the parks — roughly 99 percent siding in SeaWorld’s favor.

Sounds a little fishy, no? OBJ checked the numbers, and guess what they found.

…imagine our surprise when we noticed that one single Internet Protocol Address (IP Address) accounted for more than 54 percent of the votes, or about 180 of the total 328 votes. IP Addresses are typically unique Internet identifiers given to a computer or series of devices — say a multi-computer network in your office.

And who’s the owner of the domain name and company that address belong to? SeaWorld.com and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.

Read the full article here.

Blackfish is available for streaming from Netflix. You owe it to yourself to watch it.

 

EDIT: Here’s SeaWorld’s response. That makes sense, and it sure sounds legit and legal. But it still looks really bad. It looks like they’re willing to do anything they can to save face. It looks like they’re scared. Good.

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Jan 02 2014
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Top 10 Films of 2013

Tom Hanks

And here it is: my Top 10 for 2013! (In case you missed 11-20 and the rest, check it out here.) Without further ado, #10…

10. Dallas Buyers Club

One of the best films about the earlier years of the AIDS epidemic. While not a comedy, it’s surprisingly funny at times. It deftly avoids the overly sentimental treacle one often expects with this subject matter. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto give the best performances of their respective careers.

9. Philomena

Judi Dench has still got it (as if there were ever any doubt). Steve Coogan’s script could’ve easily treated its main character as just a stupid country bumpkin, and for a while you think it does. Before long though, you realize you’re looking at a deeply complex, intelligent individual and the Coogan’s big city journalist may me the short-sighted one. It also sheds much-needed light on a horrible true past, but to say more would be giving away too much.

8. Rush

Do you think this is a sports movie? Think again. This is a hugely enjoyable character study of two Formula One drivers whose complex relationship is one of the most riveting things on screen in years. Chris Hemsworth and especially Daniel Brühl are perfectly cast.

7. Mud

McConaughey continues his amazing “McConnaisance,” but the real stand outs are Tye Sheridan as main kid, Ellis, and director Jeff Nichols who continues his run of incredibly poignant portraits of rural American south. (His last, Take Shelter, was one of the most defining films of the decade.)

6. Captain Phillips

Paul Greengrass’ greatest gift is his ability to strip the sentiment and judgment away so that the only emotion left is genuinely your own. Tom Hanks’ final scene will break you.

5. Prisoners

What looks on the surface to be an average popcorn thriller, turns out to be a deeply layered, tightly wound, and deftly directed morality play. This will haunt you for a very long time after the credits roll.

4. 12 Years a Slave

Director Steve McQueen drops the pretension of his first two films (Hunger, Shame) but keeps the artistry to create the most powerful vision of slavery ever put on film. Chiwetel Ejiofor is outstanding as always in the lead and Michael Fassbender is terrifying as his brutal owner. Beware the hanging scene – I’ll say no more.

3. Gravity

The groundbreaking visual effects make better use of 3D than any film in history. That alone would make it one of the best movies of any year. But it’s the deceptively simple structure and struggle for survival at its heart that makes it one of the greatest films ever made.

2. Nebraska

Alexander Payne’s best film since Election is the most relaxing and pleasant time I’ve spent in a movie theater all year. It’s at once measured and hilarious. Bruce Dern gives a completely lived-in performance as Woody, but the biggest stand out is June Squibb as his un-self-censored wife. (See my review here.)

 -TIE- 2. Her [UPDATE: Added 1/21/14]

Spike Jonze hits refresh on the romance genre with this love story between a man and his computer. Set in a gorgeously designed near-future, this film moves beyond the usual genre tropes to explore the very concept of relationships. (See my review here.)

1. The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese one-ups his own legendary repertoire by taking the true life of the worst of Wall St scumbags and making it an outrageous comedy. Leonardo DiCaprio gives the best performance of his illustrious career. But don’t confuse the deceptively light tone with a lack of seriousness. The raucous chaos at the very heart of the film paints an extremely poignant vision of corporate greed and excess. (See my review here.)

Agree? Disagree? Think I missed something? Let me know in the comments!

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Jan 02 2014
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Review – American Hustle

After seeing them both in the same weekend, it’s hard to talk about American Hustle without comparing it to the far superior The Wolf of Wall Street. Both are near-period pieces based on true stories. Both trade in themes of greed and corruption. And both are highly chaotic in terms of style and structure. But where Scorsese expertly sculpted his chaos into a specific vision with something to say, David O Russell seems content to throw a lot of parts on screen and hope that what sticks adds up to a cohesive whole. It doesn’t… Not quite, anyway.

Make no mistake, Russell is a supremely talented artist, working with a top-notch cast and crew – also like Wolf, both films have incredible performances from actors at the top of their game. His last two films, The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, are among my very favorites in recent memory. Both were taut little character studies that hit home in small unexpected ways. This time he brings the same cast from both those films, but the characters all suffer from being drowned out by all their co-stars. A problem exemplified perhaps most fittingly by the 3 different narrators trading the story back and forth. It gets confusing, to say the least.

The standout performances are Jennifer Lawrence as a housewife like no other, Louis C.K. as a fantastically milquetoast FBI chief, and Amy Adams’ side-boob which, as amazing as Adams is, chews up more scenery, with more screen-time, than she or any other actor has the chance to compete with. But Lawrence has the biggest chance of an Oscar nomination, and it would be a deserved one. Along with her Oscar win last March and her performance in The Hunger Games 2, she’s having one hell of a year.

The technical standouts are the costumes, the outlandish hair, and as always Christian Bale’s physical transformation. Seriously that guy is going to die of heart failure in the next 10 years if he keep ballooning his weight up and down with every other film!

All in all, American Hustle is still a really good movie, but it’s not quite a great one.

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Jan 02 2014
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Review – The Wolf of Wall Street

I’ve never taken cocaine, but I imagine the effect is something like how I felt after watching The Wolf of Wall Street. It’s a hilarious 3-hour drug- and sex-fueled ride through the depths of white-collar 1-percenter debauchery. Martin Scorsese’s comedic masterpiece is controversial, and I can understand why: Jordan Belfort is a horrible human being, and Leonardo DiCaprio plays him with a raucous, joyous energy that audiences would rather associate with a character much farther on the “pro” side of “protagonist”. And make no mistake, (mild SPOILER ALERT, though it’s far from unexpected) Belfort hardly gets what he really deserves for his crimes (END SPOILER). But you’d be a fool to believe that the comic treatment is in any way condoning what’s on screen. We may be taken so far into the lions’ den that we don’t see the rabbits, but we get one hell of a graphic close-up of the claws and fangs. They’re more gruesome than most of us would expect.

DiCaprio’s performance is his best ever. He throws himself into the role of Jordan with terrifying commitment. Beyond that, he takes the physical comedy to a new level that makes me wonder why we haven’t seen this side of him before. The rest of the ensemble is fantastic across the board, but for me there was other clear standout. Matthew McConaughey – smack dab in the middle of his remarkable “McConnaisance” – appears for all of maybe 15 minutes near the beginning as Jordan’s mentor. But in one scene he breathes such life into this “minor” character that he is infused throughout the next 2 and a half hours, never shown again, but never forgotten.

A word about the length: 3 hours is a long movie, no question. But in this case you don’t feel it, not the way you’d expect anyway. The energy is super-high throughout, and you’ll never have a chance to be bored. But beyond that, Scorsese uses the very length of the film to service its theme, namely: excess. He tells the story of a monster through his own eyes. Jordan doesn’t see himself as the monster he clearly is. He sees his life as a joyous endless thrill ride, so that’s what he shows us. And in that chaotic mess is the exacting genius of a filmmaker perfectly presenting a precise vision. The separation between audience and characters on screen is nothing more or less than the conclusions we take away after the credits role. As it should be.

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Jan 02 2014
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Review – Inside Llewyn Davis

Probably the most honest and accurate reaction I can give is that this is the type of film that defies quick reactionary reviews. For instance, I enjoyed the Coen Bros’ A Serious Man when it first came out a few years ago, but since then I’ve come to absolutely love it – though I’ve still only seen it the once. As I’ve sat and ruminated over it the past few years, it’s grown fonder and fonder in my memory. I strongly suspect this new movie of theirs to have a very similar effect. I can say this is one of the Coens’ best films, but I have to qualify that by saying I think that category includes about 70-80% of their work.

It’s much more of a character study than a plot-driven story. The structure is so cyclical that even after the credits you expect Llewyn Davis [Oscar Isaac] to trod through all the events of the movie again and again, exactly the same, over and over and over like Sisyphus on Groundhog Day. Isaac does a perfect job (including his own singing and guitar work) as Davis. He’s a wholly unpleasant, unlikable guy, until he’s behind his guitar. I kept expecting this or that character (or cat) to be the entry point for the audience to be ale to connect with him, but each of them is merely a passing bystander. Instead the music is the soul that makes us feel for the poor guy.

And soulful it is. In a perfect world this soundtrack would do for 60’s folk music, what O Brother Where Art Thou did for Roots Americana. Unfortunately it won’t. That film had the added benefit of being more easily accessible to the every day movie-goer. This is a bit more cerebral. It’s hilarious too, yes, but headier and darker. But for those of us who enjoy that sort of thing, it’s much much MUCH more fulfilling.

One final note: John Goodman has a “minor” (I use that term ironically) role that has him onscreen for all of maybe 15-30 minutes. But holy SHIT that’s one hell of a show! Seriously that guy is getting better and better with every movie these days, and he’s doing a lot. But this may be his best yet. The Oscars should have a Best Cameo category, for smaller supporting roles, just for him.

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