This past weekend was a whirlwind of Oscar nominated movie viewing and more awards shows. My favorite kind of weekend.
The first movie I saw on Saturday was Dallas Buyers Club and it deserves all the accolades it's received. It has six Oscar nominations including, Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Editing. (Side note: I forgot to mention the other day, but how the hell did The Lone Ranger and Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa get Oscar nominations for Best Makeup and Hairstyling over American Hustle? Wha?!) I think Dallas Buyers Club has two of the Academy Awards in the bag. Jared Leto should and will win everything for Best Supporting Actor. He's received a lot of buzz for his portrayal of Rayon, a transgender woman struggling with HIV/AIDS who forms an unlikely partnership with Matthew McConaughey's homophobic Ron Woodroof, who also has HIV/AIDS. Often, when I watch a movie I'm still aware that "the actor/actress" is portraying a part. However, Leto completely becomes Rayon. I forgot that it was Leto. I forgot that he was ever Jordan Catalano in My So Called Life or that he's a real life rock star. Watching him flirt/fight with McConaughey's Woodroof and face his own mortality and more (I won't spoil the more) is absolutely heartbreaking. McConaughey also gives the best performance I've seen him do to date. Last year he won an Independent Spirit Award for a buzzy but just okay performance in Magic Mike, but with Dallas Buyers Club he gives a truly Oscar worthy performance. His transformation from a womanizing, homophobic addict to a mostly clean living, advocate for all those fighting against HIV/AIDS is beautiful to watch. Of the two Best Actor performances I've now seen (Christian Bale in American Hustle being the other), I've noticed a trend of the characters being assholes with a heart of gold. In both movies the "hero" is the bad guy at the beginning, but both end up showing their better selves when pitted against the true bad guy: the government.
The next movie in the marathon was Her. I enjoyed the film and the ideas it played with. Spike Jonze always makes interesting, thought provoking films. This is only his fourth feature length film and I've liked all of them. (His first three films are Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Where the Wild Things Are.) As we move into a more technological future, what happens to our relationship with other humans and with technology? That's the question that seems to be at the core of Her. Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a man depressed about his impending divorce who falls in love with the new operating system he installs on his computer and phone. The operating system, Samantha, is voiced by Scarlett Johansson in a beautiful voice acting performance. Jonze's prescient vision of the near future is fascinating. Phoenix's Twombly works for an internet company that writes beautiful handwritten letters for other people and travels home on a subway where no one interacts with other humans but instead spends the time talking to their OS. We already spend evenings with other people constantly connected to our smart phones. How long before we are in the future of Her? Several years ago, when there were only five Best Picture nominations, I don't know if Her would have made the cut, but I'm glad it did this year. I think its' best shot for a win is probably in the Best Original Screenplay category and Best Original Song. I would really love it if Karen O, of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, won an Oscar. I'm rooting for her over U2. Her is also up for Best Production Design and Best Original Score. I haven't heard the other nominees scores yet so I don't know how I feel about that yet. There's stiff competition in production design though. Her is up against American Hustle, The Great Gatsby, 12 Year's a Slave, and Gravity. I thought The Great Gatsby had beautiful sets and American Hustle had some great set decoration (the "science oven" was awesome).
Finally, I saw August: Osage County, whose only Oscar Nominations are in the acting categories. Meryl Streep is nominated for Best Actress for her role as Violet Weston; the angry matriarch with a pill addiction of an extremely dysfunctional family. Now, I looove Meryl Streep, and I thought she did a solid job in the role, but she's not going to win for it. It's a flashy performance and not nearly as good as her winning work as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. I would compare her Violet Westin more to her character of Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. Both characters are verbally and emotionally abusive, yet sort of have a love for their families. Julia Roberts has the other nomination for Best Supporting Actress as Violet's broken, angry daughter Barbara. I would argue that Roberts' performance should have been nominated for Best Actress versus Best Supporting Actress. She has just as much screen time as Streep and has the more natural performance. Thus far, I've only seen two of the Supporting Actress roles (the other being Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle), but of those two I would give it to Roberts. I also thought Chris Cooper did a wonderful job in August: Osage County and in a year without as many strong Supporting Actor performances, he may have had a chance for a nomination.
Well, I've run out of time tonight for my SAG Awards thoughts, so I'll have to come back in the next day or two for those.
Good night!
MGG
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