Nomination reaction
Eh.
Not to say who was and wasn't worthy imho, but it just seems like it's gonna be a boring ceremony. When "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp" being nominated for Best Original Song is the biggest surprise, you know you've got problems!
Wednesday Night Round-Up
As if the fact that they’re the best two shows on television wasn’t enough, last night competing time slot foes, Veronica Mars and Lost had episodes built around the same theme: trust. However, the ways in which each writing staff dealt with the idea were completely different.
Lost focused on Charlie and his addiction to heroin. Ever since Locke discovered that Charlie had a heroin addiction, we’ve watched him walk a tightrope of someone who wants to beat the temptation to give in, but he can’t bring himself to get far enough away from the temptation to really put it behind him. His failings as a “human” (as TC would say) were amplified when he started having strange visions of Claire’s baby being in danger. This led him to accidentally kidnapping the little boy, forcing Locke to clock him and tell him that Charlie had lost his trust. The man intended to embody faith seemed to have none with Charlie, even when the former rocker promised he hadn’t been using. While Locke didn’t believe him, we as viewers were able to notice that last week, when Charlie uncovered his stash of drug smuggling statues, there were six. When Locke found him this week in the closest thing to an art gallery on the island, there were still just six statues. So, if Charlie’s using, he’s getting his stuff from somewhere else.
Unfortunately, overall this was a disappointing episode—and the main reason is the reason why most of the episodes soar—the backstory. Last night’s flashbacks focused on the same basic information presented in Charlie’s episode last year. Charlie had a heroin problem that he learned from his brother Neil. What else did we learn? Not much. Sure there were little things like Charlie was trying to get back into writing music and he got fired from a humiliating commercial, but what does that add up to? Maybe it will ultimately pay off, but the beautiful thing about Lost is that it consistently does little set-ups that result in payoffs in later episodes while weaving those into an entertaining hour of plot. Last night’s episode, particularly when compared to last week’s story focusing on Eko, just became a little tedious.
Veronica on the other hand was brilliant—breaking its own rules so slyly that by the time the big grab you in the gut moment happened, viewers had to be knocked on their backs. The episode started with Duncan breaking up with Veronica. (Hallelujah, because she’s so much more interesting with Logan—but Leo’s still the guy for her.) He then disappears with the baby he had with Meg and suddenly the FBI is questioning her, hoping she can give them leads. Of course, Keith is called in to help, standing by his daughter. Like a good father, devoted to his “daddy-daughter time” Keith fights for Veronica’s innocence. However, when he discovers that his daughter has been less than forthright with him, he tells her that he will always love her, but he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to trust her again. Those words were devastating, not only to Veronica who worships her dad, but to us as well. Despite her faults, Veronica is still our heroine and for her to have lost her boyfriend and the respect of her dad all in one night was almost more than one super-sleuth.
Again, on the Wednesday night match-up, this round goes to VM!
WOAH!
Courtsey of
Variety:
And then there were five.
CBS Corp., Warner Bros. Entertainment and Tribune Co. announced Tuesday they’re shutting down both the struggling WB and UPNUPN and merging the two into a new entity called CW Television Network.
Move will unite shows such as "Everybody Hates Chris," "Gilmore Girls," and "Veronica Mars" on one network, distributed by CBS and Tribune-owned stations.
The new fifth network, a 50-50 joint venture between CBS and Time WarnerTime Warner, will be distributed on CBS and Tribune-owned stations, reaching 95% of the country.
The net will be staffed by a combination of UPN and WB executives and an undisclosed number will be laid off as a result of the merger.
Dawn Ostroff, current president of UPN, will become President of Entertainment of the new entity and WB’s John Matta, now COO of the WBthe WB, will become COO of The CW.
"This new network makes sound business and creative sense at every level -- for our viewers, advertisers, affiliates and for the shareholders of our companies," said Barry Meyer, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Fox stations currently affiliated with the UPN will be looking for new programming as of August when current affiliate agreements expire.
Fox owns 9 UPN affiliates across the country.
Life Lesson for the Day
I wasn't ready for my first celebrity bathroom sighting. Talk about performance anxiety.
PLEASE!
How many frickin' moles can there be in CTU? I mean, it would be nice to know that the agency designed to protect us from terrorists was somehow capable of keeping repeat terrorists out of its ranks?
Can I get an AMEN?
Sunday on ABC
George learned to swager! Watch out John Wayne, here comes O’Malley! I don’t like the idea of an episode with no Nazi. And a nurses strike—interesting.
And while there so much about
Housewives to be annoyed by, the Lynette-Tom storyline is still the best stuff on the show. And Felicity Huffman proved again tonight while she is worthy of her Emmy. The moment when she asked to be forgiven was beautiful.
Pauvre Rodick
Poor guy. Just can’t get a break, even when he’s supposed to be able to cruise into the quarters. Not the best way to start off your Grand Slam year.
Funky Monkey
Egads—
CBS actually has on a one hour drama that’s not a procedural! And get this—it’s charming and enjoyable! It’s sure to fail. In the meantime, I’m eager to see what holds in store for
Love Monkey. The dramady is about Tom, a music label rep who is lost in a sea of love, but driven by his love for music, he and his friends are vowed and determined to discover what the future holds for them.
The show stars
Tom Cavanagh who gets support from
Judy Greer,
Christopher Wiehl,
Larenz Tate, and
Jason Priestly, among others. The pilot episode tonight held promise. While not a groundbreaking and instantly addictive piece of writing, the show definitely seemed to have its charms. Chief among them are the supporting performances from Greer, Wiehl, and Mr. 90210 himself, Priestly. The other huge boon to this show is being set in the arena of the recording industry. This promises to bring a fresh attitude to the show, as well as promises to highlight several new artists. (I’m already intrigued by
Teddy Geiger who was highlighted on tonight’s episode.)
I’m waiting a few more weeks to pass judgment on the program and its lead. I’m not convinced how effective or ineffective either are. But for the meantime, like
The Book of Daniel, I feel the need to tune in next week and see what will become of this program.
Monday ramblings
Golden Globes—just more fun when they don’t want to be taken seriously. Besides Emma Thompson and her Jane Austen hilarities, the fun quotient of the night was at a very near low. No embarrassing surprises. No ridiculous awards. Much prep work done by the
Desperate Housewives cast. A little too much excitement from Ryan Phillipe all around.
Oh well—at least Rachel Weisz won.
Oh and Terrence Howard played a player in
Hustle & Flow? Actually, I think the word you are looking for here is PIMP. And he did a damn fine job of it too.
Egads—as much as I want to go ahead and watch the rest of the season of
24 right now, I can’t take anymore! I’m worn out from the intensity of it. At least I’ve got a week to recuperate now.
Again, is it too early to start campaigning for Jean Smart for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama?
It really scares me that it’s possible to have a president as incompetent and pathetic as President Logan. (Please no political comments.)
Umm, it’s been four hours—how’s Tony doing? Did we forget about him?
I don’t know what I think about Samwise Gamgee. I might trust him to save Middle Earth, but not Los Angeles. One thing’s for sure, I think I’d be tempted to quit if I were working for him.
And would it be wrong to turn this blog into founding chapter of the I Heart Chloe O’Brian Society?
2005 TV--part 1
As awards season comes up, there will be more and more attention paid to them. Lumped into a lot of the film awards are television awards, which in some way is unfair, since the television year technically doesn’t go by the calendar year. Also, as genres change more and more, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to determine what is a comedy/drama/etc. In fact, after
Boston Legal was nominated for 4 SAG awards as a comedy, though at the Emmys it’s considered a drama, there’s no
silver market discussion of starting to really try and define these things.
Nevertheless, here are my votes for best TV performances for the year. There’s no cards, statues, or even
Valentines Day flowers, but just a listing of performances, ranked in order. (And since premium cable channels don’t play by the same rules, they aren’t included here.)
Best Supporting Actor: Neil Patrick Harris-
How I Met Your Mother; Terry O’Quinn—
Lost; Peter Boyle—
Everybody Loves Raymond; Will Arnett—
Arrested Development; Jason Dohring—
Veronica Mars; Daniel Dae Kim—
Lost; Gregory Smith—
Everwood; John C. McGinley-
Scrubs; Donald Sutherland—
Commander in Chief; Alan Alda—
The West WingBest Supporting Actress: Shohreh Aghdashloo—
24; Kelly Bishop-
Gilmore Girls; Chandra Wilson—
Grey’s Anatomy; Yoon-jin Kim—
Lost; Jessica Walter—
Arrested Development; Judy Reyes—
Scrubs; Mary Lynn Rajskub—
24; Emily VanCamp—
Everwood; Sandra Oh-
Grey’s Anatomy; Candice Bergin—
Boston LegalBest Actor: Denis Leary—
Rescue Me; Hugh Laurie—
House; Jason Bateman—
Arrested Development; Zach Braff—Scrubs; Kiefer Sutherland—
24; Dennis Franz—
NYPD Blue; Treat Williams—
Everwood; Matthew Fox—
Lost; Ray Romano—
Everybody Loves Raymond; Anthony LaPaglia—
Without a TraceBest Actress: Lauren Graham—
Gilmore Girls; Kristen Bell—
Veronica Mars; Marcia Cross—
Desperate Housewives; Patricia Heaton—
Everybody Loves Raymond; Felicity Huffman—
Desperate Housewives; Glenn Close—
The Shield; Jennifer Garner—
Alias; Eva Longoria—
Desperate Housewives; Evangeline Lilly—
Lost; Maura Tierney—
ERBest Ensemble:
Rescue Me;
Arrested Development;
Lost;
Gilmore Girls;
Everwood;
24;
Veronica Mars;
Grey’s Anatomy;
Scrubs;
Everybody Loves Raymond
24 Reactions--in Real Time
WOW!
What a way to start this season of
24! If gets more surprising and tense than this, I can’t wait. Actually, I can’t wait period, but I’m 13 minutes into it and hooked.
NOOOOOOO!!!! She can’t be dead! (Screams me, hopefully not waking up my neighbors.)
Gooooo Chloe! It’s so wonderful to see her back in action and with Jack!
Is it too early to start campaigning for Jean Smart for a Supporting Actress Emmy nomination yet?
Oh you know he’s gonna. Yep, that guy’s dead. That’s Jack.
I CAN’T TAKE ANYMORE OF THIS! If the second hour is as frantic and intense as this first hour was, I think I’ll have to develop an ulcer or something! This is crazy! Bring it on! You’d think I was writing a thank you letter I’ve got so many exclamation marks!
“Relax. He’s really good at this.” How can I relax? I’m on edge and shaking with excitement. This is sooooo good!
The site of Jack staring at the corpse---oh. Make me sad.
Principal Wood—oh, I miss
Buffy.
Ok, why hasn’t it dawned on anybody yet that Jack had an alibi this morning during the time at the beginning of the show? Wouldn’t that sort of prove that he didn’t do it?
Again—Jean Smart—how cool!
How long before they clear Jack? I can’t take this! I don’t want CTU against Jack! He needs to be working with them! But talk about great conflict!
And I just am so amused by this
Waltons-inspired Cingular commercial.
Oooh—my muscles are intense just waiting for this showdown! Get out of the building! Out of the building! The seriously fell for Jack’s Kansas City shuffle. Silly agents. Trix are for kids.
How soon is something bad going to happen to Diane?
Somebody’s messing with the president’s security recordings? I’m loving this First Lady more and more every moment she’s onscreen. She might not ever be the Lady Macbeth of Sherry Palmer, but she’s a humdinger! I don’t know what I think about the little Jack wannabe though. Granted, he’s worlds better than “Spawn.” Granted, she’s coming back later this season, but ugh.
So if the whole point is to kill the Russian president what happens when that gets foiled? Um, does this President not really care at all about staying safe? He should be the one that got assassinated! Not the good President!
Six minutes to go! This has been great, but I need tomorrow night’s fix now! Isn’t there some way to get all 24 hours in like a week? Please! I’d totally by the DVDs right now. And are all those scenes in tomorrow nights’ eps! I might have to miss my writing group! This is gonna be a great season!
Ism alert
It seems that in the “religious community”, everybody wants to talk about –isms. Almost as if classifying something as a movement makes it easier to understand, rationalize, and promote or dispel. I couldn’t help but think that about this when I was watching two movies recently.
First is nihilism. It’s always been at the very bedrock of Woody Allen’s diegesis. From
Crimes and Misdemeanors to
Manhattan, Allen’s world exists in a nihilistic haze that seems to counteract the average of ideologies. While not necessarily extreme, his vantage point is continually consistent, without fail. However, for the most part his films are focused upon because of his character and personal life, their humor and wit, their love for the Upper East Side, or their artistry. Having created a dramatic thriller more in the vein of
Fatal Attraction than
Annie Hall in his latest,
Match Point, it is impossible to ignore. While very well-made, the film offers absolutely nothing new. It’s not that different from most Allen films in that it revolves around infidelity and elitist snobs. Most people seem to be excited about the fact that these are British snobs instead of New York snobs, so the film is being praised probably more than it should be. While the film is good, it’s not spectacular. Scarlett Johansson is captivating and sensuous—just as much as the film needs her to be. Emily Mortimer plays another cheated upon, doting wife that wants to see your heart break, while Matthew Goode lays on the charm. (Why has somebody not made this guy a star yet?) However, what keeps the film from completely clicking and working (besides its existential world view) is the lead, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. If somebody did some
search engine optimization, wouldn’t they just discover that he’s creepy? It’s really hard to sympathize with somebody whose eyes don’t open up all the way! From the very beginning he walks onscreen, you know he’s going to do something bad—he just looks like somebody you want to avoid. Therefore, when he’s supposed to be torn between doing the right thing and the wrong thing, there’s no doubt—he’s disturbing—he’s going to do the wrong thing!
And while that –ism is all throughout
Match Point, a more pervasive “ism”, cynicism is at the heart of an independent film just released on DVD this week—
The Chumscrubber. This is probably the more frustrating film because it has so much thematic and story potential, but the lack of a coherent screenplay makes it come out like a mess. The ensemble film starts with a high school student, Dean (Jamie Bell) discovering that tragedy has befallen one of his friends, who was the local pharmacological drug pusher at the high school. Some of the deceased boys’ clients try to force Dean into becoming their supplier. Meanwhile, all the parents in the cul-de-sac are too self-absorbed to notice what is going on with their kids. In fact, as the kids’ actions become more and more outrageous, the teenagers start telling their parents what is going on, but the parents simply nod their heads, telling their children “That’s nice.” Ultimately of course, it all ends in chaos and bodily harm in a scene that’s meant to be darkly comedic, but instead just wimps off to pathetic.
The most frustrating part of
The Chumscrubber (besides that horrendous title) is that it boasts an incredibly impressive cast including Ralph Fiennes, Glenn Close, Jason Isaacs, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lauren Holly, Justin Chatwin, Allison Janney, Caroline Goodall, and Rory Culkin. Unfortunately, the lack of a cohesive story just turns it into a confused mess. The film wants to be a satire focusing on the disconnect between generations in a vision of suburban America where
Vioxx attorneys buy their wives
diamond earrings because everybody else is doing it. (Not a bad topic for a comedy), but in trying to turn this into a dark comedy, it misses an enormous opportunity to say something significant and meaningful about parenting in 2005, as well as the role of anti-depressants in contemporary culture.
Despite its artistic flaws, the most irritating point of the film is that it gloats in its opinion that parents are unnecessary. The novice director, Arie Posin, doesn’t seem to have much point for parents. While not all parents are perfect, to become parents they at least made it to the age of reproduction, and since all these parents are alive, they all have made it to their 40s. Therefore, there are capable of survival, if nothing else. Though the way they act in this film, you would even question their ability to breathe. Ultimately, the film boils down to another
Dawson’s Creek fantasy where children are living in an era where not only do they
have to raise themselves, they
should be raising themselves. Again, another idea that could be a fabulous satire—it’s just not this cynical movie.
My Reasons Why Not
Concerning
Emily’s Reason Why Not:
- Because Emily is no Carrie Bradshaw, though clearly she wants to be.
- Because plots about trying to determine if your boyfriend is gay or not are incredibly clichéd and just not that funny anymore.
- Because your sitcom sidekicks need to be likable.
- Because there should actually be some kind of humor in your sitcom.
- Because it’s on the same as The Bachelor—and nobody should be even hinting at encouraging ABC to have the trash on the air.
Casanova
Who would’ve thunk that 2005 would be the year that
Heath Ledger would prove to the world he could be a serious actor? As
Oscar season comes hurtling towards an inevitability (start practicing the phrase Academy Award Winner
Reese Witherspoon), Ledger is one of the clear favorites to win an Oscar for his performance as the self-loathing cowboy Ennis Del Mar in
Brokeback Mountain. While that is clearly the film that proves his talent and puts him on the map, it’s his title turn in
Lasse Halstrom’s romantic comedy
Casanova that solidifies the fact that
Brokeback isn’t a fluke.
While
Casanova isn’t quite to the level of the Swedish director’s best films like
My Life as a Dog or
The Cider House Rules, it’s worlds better than
Chocolat or
The Shipping News. Still, it’s a delightful romantic comedy that puts
Lena Olin and
Oliver Platt to excellent use. The tale is a comedy of errors and mistaken identities that continually amuse, though are innocuous and completely unchallenging. Ledger piles on the charm and forces you to like Casanova and his womanizing antics, whether they be plundering a nunnery, or deciding upon a whim, who his future wife is going to be.
Tabloid fodder
Sienna Miller doesn’t fare as strongly as her more established co-stars, but at least she doesn’t look as miserable as Academy Award winner
Jeremy Irons. Irons looks absolutely miserable the entire time. Maybe it’s the ridiculous headpiece he has to wear, or maybe he just wonders if he’s ever going to get another shot at repeating his
Reversal of Fortune Oscar win. Whatever the case may be, he really does appear to want to be somewhere else.
While
Casanova isn’t going to win lots of above-the-line awards or be the most memorable movie in the world, it is fun and a fulfilling romantic comedy. Definitely better than
Rumor Has It.
2005 Playlist
Every year new songs are discovered—whether they be brand new, a freshly found personal treasure, or a tune that takes on brand new meaning in your life. In
High Fidelity,
Nick Hornby went on and on about the mixed tape/mixed CD. Now, it’s an ITunes playlist.
As a result, here’s my 2005 playlist of songs that had special significance for me last year.
“
Bright Lights, Big City” from
Bright Lights, Big Citythough it advocates a little more of the club-hopping life than I’m into, it captures my restlessness with suburbia
“
California” by Phantom Planet
kinda obvious why this would have new meaning for me in 2005
“
Cannonball” by Damien Rice
this just haunted me all year—Rice is unheralded in a major way
“
Fix You” by Coldplay
by the time that crescendo kicks in, I have to try not to cry or get chills
“
If I Didn’t Believe in You” from
The Last Five Years a really insightful song on self-esteem and sexual politics within a relationship
“
Move On” from
Sunday in the Park with George “If it comes from you, then it will be new.”—enormous mantra for me recently
“
Smart in a Stupid Way” by Jen Crowe and Steven Strait
simple melody, lyrics that are so profound for their obviousness—maybe the least familiar song on this list, but it’s a keeper, believe me
“
Soul Meets Body” by Death Cab for Cutie
just made me rediscover Death Cab
“
We Used to Be Friends” by The Dandy Warhols
Veronica Mars theme song—‘nuff said
“
Whiskey Lullaby” by Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss
drinkin’, leavin’ lovin’, suicide—the stuff of tragedy & country songs
“
The Wings” by Gustavo Santaolalla
instrumental piece that says more about profound loss and heartbreak than most lyrics ever could
“
You and Me” by Lifehouse
took a while to grow on me, but now it’s just the kind of sappy gooiness that occasionally does it for me
Based on a Bad Rumor
Okay, so I actually did a post regarding why
Rumor Has It was so disappointing. It was a great idea saddled with a really bad screenplay.
HOWEVER, Blogger did something and posted my most recent post over that one, so I don’t know what’s going on. And of course, I didn’t save it, so I can’t just republish it. ARGH!
Well, anyway, skip
Rumor Has It. That’s my advice.
The Demon Barber
Most exciting filmic news of the year so far--
Sweeney Todd is back on track to being turned into a movie--with
Tim Burton at the helm and
Johnny Depp in the lead.
PLEASE let this be true! (At least the Burton part. Depp wouldn't be the draw here--not to say anything against him, but this like
Schumacher was born to make
The Phantom of the Opera, this is the musical Burton is born to do.)
Please let it be true!
Read here for more details.
Return of a Friend
How great was it to see
Scrubs back? Maybe it’s just that it’s been a while since we’ve seen the show, or maybe it really got kookier, but the hour last night had me laughing almost the entire time. From the multi-ethnic Siamese twin doctors to J.D. hiding in a backpack to backfarter, it was good to see this criminally neglected show back! Bring on more!
And even more can you believe it? Something actually worth watching on
NBC now! (Sorry to all you fans of
The Office and
Earl. I just don’t get either of them.)
Kill It!
I don’t know when I fell completely in love with
Murderball. Maybe it was when the subjects of this documentary were reenacting scenes from
Ocean’s Eleven or when the horribly cheesy instructional video on wheelchair sex came on. Wherever it was, by the time the climactic showdown happened, I was hooked.
Murderball is a documentary, now out on
DVD, about the men’s U.S. quadriplegic rugby team. While it’s first and foremost a sports documentary about the players preparing for the Paralympics, the heart of the documentary (like
Spellbound and
Mad Hot Ballroom) is about the individuals—their hopes, their fears, and their anxieties.
This documentary isn’t revelatory like this year’s other great documentary,
Twist of Faith, but unlike
March of the Penguins and
Grizzly Man,
Murderball is inspiring. But one of the things that makes it superior to
Mad Hot Ballroom is the rough edge to the individuals it covers, in addition to its willingness not to take itself to seriously. (If you doubt it, check out the special features on the DVD and see the inclusion of
Jackass footage.)
Sure, it’s got some language and discussion of sex, but this one is definitely worth checking out.
March of the Loons
The two biggest nature documentaries that came out in 2005--
Grizzly Man and
March of the Penguins couldn't be more different.
Penguins
is a cute little standard nature documentary about the mating process of the emperor penguins. The cinematography is great.
Morgan Freeman's narration is cute. There's some unexpected humor in the exploits of the little waiter birds, but overall, it's a cutsey nature documentary, just like others that National Geographic has put out. I honestly don't see the massive appeal. It's a DVD rental, and not much else.
Despite its title,
Grizzly Man
is the story of a loon. This loon's name is Tim Treadwell, who, as the self-appointed protector of grizzly bears, stayed out in the wild with grizzlies for a bunch of summers. He thinks that he's the only person who cares about the bears. He'll protect them from people and they'll protect him. (He probably would object to stuffed bears and would sic the animals on those other loons who use bear skins as art projects.)
Oh, ultimately one of the bears eats him and his girlfriend.
The guy was so sadly delusional that I kept thinking, well, if I were a bear, I'd eat him too.
Still, it's a fascinating portrait of an individual who doesn't have both oars in the water.
Too Much
Too many movies in a short amount of time. It'll take me a bit to blog about all of these. I'll work as dilligently as possible.
The Gray Zone
Sometimes,
Steven Spielberg can get everything technically right and still come up with a big dud (
Minority Report,
The War of the Worlds). Critics and audiences still fall all over him—well, because he is Steven Spielberg—but discerning moviegoers realize his mo-jo is only so-so.
Othertimes, he gets it so right that it’s easy to sit by and say, “That’s why he’s STEVEN SPIELBERG!” When he is on his game, there are few directors who bring to the table the extraordinary talents he brings. Yet, those talents, are very recognizable. They are the things that make a Spielberg film, a Spielberg film—the absent father, the sentimental ending, the hero rescue, etc.
This makes
Munich fascinating because it’s the best non-Spielberg film, Spielberg’s ever made. (And that’s meant to be a compliment of the highest order.)
Originally entitled,
Vengeance, the film is about the Israeli response to the hijacking of the
Olympic Games in Munich in 1972. Eric Bana plays Avner, a former bodyguard for Prime Minster
Golda Meir. Meir and other Israeli leaders unofficially request him to assassinate the individuals who were responsible for the attacks. Avner accepts and heads up an elite team of individuals who are driven by desire to protect Israel and seek retribution for the lives destroyed.
While
Munich does play like a conventional political thriller, the script, by Pulitzer Prize winner
Tony Kushner (
Angels in America) and Academy Award winner
Eric Roth (
Forrest Gump), is at its strongest when it begins examining the toll vengeance takes upon Avner and his fellow assassins. As the crew gets further and further into their mission, it begins to take tolls on each of them, but in different ways. One becomes harder, one becomes more convicted, one becomes scared for his life, and another becomes conflicted. Kushner and Roth do a wonderful job of showing how the psychological impact of an act can play out in full details.
Performances are stellar across the board, from
Lynn Cohen’s brief, but memorable turn as Meir, to
Michael Lonsdale’s quiet performance as a man with more information than he’s willing to give. Future Bond
Daniel Craig does a nice job, though for those looking to learn more about him before his huge leading debut next year should check out
Layer Cake. Still, the success of this film lies in the hands of its lead. Everything rests on Avner—and
Bana is more than up to the challenge. Delivering his best performance to date, he quietly allows the audience into Avner’s fears and trepidations, so by the end as his paranoia and conflict become overwhelming, we feel right along with it. It’s a masterwork of subtlety.
Still, the film is Spielberg’s. He avoids all sentimentality, which makes this film work. He refuses to take sides, noting the reasons for the assassinations, yet recognizing the effects. Instead of trying to make a treatise on the subject, he instead wants to ask questions—and provides no answers. This is why many pundits have problems with the film. They’re nervous about the fact that the Jewish White Knight of
Schindler’s List is questioning another great atrocity. However, it’s the acknowledgment of gray that makes this film so revolutionary for the director, in addition to making it worth seeing for the audience.
