DVD of the Week: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Woody Allen writes and directs this sexy, funny, and whip-smart comedy about two tourists spending the Summer in Spain. Rebecca Hall plays Vicky, the conservative friend with a perfectly nice and handsome fiance (Chris Messina) waiting for her at home and no desire to get caught up in romantic fantasy. Scarlett Johansson is Cristina, a free spirit artist who believes in the magic of romance, though it always seems to be, in her case, quite fleeting. When the two women are propositioned by a mysterious and handsome artist (Javier Bardem), Vicky instantly rebukes his offer while Cristina cannot help but accept. By an act of fate, it is Vicky who ends up in the painter's bed, leaving the content woman to wonder if there is something more to life than comfort and security. Meanwhile, Cristina soon makes up for lost time and ends up in an oddly comfortable relationship with both the painter and his fiery ex-wife (Penelope Cruz). Further complications arise when Vicky's fiance flies to Spain to visit her and the 5 of them recognize they are utterly lost and confused in their romantic lives.

Woody-Allen hasn't written a smarter, sharper character comedy in years and though there is an oddly literal narrator spelling out ever intimate thought at every turn of the film, the unfussy Woody-ness of it somehow makes it work. Great performances all around don't hurt either. Penelope Cruz is especially wonderful here as a combustible beauty equal parts delicate lover and seething vessel of rage. She's as desperate and broken as she is funny and outrageous. Rather than go the typical spitfire route, Cruz lays in the drama and takes the character to a new level. She'll be stiff competition at the Oscars this season where she is nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category. The film also picked up a big win at the Golden Globes where it was named Best Picture - Comedy.

Open Wide

With the Oscar nominations fresh in people's minds, many studios are making a big push this weekend for their nominated films. This includes big expansions of many top contenders. Considering the slow market that's typical in January (Paul Blart: Mall Cop anyone?) your best bet at the movies this weekend is to check out one of these very worthy holdovers.

Opening wide is Slumdog Millionaire which reaped 10 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also placed at #2 on my list of the Top 10 Films of 08. Frost/Nixon which received recognition in Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay and earned a positive if not glowing review from myself. And Revolutionary Road which earned several tech nods but only one major slot in contest: Michael Shannon for Best Supporting Actor. Obviously, the studio was hoping for a better showing and may regret going wide so soon. Poor Rev Road has taken a beating but I honestly can't say I enjoyed it, or even found it at all compelling. To give it proper due, though, I'll say that it does have an ardent constituency of supporters hailing it as a classic American drama. As someone who's often a part of an ardent constituency of supporters pertaining to a film no one else seems to like, I respect their passion and remain open to the possibility that I may have missed something. But really, I don't think I did.

Expanding to significantly more theaters are The Wrestler and Rachel Getting Married each of which took home nominations in the acting races this year. The Wrestler landed at #4 on my Top 10 this year while Rachel squeezed in at #10. It's worth knowing that nominees Mickey Rourke and Anne Hathaway are not just cannon fodder fifth slot nominees *ahem*Michael Shannon*ahem*, but really have a shot at a win. Perhaps that will get some people out to see these two fine films.

Interestingly enough, Warner Bros. has also decided to re-release its much celebrated and much Oscar snubbed The Dark Knight in conventional theaters and IMAX venues nationwide. It's not a wide release but still a substantial one. Obviously, there was the hope it might be a celebration of the film's overcoming the labels of "comic book movie" and "sequel" to nab a Best Picture nod. This is not the case. Blame The Reader. But if you did somehow miss The Dark Knight in theaters or want to see it again, this is probably your last chance. It scored Oscar nominations in tech categories and, of course, one in Best Supporting Actor where star Heath Ledger is the obvious front-runner....over Michael Shannon among others.

I'd also like to mention that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button remains in wide release this weekend and with 13 nominations (one shy of the record for the most ever held by Ben-Hur and Titantic) it obviously has Oscar's approval. It also has mine. I ranked it first on my top 10 this year.

The lazy and sofa-inclined can participate in the Oscar hysteria as well. Several quality nominees are already available on DVD: The Visitor (Best Actor), In Bruges (Best Original Screenplay), Tropic Thunder (Best Supporting Actor - Robert Downey Jr.), Wall-E (Best Original Screenplay), Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Best Makeup), Iron Man (Best Visual Effects), and The Dark Knight (for those who want to pass up the theater experience).

A Weird Ass Year for the Oscars

The Oscars always manage to be a little more surprising in their selections than most, lesser award shows (perhaps this is why those shows remain lesser), but this year more than most they threw a mighty heap of curve balls that cinema fans must now swallow.

The Good: Indie longshots Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) and Melissa Leo (Frozen River) score nods in Best Actor and Best Actress respectively. Best Original Screenplay just kicks all around ass, passing up famous faces with iffy work this year (Woody Allen, Coen Bros.) for lesser knowns doing stellar stuff such as Frozen River writer/director Courtney Hunt and In Bruges writer/director Martin McDonagh. Writer/director Mike Leigh takes a surprise writing nod for his superb Happy-Go-Lucky as well. So, does Wall-E, a film that nearly rebuffed the "no amination in Best Picture" tradition but ended up settling for a more common screenplay nod (though still a feat for animation). And Dustin Lance Black, who made a mark with great work for Milk rounds out the category, and perhaps leads it if you're placing bets already. Overall, 13 nominations (the most of any film) to my #1 of the year, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, and 10 nominations to my #2, Slumdog Millionaire. That's something I can be happy about.

The Bad: THE READER?!?!?!? OK, so I hate to pooh-pooh the party but if the Academy's choice of the so-so melodramatic Holocaust flick over the phenomenal genre epic The Dark Knight isn't a clear and decisive act of snobbery, then I don't know what is. Call it English Patient syndrome. Call it the Atonement vote. For some reason, though, we can't quite shake these damn mediocre prestige pics from our collective Oscar consciousness. But I digress, The Dark Knight took a major tumble. Chris Nolan lost out on a deserving Best Director nod as well (also going to The Reader for Steven Daldry). Heath Ledger's nomination is it's only major one, and if there's any justice he will win out over a crop of very solid performances by talented men, none of which comes close to being as iconic as Ledger's now historic Joker interpretation.

Reader momentum also swept Kate Winslet to a nomination for that film in the Best Actress race. As some of you know, Winslet had been pushing to be considered in Best Supporting Actress for that film and as a lead for Revolutionary Road (no actor can be nominated twice in one category, though if you're Barry Fitzgerald you can apparently be simultaneously a lead and supporting actor). Rev Road walked away with one major nod (Michael Shannon in Best Supporting Actor) and The Reader walked away with many. When you take into acount how many ways Winslet split her own vote (lead vs. supporting for Reader and Rev Road vs. Reader for lead), it seems pretty obvious that there's an overwhelming support for the 5 time loser Winslet this year, and for this film particularly (they nominated it for Best Picture!). In the immortal words of "Extras," Winslet's finally gonna win one!

The bad news in this category is no Sally Hawkins, no Kristin Scott Thomas, and no Cate Blanchett. Angelina Jolie held in there despite steep competition. Strange considering her overwrought, mixed-reviewed performance in Clint Eastwood's Changeling comes nowhere near to her snubbed work in A Mighty Heart. Maybe this is an act of contrition? Interestingly enough, Clint and his big new hit Gran Torino were totally snubbed.

And my last bit of outrage, while I love the wonderful music created by A.R. Rahman for Slumdog and personally hope "O Saya" with M.I.A. takes the trophy, I can't believe there are only 3 song nominees this year and that none of them is Bruce Springsteen, who, if nominated, would have been my pick to win. His "The Wrestler" beautifully captures the spirit of Arronofsky's phenomenal film of the same name (a nominee for Best Actor and Supporting Actress!). Putting that aside, who else hopes they do some very seriously Bollywood-style performance at this year's ceremony in honor of "Jai Ho," which closes Slumdog with an extra dose of life and fun that's something not unlike the bow on top of a great gift.

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk

BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen River, Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh
In Bruges, Martin McDonagh
Milk, Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth
Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan
The Reader, David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt Kung
Fu Panda
WALL-E

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory — Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

BEST ART DIRECTION
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306

BEST EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig Spielzeugland (Toyland)

BEST MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat
Defiance, James Newton Howard
Milk, Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman
WALL-E, Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
''Down to Earth,'' (WALL-E)
''Jai Ho,'' (Slumdog Millionaire)
''O Saya,'' (Slumdog Millionaire)

BEST SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

I'll Be Back Soon