Some love for “Che” from England. In Contention’s Guy Lodge goes to bat for the film and is totally on the money. “I find it difficult to square with the critics who have called “Che” a “mess,” or variations of the term. Dense and inescapably large, yes, but hardly messy. This is no-frills, narrative-oriented filmmaking, straightforward in its construction and unfussy in its aesthetic. Even the time jumps of “The Argentine” are negotiated with practicality; if anything, I could have stood a little more auteur flair. Nonetheless, in its balance of intimacy and breadth, this is a Soderbergh work through and through, and I applaud him for evidently yielding to no-one in his conception of the project.” Well said, we couldn’t agree more and essentially already said as much at TIFF. Let’s hope the Academy doesn’t forget Benicio del Toro around Oscar time, but it seems that everyone has decided that Best Picture is out of the question and we think that’s unfortunate. Hell, IFC should campaing Steven Soderbergh for Best Director, but we’re not sure they have that kind of pull.
Roger Ebert is championing “Happy-Go-Lucky” and we think Oscar voters should listen. We loved the film, thought Sally Hawkins was stellar and were completely bowled over by the amazingness that was supporting actor Eddie Marsan (in fact we started our own campaign for him). Ebert says of Hawkins, “[hers is a] star-making role. She was named best actress at Berlin 2008. I will deliberately employ a cliche: She is a joy to behold.” Seriously. Likewise, he calls Marsan “spellbinding.” People take notice please. [Ebert]
David Fincher lists out his Top Movies of All Time in “no particular order.” It’s a solid list with films that should be on your all-time list (“Dr. Strangelove,””The Godfather II,” “Being There”) predictibility be damned (a ridiculous argument) and gives love to lesser-adored films like Woody Allens’ “Zelig” and Bogdanovich’s “Paper Moon.” We loved the fact that Bob Fosse’ “All That Jazz” makes his list. It’s a stellar film that seems to be lacking in appreciation from the new school. [/Film]
Anne Thompson delivers her newest Oscar thoughts. Like us, “Gran Torino,” and “Frost/Nixon” are absent from her top-tiered Best Picture thoughts. We haven’t seen them yet, so take lightly, but last year everyone thought, “Charlie Wilson’s War” was going to be a big contender and we called that it wouldn’t, months out. Oscar is slowly getting more bold we think. But then again, there’s regression every few years. It’s all politics anyhow.[AnneThompson]
