Congratulations to Ben Gurstelle, who answered the trivia question correctly and won himself a signed copy of Everybody Wants You Dead, and congrats to me who doesn't have to spend any money on postage to send it!
The correct answer, by the way:
The two films of the last 50 years to "sweep" the Oscars were One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
Meanwhile, let's move toward the top 20, shall we?
#22 American Sniper
The last of the Oscar nominees for me to see, and quite frankly, I may end up pushing it up in the rankings before I finalize it. That's because I saw it today. #22 is probably fair, but I may think on it a little more.
To Clint Eastwood's credit, I don't think he took a political stance here. Knowing he and his empty chair, I was kind of surprised that he didn't take the opportunity. This is an objective, fact-checked account of the life of Jesse Ventura-punching military specialist Chris Kyle. I don't think it's any secret that Eastwood considers Kyle a hero, as do many Americans, but him being presented in such a human way was pretty refreshing. The main problem I had was that the film held probably a 60 to 40 combat-to-stateside ratio, and the material back home was in my opinion, far stronger and more compelling.
The story is a pretty simple one. Chris Kyle, originally a rodeo cowboy with little direction, joins the military at age 30. While training to be a navy seal, he meets Taya (Sienna Miller) at a bar and, not long after they drink until she vomits, they begin dating and eventually marry on a ship. While on the ship, one of the homies gets a phone call: They're being deployed. From there, Eastwood toggles between combat (lots and lots of combat), Kyle's childhood, and the big moments back home. He's deployed four times total, and over the course of those deployments, he's credited with 160 kills, which to me is unfathomable. Eastwood focuses on a few of those greatest hits, including ones that are terrible to watch (one of the early sequences shows him choosing to pull the trigger on a grenade-carrying child and mother) and even harder for Kyle to live with.
Bradley Cooper ranged from good to great, but I think he occupies a nominee slot that two men, who will be mentioned later, deserved more (one obvious and controversial, the other a little less so). You could tell through his breathing and technique that his portrayal of Chris Kyle showed a lot of tension and restraint in regards to the job he had to do. Where he really shined, thought, was as a man trying to adjust and make sense of a life without his rifle. His thoughts and confusion were conveyed simply by the look on his face.
#21 The Fault in Our Stars
Fault in Our Stars over American effing Sniper? What's wrong with you, Mulhern?
I guess all I can say is "Haters gon' hate hate hate hate hate..."
This book was cheap on my Nook, so I bought it a while back when I saw one of my 6th graders reading it and wanted to check it out as well. John Green's book is great at capturing the skepticism of teenage life, regardless of the fact that his main character Hazel happens to be dying of cancer. Director Josh Boone, who's last credit was the quiet indie Stuck in Love, is true to both the story and the tone of the book without sacrificing a whole hell of a lot.
Shailene Woodley is Hazel, and Ansel Elgort is Augustus "Gus" Waters. They meet at a cancer support group in the basement of a church through mutual pal Isaac (Nat Wolff) as Patrick (comedian Mike Birbiglia) guides them through "sharing" time. When they meet outside, he has an unlit cigarette in his mouth. "The cigarette is a metaphor," he tells her. "You put the thing right between your teeth that has the power to kill you, but you never let it do the killing." They both have their simpatico "cancer perks" issues--plus his prosthetic leg and her oxygen tank--and they certainly crush on each other, but they don't truly bond until they both read Dutch author Peter Van Houten's (Willem Dafoe) An Imperial Affliction, he for the first time and her for the umpteenth. He decides to use his Make-a-Wish wish on a trip to Amsterdam to go meet Van Houten, with Hazel's mom (Laura Dern) cautiously chaperoning. The trip and subsequent meeting has its ups and downs, and they return to America with their hearts damaged nearly up to the stunning conclusion.
I'm not going to lie and say it wasn't a tearjerker, but in many ways it feels equally as life-affirming. Most of my issues with the film are issues that stem from reading the book (I feel like no one could possibly be as charming as the Gus character in real life, and I got really sick of him calling her "Hazel Grace" instead of just Hazel, and her calling him "Augustus Waters" instead of just Gus; I found it trite). All in all, a very solid cast and a well-structured adaptation that, from all that I've read, satisfied its readers.
#20 The Skeleton Twins
I'm a sucker for Bill Hader. Who isn't? Without him, how would we know about New York's hottest nightclubs such as Wesh, Kevin? and Your Mother and I Are Separating? Where would we get our passwords into said clubs? How would we know the definition of the "Human Roomba"?
Stefon gaffs aside, Hader stepped boldly into new territory in playing one half of the skeleton twins, Milo Dean. We meet him in his Northwest apartment, blasting music and getting in the tub. Offscreen, he cuts his wrists and the water turns a bright red. Meanwhile, on the other end of the country his twin sister Maggie (Kristin Wiig) is getting ready to pound a dangerous amount of pills when her phone rings. She flies off to visit Milo in the hospital and it becomes clear early on that their relationship has been nonexistent for the last decade. She takes one look at his suicide note ("To whom it may concern. See ya later.") and invites him back to their hometown in upstate New York to stay with her and her husband, the obnoxiously affable Mitch (Luke Wilson) until he is back on his feet. There are unresolved issues both past (Milo's affair with his high school English teacher, played convincingly by Ty Burrell) and present (Maggie's dalliance with her scuba instructor, played by Boyd Holbrook) that come to the forefront early on, and are confronted throughout the movie. Their being back together after so long is equal parts comforting and caustic, and eventually their meddling in each other's stuff brings up a number of past issues (exacerbated by a dinner visit by their awful mother) that threaten to split them up up once again.
Both Wiig and Hader are outstanding and worthy of much more recognition than they got as the fragile, damaged-goods, acerbically witty Dean twins. And Burrell, who has trailblazer a career path entirely on being goofy, nailed a dramatic turn. It's a movie that is at times hard to watch but always captivating, the perfect balance of drama and comedy, anchored by these talented SNL vets.
Back tomorrow with more!
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