Oscar's Real Winner

Here's to filmmakers, technicians, and Artists alike...

Most of those who nabbed the Statuettes were expected to win, and deserved to... 

(The night's one head-scratcher:  A Big HUH? in the Film Editing category...)

First, a nod to the major winners...

Horray! for  Christopher Plummer...Meryl Streep...Octavia Spencer...Jean DuJardin....

Kudos to "Hugo", "Midnight in Paris", "The Descendants", "A Separation"...

Bravo! to Mssrs. Hazanavicius... Thomas Langmann... Ludovic Bource....Mark Bridges...

After all of that, the spirit of this year's Oscars was summed up for me in two great photographs found on the web....

Here's to the most deserving victor of the night...in his little bow tie, taking a bow, and offering generous congratulations to his co-star.....

A 2012 Deadline I Won't Miss!

I know, I know.. I am behind on my reviews. But they ARE on the way...  So look for "The Artist", "My Week With Marilyn", and possibly "War Horse", in the coming week.  Also, I'll have a review of the year in movies, and a general 2011 retrospective.


In the meantime, this post is time-sensitive....and my deadline is midnight....

I and some of my friends below wish you all a Happy New Year!  (Special greetings to my blog-buddies and supporters: Mark, Ben, Walter, Andrew, Luke, Jose, Stephen, Mike, and everyone who stopped by this past year!)

All the best in 2012!

A Caroler at Your Door! A Christmas Journal #2

Remembering old friends this season...especially the humorous, four-legged ones who put up with our fashion experiments. 

If Maggie were still here, she would gladly have sung (er, howled) your favorite carols, right at your door.

Wishing you music and good cheer today.......

The Dogs of "Hugo"

Recently this blog looked at Academy Award-Winning Best Pictures that featured dogs in significant roles. (See "The Dogs of Oscar's Best Picture: Will 2011 Be Dog-Friendly?" December 1).

While dogs have remained mostly in the doghouse as far as the Academy is concerned, I concluded with some hope that this year, Oscar's Best might also feature a Lead Dog. 

"Beginners" and "50/50" are definite long-shots for the top prize, but "The Artist" seems to have legs (four of them) and its adorable Jack Russell Terrier could be the first with a significant role in the Academy's Big Film.

And now "Hugo", another period piece about the early days of filmmaking, is a strong contender with an Important Dog!

The station-master's loyal Doberman follows orders to apprehend orphans who hide in the Paris train station.  Fierce, fast, and frightening at first, this dog carries important segments of the film's plot, and like his owner, is redeemed as a not-so-bad creature by the film's end. 

In addition, two amorous, long-haired dachshunds provide marvelous support in a subplot involving a widow, who is a perennial occupant of the cafe, and her suitor, who must overcome the snapping jaws of the little hot-dog by providing her with a canine companion of her own. 

"Hugo" and "The Artist" have been universally recognized by critic's groups in their list of award nominees and winners.  This gives both films good odds in the upcoming Oscar contest, which could be the most dog-friendly competition since "Babe" was a nominee in 1995.

How can you not love it?

(Read on for my "epic" review of "Hugo" Dec. 13)

A Puppy And An Ice Cube..What The World Needs Now--Wednesday Journal #1

When I saw this video I knew I had to post it! First, to save it for posterity; and second, to share it with anyone who visits here.  (Thank you, Kirk and Mark.)


Tonight, a few brief posts.  Journal #2 below is a small tribute to the late Laura Nyro, a new inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.  Journal #3 is a gut reaction to today's sentencing of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on multiple corruption charges.


Coming up this week: another long-overdue, posthumous recognition of a Chicago Sports legend; and my thoughts on a movie-review embargo that has the blogosphere abuzz.


But first: enjoy this video of a Welsh Corgi puppy and his encounter with a single ice cube!

The Dogs of Oscar's Best Picture: Will 2011 Be Dog-Friendly?

In its 83-year history, no Oscar-winning Best Picture has ever had a dog as the focus of its story, nor featured a dog as a main character.


From Rin Tin Tin to Lassie, from Asta to Old Yeller, from Hachiko to Benjy, there have been all sorts of well-loved movies with dogs front and center.  Often, it is the dog in a film that is responsible for providing the rooting interest, and emotional attachment, a viewer has with a film.


But, sadly, Oscar's Best Pictures have been all but declared "No Dogs Allowed".


That could change this coming February, to add another record-breaking statistic to an already exciting and unpredictable Oscar year.


I wracked my brain to remember if any previous Best Pictures featured a dog in an important role.  I even looked at lists and Academy Award reference materials. (Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair, as leading "dogs" in 1955's "Marty", don't count.)


Yes, there were some high-profile dogs in movies nominated for the big award.  Toto from "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) is probably the best-known; the goofy animated dog(s) in "Up" (2009)figured most recently; and the comical old bulldog in 1944's "Since You Went Away" is probably the most sadly forgotten. The title of one great film, "Sounder" (1972), was even the name of the family dog.


But which Best Picture winners, if any, had an important canine character?


The most high-profile Oscar-dog is probably the bull terrier "Bullseye" from "Oliver" (1968), the menacing sidekick to the evil Bill Sykes (Oliver Reed).  He was definitely a second-string supporting player, however.  Bullseye has one important scene, in which he betrays his master after witnessing Sykes murder the leading lady. The four-legged informer did well by his very small role, and became a hero of sorts, but was promptly forgotten, and was far from providing a heartwarming center to the film.



In "Midnight Cowboy" (1969), a sly prostitute Cass (Sylvia Miles) uses her poodle, Baby, to help lure potential customers.  The dog has slightly less screen time than Miles (who nevertheless earned an Oscar nomination herself); but is responsible for one of the movie's most rueful laughs, as Baby is an unwitting conspirator in Cass' affair with hustler Joe Buck (Jon Voight).



1970's epic war biography "Patton" gave us another bull terrier, this time an historically accurate one. General Patton's canine companion was named "William", after William the Conqueror. That is, until he is humorously frightened by a Parisian cat, after which the General dubs him "Willie" (which, by the way, was the actual dog's real moniker.)  Far from being a key player in the development of plot or the mover of history, Willie is a prop; but at least he is there to take a final walk into the sunset with the General before the final credits roll.



The sloppiest (and cutest) Oscar-film dog was probably "Butkus", Rocky Balboa's Mastiff and jogging buddy in the original "Rocky" (1976).  A gift from Rocky's pet-shop-clerk-and-soon-to-be-girlfriend (Yo) Adrian, Butkus bounds onto the scene with eager energy and lots of heart.  He accompanies Rocky on a jog or two before, somehow, dropping quietly out of sight (except for maybe a wayward closeup or two...memory doesn't serve.)  But I do know that Butkus' talent was more or less wasted, when he could have been a contender.



Kevin Costner bonds with a more primal creature in "Dances With Wolves" (1990).  Costner's character, Lt. Dunbar, is followed and watched, approached and avoided, by a wild wolf , who finally sheds his mistrust of the human enough to get close to the man.  The wolf provides wary companionship, and a frolic in the prairie, for the wide-eyed white man in his midst.  Hence, Costner's name, bestowed on him by the Sioux.  When the evil white settlers shoot at the animal, it's heart-rending.  Still, the wolf, who I believe was called Socks, provided a good subplot, but not a main story. Besides, he was not exactly what you might call a pet.



The most ghastly use of a dog in an Oscar-winning best picture was the appearance of the otherise sweet little poodle, Precious, in "Silence of the Lambs" (1991).  Catherine Martin, trapped in a well by the insane Buffalo Bill, lures the hapless dog into the well with her, and threatens to kill the dog if Bill won't let her go.  No more than a prop, Precious is a clever symbol of innocence subjected to evil.  Fun for all ages!



A more recent use of a dog in an Oscar-winning Best Film was as a fleeting sidekick to Russell Crowe's Maximus in "Gladiator" (2000).  I read somewhere that the dog, a mixed-breed Shepherd, was added to the opening battle scene, so that confused audience members knew who to root for.  Naturally we assume that whoever is kind to a dog is on the good team.  So Maximus "unleashes hell", as it were, the dog goes tearing off into battle, and is soon forgotten.  (Meaningless trivia: this was Oliver Reed's second appearance in an Oscar-winning Best Picture, and his second with a dog. Was the late Mr. Reed a dog's best friend?)


In last year's "The King's Speech" (2010) two or three corgi's appeared, mainly as set decoration, and an historically accurate detail.  The British Royal tradition of keeping corgi's as pets began with King Edward.  The dogs barely register, but they have personality to spare, and make their scenes memorable, even if they don't do more than serve as characters in the king's bedtime story to his daughters.


And now, in 2011, there are several movies in which dogs provide warmth, support, and laughs in central roles or important secondary ones.  One of them may even be responsible for putting a movie in the Oscar winners-circle.  First there is Skeletor, the melancholy and confused Greyhound that gives Joseph Gordon-Levitt some much-needed unconditional cuddling in "50/50". 



Then there is Cosmo, a heart-melting little Jack Russell Terrier in "Beginners", who communcates telepathically with Ewan MacGregor, and in wry subtitles for the rest of us:


And finally there's Uggie, another Jack Russell Terrier who mugs and mimes his way into the hearts of viewers in "The Artist".  I have not yet seen "The Artist", but I already love this little performer, who actually won an award at Cannes called the Palme Dog!  There's even a tongue-in-cheek on-line campaign out there to get Uggy some Award love (Consider Uggie).   While an Oscar nomination for the dog is pretty unlikely, I do think "The Artist" is wowing enough viewers to have a good shot at Best Picture gold...and that would make it a first among Oscar movies, a best picture with a Lead Dog, and a victory for aspiring dog-performers everywhere.

Let me know who your favorite movie dogs have been...and if I have forgotten any major roles for dogs in the history of Oscar-winning Best Pictures.

Tuesday Short-Take #1 : Woody Allen and Me

Last week, PBS' "American Masters" broadcast a new 2-part documentary about the life and work of Woody Allen. 

In my post just before the program aired (PBS Reviews the Career of Woody Allen, Nov. 20), I promised to offer my thoughts on the show, plus a few words about why Allen has been a comic and cinematic hero to me.


Allen's career spans over 50 years, and has so many facets that it would be impossible to compress it all in a 3-hour program.  Still, the show did an amazing job taking the viewer from Allen's early days as a standup,to his first attempts at filmmaking, through his tabloid years (and various love-interests), to his maturation as a writer-director. Running through it all is Allen's remarkable feat; since 1970, he has written and directed on the average of one film every year. 


Allen tells much of the story in his own voice, appearing on-camera much of the time in exclusive interviews for the program. They are active interviews: he shows us the old manual typewriter on which he still writes his screenplays; shares with us a drawer-full of slips of paper with ideas that he is constantly generating; and responds with unusual warmth and candor to his acolytes and critics alike.  He does not come off as a pseudo-intellectual, nor a sleaze.  Best of all are the many film clips that are used to illustrate and enhance his personal story, clips from scores of his well-loved classic movies.


For me, personally, Allen was a creative inspiration.  I loved to write satire as a young student, and yearned to make readers laugh as hard as Allen had made me laugh.  His book, "Without Feathers", made my sides literally ache.  Too bad they didn't mention his book in the documentary; nor did they introduce one of Allen's earlier film projects, "What's Up, Tiger Lily", an actual Japanese spy film that Allen re-edited and dubbed with devastatingly naughty dialogue, that spoke to the perennial adolescent in me. 

But I reveled in utter joy as I re-lived the pleasures of his movies, and recalled the theaters filled with laughter, and the nearly empty matinees where my romantic pain as a young man was alleviated, in the company of the likes of Diane Keaton, Louise Lasser, Diane Wiest, Mia Farrow, Mariel Hemingway, Tony Bill, John Cusack, Jeff Daniels, Michael Caine, and Allen himself.  Allen spoke directly to me, like he was a wise college senior to my awkward freshman.  His intelligence was something I could aspire to, and his awkwardness something I could identify with, and not feel ashamed. Allen said it was okay to laugh, and so, I was able to laugh at myself.


"Sleeper", "Bananas", "Love and Death", "Interiors", "Manhattan", "Hannah and Her Sisters", "The Purple Rose of Cairo", "Radio Days", "Bullets Over Broadway", and my iconic favorite, the game-changer "Annie Hall", shaped my formative movie-going years, and my attitudes as to what a film could accomplish. They let me escape, not into fantasy, but into a vaguely familiar world that I could learn to manage. The laughter was healing.  A few of them may have saved my life on one or two occasions. 


My relationship with Allen's work has mellowed over the years.  I missed some of the later titles, but found the old enchantment in edgier works like "Match Point" and "Vicki Christina Barcelona".


With "Midnight in Paris", I feel like my painful adolescent and my wiser older self have come together to enjoy Allen's most magical piece of work since Alvy and Annie took that nostalgic trip to Coney Island.

Thanksgiving: Loving Friends, Memories of Family Gatherings...and Dogs

Thanksgiving, in spite of the well-intentioned efforts of my sister and I, began in a melancholy way. We did our best to give our aging, ailing parents a nice meal and some company; both of them are in various stages of suffering and stubbornness.  The meal turned out well. We cleaned up.  It was draining and sad, to see what our family has come to. I left feeling subdued.

Later, in the company of Mark, Jillian, his sons Nick and Kirk, and Nick's girlfriend Stephanie, I retreated to a quaint nearby village to enjoy a stress-free meal, filled with anecdotes, and good fun and conversation.  We convened afterward for a thoughtful and emotional new film, "The Descendants", which I will review this weekend.

With so many great films in release, and more to come, I am making up for lost time by viewing and reviewing on this blog as many as I can keep up with.  Perhaps I am at a point in my re-invention where I am finally living the life of a film critic (albeit, as yet, an unpaid one!)

In the process I have neglected some other favorite topics of interest, and have not made too many "personal appearances" of late.  I look forward to adding more variety to my posts as the year comes to a close.

And so I send this message of gratitude for the people who make this world a nicer place for me to be, especially those with whom I spent time this evening,.

And I want to remember some other creatures that keep me sane, and to whom I want to dedicate the holiday... And so, since Mark has fallen asleep on the couch across the room, I will send a short greeting to my canine friends....

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Congratulations to the winner of today's National Dog Show, Steele Your Heart, a four-year-old wire fox terrier.



The Basset Hound in this year's competition was enormously lovable, sweet, and entertaining...to me, all characteristics of the breed in general. I just had to share this video..check out the bounce, and the jowls, and that eager energy... 

Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.

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I miss sharing a meal with a humorous, frantically focused dog companion.  If I had my way....


Hope my readers enjoyed their day.

Tonight! PBS Reviews the Career of Woody Allen-- Sunday Journal #1

PBS' wonderful series American Masters is about to broadcast a gift to movie-lovers everywhere, with the premiere of Woody Allen: A Documentary,  tonight at 8:00pm (Chicago time).


Filmmaker Robert B. Wiede was granted access to Allen on and off the sets of his latest films.  His two-part biography (part 2 airs tomorrow, Monday November 21 at 9pm, CST) promises to be a feast of comedy, clips, and insight into this singular intellect, artist and entertainer.

I am looking forward to a look back at Allen's early days as a standup comic and perennial late-night talk-show guest; his breakout as a gag-writer as well as a writer of some of the funniest books ever written ("Without Feathers"); his foray into filmmaking with his crude, awkward but devastating comedies ("What's Up, Tiger Lily?", "Take the Money and Run"); his famous and infamous romances with leading ladies (Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow), and his maturity into a filmmaker of depth and richness, a director of some all-time classics ("Annie Hall", of course, and "Manhattan", and now "Midnight in Paris").

If you are familiar with Allen only from his films of the last decade, or his notorious recent personal life; and you love movies; you owe it to yourself to check this program out. 


I hope it lives up to the buildup I have done here, and in my mind's eye!

 Later this week I will review the program, and describe my own "relationship" with Allen since I was a budding high-school film critic.


(Also up this week: reviews of "Like Crazy" and "Ides of March"... good movies both!)


Enjoy this clip from "American Masters: Woody Allen" offered by the PBS web site:

Coming: Edgar Visited, Ennis Re-Visited, and REELING Cute Cats -(Sunday Journal 1)

Stay tuned for more film writing in the coming week, including these 3 features:


1. Kiss and MAKE-UP!!!!!!!
(A review of "J. Edgar")





2. Beyond Brokeback Mountain: nothing has ever been the same...





3. Some great films from the REELING Chicago LGBT Film Festival.  Here is a video of the tailer that was played before each screening, a cute and funny way to showcase the festival Sponsors.
Enjoy "30 Cats in 30 Seconds" !

Emergency! (An Embarrassing Anecdote)--Friday Journal

A little break from movies, Oscars, politics, even dogs.....To share a mildly embarrassing anecdote.  I'm writing this for a laugh or two, and as a perverse memento of the day.

I spend the entire morning at the Emergency room, with a dislocated shoulder.

I was feeling good, looking forward to a busy and productive day.  I even wore my best shirt and tie. As I left the house, I noticed that my car, which I keep parked on the driveway, was covered in ice, and my Drivers-Side door was frozen shut. 

(Having to scrape ice off my car before Halloween is discouraging--no, it's unacceptable.  I must send nasty e-mails to our local meteorologists.  Or,  stock up for a nasty winter to come...) 

I was able to pry open the passenger side, in order to crawl in and try to push the driver's door open from the inside.

As I pushed hard against the stuck door, it opened suddenly, like in a Three Stooges routine, and I slipped, landed on my left hand and felt (and heard) my shoulder pop.

Mark was still home....and I was in some real pain.

We summoned the paramedics, who were great... One of them was giving me injections and nasal pain-killer, and I joked that he was enjoying it too much...to which he gave me an amused grin.....

While I was in X-ray, nauseous from pain-killers and feeling like I might die, the technicians rolled me somehow, and my shoulder snapped back into place....

The sedative (dilaudid, an opiate drug of the morphine class) made me pretty ill....

Mark, who was patient and stayed with me the whole time, got me home, and I slept all afternoon, fighting an upset stomach.

Finally, I ate a light supper, and am faring pretty well.  Guess I'll have to be productive, and busy, on Monday.

I am supposed to wear a sling, and so I should not even be writing this.

B_t,   I   c_n_o_   k_y_o_r_   w_i_h    j_s_   1    h_n_!

US Politics--Bachmann, Perry, and...Karen Armstrong

It's just too easy to poke fun.... The resemblances are far too striking:

A couple of weeks ago, Newsweek magazine published a photograph of Republican Presidential Candidate-hopeful Michelle Bachmann.  The photo, captioned "The Queen of Rage", stirred a controversy.  Critics complained that the photo made her look crazed, and did not reflect her true nature.

I am not so sure...

It is so easy to satirize these presumptive leaders, to turn them into parodies of themselves, to marginalize them and insist that they are simply eating at the children's table of politics, and can never emerge as leaders of the Free World.

(Besides...I think I would prefer to have snarling dogs running our government...At least they are honest about their feelings, and you always know where you stand with them.)

But we need to pay attention to these figures, and what they stand for, in order to understand their unlikely appeal, and to work around the irrationality and misplaced anger of their disenchanted, disenfranchised, and some of them unfortunately ignorant, followers. 

Otherwise, the rest of us might soon have to dance, reluctantly, to their tune.

The main point is that Michelle Bachmann, and her closest current rival Rick Perry, would not in themselves be prominent, threatening, nor even worthy of serious discussion, unless they happened to represent the ideas of a significant number of American citizens.

And that is frightening, unnerving, and sad.

Among other things, I have lately read and heard a lot about the political-religious doctrine called Dominionism, to which both Bachmann and Perry and others, especially among Tea Partiers, are connected. (It is cynically uncertain whether these political hopefuls actually believe in this idea.  Of course, they use it to their advantage.) 

Dominionism is a radical Christian sect that is gaining strength. In a nutshell, it states that their followers are entitled to hold dominion over the world, and will do this by infiltrating political systems, and expel the "demonic" ideas of abortion, homosexuality, and all non-Christian beliefs. Dominionists believe they must do this to bring about the end-times as prophecied in the Bible, to exorcise non-believers and prepare believers for the end of the world.


For more about this idea that is shaping American politics in an ominous way, check out the article by Michelle Goldberg in The Daily Beast.  

NPR's Fresh Air Interview from last week with Rachel Tabachnick, who researches the impact of the religious right and end-time narratives on American politics, was informative (if ominous). Check out also Tabachnick's writing on the web site, Talk To Action.

Best of all, I highly recommend the writing of Religious Historian and Theorist Karen Armstrong.  I found Armstrong's books, and read them immediately following the 9/11 tragedy. She helped guide me out of the darkness of my own ignorance to gain a better understanding of religion, conflict, fundamentalism, and politics.  Her book, "The Battle for God", is a lucid and comprehensive piece of work, well-researched, about why religious fundamentalism takes hold in societies, and why it is a major political force in today's world. (Read her interview on Faith L. Justice's blog HERE)

Armstrong, a former nun and self-proclaimed "freelance monotheist", goes deep but retains a conversational, commonsense approach to her vast and complex subject.

According to Armstrong, pre-industrial societies held to the notions of "mythos" and "logos".  "Logos" were practical , rational, scientific, and logical bases to run societies. "Mythos" was a concept similar to a primitive form of psychology, in which common stories, or "myths" were used to give meaning to peoples' lives. Religion was one form of mythos.  As science grew in spectacular fashion in industrial societies, myths lost their power, and those who clung to them became frightened, and needed some guiding force to comfort them or put meaning into their lives.  Their very existence was threatened until they were able to look up to leaders who assuaged their fears and created new myths.

Soon myths began to replace the rational and scientific bases for a reasonable society...and the battle rages on our political stage today.  Abortion and homosexuality are seen as just the most prominent symbols of a threatening, modern scientific existence.

I highly recommend Karen Armstrong's books, especially "Battle for God".

The rise of the Rick Perrys and the Michelle Bachmanns, by legitimizing and reinforcing the most irrational fears of the citizens who look up to them to lead them out of a world that terrifies them, is similar to the rise of religious fundamentalism. 

Perry and Bachmann and their ilk are successful because people are scared, and the way these political-religious figures exploit that fear is nothing short of demonic.  And these frightened people are also vocal, and also easily led---to the polls.  That's the most frightening of all.

Running mates?

A Brief Intermission: If You Want To Sell Me Something....

... let animals make the pitch!
This might be one of the funniest ads I have ever seen.... short and very sweet....



The mellifluous hound is especially suited for a nightclub gig!

Tomorrow I will return with more on the 2011 Movie Season...
(Coming soon: American Politics: Bachman, Perry, and fundamentalism...)

Roxy--A Weekend Canine Visitor

Our home is still dog-less. 


With travel, challenging family responsibilities, and our work schedules, finding a new dog to join our household has been badly delayed.


We do discuss it a lot.  Of course, we discuss it less often during extreme February snowstorms and the severe thunderstorms of June and July. When the weather is as rare and perfect as it has been last week, the topic comes up more often.


This weekend we had a chance to do a "test run",  to see how we would adjust to once again giving our home over to a dog, who in turn would graciously allow us to occupy the space!

My co-worker asked Mark and I to take their Jack Russell Terrier, named Roxy, into our home for the weekend.


Roxy is a little character!  Constantly moving, unless she is sleeping (and she sleeps hard), she showed us lots of affection, and guarded the house almost too well.  Roxy hated other dogs, which made it interesting to leave her out in the yard with the neighboring dogs. 


And the poor people who walked their dogs in front of our house got a full symphony of snarling and barking.  This was unfortunate; I think, given some time and patience, I could work with Roxy to calm her fear.

 Roxy, for all of her fierce posturing, weighs only about six pounds. 

She enjoyed naps....And at night, sprang into bed, and burrowed deep under the covers, like it was a tent!

And she played hard...but knew just how hard to chew (or else I would have lost my entire chin...) 

And she was a very loving little girl....I would catch myself thinking about having Maggie in the house.  How I would get annoyed when her water bowl got in my way, until that day when we didn't need to put her water bowl out any more....

I missed the innocent and enthusiastic play-time, and cute, sloppy gestures of affection....

It seems that I didn't lose my touch for dispensing treats...Roxy preferred baby carrots..

I was reminded how dogs, helpless as they are, demand our focus on their present moment; and in the process, we forget about the stress of the day, at least for a while.


I satisfy my need for canine companionship with my frequent dog-sitting, and my volunteer work at the Buddy Foundation.


Some day, though, we need to fill that empty space, not to replace the irreplaceable, but to provide us with an object of sweet, raucous, forgiving love.  Stay tuned.