Bryce Zabel's MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

** Revolutionary Road (2008) -vs- American Beauty (1999) **

Awards Edition: "Revolutionary Road" has been nominated for top honors by the Golden Globes (NBC, Jan. 11) and American Society of Cinematographers (Feb. 15).

 Lives of Not-So-Quiet Desperation 

The Smackdown. The hype around "Revolutionary Road," of course, centers around the fact that it re-unites Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) for the first time since the mega-super blockbuster "Titanic." But smacking "Revolutionary Road" against "Titanic" would be like comparing apples and sailboats. The real competition is between the family dysfunction of the 1999 Oscar winning "American Beauty" and the latest "Revolutionary Road" portrayal, both filmed by British director Sam Mendes. If Jack had survived and he and Rose had gone on to settle into the suburbs, they might have ended up like Frank and April Wheeler. Whether that couple would be as compelling to view as Lester and Carolyn Burnam, there's the battle ahead.

The Challenger. "Revolutionary Road" tells the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a couple of once-free spirits who have moved into the suburbs of 1950s America and are slowly dying inside. The problem appears to be that neither one of them are the people they once were and neither one of them likes who they've become or who their partner has become. This is a tough spot for any couple with two children but in the America of that time where sexism is rampant, everybody smokes and drinks, and nobody says what they mean, it can be deadly. The film is not full of event, it's full of small details of daily life and decaying marriage, realized with a spot-on intensity. It feels so true to human nature than whenever you see anything that even remotely reminds you of yourself or your own marriage, all you can do is cringe.

** Frost/Nixon (2008) -vs- W. (2008) **

Awards Edition:  "Frost/Nixon" is nominated for the top award in the Critics' Choice (VH-1, Jan. 8), Golden Globes (NBC, Jan. 11), Producers Guild (Jan. 24), Screen Actors Guild (TNT/TBS, Jan. 25) and Writers Guild (Feb. 7) competitions.

 Our Disgraced Republican Presidents 

The Smackdown. As the nation holds its collective breath, waiting for Inauguration Day and the end of the long national nightmare that was the Bush administration, Richard Nixon lurches into the multiplex to remind us all of another horrible yet riveting chapter of American history. As Tricky Dick’s dramatized Doppelganger garners a slew of award nominations and critical kudos and the real W scrambles mightily to repair his legacy, we make a wish for the rapid and full restoration of criminally bent (if not irrevocably broken) International and Constitutional law. And while we take a moment to fully appreciate term limits, we ponder this little awards season headscratcher: Nixon or W? The lesser (or greater) of two evildoers?

The Challenger. Ron Howard's “Frost/Nixon” (2008) beautifully captures Michael Sheehan's and Frank Langella's much-lauded portrayals of the title characters as played previously on Broadway and London's West End. The film started shooting only a week after the play closed; its screenplay is a worthy adaptation by its playwright Peter Morgan. Few plays make it to screen so fully intact, and the audience owes a huge debt of gratitude for whatever behind-the-scenes dealmaking resulted in such a rare gift. Langella has already earned a Tony and a Drama Desk award and an Outer Critics Circle award, and he seems a sure bet to add an Academy Award nomination to his collection. Sheehan more than holds his own as Frost; it's not for nothing that Frost's name appears first in the title. The subject of the film is Frost's groundbreaking series of televised interviews that ended with Tricky Dick's game-changingly cathartic admission of guilt regarding his role in the Watergate scandal. Even though we know exactly how this one ends, the dramatic tension sustains.

** Slumdog Millionaire (2008) -vs- The Kite Runner (2007) **

Awards Edition: "Slumdog Millionaire" is nominated for the top award in the Critics' Choice (VH-1, Jan. 8), Golden Globes (NBC, Jan. 11), Producers Guild (Jan. 24), Screen Actors Guild (TNT/TBS, Jan. 25), Writers Guild (Feb. 7) and American Society of Cinematographers (Feb. 15) competitions.

 Rising Above Expectations 

The Smackdown. Childhood friendships can last a lifetime and have profound consequences. Both "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Kite Runner" tell sweeping stories in the lives of two boys -- a set of brothers in the former and a set of friends who act like brothers in the latter. They use narratives that cut back-and-forth across time, forcing them to use multiple sets of actors to portray their characters as boys turn to men. The contemporary storylines are deepened by the children's experiences we see in flashback. Both films started as novels, force viewers (English-speaking ones anyway) to read a few sub-titles and share settings -- India and Afghanistan -- that have been scarred by terrorism as deeply as the United States. And even though "Slumdog Millionaire" is probably going to get an Oscar nomination this year, it's still going to have to hold off "The Kite Runner" to win this Smackdown...

The Challenger. "Slumdog Millionaire" feels like it's giving you an authentic slice of life in the real India. As directed by Danny Boyle from a screenplay by Simon Bradley based on a novel by Vikas Swarup, it tells the story of Jamel, an impoverished orphan from the slums of Mumbai who, as the film begins, is amazingly winning on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" against all the odds. He's being accused of cheating because nobody can believe a petty thief with his background could possibly know what he knows. And there's the cheat which isn't a cheat at all. Flashbacks reveal exactly how hard-won the knowledge is that is allowing him to become a sensation. His story is embellished by his on-going relationship with his equally adept survivor brother Salim and the improbable romance with a girl named Latika.

** Burn After Reading (2008) -vs- Raising Arizona (1987) **

Awards Edition:  "Burn After Reading" is nominated in the "Best Motion Picture - Comedy" category of the Golden Globe Awards (broadcast live on NBC, Sunday, Jan. 11) and the "Original Screenplay" category of the Writers Guild of America awards (Feb. 7).

 Comedy with the Coens 

The Smackdown. Joel and Ethan Coen's "Burn After Reading" has probably not met the expectation of the folks over at Focus Features which mailed out the DVD widely in Hollywood this awards season. After all, the Brothers previous effort, "No Country for Old Men," cleaned up at last year's Academy Awards. The studio could be forgiven for feeling disappointed that the family filmers latest effort generated only a single Critics' Choice "comedy" nomination to date. Clearly, Oscar may have forever enshrined the Brothers' bleak and elliptical artistic vision, but the humor seems harder to warm up to -- at least in the "Best Picture" world. 

Well, it's their loss. Drama, comedy or somewhere in-between, the Brothers' quirky, memorable movies remain well made, well received and (this is probably key) produced inexpensively. This newest critically snubbed effort recalls the Coen's earliest work in combining pitiless observation, oddball characters and stylized story lines. For their "funny" movies, "Raising Arizona" set the bar 21 years ago for what to expect. It's a solid favorite for Coen fans (I'm one of them) and stands in the Champion's corner. Will it stay there after "Burn After Reading?" That's our Smackdown!

The Challenger. Nothing is simple with the Coen Brothers, except for some of the main characters. In "Burn" they've written and directed a convoluted story that begins with disgruntled CIA analyst Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) quitting his job rather than accept a demotion. Cox puts off everyone and his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) isn't far behind. She plots to leave the marriage while carrying on with serial philanderer Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney). Cox fills his days failing as a consultant and writing his memoirs. Along the way we meet Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) and dimwit Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt). Their roles bloom after the secretary of Katie's divorce lawyer loses a CD of Cox's memoir at the health club where Linda and Chad work. Blackmail, murder and the quest for plastic surgery become a pretzel of major themes. I did say the story is convoluted. Don't say I didn't warn you.

** Benjamin Button (2008) -vs- Forrest Gump (1994) **

Awards Edition:  "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is nominated for the top award in the Critics' Choice (VH-1, Jan. 8), Golden Globes (NBC, Jan. 11), Producers Guild (Jan. 24), Screen Actors Guild (TNT/TBS, Jan. 25), Writers Guild (Feb. 7) and American Society of Cinematographers (Feb. 15) competitions.

 Separated at Birth? 

The Smackdown. Walking out of "Forrest Gump" in 1994, I remember thinking to myself that they ought to make more films like it. A decade and a half later they've done just that and it's called "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." It seems clear that the latest film is on an awards march of its own, but it will have to go hard and fast to match the original's record when it won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Director, Film Editing, Visual Effects and Adapted Screenplay. Oh, yeah, and the Golden Globe and just about everything else in sight that year.

Both touching films are huge accomplishments in story, direction, effects and general envelope-pushing that owe a common source for their tone and style to screenwriter Eric Roth who adapted both of them from previous books. This time he's gone back further in time from Gump's baby-boomer adventures to Button's that span the years from World War I to present day. Both leading men are blank-slates who seem to end up (Zelig-like) in the middle of big events where their voice-over is used to lead us through the narrative. The movies also take place in the South, share a female free-spirit love interest, a strong single mom, and folk wisdom "catch phrases." Does "Button" build on "Gump" or is it just a pale imitation? That's the Smack attack here.

The Challenger. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" owes its concept to the famous remark by Mark Twain that the best part of life comes at the beginning and the worst at the end, and a short story that F. Scott Fitzgerald made out of it in 1921. The film takes just the essence, though, and tells a new story entirely. Basically, it's about a baby born on the day World War I ends who is biologically a very old man and who grows younger day by day. It's a wonderful "what-if" to contemplate, down to the possibility that Button (Brad Pitt) could meet the love of his life when he's an old man and she's a kid, have a love affair when they're about the same age, and then end up with her as an old woman taking care of him when he's just a child. The scope director David Fincher brings to the screen is large: from its WWI beginning, the film takes us all the way to modern times and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.