MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

An Education (2009) -vs- A Single Man (2009)

The Smackdown. It’s 1962, stylishly retro and way cool. TV’s Mad Men have paved the cultural way for two more stellar entries in the Sex And The Sixties pantheon. With the swinging sixties looming right on the horizon, Los Angeles college literature professor George (Colin Firth) and sixteen year old suburban London student Jenny (Carey Mulligan) fumble their un-merry ways through the rough-and-tumble terrain of love, loss, secrets, and sexual experience. Both lead performances have stirred up considerable Academy Award buzz, but they’re unlikely to compete head to head anywhere but right here. Smackdown: Dewy Maiden with Distinct Audrey Hepburn Echoes takes on World-Weary Confirmed Bachelor with a Not-So-Secret Secret. The winner? A grateful arthouse (and beyond) audience. 

In This Corner. Ladies first. Screenwriter Nick Hornby brings Lynn Barber’s scathing memoir to beautiful life in Danish director Lone Scherfig’s “An Education.” Perfectly capturing a specific moment of early sixties and late adolescence, the film eloquently speaks to larger themes and issues than the usual coming of age tome. Jenny rises above unrelenting suburban parental pressure with a charming if scandalous mixture of sardonic acceptance and outright rebellion. Jenny’s acceptance to Oxford means everything to her father, so much so that his tunnel vision blinds him to the threats and dangers lurking right in his living room. Jenny meets David (Peter Sarsgaard) a predatory seducer twice her age, and that troubling relationship gains her parents’ tacit approval. The easy glamour of fast cars, hustling and high living supplant Jenny’s studies and test her values, and a remarkably unprepared Jenny faces big life decisions. 

A Single Man (2009) -vs- Far From Heaven (2002)

THE SMACKDOWN.  Sex in the late fifties and early sixties involved even more guilt, hiding, and loss than it does today, particularly for gay men of a certain age. But enough about those men, let's talk about the women who love them or, in this case, the woman... that would be Julianne Moore.

THE CHALLENGER.  There's a great performance by Moore in "A Single Man." She plays Charley, an alcoholic faded beauty who in 1962 still has a thing for George, the gay single man of the title played by Colin Firth. Back in England, before coming to America, they used to have a thing together. Her heart was more in it, obviously, than his, and now all they have is friendship with no benefits.

 

THE DEFENDING CHAMPION.  Seven years ago, Moore was cast as the perfect housewife, Cathy Whitaker, who in 1957 suburbia had the perfect marriage to Frank Whitaker, played by Dennis Quaid. Just one problem. She happens across husband Frank, supposedly working late one night but actually kissing another man. He promises he's "going to lick this problem" but while quack doctors try to cure him, she ends up hanging around with the black gardener, a relationship that is only slightly more acceptable (if at all) in her community than sticking around with her homosexual husband.

THE SCORECARD.  "Far From Heaven" plays more like "Revolutionary Road" than "A Single Man" -- something that will attract some people but probably turn off more. "A Single Man" actually has moments of warmth in it while, in contrast, "Far From Heaven" -- caught up in the seriousness of its message -- barely can rise to sadness. Julianne Moore is, as expected, very good in both of these films. In "Far From Heaven" she's a shattered woman whose life plans have just fallen apart, living in a world that seems to care less. She's not much fun, and her life seems hopeless and she knows it. In "A Single Man" she provides an extremely poignant bright spot as a woman who laughs heartily because the only alternative is to cry. But her character is still willing to put on a record and dance! 

THE DECISION.  You're going to like watching Julianne Moore a lot more in "A Single Man." She lights up the film with her performance, given that Colin Firth is busy keeping his own performance measured and contained. In this latest effort, she's like a freckly, boozy party girl Ann-Margret, and it's a performance that really had me mesmerized. I'd go see "A Single Man" ASAP and enjoy every minute she's on screen.

Leap Year (2010) -vs- Year in Revolt (2010)

The Smackdown. Cookie cutter romantic comedy satisfies a too-easily edified audience. No matter how formulaic and tepid the sausage, the factories grind out more product to feed the gaping maw; indie films usually attract a more marginal fringe-ier crew, on the hunt for the original, the untold (or even oft-told) story told in fresh new ways. Pitting a humble little indie versus a major studio wide release makes for an inherently unfair fight and one with a foregone conclusion at the box office, but ticket sales won’t sway this Smackdown. As “Leap Year” bounds onto virtually every available screen and Quirky Indie-That-Could “Youth In Revolt” limps onto a fraction of that number, ask yourself: Is bigger necessarily better? Does conventional beat quirky? And why am I suddenly possessed with Carrie Bradshaw syndrome?

 

In This Corner. “Leap Year” (2009) succeeds beyond my wildest expectations; while perhaps falling short as classic romantic comedy, it ranks right up there among the most beautiful and enticing travelogues ever filmed. Ireland has never looked lovelier, and the two attractive leads do nothing untoward to spoil the view. Matthew Goode makes a scruffy object of conflicted desire, and Amy Adams’ luminous baby blues light up the screen. The script offers some surprises in store for those who’ve never seen a movie before. (The execrable and ubiquitous trailer omitted no plot turn or visual gag and succeeded in thoroughly ruining the moviegoing experience for audiences that frequent theaters.)

Bryce's Ten Best Films of the Past Ten Years

Everybody seems to be out with their Top Ten. This year it's a two-fer. You can go with "Top Ten of 2009" or "Top Ten of the Decade."

I say go for the Top Ten of the Last Ten. Now, keep in mind that virtually everybody is going to see this differently and no one will agree. That's the fun. My criteria, in scanning the films from the past decade, was not about what was "important" or "critically acclaimed" or even "big box office." I just asked myself which films I enjoyed watching the most and, if a friend was over and wanted to see one of them again on the home theater's big screen, could I truly enjoy seeing it again?

I even ranked them, although that was a little bit harder. And, I'll state this in advance, I know you're going to freak out when you get to #1 but, like I say, this is subjective, it's my list, and sometimes it's just about how a movie hits you. That's the magic. The films are different. We're different. Everybody likes things differently than the next guy. Here goes...

#10 - Little Miss Sunshine
  

This is the small film that re-defined the "road picture" and touched a lot of people's hearts in the process. You ended up caring about all the characters, the performances were authentic, and the story was quirky and unexpected. And, of course, there was the van...

#9 - Up in the Air

It's possible that this film won't wear as well as I think it will. Maybe it's a slight little trifle that only reflects its moment in time. But when I saw it recently, I found it substantial, moving and surprising. It made the list and not just because Clooney's at his best.

#8 - Almost Famous

 The music is powerfully evocative, the moment-in-time quality is fantastic, and the script is wonderful. If you didn't happen to live through the 70s, this will remind you that there was life before disco. And, yes, we did listen to "Tiny Dancer" and it was as good then as it is now.

#7 - Avatar

The story goes into stereotyped action overdrive in the third act and that's a shame because there is so much going on inside this film that is so wonderful. It's more than eye-candy, though, it's a film event that actually delivers an extremely credible alien landscape, inhabitants and culture. Great film and a piece of history.

 

#6 - Downfall

 I love a good World War II film (although I did not share anyone's enthusiasm for "Inglourious Basterds"). This film, made by Germans, dares to go places that nobody has gone to, specifically seeing Hitler as a real dude. That made him exceptionally scary to me.

A Serious Man (2009) -vs- Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

 The Cool Triumph of Uncool         

The Smackdown. Wes Anderson and the Coen Brothers. Three of America’s very Coolest filmmakers have traded in their hip cachet for projects so unhip they might just be cooler than cool. The Coen Brothers go-go back to the desperately unchic seventies with a cast of unknowns, and Wes Anderson plays beautiful havoc with stop-motion furries voiced by unseen, tippy-top-of-their-game megastars Clooney and Streep. And everybody wins.

   

In This Corner. “A Serious Man” (2009) Forsaking their coolness (Who, Us? Jewish? Cohen without the H, and that missing H stands for Hebe!) and embracing or perhaps attacking/strangling their (until now, well-hidden) suburban Minnesotan Jewboy roots, the Coen Brothers dip into some pretty personal mythology, with heaping helpings of Lot-fueled Biblical metaphor and heavy duty (if hilariously accurate) ethnic stereotyping, coming up with a laugh-out-loud examination of faith and morality and filial obligation and suffering and human frailty and a whole Lot of other Big Ideas usually left to scholars and pedants, not mainstream artsy American filmmakers.

And it is good. (Only after an Academy Award win would the powers that be consent to this risky little venture…and only after that win would the Brothers dare ask for that consent.)