HITCHCOCK

HITCHCOCK
Written by John J. McLaughlin
Directed by Sasha Gervasi
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren and Scarlett Johansson

Alfred Hitchcock: You may call me Hitch; hold the cock.

If you’re going to make a movie about one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, your movie had better be good. To put it plainly, Alfred Hitchcock is simply one of the best and most famous film directors in history. And PSYCHO is arguably his most notorious film. It is an unfortunate shame, to say the least, that both the man himself, and this brilliant film, have been over simplified and stripped of all actual suspense and drama for the attempted biopic, HITCHCOCK. It is even more regrettable I’m afraid, to see two winning performances buried in such a middling movie.

HITCHCOCK adapts the modern style of biography filmmaking, choosing to focus on one particular period in the man’s life instead of a more strict adherence to portraying his life from birth to death. This approach worked quite well in films like CAPOTE and MY WEEK WITH MARILYN because, even though we only got a glimpse at their lives, we still got a grander sense of who they were and how they became these people. Screenwriter, John J. McLaughlin (BLACK SWAN), chooses to focus all of his attention on the period where Hitchcock made PSYCHO, but it seems to me it could have been any movie really. After all, all he did was take all these popular ideas of who Hitchcock was as a person, from his obsession with blondes to his overeating to his control issues, and plop them into the behind the scenes of PSYCHO. A setting should have a purpose; this slice of his life should have been so particularly telling that it would also inform on what came before and where the man would go after. Instead, we get in and out of Hitchcock’s life without getting to know very much about him at all.

HITCHCOCK is far from disastrous but it just feels so slight and unfocused, which may be the inexperience of the film's director, Sasha Gervasi. In fact, the only true anchors the film has are its two lead stars, Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren, as Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Hitchcock. Neither is given very much to work with but they make the most of it every moment they’re on screen. Hopkins takes the caricature he was given on the page and gives us an eye into the man’s soul. This is even more impressive given the size of the fat suit he’s got on. His Hitchcock is anxious, worried, unsure but also passionate and determined. His scenes with Mirren are what brings the film to life. They are a feisty pair and their chemistry truly feels like that of a dedicated, married couple, who have been together for ages. Together, Hopkins and Mirren make HITCHCOCK worth watching.

In conclusion and further to my first point, if you’re going to make a movie about Hitchcock, it should be a film that Hitchcock himself would be proud of. I’m not so sure he would have been able to sit through this one.

271. Hitchcock

271. (11 Nov) Hitchcock (2012, Sacha Gervasi)* 37



Hot on the heels of the bolder The Girl, this take on Hitchcock dissolves tension away by being pandering and reverential. When Hitchcock chats up Ed Gein or fear he's being cuckolded, the audience knows both scenarios are merely his lame imaginings. So there's not much to invest in since we all know Psycho's predictable success story. A scenery-chewing Helen Mirren comes off substantially better than the thoroughly unbelievable Anthony Hopkins. But then convincing casting is way down the list of the film's problems, which are namely a terrible script and uninspired direction. Most scenes seem like they were shot from two or three angles with Sacha Gervasi accepting whatever was offered on the first take.

THE DEBT

Written by Matthew Vaughan, Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan

Directed by John Madden

Starring Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain and Tom Wilkinson

Stephan Gold: Truth is a luxury.

Debt has always been something of a dirty word but hopefully the anxiety it inspires in people won’t keep them away from the new John Madden film, entitled THE DEBT. Those who do see it will be swept up in a whole other kind of restless stress, the kind only a good thriller can provide. Madden’s remake of the 2007 Israeli film tells the story of three young Mossad agents (Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain and Martin Csokas) and their successful mission to hunt down and kill one of the worst Nazis to go missing after the war. Many years later, Ciarin Hinds, Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson must cover up the lies surrounding that mission that they’ve been hiding ever since.

Debt weighs you down and and the trio of combatants in THE DEBT know this all too well. Without revealing what they’re keeping secret, the secrets themselves have kept all three of them trapped in the 1960’s, when they successfully caught one of the most nefarious, infamous, and not to mention fictional, nazis ever to escape capture at the end of World War II. While they keep him under watch and await instructions as to what to do with him, things go awry. This is where the lying starts and the truth threatens to show it’s “ugly” head some 30 years later. The time passed has given the initial debt time to grow and now their lies echo around the world. While the global impact of the truth coming out would be monumental, Mirren, as Rachel Singer, is most worried her daughter will find out her mother has been lying to her for her entire life.

Aside from the clear morality lesson at play, THE DEBT, does not spend a lot of time trying to make grand statements, political or otherwise. Instead, it focuses on maintaining suspense while exposing the humanity of what it means to lie about something on such an international scale. Sure, the players are only debating coming clean now that their cover could potentially be blown but that does not take away from the weight they have carried all these years. Their personal debts have taxed them all greatly and the performances, great across the board, including yet another mesmerizing turn from Chastain, are all heavy and harrowing. It is not about emotion for them but rather everything they do is for the mission. Fortunately, Madden accomplishes his mission with style and great tension, allowing for him to make good on this debt.

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 2006

2006

5. Kate Winslet in Little Children

This is a great performance by the great Kate Winslet but I just embrace her because the movie was between me and her. Kate shows Sarah's emotions extremely well and she has some mindblowingly great scenes and yet the whole thing becomes uneven because she's overshadowed by the movie itself. Great work but not as brilliant as I used to think.

4. Helen Mirren in The Queen

I must say that this is a great performance by the great Helen Mirren. As Queen Elizabeth II, Mirren was able to become very moving and effective. The technical part is just perfect though the emotions could have been a bit stronger. Although this work doesn't really live up to the hype that surrounded it when it was released, it's still very well done by Mirren.

3. Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada

Meryl is fantastic all in all, the movie sometimes drags her performance down and I feel that she could have been given much more to work with. I still say that she's just excellent as Miranda Priestly, the merciless, vicious magazine editor but the movie prevented me from saying that I was totally blown away

2. Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal

On a reapeated viewing, I became less enthusiastic about her and she stars to grow off me.Judi Dench gives a fantastic performance as Sheba Hart, a desperate, lonely woman who feels like she has some hope in her life at last. Dench is almost disturbingly perfect as Barbara Covett. Every line reading, every nuance, every movement is just great.

1. Penélope Cruz in Volver

As I finished writing, I've become dead certain that Penélope Cruz gives her absolute best performance in Volver as Raimunda, a very complicated and tough woman. This is not only a beautiful achievement but also a tearjerking tribute to an acting style that has unfortunately died somewhere. But we need this type of performances, too. Penélope Cruz and Pedro Almodóvar are probably the saviours of the Raimundas of the cinema.

So I can proudly announce

that my winner is...

Penélope Cruz

in

Volver

Congrats, Penélope!

Final thoughts: Wow, a fantastic year with quite an obvious winner, iny opinion. I feel quite bad for Dame Judi but Penélope's achivement was undeniably the biggest of the bunch. Tempted was I to make Meryl my pick until I saw Penélope who totally blew me away. Helen and Kate were the sour grapes, if I may say so but they were also quite good. I don't want to say much but this is a must-see year for any Oscar/Best Actress fan.

The ranking of the reviewed years:

1. 1944
2. 1969
3. 1974
4. 1989
5. 1959
6. 2006
7. 1964
8. 1939
9. 1977
10. 2010
11. 1997
12. 2009
13. 1980
14. 1941
15. 1963
16. 1966
17. 1973
18. 1990
19. 1978
20. 1954
21. 1948
22. 2002
23. 1957
24. 1940
25. 1998

About the next year: I want to make up for that last fiasco of mine with 1967, so I again let you decide from two. This time I only picked years where I got the movies in advance, so happy voting!

What do you think?

I wish you a happy Easter! :)

Helen Mirren in The Queen

Helen Mirren received her third Oscar nomination and first Academy Award for Queen Elizabeth II who's going through a very difficult period in Stephen Frears' Best Picture nominated movie, The Queen. If there's a defintion for a locked Oscar win then it's quite definitely Helen Mirren. Everybody knew that she was going to win the Oscar, nobody even dared to hope that someone else would win. So, it was quite an easy win for her. And I must also add that Mirren won every other possible award that year for this performance.

The Queen is a movie that I used to like very much but this time I was actually a bit bored by it. Naturally, one doesn't expect a tough, huge epic about Queen Elizabeth II but I think that the story is a bit too dry and it fits the medium of television much more. That being said, the diretion of Stephen Frears elevated the material quite a bit. The actors give quite proper and entertaining performances. Many say that Michael Sheen should have got the nod for Best Supporting Actor and I might just say the same. The Best Picture nomination was a bit much, though in my opinion.

Helen Mirren is a terrific actress who's such a huge talent and I so love her on- and off-screen persona. Her real-life self seems to be so much fun and yet she's very dignified and on the screen she shows so much self-control and grace. I think that's what made her the best choice for the title role of The Queen.

I am very curious why Helen Mirren blew the whole world away with her performance. You can say many reasons, which may seem quite true until you see the movie. The film is based on real events (from the recent past) and this one seems to be a very baity role. And yet when I watch the performance, I see nothing very loud and big. As Her Majesty, the Queen puts it in the movie "Nowadays people want to see glamour and tears, the grand performance." However, Mirren approached this character with so much subtlty and dignity and I truly believe that it was the right decision. I think that Mirren's triumph and success is mostly due to the fact that she brought so much dignity to the screen and that's something that everybody loves, even those who deny it ;).

Another reason for Mirren's success with this role was the way she solved the technical part of the performance. Her accent, her speech, her walk the small movements, twitches, little ticks that we see were perfectly done by Helen Mirren. Her Majesty is someone we can occasionally see on TV during her public duties and there's a certain kind of image that we have of her. It's almost a stereotype that Queen Elizabeth II has an admirable sense of duty and commitment towards everything she believes in. Her faith, her family and her people. Mirren showed a more human side of this extraordinary person but she always remained faithful and she respected the personality of the Queen.

I feel that (very much like Judi Dench in Mrs Brown) Helen Mirren didn't get really emotional and I dare say emotionally difficult scenes. Naturally, her monologues and speeches about how she knows her people and how she cares about them are very effective and moving but I don't think that this performance dived deep enough into the sould of this person. The screenplay almost desperately wants to make the Queen seem strong and wise and therefore she became a bit too perfect. And I feel that Mirren could have made her a bit more human. Or I might be a typical person of this era and expect the tears and the grand performance.

Still, I must say that this is a great performance by the great Helen Mirren. As Queen Elizabeth II, Mirren was able to become very moving and effective. The technical part is just perfect though the emotions could have been a bit stronger. Although this work doesn't really live up to the hype that surrounded it when it was released, it's still very well done by Mirren.

What do YOU think?

The Next Year

2006

So the nominees were:

• Penélope Cruz in Volver
• Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal
• Helen Mirren in The Queen
• Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada
• Kate Winslet in Little Children

So is Helen as much of a lock as she was back then or will I give my vote to somebody else?

What do you think? What's your ranking? What are your predictions for my ranking?

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 2009

We finally got to the end of our reviewed first year, 2009. Actually, many say that this was a truly weak, and of course giving five stars to four performances means that I was deeply satisfied with this year's nominees and had any of the members of my top 3 won, I also would have been satisfied. These ladies prove that you can give a stellar performance no matter what. Stone-cold sober I find these women fascinating (Whom did I quote?:D). Gosh this decision was so painful as I feel really sorry for #2 (especially her) and #3, but in time one of them might become my pick. This is just how I feel at the moment. But I won't let the suspense go on, let's just jump to the ranking:

5. Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
Although Bullock suffers from an awful screenplay, a predictable movie and a terrible cast, she was still able to give a decent, but not brilliant performance, which was definitelyworthy of winning the Oscar, but was able to save a movie from being a total disaster with the help of Bullock's charm.

4. Helen Mirren in The Last Station
Although I was a bit too generous in my rating, I am still very shocked how much people dislike Dame Helen in The Last Station. As Sofya Tolstoya, she was able to give a terrific performance which is unfortunately not for everyone (and this might be its biggest flaw), but still amazed me.

3. Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
This is a devastating, moving and heartbreaking piece of art, which could become the part of the history of movies. Despite Sidibe's inexperience, her performance truly speaks for itself and one just cannot get across Sidibe's brilliance, which I hope to see very often in the future.
2. Carey Mulligan in An Education
Mulligan solves everything with grace and amazing naturality, I can't say enough times how amazing she really is. To sum up, this is a terrific, beautiful and even poetic performance by a rising beauty and star, who's sure to become a marvellous and acclaimed actress. Fantastic, riveting work.

1. Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia
Had the movie been only about Julia (and hadn't it been for that dreadful It's Complicated which ruined her chances) Meryl would have easily won her third. She did not, but again she gifted us with a performance which is truly-truly unforgettable and top-class. I felt lucky that I saw her and could experience her brilliance.

So I announce that my winner for this year is...

Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia

Bon appétit! Viva Meryl!.

So what do you think about my reviews? Should I go on doing this or am I completely awful? Do you agree with my ranking or do you say Bullock deserved to win? You can also suggest years I should do next, and I tell if it's possible (I have a plan too) .

Helen Mirren in The Last Station

Academy Award winner Helen Mirren received her fourth nomination for playing Countess Sofya Tolstoy, the stubborn and desperate wife of Lev Tolstoy, the author of the world-famous novels Anna Karenina and naturally War and Peace.

The Last Station is a rather interesting movie about the elder days of Sofya and Lev and of course their conflicts. Tolstoy wants to give the copyrights of his books to the Russian people, while Sofya wants her children to have them and she also want to get rid of Chertkhov (warning it's NOT Chekhov who died in 1904). I truly enjoyed this very underrated movie (I don't know why), which is not a masterpiece but it's of good quality and way better than The Blind Side or the overrated District 9. The actors give solid performances and Christopher Plummer deserved the nomination, even though he does not have the most baity role.

However, Helen Mirren (one of my absolute favorite actresses) has a very Oscary role, full of showy scenes. Still, he had as much chance of winning as she had of losing for The Queen. Most people see this nomination as some kind of a filler, which is mostly due to the fact in my opinion that her movie is largely unseen. I can only agree with the opinion that not many Academy members saw this movie. Needless to say, she can only be better than Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side.

Mirren gives two kinds of performances: subtle ones (like The Queen or Gosford Park) or a bit over-the-top ones (like the miniseries Elizabeth I) and in The Last Station we can see an example of the latter. We first see Sofya getting up in the morning, going to her husband's room and lies next to him. We can instantly see this woman's pride and noblety, but Mirren also shows her desperation. Sofya cannot put up with rejection or contradiction, in a way she a bit like Sandra Bullock's character in The Blind Side. A woman who can control, however the fact that she's an aristocrat is the most important for her after her love for her husband.

We can instantly understand through Mirren's great acting, that the only truly important things for her are her husband and children and she never lets them down. She finds someone whom she can trust (the young man played by James McAvoy).

But again, this is a mostly loud performance with great outbreaks, which do not really annoy me, actually I even like them. Her breakdown during the dinner is excellent: Mirren knows when to do what and how. The screentime does not help her, however she uses every opportunity to show her brilliance. She's like Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People: when she's there she completely commands the screen, so you don't actually feel her small screentime.

I admit though that this performance can amaze only a small bunch of people (this does not mean that those who don't love it are totally stupid) as it's really the kind of acting that doesn't amaze everyone, probably the huge fans of Mirren and the lovers of Russian culture. I'm both, so it was easy for me, but I can completely understand those who don't like it.

So to sum up, this is a terrific performance which is unfortunately not for everyone (and this might be its biggest flaw), but still amazed me. I know I am alone with this opinon, but I loved this performance so badly because I did not expect it at all. The most pleasant surprise.

Another experiment

As I'm moving along with the Best Supporting Actor reviews, I'm trying something else to see who it is to do this thing that everyone else those, but I haven't started it.

So now, it's my pleasure to announce that I'm going to do my very first Best Actress Profiles and let's get stylish my first year is going to be this year.

So Best Actress profile #1 and the year is 2009.


The nominees were:
• Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
• Helen Mirren in The Last Station
• Carey Mulligan in An Education
• Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
• Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia

My first reviewed lady will be Helen Mirren, but after her you tell me in your comments who should be next.

So who will be my pick? Who do YOU want to win?