My Oscar Journey!

Day 116: "Argo"

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:23:14 -0400

Based on the incredible true story during the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis, “Argo” tells us what really happened behind the scenes of the CIA operation. The man behind the operation was CIA exfiltration specialist Tony Mendez (played by Ben Affleck, who also directed and produced) who eventually gets the idea to get six American hostages who are from the U.S. embassy out of Iran by staging a fake film and posing them as a fake film crew.This one was honestly better than I expected it to be. Yes it won Best Picture, but I honestly thought that that might have been for political reasons with Ben Affleck not being nominated for Best Director, but now I see that it’s more than that reason. It’s a really great movie that’s all at once about how to make a film and about an inspiring, somewhat patriotic and suspenseful CIA operation. It celebrates film and our nation’s intelligence agency which is the best of both worlds for most Academy audiences. Its also a well made film in itself. The cinematography is awesome as is the sound. Both combined just give the film a certain “coolness factor” in certain moments of the film. Also the acting is pretty good, especially from the supporting performers. I loved how cynical John Goodman’s character was and he was perfectly complimented by the badass Alan Arkin (Best Supporting Actor Nomination) who played the fake film’s producer. I also enjoyed Bryan Cranston and Clea DuVall’s work as always. DuVall gets a ton of work as a supporting actress in TV and film and I’m always impressed with her work. Interestingly enough, Kyle Chandler played a very similar part in this film as he did in fellow Best Picture nominee “Zero Dark Thirty”, which I found to be a much less suspenseful film than this. My heart was beating about five times too fast by then end of this one even though I knew what was going to happen. As much as I enjoyed this film I will say that it was a “safe” pick for Best Picture, and I wouldn’t have given it to this personally but I would say it would make my top 5 favorite nominees of this year.

2012 Oscar Buzz Film Review: "Django Unchained"

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 16:03:55 -0500

Quentin Tarantino has done it again folks! He has created a truly unique film that mixes his specific brand and style with that of a classic Western in “Django Unchained”. Production wise, I think this may be one of his best shot, art decorated and costumed films he’s ever done. The team worked together and did some awesome stuff with this. The colors simply look amazing and every shot is incredibly specific. Even the sound design is flawless! (With a great soundtrack to boot!) I also fell in love with this screenplay pretty much from the moment Cristoph Waltz started talking in the first scene. He shines in the role of the bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz and I couldn’t get enough of him. Again as in “Inglorious Basterds”, Waltz shows such comfort on screen and he just oozes charisma. I certainly hope he is nominated for Best Supporting Actor again and I would love it if he pulled off a win. Leonard DiCaprio also gives a very charming (in a different way entirely) performance and does some of his best work here as an evil plantation owner who has Django’s wife Broomhilda (played by the beautiful and wonderfully talented Kerry Washington) in his possession. I think he’s a shoo-in for a nomination. Samuel L. Jackson is also awesome in this as DiCaprio’s head servant. He gives a very funny and hateful performance that is fun to watch, as despicable of a character as he is. And finally as the title role of Django, Jaime Foxx does the best work I’ve seen him do since “Ray” and “Collateral”. He was very grounded and simple, and showed such a clear journey from a man who almost has a childlike innocence as a recently freed slave to being a very hard killer by the middle, to the end of the film. It was so great to watch. I really loved this film. It was fun to watch these four amazing actors play off of each other with this wonderful script and it was cool to view it as a kind of revenge companion piece to “Inglorious Basterds”. In true Tarantino style, it can get quite violent at times, and the Mandingo fighting scene may be the hardest to watch. I really hope this one racks in some awards!

2012 Oscar Buzz Film Review: "Les Miserables"

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 15:16:14 -0500

First off, I have to say that “Les Miserables” is one of the most ambitious movie musicals I have seen probably since “Moulin Rouge”. The world of movie musicals has been in somewhat of a mess for years with a couple of exceptions (“Chicago”, “Hairspray” and almost “Sweeney Todd”) but “Les Mis” in my opinion is exactly how they should be done from here on out. The production team that put this film together is absolutely brilliant. From the sets, to the costumes and the amazing performances (more on those in a second) I was immediately immersed in this world to the point where I actually didn’t feel like I was watching a musical, but rather watching these people express themselves in the only way they could, which happened to be through song. The live singing technique used in the film allowed much better and clearer moment to moment work in the piece and there was also more action and motivation within the musical numbers than I have seen or heard since the original French Concept version.

I feel I must start talk of the performances with Ms. Anne Hathaway. Yes, her big number “I Dreamed a Dream” was helped by a much better context, but that was hands down one of the best performances of a song on film I have ever seen. I was just there with her for every moment, every lyric, and it’d not just because she cried or emoted or what have you, it’s because it was vulnerable, real and in your face. She didn’t sugar coat the song in technique and I really appreciate her performance for that. She will be hearing her name on Oscar night.

Hugh Jackman also does some really surprisingly awesome work here. I actually got the chills during his soliloquy and because of him and Colm Wilkinson, the prologue was actually engaging to me for the first time! I wasn’t a fan of the new song “Suddenly”. I didn’t find it necessary (they just want a Best Original Song nomination) and it didn’t fit because there were no motifs or themes present from the other music in the piece. I didn’t love Russel Crowe’s voice but I did eventually get used to it somewhat. I just didn’t really see a lot of the hunger Javert should have for justice in his eyes. It was almost like he was being coy or uncaring at times. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen deliver as expected as the Thenardier’s. They were very funny and instead of trying to play the roles as robust as they usually are, they used more of their actual strange, hammy personalities which worked very very well.

Of the “younger” performances, I thought Aaron Tveit did a wonderful job in the underrated role of Enjolras, as did Daniel Huddlestone and Isabelle Allen in the somewhat thankless roles of Gavroche and Young Cosette. The latter two join the ranks in a good year for young child performances (along with “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, “Looper,” “Moonrise Kingdom”) who I applaud for knowing how to play real, in-precocious children. When it comes to the lovers, Amanda Seyfried brings much more of a depth to the role of Cosette. Her voice wasn’t my favorite but for the first time I saw Cosette as an assured young woman and I applaud Seyfried for that. Eddie Redmayne does nice work as Marius, especially with “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”. And in the role of Eponine, Samantha Barks does wonderful work that comes closest to Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman’s when it comes to delivering a song well vocally while still acting well. However, I did feel her role was a bit diminished somehow, like we didn’t get enough time to know her and therefore feel sorry for her by the time “On My Own” came around.

All in all, I applaud everyone who was involved in this wonderful production. I never felt that the director shied away from the musical aspects of the film, which has been an issue with the movie musicals of late. Here we finally have a movie musical that is the best of both worlds. It’s not perfect but it comes damn closer than any other movie musical has in years.

Rankings/Thoughts on the Best Picture Nominees of 2011

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 23:26:46 -0500

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and “War Horse” were the only Best Picture noms that I hadn’t seen by the time the ceremony occurred, but now having finally seen both I can rank all of the nominees and give my thoughts on the year in general. Overall, this is a pretty decent group of nominees that have a nice bit of variety. However, this group could have been amazing if “Extremely Loud” and “Tree of Life” were not present and were replaced with the likes of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “Bridesmaids” or “Drive.” “The Artist” was of course the winner which I think is appropriate because it celebrated cinema and was very enjoyable, though not my favorite of the bunch. Here is my ranking of the nominees from my favorite to least favorite:

1. The Descendants

2. Midnight in Paris

3. The Help

4. The Artist

5. Moneyball

6. War Horse

7. Hugo

8. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

9. The Tree of Life

So there you have it! I’m very excited to see what gets nominated this year because it’s looking very very strong so far!

Day 115: "War Horse"

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 23:13:20 -0500

Based on the popular 1982 children’s novel and Tony-Award Winning stage play of the same name, “War Horse” is the story of a young British boy named Albert (played by Jeremy Irvine) who develops a deep loving relationship with a horse his father acquires through a gamble, named Joey. After raising and caring after Joey for quite some time, Albert’s father has to sell Joey to the army to be used as a war horse in World War I in order to make the family some money. The rest of the film follows Joey’s journey as he travels through different countries and many experiences along the way during wartime. I enjoyed this one alot more than I thought I would! I thought I would find it over sentimental and too long but I thought neither of these things. Spielberg moves us along Joey’s journey at a nice pace so that we’re never in one place too long, which keeps us engaged. Also the relationships that Joey forms with various people including a young French girl named Emilie are quite engaging. It’s hard to point out specific performances because the film truly is about the horse, but Irvine does nice work as Alfred, and many great British actors like Emily Watson, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Marsan, and David Thewlis do some solid work as well.

Day 114: "Sons and Lovers"

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:00:24 -0400

Based on the novel by D.H. Lawrence, “Sons and Lovers” is a coming of age story about a boy named Paul Morel (played by Dean Stockwell) who lives in a coal mining town with his alcoholic father (played by Trevor Howard, Best Actor Nomination) and his over protective mother (played by Wendy Hiller). We follow him over the years as he experiences first love, true love, loss and many other trails along the way. I really liked this film. It was simple, and parts of it reminded me of fellow Best Picture nominees “America, America” and “Darling”. Though Stockwell does nice work as Paul, I was most impressed with Trevor Howard, Wendy Hiller, and Mary Ure (Best Supporting Actress Nomination) as an older married woman who Paul has sexual experiences with. Howard breathes life, humanity and somehow empathy into a character that could easily be very unlikeable which is no easy feat. Hiller is wonderful and strong as always and we also clearly see where she’s coming from even though her motives could be misconstrued as well. The section of the film that Ure dominates is what reminds me of “Darling”. She portrays a tragic, dependent, user with such light loveliness. I recommend this one if you enjoy family dramas and novel adaptations.

Day 113: "The Alamo"

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 23:02:18 -0400

As one can probably assume, “The Alamo” is about the true historical 1836 Battle of Alamo between Texas and Mexico. It stars John Wayne as the famous Davy Crockett who comes from Tennessee to help lead the battle with Jim Bowie (played by Richard Widmark) and William Travis (played by Laurence Harvey). This one starts off well enough but it failed to keep my interest. As the film went on it became clear that this was one of the many films in Oscar history that got a Best Picture nomination because of aggressive campaigning from the studio and producers (one of which was John Wayne). Wayne and Widmark were good, and the battle scene at the end, though wrought with many over dramatic deaths, was well done. I just really can’t believe that this film got a nomination over a classic like “Psycho” or even “Spartacus”. I wouldn’t recommend this one unless you’re a big fan of historical films, westerns, or John Wayne.

2012 Oscar Buzz Film Review: "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:56:00 -0400

The winner of the 2012 Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the Sundance film festival and the Camera d’Or at Cannes, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” centers on a young six year old girl named Hushpuppy (played by Quvenzhane Wallis) and her father (played by Dwight Henry) who live in a community called the “Bathtub” which is an island surrounded by water near New Orleans. It shows us their very intense, visceral and ultimately survivalist relationship once a huge storm (echoing Hurricane Katrina) hits. I don’t want to say much more about the plot because I don’t want to give too much away, but this film was excellent. I haven’t been so moved by a film in a while and this one really pulled on my heartstrings many times, which isn’t easy to do to me. Eight year old Wallis is a shoo in for a Best Actress nomination, with her simple, yet strong and incredibly effective performance. I love seeing a child really play a child and that’s what she did. Granted she’s a child in some very strenuous circumstances, but she never loses that childlike curiousty, and it really keeps so much of the movie alive. I also hope Dwight Henry gets a nomination for Supporting Actor. He does wonderful wonderful work in this as a father preparing his child for the worst. This one will certainly get a Best Picture nomination and I also think along with the acting nominations, that it gets a Screenplay nod. Highly recommended.

Day 112: "The Sundowners"

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:24:57 -0400

Set in the Australian outback, “The Sundowners” follows the Carmody family, led by Paddy (played by Robert Mitchum), as they travel and herd sheep. Because this is their living, they move very often and haven’t settled down in a place to live. Conflict arises once his wife Ida (played by Deborah Kerr, Best Actress Nomination) and his son Sean (played by Micheal Anderson, Jr.) want to settle down in the town of Cawndilla in order to save up money to stop moving all the time and live on a farm. I enjoyed this film a lot more than I thought I was going to. I usually don’t like this genre, but it does a nice job of mixing it’s Western elements with an engaging family drama. I can also appreciate films like this because they help me to explore a world that I am completely unfamiliar with. The only other film I’ve seen even remotely about sheep herding was fellow Best Picture nominee “Babe” but this was very different. However, as much as I liked the film, I found the ending to be quite unsatisfying. This one contains two standout performances from Kerr as the fiery and determined matriarch of the family and from Glynis Johns (Best Supporting Actress Nomination) as the funny and energetic hotel owner, Mrs. Firth. I recommend this one if you like Westerns.

Day 111: "The Apartment"

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 18:48:41 -0400

“The Apartment” is a wonderful romantic comedy classic starring Jack Lemmon (Best Actor Nomination) and Shirley MacLaine (Best Actress Nomination). Lemmon plays C.C. Baxter, a regular office Insurance man who lends out his apartment to some of the married higher ups he works with, so that they can carry out their affairs with other women. Doing this favor for these men eventually gets him a promotion, but things get complicated when Fran (played by MacLaine), a girl C.C. has a crush on ends up being his boss’s “girl on the side” and winds up in his apartment one night over dosed on sleeping pills. I really enjoyed this movie! It was very simple but effective in that I found all the relationships to be very believable because the circumstances were hardly ever perfect for the pair we’re rooting for. Lemmon gives a very nice layered performance as a lonely, well meaning man (who his neighbors think is promiscuous because of all the sex they hear the men having with their girls) and uses a lot of small physical bits to his advantage. MacLaine also does wonderful work as always as Fran, who is also lonely in her own way. This film went on to win Best Picture in 1960, and was later adapted into the popular musical, “Promises, Promises”. Fun fact: this was the last entirely Black and White film to win Best Picture until “The Artist” in 2011.

Day 110: "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 22:35:20 -0400

Known as one of last years mixed reviewed Best Picture nominees, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” tells the story of a young boy named Oskar Schell (played by Thomas Horn) who’s father (played by Tom Hanks) has been killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11. A year later, Oskar finds a key in a vase in his father’s closet with the name “Black” on it leading him to believe that this is a quest that his father is sending him on to find who the key belongs to. So Oskar sets off on a journey in New York City to see what the key opens. The main problem I had with this film was the main character. Because they make the very clear decision to NOT diagnose Oskar with Asberger’s disease, he comes off as very annoying and selfish with many of his actions towards the people around him. I spent a lot of the film feeling sorry for his mother (played very nicely by Sandra Bullock) instead of rooting for the boy to find what he was looking for. I think we as an audience would have understood his behavior and his motives honestly if he had some sort of mental disorder. It went beyond a young boy grieving the death of his father into a very precocious, annoying place which may have been Mr. Horn’s fault in his portrayal of Oskar. One thing I did love about this film were a couple of the performances from the adults. Sandra Bullock does some of her best work here, and Viola Davis and Jefferey Wright do nice work as always. However, Max von Sydow (Best Supporting Actor Nomination) steals the show as the mysterious renter that is living with Oskar’s grandmother. This film is worth seeing for his touching, wordless performance.

Day 109: "Fanny" & "Elmer Gantry"

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 21:39:50 -0400

Based on the musical, play and earlier film version of the same name, “Fanny” tells the story of the love between two young french people from the country named Fanny (played by Leslie Caron) and Marius (played by Horst Buchholz). Marius is the son of a bar owner, Cesar (played by Charles Boyer, Best Actor Nomination) and he wants more out of his life than just inheriting Cesar’s bar. So he sails off leaving Fanny on her own and we follow her over the years as she makes various decisions in her life in order to forget Marius. This film was a lot of fun. The characters are very delightful and colorful. I especially loved Cesar, and Fanny’s mother. The humor in this was also very light and fun and I felt that the film as a whole has a different tone than most films that were released at the time. It is a wonder to see Caron transform from the flirty 17 year old Fanny to a bold woman by the end of the film. Ironically, the film cut out the musical from the musical (they decided to use the songs for the underscore) and ended up losing Best Picture to another musical about lovers. West Side Story.

“Elmer Gantry” tells the interesting tale of a con man named Elmer (played by Burt Lancaster, Best Actor Win) who ends up travelling with an evangelist named Sharon Falconer (played by Jean Simmons) performing revivals in tents and various churches. Unbeknownst to Sharon, Elmer is only using these as a means to get money and to become romantically closer to her. Things get very interesting when they land on a town called Zenith where Elmer’s ex, who is now a prostitute (played by Shirley Jones, Best Supporting Actress Win) threatens to expose Elmer’s past. This was quite enjoyable, and was a well done commentary on religion, revivals and faith. Lancaster gives a great performance that charms us rather than repulses us though the character easily could.

Day 108: "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962)

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:18:36 -0400

“Mutiny on the Bounty” is a remake of the 1935 Best Picture winner based on the novel of the same name. It tells the story of a ship named the Bounty (obviously) and the new Lieutenant (played by Marlon Brando) who eventually decides to stage a mutiny and take the ship over from the cruel Captain Bligh (played by Trevor Howard). This film ranks high on my dissapointments from this project. I’ve heard great things about the ‘35 version and I look forward to seeing that, but this version was mostly overly long and boring. The first half hour wasn’t too bad, when we see the Captain perform his cruelty on a sailor named John Mills (played by Richard Harris) and the mutiny scene is good but other than that I thought it lagged. This is some of the worst acting I’ve seen from Brando and the rest of the cast isn’t much better. The only exception is Harris who does nice work with his character. Here’s to hoping the original film lives up to its reputation.

Day 107: "The Sound of Music"

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:09:18 -0400

Julie Andrews (Best Actress Nomination) stars in the beloved film version of the last Rogers and Hammerstein musical, “The Sound of Music”. The film centers around the character of Maria (played by Andrews) who is a nun sent from her convent to be the governess of the seven children of the recently widowed Captain von Trapp (played by Christopher Plummer). Though the task proves to be difficult at first the children warm up to Maria and she begins to fall in love with the Captain. Near the end of the second half of the film, the story takes a shift in tone as the von Trapp’s attempt to escape the rise of the Nazi party in Austria. Though the film is almost three hours, it moves briskly mostly thanks to the amount of memorable songs throughout (“My Favorite Things”, “Do-Re-Mi”, “Edleweiss”, “Sixteen Going on Seventeen”, “The Lonely Goatherd”, and “The Sound of Music” just to name a few”. Julie Andrews is wonderful as always and makes her wonderful singing and magnetic personality in her songs look effortless. Even though Christopher Plummer apparently grew tired of playing Captain von Trapp, he manages to give the character some depth and makes him less two dimensional than he appears to be on the page. I recommend this classic film to the few people who haven’t seen it yet! The film walked away with Best Picture in 1965.

Day 106: "The Music Man"

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:56:00 -0400

Based on the popular Tony Award winning musical, “The Music Man” tells the story of a con man named Harold Hill (played by Robert Preston) who comes to a town in Iowa to con the people into buying instruments and starting a boy marching band. The local librarian Marian Paroo (played by Shirley Jones) sees through him and wants to stop him, but when Harold helps her younger brother (played by Ron Howard) she beings to fall in love with him and helps him to cover his fraud. This was a great movie musical, but I felt that the second half wasn’t as good as the amazing first half. Preston is incredibly charming as Hill and Shirley Jones does a great job as always with Marian. Some of my favorite numbers were “Rock Island”, “Sincere”, “Pick a Little, Talk a Little”, “Marian the Librarian”, “Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You”, and of course the Broadway standards “Til There Was You”, “Seventy Six Trombones”, and “Gary Indiana”. “Marian the Librarian” had some of the best choreography I’ve seen in a movie musical, and “Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You” was beautifully shot and sang by Jones and the great Male Quartet, The Buffalo Bills.

Day 105: "Judgment at Nuremberg"

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:14:58 -0400

“Judgment at Nuremberg” centers around the Nuremberg trails in Germany that took place after the Holocaust. It depicts a specific trail of four German judges that sentenced executions and sterilizations of many Jews and others who were deemed unfit to live or breed based on the Nazi Nuremberg laws. This film was excellent. The performances were all amazing, the screenplay is off the charts and the story itself is just incredibly engaging. It was one of the first Holocaust films made and it has more of a tone of “The Reader” than something like “Life is Beautiful”. The film is nearly three hours but it honestly didn’t feel like it because it was paced so well. The issues it brings up are interesting and as an audience member it makes you think, “Who exactly knew what EXACTLY was going on in Germany during the Holocaust?” Like I said, the performances are amazing. Spencer Tracy (Best Actor Nomination) and Maximilian Schell (Best Actor Win) give spectacular leading performances here, but I think it’s Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift (Best Supporting Actor Nomination) and Judy Garland (Best Supporting Actress Nomination) who steal the show here. They all deliver performances so far from their usual types that they’re all almost unrecognizable in look and in speech. All of their trial scenes blew me out of the water. If Rita Moreno hadn’t been nominated for her wonderful performance as Anita in “West Side Story”, Garland would have went home with the Oscar and Clift should have won. Also making a small supporting performance in this film is a young William Shatner!

Day 104: "The Longest Day"

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 22:36:49 -0400

Anyone who has taken a history class knows about the event of “D-Day” that took place during World War II in Normandy. “The Longest Day” tells us about that very day from the perspectives of the Americans, the British, the French and the Germans. The cast is humongous and includes John Wayne, Henry Fonda, George Segal, Richard Burton, and Sean Connery among many others. I actually enjoyed this one! I’m not the hugest fan of war films, but most that are centered around WWII are engaging because it was a very interesting war. It was also easy to follow because every side speaks in their native language, so I always knew who I was watching and could follow the conflict with no problem (which is an issue in many war films). Because this film is more about the action than the characters, and it jumps around from place to place so often it’s hard to pinpoint standout performances. However, Richard Burton manages to stand out mainly because he is in the last scene and it really struck me with its simplicity. John Wayne is also good in this and he pops up more probably than anyone else in the film.

Day 103: "The Hustler"

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:17:51 -0400

Paul Newman (Best Actor Nomination) stars in “The Hustler” as “Fast” Eddie Felson, a pool hustler who becomes obsessed with beating an even better played named Minnesota Fats (played by Jackie Gleason, Best Supporting Actor Nomination). Eddie’s life becomes even more complicated when he becomes involved with a fragile alcoholic woman named Sarah (played by Piper Laurie, Best Supporting Actress Nomination) and a dirty man named Bert (played by George C. Scott, Best Supporting Actor Nomination) who eventually becomes Eddie’s manager. This is truly a character film and I really liked it! I feel like every single character went on a distinct, interesting and dark journey throughout the film. All of the actors do a brilliant job. The scenes with Newman, Scott, and Gleason are electric yet simple, and Laurie is absolutely tragic and heartbreaking as Sarah. This is one of the first great performance films I’ve come across on the list in a while, so if you think that’s something that’s up your alley, check this one out! An interesting story with great characters and fantastic acting!

Day 102: "Lawrence of Arabia"

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:42:53 -0400

This film is known as the epic of all epics, and for good reason. The shooting? Epic. The acting? Pretty epic. The music? Very epic. “Lawrence of Arabia” stars Peter O’ Toole (Best Actor Nomination) as the title character, who is a British soldier that helps the Arabs in their rebellion against the Turks in World War I. When he begins to find allegiance with the Arabs he is torn between them and the Brits, and many other inner conflicts arise for him as the film progresses. I did enjoy this film but I honestly didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. As usual, I found issues with how long the film was. I think when the film started to get too long I lost interested and track of the story. It also didn’t help that a few of the characters looked the same. Peter O’Toole was fantastic in this as he always is and Omar Sharif (Best Supporting Actor Nomination) is good as well. Though I didn’t love the film, I really liked it and appreciated all of the epic aspects of it because it’s crafted amazingly well.

Day 101: "Ship of Fools"

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:38:24 -0400

“Ship of Fools” is a multi-layered, multi-genre ensemble film about a group of people on a ship that’s on its way to Nazi Germany from Mexico. We follow the various characters on the ship as they deal with issues such as love, anti-semistism, age and sex. I actually thought some of the film was ahead of it’s time which was cool, but it was a bit too long and convoluted near the end for me to really like it. I think though the issues they explored were interesting, there were so many characters that some of the plot was spread pretty thin so I ended up not caring about some of the characters. The one great thing about the film is the performances from Oskar Werner (Best Actor Nomination) as the ships doctor, Simone Signoret (Best Supporting Actress Nomination) as a Spanish Countess on her way to jail in Germany and Michael Dunn (Best Supporting Actor Nomination) as the lovable dwarf and somewhat narrator of the story. They all turn in fantastic performances and never get lost in the shuffle of the big cast and thin plotlines. They keep their characters fresh and interesting with every scene. You will also recognize George Segal and Vivien Leigh in her last film appearance in this.