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OSCARS REACH FAR AND WIDE

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1272

A Marvel movie is up for Best Picture. Spike Lee has earned his first Best Director nod. A critically acclaimed film has been nominated for Best Picture AND Best Foreign Language Film. And one of cinema’s reigning masters, Alfonso Cuarón, has tallied four nominations for producing, directing, writing, and photographing his pet project. What’s more, the Best Picture race embraces both box-office hits and prestige pictures. I’d call that a pretty good year for Oscar. Are there upsets and disappointments? Of course. I’m sorry Ryan Coogler isn’t one of the Best Director nominees for Black Panther—but, as always, there are only five directing slots and eight Best Pictures.  I wish If Beale Street Could Talk was one of the finalists but I’m thrilled for Best…

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STAN & OLLIE: A GIFT FOR MOVIE LOVERS

Film Leonard Maltin Reviews
5655

I love this movie! You might think I’m an easy mark as a lifelong fan of Laurel and Hardy, but in fact that makes me more demanding. I rarely find Hollywood biopics satisfying. Never did I dream I could forget I was watching actors pretending to be these legendary comedians. That’s how convincing John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan are in the leading roles. It goes way beyond makeup and costuming. Each man disappears into his character, becoming a living, breathing incarnation of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.  Steve Coogan has absorbed Stan Laurel’s gestures, hesitations, and overall body language. John C. Reilly reveals the humanity behind the famous scowls and jowls of Oliver Hardy. They are both believable and charming, whether they’re playing the…

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DESTROYER: NICOLE KIDMAN GIVES HER ALL—FOR NAUGHT

Film Leonard Maltin Reviews
1961

I don’t know if Nicole Kidman would describe herself as a method actor, but her commitment to a role is nothing less than 100%. Destroyer is just the latest example, made notable by her physical transformation. The parched skin and hollow eyes that hide her natural beauty are just an external clue to the troubled person inside. The screenplay, by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, parcels out clues to her backstory in its own sweet time, which I found more frustrating than enlightening.  The discovery of a dead body leads LAPD officer Kidman to the (correct) conclusion that a heartless criminal she sent to prison years ago is back on the streets. Her strange behavior and solitary ways isolate her from her colleagues, so she…

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CAPERNAUM GOES STRAIGHT TO THE HEART

Film Leonard Maltin Reviews
1385

Small wonder that Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum won the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is now the official Oscar entry from Lebanon. We’ve seen stories about youngsters having to fend for themselves before. In this film, a boy who has been hardened by life on the streets of Beirut is suing his parents for bringing him into the world. If that sounds tough, it is. Zain, who’s about 12 years old (no one knows for sure), endures more than any kid should have to. Life at home is unbearable, and when his parents sell off his beloved 11-year-old sister to the landlord’s son to be his wife, he bolts.  Labaki’s camera follows the boy unobtrusively through a series of unfolding episodes. He…

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ON THE BASIS OF SEX: A CONVENTIONAL PORTRAIT OF RBG

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1259

On the Basis of Sex is a pretty good movie that has the distinction of being eclipsed by a recent documentary on the same subject: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This dramatization was sanctioned by Justice Ginsburg, in part because it was written by her nephew, Daniel Stiepleman, but that endorsement doesn’t deliver a fully satisfying film. Felicity Jones has taken considerable heat for her somewhat bland performance, and it’s not hard to think of other young actresses who might have risen to the challenge of portraying this remarkable woman. Jones isn’t bad but she doesn’t possess the inner fire that distinguishes the singular person she’s pretending to be.  Stiepleman opens the film in 1956, when Ginsburg entered Harvard Law School, already married and…

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VICE: HEIGHTENED REALITY FOR SATIRE’S SAKE

Film Leonard Maltin Reviews
2377

It isn’t difficult to recognize Vice as the work of the man who wrote and directed The Big Short, Adam McKay. This is McKay in dark-satire mode, a far cry from his collaborations with Will Ferrell. He presents us with an audacious look at the career of Dick Cheney, a carousing young man who drops out of Yale and only gets his act together when prodded by his sweetheart (and future wife), Lynne, well played by Amy Adams. We witness the evolution of his character and the hardening of his cynical outlook. This is a man who craves power; once he gets a taste of it, he wants more and more.  He makes important alliances with such high-profile players as Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell) and…

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FIVE NEW DISNEY BOOKS—AND MORE

Books Leonard Maltin Reviews
2440

MICKEY MOUSE: THE ULTIMATE HISTORY by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein, edited by Daniel Kothenschulte. (Taschen) This gigantic tome is hard to lift but easy to love. The authors set out to document all facets of Mickey Mouse’s 90-year career, from 1928 to the age of video games and streaming services. Being perfectionists, they have done a masterful job. There is a film-by-film entry for every one of Mickey’s 122 theatrical shorts accompanied by startlingly rare illustrations: story scripts, thumbnails, layouts, concept art, advertising and publicity campaigns and much, much more. Separate chapters deal with Mickey as king of merchandising, his foray into comic strips and then comic books, all around the globe. The sheer size (11.4×15.6”) and reproduction quality, on heavy coated paper, puts…

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