OVP: Actress (2018)

OVP: Best Actress (2018)

The Nominees Were...

Yalitza Aparicio, Roma

Glenn Close, The Wife

Olivia Colman, The Favourite

Lady Gaga, A Star is Born

Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

My Thoughts: We talked on Monday about how Best Actor was possibly the worst lineup in Academy history.  Best Actress, thankfully, gives us a solid grouping of women, albeit ones in completely different stages of their careers.  We have here two women making a splash in their first lead roles albeit one as an aspiring preschool teacher who had never acted before, the other as a Golden-Globe winning superstar who had been a household name for the better part of a decade.  You also had a character actress getting her first major chance at a breakout part (that would graduate her to proper headliner), the most important comedic actress of the past decade who was trying her hand at a dramatic part, and the one, indisputable classic movie star of the bunch, in the hunt for an Oscar on her seventh nomination.

We rarely start with AMPAS's choice, so let's mix it up & begin with Olivia Colman, the surprise victor on Oscar night.  Colman's work here is fascinating, because it's surely the most engaged of the three leading ladies in The Favourite, if that makes sense.  She has to play Queen Anne as a slightly ridiculous person, someone that has been so coddled her whole life (born the niece of the king, she had never known a day of financial hardship but was horribly broken up about her inability to have a child survive to adulthood), but someone that we can at once sympathize with & who can sneak up on us.  Notice how deliciously Colman sinks into the rare moments where Anne wields her power, but always knows that it's there, ready for her to command if she so chooses...and the heartbreak in Anne being aware that her power will never truly bring her companionships & love, the things she most desires.  It's a great balancing act from an actress who knew her time had come, and got the job done.

Yalitza Aparicio, like Colman, is the lead in a major Best Picture contender.  Aparicio, though, doesn't have the decades of stage & screen experience Colman brings to her big moment, and it shows.  Aparicio is good for what this part is-she's solid in the way that she can convey a studied meditation for director Cuaron to bring to the screen, but I left thinking that this wasn't all raw nerve in her performance.  First-time performers frequently suffer from not building a strong enough base inward for us to attach to their characters (they're too surface-level), but Aparicio if anything is the opposite-she's too measured, too controlled in what she's doing, and it makes it difficult for the audience to see her as more than her character-I left not knowing who Cleo really was, and as she's the central focus, that's a problem.

Lady Gaga is the opposite problem-it's all surface-level work, and her newness as an actress shows in this part.  Gaga is better in the first half than the second, but that second half is a cliff for me.  She plays Ally like an empty vessel, not able to convey the bigger moments & faltering badly when A Star is Born stumbles into cliche when other (more experienced) actresses might have been able to keep the cliche fresh.  Think of the wooden approach she takes to "it's a disease" when discussing Cooper's alcoholism, or the way she doesn't moderate her emotions to be believable as a character.  The singing is great (she's a good singer, this is not up-for-debate), but unlike someone like Jennifer Hudson, who also got an Oscar nomination for her first major role, who suffers to elevate her star persona when she's acting but brings it hard when she's singing, Gaga can't do either in A Star is Born-other than "Shallow," I felt like this was a rough, one-dimensional portrayal.

The movie The Wife got a lot of flack in 2018 for being Oscar-bait, a way for Glenn Close to finally get an Oscar in a movie that very few people had seen.  This wasn't fair (at least the last part-The Wife making $20 million hardly puts it in "lowest-grossing Best Actress nominee" territory), but the film itself isn't great, which is perhaps the reason Close lost.  This is a pity because this is one of Glenn Close's best performances, in my opinion, and a respectable nominee for Best Actress.  She doesn't give in to some of her more famous ticks (there's no grand scenery-ensaring moment from Close, a theater actress through-and-through), and she plays her character so well without us ever having to scrutinize what she's thinking (unless that's what she wants).  Colman's win will age well, but anyone who thinks Close's wouldn't have didn't see this movie-she's excellent.

Melissa McCarthy is a great actress-I would've given her the Oscar in 2011, and she just misses my Best Actress cut in 2015.  That said, it's beyond fun to see her in a stretch like Lee Israel.  She doesn't get some of her warm-hearted tenderness that has made her a star, nor does she get to engage in a lot of physical comedy, her calling card.  Instead, she plays Lee Israel as someone who is lonely, unapologetically lonely, but also as someone who is desperate to understand the next step in her life (when the world essentially doesn't want her anymore).  It's a tough movie, a bitter one, but she doesn't sentimentalize, which is tricky, especially in the late courtroom scene where she has to admit to opening herself up without losing her specific character traits.  A really classy choice by the Academy not to skip McCarthy for such an atypical, sometimes unlikable leading role.

Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes separate their nominations between Drama and Musical/Comedy, so we have ten women nominated for these awards.  The Drama category went with Glenn Close (in something of a surprise considering Lady Gaga would've been more HFPA's style), besting not just Gaga but also McCarthy, Nicole Kidman (Destroyer), & Rosamund Pike (A Private War), while Comedy/Musical went for Colman over Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Charlize Theron (Tully), & Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians).  SAG went with Close as well, over Blunt, Colman, Gaga, & McCarthy, while BAFTA favored Colman against Close, Gaga, McCarthy, & Viola Davis (Widows).  In terms of sixth place, I predicted Emily Blunt for the Top 5 at the time & still think she was close.  She had the one-two punch of A Quiet Place and Mary Poppins, had dominated the precursors (she won supporting for A Quiet Place in a true hindsight shock), & at this point was overdue for some time with Oscar.  I'm not sure what the holdup was here, honestly-at some point you have to assume AMPAS just doesn't like someone.

Actors I Would Have Nominated: Next week we're going to get into my final list so I'll resist again the need to provide some hints, but I will say that I understand most of Oscar's impulses here, and in particular while it's not forgivable, it's understandable in such a field why they put Stone & Weisz in supporting even though they should've had room here.

Oscar’s Choice: The precursors do point to a closer race than what we assumed at the time, but Olivia Colman pulled off the upset and took what might've been Glenn Close's best chance at an Oscar, though unlike what we thought at the time, it was not her last chance at a trophy.

My Choice: I decide these things in a vacuum, and in a vacuum, I'd give this to Olivia Colman, who gives the best performance of these five women.  McCarthy follows, with Close, Aparicio, & Gaga behind.  I will say, as a result, that this was one of the opportunities I had to give the trophy to Close (but I'm skipping it) as she's very good (she'd be in my Top 10 that year), and since I still have screenings left in 1987/88, I deny her this trophy (again, in a vacuum as that is the OVP's wont) not knowing if I might be in a similar camp to Oscar in never giving her a trophy as a result.

Those are my thoughts, but now I want to hear yours!  Are with both Oscar & myself in falling head-over-heels for Olivia Colman?  Will Glenn Close ever get an Oscar?  And what's the deal with Emily Blunt's strange Oscar drought?  Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Also in 2018: Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Score, Original Song, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Previously in 2018

Past Best Actress Contests: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019

OVP: Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

Film: Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant, Dolly Wells, Jane Curtin
Director: Marielle Heller
Oscar History: 3 nominations (Best Actress-Melissa McCarthy, Supporting Actor-Richard E. Grant, Adapted Screenplay)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

In the now eight years since Melissa McCarthy graduated from recognizable supporting player on shows like Gilmore Girls and Samantha Who? to proper, bankable film star, her career has been a fascinating one to watch.  She won a deserved (but I suspect just barely due to the genre bias & Shailene Woodley nearly getting in) Oscar nomination, and followed that up with a string of very successful box office performances, but as a fan, it was decidedly hit-or-miss.  Frequently it felt like she was playing on some version of the character Megan in Bridesmaids, a sweet, oversexed, and oftentimes foul-mouthed character that nonetheless you find yourself rooting for.  The best moment in the years since has been Spy, the first half of which is the funniest straight-up comedy I think I saw in the 2010's, and I genuinely cannot remember the last time I laughed SO HARD in a movie theater (...I've had a hard week, I might just watch this tonight as a reward).  She's also had a lot of misfires, particularly the frequent uninspired collaborations with her husband Ben Falcone which threatened to derail her career.  After seven years, though, what I was not expecting was Can You Ever Forgive Me?, a movie that feels like a complete risk for an actress that has been reluctant to take them, and one with immense rewards for McCarthy, who won her second Academy Award nomination for this performance.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film is arguably the best kind of biopic, as it's about someone you've probably heard of who nonetheless is not super well-known, so the film can still genuinely surprise.  Lee Israel (McCarthy) is reeling six years after her failed biography of Estee Lauder (which the real-life Israel once said was the worst decision she ever made, and she should have just taken the cash Lauder offered to shut down the memoir rather than bring a bad book to the public), and she's completely lost.  She has no job, no prospects, no love life, and is broke.  One day while researching a book about Fanny Brice (that she's writing for no one in particular), she stumbles across a pair of letters from the famed comedienne, and tries to sell one of them to be able to make rent.  She discovers that the amount it's worth is dependent on if it has good content, so she punches up the second letter, makes considerably more money and then starts to impersonate well-known authors or celebrities like Noel Coward & Dorothy Parker in hopes of making money, but also as a way to show the world that she can still be a brilliant writer.  She's aided in this endeavor by an old friend Jack Hock (Grant), an openly gay drug dealer who is as biting and cynical as Lee.

The film doesn't have as much plot when you write it on paper-failed author finds get-rich-quick-scheme, it works for a while and then she gets caught & learns a lesson is pretty much the movie in one sentence, but Marielle Heller doesn't make simple movies.  There's a lot here, particularly as we learn more and more about Lee Israel herself, the woman who once came close to the sun (she had a well-received biography of Dorothy Kilgallen in real-life before the Estee Lauder book ruined her reputation & career), and not all of what we learn is particularly flattering.  Israel as a person is not a likable hero, she's not Archie Bunker where underneath all of the crankiness lies a heart-of-gold.  She's someone who struggles to get by, isn't very nice, and probably wouldn't like you if she met you.

This is a stretch for McCarthy, but she nails it and sort of makes you wish that she'd stretch this acting muscle more often.  Given the guiding hand of a really-good director, McCarthy finds Israel's voice and just runs with it, giving one of her very best performances, and one that I (a big fan) wasn't aware she was able to give.  When she gives that courtroom speech, essentially owning up to learning a lesson but not the one that the judge wanted her to learn, she finds earned emotion in a character who hates emotion, it's splendid.  Joined by Grant, getting a plum assignment and just running wild with it (Jack Hock is instantly quotable, delicious with just enough reality to stay true to his relationship with Lee), McCarthy makes Lee Israel knowable but never falsely likable, a terrific feat that makes Heller's film that much more interesting and intelligent.

Life of the Party (2018)

Film: Life of the Party
Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Molly Gordon, Gillian Jacobs, Maya Rudolph, Matt Walsh, Julie Bowen, Luke Benward, Jacki Weaver, Stephen Root
Director: Ben Falcone
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Melissa McCarthy has been a proper movie star now for about 7 years, ever since she stole the show from a slew of (then) more famous actresses in Bridesmaids, scoring an Oscar nomination for her role as Megan and transforming that into superstardom.  Since then, she's only once come close to the magic of Bridesmaids (that'd be Spy), but has been a persistent, bankable presence at the box office.  Her films regularly are profitable, perhaps in part because they aren't particularly expensive, and in particular she's become noted for her collaborations with her husband, actor/director Ben Falcone.  This is their third outing together, and so far they have yet to hit the mark.  Unfortunately, that streak continues with this picture.

(Spoilers Ahead) Life of the Party focuses on Deanna (McCarthy), a middle-aged woman whose life has largely been being a devoted wife-and-mother to her husband Dan (Walsh) and daughter Maddie (Gordon).  After dropping their daughter off at school, Dan admits that he has been having an affair with local real estate magnate Marcie Strong (Bowen), and wants a divorce.  This leads to a quick decision by Deanna to go back and complete her degree, wanting to take a course in archaeology, with her befriending her daughter's sorority, particularly another slightly older student named Helen (Jacobs) and romancing a handsome young student named Jack (Benward).  Along the way, she relates a bit better to her daughter, her parents, and to herself, as she owns her power and starts to create a better future for herself as a single person.

The film is pretty generic, but that frequently works for comedy's with a comedienne as talented as McCarthy.  After all, some of the better comedies of someone like Myrna Loy or Cary Grant were also pretty flimsy when it came to plot and they worked out fine.  The problem lies in the direction and writing of the film, and perhaps most importantly, the story-boarding, because Life of the Party doesn't really seem to have a point-of-view.  The film unfolds with Deanna's seemingly perfect relationship with her daughter being in jeopardy as Deanna becomes more popular than Maddie, but that lasts for only about six minutes before (inexplicably) the teeth come out of that plot and they're best buddies.  The same could be said for her relationship with her ex-husband, where he acts almost staggeringly cruel to her, to a comedic point that feels improbable (no one is that mean to someone they share a child with, certainly not in front of that child).  There's a scene late in the picture where Deanna comes across deliberately cruel billboards in front of her ex-husband's second wedding reception that read "Better Life, Better Wife," which seems preposterous to think he would do that and still maintain even a somewhat healthy relationship with his daughter, which he purportedly does.  Deanna isn't cruel or even particularly unattractive, so this feels like just lazy, directionless plotting to feed the next comedic set piece.

McCarthy is a game performer, and too funny for this movie to suck, and she was smart enough to hire a great supporting cast (particularly Rudolph as her supportive, horny best friend), but it's time to admit that she should be giving better than this to her fans.  It might sound cruel, but honestly-Ben Falcone has not proven himself an adept director of his own wife.  Throughout the movie, they confuse where they want to take this character-is she growing, or finding she was fine all along?  Is her May/December romance real, or just hormonal?  Is her daughter angry at her (or her father), or is she just happy-go-lucky?  These are issues you should have a perspective on by the time the credits roll, and that you don't shows a sincere failing in the writing and direction of this picture.  McCarthy is a good actress, and when paired with a strong director (Paul Feig, presumably Nicole Holofcener later this year), she can give a dynamite performance in a funny film.  But Ben Falcone can't deliver on that front, and they're both hurting their brands by continuing to try in a field they continually fail.

4 Random Thoughts on Gilmore Girls: A Year in the LIfe

As some of you may know, Gilmore Girls has been a staple on this blog, and is one of my all-time favorite shows.  In fact, if you ever go to the back catalog of posts on this blog (before I reinvented it four years ago), the first post I ever did that wasn't a test to see if I knew how to post was about Gilmore Girls.  So I've had a long relationship with them, and was deeply vested in seeing where they ended up in Netflix's "final?" chapter with the women.  Here, as a longtime fan, is where I ended up with the show.

(MEGA SPOILERS ARE COMING IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED YET)

1. Amy Sherman-Palladino Clearly Had a Plan

Many times when it comes to an add-on to a series, it's something that the creators are doing out of popular demand from fans (more on that in a second).  You see something like Fuller House or Girl Meets World and it's largely reacting to a market need, and creates something that's basically just a reinvention of the first series.

Here, however, it's quite clear that Sherman-Palladino, the longtime creator of Gilmore Girls had a specific idea in mind when she ended up creating the series initially, and wasn't going to let certain aspects of the seventh season (namely the evolution Rory made from being stuck on her rich boyfriend to being a confident journalist willing to finally take risks away from home), which she didn't take part in, get in her way.

This makes the season, while still abbreviated and occasionally a bit out-of-place (there are moments where there's less emphasis put on the fact that these people have had seven years worth of life in-between now and then), feel more authentic, and vital to the series.  The reality is that while the original Gilmore Girls run had an ending that worked, it was nowhere near what you'd expect from the series.  It was a neatly-wrapped bow, with Lorelai and Luke together, Rory off to cover the fledgling Obama campaign, and Emily finally burying the hatchet with her daughter.  It didn't have the messiness that frequently accompanied the darker half of Gilmore Girls, and it didn't have proper swan songs or future stories for some of the side characters on the program.  Sherman-Palladino brought that here, and did it with her trademark GG panache (also missing from that dreadful Season 7).  As a fan, it's easy to pretend this is what accompanied that troubadour-filled finale in Season 6, and not the odiously-bad season that followed.

2. Actors Were More than Game

One of the nicest things about moments like this, when you see a fan favorite that got clawed down before it was supposed to, is seeing all of the actors that come back to join us one last time, regardless of their fame levels.  We saw that with Arrested Development, we saw that with Veronica Mars, and now we get it once again with Gilmore Girls.  Because for true Stars Hollow fans, it was a joy to see pretty much everyone came back for this one.

Yes, certain characters had more abbreviated scenes than others, and yes, they all did it for a paycheck, but come on-who didn't get misty-eyed, just moments from the ending, when Sookie and Dean both made brief appearances that filled us with a warm gooey center.  I would have personally loved it if Melissa McCarthy had kept the secret of her late appearance quiet since the rumor for a while was she couldn't show up, but Netflix couldn't possibly have managed to do something like that with such a major star (why would you not advertise such a moment?), and the rest of the cast was wonderfully willing to step back into their old characters.  Side characters like Babette, Miss Patty, Gypsy, Cesar, Francie-they all show up in random positions and occasionally gave us giant winks to storylines that we have memorized by heart (whose heart didn't skip with teenage glee over mention of "the Puffs").  By my estimation the only person who was a scrooge about coming back was Chad Michael Murray, whose two second part as Tristan was recast (though he didn't have lines, I suspect he would have if Murray had been free...honestly, what is he even up to now that One Tree Hill is off the air?).  All-in-all, though, this was a marvelous place to be.

3. About that Ending...

Okay, so the thing that everyone's focusing on, at least on my Twitter feed and in articles, is on how the ending of the miniseries frames itself against the backdrop of the entire series, and specifically what it means for Rory, whose journey we have seen most fully-fleshed throughout.  For those who haven't seen it (and apparently don't care about spoilers), Rory, in the last seconds of the series, announces to her mother that she's pregnant, without any indication of who the father is or what this means for her future.  Amy Sherman-Palladino has indicated that this is how she always intended to end the series, and that this is a way of pulling the show full-circle, but (appropriately) the show's most ardent fans have opinions, and I am included amongst them.

My first thought after seeing this, once the shock wore off, has remained the same: this is a brilliant idea.  And anyone who disagrees hasn't really paid attention to Rory's arch (minus Season 7).  Rory Gilmore was once a promising young student, brightest in her class, but as the series went on she exhibited a decidedly weak backbone for her life and for her ambitions.  Whereas her mother, who had simply the goal for herself of leaving her parents and the world she grew up in behind to strike it out on her own, was punished for her independence, Rory was kind of the inverse.  As the years went on she strove to please everyone around her, including her grandparents, her motley crew of boyfriends, and her out-of-the-picture father, and in the process she gave up on her dream of Harvard, ended up abandoning her relationship with her best friend (Lane was largely absent from her life as she got older), and even forcing deep strains with her mother over her need to live a more privileged, "Gilmore" lifestyle.  In the process, she became less the girl who studied and read books, and more the girl who used that past goodness as a crutch, an excuse, to make her present behavior which became increasingly vapid and spoiled, forgivable.

The final four installments of the series are not kind to Rory.  She lives her life mostly based on past reputation rather than focusing on future accomplishments.  She frequently talks about a famed New Yorker piece, but let's ego or lack of preparation allow her to think she's too good to write an article for GQ or prepare properly for a job interview with a company she sees as beneath her.  In fact, we see her spend more time working on finding a superficial outfit and jetting off to see her soon-to-be-married lover in London than preparing for these opportunities.  She eventually settles into the life of comfort that is afforded to her in Stars Hollow, with her mother's strong reputation and everyone still seeing her as a 16-year-old wunderkind, and her grandmother's money to back up every decision she makes.  It's a nasty commentary on the character, but it's also a reflection of your early thirties in some part.  The goals you once had for yourself slip away from you at that point, and you're left with what you were able to scrounge together in your twenties.  For Rory, who spent perhaps too much time being scared, that means that she has to let go of her career as an independent journalist, and instead will settle into being the editor of the Stars Hollow Gazette, perhaps writing a great book, perhaps abandoning that project as well.  Because for all of the similarities between Lorelai and Rory, one that never got passed down was nerve-Rory is very much Christopher, playing it safe, in that regard, and not Lorelai or even Emily in that way.  She will do what is safe and easiest and people-pleasing.

It also means we have a rough idea of where the next chapter of her life takes her-into one of her mother's.  We see her repeat the same patterns her mom did, having a baby with a wealthy man who loves her, but can never quite get it together enough to be with her (Logan is almost certainly meant to be the father, give or take a Wookie).  She'll live in Stars Hollow since it's easier to raise a child alone there in a sea of smiling, friendly faces, and will have a complicated relationship with her strong-willed mother, who will have opinions on how to raise her child that Rory will occasionally disagree with.   And it means, dear friends, that she will end up with Jess.  Yes, Jess shows up for a moment or two here, and shows that he still loves Rory (and that his arms are the same of my thighs-hot damn Rory's boyfriends aged well), and is destined to be the Luke in her life: loving her from a distance for a while, aiding her with her young child, and then eventually ending up the guy she should have chosen to begin with.  Sherman-Palladino wisely keeps the "which guy does Rory pick?" game that launched a thousand Buzzfeed articles to a minimum, but it's clear that Jess is the ultimate victor of that contest, and in the way she ends the series, that makes sense.

4. So What's Next?

Many people look at this cliffhanger and say, "so we need follow-up!"  Who is the father, what happens next for Rory?  These are questions that any passionate GG fan is going to debate internally (and to unfortunately-trapped cocktail party guests) outwardly for the next several years.  But for me, and really for you, this is where we want to end this chapter.  Because this is as close as we got to the ending we deserved nine years ago.

Honestly-I know the fashion here is to go back to products and tinker and change, but that ruins the endings that were crafted in the first place for those shows.  Look at Star Wars-we'll now never live in a world where we don't see that Han Solo is eventually killed by his son (shut up-it's been a year, you didn't need the spoiler alert).  Series are meant to have finality-they aren't meant to be stretched until we don't love them anymore.  It's why shows like Lost I wouldn't want to see back even if I have dozens of questions and don't have enough will power to resist seeing such an invention-it's because the way they ended gave us finality, but not closure.

The best series finales do just that.  They show not a world where everything is tied neatly in a ribbon (ie Sex and the City, Friends, Frasier), but instead give us complicated, interpretative endings that could go either way.  Think of Lost, think of The Sopranos, think of now Gilmore Girls.  These series don't tie things up neatly and as a result are mired in controversy, but they show that these characters move on, and as they did during the series, some have demons that aren't entirely gone because that's not plausible.  There's no happily-ever-after in real life-we just keep going until we don't.  Gilmore Girls did that here, and gave us a stopping place that felt appropriately definitive.  So no, I don't want to get back into the series again, even if I still love these characters.  We have enough answered questions, and as fans we can interact with the clues of what happens next (they're all there for the taking if you don't mind them being translucent instead of opaque).

Those are my thoughts on the series.  I could go on and on (and may pick up that baton of nostalgia being a double-edged sword in the future, but this feels like a stopping point.  If you've seen the series, please let me know your thoughts.  Are you satisfied, or wanting more?  Do you like the twist ending, or do you feel it was a bit too "mic drop?"  And were there any characters you were hoping would show up (Marty, Madeline & Louise, Max Medina) that didn't?  Share below!

The Boss (2016)

Film: The Boss (2016)
Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage, Ella Anderson, Kathy Bates
Director: Ben Falcone
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Melissa McCarthy becoming a movie star has been, in my opinion, one of the best parts of the cinema in the past five years.  McCarthy is a consummate star-incredibly engaging, wildly watchable, the sort of performer that based on sheer charisma alone can hold pretty much any picture.  And yet, I will also point out that, save for four films with Paul Feig, her script choices have all been questionable.  Don't get me wrong here, she's always watchable, even in stuff that's as bad as Tammy, but I haven't loved all of her movie choices.  As this was her second pairing with her husband/director Ben Falcone after Tammy, I was a little nervous, particularly since the trailer reeked of one of those movies that put all of the jokes in a four-minute clip.

(Spoilers Ahead) I will admit to being pleasantly surprised that this movie, though not good, was considerably better than Tammy.  The film is about Michelle Darnell (McCarthy), an obnoxious but wildly successful businesswoman (the parallels to Donald Trump are obvious) who loses all of her money after she goes to prison for insider trading.  She ends up living with her former assistant Claire (Bell) and her daughter Rachel (Anderson), while she attempts to rebuild her empire, this time using Claire's baked good recipes to start a Girl Scout-adjacent brownie empire.  The film follows familiar beats, particularly toward the outlandish ending as she and Claire learn to trust each other and become an atypical family.

The actual plot is pretty easy to map out, and as that's generally true of most comedies, not necessarily the worst thing (though I would have liked to have seen maybe a little more inventiveness with the Claire character, as she doesn't seem to have a defining characteristic other than reflecting other people).  As a result, it's left to the performers, and here we have some help-both McCarthy and Bell are aces when it comes to comedy, and when they are playing off each other, even with easy jokes, it's quite funny.  I genuinely laughed out loud at several of McCarthy's deliveries, and some of the bits from the trailer even worked in context (I always wish trailers wouldn't give away too many of the best jokes, even if that's what gets you to buy the ticket).

The problem is whenever they aren't playing off of each other and their strange power dynamic.  Peter Dinklage, a fine actor otherwise, is terrible as McCarthy's arch-rival, acting like he's the foil in an Adam Sandler movie, and sometimes some of the physical comedy bits feel a bit overdone and ludicrous.  The street fight between competing scout troupes, for example, isn't funny at all even when it's supposed to be, and it fails with the repeated "horny woman" tropes that seem to be a staple for McCarthy since she nailed that so ferociously in Bridesmaids.  The film, as I stated above, is not particularly good because of these scenes, but it's not unwatchable like Tammy ended up being-this is arguably the best of McCarthy's non-Feig comedies (I couldn't stand St. Vincent, though she was the best part about that as well), though unfortunately that's not saying as much as I'd like.  It may be time to play against type (perhaps a more traditional romantic comedy?) to throw off fans who are clearly onboard (the film was still wildly profitable), but want better movies.

Those are my thoughts on The Boss, a not-great movie that I still kind of liked in the moment thanks to McCarthy love.  What about you?  Do you think there's a strong vehicle out there for McCarthy that doesn't include Paul Feig?  If so, what would you like to see from her next?  Share in the comments!

Ghostbusters (2016)

Film: Ghostbusters (2016)
Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth
Director: Paul Feig
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

The day before I went out to see Ghostbusters, I was talking to my friend Jesse and asked him what he was seeing this weekend, and he replied Ghostbusters, and I replied, "yes, I agree-I feel like it's my feminist duty to see it opening weekend" and he concurred.  Thus is the strangeness of this past year that a film that I would have seen anyway (I'll see literally any Feig/McCarthy collaboration going forward after two home runs and a ground-rule double) I felt duty-bound to attend.  Honestly, the ridiculous, sexist hype over Ghostbusters was so grand and over-the-top I genuinely wanted to shove it into the faces of all of the people (wait, let's just say it, men...and probably Scottie Nell Hughes) who had decided that recasting a movie with all women despite the fact that the original didn't need to be all men wasn't the worst idea, and that Ghostbusters isn't really a "classic" that can't be improved upon or re-imagined.  Thankfully, the film is a riot.  Like the original, it's not a fantastic, shoot-for-the-stars sort of film, but it's funny and has some game performers in it that land most of the jokes and make for an extremely watchable picture.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie follows Erin Gilbert (Wiig), a physics professor at Columbia University who has spent years trying to downplay her past career as a researcher of the paranormal while her childhood best friend Abby Yates (McCarthy) continues to celebrate their work together.  Through a series of comic turns-of-event, they are both fired and are eventually joined by Yates' assistant Jillian Holtzmann (McKinnon) when they discover a spirit that lives in a haunted house in Manhattan.  Eventually joined by a metro transit worker named Patty Tolan (Jones) and a ridiculously handsome assistant Kevin Beckman (Hemsworth), they form the Ghostbusters, a group that is consistently able but is constantly being overrun by political power-brokers who know that they're doing good but are covering up the paranormal to stop a mass panic from the public.  The film eventually has them battling a man who commits suicide so that he can come back as a spirit in an apocalypse of sorts that involves him possessing Chris Hemsworth (I feel like if I woke up in Chris Hemsworth body the first thing I'd do is update my Tinder profile, but that's just me), and Slimer returning to the world before we finally see a happy ending for all involved.

The film works well when it focuses on the sharp comedic skills of all of the women involved (and a surprisingly funny Hemsworth, who up until now has largely stuck to the dramatic as Thor and the Huntsman).  Wiig and McCarthy both stick largely to the role of straight women, but still have enough sharpness to land a number of sarcastic one-liners, but the physical comedy heavy-lifting falls principally on Jones and McKinnon, both more than capable after several years on SNL and in particular McKinnon stands out as a resident weirdo, someone that (were she a man) would already be pulling in 8-figures and headlining films with that kind of a skill.  Holtzmann is surely the standout character, frequently finding contortions with her face and giving us just enough both consistency and randomness to be real (at least within the Ghostbusters universe) as well as unpredictable.  I loved every second she was onscreen.

Honestly, there really wasn't anything not to enjoy here-the haters got this one wrong.  The movie itself has a very predictable plot, and perhaps a couple of the heavier scenes don't feel as earned (Erin and Abby don't really fight enough to warrant a gigantic life-saving scene where they feel like they're apologizing for their riff), but overall it's a good summer blockbuster.  Nothing too heavy, nothing that you'll feel gluttonous for having enjoyed, but just nice, clean popcorn.  It never hits the brilliant, observational heights of Bridesmaids nor the near-perfect comedic timing and laughs-per-minute of Spy (still my favorite comedy of the decade), but this fourth installment of the Feig/McCarthy series has me only asking one question: when is Round 5?

Those are my thoughts on Ghostbusters, which you've hopefully seen by now (if not, what are you waiting for?)-what are yours?  Were you a fan of the remake, and did you enjoy the cameos?  Are you hoping for a sequel (the box office has been sketchy, so that might be harder to pull of than I'd initially hoped), or is this enough?  And when is Hollywood going to give Kate McKinnon her own headlining role?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

The Best Films of 2015

Whew!  I went on a bit of a movie-watching bender over the past 36 hours, trying to scoop up as many of the missing films of 2015 that I could, and am officially ready to announce my Top 10 for the year (I already announced my Bottom 5 a few days ago on the blog).  Like with the worst of the year I didn't put them in a ranked order (they're alphabetical), but I highly recommend that you investigate all ten of these if you like to laugh, cry, and most of all enjoy fine cinema.  You'll note that every single one of these films has a female protagonist, which is unusual for me (I've never done that before with a film year), but appropriate considering this was clearly the year of the female-driven film, even if Oscar disagrees when they eventually crown Spotlight or The Revenant.  Without further adieu...

45 Years (dir. Andrew Haigh)

A deeply moving look at the hierarchies and intricacies of love and marriage.  Andrew Haigh has proven himself, with Weekend and Looking, a sharp observer of relationships and here we get the devastation of second guesses and suppositions.  Both Tom Courtenay and especially Charlotte Rampling dominate this in subdued, marvelous acting.

Brooklyn (dir. John Crowley)

Romance, especially big, complicated, straight-dramatic romance had largely gone out of fashion at the cinema until 2015, when films like Brooklyn brought it back.  Saoirse Ronan graduates to adulthood with the same level of ease that she portrayed in Atonement, and it pays off with a coming-of-age story that feels fresh, modern, and yet fully in its time-and-place.

Carol (dir. Todd Haynes)

I have never loved, but only liked, the films of Todd Haynes.  Until now.  Carol is the movie that made me a convert, and it's not hard to see why.  The film is that rare romance where you genuinely can't figure out how it will end until the movie actually gives us that answer (props to Phyllis Nagy on the wonderful screenplay), though all along you're breathlessly hoping that Carol and Therese end up together as Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara make a beautiful pair.

Clouds of Sils Maria (dir. Olivier Assayas)

This is what great acting and writing can accomplish-truly moving mountains.  Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart create something breathtaking in this look at celebrity, relationships, and aging.  The film came out so early in the year you'd be forgiven for thinking its time has passed, but Clouds lingers and comes back at you as it's too perceptive to disappear.

Ex Machina (dir. Alex Garland)

This was a wonderful throwback to the Science-Fiction films of the 1970's, where instead of battling aliens or zombies, we instead find ourselves at battle with ourselves and our own hubris.  Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Oscar Isaac create a terrific acting trio, frequently one-upping each other with second agendas and the introspection of forced claustrophobia.

I'll See You in My Dreams (dir. Brett Haley)

Age was a great supporting player in a lot of the best films of the year, and none more-so than I'll See You in My Dreams, a film that meditates on when we stop experiencing newness in our lives and when we pack up the adventures and risks of our youth.  Blythe Danner has never been better (and Sam Elliott never sexier) than in this romance about two people trying something learned and making it feel rich and unexpected again.

Mad Max: Fury Road (dir. George Miller)

The most vibrant action film I've seen in years.  Brimming with lush visuals (John Seale deserves a standing ovation to go with that Oscar nomination), the film is raw, humming with energy, and a complete shock after a year where Jurassic World brought a franchise's heat crashing down.  Everything works, and you find yourself eagerly awaiting every single impending scene.

Room (dir. Lenny Abrahamson)

Based on the amount of tears that came down my face, this was not the smartest date movie I've ever selected.  That's really the only complaint here, as Room is about as wonderful as movies can get, with a perceptive look into the world both of a sheltered, innocent child like Jack (Jacob Tremblay) and a magnificent turn as a woman who doesn't know what to do with her lost youth in Joy (Brie Larson, finally getting the kudos her career has been demanding for years).

Spy (dir. Paul Feig)

The funniest movie I've seen all year...the funniest movie I've seen in several years.  I literally could not stop laughing, and that only happens when you have Melissa McCarthy in top-form (and during the first half of the film, in a form I've never seen her embrace on the big-screen) and a supporting cast of Rose Byrne, Alison Janney, Miranda Hart, and (particularly surprising and delightful) Jason Statham all showing ridiculously well-honed comedic chops.

Testament of Youth (dir. James Kent)

When I keep internally saying the words "Waterloo Bridge" you are doing something right onscreen.  This is one of the most romantic and fully-felt films I've seen in years, with breathy and airy romantic gestures between Kit Harington and Alicia Vikander, who in a year where everyone was awed by her work in The Danish Girl and Ex Machina, won my heart personally forever with her Vera, so defiant and full of ambitions bursting to find their purpose.

And there you have it folks-my top ten of the year!  Share your thoughts on these films (and if you haven't seen any of them, it's time to start clicking that 'Add' button on Netflix) along with your Top 10 lists in the comments!

5 Random Thoughts on the Golden Globe Nominations

There we have it folks, the Golden Globe nominations are now out, and we have what may be the most eclectic group of nominees in conjunction with the SAG Awards I have seen in a while.  Honestly, I am going to be royally disappointed if after all of this we see the same names keep showing up in the winners circle, as this is at the very least exciting and could have us poised for some surprising victors on Oscar night even if the lead winners feel pretty locked in for trophies right now (Leo and Brie, start clearing a shelf).  Let's look at five of my thoughts about yesterday morning's Golden Globe nominations.

1. Best Actress's Fifth Slot is Crazy Competitive

Right now, it feels like four women who got Globe nods Thursday morning feel like they'll be joining the Best Actress race: Cate Blanchett, Brie Larson, Saoirse Ronan, and Jennifer Lawrence.  All but J. Law got both Globe and SAG nominations, and in her case it's a late-breaking movie that stars the planet's biggest movie star, so I feel like it's pretty locked in for the nomination.  The fifth slot, though, is anyone's guess.  The day after Sarah Silverman and Helen Mirren inserted themselves with vigor into the Best Actress race, we saw some of the other names that have bandied for months like Lily Tomlin and Maggie Smith put into the contest, as well as current supporting campaigns for Alicia Vikander and Rooney Mara proving they probably should have gone lead.  The fifth slot could, quite frankly, go to either of the two women, but if it doesn't this is wide open as there's no consistency.  Both Tomlin and Smith could make it, of course, but they're in little seen films and are both comedies that won't score anywhere else.  Names like Charlotte Rampling, Blythe Danner, Carey Mulligan, and even Charlize Theron are also women that could be in the contest, but can they land that rare no-precursor citation?  We'll be looking at the odds of that happening in the next couple of days (it's a TMROJ tradition), but if Mara or Vikander aren't promoted, this could go anywhere.

2. Double-Dipping?

A day after Helen Mirren randomly got two SAG nominations, this morning it was Alicia Vikander that was there twice.  Vikander got cited for both The Danish Girl and Ex Machina, and considering she has been considered by multiple people for both roles now (though The Danish Girl more vociferously), one wonders if she'll be a victim of vote-splitting considering the year that she's had.  Mirren also got nominated this morning for Trumbo, along with Bryan Cranston, which makes me assume this is now a thing-dual nominations at both awards shows means that one or both of them is probably going to make it with Oscar, and considering Cranston is a giant right now in Hollywood and Mirren is a 4-time Oscar nominee, it could so easily be both (I'm guessing it in my current predictions).

3. Best Actor in a Comedy is Hilarious...But Not in the Way You'd Want

Wow-the Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical field, almost always a bit of a question mark in terms of quality, didn't disappoint in this ridiculously weak year for the Best Actor field, as we saw obvious winner Matt Damon (The Martian) joined by Christian Bale & Steve Carell (The Big Short...which is also now a thing considering its strength the past two days), Al Pacino bizarrely for Danny Collins, and perhaps most staggeringly Mark Ruffalo for the little seen Infinitely Polar Bear, the closest we got today to a Sarah Silverman moment.  Ruffalo made it here, but weirdly not for once titanic-sized Best Picture contender Spotlight, which seems to have lost a bit of steam even if it's the only film to score nominations both yesterday and today aside from The Big Short.  It's starting to look like the "everyone's supporting!" campaign for the film isn't working, as Keaton and Ruffalo won't have an obvious "whom should we vote for" position on ballots, and look likely to lose out to surging Paul Dano and Idris Elba.

4. What Happens with Mad Max: Fury Road at the Oscars?

I know the focus should be on the Globes, but the way I'm taking this morning is all about the Golden guy, and Mad Max: Fury Road is the true question of the morning (Creed and its late-surge that didn't hit these awards is the other one).  In my predictions in the past few days I found myself predicting it for eight awards, but could that actually be less than it should be?!?  At this point nominations for directing, writing, art direction, and perhaps even acting aren't totally outside the realm of possibility-could it be the nomination frontrunner (and with that, perhaps even a winner?!?)?  There's no precedent for something like this at Oscar except perhaps The Dark Knight, and even that didn't make Best Picture or Director so I cannot figure it out.  To think a few months ago we were wondering if John Seale or Visual Effects could somehow happen-now they are more than likely the winners.

5. Melissa McCarthy is Finally a Globe Nominee

This is a report that almost no one else was going to write about, but considering I've been tracking this for years I wanted to point out that Melissa McCarthy finally got in with the Globes after bizarrely never making it before.  McCarthy has had ample opportunities in the past (Bridesmaids, Mike & Molly, The Heat, St. Vincent) but it never happened before today with Spy.  One wonders if, with Jennifer Lawrence already a very recent two-time winner with HFPA, she might even win if Lawrence doesn't take it by default or will it be Tomlin taking a sentimental trophy?  It's worth noting that McCarthy's nomination comes at the expense of Globes' pet Meryl Streep, missing for the first time in a while for Ricki and the Flash.

And there you have it-my from-the-gut first thoughts on the Globe nominations-what are yours?  I didn't touch television once again, but know that I'm reprogramming my DVR just like you to catch a few of these shows (the Globes continually live up to their reputation of going with the new compared to the staid nominations that come at the SAG and Emmy Awards).  Share film or TV thoughts down below!

Spy (2015)

Film: Spy (2015)
Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale, Allison Janney, Jude Law
Director: Paul Feig
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

I have had a weirdly strong run of great movie luck lately.  For those that have followed this blog for only the past month, you might be thinking I'm just a generous reviewer, but the reality is that I'm pretty harsh as a rule.  And yet I've encountered a magnificent film chronicling the complicated relationships of women, a wonderful treatise on life in the "golden years," and a brilliantly acted look at Hollywood and its roller coaster nature.  Plus, I haven't even gotten to the recent Mad Max film, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.  So take this as a brief moment of giddiness as I have yet another truly brilliant piece of cinema to recommend, and in a truly bizarre moment for me, it's a comedy.  I almost never latch onto comedies in a big way, and if I do they're usually accompanied by a musical performance or I'm judging on a curve.  That being said, I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard in a movie theater, and not just chuckles.  Boisterous, rousing, "I think I'm going to choke" sort of laughter.  Spy is a breath of fresh air for anyone who misses great physical comedies at the movies, and the funniest movie I have seen in years.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film follows Susan Cooper (McCarthy) a mild-mannered CIA analyst who spends most of her days helping her unrequited love interest Bradley Fine (Law) get out of James Bond-style jams.  When Fine is shot by a woman who is trying to sell a nuclear bomb named Rayna (Byrne), Susan volunteers to go undercover for a mission to stop the sale of the bomb, and eventually finds herself in a series of madcap encounters with Rayna, as well as a rogue and clumsy agent named Rick Ford (a wonderfully-cast Jason Statham), all the while encountering twists and turns along the way.

The film's plot, I will give you, seems pretty generic and may even sound like the sort of role that McCarthy has disappointed in in the past (McCarthy is always game, but I will admit that a movie like Tammy didn't inspire a lot of confidence).  Thankfully, not only is McCarthy truly superb in this movie, the movie that accompanies her is just aces.  The film's casting director deserves some sort of award for finding actors that both seem believable as spy characters (Jude Law, Rose Byrne, and Jason Statham all seem at-home in an action-adventure), but also have ridiculously perfect comic timing.  Part of the enjoyment of the film is that all of them get to play with their personas a bit onscreen, most notably the usually dour Statham (for the record, THIS is the sort of vehicle you skewer your persona in-you don't just do it for laughs, but in a way that may open up doors in your career), and have almost non-stop jokes.  The film almost made me physically uncomfortable I was laughing so frequently, particularly in scenes with Statham going through different far-fetched missions he has been on and watching McCarthy's increasingly skeptical reactions.  Really, though, there's not a bad scene in the movie-the way that Byrne and McCarthy play off of each other is bliss, with Byrne's insults increasingly cruel and unfortunate, or Allison Janney's ridiculously doughty costumes for Susan.  Honestly, every single actor in this cast is on-fire, and aided by a script that knows timing and doesn't just stunt-cast.  Smaller roles, for example, are filled by genuinely funny individuals like Miranda Hart, who is gut-bustingly lovely as Susan's best friend and fellow office analyst.  The movie also pokes fun at McCarthy's humiliation (it's frequently been commented on by onlookers to her career that the script occasionally laughs at her rather than with her) but in a way that feels very empowering.

After all, in one of the best twists of the film, McCarthy isn't just a fish-out-of-water like Channing Tatum or Jonah Hill in 21 Jump Street-she's genuinely excellent at her job.  She's great in hand-to-hand combat, she's smart, she sees things other spies don't.  It would have been so easy to watch her accidentally get through the movie, but her Susan has skills that keep her alive, and it's not just about McCarthy lobbing foul mouthed rants (though she does, particularly toward Byrne's Rayna), but also about how she is just kind of a badass that dresses like your Aunt Fern.  The film isn't afraid to occasionally sexualize her (you totally find it believable that either Statham or Law could fall for her), and I find refreshing the way that McCarthy continues to use standard movie star vehicles to elevate her fame.

But mostly, I'm going to be honest here, I'm just raving about the comic bits.  I think the last time I laughed this hard at a movie may have been Bridesmaids, which not coincidentally was a reunion of McCarthy and Feig.  At this point I'm volunteering for anything between them-bring on Ghostbusters!  But mostly, I already want to watch Spy again-a wonderful return-to-comedic-form for McCarthy, and an all-around splendid movie.

If you've seen it (and if you haven't, you're insane), what did you think?  Are you with me on the belly laughs?  What's your favorite McCarthy/Feig outing (I also liked The Heat, for the record)?  Share in the comments!

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

It's Saturday morning, I just had a delightful bagel and grape yogurt, so I think it's definitely time to start investigating the links that we might have missed throughout the week.  Let's dive into some stories, shall we?

On Entertainment...

-Melissa McCarthy charmed Jon Stewart (though really, who doesn't she charm?) with a dress made entirely of his face.  I gotta say, it's becoming harder and harder to tell whether Letterman or Jon Stewart is having the classier sendoff, though I do agree with Carl Reiner that James Corden seems to be pretty spectacular amongst the new crop of hosts.  Also, since I love trivia, did you know that Carl Reiner is the only person ever to have appeared on every incarnation of The Tonight Show?

-In other Melissa McCarthy-related news, the Gilmore Girls cast will be reuniting!  Though McCarthy won't be there to represent Suki (since she's opening a movie, though I hope she does a video tribute or something), Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Kelly Bishop, and pretty much all of Stars Hollow will be there for the ATX festival.  Video of the event will be on Entertainment Weekly so make sure to check it out if you're, like me, a huge fan of the series.

-In honor of Testament of Youth (can't wait!), IndieWire did a countdown of fifteen of the best romantic period dramas, which is almost certainly my favorite cinematic genre.  While I loved the inclusion of a few films (including the brilliant Piano and my beloved English Patient), I always think IndieWire lists tend to lean a little bit too modern (even though the period romantic epic is more of a recent film genre-let's not forget that something like Waterloo Bridge and Brief Encounter were actually taking place at that time).  Still, skipping Reds and Titanic?  Unacceptable.

On Politics...

Beau and Joe Biden

-Obviously the biggest story of the week in American politics was the death of former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden.  The son of the Vice President, Beau was the first son of a president or vice president to die in office since Patrick Kennedy passed away two days after his birth in 1963.  While whenever something like this happens, it's usually accompanied by stock statements of support and prayers, I have to admit that it feels a lot more personal this time.  Joe Biden, for all of his foibles and fumbles with the press, is probably one of the most personally popular people in Washington-it's not just Democrats but Republicans like Mitch McConnell and Orrin Hatch who genuinely seem to like him.  I always tell the story about how I had a photo of Joe Biden hanging up in my room when I was growing up, which just goes to show how much I've always liked him (I was a boy in rural Minnesota and he was the junior senator from Delaware at the time, so there wasn't a particularly obvious reason to connect us).  My thoughts go out to Biden, whose life has been too touched by tragedy.

-Nancy Pelosi continues to do a tight-rope act surrounding the trade bill that is trying to make it through Congress with almost no support from her caucus.  Pelosi and Steny Hoyer are not whipping the bill, which is likely to give them some cover from both the unions and the White House for now, though there's still the major question of whether Pelosi, an ardent supporter of both Labor and President Obama will vote for or against the bill.  It's rare that a bill like this would be so in question so quickly before the vote.  The Democrats appear to be rightfully furious at the AFL-CIO either way right now, as the organization has been lacking in fundraising and appear likely to skip out in helping Democrats in 2016, instead targeting Democrats like Rep. Ami Bera in primaries instead.  This isn't going to sit well with the caucus, I'm guessing (at least if the Tea Party's reception with the establishment GOP has been any indication).

-Democrats in Indiana smell blood in the water after Mike Pence's recent religious freedom bill and his general handling of eduction in the state. State Superintendent Glenda Ritz became the third prominent Democrat (along with former House Speaker John Gregg and State Sen. Karen Tallian) to enter the race for 2016 this past week.  Ritz was largely unknown before her shock upset win in 2012, when she beat the incumbent State Superintendent by rallying teachers.  Ritz and Pence have become bitter arch-rivals since, so expect this race to get nasty if she wins the primary, though it's hard to tell how that will go as many expected Gregg (who nearly beat Pence in 2012) to be the frontrunner, though Ritz already has statewide victory experience.  We'll probably get a bit more into this race later next week with a State of the Governors article.

Shameless Self-Promotion of the Week...

-I can no longer handle the trailers to Robert Zemeckis' new film The Walk.

YouTube Video of the Week...

-I have watched this SuperFruit video at least a twenty times since Tuesday.  Mitch and my husband Scott take on Hip-Hop songs and turn them into Broadway-worthy ballads.  What they do with Rihanna...just watch, it's hilarious and wonderful (slighlty NSFW, so put the headphones on if you're at the office):

Just One More...

-I am in LOVE with this idea for the 2016 presidential elections-a Science Debate for all of the candidates where the topics are all focused on science (in a similar fashion to the domestic vs. foreign affairs style debates that the presidential candidates occasionally focus in on).  Imagine getting candidates to actually discuss climate change, space exploration, medical research, and scientific education in a debate forum!  I wholeheartedly encourage you to sign the petition.

John's 5 Worst Films of 2014

Every year I manage to avoid most of the worst films of the year, principally because I'm not a professional critic, and unless a film is about to be part of the OVP (which thankfully movies like Exodus: Gods and King and Transformers 4 were not), it's usually by sheer accident that I end up watching a truly awful flick.  Sadly, I didn't avoid it all this year, and while there were a few other films that I found underwhelming (including a good chunk of this year's Animated Feature Oscar category-that'll be a pretty blistering OVP write-up), here were the five worst (in alphabetical order).

The Giver (dir. Phillip Noyce)

For those of us who grew up with the book, it seemed like blasphemy to begin with.  But once you throw in a lead that looks like an Abercrombie model but has the personality of plywood, a plot that looks less like the original book and more like a Divergent fan fiction, and Jeff Bridges/Meryl Streep scenery-chewing to the hilt (we waited forty years and THIS is all we get from them finally being onscreen together?!?), you realize that it was less blasphemy than an abomination on the cinema.

I, Frankenstein (dir. Stuart Bettie)

Okay, so I saw it on a date.  That's my excuse for going to what, of these five films, was clearly most destined to be a truly awful experience at the movies.  But it's not my fault that the film couldn't at least see the camp value of Bill Nighy's overacting, instead making everyone around him seem like idiots for trusting a man who makes Vincent Price look trustworthy, and for making the entire movie a scene of badly choreographed visual effects and hamminess from lead Aaron Eckhart.

The Judge (dir. David Dobkin)

I'm not ranking the movies on this list, but I hated this film so much that it would almost certainly be at the top.  A wretched look at a father-son relationship, with absolutely no amount of empathy between the two so that the final courtroom scene (which you can see coming a mile away because this is a film that embraces every cliche it gets) feels like something you're begging to be over rather than a climax.  Robert Downey, Jr. has never been worse, and is starting to become Johnny Depp in terms of his onscreen laziness.

Rosewater (dir. Jon Stewart)

Just because the film deals with serious fare doesn't make it any good.  Jon Stewart's first directorial effort had pedigree and an interesting subject, but it also is insanely boring, relying on quick cliches and a completely black-and-white worldview that doesn't jive with what Stewart's been trying to accomplish on The Daily Show.  Worse yet, Stewart doesn't give us any insight to his personal views on the subject, which his show was a part of, showing a lack of guts cinematically that doesn't bode well for his future directorial endeavors.

Tammy (dir. Ben Falcone) 

It could have been funny.  Kathy Bates, Susan Sarandon, Melissa McCarthy-these are women who can act AND make you laugh.  Unfortunately the film itself is saddled with a poor script, never knowing what to do with its main character (is she tragic or just oblivious?).  Without any sort of jokes to rely upon, we're left with McCarthy trying to accomplish all of the humor through physical comedy, and even there she's too reliant on past memories of Bridesmaids and The Heat rather than creating something new for Tammy.

And those are my five worst films of 2014-what are yours?  Anyone want to defend these films?  The comments section is yours for the taking!