Barney's Version

The failure of Richard J. Lewis' "Barney's Version" comes from the fact that it is almost entirely unconvincing. It cannot sustain the illusion that what it's presenting is not superficial, timeworn, unintentionally hilarious, and inexplicably complex. It doesn't help that the writing is unbelievably bad on a scene-to-scene basis or that the direction is hopelessly unenlightened (revealing that lack of tonal sensitivity that is often present with a regular TV director). Paul Giamatti, whom everything depends on, throws it all on the line, but it's no use. As my friend notes, he's not skilled enough to overcome such impossible hurdles, especially without acting up a miraculous storm (he gives only an erratic if decent performance, which did win a Golden Globe). Such a film will only appeal to those who are willing to give themselves over to an insufferable collective. Do not take yourself to "Barney's Version" if you do not fit this criteria.

The film starts with Barney Panofsky (Giamatti) in the present day and goes on to cycle through his life from 1974 on. The first few sequences in the past are pointlessly supplied with time cards that give the audience information that they already know or could easily pick up. However, the film suddenly starts moving through time unclearly, coming back to the present and moving out without giving a good sense of where it's going. At this point, when the movie should be barraging us with time cards, it neglects to. In doing this, it confused me to no end, sapping the drama out of many a scene. The makeup, which is nominated for an Oscar, offers absolutely no help, and as a result is ineffective. (Add to that the fact that it is amateurishly noticeable.) Maybe it was hard for director Lewis and his writer Michael Konyves (working from Mordecai Richler's novel) to control their work. If so, they shouldn't have burdened the audience with the result.

The story of Barney for some reason picks up with him in Rome when he's in his 30's. He's chillaxing and experiencing the world and shit with his buddies and hoping to start his life soon with his pregnant fiancee, Clara (Rachelle Lefevre). But she has a stillborn, the unborn baby wasn't his anyways, and an upset Barney storms off. {{{{SPOILER She's depressed by Barney's depression and kills herself SPOILER}}}, providing a one-scene entrance for Saul Rubinek, who is as lousy as he'll ever be. The whole dramatic workings of this first segment are risible, with the making of jarring tone changes and miserable acting by Lefevre and Scott Speedman as close friend Boogie (though I will admit that Speedman goofiness is a bit appealing).

Things progress and Barney, after getting a job, meets and ties the knot with a character played by Minnie Driver, and since I was not taking notes and since the Internet gives no help, she will remain nameless. At their wedding (done up in a flauntingly Jewish fashion), he meets Miriam (Rosamund Pike, who, along with Dustin Hoffman as Barney's father, makes the film mildly tolerable), whom he immediately is attracted to and whom he really wants to be with, even then. She, being the prudent lady that she is, will not be with a married man, and so he must wait and wait and wait and wait and find an excuse to get away from Driver's character.

He does, but not before the film takes great pains to paint their marriage as loveless and shallow. A critical viewer will note that the third marriage may be just as empty. Consider the fact that we never hear Miriam and Barney talk about anything except for the origins of phrases, or the fact that Barney feels the need make a list of conversation topics that includes Saul Bellow's "Herzog" (an ironic gesture) and "All the President's Men." If this is the case, then there is no relationship in the film that is substantial, which is kind of dismal and not the intention.

I won't go on and on about this movie, even though I could. It's just a cliched kitchen sink affair, what with Alzheimer's (always having to be paired with hockey in Canadian films), a dude from Waverly Films (who's also Dustin Hoffman's son), murder, bad song choices, Bruce Greenwood yet again tied with homosexuality, and on and on. The sprawl (this movie is almost 2 and a half hours long) is admirable on a conceptual level, but it plays out poorly. I guess I bottled up a lot of impatience throughout, because when the film got to a certain point, with a line so ridiculous in its enclosure, I had a laugh attack that was almost unstoppable. If I hadn't contained myself in a few seconds more, I would've left as to not be rude. Thank the film's padded corny dialogue towards the end (which for the most part kept me from cracking up) that I didn't, because then I wouldn't have been able to write this review and inform you of the mish-mashing incompetence of "Barney's Version." I still may not have done it justice, but I won't go further. D+

Golden Globe Predix and Preferences - 2010

Didn't have time to do all the movie categories, but here are most of them:

Best Picture – Drama

In order of my preference:

1. The Social Network

2. Black Swan

3. Inception

4. The King’s Speech

5. The Fighter

In order of their likelihood of winning:

1. The Social Network

2. The King’s Speech

3. Black Swan

4. Inception

5. The Fighter

Best Picture – Comedy/Musical:

Preference:

1. The Kids Are All Right

Haven’t seen: Alice in Wonderland, Burlesque, Red, The Tourist

Likelihood:

1. The Kids Are All Right

2. Alice in Wonderland

3. Burlesque

4. The Tourist

5. Red

Best Actor –Drama:

Preference:

1. Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine

2. Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

3. Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

4. James Franco, 127 Hours

5. Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

Likelihood:

1. Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

2. Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

3. James Franco, 127 Hours

4. Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine

5. Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

Best Actor – Comedy/Musical:

Preference:

1. Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

Haven’t seen: Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs; Johnny Depp, The Tourist AND Alice in Wonderland; Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version

Likelihood:

1. Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version

2. Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland

3. Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

4. Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs

5. Johnny Depp, The Tourist

Best Actress – Drama

Preference:

1. Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

2. Natalie Portman, Black Swan

3. Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

4. Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Haven’t seen: Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice

Likelihood (after 1 and 2, kind of hard to determine):

1. Natalie Portman, Black Swan

2. Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

3. Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

4. Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice

5. Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Actress – Musical/Comedy:

Preference:

1. Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

2. Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right

Haven’t seen: Emma Stone, Easy A; Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs; Angelina Jolie, The Tourist

Best Supporting Actor

Preference:

1. Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

2. Andrew Garfield, The Social Network

3. Jeremy Renner, The Town

4. Christian Bale, The Fighter

Haven’t seen: Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Likelihood:

1. Christian Bale, The Fighter

2. Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

3. Andrew Garfield, The Social Network

4. Jeremy Renner, The Town

5. Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Best Supporting Actress

Preference:

1. Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

2. Mila Kunis, Black Swan

3. Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech

4. Melissa Leo, The Fighter

5. Amy Adams, The Fighter

Likelihood:

1. Melissa Leo, The Fighter

2. Amy Adams, The Fighter

3. Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

4. Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech

5. Mila Kunis, Black Swan

Best Director:

Preference:

1. David Fincher, The Social Network

2. Christopher Nolan, Inception

3. Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

4. Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

5. David O. Russell, The Fighter

Likelihood:

1. David Fincher, The Social Network

2. Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

3. Christopher Nolan, Inception

4. Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

5. David O. Russell, The Fighter

Best Screenplay:

Preference:

1. Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

2. David Seidler, The King’s Speech

3. Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

4. Christopher Nolan, Inception

5. Simon Beaufoy, Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Likelihood:

Same as above

As noted in the comments, I didn't post my Best Musical Comedy Actress prediction since I was in a rush, but I'm pretty sure I thought Annette Bening was going to win.

The Fighter

A film that has no control on tone and that has the attention span of the main characters watching Fernando Trueba's Oscar-winner "Belle Epoque" (read: none at all), "The Fighter" is an unsuccessful hybrid of different ideas, styles, and sensibilities. Why anyone thought David O. Russell, the filmmaker of "I Heart Huckabees," "Three Kings," and "Flirting With Disaster" should be associated with a sports film, much less a movie about boxing, is way beyond me. It's a miscalculation that plays out sloppily, as the film is wrongly tinged with Russell's quirky flourishes. At the same time, he overall gets rid of his previous directorial mindset, so that the film is a result of him being stuck between gears, when he should have gone one way or the other.

If you don't know the background of the making of this film, you may be a little hard pressed to explain the film's biggest mistake: the focus being put on Mickey Ward, not on his brother Dicky Eklund. The film, in its confused intentions, still covers Ward and Eklund on the same level, but it would be substantially better if it just looked at the unreliable, cocaine-addicted Dicky. Since Mark Wahlberg's persistence was apparently the reason "The Fighter" got made at all, it makes sense that he would put himself front and center and chose the character that a) he thought (fallaciously) was more intriguing or b) he looked more like to base the movie around. However, that hardly warrants the film, which, ultimately, was not really worth making, no matter who the lead was.

The beginning of the movie is a strange meta-film, as HBO documentarians come to Lowell, MA to ostensibly shoot the comeback of Eklund (Christian Bale), who is famed for supposedly knocking out Sugar Ray Robinson (when Robinson probably just tripped). In the periphery is Mickey, who is training to get some fights. There is no sense of how long Mickey has fought or anything like that, as that would just be pesky exposition. (No one but stuck-up cinephiles who like "Belle Epoque" needs that stuff.) We do know that he hasn't been in top form recently (he's collected notice as a "stepping stone"), and that he needs a nice and easy fight to regain footing. He has one slotted, but it turns out that the guy gets sick, someone else steps in, and Mickey gets routed. Such is his luck, we assume.

The people of Lowell are supposedly ashamed of his losing reputation, but the film doesn't manage to make you think that Mickey is truly ostracized. We get more of a sense that his family (notably his mother, played by Melissa Leo) disapproves of his "MTV" girlfriend (Amy Adams), which further underlines how the film is not really about boxing. It's more about talking about and preparing for it, which is a good part of why the film is boring.

I found this film a waste of two hours that could have been improved with some switcheroos (directional, directorial, etc.). It's worth avoiding just for the unintentionally soul-destroying, hard-to-watch scene when Bale and Leo sing one of those "duets for old times" with "I Started a Joke." Plus because my friend, a Massachusetts native, says that Leo's accent (as well as the, to use his words, "self-parodic" view of New England) is somewhat of a disgrace. Her performance in my view is cartoonish, to be sure, but also pretty solid. Bale is good but not exceptional in his drugged out exaggeration, and Adams is alright, a moderate factor. I agree with Roger Ebert: Wahlberg, with a mediocre performance lacking in charisma, lets the film down. The notes he hits of anguish are valuable and heartrending, but since those are few and far between, a recast would have been a good idea. "The Fighter," with no modifications made, is one of the weakest contenders in the 2010 Oscar field. C