THE AWARDS SEASON BEGINS WITH A DOUBLE TRIUMPH FOR CLINT EASTWOOD
There’s always
a lot of fuss about the annual National Board of Review awards.
Maybe that’s because the group, peopled with self-acknowledged
amateur critics, is first to announce their picks. Except for “Letters
From Iwo Jima,” the board’s Number One choice, the Best
Pictures are listed in alphabetical order. Notably missing: “The
Queen,” “Little Children,” “Apocalypta,”
“Dreamgirls,” “Happy Feet,” “Inland
Empire” “Borat,” “Casino Royale” and
“Pan’s Labyrinth.” It’s worth noting that
Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers,” while
managing to make the list, lost out to Eastwood’s own “Letters
From Iwo Jima” in the battle for the Number One spot. It should
also be noted that most, if not all, of the actors in “Letters
From Iwo Jima” speak Japanese, and that much of “Babel”
is not in English; yet Pedro Almodovar’s “Volver”
was not among the top 10 films. Instead, it was named the Best Foreign-Language
Film. Makes sense, right?
Eastwood's "Letters From Iwo Jima"
fared well with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, too. To
read all of that group's picks, click
here.
THE 10 BEST FILMS OF
2006
 LETTERS
FROM IWO JIMA: Ken Watanabe,
Kazunari Ninomiya, Shido Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Yuki
Matsuzaki, Hiroshi Watanabe, Takumi Bando, Nobumasa Sakagami, Takashi
Yamaguchi, Nae Yuuki (Directed by Clint Eastwood; Written by Iris
Yamashita; Paramount/DreamWorks) In “Flags of Our Fathers,”
Clint Eastwood gave us his take on the battle of Iwo Jima, as well
as the crippling psychological damage suffered by some of the heroic
American participants in the bloody battle. Now, in the Japanese-language
“Letters From Iwo Jima,” Eastwood returns to combat,
this time telling the story from the Japanese point of view. As
Variety puts it, “ A big awards question is whether
the two films will compete for attention; whether there is room
for both in major Oscar categories; or whether kudos voters will
view Eastwood's twin pics as two sides of the same coin and honor
both by voting for one. (Some theorized that the Oscar wins for
the third ‘Lord of the Rings’ was in effect recognition
of the entire trilogy.)” For
Guy Flatley's 1976 New York Times interview with Clint Eastwood,
click here. Opens
12/20
 BABEL:
Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael Garcia Bernal,
Elle Fanning, Nathan Gamble, Koji Yakusho, Fernandez Mattos Dulce,
Lynsey Beauchamp, James Melody (Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu;
Written by Guillermo Arriaga; Paramount Classics) A variety of troubled
people in several countries (including Morocco, Tunisia, Mexico
and Japan) somehow manage to forge a connection. And you can count
on the results being violent, bloody, mystifying and perhaps a tiny
bit uplifting. Why is that? Because “Babel” is another
collaboration between director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and screenwriter
Guillermo Arriaga, the awesomely disturbing team responsible for
the violent, bloody, mystifying and perhaps a tiny bit uplifting
“Amores Perros” and “21 Grams.” Now
Playing
 THE
BLOOD DIAMOND: Leonardo DiCaprio,
Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou (Directed by Ed Zwick; Warner
Bros.) Having excelled as a cop pretending to be a thug in Martin
Scorsese’s “The Departed,” Leo the Indefatigable
took on the role of a smuggler who, during the nineties civil war
in Sierra Leone, was presented with a major moral challenge involving
a farmer whose son was kidnapped and turned into a child warrior.
To read about more upcoming DiCaprio movies,
click here and browse the D
page of STAR TURNS.
Opens 12/15
 THE
DEPARTED: Leonardo DiCaprio,
Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin,
Ray Winstone, Gerard McSorley, Vera Farmiga, Todd Peterson (Directed
by Martin Scorsese; Written by William Monahan; Warner Bros.) Leo
as a Chinese undercover cop who’s infiltrated a sinister Hong
Kong gang, and Matt as a ruthless member of that gang passing himself
off as a gung-ho Hong Kong police recruit? Am I making this up?
Only a little. These Hollywood baby-icons are in fact starring in
an American rehash of “Wu Jian Dao” (“Infernal
Affairs”), a big 2002 Hong Kong action hit. This time, the
tricky thrills and spills are played out in the streets and back
rooms of Boston, and the gang at the center of the mischief is Irish,
not Chinese. To read Guy Flatley's 1973 interview with Scorsese,
click here; for Guy's 1974
interview with Jack Nicholson, click
here. Now Playing
 THE
DEVIL WEARS PRADA: Meryl Streep,
Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Adrien Grenier, Emily Blunt, Simon
Baker, Traci Thoms, Giselle Bundchen (Directed by David Frankel;
Written by Aline Brosh McKenna and Don Roos; Fox) The fact that
Lauren Weisberger, the author of the book upon which this film is
based, slaved as an assistant to Vogue super-editor Anna Wintour
does not mean that what we have here is a biopic. But I don’t
know anyone who believes that not to be the case. Nor do I know
anyone who is not keenly anticipating the sight of Meryl Streep
as she dons her shades and British accent, cracks her whip, and
spews venom upon her cringing serfs. To
see what else Streep is up to, click here
and browse the S
page of STAR TURNS.
Now Playing
 FLAGS
OF OUR FATHERS: Ryan Phillippe,
Adam Beach, Jesse Bradford, Paul Walker, Neal McDonough, Jamie Bell,
Joseph Cross, Robert Patrick, Barry Pepper, Kirk Woller, Brian Kimmet,
Jason Gray-Stanford, Matt Huffman, Joe Michael Burke, Georgiana
Jianu, Shon Blotzer (Directed by Clint Eastwood; Written by William
Broyles Jr. and Paul Haggis; Paramount/DreamWorks) Americans, particularly
those who have volunteered to serve in Iraq, know that war is hell.
Now Clint Eastwood reminds us that war in the forties was also hell.
Set during the climactic year of 1945, “Flags of Our Fathers,”
which is based on the best seller by James Bradley and Ron Powers,
depicts the bloody, ferocious battle for control of Pacific island
Iwo Jima. In particular, the movie focuses on the five marines and
one navy corpsman who raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi.
These are the men shown in the photo that has since become a universal
symbol of valor and victory. And this is the movie that--following
“Mystic River” and “Million Dollar Baby”--could
be the third Oscar contender in a row for director Clint Eastwood.
(Or will it be short-circuited by Eastwood's
"Letters From Iwo Jima"?) To
read a Critics Roundup on "Flags of Our Fathers, click
here; for Guy Flatley's 1976 New York Times interview with Eastwood,
click here. Now
Playing
 THE
HISTORY BOYS: Richard
Griffiths, Clive Merrison, Frances de la Tour, Stephen Campbell
Moore, Sacha Dhawan, Samuel Anderson, Dominic Cooper, Andrew Knott,
Samuel Barnett, Russell Tovey, Jamie Parker, James Corden, Penelope
Wilton, Adrian Scarborough, Georgia Taylor (Directed by Nicholas
Hytner; Written by Alan Bennett; Fox Searchlight) It’s not
mere child’s play to get into the university of your choice,
and it’s particularly tough breaking the admissions barriers
at top British schools, such as Oxford and Cambridge. You've got
to be drilled and then drilled some more in order to be in shape
for those excruciating exams. But, you may well ask, is this the
stuff from which entertaining movies are made? The answer is yes,
since Alan Bennett’s wise, hilarious, crowd-pleasing play--the
show that New York Times critic Ben Brantley called “madly
enjoyable”--has remained gloriously true to the original.
And it’s a safe bet that author Bennett, director Nicolas
Hytner and actor Richard Griffiths, who repeats his turn as an outrageously
opinionated English teacher, will be remembered when prizes are
being handed out. Now Playing
 LITTLE
MISS SUNSHINE: Greg Kinnear,
Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin
(Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; Written by Michael
Arndt; Fox Searchlight) Mom (Toni Collette) is something of a ditz,
but she does her best to serve the needs of her family and keep
them on the more or less straight and narrow. But it may be a losing
battle. Hubby Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a self-proclaimed motivational
speaker whose motivation is running on empty; Richard’s pop
(Alan Arkin) is a pleasure-seeking old coot who’s happy to
be hooked on porn and coke; Mom’s brother (Steve Carell),
the newest addition to their humble, conspicuously cramped Albuquerque
abode, is a Proust scholar who recently made the scandalous mistake
of trying to have a hot remembrance of things past with a male graduate
student; sonny-boy Dwayne (Paul Dano), is an anti-social teenager
on the verge of withdrawing totally into himself; and 7-year-old
Olive (Abigail Breslin) wants only one thing out of life--to win
the Little Miss Sunshine contest. So, naturally, the entire clan
hops into a wobbly old minivan bus and heads for the big California
competition. Now Playing
 NOTES
ON A SCANDAL: Cate Blanchett,
Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Andrew Simpson, Juno Temple, Emma Kennedy
(Directed by Richard Eyre; Written by Patrick Marber; Fox Searchlight)
Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) is having it all--a solid husband (Bill
Nighy), a nifty new job teaching pottery, a sexy 15-year-old lad
who is her student and bedmate (Andrew Simpson), and a brand new
chum named Barbara Covett (Judi Dench), with whom she shares the
details of her clandestine affair. The question is, can Sheba trust
Barbara to keep her secret? Richard Eyre, who directed Judi Dench
with stunning success in “Iris,” helmed "Notes
on a Scandal," and Patrick Marber, author of the impressively
nasty "Closer," is responsible for this adaptation of
Zoe Heller's much acclaimed novel. Opens
12/22
 THE
PAINTED VEIL: Naomi
Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Diana Rigg, Toby Jones, Anthony
Wong, Yu Xia, Lu Yin (Directed by John Curran; Written by Ron Nyswaner;
Warner Independent Pictures) Can you ever forget Garbo as the long-suffering
wife of Herbert Marshall in the film version of Somerset Maugham's
“The Painted Veil”? Of course you can’t, because
you surely didn’t see it. Not many moviegoers did catch this
MGM tearjerker, which was perhaps the dreariest MGM film of 1934.
But we’re living in a whole new century now, so Naomi Watts,
an especially game actress, will tackle the role of the weary woman
whose punishment for cheating on her doctor-hubby (Edward Norton)
is the chore of tagging along with him to a remote region of China
that has been hit hard by a plague. Naturally, she becomes so bored
that she allows herself to fall in love with the good doctor all
over again. Opens 12/29
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
VOLVER
BEST DOCUMENTARY
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
CARS
BEST DIRECTOR
MARTIN SCORSESE (THE DEPARTED)
BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
JASON REITMAN (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
ZACK HELM (STRANGER THAN FICTION)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
RON NYSWANER (THE PAINTED VEIL)
BEST ACTORBEST
ACTOR
FOREST WHITAKER (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND)
BEST ACTRESS
HELEN MIRREN (THE QUEEN)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
DJIMON HOUNSOU
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
CATHERINE O’HARA (FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION)
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
THE DEPARTED
BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR
RYAN GOSLING (HALF NELSON)
BREAKTHROUGH ACTRESS
JENNIFER HUDSON (DREAMGIRLS) Tie
RINKO KIKUCHI (BABEL) Tie
CAREER AWARDS
JONATHAN DEMME
IRWIN WINKLER
DONALD KRIM
TO READ THE NATIONAL BOARD
OF REVIEW'S LIST OF 2005 WINNERS, CLICK
HERE; FOR 2004, CLICK HERE, AND
FOR 2003, CLICK HERE.
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