Let's Go To The Movies

The best movie I watched this Oscar season. Sublime and hard-hitting, the Ram got me caught in an emotional jam.

One of the best modern-day film noirs set in the best city for dark corners and sly shadows.

I have been going to the movies for as long as I can remember. When I was three, my parents took me with them to see matinees of "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur." (I think they found it quite effective in putting a toddler to sleep for four hours -- I do remember the parting of the Red Sea, though not the chariot race.) When I was a little bit older, they took me to see contemporary releases like "Mr. Mom," "Tootsie" and "Best Friends."

The turning point was when my mom took me to see "Yentl" and "Annie" on our Friday afternoon dates. After school, she would take me to a steak lunch and then to a movie downtown on Fridays -- times I truly treasure. When we watched "Yentl" (I know, some of you... many of you will laugh), she told me that Barbra Streisand was a remarkable woman who directed, wrote and starred in the film, about another woman who took destiny into her own yarmulke. My mom asked, "Would you want to grow up and be that kind of a woman?" I said yes, I would. During "Annie," my mom leaned over when Ann Reinking made her entrance as Grace Reinking and whispered, "Here's a lady working for a powerful man, and sometimes he listens to her. Women can make a difference as well." I thought, I would like to grow up and be that kind of a woman. Through two movies that have become an evergreen constant in my life ("Annie" more than "Yentl," thank goodness -- I'm also grateful that I can sing all the songs in "Annie" verbatim, but not those in "Yentl"), I learned an important lesson from my mom. (Last Friday, I took her on a dinner and movie date and we watched "Slumdog Millionaire" -- she had never seen such a creatively made and brilliant film before, and learned that some pictures were very different from the mainstream fare she knew.)

I became an obsessive movie fan when I watched "La Bamba," which I loved for the music and the tragedy. Then came "Stand By Me," still one of my all-time favorite films. Then "Dirty Dancing." Then "Grease." All of these movies, I watched once a day every day of our June school holidays between 1987 and 1990. I can quote these movies better than their screenwriters. From here, I realized how much I love movies and reading them like literature. I went to the cinema after school often and I rented classics on video to watch on weekends. When I was in college, I snuck into film classes as much as they would like me enroll in before cutting me off. I loved them all, and "Film Art" by Bordwell and Thompson remains one of my favorite textbooks from school.

I know a lot of film aficionados -- Peter Duckler watches almost 300 movies a year and stakes out at Sundance every year, my cousin Cheryl is a connoisseur of fine films and wonderful movie conversationalist, and Silvia is my window to foreign film and double-feature partner in crime. There are many more, and it's a testament to sitting in the dark, big silver screen unfurling from left to right as movies turn the world upside down and emotions inside out as great actors emote from screenplays beautifully wrote. Like any fan of the movies (I like Hollywood as much as independent, I thrive on Hollywood politics, but not gossip, and lord, do I love film noir and horror flicks), one of my favorite days of the year is Oscar Sunday. I could watch seven hours of pre-Oscar coverage. I will watch the ceremony straight through without break. I just love it. It's four hours of taking stock of the movies I'd seen all year and trying to stay a step ahead of the voters. I used to bid on Oscar bleacher seats every year. I spied on the Golden Globes red carpet from behind a fence one year. I watch every major (and some minor) Oscar-nominated films so I can understand the evening and its mechanisms better. And of course, I predict.

Here's what I cast for the pool this year -- by the way, I belong in the "Slumdog Millionaire" backlash party. I thought it was brilliantly filmed and what a creative narrative that was! But no matter how exuberant, the manipulative melodrama and fairy tale ending spoiled it for me.

1. Best Actor

- Will win: Sean Penn in "Milk" -- it's the toughest major race of the evening, and while Mickey Rourke deserves this quite a bit, Penn did a lot more acting. It's more than acting -- it's inhabiting Milk's entire persona, it's transmuting body language. It's amazing.

- Should win: Sean Penn in "Milk"

- Who I want to win: Sean Penn in "Milk"

2. Best Supporting Actor

- Will win: Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" -- Josh Brolin also deserves one of these for the Dan White role in "Milk" and for the recent strong performances, but giving Ledger the award is more than a posthumous recognition. He earned it, plain and simple.

- Should win: Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight"

- Who I want to win: Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight"

3. Best Actress

- Will win: Kate Winslet in "The Reader" -- god, I didn't realize this one would be as tough, too. I was really adamant on believing this was Winslet's year, but I saw "Doubt" today and Meryl Streep is a tour de force like the "peripetatic" wind in the film. I really should change my pick, but it's also time to honor Winslet. At least, I think that's what Academy voters are feeling...

- Should win: Meryl Streep in "Doubt"

- Who I want to win: Meryl Streep in "Doubt"

4. Best Supporting Actress

- Will win: Viola Davis in "Doubt" -- I have to say, Francis swayed me on this one. I was quite convinced that Penelope Cruz would be the Academy's Spanish honoree this year, but again, Davis filled 15 minutes on screen with a lifetime full of hurt, pain and barely concealed realist emotions that took my breath away. And I think, voters, too.

- Should win: Viola Davis in "Doubt"
- Who I want to win: Viola Davis in "Doubt"

5. Best Director
- Will win: Danny Boyle for "Slumdog Millionaire" -- no explanation needed, one of the freshest and most innovative narrations all year.
- Should win: Danny Boyle for "Slumdog Millionaire"
- Who I want to win: David Fincher for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

6. Best Picture
- Will win: "Slumdog Millionaire" -- the buzz put this in the bag all by itself, plus its contenders are just not hip or cool enough to truly compete, plus the missing deserved nominees are not present
- Should win: "The Dark Knight"
- Who I want to win: "The Dark Knight"

Here are the rest of my picks for other categories:
- Best Animated Film: "WALL-E" (duh -- although I've never seen it)
- Best Art Direction: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
- Best Cinematography: "Slumdog Millionaire"
- Best Costume Design: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
- Best Documentary: "Man On Wire"
- Best Film Editing: "Slumdog Millionaire"
- Best Foreign Language Film: "Waltz With Bashir"
- Best Makeup: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
- Best Score: "Slumdog Millionaire"
- Best Song: "Jai Ho" (Should have been "The Wrestler" -- I'm sure you'll agree)
- Best Sound Editing: "Slumdog Millionaire"
- Best Sound Mixing: "Slumdog Millionaire"
- Best Live Short Film: "The Pig"
- Best Animated Short Film: "Presto"
- Best Documentary Short Subject: "The Witness - From The Balcony of Room 306"

- Best Visual Effects: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

- Best Adapted Screenplay: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

- Best Original Screenplay: "Milk"

Notes:
- Brad Pitt for Best Actor because, in one of your weakest performances to date, you preened your way through the movie? Could your facial expressions not change because of the latex makeup?
- P.S. Hoffman -- P.S. you look, speak and behave the same way in every role. I kept seeing you as Capote in "Doubt."
- Angelina Jolie, you creeped me out big time in "Changeling." And no, you already won for this role in "Girl, Interrupted."
- Amy Adams, you were so awesome in "Doubt" -- it's too bad it's not going to you. Soon, you'll be enchanted.
- I wish the Best Animated Film category will go away because really, Hollywood churns out too much cartoon schmaltz. Low-quality moneymakers.
- I really didn't think "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was that good at all, but I want David Fincher to win because he is my boy.
- Why doesn't the Academy just create a Best Biopic category so that all the conventional, souped-up, madeover life stories can compete with each other and not waste Best Picture room?

Enjoy the show!