Nebraska: One Last Road Trip

The Oscars are next Sunday so I was scrambling to finish watching all the Best Picture nominees. I finally saw the last movie on my list - Nebraska. Shot in stark black and white and featuring a host of memorable performances, this is another fine family tragicomedy from director Alexander Payne.

The movie stars Bruce Dern as Woody Grant, an elderly man living in Billings, Montana, who has Alzheimer's and is convinced he has won a $1 million sweepstakes prize when he receives a letter in the mail. He keeps wandering off from his house, determined to walk to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim his prize, and his son, David (Will Forte), has to pick him up from the police station each time. David knows the letter is a scam, but he can't convince his father. He gets no help from his mother, Kate (June Squibb), who is fed up with Woody's fantasies and alcoholism, and his brother, Robb (Bob Odenkirk), who wants to put Woody in a retirement home. But David can't bring himself to dash his father's dreams, so he finally agrees to indulge the old man and drive him to Nebraska.

What follows is a family trip in the tradition of a movie like Little Miss Sunshine or Payne's most recent film, The Descendants. Although David and Woody are the only ones who set off for Lincoln, events lead them to arrange a reunion with Woody's friends and relatives in his hometown of Hawthorne, and Kate and Robb come down to join them. David urges his father not to mention the sweepstakes prize, but word gets out and everyone in Hawthorne is abuzz with the news that Woody Grant is about to become a millionaire. Old enmities and friendships come to light, and as everyone tries to take advantage of Woody, you discover that his wife and sons are still fiercely protective of him. It's a grand story of a family coming together in a very bizarre situation and it is hilarious and moving to watch.

Of particular note is June Squibb's Academy Award-nominated performance. She initially seems like a much put-upon harridan, but as the movie progresses we discover she is a witty, vivacious woman who really does love Woody, despite the many ups and downs in their relationship. Will Forte is calm and understated throughout, turning David into a voice of reason and a reliable rock for the family to lean on. And of course, Bruce Dern is incredible, generating sympathy for a man who initially seems like he doesn't deserve much love. Over the course of the movie we learn about the people and events that turned Woody into the man he is now and it is a spectacular character study. Writer Bob Nelson's script is filled with equal amounts of humor and pathos and it is populated by some of the most nuanced and complicated characters you could hope to meet.

Alexander Payne's use of black and white cinematography is in stark contrast to the lush colorfulness of the Hawaiian landscape in The Descendants. In Nebraska, there's a sameness to all the surroundings, which puts your focus squarely on the characters, whose actions are anything but black and white. You will be exposed to the full spectrum of human emotion during this movie, and it's a journey you won't easily forget.

Judging Jewell: Recognizing a Hero

ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series is aimed at highlighting people or events that received little attention or did not get their due. That philosophy has carried into their online-only 30 for 30 Shorts series, with wonderfully-produced short films about people and events you should know about. Thanks to a tweet by NPR's Linda Holmes, I was alerted to the release of Judging Jewell, a thoughtful and insightful look at a true hero who mistakenly got labelled as a villain.

On July 27, during the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, a bomb went off in Centennial Olympic Park. 111 people were injured and 2 died, but the death toll could have been even higher were it not for Richard Jewell, a security guard who spotted the suspicious-looking backpack containing the bomb. He raised the alarm and helped clear the immediate area, but the bomb went off before everyone could leave. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Jewell was rightfully hailed as a hero, a man who had saved hundreds of lives with his quick thinking. But as officials scrambled to find out who the bomber was, and members of the media were rushing for a story, things took an ugly turn. The FBI suddenly decided that Jewell might fit the profile of a bomber, and once the media discovered he was a suspect, all hell broke loose.

For 88 days, Jewell was subjected to libelous attacks, unable to leave his home without being tailed by the FBI and followed by the press. The Atlanta newspaper spun stories about his possible involvement in the bombing, reporting on half-truths and speculation, and the journalists who had embraced him as a hero just a few days ago, ferociously turned on him, convinced that he was the villain. He was cruelly treated and misrepresented, until October 1996, when he was finally cleared of all suspicion. In 2005, he was completely exonerated when Eric Robert Rudolph was convicted for the bombing and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Judging Jewell is only 20 minutes long but it is a powerful tale about the power of the media to influence and distort public perception. You may be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, but the media has no such scruples. Richard Jewell was a man who should have been honored and celebrated for his bravery on June 27, 1996. Instead he was treated with suspicion and hostility, and never recovered from his fall from grace. He died in 2007 believing that he would never be remembered for his good deeds. Therefore, Judging Jewell is a vital documentary, a chance to recognize this man as the hero he was and restore the memory of his good name.

The Monuments Men: Artists Vs Nazis

I wanted to watch The Monuments Men ever since the first trailer came out in August. The release date kept getting pushed, and my anticipation kept building until finally, last weekend, I sat down in the theater, all agog. And my excitement gradually deflated until I left the theater saying, "Well, that wasn't great."

Based on the book of the same name by Robert Edsel, The Monuments Men tells the amazing true story of a World War II Allied unit, comprised of art historians and museum curators, whose job was to head into the front lines and tell the soldiers what they could and couldn't bomb in order to preserve important works of art and architecture. These men were generally received with derision by commanders who weren't about to compromise any missions to preserve something they deemed as insignificant as art. But as the movie restates multiple times, a civilization is defined by the accumulation of years of art and accomplishments. Hitler wanted to destroy any unacceptable art, burning multiple Piccasos and Dalis, and he stole other priceless works from private collections in Paris to fill a Fuhrer Museum that he intended to build in Germany. The Monuments Men were tasked with retrieving that stolen art, and ensuring that centuries of European civilization wouldn't be swept away by one man.

We can all agree this is a fantastic story, filled with excitement, nobility of purpose, genuinely heroic heroes and dastardly villains. The trouble is that the movie cannot figure out if this movie is a comedy or a drama, and by trying to be both, it turns into an insipid affair that achieves neither. George Clooney (who stars in the film apart from also directing, producing and co-writing with Grant Heslov) has amassed an epic cast of actors. Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville, and Jean Dujardin make up the Monuments Men squad, while Cate Blanchett plays Claire Simone, a Frenchwoman who worked under the noses of the Germans during the Paris occupation and kept intricate notes about all the artwork they had stolen and where it was being taken. The first ten minutes of this film set up the premise, and features a montage straight out of Ocean's Eleven as Lt. Frank Stokes (Clooney) is given permission by the President to assemble his team. As he travels to disparate places to gather his motley crew, I half expected some funky Vegas music to play in the background.

The rest of the movie proceeds like a series of sketches. The men partner up and travel to different front lines so we get snatches of what each team is up to, some of which is funny, some of which is tragic, all of which is fairly rambling. Towards the end, the team re-assembles and further hi-jinx ensue. But at the same time, we get Clooney's patriotic voice-over, explaining the importance of what is going on, how these men would risk their lives for a piece of art, how evil the Nazis are (in case you didn't know that already), and rah, rah, America. Even the score soars jingoistically with campy war marches, and you simply can't figure out if you're supposed to feel amused, horrified, uplifted, or saddened. It's a problem I noticed even in the trailers for this film - they either went all out promoting it as a comedy, or all out promoting it as a serious war film. The actual product is a tonal mess, which is apparently the reason its release was pushed so many times.

The Monuments Men has all the right ingredients but they've been thrown together in an uneven script that dooms the entire enterprise. This is by no means the worst movie I've seen, but it is packed with unrealized potential. There was a lot of incredible acting talent and a fascinating story to tell here, but instead, it was distilled down to a two-hour heist movie about middle-aged artists outsmarting Nazis. I cannot claim to know how the tonal problems could have been fixed, but I do know that this attempt did not work. 

About Time: Finding Love Through Time Travel

About Time is a movie written and directed by Richard Curtis. That one fact instantly determines whether or not you will like this movie. If, like me, you are in the pro-Curtis camp and willing to accept some treacly sentiment alongside the heartening charm, you will thoroughly enjoy About Time. If, however, you are one of the anti-Curtis zealots who come out of the woodwork every Christmas to pen lengthy diatribes about Love Actually, this is emphatically not the movie for you.

Still with me? Good. The movie features the very charming (and very ginger) Domhnall Gleeson as Tim, a man who is told on his 21st birthday that the men in his family have the ability to travel back in time. The purveyor of this information is Tim's dad, James, played by Bill Nighy who is twinkly, weird, and marvelous in this role. As evidenced by the fact that he mostly uses his time-traveling skill to have more time to read books, particularly Dickens. There's a man after my own heart. Young Tim, however, is slightly less preoccupied with the classics, so he uses his newfound ability to get a girlfriend. This doesn't go according to plan until he moves to London and meets Mary (the always resplendent Rachel McAdams).

Tim's initial meet-cute with Mary is delightful and the two share an instant connection. Unfortunately, due to a time-traveling mission Tim undertakes for a friend, he loses Mary's contact details, and even when he manages to track her down, she has lost all memory of him. What follows is a funny (more pragmatic folk might say "creepy") attempt to win her over again by some judicious time travel and stalking.

Tim and Mary's love story is sweet and Gleeson and McAdams share a wonderful chemistry. But the movie is also about Tim's love for his sister Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson), and his deep love for his dad. Kit Kat is an elfin girl who gradually sinks under the weight of poor life decisions, and Tim discovers one of the hazards of time travel when he tries to fix her life for her. Then later, Tim has to face the harsh reality that time travel doesn't grant immortality and his time with his father is finite.

About Time is bittersweet and endearing, the hallmark of any Richard Curtis film. If you take your time-traveling tales very seriously, do NOT watch this movie, because the rules of time travel are very loosely constructed and contradicted as the plot demands. This isn't really a movie about time travel anyway but a movie about appreciating and loving life. So set aside your sarcasm, put the kettle on, and enjoy a simple story about a man and the people he loves. 

Philomena: An Astonishing Quest

Philomena is about a woman who was forced to work in a convent and give up her son for adoption in 1950s Ireland when she got pregnant out of wedlock. 50 years later, with the help of a cynical BBC journalist, the now 70-year old Philomena travels to Ireland and the United States to find out what happened to her long-lost son. The most remarkable thing about this story? It's completely true.

Judi Dench turns in an affecting (and Oscar-nominated) performance as Philomena Lee, a conventional yet remarkable woman who kept this secret hidden for decades until she could no longer lie to herself and those around her. And Steve Coogan (who also co-wrote the Oscar-nominated script with Jeff Pope) is brilliant as Martin Sixsmith, a disgraced political journalist who was reluctant to write a human interest story but gradually became Philomena's champion. The screenplay is based on Martin Sixsmith's book, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, which I will be picking up from the library as soon as possible. 

This is a beautiful and surprising story, with many unexpected twists that prove that truth is stranger than fiction. It is also a tragic tale, featuring the all-too familiar narrative of women being shamed and having their lives put in danger simply because they didn't live up to religious and social ideals. Philomena remains staunchly Catholic despite her trials, while Martin is a staunch atheist who rails against the nuns who treated her so poorly, and the interaction between these two people sets up many thought-provoking arguments about the value of faith and forgiveness. 

Despite the somber story, Coogan and Pope have woven light comedic moments throughout the script and you will find yourself chuckling through your tears. Director Stephen Frears has paced the film beautifully, never letting it tip too far into melodrama or farce, and keeps the focus on the unlikely duo of Philomena and Martin as they seek long sought-after truths. The background score by Alexandre Desplat is wondrous, softening the harsh realities that Philomena encounters in her search, and assuring us that she will persevere despite every setback.

Philomena is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, a movie that burrows its way into your bones. It features two incredible performances based on an impeccable script and is a wonderful example of how extraordinary a seemingly ordinary life can be. It's a story that you absolutely need to see to believe. 

Tenth of December: Short Epics

As various people published their year-end lists of the best literature of 2013, I kept seeing one name: Tenth of December by George Saunders. A collection of American short stories is usually not something I'd find appealing. But halfway through the first story, Victory Lap, I was hooked. I devoured the rest of the stories and now I encourage you to follow suit.

It is so difficult to construct a compelling short story. Oftentimes they become mere musings, snatches of time and moments that feel too ephemeral to be memorable. But the stories in Tenth of December feature fully-realized characters and compelling, nail-biting narratives that make you turn the pages with urgency and give you a sense of fulfillment as you uncover their secrets. Each story feels like a novel in its scope and yet is told in a few pages. It's a bewildering and bewitching feat.

I simply cannot discuss the stories in detail because you must discover their joys for yourself. All I can say is that some are set in ordinary American life that is turned upside-down in startling fashion. Others feature beguiling futuristic elements that are woven so intricately into the narrative that you don't realize you're not reading about the present day until you suddenly discover what the characters have actually been talking about all this time. 

Tenth of December is a true literary masterpiece. It is not some collection of indulgent prose; it is storytelling of the highest order, filled with humor, drama, and an uncanny understanding of human beings. If you think you are not a short story person, this is the collection that will open your eyes to what this genre can accomplish in the hands of a master. Pick up this book and prepare to lose yourself in a brave new world.