It is the last day (okay evening, I got off to a late start) of 2004, and we all know what that means - the studios are pushing our their last attempts at Oscar nominations. Movies with good buzz, but executives were unsure if it was Oscar worthy buzz.
So now you can push these out in hopes of generating some late breaking Oscar quality talk, without looking like a schmuck if it doesn't work out and you get completely ignored in the nomination process.
In my eyes, you'll still look like a schmuck.
1) In Good Company
2) The Merchant of Venice
3) A Love Song for Bobby Long
Beyond the Sea
If it weren’t for the fact that this was a biopic of Bobby Darrin, the movie would have been more appropriately titled, "Jerks and the Gorgeous Women the Mysteriously Love Them." No doubt entertaining, but there are far better choices available and this will be out on DVD soon Sandra Dee.
In Good Company
I was tempted to ignore this weekend entirely, but I really wanted to talk about this picture.
A good husband and father gets demoted and then a young and uncertain business school grad gets his old job and becomes his boss. The fresh-faced manager then falls in love with his subordinate's daughter, which adds new layers to an already complicated work relationship.
It looks funny, poignant, and touches on the nature of pride verses responsibility and the bond between fathers and daughters.
Crap like that always brings me to tears.
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Don't bother. It's all about a guy who's so depressed he feels that killing the President is the only solution. Because he's depressed, it makes for a very slow movie, which makes you depressed, and no good can come of that.
The Merchant of Venice
Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fines, and Al Pachino interpret the words of Shakespeare. How can you go wrong?
A Love Song for Bobby Long
I guess Scarlett Johanson has been a very busy girl. Here she plays young (almost but not quite) white trash, who co-inherits a house in New Orleans along with a ner-do-well English professor and his protégé. She moves in and begins to change things for the better.
It sounds tired but the dialogue seems interesting.