{Originally published in Man of the Hour Magazine on December 8th, 2014}
Well folks, turkey day and Black Friday held us up a bit, but the Buzz is back and refreshed from the break. What better way to celebrate this black friday week than a film about black holes? We also take a look at a new Youtube series about our nation’s strangest president, examine the Independent Spirit nominees, and review a new short film. So punch another notch in your belt after leftovers so you can strap in to this week’s buzz.
Movies: There’s been a lot of talk about who will take home the Best Actor trophy this year. That talk ends the minute The Theory of Everything begins to spin in its (sadly digital) projector. This exceptional biopic following the courtship and struggles of Stephen and Jane Hawking from their first meeting through his struggles with ALS and their inevitable divorce, Eddie Redmayne gives the kind of powerhouse performance seen but once in a decade or so. The film itself is delicately handled, taking a subject that could have easily been the Oscar bait its trailer-only viewing critics deride it as, and instead handling it with both passion and compassion, every shot and scene crafted with care to make the best film they can rather than simply try and take home gold (I described it to a friend as A Beautiful Mind that tried to be a memorable movie). It’s one of the must-sees of the awards season, and a powerful piece of work.
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Want something a more upbeat? Well, the last guy to play Stephen Hawking, Benedict Cumberbatch, is back on the big screen twice this year. And while the kids certainly own’t go crazy for his drama The Imitation Game, they’ll likely love the colorful adventures of the memorable mob of monochrome critters who delighted us in the otherwise average Madagascar films. The penguins are back, plotting another…something. It’s not overly clear, but the fact is everyone loves watching animals do people things, and its hard to be hard on a film where Benedict Cumberbatch plays a cartoon wolf surrounded by penguins (an animal he evidently can’t say the name of).
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TV: As the intro to this surprisingly brilliant Youtube original miniseries explains, Richard Nixon, in some fit of delusion or paranoia, requested that his office and phones be wired to record his every interaction. Of course, those records, and the attempts to destroy them, are what lead to Nixon’s downfall during the tumultuous Watergate scandal. Now, some 40 years later, the transcripts of those tapes are being mined for comedy gold as Simpsons’ alum Harry Shearer takes on the mysterious and complex former leader of the free world, reenacting the actual conversations from the tapes. Without changing a word, Shearer and co. manage to heighten the awkwardness and thereby the hilarity of these absurd, almost unbelievable conversations which took place behind the closed doors of the Oval Office, and depict a strange, unsettling man who one sat within it.
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News: This week saw the announcement of the Independent Spirit Awards, an awards show meaning to honor the best of independent films, whilst shunning those major studio pictures with the glitz, glamour, and massive amounts of money (even though that line betwixt is continually getting blurred). One of the earliest awards shows to announce their nominees, they’re also one of the latest to air, giving their statues just a day before the Academy gives out the Oscar, and these days, its to the same people. Last year, 12 Years a Slavetook home both awards shows’ Best Picture trophies, as did The Artist in 2011. Of course, the year in between saw the Oscar go to Warner Bros. Argo, while the Indie Sprit went to “is it really an indie if its chock full of major stars and has an A-list director” film Silver Linings Playbook, whose lead actress Jennifer Lawrence took home Best Actress at both awards shows that year.
This year sees five films duking it out for Best Picture at the Independent Sprit Awards, even though its not so much a battle royale as a David v. Goliath with three guys on the side hoping to get a swing in. Critical darling and gargantuan cinematic achievement Boyhood is poised to snatch up the prize (as it seems poised to do even on Oscar night), while Birdman, with a win at (ironically) the Gotham film awards as the dark horse in the race. Rounding out the list of hopefuls are the romantic dramedy Love Is Strange, the race relations period piece Selma and the Sundance winner Whiplash.
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Short Film: A near silent film, Playground proves itself to be the type of film that can truly be whatever the viewer chooses to read it as. Whether its just a sweet and stellarly animated distraction, a story of how creativity and competition can forge friendships through childish play, or a parable about global conflict and escalation, Playground is the kind of near abstract imagery that sparks the imagination and fuels debate.
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