Bill Simmons (Page 2 writer for ESPN.com) equates different game situations to what he calls “Levels of Losing”, each one is a different level of loss that your own sports team goes through now and again. Specifically, there are (in his most recent update) 16 levels of loss, Ranging from the “Princeton Principle”, when your team is expected to lose the big game against a vastly more talented foe, all the way to “Stomach Punch” (The sudden gut punch situation that leave you breathless, in writhing pain with no idea what you do next) and The “Goose/Maverick Tailspin” (taken from Top Gun, it is when you are watching terrible things unfold with no power to stop them, yet you’re along for the ride because your a part of this en masse).

The reason I bring these are up is because I see a personal connection with the people Ryan Bingham (Played by George Clooney) meets with daily face one of those two inevitable ends. I have been there in both – One job I watched it for 2 weeks going down the drain and could have possibly stopped it by begging and pleading for my life, the other was as harsh as a straight shot of moonshine down a sober man’s throat – harsh, burning, gut wrenching to the core. Your job is your relationship, for better or worse – sometimes it leaves you, sometimes you leave it. Sometimes it is amicable; most of the time, someone is left in pain.

Clooney plays a Termination specialist (Jokingly referred to in the office as “Terminators”) flying around the country firing people from their jobs for companies he is contracted to do terminations for. He spends 300+ days a year on the road (he states that the previous year he spent only 43 days in his apartment). he keeps everything separated – the people he sees in a day he will never see again, never stays in the same city 2 nights in a row, is always on the move isolated from the rest of the world, even a stranger to his own family.

I sat here, enthralled by all this and moved by my own sense having been on the other side of this and wondered: Why is Clooney nominated for an academy award? I wondered this for exactly 45 minutes and 30 seconds. Finally I see – Clooney gives a speech about how having relationships with anyone can weigh you down. Funny and impassioned (in a presenter-esque way) my first instinct was this was George Clooney’s “Greed” Speech (Parallel between Michael Douglas in his Academy Award winning role as Gordon Gecko in 1987′s “Wall Street”)

It was as if my eyes had opened.

I felt like I looked at Clooney differently for the rest of the film. Finally, for the first time, I can see his solace, his vulnerability, his sorrow, his sweet and poignant side that I have been waiting for years to see. I have known he has has a role like this in him, and I simply cry out for “More!” – though his role didn’t change much begining to end, it is instead you change perceptions for the better.

Jason Reitman has a touch as a director not often seen in this day and age. Young, Still evolving, he is learning how to let the seen grow on his own – the screenplay is the seed, the talent is the water and fertilizer, he is simply the gardener, letting the flower bloom. He adds a soft touch and grace to this, allowing it to take you emotionally through the story, not just being wrapped up in the characters.

Vera Farmiga (as Alex Goran) and Anna Kendrick (as Natalie Keener) do well sharing not only the screen but occasionally stealing the spotlight from Clooney (not an easy task) but they are not academy worth in these roles. Though both strong and capable, neither is true an Oscar worthy performance.

Those of us (and I certainly hope I am not the only one) who can remember when Planes, Trains and Automobiles came out, remember the follies of travel well; this film takes up back with fond memories to that time. 23 years later, we finally have a film worth to live up to that. A finely woven story, with solid to superb performances with only the hint of touches needed by the director.

Even now, 1 hour after the film ended, I still have these swirling emotions inside, and a tear in my eye – I might need to watch it again just to try to figure out why.

With sadness comes hope.

Thats the overwhelming sentiment I have about the film “Precious”, the story of an unfortunate incest survivor whose own father is the father of her own 2 kids. Layered amidst flights of fancy to escape the harsh realities she is trying to face, the protagonists struggles to find not only self worth, but security and well being in a world she doesn’t trust.

Precious (Played by Gabourey Sidibe) was not a deep character to play, suffering with her secrets and pain in silence. The only joy you ever see from the character comes from her daydreams, fantasies, and flights of fancy, her escape for reality. Otherwise, the character did not call for much from her, not enough to warrant a best actress nomination, let alone a win. Mo’Nique (As Precious’ mother) has the range necessary for an Oscar: prone to fits of sudden rage and anger, a character you can both pity and despise at the same time. For the first time in any role I have ever seen her in, she actually come across as vulnerable, moving, strong yet out of control.

Only one other time in the Academy’s history has an Afri can-American film maker been up for Best Director (John Singleton, Boyz n The Hood), so Lee Daniels is in rarefied air at this point. The film is solid from a film makers standpoint, and he draws a good performance from Gabourney Sidibe, and a very good performance from Mo’Nique, otherwise, the film isn’t spectacular – the story itself, powerful, dramatic, dark and cruel – give the film the backbone it needs to stand. Otherwise, the would just be another offering.

The feeling I have, after watching the film, is that Mo’nique will probably be the only one walking away with hardware Oscar night – though, it is possible that writer Geoffry Fletcher might get a statue of his own.

As I sat down to Re-watch Inglourious Bastereds (I saw it about 4 weeks ago) I got a text. This was the conversation that ensued:
Me: And now (I’m watching)… Inglourious Basterds
LOS: I thought it was good but didn’t live up to expectations
Me: 10 yrs of work and his “Masterpeice”? Woefully short. Good none the less.
LOS: I actually don’t like Tarantino much lately. IB redeemed him slightly in my opinion.
Me: He peaked at Pulp Fiction – hard to go back to that.
LOS: True. Maybe you’ll disagree, but IB had more of a Coen Bros. vibe then Tarantino
Me: Scriptwise: Yes. Dramatically: Yes – But Quentin can’t build the drama the way they do. If they had this script, it would still be 2 hrs 33 min, but better. Much, much better.
LOS: Can’t argue with that logic.
Me: He throws in the dialogue between action, prefers jump cuts and no sense of true drama.
LOS: I think his use of violence is starting to work against him.
Me: Yes, but he has no other place to go. He isn’t skilled enough.

That synopsizes the film pretty well.

I am not going to lie, I like Tarantino. He writes natural dialogue well. He shoots films well. He works well with the talent. All around, he does everything well. Just not superb, like a man who has spent the last solid 25 years of his life to absorbing, watching, writing and creating films.

I love a good wwII film; I have a soft spot in my heart for The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen (Both of with influenced Tarantino in this) but I only liked this film. It was epic, grandiose, larger then life – fiction from the get go, yes, but still well written. And it is known that Tarantino already won an oscar for best Original screenplay, so he is very capable of writing another. The thing that bothers me, however – is the predictability of Tarantino now. A movie of one person hunting down a group? Uma Thurmon in Kill Bill/Col Landa. A group letting an individual to “tell the Story” after everyone else is killed? Natural Born Killers (Though he had his credit removed) and The Basterds. His strange foot fetish? Every single movie (The Foot Massage Discussion, Big Toe in Kill Bill, the shoe in Inglourious Basterds, From Dusk ‘Til Dawn… I am sure you have some of your own too)

The Point is: the habitual elements, including violence – they are detracting away from the film for me.

The best part I remember from me first viewing is Col Hans Landa (Played by Christoph Waltz) and how he seamlessly and comfortably transitioned from English to German to French to Italian. Along with the rest of his character, he was the brightest spot in the entire film, overshadowing the other characters with a brilliance you see from the very beginning.

Quentin has been calling this film his “Masterpiece”. 10 years, multiple re-writes in the making. When I think of Masterpiece, my mind goes to some of the greats: John Ford directing “Grapes of Wrath”. Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”. The yardstick for any true masterpiece, in my mind, is Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather”. Where does this measure up to “The Godfather”? Woefully short. Though this might be the very masterpiece of Tarantino’s career, I would say it hardly is a masterpiece overall. My basic feeling is that this film is worth a look, and is highly entertaining, but by far not the best film from the best director with the best script.

It was this time of year 8 years ago that i saw one of the best films ever made in my history of film class at Fitchburg state (shameless plug for my Alma Mater: Check). Before we watched Ladri di Biciclette, Dr. Bohrer explained why this film is so great, appearing on many top 10 lists of all time. “It isn’t because of the talent of the actors (who, in “Ladri di Biciclette” were not actors at all) but because of the way it is shot. You can feel the sorrow and despair in the characters, smell the stench coming up from the street, feel the heat – those things combine to create a story you can feel, not just watch”

As I watch a story about the last 38 days of a 3 man bomb diffusion team in Iraq, those words from Dr Bohrer ring as true today as they did in the spring of 2002. It is 64 degrees in my apartment, 21 degrees outside, yet I don’t even notice the cold as I watch the Hurt Locker. I am enraptured by the do or die moment my moment hanging, the adrenaline, the pure heat of desert warfare, the smells of the dead – all permeate into one solid fact – I know this is the best overall film I have seen all year.

The story is of team leader Sergeant William James (Played by Jeremy Renner) joining a new team in Bravo Company during their last 38 days of deployment. Setting an example of recklessness, it because quickly obvious to his team that Sgt James likes the high of danger that comes with dismantling IED’s in a war torn country. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the film brings home the feeling of war not captured in many recent films based in Iraq (Jarhead and Syrianna come to mind). Instead of putting the violence in your face, She instead keeps it minimal and at arms length, showing the uncomfortable nature of not knowing when your time is coming, and then – boom – the violence is gone in a flash leaving only silence in its wake. Being only the 4th female director (and only the second American – hard to believe but true) in history to be nominated for Best Director (the other 3: Lina Wertmüller for Seven beauties, Jane Campion for The Piano, and Sofia Coppola for Lost In Translation) and the fine quality of this film, I believe this to be her year to win.

Jeremy Renner is a fine actor (please reference “Dahmer” as an example) and relatively young by the Academy’s standards for Best Male Actor. Though solid in this role, nothing about it truly wows me. As I watched this the first time, I felt like this was a prequel to his character played in the movie “SWAT”; both are cocky, both have sharp military skills, both are loners, and both need to go away from their partners to prove themselves. That all being said, why does he deserve an Oscar for this role, and not one for “SWAT”?

The answer is: he doesn’t.

While I think Kathryn Bigelow should win either Best Picture or Best Director (putting her in uncharted territory history wise) I doubt she will take both in a year where she will be matched up against her ex husband’s epic AVATAR. Alas, but not unfortunate – for even though the pendulum may not swing this way for her on both, she will win one, and I imagine we will see the boy’s club open the door to a female member on March 7th.