Oscars

The Evolution of March Madness: How Come Talent is “God Given” When there is no God?

Christian Buckley — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:20:18 -0700

The Evolution of March Madness Evolution:

How Come Talent is “God Given” When there is no God?

I don’t profess to be an expert on evolution or the defense of creation. I can’t explain the mutative process and how only some mutations are passed down and some are not. I can’t explain how natural selection, in combination with randomness and time, has produced human beings. At the end of the day, I really can’t explain why, “Evolution means that we’re all distant cousins: humans and oak trees, hummingbirds and whales.”

What I can tell you is that most of the world that has a platform to talk about it, at least in the media, seems to reject any possibility for a creator. Not hard to see that.

But what I find really interesting is that same “media” – the one that finds the idea of God as creator synonymous with garden gnomes as mischievous creatures that ruin my strawberries -- uses the phrase “God given talent” quite a bit. As I was watching the NCAA Tournament over the weekend, and the Oscars before that, and the Super Bowl before that my ears just continued to be pricked by commentators constantly referring to a standout actor, musician or athlete as having “God given talent.”

It’s the go to phrase when there just seems to be an astounding difference between say Lebron James and the next best athlete. Like when the Jamaican runner Usain Bolt smashed the world record in the 100 meter dash a few years back and there was no way to explain it really other than aparently God given talent. When an actor, say a really young one, just has an unparalleled ability to present that art or when a phenom artist or musician just pops up – God given talent.

ABOVE LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By1JQFxfLMM

Not once have I ever heard a media personality say, “What amazing evolutionary talent that player has” or “just look at the power of mutation, natural selection, and time at work.”

So how come when most of the enlightened part of the world thinks I have more in common with the UCLA or Florida mascots (bruins and gators) than a creative force do we still fall back on God as the final explanation for uncanny unexplainable human ability?

Maybe we just haven’t evolved beyond that silliness. Or maybe we just can’t get away from the fact that when we witness something truly amazing like a Jimmer Fredette jump shot – we intrinsically know that whatever is good and beautiful and astounding might not have trickled down from goo.

Jimmer Fredette Photo: Robert Beck/SI http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1103/ncaa-best-shots-tournament/content.34.html

Waiting for Oscar and Moon

Christopher Faris — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:15:46 -0800

The Oscar’s held very little surprise, and what has already been written so far across “the internets” covers the highlights – MoNique and Sandra’s speeches, The Hurt Locker’s win, The Kanye moment, and the hosts. It really was a predictable affair if you were to read up ever so little beforehand.

Oscar is continuing to mean very little to me other than a voting party with friends and family. The revelation that people campaign for their nomination and win sucked a lot of air out of the festivities. This isn’t your high school’s ASB, we can already judge your performance. You don’t need to tell us what you will do for us this year, you already did it. If your performance deserved it, then good for you – here’s a vote. I understand the double edged sword. Out of the loads of films to be considered, not everyone can actually see them all. But if people aren’t taking the time to watch the films, doesn’t that diminish the value of the statue?

Out of all the nominees, there is one nomination that was missing – Sam Rockwell as best actor for “Moon.” “Moon” is a sci-fi gem directed by Duncan Jones (who happens to be the son of David Bowie). In the film, an astronaut named Sam (played by Sam Rockwell) is mining the minerals on the moon to create a super energy for the earth. His only companion is a robot named Gerty, voiced by Kevin Spacey. Gerty has all the awareness of HAL, but we are left to wonder if the awareness is diabolical or trustworthy. Since this is a film, things go from great to not so great after the stage is set.

Sam Rockwell is left to deliver the story by himself. His performance demands a split personality of line delivery and physical presence. The whole film rests on him, and he delivers big. He sustains the viewer’s attention throughout the film with his charm, wit, and believability. This is the kind of film best discovered on its own, with little reading up beforehand.

If Sam’s role were played by a more high profile celebrity, “Moon” would have garnered a few nominations. Perhaps to get noticed, Meryl Streep or Kate Winslet could have played the role of Sam in Sam Rockwell’s place. Or, maybe the filmmakers and producers could have made a few more paint made posters and hung them around Hollywood High advertising Sam’s name on them to get noticed during award season.

But then again, who cares. There were some great films to see this year and as you are catching up on them, check out “Moon.”

The Nominees Should Be...

Brett McCracken — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:42:19 -0800

Today was the deadline for the 5,777 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to turn in their completed nominations ballots for the 2010 awards. The resulting nominations will be announced February 2 and the ceremony will be March 7.

I’m sure I’ll be mostly disappointed when the nominations are actually announced (and Avatar gets 9 nominations), so I’ll take this opportunity to put forth the nominations I’d like to see, if I could have my way:

Best Picture
Summer Hours
The White Ribbon
Inglourious Basterds
The Hurt Locker
A Serious Man
Invictus
The Last Station
The Road
Up
Bright Star

Best Director
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon
Jane Campion, Bright Star
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Lorna’s Silence

Best Actor
Viggo Mortenson, The Road
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Joaquin Phoenix, Two Lovers
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Actress
Tilda Swinton, Julia
Abbie Cornish, Bright Star
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Arta Dobroshi, Lorna’s Silence

Best Supporting Actor
James McAvoy, The Last Station
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Paul Schneider, Bright Star

Best Supporting Actress
Gwenyth Paltrow, Two Lovers
Melanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds
Rachel Weisz, The Brothers Bloom
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Julianne Moore, A Single Man

Best Foreign Film
Still Walking (Japan)
Letters to Father Jacob (Finland)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
The Headless Woman (Argentina)
Gomorra (Italy)

PRECIOUS AND RARE

Craig Detweiler — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:39:21 -0800

Precious is the most basic, extraordinary and humane film of 2009. After a summer of silliness, Precious arrives as a bracing alternative, powered by jolting performances from Mo’Nique and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe. It takes viewers inside the tragic life of a teen mother. It puts a face on poverty, abuse, and perseverance. Precious offers hard-earned hope amidst overwhelming odds.

I had the privilege of seeing Precious on the night it won the Grand Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Director Lee Daniel was delighted to discover that ‘white folk’ liked his unapologetically ‘black’ film. Initially, it was called Push: Based upon the Novel by Sapphire. It arrived at Sundance with little fanfare, but got way under audiences' skin. Now, the star (and theme) of the film has been pushed to the forefront—everything revolves around Precious. Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey have added their endorsement. Viewers have responded by breaking box office records in both upscale art-houses and down-home black theaters. Just as pundits declared independent film dead, Precious redefines what's possible.

Why have audiences dared to care? Precious reminds us of the humanizing possibilities of film. It takes us inside a corner of America we overlook and avoid. It is a harrowing journey. But the raw truth contained in Precious serves as a bracing tonic during our tough times. To those feeling overwhelmed, Precious defiantly asks, "You think you've got problems?" The story humbles us all. Precious deserves to become an Oscar-fueled sensation.

Her monosyllabic answers initially make Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) easy to dismiss. She seems slow, unresponsive, barely alive. But as Precious reveals her secrets, we come to understand how and why she speaks so tentatively. Her mother, Mary, (played by Mo’Nique) comes across as a corrosive monster. She systematically shreds all sense of worth and purpose percolating in Precious. We catch glimpses of Precious’ hopes and dreams and long to deliver them. Her teacher, Ms. Rain, and her social worker, Mrs. Weiss, serve as audience surrogates, trying to draw out the repressed Precious. The further we venture down her Harlem rabbit hole, the more daunting her situation appears. Understanding what happened remains a small consolation. The horrors that Precious endures would surely break most of us. But her spirit is indomitable.

Precious and this move both defy the odds. How rare to see teenagers taken so seriously. How shocking to see sexual abuse addressed so directly. How surprising to see musical megastars like Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey subsume to such sobering material. How frightening to see Mo’Nique descend into such a scary place. How amazing to discover that the perky Gabby Sidibe is nothing like the depressed teenager she portrays. This is a celebration of black women made for all audiences with a pulse.

It snapped me back to my years in the black community in Charlotte. I started urban Young Life in my hometown because I sensed that God saw all teens, “red and yellow, black and white,” as precious in his sight. I never forgot that. But I put my neighbors’ plight on the back burner while I undertook marriage, grad school, and parenting. I may have changed, but unfortunately, the problems of inner city teens remain largely unchanged. Precious serves notice that we cannot continue placing Band-Aids on bullet wounds. It assaults our academic discussions of healthcare and education reform. A bumper sticker like “Just Say No” just doesn’t cut it in the situation that stymies Precious. Only a long walk alongside her, in the conscientious caring of Ms. Rain and Mrs. Weiss, begins to give Precious a sense of possibility.

My Alternate Oscar Nominations

Brett McCracken — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:19:37 -0800

Over at Relevantmagazine.com yesterday, I wrote about who I predicted would win this Sunday’s Academy Awards. I mentioned that this year’s nominations were among the worst I’d ever seen, and that if I could come up with my own nomination list, it would probably be about 80% different than what the Academy came up with. Well, below is my own alternate set of nominations in fifteen of the top categories (totally disregarding eligibility rules). And it looks like they are actually 73% different… but you get the point.

Best Picture
Paranoid Park
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Director
Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Gus Van Sant, Paranoid Park
Charlie Kauffman, Synecdoche, New York
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Woody Allen, Cassandra’s Dream

Best Actor:
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Benicio Del Toro, Che
Michael Fassbinder, Hunger

Best Actress:
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Kristen Scott Thomas, I’ve Loved You So Long
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Michelle Williams, Wendy & Lucy
Juliette Binoche, Flight of the Red Balloon

Supporting Actor:
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Chris Messina, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Jeffrey Wright, W.

Supporting Actress:
Viola Davis, Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Debra Winger, Rachel Getting Married
Tilda Swinton in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Documentary:
Man on Wire
American Teen
Encounters at the End of the World
Standard Operating Procedure
The Unforeseen

Best Foreign Film:
The Class (France)
Hunger (Ireland)
Silent Light (Mexico)
Let the Right One In (Sweden)
Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

Best Original Screenplay
Synecdoche, New York
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rachel Getting Married
Gran Torino
Burn After Reading

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Darkest Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Paranoid Park
Frost/Nixon
Doubt

Best Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Darkest Knight
Synecdoche, New York
Revolutionary Road
Cassandra’s Dream

Best Original Song
Bruce Springsteen, “The Wrestler” (The Wrestler)
Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, “Gran Torino” (Gran Torino)
Peter Gabriel, “Down to Earth” (Wall E)

Cinematography:
Revolutionary Road
Paranoid Park
Ballast
Chop Shop
Hunger

Art Direction
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mister Lonely
The Fall
Australia
Synecdoche, New York

Costume Design
Australia
The Fall
Mister Lonely
Revolutionary Road
The Dark Knight

OSCAR RACE: Harvey vs. The Ram

Craig Detweiler — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:49:03 -0800

Slumdog Millionaire will win the Academy Award for Best Picture. But what about the acting categories? Months ago, I championed two big performances in small movies. I was thrilled to see Melissa Leo nominated for Frozen River and Richard Jenkins honored for The Visitor. Both films are modest in scope but grand in their execution. They put a human face on the immigration issue, exploring lives on the margins, at the edges of the American dream. For independent films, it is a victory just to be nominated. So who will win the Oscar?

Best actor has become a two horse race: Harvey Milk vs. Randy the Ram. The Screen Actors Guild honored Sean Penn for his compassionate portrait of San Francisco supervisor, Harvey Milk. Mickey Rourke gave a poignant acceptance speech at the Golden Globes for his bruised and broken down role as The Wrestler. Both Oscar campaigns are fueled by the connections between reel life and real life.

Milk has grown in relevance after Proposition 8 overturned the California Supreme Court’s affirmation of gay marriage. The movie focuses upon Harvey Milk’s role in repealing a 1978 proposition prohibiting gay people from serving as public school teachers. It celebrates Milk’s trailblazing election while reminding viewers how tenuous gay rights remain thirty years on. Milk carries a message Hollywood wants to highlight on Oscar night.

Yet, The Wrestler also contains a compelling meta-story. The faded glory of pro wrestler Randy the Ram is mirrored by actor Mickey Rourke’s turbulent career. Rourke and the Ram both struggle with addictions, distance themselves from those who seek to help them, and self-inflict all manner of pain. A victory for The Wrestler would complete Rourke’s professional rehabilitation. And Hollywood loves a comeback story.

Beyond the back-stories, how does the work of Penn and Rourke compare? Both films are a form of canonization. They are steeped in suffering, in determination, in perseverance. Milk and The Wrestler are tragedies, stories of fighters who are cut off far too soon. But the grainy cinematography of The Wrestler contrasts with the studio glow that burnishesMilk. Will Academy voters go for gritty or polished, handheld or upheld?

Milk venerates an enduring role model for gay activists and progressive politicians. Dustin Lance Black’s script shows how gradually Harvey discovered his calling as “the Mayor of Castro Street.” The road from small business owner to tireless community organizer was full of false starts and disappointments. But Milk and the movie never stop recruiting us to join their cause. Sean Penn’s Harvey Milk charms us with a quick smile. He relishes the challenge of wooing skeptical voters. He talks his lovers into enduring another grueling campaign. His singular focus is shown to have a substantial personal cost. Thanks to Penn’s compassionate performance, we feel with and for Harvey.

The sunny optimism of Milk is counterbalanced by the creepiness Josh Brolin brings to his portrayal of Supervisor Dan White. In a year without Heath Ledger’s Joker, Brolin would have garnered an Oscar. His haunted, stuffed shirt unravels in an entirely believable way. White doesn’t seem like a monster–just a repressed, angry and average American. He stands in for our worst tendencies, the dark side of our culture that rages against Harvey Milk’s happiness.

The Wrestler presents Rourke as a “sacrificial Ram.” A handheld camera follows the Ram through the bowels of decrepit arenas. Director Darren Aronofsky places us inside the ring, amidst the Ram’s blood, sweat and tears. We see the tricks of the wrestling trade, from hidden razor blades to cabinets full of painkillers. We understand how much entertainment is built into the wrestling biz, as the competitors discuss their moves before they enter the ring. Scenes of staples piercing the Ram’s bronze body make us wince. The Wrestler descends into a theater of cruelty.

Much has been made of Rourke’s tendency to hide as an actor behind sunglasses or accents or tics. The Wrestler reveals and revels in all his scars. Rourke’s performance feels naked and unguarded. It is out there, in the ring, for all to see. Marisa Tomei matches him in her role as a fading stripper. She reveals even more flesh and bears her wounds with equal empathy. The Wrestler veers dangerously close to exploiting its actors. But Tomei’s fearless performance deserves another Oscar as best supporting actress. She provides a living embodiment of hope, a potential escape route from the Ram’s downward spiral.

So who will win the Oscar for Best Actor? Sean Penn’s volatile reputation vanishes within the warmth of Milk. Penn disappears in the role, allowing Harvey to emerge. Rourke and the Ram merge their professional and personal demons. The movie and role could not have happened without Rourke. For my money, best actor belongs to those who travel the farthest, who take us on the deepest ride. Rourke has traveled a long way from his professional heights. But Penn goes further in inhabiting a different place and space and person. He finds the soul of a secular saint, a beacon of light amidst a dark era. We’re dragged down with the Ram. We transcend our circumstances with Milk. Best actor in 2008? Sean Penn.