For a new movie, just out and a bit of a surprise for me, we saw The Bank Job , rated on Rotten Tomatoes with a 78% FRESH. I was skeptical, but it was on Tuvia’s insistence and that counts. Usually I find the movies.

The main character, Terry (Jason Stratham) is an interesting anti-hero. We saw him in an earlier shoot-em-up a few years ago. He’s  rugged and authentic with a strong British working-class accent, not a Brad Pitt/George Clooney type.

So here’s Terry, owner of a garage, owing money to the mob and it’s 1971 London. The air is filled with sex, drugs, corruption in high places and Terry is hungry to offer his wife and kids something better, even if it means, hey, rob a bank when a golden opportunity comes his way brokered by an old flame.

He remains a guy from the neighborhood with his same circle of chums from childhood and that moves us to root for him even when it’s clear that he knows something about the dark side of the law.

The plan, suggested and sanctioned  by high level English officials, is to rob only from the rich. A Lloyds bank vault is filled with incriminating security boxes, one in particulat houses compromising photos of the Queen’s sister. Terry, his old fame, Martine, and his lads work well together, ingenious in their preparations.

We begin and end the two hours on the edge of our seats, cheering for the boys.

It’s fun, two hours of fun. And to think, I really wanted to see Taxi to the Dark Side, the Oscar-winning documentary focused on the abusive lengths  our democratic government was willing to go to hunt down terrorists. Don’t worry that is still on the list, but it will have to wait until we are back from Israel.

The Bank Job, remains perfect entertainment for a Saturday night out.

What’s more serious for me is the continued dialogue I’m having with myself and then with Tuvia about The Counterfeiters and The Lives of Others, two recent Oscar winners for best Foreign Film. Both remain with me and seem connected somehow.

I’ve written at length about both films, but still they engage me.  Both movies are German-language films dealing with issues deeply felt, even now, in these countries: the Holocaust and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Both of these films center our attention on very intriguing, unlikely protagonists.  Both are bald, unattractive on the surface, so we are not dazzled by their good looks as we get to explore their  richly complex characters. Don’t  worry, both movies offer some very good looking( and interesting) characters as well.

These leads characters don’t win us over with their sensitivity or their bravery. But as each one struggles with life and the other characters they interact with we are moved by their  personal discoveries of their deep sense of justice and humanity.

I think The Lives of Others might be a perfect movie and the The Counterfeiters, one that challenges my sense of justice. There’s an interesting spectrum present: One one end we have the young, attractive, crusader who must do the right thing no matter what the cost. He and his wife are Jews in two different concentration camps, who have fought from the start against the Nazis and now as prisoners, continue. He will not be used for his talent and uses his opportunities to subvert the counterfeiting process,  risking his life and the rest of the group. Once he discovers that his wife has been killed he considers himself dead anyway.

On the other side, there are the men who will accept anything, any humiliation to remain alive. And Salomon “Sally” Sorowitsch our master counterfeiter has always been comfortable to remain in the shadows, indifferent to the politics around him, but when he finds himself the leader of this band, he begins to see things differently. A new sense of loyalty and courage grow and flourish in him.

That’s what happens to the protagonist in Lives…He has been loyal only to the state. It’s only when he moves from watching to seeing, that he must reach out to Others.

I am hoping that as time passes, I will find more intersections.  I embrace the challenge.

BRING IT ON!!!!.

The 80th Academy Awards was a true celebration that came down to the wire as the writers strike ended just in the nick of time for some hurried preparations for the big event. It was even more critical given the the loss of revenue with the Golden Globes as a non-event this year.

As usual, I’ve seen most of the films in contention and some of my faves were sadly, largely ignored:

The Kite Runner, Once, beyond just the song, In the Valley of Elah, Into the Wild, Waitress, Starting Out in the Evening, A Mighty Heart, The Wind that Shakes the Barley & Charley Wilson’s War.

But I love the event and even though the SAG and Spirit Award evenings were more down-to-earth, watching the entire Oscar experience is something I live for. I usually pop a bowl of popcorn and enjoy a drink to wash down all the unpopped kernels. This year Tuvia actually watched with me from the start to finish this year.

I was ambivalent about There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men but not the performances. Because I wasn’t so emotionally invested this year I probably enjoyed it more.

Jon Stewart was a cool and classy host and here are some moments I won’t forget:

Javier Bardem from Spain took best supporting actor as the hands-down favorite. I wasn’t crazy about this character but I am so happy to see him recognized. The movies I’ve really loved with him have been The Sea Inside and The Dancer Upstairs and Before Night Falls (nominated for best actor).

And how cool was it that he brought his mom and shared his moment with her in their shared language:

Mama esto es para ti. Esto es para tus abuelos, para tus padres, Rafael y Matilde. Esto es para los comicos de Espana que han traido la dignidad y el orgullo a nuestro oficio.
Esto es para Espana. Y esto es para todos vosotros.

2. I loved Juno and it was satisfying to watch Ellen Page, the young lead turn 21 and bloom in all her deserved glory in this small and authentic film. The director and cast truly served the words of the writer and who better than Diablo Cody to take home the Oscar. As she concluded her spontaneous words of thanks it was finally to her family for loving her exactly the way she is. A thought as genuine as her movie.

And again, even though There Will Be Blood was not my favorite movie of the year Daniel Day-Lewis, created a very powerful character and deserved the attention. As the evening climaxed he offered the most articulate remarks as he bowed to The Queen, Helen Mirren who presented him with his Oscar.

My deepest thanks to the members of the Academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town. I’m looking at this gorgeous thing you’ve given me and I’m thinking back to the first devilish whisper of an idea that came to him and everything since and it seems to me that this sprang like a golden sapling out of the mad, beautiful head of Paul Thomas Anderson.

I wish my son and my partner HW Plainview were up here with me, the mighty Dillon Freasier. So many people to thank. One amongst them would be Mrs. Plainview down there, the enchantingly optimistic, open-minded and beautiful Rebecca Miller.

I hope that all those to whom I owe and to whom I feel the deepest gratitude will forgive me if I say just simply, “Thank you, Paul.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about fathers and sons in the course of this, and I’d like to accept this in the memory of my grandfather, Michael Balcon, my father, Cecil Day-Lewis, and my three fine boys, Gabriel, Ronan and Cashel. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.

But my absolute, hands-down most favorite moment came when Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova the creative duo fromOnce won for best song, that makes me tear up every time I hear it.

Like the movie, that rings so rawly authentic their win took them by surprise and their genuine response took me back to young movie makers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon at this first big movie win.

Glen spoke:

Thanks! This is amazing. What are we doing here? This is mad. We made this film two years ago. We shot on two Handycams. It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we would come into a room like this and be in front of you people. It’s been an amazing thing. Thanks for taking this film seriously, all of you. It means a lot to us. Thanks to the Academy, thanks to all the people who’ve helped us, they know who they are, we don’t need to say them. This is amazing.

Make art. Make art. Thanks.

Waiting patiently for her turn, as Marketa stepped up to speak she was drowned out by the insulting powers-that-be for yet more commercials. After all, they only won for best song, why give it more attention? But as the audience was moved by them so too was Jon Stewart who brought her back after the break and as her partner had spoken with so much youthful passion this is what she added to the evening:

Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we’re standing here tonight, the fact that we’re able to hold this, it’s just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it’s possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don’t give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along way. Thank you.

BRAVO!!!!!

That’s all folks. Can’t wait to collect another year of flick favorites and continue to flex my writing muscle here.