1st ANNUAL MORMON MOVIE GUY AWARDS

In conjunction with this weekend's Academy Awards, I'm launching my own annual awards tradition. No glitz. No glamour. No politics. No bias against genres. Just my picks for the best films released in the year since the last Oscars, along with some...unorthodox categories. Enjoy!

BEST FIGHT SCENE- Tom Hardy vs. Joel Edgerton in Warrior. Runner Up: Vin Diesel vs. The Rock in Fast Five.

BEST ROMANTIC CHEMISTRY- Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau. Runner Up: Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum in The Vow.

BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE- X:Men- First Class. Runner Up: Thor.

BEST PARODY- How it Should Have Ended: Thor (has multiple endings so keep watching). Runner up: Daniel Radcliffe as a 30-something Harry Potter coasting on past glory on Saturday Night Live.

FUNNIEST FILM- The Muppets. Runner Up- Arthur Christmas.

BEST ENSEMBLE- Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Runners Up: Contagion, Of Gods and Men, Hugo

SCARIEST MOVIE- (tie) Contagion, Woman in Black.




BEST ANIMATED FILM- Kung Fu Panda 2. Runners Up: Arthur Christmas, The Adventures of TinTin.

BEST DANCE NUMBER- The Artist. Runner Up- Boy with his motion-mirroring robot in Real Steel.

BEST STUNT SEQUENCE- Tom Cruise scales, swings, jumps, and falls around the world's tallest building in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Runner Up: the final car chase in Fast Five. 

BEST SONG- (tie) Life's a Happy Song; Man or Muppet from The Muppets

MOST TRAGICALLY OVERLOOKED FILM- Warrior. Runner up: Arthur Christmas.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS- Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Runners Up- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Super 8.

BEST USE OF 3D- Hugo. Runner Up: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

BEST VILLAIN- (tie) Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes- A Game of Shadows, Hilly Holbrook in The Help.

 BEST SCREENPLAY: Moneyball. Runner Up: Contagion.

BEST EDITING: Contagion. Runner Up: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two.

BEST MUSICAL SCORE- Hans Zimmer for Rango: Runners Up: The Artist, War Horse, Hugo.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY- Tree of Life. Runner Up: War Horse.

BEST DIRECTOR- Martin Scorcese- Hugo. Runner Up: Steven Spielberg- War Horse.

BIGGEST TEARJERKER- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two. Runner Up: 17 Miracles, The Vow.

"SECULAR" FILM WITH MOST GOSPEL PARALLELS: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two. Runner Up: Tree of Life.

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Two Brothers. Runner up: Life in a Day.

MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE- Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Runners Up: Source Code, Super 8.

MOST UPLIFTING MAINSTREAM FILM- (tie) Hugo; We Bought a Zoo



BEST RELIGIOUS FILM (LDS)- 17 Miracles. Runner Up: Joseph Smith-Plates of Gold.

BEST RELIGIOUS FILM (OTHER)- Of Gods and Men. Runners Up: Soul Surfer, Courageous.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS-Berenice Bejo in The Artist. Runner Up: Octavia Spencer in The Help.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR- Alan Rickman, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two. Runners Up: Jonah Hill in Moneyball, Nick Nolte in Warrior.

BEST ACTRESS- Viola Davis in The Help. Runners Up: Emma Stone in The Help, Rachel McAdams in The Vow.

BEST ACTOR- Andy Serkis in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Runner Up: Brad Pitt in Moneyball.

MY PICKS FOR THE FIVE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR

5. The Help- "The Help displays an impressively-acted balance of prejudice and tolerance, hatred and love, despair and faith, heartache and belly laughs. Like one of my all-time favorite films, Life is Beautiful, The Help performs the impressive feat of taking a dark chapter of human history and injecting it with light, hope, and humanity without downplaying the gravity and tragedy." Full review.

4. The Artist- "A modern silent film in the style of classic Hollywood, The Artist hearkens back to the days of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, an era when comedy and emotion were conveyed purely through physical acting, and human movement was the only special effect needed. If this sounds too 'artsy' for you, rest assured, this film is terrifically moving, uplifting, and fun. It's also romantic in a tender, pure-hearted way that is all but lost from modern cinema." Full review.

3. Hugo- "Hugo represents a celebration of imagination, optimism, and fun; it's a dream for cinema lovers and will be very enjoyable for others. Amidst the soulless fluff released week after week, it stands out as a reminder that attention to craftsmanship, storytelling, and characters will always trump empty spectacle. Hugo made me think, made me laugh, moved me, dazzled my eyes, and left me with a big fat grin on my face." Full review.

2. Warrior- "Regardless of the genre, great films always come down to  great characters and stories, and it's these components that make Warrior appeal even to non-fans of the sport. [It] is, at its core, a story of a broken family and how the choices of years past continue to ripple through the lives of a father and two brothers. Warrior is a movie that made me want to be closer to my own family; it is a film where the bonds of parent to child, sibling to sibling, and husband and wife are shown to hold the key to life's greatest satisfactions, disappointments, hurts and healing." Full review.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two- "With the thrilling, terrifying, heartbreaking, hilarious, and uplifting Deathly Hallows Part 2, Harry Potter seals its status as one of the great cinematic stories of all time. The action and spectacle is on par with what one might expect from a Lord of the Rings film, but it's the quieter character moments that stay with you after the credits roll, and this is due as much to direction and writing (both Klove's and Rowling's) as it is the acting. This finale brings chills, a lump in the throat, and even a few tears as courage, kindness, and love make their final stand against darkness. Despite this being the most chilling and violent Potter film, the feeling that emerges above all others is one of being uplifted and inspired to be kinder, more virtuous, and more appreciative of those around us." Full review.

In Theatres: THE VOW

REVIEW (Grade: A-)
Your enjoyment of The Vow will depend entirely upon your taste when it comes to bittersweet, tearjerking love stories. If you don't like them, nothing here will convert you. Being something of a romantic myself, I must concede that this film does very well what it sets out to do. Rachel McAdams, who is becoming the modern queen of this genre, brings a fine balance of charm, confusion, and heartache to her portrayal of a wife who loses several years of memory in a car accident, forgetting her entire courtship and married life. As her husband, Channing Tatum (who I'd previously written off as talentless eye-candy) has apparently been taking acting lessons and/or learning from his costars on previous films, because he gives a nice performance here. He's actually quite good, conveying both the fear of losing his wife if he can't win her heart again and the good humor necessary to endure such a trial.

The fascinating premise is taken from a true story, though the specific details and characters here are purely romantic fiction. Supporting characters (her family, her ex-fiance) and relationships are surprisingly well-rounded and complex for this type of film. The Vow is pleasantly thorough in portraying the emotional journeys of its characters, wisely opting for the less-is-more approach in its inevitable happy ending. This gives the film a satisfying realism instead of overwrought Hollywood-style melodrama. There is plenty of sorrow here, just like in real life, but there's also hope and happiness. As someone who enjoys romantic films but thinks most modern ones ring too hollow or crass, I found The Vow to be a nice surprise.

CONTENT OVERVIEW: The Vow is rated PG-13. It has some moderate profanity and a few vulgar expressions. A married couple kisses passionately on the floor and wake up cuddling naked in bed (we see her bare back and his bare leg/chest, but a blanket covers the rest). We see a man's rear for a few seconds in a humorous scene. A married couple goes swimming in their underwear (seen from a medium distance) and kiss wearing the same. A man gets punched. Two men share a drink. A car accident sends a woman through the windshield. While dating a man buys a woman lingerie and asks her to move in with him, though the very next scene is of them getting married.

MESSAGES TO DISCUSS:

“Choose a companion carefully and prayerfully, and when you are married be fiercely loyal to each other…Commitment in marriage is absolutely essential” (President Thomas S. Monson).  Sometimes our tragedies and trials are blessings in disguise (2 Corinthians 4:17, D&C 122: 5-8). Forgiveness brings healing (Ephesians 4:31). “Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming” (Elder Dallin H. Oaks). A husband and wife are to leave their former lives with their parents and make a life for one another together (Ephesians 5:31). “Human [sexual] intimacy…is--or certainly was ordained to be--a symbol of total union: union of their hearts, their hopes, their lives, their love, their family, their future, their everything…But such a total, virtually unbreakable union, such an unyielding commitment between a man and a woman, can only come with the proximity and permanence afforded in a marriage covenant, with the union of all that they possess--their very hearts and minds, all their days and all their dreams” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland).

In theatres: STAR WARS 3D. On Bluray/DVD/Netflix: MEEK'S CUTOFF

 

(Note: I must make apologies to readers who were anticipating, as was I, that I would see and review The Vow this weekend. Twice my wife and I have planned to go see it, and both times it was sold out. I will get to it as soon as possible. Happy Valentine's!)

STAR WARS EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE-3D REVIEW (Grade: C)

Denial. Anger. Depression. Acceptance. I went through all the stages of grief when, in 1999, I was a mega-fan confronted with the terrible fact that The Phantom Menace, easily the most eagerly-anticipated movie 16 years, was a crushing dissappointment. The story was dull, the characters mostly uninvolving, the dialogue tepid, and everyone feared that JarJar would sully the entire prequel trilogy. This was Star Wars with all of the flash but none of the substance, spunk, humor, or soul of the originals. The years have been somewhat kind to the film, however. Revisiting it in 2012, it's better than remembered, both because expectations have been lowered and because of the film's association with the other two imperfect-but-underappreciated prequels.

The same flaws are as present now as they were in '99. There is little of the camraderie and charm that made the originals so beloved by the general public. Instead, this is a "geeks only" affair that offers mythology and imagination with characters running the gamut from annoying to horribly bland, with a few exceptions (more on that in a second). Natalie Portman is a fine actress, so why George Lucas directed her to show absolutely no emotion is beyond me; the droids are more lifelike. Supporting characters are all one-note and dull: Samuel L. Jackson looks unsure of how to act against a greenscreen. JarJar remains the most excruciatingly awful attempt at comic relief in pop culture history; kids love him, sure, but the originals knew that a film can please children and adults simultaneously. Jake Lloyd, as young Anakin Skywalker can be cheesy and unbelievable, but in fairness, he was just a child actor doing what George Lucas, at the time cinematic royalty, was directing him to do. In some moments he's actually quite good at conveying innocence, goodness, and heartache.

The central conflict holds little interest; the taxation of trade routes simply doesn't have the romance of a battle for freedom against an evil empire. Though Lucas wants the story to be viewed "in order," there's little attempt here in the "first story" to give new generations a heads up on the mythology. Concepts such as "The Force" and "Jedi mind tricks" are portrayed with no explanation and the assumption that audiences have seen the original Star Wars. Worst of all, the film is sluggishly paced, with far too much expositional dialogue. The occasional bursts of action help only somewhat. 

Still, the story holds interest in the context of the whole saga. It gives us a bright, colorful landscape and a time of relative peace in the galaxy; this lack of serious conflict sinks it as a standalone film but serves as a nice contrast to the chaos and tyranny that we'll see later on. The endless debates of Senate hearings set up an ignorant public's discontent with the process of democracy and blind willingness to later subject themselves to opression. Palpatine's politicking and chesire-grin nicely segway into a Machiavellian power grab in subsequent films. Anakin's fear of losing his mother will lead to his obsession with control. The "mystery of the Sith" is introduced, a plot thread that will ultimately lead to the great two-villain duo of Darth Vader and The Emperor. The Phantom Menace is all setup and no payoff, but seeing it in context all these years later, it's far easier to appreciate.

And there is much to appreciate. Lucas remains the foremost cinematic expert in "world-building." From the gorgeous architecture of Naboo to the underwater city of the Gungans to the city-planet Coruscant, there is much to engage the eyes and imagination here. JarJar, though annoying, is cinema's first major CGI character, and the animation still holds up today. Indeed, all of the visual effects are better than most fantasy films today, some thirteen years later.

Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor, as the two main Jedi Knights, give solid performances and rise above the screenplay with charisma, nobility, compassion, and attitude. Pernilla August, as Anakin's mother, effectively conveys kindness, intelligence, and quite strength. Ray Park's Darth Maul is an undeveloped character, but a fantastically realized one in terms of design and intimidation. Their three-way lightsaber duel remains one of the most impressively choreographed fight scenes in movie history. The pod race, a type of intergalactic Nascar event, is still thrilling to behold. Indeed, all of the action is terrific. The creatures and sound design are incredible. John Williams' "Duel of the Fates" is justly considered an iconic work of movie music.

As for the 3D conversion, it doesn't add much, but neither is it distracting. A few scenes, notably those in space, do benefit from the added dimension. The film looks and sounds amazing on a big screen, however, which is the main draw for fans to go out and see it. Also fun is the "new Yoda," i.e. the digital version that has replaced the puppet in this film in order to match the other two prequels (Lucasfilm assures us that Empire and Jedi's puppet will remain untouched). If, somehow, you've never seen a Star Wars movie, they do get much better after this. As a standalone film, The Phantom Menace frustrates; as a piece of a larger puzzle, however, it has just enough magic to whet our appetites for the rest of this quintessential saga to return to the big screen where it belongs.

CONTENT OVERVIEW: The Phantom Menace is rated PG. It contains no foul language, sex, nudity, or substance abuse. There is plenty of bloodless fantasy violence (laser shootouts, etc), mostly directed at robots, though (spoiler) a man is cut in half and another is stabbed in the stomache during a laser-sword ("lightsaber") duel.

MESSAGES TO DISCUSS: To overcome fear we sometimes translate it into the false power of anger, which anger then leads to hate, which hate leads to suffering (Moroni 9:5). Curiously it is perfect love, i.e. self-sacrifice for another, that most effectively casts out fear (1 John 4:18, Moroni 8:16) a concept that this series explores much later in Return of the Jedi.

MEEK'S CUTOFF REVIEW (GRADE: D)

An arduous, mind-numbing film in which the protagonists may die of thirst and the audience may die of boredom, Meek's Cutoff has been lauded as many things: a biting political allegory, an intelligent reflection on faith, an examination of the natures of trust and leadership, and a commentary on America. I caught traces of these things, it's true, but that's all subtext and subtext doesn't matter if the vessel it's delivered in (i.e. the story itself) is dull, hopelessly bleak, and dramatically unsatisfying. Some will argue that the film is art, not entertainment, and perhaps if it hadn't been marketed as some kind of Western-survival thriller I could have approached it from a different mindset.

The film follows a group of Oregon pioneers, lost and dehydrated, torn between their hired guide and a captive Native American who could lead them to water or to their deaths. The film is relentlessly pessimistic about human nature, painting "good" people as naive and all others as incompentent or malignant. It is sluggishly-paced, allowing shots to hold for far too long. This technique is effective in recreating the monotony of pioneer life, which would have been fine for 20 minutes, but not for the entire running time of 100. The musical score is spare and repetitive. Still, there are some fascinating glimpses into daily living on the plains, some nice attention to period detail, and the performances by Michelle Williams (Dawson's Creek), Will Patton (Remember the Titans), and Paul Dano (Cowboys and Aliens) are quite good. Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek) doesn't fare as well; though he is virtually unrecognizable as the titular "Meek," he comes across as a broad caricature, in contrast with the realism the other actors strive for. With an uninvolving story and a message devoid of hope, Meek's Cutoff isn't worth a look.

CONTENT OVERVIEW: Meek's Cutoff is rated PG. It contains some mild language, threats of violence, and a moment with one character kicking another in the face.

MESSAGES TO DISCUSS: Do not allow yourself to be led by blind and foolish guides (Helaman 13:29). We ought not to follow or trust anyone "blindly" (Matthew 15:14), rather, we'd be wise to consider this thought from President Brigham Young: "I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inqure for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation, and weaken that influence they could give to their leaders, did they know for themselves, by the revelations of Jesus, that they are led in the right way. Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not."