Lawrence.com

Topher Grace sat down with me (sporting my Nelly-style affectation) to talk about his new movie TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT, a coming-of-age comedy co-written and produced by Grace, set in 1988, and co-starring Anna Faris, Dan Fogler, and Theresa Palmer.

The 83rd Academy Awards are February 27, 2011 and here are the nominees for the year 2010 in film.

“The King’s Speech” leads with 12 nominations, “True Grit” is second with 10. “The Social Network” and “Inception” have 8, although Andrew Garfield and Christopher Nolan were left out in Supporting Actor and Director, respectively. “The Fighter” has 7.

“Blue Valentine” should have been in there for Gosling and directing, even though I knew it didn’t have a chance with Cianfrance.Nolan and Garfield got screwed. Nothing more to say. “Inception” was visionary stuff, a 10-yr+ project, and Garfield was the heart and soul of “The Social Network.” At least they didn’t snub Eisenberg.

I am thrilled for Hawkes and “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” though. I HATED “Biutiful,” so those 2 nominations are just baffling. Leaving “Scott Pilgrim” out for VFX is dumbfounding. I’m so sick of the same boring CGI. You do something new, apparently, and you get nothing.

Same goes for the lack of nomination for “Inception” in Editing. That was a freaking tightrope and they get nothing for it?

Here are the nominees:

Best Picture
The Kids Are All Right
Toy Story 3
The Social Network
The King’s Speech
Inception
The Fighter
Black Swan
127 Hours
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Best Director
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter

Best Actor
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Javier Bardem, Biutiful

Best Actress
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town

Best Supporting Actress
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Animated Feature
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3
How To Train Your Dragon

Best Original Screenplay
Inception, Christopher Nolan
The King’s Speech, David Seidler
The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
The Fighter, Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson
Another Year, Mike Leigh

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin
True Grit, Joel & Ethan Coen
127 Hours, Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy
Toy Story 3, Michael Arndt
Winter’s Bone, Debra Granik and Anne Roselini

Best Foreign Film
Dogtooth, Greece
Biutiful, Mexico
Incendies, Canada
Hævnen (In a Better World), Denmark
Outside the Law, Algeria

Best Documentary
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Restrepo
Wasteland
Inside Job

Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland, Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
Inception, Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)
The King’s Speech, Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
True Grit, Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)

Cinematography
Black Swan, Matthew Libatique
Inception, Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech, Danny Cohen
The Social Network, Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit, Roger Deakins

Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood
I Am Love, Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech, Jenny Beavan
The Tempest, Sandy Powell
True Grit, Mary Zophres

Best Documentary Short Subject
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Film Editing
Black Swan, Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter, Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech, Tariq Anwar
127 Hours, Jon Harris
The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Makeup
Barney’s Version, Adrien Morot
The Way Back, Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman, Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Original Score
How to Train Your Dragon, John Powell
Inception, Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours, A.R. Rahman
The Social Network,Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Original Song
“Coming Home” from Country Strong, Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from Tangled , Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from 127 Hours, Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3, Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Animated Short Film
Day & Night, Pixar
The Gruffalo, Magic Light Pictures
Let’s Pollute, A Geefwee Boedoe Production
The Lost Thing , A Passion Pictures Australia Production
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) , A Sacrebleu Production

Best Live Action Short Film
The Confession, (National Film and Television School) A National Film and Television School Production Tanel Toom
The Crush, (Network Ireland Television) A Purdy Pictures Production Michael Creagh
God of Love, A Luke Matheny Production Luke Matheny
Na Wewe (Premium Films), A CUT! Production Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143, A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing
Inception, Richard King
Toy Story 3, Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit, Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable, Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing
Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
The King’s Speech, Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt , Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland, Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter, Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception, Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2, Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

With the release of “I’m Still Here,” the mockumentary has officially come full circle. Actors have already played roles in documentary-style comedies (“This is Spinal Tap,” “Best in Show”), they’ve combined that format with real-life pranks (“Borat,” “Bruno”), and they’ve played fictional versions of themselves for laughs (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Extras”). This time the performance art never ends. Directed by Casey Affleck and starring his brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix, “I’m Still Here” is a rambling mess of a film that has given Phoenix the longest-running and most challenging role of his career: that of a mentally ill, drugged-out former actor named Joaquin Phoenix who wants to become a rap artist. The thing is, he’s such a good actor that he almost pulls it off, no matter how ridiculous it sounds.

If we had less background on the star and his director — if these guys were nobodies just starting a movie career — the setup may be a little more believable. The paradox, of course, is that it wouldn’t be interesting in the slightest because it’s precisely Phoenix’s stature as a celebrity that gives the movie a reason to exist.

As it is, the only real mystery is how many other people were in on the joke. (I use the word “joke” lightly, because although “I’m Still Here” is oftentimes edited for comedic effect, it is rarely very funny.) If his assistant Antony and caretaker Larry — as they are titled in the film — are not also playing some sort of fictional versions of themselves along with Phoenix, then they got a raw deal indeed. They are on the receiving end of a ton of Phoenix’s verbal abuse and goaded into a wholly unnecessary amount of full-frontal nudity.

The reasons for Affleck filming the whole affair are as mysterious as the seeds of Phoenix’s self-imposed flameout and his desire to rap. Perhaps the actor himself was close to quitting the acting business and acted this all out as a catharsis. Even if that’s the case, it’s more than a little suspicious that the guy who has himself directed numerous rock music videos never once mentions a single rap influence or shows any interest in the music side of hip-hop at all.

Instead, there are a couple of scenes where he slops his way through some grandiose lyrical jams that aren’t clever enough to be funny or smart enough to be taken seriously. P. Diddy, the rap mogul who provides “I’m Still Here” with the only forward motion it has, is still asking Phoenix during their second meeting if this is all a put-on. His blank stare while listening to Phoenix’s demos actually provide the biggest laugh in the movie, and Diddy seems to have been genuinely “Punk’d.”

Ben Stiller’s ribbing of the actor’s bearded-sunglasses look at the Oscars is sequenced after a scene where Stiller tries to convince a confrontational Phoenix to co-star with him in “Greenberg.” The setup is perfect because now Stiller’s impression looks like a very public revenge, but who’s to say it wasn’t filmed after the Oscars and sequenced first in the film? Phoenix and Affleck have both worked with indie auteur Gus Van Sant, and this movie feels like a cross between one of his experimental films and an unsuccessful Andy Kaufman publicity stunt.

How far are the pair willing to go with this all-or-nothing filmmaking and acting experiment? If we are to believe they are the only ones in on it, then the answer to that is kind of shocking. But why leave all that wreckage in their path if there’s no real point, no insightful takeaway?

If “I’m Still Here” were more coherent, it could be a satire of one of many things: self-obsessed celebrity behavior, needy actors, the post-movie publicity tour, the cult and power of celebrity, or self-glorifying hip-hop culture. Its lack of focus keeps it from achieving any of these ideas.

In the end, the entire affair is a catch-22. “I’m Still Here” brings up countless questions about media and the amount of falsehoods inherent in it — all of those questions more interesting than actually watching the movie. Maybe it was intended on a wider scale as a send-up of the whole documentary format — a format that’s built on artifice that at some level is masquerading as the truth.

“I don’t want to play the character of Joaquin anymore,” Phoenix says, exasperated. After watching “I’m Still Here,” I don’t want him to either.

Make no mistake: Just because Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete” revolves around timely issues like anti-immigrant xenophobia and Hispanic stereotyping doesn’t mean he gives them the respect and critical treatment they deserve.

Instead, he does what any low-budget genre filmmaker worth his salt-covered wound did in the 1970s: He exploits the hell out them.

“Machete” is the gore-riddled, nudity-filled Mexploitation romp that Rodriguez (who produced, co-wrote, co-directed, edited and created music for the film) has wanted to make for years. In 2007, when he and Quentin Tarantino put together their violent throwback double-feature “Grindhouse,” Rodriguez got close. He shot a three-minute trailer for “Machete” even though the movie itself didn’t actually exist.

It does now. Expanded out to a 105-minute movie and featuring several scenes from the original “fake” trailer, “Machete” employs the same more-is-not-enough strategy as Rodriguez’s half of “Grindhouse.” So while there may not be any developed characters and a fair amount of wholly unconvincing acting (mostly from Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan), there is enough sheer mayhem to make what would normally be a drawback seem like it was all part of the plan.

Longtime movie tough guy and real-life ex-con Danny Trejo finally gets a leading role after 25 years in the business and it plays to his strengths—mainly his menacing presence. He is Machete, a hulking ex-federal agent with enough scars and tattoos for an entire Tejas gang. Thanks to a plot far too silly and convoluted to go into here, he gets mixed up in an assassination attempt on a U.S. senator (Robert De Niro) who is running on a blatantly racist anti-immigration platform.

The fact that the senator wants to build a wall that actually electrocutes Mexicans as they try to cross the border should clue you in to the level of subtlety involved in “Machete.” For the most part, though, it works. There are tons of violent, funny sight gags that lampoon over-the-top action films and at least one — dare I say — soon-to-be-classic parody of Richard Roundtree’s famous through-the-window rappelling move from “Shaft.” Machete even has Shaft’s magic touch with the ladies, who fall all over him.

Through it all, Trejo plays it straight as ever. He becomes a projection, a myth rather than a real human being. It builds up his stature, but it also means his delivery is deadpan fabulous. After Alba hands him a cell phone to get a message to someone, he utters the funniest line in the film: “Machete don’t text.” (Apparently the line came from an actual Rodriguez-Trejo correspondence about the film and was added into the final script afterward.)

While actors like De Niro, Cheech Marin, Steven Seagal and Don Johnson ham it up appropriately, it is Alba and Michelle Rodriguez who try (in vain) to find some emotional truth in the script. Along the way, they are tripped up by some terrible dialogue (even for a campy film) and some misplaced political messages. Michelle Rodriguez at least looks convincing holding a gun, though, and she’s flat-out badass sexy with a black eye patch, black bikini top and tight black leather pants.

Alba comes off as a piece of stunt casting gone wrong — there’s no sense of irony in her performance at all, yet she’s not believable as a tough ICE agent at any time during the film. When she delivers what is supposed to be a fiery and funny Malcolm X reference, I presume — the line implodes as she speaks it out loud. Maybe she heard how silly she sounded. “Machete” is flimsy and sloppy, full of choppy editing and scenes that don’t end forcefully so much as they kind of wind down and fade out. But when it works, it achieves a playfulness that’s infectious.

The film’s self-awareness is at an all-time high, and the jokes and absurdity come at a fast and furious pace. What better way to attack a controversial and divisive culture clash in the real world than with a ridiculous, testosterone-filled revenge fantasy?

Robert Duvall is an actor who can do stoic Southern characters in his sleep. He has always had a knack for playing the down-home philosopher who chooses his words carefully, and he's as sturdy and subtle as ever in “Get Low,” a measured drama set in Depression-era Tennessee.

Partially inspired by the true story of a 74-year-old man named Felix ‘Bush’ Brazeale who decided to throw his own ‘funeral party’ in 1938 while he was still alive, “Get Low” sounds like it has the makings of a comedy that's too quirky for its own good.

But the movie, directed by first-timer Aaron Schneider, succeeds as a low-key rumination on the effects of long-term guilt and regret—and it does so mainly on the backs of its gifted actors.

Duvall plays Felix Bush, a mysterious old hermit who lives just far enough outside of town that folks rarely ever see him. The local kids sneak onto his property and throw rocks at his windows on a dare just to see if the crazy old coot will come out brandishing a shotgun. He obliges, of course. With a beard that covers 80 percent of his face and clothes that look like they haven’t been washed in years, Felix is about as unapproachable as a man can get.

With Duvall in the role, however, Felix still has a spark of human kindness. He may be a curmudgeon, but it’s almost instantly obvious that whatever he’s done to earn his reputation, it is at least partially misunderstood. The stories the townspeople tell about him sound more like tall tales than anything else.

It is hard to find fault in the first half of “Get Low” as it approximates country life with some beautiful Fall cinematography and a slow, steady pacing. The actors are as comfortable and unforced as ever and they’re given the space and onscreen time to develop their characters naturally.

Bill Murray has just the right mix of snake-oil salesman and sardonic wit as a funeral-home director who is exasperated by the fact that his business—of all businesses— is in a recession too. He admits that he needs some of that “hermit money” to stay afloat, but he doesn’t play the money-hungry bad guy either. Who else can straddle the line between creepy and decent as effectively as Murray?

Both Duvall and Murray are softened by the presence of Buddy (Lucas Black), an earnest young man who has just started a family and hasn’t been hardened to the inequities of a life lived just yet. Buddy is the moral center of this film, and he displays more outward humanity than anyone else in the picture, which balances out Duvall’s crankiness and Murray’s deadpan delivery.

It is a shame that a sideplot with Sissy Spacek—who shines in a small role as the only person who knew Felix when he was young—is a little undercooked. The few scenes she and Duvall share are as composed as they are substantial.

The movie also makes too much of the big mystery at the core of Duvall's character. The film’s flawless pacing stumbles a bit and the editing doesn’t seem invisible anymore. As it moves towards the big day (and the big reveal) at the end of the film, “Get Low” begins to feel labored. This is all the more noticeable because the first half of the film seems almost effortless.

Ultimately, though, the movie has a lived-in quality that makes it feel authentic, and the actors bring a lifetime of experiences to a story that unfolds with the shadow of death constantly looming. Duvall in particular makes the film’s ultimate message, which is one of forgiveness, go down easy.

It’s amazing what great actors can do if they're given the chance.

Eric Melin from Scene-Stealers and Aaron Weber from DadsBigPlan review Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, starring Michael Cera and directed by Edgar Wright. Will the visual inventiveness and stylistic trappings of a movie within a video game kill it or does the film succeed as a metaphor for an entire generation? Watch clips and listen to someone who has and someone who has NOT read the Brian Lee O'Malley comic book to get a balanced perspective on this stylistically challenging movie.

David Slade takes over as director and finally there is more conflict than there was in "New Moon," but are the overheated soap-operatic elements to corny and hard to swallow? Stick around after the review for a Team Jacob vs. Team Edward showdown!

Once it is established in “Knight and Day” that Tom Cruise is a super-spy who can kill 20 bad guys with one gun and safely land a jet airliner in the middle of a field while his unlikely girl-next-door partner (Cameron Diaz) can’t do anything but faint or get in the way, the joke gets a little old.

In an effort to take it to its farthest extreme, screenwriter Patrick O’Neill has Cruise inject Diaz with something that makes her sleep for hours while he carries her in and out of extremely dangerous situations. The joke that results from this (and is also funny once) features a camera from Diaz’s point of view that fades in and out of ‘consciousness’ during particularly stressful moments—such as a freefall from an airplane.

Unfortunately, the plot and pacing of this frantic action comedy are as incoherent as Diaz is when Cruise gives her the silly juice.

“Knight and Day” is about as light and fluffy as summer action movies get. It’s also as relentless and desperate to entertain as we always hope the worst summer movies won’t be.

It starts in an airport in Wichita, KS. Innocent bystander Cameron Diaz is suddenly swept up in an absurd whirlwind of bullets, car chases, and high-flying stunts when secret agent Tom Cruise enters her life quite unexpectedly. Like any romantic comedy worth its weight in gags, it ends up going all over the world.

(Cheers to the production for traveling to France, Spain, and a South Pacific island to get some beautiful footage. Jeers to the special effects crew for using all sorts of CGI during so many stunt sequences—they take us right out of the chase. Just check out Photoshop techniques on display in the shot above of Diaz and Cruise racing away from the running of the bulls!)

Why Cruise chooses Diaz, why the bad guys choose to attack when they do, why he says she needs to stay with him, and why she actually does are all questions that don’t really have solid answers.

In fact, director James Mangold (“3:10 To Yuma,” “Walk the Line”) makes it clear that those questions aren’t important. In a movie with this much convenient resolution, you are supposed to just loosen up and go with the flow—which would be easier to do if the stars and script were up to the task.

Cruise is in full charm mode, working overtime to appear like he is one step ahead of all his enemies while he looks out for his new love interest. At 47, though, he’s starting to finally show his age and the witty wannabe banter seems a little forced; a little too much like hard work—when it should feel effortless.

Diaz gels with Cruise romantically just fine for a script that demands nothing more tangible to convince us of romance other than a kiss, but something is off between the two of them when it comes to comic timing. They walk all over each other in certain instances (maybe the result of some improvisation to punch up the dull screenplay?), while some scenes just implode from obviousness.

The elaborate gags get bigger in scope as the film progresses but Cruise’s calm demeanor in the face of certain death is a another joke that gets old after the first two or three times.

As the story deepens and starts to take itself more seriously, the characters begin to develop more consistency, but by then it’s hard to care about anything that happens. “Knight and Day” wants to entertain you sooooooo badly with its clinically designed action-comedy scenes, but sometimes it barely has a pulse.

Read Eric's full-length print review here.

Definitely one of the most original and haunting rock songs ever produced, Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine" is the stunning opening track from the group's first full-length record, 1967's "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn." Every time I hear it, it makes me think that this is what space "sounds" like. Or how it sounds to an acid-soaked experimental rocker.

Written by founding member and original band leader Syd Barrett, the lyrics to "Astronomy Domine" are as mysterious and obtuse as the music.

That weird internal rhyme scheme: "Lime and limpid green, a second scene/A fight between the blue you once knew."

What does it mean? Who knows, but it certainly paints a picture. Hell, you don't need to be on acid to see things when you're listening to this song; just close your eyes.

Sure, you can peg this pretty easily as late 60s British psychedelia, but there's something about this song that's just plain strange: An intermittent beeping sound, an echo-filled Fender guitar fading in and out, a muffled voice in the background mumbling something about stars or constellations, loud bursts of feedback, a Farfisa organ, a numbingly repetitive Rickenbacker bass line, jumpy drum fills, and a two hypnotic voices that sounds as if they are close to flatlining.

It's not your typical, blues-based rock n' roll.

In a wider sense, part of it is the chord progression: E, E-flat, G, A. WTF?

Altogether, the end result, despite all its weirdness, ends up being a pretty catchy little pop tune. This was Barrett's gift. It was short-lived of course (he was kicked out in 1968 after just four years, recorded two troubled solo albums and became a recluse), but man oh man, did his creativity produce some singularly incredible material. This song proves it. Nothing recorded before or since sounds like "Astronomy Domine."

The song embedded above is the studio version with Barrett and keyboardist Richard Wright singing that I've written about above, but the video is the band miming that version with David Gilmour lip-syncing Barrett's vocals. A live version of the song with Barrett from 1967 is right here.

The Great Songs Series so far:

The Great Songs: Big Star - Thirteen

The Great Songs: The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset

The Great Songs: The Jayhawks - Blue

The Great Songs: Pavement - Summer Babe

The Great Songs: The Zombies - Care of Cell 44

The Great Songs: The O’Jays - Back Stabbers

The Great Songs: Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure

The Great Songs: George Jones - He Stopped Loving Her Today

The Great Songs: Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

The Great Songs: KISS - Deuce

The Great Songs: The Flying Burrito Brothers - Hot Burrito #1

The Great Songs: The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize??