Why compete when you can win?

This year, as in the previous two, The New York Times Magazine has tried to eschew this notion of competition by saluting the performances that moved, surprised and thrilled us, regardless of whether they were nominated for awards.

Once again, the photography team of Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin has beautifully composed and captured the variety of characters who resonated with us this year and distilled the essence of what makes great movie acting great.

This is an interesting shoot.

Great Performers

This film is definitely worth your time. Frankly I'm surprised none of the MemeStreams regulars have mentioned it before now, aside from my recent posting of the Oscar nominations. (This film received six.) Be sure to visit the official site.

The trailer at the official site seems designed to evoke the greatest possible resonance between the McCarthy era and today's circumstances with the 'war on terror'. But the story in the film is substantive in its own right, and the treatment is thoughtful without being preachy or overwrought with metaphor/allegory.

A.O. Scott at NYT said, "the film is a passionate, thoughtful essay on power, truth-telling and responsibility."

Roger Ebert closed his review thusly:

Clooney's message is clear: Character assassination is wrong, McCarthy was a bully and a liar, and we must be vigilant when the emperor has no clothes and wraps himself in the flag. How many Americans know what habeas corpus means, or why people are still talking about it on TV?

Good Night, and Good Luck.

"I think this year is the year that small movies get attention because they deal with complexities, they go to the gray area," said Ang Lee.

"They deal with issues, and they ask questions; they don't really give resolution," he added. "That's the mood this year."

Of "Munich", Spielberg said, "What people missed about my film is what this action does to the human condition, to the human soul, how it affects soldiers on the front lines, especially citizen soldiers. It's really a character study."

Small Films With Potent Themes Lead Oscar Nominations

Noms are out.

Academy Awards® for outstanding film achievements of 2005 will be presented on Sunday, March 5, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland® and televised live by the ABC Television Network.

Also available at NYT with links to reviews, showtimes, etc.

From the AP overview:

The cowboy love story "Brokeback Mountain" led the Academy Awards field Tuesday with eight nominations. Three films were tied with six nominations each, "Crash," "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "Memoirs of a Geisha," though "Geisha" was shut out in the top categories.

"Munich," which had fallen off many awards analysts' best-picture picks after a lukewarm reception, scored well with five nominations, including director for Steven Spielberg. "King Kong," directed by "Lord of the Rings" creator Peter Jackson, earned only technical nominations, losing out in the major categories.

George Clooney picked up three nominations: as supporting actor for his role as a steadfast CIA undercover agent in "Syriana" and best director and co-writer for his Edward R. Murrow tale "Good Night, and Good Luck."

Nominations List | 78th Annual Academy Awards | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

In 2005, just 10 foreign-language films had ticket sales of more than $1 million in the United States.

"I feel as if there's almost no auteur draw anymore." The honest truth is that the filmmaker matters increasingly little today."

I recommend many of the films mentioned in this article. (Have you seen The Aristocrats?)

Is Foreign Film the New Endangered Species?

Everybody loves a particularly stinging review.

Could it be that the allure of film is explained by the fact that films evoke the dreaming mind of the viewer?

If this sounds potentially interesting, it is not.

The word for this sort of writing is twaddle.

'The Power of Movies'

Manohla carefully deconstructs the "staircase" scene in Cronenberg's "A History of Violence." It's unclear why the times decided to publish this note now; presumably it has been sitting on the shelf for a while. Nevertheless, she does a good job covering all the angles in this pivotal scene in the film.

Dark Truths of a Killing Love

To have and to hold every film that guided your artistic and emotional maturation, through adolescence and beyond, is something many will find irresistible.

What was formerly part of a romanticised past, glimpsed infrequently on late-night TV, has become urgently present.

What this means, in cultural terms, is that film now takes its place beside literature, music and visual imagery as an art that can be owned and bookmarked.

Scenes from a Revolution

The family tradition of exhibitionism, she added, is an asset: "It's a cycle. It's like molestation, but in a good way."

Oh, Sarah!

Speaking Softly While Tromping on Taboos

Mr. Jonze and Mr. Eggers have remained in close contact with Mr. Sendak. "They call, they write, they send postcards, they show me script changes, they send me pornographic pictures and models of the monsters," Mr. Sendak said. "They're very attentive. They make me useful to them."

You can imagine what happens behind the scenes of the Harry Potter movies.

A Wild Rumpus in the Hollywood Jungle