Although we have not seen all the possible contenders we decided to draw up our abbreviated list for Academy Nominations with our projected winners. We have combined best picture and best director awards since we are not quite sure how to make that distinction. Our choices are listed in order of our preferences with 1st choice in bold.
(Published day before Golden Globe Awards)

Best Movie and Director

The Hurt Locker- Katherine Bigeloe
Precious –Lee Daniels
Inglorious Basterds – Quentin Tarentino
Julie and Julia – Nora Ephrom
Invictus – Clint Eastwood

We found this was an easy winner although all great films

Best Actress

Merly Streep ( Julie and Julia)
Gaborney Sidibe (Precious)
Carey Mulligan (An Education )
Helen Miren ( Last Station )

The Pro takes it from newcomer but it is close call

Best Actor

Morgan Freeman ( Invictus )
George Clooney ( Up In the Air )
Ben Foster ( The Messenger)
Jeremy Remney ( Hurt Locker)

Almost too close to choose winner

Best Supporting Actress

Mo’Nique (Precious)

Easy winner

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) – Michael’s choice
Woody Harrelson ( The Messenger ) Susan’s choice

Best Foreign Film

Red Cliff- John Wo

We haven’t seen that many but this was good

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Dear Frankie – nf – This is one of those British films that takes about five minutes for us to get used to the accents and understand what they are saying. Although, it turns out that Frankie one of the main characters in the movie, a charming 9 or 10-year-old boy doesn’t say any words as he is deaf. We learn that this was the result of his father beating him as a small child. Mother and child along with grandmother have kept on the move in Scotland so father will never find them. Mother played by Emily Mortimer has a touching, loving, very close relationship with Frankie and has created a story for him that his father is away at sea. She secretly writes letters to him and intercepts her son’s outgoing mail so she really is also hearing his “voice” about his feeling and observations of life. Frankie although very bright in school is chided by his schoolmates. When the boat on which the father is supposed to be sailing is noted to be coming into port, the mother, who is quite lonely herself decides that she needs to present a man as Frankie’s father for him to briefly meet. She arranges for a stranger, sensitively played by Gerald Butler, to be the father for one day before he goes off to sea again. Needless to say, intertwined with lovely scenes of “father and son” and sometimes mother, especially at the stark but beautiful Scottish seaside, there are some complications. First time director Shona Auerbach has cast her characters very well and captured the emotional relationships between them. The story is somewhat drawn out and simplistic but the acting was excellent. (2004)

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It’s Complicated – rm – Nancy Meyers , the writer and director of this film lives up to her reputation as the person who can connect with women over 40 and all those that know and care about her. Meryl Streep continues her streak as one of the most prolific and talented big name actresses on today’s screen , as she nails the role of a 50 something women who after 10 years of divorce has an affair with her ex-husband. She is appealing, sexy, intelligent, funny and poignant. The chemistry with her three children ( high school, graduating college and engaged to a great guy) is perfect. It is best described, as at one point she doesn’t take the suggestion to not answer her cell phone by saying, “ I have to answer the phone, I have three children.” Alec Baldwin, as the ex-husband, is a self centered successful attorney who married a young women half his age and now regrets it. His rekindled attraction to his ex-wife seems very real although he does over do it as the lout who wants one more chance. He can be funny and comedy is an important part of the film. Steve Martin who is a great comedian takes the low key role as the potential new boy friend for Streep and is much more sweet and kind than funny. The bottom line is that this movie is a great couples film especially for the over 40 crowd and deserves to be seen. (2009)

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Four Seasons Lodge – rm – We were drawn to the subject matter and sought out the one theatre showing this movie. It is a documentary about a  group of elderly Holocaust survivors in their 80s and 90s who come together each summer for a vacation in bungalow colony in the Catskills .They greet their old friends with such warmth as they are so glad to see each other once again. They dance to a small live band playing their kind of music. They feel a special kinship for each other for good reason as they share the special experience as survivors. There aren’t many details described about their experience in the camp but the men seem more willing to bring up the subject. One man mentions that the infamous Joseph Mengale experimented on him when he was a child. Another notes how he could never get sick when he was in the camp because that would mean he was sent off to the ovens. He then adds he has continued never to be sick a day of his rather long life, almost as if he is still afraid of the fate that would await him if he slows down. One man became a very accomplished professional soccer player in Germany after the war but felt that his achievements were underplayed in the press because he was Jewish. Two women note that after the war they had no family but each other. They continued to be soul mates during their marriages and now into their old age as widows are dear friends. The aging bungalow colony is facing extinction as the people in charge are planning to sell it but there is a protest from the lodgers. Their determination to see their reunion home be there for whatever additional summers they may have is a metaphor for their ability to survive. The Holocaust and Jewish museums will deliver much more in depth stories and information then was presented here about the Holocaust experience. The people here will probably remind you of relatives you have known. It is important and worthwhile that this slice of the latter part of their lives has been captured. It would be most likely cherished by their families. It is something that the rest of us are glad we have in the closet but probably would not feel a need to recommend that others watch it. (2009)

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Election – nf – We recently had a Netflix viewing of this 1999 movie which is a period piece set to take place 20-25 years earlier. It starred Reese Witherspoon as an ambitious determined high school student bound for the student council presidency and Matthew Broderick as her high school teacher who thinks he is a happy dedicated person doing just what he was meant to do. The story based on a novel by Tom Perotta with an Oscar winning screen play by the director Alexander Payne is seen mostly through the eyes of the teacher although pieces of narration are shown through the view of some of the other characters. The main plot deals with the high school election when two other students are drawn into a very contentious race with the preexisting favorite, each having their own motivation. However, in a somewhat comedic and satiric way the film shows how this teacher makes a complete mess of his life and ultimately has to try and reinvent himself. The movie was shot in the Omaha area of Nebraska near where the director grew up. A typical high school was used for most of the scenes with real students playing the extras and some parts including the male student lead who ran for president. Witherspoon and Broderick captured their characters quite well and Witherspoon actually won the Teen Choice Award for the best “hissy hit”. It was fun to watch and done well but at this point in time we can’t recommend that you put it very high in your Netflix queue, as there are much better films available out there. (1999)

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Everybody’s Fine – rm – Robert Deniro is a retired middle class blue-collar widower who would like to see his four widely dispersed grown children all sitting around a family dinner table once again. When they can’t make it for a planned get together he sets out to visit them and perhaps to try to reign them in once again. Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, and Sam Rockwell play the children. Kirk Jones directed this remake of a 1990 Italian movie ”Stanno tutti bene”. As the now lonely dad sets out from his small upstate New York home to try to find out what is really going on in the lives of his children, he finds out more about himself and how he was perceived as a father. His well meaning expectations which came out of his love for them has led them all to convey that everybody is fine in an attempt to shield him from the various true paths which their lives have taken. Deniro skillfully projects the tenderness of his character that wanted the best for his kids but must have left the real listening of them to his deceased wife. Perhaps he is a little too simple and the storyline a bit contrived but it will jerk some tears from you. It is a good movie for the holiday season, as it will ultimately make you think about your own family and what we convey to children as they are growing up as well as what we can say to them now. (2009)

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The Lovely Bones – sp – Early in the film, narrator of the story tells you what everyone who has read the book already knows and that is that she has been murdered at age 14 and she will not get a chance to live out the life to which she was looking forward. The movie shows her in the space between living on earth and heaven while she waits for things to be resolved. It was very easy for us to identify with 1970s family and watch the unimaginable horror that they felt after the disappearance and evidence of the killing of their daughter and then to see it dissolve into what we shrinks call complicated grief. The young girl played by Saoirse Ronan an Irish actress with no accent at all who was 13 during the making of the film radiated all the freshness and anticipation that you would hope a youngster would have at that stage of life. That made the tragedy of her murder all the more difficult as we saw the glimmers of her first love never to be realized during her lifetime. However Director and Producer Peter Jackson was intent on making this more than just a good 10 pm Special Victims Unit or CSI TV show. The script that he, his wife Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens wrote based on the popular novel by Alice Sebold created a beautiful ethereal existence for our lost soul where she observes the struggles of her family and the mystery of her unsolved murder. Jackson then brings the special effects for which he is known as other characters in this special place are also introduced. Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz are on the mark as the parents and Stanley Tucci is the villain that is any parent’s nightmare. Executive Producer Ken Kamins related that to his surprise the movie “tested off the charts” with young teenage girls who obviously identified with the 14 year old victim and her aspirations and maybe even more so with her younger sister who we see grow to age 18 and become a heroine in her own right. While the movie provided suspense and held our interest, we were too much in pain to even be happy when she eventually makes it to heaven. (2009)

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Invictus

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

This is the last verse of poem titled Invictus that Susan’s dad frequently recited to inspire her and her brother. The poet William Henley wrote it in 1867 most probably reflecting his battle with tuberculosis which caused him the loss of a leg and a life with an artificial limb This is also the title and a recurrent theme of the latest movie directed and produced by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. It is small slice of the great accomplishments of a man who spent 27 years in a small prison cell before emerging to be Prime Minister of South Africa and lead his country after the fall of apartheid The story shows how Mandela was determined to bring together the country despite the anger of the blacks after years of oppression and the resentment of the whites after the loss of their power and their majority rule. The vehicle for demonstrating Mandela’s role in unifying South Africa was the 1995 Rugby World Cup hosted by South Africa. Matt Damon plays Francois Pienaar the captain of the South African team originally not up to the task of winning. He becomes inspired by Mandela and helps his team master their fate and perhaps the fate of their nation. The real Nelson Mandela reportedly met Morgan Freeman and hoped that he would play him in a movie . Freeman very much wanted this opportunity and finally found the script where he could do it. He did it so well that when Clint Eastwood met Mandela he said that he thought that the great leader was “imitating Freeman”. It was more than the acting that make this an outstanding film. The breaking down of barriers between people is reflected in subtle nuances of the relationships between the white and black bodyguards of the Prime Minister, in the contrast of team captain Pienaar’s parents and even in the interplay between a youngster and a police officer listening to the big game on the radio. The powerful struggle that his country had to go through seemed to be echoed in the struggle of the Rugby scrum. The final game was shown in some detail and we were told was recreated from the study of tapes of the contest. The television scenes and commentary of the actual game was woven into the movie. Only three of the many rugby players seen in the dramatic battles on the field were actors. One of these with a very small part but with a distinctive face was Scott Eastwood son of Clint. (2009)

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The Last Station – sp – Leo Tolstoy died in 1910. This is the story of his last year based on a novel by Jay Parini with a screenplay written and directed by Michael Hoffman. Helen Mirren is as good as she ever has been ( and that is saying a great deal ) in her role as Sofya Tolstoy . Leo Tolstoy himself is played magnificently by Christopher Plummer who looks amazingly like the real Tolstoy seen in the film clips shown with the credits at the end of the film. It is the story of this great revered writer who at this late stage of his life has many devoted followers and is leading a movement of peace, love and putting aside the material things in life. The relationship of Leo and Sofya after 47 years of marriage is being examined or perhaps tested as Tolstoy accepts the idea put forth by his devotee Vladimir Chertkov played by mustache twirling Paul Giamitti, that the rights to his work belong to the Russian people and not his family as Sofya vociferously contends. James McAvoy is Valentin Bulgakov, Tolstoy’s young sensitive and naive secretary who is closely observing the struggles of his employer/hero as he himself has just discovered a meaningful relationship with a young woman. Producer Bonnie Arnold related to our preview audience how the movie idea was originally that of Anthony Quinn who hoped to star in it but all the pieces did not come together for him. It was filmed mostly in the East German countryside where Russia in the early 1900s could be recreated including the Tolstoy estate and authentic railroad and station scenes. The Russian backers of the film, which were part of the international consortium, that raised 17 million dollars to make it, required that the music background be composed and recorded in Russia. Sergey Yevtushenko subsequently did just that and his beautiful piano music added greatly to the mood of the film. The relationship between Leo and Sofya as played by two great actors is nuanced in so many ways and is the highlight of the movie all be it perhaps a tad overly dramatic. This may have been why we were always aware we were watching a film and didn’t get completely drawn into it as we both felt should have been the case. Perhaps also if we had read the book or were better students of this part of Russian history we might have also better appreciated their conflict, which was the essence of the story. (2009)

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Stolen Summer – nf – This is a lovely movie set in 1976 in Chicago. Pete, an eight year old boy from a large Catholic family begins to worry that maybe his teacher the nun, may be right and that he is destined for hell because of misbehaving. He then decides to embark upon a quest to set things right by converting a Jew so both the Jew and himself might make it to heaven. He befriends Danny, the son of a rabbi, who unfortunately turns out to have leukemia. Pete’s father, the fireman, doesn’t like his son hanging around the synagogue and the rabbi isn’t totally pleased with his son crossing himself at dinner. Although there is a touch of humor in this film it can best be described as one that is will touch you and warm your heart. Pete Jones, the writer and director was actually the star of HBO’s Project Greenlight in 2001, which was a reality TV show about the making of this movie. No matter what the documentary showed, it ended up as a sweet, well done film. Adi Stein as Pete appears to be right out of a Norman Rockwell painting freckles and all. He and the other child actors were excellent, so kudos to them and the director. Brian Dennehy had a small role as the Catholic Priest but he is always outstanding in any character that he takes on. We are glad that we saw this film (2002)