The Cue Card: Books, Movies, Music and More

Ryan Gosling is good at those gritty roles where he’s a down-and-out, drifter-type guy trying to make good but who ends up doing something bad. His latest crime drama “The Place Beyond the Pines” is sort of like his 2011 film “Drive” in which he makes his living as a stunt man and mechanic but moonlights as a getaway driver in heists, and has a girlfriend with a baby he tries to help. Similarly in “The Place Beyond the Pines” he’s a motorcycle stunt rider who takes to robbing banks to support his lover and their newborn son. Seem familiar?

But “The Place Beyond the Pines” goes in a different direction when Gosling’s character Luke has a showdown with a cop played by Bradley Cooper who similarly has an infant son like Luke’s. The second half of the film is mostly about the cop, his guilt over what transpired, and the sons each have had. Cut to 15 years in the future, and all comes to a head when Luke’s son crosses paths with the cop.

The movie could’ve been more of an engrossing character study about fathers and sons with themes of guilt and redemption, but it bungles a bit in the second half, going on too long with a detour into police corruption and seemingly being too implausible and coincidental at times, especially with the sons’ chance relations. It’s a bit predictable, too, and yet “The Place Beyond the Pines” has enough going for it -- some good acting, shots, and twists -- that make it an entertaining crime drama. The parallels between the characters, their fates, and the themes, provoke enough thoughts that it'll likely go through your mind for quite awhile after it’s done.

Have you seen this? And what do you think of Ryan Gosling and the films he's been in?

Happy Oscar night. Bring out the Red Carpet! For those going to parties to watch the 85th Academy Awards, enjoy! It could be an unpredictable night with awards going to any number of nominees. There seems to be less sure bets this year, which should make it an interesting viewing experience.

2012 brought in a strong slew of films, most of which came out near the end of the year. My top favorites were: "Argo," "Life of Pi," "Lincoln," and "Rust and Bone." But I also liked "Zero Dark Thirty," "Silver Linings Playbook," "The Impossible" and "Les Miserables." I haven't seen the much hailed "Amour" yet, or "The Hobbit," "Django Unchained," "Anna Karenina" and one I really want to see "Searching for Sugar Man," the documentary which so many have liked.

It's hard to say which film will get the top prize. Will they continue Ben Affleck's win streak going in and give Best Picture to "Argo"? Or will they bend to Steven Spielberg's historical drama "Lincoln"?

Another category which I found hard to predict was for Best Director between Spielberg and Ang Lee for "Life of Pi." Lee did a phenomenal job with the making of "Pi," which many of the novel's fans didn't even think could be made. But perhaps David O. Russell might sneak away with it for "Silver Linings Playbook," the engaging film that takes a look at mental illness and family.

I found Best Adapted Screenplay another struggle to pick. With such strong stories, it's hard to say which film will come out on top. I guess two sure bets are supposed to be Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor (he is terrific as Lincoln!) and Anne Hathaway for Supporting Actress in "Les Miz," but Sally Field is definitely no slouch as Mrs. Lincoln either. And heaven forbid Marion Cotillard wasn't even nominated for Best Actress for her role in the foreign film "Rust and Bone," which seems no small travesty.

But these are just some of my Oscar observations. What are your picks and favorites for tonight's Academy Awards?

I was a bit worried about going to the French-Belgian film “Rust and Bone” because I read a comment that it’s a dark and depressing film. Hmm was I really up for something like that?

All I knew beforehand was that “Rust and Bone” is about a killer whale trainer (Stephanie) in France who befalls a tragic accident at work and subsequently gets into a relationship with a down-on-his-luck single father (Ali) that turns both their worlds around. The film was hailed by critics as being a very compelling love story between two pretty damaged souls, starring Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts. Hmm, I decided whatever darkness it was, I was game.

The pair in the film meets briefly while Ali's a bouncer at a club in southern France, where’s he’s just moved with his young son to crash at his sister’s. Not long after, Stephanie suffers the accident at work that alters her life and leaves her despondent. Eventually she calls him and they begin to see each other at first as friends. He seems to see her for herself and not just as handicapped. Likewise, she comes to accept the street kickboxing matches he wants to pursue for extra wages. But despite their mutual love that develops, he’s still having sex with other women and doesn’t grasp his love for her until a set of events transpire that makes him leave town abruptly, where he’s eventually left to face an emergency that he can’t handle alone.

“Rust and Bone” drew me in like a siphon and didn’t let me go till the last scene. It’s quite an affecting little film; a gritty love story with strong performances (it could be Marion Cotillard’s best!). It reminded me slightly of “The Wrestler” with Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. And oddly enough, both films include a Springsteen song, which is awesome. But while this one includes some kickboxing in it, it’s not the main focus of the film, which is definitely the coming together of these two troubled people.

Surely “Rust and Bone” has been quite overlooked in this year’s Academy Awards nominations. It’s in French with English subtitles and should have been nominated for Best Foreign Film and Best Actress in my humble opinion. (I think Marion Cotillard likely should have won too!) The film comes from a short-story collection of the same title by Canadian author Craig Davidson. I'd liked to go back and read what's he's written because from what I can tell from this, it must be pretty powerful.

I’m not sure my husband will let me pick movies to watch after I took him to see “The Impossible” this past week. I guess his idea of a good time doesn’t include watching people suffer for a couple hours after a catastrophic natural disaster hits such as the 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami. It killed over 230,000 people in 14 different countries. I, too, sort of wondered what I was doing there watching wrenching physical pain on the big screen.

But “The Impossible” is a powerful reminder of what happened and perhaps a strong testament to the human spirit of pulling together in times of terrible disaster. The film is amazingly realistic looking. One minute this family is on a delightful vacation at a resort on the coast of Thailand, using the pool area, the next minute a terrible sound pervades the hotel guests’ world, followed by a horrific wall of water that obliterates most everything in its path.

I still don’t know how any of them survived. The film’s an amazing true life story of a married couple and their three young sons. They seemed so close to the beach at the time, where people were just swept away and many never found. The recovery efforts after are quite heroic by the local people in the film, especially considering the magnitude and remoteness of where it happened. The family is torn apart and is left to search for one another, even though they assume the others are likely dead.

It’s a humbling and daunting film, huge in scope, reminding us of our fleeting and at times vulnerable existence on Earth and in the face of natural disasters. I can’t say you’d enjoy “The Impossible” or that it’s easy to watch, but you’d likely take away something about the human spirit from it. To see a photo of the real Spanish family’s it’s about and to read their story click here.

I tried to prepare myself for scenes of torture before going to see “Zero Dark Thirty,” the film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, since that’s mostly what I heard about ever since it came out. Most of the controversy has been over the film’s insinuation that torture played a part in finding bin Laden’s location. Senators Feinstein, McCain and Levin sent a letter to Sony Pictures attacking the film for being “grossly inaccurate and misleading” over the torture. Jane Mayer, of the New Yorker, and others, also strongly took issue with the film. Interestingly, Mark Bowden of “Black Hawk Down” fame says the film isn’t far off the mark of what happened.

So I was forewarned before I saw it. The torture scenes come near the beginning of “Zero Dark Thirty” as CIA agents are trying to get information out of al Qaeda detainees after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Luckily the scenes aren’t as gruesome as I feared though they are disturbing and not easy to watch.

A lot of the film is based around Maya, the CIA agent played by Jessica Chastain, who gleans information from a couple of the detainee interrogations and begins to try and track a possible bin Laden courier. Along the way, there’s various setbacks and other terrorist bombings that preoccupy the CIA, though Maya sticks to her guns about the courier, which leads to disputes with her boss who believes she’s on the wrong track. But very slowly Maya begins to make inroads into finding the courier, eventually tracking him to a large compound in Islamabad. Whether that is where Osama bin Laden is no one then could say for certain. The film’s last forty minutes shows a gripping real-time depiction of the Navy Seal raid on the fortress, where we know now bin Laden had been living for quite some time.

Director Kathryn Bigelow’s film is definitely worth seeing and is in my top ten picks for 2012, somewhere behind “Lincoln," “Life of Pi” and maybe "Argo." It’s gritty and maybe a bit overly Maya-concentrated but a riveting puzzle of our times uncovered. Whether torture led to any tips in the hunt for Osama bin Laden remains in dispute, but what’s not in dispute is that harsh interrogations were pursued after Sept. 11, with a few detainees reportedly being waterboarded well over a hundred times. Yet still bin Laden wasn’t found for a decade. I don’t think the film glorifies or justifies torture or is in favor of it, but makes note that it was used in the early years. I agree with the gist of Kathryn Bigelow’s defense of the film, which she wrote about in the Los Angeles Times.

What did you think of the film? Or do you not want to see it?

Finally, “Life of Pi!” Yea. I did it, saw it, lived it. Well not actually, but you know what I mean. Director Ang Lee’s film is visually gorgeous and a feast in 3D. For some reason I was skeptical that it would be any good or not a letdown of Yann Martel’s wonderful 2001 novel. But instead I was pleasantly captivated by the film, which should rank among my top ten of the year.

A lot of people read the book and know it’s about a teenage boy, Pi, from India who becomes shipwrecked at sea and loses his family. He’s stranded on the ocean in a lifeboat with a few zoo animals that were among the ship’s cargo. Soon though it’s just Pi and a Bengal tiger, named “Richard Parker,” who are left to fend for themselves to survive.

It’s quite a survival adventure tale, and is told by Pi as an adult many years later to a writer who’s interested in his story. At the end there’s a reckoning or plot twist in Pi’s tale that changes the perspective on the shipwreck and what has happened on the lifeboat. If one looks, there is religious symbolism along the way. I’m still wondering a bit about the odd island of trees that they find and have to leave toward the end. Does it really represent the Garden of Eden?

The layers of “Life of Pi” make it quite interesting. And for a book that supposedly couldn’t be made into a film, this adaptation does quite well. (Truth be known: I need to revisit the book as it’s been a long time.) In the film, the animals and adventure look very vivid and real thanks to the filmmaking and 3D technology. The screen comes to life amid the sea and might leave you feeling a bit seasick during the scary storms, in which the waves toss the lifeboat all over the place. I also liked that Ang Lee kept to an international cast and didn’t use actors recognizable from Hollywood. “Life of Pi” has an authentic feel to it, which helps it succeed.

If you get a chance, see it this holiday season on the big screen (the 3D is worth it). And though, fans of the book may quibble with it I don’t think they'll leave disappointed.