2011 Oscar Recap

Hosts: James Franco and Anne Hathaway

Best picture: The King's Speech

Best actor: Colin Firth (The King's Speech)

Best actress: Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

Best supporting actor: Christian Bale (The Fighter)

Best supporting actress: Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Best director: Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)

Animated feature: Toy Story 3

Documentary feature: Inside Job

Original screenplay: The King's Speech

* Source: Entertainment Weekly magazine

Oscar Winner Christian Bale's Career

Christian Bale has just been awarded the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in The Fighter. He is known as someone who immerses himself in a role 100%. He has not been an overnight success, starting out as a child actor in the 1980s. He came from a showbiz family, with a grandfather who was an actor, and his mother worked for the circus, and the family traveled extensively.

He was born in Wales in 1974 and earned a role in Anastasia, a made for TV movie in 1986. The film co-starred Amy Irving, then the wife of director Steven Spielberg. She recommended Bale for the role in Spielberg's next film, Empire of the Sun. That film was released in 1987 and Bale received critical acclaim. The National Board of Review voted him the best juvenile performance for the film. He enjoyed the acting but found the press junkets to be repetitive and grueling. He wanted to be a kid, and was disillusioned by the loss of his privacy. He vowed to never act again.

The acting hiatus only lasted a year and Bale filmed Henry the Fifth with Kenneth Branagh and Judi Dench. Around this time he also did a TV movie with Charlton Heston. In 1992 Bale did the film Newsies which was a musical. He endured a grueling schedule of singing and dancing lessons before filming the project. The movie was a flop, and so was his next work, Swing Kids (1993). But, even if the films were not seen by a wide audience, Bale received critical acclaim for his acting skills. In 1994 he did the film Little Women, where he developed a friendship with co-star Winona Ryder. She ended up introducing him to his wife.

Bale continued working in films through the 1990s, but his breakthrough role came in 2000 with American Psycho. This film was first put together in 1997 but went through changes in script, cast and crew. This was based on a novel by Bret Easton Ellis who wrote the book Less than Zero, which was a 1980s film with Robert Downey, Jr. American Psycho was a profile of Patrick Bateman, a deranged materialistic Wall Street yuppie from the 1980s obsessed with sex and violence. The film had a budget of $6 million. Lion's Gate Pictures did not know if Bale was right for the role. For a period of time, it looked like Leonardo DiCaprio would star and Oliver Stone would direct, but those plans fell through. Mary Harmon ended up as the director, and she was impressed with Bale's intensity and dedication to his craft. The film was not a hit at the box office and had mixed reviews from the critics. But, once it was released on DVD it caught on as a cult classic. It had a mixed reception at Sundance and the MPAA wanted to give it an NC-17 rating. Edits were made to make it an R rated film. I think it is a fantastic script and the performance by Bale is mesmerizing.

After American Psycho, the next film that caught the attention of critics and audiences was The Machinist in 2004. This was about an emaciated man who was a tortured soul who had insomnia and guilt over committing a crime. He lost 60 pounds to do this film, going from 180 pounds to 120 pounds. He ate less than 500 calories per day and was physically exhausted on the set. This is an example of how he committed to the role completely. It made me think of Robert DeNiro's transformation from muscular to fat in Raging Bull.

In 2005, Batman Begins was released and Bale had pressure on him to succeed with this franchise, which had been damaged by the George Clooney vehicle, Batman and Robin. It was well received, as well as 2007's The Dark Knight. Bale's next Batman work will be released in 2012 and will be called The Dark Knight Rises. He stays in character the whole time when doing these films, even wanting the name Bruce Wayne on his door of his dressing room.

2008 had Bale starring in Terminator Salvation, where he had an on-set tirade, yelling at the director of photography when he was trying to film a scene. He was mad since the camera operator was walking around while Bale was trying to concentrate on his scene. He was screaming "Are you professional?" Bale gave a public apology on a radio show in 2009 and said his actions were "inexcusable".

The 2010 film The Fighter has Bale co-starring with Mark Wahlberg and Amy Adams. He plays a crack addicted boxing coach and former boxer Dicky Eklund, who works with his half brother to make him a champion. Like with his other roles, that part showed how Bale can transform himself like a chameleon in terms of his physical appearance and his mannerisms and way of speaking. I think he is one of the best actors working today. The role earned Bale a Golden Globe, an Oscar, a Screen Actor's Guild award and many other accolades from film critics.

* Some information from Biography channel program about Christian Bale, and en.wikipedia.org.

Scarface Remains one of Pacino's Best Films

One of my favorite actors is Al Pacino, known for films such as Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, The Godfather trilogy, Heat, The Devil's Advocate, Donnie Brasco, and Scent of a Woman. I think that one of his best roles has to be Cuban drug lord Tony Montana in Scarface (1983). It is a re-make of the 1932 film which was directed by Howard Hawks and written by Ben Hecht. The 1983 version was dedicated to Hawks and Hecht. The 1932 film was based on the life of mobster Al Capone, in the days of prohibition.The 1983 film dealt not with the illegal sale of alcohol, but cocaine. The Pacino film was directed by Brian DePalma, who also directed The Untouchables, Carrie and Carlito's Way. It was produced by Martin Bregman who also worked with Pacino on Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and Carlito's Way. The screenplay was written by Oliver Stone, who also wrote films such as Wall Street, Midnight Express and Born on the Fourth of July. Ironically, Stone fought cocaine addiction himself while writing the screenplay. In addition to Pacino, the film co-stars Steven Bauer as Manny Ribera, Tony's right hand man. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Elvira Hancock, the cold, distant girlfriend of Tony's mentor, Frank Lopez, played by Robert Loggia. Tony's sister Gina is played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

The film was not loved by everyone. Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars (his highest rating), but film critic Leonard Maltin gave it a poor review. Despite being nominated for 3 Golden Globes, it was also nominated for a Razzie award for worst director, Brian DePalma. Some saw the film as being too violent, with too much profanity. There are 42 people killed in the film. It originally recieved an X rating by the MPAA. The filmmakers knew they could not release an X rated film and have a wide audience. They edited the film, cutting out a lot of the violence. The rating was revised to an R. But, before its release, DePalma actually submitted the original X rated version to theaters. Yes, the film is violent, but so is the world of cocaine trafficking. I see it as being an accurate depiction of that lifestyle.

Scarface is about Tony Montana, who was able to leave Cuba in 1980 when Castro released thousands of refugees to go to Miami. It turned out that many who were coming to America had criminal records. Tony and his friend Manny work in a restaurant briefly washing dishes but decide that they need to sell drugs in order to make some real money. Tony learns about the business from Frank Lopez and eventually surpasses him and takes his girlfriend as well. Scarface is about Tony climbing to the highest level of being a drug lord, but through that process he loses his friends, his family, and himself. It is a portrait of a man who seeks power but only finds weakness and paranoia. He turns to drugs in order to escape from himself. His descent into cocaine addiction is swift, disturbing, and it has a violent ending.

This could have been a very different film. John Travolta was considered for the role of Manny. Robert DeNiro was considered for the role of Tony, but he turned it down. Sidney Lumet was the first choice for director but he did not take the job. The following actresses turned down the role of Elvira: Rosanna Arquette, Melanie Griffith, Kim Basinger, Jodie Foster, Brooke Shields. Two others who auditioned were Geena Davis and Sharon Stone.

A scene in the movie has Tony looking up at a blimp with the message "The World is Yours". He has a statue in his house with a globe above with those words on it. The 1932 film had this phrase on a billboard when Tony Camonte died (Paul Muni).

Scarface has become a bit of a cult classic. It is popular with many in the hip hop community and in 2006 a Scarface video game was released. Its budget was $25 million and it has made $45 million in the US and $65 million worldwide at the box office. It is not a short film, with a length of 170 minutes. But, I put it up there with 2 other favorites, Casino and The Godfather, both which are also about 3 hours. It is long, but it takes time to tell the story, and I think it is a well crafted screenplay. Tony Montana is a hero in the same way as characters from films such as Good Fellas, The Godfather, Casino, Donnie Brasco, Carlito's Way and even Tony Soprano from the HBO show The Sopranos. People see the organized crime lifestyle as glamorous and powerful, with fancy cars, houses and everything a person could want. Those things are part of the lifestyle, but people in that life also sell their souls.


*Some material from imdb.com.

Billy Joel: Piano Man

Billy Joel grew up on Long Island New York, the son of an immigrant who was an accomplished classical music pianist. Billy had more of an interest in rock and roll, which his father did not like. Billy's brother is a classical music conductor in Europe. He dropped out of high school and had dreams of becoming a recording star like his idols, The Beatles. He played in a piano bar in Los Angeles, which led to the hit Piano Man in 1973. Billy teamed up with producer Phil Ramone and ended up having an amazing career which has spanned over 4 decades. He has had 33 top 40 hits, all which he wrote himself. He has sold over 150 million albums worldwide. The show I saw on the Biography channel mentioned how he has had many ups and downs in his personal life. He had a manager who took advantage of him financially, leaving him with no option other than to tour extensively over a 2 year period to get on better ground financially. He has had struggles with substance abuse, and has been divorced 3 times, most notably from model Christie Brinkley. Joel was a boxer as a young man and his aggression and fighting attitude can sometimes be seen in his music. He has toured with another pianist/rock and roll legend, Elton John. In 1987 Joel performed a groundbreaking concert in Russia at the height of the cold war. Billy's albums 52nd Street, Glass Houses, Storm Front and River of Dreams all hit #1 in the US. I admire Billy Joel very much for his staying power and his mark he has made on the world of popular music. My favorite songs of his include; Piano Man, Movin' Out, New York State of Mind, Big Shot, You May be Right, My Life, Pressure, and many more.

* Some information from Biography channel and en.wikipedia.org

Barry Manilow: I Write the Songs

I recently watched a Biography channel profile of Barry Manilow and thought I'd write a bit about this performer. Barry never planned on being a singer. He wanted to be a piano player in the background, not the star. He accompanied Bette Midler, and made money writing commercial jingles early in his career in New York City. He would also arrange music for performers such as Midler and Dionne Warwick. Before he had hit singles he would perform the commercial jingles that he wrote just so the audience would recognize something. He met Arista records chief and music mogul Clive Davis who thought he could make Barry a star. Manilow became known for his ballads such as Can't Smile without You, I Write the Songs, Could it be Magic and Mandy. From 1974 to 1980 he had hit after hit. He tired eventually of all the touring and singing these ballads. He started performing an up tempo fun song called Copacabana, and it became a big hit. He has been praised by Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan. After 30 years of touring to bring his show to the people, Barry decided to sign a contract with a Las Vegas hotel so that the people could come to him. He has branched out by releasing albums that pay tribute to the music of the 1950, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He has also recorded big band type music, Christmas albums and a tribute to the greatest love songs of all time.

* Some information from Biography channel and en.wikipedia.org.