Oscarology: Vol 1, pt. 1 - Best Picture Nominees

Welcome to Oscarology, the study of the Hollywood awards season culminating with the presentation of the Academy Awards in March 2014. I am Trevor Kirkendall, your resident Oscarologist. I’ve been studying the tendencies of the Oscars since 1993 and have since earned my PhD in this study. The following series of articles will cover the landscape of the upcoming awards season from now until the nominations are announced on January 16, 2014.

For this first volume, we will focus on the top category: Best Picture of the Year.

A few years ago, the Academy amended their rules to allow a minimum of five films to be nominated for Best Picture, but no more than 10. Nobody will know exactly how many films will be nominated until the announcement in January. Nine films have been nominated in each of the past two years since the rule amendment. The rules provide that Academy members vote for their five favorite pictures from the year. The movies with the highest total will be nominated, provided that the film receives 5% of first place rankings (meaning each movie nominated for Best Picture was ranked first on at least 5% of the ballots cast).

Therefore, there’s no way to tell exactly which films are going to be nominated. So what I’ll do between now and the day the nominations are released is to provide a list of 10 films that could be nominated. Films ranked 1-5 will be the guaranteed nominees. Films 6-10 will be ranked by confidence (if there are 6 nominees, it’ll be films 1-6, if there are seven then it’ll be films 1-7 and so on).

So which films are going to be nominated? This is a much more crowded season as opposed to last year. I was surprised to see nine nominated films even made the nomination list last year simply because the quality of films was lower than in previous years. This year, it would not surprise me to see all 10 slots filled. It also would not surprise me to only see five of six films nominated due to the 5% rule. Too many films to be spread out across too many Academy voters.

Let’s have a look at some of the films that will no doubt be considered for not only a nomination, but the win as well. Please remember, I haven’t seen any of these films yet. This is all based on pure speculation, and my knowledge of how these awards work. Please note my PhD in Oscarology. In part one today, we'll look at the five films the I believe, as of right now, will be guaranteed a nomination for Best Picture.

Chiwetel Ejiofor in the Best Picture frontrunner "12 Years
a Slave" opening October 18

Until further notice, the film I believe will win the Best Picture Oscar is 12 YEARS A SLAVE. This film was the recipient of the Toronto International Film Festival’s only award, the People’s Choice Award. Four of the last five winners of this award went on to score a Best Picture nomination and two of those films (“Slumdog Millionaire” and “The King’s Speech”) won the award.

“12 Years a Slave,” from acclaimed British filmmaker Steve McQueen, is based on an autobiography by Solomon Northup, a free black man from New York in antebellum America who was kidnapped and sold into slavery for 12 years. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brad Pitt and Paul Dano also star. The film was said to have left the Toronto audience in a stunned silence before erupting into a rare standing ovation. Some critics walked out, unable to watch because of the intensity. One critic said this is the “Schindler’s List” of slavery films. That’s saying something. I believe at this moment, “12 Years to Slave” will be the film to beat. It begins its limited run on October 18.

Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts star in
"August: Osage County" opening Christmas Day

Another film that received a wonderful reception at Toronto comes from The Weinstein Company, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. From director John Wells (“The Company Men”), the film is based on a play by Tracy Letts who also wrote the screenplay. A family crisis brings family members back together to the Oklahoma home where they were raised. The film is loaded with star power including Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Benedict Cumberbatch (again), Ewan McGregor, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepard, Chris Cooper and Margo Martindale. It also received a massive ovation from Toronto and could absolutely be considered a contender to win. I think a nomination is a given at this point. It opens for a limited run on Christmas Day before expanding (probably after it receives numerous Oscar nominations).

Oscar Isaac stars in the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn
Davis" coming to theaters December 6

Don't count out the Coen Brothers either. Their latest is INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS. This one premiered at Cannes earlier this year to rave reviews. At that time, many considered it the very early front-runner for Best Picture. It’s since fallen from that distinction, but only because Cannes was back in May. The film follows an aspiring folk singer-songwriter in New York City’s Greenwich Village during the 1960s. It stars Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrent Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham and Justin Timberlake. The soundtrack is being produced by T Bone Burnett (who produced the Grammy winning soundtrack for the Coen’s “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) and by Mumford and Sons frontman Marcus Mumford, so you know the music will be good. I think this will reclaim some kind of frontrunner status when it finally comes out in theaters. It will open with a limited run on December 6 before expanding on December 20.

Terror above the surface of the earth in "Gravity"

One film we’ll get to see very soon is the space thriller GRAVITY from director Alfonso Cuarón. The film stars previous Oscar winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts stranded in space after an accident destroys their space shuttle. Most of you have probably seen the ads for this one so you are all probably well aware of how good this looks. The Academy does not typically swoon for science fiction films such as this, but the early reviews have been nothing short of spectacular. While I think this will be a guaranteed nominee, I don’t know if the Academy will end up awarding it with their top prize. Then again, it’s only September and a lot can change. “Gravity” will open on October 4 everywhere, including IMAX 3D screens.

Robin Williams and Forest Whitaker in "Lee Daniels'
The Butler" now playing in theaters

Another guaranteed nominee will be LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER. This has already been released for some time and many of you have probably already seen it. Admittedly, I have not had a chance to see this one yet. The fact that this one has remained a decent box office draw helps its chances of a nomination. Just because it’s a successful box office draw does not mean it's going to be an Oscar nominee (if that were the case, “Iron Man 3”, “Despicable Me 2” and “Fast & Furious 6” would be nominated, and that is not going to happen). Its chances are helped by the fact that it's been well reviewed and well received in the box office.

I think these five films have the best chance of securing nominations, but what other films could contend? In part two, we'll examine the other films this year that could secure any of the remaining five slots. Check back Wednesday, September 25 for the second part of Best Picture Oscarology.

Review: Prisoners

by Trevor Kirkendall
★★★½

Here we go again, another boring police procedural. Just what we need. As if we don’t have enough on network television every night. As if USA and the Turner networks don’t wear us down with constant “NCIS” and “Law & Order” marathons every weekend. Didn’t we just see one of these? It sure seems like a police procedural comes out once every two months. Or was that just a “CSI” rerun I saw the other day?

 

That’s generally my take on procedure films such as “Prisoners” and I did carry some of that attitude with me into the screening despite how good the TV spots looked. But “Prisoners” is based around the characters and not around the procedure. By putting emphasis on character and story rather than the procedures, “Prisoners” transcends the predictable boundaries of the genre and becomes a much more relatable film.

It's Thanksgiving Day and Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) is with his wife Grace (Maria Bello), teenage son Ralph (Dylan Minnetta) and six-year old daughter Anna (Erin Gerasimovich) at their neighbor Franklin (Terrence Howard) and Nancy (Viola Davis) Birch’s house for dinner. Franklin and Nancy also have a daughter about Ralph’s age, Eliza (Zoe Soul), and a daughter about Anna’s age, Joy (Kyla Drew Simmons). The two young girls are hanging out together and decide to go look for a lost toy back over at the Dover’s house. The parents allow them to go. That will be the last they see of them.

The girls go missing and the families being to search. Ralph remembers seeing a creepy looking RV parked on the street earlier in the day. Police soon find the RV and its owner Alex Jones (Paul Dano). Alex is said to have the IQ of a 10 year old. He’s quiet and creepy. Keller’s gut feeling is that Alex took the girls. He knows it, even if the police don’t have any evidence. The investigation is left up to Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) who’s very serious about his job and doesn’t appreciate Keller trying to tell him how it's supposed to be done.

But Keller is so convinced that Alex, who lives with his Aunt Holly (Melissa Leo). Loki investigates Alex and his aunt, but comes up with nothing tying him to the girls’ disappearance. This isn’t enough for Keller. The rage within him and his desire to find his daughter and her friend are too much for him to sit around and let Loki handle this on his own. He decides that it's up to him to find out what Alex knows.

While most police dramas or child kidnapping thrillers can be a very overdone and bland genre of film, “Prisoners” is a much more refreshing take. This is a very patiently paced story and very delicately handled by French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve.

Villeneuve has a very strong handle of this exceptionally dark screenplay from “Contraband” scribe Aaron Guzikowski. The script takes the unique perspective of examining each character individually and building the story we are shown around their backstories and personalities. This - as opposed to coming up with a plot and inserting characters we don’t care about into it - works on a much more empathetic level; we can’t help but feel the pain everyone is experiencing.

The plot’s been done before so there’s no need to give us something we already know. By examining the scenario through meticulously designed characters, we have something that is much more engaging. It's a mystery film, but you don’t find yourself trying to solve the mystery before the movie does. You’re too engaged with the characters to be your own detective.

This is not a film of chance or coincidence. Everything here seems very realistic. Even the setting feels real. The decision to set “Prisoners” in an unnamed small Pennsylvania town helps to create a more realistic illusion. The lack of coincidence is also very refreshing, especially for a Hollywood studio film. I’m not saying it's completely free of coincidence, but people don’t just happen to find clues hidden away in plain sight late in the film when they should have noticed them earlier (well, one moment comes to mind, but that’s one moment in 153 total minutes; that’s a much better track record than other films). People don’t just happen to bump into potential killers or stumble over other plot details just to keep it moving. This is a very well thought out and methodically handled film.

The cast is full of talented star power. It makes little sense for me to tell you how good everyone is in this film because you should already know. With the exception of Paul Dano and Maria Bello, each of these main actors have been nominated for Oscars (and Melissa Leo took one home two years ago for “The Fighter”). Dano will get his one day; he’s far too talented to go unnoticed forever as he once again showcases here as the troubled and disturbed Alex Jones. Bello will get hers one day too. It's a crime she wasn’t already nominated for her roles in “A History of Violence” or “The Cooler”.

Jake Gyllenhaal takes a departure from his typical roles by playing this one with a much darker tone. The script is purposefully vague on his backstory, but Gyllenhaal is able to tell you everything you need to know about Detective Loki by the way behaves toward others around him and with his determination in solving this case.

Hugh Jackman is sensational in his portrayal as the desperate father. He is absolutely fearless in this role, so much more than I’ve ever seen him. I hope he doesn’t go unnoticed by Oscar voters because he really is that good in this film. He should absolutely be considered for his second nomination. You are unable to take your eyes off him. Despite questionable measures he takes in trying to find his daughter, you don’t necessarily disagree with him.

And in a complete juxtaposition to Jackman’s Keller is Terrence Howard’s portrayal of Franklin. This man couldn’t be anymore of a polar opposite to Jackman’s character. It’s riveting to watch these two one screen together and to see how each of them in their different lives deal with this unthinkable situation.

Despite the subject matter being similar to movies we typically get each year, nothing feels overdone in “Prisoners”. It’s a film you can really sink your teeth into as you watch. Even if it runs a little long just for the sake of being long, there is a lot of good to take away from this. It’s dark and at times eerie, and it should come across as a very rewarding experience once you make it through. And when you do make it through, “Prisoners” will still be in your head long after you leave.

Review: Prisoners

by. Joe Moss
★★★1/2

Denis Villeneuva is relatively unknown on the American film circuit, but with his ultra-suspenseful, stylish and well-paced "modern" film-noir, "Prisonsers," I feel pretty positive that is about to change drastically [especially considering he already has another movie "Enemy" in the works also starring Jake Gyllenhaal].

This movie forces the audience to empathize with all of the screen characters. You will find yourself alternating between feelings of despair and sympathy to disgust and even horror. This extreme emotional roller-coaster is only achievable via the phenomenal screenplay written by Aaron Guzikowski ("Contraband"), the panache delivered from a cast of veteran Oscar-nominated actors, and the fresh vision of Denis Villeneuva.

Longtime friends the Dovers (Hugh Jackman and Maria Bello) and Birches (Terrance Howard and Viola Davis) meet  for a small Thanksgiving celebration that quickly turns into chaos. After dinner, the youngest children Joy Birch (Kayla Drew Simmons) and Anna Dover (Erin Gerasimovich) decide to head back to The Dover house to look for a lost toy. When the girls cannot be found a couple of hours later, the oldest children, Eliza Birch (Zoe Borde) and Ralph Dover (Dylan Minnette of "Let Me In") are questioned about what transpired earlier that day when they were all playing together. Both mention a mysterious RV camper that was parked in the neighborhood.

The authorities are notified and Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), along with the entire state police force, begin to look for this RV. Found a few hours later at a Gas Station, the driver, Alex Jones (Pual Dano of "Looper"), is taken into custody and the RV seized for forensic investigation. In the meantime, his Aunt Holly Jones (Melissa Leo of "The Fighter") is notified of the arrest and her home is searched as well. With no leads obtainable in the short 48-hour window an arrest warrant offers, Alex is released to his Aunt's recognizance. Thus ensues the true horror of the movie as Alex becomes subjected to the wrath of Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) until information about his daughter is obtainable.

Not wanting to give too much information away (and ruin the suspenseful premise of the film) I will stop there with the plot-story and focus on the acting.... WOW!!! That truly sums up the movie in one single word. I will say it again WOW!!!!! Hugh Jackman showcases his ability to draw an audience into a movie once again. It has always amazed me that he is so capable an actor that EVERYONE wants to believe in him whether he is Wolverine, Jean Valjean, or a father in the throws of emotional hell (PRISON) searching for his abducted daughter. His commanding screen presence is once again the center of this movie--even with other acting greats alongside him.

That being said, Melissa Leo as Holly Jones plays a nice counterpoint to Hugh Jackma's character. Initially you are sorry for her plight in life as we discover more about her during the lead toward the climax at the hospital, but once the bomb drops--a mushroom cloud of "I DID NOT EXPECT THAT" encompasses the entire theater. I was stunned. Melissa Leo, kudos to you once again--this supporting role was as well cast for you as "The Fighter"!! I'm still in awe.

I hope to see much more of Aaron Guzikowski's films in the future. I especially enjoyed the duality of the title--prisoners as a reference to those taken into custody by the police...and as I alluded to above with Hugh Jackman...people trapped in a prison of their own emotions.  Both my wife and I enjoyed Guzikowski's last screenplay ("Contraband" starring Mark Walhberg) --a very under-appreciated, but well written film that just fell into the "1 too many of the same story" category during the 2012 movie year. Give it a try now that the "woman in distress" sequence has had a chance to rest this year.

Ultimately, if you are in the mood for a true suspense movie (in a modern twist on the film noir vein of classic Hollywood) that will leave you guessing even at the end...GO SEE THIS FILM. You will not be disappointed.

Review: The Family

by Trevor Kirkendall
★★★

And you thought your family was crazy. Just wait till you see the family from “The Family”, the latest film from director Luc Besson.

The Manzoni clan is under witness protection from a New York City crime family. Giovanni (Robert De Niro) is a former mobster turned FBI informant. Since then, the mob has been after him for ratting out his own family. Now he’s on the run with his real family under the assumed name of Fred Blake. They’ve been bouncing around parts of rural France trying to hide out from would be assassins. Their new home is in Normandy.

His family is made up of his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and his high school aged kids, Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D’Leo). Since Gio/Fred is an aggressive ex-mobster, the rest of his family doesn’t fall too far from his tree. They’re all just as crazy as he is. One of the first things Maggie does in this new town is to detonate a homemade bomb inside a grocery store after the owner makes a joke about her being American.

As for the kids, Warren is calculating. He’s attempting to set up his own mafia style racket within the halls of the school. Belle has a very short fuse, much like her father. She’s not oblivious to the fact that she’s an attractive young lady who catches the eyes of many boys, but she will not let anyone come near her. Otherwise, she’s liable to beat them down to a bloody pulp.

Keeping the family hidden is FBI agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones). He’s very tired of the family not being able to keep a low profile, especially Gio/Fred who can’t seem to blend in anywhere, causing Stansfield to move him every few months. Stansfield is especially perturbed with the discovery that Gio/Fred is writing his memoirs.

“The Family” exists solely for the purposes of entertainment. It does not expand your outlook on life or force you to do any deep soul searching. And that is perfectly okay. This film is full of so much humor and entertaining moments that really move the plot along. And of course, De Niro’s one word catch phrase that you might find yourself repeating after the film is done.

De Niro doing comedy never gets old. His comedic timing is that of a seasoned comedy veteran. But he’s not really trying anything new here. He almost reminds me of his character from “Analyze This”. Tommy Lee Jones is another who seems to act like himself, but you wouldn’t want him doing anything different here, especially the way this role is seemingly tailor made for him. And then there’s Michelle Pfeiffer, who steals the scene right out from under her Oscar winning co-stars. These three roles aren’t much of a stretch for them to pull off, but they do it with amazing ease, which really makes the film more than worthwhile.

Director Luc Besson isn’t really known (at least in my book) for being a very notable story-driven filmmaker; he’s more of a visual guy (“The Fifth Element”). But he seems to have stepped out of his usual comfort zone here, and it works great. He keeps the pace of the film moving quickly and allows his actors the freedom to play these roles the way the chose. The screenplay, co-written by both Besson and Michael Caleo (who worked on HBO’s “The Sopranos”) seems to have been written with these three main actors in mind. It works perfectly to their strengths.

While “The Family” will probably be quickly forgotten, it's worth checking out. It's enormously entertaining and fans of De Niro, Pfeiffer and Jones will be extremely satisfied with seeing them all together in the same movie. It's enjoyable and very funny at times. That’s a lot more than many other typical September releases can offer.

What We Learned from the Summer Movies of 2013

The summer movie season has come to a close, and with that we'd like to offer our readers a few things we've learned from our summer at the movies! And we also have some awards to hand out as well:

• "Iron Man 3" proves that sometimes gapping plot holes and questionable endings don't always ruin a film completely. Sometimes, a movie can still be a lot of fun even with a terrible screenplay!
• Just because Jay-Z produces a movie ("The Great Gatsby") doesn't mean he has to litter the soundtrack with his songs, especially when the film is set during a time period when he wasn't even alive.
• J.J. Abrams loves lens flares almost as much as Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich love casually murdering thousands of innocent civilians in every one of their movies.
• Also, "Star Wars Episode VII" is going to be in good hands with J.J. Abrams behind the camera.
• Just because a movie does well in the box office ("The Hangover") doesn't mean you have to lie to the public and say that you originally envisioned it as a trilogy for sake of making two more. Yes, "Part III" was better than "Part II" but, come on, sometimes less is more.
• Men like watching fast cars and things blowing up. Women like Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. As long as these two fundamentals do not change, "Fast & Furious" movies will keep coming out every year.
• Richard Linklater can keep putting Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy together every nine years as long as all three are still breathing and we'll be more than happy to pay to see it.
• Also, Ethan Hawke shouldn't act in any more movies unless Richard Linklater is involved.
• If M. Night Shyamalan didn't direct anything else ever again, no one would miss him.
• Brit Marling (from "The East") is an actress on the rise. She's mesmerizing to watch, and you should be on the lookout for her star power to increase over the next few years.
• Emma Watson was Hermione Granger? How quick we have forgotten!
• Owen Wilson as Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as Vince Vaughn starring together in a movie worked once. It didn't work again. Let's stop these two right there and make sure they don't appear together in a movie ever again.
• Seth Rogen as Seth Rogen starring alongside his best friends DOES work and we'd love to see more.
• "Man of Steel" was awesome. There, we said it and stand by our reviews. We know we're the only ones. We're looking forward to the sequel too!
• Pixar is the only studio you can trust.
• While we don't normally condone original films being turned into franchises, more Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy would be great!
• And more "Despicable Me" would be great, too.
• Disney spends too much money ("The Lone Ranger") and no one ever sees their PG-13 movies anymore. But just because it flops doesn't mean its bad!
• Unless its Roland Emmerich blowing up the White House....again.
• People really don't like original ideas, do they? They say they do! But when it comes down to it more people would watch a mediocre sequel to a mediocre movie ("Grown Ups 2") rather than an awesome original idea ("Pacific Rim").
• Comic book adaptations of extremely small series ("R.I.P.D.") don't do well just because they're comic book movies. Knock it off.
• Marvel characters not owned by Disney ("The Wolverine") are just as awesome as the ones Disney owns ("The Avengers"). Now, why don't you studios play nice and put all these people in the same movie together, okay?
• Woody Allen has released a movie every year since 1982 and we're okay with him continuing to do that.
• Just because a director released something amazing as his first feature film ("District 9") doesn't mean that his next film will bring you more of the same ("Elysium"). Sometimes, its just bad!
• Ashton Kutcher does look a lot like Steve Jobs.
• "Lee Daniels' The Butler" is the only film that opened this summer that we can guarantee a nomination for Best Picture (doesn't mean something else won't be nominated, but this one is a sure thing).
• Coming of age stories ("The Way Way Back", "The Spectacular Now", "The Kings of Summer") absolutely OWNED the summer of 2013.

And now for our Summer Awards for 2013:

Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias and Nick Robinson in Joe's pick
for Best Picture of the Summer, "The Kings of Summer"

Joe's Awards:
Best Picture of the Summer: "The Kings of Summer"
Best Director: Richard Linklater - "Before Midnight"
Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan - "Fruitvale Station"
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett - "Blue Jasmine"
Best Original Screenplay: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash - "The Way Way Back"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater - "Before Midnight"

Trevor's Awards:

Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller in Trevor's pick for
Best Picture of the Summer, "The Spectacular Now"

Best Picture of the Summer: "The Spectacular Now'
Best Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts - "The Kings of Summer"
Best Actor: Miles Teller - "The Spectacular Now"
Best Actress: Shailene Woodley - "The Spectacular Now"
Best Original Screenplay: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash - "The Way Way Back'
Best Adapted Screenplay: Scott Neustadter, Michael W. Weber - "The Spectacular Now"

Review: The Spectacular Now

by Trevor Kirkendall
★★★★

“The Spectacular Now” revolves around popular high school senior Sutter Keely (Miles Teller). He’s the self-described life-of-the-party wherever he goes. As the film opens, he’s in a relationship with one of the popular girls at school, Cassidy (Brie Larson). But just like many relationships in high school, it soon ends. This sends Sutter on an all night drinking binge.

He’s discovered the following morning sleeping on the front lawn of someone’s house by Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley). While Sutter may be one of the most popular guys in school, Aimee is one of the most quiet and shy girls. She keeps to herself, reading science fiction books, and doesn’t think too many people notice her. Sutter’s attraction to her couldn’t be more odd. But its not surprising to see why Aimee is attracted to Sutter since he’s so popular. Its not everyday when one goes from thinking they’re not noticed by anyone to catching the attention of Mr. Popular.

The film’s focus isn’t set just on Sutter and Aimee. Their relationship is a large part of the plot, but the film is all about Sutter. He is on camera for the entire duration of the film. We get to know him very well. He’s a slacker who doesn’t really care about school at all. Remember that guy in high school? He’s a party animal, constantly drinking alcohol, which makes him a boarder line alcoholic at the young age of 18. Remember that guy in high school? There’s a lot of familiarity with Sutter’s character.

Sutter likes to talk about living in the “now” and not looking back to the past or looking into the future. This is the mindset of many teenagers. Unfortunately, as many seniors are getting ready to graduate and move on, the “now” mindset is replaced by a hopefulness about the future. Not for Sutter. Even his deadbeat father (Kyle Chandler) shares the “now” mindset. 

“The Spectacular Now” is coming-of-age storytelling at its absolute finest. This film is full of heart and of emotional depth, and its built on such a simplistic premise. Here’s a movie chalk full of all the poignant connections we see in other humans and its only 95 minutes long. It relies only on its characters and its story to draw you in and make that connection.

The screenplay, written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber who wrote the brilliant romantic comedy “(500) Days of Summer”, is full of subtle passages of dialogue the drive each scene. It never becomes long or monotonous. Instead, we merely have the honor of following Sutter throughout his final year in high school and seeing how the people in his life shape the outlook of his future. I could view this film a dozen more times and learn something new about these characters with every new viewing. I’ve often said that Bob and Charlotte of Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” were two of the most realistic characters ever captured in cinema. You can now add Sutter Keely and Aimee Finecky to that list.

But only part of the credit for Sutter and Aimee’s realism can be given to the screenwriters. Director James Ponsoldt (who directed last year’s “Smashed” with Aaron Paul and Mary Elizabeth Winestead) also deserves much credit for being able to bring all the happy and sorrowful moments from the script into the performances of his young cast. Ponsoldt has a keen eye for the depths of human emotion found in the screenplays he directs, and possesses the innate ability to draw the performances he wants from his actors. Keep an eye on him.

The most sensational aspect of this film is without a doubt the performances of Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. While the screenwriters and the director help create the characters, Teller and Woodley bring them to life and they are so realistic with their portrayals. These are two young performers who have as good of a grasp on their craft as any veteran. Both are mesmerizing to watch.

“The Spectacular Now” is one of the finest films made this year. Its a poignant coming-of-age story and a subtle masterpiece; I loved every single frame of this film. The film is full of all the emotions we experience everyday and is really a solid display of what films can and should be.