Best Actor

Let's start with the men.  The Academy had these gentlemen to choose from.

Best Actor Nominees:
Bradley Cooper - Silver Lining Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Denzel Washington - Flight

Winner:  Daniel Day-Lewis will likely win this, he's won everything else. He truly became Lincoln, or what we perceive as Lincoln. People who play historical figures are nominated a lot. Though, I have to wonder why one of my favorites, John Cusack, was not nominated then for his role as Edgar Allen Poe in The Raven. The only movie I haven't seen is The Master. The others were all outstanding performances in their own right, but if anyone other than Daniel Day-Lewis wins this, I will likely faint.

Now, we all know that Oscar-worthy films aren't usually the ones that draw the big crowds, so aside from these great performances, here are a couple more that I think are award-worthy.

Dream Nominees: 
Josh Brolin - Men In Black III --he truly was the young Tommy Lee Jones.
Steve Carrell - Seeking a Friend for the End of the World -- I want to see him win for one of these roles I love him in.
Joseph Gordon Levitt -- Looper -- he was truly the young Bruce Willis
Daniel Craig -- Skyfall -- Someone should win for playing Bond, I think Craig is the best since Connery.
Robert Downey, Jr -- Avengers -- Tony Stark is the guy you love even though he's everything you hate.

Winner:  Tie between Josh Brolin and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  These two actors managed to do some of the best impression work since Rich Little.

So, what would you have picked? It was fun to pull some names together, and a lot harder than you might think! Up next: Best Actress

The Wreckage from Flight

If you saw the previews for "Flight" you may have thought it is the story of an American hero, an airline pilot who lands his plane in impossible circumstances like Sully Sullivan, the pilot who landed the flight in the Hudson River a couple years back. Denzel Washington does an amazing job in this film, not because he's heroic, but because he is completely flawed and broken.

The movie opens in a hotel room, Whip Whitaker (Washington) and a woman (we find out she's a flight attendant on his plane) wake up from a bender, still messed up from the night before. He has a colorful telephone argument with his ex-wife about money before he takes a takes a nose full of cocaine. Then Whip leaves the hotel, dressed in a pilot's uniform.

The subplot is of an young woman named Nicole (Kelly Reilly). She is walking the razor's edge of addiction. She falls off hard when she scores some very strong drugs and chooses to shoot up rather than sniff it.

In the meantime, Whip reports for duty, completes all his pre-flight checks, and takes off through some incredibly bad weather. He manages to find the one sliver of calm in the clouds and though it's scary getting there, he is able to thread the needle and put the plane into smooth air. The 40 minute hop from Orlando to Atlanta is on its way, he slips from the cabin to grab a couple bottles of vodka while the plane is on auto pilot. He goes back to the cabin and falls asleep at the controls.  Suddenly, everything goes south, literally, when the plane pitches into a dive. He is immediately awake, immediately in control, and immediately the consummate professional. He is calm in the face of the panic of everyone around him. I won't give the details away, but what he does with that plane is genius and heroic. He lands the plane with minimal loss of life and like the typical drunk driver, he is virtually unscathed.

When Whip wakes up in the hospital, he finds his old friend and union rep Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood) waiting in his room. He knows that he landed the plane, but has no idea what happened to everyone on board. Protocol is the NTSB must be the first contact after the crash. At the news that members of his crew are amongst those who died, he is visibly shaken. It seems that he knows that his secret is about to catch up with him. He knows he needs to be clean. In fact when his friend (and dealer) Harling (John Goodman) shows up, he refuses the additional "help" he's brought.

It is in the hospital we understand the intersection of lives. Broken people manage to find other broken people. In the stairwell one night, Whip meets Nicole. She lived through the overdose and wants to be clean now. He is drawn to her. He leaves the hospital and goes to his family farm, away from the media circus waiting outside his condo. Once there, he dumps the considerable amount of alcohol and drugs he has stashed away. Determined to be clean, determined to tough it out. He finds Nicole and brings her to stay with him. Like I said, broken people manage to find other broken people.

But, every alcoholic is only one incident away from their next drink.  Whip's comes in the form of a breakfast meeting with Charlie and a Hugh Lang, a lawyer (Don Cheadle). Whip asserts that the airline put him in a broken plane, and no one else could have landed it (which turns out to be true). He asserts that he is a hero. He is prepared to take any blood tests the NTSB may require. The tipping point comes when he finds that those blood tests were already done immediately after the crash. Those tests reveal what we (and he) already knew, he was drunk and high when he stepped on to that plane.

It is from here, the story goes from bad to worse. Whip falls deeper, and deeper into his own nose dive, but he doesn't see it. He continues to assert that the problem was it was a broken plane, why did they send him up in a broken plane? That is where the blame lies. For a brief second, we think that he is going to be okay, and then he crashes again.

I won't give away the ending, since well, what's the point in watching a movie, if you're not going to watch the ending. Let's just say that even though the plane crashes, there are survivors.

This is not an easy movie to watch. It is definitely not a movie where you are going to like very many of the characters and root them on. This movie does contain nudity, some very tough language, adult situations, and a very scary plane crash. Washington's performance is once again top notch. I vacillated from hating the man to feeling horrible for him and back again. It does, however, give an clear picture of the incredible damage that addiction does to lives. I love the incredible metaphor built by the filmmakers here. Whip's life in parallel with what happened in the plane crash. The wreckage all around him, and yet he continues to not see what really happened.

The Up and the Down

I have a new love. It fills my thought processes and distracts me in my daily life. I find myself longing for it and my heartbeat speeds up as it approaches. I'm a little sick when it's over and turn to it whenever I can. If I am afforded the opportunity to share about it, I do. That sounds like love doesn't it? I've not met an interesting new man, or reconnected with someone from my past. Even more embarrassing, it's not a renewed fervor for Jesus that has me all a twitter. No, I have fallen hard for a television show. Downton Abbey.  (No spoilers, I promise.)


I'm somewhat of a anglophile. Not to the extreme, my house isn't decorated with Union Jacks. I do however, have a collection of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte movies. I collect adaptions of Shakespeare's works and I love the Elizabeth movies. My hope for my 50th birthday is for my high school friend Jill and I to go to England.  One of my favorite movies is "The Holiday" with Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black, and Kate Winslet. Go to an quaint English village, meet a interesting, and quite handsome widower. I could handle that.

I honestly don't even know how I happened upon Downton Abbey. It may have been through my Netflix cue since I have a tendency to watch things like "Being Jane" and "Lost in Austen". But from the very first sound of the piano keys and violins, I fell in love.

For those of you who don't know about Downton Abbey (which is amazing to me since I've seen parodies of it on everything from Jimmy Fallon to Sesame Street) it is the story of the aristocratic Crawley family and their bevy of servants, who live in the palatial estate of Downton. Downton is a major character in this show.  The house is actually Highclere Castle in Hampshire, England. It has been the location for several films and music videos. It is a picture of days gone by with its enormous doors, impressive staircases, and antique-filled rooms all on acre upon acre of rolling English countryside. (Can you tell I am smitten?)


Much like it's predecessor,  the BBC's Upstairs, Downstairs, the show uses the differing lives of the aristocrats and the servants to tell the story of England. The show opens on the day that Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) learns that his heir and daughter Mary's fiance has died in the sinking of the Titanic. And thus begins the tale of woe that propelled the Crawley's into my heart.

Robert has three daughters: beautiful and spoiled Mary (Michelle Dockery), beautiful and kind Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay), and plain and well, plain, Edith (Laura Carmichael). Robert is married to Cora (Elizabeth McGovern), an American heiress. He married her so her money could save the estate, but fell in love with her years ago. We meet Robert's mother, Violet Crawley (the amazing Maggie Smith), the Dowager Countess who uses her age and position to manipulate, impart wisdom, and be as snarky as she likes. The thing I love about this character is that she is not unchangeable and made of stone. She has eyes that see the wide implications of every choice, and her very English exterior has a mushy center. Since the rule of law in England does not allow for estates like Downton to be passed to daughters, a new heir is found, the decidely middle-class son of a distant cousin, Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens), a lawyer by trade (shivers) and his ever-industrious mother Isobel (Penelope Wilton). That completes the "basic" Crawley clan. They are full of intrigue, hatefulness at some times, and deep love at others. One minute you want to smack almost any one of them upside the head and the next you want to give the same person a big hug.

Then there's the "down" of Downton, the servants.  Lead by Mr. Carson (Jim Carter), the butler, and Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan), the housekeeper. Carson, a man of decorum who is all about doing things properly, has a surprising past. Mrs. Hughes has never married and dedicated her life to "service." She finds herself mothering a flock of somewhat unruly children. Anna (Joanne Froggatt) the head housemaid is the angel of the crew, not given to gossip, hardworking, and trusted lady's maid to Lady Mary. It's that trust that leads her to trouble after trouble. If Anna is the angel, then O'Brien (Siobhan Finneran) is the devil. (Shouldn't it be a clue that she's the ONLY character they refer to by her last name alone?) She sets her sights on making misery for as many people as she possibly can, perhaps in hopes of easing some pain we've yet to discover.  Her partner in crime is the footman Thomas (Rob James-Collier) a handsome young man with who yearns for more.  Enter John Bates, (Brendan Coyle) a former army comrade of the Earl's.  He comes in to take the coveted spot as his Lordship's valet. He sets O'Brien's and Thomas's brains to scheming and Anna's heart to fluttering. Then there's the cook, Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicole), her kitchen maid Daisy (Sophie McShera), and about a million other characters to keep up with all of which have a little place of love or loathe in my heart.

I must confess that I grew up watching what my mom called her "stories."  Days of Our Lives, The Doctors, Search for Tomorrow, Another World, Young and the Restless, General Hospital, I watched all of them, plus more. That may be why this type of continuing drama appeals to me. (If you're not familiar with some of those names, just know that they were cancelled before your time.) You meet interesting characters and follow them through fantastical life elements. However, the difference is that Downton is set in a historical context that produces its own fantastical life elements; elements that were real. The sinking of the Titanic, the peerage of land and titles in England, World War I, woman's suffrage, the fight for Irish independence, the Spanish flu epidemic, and many more things yet to come. On top of that, they lived in a time when people thought of things like family and others when they made their decisions. Even though they lived lives of privilege, it was definitely not all about me. They lived a life most of us can't imagine, where the only day of the week that was different than any other was the Sabbath. One of my favorite moments is when Matthew Crawley speaks of "the weekend" and the Dowager Countess has no idea of what he is speaking. Of course, the beautiful setting and amazing costumes don't hurt.

If you have yet to discover the world of the Crawley's, I encourage you to do so.  But, be prepared. No one is safe in this world. And unlike the "stories" my mom and I watched, there are no dream sequences to bring back those who find an untimely end. But be assured that you will find a world filled with loyalty, love, hate, intrigue, despair, hope, joy, pain, and each thing to which Scripture tells us there is a season. Along the way you'll get some witty gems from the Dowager Countess to use as your Facebook status.

So, for now, I will take my leave.

Enough Good

I watched NCIS last night, as I do most Tuesday nights. Last night's episode took a turn from just the normal crime procedural to focus on perhaps the show's most lovable and quirky characters, Abby.

A car accident involving the death of a young Marine and a young woman suddenly takes Abby back to her very first case, when she was a little girl in pigtails. (Not that her hairstyle has changed any.) Remembrance of this case drives the normally upbeat and sunny Abby into a dark place more befitting her gothic appearance. This is cause for much concern and conversation amongst the members of her team. The ever-brilliant forensic scientist makes mistakes and displays a surliness we have never seen in her, even when stalked or kidnapped.

The mini-Abby's case begins in a junk yard, with a wrecked truck. She finds a teddy bear in the floorboard and is determined to return the bear to its young owner. What she finds is a family divided by prejudice and misunderstanding. It proves to be a divide that cannot be closed, even by a young girl with all the optimism and love that is our Abby.

Of course, the team solves the case, but the story line isn't really the point of this post. I want address the inner conflict that took Abby to that dark place. At the end of the episode, Abby sits on the floor and pours out her heart to Gibbs. "I'm afraid I'm not enough," she says. "Not enough what?" Gibbs replies. "Not enough good to push back all the evil." Gibbs says, "You are forgetting the ripple effect" Abby is confused and Gibbs asks her to remember the first day they met. In Abby-fashion she remembers every detail including the fact that she shared her fortune cookie with him. He pulls from his wallet the fortune, it reads, "Today's new friend is tomorrow's family." As a viewer, I loved the moment between them and was relieved to see a little of the old Abby shine through as the scene faded to black. I do however wish I could have written that ending, because it was a perfect place to address Abby's real need.

I, like Abby, ache over all the evil in the world. I, like Abby, try my best to be light and hope to those around me. I wonder if I am am enough, could do enough to keep it at bay. But, unlike Abby, I understand that evil will exist until the time that Christ comes back and brings that new heaven and earth. And, unlike Abby, I know I can't rely on myself or even my friends or family to be the source of my hope. Jesus is my only hope. The Psalms say it over and over again, our hope is in The Lord. Corinthians tells us that three remain, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest is love. I John tells us that God is love and that we love because he first loved us and Romans says that God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were sinners Christ died for us. That is where the "enough" comes from. I can't muster it from somewhere inside. I can't draw it from those around me. I can, however, seek it from the fountain of hope, love, and faith that never runs dry. It is there that "enough good" is found. Like a favorite song of mine says, "All of you is more than enough for all of me."

Lincoln-The Gentle Giant

I think it's easy for Americans to forget that Presidents are just everyday people in extraordinary circumstances. Spielberg's "Lincoln" gives us a vision of both the everyday man and the grand statesman.

The story sits in front of the backdrop of the days leading up to the vote in the House of Representatives on the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery in the US with all its political wrangling. We meet all sorts of interesting characters. William Seward (David Strathairn), Lincoln's Secretary of State and closest adviser. Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field) Lincoln's wife, trying her best to appear cosmopolitan and hide her insanity and grief. The abolitionist Congressman Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) and his sparing partner the Democrat Fernando Wood (Lee Pace). The political operatives asked by Lincoln and Seward to procure the votes for the amendment are perhaps my favorite, even though they are the most profane, William N. Bilbo (James Spader) and Colonel Robert Latham (John Hawkes).

And of course, there's Lincoln.  Daniel Day-Lewis is completely transformed into the Lincoln that I had in my head from grade school.  Tall, thin, bearded, and stooped, with his stove-pipe hat and black suit.  The first we see him, he is sitting out in the rain as Negro soldiers tell him of their valiantly fought battle and argue for Negro Army officers. Two young soldiers approach him and begin to quote the Gettysburg address to him. His self-effacing humor and concern for these young man is our first glimpse at the depth of this man's character. Day-Lewis plays Lincoln as a gentle man, who indulged his youngest son Thad (Gulliver McGrath) while he held his eldest son Robert (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) fought to be noticed by his father. He portrays Lincoln as the last person to speak in the room and when he did speak he spoke in stories and parables to the chagrin of his friends and cabinet. This Lincoln was on a trajectory toward greatness despite himself because of his belief that all men are created equal.

Spielberg's masterful casting and storytelling makes this movie so much more than a history lesson. I connected with the characters and even found myself rooting for the amendment to pass, even though Civics class taught me long ago that it was so.

The Brilliance of a Silver Lining

I saw "Silver Linings Playbook" last night. I really loved this movie. I laughed out loud a lot, sometimes because it was just uncomfortable to think two people like this are actually in a family somewhere.

Bradley Cooper was dreamy, even when he is playing person who is really pretty unbalanced. He deals with bipolar disorder by muscling his way through his episodes with positivity and self discipline with mixed results. The scene where Pat looks for his wedding video is part of what got Cooper his best actor nod. Jennifer Lawrence was great as Tiffany, the young widow on the edge of self-destruction, but not great enough to beat Naomi Watts for "The Impossible" or Quvenzhané Wallis for "Beasts of the Southern Wild" for the Oscar. Her nomination, however, is well deserved.

I loved that we never saw their dance in full until the competition. I loved how important the Philadelphia Eagles were to this family. Since I grew up in a family where the Pittsburgh Steelers were a Sunday ritual, I get this family.  DeNiro as the father and Jackie Weaver as the mother were delightful and painful as they try to help their youngest son find his way out of the mess that bipolar disorder has made of his life. The "R" rating is for the salty language and frank discussions.

While the story, the acting, and directing are great, the production was definitely "small". I saw several continuity flubs, and I'm not generally the person who catches those things. There's even a spot where you see a piece of the camera equipment, again, not something I normally catch. I have to say I am a little surprised by the best picture nod for this film in that respect. To me, a best picture movie should be a movie that is as flawless as can be in all the aspects of film, not just the story elements, the acting elements, or the direction.

But, I definitely got caught up in this movie. I held my breath, and then cheered or sighed in the appropriate spots. The brilliant performances of all the actors is what makes this film more than just another romantic comedy.

For the Love of NCIS

I had a Facebook friend post the other day, "Why is NCIS the most popular show on television?" It was evident that he didn't like the show.  I am not surprised that some have disdain for the show. It's not cinema d'arte, or black comedy, or particularly intellectually challenging. My friend's husband who is an NCIS agent says that it's not even close to what they really do.  But, I would like to submit that there's lots to like and even love about this show.  I am not a person who watched the show from the outset.  In fact, I am a USA marathon convert, watching on rainy Saturday afternoons or to occupy myself during football season, I soon turned to its prime time version. Here's a few reasons why.

I love the characters. Donald Bellisario and Don McGill, the creators of NCIS, gave us a group of characters that while remaining true to their original design, have grown and developed.

• Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is a Marine to the core, has vulnerabilities and flaws and occasionally a sense of humor. He is a compassionate boss, a loner, an old fashioned guy with a strict code, and a patriot. 
• Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) has taken longer to give us what we really want, a glimpse of how he really feels for his co-worker Ziva David (Cote De Pablo) He remains the movie-loving,  goofy yet dashing guy we want to ask us out for a drink.  
• The trained assassin, Ziva, still struggles with her demons as she does with American idioms, but we see a longing to be something more. 
• The resident geeks Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) provide stability and a sense of wonder at the same time. Both quirky in their own way, they love what they do and the team they do it with. 
• Director Vance (Rocky Carroll) has been a character that has been hard to like, butting heads with Gibbs and balancing the politics of working for a federal agency. The glimpses at how hard a demanding job can be on the only family man of the group, have been at times heart wrenching. 
• Then there's the autopsy suite, Dr. Donald Mallard, or "Ducky" (David McCallum) provides wisdom, professionalism, and class while Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen) imbibes us with some humor and innocence. 

There have been other characters of note, Kate Todd (Sasha Alexander) and Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) who met untimely demises and of course Gibb's father played by the great Ralph Waite.

I love Mark Harmon. He's more than just a nice-looking man. He's a nice man. He's been married to Pam Dawber for 25 years. He's a dad. He's a team player. Always has been, dating all the way back to when he was the quarterback for UCLA.  I love that he's always quick to point the spotlight away from himself and to some other member of his team.  I love that he has built a team that seems to genuinely love working together and keeps each others ego in check. I loved him way back in 70's when he was in the mini-series "Centennial" and the adventure "240-Robert." Then came the role that proved he was more than a pretty face, Dr Bobby Caldwell on "St. Elsewhere." Caldwell was the first person to contract and die of AIDS on a network television program. That was followed by a stint on one of my favorite shows of the 80's "Moonlighting" which lead up to People Magazine naming him as the "Sexiest Man Alive." He continued to work over the next ten years or so until he took the role of Jack McNeil on "Chicago Hope." A couple years later he took one of my favorite roles, the Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan on "The West Wing." I have to say, I was pretty upset when they killed him. Then came Gibbs, and like I said before, it took a while for the show to grow on me.  But, goodness the man whacks his team on the back of the head when they mess up.  Haven't YOU always wanted to do that to the people you work with.

I love that after 10 seasons they still find ways to keep me on the edge of my seat. I'm a seasoned enough TV-watcher that I know probably most major characters aren't going to leave. This is not the Walking Dead, after all.  However, at the end of last season when Ducky had his heart attack, I was truly concerned that this wonderful character would be gone forever. (That is until I surfed the internet and found that David McCallum had renewed his contract.) This season the twists and turns that have occurred are making me excited about what might be next.  I was heartbroken as Cote De Pablo gave the performance of her life the past couple weeks. I wonder where this new tragedy will take her.  Like many others, I hope it will take her to the arms of Tony, but, I too, wonder what that would do to the show.

I love that they try to portray our military in a respectful, yet honest way. The military is full of fine people, but just like any organization, there's plenty of bad to go around. I love the respect they have for veterans of all ages.  One of my favorite episodes featured the late great Charles Durning as a WWII vet haunted by the death of a fellow Marine, a death he thought he caused. The sensitivity and respect the script brought to this older vet was something that all involved in the show should be proud of.

I could continue on, but I won't. I figure, if you don't already like NCIS, you're probably not going to like if after my few words. Maybe if I were able to give you a good Gibbs-slap-upside-the-head, you might. I hope however, that the folks who make the show might understand why people such as me do like it.  Congratulations on ten seasons NCIS. Congratulations to Mark Harmon on getting a star on the Walk of Fame. Even though I've never actually met you, seems to me that it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Here's to as many more episodes as you'll give me, regardless of what other people say.