Oscar Talk

If You're Doing a Movie About The Past...

Chris Rock actually said it best during his opening monologue 3 1/2 months ago at the Kodak Theatre. "If you're doing a movie about the past, you bet's to get Russell's ass." Said so plainly, and yet, so true. Rock went on to say that even if the movie was about 3 weeks ago you needed to get Russell Crowe. Well, luckily for film audiences everywhere CINDERELLA MAN takes place 70 years ago between 1929-1934 in the heart of the Great Depression. In other words, you know that Russell Crowe is going to give you a performance that is going to knock...you...out.

And I promise, that is going to be the first and only boxing joke in this review. Promise. CINDERELLA MAN tells the story of James J. Braddock. A light-weight and then heavy-weight fighter who captured the heart of America during the Depression and rose from having not even enough money to turn on the heat and electricity, to getting a shot at the heavy-weight title of the world. Starring the always impressive Crowe, Renee Zellweger and the SIDEWAYS star Paul Giamatti, CINDERELLA MAN had a lot of expectations to live up to. After all, being helmed by the Academy Award winning A BEAUTIFUL MIND duo Ron Howard and Brian Grazier, people everywhere -- myself included -- were expecting a lot. I mean, almost everyone attached to the film has won an Oscar and they started the campaign for Best Picture back in January with one of the most unabashedly oscarbait trailers I've ever seen. There was excitement, and also a host of skepticism. I mean, we've seen this type of thing before. COLD MOUNTAIN, SEABISCUIT and GANGS OF NEW YORK come to mind; all films with oscar written all over them, but neither really did anything at all for the Academy and ended up being "decent" films and then essentially forgotten come February. Would CINDERELLA MAN suffer from "THE AVIATOR syndrome" of being the frontrunner a year in advance, open to "good" but not spectacular reviews, and then get beat by a M$B type darkhorse down the road. In an word: NO.

When I left the sneak preview screening on Sunday afternoon, my expectations were not just met, they where exceeded and then some. I'm ashamed now for doubting this film at all, and I did. The cast looked too perfect, the trailer too manufactured to win Oscars and a crew and tech team to die for. It looked too good to be true. Well, it IS that good. CINDERELLA MAN is hands down the best film I have seen in 4 years. And in the theatre today, I was not alone in that thought. The entire packed theatre could be seen to be sniffing and wiping away tears at multiple points in the film, cheering and clapping for Braddock all the way and on the absolute edge of their seat for the entire final fight. I knew how is was going to end, and I my heart felt like it was going to have an attack. The guy next to me was dodging the punches with Crowe. The film is that good.

The entire cast gives great performances all around and there are definitely noms heading towards Zellweger and Giamatti. Paul G., for that matter has a real shot at the win, and right now hes easily the frontrunner, helped by being snubbed for his turn as Miles last year in the wine-road-trip flick SIDEWAYS. Can the Academy give Best Supporting Actor to boxing trainers two years in a row? It is definitely possible. Especially if Giamatti can ride the wave of CINDERELLA MAN love which I guarantee will be rejuvinated by a timely December DVD release and maybe even a return to the theatres. But ultimately, like every film he's in, this picture is about Russell Crowe. What more can you say about an actor you goes from bad cop to gladitor, schizofrenic math genius to 19th-century ship captain, and then to a real-life boxer from 1930's New Jersey? What can you say? Possibly Oscar number two. Russell Crowe commands the film from start to finish and you can't help but notice that his marriage and new son have really loosened him up and actually probably helped him get into this role, a character you can't help but love and cheer for.

The sets, cinematography and costumes are all Oscar worthy and will most likely land nominations. And Thomas Newman has a nomination in the bag and a huge shot at the win hes been depraived of for like the last 10 years. Newman's win for Best Score is extremely probable even if CINDERELLA MAN fails to win Best Picture or anything else come this March. He'll probably recieve the win as a consolation prize if CM doesn't land anything else a la FINDING NEVERLAND this year. And the lighting for the film is so rich and the best work I've seen since the first couple of seasons of The West Wing.

My only complaint about the film is that Craig Beirko's Max Baer, the "villian" of the flick who actually really did kill two men in the ring in the 1930's was at times, a little over-the-top in the "I'm the bad guy" department. The thing is, even with him hating Braddock a little too much, the rest of the film is so solid that we don't really care at all.

Russell Crowe's second Oscar (which he really should have won in 2001 for ABM) is not a given -- nor is CINDERELLA MAN winning Best Picture come March 3rd. There are a number of hurdles. For one, it has to keep buzz and be remembered in awards season. And two, it has to generate a respectable box-office. However, people who see this movie will not stay quiet. And Universal knows this. Why put out 739 sneak peaks on Sunday if you don't think people will talk about how awesome your film is? People are going to talk. And already it has flat-out raves from all the biggest trade papers -- Variety and The Hollywood Reporter -- as well has Ebert and Roeper giving it "Two thumbs, way, WAY, up". Buzz for this film is going to be huge and if the big applause at the end of my screening was any indication, this one could go all the way. It has the cast, it has the size, and it has a heart the size of Madison Square Gardens.

If Steven Speilberg's VENGEANCE or Rob Marshall's MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA aren't big hits, then this is your winner for 2005's Best Picture Oscar.

Cheers, Joshua Lawson

What The Early Reviews Are Saying...

"Cinderella Man takes the almost impossibly perfect elements of the saga of underdog boxer James J. Braddock and fills it with emotional gravitas, wrenching danger and a panoramic sense of American life during the Great Depression..." -- Variety

"Crowe delivers an Oscar-caliber performance in an emotionally powerful film." -- Jeffrey Lyles, GAZETTE (MD)

"A superbly acted, beautifully shot, highly engaging drama that ranks as one of Howard's best efforts." -- The Hollywood Reporter

"This is a rousing, thrilling and inspirational biopic from a director and a star who have now collaborated on two Academy Award level films." -- Richard Roeper, Ebert and Roeper

OSCARTALK IS:

Joshua Lawson, Creator and Editor

Spencer Shannon; John Pilkington; Scott Feinberg and Shane McNeil, Columnists