Spectre

Django Unchained

The Dellies - 2012 Best Supporting Actor

For me, this next category is probably the toughest. So much great work was turned in by guys portraying secondary characters. Whittling it down to five nominees proved a difficult task, one that makes me begrudgingly admit The Academy almost got right. Almost. With that tantalizing tease, let's move on to...

2012 - Best Supporting Actor

The Real Nominees: Alan Arkin (Argo), Robert DeNiro (Silver Linings Playbook), Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

My Nominees:

Alan Arkin, Argo

In Argo, Alan Arkin is particularly exceptional. He can proudly add this to a long list of fine supporting roles.

Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained

Jackson breathes an unbelievable amount of life into his character. He is funny, conniving, deliciously evil, and perhaps the smartest person in the movie.

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

When neither Daniel Day-Lewis nor Sally Field are on the screen, the movie is carried by a magnificent Tommy Lee Jones who give his most inspired performance in years.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Hoffman is perfectly charismatic as the leader of a budding way of thought, no matter how out there it may be. In an exemplary manner, he pulls off his character’s ability to instantly adapt his explanations to most lines of questioning and knack for shouting down anyone not persuaded by his answers.

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Christoph Waltz switches sides of the coin, going from playing the unapologetic villain in Inglourious Basterds to a kinder, gentler man in Django Unchained, albeit one still capable of mowing down whoever stands in his way. He gives a moustache twirlingly fun performance.

Honorable Mention:
Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
Jeremy Irons, The Words
Jude Law, Rise of the Guardians
Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Hugo Weaving, Cloud Atlas

The Real Winner: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

And My Winner Is...

Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained

The portrayal I thought was best of all in a movie filled with great ones is that of Samuel L. Jackson. Every word he says, every movement of his body and shift of his eyes feels true. It’s nothing less than masterful.

Click here to see all of The Dellies!

The Green Hornet

Directed by Michel Gondry.
2011. Rated PG-13, 119 minutes.
Cast:
Seth Rogen
Jay Chou
Cameron Diaz
Christoph Waltz
Tom Wilkinson
David Harbour
Edward James Olmos
Jamie Harris
James Franco
Edward Furlong

Britt Reid (Rogen) is the “party all the time” heir to his daddy’s newspaper empire. He loves his dad, but doesn’t much like the old guy (Wilkinson). He is also suddenly put in charge when pop dies from an apparent bee sting. He recruits his father’s mechanic, Kato (Chou) to help him vandalize the statue built in dad’s honor and unveiled at the funeral. By the way, Kato is basically a combination of Q from the James Bond movies and Bruce Lee who, of course, played Kato in “The Green Hornet” TV series way back when. Anyhoo, while out cutting the head off dad’s statue, Britt and Kato find themselves stopping a couple from getting mugged, or worse, on the street. This provides the newly acquainted drinking buddies the impetus to don masks and try to clean up Los Angeles. Dubbed The Green Hornet after a pow-wow session at the newspaper, Reid and Kato soon draw the ire of Chudnofsky (Waltz), who controls the city’s crime and seems to be going through a midlife crisis. Chudnofsky also thinks the Hornet is trying to take over his business.

Let’s cut to the chase. If you’re a fan of the original TV series, this probably isn’t for you. If you take superheroes with any measure of seriousness, this isn’t for you, either. This is not Kick-Ass or Scott Pilgrim vs. the World which both ably spoof comic books and movies while simultaneously romanticizing them. Nor is this Iron Man with a clever, smart-alec sense of humor that fits the character perfectly. This is just goofy.

“The Green Hornet” has always borrowed heavily from the Batman franchise. However, this incarnation maintains none of what makes the Caped Crusader compelling. Here, Britt is merely a frat boy let off his leash. Even through to the end, he seems much less like a hero than a self-serving attention whore. I haven’t even mention how murder is pretty much a sport for him with the criminal backgrounds of the victims serving as his permission slip.

With all of that said, there still manages to be an element of fun to the proceedings. The jokes keep flying in, distracting us from the inferior comic book writing. Some are funny, some are not. How much you like Seth Rogen may determine how well the jokes work for you. A lot of mileage is gotten out of the inherent homo-eroticism of two men bonding over their toys while parading around town in costumes. There is also a lot made of Reid’s incompetence and the pair passive-aggressively competing for the girl (Diaz). Again, some of this works and some doesn’t.

As expected, our other distraction is the action. There’s more than enough to go around. Plenty of things blow up, lots of glass is broken and ample punches and kicks are thrown. The pre-requisite ridiculousness is present, really getting amped up during the finale. This makes it a surprisingly quick two hours. Still, if you dare compare it to other hero tales, it sinks like a canoe taking on gallons of water.

MY SCORE: 5.5/10