THE NEW YORK TIMES PORTRAITS: THE BEST PERFORMANCES OF 2009

 

The New York Times has released their annual portraits for The Best Performances of 2009 and they are absolutely gorgeous.  The series was photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.  These are just a few of the many portraits featured on their website right now.  Seen above are Tobey Maguire & Jake Gyllenhaal (Brothers), a barely recognizable Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Sam Worthington & Zoe Saldana (Avatar), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Penélope Cruz & Daniel Day-Lewis (Nine), and Colin Firth & Julianne Moore (A Single Man).  Impeccable.

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

Up in the Air and Glee lead this year's pack of Golden Globe Awards nominees. The former garnered a total six nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in the motion picture categories, while the latter earned four in the television categories. Following closely behind Up in the Air with five nods is Rob Marshall's musical Nine, due in theatres on Christmas Day, while James Cameron's Avatar got four. Golden Globe darlings including 30 Rock, Mad Men and Big Love all earned three nominations behind Glee.

The motion picture acting categories are highly competitive this year and notably, personal favourites Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep each received two nominations. Bullock is nominated for her stellar performance in The Blind Side (Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama) and also The Proposal (Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy). Meryl Streep will be competing against herself for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy with Julie & Julia and the soon to be released It's Complicated; her 24th and 25th Golden Globe nominations and surely just two of many more to come.

The match for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama is heated one with some really evenly-matched nominees including George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Tobey Maguire (Brothers) and Jeff Bridges (A Crazy Heart). The same can be said about the very competitive Best Supporting Actress category which will be pitting Mo'Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire), Pénelope Cruz (Nine), Julianne Moore (A Single Man) and co-stars Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air).

REVIEW: BROTHERS

Director Jim Sheridan is responsible for some very memorable work including In the Name of the Father, My Left Foot, In America and Get Rich or Die Tryin'. His latest work Brothers, brings together a stellar cast that includes Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Clifton Collins Jr., Sam Shepard and outstanding newcomer Carey Mulligan. Brothers is a story Sam Cahill (Maguire) who is sent off to war in Afghanistan in 2007, leaving behind his wife Grace (Portman) and two daughters Isabelle (Bailee Madison) and Maggie (Taylor Geare). At the same time, shamed younger brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) is released from prison after serving a sentence for robbery.

Sam's fighter plane crashes in Afghanistan, and Grace is informed of his death. She is left to pick up the pieces on her own, developing a relationship with Tommy in Sam's absence. There are a few running story lines in Brothers including that of Sam and Tommy's budding relationship and his playing a father figure to the two daughters. We also learn that Sam survived the mentioned plane crash, although he is held captive with a colleague, who he is forced to murder in the name of his own survival. Although it starts and never really takes off anywhere, there is also the story line of Tommy and his father Hank (Shepard) feuding. Hank makes it no mystery that he is ashamed of Tommy, constantly comparing him to his failures to Sam's accomplishments.

BUZZ FOR BULLOCK

Alas, quality prevails! Warner Bros.' The Blind Side continues to roll ahead of its competition with its positive buzz, putting it at the top of the Box Office this weekend, raking in $20 million. As reviewed here previously, the film is an absolute gem and I recommend it highly. There is actually quite a bit of Oscar buzz generating for Sandra Bullock's career-best performance here and I for one would love to see her get rewarded for her work on this film. After having seen many of the other contenders in the Best Female Lead Actress race, I am confident that she is a front-runner.

Of course, that teen vampire flick is still making more many than I could ever imagine in a lifetime, after a two-week reign. Despite a 63% slip from last week, it is still doing well enough to hang on for second with $15.7 million.

Brothers from Lionsgate Films, starring an incredible cast of Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire debuts in third with a $9.7 million take. Read my review of the film here.

Hunky Matt Dillon has two films in the Top Five with Buena Vista's comedy Old Dogs in fifth at $6.9 million, bringing its total to $33 million, almost recouping its $35 million production budget. Dillon's other film, Sony Screen Gems' Armored placed sixth in its opening weekend with $6.6 million. The action-drama film also stars Laurence Fishburne.

Miramax Films' Everybody's Fine opened in tenth spot with $4 million in ticket sales. As reviewed earlier, the Robert De Niro headlined film is worth a watch. Also worthy of a mention is Paramount Pictures' Up In The Air directed/written by Jason Reitman (Juno) and starring George Clooney, which opened in only 15 theatres this weekend in 13th spot. The Oscar contender, which I reviewed back in September during TIFF, is getting lots of buzz in the Best Picture and Best Lead Actor categories.

Surprisingly running out of steam already is Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. The film drops to twlefth spot, with a take of $2.3 million in its fifth week in theatres.