“Secretariat,” a movie about the horse who won more awards than Al Gore, will not be in the starting gate at the Oscars, February 27. What could be the problem? It opened the weekend after the “Social Network,” so it wasn’t like the Academy of ADHD Artists had time to forget about it. It wasn’t that it didn’t have a good enough campaign team working behind it either. Disney pitched it right alongside “Toy Story 3,” a long-shot which actually made it into the Best Picture category, a rare occurrence for a cartoon.

Diane Lane put in an undeniably Oscar-worthy performance that recalls some of the most glamorous actresses of a Hollywood’s golden age. She played Secretariat’s owner, Penny Tweedy, with the poise of Grace Kelly, the brash of Katherine Hepburn, and the warmth of Donna Reid. John Malkovich should have been a shoe-in, with one of his quirkiest characters to date, as the trainer Lucien Laurin; a role that recalled some of the greater comedic sidekicks from the heyday of Disney like Don Knotts, Tim Conway, and Buddy Hackett

Perhaps the PG rating made it into a film that no one in the Academy bothered to watch. After “The Blind Side” took two nominations last year, the members of the Academy became aware of the disturbing trend of solidly entertaining family pictures that are uplifting and not vulgar. Perhaps a few more jokes about cleaning out the stables could have won a PG-13 rating and a couple seats in the Kodak Theater.

There were other things that the Academy couldn’t overlook. The film opens with a bible quote (which is about as welcome in Hollywood as a silver and garlic crucifix in Transylvania), and top-forty gospel music of the era is predominant throughout. There is also the portrayal of war protesters as children, something that probably got under the craw of Iraq War protesters within the industry. There is a wonderful scene with a group of stern-faced kids dressed up in a coolie costume chanting “War” while flying cardboard planes and carrying “War is Bad for Children” placards around A.J. Michalka singing “Silent Night.” While touching and beautiful it seemed almost condescending to the anti-war movement.

Of course, the Vietnam War was protested by children, but those who look back on those years tend to imagine themselves more mature than they really were. In the film they’re treated as being kind of cute. Penny tells her daughter, “Kate, our political beliefs can change, but our… our need to do what we believe is right… that doesn’t.  I’m proud of you.”

While “Secretariat” was a little corny around the edges, it was a good, solid picture. I found it at least as entertaining as “Inception,” which put me to sleep (I thought it was a special effect of the movie, kind of like 3-D, that you were supposed to nod off during certain intervals of the film, so you would be immersed in the experience–if putting you to sleep weren’t intentional, then Leonardo DiCaprio shouldn’t have been so boring).

Perhaps Hollywood takes issue with a movie where the heroes are upper-middle class white people, and the bad guy is an inheritance tax. Few in Hollywood are concerned with that tax, since legacies there are not always financial, and often squandered by heirs like Charlie Sheen. No one seems to understand the idea of holding on to a father’s memory, so perhaps the central theme of the picture was lost in Hollywood.

I was concerned that I might be thinking conspiratorially, until I read the Salon review by Andrew O’Hehir (that I won’t flatter with a link here, you can google it if you’re interested). In his review, he not only hit all the subjects I just did, but also expressed the danger of upper-middle class white people being portrayed sympathetically. He goes completely hyperbolic and compares it to the films of Leni Riefenstahl.

I think the biggest problem was the happy ending. Movies today are all supposed to end unresolved, in the event of an inexplicable sequel. While looked down upon as trite, a happy ending in 2011 is actually less predictable than the ending of the “Black Swan.”  You would think that Hollywood, who claims to push envelopes and cherish out-of-the-box thinking, would get behind such a revolutionary picture as “Secretariat.”

Even though it’s not a sequel, “Secretariat” enters the marketplace this weekend cut squarely from the mold of last year’s surprise smash hit “The Blind Side.” Take a true story about a sport that even women can love, spotlight the warmth and importance of family amid struggles, add a feisty female into the lead role and stir.

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You can’t blame Disney for making the effort here; after all, “Blind Side” grossed more than $250 million in the US alone and scored a Best Actress Oscar for its star, Sandra Bullock. But thankfully, Disney has improved on that film’s Lifetime-movie tendencies and delivered a film that is more impressively shot, compellingly written and richly performed than its predecessor – resulting in a film that should easily make a run for Oscar gold come winter.

Since “Secretariat” is named after the famed 1973 Triple Crown-winning horse, the film centers on the equine’s owner, Penny Chenery, and her quest to keep the steed after her father dies and the temptation exists to sell the horse off quickly to settle his estate’s massive tax problems. In time-honored Oscar-baiting tradition, Penny (perfectly played by Diane Lane in a career-best performance), Penny tells everyone that her daddy didn’t raise a quitter, and soon she’s teamed up with eccentric trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich in a rare role that doesn’t rely on an insane amount of swearing).

Together, Penny and Lucien quickly transform their young colt into a winner that is named Horse of the Year in its first season out on the racetrack. However, the coveted honor brings vastly greater expectations, and the duo find themselves under incredible pressure to win the Triple Crown the next season: if they win, they score millions more than they need to get out of debt. But if they lose even one of the sport’s three greatest races, Secretariat will lose so much value that Penny’s family will be left millions of dollars in debt.

It’s hard to imagine higher stakes, yet there wouldn’t be a movie about this horse if it didn’t make history pulling off its needed victories. But what makes this film most impressive is the fact that even when its end result is a foregone conclusion and widely known to history, director Randall Wallace and writer Mike Rich still manage to elicit nail-biting tension and exhilarating uplift right to the final moments.

“Secretariat” may be cut from the same cloth as “The Blind Side,” but it surpasses that film on several fronts. Despite its backdrop in the world of high school football, “Blind” had a surprising lack of gridiron action. “Secretariat,” on the other hand, absolutely relies on the quality of its racing scenes and impressively delivers – including one sequence in which Wallace brilliantly decides to show a race from the perspective of Penny’s family watching a race on television from afar, which enables Wallace to employ actual footage of his heroic horse in action and gives modern-day viewers a chance to witness Secretariat’s astonishing speed for themselves.

This film also avoids the sometimes overbearing sentimentality of “Blind,” since it doesn’t hinge on a heavy-handed message to make its point. And while “Blind” seemed to rest solely on the shoulders of Sandra Bullock’s impressive lead performance, Wallace surrounds Lane and Malkovich with a deep bench of talent that seems to include nearly every great character actor working today, including Scott Glenn, Dylan Baker, Dylan Walsh, James Cromwell and Fred Dalton Thompson.

That rich cast is a testament to the strength of Mike Rich’s screenplay, one in which Rich builds on his record of uplifting sports movies such as “The Rookie.” He also pulls off the impressive feat of not needing a single swear word or other impressive element to tell his tale, making it a perfect family film, while in no way making the film seem sugar-coated or condescending. He also gets in some solid digs against the hippie and anti-war movements of the film’s timeframe. Put it all together, and “Secretariat” shows that sometimes a solid, sturdy ride can still beat the flash in the pan entertainment around it by a country mile.

But arguably the most satisfying sighting in my nearly 16 years by the beach, happened just last week in the back of a corner health food market called One Life.  I stopped in for a tuna on whole wheat, queuing directly behind the legendary Tim Robbins in some stretchy bike shorts, a wool skull cap and open-toed sandals.  So COOL! 

However, Tim seemed distracted.  He kept looking towards the front of the store where an exotically stunning  woman was shopping, next to who appeared to be her boyfriend.  Mind you, I was 3 feet from Timmy and he’s a good 6 foot 5, so he had no trouble looking directly over me, clearly ogling the girl and making that “woo” face consistent with a fella on the prowl. ( In hindsight, I’m pretty sure he was trying for one of those camaraderie moments with me, where complete strangers bond over how hot a chick is.  But I wasn’t 100% sure, so I didn’t engage).

After grabbing his food, he headed towards the check out line and paid.  But before he left, he noticed that the dude the hotty came in with had walked out.  In an instant Timmy doubled back and B-lined for the chick, who now was only a couple of feet from where I was waiting.  Man, she smelled great. Timbo with a huge grin, gallantly says hello in that soft, unmistakable, ”Andy Dufresne the day before he busts out of Shawshank Prison’, kinda way.  He asks where she’s from.  It’s Italy.  He asks if she’s single.  She says no.  He asks if she’s with her boyfriend.  She says yes.  He asks if he can have her phone number.  She says no.  He asks if she’d like to have coffee, she says no.  He says OK, nice meeting you and walks away.  He stops.  He comes back.  He asks if she’d take his phone number, she says no.  He basically empties his entire ‘I’m Tim Robbins’ quiver of arrows without so much as grazing the target.  If only Morgan Freeman (who I saw eating a scone on Main Street about 2 months ago) was there to narrate!

So that seemed like a goodly amount of celebrity silliness for one afternoon, but it ended with an even bigger dollop of dumb. I walked outside just as Tim is mounting his 10-speed bike, while as if on cue, a stocky Mexican kid with a video camera starts asking questions.  “Hey Tim, will you cook me a vegan omelet at your house?”  Yep, it’s TMZ! 

Tim peddles away, right past the Italian girl’s boyfriend. He now has the defeated look of a man who’s actually been tossed into solitary confinement by Bob Gunton.  

Crap day for the Timinator.   Fun day for me.

-ANONYMOUS

Something must be seriously wrong with “Killshot,” the straight-to-video flick starring the resurgent Mickey Rourke. The movie features not just Rourke, but rising star Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Diane Lane, Rosario Dawson and Thomas Jane – reputable actors, all.

And it’s under the direction of John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”), working from an Elmore Leonard story. And it still rocketed past every movie theater save one in Arizona earlier this year, netting a measly $18,000?

The film, heading to DVD May 26, deserved a better fate.

Sure, it’s not as snarky as a great Leonard adaptation like “Get Shorty,” but it’s vigorously entertaining and another sign Rourke’s artistic rebound is the real deal – even if the film was shot before the actor’s comeback saga started.

The ex-”Wrestler” plays Blackbird, a killer for hire who shot one too many people on his latest assignment. Now, it’s his turn to run, but a chance encounter with a puffed-up thug named Richie (Gordon Levitt) stops him cold. The kid reminds him of his own little brother who died during a botched hit when he didn’t follow his older brother’s professional code.

Hit men take said codes very seriously.

Richie is all mouth and attitude, but he touches something inside the hardnosed hit man.

Their paths end up crossing a separated couple (Diane Lane and Thomas Jane) trying to see if their marriage deserves a second chance.

The storylines here need more room to breathe, but they aren’t the main attraction in “Killshot.” It’s the fine cast, an eclectic assortment of stars who rise above the narrative gaps. The weakest link might be Gordon Levitt, working so hard against type the cords stand out in his neck. Yet somehow the performance still clicks, mostly because he shares his scenes with Rourke.

The former ’80s mainstay finds another role uniquely suited to his battered visage. He’s playing Hollywood’s latest cliché, the conflicted hit man, but Rourke finds the humanity – and danger – lurking within the stale concept.

“Killshot” sounds like a grade-B thriller right down to its cheesy title, and its DVD debut only reinforces that impression. But the format’s lower expectations, and a cast worthy of a theatrical release, provide some unexpected rewards.

“The Informers,” a drama with a similar grade of actors, earned a wide theatrical release last month. So why couldn’t the far superior “Killshot” get the same level of respect?

Christian Toto is a contributing reporter for The Washington Times, MovieMaker Magazine and The Denver Post. He blogs about film at whatwouldtotowatch.com

Julia Roberts and Clive Owen star in the fun, smart DUPLICITY, from writer/director Tony Gilroy

Roberts’ last starring role was in 2003’s Mona Lisa Smile ($63.8M domestic), and since then she has become a full-time Mom. Overall, she has 8 movies on her resume that have reached $100M in the US with her as a lead (I’m not including the Ocean’s Eleven franchise). Her most successful string of movies started in 1997 with My Best Friend’s Wedding ($127.1M cume) and ended with her Oscar winning performance in Erin Brockovich ($125.6M cume). During that span, she starred in 6 movies, generating an average of $115M in domestic box office.

Katherine Heigl is one of the actresses getting all of Roberts' old ingenue roles

But, she has entered the “danger zone” for any actress. All the types of roles that Julia used to turn into $100M blockbusters are going to Katherine Heigl, Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Reese Witherspoon and Elizabeth Banks. What’s a 40+ woman to do?

DUPLICITY writer/director Tony Gilroy

She should be looking for smartly-written, age appropriate movies with some pedigree (co-stars, director, etc.). That is exactly what Duplicity is. Writer/director Tony Gilroy wrote the Jason Bourne movies, and his last film, Michael Clayton, was nominated for 7 Academy Awards. The result is an excellent movie. Clever, smart and charming, and Julia Roberts isn’t trying to pass herself off as an ingénue. The movie was expected to open to about $15M, and that’s exactly what it did, and still, bloggers write things like Julia’s Comeback: Audiences Say Go Back and people question if she’s still a draw.

For comparison sake, here is, to the best of my knowledge, the all-time box office champs for movies starring 40+ actresses above the title.

Glenn Close as Alex Forrest in FATAL ATTRACTION grabbed over $156M

ALL-TIME TOP 15 GROSSING MOVIES WITH A 40+ FEMALE LEAD
1. Fatal Attraction – Glenn Close (40) – $156.6M cume
2. Sex & the City – Sarah Jessica Parker (43) – $152.6M cume
3. Mamma Mia! – Meryl Streep (59) – $144.1M cume
4. 101 Dalmations – Glenn Close (49) – $136.2M cume
5. The Devil Wears Prada – (57) – $124.7M cume
6. Something’s Gotta Give – Diane Keaton (57) – $124.7M cume
7. On Golden Pond – Katherine Hepburn (74) – $119.2M cume
8. Terms of Endearment – Shirley MacLaine (49) – $108.4M cume
9. First Wives Club – Diane Keaton (50), Goldie Hawn (41), Bette Midler (51) – $105.5M cume
10. The Client – Susan Sarandon (48) – $92.1M cume
11. Flightplan – Jody Foster (43) – $89.7M cume
12. Moonstruck – Cher (41) – $80.6M cume
13. The Bridges of Madison County – Meryl Streep (46) – $71.5M cume
14. Bird On Wire – Goldie Hawn (45) – $70.9M cume
15. 102 Dalmations – Glenn Close (53) – $66.9M cume

In other words, it is a longshot for a mature woman to open a film in a big way. Last year, Hollywood gave us Mamma Mia! and Sex & The City, but they were both based on popular source material. The only other movies that starred 40+ actress to generate significant receipts were Australia ($49.5M cume) starring Nicole Kidman (40), Nim’s Island ($48M cume) featuring Jody Foster (46) and Nights in Rodanthe ($41.8M) with a 43-year-old Diane Lane.

Meryl Streep had Universal Studios execs jumping for joy with MAMMA MIA!

Given the nature of the business, is it really fair to say, “Julia Roberts can’t open a movie anymore?” The reality is that it is very rare that any woman north of 40 “opens” a movie, and let’s face it, ABBA opened Mamma Mia! and HBO created the success of Sex & The City.

In fact, I would argue that Duplicity is an excellent choice for the former $20M-per-movie star. You could argue that it is quite similar to Adam’s Rib, the movie that Katherine Hepburn starred in at the age of 41, a romantic comedy featuring she and Spencer Tracy as husband and wife operating, as lawyers on opposite sides of a big case. Duplicity is a very good modern-day parallel, not a classic like Adam’s Rib, but very good.

Kyra Sedgwick has scored big with THE CLOSER on TNT

Increasingly, the best roles for women 40+ are on television. Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Glenn Close (Damages), Holly Hunter (Saving Grace), Edie Falco (The Sopranos), Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty) and Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters) have all found meaningful work on the small screen, but with two young kids, the TV series grind isn’t likely in the cards right now for Roberts right now.

Based on the $14.5M weekend and the fact that Females 25 Plus don’t often rush out to see a movie on opening weekend, I think it’s reasonable to project a $40M-$45M domestic gross – maybe even $50M. Michael Clayton only reached $49M in the US, so is Julia’s drawing power that much inferior to George Clooney?

In my mind, Duplicity is a creative success and, although the jury is out on commercial viability, it is by no means a disaster. Good for Julia Roberts that she has devoted herself to full-time motherhood. I’m glad she chose a project with an IQ, and I hope she continues making smart career choices. Her success will be of service to other actresses in Hollywood – those who are 40+ now, or will be someday.

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.