It’s got everything against it:

1) It’s a silent movie 2) in black and white 3) with no-name lead actors, 4) no special effects, 5) a title that oozes pretension, 6) … and it’s French! And now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has to come along and drive the final nail in the coffin, nominating it for 10 Oscars.

Add up all these ingredients and you have the perfect recipe for the dullest, snootiest movie ever, right? That’s the trouble with selling people on “The Artist.”

Normal, non-pretentious people, that is, who don’t think sitting through a black and white movie is a badge of honor, like an artistic Purple Heart (the snob’s version of “taking one for the team”: watching a long, boring movie so you can tell your friends about it).

And that title?  It should have been called “The Comedian.” Or “The Entertainer.” Anything but “The Artist” (that’s “Artiste” in French — mon Dieu!). (more…)

Ed. Note: Please welcome Matthew to the BH family and encourage him to return. — JN

I’ve followed Kevin Smith’s career since I was old enough to sneak into Dogma, and I fell out of love with him at about the same as everyone else: the one-two punch of the solipsistic Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back and the maudlin, ill-timed Jersey Girl.

What’s funny is how much the rest of Hollywood caught up with Kevin Smith. Even before the raunchy-sweet dude humor of Judd Apatow’s productions took over where Smith’s films left off, Star Wars and Marvel Comics superheroes reemerged in their own ways to national attention and suddenly Smith’s fixations on such nerd culture became a lot less special.

Each Kevin Smith film since Jersey Girl has been a somewhat transparent grasp at reinventing himself as a brand while playing to his longtime fan base (whom he cultivated and sold merchandise to on a level probably unrivaled by anyone but George Lucas.) Clerks 2 was thought of some as a return to form, but to me it reeked of uninspired resignation after claims of growing as an artist. Zack and Miri Make A Porno was, not to be too delicate about it, an attempt to annex fans of Judd Apatow by casting Seth Rogen. Then came Cop Out, his first film written by someone else (Robb & Mark Cullen) which reeked of a “safe bet” with established stars (Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan) and turned out to be anything but – disappointing both at the box office and with critics who were hoping for something special by Smith.

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Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. depicts a country that has all but disappeared: blue-collar, ethnic America. It’s a scene that’s been vanishing from the American imagination for quite awhile. In part, this scene is economic, but partly, it’s because Hollywood treats blue-collar workers so dismissively – witness their portrayal as oafish in The King of Queens or John Goodman’s performance in Roseanne.

Treated most dismissively most of all are the men, whose every move is scrutinized by what can only be described as bitchy women. It’s the logical corollary of feminism. If women must rule, then men must suck. Men cannot be seen as nurturing. Working men cannot be seen as liking anything more than guns or beer.

And so, then, it is refreshing that Pixar chooses to depict everyday workers as they really are – human – even if it is as lovable one-eyed green and big, blue furry monsters. The working stiffs of Monsters City have soft hearts and pursue love and friendship, with each other. (more…)

The Treme (pronounced treh-MAY) is one of New Orleans oldest and traditionally black neighborhoods. It is also the home of some of its musical legends. The area was one of those hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. HBO’s new series explores the lives of some of its residents in the weeks following the disaster. But thankfully, it isn’t an angry polemic so much as a celebration of one of America’s more colorful cities.

(Warning: language)

The Wire producer/creator David Simon and Eric Overmyer has brought together an eclectic cast including John Goodman and the ever zany Steve Zahn, to create an ode to the Big Easy and its citizens, while taking a few opportunities to show how the government often fails the citizens. Simon, who co-created one of the best crime shows ever, The Wire, is a rare commodity in Hollywood. He’s not only a great writer, he’s a liberal who is critical of big government. Simon is a former journalist who covered the mean streets of Baltimore in his youth and developed a seasoned cynicism when looking at the big picture. His stories deal with people on all levels of society trying to operate in a dysfunctional landscape.

Where the Wire tackled Baltimore, Treme deals with New Orleans. Famous for great music, food, culture as well as poverty, corruption and crime. While the show is, in many ways, a love letter to the town, it is also realistic portrait. Neither Democrats nor Republicans are spared when politics rears its ugly head, but Simon is less interested in politics than the people whose lives are effected by it. (more…)

In what is becoming an annual rite of self-destruction, Broadway has once again chosen to snub many of the big-name stars who have put their film careers on hold to trudge onto the boards eight times a week, take a significant pay cut, and run the risk of being ridiculed for being unable to cut the mustard as a theatre actor  (As Alan Swan famously said before having to appear on live television in “My Favorite Year”:  ‘I’m not an actor, damn you, I’m a movie star!’).  This week’s announcement of nominees for Broadway’s top prize, the Tony Award, was more newsworthy for the names left off the list than for the relatively unfamiliar names singled out for the honor. 

Nathan Lane and John Goodman are selling tickets hand over fist for their revival of “Waiting for Godot” but neither received the honor of a nomination.  Same with David Hyde Pierce, Frank Langella, Mary Louise Parker and Matthew Broderick. 

It was no surprise that Jeremy Piven was included out of the Best Actor category after his famous sushi defense for missing performances in David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow,” but not honoring John Lithgow’s brilliant turn in “All My Sons” in the same category is a crime against humanity!  It ranks up there with the snub of Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman in the 1984 revival of “Death of a Salesman.” Brian Dennehy was honored with the Best Actor award when he did Willy Loman in 2000, but that goodwill did not anoint him worthy of a nomination this year for his turn in “Desire Under the Elms.”  (more…)