January 30th, 2009

30 Rock’s Alec Baldwin showed up at the SAG Awards with his gorgeous daughter Ireland as his date recently. Another indication that Baldwin is trying to change his image, having been raked over the coals just last year for a disgusting voicemail leaked to the media.

The audio caught Baldwin in an uncontrollable rant toward his daughter, causing him great embarrassment. (Yeah. Exposure of you calling your daughter a ‘thoughtless pig’ can embarrass you. Clearly he was the victim.)

Thankfully for Alec, 13-year-old daughter Ireland is far more mature. She was simply stunning as she stood statuesque next to her dad, smiling for all the cameras to see. Clearly things are looking up for Baldwin, who won the SAG for Outstanding Male Actor in a Comedy Series for his hilarious portrayal as the egomaniacal boss on the NBC series. (Now if he would just stay off the phone….)

A British TV journalist no one’s ever heard of interviewing Richard Nixon about Watergate. Boring, right?

Definitely not. Ron Howard’s film adaptation of the stage play “Frost/Nixon” is anything but. He takes the potentially boring subject matter of the post-Watergate interviews that’s arguably a generation too late and instead turns it into a taut thriller with compelling performances by its stars Michael Sheen and Frank Langella, who reprise their stage roles as Frost and Nixon, respectively.

The film initially starts with some old black and white video recapping the infamous Watergate scandal we’ve all come to know, but then we’re thrown into the colorful gaudy world of the 1970s where we first meet David Frost hosting a silly variety television show. He runs out on the stage to a roar of applause like a present day game show contestant and cracks corny jokes about sausage. Is this the man who could go one-on-one with Richard Nixon? 

No one thought so including Nixon himself, which is why he agreed to the interview. Any other “serious” journalist on CBS News or any other news network for that matter would be too much of a match for Nixon who just wanted a pushover who he could throw aside so he could spin his story and redeem himself to the American people.

He thought he found that pushover in Frost. (Plus, it didn’t hurt Frost paid him $600,000 nearly all out of his own pocket either.) We are inclined to think Frost is a pushover too. After all he picks up girls on airplanes, signs autographs like he’s Tom Cruise, and attends glitzy movie premieres and parties. But Sheen brings a determinative, appealing spark to Frost that makes us not willing to give up on him yet.

That and the story’s told through his point of view. Even as Frost leaves the heavy burden of research to his team, we see that Nixon isn’t the only one with his career at stake. Frost’s career was exiled to Australia along with his respectable reputation, and he’s relying on this interview to resurrect himself as well. So we’re not willing to give up that maybe just maybe Frost will beat Nixon. After all this is a game, a competition. Only one can win as Frost later tells Nixon.

This is where the tension comes in. There’s a series of four interviews Nixon is granting with the fourth one being the most important as it is devoted to Watergate. Each of the first three interviews are like individual boxing matches leading up until the very last big fight. At first, Frost get pummeled and thrown aside by Nixon who’s like a heavyweight champion. Although he’s far from it.

Langella makes Nixon an oddly sympathetic character. Yes, we all know he’s guilty; but, Langella excels in coloring Nixon as a haunted, lonely, self-loathing man. While he throws demeaning and patronizing slurs at Frost, it’s not quite evident he actually knows what he’s saying. He’s too aloof and isolated from anyone to know how to properly interact. Thus, Langella brings us a character that, while we’re not rooting for him, we still feel for him.

For that reason alone Langella is completely deserving of his Best Actor Oscar nomination, but don’t forget about Sheen. Like Frost, he holds his own against Langella and gives a great performance as a celebrity underdog with a lot of ambition.

In fact, both Frost and Nixon are underdogs and each holds virtues the other is so desperately lacking. So this battle of determination and ability is what propels this film far above just a boring history lesson. That’s what’s great about “Frost/Nixon:” its actors breathe real, complicated emotions into a riveting, true story. 

I only wish it concluded with telling a little more of what happened to the characters. Did Frost marry that girl he picked up on the airplane who turned into a fixture on the interview sets? Were Frost and Nixon really that amicable with each other at the end? If that pivotal, crucial scene that took place the night before the final interview was fictional, what really motivated Frost to suddenly give it his all?

The film isn’t a documentary, so it doesn’t have to answer these questions; but, kudos to a film for making me want to go crack open a history book to learn more.

The Wrestler is a powerful drama dealing with several pressing issues in the life of aging pro wrestler Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson. It is a part played brilliantly by Mickey Rourke. If Rourke manages to edge out Sean Penn for an Oscar, there’s sure to be plenty of talk along the lines of: “But he’s just playing himself.”

30 RoI can’t renounce that claim as one that’s untrue, but it diminishes the value of his performance. There is something within the subtleties of Rourke’s characterization that is downright touching and deeply moving.

This film immediately made me recollect “Million Dollar Baby.” They are both powerful dramas staged in the realm of sports. The difference here is that The Wrestler presents a unique behind-the-scenes-like look into the world of wrestling experienced firsthand by Randy ‘The Ram.’ We are struck by the savagery of the sport; if this is just acting, as we have been led to believe, then why do the actors go to such extremes to make it appear painful and real? “Million Dollar Baby,” on the other hand, presented its sport (women’s boxing) merely as a backdrop for the dilemmas its two protagonists were confronted with along the way.

Not in this case. Wrestling is much more than that here; it literally defines Mickey Rourke’s character. He is (as stated in the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen’s title song) a “one-trick pony” through and through. He wrestles initially for glory; twenty years later he wrestles simply because it is who he is. He’s been reduced to eking out an existence between the ropes in his own words as a “broken down piece of meat.”

But that living has come to define him now; and if you were confronted with the prospect of dying alone, no loved ones by your side, as ‘The Ram’ is, can you really fault him for wanting it to happen between the ropes?

Sringsteen’s Super Bowl performance this Sunday will be a teaser for his upcoming world tour. The tour officially kicks off in San Jose, California on April 1. He’s also headed to Europe, hitting countries like Spain and Sweden. This news comes on the very day of his latest release, “Working on a Dream.” Best wishes, Bruce.

With the history being made by Tuesday’s events, it seems fitting to celebrate other famous moments in history. These 5 movies tell the stories of the young, adventurous and sometimes not so glamorous life of the United States of America.

Forrest Gump – There is no other movie that covers more historical ground in such an entertaining and lovable way than “Forrest Gump.” From Watergate to Vietnam to the invention of the Apple Computer, he’s been there and seen it all. This is a terrific glimpse at American History although not very detailed. The sheer amount of events Gump is “involved” with in combination with the amazing cinematic technology used to place actor Tom Hanks in old news footage create a very real sense of remembrance even for audience members who may not have yet been born during those times.

John Adams – Some of this award winning HBO mini series about the adult life of our 2nd President was shot on location in Williamsburg, VA which adds a certain character to the film that may not have been there say if it had been shot fully on a sound stage. The historic locations aid the tremendous cast (Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, Stephen Dillane, David Morse, Tom Wilkinson and many others) in fulfilling an honest portrayal of the life and death of one of the men who started this country.

Good Night & Good Luck – History has occurred in the entertainment world as well. “Good Night & Good Luck” made in 2005 was shot in black in white to set the mood of broadcast journalism in the 1950’s during the McCarthy era when the search for secret Communists was at its height. Edward R. Murrow and his team at CBS decide not to stick to the rules and voice their opinions about the unfair blame game Senator McCarthy is playing and ultimately make history (and news) themselves.

Band of Brothers – George Clooney and HBO get two mentions on this list. Clooney is part of the cast of this hugely successful mini series about soldiers in World War 2. “Brothers” won 9 awards including a Peabody for “…relying on both history and memory to create a new tribute to those who fought to preserve liberty.” This captivating mini series follows the Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion from basic training to war. It’s a beautiful film but difficult because the fictional characters are based on real soldiers and therefore end up with the same fate – life, injury or death.

The Crucible – A movie written by the famous man who penned the play, Arthur Miller. He brings the witch hunt of Salem, Massachusetts to the screen instead of the stage this time. The plot focuses on the young girls of the town and a ceremony they are caught doing in the woods. Thinking of witch craft and demonic possession, everything goes hay wire, accusations mount, tempers flair and confessions are made by a cheating husband all for the sake of ending the chaos of the Salem Witch Trials for which we get to be right in the middle of.