#whatever casey affleck was doing at the start of Manchester by the Sea looked good to me lmao

[mr-snailman]

in a better world where every job paid a living wage what would you be doing?

[affleckfan]

interview

He disarms with a simple introduction. “I’m Ben,” says the 44-year-old star, extending his hand. In a casual gray sweater and black pants, he picks a place to sit on the balcony of a room at the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills to discuss his latest drama, Live by Night (out January 13). The two-time Oscar winner maintains laser-sharp focus while chatting about his fourth directorial effort, in which he plays a 1920s gangster running a rum operation. Ben Affleck, father of three (with Jennifer Garner), answers all with Us West Coast Bureau Chief Rebecca Bienstock.

US: What’s the hallmark of a Ben Affleck film?

BA: I don’t know that there’s a hallmark. I try to cast really good actors and give them a chance to do their very best work, give them as much time and space as they need. I feel like casting is the most important aspect of making movies. Hopefully a good story, good dialogue. It’s hard to say. That’s for other people to say, I suppose.

US: Describe the vibe on the set of your films. Do you pull practical jokes like George Clooney?

BA: I don’t like to take a dump in the litter box like George Clooney, that’s for sure. That’s his thing. I work hard and other people pick up on that, so it’s not a superjokey environment. It’s more, “Let’s get down to work and down to business.”

US: Many of your films are set in Boston. How are you influenced by it?

BA: I grew up there, and I have a good instinct for what’s real and what’s not. I don’t have to second-guess myself.

US: Live by Night explores the idea of having an unconventional moral compass, what are your thoughts on how you try to live your life?

BA: I think it’s kind of interesting, it’s a provocative notion — this idea that if we try to define our own moral universe, there’s a price for that. There’s a lot of romance to sort of living by your own rules and sort of not subscribing to what society tells you to do, but society pushes back pretty strongly, so there’s a lot of compromise that goes with that.

US: You’ve said you took the role of Batman, in part, for your 4-year-old son, Samuel. I’m assuming your kids will not see Live by Night?

BA: My kids can see this when they’re 13.

US: Does picking movies that would appeal to your kids inform your decisions at all?

BA: It definitely informed my decision to do Batman. That was part of the excitement. This movie has nothing to do with my kids, but there are themes about fathers and sons, which is moving to me.

US: What do you draw from your own experiences with that father-son dynamic in the movie?

BA: Well, I think when you have children, it just changes your worldview, and that’s reflected in the movies. The perspective that you have is just different, and so the movies are different. The more children I’ve had, the more I’ve felt that presence in the movies.

US: I saw in one interview that Chris Messina and Chris Cooper both said you created a relaxed vibe on set. How did you keep that going?

BA: You know, just by allowing actors to have enough time to do whatever they want, to not feel rushed, to not feel pressure to act and hurry it up and get it done and get it done right, just that we have enough time to make sure that it’s going to get done right.

US: Would you ever let your kids get into acting?

BA: No.

US: Are school plays OK?

BA: School plays are fine. Theater in school is fine.

US: You’ve said that your kids are your most wonderful achievement. How does that compare with your professional success?

BA: My professional success is really important to me, and my career is really important to me. It’s the most important thing to me outside of my family. I take it very seriously and work really, really hard at it. Family comes first, but this is something that’s really important to me too.

US: What would you have done for a career if this whole Hollywood thing hadn’t worked out?

BA: Gosh, I don’t know. I probably would’ve been a history teacher somewhere.

US: You started working on the film in 2015. How do you feel about your life now versus then?

BA: I feel better about my life every day. My kids get older. My life is very rich and full of wonderful things. I’ve been very lucky, careerwise.

US: How do you spend a free day with your kids?

BA: My kids like to do a lot of crafts … just getting a chance to spend time with them, play with them, do stuff with them, activities that are focused on house and home. That’s ideal.

US: I know the title isn’t literal, but are you more of a night or a day person?

BA: I like to sleep, I’ll say that.

US: What’s your average go-to-bed and wake-up time?

BA: I go to bed pretty early. I’m old, I’m sad to say. I go to bed at 9:30 or 10; I have to get up at 6.

US: What’s a perfect day like for you when you’re not working and not with your kids?

BA: I don’t know if that day ever comes. I don’t spend too much time just kicking back. On Sundays I like to watch the [New England] Patriots with Matt [Damon]. That’s a nice, relaxing day.

   PHOTOS: Celebrity Siblings

US: You spent the holidays in Montana with Matt, your brother, Casey, and your families. Who has cooking duty when you’re all together?

BA: Not me! Jen [Garner] is a really great cook. She’s probably the best cook I know. We had roast chicken this year; it was really, really good. Other than that, we do pizza nights, where a guy comes and makes pizza and nobody has to cook.

US: And who cleans?

BA: Me. All the cleaning.

US: Oh, really? That’s impressive. You don’t mind?

BA: No. [Laughs]

US: You’re like, "I have no choice."

BA: No. [Laughs]

US: Your younger brother, Casey, is having a busy awards season, thanks to his role in Manchester by the Sea. Have you given him any advice about how to handle the circuit?

BA: My brother is very mature. He doesn’t need any advice. He did an extraordinary performance, and I’m voting for him and rooting for him. I don’t want to say I’m proud because it sounds like I’m his dad, but I’m really happy for him. I’m really happy that he’s gotten a chance to play a role that showcases his talents.

US: Is there a healthy rivalry between you guys?

BA: No. With my brother and Matt and Joaquin [Phoenix] and guys that I’ve known really well for a long time, we tend to just root for each other. I think there’s room for everybody, if you find the right parts. It’s not a zero-sum game. Manchester is a good example of that. He’s got his own part and his own thing. That doesn’t take anything away from me or anyone else.

US: Casey did joke [at the Palm Springs International Film Festival] that people should see his movie first. Do you have any thoughts on that?

BA: [Laughs] As long as they see mine second.

   Stars You Didn't Know Were Related

US: You do a lot of work with the Congo. Are you concerned about how the world is going to perceive us now?

BA: I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’ll be very interesting to see who’s appointed for the secretary of African affairs, and I look forward to working with them and the Congress. I’ve done a lot of work with a lot of Republicans so far in Congress and in the Senate, and I hope that won’t change, and I hope that the president views the situation in the Congo with the same importance that I do.

US: We’re two weeks away from the inauguration. How are you feeling as we go into the next administration?

BA: Well, I’m curious — as everyone is — to see what the next administration will look like. It seems much more mysterious than past administrations. It’s hard to read the tea leaves around what it’s going to be like, what it means and what kind of people are going to staff the administration. I’m certainly very curious to see.

US: How did you explain the election results to your kids?

BA: I explained that more people voted for one person … but we have something called the Electoral College, and because of it, that’s now our president, and we should give him a chance to be successful.

US: Did they have questions about it?

BA: My daughters [Violet, 11, and Seraphina, 8] wanted the first woman president to win, so they were disappointed.

US: Well, there’s room for an Affleck presidency.

BA: At this point, anyone is qualified, as far as I can tell! [Laughs]

US: How about a Matt Damon–Ben Affleck presidential ticket?

BA: As long as he’s my vice!

US: Where would Jimmy Kimmel be in your cabinet?

BA: I think secretary of the interior.

US: And your favorite NFL quarterback, Tom Brady?

BA: I’d have to make him president.

http://www.usmagazine.com/news/ben-affleck-dishes-on-jen-garners-cooking-sundays-with-matt-damon-w460391

[joereid]

Top 10 Movies of 2016

I wrote about my favorites in movies and TV over at Decider last week, but here’s my straight-up Top 10 movies of the year. With apologies to movies I haven’t gotten to yet, most prominently Toni Erdmann, Fire at Sea, Aquarius, and The Love Witch. Also I ranked O.J.: Made in America as my #1 TV show of the year, so it felt redundant to put it here too. No judgments if you ranked it as a movie. Obviously. 

Runners-Up: I thought this turned out to be a GREAT year for movies, best exemplified by the fact that I had a bitch of a time keeping these 15 movies out of my top 10:

#25 The Lobster (director: Yorgos Lanthimos) #24 The Witch (director: Robert Eggers) #23 Kubo and the Two Strings (director: Travis Knight) #22 Everybody Wants Some!! (director: Richard Linklater) #21 La La Land (director: Damien Chazelle) #20 Hunt for the Wilderpeople (director: Taika Waititi) #19 Love & Friendship (director: Whit Stillman) #18 Sing Street (director: John Carney) #17 Lion (director: Garth Davis) #16 Other People (director: Chris Kelly) #15 Fences (director: Denzel Washington) #14 Julieta (director: Pedro Almodovar) #13 Certain Women (director: Kelly Reichardt) #12 Cameraperson (director: Kirsten Johnson) #11 Mountains May Depart (director: Zhangke Jia)

My Top 10 Movies of 2016

10. Jackie (director: Pablo Larrain) It took me a while to get into the headspace of Jackie, and what a strange little animal it seemed then. Natalie Portman's accent seemed insane, the scenes felt overly gauzy and frustratingly vague, the score felt overworked. But the more time I spent with Jackie, the more intoxicated I was by whatever fog the movie exists in. Portman's performance clicked, the specificity of Larrain's focus felt more and more revolutionary, and the whole enterprise felt an exhilarating experiment on memory, idolatry, and the spaces at which our politics and our myth-making converge. 9. The Invitation (director: Karyn Kusama) I write a lot about movies on Netflix for my job, but by FAR my favorite discovery of the year was the meticulously built suspense of The Invitation. From the opening credits winding ominously through the Hollywood Hills to the slowly dawning terror of the final moments, I haven't felt this tense through the entire run of a horror movie since The Strangers. Featuring some great performances (in particular Tammy Blanchard, Logan Marshall Green, and John Carroll Lynch), and a premise that draws upon every time someone at a party told you they just started seeing a new yoga instructor.

8. Silence (director: Martin Scorsese) A nearly three-hour, racially dubious meditation on faith from a director who's provided me with more peer-pressure guilt trips from film critics than actual movies I've enjoyed over the last decade was not adding up to something I figured I'd enjoy. But Silence is more than just the best Scorsese movie since ... The Aviator? Goodfellas? It's a committed, rigorous, and deceptively complex story about faith and imperialism, anchored by an Andrew Garfield performance of such thoughtful vulnerability that it makes you incredibly grateful that Marty took a break from Leonardo DiCaprio. Also Rodrigo Prieto's cinematography is breathtaking.

7. Hail, Casear! (director: Joel and Ethan Coen) I like when the Coens are having fun. I know the knock on them is that they're supposed to be looking down their noses on their audience and having a laugh at their expense, but all I found in Hail Caesar! was an affection for people who dedicate their lives to something as silly and often contradictory as the movie business. Josh Brolin is probably doing better work than I give him credit for at the center, but I won't apologize for all of my attention going to Channing Tatum's dancing and Alden Ehrenreich's rope tricks. 

6. Manchester by the Sea (director: Kenneth Lonergan) When the narrative about this one got boiled down to a) it's unspeakably sad, and b) it's white-male feeeeeelings pornography, I was confused. Well, maybe not confused; I know how Twitter works. More dismayed. To me, Manchester by the Sea is Kenneth Lonergan at his finest, and that means so much more than simple grief or patriarchy or for Pete's sake "Oscar bait." Lonergan infuses his movie with so much more humor, so much more complexity, so much more recognizable feeling than you're expecting by the description. The relationship between Casey Affleck and Lucas Hedges's characters defies any kind of prescribed arc, instead presenting two characters who fit at impossibly odd angles.

5. Little Men (director: Ira Sachs) Ira Sachs has become so good at making movies about how the Big Things in life — love, family, fellowship, generosity, power, resentment — are inextricable from the small things. In the movies, we tend to gloss over things like rent or income or expense. Making it work is a matter of will or serendipity, usually both. In Little Men, Greg Kinnear and Paulina Garcia are good people whose resentments would usually be overcome in a movie by a grand act of love or charity or luck. Sachs knows better, but he also knows that the sum of life and the beauty of lives isn't about it all working out. And that's only the groundwork in this lovely movie featuring a central friendship of boys that is as beautiful, sweet, and gently painful as anything this year.  

4. Moonlight (director: Barry Jenkins) Moonlight features such strong, simple storytelling, and that economy of language is all Barry Jenkins, and he deserves all the praise he's getting for it. But that's not the reason we're talking about this movie. There's something truly remarkable when strong filmmaking meets revelatory acting meets the kinds of stories and lives that we are STARVING for. There's sadness here, yes, and tragedy, but I can't help but feel an undercurrent of celebration just for the radical act of making poetry out of lives that are usually not even afforded prose. 

3. 20th Century Women (director: Mike Mills) What a difference it makes listening to Annette Bening narrate about the universe and mortality versus listening to Ewan McGregor talk about same. I could never latch onto Beginners, despite the fact that its subject matter was targeted right in my general direction. But in his follow-up, Mike Mills had me cast under a spell from moment one. Bening is superb, playing a woman who's both incredibly wise and incredibly aware of how much she doesn't know. Any shot of her silently reacting to another character is to be treasured forever. And my darling Greta Gerwig does such wonderful, beautiful work as a scene partner here, taking her moments when they come but also as supportive an ensemble player as she's ever been. But it's those moments of narration, where the plot of the movie gives way to the longview, and we get to ponder a bit about the long arcs of time, and it was so beautiful, I nearly melted into my seat.

2. American Honey (director: Andrea Arnold) Andrea Arnold's great big American road trip is sprawling and sweet, dangerous and and desirous. It doesn't work for everyone, and I think I get that. But even if Arnold isn't seeing America through a photorealistic lens, the version of America she's showing us feels true in its emotions and textures and jealousies and desperations and explorations. Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, and Riley Keough are standouts in the cast, but the movie truly comes alive in the group scenes, where the energy of a whole generation explodes into something visceral and charged.

1. Arrival (director: Denis Villeneuve) I first saw Arrival at the Toronto Film Festival in September, and I was blown away by its emotion and intelligence in service of a sci-fi story that became a story about language and bridging unbridgeable gaps. I next saw Arrival a few days after the election, when the film's ideas about facing fearsome and unknown futures and seeing the end from the beginning were all the more moving. What's beautiful about Arrival — besides the photography and the music and Amy Adams — is how our only salvation grows out of achieving complete and total empathy and nothing less. Thats what unlocks everything. It's a beautiful message in a movie that might normally have merely been an exquisitely crafted, deeply emotional sci-fi tale. I didn't see anything else that year that blew me away so thoroughly.

[thedesperatehousehusband]

They're Golden. They're Globes.

Tis the season. Awards season. Where every other weekend Hollywood gives itself a handjob for the amazing, life-changing art they created over the past year. I really do appreciate them giving us Bachelor in Paradise. There’s no better birth control or reason to remain abstinent than that show. Of course, the cruel reality is this: I love the awards shows so, so, so, so much. What are people wearing? Who is willing to be part of a silly bit? Who is having no part of the host’s silly bit? Who is snubbed? Who makes a political statement? Who looks like they’ve been run over by a bus? Who appears to have a new and improved face? I’m looking at you Nicole Kidman. The Golden Globes were on last night. I just did not have it in me to stay up until the end of the show so this post is a day late and a dollar short. Much like most things in my life. I’m nothing if not a day late and a dollar short. The opening of the show was fantastic. Jimmy Fallon looooooooves celebs. He’s not there to roast anyone or make people uncomfortable. He’s super effusive so why not recreate the opening from La La Land? Why not, Jimmy Fallon, why not indeed? It was tons of fun. The monologue was great. Comparing Donald Trump to Joffrey Baratheon was inspired. We’d fucking be better off with Joffrey Baratheon. Overall the show was very good. Quality speeches. A few unexpected wins. A few WTF wins. A fair amount of normal Hollywood Foreign Press love of stars. Apparently the color of the season is a nude to light beige covered in sequins. Who chose that? Anna Wintour? Christ almighty. WEAR SOME FUCKING COLOR. No one looks good in nude. Especially these pale ass bitches whose skin never sees the sun. I’m looking at you Nicole Kidman. I thought Viola Davis looked outstanding. That yellow dress fit like a glove. Her hair was done. That’s another thing. Why do these stars not do their hair? Clearly they are paying some celeb hairstylist a trillion dollars to make them look like they’re on their way to Soul Cycle or whatever the fuck trendy workout is hip in LA at the moment. Thank you, Viola Davis, for doing your hair. Onto the awards….. Some person who is apparently British won Best Supporting Actor. His name is apparently Aaron Taylor Johnson. He is apparently in Nocturnal Animals. You should be sensing that I have no clue who this person is. I have not seen Goliath. Nor do I want to but Billy Bob Thornton gave a cogent, sensible speech. So I guess that counts for something. Get your Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama. We never started watching black-ish. But when Juan is out of town that’s typically what I watch on OnDemand. I am quite happy for Tracee Ellis Ross. She’s a treasure. I love how grounded and normal she seems despite having grown up with Diana Ross as a mom. That’s quite a shadow to come out from under. The Globen Globes looooooves to latch onto an entirely random show. This year that show is Atlanta. It won for Best TV Comedy. It’s not really a comedy. It’s not really a drama. I don’t really know how to categorize it. We watched it. We liked it. We didn’t love it. But Donald Glover seems pretty down-to-earth and is clearly talented so whatever. No more. No more of this The People vs. OJ: American Crime Story. I can’t. I just don’t give a shit. I don’t care. I lived through it in 1995. It was boring then. It’s waaaaay more boring now. I like Sarah Paulson and she is a worthy actress to bestow with accolades but I’m over this OJ shit. She’s also one who did NOT do her hair. Her award was presented by Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman. Were they high? Why were thy giggling? Nicole…..NO MORE BOTOX. Reese…NO MORE SELF TANNER. Ooof. Jesus. One more time. OJ won for TV Limited Series, Movie or Miniseries. Make it be over. Hugh Laurie won for his supporting role in The Night Manager. I so want to watch that. I tried to find it on our OnDemand over Christmas but it wasn’t available. Thanks a lot, Brighthouse. I loved in his speech when he said that this would be the last Golden Globes because the current political climates hates Hollywood, foreigners and the press. Hilarious. But where is your hair, Hugh? You be going bald! Oy. Carrie Underwood apparently went to the Pepto Bismol store for that dress. I guess I don’t want people to wear ANY color. I want them to wear a good color. That pink is not it. La La Land won all the music awards. Score and song. Duh. The composer of the score gave a nice speech and the lyricists from La La Land also did the Broadway show Dear Evan Hanson, so we love them. Viola Davis is butter. She’s amazing in Fences. She’s going to rule the awards shows all year for Best Supporting Actress. Ryan Gosling’s speech made me cry. He really loves Eva Mendes and his kids. His dedication of the award to Eva’s deceased brother was really lovely. Plus La La Land is remarkable and he OWNS that fucking movie. Emma Stone gave an equally lovely speech when she won for Best Actress in a Comedy but she decided on that awful nude color. Emma, you need to do better at the SAG Awards and the Oscars. La La Land is cleaning up. Screenplay is the latest in a growing list. Kristen Wiig and Steve Carrell were hilarious. The joke about their haircuts was amazing and their bit about their first animated movie was inspired. Zootopia wins for Best Animated Feature. That was a great movie about accepting diversity and overcoming challenges. It’s adorable. Tom Hiddleston’s speech was a little much. So you went to South Sudan and some of the relief works binged watched The Night Manager? Good lord. But at least Tom Hiddleston won as opposed to someone from that fucking OJ heap of shit. Claire Foy is yet another actress who needs a better hairdresser. That dress wasn’t great either. The Hollywood Foreign Press loves the Brits this year and every year. The Crown is supposed to be awesome. I am struggling to get Juan on board. It also won best TV Drama. Meryl Streep. Mary Louise Streep. I can’t say it enough. That speech was EVERYTHING. I was rapt. In tears. Hung on every word. Viola Davis also killed it while introducing Meryl. But apparently some asshat who takes to Twitter a lot think Meryl Streep is “overrated”. What the ever loving fuck ever. Meryl can trot out a movie every year and I’m totally fine with her getting nominated for awards. She’s that good. La La Land for the sweep….Best Director for the very, very young and eager Damien Chazelle. He’s maybe 14. Best Comedy. Duh. What the fuck is Sing Street? That category beyond Deadpool was terrible. Good for La La Land. Donald Glover is two for two with a win in the TV Comedy Actor category for Atlanta. Entertainment Weekly was right. They said that Atlanta was going to be the rando show that the HFPA lavishes with love. Casey Affleck looked ridiculous and his speech was meandering. I think he deserved to win for Manchester by the Sea. But he needs some press training and some sartorial training from his older, hotter, better look brother. I am sure that Isabelle Huppert is a lovely actress but I am sooooooooo not interested in Elle. We have seen the preview for that stupide (I’m trying to be French) movie like 200 times at the Keystone Arts Theater. I do not need to see the movie because I’ve already seen it just by watching the preview. Nope. And then the big award of the night. Best Drama. Goes to whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Moonlight. Nary a peep from this movie all night long and then it wins the big award? Color me surprised. Albeit happily surprised because that movie is riveting and wonderfully well done but I was very surprised. So that’s that. Another Golden Globes in the books. I hope that Hugh Laurie is wrong and the show goes on next year. We’ll have to wait and see what the Oompa Loompa has in store. Jesus fuck. It’s going to be a rough go.

[nrussellcarter]

Watched this Week: Aug. 6

I didn’t do a whole lot of watching new stuff this week, but I did catch some things I’ve already seen while staying with family who were watching them for the first time.

I watched The Accountant with my brother and still feel the same about it on this third watch. Pretty underrated action flick that puts Ben Affleck in the shoes of a combination math-whiz and hired gun. Some really great John Wick-style gun scenes in this one. Ultimately though, if you’re looking for characterization and storytelling, this falls a bit flat as Affleck’s stoicism can sometimes read as plastic. 3 out of 5.

Don’t Breathe. This was the first movie I had seen twice in theaters since The Dark Knight. For whatever reason upon its release, I was captivated by it. A sort of Panic Room meets horror twist directed by Fede Alvarez who recently made his own distinct and entertaining version of Evil Dead. If you don’t know, the film revolves around 3 teens breaking into a blind man’s home to rob his fortune, and the way the film is paced was just incredible. Many of the scenes expertly evoked the senses of sight and sound, playing off the blind man by pitting his attackers in darkness, and editing every sound into tense importance. Seeing this movie in theaters was incredible, one of the best edge-of-your-seat experiences I’ve watched in a long time. I will say that now seeing it for the 5th or 6th time, I’m starting to see some flaws in it - characters weening into moderate annoyance, some scenes that feel less believable. It was just one of those movies that was a great theater experience. 3.5 out of 5.

Manchester by the Sea still an incredible performance from Casey Affleck and the supporting cast. Great screenplay and direction from Kenneth Lonergan. It should’ve definitely won Best Picture last year over Moonlight, but oh well. 4.5 out of 5.

Saw two terrible horror movies that you shouldn’t ever watch. Excision and The House on Willow Street. Both are garbage. Look them up if you want to watch C-level horror. Excision gets a 1.5 out of 5 because it pulls itself slightly out of complete crap with it's relatively interesting twist ending but even with that addition it wasn’t worth the journey. The House on Willow Street is a straight up 0 out of 5. The characters are plastic crap; the motivations don’t make sense; and the effects are a complete theft of those in The Strain, which itself isn’t good. Avoid them both.

Next week I’ll be rewatching the original It, the made for TV film based on Stephen King’s iconic clown horror novel. The remake will be coming out later this year and I’m excited for that, though nervous given that The Dark Tower - another King adaptation - just flopped so hard in theaters. Still debating on whether I’m going to see Dark Tower in theaters anyways, so you could see a bad review of it from me in the future because I’m not sure this one’s going to be good. I’m also going to continue watching a show I recently discovered called Outsiders and I may get further in Ozark and Game of Thrones. Thanks for reading.

[omcik-blog]

New Post has been published on OmCik

New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/5-strategic-business-lessons-from-2017s-academy-award-nominees/

5 strategic business lessons from 2017's Academy Award nominees

By watching this year’s best picture nominees, advisors can hone in on new ways to connect with clients, develop networks and perfect time management skills. (Photo: iStock)

In the summer of 1987, my best buddy and I left the Deep South for Hollywood.

We went in search of fame and fortune in the movies.

We wound up burning popcorn at the Mann Theatre in Tarzana.

Full Metal Jacket, The Untouchables and Beverly Hills Cop 2 were popular that summer. So were Robocop, Predator and Dirty Dancing. 

Related: 25 best insurance movies

We worked double shifts to pay the rent and often found ourselves star struck. At the concession stand, we met Pat Benatar, members of the Jackson 5, and Michael Winslow, the actor known as “the man of 10,000 noises.” You probably know him from all of those Police Academy movies. I knew him as the guy who made a fire alarm noise when I served him popcorn the color of coal.

I felt bad about burning the popcorn, but mainly I was homesick. My buddy and I wrote increasingly forlorn letters each week to our families back home. We called the letters “Tales from La La Land.” We didn’t make it very long there. We were back home just in time for the fall semester of college. 

Flash forward 30 years and our pet name for Hollywood has resurfaced: La La Land is one of the best picture nominees.

Although Hollywood sent me packing for home, I’ve never lost my love of the movies. I write about business topics now, but I’m often looking for that intersection of film and commerce. So in these next pages, I offer five strategic lessons to learn from this year’s Academy Award nominees. 

Related: 25 best business movies

Arrival

  Starring: Amy Adams,  Jeremy Renner,  Forest Whitaker

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

What’s it about: Aliens have landed! The aliens have landed! Military regimes around the globe want to blast twelve alien spheroids back to kingdom come, but a linguistics professor (Amy Adams) wants to break their code not their spaceships.

Why watch it: For the Amy Adams performance. Her character slowly understands things, information that the audience begins to piece together as well, in heartbreaking fashion.

Interesting factoid: Octopuses, whales, elephants, and spiders were all sources of inspiration when it came to creating the aliens, Abbott and Costello.

Business lesson: The art of communication. Of all the movies I watched this year, Arrival connected with me the deepest on a business level. So much of the financial services industry hinges on clear communication, being heard, but also being understood, and the chasm we all have in communicating with one another is palpable in this film.

Memorable scene: I have to be careful here to not give away the ending, but it’s a moment where the linguistics professor has a conversation in Mandarin, and, as the saying goes, the die is cast. 

Memorable quote:

Dr. Louise Banks: “Purpose requires an understanding of intent. We need to find out: Do they make conscious choices? Or is their motivation so instinctive that they don’t understand a ‘why’ question at all? And biggest of all, we need to have enough vocabulary with them that we understand their answer.”

Related: 5 ways to go above and beyond for your clients

  Manchester By the Sea

  Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler 

Directed by: Kenneth Lonergan

What’s it about: An uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew and serve as his guardian after the boy’s father dies.

Why watch it: The strong bonds that form. They don’t come easily. Instead, they take their time to knit together. It follows that these relationships are more like real life than the stuff of movies.

Interesting factoid: This is the first film distributed or co-distributed by a streaming service — in this case, Amazon — to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Business lesson: Mentorship. One of the common threads I hear from advisors is their belief in mentorship programs. So many advisors point to a mentor as a huge reason for their success and they are committed to returning the favor by mentoring other advisors.

Memorable scene: The scene around the ping pong table where a gang of rowdy guys are having a bit too much fun and single mom Randi Chandler (Michelle Williams) breaks up their party and shows the guys that one woman can have as strong a voice as ten men.

Memorable quote: 

Patrick: “You don’t want to be my guardian, that’s fine with me.” 

Lee: “It’s not that. It’s just the logistics.” 

Patrick: “All my friends are here. I got two girlfriends and I’m in a band. You’re a janitor in Quincy. What the hell do you care where you live?”

Related: 8 ways to attract millennials to insurance

  La La Land

  Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt 

Directed by: Damien Chazelle

What’s it about: Boy meets girl. Boy and girl look for their muse and struggle with the choice between a once-in-a-lifetime love or the spotlight.

Why watch it: The music, the song and dance. La La Land is a throwback to the films of the golden era of film when characters were faced with problems or obstacles and they dealt with it by breaking into dance, allowing themselves to be swept away by the beauty of music.

Interesting factoid: La La Land equaled the record for most Oscar nominations, with 14, tying the record previously set by All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997).

Business lesson: Listen to your muse. You got into this business for a reason. Never lose sight of that. Something drives you to help people create and keep a nest egg well into their retirement years. Hold onto that passion that brought you into the industry in the first place and use it to help your clients reach their dreams.  

Memorable scene: The final dance sequence, one of the most beautiful and perfectly choreographed scenes ever caught on film.

Memorable quote:

Mia: “Maybe I’m not good enough!”

Sebastian: “Yes, you are.”

Mia: “Maybe I’m not! It’s like a pipe dream.”

Sebastian: “This is the dream! It’s conflict and it’s compromise, and it’s very, very exciting!”

Related: Peak Performance

  Hell or High Water

  Starring: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges

Directed by: David Mackenzie

What’s it about: Toby Howard (Chris Pine) and his brother (Ben Foster) decide to rob banks so they can raise enough money to pay off the reverse mortgage that will forfeit their recently deceased mother’s ranch.

Why watch it: Jeff Bridges. “The Dude” is a revelation in this Oscar-nominated supporting role. His Texas Ranger character is facing mandatory retirement, but he is not content to fade away into the dustbin of history. This last case gives him a newfound purpose, a second chance to figure out why he became a ranger in the first place.

Interesting factoid: The phrase “come hell or high water” typically means “do whatever needs to be done, no matter the circumstances.” It also refers to the “hell or high water clause” in a contract, usually a lease, which states that the payments must continue regardless of any difficulties the paying party may encounter.

Business lesson: A family thing. The Howard brothers are pushed to their limit financially. What they do, taking the law into their own hands, is wrong, but the love they have for one another is a powerful reminder of what matters most to people, ensuring that their loved lones are taken care of.  

Memorable scene: The beautiful scene between Bridges and his partner that starts out as playful banter, but then becomes a commentary on land, family, and the pull of greed.

Memorable quote:

Tanner Howard: “Maybe we should hit another branch.”

Toby Howard: “You know, you talk like we ain’t gonna get away with this.”

Tanner Howard: “I never met nobody get away with anything… ever, you?”

Toby Howard: “Then why on the hell did you agree to do it?”

Tanner Howard: “Because you asked, little brother.”

Related: Starting relationships in a changing world

  Hidden Figures

Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons

Directed by Theodore Melfi

What’s it about: A team of African-American women mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.

Why watch it: For the history lesson. I love discovering bits of our history and heritage, and this tale of women who were known as “human computers” is both educational and inspiring. 

Interesting factoid: Kevin Costner’s third film about the Kennedy Administration. He previously appeared in JFK (1991) and Thirteen Days (2000).

Business lesson: Believe in your team. You’ve done the hard work in researching and hiring the people who work for you. You can train them, guide them, but at some point, it’s time to take off the training wheels and let their talent shine. You believed in them enough to hire them in the first place so believe in them now as an integral part of your team.  

Memorable scene: The wonderful moment where Katherine (Taraji P. Henson) works out the flight trajectory of the rocket (all in her head) for the stunned NASA brass.

Memorable quote:

Karl Zielinski: “Mary, a person with an engineer’s mind should be an engineer. You can’t be a computer the rest of your life.”

Mary Jackson: “Mr. Zielinski, I’m a negro woman. I’m not gonna entertain the impossible.”

Karl Zielinski: “And I’m a Polish Jew whose parents died in a Nazi prison camp. Now I’m standing beneath a spaceship that’s going to carry an astronaut to the stars. I think we can say we are living the impossible. Let me ask you, if you were a white male, would you wish to be an engineer?”

Mary Jackson: “I wouldn’t have to. I’d already be one.”

See also:

A dozen ways to be your company’s most valued employee

These 3 questions will make you a better advisor

The best movies for business professionals

We’re on Facebook, are you? 

[maddiepazzani-blog]

Blog Post 4: The Final Oscar Push

Every cinephile’s favorite Sunday of the year is just around the corner: the 89th Academy Awards are about a week away. Whether you think the Oscars are a good indication of a movie’s quality or not, it is nevertheless a pretty good indicator of what is going on in Hollywood and usually fun watching to boot—all those fancy dresses! The tearful-but-obviously-rehearsed acceptance speeches! The cutoff music! I love the Oscars, and as this week begins I’m starting to feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. At the risk of extending that metaphor too far, the kid in me knows my parents are getting me the hot-ticket item that every other kid is getting even though I maybe wanted something a little more thoughtful and personalized (looking at you, La La Land and Moonlight). But I’m enjoying seeing how other awards contenders are jostling for a place on the podium and how their campaigns have shifted into the second phase of promotion that follows the actual nominations.

So much of a movie’s Oscar campaign is about narrative, and as the promotion trucks on awards strategists have to continue to find new ways of keeping a movie feeling fresh, relevant and “important.” Look at Amazon’s The Salesman, an Iranian drama nominated for Best Foreign Language film. Despite its nearly universal positive reviews, we probably wouldn’t have heard much about it until Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi said he would likely be unable to come to the awards ceremony due to Trump’s travel ban. Cynical, sure, but undeniable that it helped get this movie more (probably deserved) attention. They single out Manchester By The Sea as a film that lost a lot of momentum going into the second phase: the first phase was all about Casey Affleck’s outsider-y reputation that could read as artistic integrity to Academy members (which is weird considering he’s related to a very big insider and has worked with a lot of big-name talent, but whatever), but the settlement of sexual harassment allegations has turned that conversation to privilege, wiping out that image and leaving them to scramble for something else to talk about. A24, the coolest studio around, fumbled the release of 20th Century Women—if given more time, Annette Bening could have been the subject of a lot of magazine profiles about aging women in Hollywood and gotten a Best Actress nomination, but they chose instead to put all their eggs in Moonlight’s basket. La La Land, interestingly, has had kind of a one-note campaign: being an artist is hard, keep on dreaming, gosh isn’t Hollywood just magical, etc. But this approach will probably pay off—the Academy is just a bunch of people who live in Hollywood who presumably had to struggle at some point in their careers. It resonates with them. While other contenders are left vying for ways to keep themselves in the conversation, all La La Land had to do was be itself.

http://www.vulture.com/2017/02/oscars-2017-how-savvy-campaigns-are-shaping-the-awards-race.html