Posts Tagged ‘Cake’

CAKE: 3 STARS. “a great showcase for the new, dramatic Aniston.”

Career gearshifts are tough. For every McConaissance there is a Gerard Butler or Katherine Heigl who can’t seem to make the change from rom coms to more serous roles.

For a while it looked like Jennifer Aniston was stuck in the same rut. Forgettable movies like “Love Happens” and “The Bounty Hunter” seemed to pigeonhole her as an American Sweetheart type in a movie market filled to bursting with dramatic darlings.

Lately though she’s been doing some career busting, appearing in raunchy comedies like “Horrible Bosses” and “We Are the Millers” and now “Cake,” a low budget drama about putting the broken pieces of a shattered life back together that should put Rachel on the shelf forever in favor of the more daring work she used to do in movies like “The Good Girl” and “Friends with Money.”

She plays Claire, a churlish woman suffering with chronic pain brought on by a car accident that crushed her leg and took the life of her son. The near death experience blew apart her marriage to Jason (Chris Messina), leaving her alone with her tough-but-tender housekeeper Silvana (Adriana Barazza) and the members of her support group. When Nina (Anna Kendrick), a member of the group, commits suicide Claire becomes obsessed with Nina’s life and death. Her search for answers leads her to Nina’s husband’s (Sam Worthington) door and to a new way at looking at life.

“Cake” has many nicely played dramatic scenes. Putting Aniston’s crusty Claire next to Barazza’s warmhearted Silvana is inspired. Their scenes are by far and away the best things in the movie. When they aren’t sparking off one another the movie loses much of its sizzle.

Not that Worthington fails, he doesn’t, but as part of the Nina/Claire-redemption story arc he’s the engine that drives the most predictable and least interesting part of the story.

Aniston, however, is terrific. The pain that wracks her body and tortures her psyche is evident in every movement, in every word that tumbles from her lips. That doesn’t mean she can’t still deliver a funny line. Ten seasons of sit com work honed that skill to a fine edge so when she asks if Nina’s husband where he got the granite for her gravestone because, “I’m thinking of putting a kitchen rail in my backyard,” it’s prickly but hilarious.

“Cake” is a great showcase for the new, dramatic Aniston but it isn’t a great film. In it’s final moments the movie grasps for a feel good ending which is just slightly out of reach.

“Canada AM”: Richard and host on the Golden Globes nominations 2015

Screen Shot 2014-12-12 at 10.30.25 AM“Canada AM”: Richard and host on the Golden Globes nominations 2015

Watch the whole thing HERE!

 

 

 

 

Screen Shot 2014-12-12 at 10.28.55 AM

MOTION PICTURES

Best Drama

  • “Boyhood”
  • “Foxcatcher”
  • “The Imitation Game”
  • “Selma”
  • “The Theory of Everything”

Best Comedy

  • “Birdman”
  • “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
  • “Into the Woods”
  • “Pride”
  • “St. Vincent”

Best Director

  • Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
  • Ava Duvernay, “Selma”
  • David Fincher, “Gone Girl”
  • Alejandro González Iñárritu, “Birdman”
  • Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Best Actress in a Drama

  • Jennifer Aniston, “Cake”
  • Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”
  • Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
  • Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
  • Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”

Best Actor in a Drama

  • Steve Carell, “Foxcatcher”
  • Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
  • Jake Gyllenhaal, “Nightcrawler”
  • David Oyelowo, “Selma”
  • Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”

Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy

  • Ralph Fiennes, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
  • Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
  • Bill Murray, “St. Vincent”
  • Joaquin Phoenix, “Inherent Vice”
  • Christoph Waltz, “Big Eyes”

Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy

  • Amy Adams, “Big Eyes”
  • Emily Blunt, “Into the Woods”
  • Helen Mirren, “The Hundred-Foot Journey”
  • Julianne Moore, “Map to the Stars”
  • Quvenzhané Wallis, “Annie”

Best Supporting Actress

  • Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
  • Jessica Chastain, “A Most Violent Year”
  • Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
  • Emma Stone, “Birdman”
  • Meryl Streep, “Into the Woods”

Best Supporting Actor

  • Robert Duvall, “The Judge”
  • Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
  • Edward Norton, “Birdman”
  • Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
  • J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Best Screenplay

  • Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
  • Gillian Flynn, “Gone Girl”
  • Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo, “Birdman”
  • Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
  • Graham Moore, “The Imitation Game”

Best Foreign Language Film

  • “Force Majeure Turist,” Sweden
  • “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem Gett,” Israel
  • “Ida,” Poland/Denmark
  • “Leviathan,” Russia
  • “Tangerines Mandariinid,” Estonia

Best Animated Feature

  • “Big Hero 6”
  • “The Book of Life”
  • “The Boxtrolls”
  • “How to Train Your Dragon 2”
  • “The Lego Movie”

Best Original Song

  • “Big Eyes” from “Big Eyes” music and lyrics by Lana Del Rey
  • “Glory” from “Selma,” Music and lyrics by John legend and Common
  • “Mercy Is” from “Noah,” Music and lyrics by Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye
  • “Opportunity” from “Annie,” Music and lyrics by Greg Kurstin, Sia Furler, Will Gluck
  • “Yellow Flicker Beat” from “The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1,” Music and lyrics by Lorde

Best Score

  • “The Imitation Game”
  • “The Theory of Everything”
  • “Gone Girl”
  • “Birdman”
  • “Interstellar”