Rabbit Hole

Nicole Kidman is astoundingly enrapturing in her role as, Becca, a mother dealing with loss and the resulting grief and anguish that comes with tragically losing a child. Her Academy Award nomination is well deserved, and I think more praise for the film is due as well. Of all the actresses nominated, besides Natalie Portman, I think she is most deserving of the golden statue. But, considering that she's already won and how popular Portman's performance in Black Swan is, she's the hands down favorite.

Speaking more about this film though, it examines the relationship between a husband and wife as the deal with the loss of their child in a very touching way. Aaron Eckhart, who plays the role of Howie, also does a brilliant job at showing the different combination of emotions that someone dealing with a major loss like this might have. Director John Cameron Mitchell does an exceptional job at depicting David Lindsay-Abaire's play. He paces the movie very well, with only being 91 minutes in length.

Bottom-line, Rabbit Hole is an excellent indie film that should have received more accolades, but hopefully Kidman's Oscar nomination can shine some light on it and make it more attractive for people to see.

The Company Men

John Wells, well known for being the show-runner behind long running hits, The West Wing and ER, writes and directs this fantastic film about corporate downsizing and how affects the lives of three men. Set in Boston, Massachusetts, a fictional company, GTX, is reeling from the economic crisis and is cutting jobs left and right to appease shareholders in an attempt to drive up their stock price. The scene to open the movie is quite powerful in the way it captures the feeling of "this sort of thing can happen to anybody, when you least expect it".

The movie stars Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, and Chris Cooper. Each actor plays the role of an employee at GTX, with Jones' character being someone in executive management, Cooper's a notch or so below him, and Affleck as a highly paid salesman. These characters don't have too much interaction on screen, the film examines more the relationships between themselves and their families, neighbors, and communities. The three actors turn in pretty incredible performances, and its a wonder that the film wasn't released earlier in 2010 to be eligible for awards consideration. Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, and Rosemarie DeWitt also play pivotal roles in the film and do superior jobs at being enrapturing and authentic.

The film reminds me a lot of, Up in the Air, and perhaps that's the reason it wasn't released for awards consideration, but instead for commercial ambitions, because Reitman's already did that. But, it's very different than the prior film in how it depicts the lives of those higher up the corporate ladder and the descent that occurs when one's income disappears. Critics can take shots at Wells pacing of the movie, but it's no easy feat to write and direct a major motion picture and I believe he does an excellent job at showing and challenging several aspects of American culture and lifestyle. Definitely, worth a watch.