Lee Daniels’ Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire is difficult to talk about, let alone sit through. Part memoir, part fantasy and part social deconstruction, the film deals in a grab bag of hot button social mores: poverty, racism, rape, incest, epidemics and education reform to name only a few. The director is literally playing with fire, yet, somehow, he has managed to make a feel-good movie. You heard me right.

Clarice Precious Jones lives in Harlem with her abusive mother. The year is 1987 and she is pregnant with her second child by her father. At 16, Precious is still in junior high school, until her pro-active principal recommends her for an alternative schooling program called Each One Teach One. It is here, with the help of a self-assured teacher and a hood-bred cadre of girls, that her journey of self-discovery begins. What does she discover? The same thing we know about ten minutes into the film: that her mother is a big ol’ B-word. Read on…

The voting is over and the results are in: for the first time in 65 years the Academy Awards has ten films contending for the Best Picture statue. Wow, that’s twice as many movies as before; how can we make sense of all of them. Of course you should see all ten films and make an informed decision, or just read what the candler blog has to say about them. In the meantime we’ve parsed a bit of data and laid it out for you in colorful glory. I’ll let the graphic speak for itself, so take a peek.

Click the image to view full size:

That’s a lot to take in at once. No matter how much data we can look at, from a film’s gross to Academy voters’ tendencies, the truth is that most voters work hard to inform themselves and make the decisions they feel are right in their hearts. We’ve got a whole month of speculation ahead of us, but feel free to leave your gut reactions in the comments. Happy Awards Season.

Click here to download the massive, printable version of this graphic. Feel free to plaster the web with this thing, just don’t forget to mention your friends at the candler blog.

Well that’s all folks, the year’s over and it’s time to move on. Here’s a list of the top 6 candler blog posts you all gravitated towards in 2009. Why 6? Well why not kids? Read ‘em again or ignore them once more. In any event, the book is closed and we’ll certainly work to out-do ourselves in 2010. See you there. Read on…

Although I detest the idea of lists, I thought I would mention “10” films that convey an amazing articulation of contemporary culture (and they just happen to be a some that I find as my favorites of this year).

Birdsong (Albert Serra)

The limits of plot are less a concern than the grace of an event’s miraculous and personal unfolding for an individual. While the film conveys the infamous birth of a religious figure in a manner that is rooted in secular mortality, the film focuses on the personal contemplation and expressionistic moments inspired by the meaning of the event rather than expository dialog about religious convictions. Amazingly brave in its contemplative execution, Serra continues to allude to things beyond the nature of cinema’s plastics and today’s climate of physicality, technology and the literal. Read on…

Fetishism is the first word that comes to mind when considering Rob Marshall’s newest musical film, Nine. Take your pick of which element is fetishized: Europe, the 1960s, cinema, Penélope Cruz, etc. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s actually quite an accurate read of how we now view the work of Federico Fellini and his peers. The filmmaker, on whose 8 ½ the 1982 musical, and by proxy this film, is based is known not only for his mastery of film language but for his keen eye for style. Of course, Fellini’s film was not a musical, but a backstage circus in the life of a woebegone director. Converting it to a stage musical must have been daunting enough, but bringing it back to the screen is something of a chore.

Daniel Day-Lewis is Guido Contini, the Italian director whose next film is sold as being his return to his glory days. The problem is that he hasn’t written it yet, and from the outset we learn he begins shooting in ten days. He is also a womanizer, haunted by the dream versions of the real women in his life. Though he is surrounded by men, it is the women who serves as his muses, for better or worse. Day-Lewis brings not only his uncanny abilities of vocal interpretation but also an incredible physicality to the Italian auteur. Gliding across the screen, he feels ten feet tall atop legs made of feathers. Sure, he’s no Fred Astaire, but if someone asked him to he could probably pull that off too. Read on…

In case your great aunt’s fruitcake wasn’t stale enough this holiday season (as stale as fruitcake jokes, perhaps?), head to the theater where you can get an eyeful of the same-old-same-old in Guy Ritchie’s unbearably boring Sherlock Holmes. The title character, a literary invention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of the few who is yet to find a modern home on the silver screen as the decade of franchises comes to a close. Having seen Superman, Spiderman, James Bond and the Star Trek crew get a bigscreen reboot in the aughts, the next ten years will be dominated by bottom of the barrel heroes who have had a cultural (read: box office) impact in other generations. So before you line up in 2010 for Clash of the Titans, enter the good inspector Holmes and his devoted sidekick, Dr. Watson.

Though most fans will agree that the cadaverous Basil Rathbone’s portrayal of the master sleuth is the truest, it is difficult to deny that Robert Downey Jr. is more than adequately equipped to carry the torch. He certainly throws the kitchen sink at the role, though there isn’t much for the gifted thesp to work with. Penned by Michael Robert Johnson, Anthony Peckham and Simon Kinberg, this iteration of the Londoner gumshoe has little more than pecks to hang his hat on. Trained with the precision of a Kung Fu master, Holmes’ newfound brutish strenghth may be the result of deductive reasoning, but he is a brute nonetheless. Planting blows where words fail him, this Holmes is more a man of action than any that came before him, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing if his intellect didn’t feel like such an afterthought. Read on…

It has been an exciting year of candling and we just wanted to wish you and yours a happy holidays. the candler blog started in March of 2009 and it has grown exponentially in the ensuing months. We couldn’t be happier with our readership’s commitment and we look forward to providing you with insight in 2010. Now enough withthe ushy gushy, let’s get back to candling.

The use of 3D and advanced imaging/animation techniques allows for not just a technological advance, but serves as a racially problematic metaphor for Avatar’s narrative.

While the use of his technology has a tendency to impress simply in skin textures, and facial gestures, James Cameron’s real success has less to do with animation and compositing techniques and more to do with the over looked 3D technique of weight. The most impressive moment is when protagonist Jake Sully dashes through the forest, chased by a large predator at high speeds, only to find himself jumping over a cliff into a waterfall down below. While this is nothing new in any narrative of a similar type, what is new is the technology’s ability to draft the weight of the character through these different physical environments, and the manipulation of time, we are able to get closer to feeling these moments than in any other film for the simple fact that the camera has been placed, panned, and paced in the appropriate positions to allow for the most tactile understanding of air rushing at one’s body, as well as the initial slowing-down of energy once it submerges within water. While neither the scene nor the tools are necessarily anything new, the careful placement of vantage point is what allows for a very effective use beyond the normal 3D tricks. Read on…