The impossible

Gangster Squad

There's plenty of eye candy in this neo-noir gangster film set in Los Angeles circa the 1940s and '50s. Josh Brolin plays an honest cop in a corrupt world. He rounds up a group (including a sweet cop played by Ryan Gosling) to try to clean up the city and attempt to take down mafia boss Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). Some of the performances and action sequences border on cartoonish, but the film is worth seeing if not just for Gosling's chemistry with love interest Emma Stone. The DVD includes director's commentary, deleted scenes, and making-of featurettes.

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The Impossible

Naomi Watts earned an Oscar nod for her performance in The Impossible, which chronicles a family's harrowing experience with the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. The movie showcases strong acting from both Watts and Ewan McGregor, who plays her husband, as well as the three boys who play their sons, but it's not easy to watch, and you're likely to be in tears by the end. The DVD comes with director commentary, as well as deleted scenes and a casting featurette.

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Oscar nominee Naomi Watts made time to talk to the press at today's Oscars Luncheon, and the star of The Impossible spent a lot of time celebrating others, particularly her director and the other Australian nominees. Watts also hinted that the experience of being the only actor to get an Oscar nomination for the film is a bit bittersweet.

On The Impossible director Juan Antonio Bayona: "I absolutely loved working with him. It was clear to me in our first meeting that he's just full of passion, with this his story in particular. He did a huge amount of preparation. . . . His research was extensive. He and his producer showed me so much material, and the way they spoke about it, more importantly, I could feel how deeply connected they were with it, and with Maria, the woman who I play, and how important it was to tell her story with the utmost truth and never deviating from it. Basically everything you saw on the screen was blow-by-blow what happened to her and her family. Despite the fact that he came from genre film, while he honors that a little bit, he's still staying very close to the truth and not creating things for shock or entertainment value. He's one of the most exciting directors I've worked with, and I see incredible things coming from him."

On her fellow Australian nominees this year: "It's a great year for Australia! Very exciting. I've only seen Jacki [Weaver] once, but I've seen quite a bit of Hugh [Jackman], and it really does become exciting when you see fellow actors achieving this kind of recognition and you just sort of pinch each other and say, 'Look at this — is this really happening?'"

On whether she's been preparing for the Oscars: "No on the Oscar preparation! In fact, I just arrived here and saw those gold statues and thought, 'Oh, wow. This is really a flashback.' It's the first time it hit home that it's actually happened."

On being the only person from The Impossible to receive an Oscar nomination: "A lot of people went unrecognized. I don't know why that happened. Maybe not enough people have seen the film."

In The Impossible, Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts play Henry and Maria, parents to three boys who get separated in the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, which is based on a real family who survived the tragedy. The movie is starting to get award buzz (Watts was recently nominated for a Golden Globe and a SAG award for her role), and while I found The Impossible to be a well-done film, there are a few caveats to consider before you check out the drama.

• It's good. The acting is strong, the visual effects are stunning, and you stay invested in the family's story.
• But . . . It is very, very tough to watch. Director Juan Antonio Bayona doesn't spare you from any aspect of the tsunami, kicking off with a first-person-like experience of the wave hitting. There is extensive underwater footage that can make you feel claustrophobic, and the injuries sustained by Maria are very graphic. The visuals may also be gut-wrenching for other reasons, too; the tsunami only happened eight years ago, and even if you don't have a personal link to the tragedy, it's still traumatic to see it so up close and personal.
• Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts are great. As parents who are separated by the disaster, they convey how scared they are while hiding that fear from their children.
• But . . . The child actors leave an even bigger impression. Watts is certainly deserving of praise, but I was more affected by the actors that play the three sons, Lucas (Tom Holland), Thomas (Samuel Joslin), and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast). With their cherubic faces and rare range for such young actors, the boys are sympathetic and magnetic. In particular, Holland stands out as the oldest son who has to be his mother's strength at times and withstands some of the most difficult emotional ordeals.
• It's moving. To call this movie a tearjerker is a severe understatement.
• But . . . Ultimately, it feels a bit emotionally manipulative, and I was left feeling exhausted after experiencing the ups and downs of the family's plight. This is far from escapist entertainment.