The Cellar Door

My Oscar Predictions

2009-02-21T15:57:00.003-05:00

BEST PICTURE: Slumdog Millionaire
--Should Win: Milk
BEST DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
--Should Win: Gus Van Sant, Milk
BEST ACTOR: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
--Should Win: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
BEST ACTRESS: Kate Winslet, The Reader
--Should Win: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
--Should Win: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Viola Davis, Doubt
--Should Win: Viola Davis, Doubt
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Milk
--Should Win: In Bruges
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Slumdog Millionaire
--Should Win: Doubt
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Wall-E
--Should Win: Wall-E
BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Presto
BEST ART DIRECTION: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
--Should Win: The Dark Knight
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Slumdog Millionaire
--Should Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: The Duchess
--Should Win: Milk
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Man on Wire
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306
BEST EDITING: Slumdog Millionaire
--Should Win: Milk
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Waltz with Bashir (Israel)
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: Toyland
BEST MAKEUP: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
--Should Win: The Dark Knight
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Slumdog Millionaire
--Should Win: Wall-E
BEST ORIGINAL SONG: "Jai Ho" - Slumdog Millionaire
--Should Win: "O Saya" - Slumdog Millionaire
BEST SOUND EDITING: Wall-E
--Should Win: Wall-E
BEST SOUND MIXING: Wall-E
--Should Win: Wall-E
BEST VISUAL FX: The Dark Knight
--Should Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Final Oscar Predictions (Updated with Actualities)

2009-01-19T16:33:00.004-05:00

Yes, I realize I haven't blogged in forever and I have no idea when I'll come back (if ever), but I'm a completist through and through and I know I'll regret it later on if I don't post Oscar nominations this year. So here they are (all boring and formatted uncreatively...)

BEST PICTURE
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

SNUBBED: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt

3/5 (ouch!) missing lukewarm-received December fare Benjamin Button and The Reader in favour of critical/cultural zeitgeist pictures The Dark Knight and Wall-E

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

SNUBBED: Darren Aronofsky, Clint Eastwood

4/5 missing Stephen Daldry in favour of Christopher Nolan

BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

SNUBBED: Clint Eastwood, Leonardo DiCaprio

5/5 yay!

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

SNUBBED: Melissa Leo, Kristin Scott Thomas

4/5 missing Melissa Leo in favour of Sally Hawkins. More proof of Oscar's obsession with miserabilism. Also, Winslet was nomm'ed for The Reader instead of Road.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder
James Franco, Milk
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

SNUBBED: Dev Patel, Ralph Fiennes

4/5 missing Michael Shannon in favour of James Franco.... although I was right about that glorious Dev Patel snub!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Kate Winslet, The Reader

SNUBBED: Taraji P. Henson, Rosemarie DeWitt

4/5 missing Taraji P Henson in favour of Winslet (who ended up in the Lead Category)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Wall-E
The Wrestler

SNUBBED: Happy-Go-Lucky, Burn After Reading

2/5 missing Frozen River (VERY unexpected), In Bruges and Happy-Go-Lucky in favour of Rachel Getting Married (booooo, Oscar!!), Vicky Cristina Barcelona and The Wrestler.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

SNUBBED: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Revolutionary Road

4/5 missing Benjamin Button in favour of The Dark Knight

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

3/5 missing Changeling and The Reader in favour of Australia and Rev Road

BEST FILM EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

5/5 yay!

BEST ART DIRECTION
Australia
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Revolutionary Road
Synecdoche, New York

3/5 missing The Dark Knight and The Duchess in favour of Australia and Synecdoche, NY

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

5/5 yay!

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

4/5 missing Defiance in favour of The Dark Knight

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
The Wrestler

2/3 missing The Wrestler in favour of another Slumdog Millionaire. EWWW!! The Wrestler would have made such a great winner... :(

Bolt (if 5 nominees)
Hamlet 2 (if 5 nominees)

BEST SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

4/5 missing Wanted in favour of Quantum of Solace

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

4/5 missing Wanted in favour of Iron Man

BEST MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Tropic Thunder
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

2/3 missing The Dark Knight in favour of Tropic Thunder

BEST VISUAL FX
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

3/3 yay!

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
At the Death House Door
Blessed is the Match
IOUSA
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

2/5 missing The Betrayal, Encounters at the End of the World and The Garden in favour of At the Death House Door, Blessed is the Match and IOUSA.

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Bolt
Wall-E
Waltz with Bashir

2/3 missing Kung Fu Panda in favour of Waltz with Bashir

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class
Everlasting Moments
The Necessities of Life
Waltz with Bashir

3/5 missing Revanche and Departures in favour of Everlasting Moments and The Necessities of Life.

TALLY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 10 nominations
The Dark Knight - 10 nominations
Slumdog Millionaire - 9 nominations
Milk - 9 nominations
Wall-E - 7 nominations
Doubt - 5 nominations
Frost/Nixon - 5 nominations
Revolutionary Road - 4 nominations
The Wrestler - 4 nominations
Australia - 3 nominations
Iron Man - 3 nominations

My Prediction Score: 74% (72/97)

Long Live Actressexuality Though!

2008-09-21T19:27:00.004-04:00

Good luck tonight at the Emmys, Glenn, Mary-Louise (or Tina), Laura (x2), Kristin, and Rachel! And even if none of you manage to win, take a look around. Look at all the other actors who lost out to the (what are sure to be much shittier) winners, and realize that you are in good company. And of course, be happy to know that at least I love you and am conscious of all your brilliance.

Sad Realization

2008-09-18T19:48:00.004-04:00

I just don't have the time or energy to blog anymore, people. I'll check in every once in a while (I hope), but honestly, blogging just is not one of my top priorities at the moment. When I do have free time that isn't consumed by school-work, play practices, track and field, a social life and my part-time job, I'd really rather be spending it seeing movies, discussing movies, reading, and doing creative writing. Sorry.

Anyway:
Blindness: A; Julianne Moore in Blindness: A-
Happy-Go-Lucky: B-; Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky: B-
Hamlet 2: B; Steve Coogan in Hamlet 2: A-

2008-09-07T19:27:00.003-04:00

Why can't you lose your good looks, Brick? Most drinkin' men lose theirs. Why can't you? I think you've even gotten better-lookin' since you went on the bottle. You were such a wonderful lover... You were so excitin' to be in love with. Mostly, I guess, 'cause you were... If I thought you'd never never make love to me again... why I'd find me the longest, sharpest knife I could and I'd stick it straight into my heart. I'd do that. Oh Brick, how long does this have to go on? This punishment? Haven't I served my term? Can't I apply for a pardon?

More Milk

2008-09-04T21:47:00.007-04:00

If you've been living under a rock for the past couple of days, you may not be aware that there is now a trailer for Gus Van Sant's upcoming biopic of slain gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk. The clip, which I've now seen at least ten times, is really an extraordinary trailer -- elegantly put-together, edited crisply, with wonderful music and striking titles. Not to mention that the dialogue and performance clips are just right, and it seems to set the tone of the piece (epic but intimate, intensely emotional, vastly inspirational, etc.) up really well. I know it's not good of me to judge films before I've even seen them, but I can't even begin to express how much I'm rooting for this movie to be a huge to hit this year (both at the box office and with the Oscars.) Here's the trailer off of YouTube...

And isn't that moment the greatest when Josh Brolin as assassin Dan White asks Penn as Milk whether it's possible for two men to reproduce, and he just gives him a little smile and says, "No, but god knows we keep trying." Here's hoping that they stick Heath Ledger in the Best Supporting Actor race for The Dark Knight this season so that both of them can receive some gold come February.

Cinefest '08

2008-09-02T13:26:00.015-04:00

From September 13th to September 21st, my life will be consumed by my city's local international film festival, the 20th annual edition of Cinéfest Sudbury. Last year, we had a lot of great films (Lust Caution, 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, etc.) but I seemed to pick all the stinkers to go see (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Reservation Road, Just Buried, The Walker, etc.) This year, the festival has garnered a number of high-profile foreign and North American films, as well as the usual array of documentaries, shorts and local independent films. This year, I'll hopefully be seeing eight movies (I know, eight seems like none at all, but I do have to go to school all week, after all.) My promise to myself and to you is that I will comment on my filmgoing every single night of the festival, no matter how tired or uninspired I may feel. I simply must start talking about film regularly again! Here's how the week of filmgoing will go down:

MONDAY
-Happy-Go-Lucky, dir. Mike Leigh

TUESDAY
Gomorra, dir. Matteo Garone

WEDNESDAY
-Blindness, dir. Fernando Meirelles

THURSDAY
-The Brothers Bloom, dir. Rian Johnson
OR
-Waltz with Bashir, dir. Ari Folman

FRIDAY
-Rachel Getting Married, dir. Jonathan Demme

SATURDAY
-Patrik Age 1.5, dir. Ella Lemhagen
AND
-Un conte de Noël, dir. Arnaud Despleschin

SUNDAY
-Il y a longtemps que je t'aime, dir. Philippe Claudel

Holy mother of Christ, that lineup looks pretty fabulous, doesn't it? As you may remember, Happy-Go-Lucky and Blindness are two of my absolute most anticipated films of the fall season. Waltz with Bashir and Gomorra were both huge hits at Cannes earlier this year, the latter even going on to win the Grand Prize of the Festival, so I couldn't be more thrilled to be getting a fairly early glimpse at them. Il y a longtemps que je t'aime has been getting really great ink lately, and Kristin Scott Thomas is getting buzzed for an Oscar nod, as is Anne Hathaway for Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married. Oddly enough though, I think that Un conte de Noël might just be the film I'm looking forward to the most. Centering around a wealthy French family and their various neuroses during a snowy Christmas season, it's directed by brilliant French auteur Arnaud Despleschin and features a dream cast including the divine Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, Hippolyte Girardot et Melvil Poupaud. Any way you look at it though, this is going to be a fantastic week.

The only thing that I really have to decide at this point is whether to see The Brothers Bloom, the sophomore directorial effort from Brick's Rian Johnson which stars Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz and Adrien Brody, or Waltz with Bashir on Thursday night. The two will unfortunately be playing at the exact same time, so it's going to be impossible for me to catch them both. So I may as well leave it up to my readers to decide for me. Tell me in the comments which film I'd be better off spending my time and money on...

The Cellar Door's Top Ten, 2007

2008-08-14T18:37:00.010-04:00

Over at Valley Dreamin' today, JD managed to finally squeeze out his list of his ten favourite films of 2007, which prompted me to realize that I still hadn't done that either. It seems that when I took my unscheduled 2-or-so months of absence in May, I forgot all about continuing with my year-end wrap-up (which only had a couple categories to go.) So without further ado or much commentary, I present to you my official Top Ten List of 2007 (based on Canadian release dates, unlike the list at my Viewing Index Blog, where all my screenings pre-2008 are categorized by IMDb years.)

Runners-up: The Savages was really quite funny and really quite sad, and a great showcase for the delights of The Lovely Laura Linney. * Michael Clayton was a confident, well-constructed legal thriller (rescuing the genre and setting itself apart from the thousands of boring procedurals on TV.) * The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters was so ridiculous and hilarious that it was hard to believe that what I was watching was a documentary.

10. Hairspray (US)
Directed by Adam Shankman
...because I've watched it too many times now to count.

9. We Own the Night (US)
Directed by James Gray...because it's a miracle of a crime film - equally concerned with revealing emotional truth and being superbly-crafted.

8. Atonement (UK)
Directed by Joe Wright...because it's a beautiful, symbolic, structurally magnificent look at the way our lives are affected by lies and literature.

7. I'm Not There (US)
Directed by Todd Haynes...because I've never seen a music biopic so interested in examining its subject in such a profound, meaningful way.

6. Juno (US/Canada)
Directed by Jason Reitman...because, behind all the slang and Cody-isms, it's a sincere, hilarious, unpretentious gem.

5. Jindabyne (Australia)
Directed by Ray Lawrence...because it's such a raw, affecting close-up of a family and community in crisis.

4. Away From Her (Canada)
Directed by Sarah Polley...because it's at once the most hopeful and heartbreaking film my country has produced in many years.

3. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania)
Directed by Cristian Mungiu...because it's a masterclass in tension-building, acting, editing and using minimalism to maximum effect.

2. No Country for Old Men (US)
Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen...because Cormac McCarthy meets The Coen Brothers turned out to be the most perfect union of artistry this year.

1. Persepolis (France)
Directed by Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi...because sometimes the best way to get through pain is through laughter, and because apparently the best way to address the most serious and sensitive subjects is through the least expected mediums...

Box Office Trivialities

2008-08-11T16:55:00.009-04:00

You know, as much as I enjoyed The Dark Knight when I saw it a couple weeks ago, I'm starting to get really tired of all the incessant media chatter that's been surrounding it. It seems like every time I listen to the radio or browse IMDb's news items, all anyone is talking about is how the new Batman movie is well on its way to becoming "the most popular movie of all time". Yes, it very well might end up surpassing Titanic's $600 million-plus record for being the film to rake in the most cash at the box office, but I wish people would mention its standing on the all-time list for biggest box office intakes with inflation adjusted. Gone With the Wind currently holds the title for the most tickets sold for a film ever, and if ticket prices cost as much then as they do now (if only!!) it would have grossed an astonishing $1.4 billion. What an interesting fact that the most popular movie of all time is a no-holds-barred romantic "women's picture" (to put it simplistically). Oh, how the times have changed (and I'm not talking about movie prices anymore.) Anyway, I highly doubt that any film, let alone all the comic-book adaptations and sequels that rule the 21st century's cineplexes, will ever match Gone With the Wind's popularity. So if people would just take a break from all their hyperbolic ravings about The Dark Knight (which is currently standing at #49 on the all-time box office list with inflation adjusted, just so you know), they would probably realize that it will never even come close to Gone With the Wind's title. So there!

< /crabby rant>

New Obsession

2008-08-09T10:16:00.003-04:00

In case you weren't aware, the best thing on YouTube lately has indisputably been the VGL Gay Boys, Jeffery Self and Cole Escola. They're insightful, smart, cute, not annoying, creative and more than that, completely hysterical. Check out Jeffery's blog and YouTube channel, or just take a look at some of my favourite videos of theirs, which I've conveniently posted below:

VGL Gay Boys on Gay Marriage:

VGL Gay Boys with Bernadette Peters:

VGL Gay Boys on Brad and Angelina's Twins:

VGL Gay Boys, Meeting Meryl Streep:

VGL Gay Boys on Pinkberry:

I'm A-Itchin'

2008-08-03T18:28:00.017-04:00

Now that the lovely month of August is upon us, it seems as if Oscar season is nearly here. Only a couple more months and all of the year's prestige pictures from the biggest directors and hottest actors will arrive. It's been said many times by better people that it's a damn shame that the studios have to annually dump all their "quality" pictures in the few months leading up to the Oscar deadline. But alas, this system will probably never change so I guess it's something we just all have to live with for now. (Plus, it leaves time during the rest of the year to catch up with older movies you'd been meaning to see forever.)

So, in anticipation of the fall movie roster, I thought I'd throw out a list of ten movies that have got me giddy with anticipation. We'll have to see if all of them (or any) manage to live up to the spectacular hype that surrounds them and the ideas of them that I've built up in my mind. I suppose all we can do now is hope (and keep watching their teaser trailers over and over and over again...)

Runners-up: Jim Sheridan's adaptation of Susanne Bier's best film to date Brothers starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman - very exciting; Rian Johnson's follow-up to his brilliant debut feature Brick, The Brothers Bloom; Burn After Reading, the Coen Bros' return to comedy with the coolest ensemble of the year; Angelina Jolie keeps getting better and better, here's hoping she lives up to the hype that's surrounding her latest, Changeling; and Doubt, because all you have to say are the words "Meryl Streep and Amy Adams" and I'm there.

10. Blindness
Anticipation for this flick has dissipated a bit after its lukewarm reception at the Cannes Film Festival, but I'm still looking forward to it. Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo are two of the absolute most skilled screen performers working right now, and I can't wait to see what they do in these roles. The book, which I started reading a while ago but had to put on hiatus because of other things, sure was bleak and I hope they don't try to soften up the film's tone or themes at all as they transfer it to the big screen. If Fernando Meirelles manages to make this work, then I think we could be in for a real treat.

9. Happy-Go-Lucky
Fact: I've never met a Mike Leigh film I didn't like, and furthermore, I've never met a Mike Leigh lead actress that wasn't completely revelatory. This movie, Mike Leigh's latest has been on my radar ever since relative-newcomer Sally Hawkins won Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. Could we have another Brenda Blethyn or Imelda Staunton on our hands here? The delightful trailer and the positive word of mouth from across the pond has just added to my excitement, even if I'm starting to lose confidence in my prediction of Hawkins getting an Oscar nomination.

8. Flight of the Red Balloon
I'll admit that I've never seen any of Hsiao-hsien Hou's filmography (including his much-heralded Three Times), but this film just seems right up my alley. The trailer looks fantastic, and I've heard some great things, especially about the performance of Juliette Binoche. I'm always a fan of her work, and I don't expect anything less than a wonderful performance from her anymore. And you know, sometimes it's just nice to see her face on a big screen...

7. Twilight
One of my guiltiest pleasures this year has been reading Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster teen vampire romance saga. The thing is, the books aren't even written that well (let's just hope that the filmmakers will be able to fix all those awkward structural problems) and yet, I'm consistently drawn into these stories and have read every one of the books in the span of a couple of days at most. The prospect of Catherine Hardwicke (thirteen) adapting the first book in the series for the big screen fills me with a lot of hope, and the casting of beautiful Robert Pattinson (a.k.a. Cedric Diggory) as Edward was a pitch-perfect decision if you ask me. So yes, I will be among all the rabid teenage fangirls standing in line on December 12th four hours before the show starts.

6. Hamlet 2
"Rock me, rock me, rock me, sexy Jesus/ All night lo-ooong". Enough said.

5. Revolutionary Road
Sadly there isn't a trailer for Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road yet, but that doesn't stop me from being off the charts with excitement for this one. Sure, the Kate and Leo reunion is a cute touch and will definitely make the movie an easy sell with audiences, but I'm more eager to see what they do with the source material - I read it earlier this year, and it's an incredibly sharp piece of work. I have faith that Sam Mendes will do a good job with this. After all, we all know how well he works with the subject of suburban angst.

4. The Road
Like Revolutionary Road, The Road earns its spot on this list solely because of its brilliant source material - the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by No Country for Old Men scribe Cormac McCarthy (who is apparently all the rage nowadays, even though he's been writing for decades.) The Road is the scariest, most harrowing reading experience I think I've ever had, and I'm eager to see what they do with it on film. And Viggo Mortensen is a really inspired choice for the lead character (unnamed in the book).

3. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
I've said this many times before, but Woody Allen is truly my favourite writer/director of all time. Sadly though, I haven't genuinely appreciated a Woody Allen picture since 1994's Bullets Over Broadway. (No, I didn't care for Match Point or Scoop.) This one seems different though. The cast looks perfect (especially Penelope Cruz - va-va-voom!), the trailer is really quite funny and the film just looks beautiful to boot. I've come to terms with the fact that Allen's best work is obviously behind him, so all I'm looking forward to is a nice engaging night at the movies with America's premier auteur.

2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Alright. This is the fucking trailer of the year. Kind of like Marie Antoinette's teaser a couple years ago, I actually have this on my iPod and I watch it more than is probably necessary. God. The music. The photography. That voice-over by Brad Pitt. Ugly old-man-baby. TILDA SWINTON. Brad Pitt as a really hot teenager. And then that last shot, probably the single most beautiful image I've seen in a long while. *Shudder*

1. Milk
Coming in at Numero Uno is Gus Van Sant's upcoming biopic of slain gay rights activist/politician Harvey Milk, aptly titled Milk. I have a funny feeling this could be one of the zeitgeist films during this year's awards season and I couldn't possibly be more thrilled about that. And in our post-Brokeback cultural landscape, I think it's silly to suspect that the homo subject matter will prevent the masses from accepting it as a truly great film (if that's what it turns out to be -- and I think it will.) And you never know: maybe the Academy will feel bad about 2006's Black Sunday, and feel like rewarding this one with Best Picture as a kind of apology... (I still don't think I could ever forgive them though.)

The Missing Links 5.0

2008-08-01T00:36:00.009-04:00

--Stale Popcorn: Glenn has this really interesting new series going on over at his blog called "Black + White Friday", in which he takes screengrabs of various movies and converts them to - you guessed it - black and white. This week's installment features 2002 Best Picture winner and personal fave Chicago. So so pretty...

--Nick's Flick Picks: Speaking of Chicago... This week, Nick, Nathaniel and Goatdog take a look back at Chicago and Cavalcade (1933) as part of their "Best Picture From the Outside In" series, which has become a weekly can't-miss-it-event. I've never seen Cavalcade (and I'm not sure I want to) but I can't help agreeing with lots of the positive things the boys have to say about Chicago. I have to agree with Nathaniel though, in saying that Catherine Zeta-Jones is by far the most interesting and indispensable member of that cast.

--Rants of A Diva: Dame James waxes rhapsodic about Christina Hendricks on Mad Men. I too just got hooked to the first season of AMC's scorcher of a series, and can't help but agree that Joan Holloway is the most kick-ass character on the show. (And this is a series filled with a lot of kick-ass characters.) Cannot wait to finish all the first-season episodes so I can move along to the brand-new Season 2.

--Towleroad: Like it does every summer, CBS' Big Brother has completely taken me over and I'm hooked anew. There aren't a whole lot of people to love in this summer's cast, but of all the stupid brainless assholes in the house, the stupidest, most brainless, biggest asshole might just be "professional bodybuilder" Jessie Godderz. Towleroad has some strange footage of some of Jessie's homoerotic workout videos and a hilarious clip of his appearance on MTV's Next.

--Much Ado About Nothing: Hayden begins his Top 50 countdown with a shoutout to Beauty and the Beast, that first animated picture to ever snag a Best Picture Oscar nomination. I wish I had the energy to write in depth about all the films I love the most, but alas, I don't. Check this list out though -- there are a lot of really interesting, valuable choices.

The 12 Movie Meme

2008-07-28T20:17:00.002-04:00

This tag has been brought to you by J.D., via Piper. Here's how it works:

1) Choose 12 Films to be featured. They could be random selections or part of a greater theme. Whatever you want.

2) Explain why you chose the films.

3) Link back to Lazy Eye Theatre so I can have hundreds of links and I can take those links and spread them all out on the bed and then roll around in them.

4) The people selected then have to turn around and select 5 more people.

For my film festival, lazily titled The Cellar Door Film Festival, I decided to go with six themed nights, all of them defining me as a movie-goer and as an individual in some way, shape or form. (And if this were a real film festival, I'd say that all the films would be completely free and would be screened at a drive-in movie theatre. Popcorn and Milk Duds would also be available for pickup on admission.) This is how the week-long festivities would go down:

NIGHT 1: CANADIANA

Obviously a big thing about me is the fact that I'm Canadian. (Yay!) And although my native country doesn't produce a whole lot of films every year, every once in a while a movie will be made up here in the Great White North that totally exemplifies the creative, artistic and political spirit of our country. Two great examples are Mon oncle Antoine, a delightful 1971 French-language film from Claude Jutra, and the beautiful, elegiac The Sweet Hereafter, which was somewhat of a hit outside the country in 1997. Some might be turned off by all the bleakness and wintry colour palettes, but finding good Canadian films that aren't like that can be a difficult task sometimes.

NIGHT 2: GENDER IDENTITY

These two choices aren't here to suggest that I have issues with my own gender (because I don't), but rather that I'm just a little fascinated with the subject - especially when there are films out there willing to tackle the subject in such a socially conscious, headstrong but sensitive way. Orlando is a rather beautiful film and an experience like no other, and Boys Don't Cry is one of the best films of the past 10 years, period. Hilary Swank's magnificent, should-be-legendary performance alone is worth it.

NIGHT 3: BEST ACTRESS-BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Another obsession of mine that's well-documented on this site (just scroll down the sidebar on the right) is the Oscars, specifically the categories of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. To give a taste to my audiences of why these two categories inspire such attention and devotion in me, I would show them two of the very best instances of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress wins. Liz Taylor and Sandy Dennis both picked up little golden statues for their gargantuan and subtle performances (respectively) in Mike Nichols' film version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. And Holly Hunter and little Anna Paquin both won big at the Oscars in 1993 for Jane Campion's gorgeous, amazing, beautiful, haunting, life-affirming, etc. film The Piano.

NIGHT 4: MINDFUCKERY

One of my friends once asked me what movies I would most want to watch while stoned, and these two came immediately to mind for some reason. So for the fourth night of my film festival, I would opt to go for a slightly different routine. Weed would be supplied to everyone on the way into the drive-in for the crazy-ass mindfucking double bill of Persona and Alice in Wonderland. Ingmar Bergman's seminal arthouse classic and Disney's least subtle film about the effects of drugs on little girls would make for a perfect evening of laidback fun.

NIGHT 5: WORLD CINEMA

The next night, World Cinema Night, would give a chance for my festival-goers to get a clear, unimpaired view of what an Ingmar Bergman experience would be like, with his beautiful, moving Fanny and Alexander. Accompanying that would be Joshua Marston's Maria Full of Grace, a film which I watched for the first time about a month ago. I can't believe I had waited that long, because it was a deeply rewarding experience and a spectacularly well-made film. Honest, eye-opening, ultimately hopeful.

NIGHT 6: MUSICALS

To cap off the festivities, Night 6 would be dedicated to my all-time favourite film genre: the movie musical. Bob Fosse's Cabaret and Disney's The Little Mermaid are two of the finest examples of song-and-dance films, both incredible exercises in spectacle and escapism, with depth, subtlety and emotional clarity to boot.

So there you have it: The Cellar Door Film Festival. Now it's your turn, to anyone who is reading this right now. Pretty much everyone I know has been tagged already, so the next five people who want to do this meme, consider yourself tagged!

The House of the Spirits

2008-07-24T19:25:00.001-04:00

I just recently finished reading Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits and I was floored. It's a long, epic feast of a novel that draws obvious inspiration from stuff like Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (another spectacular novel), but House is a little more blatantly political and earth-shatteringly romantic. I urge everyone to read it. It contains at once one of the most devastating evocations of a country in turmoil and some of the saddest romantic prose I've ever read. The trials of the Trueba women -- painful, funny, magical -- are some that I won't soon be forgetting. God, I just love it when a piece of art makes me feel so much. Sometimes there isn't much more to say than "This is beautiful". And that's what The House of the Spirits is.

You can imagine my shock, then, when I IMDb'ed "House of the Spirits" and discovered that a film version of the novel had been made in 1993, starring none other than Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Winona Ryder and Glenn Close in the lead roles. I honestly had to read through the entire page twice to make sure that I was understanding correctly. Streep, Irons, Ryder and Close, four extremely Caucasian actors, portraying Clara, Esteban, Blanca and Férula - four extremely South American characters whose lives are distinctly interwoven with the history of Chile? This makes absolutely no sense to me.

Maybe I should actually seek out the movie and watch it before I make rash judgments and scream Bloody Racial Insensitivity, but this just seems like the most boneheaded casting in the history of film. Why cast white actors in these roles when you're not going to at least change the setting to the States? Oh right, because the story would have no resonance and would lose all semblance of importance if that were to happen.

So my question to you, readers, is has anyone seen this film? And what are your thoughts? How is the elephant in the room addressed? Or is it? Do the actors speak Spanish? Or do they speak English with lame Spanish accents (like a Memoirs of A Geisha-type situation?) I'm curious and confused.

This Is the Sound of My Heart Breaking

2008-07-22T19:28:00.004-04:00

Estelle Getty, who played Sophia Petrillo on the '80s sitcom The Golden Girls (also known as the funniest show in the history of broadcast television) died today at the age of 84. Rest in peace, Estelle. (And I'm loving how E!Online describes her as "cantankerous octogenarian". There really isn't a more apt description.)

The Dark Knight & Mamma Mia!

2008-07-20T23:23:00.004-04:00

If you would have asked me a couple months ago which movie being released on July 18th I was most excited for, I very well might have been stumped. The latest Batman movie starring the late Heath Ledger in a potentially-fantastic role, or the latest summer musical starring none other than the great Meryl Streep. The superhero fanatic and the show queen in me duking it out in a battle for the ages. It could've been a toughie, but the last month or so of publicity, early reviews, trailers, etc. have made it pretty clear that The Dark Knight is the movie event of the season and that Mamma Mia! is just....well, Mamma Mia. Still, I'm a sucker for a musical (no matter how cheesy it looks), so I went for the double-bill option yesterday and saw both films. Here are some thoughts:

First of all, I'm not convinced at all that The Dark Knight is the best superhero movie ever made, as everyone seems to be claiming. That award still belongs to Spider-man 2, a movie that had a crystal-clear view of itself, knew when and where to pause, and had a cast that were all acting in the same movie. As much as Christopher Nolan maybe wants to believe that he's making the darkest, most disturbing action movie ever created with all those dark tones and sleek action sequences, I can't help but wish it was rated R. It needed some balls, some chest hair and less tacky one-liners.

I do commend Christopher Nolan for managing to keep things pretty interesting while The Joker is offscreen though. Because really, Heath Ledger pwns this movie. Everything you've heard about his performance is true, and then some. He's genius, completely immersing himself in the role. It's a shame we won't get to see him do it again (as I think the filmmakers were planning -- The Joker's ending doesn't really feel like an ending, so much as an invitation to the sequel.)

Gosh, I'm making it seem like I hated The Dark Knight, aren't I? In reality though, I concede that it's a pretty great movie - certainly not perfect, but it has some spectacular sequences and some beautiful moments of tension and drama, brought about by a pro technical crew and that gifted cast. The opening sequence in particular was kind of awe-inspiring; gritty, creepy, refreshingly uncharacteristic of the comic book movie genre.

As for Mamma Mia!, well, I wish I could say a whole bunch of nice things about it, considering how much I liked the cast, but really: I got nothing. It's poorly made. Simple as that. And the music is middling at best, really. Scratch that - everything that Amanda Seyfried sings turns to gold, but then again it's almost as if they don't give her enough to do. I'm usually all about the big ensemble casts, but for once I left the theatre wishing it would have been a one-woman show (or two-woman, if we throw Streep in the mix.)

The Dark Knight, dir. Christopher Nolan: B+
Mamma Mia!, dir. Phillippa Lloyd: C-

2008-07-20T23:15:00.002-04:00

Well there's this passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you." I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never gave much thought what it meant. I just thought it was some cold-blooded shit to say to a motherfucker before I popped a cap in his ass. I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. See now I'm thinkin', maybe it means you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9 Milimeter here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. Now I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.

2008-07-13T18:55:00.005-04:00

Is it weird that I find John Slattery (Mad Men, Desperate Housewives) extremely attractive?

Surely I'm not the only one...

In Which I Look Back on the Half-Year: Part I

2008-07-07T22:56:00.007-04:00

To kick things back into gear on my little blog here, I've decided that the most efficient way to do things would be to review every 2008 release I've seen so far this year -- but in 30 words, like the old series! (The only movies I'm not going to mention are those I've already reviewed in full or summed in 30 words (Stop-Loss, Charlie Bartlett, etc.) Sorry about the fact that I've only seen 18 films so far. I'm telling you, I haven't seen this few films in theatres after the year's half-way point since 2004, probably. Yikes. :S Anyway, here goes:

Baby Mama, dir. Michael Mullers
Shame that Fey and Poehler had to pick this inoffensive but unsatisfactory offering to prove to Hollywood that they're truly brilliant comediennes (and that they could be box-office draws, too.) C+

Cloverfield, dir. Matt Reeves
One of the absolute smartest, most arresting horror movies of recent years; love the update on the Blair-Witch visual style and the 9/11 parallels. I can't wait for the sequel. B+

Definitely, Maybe, dir. Adam Brooks
I'm a sucker for romantic comedies so I probably shouldn't even be reviewing them. This one was cute, interesting fun though - written and performed particularly well. Isla Fisher is ♥. B

Forgetting Sarah Marshall, dir. Nicholas Stoller
Funny, yes, but the treatment of Kristen Bell's character was a piss-off -- setting Sarah Marshall up for smart, nicely-played redemption, only to slap her (and the audience) in the face. B-

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, dir. Steven Spielberg
Maybe it's because I've never seen the other movies and thus the nostalgia aspect obviously didn't work, but this film did nothing for me. Shia was great though (as expected). C

Kung Fu Panda, dir. Mark Osborne & John Stevenson
Finally! More story than cultural references in a Dreamworks animated picture! I must say it's still a pretty average animated flick though (with great visuals and middling voice work). B/B-

Recount, dir. Jay Roach
HBO rarely fails to impress and Recount is another fine example. Laura Dern: ridiculously amazing; the score: incredibly effective in conveying the message, and the energy and tension: works marvelously despite the genre. B+

Reprise, dir. Joachim Trier
Gotta agree with Nathaniel: the year's best so far. A full review will follow but for now let's just blurb-whore and call it "the absolute definitive European film for today's young people." A/A-

Savage Grace, dir. Tom Kalin
Thank you infinitely Mr. Kalin for delivering unto us another spectacular Julianne Moore performance! The movie ain't too shabby either - delicious psychosexual drama, expressive photography, etc. (Full review later) A-

Sex and the City: The Movie, dir. Michael Patrick King
I'll admit to its flaws but honestly I could hardly be happier with this movie: one of my favourite shows losing little of its charm and relevance on the big screen. B/B+

The Strangers, dir. Bryan Bertino
Honestly, the trailer is better than the movie, but it's still decent: conceptually boring but executed pretty well. Liv Tyler is great; the movie's a lot scarier because of her. B

The Visitor, dir. Thomas McCarthy
Richard Jenkins makes a big splash graduating from supporting actor to leading man in this affecting, big-hearted political drama - delivering a great performance with nuance and a sneaky charm. B+

You Don't Mess With the Zohan, dir. Dennis Dugan
Adam Sandler is an idiot and a bad movie star and this brainless, unfunny turd of a movie didn't do anything to convince me otherwise. (I only saw it because I was forced.) D

The Blog is Back!

2008-07-07T20:44:00.006-04:00

This morning, I woke up, strolled onto the computer, did my daily blog-browsing, and decided to take a glimpse at my own blog The Cellar Door to see how things were doing. Much to my shock, it seems I'd been absent for close to 2 months. 2 WHOLE MONTHS. Boy, I knew I had been neglecting things around these parts but 2 entire months sans The Cellar Door is a little ridiculous. It's been too long and I think I'm ready to come back now.

More than anything, I've felt bad for a while for letting down my readership, and not even letting you guys know the reasons behind my absence. So here goes: at the end of May, when I first took my absence, I was in the midst of intense rehearsals, then performances of my high school's production of Annie. Such a shitty play (and an even shittier movie) but I was happy with my part: Rooster may not have a lot of songs but I like to think that he at least has the best number in the show! (That number is "Easy Street" for those not well-versed in the songbook of that little orphan Annie.) When the musical wrapped up in the second week of June, I began to be plagued with the most intense homework I've experienced in my high school career yet, with French projects and World Lit papers and math assignments due every other day (or so it seemed.) And then, after all the homework was finished, it was exam time and there's never any time to do anything other than study during that time. Finally, the last leg of my blogger-holiday came about in the form of an actual vacation for about two weeks in Manitoba.

If I'm going to be completely honest with everyone though, the main reason I forced myself to stay away from The Cellar Door all this time was because of this: I really wasn't watching very many movies. So I thought to myself, What's the sense in writing about my passion when I'm not consuming films and thus, don't really have much to talk about?

But now that all this is behind me, I'm ready to come back and maybe breathe a bit of fresh air into The Cellar Door. My goal for the summer is to comment on nearly every movie I see -- whether it's old, new, crappy, spectacular, whatever -- and to focus overall on things that are inspiring me at the moment (i.e. regular doses of commentary on my favourite celebrities, Oscar commentary when it isn't necessary, bitching about the Emmys, etc.)

All I can hope for is that I haven't been gone so long as to have completely lost everyone's attention...

ALSO: I'm going back to my old template, even though the old one was so pretty, because it was causing me weird problems that I didn't feel like figuring out how to fix.

LMAs '07: Cinematography

2008-05-18T17:42:00.005-04:00

I thought I'd open this category with an interesting little anecdote from my Careers Studies class last semester. Although CS was just a big waste of time and I'm still perplexed as to why it's mandatory for all high school students in Canada, I did manage to learn one thing during that time: no matter how many times I took that online CareerCruising aptitude test, my number one career never changed. Yep, I'm destined to become a "Director of Photography". So you never know, maybe one day I'll occupy a spot in some teen blogger's awards pages for Best Cinematography. I suppose one can only dream...

The nominees for Best Cinematography are...

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Roger Deakins

Atonement - Seamus McGarvey

Control - Martin Ruhe

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Janusz Kaminski
Dreamland - Jonathan Sela

Fact: Roger Deakins is a God when it comes to cinematography. It comes as no surprise then that Assassination of Jesse James is as gorgeously, elegantly shot as it is, using composition and lighting to create an abundance of lasting images that serve to heighten at once the mystery and mythology of Jesse James, as well as the eerie, cold disturbance of that coward Robert Ford. Another fact: I usually love it when filmmakers decide to use black-and-white photography. Not surprisingly, Martin Ruhe uses the method with particular aplomb in Control, creating a stark visual world of deep contrasts and moodiness. Lots of the stage sequences, in particular, are magnificently put-together -- glamourous and alien. (The dialogue-driven scenes are great though too - fine evocations of intimacy with steady closeups and a mostly static camera.) Janusz Kaminski's suitably acclaimed, extremely innovative cinematography is nominated here because, when it comes down to it, the lensing is almost entirely responsible for the level of pathos we feel for the main character. The awkward, distorted, frantic shots from a paralysed man's point of view (literally) are creative and ultimately harrowing. (Stylish and avant-garde, just the way Jean-Do Bauby would have liked it, no doubt.) And, if anything, Jason Matzner's debut feature Dreamland proves that you don't necessarily need a big budget to make your movie look like a million bucks. Cinematographer Jonathan Sela makes good use of some really fascinating lighting schemes, always infusing the photography with this romantic quality. The camera deeply eroticizes its trio of young characters, giving the movie a cool, woozy feel of dreamlike sexuality.

If there remains any doubt that Atonement is just another stuffy British literary adaptation, you really don't have to look much further than its cinematography, the year's best, to prove that notion incorrect. From the romanticized first-third visual style to the bleak frigidity of the last sections, DP Seamus McGarvey unfailingly does a great job of keeping things both showy and significant. The extended sequence in which Keira Knightley slips into her emerald green evening gown, the already-infamous Dunkirk tracking shot (which I maintain is powerful, not redundant (and beautifully lit, too)), the hazy lensing of the hot summer days - all gorgeously composed and contributing to Atonement's genuine power as an exercise in style as substance.

My apologies to the un-nominated: Robert Elswit did epic, expressive work on There Will Be Blood (and won an Oscar for his efforts.) * Harris Savides, consistently undervalued and under-rewarded, gives Zodiac a nice '70s feel and knows when to make things look creepy and when to make them look monotonous. * Roger Deakins is at it again with No Country for Old Men, given less to do than on his other project this year, but it's still some fabulous cinematography any way you look at it. * Lust, Caution had a wonderful, specific tone filled with adventure and sex and intrigue and elegance, thanks to DP Rodrigo Prieto. * Amy Vincent photographed Black Snake Moan in a fun, cartoonish way that ended up characterizing the film's spirit.

Grading the Oscar field: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: A; Atonement: A; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A-; No Country for Old Men: B+; There Will Be Blood: B+

2008-05-14T16:19:00.003-04:00

My darling. I'm waiting for you. How long is the day in the dark? Or a week? The fire is gone. And I'm cold, horribly cold. I really want to drag myself outside but then there'd be the sun. I'm afraid I'll waste the light on the paintings, not writing these words. We die. We die, we die rich with lovers and triumphs, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have...entered and swum up like rivers. Fears we have hidden in--like this wretched cave. I want all this marked on my body. Where the real country is. Not boundaries drawn on maps, names of powerful men. I know you'll come carry me out to the Palace of Winds. That's what I've wanted: to walk in such a place with you. With friends and an earth without maps. The lamp has gone out and I'm writing in the darkness.

LMAs '07: Costume Design

2008-05-14T16:08:00.001-04:00

"A picture can speak a thousand words." It's a proverb we've all heard many times, and which can also be used to describe costume design in the movies. The interesting thing about costume design is that often the designer is doing their job properly when we don't really pay attention to what a character is wearing, precisely because their clothes feel so perfectly appropriate for them that they just seem like another aspect of the character. In contradiction to this statement, I did sort of end up picking five nominees whose designs actually did stand out, but only because they all went the extra mile to make their costumes eye-catching as well as serving the film.

The nominees for Best Costume Design are...

Atonement - Jacqueline Durran

Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Alexandra Byrne

Enchanted - Mona May

Juno - Monique Prudhomme

Lars and the Real Girl - Kriston Leigh Mann & Gerri Gillan

In reality, Elizabeth: The Golden Age is just a big campy mess of a film. Everything about it is over-the-top, most of all Alexandra Byrne's delicious designs. They're all over the place in terms of a colour palette, and often pretty silly, but they're also the funnest aspect of the film. The Oscar may have been a bit much, but I'm not going to deny the pleasure I got from watching all those bold, arresting dresses parade around the screen. I'll admit that, like Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Echanted's nomination is primarily for the dressing of a single character. But still: how fun would Giselle have been without her absurd white wedding gowns or the summer dresses fabricated out of curtains? Bonus points for everything James Marsden is wearing (including a funny late-in-the-film addition of a foam Statue of Liberty crown to his ensemble.) Because both Juno and Lars and the Real Girl are set in the present-day, they would always have had a very minuscule chance of being recognized for their costume design. But take a look at all the detail and hilarity and humanity infused into Juno's attire. I think of Alison Janney's turtlenecks, Jennifer Garner's crisp colour-drained suits, Ellen Page's desperate-to-be-mature sweater vests, JK Simmons' totally unglamorous plain plaid button-up shirts - all (believably) indicative of how these characters would want themselves to be seen. And Lars and the Real Girl thrives on dressing its community like a real small town, displaying a sweet humour in all the characters' plain, outdated threads (i.e. Gosling's puffy jacket and awkward toque, Mortimer's kindergarten-teacher dresses and floral-printed shirts, etc.)

But the LMA goes to Jacqueline Durran for Atonement. Not only are the garments here decadent and beautiful, but they're often symbolic and expressive. Example: Saoirse Ronan's oversized dress in the first scenes could be seen as an expression of her desire to be looked upon as grown-up (i.e. bigger), and the blood-red interior of Romola Garai's jacket a trace of her covert guilt. Keira Knightley's much-ballyhooed green dress is attention-worthy on its own, but there is a lot more going on here than surface beauty - it's costume design sharply used to convey ideas and emotions.

My apologies to the un-nominated: Michael Clayton is worth mentioning, if only for the fabulous job Sarah Edwards did in dressing Tilda Swinton in those tacky oversized suit jackets and sweat-stained blouses. They're so Karen Crowder. * The traditional WWII-era Chinese garments are all lovely and evocative in Lust, Caution. * Rita Ryack dressed all the characters in Hairspray perfectly.

Grading the Oscar field: Across the Universe: B; Atonement: A; Elizabeth: The Golden Age: B+; La vie en rose: B; Sweeney Todd: C+

The Nearest Book

2008-05-12T15:49:00.006-04:00

You all know how much I love a) a meme and b) reading, so of course the following meme, for which I was tagged by JD put a big ol' smile on my face. The rules are:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Locate the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing...
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged me.

I'm going to be honest with you here, there a couple of books lying here on my computer desk, but as they're all in French I doubt anyone would be particularly interested in them. There's also a Webster's English Dictionary and a Bescherelle (french conjugation guide). Again though, pretty uninteresting. So I'm cheating here a little and had to go digging through my backpack to find the glorious book I'm doing an English independent study for at the moment: Zadie Smith's On Beauty. The passage goes:

"Kiki joined her, but then paused and came back towards Howard and spoke in his ear. Her voice was shaky, but her grip on his wrist was not. She said one name and put a disbelieving question mark at the end of it."

At this particular moment in time, one of our protagonists, Kiki, is in the middle of discovering the identity of her husband's ex-mistress. Even in those three short sentences, the vividness of Smith's characters and the humour and elegance of her prose are completely evident. Her novels On Beauty and White Teeth, both of which I've read numerous times, are some of the best contemporary fiction out there -- because they're both distinctly twenty-first century and emotionally involving, rollicking good reads. I heartily suggest both books to anyone looking for some addictive, penetrating new literature. She's the real deal.

And I hereby tag the last five commenters on my blog: Nick Plowman, Michael Parsons, Dame James Henry, Rural Juror and Marcy.

LMAs '07: Director

2008-05-11T18:03:00.006-04:00

It's kind of strange, isn't it, that even in personal awards, Best Director never seems to match up perfectly with Best Picture?, even when everyone knows that the director has such a massive role in the overall quality of a film. I'm not complaining, really, just pointing it out and wondering why it is. (I'm guilty of doing the same thing, and I'll tell you right away that my winner for Best Director did not direct my winner for Best Picture.) This year, I just ended up going for the five men and women who seem like they were the most instrumental in making their films truly special.

The nominees for Best Director are...

Ethan Coen & Joel Coen - No Country for Old Men

Todd Haynes - I'm Not There

Cristian Mungiu - 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Sarah Polley - Away From Her

Jason Reitman - Juno

For once in their life, AMPAS got it right this year by rewarding the Coen Bros (now officially directing as a pair) for their masterpiece No Country for Old Men. It's a well-deserved trophy, as the Coens bring their usual black humour to the table while philophozing about the nature of good and evil. This is the work of some really smart, daring auteurs. Another one of the most vital American filmmakers working today is Todd Haynes, who scored another great movie this year with I'm Not There. He's here simply for being the prime creative force behind what is possibly the most offbeat, contemplative, genuinely insightful and exploratory music biopic ever made. Okay, so it's no Far From Heaven, but how many movies are?? Sarah Polley, who has long since been one of my biggest actressy obsessions, made her directorial debut this year and I was so pleased to see her succeed. As adept as the young Canadian is at being so offbeat on-screen, she's remarkably graceful and restrained behind the camera. Her sensitivity makes Away From Her a really lovely film, while keeping it away from the potentially maudlin trappings of its premise. And as great as the individual aspects of Juno are, the MVP of the crew has to be the main man Jason Reitman. Directing a great group of actors to ensemble perfection, steering Diablo Cody's script away from the land of pointless over-quirkiness, crafting valuable, interesting scene constructions (which are all the more evident after a listen to the DVD commentary), and making excellent stylistic choices all round -- a bunch of reasons why Jason Reitman's name is here (and deserved to be on the Oscar ballot, naysayers be damned.)

The winner in this category is none other than Cristian Mungiu for his invaluable work on 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Here Mungiu, now a leading figure in this new wave of interesting Romanian cinema, crafts an illuminating, impactful tale of an abortion-gone wrong as if he really needed to tell this story. Employing an evocative nondescript visual style, and directing some wonderful naturalistic performances, he really suggests (with a single film) that he's going to be a necessary new voice in world cinema.

My apologies to the un-nominated: It's hard to compare the work of documentary filmmakers to that of their peers, but I feel obligated to mention Michael Moore (Sicko) and Seth Gordon (The King of Kong), responsible for the years' best documentaries. * Ray Lawrence worked wonders with Jindabyne, perfectly capturing a town and a family struggling with right and wrong. * Joe Wright made Atonement a thing of pure beauty, using style and substance to equal, magnificent effect. * Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez had the absolute best idea of the year with Grindhouse: Double Feature. Such a shame that audiences didn't know what to do with it, because I've never had so much fun at the theatre. * Tony Gilroy took a legal thriller and made it wonderfully cinematic - slick, tense, profound. (And casting Tilda Swinton - best decision of the year.)

Grading the Oscar field: PT Anderson: B; The Coen Bros: A-; Tony Gilroy: A-; Jason Reitman: A-; Julian Schnabel: B+

LMAs '07: Ensemble Acting

2008-05-09T19:59:00.001-04:00

Ensemble Acting is a tricky category, and although it's usually one of my favourites (hence the abnormally long write-ups that just sort of spurred out of me for each of the nominees), I often find it difficult to pinpoint what exactly it is that makes an ensemble work, and which ones need to be praised. Should it be based on a high concentration of great performances in the film? A certain amount of chemistry between the actors? A consistent matching of the film's style by everyone involved? I think a perfect ensemble would have a little bit of all three of those things (and hopefully a lot more). Well, anyway, I just went with the five casts who I felt were the most affecting and who worked well as a unit to elevate their films.

The nominees for Best Ensemble Acting are...

After the Wedding (Mads Mikkelsen, Rolf Lassgard, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Stine Fischer Christensen, Christian Tafdrup, Neeral Mulchandali)

Hairspray (Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta, Zac Efron, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Bynes, Queen Latifah, Elijah Kelley, Christopher Walken, Brittany Snow, James Marsden, Alison Janney, Taylor Parks)

Jindabyne (Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, Deborra-Lee Furness, Sean Rees-Wemyss, Eva Lazzaro, John Howard, Simon Stone, Leah Purcell, Stelios Yiakmis)

Juno (Ellen Page, Michael Cera, JK Simmons, Olivia Thirlby, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Alison Janney)

Lars and the Real Girl (Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, Patricia Clarkson, Karen Robinson, Nancy Beatty, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, RD Reid)

Whatever you may think about Susanne Bier's over-obvious visual style and fetish for intense body-part closeups, you got to hand it to the woman: she knows how to direct actors. Example: After the Wedding, which features perfect performances across the board. All these characters are ripe with emotion, and the actors always let them show in fresh, unexpected ways. Mads Mikkelsen is really a perfect leading man, mysterious and sexy without losing sight of his character; Rolf Lassgard does great stuff with his role, colouring his performance like a monster and a loving family man; and of course, Sidse Babett Knudsen (supporting actress nominee) we've already praised enough. Rich character examinations across the board.

None of the actors in Hairspray are required to do any of the serious, profound heavy lifting that the cast of After the Wedding do, but the magic that this cast works is just as meaningful. Except for a single awkward, misjudged performance (courtesy of Ms Amanda Bynes), the entire ensemble works wonderfully together to make Hairspray as enjoyable as it is. Newcomers Nikki Blonsky and Elijah Kelley, two real finds, are impossibly enthusiastic and charming; Michelle Pfeiffer deliciously villainous; and James Marsden and Zac Efron two lovely evocations of hunky men of a long-gone era. Hell, even the backup dancers seem to be having a great time and the joy is infectious.

And back to the heavy drama. Jindabyne is such a rewarding moviegoing experience on numerous levels, the acting in particular which is uniformly excellent. All of the characters feel lived-in and realistic, and more than that, all the actors seem to interact with each other like they've known each other for years. Chemistry is a huge part of ensemble acting and this cast has it in spades. To single out a few names: there's an almost-never-better Laura Linney, in a tough, unexpected turn; there's Deborra-Lee Furness, rich and human in her tricky, difficult-to-categorize role; there's Simon Stone, haunted, remorseful, his youth and naiveté evaporating as the film moves on; and little Eva Lazarro, who completely nails the mysterious devil-child role whilst concealing her intentions and emotions, which of course makes her all the more creepy. Great stuff.

And then there's the little indie Lars and the Real Girl, which, despite being lauded with accolades mostly for its leading man Ryan Gosling, really boasts one of the year's finest ensemble casts. The story of a lonely man in love with a blow-up doll is admittedly absurd, but everyone in the cast totally sells it, displaying this sweet, fantasy community united in the love and care of one of its citizens. Emily Mortimer and Paul Schneider, in particular, are superb as a ceaselessly warm, reluctantly supportive young couple, but Kelli Garner was the standout for me, straddled with the difficult job of convincing the audience that a) she'd actually fall in love with someone like Lars, while b) remaining cute and charming enough herself that we're actually rooting for him to notice her and fall in love too.

And standing a little bit above all these wonderful groups of actors is the winner of the category, the cast of Juno, justly praised for their invaluable work throughout awards season. The thing about this cast is that everyone, from Ellen Page all the way down to young Valerie Tian (who plays Su-Chin), seems to be acting in the same movie, all of them nailing the right amount of quirky or funny or sincerity or emotion that's required of them to make Juno (the movie and the character)'s evolution function. Much of the credit needs to go to Jason Reitman for this, but they all deserve a big pat on the back for making Juno, Paulie, Mac, Bren, Vanessa, Mark, and Leah such affecting characterizations.

My apologies to the un-nominated: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days's trio of principal performances are perfection, and ample support from the sidelines (Alex Potocean as a knowing boyfriend, etc.) add to the film's weight. * I'm Not There did a great casting job, especially with Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, and Heath Ledger as some of the fragments of Dylan. * Both Michael Clayton and Zodiac boasted some revelatory individual turns, but it's worth noticing that all the supporting actors (Sydney Pollack, Dennis O'Hare in the former; Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch, Elias Koteas in the latter)are doing their jobs marvelously too. * The regular Judd Apatow crew are all in fine, hilarious form in Knocked Up (along with fabulous, welcome outsiders like Katherine Heigl.)

LMAs '07: Film Editing

2008-05-05T16:41:00.006-04:00

As I get a little older, and learn more and more about movies each time I watch one, I find the category of Film Editing to be one of the most fascinating. It's got to be an extremely difficult job sometimes, requiring a lot of savvyness in knowing who needs to be seen reacting to what, what kind of rhythm the scenes should take on, or even whether a short uncomfortable silence at the end of a scene would be more effective in telling the story than simply cutting away as soon as the dialogue is done. The five films mentioned below were all made truly special by the slick guys and gals clipping away behind the scenes.

The nominees for Best Film Editing are...

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - Dana Bunescu

Conversations with Other Women - Hans Canosa

Into the Wild - Jay Cassidy

Jindabyne - Karl Sodersten

No Country for Old Men - Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (as Roderick Jaynes)

It's been more than half a year since I saw 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days so it's really a testament to its lasting power that I still vividly remember a lot of the movie's cuts. The editing (or lack thereof) is really an exercise in restraint and minimalism for maximum effect. For example, would we be so engrossed in Otilia's dilemma had the camera cut away from her stony face in that extended dinner scene? So many of the film's scenes and its overall effect are extremely dependant on the the fact that we are rarely allowed to look away. Hans Canosa, also the director of Conversations with Other Women, uses the exact opposite approach in his film, but it works just as (or almost as) well. For the most part, the film is characterized by constant cuts to different angles, body parts (or even flashbacks to the characters' youths), all to create this wonderfully restless, upbeat mood, (juxtaposed well with the characters' cynicism and the dreary colour palette.) And then here I am unexpectedly giving another shout-out to Into the Wild. (So don't accuse me of not giving credit where credit is due!) For such a long-winded, compartmentalized story, Into the Wild manages to feel remarkably breezy and coherent, which is largely due to Jay Cassidy's work. Some movies just have that wonderful flow, and Into the Wild certainly has it. On the other hand, No Country for Old Men often feels very jarring and abrupt, but this is obviously on purpose, and the expert editing job (reportedly done on Apple's Final Cut program) helps the Coen brothers' film achieve the chilling exactitude it needs.

But the best film editing job this year was Karl Sodersten's work on Jindabyne. The scene changes documenting passages of time are always those languid fade-outs, and the friendly gatherings and hot-button confrontations alike are always made up of similar tension-filled cuts. All of this contributes to keeping the audience tuned in to the film's murky, frightening emotional landscape. And of course, arguably the most important thing in film editing is always present in this film: letting the audience see exactly what they need to see at all times and not much more.

My apologies to the un-nominated: Jay Rabinowitz did a great job on I'm Not There, cleverly and appropriately weaving all the storylines in and out of each other. * Michael Tronick made Hairspray peppy and funny, never losing focus of the film's upbeat rhythm. * Grindhouse: Double Feature earns a spot in the runners-up section, if only for that extremely memorable final car chase scene in Death Proof, so wonderfully constructed. * 2 Days in Paris is an example of great editing for maximum comedic effect. * Paul Tothill did nice work on Atonement.

Grading the Oscar field: The Bourne Ultimatum: B; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A-; Into the Wild: A; No Country for Old Men: A-; There Will Be Blood: B-

LMAs '07: Music - Original Score

2008-05-04T18:12:00.008-04:00

Confession: I am one of those weirdos who downloads movie scores and listens to them on their iPods while they go jogging or complete mundane household tasks. It gives me a lot of pleasure (probably too much) to think of myself in the shoes of the characters that the music originally accompanied. I think my obsession began when I saw Birth in 2004, which was when I fell in love with Alexandre Desplat and that gorgeous score he composed (most notably the "Prologue" number though). And even if none of the following original scores quite match the brilliance of Desplat's Birth, they're all either incredibly iPod-listen-worthy or they work wonders in the context of their films.

The nominees for Best Original Score are...

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

Atonement - Dario Marianelli

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - Craig Richey

Lust, Caution - Alexandre Desplat

There Will Be Blood - Jonny Greenwood

The Assassination of Jesse James ended up being a huge disappointment for me on many levels (for example: if your movie's going to be that long and meandering, it'd be nice if it could get you involved emotionally), but my favourite part about the whole experience was Cave and Ellis' original score - haunting, lovely poetry by way of music. Another beautiful score: Dario Marianelli's work on Atonement. The central motif of a typewriter clacking away constantly keeps the themes about the power of literature alive and the rest of the music is self-awaredly pretty and theatrical as well (complementing what the movie is trying to say.) What's really unfortunate about Craig Tichey's work on the documentary The King of Kong is that it's likely to be mistaken for being previously produced. But make no mistake that he wrote it specifically for this film, because this is extremely inspired, hilarious work. Electronica music inspired by Donkey Kong that totally nails the film's sweetly absurd mood? Yes please. And of course, the category would not be complete without perennial nominee Alexandre Desplat, one of my favourite musicians, period. For Lust, Caution, add another strange, soulful, lovely score to his resumé.

But the absolute most awesome and dynamic piece of movie music this year came in the form of Jonny Greenwood's work on There Will Be Blood. Extremely unusual, extremely bombastic, extremely memorable, Greenwood's score is totally what the film needs to achieve that strange mix of old-school epic and modern-day experimental horror film. The rest of the Radiohead boys should be proud.

My apologies to the un-nominated: The lively, Eastern-inspired underscoring in After the Wedding was a nice contrast to its talky chamber drama feel. * 3:10 to Yuma might have seemed like a simple popcorn film if not for the winning, elegiac music by Marco Beltrami. * Blondie's "Heart of Glass" playing over the opening scene may have been the most instantly memorable music moment in We Own the Night, but Wojkiech Kilar's pieces are more than effective as well - bleak, dark, haunting excellence. * Like the rest of Ratatouille, Michael Giacchino's original score was sweet and engaging and unexpectedly sophisticated.

Grading the Oscar field: 3:10 to Yuma: A-; Atonement: A-; The Kite Runner: n/a; Michael Clayton: B; Ratatouille: B+

Happy 28th, Channing!

2008-04-26T19:21:00.002-04:00

Because birthdays are the absolute best excuse for gratuitous posting...

LMAs '07: Music - Original Song

2008-04-24T20:05:00.004-04:00

I don't think that many people would argue with me if I said that Best Original Song is the Academy's most trivial category. In a ceremony dedicated to recognizing the most important artistic elements of filmmaking, it seems out of place to have a category that's usually filled with songs that play while the credits are rolling after some B-grade movie that doesn't have much of a shot at winning anything in any other category. It's hardly a significant part of the filmmaking process and, excuse me for being cynical, but it's not like a song is ever going to make a movie better because of its presence in said movie. This year, the Academy did something crazy though and gave a prize to a song that actually did mean something substantial in its film -- a lovely, emotional, resonant song that momentarily gave a little meaning to this strange and uncalled-for category. In honour of the Academy's general good taste this year, I've decided then to have my own Best Original Song category too, even if it does go against all my principles...

The nominees for Best Original Song are...

"Falling Slowly" - Once

"Guaranteed" - Into the Wild

"If You Want Me" - Once

"Ladies' Choice" - Hairspray

"When Your Mind's Made Up" - Once

I may not have been much of a fan of Into the Wild's screwy idol-worship of its loser main character (can you tell I couldn't identify with that character at all?), but I'll admit that Eddie Vedder's song score is a keeper. The highlight is definitely "Guaranteed". Another great original song score, the best of the decade in a walk, was from the tiny indie flick Once, which everyone fell in love with earlier last year, except for me of course. (The music is lovely, yes, but I thought the film was kinda weak.) I really could have filled the entire category with 5 songs by The Swell Season, but I'll settle for just the simple, haunting "If You Want Me" and "When Your Mind's Made Up." And "Ladies' Choice" from Hairspray was a weird omission from Oscar's eligibility list this year (even though the infinitely inferior "Come So Far" made it in), but I think it's just great fun. (Plus, I'll never get enough of watching Zac Efron gyrating like that. Kudos to the songwriters for giving him an opportunity here to do so.)

Possibly the most beautiful song of the year though, and the obvious winner in this category, was also the winner of the Academy Award in a strange twist of fate. That song is "Falling Slowly" from Once and I urge you strongly to listen to it if you haven't already. In the context of the film (as I've embedded above) it's even more wonderful, a moment of pure movie magic as two people come together and start to fall for each other through sweet sweet music-making.

My apologies to the un-nominated: Everything from Once is pretty much nomination-worthy. Some other great titles include "Lies" and "Leave". Seriously, go out and buy that soundtrack now. * None of the songs from Enchanted are very listen-worthy outside the movie (maybe it has to do with the lack of Amy Adams' presence), but "That's How You Know" in particular is a great musical number in the film -- huge, funny, energetic. * "Spider-Pig" may have only lasted a couple of seconds, but it was one of The Simpsons Movie's brightest moments. * And, I was humming "Way Back Into Love" from Music & Lyrics long after the rest of the movie had faded from memory...

Grading the Oscar field: "Falling Slowly": A; "Happy Working Song": B; "That's How You Know": B+; "Raise It Up": C+; "So Close": C

The Missing Links 4.0

2008-04-21T15:53:00.008-04:00

--Queerty: As anyone lame enough to be obsessed with Gossip Girl (like myself) knows, tonight marks the return of our favourite guilty pleasure post-Writer's Strike. I'm not usually one for all the celebrity gossip, but Queerty has a brief, interesting article about Leighton Meester and Chace Crawford's probably gay ways. "Could it be that Gossip Girl publicists are trying to put out two flamers? But in the end all this gay debate only fuels the show’s success. It’s a symbiotic relationship, really." Well maybe I'm easy, but I know it keeps me tuned in...

--The Film Experience: I love me some Pedro Almodovar and I love me some Penelope Cruz paired up with Pedro Almodovar, so my excitement for next year's Broken Embraces is through the roof. Nathaniel has a fun post over at his blog with some great pictures from the set. (Oh, and for the record, I love the title of Vicky Cristina Barcelona too.)

--Joe's Movie Corner: A lovely post about a new-found Juliette Binoche obsession. I just watched Dan in Real Life, Code Unknown and Chocolat this month, and it truly is mind-boggling how great this woman is in everything she does. Has she every mis-judged a performance? (Seriously, I'd love to hear in the comments if you've ever been less-than-impressed by her. Maybe I'm just watching all her nicest films...)

--The Rural Juror: The new trailer for the Sundance hit Hamlet 2 is over at The Rural Juror, and I gotta say it looks pretty fun. Is it too much of a long-shot to think that this could be 2008's Juno/Little Miss Sunshine? It certainly looks as funny.

--Entertainment Weekly: If there's anyone who needs a new TV pilot or movie or ANYTHING to get their career back on track after it disintegrated (resulting in stuff like this and this), it's Alicia Silverstone. Thankfully, EW has word that my wishes have come true! Thanks again, ABC, for proving that you are the jewel in network TV's crown.

Sunday's Actress Worship

2008-04-20T16:11:00.004-04:00

[Ed Note: Skip this post if you're not in the mood for overt sentiment, lame generalizations, and groundless Actress worship. Seriously, I'm risking sounding like a complete douche here.]

The Women of Rosanna Arquette's Searching for Debra Winger
Maybe it's the sudden good weather that's got me in this weirdly hyper-positive mood, but watching Searching for Debra Winger this afternoon (for the third time), I was just so incredibly moved. So moved that I felt I needed to come down to my computer right away and tell everyone something I've been wanting to say for a long time now, and which this movie made abundantly clear in me: I believe in acting!

Searching for Debra Winger, Rosanna Arquette's 2003 documentary about the hardships of being an actress (especially an older one) in Hollywood, is really like a wet dream for an actressexual like me. Just look at the cast it assembles: Holly Hunter, Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Fonda, Meg Ryan, Frances McDormand, Whoopi Goldberg...and the list goes on and on. So today's Sunday's Actress Worship segment (a series I've been neglecting lately in favour of flashier projects. Bad me!) isn't so much a reflection on a specific woman or performance, but more a collective praise of all women struggling to maintain their careers and express themselves in a way they so passionately believe in when the world just doesn't want to hear them anymore.

I don't really have the energy to elaborate on precisely why I enjoy watching this movie multiple times, so I'll just settle for recommending it to everyone who hasn't seen it. No, it's not a groundbreaking, earth-shattering piece of documentary filmmaking, but it is an eye-opener, for sure. The women are passionate and well-spoken, the issues are pressing and the message, as corny as this is sounding, is genuinely inspiring. God, I just love actresses so much (for the most part) and it's so nice to just watch a movie solely dedicated to respecting these women -- almost worshipping them -- as much as I do.

Finding My Religion

2008-04-20T16:03:00.004-04:00

I bought the first season of Battlestar Galactica on a whim two weeks ago after years of wanting to catch up with it. And now that I've seen the prologue/miniseries and all the first season episodes, I can finally say this: I am in love with BSG. Holy frakkin' mother of God, this show is just too amazing for words.

LMAs '07: Screenplay - Adapted

2008-04-16T16:34:00.004-04:00

Dammit, I wanted to watch all of these nominees for a second time to sort out my thoughts, but I don't think anyone wants it to be July when these awards finally wrap themselves up. So Adapted Screenplay is being announced without any further ado, whether the winner is who it should be or not. (Of course, I can always change it later. I, unfortunately, am not the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...) I guess for this one category I should probably stop ragging on the Academy though. In a strange, unprecedented feat, my nominees (just about) match up 4/5 with Oscar's! A miracle that is.

The nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay are...

Away From Her - Sarah Polley, based on the short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro

Jindabyne - Beatrix Christian, based on the short story "So Much Water So Close to Home" by Raymond Carver

No Country for Old Men - Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy

There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson, based on the novel "Oil!" by Upton Sinclair

Zodiac - James Vanderbilt, based on the novel by Robert Graysmith

Raymond Carver's "So Much Water So Close to Home" has been made into a high-profile film once before (one of Robert Altman's Short Cuts segments), but miraculously, Jindabyne barely even conjures up any memories of that earlier picture. Injecting depth and precision to characters (necessary, obviously, in adapting short stories to film) and changing the setting to a small, racially sensitive Australian town make Beatrix Christian's debut screenplay one of the year's most significant. No Country for Old Men's dialogue may be sparse, yes, but writing doesn't necessarily need to be overflowing with words to be brilliant. The screenplay, apparently very faithfully adapted from McCarthy's novel (which I haven't read) presents a perfect evocation of Southern life and some truly memorable characters. The structure, as well, is flawless if you ask me. Most of There Will Be Blood's praise seemed to be heaped into the corners of Daniel Day-Lewis' performance and PT Anderson's direction, but I'm actually a little more inclined to bow at the feet of the film's script. It may be unfaithful to the Upton Sinclair novel upon which it's based, but it ends up working amazingly anyway; Day-Lewis' speeches, in particular, are absolutely delicious. James Vanderbilt's screenplay for Zodiac was another one of my favourites this year. The structure is strange and long-winded but its brilliance is really in the way it details, through precise character studies and a fine portrait of time and place, the horrible effects of obsession and violence.

Standing above all these screenplays is Sarah Polley's masterful Away From Her, adapted from a short story by Alice Munro. Long after the credits had rolled the first time I saw Away From Her, the story resonated deeply with me. Of course, lots of the credit for the film's success should be given to Polley's gift as a director and her luminous cast, but the dialogue is what really got to me. Some of the film's best scenes feel like straight-up prose, so simple and sad and beautiful. "I'd like to make love, and then I'd like you to go. Because I need to stay here and if you make it hard for me, I may cry so hard I'll never stop." *sigh*

My apologies to the un-nominated: Christopher Hampton's script for Atonement just narrowly missed the cut. It's really a lovely piece of writing, even if most of its brilliance is lifted directly from the novel it was adapting (structure, deliberate wispiness of certain characters, etc.) * Hairspray retained all the cheeky bubbly fun of its source material, but the genius is really in the music, don't you think? * I absolutely loved everything about The Mist's writing too, especially the ending (soul-crushing, the way a horror movie should be) and everything involved with the Marcia Gay Harden character (people, especially creepy religious types, can be much scarier than monsters.) * Sooni Taraporevala's The Namesake, just like the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, is artfully affecting, sincere, and poignant.

Grading the Oscar-field: Atonement: B+; Away From Her: A-; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: n/a; No Country for Old Men: A-; There Will Be Blood: A-

2008-04-13T16:46:00.001-04:00

When I came out into society I was 15. I already knew then that the role I was condemned to, namely to keep quiet and do what I was told, gave me the perfect opportunity to listen and observe. Not to what people told me, which naturally was of no interest to me, but to whatever it was they were trying to hide. I practiced detachment. I learned how to look cheerful while under the table I stuck a fork onto the back of my hand. I became a virtuoso of deceit. I consulted the strictest moralists to learn how to appear, philosophers to find out what to think, and novelist to see what I could get away with, and in the end it all came down to one wonderfully simple principle: win or die.

I just adore it. The feeling it gives. I know that sounds terribly vague.

2008-04-07T16:03:00.004-04:00

After recently watching the new trailers for Savage Grace and Blindness (which both look incredibly appealing to me, one in a more campy so-bad-it-may-be-good kind of way, the other simply in an awesome kind of way), I've been in a very Julianne Moore-y kind of mood. Which is never ever a bad thing. I figure I may as well share this with all you folks, who (like me) have probably been just itching for some really great Moore lately.

LMAs '07: Screenplay - Original

2008-04-06T17:16:00.005-04:00

Amongst all the wonderful things that happened at the Oscars this year, one really great feat was that 40% of the nominated screenwriters were women! How bout that! I am pleased to announce then that my batch of LMA-nominated screenwriters is comprised of 50% women. (And that's not yet having seen the films of two of the female screenwriters Oscar-nominated this year - Tamara Jenkins and Nancy Oliver.) Of course, a lot of credit needs to be placed with the two men nominated in this category as well, because they are equally deserving of my admiration, that's for sure. But I think that we can all agree that we wanna hear it for the ladies right now, eh?

The nominees for Best Original Screenplay are...

2 Days in Paris - Julie Delpy

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - Cristian Mungiu

Conversations with Other Women - Gabrielle Zevin

Juno - Diablo Cody

Michael Clayton - Tony Gilroy

If you ask me, Julie Delpy can do no wrong. I must admit though that I was a little worried when I heard that her new project was going to be a talky indy with basically only two characters wandering around in Paris. Sounds a little familiar, eh? Thus, I was absolutely delighted to find out that 2 Days in Paris is really nothing like Before Sunset. It's more cynical, more laugh-out-loud funny, more the product of careful, often hilarious scene constructions than meandering conversations and visual poetry. Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days lacks 2 Days in Paris' talkiness, but its genius is really in the way it doesn't need a lot of chit-chat to get its point across. Deep characterizations, an entire socioeconomic climate, a dangerous central conflict -- all slowly but confidently revealed with minimum backstory and dialogue. And sure, Gabrielle Zevin's screenplay for Conversations with Other Women benefits a lot from the director's decision to have the whole film in split-frame, but it's undeniably effective on its own terms. I've seen it twice now and its complexity and coherence become even more apparent over time, plot twists included. Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton may have suffered a little bit of backlash after it racked up so many Oscar nominations in January, but I'm still of the opinion that this is fabulous movie-making. The script, in particular, is so refreshing - a legal thriller that's simultaneously profound and entertaining and smart.

But the LMA goes to Juno in a narrow squeaker over 2 Days in Paris. Naysayers be damned, I absolutely love everything about Diablo Cody's writing here. The one-liners (and the exchanges between Ellen Page and Olivia Thirlby in particular) are consistently hilarious and the characters are all deeply felt and stereotype-bucking. Some think that the dialogue is overwritten, but honestly I think it works as a perfect reflection of the MySpace generation and our need to be so damned quirky! "Thundercats are go!"

My apologies to the un-nominated: I loved Margot at the Wedding's incisiveness and how unafraid it was to show such ugly sides of people. Bonus points for doing that while still keeping things funny. * The Nines was another screenplay I really enjoyed, brave and convoluted and miraculously logical. * I already talked about how much I loved that one speech from Ratatouille and although I don't quite get the "BEST PIXAR EVER!" praise, I am ready to admit that the writing is completely delightful.* I still quote Superbad more than I probably need to, so that's incentive enough for me to mention its screenplay here. ;)* I may not have liked the way Susanne Bier handled Things We Lost in the Fire, but as a piece of writing I suspect it's a lot better than the film as a whole.

Grading the Oscar field: Juno: A; Lars and the Real Girl: n/a; Michael Clayton: A-; Ratatouille: B+; The Savages: n/a

Stop-Loss

2008-03-31T20:16:00.004-04:00

I'll just preface this by saying that I think Boys Don't Cry is one of the absolute most important films of the past decade, a bold American tragedy with a courageous social conscience and a huge beating heart too. Of course, most of the credit for that movie's success has to go to its writer/director Kimberly Peirce, of whom I've become somewhat of a fanboy lately. (Not only is she an excellent filmmaker, but I almost love watching interviews with her as much as I love watching her movie.) Had you asked me last week, I might have said that Stop Loss was my most anticipated movie of the entire year, on the strength of Peirce's potential alone.

I am very pleased to report, then, that Stop Loss is nowhere near the disaster that other major Iraqi-war films have been lately. It is flawed, yes, but it's smart and it's upsetting and, most importantly, it's involving. The story, as you probably already know, revolves mostly around a group of soldiers who return to their small Texas hometown after their tours of duty in Iraq. Coming home isn't quite as easy as the young men probably would have liked though, as they're soon plagued with post-traumatic stress disorder, relationship issues, suicide thoughts, the whole bit. A main character emerges in the form of Ryan Phillippe's Brandon King, who finds out shortly after he settles down that he's been "stop-lossed", i.e. inescapably scheduled for a return to Iraq. Faced with no decent options, Brandon embarks on a cross-country road trip with his buddy's girl (Abbie Cornish), running from the military and the law.

Throughout the film, Peirce and her talented young cast show a deft hand at characterizing the lower-class men and women who populate those decidedly unglamourous small towns that rarely get taken seriously by Hollywood films. Channing Tatum is probably best in show as Brandon's best friend Steve. I've always kind of doubted his ability as an actor, but he sure has that tortured tough guy stunt down-pat, and this is definitely the most potent he's ever been on-screen. Au contraire, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, usually one of the most interesting actors of his generation, isn't given a lot to do here other than sulk and brood in a weird, under-conceived part. (And aside from that one missing scene I talked about earlier, there's a whole lot of pretty in this movie. So if you've got a thing for hot guys with Texan accents, then this is your film.)

What I liked most about Stop-Loss is something a lot of critics have taken it to task for: its politics. I read somewhere that Peirce had originally intended to make a documentary about the stop-loss issue, but decided somewhere along the road to write it as a fiction film. Fortunately, she seems fully aware of the limitations and advantages of her chosen form and crafted a film with clear intentions: to move, to entertain, and to inform its audience in the telling of its sad, specific story. The film isn't so much a gigantic furious fuck-you to the Bush administration (which I was sort of expecting), as it is a melancholy lamentation for the lives that have been utterly wasted and are still being wasted over in Iraq.

I'm about to dive into SPOILER territory here, but I feel it's kind of necessary to talk about the ending to properly review the film. Because that's what my chief problem with the movie is: its conclusion. Though in concept, the idea of King and his pals inevitably going back to Iraq seems understandable in concept, I sort of hate the way it was executed. I wanted maybe some morose music and some shots of a truly bitter Phillippe getting on the bus in his military garbs, but instead we get a bunch of brotherly, eager soldiers basking in the sun, smiling and waving goodbye to their loved ones. I'm aware that this finale was probably intended to display the integrity and good spirit of the people who are fighting this war, but either way it felt incredibly awkward and disappointing to have such a "happy"-seeming ending tacked onto an almost soul-crushing film. Definitely not the way to cap off a mostly-very-good film that was sailing towards a B+-grade right until the very end...
Stop-Loss, dir. Kimberly Peirce: B

False Advertisement

2008-03-29T23:10:00.004-04:00

Well, I just got back from Stop Loss, Kimberly Peirce's long(LONG!)-awaited followup to her astonishing debut Boys Don't Cry. And you know what the first clear thought that I had after leaving the theatre was? Where the hell was this scene!? ---> (pictured to the right.) The whole time I was itchin' to get a few quality minutes of pure shirtless Phillippe with a cowboy hat and twirling a gun in hand. But lo and behold, no such scene materialized. The commercials led me to believe that, even if Stop Loss didn't deliver on the promise of its director or the supporting cast it had assembled (Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, etc.), at least I'd get to enjoy an entire scene revolving around Phillippe just being really friggin' sexy. But in this area at least, Kimberly Peirce (and her editor, most certainly, who left these beautiful shots on the cutting room floor) certainly did not deliver the goods. (Actual meaningful comments on Stop Loss a little later on...hopefully.)

Random Thought of the Week

2008-03-27T18:26:00.001-04:00

Having a job, school, a life, and a blog is hard.

LMAs '07: Sound Design

2008-03-23T17:10:00.001-04:00

Before we get into this category, I should admit something. I really don't know a whole lot about the aural aspect of filmmaking. I know, I know. Bad me. So instead of trying to figure out what the different Oscar categories (Sound, Sound Editing) actually mean and why there are two of them (there must be a good reason, even if they nominate virtually the same movies in both categories all the time), I decided to just fuse everything into one big ol' category that succinctly honours the best the sound departments had to offer this year.

The nominees for Best Sound Design are...

Hairspray

Hot Fuzz

A Mighty Heart

No Country for Old Men

There Will Be Blood

Musicals are always fertile ground for great sound work, and Hairspray delivers on the basic promise of its genre in every way. The musical numbers are all fantastic, and the singing and dialogue is seamless. Mind you, the sound department had a stacked hand going into this thing (what great singers!) but they do make it work fabulously nevertheless. Another fertile ground for good sound work: action movies. And Hot Fuzz knows it and builds on it, cleverly subverting typical effects in action movies for maximum laughs. By contrast, Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart uses its sound design very realistically, effectively conjuring up the sense of chaos and tension that plagues the characters' lives. You can always hear people talking in the background, phones ringing, cars driving by -- the situation they find themselves in is one of inescapable commotion. Bonus points for Jolie's scream at the end -- loud, ugly and upsetting. And as much as I've been doubting There Will Be Blood's genius lately (I really need to see this one again), I can't possibly deny how stunning the technical aspects are. The sound work, from the use of Jonny Greenwood's deeply unsettling score to the eerie silences broken harshly by a breaking leg or a blazing fire, is a big achievement.

Now as great as the other nominees are, the Coens' No Country for Old Men really takes this category in a walk, mostly because I've never been so completely blown away by a film's use of sound effects. The faint constant whirring of the desert wind, eerie footsteps outside of a silent motel, and the occasional unsettling, raucous action sequence to break the quiet -- all perfectly-crafted, detailed sound work that ends up being scarier and more resonant itself than any entire horror movie released last year.

My apologies to the un-nominated: Grindhouse: Double Feature almost made the list for its loud, synthetic, cruddy (but in a good way) sound design.* I'm Not There did a great job, like Hairspray, of blending its stellar soundtrack with its dialogue, knowing exactly when to blare the Bob Dylan or keep it in the background. * The click-clack of the type-writer in Atonement is probably the single most distinct sound effect of the year, but you'll be hearing more about that in another category. ;) * The sound effects in 300 and The Bourne Ultimatum were pretty flawless, if uninspired.

Grading the Oscar fields: (Sound) 3:10 to Yuma: B+; The Bourne Ultimatum*: B+; No Country for Old Men: A; Ratatouille: A-; Transformers: B-; (Sound Editing) The Bourne Ultimatum*: B+; No Country for Old Men: A; Ratatouille: A-; There Will Be Blood: A-; Transformers: B-

LMAs '07: Supporting Actor

2008-03-21T20:10:00.004-04:00

On the complete flip side of the quality spectrum, as opposed to their female counterparts, the Supporting Actor field always seems kind of dead on arrival, don't you find? In fact, last year I only really liked two of the performances I ended up nominating (Downey and Nolte) and the other three were either spot-fillers that I sort of admired at times (Dawson, DeSando) or complete category frauds (Wilson). This year, the field is a lot better though and overall I'm very pleased with the five men I ended up singling out.

The nominees for Best Supporting Actor are...

Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men

Vlad Ivanov as Mr Bebe in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Tony Leung as Mr Yee in Lust, Caution

James Marsden as Prince Edward in Enchanted

Mark Ruffalo as Inspector Dave Toschi in Zodiac

True, Vlad Ivanov was the surprise winner of the LAFCA's Best Supporting Actor award late last year, but it's a shame his performance went mostly unrecognized by critics groups and bloggers alike, because this is a pretty breathtaking performance. He handles the quick mood changes in Cristian Mungiu's masterpiece exceptionally well, always deepening the audience's perceptions of his character rather than doing a 180 and changing his portrayal completely. Speaking of unlikeable, holy crap Tony Leung! I didn't know that this depth of evil lay inside of you. In all seriousness though, Leung is astounding in Lust, Caution - a precise, razor-sharp, truly frightening evocation of a romantic man with a really cruel heart. And then there's James Marsden, whose work might seem a little out of place here. But great comedic performances are great performances nonetheless and this is an exceptional example of an actor immersing himself in a character (cartoonish though he may be) and just lighting up the screen. Bonus points for almost -- almost -- being able to steal scenes from Adams. And Mark Ruffalo, possibly the most underrated actor of his generation, adds another stellar performance to his filmography that's forever destined to be overlooked because of his refusal to underline everything he does. To me though, he's always shining and this portrayal is no exception - a sad, detailed portrait of a man engulfed, obsessed, even ruined by his work.

Even though I'm not ready to call Anton Chigurh "The Scariest Villain of All Time!" like a lot of pundits were doing all throughout awards season, I am ready to call Javier Bardem the year's Best Supporting Actor. Some of you might remember that my initial reaction to No Country for Old Men was something along the lines of "AAH! JAVIER BARDEM!" and it's really a testament to his skill that a performance was able to evoke that reaction in me. A lot of villains are made scary with crazy costuming or clever lighting, but with Bardem's Chigurh it's all about the eyes. You can practically see the mania, the fathomless evil lurking in his pupils. (More kudos for pulling it off, as Jon Stewart would say, by "combining Hannibal Lecter's murderousness with Dorothy Hammill's wedge-cut.")

My apologies to the un-nominated: Similar to the work of his on-screen wife, Irrfan Khan gives a subtle, powerful, spot-on interpretation of a great character in The Namesake. (I also love the decision, whether it was his or Nair's, to not make Ashoke too likable. Yay for realism!)* I wasn't a big Into the Wild fan, but Hal Holbrook's few short scenes near the end were highlights for sure. (And even though I preferred Bardem's perf, I'll admit I was silently rooting for him to pull an upset at the Oscars.) * Hugh Dancy in Evening and Vincent Cassel in Eastern Promises both got potentially throwaway "closet-gay" roles, but they both do excellent things with them. (And Dancy wins the "Best Performance in a Terrible Movie Award" for his sad, drunken Buddy Wittenborn.) * Michael Cera and JK Simmons are both indispensable to Juno, the movie and the character. Two talented actors giving equally funny, warm, and seemingly candid portrayals.

Grading the Oscar field: Casey Affleck: B-; Javier Bardem*: A-; Philip Seymour Hoffman: n/a; Hal Holbrook: B+; Tom Wilkinson: C+

2008-03-19T19:23:00.003-04:00

There are living among two dutiful daughters. Of a man who possesses two beautiful daughters, you cannot know nor yet try to guess, the sweet soothingness of their caress, the outstanding genius of this pair is understood by few, they are so rare... compared with these two, every man is a fool, the world is most honoured that they should deign to rule, and I worship the power of these lovely two, with that adoring love known to so few. 'Tis indeed a miracle, one must feel, that two such heavenly creatures are real, hatred burning bright in the brown eyes with enemies for fuel, icy scorn glitters in the gray eyes, contemptuous and cruel. Why are men such fools they will not realize, the wisdom that is hidden behind those strange eyes and these wonderful people are you and I.

LMAs '07: Supporting Actress

2008-03-18T16:40:00.006-04:00

Year after year, Best Supporting Actress is the richest of the four acting categories, which, as you can imagine, is simultaneously a blessing and a burden. On one hand, it's thrilling to have such a wealth of talented, engaging actresses doing their thing on-screen, but on the other hand...How do you friggin' pick just five!!? I was very tempted to cheat and make this a pool of six nominees, but I'm going to uphold my principles and go with only five amazing women, (but I won't forget to mention that *super-close* runner-up a little later.) ;)

The nominees for Best Supporting Actress are...

Cate Blanchett as Jude in I'm Not There

Jennifer Garner as Vanessa Loring in Juno

Sidse Babett Knudsen as Helene in After the Wedding

Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton

Tabu as Ashima Ganguli in The Namesake

Widely-known fact: I am not a big fan of Cate Blanchett. I know, I know. Those words coming out of the mouth of a passionate actressexual like myself might seem preposterous to some, but alas it is true. I will admit though, that her performance in I'm Not There is pretty sensational, exactly the kind of incendiary, enigmatic thesping I've always heard people praise her of. To the contrary, Jennifer Garner is an actor I've always loved when most people didn't. But this year she showed the whole world a new side of her with her beautiful work in Juno (full review). Filling out the four runner-up spots in this category are two foreign film stars who were just brought to my consciousness this year. The first was Sidse Babett Knudsen, who was best-in-show in Susanne Bier's brilliantly-acted After the Wedding. Honestly, it's just the kind of performance that probably could have won her an Oscar if this were an English-language film - emotional but never histrionic, distinctively nuanced and film-enhancing work. And then there's Tabu (so wonderful she only needs one name) who nailed the character of Ashima Ganguli so perfectly that I couldn't have possibly asked for any better of an interpretation of that beloved-by-me literary character. It's not that she convincingly ages about thirty years throughout the film, it's that she so ably displays the specific character arc - from an acquiescent if resentful young wife to a self-supporting widow moved and changed by a lifetime spent away from home. (All while breaking the audience's heart as well - her last scene is such a tear-jerker.)

You all already deduced this I'm sure, but the winner is obviously the recently-Oscared Tilda Swinton for her work in Michael Clayton. I'm just sitting here right now thinking about how disastrous this role could have been for any other actress. But, as everyone should now expect from the likes of Tilda Swinton, there simply are no bad parts. She transforms a vague, slightly under-written character on paper into the most fascinating fictional person of the movie year. Karen Crowder may be Michael Clayton's antagonist but she's never a villain; an uptight corporate big-wig permanently on edge, who's done some terrible things but who is undeniably humane and fully conceivable. My single favourite performance of the year, in any category.

My apologies to the un-nominated: In case you were wondering, Amy Ryan was the very close sixth-place runner-up who I made mention of earlier. Although the critics awards sweep still perplexes me a bit (why no love for Swinton or Blanchett?) I can see why everyone was so admiring.* Everyone seems to have their pet A Mighty Heart supporting cast member, and mine's definitely Archie Panjabi, who's always doing great work despite being in the background for the whole movie. * Marley Shelton was an absolute delight in Grindhouse:Planet Terror, perfectly attuned to the film's unique style but never blending into the scenery. * Jackman-lover Deborra-Lee Furness was outstanding and unexpected in Jindabyne. *Laura Vasiliu played Gabita's general sense of brainlessness wisely in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. * No Country's Kelly MacDonald is worth mentioning if only for her final scene, one of the most powerful of the year. * Melissa McCarthy was aces in all three of her roles (or was it three roles!??) in The Nines. * Kristen Thomson was completely dynamic in Away From Her. I just wish the script could've given her a little more to do.

Grading the Oscar field: Cate Blanchett: A-; Ruby Dee: B-; Saoirse Ronan: B+; Amy Ryan: A-; Tilda Swinton*: A

RIP: Anthony Minghella

2008-03-18T15:55:00.005-04:00

Truly, madly, deeply saddened (sorry, I couldn't resist) to hear of Oscar-winning British filmmaker Anthony Minghella's passing today. Y'all already know how much I love his work (especially The English Patient, The Talented Mr Ripley and Breaking & Entering) and I must say I'm extremely disappointed that we'll never get another masterpiece out of this often-brilliant artist. Condolences go out to all his family and friends.

LMAs '07: Visual FX

2008-03-15T19:19:00.005-04:00

Yes, they've finally arrived. The 2nd Annual Little Mermaid Awards are here for good (and in a new and improved format!) What I've decided to do is present the awards in reverse-alphabetical order, starting right here with Best Visual FX and ending somewhere down the road with Best Actor. And then, of course, a big year-in-review article and the official Top Ten List will follow and I will finally be able to move on to the 2008 movie year.

But in the meantime, feast your eyes on the nominees for Best Visual Effects, which are...

Across the Universe

Grindhouse:Double Feature

Transformers

I've decided to treat Grindhouse as a single film (since that's the way it was intended to be seen) but this nomination should be considered entirely Planet Terror's. The intentionally cheep-looking, over-the-top zombie effects pefectly complement the film's photography and capture that specific replication of '70s grindhouse pictures that ultimately makes the movie so fun. And also, the Rose McGowan-with-machine-gun-leg was a stroke of mad genius that I'll not soon forget. On the other end of the spectrum is Transformers, with its polished and breathtaking title machines. The sheer magnitude of the effects and the fact that they actually pulled it off without making it look too silly was reason enough for the nomination.

But the winner for Best Visual Effects has got to be Across the Universe, because it's the only aspect of this disaster/musical that really achieves the level of brilliance Taymor always seems to be shooting for. Everything visual in this movie just pops off the screen, and the effects are appropriately artful, expressive, clever and eye-catching.

My apologies to the un-nominated: Both Sunshine and The Host felt kind of like one-trick-ponies in this category, but some of their effects were extraordinary all-the same: the latter with its scary/fascinating/funny lake-monster, and the former with those daunting, mesmerizing images of the sun.

Grading the Oscar field: The Golden Compass: n/a; Pirates of the Caribbean: B; Transformers: A-

Fierce Hot-Mess Tranny Moments

2008-03-13T00:17:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry guys, but you just have to watch this. It's simply too good for me not to put it on the blog.

Goddamnit, Amys, you two are too amazing!

#1

2008-03-12T23:29:00.004-04:00

Let's hear a drumroll for all the people who are actually paying attention! My favourite film/the best film of all time is of course...

The Shining (1980)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Diane Johnson & Stanley Kubrick, based on the novel by Stephen King
Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd & Scatman Crothers
Cinematography by John Alcott

You know, this incredibly long list has been such a pain in the rear-end for me for the last half-a-year that I am just so glad to have finally gotten it over with. Remind me next time I do something like this to not separate all the entries into individual posts; it was a boring format and time-consuming and completely lacking in insight or useful commentary. So now you all know which movies I hold dearest to my heart, which ones I could watch for days on end, which ones I consider the most important of all time. And instead of writing a full-length review of The Shining like I intended to, I'll just leave you with a transcript of the notes I took while watching it a couple nights ago (because I'm lazy and can't wait to get this stupid project over with, but also feel obliged to explain this pick in some fashion. Forgive me please.)

-Opening chords almost make me sick, they conjure so much familiar terror
-Visual artistry at the highest level - the Steadicam evoking an unshakable sense of impending doom; eerie technical precision to the photography
-Shelley Duvall is brilliant in what is surely her most iconic role (more on her later though)
-Stephen King was famously unhappy with this version (apparently he thought there was a lack of chemistry/love between Jack and Wendy), but the 2 versions are brilliant on their own terms (book = hokey ghost story, movie = psychologically devastating = more scary)
-Holy mother of god, that image of twin girls = scariest shit ever
-This movie is totally responsible for my fascination with horror, but nothing I've seen since has compared
-Duvall=so strange and sad and wistful; does all the film's heavy lifting really
-Again with those deeply unsettling chords juxtaposed with the breathtaking Colorado landscape. Aaaah!
-Love mentioning the fact that the greatest film of all time (IMO) was nominated for Razzie Awards back when it was released
-Masterclass in art direction (hotel is a huge, charismatic character, hedge maze is fantastic, etc.)
-Casual affection between Nicholson and Duvall (fuck you King! This is a married couple, not horny young newlyweds)
-Bottom line: scary as all hell
-Duvall = carefully calculated (thanks in large part probably to Kubrick) blend of desperation, humanity and confusion in the face of unspeakable terror
-Nicholson = crazed/charming/perfection
-"Places are like people. Some shine. Some don't."
-Sequence involving Halloran and Danny going catatonic while Jack investigates Room 237 = fucking disturbing/horrifying (love the pulse noise in the foreground; so effective)
-Like The Blair Witch Project, its scariest moments are the least gory; fear from the unknown, the unknowable is what's really important
-Casting Shelley Duvall is genius (an aloof comic actress thrust into a situation of grotesque horror), so is casting Jack Nicholson (talented crazy Hollywood charmer suddenly gone awry; even more unsettling)
-There's some confusion as to whether the '20s ballroom scene is pure fact or a figment of Jack's increasingly infected imagination (in novel everything is seen as completely real) = Kubrick never underlines things, refuses to tell the audience what to believe
-Art direction: bold, alien red of bathroom is so interesting
-Every sequence -- every shot really -- fascinates me, seems to open up more upon repeat viewings
-"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Jack's tortured psyche is revealed
-2 hours in, starting with the infamous Redrum sequence, The Shining begins its run of relentless terror
-Kubrick's cold perfectionism has never been put to better use
-Wendy seeing the bear giving the guy head, blood getting off on the main floor elevator, skeletons in lobby = WTF
-Hedge maze scene should've won John Alcott an Oscar all by itself
-Lots of people hate that final shot, but I think the movie couldn't have ended any other way than in a pure descent into mad mindfuckery (and really, no ending could be worse than the novel's hokey epilogue)

Coming very very soon @ The Cellar Door: The announcement of the nominees for the first couple categories in the long-anticipated Little Mermaid Awards 2008! Yay!

#2 Nashville

2008-03-10T22:37:00.004-04:00

Nashville (1975)
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Joan Tewkesbury
Starring Ronee Blakley, Henry Gibson, Keith Carradine, Karen Black, Lily Tomlin, Geraldine Chaplin, Gwen Welles, Timothy Brown, Scott Glenn, Shelley Duvall, Barbara Baxley, Barbara Harris, David Hayward, Dave Peel, Allen Garfield, Robert Doqui, Michael Murphy, David Arkin, Ned Beatty & Jeff Goldblum
Cinematography by Paul Lohmann
Nominated for 5 Oscars (Picture, Director, Supporting Actress - Blakley, Supporting Actress - Tomlin), winner of 1 (Original Song "I'm Easy")

#3 Before Sunset

2008-03-09T23:09:00.002-04:00

Before Sunset (2004)
Directed by Richard Linklater
Written by Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater, based on characters created by Kim Krizan & Richard Linklater
Starring Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy
Cinematography by Lee Daniel
Nominated for an Oscar (Adapted Screenplay)

My Dinner with McAvoy

2008-03-08T15:12:00.010-05:00

You know how much I love a good meme (mostly because I love talking about myself), so I was thrilled to be tagged by Dave from Victim of the Time for the latest trendy movie-meme hopping around the blogosphere.

1. Pick a single person past or present who works in the film industry who you'd like to have dinner with and tell us why you chose this person.
Well, the first thing that came to mind was a whole mess of the faces and names of some of my favourite actresses of all time that I'd love to bring back from the dead for a beyond-the-grave rendez-vous (Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Madeline Kahn, Marilyn Monroe, etc.) Then a bunch of really talented directors and writers and various other staples of the film industry. But one name beat the punch simply because there's been this funny feeling coming over me for the past couple of months and I have not been able to shake it. Here goes: I am in love with James McAvoy. I've seen Atonement three times in the theatres now and the intensity of the movie-crush I get on James/Robbie is the likes of which I've never seen before. And since I am a teenage boy, my hormones pretty much motivate my every move, so I'm inviting Jimmy.

2. Set the table for your dinner. What would you eat? Would it be in a home or at a restaurant? And what would you wear? Feel free to elaborate on the details.
James seems like a pretty cool, laidback kinda guy so I think a stay-at-home dinner at my place would suffice for him. I'd probably just wear a cardigan, some skinny jeans, a V-neck t-shirt (to give off the illusion that I'm just being casual, when really I'm trying my best to look cool for him) and I'd encourage him to not look too formal either. We'd probably just order in some Chinese food and sit around my dining room table, chatting with some Damien Rice in the background (he's a huge fan, and I like him too). Afterwards I could pop The Goonies in the DVD player and pretend like it's my favourite film (like it is his) to score a few points. ;)

3. List five thoughtful questions you would ask this person during dinner.
1. You are by no means the definition of a classic hunky leading man, and yet women (and some men) everywhere have begun to see you as such. What do you think inspires so much passion for you in your audiences?
2. You have yet to work on any movies with big-name directors or writers. Who in the film industry would you most like to work with?
3. The ending of your latest film, Atonement, has given a lot of people (myself included) a bit of trouble, especially in deciding if the movie ends up being effective in spite of it or because of it. What do you make of the movie's dénouement?
4. Now that you've broken out in America, do you intend to continue making movies only in the States or are you going to stay true to your roots and contribute to the probably-less-glamorous Scottish filmmaking scene as well?
5. A bunch of young starlets (Keira Knightley, Kerry Washington, Christina Ricci, Anne Hathaway, etc.) have had the extreme pleasure to kiss you on-screen. And it seems pretty hot. Would you be kind enough to demonstrate on me how exactly you manage to make these scenes seem so passionate?

4. When all is said and done, select six bloggers to pass this Meme along to. Link back to Lazy Eye Theatre, so that people know the mastermind behind this Meme.Well, it seems like pretty much everyone I know has already gotten this, so I'm gonna opt out of naming six people and just tag five instead: Ali, James, Rural Juror, Vance and JJ.

#4 Persona

2008-03-07T20:55:00.002-05:00

Persona (1966)
Written & Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Bibi Andersson & Liv Ullmann
Cinematography by Sven Nykvist

The Missing Links 3.0

2008-03-07T18:49:00.005-05:00

--Big Brother 9 Blog: Against all odds, this winter edition of Big Brother seems to be turning itself around into a decent, potentially pretty awesome, season. My favourites right now are Sharon and Natalie, who I'm hoping can get together and form some sort of We-Hate-Matty-For-Being-Such-A-Big-Douche-To-Us Club and get his stupid ass out of the house. For the best inside scoop of the goings-on in the BB9 house, give this Big Brother 9 blog a try.

--Nick's Flick Picks: continues to boggle everyone's minds with his new Special Section on Best Actress. It's a truly wonderful gift to everyone with a wild love of leading ladies and I haven't stopped poring over his picks and commentary for the past week or so. He also announced his own Best Actress Ballot of 2007, crowning Tang Wei as the year's finest. (And I might just have to agree with him wholeheartedly on that one -it's a fierce and unforgettable performance I will not soon stop talking about.)

--Radar Online: crafts a list of the most misogynistic movies of the past eight years, and most of their picks are spot-on. Frankly, it baffles me that Hollywood is still such a sexist environment. I mean, why the hell aren't there more successful women directors, especially when every other popular art form has embraced women for a very long time. And it's definitely not a lack of talented women (look no further than Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, Mira Nair, Kimberly Pierce, etc. - who should all have bigger careers than they do.)

--Ultimate Addict: has kicked off his annual Addict awards with shortlisters in categories like Best Poster and Worst Picture (etc.) Check out his blog over the next little while for what I'm assuming will be a great batch of nominees and another big wonderful celebration of the year in film.

--Cinephilia and As Little As Possible: The long-awaited return of two of the most important movie bloggers in my cyberlife has finally come about!

#5 The Godfather

2008-03-06T19:40:00.004-05:00

The Godfather (1972)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Written by Francis Ford Coppola & Mario Puzo, based on the novel by Mario Puzo
Starring Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, John Cazale, Richard S. Castellano & John Marley
Cinematography by Gordon Willis
Nominated for 10 Oscars (Director, Supporting Actor - Caan, Supporting Actor - Duvall, Supporting Actor - Pacino, Film Editing, Costume Design, Sound), winner of 3 (Picture, Actor - Brando, Adapted Screenplay)

#6 Annie Hall

2008-03-06T19:09:00.003-05:00

Annie Hall (1977)
Directed by Woody Allen
Written by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman
Starring Woody Allen & Diane Keaton
Cinematography by Gordon Willis
Nominated for 5 Oscars (Actor - Allen), winner of 4 (Picture, Director, Actress - Keaton, Original Screenplay)

30 Words: Catching Up

2008-03-03T19:46:00.004-05:00

27 Dresses, dir. Anne Fletcher
Movies like this make me happy, but really don't do much else. Inoffensive, charming romantic comedy with barely a flaw in its sugary little frame, with two wonderful leads. B

Bernard and Doris, dir. Bob Balaban
I should learn not to trust TV movies (even if they star Ralph Fiennes.) This is filmmaking at its most boring, safe, and insightless, with embarassingly vapid performances from its talented leads. C-

Charlie Bartlett, dir. Jon Poll
Anton Yelchin/Charlie Barlett is pretty engaging, but the film ultimately suffers from some misfires in plotting (Downey's late-film suicide scare, etc.) and awkward attempts at being "bad-ass" (why the R-rating?) C+

Gone Baby Gone, dir. Ben Affleck
It's pretty effective as crime stories go, but the ending felt extremely schlocky and contrived (what the hell, Morgan Freeman? why is Michelle Monaghan's character acting that way?) Amy Ryan rocks. B-

Hot Fuzz, dir. Edgar Wright
I am officially a big fan of this Edgar Wright character now. After his brilliant-at-times debut Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz feels even funnier and more inventive. Really fun time. B+

The Jane Austen Book Club, dir. Robin Swicord
This is more how one should honour Jane Austen's life and works (unlike Becoming Jane!) but it's still not much more than your run-of-the-mill romantic dramedy. Pleasant but kinda forgettable. B-

Lust, Caution, dir. Ang Lee
The film rests entirely on the shoulders of its lead actress, and thankfully Tang Wei pulls it off (and boy does she pull it off spectacularly.) Lovely film (if overlong). B+

The Nines, dir. John August
I never knew Reynolds had it in him, but he ably carries this movie. Puzzling, inspired mindfuck of a film (read: just how I like 'em) that holds up remarkably well upon reflection. A-/B+

Sunshine, dir. Danny Boyle
Speaking of mindfuck, what the hell is with this film's third act!? I'm still not convinced that that quiksilver switch into horror-film-territory was exactly effective, but it was definitely entertaining. B

There Will Be Blood, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
I'm so torn; I was impressed by it in the theatres (mostly by Daniel Day-Lewis' work) but it's been fading in my favours ever since. I need another viewing to make up my mind. A-/B+/?

#7 Fanny and Alexander

2008-03-02T10:32:00.003-05:00

Fanny och Alexander (1982)
Written & Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Bertil Guve, Pernilla Alwin, Ewa Froling and a bunch of other actors
Cinematography by Sven Nykvist
Nominated for 6 Oscars (Director, Original Screenplay), winner of 4 (Foreign Language Film, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design)

#8 The Blair Witch Project

2008-03-02T10:07:00.003-05:00

The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Written & Directed by David Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez
Starring Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard & Michael Williams
Cinematography by Neal Fredericks

Oscar Forecasting: 2009

2008-03-01T15:23:00.003-05:00

Just when you thought you were safe from all that senseless Academy Award predicting, here I go again with my forecasting of what we might (but probably won't) see at the 2009 Academy Awards. Mostly this is all just for fun and games, and not at all to be taken seriously. It's so fun to go back after the Oscars and see what you'd been predicting from months and months back. (Funnily enough, it appears I had been predicting a Saoirse Ronan nod since way back in April 2007. Yay me!) So here goes.

BEST PICTURE
Body of Lies
*Milk*
Revolutionary Road
The Soloist
Sunshine Clearing

The difficult thing about predicting this category, more than the others I think, is having to distinguish between what you're most looking forward to/what looks good and what Oscar might take a liking to. Fortunately though, in the past couple of years AMPAS have shown a little bit more of a flair for the interesting, difficult, artsy or violent, slightly bridging the gap between Quality and Oscar-y. Here I'm going with Sunshine Clearing (the annual Juno/Little Miss Sunshine spot), Revolutionary Road because there's no way it can go wrong (the book is genius) and the Academy have show a bit more tolerance lately for the gloomy and depressing, Body of Lies because when Leo makes a movie Oscar takes notice, and The Soloist and Milk because there's usually a biopic or two somewhere in the mix.

BEST DIRECTOR
Ed Harris - Appaloosa
Sam Mendes - Revolutionary Road
Ridley Scott - Body of Lies
*Gus Van Sant - Milk*
Joe Wright - The Soloist

The only difference between this category and Best Picture is the switching out of unknown Christine Jeffs (she's a woman directing a comedy, which sadly doesn't get acknowledged very often) for Ed Harris. You know how much they love a good movie star going behind the camera. I'm hoping that Gus Van Sant can pull off a win in Best Director and in Best Picture, as a kind of collective "We're sorry" from AMPAS voters to the gay community for that heinous '05 Brokeback fiasco.

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams - Sunshine Clearing
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Jill Scott - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Meryl Streep - Doubt
*Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road*

Amy Adams and Angelina Jolie, rudely snubbed at the Oscar ceremony this year for their exquisite turns in Enchanted and A Mighty Heart respectively, both have potentially Oscar-bound vehicles arriving this year. (In Adams' case, Doubt does seem more like the Academy's cuppa but apparently her role isn't very large or juicy.) I'm going out on a limb and predicting Jill Scott, just because it feels right to have a (relative) silver-screen newcomer mixed in the race with a bunch of legends. The question on everyone's minds though is a doozie: is it FINALLY Kate the Great's year? Cross your fingers, everyone.

BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road
Jamie Foxx - The Soloist
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Synecdoche, New York
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
*Sean Penn - Milk*

The weirdest thing about the 2007/2008 Best Actor race wasn't that most of the nominated characters were dark and villainous, but rather that there wasn't a single biopic performance in the race. What the hell was up with that? Next year though, there's a bunch of real life people ready to be given the Hollywood treatment including former president Dick Nixon (Frank Langella), gay rights activist/assassinated politician Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) and schizophrenic, homeless musician Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx). I'm expecting them all to be duking it out come February.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
*Viola Davis - Doubt*
Rebecca Hall - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Anjelica Huston - Choke
Catherine Keener - The Soloist
Kate Winslet - The Reader

This is always kind of a shot-in-the-dark category up until precursor time, but I'm still expecting some love for Viola Davis, who apparently has a meaty showcase role in Doubt, potential breakout star Rebecca Hall (who I loved in Starter for 10) in Woody Allen's latest, Anjelica Huston who has pretty much the juiciest role of the year (you know what I'm talking about if you've read Chuck Palahniuk's Choke), Catherine Keener (snubbed this year for Into the Wild) and the brilliant, gorgeous, incomparable Kate Winslet for The Reader.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey, Jr. - The Soloist
Ben Foster - Birds of America
*Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight*
Michael Sheen - Frost/Nixon

The big question mark here is, of course, Heath Ledger. I thought I was going to be original and crazy for predicting him here, but apparently everyone else is doing it too so it doesn't seem like such a gargantuan longshot anymore. The performance looks stunning, people couldn't adore him more at this point, and you have to admit that it would be a perfect way to honour a life and career cut far too short. And can't you just see the weepy standing ovation that would greet Tilda Swinton when she reads "And the Oscar goes to Heath Ledger"?

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Burn After Reading
Milk
*Sunshine Clearing*
Synecdoche, New York
Wall-E

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Appaloosa
Blindness
Body of Lies
Doubt
*Revolutionary Road*

So, my beautiful readers, do you think I'm completely off my rocker or spot-on?

#9 A Streetcar Named Desire

2008-02-28T08:54:00.002-05:00

A Streetcar Named Desire (1954)
Directed by Elia Kazan
Written by Oscar Saul & Tennessee Williams, based on the play by Tennessee Williams
Starring Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter & Karl Malden
Cinematography by Harry Stradling
Nominated for 12 Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor - Brando, Screenplay, B&W Cinematography, Costume Design, Scoring, Sound Recording), winner of 4 (Actress - Leigh, Supporting Actress - Hunter, Supporting Actor - Malden, B&W Art Direction)

#10 Cabaret

2008-02-27T19:21:00.003-05:00

Cabaret (1972)
Directed by Bob Fosse
Written by Jay Allen, based on the book of the musical play by Joe Masteroff
Starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Joel Grey, Fritz Wepper & Marisa Berenson
Cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth
Nominated for 10 Oscars (Picture, Adapted Screenplay), winner of 8 (Director, Actress - Minnelli, Supporting Actor - Grey, Cinematography, Film Editing, Art Direction, Original Song Score or Adaptation, Sound)

#11 Hannah & Her Sisters

2008-02-27T19:13:00.002-05:00

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Written & Directed by Woody Allen
Starring Barbara Hershey, Michael Caine, Dianne Wiest, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Max von Sydow, Maureen O'Sullivan & Lloyd Nolan
Cinematography by Carlo Di Palma
Nominated for 7 Oscars (Picture, Director, Film Editing, Art Direction), winner of 3 (Supporting Actress - Wiest, Supporting Actor - Caine, Original Screenplay)

Thanking Love: Quick Thoughts on the Oscars

2008-02-26T15:50:00.012-05:00

1. The announcement of Best Actress was definitely the most roller-coaster moment of the night for me. In a few short minutes, I went from shock ("Are they really presenting this huge of an award this early in the evening? Is the work of women really that undervalued?") to nervousness ("Pleasepleaseplease let it be Christie or Page, and not Cotillard.") to glee ("I love how embarassed Cate Blanchett is.") to awe ("Wow, Julie Christie. You are so perfect in that clip from Away From Her) to peace ("I guess I did predict Cotillard, so even if she wins, I win something.") to disgust ("SHE FUCKIN' WON. I KNEW IT.") to peace again ("Calm down, Scott.") and then to an odd sense of joy ("Wow, she's really beautiful. And charming. I can't help but be happy for her.") It turns out that Marion Cotillard's was my favourite speech of the night. It takes a lot to convert me from an ardent hater to a sort-of-admirer with a few short, awkward sentences. But you pulled it off, Marion. You pulled it off.

2. Jon Stewart was surprisingly perfect (although I still think Ellen DeGeneres is probably a better choice for the Oscars.) He was pretty predictable, I'll admit -- the expected Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and teen pregnancy jokes were all there in fine form -- but he was charming and ceaselessly energetic, nonetheless.

3. Well, this wouldn't be an Oscar post if I didn't stop to talk about fashion. Unfortunately, everyone this year was being pretty boring -- even Tilda Swinton managed to be pretty tame. But some of my favourites included Cate Blanchett (beautiful colour, liked the neckline contrary to popular opinion), Amy Adams (classy and sophisticated -- I'm glad she didn't look too cutesy-wutesy), and James "Sexiest Man in Attendance (in the Universe?)" McAvoy. Of course, a shout-out also has to go out to the aforementioned Marion Cotillard, who was the only celebrity who decided to take a chance and do something brave. Whether it was successful or not is, quite frankly, beside the point.

Best-dressed of the night though was Jennifer Garner. She always looks nice at these things, but this year she really outdid herself. The hair was absolutely to die for, and the dress was simple in colour, yes - black again, but gorgeous overall. One of the most beautiful, talented and clearly well-dressed women to grace the stage on Sunday.

4. My predictions had the usual success rate. I got 9/10 in the big 10 categories (that's including Animated Feature and Documentary, which really should be considered about as important as the regular Best Picture. They're movies too, you know,) and 15/24 overall. The one I was most pissed about was definitely the stupid cheesy polar bears of The Golden Compass nabbing Visual FX over the infinitely more visually impressive Transformers.

5. And now would be a good time to address the elephant in the room: Tilda Swinton. A fuckin' Oscar winner. Best winner of the night? Most definitely. Best winner of the decade? That too. Best Supporting Actress winner of all time? Probably. (I'd like to see every single one before declaring hyperbole like that.) Get on over to Nick's Flick Picks for a wonderful little gush about how amazing Swinton and her new little golden friend are. Thank you so much for this gratification, AMPAS.

Oscar Forecasting: The Last Stop

2008-02-23T15:03:00.005-05:00

With only one day left till Oscar night (omgwhat!), it seems like a pretty good time to throw out my personal predictions for the big winners and losers of the night. Looking over the Oscar nominees once more, I was again struck by how fantastic this year's picks were. In almost every category, there's at least 2 or 3 nominees that I would have in my very own award lineups -- a miraculous feat, especially when compared with last year's (mostly) disastrous shortlisters. So without further ado, my best guesses...

BEST PICTURE
Who Will Win: No Country For Old Men
Who Should Win: No Country For Old Men
Who Could Surprise Me: Juno
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Michael Clayton

Despite the well-deserved positive buzz surrounding nominees like Juno and There Will Be Blood, I just don't think that the Coen Bros' latest masterpiece can be beaten. And although I would have voted for No Country if I had had a ballot in front of me, I would be completely okay with any of the five nominees winning. Whoever wins this award tomorrow night automatically becomes the best Best Picture winner of the decade for me.

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION
Who Will Win: Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country For Old Men
Who Should Win: Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country For Old Men
Who Could Surprise Me: Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton

Even more locked than their Best Picture award is surely the Coen Bros' shot in this lineup. The only other logical contender, PT Anderson, will probably be rewarded later on in his career and I think the voters will have been thinking about that when voting. Tomorrow night really feels like it will be the Coens' big night and I don't think many people would like to argue with that.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Who Will Win: Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Who Should Win: Ellen Page - Juno
Who Could Surprise Me: Julie Christie - Away From Her
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Laura Linney - The Savages

I'm hoping beyond hope that I'm wrong about this one (you all know how much I dislike Cotillard in La vie en rose), but I do know how much people adore this performance. It's loud, it's gimmicky, it's musical -- in short, it's everything voters look for in a Best Actress. I also don't think that the foreign language issue will hurt her much at all. If anything, the language thing might just make the voters who love her performance feel even more "hip." I still think that Julie Christie has a good shot, but I think that BAFTA loss (in her native country, no less) was probably indicative of what people are feeling in regards to this category at the moment.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Who Will Win: Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Who Should Win: Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Who Could Surprise Me: George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

What is there left to say about this category? It's the great Daniel Day's all the way, and deservedly so.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Who Will Win: Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Who Should Win: Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Who Could Surprise Me: Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Saoirse Ronan - Atonement

My mind is saying Tilda Swinton, but my gut is telling me Amy Ryan. Gah! Well, one thing that my mind and gut can agree on is that this is the most exciting of the acting races by far. Four of the nominees (Blanchett, Dee, Ryan, Swinton) seem like totally real possibilities, and I wouldn't be truly shocked by a win for any of them. I'm feeling a lot less confident about Cate Blanchett and Ruby Dee than a lot of people are, mostly because I don't think enough people really loved their movies. I think that the buzz is firmly with Tilda Swinton right now, but having recently seen Gone Baby Gone I can definitely see it being a winner as well. I'm gonna say Swinton though for now, on the basis of wishful thinking (and because it'll make me feel better about predicting Cotillard for Best Actress.)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Who Will Win: Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men
Who Should Win: Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men
Who Could Surprise Me: Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War

Again, no comment necessary.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Who Will Win: Juno
Who Should Win: Juno
Who Could Surprise Me: Michael Clayton
Who Ain't Got A Shot: The Savages

Contrary to popular opinion, I'm not as certain Juno is as safe here as everyone seems to think. It's going to be duking it out pretty hard with Michael Clayton for the gold, simply because both films are a) well-loved, and b) at high risk of not winning any statues except for this one. I'm still predicting Juno though, and I can't wait to see what Diablo Cody wears to the ceremony.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Who Will Win: Atonement
Who Should Win: Away From Her
Who Could Surprise Me: No Country For Old Men
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Away From Her

This is the one category I'm struggling with most deeply. No Country and Blood seem like the most logical picks at this point, but I'm more inclined to think that either Atonement or The Diving Bell could surprise. I'm gonna go out on a crazy limb here and predict the former, because this award sometimes goes to prestige literary period pieces that don't really have a shot at Picture or Director. But maybe I just have my head up my ass here...

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Who Will Win: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Who Should Win: Gosh, I don't know. All four nominees that I saw were fabulous. I'd probably say Atonement though.
Who Could Surprise Me: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Atonement

Another super-difficult category to predict. It could conceivably go to any of the five nominees, and I would be happy with a win for any one of them. I think that The Diving Bell and the Butterfly needs to win something though because everyone in the industry adores it, and apparently the cinematography is to die for. I'm nervous about not predicting a Roger Deakins win though. That genius has lost here way too many times, and this year does sort of feel like his year...

BEST FILM EDITING
Who Will Win: No Country For Old Men
Who Should Win: No Country For Old Men
Who Could Surprise Me: The Bourne Ultimatum
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Into the Wild

I originally had The Bourne Ultimatum predicted here, but then I realized that I only had No Country predicted in three other categories. And considering how big of a juggernaut that movie has become, I really feel like it's gonna have to win at least three awards. If they do win here though, this could be the Coens' third or fourth win of the night. We should get a fact-checker -- has anyone ever won that much in a single ceremony?

BEST ART DIRECTION
Who Will Win: Sweeney Todd
Who Should Win: There Will Be Blood
Who Could Surprise Me: Atonement
Who Ain't Got A Shot: American Gangster

This seems like as good a place as any to reward Tim Burton's vision of Sweeney Todd for the people who were disappointed by its low nomination count. I'm hoping though that something much braver artistically (like There Will Be Blood) can pull off a win here.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Who Will Win: Atonement
Who Should Win: Atonement
Who Could Surprise Me: La vie en rose
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Across the Universe

La vie en rose seems like a very real possibility in this category, especially because of Marit Allen's recent death. It would be the perfect way to finally honour a long and illustrious career in the industry. Any other year it probably could've been a frontrunner, but I don't think it's strong enough to take down Jacqueline Durran and that divine green dress from Atonement.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Who Will Win: Atonement
Who Should Win: Atonement
Who Could Surprise Me: The Kite Runner
Who Ain't Got A Shot: 3:10 to Yuma

Hopefully the Academy chooses wisely and picks the most brilliant and inventive score of the year (give or take There Will Be Blood's.) I think it will, but am I over-estimating Atonement's chances in all these categories? If so, something like Ratatouille or even The Kite Runner could probably surge ahead for an upset. (God, I hope I won't have to ever hear the phrase "the Academy-Award winning film The Kite Runner though...)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Who Will Win: "Falling Slowly" - Once
Who Should Win: "Falling Slowly" - Once
Who Could Surprise Me: "That's How You Know" - Enchanted
Who Ain't Got A Shot: "So Close" - Enchanted

If "Falling Slowly" wins tomorrow night (and I'm inclined to think it will), it may become one of the first ever Oscar winning songs that actually deserves to be on a list of Best Songs of the Year, Period. Don't you think? I think that the Enchanted songs are going to cancel each other out, and nobody saw August Rush. That leaves everything wide open for the actual best song to be crowned the best.

BEST SOUND MIXING
Who Will Win: Transformers
Who Should Win: No Country For Old Men
Who Could Surprise Me: No Country For Old Men
Who Ain't Got A Shot: 3:10 to Yuma

BEST SOUND EDITING
Who Will Win: Transformers
Who Should Win: No Country For Old Men
Who Could Surprise Me: No Country For Old Men
Who Ain't Got A Shot: There Will Be Blood

In both sound categories, it's clearly the breathtaking suspense evoked by No Country's sound design versus the big bombast of the Transformers. My money's on the latter for both awards, although it could easily be a split (one to No Country, one to Transformers.)

BEST MAKEUP
Who Will Win: La vie en rose
Who Should Win: La vie en rose
Who Could Surprise Me: Norbit
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Pirates of the Caribbean III

BEST VISUAL FX
Who Will Win: Transformers
Who Should Win: Transformers
Who Could Surprise Me: The Golden Compass
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Pirates of the Caribbean III

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Who Will Win: Ratatouille
Who Should Win: Ratatouille (the only one I've seen)
Who Could Surprise Me: Persepolis
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Surf's Up

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Who Will Win: Taxi to the Dark Side
Who Should Win: Haven't seen any of them, but I hear No End in Sight is spectacular.
Who Could Surprise Me: No End in Sight
Who Ain't Got A Shot: War/Dance

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
Who Will Win: Freeheld
Who Could Surprise Me: La Corona
Who Ain't Got A Shot: Salim Baba

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Who Will Win: At Night

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Who Will Win: Madame Tutli-Putli

#12 The Magnificent Ambersons

2008-02-23T14:57:00.004-05:00

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Directed by Orson Welles
Written by Orson Welles, based on the novel by Booth Tarkington
Starring Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt & Agnes Moorehead
Cinematography by Stanley Cortez
Nominated for 4 Oscars (Picture, Supporting Actress - Moorehead, B&W Art Direction, Cinematography)

#13 Morvern Callar

2008-02-21T15:43:00.003-05:00

Morvern Callar (2002)
Directed by Lynne Ramsay
Written by Liana Dognini & Lynne Ramsay, based on the novel by Alan Warner
Starring Samantha Morton & Kathleen McDermott
Cinematography by Alwin H. Kuchler

Romance & Cigarettes

2008-02-20T19:14:00.004-05:00

It seems to me that for as long as I've been obsessed with the movies, and certainly for as long as I've been roaming around on the internet looking for the latest movie news, I've been dying to see John Turturro's Romance & Cigarettes. I believe it was completed in 2004, but due (in some form or another) to the general stupidity of the Weinsteins, it's been in release limbo in North America for about three years. Finally though, finally, it was released on DVD last week and I was AT LONG LAST able to get my hands on a copy.

But right from the very first shot (an extreme close-up of James Gandolfini's big toe), most everything about Romance & Cigarettes just seems to have been done in bad taste. Only now that I've seen it have I begun to understand why no one wanted to put it in theatres. I think what the movie was trying to do was find some sort of happy medium between screwball comedy and melancholy relationship drama, but it ends up being completely incompetent in both regards.

First of all, there isn't a single scene that's even remotely well-written in the entire thing. I can't recall laughing at a single line, come to think of it, or ever feeling anything resembling sympathy for any of the three bummed-out leads (Gandolifini, an underused Susan Sarandon, and a so-misguided-I-don't-even-want-to-go-there Kate Winslet). Expert comedic talents like Steve Buscemi, and especially Amy Sedaris are mostly wasted throughout. (I will admit though that Mary-Louise Parker, that most wonderful goddess of all goddesses, manages to keep things interesting when she's on-screen. I really enjoyed her songs and wardrobe and line readings more than anything else in the movie.) Most of the musical sequences, which are probably intended to be seen as ingenious just for the simple fact that they're not polished or big, fall completely flat. Once did the realistic, bittersweet musical thing much better earlier this year.

Speaking of those musical sequences though - disasters. Each and end every one of them disasters. If you're going to try and make a musical, I'd say that you might wanna cast people you feel confident can do a good job with the songs. Not only are some of the cast dubbed, according to IMDb, but you can't even hear their wobbly voices for the most part over the pre-existing tracks like Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" and Springsteen's "Red-Headed Woman".

Also, I think it's pretty common knowledge that a movie about relationship drama should try to humanize its protagonists in some way. But of course, we're left with nothing but cookie-cutter stereotypes that usually populate these types of situations. Susan Sarandon's role is the most troubling. She's nothing more than a wronged, slightly vengeful wife with no discernible personality or character traits. Kate Winslet, as well, is just vulgar and kind of desperate and sad at times; I left the movie learning nothing of remote depth about her Tula. I would be tempted to call the film misogynistic, but then again, the men aren't afforded any humanity or insight either.

Like I said before, Romance & Cigarettes is perfectly incompetent as a piece of filmmaking, but (and this is probably most disappointing of all) it never even reaches the kinds of delightful campy highs I kept hoping for throughout. This movie had so much going for it, but sadly it doesn't deliver at all.

Romance & Cigarettes, dir. John Turturro: D

(Ah, how good it feels to really rip into a movie I truly hated...)

#14 The Sweet Hereafter

2008-02-18T10:37:00.003-05:00

The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Directed by Atom Egoyan
Written by Atom Egoyan, based on the novel by Russell Banks
Starring Ian Holm, Bruce Greenwood, Sarah Polley, Maury Chaykin, Gabrielle Rose, Tom McCamus, Alberta Watson, Caerthan Banks, Arsinée Khanjian & Stephanie Morgernstern
Cinematography by Paul Sarossy
Nominated for 2 Oscars (Director, Adapted Screenplay)

The Missing Links 2.0

2008-02-17T14:11:00.002-05:00

--Low Resolution: discusses the latest season of Big Brother in a pretty hilarious post. Despite my hatred of last summer's catastrophic season, I too have reluctantly decided to give BB another shot. "Other than that, it's been three episodes worth of not much of anything, really. Oh, except for Adam. Who will haunt your dreams..." True dat.

--Joe's Movie Corner and The Film Experience: Both sites are having slight crises (of the identity and financial sort). Get on over there to send these guys some well-deserved love.

--StinkyLulu: Supporting Actress-obsessive as always, Lulu has taken it upon himself to review in detail each of the turns nominated in the category this year. Interesting and thoughtful reflections on the work of Amy Ryan, Cate Blanchett, Saoirse Ronan and Ruby Dee are up already. Only the brilliant, indescribable Tilda Swinton remains...

--The Rural Juror: offers up that clip of Jane Fonda using "the worst word ever" on live TV. Check out the awesomeness if you haven't already.

--Go Fug Yourself: is the best. Where have you been all my life!?

#15 La Dolce Vita

2008-02-17T11:34:00.002-05:00

La Dolce vita (1960)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Written by Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano & Tullio Pinnelli
Starring Marcello Mastroianni
Cinematography by Otello Martelli
Nominated for 4 Oscars (Director, Original Screenplay, B&W Art Direction), winner of 1 (B&W Costume Design)

#16 The Thin Red Line

2008-02-16T22:30:00.003-05:00

The Thin Red Line (1998)
Directed by Terrence Malick
Written by Terrence Malick, based on the novel by James Jones
Starring (oh gosh) James Caviezel, Sean Penn, Elias Koteas, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson, Adrien Brody, Ben Chaplin, John Cusack, John C. Reilly & Dash Mihok
Cinematography by John Toll
Nominated for 7 Oscars (Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Dramatic Score, Sound)

2008-02-16T22:28:00.002-05:00

Sorry about the total lack of substantial posting lately, folks. I really don't even have an excuse -- just plain laziness, I guess. But to make me feel better about neglecting my readers, I might suggest checking out my updated Viewing Index page. I've now included all the movies (or so) that I've seen from now all the way back to 1999, and personal favourites in some of the main Oscar award categories are there as well.

Also, this Personal Canon thing that I started waaaaay back in the summer of '07 is starting to get so tedious and boring and I've begun to hate the fact that I'm just cranking out titles without justifying any of their poisitions on the list. But at the same time, I know that if I tried to write something for every one of these movies, I'd never get it done. So I've decided to just shoot out the remaining seventeen entries in quick succession in the next couple of weeks, and then we can move on to my annual Little Memaid Awards (yay!) and then regular interesting posting. Toodles. :)

#17 Wings of Desire

2008-02-16T22:21:00.004-05:00

Der Himmel über Berlin (1987)
Directed by Wim Wenders
Written by Peter Handke, Richard Reitinger & Wim Wenders
Starring Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois & Peter Falk
Cinematography by Henri Alekan

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T15:50:00.000-05:00

#18 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2008-02-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Directed by Michel Gondry
Written by Charlie Kaufman
Starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Wilkinson & Elijah Wood
Cinematography by Ellen Kuras

Nominated for 2 Oscars (Actress - Winslet), winner of 1 (Original Screenplay)

A Change Is Gonna Come

2008-02-10T14:29:00.000-05:00

People who know me know I'm a lover of change. So I felt like it was time for a bit of a change 'round these parts. I'd had that old green Blogger template for over a year and truth be told, it was starting to get on my nerves. So I've decided to go with this new hip custom layout that you're seein' right now. It may or may not be here to stay for good (last time I tried a custom template, it made my blog FUBAR.) But for now, I'm liking it and we'll see how it goes. Leave comments on the post if you're particularly opinionated on the subject. :)

2008-02-09T17:36:00.001-05:00

Alright then. Two of 'em. Both had my father in 'em . It's peculiar. I'm older now then he ever was by twenty years. So in a sense he's the younger man. Anyway, first one I don't remember too well but it was about meeting him in town somewhere, and he gave me some money. I think I lost it. The second one, it was like we was both back in older times and I was on horseback goin' through the mountains of a night. Goin' through this pass in the mountains. It was cold and there was snow on the ground and he rode past me and kept on goin'. Never said nuthin' goin' by. He just rode on past... and he had his blanket wrapped around him and his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin' fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. 'Bout the color of the moon. And in the dream I knew that he was goin' on ahead and he was fixin' to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold, and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then I woke up.

#19 The Piano

2008-02-07T18:36:00.000-05:00

The Piano (1993)
Written & Directed by Jane Campion
Starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Anna Paquin & Sam Neill
Cinematography by Stuary Dryburgh
Nominated for 8 Oscars (Picture, Director, Cinematography, Film Editing, Costume Design), winner of 3 (Actress - Hunter, Supporting Actress - Paquin, Original Screenplay)

#20 Killer of Sheep

2008-02-04T16:42:00.000-05:00

Killer of Sheep (1977)
Written & Directed by Charles Burnett
Starring Henry Gayle Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Jack Drummond, Angela Burnett, Charles Bracy & Eugene Cherry
Cinematography by Charles Burnett

(Yes, I only saw this movie a couple weeks ago, but I desperately needed to find a place for it on this list -- especially since I've decided not to include it on my Best of '07 list (re-issues really shouldn't be competing, IMO). I ended up kicking Hoop Dreams off the 100 Personal Canon because it's a documentary and I figure that they shouldn't be allowed to compete with the other films. I know that's a ridiculous rule but it's the best I could come up with so that Killer of Sheep could be included. For the record though, Hoop Dreams was comfortably sitting at #16 before it was unceremoniously ripped from the list.)

30 Words: Oscar Edition

2008-02-02T21:46:00.001-05:00

Yes, I realize I haven't really discussed the Oscar nominatons at length yet, but it's been difficult with all the other stuff that was going on the week they were announced. And now that it's been over a week since the nods were given out, it feels a bit late. Either way though, I've decided to review some of Oscar's biggest contenders (the ones I've seen recently and haven't had much of an opportunity to talk about) in my usual 30 words -- no more, no less.

3:10 to Yuma (2007), dir. James Mangold
Pleasantly surprising; admittedly it's pure, popcorn entertainment and not much more, but it's just so darn fun. Bale is aces, as always, and continues to prove how important he is. B

Atonement (2007), dir. Joe Wright
More than anything an examination of the power of words; even more moving than the tremendous novel because the huge emotional impact at the end is made more immediate, palpable. Stunning. A-

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), dir. Paul Greengrass
These movies just keep getting better and better; the kind of intense, can't-miss-a-single-moment kind of action flick that is sadly missing from our cineplexes. Joan Allen kicks some serious ass. B+

Juno (2007), dir. Jason Reitman
I love this movie intensely for a couple reasons (hello Ellen Page and Jennife Garner!), not least of all because of its need to truly do some "growing": by the end, our perceptions of almost every single character have been refashioned in a way that makes sense and I like that. That was more than 30 words, but this format is beginning to get on my nerves. A-

La Vie en Rose (2007), dir. Olivier Dahan
Some really dreadful filmmaking here, and I unfortunately can't even say the movie's only watchable for Marion Cotillard, because her irksome, overblown performance is half the reason the movie sucks. C-/D+

No Country For Old Men (2007), dir. Joel & Ethan Coen
It really bares emphasizing that this is the year's best film - tight, haunting, thought-provoking, ambitiously allegorical. And yes, Javier Bardem is the scariest shit since I don't know when. A

Once (2007), dir. John Carney
I'll admit that the music is to die for but I just can't get behind a movie whose plot is this wholly paper-thin (no matter how cutesy the leads are.) C+

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), dir. Tim Burton
I said this about Doyle's stage production, and I'll say it again about the bland, insipid movie version: "It's a testament to how great the music is that this even works at all." B-

Transformers (2007), dir. Michael Bay
This is better than anything Michael Bay's done before, but unfortunately that isn't saying much. After this and Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, LaBoeuf should deservedly be headed for superstardom. C

Oh No, She Di'Nt

2008-02-01T23:15:00.000-05:00

Yeah. You know that movie Broken English starring the fabulous Parker Posey? Well, it has the exact same ending as Before Sunset. I don't get it -- did Zoe Cassavetes really think she could get away with completely ripping off another movie and no one would notice? Or was she just trying to pay homage to the best romance ending of all time? Logic tells me it's the latter I guess, but if that was the intent, it was still the most awkward thing ever. I mean, Before Sunset only came out three years ago; doesn't it feel a little soon to be paying it tribute in such a direct way?

(Also, Parker Posey is gonna be making it that much more difficult for me to crack out only five names to put on a Best Actress shortlist this year. With her superb performance from Broken English entering the ring, there's now about nine women duking it out for the positions, all of whom would've had clear shots at medals any other year this decade. Damn you for being so awesome, Amy, Julie, Angelina, Nicole, Laura, Anamaria, Ellen and Parker!)

Finally Coming Out?

2008-01-31T16:55:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry, but if that doesn't prove that he's gay, I don't know what will.

#21 Chinatown

2008-01-31T12:28:00.000-05:00

Chinatown (1974)
Directed by Roman Polanski
Written by Robert Towne
Starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez & John Hillerman
Cinematography by John A. Alonzo
Nominated for 11 Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor - Nicholson, Actress - Dunaway, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Dramatic Score, Art Direction, Costume Design, Sound), winner of 1 (Original Screenplay)

#22 Talk to Her

2008-01-31T12:23:00.000-05:00

Hable con ella (2002)
Written & Directed by Pedro Almodovar
Starring Dario Grandinetti, Javier Camara, Leonor Watling & Rosario Flores
Cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe
Nominated for 2 Oscars (Director), winner of 1 (Original Screenplay)

The Missing Links

2008-01-31T10:46:00.001-05:00

You know what's been the most awesome trend sweeping the blogosphere lately? Linking to other blogs! Sure, there's a handful of blogs that have been doing it for ever and ever (My New Plaid Pants, The Film Experience, and Modern Fabulousity come immediately to mind), but now I think it's time for everyone to start sharing the love. 'Cuz Lord knows that all us non-payed internet writers need some appreciation from time and time. Taking people like Joe R and Cal's leads, I've decided to have this new sort of Blogging Resolution: to link to blogs and comment on them a lot more frequently! And this new resolution begins right now. :)

--Cinephilia: Arden may not post very much anymore over at her blog, but she does have a new play coming out soon, so I would encourage anyone living in the Los Angeles area to try and check it out. Of course, I've never had the privilege of seeing any of the plays she's written/directed, but if they're half as good as her movie reviews, then they're surely worth a look.

--The Inciting Incident: If you're getting tired of all of the endless movie blogs around here (of course, I'd never get tired of them all, but I guess some people might...), then check out The Inciting Incident - a great "diary"-esque blog that, yes, has insightful things to say about the film world as well.

--Jay Brannan: Yes, he of YouTube bathroom-singing celebrity and Shortbus fame now has a blog. Such a talented musician, a total cutey and a consistently interesting blogger as well.

--Joe's Movie Corner: One of my guiltiest pleasures of internet-surfing is seeing just how many blogs J.D. has commented on. The numbers, I assure you, are through the roof. Meanwhile, his unflinching love for the cinema (all those high grades for the movies he sees are honestly refreshing - I often wish I could be that unfailingly enthusiastic about the movies) and his strange/creepy/awesome sense of humour at his blog always make for a great read.

--JohnAugust.com: My favourite website. Period.

--Nick's Flick Picks: Nick, who may very well be the best movie critic on the net, has just celebrated his 10th anniversary. The longevity is truly inspiring. Meanwhile, his always-surprising and illuminating Nick's Flick Picks Honorees '07 have gotten underway.

--!! omg blog!!: Continually brings a smile to my face (especially when talking about ANTM. "Aspergers 4EVA!")

--Rants of a Diva: Another (much younger) blog celebrating an anniversary is James Henry. Keep on fighting the good fight for Zac Efron appreciation, diva!

--The Rural Juror: The awesome Rural Juror has been nominated for a freakin' Bloggie Award! Congratulations, man. In the meantime, everyone needs to get over to The Bloggie Awards page and vote vote vote!

--StinkyLulu: Lulu continues to obsess over the Actresses at the Edges with an insightful post on Saoirse Ronan's work in Atonement.

--Victim of the Time: Has the first entry in a very very interesting new series called "Scene Sunday". Could potentially become one of the coolest series in the blogosphere.

#23 The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

2008-01-28T11:39:00.000-05:00

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
Written & Directed by Jacques Demy
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Ellen Farner & Mireille Perrey
Cinematography by Jean Rabier
Nominated for 5 Oscars (Foreign Language Film, Original Screenplay, Musical Score - Adaptation or Treatment, Original Score, Original Song "I Will Wait For You")

On the SAGs

2008-01-27T22:11:00.000-05:00

Well, it's only been five long days now since the news broke of Heath Ledger's tragic passing, but I think the time has come to move on. His death has really triggered a lot of unexpected emotions in me, and it's frankly a little odd how deeply affected I have become by this. I've watched Brokeback Mountain two times since last Tuesday and they've been some of the most emotional movie-watching experiences I've ever had. But as sad as I am now (and probably will continue to be for a while), at least we'll always have Brokeback.

So, as promised, moving on...

Another sad reality the movie-loving public is having to face lately is the absence of all our beloved awards shows. :( Fortunately though, the Screen Actors Guild Awards were allowed to continue full-force and everyone (or almost everyone) was there to celebrate and "bask in each other's awesomeness" (to quote Lizzy Caplan in Mean Girls.) Here's a quick rundown of what I thought of some of the winners, losers and others.

Favourite Win: Julie Christie in Away From Her. As much as I love surprises (and a surprise wouldn't have been entirely unwelcome in this category), sometimes it's nice to just have the best of the best rewarded all the time simply for being the best of the best. A classy, eloquent woman (beautiful speech, that was) and a classy, heartbreaking performance.

Least Favourite Win: No one! This has been such a rewarding awards season (for the most part) mostly because people who should be nominated and win are actually being nominated and winning. (I guess my least favourite performance out of all the categories was Ruby Dee's but how can you begrudge that lovely old woman her moment in the spotlight? I know I can't.)

Best Dressed: I'm gonna have to go with Marion Cotillard. I may be a big hater on her performance but she is a stunning woman in real life and the dress was divine. For the guys, I'm going with Josh Brolin. Without that stupid mustache that he's been sporting through all his films this year, he is HOT. And smart and funny as well (see: his No Country acceptance speech.)

Favourite Speech: Daniel Day-Lewis getting genuinely cracked up about Heath Ledger's death after winning for There Will Be Blood was a tearjerker for sure. I love how he acknowledged his work in Monster's Ball too before talking about Brokeback being one of the most moving things he's ever seen.

Runner-up: Tina Fey and the hat-rack analogy. Gotta love her.

Most Awkward Moment: Pairing Zac Efron and Debra Messing up to announce a category together. Was it just me or did she look really really uncomfortable? Then she goes and chokes on the words in her mouth. I don't get what was going on with that.

Runner-up: Mickey Rooney. And. His. Really. Slow. Even. For. An. 87-year Old. Diction.

So I guess what this all means is: Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem are about as locked for the Oscar as someone like JHud last year; Julie Christie remains the frontrunner for Lead Actress, although I still think an Ellen Page or Marion Cotillard upset isn't out of the question; and Supporting Actress will be by far the most interesting Acting race come February 24th with Cate Blanchett, Ruby Dee and Amy Ryan all having shots for the statue. (My money's still on Blanchett though.)

2008-01-22T21:59:00.000-05:00

I don't even know what to say about Heath Ledger other than that I am completely and utterly shocked. I cannot believe it. Cannot. And I don't know what happened and I don't know what to think or do or say. Jesus H. Murphy. Check out some other blogs for more coherent or informative talk about this tragic tragic event, but I'm just going to go to bed now and take a break for a while. Can't believe it.

Liz Taylor Approaching Her Peak (and Some Mostly Mediocre '80s Stuff)

2008-01-19T20:24:00.001-05:00

Well, there's only three short days left before we have the 80th batch of Oscar nominees on our hands. So instead of taking the time today to predict the shortlisters like everyone else (something I'll probably be doing within the next couple of days, mind you), I decided to write the first of those promised "The Academy Past" posts. For me, the key to blogging regularly is to have these regular series that can always keep me on track. Hopefully, this one will be one that sticks around.

Oscar-Nominated Oldies Screened Recently: Boys Don't Cry (Actress, Supp. Actress), Cactus Flower (Supp. Actress), Cat on A Hot Tin Roof (Picture, Actress), Moonstruck (Picture, Actress, Supp. Actress), Ordinary People (Picture, Actress), Suddenly Last Summer (Actress, Actress)

First of all, the verdict is in: I do not happen to think that Ordinary People is the most undeserving Best Picture winner in the history of time like everyone else does. Sure, it feels a little outdated, and its scope and vision isn't as epic and precise as Raging Bull, but I liked how unexpected a lot of the major plot points were and it was indeed very well-acted for the most part. (Timothy Hutton and Donald Sutherland are absolutely brill, and Mary Tyler Moore is a bit vague but serviceable and affecting nonetheless.)

On the other hand, a movie whose Best Picture nomination I absolutely cannot get behind is Norman Jewison's Moonstruck. It's completely formulaic, and even then struggled to get me interested in the major storyline, mostly because the two romantic leads have absolutely no chemistry to speak of! Whoever thought casting stupid dowdy Nicolas Cage opposite the incomparable Cher should've been fired. Moonstruck does benefit immensely though from the subplot involving Cher's mother, played expertly with humour and seemingly effortless emotional weight by Olympia Dukakis.

Released 20-odd years before those '80s hits were two Tennessee Williams adaptations I had the pleasure of screening recently: Cat on A Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly, Last Summer. Honestly, the former was a bit of a let-down; it felt a little stripped of the potency and flash that are expected of a Williams work. Au contraire, Suddenly, Last Summer is a pure delight from beginning to histrionic end. None of the "shocking" plot points (homosexuality, pedophilia, etc.) are played down at all (a miracle, I'm sure, for a movie made in 1959) and almost every scene glows with pure, delicious campy fun. Katharine Hepburn is at the best I've ever seen her, clearly reveling in the opportunity to play such a spiteful, insecure woman. Every amplified emotional response she gives is pure perfection.

Of course, Elizabeth Taylor is the other link between the two films, and I can honestly say that I'm a huge fan of hers now (they were, respectively, the third and fourth films of hers I've seen.) She is, in my opinion, the sexiest woman to ever grace the silver screen, and I absolutely adore the way she rarely tries to downplay her sexiness and constantly uses it to characterize her performances. She's the definition of a classic screen star, and in total command of her body and voice. (Let it also be known that her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? totally contradicts what I just said (she's very ugly in every sense of the word throughout that flick) but it does remain one of my very favourite performances of all time.)

Speaking of people being in command of their body...Hilary Swank. I'm truly sorry for all the hateful thoughts I've sent your way over the years. Boys Don't Cry is probably the best movie I've seen in the past couple of months, and your performance therein is nothing short of divine. *whispers* You deserved the Oscar over Annette Bening and Kate Winslet and Julianne Moore that year.*/whispers*

Oh, and you're awesome too, Chloe Sevigny!

#24 Eyes Wide Shut

2008-01-19T10:07:00.000-05:00

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Stanley Kubrick & Frederic Raphael, based on the novel "Traumnovelle" by Arthur Schnitzler
Starring Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman & Sydney Pollack
Cinematography by Larry Smith

2008-01-18T14:11:00.000-05:00

You know who I really effin' miss?

Kirsten Dunst.

That girl really needs to get going and make some good new movies. It's been more than an entire year now since I've seen her goofy smile and baby-blues on the big screen! Maybe I should just go pop Marie Antoinette in the DVD player to whet my insatiable Kiki appetite...

#25 8½

2008-01-18T13:51:00.000-05:00

8½ (1963)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Written by Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli & Brunello Rondi
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo & Rosella Falk
Cinematography by Gianni di Venanzo
Nominated for 5 Oscars (Director, Original Screenplay, B&W Art Direction), winner of 2 (Foreign Language Film, B&W Costume Design)

Margot at the Wedding

2008-01-17T16:14:00.001-05:00

Oftentimes I go into much-ballyhooed movies expecting so much that I'm inevitably let down somewhat upon finally seeing it. I do try to avoid hyping something too much in my mind for fear of it not being able to meet my high expectations, but it does happen. And then there's movies that have been so torn apart by critics and the public that you can't help but go into them with lowered hopes. As you might expect, it can be a lot easier to exceed these low expectations.

So this is why I'm hoping that my very positive reaction to the much-reviled Margot at the Wedding is completely based on its actual merits as a film and not how high it rose above my less-than-enthusiastic preconceptions.

Let me properly start this off by saying one thing I know for sure: Nicole Kidman's performance herein is a thing of mad genius; she holds absolutely nothing back while playing the villainous, acerbic Margot. She isn't afforded any big scenes to easily delineate her character or reveal her motivations in a sunny, relatable way, but rather we clearly see the joy she receives from making other people unhappy, and the self-interest that completely engulfs her life. In short, she manages to humanize Margot deeply without ever compromising the character's despicable nature. Many people accuse Kidman of being a little distant and cold in even the most warm-hearted of her roles, and here she embraces those pre-conceptions by crafting a cold, distant character but never inviting the audience to sympathize with her.

The rest of the movie is decidedly not as perfect as its monstrous leading lady, although there is a lot going on that requires praise and admiration. First of all, Noah Baumbach is clearly a filmmaker who understands human dynamics and refuses to push his immensely realistic characters in the directions we might expect. None of the characters are particularly lovable or warm, and they don't grow hearts of gold by the end of the movie. Their relationships are unhealthy, but they never miraculously mend themselves through some sort of emotional catharsis. The movie is more like a cartoonish snapshot of real life.

Although the visual style is pretty nondescript and some of the performances are awkward and unwisely judged (I'm looking at you, Jack Black), I thought the writing mostly made up for those area's shortcomings. The screenplay was, for the most part, a thing of beauty. One-liners are very often incisive and hilarious at the same time; the actors transform passing jokes into revealing, honest emotional truths on further reflection. (I particularly loved Jennifer Jason Leigh's Pauline throwing out "No you haven't kept your mouth shut, Margot. No, you HAVEN'T kept your MOUTH shut!" - a passing rebuttal quickly shifts into a sharp accusation and questioning of her sister's character.)

It's true, Margot at the Wedding doesn't quite resonate with that sense of
"Wow! What a great new filmmaker! Can't wait to see what he does next!"-ness that Baumbach's earlier effort The Squid and the Whale did. Nevertheless, it's a film very much worth your time, equally rich with honesty and comedy.

Margot at the Wedding, dir. Noah Baumbach: B+

#26 Notorious

2008-01-16T16:06:00.001-05:00

Notorious (1946)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Ben Hecht
Starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern & Leopoldine Konstantin
Cinematography by Ted Tetzlaff
Nominated for 2 Oscars (Supporting Actor - Rains, Original Screenplay)

2007: A Year in Music

2008-01-15T16:50:00.000-05:00

Okay, it's confession time. I love music. Not nearly as much as I love movies, but I love it, nonetheless. Unlike my other big obsession though, I know absolutely nothing about music! So it may seem a little uncouth to be telling everyone what I thought was the best in music this year, when I really don't know what the hell I'm talking about. (Needless to say though, I like to think that I can generally tell good from bad.) Anyway, that was just my way of saying that the following 5 Best Albums of 2007 List is all completely based on personal taste and not on the actual merits of music-making.

1. Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
Key Tracks: "Back to Black", "He Can Only Hold Her", "Rehab", "Tears Dry Own Their Own"

2. The Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
Key Tracks: "Black Mirror", "Keep the Car Running", "Windowsill"

3. Lily Allen, Alright Still
Key Tracks: "Knock 'Em Out", "Smile", "Take What You Take"

4. Bright Eyes, Cassadaga
Key Tracks: "Cleanse Song", "Four Winds", "I Must Belong Somewhere"

5. Mika, Life in Cartoon Motion
Key Tracks: "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)", "Grace Kelly", "Love Today"

Honourable Mentions: As I Am by Alicia Keys, If Your Memory Serves You Well by Serena Ryder, Kala by M.I.A., The Reminder by Feist

#27 Far From Heaven

2008-01-12T13:20:00.001-05:00

Far From Heaven (2002)
Written & Directed by Todd Haynes
Starring Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert & Patricia Clarkson
Cinematography by Edward Lachman
Nominated for 4 Oscars (Actress - Moore, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Original Score)

Oscar Forecasting: Early January

2008-01-10T20:19:00.000-05:00

Finally some more pointless Oscar predictions after a couple months of neglect! There's only two short weeks left until Oscar nomination morning so everything is about to settle itself out. Let's just hope that the Writer's Strike will end some time within the next month so that we can all enjoy the best night of the year like it's intended to be enjoyed!

BEST PICTURE
American Gangster, dir. Scott
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, dir. Schnabel
*Into the Wild, dir. Penn*
Juno, dir. Reitman
No Country For Old Men, dir. Coen & Coen

ALTERNATES: Atonement, There Will Be Blood

These five are seriously looking more and more like the eventual shortlist to me. American Gangster is the weakest of the five (both in quality and probability for nomination) but including something like There Will Be Blood almost seems beyond AMPAS' mental capacity. Meanwhile, Atonement, which has been the perceived frontrunner for months and months has finally begun to flounder. Those DGA, SAG and WGA snubs really hurt.

BEST DIRECTOR
P.T. Anderson - There Will Be Blood
*The Coen Bros. - No Country For Old Men*
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Sean Penn - Into the Wild
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

ALTERNATES: Tim Burton, Ridley Scott

All I did here was copy and paste the DGA list, but I also really want to say that Tim Burton and Ridley Scott have good chances. I'm guessing that Michael Clayton will manage a bunch of nominations (except for Best Picture) and Gilroy seems like as good a guess here as any other. But nothing really matters because we all know the Coens are walking away with the statue in hand. (Hopefully.)

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams - Enchanted
*Julie Christie - Away From Her*
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
Ellen Page - Juno

ALERNATES: Cate Blanchett, Keira Knightley

What a very strong line-up that looks like. Perhaps too strong? Except for Cotillard (who I detested in La Vie en Rose), all four of those women are hotly contending for my very own Best Actress shortlist at the moment. I'm hoping beyond hope that Amy Adams can muster up enough support to one-up the bland Cate Blanchett. And I think she will.

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
*Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood*
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Emile Hirsch - Into the Wild
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

ALTERNATES: Frank Langella, Denzel Washington

At first I had Denzel in there because you know, he's Denzel. But then I remembered Emile Hirsch, whose work in Into the Wild, though not great, was certainly moving and I'm guessing the voters will feel like voting with their hearts for once (in a category stacked with unlovable characters.) Plus, Into the Wild is looking more and more like our eventual Best Picture and they'll probably want to nominate it in a couple more substantial categories.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Jennifer Garner - Juno
Catherine Keener - Into the Wild
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
*Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton*

ALTERNATES: Vanessa Redgrave, Saoirse Ronan

Normally I wouldn't think that Catherine Keener's performance was showy or baity enough in any way to pull off a nomination, but those Atonement girls are not looking good at all right now, so there's a couple open spots. By this point in time, Blanchett, Ryan and Swinton are pretty locked, and I'm praying that Jennifer Garner will have won everyone over with her winning turn in Juno ( previously discussed here.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James
Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
*Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild*
John Travolta - Hairspray

ALTERNATES: Max von Sydow, Tom Wilkinson

More than any other category, Supporting Actor seems to be less about quality and more about career. It's for that reason that I think John Travolta will be able to shimmy and shake his way into the top five (despite being serviceable in the role at best) over the favoured Tom Wilkinson performance (which seems to me like the kind of contender that everyone respects but no one really loves). The other four though are looking pretty safe.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
American Gangster
*Juno*
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille

ALTERNATES: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, The Savages

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
*Into the Wild*
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac

ALTERNATES: Atonement, Charlie Wilson's War

[Ed. Note: Yes, I am predicting a complete shutout for Atonement in the main eight categories.]

#28 Casablanca

2008-01-10T20:18:00.000-05:00

Casablanca (1942)
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Written by Julian J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein & Howard Koch, based on the play "Everybody Comes to Rick's" by Joan Alison & Murray Burnett
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains & Conrad Veidt
Cinematography by Arthur Edeson
Nominated for 8 Oscars (Actor - Bogart, Supporting Actor - Rains, B&W Cinematography, Music Scoring, Film Editing), winner of 3 (Picture, Director, Screenplay)

2008-01-09T15:57:00.000-05:00

For the record, if I were to do some sort of countdown of my favourite 2007 movie moments (which I'm not going to do), the following monologue, delivered expertly by Peter O'Toole in Ratatouille, might very well top the list. For now though, just read and remember and be inspired.

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more.

Sunday's Actress Worship: Garner

2008-01-06T00:03:00.001-05:00

The following post, in addition to being my monthly Actress Worship, is my entry for StinkyLulu's second annual Class of Supporting Actress blogathon. Get on over there to see a bunch of wonderful write-ups on some wonderful women actressing from the edges.

Jennifer Garner as Vanessa Loring in Jason Reitman's Juno

Let me preface this by saying that I have been in love with Jennifer Garner since one fateful afternoon when I went to my local drive-in theatre with my aunt to see 13 Going on 30. It was 2004; I was 13 or so myself, and it was one of the very first times I ever remember feeling so elated just to be watching someone act. A couple years later and I'm still watching that delightful romantic comedy over and over again and I've begun to realize that it truly is a lovely performance. She's a spectacular comic force, and gives herself completely to the role before casually (but carefully) humanizing her character as the story progresses. Come to think of it, it's not too unlike the performance that's going to win my Best Actress award this year...

Anyway, Juno. I saw it last night, and had a similar reaction to Ellen Page's performance. While this was the first time most people are being acquainted with Page's delights, I, on the other hand, have been acquainted with her (through the screen) since 2004, when she blew a bunch of other great Canadian actors out of the water in the little-seen Wilby Wonderful. But in Juno, she's just...boss. For lack of a better word. I can't tell if I want to be Juno MacGuff or I want to have sex with Juno MacGuff - and both options are really kind of confusing me. (Thanks a lot, Ellen.)

But there was another performance in the movie, a little quieter and less instantly iconic, that really had me inspired. And that performance, of course, was from Miss Jennifer Garner. In the film, she plays Vanessa Loring, an affluent Suburban housewife (married to Jason Bateman's Mark) who is getting ready to adopt the baby currently residing in our title character's tummy. In her first scene, she's clearly trying to be calculated, cordial, reserved, to seem like your average white-picket-fence woman. But there's desperation and hesitancy in her line readings that gets under your skin. What's beautiful about Juno is that all the characters are exactly that - characters. Not cookie-cutter ideas or bad stereotypes, but human beings, each and every one of them.

Garner also has the difficult job of being the only major character not given any of Diablo Cody's snappy, slang-ridden dialogue. Although the rest of the cast (particularly the leading lady) all end up doing a lot of heavy lifting in the third act, for a while Garner is forced to single-handedly ground the film in reality by being so straightforward and honestly emotional. A scene at the mall with Garner's character is particularly sweet and sad, thanks mostly to that face of hers. (The editor is clearly in love with her too, often giving her an extra close-up after the major action of the scene is finished, thus adding depth and that little extra "oomph" to the scene.)

What Jennifer Garner proves in Juno is that she can basically do anything - whether she's playing an ass-kicking heroine (TV's Alias), a kooky romantic funny lady (13 Going on 30) or a pure, grounded supporting character (Juno). In an age of beautiful "actresses" being famous mostly just for being beautiful, it's very refreshing to encounter a beautiful actress who knows exactly what she's doing and deserves every ounce of attention coming her way.

P.S. For the record, this doesn't mean that Jennifer Garner is my number one pick for Supporting Actress this year - just that I really felt like talking about her today and her performance was still fresh in the noodle. Incidentally, the following twelve ladies make up my semifinalist list at the moment: (but I still have twenty or so movies that I need to see before starting my awards.)

Rose Byrne, Just Buried
Stine Fischer Christensen, After the Wedding
Deborra-Lee Furness, Jindabyne
Jennifer Garner, Juno
Sidse Babett Knudsen, After the Wedding
Kelly MacDonald, No Country For Old Men
Samantha Morton, Control
Marley Shelton, Planet Terror
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Tabu, The Namesake
Kristen Thomson, Away From Her
Laura Vasiliu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days