Oscar Nomination Predictions and Reactions (mostly reactions)

Before I get going please know that I have not forgotten to review the list of Sundance movies that I saw as I promised. I will be posting my thoughts on those movies shortly.


Now on to the Oscar noms!


First you must understand that I LOVE MOVIES! I also love the Oscars (most of the time). I have to tell you though, I am getting a little sick of all the movies that are brought out for Oscar season that seem to have but 1 purpose: win an Oscar. Now this year I didn't really make it to a lot of movies and I especially missed a lot of "Oscar" films. The reason that I bring all this up is that I am especially pissed at this years Academy Awards for not nominating the best movie of the year for best picture or best director.


I am of course referring to The Dark Knight. I was about to go on and on about hollywood not recognizing it because it was popular and made a lot of money but they have in the past honored those types of films (i.e. Titanic, Lord of the Rings). I just cannot believe that they totally ignored how great this movie was and how well directed it was in favor of more traditional "Oscar" fare.

Rose and I were having a discussion about this just the other day. The Oscars seem to jump on the bandwagon with each other if a smaller film generates a little buzz (Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Etc.) and while they are cute, fun movies they don't really hold up as BEST PICTURE.

ARGH I could go on all day but suffice to say most of my predictions/reactions will be biased AWAY from the "artsy" "Oscar" films this year.


All the nominated movies that I have not seen will be designated with HS. I will list the nominees, give a few thoughts and then end with my prediction for who I think will win and who I would like to win.


Without further ado (or rambling); my list:



Best Actor

Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor" - HS - to be honest I know nothing of this movie which is a little sad I guess, but Jenkins is a fine actor.

Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon" - HS - I think Langella is a good actor and I have heard nothing but good things about his portrayal in this movie. His best since he played Skeletor in Masters of the Universe. . . . that was a joke.

Sean Penn in "Milk" - HS - another great actor but I have heard that this wasn't his best performance.

Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - If you read my review of the movie you will know how I feel about this performance.

Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" - HS - another awesome actor and from what I have heard he gave the performance of his life.



* I would give the award to Pitt because 1) I actually saw the movie :) and 2) he did give a wonderful performance.

I think though that the academy will give it to Rourke.

Either way I would be happy if either of these 2 won it.



Best Supporting Actor

Josh Brolin in "Milk" - HS - I like Josh Brolin and thought he was fantastic in No Country for Old Men. He even did well on SNL. I know nothing of his performance in this movie.

Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder" - If it wasn't for one of the other nominees in this category I think that RDJ should win this hands down for throwing himself into the character.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" - HS - Great actor in what I hear is a great movie, but once again I know nothing of this performance.

Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" - nothing needs to be said here.

Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road" - HS - I know nothing about his performance in this but I just saw him in the Sundance film "The Missing Person" and I was quite impressed with his performance.


* Without a doubt this will be my polarizing category during the Oscars this year. I don't care that I haven't seen most of the other performances in this category because when you think about a great performance you should (in my mind) not be able to see the actor in the character they are playing. No one that I have seen in recent memory has accomplished this to such a degree that Heath Ledger did playing the Joker. Robert Downey Jr. came very close but didn't quite make it. Look at the difference between Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger. In the original it was "Jack Nicholson is the Joker" (so really it was still Jack), In The Dark Knight however Heath Ledger was THE Joker. Watching his performance in this movie is pure craftsmanship and it is sad that we will never see where he would have taken his performances. In my mind he would have been the next Johnny Depp. Always reinventing the public's perception of him and taking roles that were fun and challenging to him.


Heath should win (even if he was still with us) and if hollywood has any iota of what talent is they should give it to him.

Best Actress

I am going to say right now that I have not seen any of these movies.

Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married"

Angelina Jolie in "Changeling"

Melissa Leo in "Frozen River"

Meryl Streep in "Doubt"

Kate Winslet in "The Reader"


* Since I have not seen any of these and I am not invested in any of them I am just going to say that I hope Anne Hathaway or Kate Winslet wins it. Anne Hathaway because I think she is a good up and coming actress and I hear she did very well in this film, and Kate Winslet because I hear she did well and is just a wonderful actress all around. Meryl Streep needs to take a break, I am not familiar with Melissa Leo, and I may be the only straight male out there who thinks that Angelina Jolie is WAAAAY over rated. I have liked her in only 2 movies: Wanted and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

I think the academy will work with me on this one and give it to Kate Winslet.



Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams in "Doubt" - HS - I really just like Amy Adams in anything she is in.

Penelope Cruz in "Vicky Christina Barcelona" - HS - I really DISlike Penelope Cruz in almost everything with the exception of Vanilla Sky.

Viola Davis in "Doubt" - HS - I am unfamiliar with her work

Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - Since this is the only movie I have seen I am going to say that she did a very fine job in this movie and gave a great performance. I don't know if it is strong enough to win though.

Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" - HS - I hear that she was fantastic in this movie.


* I would like to see Marisa Tomei or Amy Adams win this one, but I think the academy may give it to Penelope Cruz which would be disappointing.



Best Animated Feature Film

Bolt - HS

Kung Fu Panda - Entertaining

Wall-E - Mesmerizing



* Wall-E should win and will win!



Best Director

EFF this contest since the actual best director (Christopher Nolan) was left out of the running.

David Fincher - "Benjamin Button"

Ron Howard - HS - "Frost/Nixon"

Gus Van Sant - HS - "Milk"

Stephen Daldry - HS - "The Reader"

Danny Boyle - HS - "Slumdog Millionaire"



* The only way I won't be pissed at this is if they give it to David Fincher or Ron Howard but I have a bad feeling that they will give it to Danny Boyle for Little Miss. . . errr Slumdog Millionaire ("This Year's Little Miss Sunshine")



Best Adapted Screenplay

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

"Doubt" - HS

"Frost/Nixon" - HS

"The Reader" - HS

"Slumdog Millionaire" - HS



* I hope Benjamin Button wins but I think it will go to Frost/Nixon.



Best Original Screenplay

"Frozen River" - HS

"Happy-Go-Lucky" - HS

"In Bruges" - HS

"Milk" - HS

"Wall-E"



* I think Wall-E should and probably will win.



Best Picture

again. . . Eff this category since the BEST picture isn't even nominated.

"Benjamin Button"

"Frost/Nixon" - HS

"Milk" - HS

"The Reader" - HS

"Slumdog Millionaire" - HS



* I hope either Benjamin Button or Frost/Nixon wins and I think they may give it to one of these two. If however Slumdog Millionaire wins I will throw my shoe at the television like a pissed off Iraqi greeting President Bush.



As for every other category; I could really care less. The only thing that I would like to see is that for every category that the following films are nominated that they win in the following order.
1) The Dark Knight
2) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3) Wall-E

There is one other thing I must rant about and this will probably draw a rebuttal from Rose. I think it is just ridiculous that a movie like "The Duchess" is nominated for Art Direction and Costume Design. At this point in the game there should be a moritorium on nominating these period piece movies for these categories. I mean really they all really do the same thing. Any movie by or about Jane Austen or the like have all had basically the same art direction/costume design since they started making those movies. Isn't it about time we just said enough and started giving these awards out to movies that do things that are new and different? Maybe it's just me but it seems like a cheat every time a movie like this gets nominated for this sort of thing.

Well that's it. We will see how it plays out come Oscar time.

Rose? Your turn!

January

If you absolutely have to live in the state of Utah and you are 1) not a mormon, 2) not a fan of snow, 3) love movies, then there is really only one thing. . . scratch that. Not REALLY one thing; ONLY one thing to look forward to in Utah in January.
Of course I am talking about the Sundance Film Festival. Ah Sundance. The time of year when Park City fills up with jackasses wearing black leather and snobby attitudes.
The reason I bring this up though is not to make fun of machiatto sipping, blackberry using, black leather wearing douches. No I am here to tell you that I will be attending some of the films this year and I will be providing my opinions of said films. Here is the list of the films that I will be attending. I will not provide the synopses of these movies but if you really want to know what they are about you can check them out on the official Sundance website here http://festival.sundance.org/2009/

Here is the list:
1) Mary & Max
2) Lymelife
3) Brooklyn's Finest
4) The Killing Room
5) The Missing Person
6) Johnny Mad Dog
7) Mystery Team
8) Adventureland
I will be seeing most of these next weekend so stay tuned for the reviews.
Until then have a nice day! :)
-Chad

Our First Movie Review

She Said: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
TCOBB is one of those movies that automatically gets put onto my "Must See" movie list. Mostly, I'll admit, because Brad Pitt is in it and I, like millions of women out there, would watch a movie of Brad Pitt reading the newspaper. That being said, there are other reasons, like the fact that for quite some time I've known just how good an actor Brad Pitt is and it's good too see him finally get some much deserved credit. Plus, I've really enjoyed other David Fincher movies as well as saga movies that span decades. This is something I really loved about this movie, the cinematography, the fabulous wardrobe throughout the different decades, and the look of New Orleans who was like another character in the movie. A beautiful, elegant character who steals a few scenes.
I was truly amazed with the CG effects when it came to Pitt's character, Benjamin Button. For the first half of the film, Benjamin, who is aging backwards, is shown as a short old man with Pitt's face, which is very distinguishable. I have to say that for me, this is who the audience falls in love with. Pitt brings a very tender and endearing aspect to this character. By the time we see the gorgeous Brad Pitt we are used to, we no longer think of him as the charismatic, handsome movie star but as Benjamin Button, the sweet and sensitive character we've come to know and root for. As for the other characters in the movie, I wasn't as drawn to any of them, especially Cate Blanchett's character, Daisy. Does anyone else think Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt make a terrible couple? For some reason, for me, it's like a professor with her student. This is the same impression I got from watching Babel. There just doesn't seem to be much chemistry there.
All in all, a wonderful movie, with a unique storyline. Definitely similar to Forrest Gump, with the two principal characters meeting up at various points throughout their lives. I too, remember thinking it reminded me of this movie when watching TCOBB. Good call, Chad!