March movie preview + more Oscars

March Movie Preview


March 7
10,000 BC - Is this the movie that makes Camilla Belle the star she's meant to be? I mean, she's hotter and more talented than, let's say, Lindsay Lohan. Somehow I doubt this movie is going to be anything spectacular, however.
The Bank Job - Stars Jason Statham and more. About a 1971 robbery that took place at Lloyd's Bank in London. Although it claims to be based on a true story, it seems a big far fetched to me.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - And THIS is what I'll be checking out! Amy Adams and her infinite cuteness (I've already forgiven you for the Oscars, Amy) + Frances McDormand and her infinite comic timing = I Can't Wait!
Paranoid Park - Gus Van Sant's movie about a bunch of skateboarders... hey, remember when Larry Clark made a movie about a bunch of skateboarders. It was called 'Wassup Rockers' and I'm sure it was better than this is going to be.
Snow Angels - The cast is pretty impressive: Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale, Michael Angarano, Olivia Thirbly. I do love Sam and Michael and it's directed by David Gordon Green who did All the Real Girls. Probably worth checking out.


March 14
Horton Hears a Who - Oh animated films, our love affair has never begun, hence, this is a skipper for me.
Funny Games - It opens in limited release but I can't wait for this movie. Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet as clean cut, polite, crazy mad men? Talk about perfect casting. They are all blonde haired, blue eyed and they'll cut you! I want this movie NOW!
Never Back Down - Proof that I will be able to get my movie made when I move to Los Angeles. Apparently they just make anything these days.


March 21
Drillbit Taylor - Owen Wilson looks hilarious in this movie! I just hope it's not one of those movies that shows all the funny parts in the trailer.
Shutter - Another PG-13 horror movie about ghostly images in photographs... wasn't that called The Ring? Well, I guess that was video tapes, whatever. Stars Pacey, I mean, Joshua Jackson.


March 28
21 - The best thing about Across the Universe, Jim Sturgess teams up with Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey for a movie about MIT geniuses who count cards and win millions in Vegas. Actually looks pretty good.
Stop-Loss - Yes! The world's prettiest cast (Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Abbie Cornish, Victor Rasuk, etc.) stars in Kimberley Pierce's follow up to Boys Don't Cry. It's about Iraq and all that. It doesn't matter what it's about, honestly, because with a cast like that, I'll see it if it's about printing telephone books.




Oscars
This is the last you will hear about the Oscars in this blog for a long time... promise! But, at least it's not about THIS years Oscars. It's about NEXT years Oscars. A friend of mine has a web site where he always predicts who will be nominated in the major categories a year in advance. He challenged me to do my picks as well. When Oscar nominations are actually announced, we shall see how terribly badly I did with my predictions! So, here goes nothing...


Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost / Nixon
Milk
Revolutionary Road


Best Director
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost / Nixon
Sam Mendes - Revolutionary Road
Gus Van Sant - Milk
Joe Wright - The Soloist


Best Actor
Benicio Del Toro - The Argentine
Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road
Jamie Foxx - The Soloist
Frank Langella - Frost / Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk


Best Actress
Nicole Kidman - Austrailia
Keira Knightley - The Duchess
Julianne Moore - Blindness
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road


Best Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. - The Soloist
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Michael Sheen - Frost / Nixon


Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - Doubt
Kathy Bates - Revolutionary Road
Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Catherine Keener - The Soloist
Dianne Wiest - Synecdoche, N ew York



Yeah, I'm confident about none of this!

Oscar Wrap Up

Full List of Winners...
Best Picture - No Country For Old Men
Lead Actress - Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose
Lead Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Director - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
Foriegn Langauge Film - The Counterfeiters
Adapted Screenplay - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
Original Screenplay - Diablo Cody, Juno
Animated Feature - Ratatouille
Art Direction - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Cinematography - There Will Be Blood
Sound Mixing - The Bourne Ultimatum
Sound Editing - The Bourne Ultimatum
Original Score - Atonement
Original Song - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, "Falling Slowly" from Once!!!!!!!!!!!!
Costume - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Documentary Feature - Taxi to the Dark Side
Documentary Short Subject - Freeheld
Makeup - La Vie En Rose
Animated Short Film - Peter and the Wolf
Live Action Short Film - Le Mozart des Pickpockets
Visual Effects - The Golden Compass

I went 4/6 in the major categories for the second year in a row, totally screwing up the actress categories. I should have known better in the Best Actress category. The Oscars love their hot young things no matter how awful they were in the movie they are nominated for (see also: Halle Berry - Monster's Ball). I wouldn't have gone Tilda though. Overall, I was a very, very disappointing 8/24. Ha. I vow to do better next year!

Here are my personal best and worst moments from the Oscars:

Best Red Carpet Moment - Gary Busey goes all crazy and scares poor Jennifer Garner! I feel bad for Jennifer Garner but, hey, at least it was unpredictable, right!?

Worst Red Carpet Moment - Rumored couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz did NOT walk the red carpet together. You know... maybe it's a good thing since if they did, the world might explode from two much hotness.

Best Jon Stewart Joke - In reference to Norbit's Best Makeup nomination - "Too often the Academy ignores movies that aren't good."

Best Jon Stewart Joke #2 - In reference to Cate Blanchett's virsitility, Stewart mentioned her roles as Queen Elizabeth and Bob Dylan and then pointed out a role we may not know about. In No Country For Old Men, when Josh Brolin is being chased by the bull dog, Blanchett played the bull dog!

Best Presenters - James McAvoy and Josh Brolin who are both unbelievably hot, charming and downright funny.

Best Presenters #2 - Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen who came out to "fill in" for Dame Judi Dench and Halle Berry and then proceeded to fight over who got to be Halle Berry. I don't really think the joke went anywhere but it was still funny.

Worst Presenter - Jerry Sienfeld as the bee from Bee Movie. No one liked your movie, Jerry. Get over it.

Best Musical Moment - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova bring down the house with their soulful beautiful rendition of "Falling Slowly."

Worst Musical Moment - Three numbers from Enchanted? Each worse than the last? Actually, no, Amy Adams up there by her lonesome overenuciating and her trying her best to be cutesy was sort of painful.

Best Acceptance Speech - Javier Bardem who managed to be humble, charming, funny and sexy all at the same time. He even said half of his speech in Spanish. I have no idea what he said (something about Spain, ha) but he sounded sexy while doing it and it made his mama cry!

Worst Acceptance Speech - Diablo Cody who fancies herself a hipster chick but managed to say nothing more exciting than, "This is for the writers." Honest to blog, Diablo! Homeskillet, that was one doodle that can't be undid. (You know, I guess I'm glad she won because I don't know who else I would have voted for if I could vote but I will always hate her for those two lines alone).

Now it's time for the really important stuff...

Worse Dressed Male - Colin Farrell
Oh, Colin. You know it's bad when I (the person who loves long messy hair, beards, stubble etc.) think it's time to clean it up a little bit. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to iron your suit. I still love you though... even if you haven't made a good movie since Phone Booth.

Worst Dressed Female - Diablo Cody
I was fine with the leopard print dress, really. I get it, you're different. You have a tattoo of a naked lady on your arm and I'm fine with that. Even the skull and cross bone earrings I can handle. I'm a modern woman, I get it. Then you got on stage to accept your award and I saw that the slit of your dress went up all the way to your ******. Seriously, this is a classy event not a strip club. Tacky.

Best Dressed Male - Viggo Mortensen
This man is unbelievably sexy and he makes the beard work for him. I love the striped tie. And I love the long jacket. I love when men don't just wear normal tuxes for these shows and do something a little different.

Best Dressed Female - Keri Russell
In a sea of red and black, Keri wore a pretty pale pink / gray dress (I have no idea what color it actually is) but I loved it anyway. THIS picture doesn't do it justice though.

Vantage Point + more

Vantage Point - The concept of Vantage Point isn't exactly bad. It's sort of interesting actually. The premise is: the President gets assassinated at a Summit meeting in Spain. Then, the same twenty minutes are shown multiple times from different points of view which all uncover different clues to lead you to the conclusion. If it had been executed properly, this movie could have been very strong. Unfortunately, it's absolutely predictible (at least I predicted it from twenty minutes in), the dialogue is terrible and the movie more or less dumbs itself down. It's not the cast that is to blame. Granted they don't have much to work with but William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Dennis Quaid, and Forest Whitaker are all strong actors. Still, the most interesting parts of movie, for me, was when they showed the story from the point of view of the seemingly background characters. There was a car chase near the end which was pretty fantastic at first and then just became more and more ridiculous. Then there were a lot of small things that just drove me kind of crazy. First of all, this international counter-terrorism summit is hosted, not by the prime minister of Spain or another high ranking Spanish politician but by... the mayor. Yeah, ok. Also, in such events, I would think the general public would not be allowed to show up, especially such a huge crowd. But what do I know. I also hated the way the movie assumed the audience was dumb (granted, most of them probably were because people on imdb seem to like this movie). It showed us something that happend in the past of Quaid's character. Then, literally, fifteen minutes later, it showed us again in flashbacks. Let's remind the audience why this character is so stressed and paranoid in case they already forgot. I also have quite a few issues with the ending. I'm trying not to give too much away but the reason the terrorists don't succeed with their mission is because the getaway car crashes... because they didn't want to hit a little girl. Now, before you say, awww, such nice terrorists, consider that they already assassinated a president, blew up a square full of innocent bystanders, orchestrated a detailed kidnapping plot and engaged in a high speed chase through small side streets of a Spanish village. But, no, god forbid we hit a little girl who is too stupid to get out of the road for a speeding vehicle! The thing that bothers me so much about this movie is that it actually could have been really good. But, alas, for now, Cloverfield still sits atop the Best of 2008 list... and that's kind of sad.
Grade: D+

Margot at the Wedding - Noah Baumbach, how I love you. Margot at the Wedding is a neurotic biting film where the laughs are as sharp as razor blades. They come fast and furious and are often enough to draw blood. It focuses on a disfunctional relationship between two sisters (Nicole Kidman is the titular Margot and Jennifer Jason Leigh is her sister Pauline) who haven't spoken in years. Margot and her son Claude come to stay with Pauline to celebrate her wedding to Malcolm (Jack Black who is somehow maybe channeling Napoleon Dynamite). The film is choppily edited and the piece has a structure which is all over the place. Still, I mostly enjoyed it. I didn't love it as much as The Squid and the Whale but it's still a strong film. Leigh is fantastic as a mostly mellow woman who has a serious lack of accomplishment and a penchant for temper tantrums (which are completely justified usually). Kidman as Margot is the best she's ever been in my opinion. She likes to make trouble for everyone to keep the focus on them and away from her own problems. There is a point when Margot and Pauline even become like an extension of the same character. There are a lot of clues to things that may hide under the surface (abuse, incest, etc.) but is never really investigated further. This is a very dark film but it's mostly enjoyable. I loved Kidman and I loved Leigh. I did have a few problems with the film (the babysitter while I guess she served a purpose, was just plain annoying and the next door neighbors who seemingly inhabited a whole different world). Also, I didn't exactly love the ending. Still, the movie is sharply written and the performances by the leading ladies are superb.
Grade: B

American Gangster - The very first scene in American Gangster shows a man getting lit on fire. That is a perfect way to start a film, in my opinion. It took me a while to give in and watch this movie. I couldn't get over the two hour and forty minute running time. Now, I love a long movie. There Will Be Blood was almost three hours long and I wish it would have been LONGER! Still, I love Daniel Day-Lewis and I love Paul Dano and I will watch them for ten hours if Paul Thomas Anderson wants me to. However, I don't really love Denzel Washington and I am just now starting to not hate Russell Crowe so the almost three hour time was daunting. I do love Josh Brolin but he's barely in this movie, unfortunately. Anyway, American Gangster follows Washington's Frank Lucas, a driver for a mob boss who dies and then decides to take over Harlem for himself. He goes oversees and starts smuggling pure drugs into New York City. It's twice as good as the other stuff on the street and half as expensive. He becomes a multi-millinaire and more or less runs the streets of Harlem. Crowe plays Richie Roberts, a cop who is honest on the job but not with his wife. He heads up a drug enforcement program and he begins to center his investigation on Frank Lucas after a while. While the film is long, it's mostly engrossing and enjoyable. While everyone keeps talking about Washington with this film (and he does play a badass, whatever), I liked Crowe's more subtle performance better. The different sides of his personality are always fighting with each other and his nuances are perfect. Then there's Ruby Dee. She's nominated for Best Supporting Actress at tonight's Oscars and she might win and... I don't think she deserves it at all! Sorry, but she had one good scene. It was a solid stand out scene but it is hardly Oscar worthy. Overall, I really liked the movie... until the last five minutes when they show what happened to all the different characters in real life. I won't ruin it but there is a certain turn of events that I feel is completely against the characters of the film and that sort of ruined the movie for me a little bit. It made me feel like I was lied to; there was a character I admired and learned to like that I just felt betrayed by. To sum up: Ruby Dee should not win Best Supporting Actress, T.I. is a sexy man... but not as sexy as Josh Brolin, and Russell Crowe totally blows Denzel out of the water here.
Grade: B-

Tomorrow - Oscar wrap-up!

Oscar Predictions!!

So, Sunday is my favorite night of the year - Oscar night! I always try my best to predict who is going to win in the big six categories and I usually do fairly well. Last year, I was 4 for 6 (I predicted Eddie Murphy eventhough I wanted Alan Arkin and I was stupid enough to not pick The Departed for Best Picture eventhough it was the best and my favorite movie of the year). Anyway, I hope to go 6 for 6 this year. Here are my predictions...


Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Who WILL win - No Country For Old Men has won all the major awards so far this year and is heavily favored. Plus, surprisingly, it actually deserves all the praise and awards!
Who MIGHT win - There Will Be Blood topped pretty much every critical top ten list of the year. Then there is Juno which is beloved, the biggest nominated money maker and the only nominee NOT super depressing!
Who SHOULD win - Honestly, I'd be satisfied with No Country, There Will Be Blood or Juno walking away with it. Or Atonement for that matter. They are all great films (I still don't love Michael Clayton the way everyone else apparently does). But I'm slightly more enamored with There Will Be Blood than the others.
Who got SCREWED - Into the Wild. I mean, did people watch that movie? They couldn't have because from a purely impartial stand point, it was better than at least two of the nominated films. Of course, I think it was the best movie of 2007 but whatever.


Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country For Old Men
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman - Juno
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Who WILL win - I think this is the Coen Bros. award to lose.
Who MIGHT win - I could see a PTA or Schnabel upset happening.
Who SHOULD win - Again, I love There Will Be Blood slightly more than No Country so I'm pulling for Paul Thomas Anderson and his oil epic.
Who got SCREWED - Sean Penn. And I'm not just saying that because I love him. Into the Wild was his labor of love and it was epic and beautiful. To nominate Reitman over Sean Penn is just a joke to me.


Best Actor
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
Who WILL win - Daniel Day-Lewis will drink your milkshake and take your Oscar too!
Who MIGHT win - Umm... these guys just don't have a chance. Start practicing your gracious loser face and your "It's an honor just to be nominated..." speech.
Who SHOULD win - Day-Lewis. No doubt!
Who got SCREWED - My boyfriend Emile Hirsch. But then, I'm not sure who I would change him out for. It's a strong category. Who am I kidding? I'd get rid of Clooney in a heartbeat.

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose
Laura Linney - The Savages
Ellen Page - Juno
Who WILL win - I think this is essentially a two horse race - Christie and Cotillard. I'm not sure who is more favored or whatever. It's essentially Cotillard's mimicry and great physical transformation vs. Christie's legendary status paired with the clearly superior performance (ha!). I'm going Christie.
Who MIGHT win - Cotillard, obviously. Then there's the Ellen Page factor. The Academy loves young actresses so she's got a chance.
Who SHOULD win - Christie. But I'd be happy with Page as well.
Who got SCREWED - In my interesting / crazy little world, Cotillard and Blanchett would be bumped for Christina Ricci in Black Snake Moan and Ashley Judd in Bug.

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Who WILL win - Bardem. It'll be his 3 millionth totally deserved award this year.
Who MIGHT win - They love to honor veterans in this category (see also: Alan Arkin last year) so watch out for Hal Holbrook who is holding it down for Into the Wild all by his lonesome.
Who SHOULD win - Bardem, friendo.
Who got SCREWED - Paul Dano. He totally held his own against the master actor Daniel Day-Lewis. He was pure gold in that movie and Hoffman just outright stole his spot here!

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Ruby Dee - American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Who WILL win - You know what? This is the only category where I can really see any one of them taking it home. But after the SAG upset, I think I'm going to have to go with Ruby Dee.
Who MIGHT win - Again, any one of them. However, I think Blanchett and Ryan have been the frontrunners all season.
Who SHOULD win - Blanchett. All of these ladies give fine performances but none of them play Bob Dylan.
Who got SCREWED - It would be nice to see Jennifer Garner for Juno or Catherine Keener for Into the Wild... but it's a pretty solid category.

In summary.... Who I think WILL win
Best Picture - No Country For Old Men
Best Director - Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country For Old Men
Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood
Best Actress - Julie Christie for Away From Her
Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem for No Country For Old Men
Best Supporting Actress - Ruby Dee for American Gangster

Jumper + more

Jumper - Jumper suffers from what many movies suffer from - great idea, poor execution. I actually really loved the idea - a man could teleport anywhere in the world but has to deal with evil guys hunting for him because only God should have the power to be everywhere and anywhere. The film has great pacing and energy. The special effects are pretty solid (there is a particular fight scene between Hayden Christensen and Jamie Bell near the end which is just simply great). Jamie Bell's performance as the nervy Griffin is the clear stand out. His performance adds a frantic energy to every scene he is in. He's smart and funny and engaging. Unfortunately, he's not in the film nearly enough. Most of the good things I can say end there. The film suffers from one big thing: Hayden Christensen. He surely has the looks to be a matinee idol. He's a great looking kid and he's not a terrible actor (see: Shattered Glass). Unfortunately, he is more often than not wooden and ineffective. I could use those words to describe his performance here as well. There's very little development in the story as well. This could have been a really great superhero or anti-hero story but the writers hardly seemed to notice just how self involved the hero really is. It was almost enough to make the audience root for the villain, Samuel L. Jackson - except he was almost cartoonish, what with the blonde hair and ridiculous dialogue. And I love Samuel L. Jackson! Then there's Rachel Bilson. Summer, Summer, Summer. I loved you oh so much on The O.C. However, I fear she showed the extent of her abilities on that show. The fast talking cutsie thing worked very well on that hipster show but you can't always do the same thing. In film, you have to be able to branch out and do different things. I just don't think Bilson has it in her. Then there is the rumor floating around that Bilson and Christensen are romantically linked in real life. I don't care if it's true or not. If it is true, however, I really hope they have a lot more chemistry in real life because they have none on screen. Unfortunately, this movie is mostly mediocre. A great plot and Jamie Bell can only get you so far. Action sequences aside, the movie becomes quite boring. Jumper is somtimes fun and sometimes interesting. I actually hope they make a sequel and perhaps they can do a better job the second time around because it really is an interesting idea.
Grade: C-

Sex and Breakfast - This is a small little movie that is intimate and mostly interesting. It focuses on two young couples having trouble in their relationships. James (Macaulay Culkin) and Heather (my girl Alexis Dziena) are in love but Heather is unable to acheive orgasm with James. Ellis (Kuno Becker) and Renee (Eliza Dushku) want to marry but they feel like they've become boring. Both couples are looking to spice up their sex lives and see a counselor who suggests group sex. The thing about this movie is it's not as shocking as you would think. When you hear the concept, you think, 'Oh, it's going to be all about sex with tons of nudity and whatever.' But, not so much. It's actually pretty character driven and focuses more on the relationships of the couple than their eventual intimate interactions. The writing is a little hit or miss for me and I don't know if the movie completely works. It actually would have worked a lot better as a short film, I think. Still, the performances are all solid and well done. It's not a great movie, but it's decent.
Grade: C+

Wind Chill - The beginning of this movie isn't half bad. It's sort of ominous, it gives you a great atmosphere and a good character and story build up. I mean, sure the characters are unlikeable, but that doesn't really matter to me much. Emily Blunt is good at being a bitch when she wants to be. Her character sort of has an arc which is unusual for ghost stories. Ashton Holmes is only slightly creepy. There's not much to work with set wise because it's basically too kids stuck in a pile of snow for a long time. The writing is pretty weak. It makes too many uncomfortable shifts from 'romantic' to 'horror.' It just doesn't work in horror movies. The only way romance should ever play a part in a horror movie is if the couple is already established at the beginning of the movie. People usually don't fall in love during terrifying situations. There's absolutely nothing scary about this movie whatsoever. The biggest waste of all is that it just throws away all the atmosphere it built up so well in the beginning. In the end, I just wanted someone to kill the lead characters because they were just so stupid I could barely stand it. Please, skip this movie at all costs.
Grade: D