Hugh Jackman Goes to the Oscars!

So, I was going to do a fashion rundown thing but, you know what? I CAN'T BE BUGGARED! But, this is me we're talking about and who am I to miss an opportunity to show pictures of Hugh Jackman looking dapper in a sexy tux? He's so yummy. And yes, I did crop out Deborra-Lee Furness. She's already gotten enough attention from me. You can click all the pictures (including the one to the left) to make them grow. Pics were from Just Jared. His archive of Oscar pics is huge






*dies after succumbing to Hugh's sexiness*

Jindabyne International

From Ionacinema (via IMP) comes the American poster for Ray Lawrence's Jindabyne. To be honest, all of the posters have been blah. I suppose there's not much you can really do for a movie like this one. Anyway. Enjoy. It reminds me of a poster for Breaking and Entering.

Final Oscar Roundup

Best Picture:
The Departed

I got this one right. Once it won the Eddie I figured it was a done deal. Although when Babel won Best Original Score (of all things) I felt a pang of "Oh no!"


Best Director:
Winner: Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Thank god for that one and now, I bet, he does a Katherine Hepburn and just wins a couple more because they're really sorry. If his Rolling Stones documentary goes theatrical this year he could very well win for that!


Best Actor:
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Yeah, considering none of my favourites were nominated (to be honest though, Whitaker is the only one I have seen. Venus, Diamond and Happyness didn't interest me, and Half Nelson isn't out here yet) I suppose this is good. I just really hate that movie.

Best Actress:
Helen Mirren, The Queen

YAWN. Lame end to her speech, as well. How "I'm the king of the world" of her. Why did they show a clip of Penelope Cruz lipsyncing though! I think even Cruz herself thought it was a joke judging from her reaction.

Best Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine - unlike Best Actor I had seen all the nominees (bar Djimon Hounsou) and none of my favourites were nominated here either, but I can be happy for Arkin. He was good enough and I'm glad he has a statue, even though (and I've said it before multiple times) he deserved one three years ago for Thirteen Conversations about One Thing. Uh-huh.

Best Supporting Actress:
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

Nothing to really say here. Seen all five and this was, I guess, my favourite. Meh. I wish they'd shown the "HERE I AM!!!" clip for Blanchett though.

Best Original Screenplay:
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine

And rightfully so, considering the nominees.

Best Adapted Screenplay:
William Monahan, The Departed

If it couldn't be the crew from Children of Men then I'm glad it was Monahan.

Best Cinematography:
Guillermo Navvaro, Pan's Labyrinth

This was disappointing. The voters obviously don't have a clue what cinematography is. Right? Most definitely the worst loss of the night. Just really, really disappointing.

Best Editing:
Thelma Schoonmaker, The Departed

Seeing Marty Scorsese crying for Thelma was lovely. I would have (much) prefered the United 93 gang, but Thelma's a classy gal, so good for her.

Best Art Direction:
Eugenio Caballero, Pilar Revuelta, Pan's Labyrinth

And deservedly so.

Best Costume Design:
Milena Canonero, Marie Antoinette

Who am I to begrudge this win? She deserves it.

Best Original Score:
Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel

The third most ridiculous win of the night. I quick glance at the soundtrack listing on iTunes shows me that the most memorable pieces ("Only Love Can Conquer Hate", "Bibo no Aozora") weren't actually by Santaolalla. Oh well. One win for the movie was enough for Oscar voters, thankfully.

Best Original Song:
An Inconvenient Truth, "I Need to Wake Up" by Melissa Etheridge

I love Melissa, I really do, I just thought this song was extremely weak for her. Oh well. The song is better than the movie that it runs over the credits for.

Best Make-Up:
David Marti, Montse Ribe, Pan's Labyrinth

And deservedly so.

Best Sound Mixing:
Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer, Willie B Burton Dreamgirls

Yeah, I'm definitely okay with this one. They still snubbed the best sound work I heard all year for an eligible film (Miami Vice), so whatever.

Best Sound Effects Editing:
Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman, Letters from Iwo Jima

As the only Best Picture contender, I don't know why more didn't predict it to win.

Best Visual Effects:
John Knoll, Hal T Hickel, Charles Gibson, Allen Hall, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

And deservedly so.

Best Animated Feature:
Happy Feet, George Miller

And here's where I hit myself over the head. I had been predicting Happy Feet all season. ALL SEASON and then at the very last minute I swapped it for Cars. Ugh. I'm a lunkhead. Why didn't I show my Aussie patriotism like I did in the Live Action Short category, even though I knew better. Ugh.

Best Foreign Language Film:
The Lives of Others, Florian Henkel von Donnersmark

I'm this (*squeezes thumb and index finger together*) close to predicting The Lives of Others, but I decided not to.

Again, I'm an idiot.

Best Documentary:
An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim

I've already discussed this category enough lately, but notice the name next to the title. Davis Guggenheim. Yeah. HE is the Oscar winner. Not Al Gore. Please stop calling Al Gore an Academy Award winner, or saying "Al Gore collected his Academy Award..." cause he's not one. His IMDb profile does not say he won an Oscar. The Oscar website does not say he won an Oscar. Enough.

Blah blah, short movies. I'm bored with this.

Overall, I got 15 categories correct. So, that's still pretty good for a year that was so crazy. I got the top 8 all right though. So that's conselation! I'm gonna do a next-year predictions thing, which will be hilarious uneducated.

Dreamgirls Downloadables

Click here to download (curtose of Kevipod) the audio of that fabulous Oscar performance by Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce Knowles and Anika Noni Rose performing the three original tracks from Dreamgirls. Listen for the power. Listen for the hystrionics. "I'm more than what-AA" lol. Beyonce, you crazy fool.

There's also this hilarious dance remix to Jennifer Hudson's version of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going". It's really really bad. Jennifer actually has the big diva voice to pull of a dance track, but this song does just not mix with tacky generic dance beats. Still, it's good for a laugh.

Oh, Cameron

What was Cameron Diaz doing at the podium? Like, she kept moving her body around the mic, which looked like she was doing yoga stretches or something. And why did Diaz present this award again? And why did Jack Nicholson present Best Picture again? Especially since he had a film in contention! Weird. Why not get Meryl and Diane? Or just Diane by herself? Crazy.

Supporting Actors

I have the Academy Awards on because I'm moving it from my Hard Disk Recorder to a DVD so the mother can watch it. It just got to the Supporting Actor category and I just realised 4 things.

1. Three of the nominees are bald.

2. I really don't like Djimon Hounsou. Like, at all. Not one tiny little bit. a) smile bitch, b) take off your damn sunglasses, c) what was with that rubbing your head thing while on camera and d) man, that Blood Diamond performance looks (and sounds) bad. I'm not sure I could even listen to it for a whole 2 hours.

3. I'm so glad Arkin won. Great speech too. He should've won a few years ago for Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, but this'll suffice. He was better than Murphy, too.

4. I'm reading over some the live blogs that were happening and just various sites and for some reason most are going "wow, what a big upset!" Do these people not follow the Academy Awards at all? Did they not realise that the Academy loves to honour old geezers in Supporting Actor! God, these people are silly. Sure, a slight upset simply because Eddie Murphy was the favourite, but it's not like (LOL) Djimon won or something. THAT would've been a huge upset.

Oh, and now the bit where Ellen gave Martin a screenplay is up. It's been done before but it's still funny. Martin Scorsese is so funny. Those weird shadow things are weird though. Like... they confuse me. They did do Snakes on a Plane which I can totally apreciate.

First Oscar Thoughts

So... what a night. It was actually a good show. Too many inbetween bits (Leo and Al should be ashamed, but more about that later) and whatnot, but overall I was impressed. Again, it probably goes more to the fact that there weren't any wins that I disliked (although Santaolalla's win was dubious indeed and Emmanuel Lubezki's loss was disappointing). Ellen was great I though. Sure, she was a bit "safe" but I'd rather safe than mean spirited (Chris Rock) or Comedically-challenged (John Stewart for the most part). She was funny. I hope they ask her back next year. I mean, the crowd liked her and, well, the three others I watched it with seemed to like her. LOL. We totally should be the berometre of Oscar hosts. That vacuuming bit killed me.

In terms of my predictions I did alright. I got the entire Big Eight correct - that would be Picture (The Departed), Director (Scorsese), Actor (Whitaker), Actress (Mirren), Supporting Actor (Arkin - I knew this would happen for sure), Supporting Actress (Hudson), Original Screenplay (Little Miss Sunshine) and Adapted Screenplay (The Departed). Sure, they were all pretty easy predictions outside of Arkin and maybe Original Screenplay, but really. Whatever.

I'll go through them all tomorrow, but out of the rest of them I didn pretty shit, actually. Song, Score, Editing, Cinematography, Costume, Foreign Language and the shorts.

Now, sorry again, but this is another Inconvenient Truth rant. But this one's smaller. I can deal with it winning Best Documentary Feature, even if I don't agree with it. But jesus christ, Al Gore WAS NOT AN ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE. How come four (or was it five?) people got up to accept the award that one man (David Guggenheim) won. It was ridiculous. Al Gore didn't win it. He shouldn't be up there. It's insulting and offensive. We have people (producers, mainly) who are banned from even being nominated and aren't allowed to get up on stage, yet this man (however noble he is) just walzes up to the stage and gives a speech as if he had won. And then to have Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore come out purely to give us another lecture about climate change? They didn't even present a freakin' award afterwards.

(okay, this isn't as short as I was intending.) Surely thank Al Gore, considering without his powerpoint presentation there would indeed be no movie (that's because Guggenheim didn't actually bother to make a movie, but just filmed a man giving a speech - are the directors of the Oscars eligible for next year's show?!?!), but his name isn't on the ballot. Isn't on the envelope. He shouldn't be there. And, seriously, stop telling me I can do anything. I can change some lightglobes and walk to and from work (oh wait, I already do that. Thanks heaps), but stop trying to make me believe that if I flick a switch I will single handedly change global warming. I won't. I know that. You know that. So shut the fuck up, wanker.

There. /rant

I did love the opening nominees montage (that was amazing) and there was another bit that I really loved, but can't remember. I'll scan through the recording of it tomorrow and check. I loved hearing Morricone's Days of Heaven score TWICE through the evening. Oh man, that Costume Design bit was embarassing. Emily and Anne were laughing during it. Not a good sign when the presenters are laughing at the category. Although it's sort of awesome that Marie Antoinette is now an "Academy Award Winner".

The highlight of the night however was, as I'm sure it was for everyone who merely likes cinema, Martin Scorsese's win. I was so scared that they'd read out Alejandro. Just so good. Mirren's "Here is THE QUEEN" or whatever she said was embarassing. eep. Celine was ridiculous. Abi and Jayden were precious. Marty shedding tears for Thelma was lovely. And... er, there was more. blahblahblah. Kinda happy it's over though.

40,000 People Slowly Stupified...

Yes, sometime late on Sunday evening (Australian Eastern Standard Time, that time hasn't happened for a lot of y'all as I type this) I hit 40,000 unique readers since I started counting. It's sort of unfathomable that that many people actually want to read me instead of merely hanging around me cause I'm dressed all skanky and you think you'll get an easy root. IT'S JUST NOT HAPPENING!

...wait, what?

Oh, nevermind.

I think what I'm saying is that on the good ol' internet we have a big massive choice who we actually read and I'm honoured that y'all read me ("ME?" He asks in a big booming voice as the lights shine on him. "Gosh...") Now, do as y'all a told and peel me some grapes! NOW!

Final Oscar Predictions

So, here it is. The last 12 hours before The Academy Awards start. Crazy. Of course, I won't get to see them for another 18 or so. I prefer to not know any of the winners beforehand so I wait until the awards are shown in Prime Time. I have to avoid the TV because they have news updates, like, every hour (god knows why) and they will spoil it. Same for the internet. ugh. Of course, nothing was ever as bad as when the network that was airing the awards decided to spoil Best Actress just before it was to be announced. It was the 2002 awards and Best Actress was coming up after the break. Was it to be Sissy or Halle or would my biggest Oscar wishes be fulfilled and see Nicole Kidman walk to the stage for Moulin Rouge!? The suspence was killing me, they went to an ad break and they shows Halle Berry on stage holding an Oscar and crying and I was like "...must...kill...all...humans..." and then my head exploded.

Let's begin, shall we?

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Babel
The Departed
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Predicted Winner: The Departed
Alternate: Little Miss Sunshine
My Vote: Little Miss Sunshine

So, as long as Babel doesn't win (which it very well could) I'll be happy. I haven't seen Letters from Iwo Jima, but I'm sure it's much much better than Flags of Our Fathers. What a delight to not have this contest down to just two or even one contender. "Relevance" be gone. I'm predicting The Departed for no real reason. I suppose it makes sense. It won the DGA, WGA and ACE and every movie that's won that combo has won the Oscar, so. I was going to say Little Miss Sunshine, but then that pesky ol' Indie Spirit CURSE popped up (it just won Best Picture), so I figured it wouldn't win. lol. So technical, huh? I think this year we can actually use reasons like that!

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Predicted Winner: Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Alternate: Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Babel
My Vote: Paul Greengrass, United 93

It would have been interesting to see if Greengrass could have had an actual bonafide shot at winning this category despite not having a correlating Picture nomination. Still, if Scorsese loses this category this year... I don't know who is gonna pay but whoever does win is gonna be apologising their arse off.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN LEADING ROLE
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Predicted Winner: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Alternate: Peter O'Toole, Venus
My Vote: N/A - I've only seen one of these nominees (Whitaker), which I liked but didn't love (essentially because I despise the film with a deep-hearted passion).

I really want to predict O'Toole. I seriously think many will put his name down, but I just think Whitaker will eke it out in the end. I really don't wanna face the fact that The Last King of Scotland will be an "Academy Award winning" film, but such is life.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Predicted Winner: Helen Mirren, The Queen
Alternate: Is there a point to this? Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
My Vote: Penelope Cruz, Volver

If Mirren loses this, will this go down as the biggest upset in Academy history? I say so. I really don't think she can lose, but boy... imagine if she did, huh?

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Predicted Winner: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Alternate: Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
My Vote: Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Arkin. Yes. Arkin over Murphy. I've been predicting this for months (and especially after the nominations were announced and Dreamgirls had such a small presense in the big awards). I think Arkin will be led to victory the same way people like James Coburn and Jack Palance to wins. Old fogies get one last chance for gold. Weird symetry between Arkin and Palance. Palance was nominated for Oscars in 1953 and 1954 before a big giant gap and finally being nominated again and winning for a comedy in 1992. Arkin was nominated in 1967 and 1969 before a big gap and then being nominated for a comedy in 2007. Plus, Arkin has the advantage of a Best Picture contender. Of course, Murphy could just as easily win it, but I think they'll choose Arkin. And Hounsou? I routinely forget he's even nominated. LOL!

I do wonder how they're going to select a clip of Wahlberg's to show. That was a foul mouth he had there.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikucho, Babel

Predicted Winner: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Alternate: Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
My Vote: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

So, yeah, it wouldn't be as big of a shock if Hudson lost here (unlike Mirren), but I still don't think it will happen. If an upset does occur I predict it won't be cutey Abi Breslin, but actually Rinko Kikuchi (one award I actually wouldn't care if Babel won. As long as it's Rinko. Not Adriana. Me no like Barraza in Babel). Breslin isn't precocious (sp?) enough. Although it could happen. But, yeah, this is Hudson's to lose.

BEST WRITING, SCREENPLAY WRITTEN DIRECTLY FOR THE SCREEN
Guillermo Arriaga, Babel
Iris Yamashita, Paul Haggis, Letters from Iwo Jima
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
Peter Morgan, The Queen

Predicted Winner: Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Alternate: Guillera Arriaga, Babel
My Vote: Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine

Well, I suppose three nominees out of five being wholey "original" is at least progress! I think this is Arndt's prize to take home. If not him then, sure, Morgan (better for this than The Last King of Scotland), but I actually think Arriaga is the bigger spoiler candidate. In a The Pianist type sideswipe, I can totally see the "important" (but still third ranked) contender taking the prize - Babel especially, since I don't see Iwo Jima or Pan's Labyrinth taking the prize.

BEST WRITING, SCREENPLAY BASED ON MATERIAL PREVIOUSLY PRODUCED OR PUBLISHED
Sasha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazar, Todd Phillips, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Children of Men
William Monahan, The Departed
Todd Field, Tom Perrotta, Little Children
Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal

Predicted Winner: William Monahan, The Departed
Alternate: Alfonso Cuaron et al, Children of Men
My Vote: Alfondo Cuaron et al, Children of Men

Monahan's swell Departed screenplay seems like the best fit for the win here. It's the only Best Picture contender (how rare for Adapted Screenplay to be so barron!) and next to Little Children is the most word-reliant. If there's a chink in it's armour it may be the groundswell support for Children of Men, which looked like it could have swollen a few other categories (it got surprising nods for Editing and Screenplay). If enough voters saw it after nominations I think it's within shot. I do think that Monahan is taking it though, giving my predicted Best Picture winner three trophies for the night.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Vilmos Zsigmond, The Black Dahlia
Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men
Dick Pope, The Illusionist
Guillermo Navarro, Pan's Labyrinth
Wally Pfister, The Prestige

Predicted Winner: Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men
Alternate: Wally Pfister, The Prestige
My Vote: Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men

Sure, Lubezki seems like the natural winner (his work on the film has been praised to the heavens), but as a select few have pointed it, it's not typically rewarded stuff. It's not filled with vistas or swaying grass. However, on the upside, none of the other contenders have vistas or swaying grass either, so I'm sticking with Lubezki. However, if one is to upstage him, I predict two-time nominee for a Chris Nolan film, Wally Pfister. It's the most typically "pretty" film what with all that low lighting and candle flames and such.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING
Douglas Crise, Stephen Merrione, Babel
Steven Rosenblum, Blood Diamond
Alfonso Cuaron, Alex Rodriguez, Children of Men
Thelma Schoonmaker, The Departed
Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson, Christopher Rouse, United 93

Predicted Winner: United 93 co.
Alternate: Babel's duo or Schoonmaker for The Departed
My Vote: United 93 co.

Thelma is widely recognised as a genius for a reason, I know that, but I don't know if they will give her a second Oscar in the span of three years. That happens more often in the techs than in acting true, but nevertheless. I'm going on a limb and predicting the United 93 gang take it. Anyone who actually saw that film is surely going to vote for them. This is the second of two categories I could survive having Babel win (Supporting Actress for Kikuchi being the other).

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
John Myhre, Nancy Haigh, Dreamgirls
Jeannine Claudia Oppewall, Gretchen Rau, Leslie E Rollins, The Good Shepherd
Eugenio Caballero, Pilar Revuelta, Pan's Labyrinth
Rich Heinrichs, Cheryl Carasik, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Nathan Crowly, Julie Ochipinti, The Prestige

Predicted Winner: Eugenio Caballero, Pilar Revuelta, Pan's Labyrinth
Alternate: John Myhre, Nancy Haigh, Dreamgirls
My Vote: Eugenio Caballero, Pilar Revuelta, Pan's Labyrinth

If there is a god and he watches the Oscars (bitch plz, what else has he got to do?!) then surely Caballero and Revuelta will win for their stunning work on Pan's Labyrinth. I certainly hope they're not beaten by those art directed curtains from Dreamgirls. I could definitely handle a Prestige upset though.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Chung Man Yee, Curse of the Golden Flower
Patricia Field, The Devil Wears Prada
Sharen Davis, Dreamgirls
Milena Canonero, Marie Antoinette
Consolata Boyle, The Queen

Predicted Winner: Patricia Field, The Devil Wears Prada
Alternate: Sharen Davis, Dreamgirls
My Vote: Patricia Field, The Devil Wears Prada

Sure, it may be a bit of a wishful thinking prediction, but I really do think Field has as good a shot as any. I point you in the direction of the 1995 Academy Awards. That year had showy theatrical costumes (Bullets Over Broadway = Dreamgirls), French regal wear (Queen Margot = Marie Antoinette) and showy action garb (Maverick = Curse of the Golden Flower). It also had dowdy but exquisite (Little Women = The Queen. It's stretching, but whatever). But the winner? The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, a film filled with contemporary-but-niche designs. Yes, the costume branch rarely nominates contemporary work, but there are thousands of others who vote and while Dreamgirls is the most logical choice (as, oh, Little Women or Bullets Over Broadway were I presume) I predict they will choose the designer duds of The Devil Wears Prada.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES, ORIGINAL SCORE
Gustavo Santaolla, Babel
Thomas Newman, The Good German
Phillip Glass, Notes on a Scandal
Javier Navarette, Pan's Labyrinth
Alexandre Desplat, The Queen

Predicted Winner: Javier Navarette, Pan's Labyrinth
Alternate: Alexandre Desplat, The Queen
My Vote: Thomas Newman, The Good German

Foreign films seem to do good in this category (they use a wider, or just plain different, assortment of instruments so they sound more exotic to casual observers - aka Academy members) and Navarette's work is indeed sublime. Although I really think Desplat has a shot if people want to reward him in general. I do feel bad for Newman though. His German score is ace if that's your sort of thing, so it's a shame he'll (most probably) go home empty handed for the eighth time. The less said about Glass' bombastic Scandal score the better, okay?

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES, ORIGINAL SONG
Melissa Etheridge, "I Need to Wake Up", An Inconvenient Truth
Henry Kreiger, Scott Cutler, Anne Previn, "Listen", Dreamgirls
Henry Kreiger, Siedah Garrett, "Love You I Do", Dreamgirls
Randy Newman, "Our Town", Cars
Henry Kreiger, Willie Reale, "Patience", Dreamgirls

Predicted Winner: "Love You I Do" from Dreamgirls
Alternate: Everything else. Really.
My Vote: "Listen" from Dreamgirls

Voters seem to make good choices when it comes to picking the winner of this category. They chose the latin Motorcycle Diaries track over everything else and songs like "Lose Yourself" and "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp" too. While I'd love to see Etheridge up there (I do love her, I just don't like the song) and I think they could just as easily reward Newman for the oldschool (just like the film) "Our Town", I really do think Dreamgirls will win. I'm predicting "Love You I Do" because it is actually the more authentic in terms of the film's period setting and such. I know I'll most likely be proven wrong come tomorrow, but whatever. I seriously see all these nominees as possible winners (except maybe "Patience", which seems like overkill for Dreamgirls).

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Aldo Signoretti, Vittorio Sodano, Apocalypto
Kazuhiro Tsuji, Bill Corso, Click
David Marti, Montse Ribe, Pan's Labyrinth

Predicted Winner: Pan's Labyrinth
Alternate: Apocalypto
My Vote: Pan's Labyrinth

I so hope Pan's Labyrinth wins this. It's Pan and Pale Man creations are all-time worship worthy. Plus, I don't want Apocalypto and Click to be "Academy Award winner" films. Blegh.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
Kevin O'Connell, Greg P Russell, Fernando Camara, Apocalypto
Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Ivan Sharrock, Blood Diamond
Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer, Willie B Burton Dreamgirls
John T Reitz, David E Campbell, Gregg Rudolf, Walt Martin, Flags of Our Fathers
Paul Massey, Christopher Boyes, Lee Orloff, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Predicted Winner: The crew from Dreamgirls
Alternate: The crew from Flags of Our Fathers
My Vote: The crew from Pirates of the Caribbean

Musicals seem to win here (unless you're Moulin Rouge!, assholes) and it seems like a natural vote for the Academy member who really doesn't know what this wacky concept for sound design is. "Is it loud?" "Yes!" "Then that's a tick from me!"

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Sean McCormack, Kami Asgar, Apocalypto
Lon Bender, Blood Diamond
Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman, Flags of Our Fathers
Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman, Letters from Iwo Jima
George Watters II, Christopher Boyes, Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

Predicted Winner: Those dudes from Letters from Iwo Jima
Alternate: The guys from Pirates of the Caribbean
My Vote: Ditto, the guys from Pirates

Firstly, what's the point in having this category at all (like, seriously, merge it with the sound one above you losers. That Boyes guy did the sound AND the sound editing, too. Ugh.). Secondly, why are the nominees the exact same except for one film Iwo Jima in for Dreamgirls. Thirdly, I hate this category because it makes the ceremony unnecessarily longer. Two of the movies have the exact same nominees! Aagh! Anyway. It seems voters like to throw votes towards Best Picture nominees so I'm going with the Iwo Jima boys. I hope Pirates wins though because they deserve it (plus, then if Iwo Jima wins Best Picture it will have one win total. LOL)

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
John Knoll, Hal T Hickel, Charles Gibson, Allen Hall, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Boyd Shermis, Kim Libreri, Chas Jarrett, John Frazier, Poseidon
Mark Stetson, Richard R Hoover, Neil Corbould, Superman Returns

Predicted Winner: Pirates, obviously
Alternate: Poseidon
My Vote: Pirates

This one seems sewn up for Pirates. Superman Returns makes me sleepy just thinking about it.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Cars, John Lasseter
Happy Feet, George Miller
Monster House, Gil Kenan

Predicted Winner: Cars
Alternate: Happy Feet
My Vote: HOW DO I CHOOSE?!

So, for once, I really quite love every title nominated. I'd love to see George Miller on stage accepting an Oscar (and it will also quell the inevitable Aussie media who will stab themselves in the neck if an Aussie doesn't win), but the further I get away from them, I think I like Cars more (chalk it up to my weird Americana fetish), but I'd also be very veeery happy with a Monster House win because maybe it will slow the talking-animals movies.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
After the Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory, Algeria
The Lives of Others, Germany
Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
Water, Canada

Predicted Winner: Pan's Labyrinth
Alternate: The Lives of Others
My Vote: Pan's Labyrinth, although I've only seen 2/5. Blah.

So, I'm this (*squeezes thumb and index finger together*) close to predicting The Lives of Others, but I decided not to. I think Pan's European feel will get it across the line. Still... WHERE THE FUCK IS VOLVER?!?!?

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Deliver Us From Evil, Amy Berg, Frank Donner
An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim
Iraq in Fragments, James Longly, Yahya Sinno
Jesus Camp, Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady
My Country, My Country, Laura Poitras, Jocelyn Glatzer

Predicted Winner: An Inconvenient Truth
Alternate: Deliver Us From Evil
My Vote: umm... I've only seen Truth and, suffice to say, I wasn't impressed)

Okay, bare with me! If there is to be a big mothafuckin' upset during the show I really hope it's here. Cause, ya know what? An Inconvenient Truth doesn't deserve to be an Academy Award winner. It just doesn't. It's lazy filmmaking. Maybe if Guggenheim and Gore had made a documentary about global warming it would have been good, but as is, it's documenting what? A slideshow? Here's the thing - MAKING AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH WAS NOT CHALLENGING. They set up a camera at a few of his lectures and filmed it. Big freakin' whoop! Guggenheim (notice, Al Gore had no part in the making of the actual film, hence his non-nomination) didn't have to research. He didn't have to investigate. He didn't have to even know the subject he was making a movie about. He just had to plonk a camera down and press [record]. Funding was probably about as easy to come by as sugar in a candy factory. Then take a movie like Deliver Us From Evil or Jesus Camp (which I admit I haven't seen, but it's not like the reviews have been dirge on their front) which required their filmmakers to go to great lengths to even get their film off the ground let alone research, investigage, find out the truth. That's what documentaries should do. They should have a subject and investigate it. An Inconvenient Truth did none of that (a bit of investigation into Al Gore notwithstanding). As I've said before, it's a noble movie and it's a topic worthy of cinema (who'd ever thing The Day After Tomorrow would be ahead of it's time), but An Inconvenient Truth was not good documenting (or documentary-making). Just because a subject matter is good, doesn't make a film good.

Adding to this, the subject of Deliver Us From Evil is one that is just as utterly compelling and horrifying and should be shoved in people's faces just as much as Al Gore's desire to "save the world" (*snort*). Where are the voters who famously snubbed movies that made money? (Hi to the greatest documentary - and one of the greatest movies period - I've ever seen Hoop Dreams) Blah. /rant

BEST DOCUMENTARY, SHORT SUBJECT
The Blood of Yingzhou District, Ruby Yang, Thomas Lennon
Recycled Life, Leslie Iwerks, Mike Glad
Rehearsing a Dream, Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon
Two Hands: The Leon Fleisher Story, Nathaniel Kahn, Susan Rose Behr

Predicted Winner: The Blood of Yingzhou District
Alternate: Two Hands: The Leon Fleisher Story

I dunno. They sound important.

BEST SHORT FILM, ANIMATION
The Danish Poet, Torill Kove
Lifted, Gary Rydstrom
The Little Matchgirl, Roger Allers, Don Hahn
Maestro, Geza M Toth
No Time for Nuts, Chris Renaud, Mike Thurmeier

Predicted Winner: The Little Matchgirl
Alternate: Maestro
My Vote: I've only seen Maestro unfortunately. I'd love to see the rest, but they're only on iTunes USA

Apparently The Little Matchgirl is a devastatingly sad little film, so I say it wins.

BEST SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION
Binta and the Great Idea, Javier Fesser, Luis Manso
Eramos Pocos, Borja Cobeaga
Helmer and Son, Soron Pilmark, Kim Magnusson
The Saviour, Peter Templeton, Stuart Parkyn
West Bank Story, Ari Sandel

Predicted Winner: The Saviour
Alternate: West Bank Story
My Vote: Well, I've seen The Saviour and that's it.

I'm predicting the Australian Saviour wins because I don't know any of the others and it makes just as much sense as a musical set in the west bank. Right?

Wow. That took a long freakin' time! Like, literally, it's been two hours since I started typing. Granted, I've been doing some other stuff on the net at the same time, but, still. Wow. Anyway.

Here's hoping I do alright. Thing is, if my predictions all come to fruition then I've be a very happy chappy because in most categories I don't really mind what wins because they chose some great stuff this year. Surely, there are some things that I'll be peeved, but even Babel winning certain things ranks as "awesome" compared to many of the disasters of recent years (hi Halle, hi A Beautiful Mind, etc). So, yeah, except for the whole An Inconvenient Truth debacle, I'm sure to be happy to matter what, but if my predictions are right then... YAY!

'til then. Goodbye.

Quick Thoughts

I gotta start getting ready for work soon, but just some random things first.

1. Oscar predictions up later tonight when I get home from work.

2. I won't be on tomorrow because I don't want anything spoiled for me so that means (for me) no internet and if I turn on the TV I gotta make sure I switch it over to the DVD player as soon as I can. I don't want to "Departed wins at the Academy Awards" snippet or whatever which they do because they're (obviously) not aired live.

3. Little Children was strange. But I liked it for the most part. I didn't think Jackie Earle Haley was that great. Kate and Patrick were edible though.

4. Even if your movie is about a surfing gang called the "Bra Boys" why would you name your movie about said gang Bra Boys. That sounds silly.

5. I think I received an e-mail from Anthony Hayes the other day. How strange.

6. I'm hungry.

7. Is the ISP curse going to strike again?

8. Michelle Williams has a lot on her plate right now.

9. Michelle Williams' pixie hair is so cute. Is she doing a remake of Rosemary's Baby that isn't listed on IMDb?

10. God, I'm so hungry. I have to go eat right now. Starving.

Maestro

The Oscar-nominated animated short Maestro. The ending makes it worth it (I wouldn't dare spoil it for you). I wish I could have seen all of the shorts, but alas I'm not allowed.

Australian Releasings

This is only for Australians who may be interesting in dates for 2007 movies. Of course, these are subject to change and not every title is listed, obviously. I've put Australian films in white. * denotes ones that I have an interest in. ** means I really wanna see it NOW. I love the contrast of the weekend of June 14. Teehee. Double feature, anyone?

March 1
Death of a President
How to Eat Fried Worms
The Illusionist*
Man of the Year

March 8
Bobby*
The Good German*
The Hitcher
The Host*
The Notorious Bettie Page**
Wild Hogs

March 15
Bra Boys*
Hollywoodland*
Hot Fuzz*
The Last Kiss
The Night Listener
Razzle Dazzle*
Scoop*
Sixty Six

March 22
Freedom Writers
The Hills Have Eyes 2*
Infamous
Reign Over Me*
School for Scoundrels

March 29
Becoming Jane*
The Lives of Others**
Meet the Robinsons
Mr Bean's Holiday
Running with Scissors

April 5
300*
Alpha Dog
Are We Done Yet?
Happily N'ever After
The Namesake*
Priceless
Shooter
The Singer
Teenager Mutant Ninja Turtles*

April 12
Burke and Wills*
Curse of the Golden Flower*
Disturbia
Primevil
Stomp the Yard
Sunshine**
Tales from Earthsea

April 19
Copying Beethoven
Grind House**
Paris, Je T'aime*
Perfect Stranger
Zodiac*

April 25
Half Nelson*
Joyride
The Kingdom
The Number 23
Premonition
The Reaping

May 3
The History Boys
Into Great Silence
Noise
The Science of Sleep*
Spiderman 3*

May 10
28 Weeks Later*
Black Snake Moan**
Deliver Us from Evil*
Fracture
Lucky You

May 17
Clubland*
Reno 911: Miami
Turistas

May 24
Orchestra Seats
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End*

May 31
Gone*
The Marine
Rise
Vacancy

June 7
Amazing Grace
Blades of Glory
Ocean's Thirteen*
The Banquet*
No Country for Old Men

June 14
Shrek the Third
Hostel II

June 21
Bridge to Terabithia
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

June 27
Dr Plonk*

June 28
Evan Almighty

July 2
Transformers*

July 5
Jailhouse Dog

July 12
The Flying Scotsman
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*

July 19
Live Free or Die Hard

July 26
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
The Simpsons Movie*

August 2
The Invisible
Licence to Wed

August 9
The Bourne Ultimatum**

August 16
Rush Hour 3

August 23
Hot Rod
Knocked Up*
No Reservations

August 30
Ratatouille**
Rogue**

September 6
The Invasion**
Stardust*

September 13
Hairspray*
Pathfinder
Surf's Up

September 27
Resident Evil 3

October 4
Brothers Solomon
Untitles Farrelly Brothers Comedy

((Not sure why there's a week missing? Don't I get anything special for my birthday?))

October 18
The Brave One
Michael Clayton*
Mighty Heart

October 25
Eastern Promises*
Super Bad

November 1
Bryan Singer's Trick 'R Treat

November 8
Joe Claus
Things We Lost in the Fire

November 22
Stop Loss
Vantage Point*

November 29
Beowulf
This Christmas

December 6
Bee Movie

December 7
All Lit Up

December 13
The Water Horse

December 26
I Am Legend*
Kite Runner*
Mr Magorium's Wonderful Emporium

December 27
Alien vs Predator 2

Obviously the second half of the year is scarse, so that'll be filled up with time. I wonder when these movies are out in America. Hmmm.

The Prestige was a great movie.

Really. I'm serious. And, no, not just because of the below images. no, not at all. But since I have them I may as well post them. Cause I'm generous like that. Yeah, that's what it is.



Thanks to Mrs Giggles, apparently. And yes, they do grow.

RIP The OC

So, me and my two besties, for the last three and a half years, have gotten together on Tuesday nights to watch The OC. It was a way to make sure we saw each other at least one night a week when we were busy with school, or work or whatever. So, we loved The OC for, like, the first two seasons. Then the third was kinda shitty but we still watched it cause we had to and then the fourth season descended into lunacy at times, but was also an improvement over season 3. Anyway. Tonight was the finale. Aww, sad. It's the end of an era!

The finale was good. Had all that a good finale should have, really. There were a few minor quibbles, but that'll happen every time (unless you're Six Feet Under, in which case your finale is perfect and just... perfect). So, I bid adieu (er, I think that's spelt right. Right?) to The OC forever. Seasons one and two will live forever ("Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap in the second season finale = one of the best song cues). The show received a lot of flak for some reason (when even older critics said it was good some people dismissed it purely because it wasn't aiming to be the greatest show of all time and just gave teenagers what they wanted. SHOCKHORROR). Anyway. It's been great (sort of).

Preach it!

I cannot agree more with this article. Every single word of it is true. Well, I didn't see The Pursuit of Happyness but that's more because I didn't care for it, but I still agree. If that movie was released in 1979 instead of Kramer vs Kramer I am positive we'd be discussing it as a Best Picture winner. Alas...

Also, there's a reason why The Devil Wears Prada will be in my Best Picture lineup when I get around to it. I've decided to go with titles that really fired me up this year. Sure, so-and-so-serious movie may be technically better, but Prada? I've watched it five times in the span of half a year. That's passion. And it's also why The Black Dahlia will most likely be in my Top 10.

...but that's for a couple of months down the road when I've seen all the titles I want to.

Zodiac International

Zodiac, David Fincher's latest, hits US cinemas in a couple of weeks, and I thought I'd share this International poster with y'all. I like it more than the American version, even if they are both sorta weak. Why do Fincher movies have such minimal poster designs? The Game had a nifty one I guess, but really... blah. Anyway. Enjoy.

For the love of Jamie

Umm... I just saw a bunch of Jamie Bell pictures over at Just Jared, so naturally I have to post them. There's also photos from the premiere of Hallam Foe, Jamie's new movie that was at Berlin. *sigh* Why is he so adorable and not on my couch? So frustrating.

Pan's Links

I'm gonna discuss Pan's Labyrinth in a tick, but right now - here are some links.

The Envelope has an article about cinematography. I ooh and aah over this category every year (it's my absolute favourite outside of the "majors") and this year was an exceptional year. I haven't seen Dick Pope's work on The Illusionist (that movie is out next week down here), but the other four nominees (Vilmos Zsigmond for The Black Dahlia, Emmanuel Lubezki for Children of Men, Wally Pfister for The Prestige and Guillermo Navvaro for Pan's Labyrinth) are all in my own personal ballot (alongside David Williamson for Jindabyne).

The Age takes to the Oscars from an Australian point of view. But the writer sort of lost me when he mentioned the Brownlow. Don't compare the two, please.

Thank god for Lizzy Gardiner's American Express Gold Card dress, and for Bjork and Cher and people prepared to live dangerously and flirt with the sartorial absurd.

How about a HELL YES! The Kramer Vs Kramer jibe on page 2 warmed the cockles of my heart.

We all know about Penelope Cruz' padded arse in Almodovar's Volver, but was some of Cruz's hair fake as well? I loved her hair in that movie. So big.

At The Gilded Moose I was a runner up on the Prove Your Wit competition. Not only did I throw an insult Oprah Winfrey's way, but I also poked fun at The Last King of Scotland. I make myself so proud sometimes.

In Dreamgirls news - those you thought you would never get to see the original (and apparently the best) Effie White will actually get the chance to when Jennifer Holliday takes to the stage in an Atlanta Dreamgirls revival.

Annette Bening at the Film Experience offers up who she ticked the boxes for on her Academy Award form. She's smart. She knows that finally she'll have a change to win (aka, she won't be up against The Skank) and the Academy will feel they "owe" Kate Winslet.

Adam at Crumb by Crumb offers his predictions, which I pretty much agree with. I'll offer my final predix in a day or so.

RC over at Strange Culture goes through the archives and details explicitly his Oscar-prediction shortcomings. I think we're all guilty of doing that. I thought Judy Davis was surely gonna get nominated for Marie Antoinette back in 2005. LOL, right?

I am immediately intrigued by Zoo. Is this some sort of Equus-on-film or what? Man turns into horse? WHAT?

Arden (Not her real name) over at Cinephilia reviews George Hickenlooper's abstract ode Factory Girl. The reasons why she liked it are the exact reasons I've wanted to see it for ages and why I just know I'll like it. It's that time period and all that stuff. I wish they'd release it down here. We got Miss Potter and Breaking and Entering pretty much at the same time, so why not this?

Lastly, did you know you could order flavoured m&ms?

The new blogger

So, I think I've finished the conversion over to the new blogger. I need to add labels to everything, which will take a while, but other than that. There one thing bugging me.

I can't add pictures down the sidebar like I used to. I can't put a picture under a heading and, for whatever reason, I can't seem to centre them so they end up looking like that Little Miss Sunshine image there, just sitting there as if without purpose and/or structure.

Here I Am!

So, my day has been interesting. Here's an equally interesting (...) rundown.

I woke up at 10 and went to the shops to buy a paper. There was a funny article about Germaine Greer. Doesn't she ever shup up? Don't newspapers get sick of writing about how she never shuts up?

At 11.30 I went into town with my friend Hannah. I had to film her getting her ear pierced for, like, the tenth time. She got one done and I was all "Is that it?" and then the piercer (Clare, she's really nice) brought out a big motha of a needle and said there was a second one. It was huge. I wasn't too crash hot on the filming thing in the first place, and then I saw what I was filming (my friend likes to keep the... memories) I closed my eyes. I have a big thing against medical stuff. Like, I could watch countless ultra-gory horror movies, but once there's things that are like surgery I just can't handle it. Needles being injected? Ugh. Hell, even the piano wire sequence in Audition was unbearable (other than that movie just being woeful in general). I can't watch any medical shows on TV like ER or RPA (well, except Grey's Anatomy, strangely). I couldn't even listen to my friends discuss disecting a frog in High School. And it's not because I have a history with hospitals. I've never actually been a patient in one. It just makes me queasy.

Anyway.

After that we ran into our friend Agi and we went to lunch at this organic restaurant and met up with Emma. It was nice, I suppose. Why are organic restaurants always so tiny? The focaccia I got was good, but had too much beetroot. Like, hold the freakin' beetroot! Some of it is nice but not an entire garden.

After that we saw Notes on a Scandal (2006, dir. Eyre), which was sort of hilarious. Judi Dench was brilliant. Cate, not so much. I just loved the completely over-the-top melodramatic lunacy that ensued. You know what else there was a lot of? Lots of shots of stairs! Upwards, downwards, sideways, under, over, any which way. Richard Eyre really liked filming characters walking up, down, sitting on, looking up at and standing underneath stairs! They were everywhere! Turn around and, oh look! Another flight of stairs! Turn around again. Ta-dah! More stairs. It was frightening the amount of stairs there were! Still, it was enjoyable. By the last half hour I was laughing my arse off. "HERE I AM!! HERE I AAAAMMM!!!!!" What a hoot. "You're not young!" Talk about LOL. Shame that Phillip Glass' score was ridiculously omnipresent. It was like the stairs. I almost can see them saying "No scene shall not include the score turned up to 11!" Anyway. I think I'm gonna scream "HERE I AM!!" everytime I enter a room now for the next few days. B.

While we were at the cinema we saw all these posters for Pan's Labyrinth!!!! Hannah and I were going to head up to Melbourne just to see it (before the oscars), but it's out as of tomorrow. All the posters had big signs attached reading "STARTS FEB 22" which is tomorrow! OMG. So, naturally, we're seeing it tomorrow. Can't wait. Agi was totally pumped to. She and her boyfriend were also going to go to Melbourne just to see it.

Anyway.

Then I came home and Blogger finally asked me to swap over to the new thing. Everytime I tried it told me I couldn't, but now it did. So... yay? I dunno. Am I gonna have to go through and add labels to every post? Oy...

Capsule Reviews

Time for small reviews. I heart small reviews.

Monster House (2006, dir. Kenan) - At first I felt that Monster House was really strange. The animation looked really odd, like Flushed Away with it's CGI-made-to-look-like-claymation but not as, er, claymayey (wtf?) And it was obvious that this was meant to be 3D, what with crazy things flying at the screen (which reminds me, I promise to get a Cinema of the Absurd entry up soon!!!) But after a while I got into the vibe. The characters were great. Maggie Gyllenhaal does great voice work, y'all. And there were some great setpieces in there, it felt like a cousin of Toy Story. Nice stuff all round and that makes it a year where I really like all three Best Animated Feature nominees. B+

Friends with Money (2006, dir. Holofcener) - Okay, so here's something I don't admit to very often, but I sort of really dislike Fellinni's La Dolce Vita. I think it's a terribly boring exercise in showing how wonderful being rich is. Friends with Money is sort of similar, in that it just shows rich being rich except this time one of their friends IS POOR! *gasp* She gets samples from makeup counters instead of spending $75 on a proper jar of useless crap. There's some nice stuff there, but ultimately it doesn't have enough to say and that point is proven by the fact that the film isn't even 80 minutes long. It never lifts off. Catherine Keener is great though. C+

Shut Up & Sing (2006, dir. Koppel & Peck) - Y'all know my affection for Dixie Chicks leadsinger Natalie Maines. It makes me sad to know that this fabulous documentary was ignored for the most part. I suppose people like to think they can reduce the temperature of Earth. Either way, Shut Up & Sing is a great great film. Those idiotic redneck assholes still don't get it, and while it's not exactly fun seeing the war in Iraq descent into lunacy, watching this film just can't help but put a cheshire car grin on my face. Natalie For President, indeed. A-


Lastly, I'm not sure how many of you guys read the delightful six things while it was in service, but the writer of that blog, a chap by the name of par3128 who is a fellow Victorian, sent me a copy of Shut Up & Sing and, well, it made my week. Thank you Par! You're awesome. It was in my DVD player five minutes after I retrieved it from the letterbox. I exploded on the inside.

Little Miss Sunshine Redux

Okay, so I watched Little Miss Sunshine (2006, dir. Dayton & Faris) again tonight. I'm still at two minds about it. Yes, the first hour and ten minutes or so are really quite great and lovely, but... that ending. It frustrates me. Two many questions raised unanswered. The very ending (with them driving off into the sunset) is a big disappointment. It just ends it. As if they ran out of a way to finish it properly without leaving a smidge of bitterness in the viewer's mind (the special features on the DVD, quite humourously, point this out).

But, still, god I was even more impressed with Steve Carell. I couldn't even believe it. I didn't think I could like him anymore in this film, but it appears I could. Why didn't he get any awards traction? So bizarre. I was also impressed by Paul Dano much more this time (who now with The King and Fast Food Nation moves into my UMA Supporting Actor lineup). I was less impressed this time with Alan Arkin. I had forgotten how he soon he exits the film. I'd be more than happy for him to win the Oscar though. He's still ace. Collette and Breslin were still lovely and I picked up some things I hadn't the first time. Just some of the looks that Breslin gives. Kinnear...? I dunno. I'm not a fan of him and his everyman thing, but he's fine I suppose.

This film, for me, is a perfectly nice film - never entirely outstanding outside of Carell's performance - but even the negatives I have towards the film don't ever really allow it to dip into truly bad territory. I just wish the last 20 minutes or so were done a bit differently. I'm not sure how, but I just have too many issues with it. Still, it could've been worse. It could've descending into revolting and insulting absurdity like The Last King of Scotland (sorry fans of that film, I'll be digging my claws into that piece of roadkill garbage for a long time). I am literally on the border of a B and B+, so I will not give it a difinitive grade. I'll just let it hang in the limbo inbetween.

RIP Steve Carell's awards campaign.



edit: So the mother likes watching the Oscars, but I have no idea why because she rarely gets to see any of the movies nominated! So I made her watch Little Miss Sunshine and she really liked it. I wonder which she liked more: Little Miss Sunshine or Hard Candy. That was a strange moment. Anyway. I've got Monster House in the player right now and after that Friends with Money. And they're due back at Blockbuster by tomorrow night. eep.

The IMDb is a-changin'

So, in the last few hours since I last checked IMDb, it has radically changed it's layout! Just go there and click on a film title. It's all different! Well, it's the same general setup, but it's all new office like. The new setup for their Recommendations bit now makes it really hard to do my movie connections. Sadface.

I don't get Stranger than Fiction.

The more I think about Stranger than Fiction (2006, dir. Forster), the less it makes any sense. It's not on the level of, oh say, The Lake House (DIE!!), but it's very annoying.

Firstly, if Emma Thompson's character (the author, and narrator of Will Ferrell's life) has been writing her book Death and Taxes for 10 years (as we're made aware of by the TV interview) then how come when Ferrell starts to hear her it's the very start of her book? I mean, she's already researched death sequences for her lead character by the first 20 minutes of the movie, yet she's only just started the book?

Why are parts of Ferrell's life being narrated but others aren't? How come his trips to Dustin Hoffman's office aren't narrated, but when there's the scene where he's trying to find a public telephone to call Thompson it is narrated. What is Ferrell's character trying to find a telephone for?

How come when Thompson types "The phone rings" (or whatever) her phone does indeed ring and then it only rings when she types again, yet there was, like, 30 seconds between phone rings?

How come she's typing on a typewriter?

How come her book is so big yet if, as I mentioned, the start of the film is the start of her book ("This is a story about...") and barely any parts of Ferrell's life are actually narrated.

Ugh. It doesn't make sense. I do love Maggie though. And Emma. And Queen Latifah. And, I really do like Dustin Hoffman so much more when he does comedy.

C+

Abi's missing, Steve's in jail and I'm making out with Jake on the front lawn...

Okay, so I know dream posts are dreadfully boring most of the time, but I only make them when there's extra-interesting things, such as Scar.Jo as a homicidal nun or, ya know, Jamie freakin' Bell! (and Estelle Getty).

But, last night's was crazy weird.



Okay, so I was living in my best friend Georgie's house (she didn't live there at this time though). And then suddenly Jake Gyllenhaal showed up and we were all in love with each other and stuff and yum. Anyway. Soon enough bodies started to pile up, which ain't a good way to "get in the mood". Anyway. It turned out that it was Hatchet Face from John Waters' Cry-Baby. I don’t know why, but Hatchet Face was trying to frame me. I bet she was trying to steal Jakey Poo from me, but bitch plz – Jake has taste.

So, anyway, soon enough (well, right then. My dreams are fast paced) the cops showed up and Jake and I were on the front lawn (odd cause Georgie’s house doesn’t have a front lawn like the one in my dream) and we were all making out and stuff, which was awesome, but we were also saying our goodbyes. And then Hatchet sliced a policeman with a samurai sword that sort of appeared out of nowhere.

And then it ended.


The next dream I had (it’s like Grindhouse. Two for the price of one) was like a warped alternate ending to Little Miss Sunshine. Instead of them arriving at the beauty pageant, something happened that resulting in Steve Carell's Frank being arrested. Then my dream kept skipping forward ten years in time and every year the family (including me) would go visit Frank in jail and have a big Christmas feast (or was it Thanksgiving?)


Funny thing was… Abigail Breslin wasn’t there! Maybe we left her at a rest stop and then just didn’t turn back. I wonder, when Toni and Greg and Steve were all old and wrinkled and on death’s door, where poor Abi was.

It was a strange dream. I think it may have some deep-seeded link to the fact that I have a weird and downright bizarre crush on Steve Carell, which I’ve mentioned before.

Hmm… I should get some actors and film it and make it a special feature on the DVD. No? …oh well.

Little Miss awkward/beautiful

OMG! Notice how I got two film and one music references in the subject line? Man, I'm awesome. Sure, one of them doesn't have to do with Toni Collette, but 'tev.

Anyway. I was reading the Sunday Herald Sun tonight when I got home from work and there was a nice article about Toni Collette in it and thought I'd share it with you guys. But not only that, I also have the chance for you to listen to some free music! Yes, the publication is giving away ten copies of Collette's album Beautiful Awkward Pictures (with her band The Finish) and you can listen to a track from the album for free. The contest is open for Australians only (closes Thursday 22) but I don't see why others can't listen to the track. The contest and song download are available here. Treat yourself.

The article, "Away from the sunshine", can be found over here. She's gonna be preggers soon, so get all the Collette lovin' you can handle over the next couple of years before she succumbs to a dreaded (at least to us actressuals) case of motherhood.

There's at least one leading man she'd jump at the chance to perform alongside -- Johnny Depp.

"I really do think Depp is quite something. I'd love to work with him. I think Kate Winslet is brilliant in my own kind of age bracket," she says.

But Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett aren't really on her radar.

"If we're in the same room, we have a conversation. But we're not life-long mates or anything," she says.

Muriel's Wedding co-star Rachel Griffiths is.

"Muriel affected our lives so profoundly, I don't think we're going to ever not be friends," she says.

I sort of wanna be in a room with Toni and Rachel just so I can fawn over them and continuously tell them how awesome they are. I don't know who I love more. Toni or Rachel? Such hard desicions...

There's more Toni Collette loving in the recent past of Stale Popcorn by clicking here, including the video for "Beautiful Awkward Pictures", which I've decided to included in this entry too, below. Just for shits and giggles, ya know?

Oh, and btw, the song ("Look Up") is really great. Like, a lot. Majorly. I'ma have to buy that album (if I don't win a copy, of course). I just wanna keep listening to that song over and over. I'm gonna go buy it off of iTunes. Now.

Nada x2

It's still too hot for my brain to function properly. And I have work later. For those who don't work on the celcius scale (Hi Adam! Metric system all the way!), it's about 100 degrees fahrenheit. Bleh. It's times like these that I wonder why William McInnes' character in Look Both Ways went running on that weekend-on-film. Crazy.

Nada

Ugh. So it's nearly 6pm and I only just got home from being out pretty much all day. And it's, like, 40 degrees out so you're not getting anything outta me. Just. Too. Hot. I'm not even going to link to anything. It's that hot. I'm melting.

Dirt Rumours...

So, apparently Colin Farrell has been cast opposite Rachel Weisz in Phillip Noyce's Dirt Music.

I'm not sure how I feel about that to be honest.

1001 Movies

So, I'm about half way through 1955's Guys and Dolls. I was 20 minutes into it and really couldn't be bothered watching the rest, but it's in the 1001 Movies You must See Before You Die (this is in there, but two other 1955 masterpieces, East of Eden and The Man with the Golden Arm are not? Weird) so I figured I should watch it just so I could cross it off my list.

And then I was thinking: If they released a new edition of that book right now, what films from 2006 would be on there? There's an average of about 14 titles per year, so here are 14 films from 2006 that I think they would put in. Some of them I like, some of them I don't. Some I haven't even seen, but they just feel like movies that would be in that book.

Babel (Inarritu) - These seemingly important multi-narative films are well-liked by the editors.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Charles) - The definition of pop culturally relevant. Plus, one of the funniest movies ever made.

Casino Royale (Campbell) - Considering stuff like Goldfinger is in there, I have no doubt this would make it, considering it's one of the most acclaimed Bond movies ever.

Children of Men (Cuaron) - Obvious. Technical marvel, thinking-man's science fiction. They love that stuff.

The Departed (Scorsese) - Pretty much anything by Scorsese get's attention. That it's popular and acclaimed means it would be in.

The Descent (Marshall) - They like effective, classy horror. This is in.

The Fountain (Aronofsky) - See Children of Men.

An Inconvenient Truth (Guggenheim) - Cause it broke barriers and was socially and critically relevant.

INLAND EMPIRE (Lynch) - Just cause.

The Last King of Scotland (Macdonald) - Cause this seems more up their alley than The Queen.

Letters from Iwo Jima (Eastwood) - It's, as they would say, "a lock"

The Lives of Others (Donnershmarck) - They need some foreign language in there and this seems as good as any.

Pan's Labyrinth (Del Toro) - One of a few definites. This one's a no-brainer to appear.

The Proposition (Hillcoat) - This is a film that lots of film buffs relished in, and it's got hardcore arthouse cred. This would go down as a 2005 release though.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (Winterbottom) - British comedy is popular.

United 93 (Greengrass) - The critics film, and a landmark of sorts.

Alternates: Brick (Johnson - culty, up their alley), Volver (Might be seen as "lesser Almodovar" like it was at the oscars), Sweet Land (Selim - I'd have actually put this on the list if it picked up any steam with American audiences), A Prairie Home Companion (Altman - eulogy), Happy Feet (Miller - seems logical), The Dead Girl and Half Nelson (Moncrieff, Fleck - The smallish ensemble movies that they would probably like), Little Children (just because), Deliver Us From Evil (Berg - For those who didn't like An Inconvenient Truth, this is apparently the doco to get angry about), Dreamgirls (Condon - It'll be an important moment in relation to race in movies), The Devil Wears Prada (Frankel - sometimes they honour popcorn movies than transcend), Shortbus (Mitchell - arty stuff, up their alley).

I'd also like to imagine they'd see fit to honour Look Both Ways.

I would also put Ten Canoes in, but I'm not sure if they include movies that didn't get an American distribution.

(I don't know why I did this entry)

Yeah, blame it on RAIN. That's what it was.

Okay, so, I think this musical-biopic phase is a) going way too far and/or b) running out of ideas. James Brown? Sure. Although Eddie Murphy just used his Brown schtick in Dreamgirls. But, this isn't about Spike Lee's Brown biopic. No, this is about a Milli Vanilli movie. How about LOL! For once though, I am actually hoping they cast Jamie Foxx. Because how hilarious would it be. I mean, Foxx is a big fat phoney anyway, so he'd fit in.


But, man. Milli freakin' Vanilli? These guys?


What's next? A Betty Boo biopic?

Actually, Betty Boo was pretty awesome for, like, three months.

Sorry guys

But I had to turn word verification on. That spam was just getting ridiculous.

I was so against putting that on because I hate it usually with it's crazy fonts and ridiculous lengths sometimes, but that's the deal.

And so this post has something positive to it...


ummm...

Underrated Movie of the Week

New York, New York, 1977, dir. Martin Scorsese, starring Liza Minnelli, Robert DeNiro, Lionel Stander, Mary Kay Place and Georgie Auld.

Start spreading the news
I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York
These vagabond shoes
Are longing to stray
And make a brand new start of it
New York, New York
I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps
To find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap
These little town blues
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New York.

I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps
To find I'm king of the hill, top of the heap
These little town blues
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New York.

Natalie Maines Is My Hero

Seriously. And the Dixie Chicks are truly one of the best bands in music today. I'm so glad we have them in this world. Why didn't you guys (er, the Americans who had access to it - stupid Weinstein brothers!) go see Shut Up & Sing? I know it shouldn't surprise me that a movie such as An Inconvenient Truth, what with it's sledgehammer subtlety and oh-so-hip social message, should become the left winger's flag waving token (some people wear it as a badge that they saw that movie and act as if they're actually changing the world), and then something like Shut Up & Sing gets pushed aside, which is just as politically and socially important. Someone should rerelease it now that the Chicks have all this attention. That way people can go see it and realise that Natalie Maines should be worshipped (cause, ya know, she's also a kickarse singer and she's married to the flying politician on Heroes).

Natalie, You're my hero. Bless ya! I think I'm gonna purchase Shut Up & Sing on DVD from America considering the only country outside of America that even has a tentative release date is The Netherlands. Ugh.

Here's some more Dixie Chick/Grammy clips for your viewing pleasure. DIXIE CHICKS FOREVER!


Who is that next to Seal? And that weird stage-in-the-audience thing reminds me of the Oscars when they made people accept their award in the aisles.


Owen Wilson? Huh? HA-HA. I love you Natalie.


What's Quentin Tarantino doing with Tony Bennett? LOL. These presenters are so bizarre. Tony's all class though.


And this clip continues to beg the question... why was Scarlett Johansson even at the Grammys let alone presenting the biggest award of the night? And why can't she stand closer to the mic? Crazy. Is she really recording an album? I don't get why all these people were presenting awards.