top 10s

Okay, so I'm going to start posting my top 10s in all the major categories (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Screenplay) for the years 1999-2006 uh...tomorrow? So exciting, I know. And very subject to change...for example, my Best Supporting Actor for 2006 keeps changing. Eh.

a good day for birthdays!

Happy birthday to the insanely hot Christian Bale (and in the picture above, he doesn't even have his shirt off). His ridiculously bravura performance in American Psycho still stands as one of the best of the decade. Also, happy birthday Gene Hackman, a legend who has the added bonus of really, really looking like my dad. The French Connection, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Conversation <3 (among others)

I rewatched Children of Men last night through um, not entirely legal means. Even on the teeny screen (coughmycomputercough), God, that film is fucking stunning. It and The Fountain might have to switch places on my top 10 list, and maybe, some day, even The Departed...

SAG rundown

Can't say I actually watched it, but here's what I have to say based on pictures/winners.

So, I kinda blew chunks with my predictions. Oh well. Guess Murphy is the frontrunner after all, and though I know it's for a reason, O'Toole's repeated absences at award shows can't be helping.

Reese Witherspoon, hun, gain like 5 pounds. You looked fantastic at the Globes but you're back to being bony now. Her dress was great though; she's always well-dressed.

ALEC BALDWIN!!!! Too bad he won't get nominated for where he really deserves it, The Departed (better than Wahlberg). Oh who am I kidding, he totally deserves it for 30 Rock too (though not as much as The Piv!).

It's official: I'm kind of falling in love with Little Miss Sunshine's cast. It's only the third-best of the nominees but I'll be thrilled if it wins because it's just SO non-Academy.

uhhh Rachel McAdams? Mary-Louise Parker?!?!

OMG HOW GOOD LOOKING WAS MARK WAHLBERG????

Cate Blanchett looked horrible and you know she wants to kill Jennifer Hudson.

Um, so, this is awkward.

I have to say, the more and more time goes on, the less and less Anne Hathaway pisses me off. She's just talentless, but she's not actively annoying like, say, one of her co-stars in The Devil Wears Prada (and the co-star I refer to is not named Meryl, Stanley, or Adrien...oh beautiful, beautiful Adrien Grenier). Plus, she's cute and seems classy. Sorry, Anne. If you suck in Becoming Jane (which you probably will) and get an Oscar nomination/buzz/good reviews, I'll go back to hating you, though.

Joshua Jackson was there last night...he just bizarrely keeps popping up places recently for some reason. And instead of typing "Joshua Jackson," I'll type the guy I like's name, which doesn't make any sense since it's not even close to Joshua Jackson...but maybe I've already said too much? I might have to kill you now?

Dear Hugh Lawrie, you are boring, stop winning shit. Not love, me.

To quote the year's best actress, "that's all"

wouldn't it be a lovely headline: "life is beautiful"

as you see from my "about me," i am too scared to post on others' blogs. there are a great number of reasons for this, but it basically all boils down to: i rarely agree with consensus, and i have no idea how to really defend myself. i thought brokeback mountain was little more than mediocre. crash totally deserved it. i think people subconciously had A grades reserved for inland empire without even seeing it. i think giving so much praise to emily blunt in the devil wears prada is like giving praise to a great pianist who comes out and then repeatedly plunks one note on the piano. i think poor hilary swank is adorable. i still enjoy renee zellweger. michelle pfeiffer has never deserved an oscar (there have been times when she was the best of the nominees, though); julianne moore only deserves one. i didn't think dreamgirls was a hideous disappointment. i love clint eastwood's work. while i rarely think the oscars get it 100% (or even 50%, or 25%, or sometimes even 10%) right, they don't really embarass themselves all that often. i don't pat myself on the back for being off-consensus either.

however, i can relate to my fellow bloggers on one issue: sometimes, i'll feel, you know, blah. and then i'll put on a rufus wainwright song - "cigarettes and chocolate milk" is a for-the-time favorite - and i'll just feel better because the world allows for that kind of genius to exist.

oh wow, the SAGs are tonight?

i guess i might as well give my crappy crappy predictions, as well as who i want to win and who i don't want to win.

Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Motion Picture (or whatever it's called)
Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
Alt: The Departed
Yes!: The Departed
No!: Bobby

Best Actor
Winner: Peter O'Toole, Venus
Alt: Forrest Whittaker, Last King of Scotland
Yes!: Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
No!: No performance is even deserving of slight criticism like "servable." Still, I guess Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond

Best Actress
Winner: Helen Mirren, The Queen
Alt: Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Yes!: Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
No!: An amazing category...and I certainly won't yell "no!" if this happens, which it definitely will, but yeah, out of the nominees, the least is Helen Mirren, The Queen (still A+ work though)

Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Alt: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Yes!: Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls (Leo's is a better performance, but such blatant category fraud...)
No!: um, I guess Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Note: If Eddie Murphy wins, he can write his Oscar speech right now.

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls (even if she doesn't win she still has the Oscar in the bag)
Alt: Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Yes!: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
No!: Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal

as far as TV goes, I can't say I've watched anything. but best actor in a comedy series - wow, never have i felt so strongly. carell, baldwin, and PIVEN!! are BRILLIANT. lee is boring and his show sucks. shalhoub will probably win because he always fucking does. oh and desperate housewives can suck it. god, i miss tv i cared about...and by that, i mean sex and the city.

top 30 of '06

...so i can take that top 10 down. also, for some reason, i didn't include documentaries here. dunno why.

30. the good shepherd
29. the devil wears prada
28. the prestige
27. water
26. curse of the golden flower
25. stranger than fiction
24. scoop
23. the pursuit of happyness
22. superman returns
21. a prairie home companion
20. monster house
19. the descent
18. breaking and entering
17. little children
16. l'enfant
15. little miss sunshine
14. united 93
13. half nelson
12. the painted veil
11. casino royale
10. pan's labyrinth
9. letters from iwo jima
8. marie-antoinette
7. volver
6. borat
5. dreamgirls
4. inside man
3. children of men
2. the fountain
1. the departed

one thing i will say...

...in emily blunt's favor: she probably could have gotten in, as well as catherine o'hara, if they had better campaigns. for your consideration apparently only had one for your consideration ad (this movie just did not live up to its potential in any way; it could have been brilliant and it could have had the best fyc ads ever, but it was easily guest's worst, and the only film of his that's actually bad, and the fyc ads? yeah...), and though the devil wears prada had quite a few, they all focused on meryl streep, not devoting any blurbs to blunt (good!). there was clearly support for her, as her globe nomination shows, but i don't think the studio pushed her enough.

little miss sunshine though? no matter what you think of that movie its producers deserve an A+. they produced the fuck outta that thing, probably more so than any other producers did (the painted veil? breaking and entering? LITTLE CHILDREN??? i'm looking at you guys).

edit: okay, i was looking on rotten tomatoes for prada reviews with blurbs about blunt, and i found this blurb: "The film is delightful -- what Sex and the City could have been with intelligence and real wit instead of rote bitchiness."
WHAT DID YOU SAY???!!!! HOW DARE YOU!!! (it's a bad idea to insult sex and the city around me)

random performance lists...

...of random 2006 movies:

Little Miss Sunshine
1. Steve Carell
2. Toni Collette
3. Abigail Breslin
4. Greg Kinnear
5. whoever played the pageant host (Matt Winston, apparently)
6. Alan Arkin
7. the actual van
8. Paul Dano

Stranger than Fiction
1. Emma Thompson
2. Will Ferrell
3. Maggie Gyllenhaal
4. Dustin Hoffman
5. OMG TOM HULCE HAS A CAMEO IN THIS.
6. Queen Latifah

The Departed
1. Leonardo DiCaprio
2. Matt Damon
3. Jack Nicholson
4. Alec Baldwin
5. Vera Farmiga
6. Mark Wahlberg
7. Martin Sheen

Little Children
1. Kate Winslet
2. Jackie Earle Haley
3. Patrick Wilson
4. Phyllis Sommerville
5. Jane Adams
6. Jennifer Connelly
7. Noah Emmerich

and now i have to go have friends, and stuff.

slow day...

dear zach braff,
i would like to apologize. i hated you intensely after garden state, which hopefully you can realize, at this point, was a piece o'crap. but...scrubs is really enjoyable and fun and goofy, and you were good in the last kiss (ignore the haggis haters - and i know that's hard to do, because there are so many of them and they're really obnoxious, but just laugh at them. that's what i do, anyway). in conclusion, you are actually talented and not trying to bash me over the head with your quirk, and i really do appreciate it.
love, me.

ps: if you ever try to come out with another "quirky-let's-define-my-generation movie" again, though, i might have to shoot you.

it's not going to stop 'til you wise up

A+ It is not a perfect film, unlike most of the A+s I would give. However, it is a testament to the utter power of cinema. It doesn't all make sense and things are left open-ended, but it's so fascinating, so utterly absorbing, so daring. And it has perhaps the best scene ever, in the history of cinema ("Wise Up," obviously).

happy birthday again...

happy birthday to GOD. (can i say that?) he's old but still spirited and, for 82, VERY VERY attractive. not that his attractiveness now (or anything) can compare to his attractiveness in the '50s, '60s, and '70s. OH DEAR CHRIST. oh, and has it been mentioned he is a brilliant actor? the long, hot summer. cat on a hot tin roof. the young philadelphians. the hustler. sweet bird of youth. hud. harper. cool hand luke. butch cassidy and the sundance kid. the sting. slap shot. absence of malice. the verdict. the color of money (no, he didn't deserve the oscar, but it's hardly an embarassing performance to say the least anyway). nobody's fool. road to perdition. ugh. i love him.

oh my GOD jake gyllenhaal looks good.

not that he normally doesn't, but i saw this picture and was just like "guhhwhaatt??"

so random!

so the gilded moose which is always hilarious had this thing where it was like "oscar nominees, if they were people in your high school." so, of course, i have to do "oscar nominees, if they were people in college," AKA what happens when they get drunk. dumb? not that funny? yes, but also i need to procrastinate desperately. and yes, i know all these "drunks." ignore my strange pronoun usage, since it's probably all wrong ("that person" and "themselves" don't match up dammit).

Best Picture
Babel is that person who gets drunk and then injures himself a lot by falling down and such.
The Departed is that person who gets drunk and belligerent.
Letters from Iwo Jima is that person who gets drunk and then starts speaking in foreign languages.
Little Miss Sunshine is that person who gets drunk and then is everyone's best friend, even though he is really weird.
The Queen is that person who gets drunk after one beer.

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond is that person who gets drunk and then smokes a whole lot of cigarettes, which he never does while sober.
Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson is that person who gets drunk all the fucking time yet still has his life together.
Peter O'Toole in Venus is that person who gets drunk and then hits on everyone.
Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness is that person who gets drunk and then comes up with some crazy scheme to save the world.
Forrest Whittaker in The Last King of Scotland is that person who gets drunk and goes fucking insane.

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz in Volver is that person who gets drunk and then thinks that she's really good at kareoke.
Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal is that person who gets drunk, then starts hooking up with everyone of the same sex.
Helen Mirren in The Queen is that person who gets drunk, clams up and gets moody, and then gets mad when everyone starts asking if she is okay.
Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada is that person who gets drunk, and then, even though she is just as drunk as everyone else, claims she's really not all that drunk and tries to boss everyone else around/cut people off/generally ruin fun.
Kate Winslet in Little Children is that person who gets drunk, and then starts taking off all their clothes.

Best Supporting Actor (this is a fun group...)
Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine is that person who gets drunk, then gets grumpy and starts bitching about everything.
Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children is that person who gets drunk, then starts telling you way too much information about their sex life.
Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond is that person who gets drunk, and then screams a lot but doesn't think that he is actually doing it.
Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls is that person who gets drunk, then gets out his harder drugs and freaks everyone else at the party out.
Mark Wahlberg in The Departed is that person who gets drunk and then gets angry and screams at everyone a lot.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza in Babel is that person who gets drunk, then throws up a lot.
Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal is that person who gets drunk, hooks up with someone she really doesn't want to, and has to face the rest of their college career dealing with the mockery/denying it.
Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine is that person who gets drunk, and then thinks they're the best dancer in the entire world.
Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls is that person who gets drunk, and then suddenly knows every word to every song that comes on and feels the need to sing along.
Rinko Kikuchi in Babel is that person who gets drunk and then gets really slutty.

oh, self...

also happy birthday...

w. somerset maugham (many, many years ago, hah). you can be happy in the news that the film version of your movie the painted veil is pretty brilliant and was also completely robbed at the oscars (score. actress. cinematography. adapted screenplay. actor. even picture, cuz it's pretty baity and for said bait, it's excellent. etc).

happy birthday mia kirshner

brilliant in exotica and she really should have gotten nominated (and won) in best supporting actress this year for a fucking stunning performance in the black dahlia. can't say i watch the l word but based on her other work, she's probably great in that too.

my heroes

perhaps the hottest man alive and a genius director and DP, making a fucking brilliant movie. what could be better?

random oscar fun

switching out one nominee in each category for another nominee of my choice...

Best Picture
Bye: The Queen
Hi: The Fountain

Best Director
Bye: Stephen Frears, The Queen
Hi: Darren Aronofsky, The Fountain

Best Actor
Bye: Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Hi: Hugh Jackman, The Fountain (do I come off as obsessed with The Fountain or what)

Best Actress
Bye: Helen Mirren, The Queen (!)
Hi: Laura Dern, Inland Empire

Best Supporting Actor
Bye: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Hi: Michael Sheen, The Queen

Best Supporting Actress
Bye: Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Hi: Mia Kirshner, The Black Dahlia

Best Original Screenplay
Bye: The Queen
Hi: Volver

Best Adapted Screenplay
Bye: Notes on a Scandal
Hi: The Painted Veil

Best Foreign Language Film
Bye: Um...After the Wedding? I've only seen Pan's Labyrinth and Water
Hi: Um, Volver much

Best Cinematography
Bye: The Prestige
Hi: The Fountain

Best Art Direction
Bye: Dreamgirls or The Good Shepherd
Hi: The Science of Sleep

Best Costume Design
Bye: It hurts to get rid of any of these... The Queen though
Hi: The Painted Veil

Best Original Score
Bye: The Queen
Hi: The Fountain

Best Original Song
Bye: "Patience" from Dreamgirls, if it's the song I think it is
Hi: "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)," Snakes on a Plane

Best Animated Film
Bye: Happy Feet
Hi: Over the Hedge

aaand I'm too lazy to do the rest. Geez, I don't like The Queen much, apparently.

oscar nominations!

Whoo, boy. These are fun.

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
My final predictions: Babel, The Departed, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen (4/5)
Personal ballot: The Departed, The Fountain, Children of Men, Inside Man, Dreamgirls (1/5 agreement)
Ranking the nominees: The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, Babel, The Queen
Comments: Wow. Remember when Dreamgirls was the lockiest lock that was ever locked? And then it got snubbed??!?! Please kill anyone that complains about how "boring" the Oscar nominees are because of this.
Will win: Oh God! It's so hard to call! Can I go with The Queen because I really don't want that to happen?

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
My final predictions: Condon, Eastwood, Frears, Iñárritu, Scorsese (4/5)
Personal ballot: Aronofsky (The Fountain), Scorsese (The Departed), Cuaron (Children of Men), Coppola (Marie-Antoinette), Greengrass (United 93) (2/5)
Comments: I knew the LMS duo wasn't gonna make it, but I thought United 93's hype was pretty much d-e-a-d. This is a pretty good lineup, save Frears who just...zzz.
Will win: Is it finally Marty's year?? Can I say that without jinxing it???

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forrest Whittaker, Last King of Scotland
My final predictions: Baron Cohen, DiCaprio (for The Departed though...), O'Toole, Smith, Whittaker (3/5)
Personal ballot: Jackman (The Fountain), Gosling (Half Nelson), Whittaker (Last King), Owen (Children of Men), Baron Cohen (Borat) (2/5)
Comments: Cannot believe Leo got in for Blood Diamond and not The Departed. Ew. Still, it's not an embarassing performance, and this category is quite strong.
Will win: Ooh this is tough, but I think DiCaprio, Gosling, and Smith are basically out of the race...it's between Whittaker and O'Toole. I'm pretty sure O'Toole can take it, based on the past (think 1986...sorry Paul, you know I utterly adore you, but you really didn't deserve it much then).

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children
My final predictions: Cruz, Dench, Mirren, Streep, Winslet (5/5, but who didn't get this?)
Personal ballot: Streep, Dench, Winslet, Cruz, Dern (Inland Empire) (4/5)
Comments: Locked up since forever, but...this is an AMAZING lineup, even if I don't go 5/5 with it in my personal ballot. It's the best lineup I can think of since...like...1975's Best Picture nominees (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Jaws, Nashville, Dog Day Afternoon, Barry Lyndon). Wow. I wish they could all get the Oscar.
Will win: Mirren much?

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
My final predictions: Murphy, Nicholson, Hounsou, Pitt, Wahlberg (3/5)
Personal ballot: Sheen (The Queen), Murphy, Nicholson, Haley, Owen (Inside Man) (2/5)
Comments: Err. Mark over Jack? I still don't see what was so great about Mark in The Departed. Hell, I'd rather have Alec Baldwin. And Alan Arkin? Eh. He was the second-worst in that film and only bested Paul Dano. Oh well. I do love Grandpa.
Will win: Though Murphy's film is deader than most thought, I still think he can win this pretty easily.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
My final predictions: Barraza, Blanchett, Breslin, Hudson, Kikuchi (5/5 go me...but this one wasn't hard to call either)
Personal ballot: Hudson, Kirshner (Black Dahlia), Epps (Half Nelson...gooo category fraud!), Kikuchi, Collette (Little Miss Sunshine) (2/5)
Comments: ...Oh? What's that, bitches?! NO EMILY BLUNT!!!!!!!!! I don't even care that Blandshitt got in as long as she didn't. party time!
Will win: Jennifer Hudson is still locked. Even though Dreamgirls didn't fare as well as many thought, it still has a pretty big group of supporters.

Best Original Screenplay
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen
My final predictions: Um...
Personal ballot: Volver, Little Miss Sunshine, Stranger than Fiction, Half Nelson, Pan's Labyrinth (2/5)
Comments: Uh, I dunno. Not much to complain about. Hahaha Haggis again.
Will win: The Queen zzz

Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal
My final predictions: Uh yeah.
Personal ballot: The Departed, Little Children, Children of Men, The Painted Veil, The Prestige (3/5)
Comments: OMG THIS IS AN AMAZING LIST! Except I didn't think Borat really had a script but still OMG THIS IS AMAZING.
Will win: Um, The Departed? Please?

Other comments:
- the Cinematography nominees are pretty cool (actually they are awesome), except The Prestige. It's cool that Oscar spread the love, and a lot, this year (especially because The Prestige has been ignored all season long), but what did The Prestige do? Make Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, and Scarlett Johansson look good. That's really hard!!!!!
- Best Costume Design is making me come hard. Err...
- So, based on last year and that whole Best Editing thing, I guess it's The Departed versus Babel for Best Picture? I'm kidding, sort of
- how long until people start going "not only is the Academy HOMOPHOBIC, they are RACIST"????
- um so. Volver got ripped off much??!?!
- ...Click for Best Makeup? I didn't see the movie but was it really better than, you know, Pirates 2?
- I don't know which song from Dreamgirls is "Patience" but GOD I hope it's not that one about they all being a family and, like, a tree, at the same time. That song was awful.
- Best Score? Eh. The Painted Veil and not The Queen you fools!!!

Overall? Pretty good nominees, as a lot of the stuff I really loved I knew had no chance at Oscar love (The Fountain, Inside Man, Marie-Antoinette, and I guess Volver, heh). And it's really nice to see Oscar nominating stuff like Pan's Labyrinth so much. Yay!

YAY!!!

Little Miss Sunshine won the PGA. :D I can't give the film any more than a B+ but I absolutely love it! I won't be annoyed if it wins Best Picture at all...but it's nice to have an actual five-way (four-way? three-way? at least it's not one-way) race!!

dear everyone,

you're all morons.

please stop complaining about how it is "the most boring oscar season ever" and at the same time bitching about how there is no frontrunner for best picture. thanks!

best tv show ever

there are so many quotes from this tv show that have been celebrated over and over again...and goddamn it, i love it, but here's one that shows my current situation (it's probably not quite verbatim):
"i had been spending so much time with my gay boyfriend that i had completely neglected my gay husband."

also, i'm back at school = far less posting. ah well

oscar updates, i guess

major categories only. and even then, not director/screenplay, because i am lazy.

best picture

locks
the departed
the queen
dreamgirls

not locks, but very very likely
babel

very probable, but i still don't buy it as a lock
little miss sunshine

way less probable than the above, wouldn't be shocking
united 93
letters from iwo jima
flags of our fathers

vote siphoners
children of men
pan's labyrinth
volver
little children
the good shepherd
the pursuit of happyness
bobby
world trade center
blood diamond


best actor

locks
forrest whittaker
peter o'toole

not a lock, very likely
leonardo dicaprio (departed)

who knows how this category will go...
will smith
ryan gosling
sacha baron cohen
leonardo dicaprio (blood diamond)
aaron eckart

vote siphoners
clive owen
edward norton
matt damon
ken watanabe
patrick wilson
daniel craig


best actress

locks
helen mirren
meryl streep
judi dench

not quite a lock, but pretty much
kate winslet
penelope cruz

if any of those 5 don't make it, i'll be shocked, but the most likely usurpers:
maggie gyllenhaal
renee zellweger
beyonce
naomi watts
gretchen mol

vote siphoners
laura dern
kirsten dunst
nicole kidman
sienna miller


best supporting actor

locks
eddie murphy
jack nicholson

god this is tough to call!!!
brad pitt
djimon hounsou
mark wahlberg
jackie earle haley
michael sheen
alan arkin
ben affleck (he might be dead in the water though)

vote siphoners
adam beach
stanley tucci
steve carell
bill nighy
michael caine (for either the prestige or children of men)


best supporting actress

locks
jennifer hudson
cate blanchett
rinko kikuchi

very very likely
adriana barraza

likely
abigail breslin

hey, it could happen...
catherine o'hara
emily blunt
vera farmiga
emma thompson
shareeka epps
maggie gyllenhaal

vote siphoners
angelina jolie
the supporting ladies of the queen
maria bello
meryl streep (prairie home companion)


good god, if you go 5/5 in supporting actor you should be worshipped.

random rankings

The musical movies of the new millennium, from best to worst. Note that these movies are either awesome or terrible, with very little in between (the exceptions being Dancer in the Dark, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Rent, and Rent deserves a lower grade but it was terribly affecting)

1. Moulin Rouge! (A)
2. Chicago
3. Dreamgirls
4. Dancer in the Dark (B)
5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (C+)
6. Rent
7. Phantom of the Opera (C-)
8. De-Lovely
9. The Producers (D+)
10. Romance and Cigarettes
11. High School Musical (D-...but so fucking entertaining)

you gotta love it.

...just pretend it's from the broadway show instead of the movie. oh, and by the way, if i was allowing broadway things on that funniest movie thing: the stage version of this would be #1, and robin williams: live on broadway would be #2.

in an unrelated note, umm, how happy am i that brokeback is getting slaughtered in this poll?!

this is the coolest poster ever

ummm. WHAT an amazing poster. the compression kinda makes it lose its effect though, so click here for a better image.

anyway, remember when i promised a review of this movie back on november 22? yeah. well, the prestige was definitely not what i was expecting. in fact, it's a very very disturbing movie. i think that, and the fact that i wasn't expecting it at all, knocks it down a few pegs in my mind, but it's certainly not a bad movie...the twists are just...um, wow. good for nolan for making twists that YOU CAN'T SEE COMING. it also has good production values and is overall well-acted. but i dunno...it really freaked me out. i don't know why. also, i was promised that hugh jackman was shirtless "practically the whole movie" and then he was shirtless in two brief scenes. ew. LIAR! B- but that might just be because i was trying to be harsh

something different?

*note: obviously this is not actually happening

So I came up for a cast for Urinetown: The Musical: The Movie (oh I LOVE the title), as directed by Alexander Payne. Payne has the unique ability to mesh the very funny and the very sad and serious, as evidenced by his masterful films Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, and Sideways. Also, Urinetown is a show with a lot of breaking of the fourth wall (I think it would be impossible to remove it from the movie), which is VERY annoying in movies and tends to only work if you have a genius director, which Payne is. Anyway, the cast. Singing would be dubbed if necessary:

Bobby Strong... Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck is a much better actor than he is given credit for: look at Hollywoodland, Shakespeare in Love, Chasing Amy, and Dogma. He's not a good enough actor that he can elevate bad material, but when given good material, he is a good, maybe even great, actor. However, Affleck does tend to give off this vibe (or maybe just to me) of being somewhat dim-witted. Bobby Strong is no intellectual; he "has his head in the clouds," characters in the musical tell us repeatedly, and he follows his heart rather than his head. An actor who gives off intelligence, such as Leonardo DiCaprio or Affleck's best friend Matt Damon, would not succeed as much as Affleck in this part. Furthermore, Affleck seems like the typical all-American nice guy, which Bobby is - he just gets in a little too over his head, like Affleck in bad movies, to make a terrible metaphor.

Hope Cladwell... Kirsten Dunst
Poor Kirsten, much like Affleck, is plagued by criticism she doesn't much deserve. She's an impressive comic and dramatic actress, but also like Affleck, I picked her for her vibe. Hope is sweet, but much like Bobby, is too lost in dreams to necessarily make the right decision. Kirsten has a very dreamy deposition, which makes one wonder why she ended up in mostly romantic comedies to begin with (she's very good at them, don't get me wrong). And, at the very end, she goes all Marie-Antoinette: hopelessly ignorant to the needs of her "subjects," which costs her fatally.

Caldwell B. Cladwell...Kevin Spacey
Here in the '00s it may be hard to believe, but once upon a time, Kevin Spacey was a really good actor. Hopefully, this will be a return to form for him with such a good director and movie. Spacey gives off both charm and smarm, and, most importantly, performances deeply layered with subtext. Cladwell is no doubt a villain, but Kevin would be able to tell us why he's such a villain (there are many reasons, let's face it).

Officer Lockstock...Bill Murray
Officer Barrel...Steve Carell
Both are excellent comedians and physically fit their parts. Murray plays "authoritative" quite well, and quite frankly there's no actor I'd rather watch anchor a movie. His slyness (is that a word) is perfect for the role too: he is the only one that really knows what's going on all the time.

Little Sally...Abigail Breslin
Uh...I don't know, I needed someone and saying "an unknown" was a copout. She was fun in Little Miss Sunshine and certainly has both warmth (something Dakota Fanning can't claim) and comedic skills. They need to be razor-sharp for this part though, so...

Penelope Pennywise...Meryl Streep
Um, duh. It's Streep! And Pennywise might be closer to Miranda Priestly than you think - a bitch boss-from-hell with a secret broken heart (that latter part is more important with Pennywise than with Priestly, though). Added bonus: Streep can sing the hell outta stuff. "The good Lord made us so we'd piss each day, until we piss away!" Ooh, even though this movie is not coming and will not ever come out, I can't wait. :D

Senator Fipp...Paul Giamatti
Mr. McQueen...Aaron Eckhart
Giamatti has the sad, beaten-down-by-work thing going on. He's too much of a timid little thing to stand up to Cladwell, who he may or may not agree with or even like. Plus, Payne + Giamatti = OMG YES. As we learned from Thank You for Smoking, Eckhart, much like Spacey, can turn on both the smarm and charm (but Eckhart comes off far more as a salesman - which makes sense, Cladwell makes him get his hands dirty for him).

Josephine Strong...Frances McDormand
Joseph Strong...Tom Hanks
I love Frances McDormand in wacky parts, and Josephine Strong would be hilaaarious if Frances played her with her Minnesotan accent. As for Hanks, all cinephiles hate the poor guy, but I think he is genuinely nice, certainly very genuinely talented (suck it), and most importantly, self-deprecating. It's no huge part so the whiny cinephiles wouldn't be complaining about how Tom Hanks was in the movie so much, but I think it's the perfect part for him to get "indie cred" or whatever.

And that's it. Run freedom run...freedom run away...

a movie about bitches inspires my bitching.

Click, since you can't read the thought bubbles that well. And no, I don't have Photoshop. Deal with it. And yes, this is like my 5000000th Devil Wears Prada post but when a movie has both my favorite actress and two of my very least favorite actresses (congrats Emily, you could have gone on just being obscure, but instead you had to induce my wrath much like poor Hilary Swank does for most people), well, I've gotta have something to say, no?

my favorite picture ever?

yeah i know. it's a slow pretentious movie with no plot. and it might be my favorite movie out there.

Aww Ewan McGregor can read!

Aquí.

aww, i love him even more now!

and on a totally different note...

my top 5 comedies that made me laugh the most (and that immediately come to mind):

1. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (99)
2. Some Like It Hot (59)
3. The Producers (68)
4. Borat (06)
5. Annie Hall (77)

globe comments

oh my God it's Letters from IWO (not two, idiot self) Jima. Duh. Duh. Duh. AND I FRIGGIN' SAW THE MOVIE!!!

Hallelujah Emily Blunt didn't win (well she won for something else, but whatever). I had this horrible premonition right as Clooney opened the envelope...but nope. Hallelujah! Hopefully her chances at even an Oscar nomination are gone.

America Ferrera and Isla Fisher are adorable.

THEY DIDN'T SHOW PETER SARSGAARD ONCE AND I AM MAD! I know he was there, but all I saw was this disembodied hand sort of make its way around Maggie Gyllenhaal when her name was announced.

Martin Scorsese was adorable. And so is, please forgive me for saying this, Hilary Swank. She's totally bubbly, personable, and adorable (fun job: count the number of times I say "adorable" in this post) and I retract all bad things I may have said about her winning the Oscar in 2004. Yes, Kate, Imelda, and Catalina deserved it more, but she's so darn adorable (there we go again).

OMG SASHA BARON COHEN'S SPEECH HAHAHA. Meryl's was great too, as was America Ferrera's. Uh...what was up with Forrest Whittaker's? And what's up with his eye????!!!

I knew all chances of a Little Miss Sunshine upset were gone when they were using "One Night Only" as the Golden Globes theme song.

Sharon Stone is on drugs. A lot of them.

Looked fantastic: Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore (!!! after last year), Hilary Swank (except for that flower thing), Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Renee Zellweger (dress and shoes only, she's just so...pucker-y), Emily Blunt (except it was too tight and made her look pregnant), Helen Mirren, Sarah Jessica Parker
Looked awful: Cameron Diaz, Cate Blanchett (comb your hair), Jennifer Lopez (would be on the looked fantastic list, except for the fact that the sides of her dress looked incredibly cheap), Toni Collette (the haircut wasn't doing anything for her), Angelina Jolie (she looked draaaained), Beyonce (really cheap looking), Nicolette Sheridan, RINKO KIKUCHI OMG WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT???

I have officially decided on my favorite celebrity couple: Bennifer 2.0

It was kinda funny when Kyra Sedgewick forgot her husband's name for a second.

Mary-Louise Parker was probably stoned.

I have fallen in love with Michael Urie. I have not fallen in love with creepy, creepy Forrest Whittaker and his creepy eye, and Jamie "I might not be nominated for anything but the movie I'm nominated in is so I'm going to ruin awards season by existing anyway" Foxx.

JEREMY PIVEN WUZ ROBBED

Babel clearly won the Best "uh sorry we didn't even nominate Crash last year even though it was much better than all these other nominees except maybe A History of Violence" Picture - Drama award.

And finally, GOD BLESS JACK NICHOLSON.

"that's all..."

I miss when they were good.

Dear Kevin Spacey,
Remember the 1990s, when every performance you did was fucking gold? Your two Oscars are some of the most deserved in the Academy's history and you deserved it one more time in 1997 (L.A. Confidential), plus other nominations. But then 2000 came around and I think you were just like "I'm really tired of winning awards," and you started being in utter shit like Pay It Forward, K-PAX, and The Shipping News (along with Red Dragon, easily the movie with the best cast that all ended up being absolutely terrible - though at least Fiennes and Watson rocked in Red Dragon). I did love you in Superman Returns but I was apparently the only one, and Beyond the Sea was terrible but you were actually convincing despite being approximately 400 years older than Bobby Darin was when he died. Your next film is Fred Claus, in which, apparently, you are being billed UNDER PAUL GIAMATTI. I like Paul and everything, but he's the biggest schlump ever (and no box office draw). C'mon Kevin. Get it together now. I may let you coast on American Beauty forever, but nobody else will.
Love, me.

Golden Globes predictions

Best Picture - Drama
Nominees: Babel, Bobby, The Departed, Little Children, The Queen
My grades for each: (in order) B-, C-, A+, B+, C
Should win: The Departed. It's only the best film of the year. I also enjoyed Little Children. The rest of this category...eh. Musical/Comedy is actually better.
Will win: Hopefully, The Departed.
Spoiler: The Queen. I'll hiss and boo, but it could happen. Or, possibly, Babel, just for the large amounts of nominations.

Best Picture - Musical/Comedy
Nominees: Borat, The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine, Thank You for Smoking
My grades for each: A, B, A, B+, B-
Should win: Dreamgirls. I just love it. But I love Borat and Little Miss Sunshine too, and The Devil Wears Prada is great as well.
Will win: Dreamgirls. Uh...yeah. People are like "it's getting backlash!" and "it's not ALL THAT well-reviewed!!!" but the same could be said for Chicago.
Spoiler: Little Miss Sunshine. If it does win, I will finally accept that it is an Oscar contender.

Best Director
Nominees: Eastwood x2 (Flags and Letters), Frears, Iñárritu, Scorsese
Grades for each movie: C+ (Flags), A- (Letters), C, B-, A+
Should win: Scorsese!!!
Will win: Scorsese. Thank. The. Lord.
Spoiler: Um... if Babel goes over really really well, Iñárritu has a teeny chance of winning. Still.

Best Actor - Drama
Nominees: DiCaprio x2 (Blood Diamond and Departed), O'Toole, Smith, Whittaker
My ranking: DiCaprio Departed, Whittaker, O'Toole, Smith, DiCaprio Blood Diamond
Should win: DiCaprio in The Departed but they're all worthy candidates.
Will win: Whittaker, but I still don't feel he can beat O'Toole at the Oscars.
Spoiler: O'Toole. He still might win. It's close. If he wins here, he's definitely getting the Oscar.

Best Actor - Musical/Comedy
Nominees: Cohen, Depp, Eckhart, Ejiofor, Ferrell
My ranking: Cohen, Eckhart, Ferrell, Ejiofor, Depp
Should win: COHEN!! One of the funniest performances ever!
Will win: Cohen!
Spoiler: Depp, if only for the large number of nominations they gave him without a win. But, you know, HE'S NEVER DESERVED A WIN. He's hardly ever deserved a nomination. God I hate Johnny Depp.

Best Actress - Drama
Nominees: Cruz, Dench, Gyllenhaal, Mirren, Winslet
My ranking: Dench, Winslet, Cruz, Mirren, Gyllenhaal...but this is by far the best category. They're all excellent.
Should win: Dench...it's her best performance ever and easily one of the best of the year. She's just stunning!
Will win: Mirren. Um, duh.
Spoiler: ...unless Mirren peaked too soon, like, I dunno, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman in 2002, and they want to give it to Winslet because, you know. Bitch deserves an Oscar or five.

Best Actress - Musical/Comedy
Nominees: Bening, Collette, Knowles, Streep, Zellweger
My ranking: Streep, Collette, Knowles, Zellweger, Bening
Should win: Uh, STREEP MUCH???
Will win: Meryl.
Spoiler: They could honor Bening because her husband is recieving the memorial award tomorrow night as well. If this is the case, I will scream.

Best Supporting Actor
Nominees: Affleck, Murphy, Nicholson, Pitt, Wahlberg
My ranking: Murphy, Nicholson, Affleck, Pitt, Wahlberg
Should win: Nicholson and Murphy, both superb.
Will win: I'm going with Murphy.
Spoiler: But if either Pitt or Nicholson win, they're taking the Oscar, I think. Pitt for the Clooney factor, and Nicholson because the Academy will love making history.

Best Supporting Actress
Nominees: Barraza, Blanchett, Blunt, Hudson, Kikuchi
My ranking: HUDSON, Kikuchi, Barraza, Blunt/Blanchett
Should win: Uh, Hudson much?!?
Will win: Hudson. Hudson, Hudson, Hudson.
Spoiler: Blanchett, but I am telling you, Hudson's winning the Oscar no matter what. (HA.)

Best Screenplay
Nominees: Babel, The Departed, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal, The Queen
My ranking: Departed, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal, The Queen, Babel
Should win: The Departed
Will win: The Queen. Siiiiigh
Spoiler: The Departed or, if it's really popular, Babel.

Best Foreign Film
Nominees: Apocalypto, Letters from Two Jima, The Lives of Others, Pan's Labyrinth, Volver
My ranking: Volver, Letters, Pan's, Apocalypto, haven't seen Lives. The first three are GREAT.
Will win: Letters from Two JIma
Spoiler: Pan's, which still has a pretty good shot of winning.


TV and music and stuff I don't really feel like doing. Go anything that's not Desperate Housewives.

Jake Gyllenhaal is back in my good graces

And Jake is telling you, he's not going.
I love him again.

BAFTA nominees

* will win ; + should win

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed +
Last King of Scotland
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen *

i predicted 3/5 (missed king and sunshine). last king of scotland? well at least it's an interesting choice (aka it is british).


The Whatever Award for Best Direction (jk. I like David Lean.)
Dayton and Farris for Little Miss Sunshine
Frears for The Queen
Greengrass for United 93
Iñárritu for Babel
Scorsese for The Departed * +

4/5. missed sunshine for children of men. um I like little miss sunshine but its direction wasn't really its strong point.


Best Actor
Daniel Craig, Casino Royale
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed +
Richard Griffiths, The History Boys
Peter O'Toole, Venus *
Forrest Whittaker, Last King of Scotland

4/5 but i got daniel!! omg GO DANIEL. (Leo was better but it's good to see him getting attention)


Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen *
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada +
Kate Winslet, Little Children

zzz... 5/5


Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
James McAvoy, Last King of Scotland
Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Leslie Phillips, Venus
Michael Sheen, The Queen * +

3/5, missed arkin and phillips for bill nighy (notes) and eddie murphy (dreamgirls). when oh when will anyone realize that sheen was the best thing about the queen? mcavoy is friggin' lead (but it's a great performance).


Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Toni Collette, Little Miss Sunshine
Frances de la Tour, The History Boys
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls * +

3/5, missed collette and de la tour (i was thisclose to predicting her) for kikuchi and barraza in babel. let's pray the brits are smart enough to not give it to either of the brits here, because they pale in comparison to the other three performances. errr...that sentence made sense in my head.

There are a lot of other categories but meh. I know I'm all post-happy but once school starts again...

best/favorite movies by year

The Pulpy winners for Best Picture, since 1930, subject to change because I change my mind...a lot. Disagree? Um...it's not your blog.

1930: Under the Roofs of Paris (Rene Clair)

1931: City Lights (Charles Chaplin)

1932: Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch)

1933: King Kong (Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack)

1934: It Happened One Night (Frank Capra)

1935: Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale)

1936: Modern Times (Charles Chaplin)

1937: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand?)

1938: Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks)

1939: The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming)

1940: His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)

1941: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)

1942: Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)

1943: Day of Wrath (Carl Dreyer)

1944: Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder)

1945: Brief Encounter (David Lean)

1946: It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra)

1947: Miracle on 34th Street (George Seaton)

1948: Rope (Alfred Hitchcock)

1949: Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer)

1950: Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder)

1951: A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan)

1952: Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly)

1953: Roman Holiday (William Wyler)

1954: On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan)

1955: Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)

1956: The Searchers (John Ford)

1957: Throne of Blood (Akira Kurosawa)

1958: Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)

1959: Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder)

1960: The Apartment (Billy Wilder)

1961: Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards)

1962: To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan)

1963: 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini)

1964: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy)

1965: Repulsion (Roman Polanski)

1966: Blow-up (Michelangelo Antonini)

1967: The Graduate (Mike Nichols)

1968: The Producers (Mel Brooks)

1969: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill)

1970: Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson)

1971: The French Connection (William Friedkin)

1972: The Godfather (Frances Ford Coppola)

1973: The Sting (George Roy Hill)

1974: Chinatown (Roman Polanski)

1975: One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (Milos Forman)

1976: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)

1977: Annie Hall (Woody Allen)

1978: Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick)

1979: Manhattan (Woody Allen)

1980: Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese)

1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg)

1982: Tootsie (Sydney Pollack)

1983: The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese)

1984: Amadeus (Milos Forman)

1985: The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen)

1986: Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen)

1987: Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders)

1988: Die Hard (John McTiernan)

1989: Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen)

1990: Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)

1991: The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme)

1992: The Player (Robert Altman)

1993: Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg)

1994: Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)

1995: The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer)

1996: The English Patient (Anthony Minghella)

1997: Boogie Nights (P.T. Anderson)

1998: The Truman Show (Peter Weir)

1999: American Beauty (Sam Mendes)

2000: Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky)

2001: Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann)

2002: Chicago (Rob Marshall)

2003: Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)

2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michael Gondry)

2005: A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)

2006: The Departed (Martin Scorsese)


...I know, after 1990 I get really boring, but screw it.
# of Best Picture winners: I believe I counted 16 (hopefully this year'll make it 17). I don't pride myself on elitism like some people though, so even if the number was, you know, 50, I'd feel fine.

rating those who shouldn't rate

Oh, look at her eyes! They're so big! She must be such a good actress!

Semicolon not so much. In Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, and Jake Gyllenhaal are all almost unspeakably brilliant. They invest their roles with tons of emotion and ridiculous amounts of subtext. Anne? Uh...she's just kinda there. She is kinda lively at the beginning, but can't really be compared to the other three just for a bit of liveliness. As for the phone conversation scene...some will say genius. I say FLAT. You could tell this was a young (untalented) actress in way over her head, so she probably just thought "uhh...I'm not gonna act at all!!"

In The Devil Wears Prada, you actually root AGAINST Anne because she is so bland, whereas the actors playing alongside her that play "bad" people (Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt) are actually fun, so you cheer for them. Way to ruin the movie, Anne.

In The Princess Diaries and the like she's...yup...bland, but at least she doesn't stand out as mediocre in comparison to brilliance like the performances of Ledger, Williams, Gyllenhaal, and Streep. People are talking about how she's going to get an Oscar nod for Becoming Jane and she probably will (ew), but why are these same people saying she's "owed?" (Ewwwww.) If we're looking for young actresses that have been ripped off in the past, Scarlett Johansson, Claire Danes, and even Kirsten Dunst come to mind before Anne.

rating the overrated, again

emily blunt is SHOCKED that she found someone on the internet not falling all over herself to praise her performance!

Okay, I don't come to bash Emily Blunt in The Devil Wears Prada. I liked her. She was fun. She's on my Supporting Actress list for the year. ...at #21, but yeah. Now, let's see what Emily does right in Prada:
1. She is funny and she's clearly having fun.
2. She plays it very straight, which works wonders.
3. She has several perfect line deliveries.
...that's it. THAT IS IT, PEOPLE. Yes, #1 and 3 count for a lot, but merely having fun on screen does not entitle one to an Oscar (or whatever your personal awards may be called; in case you didn't pick up on it, mine are the Pulpys). Blunt does the best job she can, but her part is, let's face it, the typical bitchy co-worker, and no, despite what the rest of the blogsphere seems to think, she doesn't elevate it much beyond that. This already puts her at a disadvantage to parts that were actually, you know, written, such as Hudson's, Kirshner's, Kikuchi's, Epps', Somerville's... And no, she doesn't steal scenes from Meryl Streep (she certainly steals them from Anne Hathaway, who is pathetic as usual in the movie...more on her later). In conclusion: a fun performance, but nothing special. I won't ever understand those who say it's one of the best performances of the year.

Meryl Streep freaking rocks this movie though, which is excellent for summer entertainment but then it feels the need to get all moral. Drat. B

wow

it doesn't feel totally complete in some weird way, but god, what a mindfuck... in the best way possible. B

not that you care, but...

2004:



owen, giamatti, freeman, law, kidman, winslet, linney, madsen. godly, all of them.

2005

now with 50% less random white streaks:




top films:
1. a history of violence
2. crash
3. the constant gardener
(so sublety didn't do much for me in 05. sue me.)
4. the squid and the whale
5. pride and prejudice
6. grizzly man
7. sin city
8. munich
9. wedding crashers
10. good night, and good luck.
(11. cache
12. jarhead
13. junebug
14. kiss kiss bang bang
15. batman begins
16. wallace and gromit in the curse of the were-rabbit
17. corpse bride
18. in her shoes
19. capote
20. syriana)

terrible year, maybe because i didn't like the OMG IT'S THE BEST FILM EVER HOW CAN YOU DISLIKE IT???!!! you know what i'm talking about. if you don't, well, just look at the pulpy winner for best actor in a drama...

Funny stuff.

undoubtedly the best thing in the movie

let me preface this by saying the producers, the broadway show, is absolutely the funniest thing i have ever seen in my life. i saw it, luckily enough, with the original cast, and hysterical is not enough to describe them. the 1968 movie is in my top 5 comedies ever as well. but...the 2005 movie is absolutely awful, movie-wise. it's compulsively watchable because completely inept direction (susan stroman doesn't do much other than sticking her camera in the actors' faces) and pretty terribleish performances (nathan lane's performance was BRILLIANT!!! on stage, but he doesn't change it at all, and even in a production this ridiculous, it comes off as ludicrously over-the-top; broderick doesn't register; ferrell is over the top as well, but less crazy than lane at least; thurman, though i love her, is woefully miscast and has many accent slips; beach and bart do well, but certainly not fantastic) can't destroy the fact that it is very, very funny and i can't stop watching it every time it's on tv. but as a movie...? i can't give it more than a D+

i made a picture.

It's not so pretty.



no, i don't know what the deal with the white streaks across borat are. :(

rating the overrated

and in regards to my posting: when it rains, it pours, i guess.

1. elizabeth (1998 pulpy winner: best actress, drama)
2. the good german (this should be the movie she's getting hype for...)
3. oscar and lucinda
4. coffee and cigarettes (2004 pulpy nominee: best supporting actress, musical/comedy)
5. the aviator (2004 pulpy nominee: best supporting actress, drama)
6. heaven
7. veronica guerin
8. the talented mr. ripley
9. notes on a scandal
10. the life aquatic with steve zissou
11. bandits
12. lord of the rings series
13. babel
14. the shipping news

the problem i have with her is that every performance on this list after the talented mr. ripley is merely good (her performance in the shipping news is pretty bad though), and only her performance in elizabeth is incredible - certainly not a bad filmography to be sure, but she is totally undeserving of the "best contemporary actress" accolades she recieves. in 2004, her performance paled in comparison to those of linney, madisen, and portman (i felt she was better in coffee and cigarettes, as you can see, but even then the three of them were better). add a (very) undeserved oscar (it's not like they really owed her - yeah, yeah, she deserved it for elizabeth, but look at kate winslet.) and extreme overexposure in parts that don't really work for her (notes on a scandal), and it = me not liking cate blanchett very much.

she's really great in the good german though i must say.

hey, where's my FYC campaign?

update quite a few months later (4/3): wow, was I on crack with that performance list??? Yeah Elizabeth is her best work, but the others should be in...a much different order, to say the least.

another random performance list

you probably hate her. i'm moderately obsessed.

1. lost in translation (pulpy winner 2003: best actress, musical/comedy)
2. girl with a pearl earring (pulpy nominee 2003: best actress, drama)
3. a love song for bobby long
4. the horse whisperer (pulpy nominee 1998: best supporting actress, drama)
5. ghost world (pulpy nominee 2001: best supporting actress, musical/comedy)
6. scoop (pulpy nominee 2006: best actress, musical/comedy)
7. match point (pulpy nominee 2005: best supporting actress, drama)
8. the prestige
9. in good company
10. the black dahlia
11. the island (OUCH, scarlett.)

Naomi Watts.

beautiful lady. sporadic acting talent.

1. mulholland dr. (one of the best performances ever; pulpy winner - best actress, 2001)
2. the painted veil (2006 pulpy nominee - best actress, drama)
3. i heart huckabees
4. ellie parker (it's like her mulholland performance lite)
5. we don't live here anymore
6. the ring (acts scared without going over the top; something always admirable but not quite fantastic, as opposed to, say, kidman in the others)
7. king kong (everything in this movie felt fake...including the acting)

8. 21 grams (ouch)

my globe nominations

a note: I consider Volver a comedy.

Best Picture, Drama
Children of Men
The Departed *
The Fountain
Inside Man
Letters from Two Jima

Best Picture, Musical/Comedy
Borat
Dreamgirls *
Little Miss Sunshine
Marie-Antoinette
Volver

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, The Fountain *
Sofia Coppola, Marie-Antoinette
Alfonso Cuarón, Children of Men
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Best Actor, Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Ryan Gosling, Half-Nelson
Hugh Jackman, The Fountain *
Clive Owen, Children of Men
Forrest Whittaker, Last King of Scotland

Best Actor, Musical/Comedy
Sasha Baron Cohen, Borat *
Joe Cross, Running with Scissors
Aaron Eckhart, Thank You for Smoking
Will Ferrell, Stranger than Fiction
Samuel L. Jackson, Snakes on a Plane (oh come on. It's a comedy.)

Best Actress, Drama
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal *
Laura Dern, Inland Empire
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Kate Winslet, Little Children
Naomi Watts, The Painted Veil

Best Actress, Musical/Comedy
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Kirsten Dunst, Marie-Antoinette
Scarlett Johansson, Scoop
Catherine O'Hara, For Your Consideration
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada *

Best Supporting Actor, Drama
Ben Affleck, Hollywoodland
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Clive Owen, Inside Man
Michael Sheen, The Queen *
(edit: I had him in lead? But then I decided he was really more Supporting and he wins here.)

Best Supporting Actor, Musical/Comedy
Alec Baldwin, Running with Scissors
Steve Carell, Little Miss Sunshine
Robert Downey Jr., A Scanner Darkly
Greg Kinnear, Little Miss Sunshine
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls *

Best Supporting Actress, Drama
Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson
Vera Farmiga, Running Scared
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
Mia Kirshner, The Black Dahlia *
Kerry Washington, Last King of Scotland

Best Supporting Actress, Musical/Comedy
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Toni Collette, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls *
Meryl Streep, A Prairie Home Companion
Emma Thompson, Stranger than Fiction
(Blunt can suck it?)
(seriously though, this is a really competitive category.)

Best Screenplay
Children of Men
The Departed *
Little Children
Little Miss Sunshine
Volver

or maybe i'm just bored

something fun to do: watch everyone on blogs try to out-hate Crash. It's actually hysterical. One thing nobody accuses it of being is boring. I can't say the same for Brokeback Mountain...

my favorite overreactions (these are not exact quotes, but they're damn close):
3. "Crash was made by Satan to promote racism." -some blog
2. "Crash is a disgusting venereal-disease-infected piece of genitalia, dripping itself all over cinemas everywhere." -some blog (was this really necessary?)
1. this one needs backstory. On some IMDb board, someone asked for everyone's choice for worst movie ever. Someone said Crash and someone else said something like "Really? Crash as the worst film ever? I don't like it, but..." And the original respondee said:
"I only see movies that look good. I avoid what I know will be disasters. Crash looked good and then it was horrible. So, not only is Crash the worst movie ever made, it is the only bad movie I have ever seen in my life." This is one of my favorite idiotic IMDb quotes, which says a lot, because there are so many.

Coming really soon I promise: my 2006 awards and some retrospective awards.

thoughts on the BAFTA longlist

Okay, so the BAFTA longlist came out a while ago, and here are my scattered thoughts on it. Yay. Some of these nominations are great; some are all fucked up. Also, I suck at predicting nominees...deal with it.


Best Picture
Babel, Bobby, Casino Royale, Children of Men, The Departed, The Devil Wears Prada, Flags of Our Fathers, The History Boys, Last King of Scotland, Little Miss Sunshine, Notes on a Scandal, Pan's Labyrinth, The Queen, United 93, Volver

The best 5 nominees - The Departed, Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, Volver, Casino Royale
The likely nominees - The Queen, The Departed, The History Boys, Babel, Children of Men
WTF? - Bobby (it must have more support than everyone thinks), Flags of Our Fathers (Letters from Two Jima is fanfreakingtastic but not nominated, this is...eh), Notes on a Scandal (mediocre movie), no Dreamgirls WTF!!!


Best Director
Apocalypto, Babel, Bobby, Casino Royale, Children of Men, The Departed, Flags of Our Fathers, The History Boys, Last King of Scotland, Little Miss Sunshine, Notes on a Scandal, Pan's Labyrinth, The Queen, United 93, Volver

The Best 5 nominees - Scorsese (Departed), Cuaron (Children of Men), Greengrass (United 93), del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth), Almodovar (Volver) - Eastwood for Two Jima was actually better than him but w/e
The likely nominees - The Departed, Children of Men, The Queen, United 93, Babel
WTF? - Dear Bill Condon, stop being snubbed. Love, me. A lot of these movies don't have the best direction, either...or at least, not my choices for best direction. (ew, Mel Gibson.)


Best Actor
Cillian Murphy - The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Clive Owen - Children of Men
Daniel Craig - Casino Royale
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Greg Kinnear - Little Miss Sunshine
Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Departed
Matt Damon - The Departed
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Richard Griffiths - The History Boys
Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat
Timothy Spall - Pierrepoint
Toby Jones - Infamous
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness

The Best 5 nominees - Owen, DiCaprio (Departed!!!), Whittaker, Cohen, Damon
The likely nominees - DiCaprio (Departed), Craig, Smith, Whittaker, O'Toole
WTF? - Depp EWWW. Griffiths (understandable though). Spall (haven't even heard of that movie). Jones.


Best Actress
Annette Bening - Running with Scissors
Beyonce Knowles - Dreamgirls
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Emma Thompson - Stranger than Fiction
Eva Green - Casino Royale
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Ivana Baquero - Pan's Labyrinth
Jodie Whittaker - Venus
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Juliette Binoche - Breaking And Entering
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Kirsten Dunst - Marie Antoinette
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Renee Zellweger - Miss Potter

The best 5 nominees - Streep, Dench, Winslet, Cruz, Mirren
The likely nominees - uh...see above! YAY!
WTF? - weird placement here. BAFTA, thank you for nominating Cate Blanchett where she belongs...but unfortunately, you'll fuck this up later with Anne Hathaway and the other weird placements here (Thompson, Green, Whittaker). It's nice to see some great performances that haven't gotten attention here, though (Thompson, Binoche, Dunst).


Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland
Bill Nighy - Notes On A Scandal
Brad Pitt - Babel
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Gael Garcia Bernal - Babel
Jack Nicholson - The Departed
James McAvoy - The Last King of Scotland
Leslie Phillips - Venus
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
Michael Caine - Children of Men
Michael Sheen - The Queen
Stanley Tucci - The Devil Wears Prada
Steve Carell - Little Miss Sunshine

The Best 5 nominees - Nicholson, Murphy, Affleck, Caine, Carell
The likely nominees - Nighy, Murphy, Nicholson, McAvoy, Sheen
WTF? - I really like Little Miss Sunshine but I still don't understand Arkin's hype. Bernal. MCAVOY IS A LEAD!!!, Tucci. It's nice to see Caine.


Best Supporting Actress
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Anne Hathaway - The Devil Wears Prada
Cate Blanchett - Babel
Diane Lane - Hollywoodland
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
Emily Watson - Miss Potter
Frances de la Tour - The History Boys
Helen McCrory - The Queen
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Judi Dench - Casino Royale
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Sharon Stone - Bobby
Sylvia Syms - The Queen
Toni Collette - Little Miss Sunshine

The Best 5 nominees - Hudson, Kikuchi, Collette, Barazza, Breslin (I'm boring)
Likely 5 - Hudson, Kikuchi, Barazza, Breslin, Blunt
WTF? - Emily Blunt's extreme supporters still make me scratch my head. Good, yes, but the most overrated performance of the year. And...WTF is Anne Hathaway doing in Supporting?!?!?!? She's clearly lead (oh, and terrible). That said, this is the most WTF?y category of all. Blanchett (sucked in Babel). Lane (great, but hasn't had any attention at all). Watson. De la Tour. McCrory, Syms (goddamn you, The Queen). Dench. You get it.


Overall? Good job, BAFTA. Except on that Anne Hathaway thing.

happy birthday Nicolas Cage!

Your New Years resolution: less City of Angels (an insult to the superb Wings of Desire), more Leaving Las Vegas (you deserved that Oscar), thanks.

life-affirming masterpiece of the day

a man looks at a photo.

the camera pulls away.

gunshot. blood splatter.

a boy looks at the dead man. he's smiling.


try as i may i cannot do justice to american beauty. unlike, um, everyone else that keeps a blog on the internet, i think it's easily one of the best movies of the '90s and...ever. it's certainly a favorite. that image above is what i think of when i think cinema, honestly. it is a brilliant film. "look closer."

controversial statement of the day

the oscar nominees for best picture last year, from best to worst:
1. crash (A...yup.)
2. munich (B+)
3. good night, and good luck.
4. capote
5. brokeback mountain (B-)

you heard me. (part deux)

ho-ly shit.

i think i just died a little. one of the most emotionally exhausting films (experiences?) of my life, but genius in all aspects. A

in other news, don't believe the inland empire hype. it's all, predictably, lynch fans. lynch is by no means a bad director (i loooove blue velvet, the elephant man, and the straight story, and many of his other films have their moments too - mulholland dr. and wild at heart most notably), but this is just...ugh. his fans are (ludicrously) hyping it, though, because i think of all the directors working today, he is the one that could, more than likely, film a piece of shit and get incessantly praised for it. dern is amazing but cannot in any way shape or form save the film (though actually, she's stopping me from giving it an F), which plays like self-parody. awful, awful self-parody. sorry, dave. D

my computer broke down.

...but i'm back!

coming really soon: my year-end awards. yay.