The Pulpys 2007: Best Screenplays.

Best Original Screenplay
and the nominees are

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead by Kelly Masterson
Enchanted by Bill Kelly
Juno by Diablo Cody
Michael Clayton by Tony Gilroy
Ratatouille by Brad Bird
The Savages by Tamara Jenkins

and the winner is
Ratatouille

Best Adapted Screenplay
and the nominees are

Atonement by Christopher Hampton
Away from Her by Sarah Polley
Charlie Wilson's War by Aaron Sorkin
Gone Baby Gone by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard
No Country for Old Men by Joel and Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson

and the winner is
Atonement

Original finalists: Death Proof, Year of the Dog, Black Snake Moan, Knocked Up, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, In the Valley of Elah
Original semi-finalists: Eastern Promises and Once

Adapted finalists: Jindabyne (it killed me to leave this one out), Zodiac, The Assassination..., A Mighty Heart
Adapted semi-finalists: Bug and Lust, Caution

I know you care intensely.

My winners for the honorary You Can Count on Me Award for the Movie with the Most Unfortunate Title.

2000: Well... You Can Count on Me. This title doesn't belong to a genius character study/family drama. It belongs to a Lifetime drama (though I'll admit, the way they use it in the film is brilliant. If there's one thing I hate, it's movies that make a point of having their characters say the frickin' title, something which bothers me every time I see Walk the Line. Yes, I know it's a song of his, do they really have to have poor Reese have some line that's IIRC "You better walk the line, John!!!" That was a long aside...). I read some blog entry once where the writer was moaning about how Spielberg had named his film Munich (this was obviously old) and how that was so boring and how Spielberg sucks (as I always say when people whine about Spielberg: oh, I'm so sorry that he's got more money and Oscars and respect and talent than you.). The writer then said something like, "what happened to the daring and fantastic film titles, such as You Can Count on Me?" and I was like "oh honey. No." And thus, the inspiration for this, uh, wonderful award was born.
2001: In the Bedroom. This...is a porno. Or crazy/beautiful, which is just awkward.
2002: Igby Goes Down. This...is also a porno. Or Morvern Callar, which makes me think "ooh, my cousin had that once. It hurts to pee for weeks."
2003: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: I Think This Title Needs to be Longer
2004: Bad Education. This...is also also a porno.
2005: The Constant Gardener (pulling an upset victory against the perhaps more obvious candidate, The Squid and the Whale). That ain't a title for a political thriller, I'll tell you that.
2006: The Pursuit of Happyness. Yes, I know it's on purpose. But I'm an English minor (which is a scary thought when you look back at my "writing" on this thing). IT BOTHERS ME.
2007: I would say Ratatouille, were it not for that preview that taught you how to pronounce it. Brilliant. Instead, I'll have to go with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, because it's unfortunate to have to share a title with the worst book in history. Oh wait.

July awards

So the boyf is one of those guys that sees most movies, even the small and "insignificant" indie ones (and errr. sometimes he downloads them. don't look at him like that!). At his place, I was able to see the 14080846086 movies I've missed so far this year. Hooray. Major nominations at this point in time:

Best Picture
Breaking and Entering

Grindhouse
Jindabyne

Ratatouille *
Zodiac

Have I mentioned that Ratatouille is awesome yet? RATATOUILLE IS AWESOME. The rest of the movies are pretty damn good too.


Best Director

everyone, Grindhouse * (I miiiight need to split this up. It's not really fair. =/)
David Fincher, Zodiac
William Friedkin, Bug
Anthony Minghella, Breaking and Entering

Sarah Polley, The Sweet Hereafter

Yeah, I really need to split up the Grindhouse directors.


Best Actor
Steve Buscemi, Interview
Chris Cooper, Breach
Jude Law, Breaking and Entering *
Ulrich Muhe, The Lives of Others
Gordon Pinsent, Away from Her

I know, like half these guys are "technically" 2006...


Best Actress
Julie Christie, Away from Her *

Marion Cotillard, La vie en rose
Ashley Judd, Bug
Laura Linney, Jindabyne
Sienna Miller, Factory Girl/Interview

A lineup of OWNAGE. It looks like another good year for actresses - I already have 13 that are worthy of consideration! I consolidated Miller's performances, which I never do, because I didn't want to kick Judd out cuz she was so damn good. Speaking of Sienna, when the hell did she turn into an awesome actress?! If this lineup stays the same at the end of the year, I'll be pretty darn happy (so basically, it can only get better). Cotillard was indeed great, but she is highly overrated.


Best Supporting Actor

John Carroll Lynch, Zodiac
Jeff Daniels, The Lookout

Robert Downey Jr., Zodiac
Jeremy Piven, Smokin' Aces *
Paul Rudd, Knocked Up

empty lolz. Yes, I'm serious about Piven (he's awesome, but if that's the best we get by the end of the year...well. Oh, and Robert Downey Jr. is officially in my Fairly Holy Quadrangle of Awesome [him, Bill Murray, Alan Rickman, Bruce Campbell]).

Best Supporting Actress
Rosario Dawson, Grindhouse (Death Proof)
Deborra-Lee Furness, Jindabyne *
Leslie Mann, Knocked Up
Imelda Staunton, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Kerry Washington, I Think I Love My Life

Go see Jindabyne now. SO GOOD. Ms. Hugh Jackman really proves herself ;) At least two of the others are just fantastic too, but two of the others I fully expect/hope to be gone by the end of the year.

I actually saw 3 movies this weekend.

Evening is...ewww. It's basically a Lifetime movie, with about the same level of technical achievement and acting. Seriously, you look at the cast, and then...the only person who's really good (and even then, not like she's Oscar-worthy) is Meryl, who is in it for about five minutes. The movie made me hate Toni Collette, for chrissakes! I'm hardly the biggest fan of The Hours but compared to Evening, the former is a masterpiece in its transitions between the years and whatnot. Yikes. D

Once is good but not half as good as I was hearing. It's Lost in Translation without the amazing acting, on a $17 budget. Oh my God the camera was so fucking annoying. It's a totally sweet story, though, and the music is actually great. B-/B

Ratatouille is an animated masterpiece. Cars wasn't great, and I think The Incredibles is extremely overrated, but this is a return to form after Pixar's mini-"slump." LOVE IT. A

American Gangster trailer

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?sid=37949179&sdm=web&qtw=640&qth=400

Gee, do you think they're trying to make this like The Departed. I couldn't get that at all. Nope. (/sarcasm)

That said, I'm impressed. It looks really interesting and Russell and Denzel seem great. Oh, and Roger Bart, why are you being hideously miscast in movies? In Hostel Part II (which I won't see even if you pay me a lot), he's apparently the psycho killer. In American Gangster, it appears as if he plays some kind of super-racist Mafia man (speaking of which: OMG is it REALLY the last Sopranos this week? SO WEIRD). Oh and wasn't he apparently on Desperate Housewives (gross) as a crazed pharmacist? People, this guy won his Tony FOR PLAYING SNOOPY. He also played pretty much the largest gay stereotype ever in The Producers. That doesn't exactly scream "please put me in Hostel Part II."

But yeah. American Gangster looks great. That and Ratatouille! I'm SO EXCITED for that!!!