That One Day Oscar Came to Town

OSCARS tonight and I am so freaking thrilled, more excited than ever before (mainly because I have become gradually more and more obsessed with movies as the year has gone on). So, I thought I would hop on here before the show tonight and throw out some predictions.

Actor in a Leading Role: This one is far too easy. Since this movie was put into production, he was a guaranteed winner. They have been talking about this performance for over a year and have called it the best performance in 10 years (still can't believe I haven't seen it). The oscar goes to Daniel Day-Lewis.

Actor in a Supporting Role: This category may be a little harder to peg (at least for me because I have only seen "No Country" and "Charlie Wilson"). I would put my money on either Javier Bardem or Phillip Seymour Hoffman (who is incredible in Wilson), though I am worried because I think "Michael Clayton" is going to steal some back door wins. Still, gotta go with the best from the best movie of the year. The oscar goes to Javier Bardem.

Actress in a Leading Role: I'm just going to come out and say I have no idea. The only movie I saw in this category was "Juno" and if Ellen Page wins I will kill someone. Most talked about is either Julie Christie in "Away from Her" or Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth." And the oscar goes to Julie Christie.

Actress in a Supporting Role: Here's another difficult one that I think could go to anyone. I hear good things about Amy Ryan from "Gone Baby Gone." Saoirse Ronan gives one of the best young performances I've seen to date in "Atonement," so I'm glad she gets a nod, but I doubt she wins. And the oscar goes to Cate Blanchett for her portrayal of Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There."

Cinematography: Both "No Country" and "Atonement" have terrific cinematography. "Atonement" has one of the best segments I've seen next to "Children of Men." And the oscar goes to Atonement.

Directing: In my opinion, I would love to see the Coen brothers nab this one, but I am afraid they won't even though they made the best movie. Paul Thomas Anderson is a genius, so he could get it, but I think there might be too much focus on Day-Lewis for people to pay attention to the rest of the film. The oscar goes to Joel and Ethan Coen just cause I want them to win.

Music (Score): Jeez, "The Kite Runner" was such a terrific movie and the music is so beautiful and melodic, but I'm afraid this is an easy pick in the other direction. And the oscar goes to Atonement.

Best Picture: The biggie in a year of pretty good movies. Aside from the horrible nomination of "Juno," this is a stacked category. The top three are "Atonement," "Michael Clayton" and "No Country for Old Men." In my opinion, no other movie could eclipse the brothers' latest social commentary. And the oscar goes to No Country for Old Men.

Visual Effects: No movie has ever come close to the ridiculousness of "Transformers." It is hands down the greatest display of visual effects ever created. There was no need to even nominate anything else. Michael Bay is incredible. And the oscar goes to Transformers.

Adapted Screenplay: Honestly, I thought you knew me by now, why are you still reading. Because I have no clue, I'm going to give it to my favorite. And the oscar goes to No Country for Old Men.

Original Screenplay: The outcome of this category could lead me to forever hate the Academy. If "Juno" wins I will never watch the Awards again. I like "The Savages" for this.

But the oscar goes to Michael Clayton (please oh please do this for me Academy).

There it is. Relish on it and watch the Awards show tonight at 8/7c p.m. And watch "No Country for Old Men" because it is so very good.

I win.

Writers Screw over Golden Globes

Instead of crying like a little child, I decided to crawl on here and take time out of my busy schedule to chat about this past weekend's Golden Globes. I, unlike the Writers Guild of America, found time and for no money jumped on here to simply write.

Because the writers are such cry babies about being paid 2.5 million instead of 2.4 million, the Golden Globes were cancelled. Writers and actors joined in boycotting the event, so they just cancelled it and announced the winners at a press conference.

Now to the part that matters, the winners (definitely not the writers).

Let's dive right into the big category, which is best picture - drama. "Atonement" took the award away from "There Will Be Blood","American Gangster","The Great Debaters","Eastern Promises","Michael Clayton" and "No Country for Old Men." The Globes usually screw this one up and the Academy tends to get this one right. I was not surprised at all by this. The Globes never pick movies along the lines of No Country, Clayton, Gangster, or Blood. From looking at the list of nominees, I knew it would be Atonement or Debaters (gladly it went to the better of the two). I did not see Blood, Clayton, or Promises. No question though that the best movie of this list is No Country.

I was shocked that "Sweeny Todd" won best picture - comedy or musical (though I cannot attest for the quality of the film). I figured "Charlie Wilson's War" was a sure lock. Thankfully "Juno" did not win - as it did not deserve to. Gotta admit, kind of a lame group of movies this year.

Daniel Day-Lewis got the victory that was determined from the initial preview months ago. No surprise there. The only shock will be if he does not win an Oscar. No one cares about the lame performances from the women this year. Johnny Depp finally gets him a win for best actor in a musical or comedy. He is well-deserving (so I'm told). Too bad, he still won't get that Oscar win.

Javier Bardem gets the supporting for No Country and he is definitely deserving. Cate Blanchett wins supporting for playing a man (pretty awesome).

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" nabs best foreign language film and best director. I definitely need to see that one.

"Atonement" grabbed the best score, which was terrific throughout.

And my favorite award, best screenplay, went to the Coen brothers for No Country. Not only was I excited that they won, but the fact that Juno lost was awesome. Seriously though, No Country is so good. The Coen brothers are geniuses and the movie is so multi-layered and figurative it is ridiculous. They should win solely on the ridiculous amounts of metaphors.

Good picks. And I hate the event, so I like that they just released them.

The Great American Plex

So, I was too tired to put out a post yesterday because of my experience. This is how it went down.

I went out to the movie theater (AMC) with the ambition to see several movies. I got to the mall around 10am and purchased a ticket for "The Kite Runner" at 1020am.

"The Kite Runner" was terrific and is quite possibly my favorite movie of the year. It is a drama about two young boys who fly kites in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1978. The kids remind me much of my brother and I when we were younger. The little boy actually looks a lot like my brother. Anyway, terrific movie and I strongly recommend it.

Next, I had a 30 minute break before "Juno." So, I hung out for awhile waiting for it to begin. I was slightly annoyed with the movie and the character of Juno. She was an annoying, wannabe cool pregnant 16 year old. The whole I listen to old-school indie rock and watch old crappy horror movies is a really lame attempt by the writer to make Juno seem "cool." So she thinks she is all that and a plate of waffles. The drama and comedy do come together well, and it has a sweet ending.

When I left this theater, I grabbed some girl's large popcorn and drink to go get a free refill. So with my newly acquired refreshments, I went straight into "The Golden Compass." I was not very impressed with this one. It was one of those kid book adaptation in the spirit of Narnia. Whatever. Not that great, but I went to see it for the polar bears. And they were awesome in their fighting, so that might have been worth it.

O no, I am not done. Three movies would not be a record. Then, I went into "National Treasure" expecting only the most ridiculous situations and schemes. I was not disappointed. From kidnapping the President to breaking in to the oval office. It was good entertainment and achieved it's goal. I do not understand why Ed Harris was in this. Not the greatest career move. O well, his loss.

Four is quite a bit, but five is more than four. So, I went into "Atonement" expecting to see the greatest movie of all time (kidding, but it did get 7 golden globe nominations). It was a pretty good story and not entirely romance. It was more about the younger sister seeking forgiveness for what she had done. Keira Knightley does not deserve an award, but James McAvoy is good. The cinematography is terrific and will get a nom at the Academy Awards maybe even win. There is a 4.5 minute shot on the beach showing all the soldiers waiting for ships to take them home that is just terrific. The music is really good as well.

So, that's it 5 movies in one day. This is the greatest plex (walking into another movie, but only paying the initial ticket) I have ever done and I have not heard of someone doing more. I had a great time and there was not alot of downtime, so I was never bored and the day went very quick. I left the mall around 10pm, so I was there about 12 hours.

Ya, that sounds ridiculous, but I had a blast. It was something I had always wanted to do, so I am glad I have finally done it. I probably won't do that again for awhile.

Cheers