Results on That

How did I do? I'd say I did golden. They ought to put me on the Academy because I'm so good.

First, the actual awards show sucked majorly. Jon Stewart is nowhere near funny and his jokes stalled like no one's business. He has never been funny and he pretty much ruined the show. O well, I hate all that crap anyway. The only thing I care about is the victors.

Daniel Day-Lewis brought it home just like everyone thought he would. What a champion. "My name is Daniel Plainview and I'm an oil man."

My boy Javier Bardem may have shocked a few, but he is definitely well-deserving. His role is going to go down in history as one of the creepiest of all time. Marion Cotillard won for "La Vie En Rose" the actress in a leading role, a category that I got wrong mainly because I had no idea.

Tilda Swinton took home the oscar for best supporting actress. I checked out "Michael Clayton" yesterday and I was highly confused as to why Swinton deserved a win. She really did not do anything. She sat there and looked in the mirror and said a few things. Clayton is a terrific movie, but I do not agree with Swinton's victory.

Ratatouille wins and no surprise there. There Will Be Blood grabs the Cinematography.

My Coen brother boys brought home the full ship Sunday night. They swept it to say the least. They won directing, best picture and adapted screenplay. Geniuses.

The Bourne Ultimatum won the three editing awards in which I am pleased.

Two atrocities littered the oscars this year. First, as we all know I hate Juno so I was completely disappointed when Cody won the original screenplay award. What a loser. The biggest pratfall of the night was the fact that Golden Compass won special effects. I don't know when I have been more upset. Sure, the polar bears were awesome, but we must have seen different movies. Transformers is, like I said, the greatest display of special effects of all time. Screw the Academy.

So, I was 6 for 11 in my prediction which isn't too bad considering the ones I lost in where because I hadn't seen any of those movies (and because the Academy sucks).

Can't wait to catch up on those I missed especially There Will Be Blood.

Oscalujah

Kinda getting a late run at this, but I've been supremely busy.

Oscar noms came out last weekend and there were some screw-overs and some unexpected nominations.

The first thing I noticed was the ridiculous amount of nominations for "Juno" (Actress: Ellen Page, Director: Jason Reitman, Best Picture, and Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody). This really makes me angry. Unfortunately, it will probably win best screenplay (I think the director made the movie work, not the screenplay, so I would not be too upset if Reitman wins, but he won't). But come on. Best Picture? Really? This is totally ridiculous. Did they see the same movie I did? Because I have already expressed my hatred for this movie for ruining the indie genre, I will just leave it at that.

Back to my world. A huge surprise to me is this hype on "Michael Clayton" (which was recently re-released in theaters, so maybe I will get a chance to see it). Clayton picked up seven noms right behind "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood." (Nominations for actor and supporting actor, supporting actress, direction, original score, best picture and original screenplay). I really can't wait to see this one. Very confusing to see this get so many because when it came out, it got mixed reviews.

Another out of nowhere nomination is Tommy Lee Jones for best actor not for No Country, but rather for "In the Valley of Elah." Another movie we did not hear much about. "The Savages" seem to come out of nowhere as well (I guess because it wasn't released anywhere near me). Laura Linney gets her third Oscar nom in 7 years, which is pretty impressive (maybe she will win this one). Savages also picks up original screenplay (pray it beats out Juno).

I was glad to see 'The Bourne Ultimatum" get a few nominations even if its for the really technical stuff (which is very important for a film's success). Matt Damon's third installment picks up sound editing, sound mixing and film editing. Usually a movie that gets nominated for both mixing and editing will one of the two.

I was pretty disappointed "The Kite Runner" did not get more nominations. It was nominated for original score which was beautiful. I thought it should have gotten a shot at best foreign language film or best adapted screenplay. It really was a delight.

Another screw-over is leaving Eddie Vedder out of the list for best original song for his song "Guaranteed" in "Into the Wild." That's alright though.

"Lars and the Real Girl" and "Ratatouille" somehow get best original screenplays (may show how far movies have sunk).

By far the biggest letdown in all of the Academy Award nominations was the complete snub of "American Gangster." I thought this was a sure lock for best picture when it came out, but no, we have to have Juno. I thought Russell Crowe would have been perfect with a supporting actor nod. Aside from a couple nominations, it is almost as if the movie never existed. I think the movie came out too early and it lost its hype and was forgotten in the season (though that did not seem to hurt Clayton which came out a month earlier).

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