The Nominees: Part III of VIII

LITTLE CHILDREN

3 Nominations:

Best Actress: Kate Winslet (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Iris, Titanic, Sense and Sensibility)

Best Supporting Actor: Jackie Earle Haley

Best Adapted Screenplay: Todd Field (In the Bedroom) and Tom Perotta

Director: Todd Field (In the Bedroom)
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Noah Emmerich, Jackie Earle Haley, Phyllis Somerville, Jane Adams

This movie was predicted as one of the big prestige pictures of 2006. A screenplay nomination is a very big deal, so it still looks as though a lot of people paid attention to and liked this film, but it seems like reception to the film is overall more cool than anything else. This is to be expected for a film that worked hard to create distance from its audience. Still, three nominations is a lot of love and the Jackie Earle Haley nomination was a welcome surprise on nomination morning. This is Kate Winslet's fifth Oscar nomination. Make a note. She has yet to win.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: Best Supporting Actor
My Rating: #51 out of 69

CHILDREN OF MEN

3 Nominations:

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También), David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki (The New World, Sleepy Hollow, A Little Princess)

Best Film Editing

Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Y Tu Mamá También, Great Expectations, A Little Princess)
Cast: Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Pam Ferris

This is my favorite movie of the year. Blame its weak showing at the Academy on a too-late release date (this is Universal's fault) and on subject matter (sci-fi is not usually their thing.) But a film this good doesn't need a whole lot of Oscar nominations. People are going to be talking about how great this movie is for years to come. At any rate, Emmanuel Lubezki deserves to win in his category hands down. Hopefully by then, members of the Academy will all have seen this gem.
Will Win: Best Cinematography
Might Also Win: Best Film Editing
My Rating: #1 out of 69

APOCALYPTO

3 Nominations:

Best Sound Mixing

Best Sound Editing

Best Makeup

Director: (Crazy) Mel Gibson (The Passion of the Christ, Braveheart, The Man Without a Face)
Cast: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez, Jonathan Brewer, Morris Birdyellowhead, Carlos Emilio Baez

This is a good movie, for the most part, though its subject matter and director obviously make it a tough pill for Hollywood to swallow. Still, The Passion of the Christ got Oscar nominations and so did this film. Winning anything is a different story altogether, and the presence of Pan's Labyrinth in the makeup category means Apocalypto will go home with nothing on Oscar night. That said, the makeup in this film (as in Gibson's last film) is extraordinary and the nomination is well-deserved.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: N/A
My Rating: #26 out of 69

UNITED 93

2 Nominations:

Best Director: Paul Greengrass

Best Film Editing

Director: Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, Bloody Sunday, The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, The Theory of Flight)
Cast: David Alan Basche, Cheyenne Jackson, Christian Clemenson, Trish Gates, Khalid Abdalla, Lewis Alsamari, Omar Berdouni, Jamie Harding

These nominations are a big surprise. Critics loved this film, and clearly so did the Academy's director's branch, which is—in general—more discriminating than the body as a whole. But audiences didn't seem to take notice of this movie, despite critical enthusiasm about it. I personally loved the film and it sat at my number one spot for almost the entire year. It's a superbly directed film. I can't wait for Greengrass's next offering: The Bourne Ultimatum.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: Best Film Editing
My Rating: #2 out of 69

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

2 Nominations:

Best Actress: Meryl Streep (Adaptation., Music of the Heart, One True Thing, The Bridges of Madison County, Postcards from the Edge, A Cry in the Dark, Ironweed, Out of Africa, Silkwood, The French Lieutenant's Woman; she has Oscars for Sophie's Choice and Kramer vs. Kramer but hasn't won in 24 years.)

Best Costume Design: Patricia Field

Director: David Frankel (Miami Rhapsody)
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrien Grenier, Simon Baker

The Best Actress nomination was a given, but the Best Costume Design nomination is a big surprise. The Academy usually likes to nominate period films and fantasy films in this category. Contemporary costume work usually gets left behind. This bodes well for the future. Streep hasn't won an Oscar since 1983. It is time to hand her another trophy, people! Her work is always stellar, never even slightly sub-par, and it always feels like you never knew her before when she's onscreen.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: Best Costume Design
My Rating: #47 out of 69

Two Things for the Morning

Last night I went to the 8:00p Elimination Game at Ultimate Improv. And let me tell you, it is such good theatre. Last night there were nine improvisors trying to be funny for about an hour and then at the end of the night one of them got kicked off the game. The audience, in fact, voted off the loser. Next Friday there will be only eight. The pleasure and the pain of this are almost excruciating. Ultimate has done this really well. In addition to the nine (now eight) contestants, they had set up four judges. Last night they were Ultimate founder JD Walsh along with Ultimate team members Rachel Landers, Heather Campbell and David Magidoff. The evening was hosted by Ultimate regular Darren Lanning. The addition of the judges into the mix makes everything so much better! The audience, naturally, will appoint itself judge over these poor improvisors, but the judges give us fuel and fodder for discussion of the people we dislike (or like as the case may be). I had a total blast and I can't wait until next week! Who wants to come with me? This shit is hilarious, I swear. Serious kudos to JD Walsh and to fellow-blogger whose sadistic but oh-so-pleasurable brainchild this was.

And Justin, Elizabeth, Wahima, and I saw The Devil Wears Prada last night after the show, too. Whatever. The movie's characters are a bit of a mess, by which I mean that their motivations don't always make much sense. says that this is stuff that is lost in the translation from novel to film. This may be and I believe her, but my main objection to the film is its morality. And here my discussion might get a little muddy, so be prepared. The main storyline of the film (I haven't read the novel, so I cannot comment) seems to be one that is saying that the choices that Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) makes are wrong: that the things she drops on the way to the top in the name of her career are things to which she should have held to fast. This is the thing, though: we have to decide about what is important to us in life. If what is important at age twenty-five is make a life in a career then there are certain things that must suffer in relationship with that career. If what is important in life is making a family and loving a partner and building a home, then one's career is going to have to suffer. These are the choices we make. Obviously, these are not easy decisions, but the heroine of the film continually feels tugged at by this home that she's building and can't seem to shrug it off, even though it obviously isn't important to her. I can think of at least three scenes in the film that totally exonerate the eponymous "Devil" of the film, justifying everything she does and excusing all her behavior. There might even be more scenes serving this function. I completely identified with the Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) character and although I understand that she was been difficult to work for, demanding, hard-edged, totally bitchy and all of that stuff, these are the dues we pay. If you don't want to do the work, as they keep saying throughout the film, a million girls would kill to have the job.
Anyway, the film has a lot of problems and, though the greatest of these problems is its vacillating allegiances, its ancillary characters are not well-drawn, it stops being funny after about 45 minutes and decides it wants to be a romantic morality tale and its central villain is not nearly villainous enough (even if she's the hero).
Meryl Streep is fabulous and the performance is quite funny. Stanley Tucci is adorable and steals the screen every second he's in it, without ever being ridiculous (quite a feat). Anne Hathaway's appeal is still sort of lost on me. I just don't get why anyone likes her. To my mind she's just so boring. I thought Emily Blunt was excellent (I loved her last year in My Summer of Love, too). The role is easy, but she squeezes laughs out of difficult spots.

And the clothes. The clothes were glorious. You actually might want to see The Devil Wears Prada just for the clothes.