The Midnight Sky

I was in the mood for a sci-fi film, and then I remembered this new release, so I watched it. The Midnight Sky has a couple of really good scenes, and I love the score, but the movie just isn't that much fun. 

George Clooney's new movie is a downer. It's also sort of... well... it takes the sort of zen point of view that literally everyone is well meaning. Everyone in this film behaves rationally, and everyone explains his or her behavior, and everyone does precisely what he or she believes is right. This is not the point of view I would personally take of the world. It's not a bad thing, necessarily, but it does make everything in the film feel sort of trite, and certainly much less universal and global than the film wishes to be.

This also feels like the kind of adaptation of a novel where everything sort of fits together in a sentimental way. I don't know. The film feels better than that, but not much. 

I'm kind of a sucker for stuff happening in space, though, so I liked that. And the scene with all the blood was really cool.

Gravity

You probably don't need me to convince you to go see Gravity. But, it is great. Cuarón is doing his signature long takes. There's all sort of weightless, awesome tension. Clooney and Bullock are great. And I don't know how they are selling this movie in your town, but Gravity is an action movie. An action movie that is also intensely suspenseful. It also contains themes of hanging on and letting go, evolution, becoming someone new, and the power of willing oneself into action: trying. But the star here is the action itself. Gravity is not some heavy-handed message-y action film à la Prometheus.

The sound is great, Emmanuel Lubezki's photography is stellar as always. The special effects are insanely good. And the whole thing is pretty terrifying. I saw it in 3D IMAX and I kind of want to see it again in exactly the same way.

I have lately been drawn to these one-lonely-person-against-nature kinds of stories. I recently loved the Icelandic film The Deep, as well, which involves one lonely guy swimming in the North Atlantic for six hours as he tries to get back home. (How anyone could stay alive in that freezing-cold water is a still-unsolved mystery, but it is a true story.)  Perhaps it is my own introversion that makes a film about someone by herself battling against her own will and spending time with her own memories and pain and fighting to stay alive that appeals to me. I tend to like a film like this much, much more than, say Life of Pi or even Kon-Tiki, which I liked so much. Just this one person, alone, trying to make a go of it, and not knowing whether anyone else cares and knowing for a fact that nature itself does not care. This appeals to me as a narrative. I recognize something in the struggle of my own life, something that makes a kind of sense to me – trying to make things work without really knowing why I am bothering... but doing it anyway.

P.S. in regard to Gravity and its Oscar chances, I think we're looking at 7 total – maybe more. Picture, Director, Actress, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing, at least.

2012's Nominees: Part 5 of 10

A Separation

2 Nominations

• Original Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi
• Foreign Language Picture: Iran (Children of Heaven)

Director: Farhadi

Cast: Peyman Maadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini.

I haven't seen A Separation yet. I am hoping that I will actually get to see it before the Academy Awards next Sunday, since it will allegedly be released in Tallahassee next Friday. I'm crossing my fingers, because everyone says this picture is simply excellent. This is Iran's second nomination in the Foreign Language Picture category, and the first time any film in Farsi has been nominated for the Screenplay category. It's a very big deal. I am excited.

Will Win: Foreign Language Picture

Could Win: Screenplay

My Rating: Not ranked

The Iron Lady

2 Nominations

• Actress: Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia, Doubt, The Devil Wears Prada, 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, Sophie's Choice, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Deer Hunter)
• Makeup

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

Cast: Streep, Jim Broadbent, Susan Brown, Iain Glen, Alexandra Roach, Olivia Colman, Harry Lloyd, Roger Allam, Michael Pennington, Julian Wadham.

This movie is a mess, really, but Meryl Streep and her makeup artist are both absolutely incredible. The film takes the point of view that Mrs. Thatcher was noble and courageous and principled, her policies laudable and right. This is fine as far as it goes – I disagree, but a film is certainly free to take such an approach. The trouble is, the film is never quite clear about Mrs. Thatcher or these all-important principles. Instead, The Iron Lady would have us believe that Thatcher got every idea she ever had from her father, succeeded mostly through stubbornness, nitpicked about commas and agenda items, never managed a coalition as a politician, and was generally ignorant about the workings of the government she ran. A film is obviously free to take this approach, as well, but if one isn't criticizing her and at the same time isn't really explaining her, what is it doing? But... is The Iron Lady worth seeing for Meryl Streep's work? Yes. She is extraordinary. Absolutely phenomenal.

Will Win: Actress

Could Win: Makeup

My Rating: #46 out of 65

A Better Life

1 Nomination

• Actor: Demián Bichir

Director: Chris Weitz

Cast: Bichir, José Julián, Dolores Heredia, Bobby Soto, Chelsea Rendon, Joaquín Cosio, Carlos Linares.

I really liked this film. It's about a man trying to make a life for his son in Los Angeles. He is an undocumented worker from Mexico, and though his son is a U.S. Citizen, though he works six days a week, and though he has lived in the U.S. for fifteen years, he lives in constant fear that he will be deported. The film details his struggle beautifully. The film is deeply moving without being too sentimental, and it's also a movie that is really smart about race, placing every decision the characters make into its economic context. I love movies about Los Angeles, in general, as well, and this film photographs the city beautifully and accurately. Bichir's nomination wasn't a particular surprise, but I should note that he was nominated over Michael Shannon, Ryan Gosling, and Michael Fassbender.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #13 out of 65

The Ides of March

1 Nomination

• Adapted Screenplay: George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck.), Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck.), Beau Willimon

Director: Clooney

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, Jennifer Ehle.

Zzzz. I have already talked about this movie here, so I will not bore you further with why I think this film is boring. What's crazy to me is that the really great thing about The Ides of March is Ryan Gosling's wonderful performance. What is really bad about the film is the screenplay, and yet... here it is nominated for Adapted Screenplay, beating out several other contenders, including the excellent The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Adventures of Tintin as well as fan favorites The Help, War Horse, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Oh well. I never thought Beau Willimon's play Farragut North was any good, and though the film is better, it's still not very good. The poster's cool, though, isn't it?

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #47 out of 65

2012's Nominees: Part 4 of 10

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

3 Nominations

• Sound Mixing
• Sound Editing
• Visual Effects

Director: Michael Bay

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel, Frances McDormand, John Turturro, Patrick Dempsey, Julie White, Kevin Dunn, John Malkovich, Tyrese Gibson.

This movie was so absolutely terrible that I actually started to enjoy it. Now, I understand that people say this rather frequently ("But it's so bad it's good, Aaron; you're sure to enjoy it!") but I almost never feel that way with movies. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is different. It's an absolute train-wreck; it's incredibly confusing; and it's so absolutely permeated by stupidity that it is actually fun. I keep coming back to this, but at one point in the movie – as my friend Allan pointed out to me – a building falls in slow motion for about 10 minutes while all the action inside the building takes place in real time. This is after an extended sequence where soldiers actually fly into Chicago. How they manage to fly is not explained; who these soldiers are is not explained; why they are flying into Chicago is also not explained. Once I gave over to this blatant gratuitousness, Transformers: Dark of the Moon totally became worth watching. As for Oscar, they keep nominating these Transformers movies, but they never manage to win. Don't hold your breath.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #52 out of 65

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

2 Nominations

• Picture
• Supporting Actor: Max Von Sydow (Pelle the Conqueror)

Director: Stephen Daldry

Cast: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Von Sydow, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright, Zoe Caldwell.

This film... I don't know. I read the book and really liked it, and, well, the book is really bookish. So making this into a movie didn't really work for me. I thought the film didn't really completely understand the book, and the film is sentimental in ways that the book is not. The book is also fundamentally about the 1945 bombing of Dresden, and historicizes (as we say in the Academy) the bombing of the World Trade Center by placing it in the context of other enormous global bombing incidents: Dresden and Hiroshima. Still, it's a nice film and is inoffensive as far as it goes. It is also great that Von Sydow got a long overdue second Oscar nomination for his work here (he was notably passed over in 1999 and then again in 2007.)

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: Supporting Actor

My Rating: #38 out of 65

My Week with Marilyn

2 Nominations

• Actress: Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine, Brokeback Mountain)
• Supporting Actor: Kenneth Branagh (Henry V)

Director: Simon Curtis

Cast: Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Branagh, Emma Watson, Judi Dench, Julia Ormond, Dominic Cooper, Zoë Wanamaker, Simon Russell Beale, Derek Jacobi, Toby Jones.

This has an odd tone to it. The performances are rather lovely, though. I was particularly fond of Branagh, who does a very nice impression of Olivier that is also imbued with a great deal of feeling. All in all, though, I am not really sure that I understood this movie. Are we supposed to come away from it really believing in Marilyn's genius or pain or innocence or allure? It certainly doesn't make anything about Marilyn's life any clearer, and the whole thing has the feel of a kind of young man's wet dream fantasy about Marilyn Monroe falling in love with him.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #39 out of 65

Bridesmaids

2 Nominations

• Original Screenplay: Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo
• Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy

Director: Paul Feig

Cast: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, McCarthy, Jill Clayburgh, Chris O'Dowd, Wendi McLendon-Covey.

I thought this was really funny. And lest you tell me that it was mostly improvisation and doesn't quite deserve an original screenplay nod, I would direct your attention to Mike Leigh's five nominations in this category (every one of them deserved). Frankly, I think the nomination that is undeserved here is McCarthy's, but people do seem to like her work. She's a popular favorite, so I won't grouse about it. In a lot of ways, I think this film's popularity with the Academy just goes to show that the Academy is not completely out of touch with the popularity of films, though some would have us believe that they only go in for "artsy" stuff ("artsy" as far as I can tell simply means "bad"). Two nominations is nothing to sneeze at! – more, certainly, than J. Edgar or Young Adult or The Ides of March or A Dangerous Method or other obvious Oscar-bait films managed to get.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #31 out of 65

Best Actor 2011

My top choices in the order I would place them on my Academy ballot if I were allowed to vote. In other words, I acknowledge that this list is already influenced by awards buzz, and the actors who I think need the most votes are at the top.

GARY OLDMAN, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

DEMIÁN BICHIR, A Better Life

MICHAEL FASSBENDER, Shame

BRAD PITT, Moneyball

JEAN DUJARDIN, The Artist

Also loved:
George Clooney, The Descendants
Dominic Cooper, The Devil's Double
Matthew McConaughey, The Lincoln Lawyer

Related:
My Best Actor Picks for 2010
My Best Actor Picks for 2009
My Best Actor Picks for 2008
My Best Actor Picks for 2007

Plays into Movies So Frequently Signal Disappointment

This isn't always the case, of course, and War Horse may turn out to be a fascinating exception to the rule of 2011, but if The Ides of March and A Dangerous Method set the rule, then the rule is disappointment.

These two films also belong together because they're both made by wonderful directors. But Ides of March is nothing like George Clooney's other two films, and A Dangerous Method seems a wide departure from David Cronenberg's last two films. Both directors have taken on projects this year that are really interesting to them thematically, but which (to my mind) had scripts that basically did not work.

To start, the chief problem with both of these movies is that they depend almost exclusively on talk. The emotional, narrative, and thematic life of these movies is so heavily dependent on dialogue that I actually got tired during both of these films. Shut up!!, I kept thinking. Why must they continue to talk about everything? Doesn't anyone simply have a feeling without describing it in the dialogue? Ides fares better in this department than does Method, but not much better.

There are some good sex sequences in A Dangerous Method, but even these are very brief, and in a film about masochism and sexual freedom, it seems odd not to tell at least part of the story through the sex sequences (as Steve McQueen's Shame does so brilliantly).

I blame the source material. I saw Christopher Hampton's play The Talking Cure many many years ago and didn't think much of it, and when I saw Beau Willimon's play Farragut North a couple years ago I couldn't figure out why anyone even produced the thing in the first place, much less why big stars were in it and why it was being made into a movie.

The main problem with Ides (and Farragut) is that one can't really care too much about these characters – Ides is a very cynical film about rather idealistic people. The main problem with Method is that even if we may care about these characters (and I did! – if you know me you know that I went into the movie already loving Sigmund Freud) we never really understand why they do the things they do. Method trades on the idea that we know a whole lot about the characters that Cronenberg never actually tells us. I feel like I know a lot about Freud and Jung, but I never really felt like I understood all of what was going on in this movie.

There is more to say, of course. The acting is very good in both films. Ryan Gosling, Max Minghella (I love him), and Marisa Tomei are all great in The Ides of March and Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, Vincent Cassel, and especially Viggo Mortensen are all great in A Dangerous Method, but neither film works, and all the acting – and this may be because of the source material as well – feels a little bit like overacting.

Let me say once again that I love David Cronenberg as a director, and I might love George Clooney as a director even more. I think these two men are original, fascinating, important talents. I just think their offerings for 2011 were not very good.

The Descendants

I've been going to the movies again! I am excited about it.

This weekend I got to see Alexander Payne's The Descendants, and I am pleased to report that I think this might be Payne's best movie.

To be honest, I have never really liked Payne's films. I have probably told everyone this by now, but I always think they are smug. His movies are funny and they are played for laughs, but I always think they have a tone of real meanness underneath them, as though his characters are only there for us to laugh at. And how stupid they are! And how clever we are for making fun of them! I usually feel a bit, well, icky after a Payne movie.

But, I should stop talking about this quality of Payne's films in my discussion of The Descendants, though, because the truth is, I found this film to be extraordinarily generous.

The Descendants has its share of characters worthy of ridicule, plenty of them, actually, but the film always takes a point of view that sympathizes with these characters, that can see their side of things, even when they are being stupid or ludicrous.

My own response to The Descendants was established very early on. Clooney is doing a voice-over where he explains the given circumstances of the film. He goes through information quickly, telling us what we need to know. His wife is in the hospital and he's been sitting with her for 3 weeks. She's in a coma after a head injury. He has two daughters who he's trying to wrangle. He owns a whole bunch of land that is in a trust and he has to decide how to dispose of it in a couple of weeks. He tells us all of this in a kind of flat tone. And then there is a slight pause. And he says something like "Elizabeth is gonna be alright. She's gonna wake up and it may be a long road of recuperation, but it's gonna be worth it and I'm gonna work less and spend more time at home with her and the kids and we can work on things." It is an absolutely extraordinary moment: as though if he says everything he wishes were true immediately after all of the other true things, then his wishes will all come true.

The acting is great. The film is very funny at times. There are wonderful sequences featuring Beau Bridges (!) and Robert Forster (!). I really, really liked it.

The Briefest of Reviews from 1973

I love love loved this movie. It is dark and moody and has that classic 1970s anti-hero feel with a protagonist that is totally at a loss for direction. (I am thinking of movies like The Conversation and The French Connection and Serpico – anyone reading this blog could probably name another five quite easily – the kind of movie George Clooney and Tony Gilroy tried successfully to revisit with Michael Clayton). In Save the Tiger, Lemmon is absolutely superb. His performance is astounding. I was blown away. And, frankly, I was blown away by John G. Avildsen. I've always had a hard heart toward him because the average Rocky won the Best Picture Oscar over Network, probably the best film of the decade; as it turns out, though, Avildsen is a real talent: he directs this hard-hitting, bleak picture without pulling any punches. Save the Tiger is fantastic.

Sus Ojos

Yesterday I continued my streak of screening movies by myself in empty theatres when my friend Sean ditched me and I ended up seeing Juan José Campanella's The Secret in Their Eyes by myself.

I had assumed that the title meant that the movie was going to be a story about lost childhood. I think I was imagining Secretos del Corazón or La Bestia nel Cuore or something like that. But no. The Secret in Their Eyes is not even really that similar to Campanella's other big film, Son of the Bride (which I also liked). If The Secret in Their Eyes is like any recent film, it is comparable to Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others.

The Secret in Their Eyes is a mystery, a kind of memory-drama where the protagonist tries to piece together the events that happened to him many years previous. The whole thing is a fascinating puzzle and while I couldn't always decide if I thought I had figured something out, the narrative is told in such a way that it never feels manipulative, as if the filmmaker is deliberately keeping things from the audience. Instead, we remember as the protagonist remembers. We learn as he pieces things together; we solve puzzles as he solves them. The end of this film is so surprising, so well done, and so earned, that right before the big reveal I was positive the reveal was going to be something else altogether.

Argentinian superstar Ricardo Darín (Nine Queens, The Aura, Son of the Bride) plays the lead. Darín is like the Argentinian George Clooney, so I can't really comment on his acting. He is very good, but it's a movie-star part, you know? My favorite performances in the film are Pablo Rago, who plays the husband of the murdered woman, and Guillermo Francella, who is outstanding as Darín's alcoholic investigative partner. Soledad Villamil is also excellent as Darín's love interest. There is a fantastic interrogation scene with Darín and Villamil where she just stuns you.

You will not want to miss this picture. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Picture this year (2010), so it won't be eligible for any other awards next year, but it won the award for a reason. This is a great movie.

The New Coen Brothers' Movie

I really liked Burn after Reading. It's classic Coen Brothers' humor and more than worth the watch. I may even see it again. Joe Morgenstern called the movie a "cheerful trifle" and "forget after seeing," and I understand how people can thing that Burn is rather inconsequential when compared to the Coens' most recent powerhouse of a feature No Country for Old Men, but there is a lot to be said for funny, and Burn is hilarious.

In Coen fashion, it's absolutely ludicrous. The characters are figures of deep ridicule, making inane (and hilarious) decisions, and the whole film is a riff on the real spy movies of the 1960s and 1970s and all of those pseudo-spy movies of the 1990s (and even more recently—I should mention—the unbearable Charlie Wilson's War). Burn never takes itself seriously even when it is pretending to do so. The thing is, it pretends really well, and it is the very pretense which is so funny. We know we aren't supposed to be taking this seriously from the get-go, and so every ridiculous nuanced character trait that these characters have becomes hilarious. I thought it was great.

Oh yeah, the film stars George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich (who is brilliant), Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins and JK Simmons. The best part, though, is Brad Pitt. He is absurd, and his acting is flawless. I am laughing just thinking about his moronic behavior in this movie.

Some Words on the Golden Globes

As you probably know, the Golden Globes ceremony/party has been canceled this year, in what has got to be the weirdest Oscar season in a really long time. And we all know that tonight's awards press conference will have no bearing on the Oscar nominations (which will be announced on Tuesday January 22nd) since the ballots are already being counted. The Globes really aren't that good of a predictor for the Oscars anyway. Nevertheless, I thought I'd do a rundown of who's nominated and I've included who I think will win in bold...

Best Picture (Drama)
American Gangster
Atonement
Eastern Promises
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood




Best Picture (Musical/Comedy)
Across the Universe
Charlie Wilson's War
Hairspray
Juno
Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
(Hot Fuzz, Enchanted and Dan in Real Life were obviously too funny to be nominated by the HFPA)






Thoughts on this?

Best Actress (Drama)
Keira Knightley, Atonement
Julie Christie, Away from Her
Jodie Foster, The Brave One
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: the Golden Age
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
*I am predicting Keira but honestly it could be anyone of them (except Jodie)

Best Actor (Drama)
Denzel Washington, American Gangster
James McAvoy, Atonement
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
*How can anyone resist the Clooney?

Best Actress (Musical/Comedy)
Amy Adams, Enchanted
Nikki Blonsky, Hairspray
Ellen Page, Juno
Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Best Actor (Musical/Comedy)
Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson's War
Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
John C. Reilly, Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story

Best Supporting Actress
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Julia Roberts, Charlie Wilson's War
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There.

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
John Travolta, Hairspray
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Animated feature will go to Ratatouille, best foreign language film will go to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the Coens will take best director and screenplay too, and original score will go to Dario Marianelli for Atonement. Have you heard it? It's gorgeous. Song goes to Enchanted.

[Edit] My predictions mostly sucked. I went 7 for 14.

Best Actor 2007

My top choices in the order I would place them on my Academy ballot if I were allowed to vote:

VIGGO MORTENSEN, Eastern Promises


BRAD PITT, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford


TOMMY LEE JONES, No Country for Old Men


CASEY AFFLECK, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford


DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, There Will Be Blood

Runners-up in alphabetical order:
Adrien Brody (The Darjeeling Limited)
George Clooney (Michael Clayton)
Russell Crowe (American Gangster)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Lookout)
Rolf Lassgård (Efter Brylluppet [After the Wedding])
Heath Ledger (I'm Not There.)
James McAvoy (Atonement)
Gordon Pinsent (Away from Her)

Apologies to Tom Hanks, Frank Langella, and Sam Riley, whose films I regrettably have not yet seen.

Discuss!

Related:
My Best Actor picks for 2006
My Best Actor picks for 2005
My Best Actor picks for 2004

The Oscar Race

So now that I have a little time, I thought it might be interesting to discuss some of the critics awards that have been released over the last couple of days. Everything will change very visibly with the Golden Globe nominations on Thursday, but here is what everyone's talking about right now.

BEST PICTURE
American Gangster
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Bucket List
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
Juno
The Kite Runner
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood

It seems very likely that no other film will emerge as a frontrunner for awards, and that the five Best Picture nominees will come from this list. It's a huge list, so that shouldn't be too shocking. Most frequently mentioned here are No Country for Old Men, of course, and The Diving Bell and Butterfly, which is getting mentioned as most critics' Best Foreign Language selection. It is ineligible for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, but it could emerge with a Best Picture nomination. If it's lucky. This seems unlikely.

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson (L.A.)
Tim Burton (Nat'l Board of Review)
The Coen Brothers (N.Y., San Francisco)
Julian Schnabel (Boston, L.A.)

The additional directors mentioned by the BFCA are: Sidney Lumet (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead), Sean Penn (Into the Wild) and Joe Wright (Atonement). The top four here are Anderson, the Coens and Schnabel. I expect Lumet to get an Oscar nomination too. Not sure about slot five.

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney (NBR, San Fran)
Daniel Day-Lewis (L.A., N.Y.)
Emile Hirsch (NBR)
Frank Langella (Boston, L.A.)

The BFCA also includes Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd), Ryan Gosling (Lars and the Real Girl) and Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises). Viggo Mortensen's performance is one of the best of year--no question. Not sure if he can score a nomination, though. I think Hirsch's chances are iffy, too. He is very young for a Best Actor nomination. Could James McAvoy (Atonement) place?

BEST ACTRESS
Julie Christie (NBR, L.A., N.Y., San Fran)
Marion Cotillard (Boston)
Anamaria Marinca (L.A.)
Ellen Page (NBR)

THE BFCA adds to this Amy Adams (Enchanted), Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: the Golden Age) and Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart). They aren't included here, but I think Laura Linney (The Savages) and Keira Knightley (Atonement) could also place.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck (NBR, San Fran)
Javier Bardem (Boston, N.Y.)
Hal Holbrook (L.A.)
Vlad Ivanov (L.A.)

The BFCA adds Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson's War) and Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton). The field is not completely wide open here, but only Bardem is really set in stone here. And everyone was talking about Max Von Sydow (The Diving Bell and Butterfly) last week...

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Ryan (NBR, Boston, L.A., N.Y., San Fran)
Cate Blanchett (L.A.)

The only name anyone is mentioning is Amy Ryan and this is stupid. Not because she's bad in the movie (although I wasn't particularly over the moon about her performance), but because the critics have a chance to influence the discourse. The only actress anyone wants to talk about is Amy Ryan, and they could be choosing instead to promote some other cool performances. The BFCA adds Catherine Keener (Into the Wild), Vanessa Redgrave (Atonement) and Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton). But what about Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men), Charlotte Gainsbourg (I'm Not There.) or Leslie Mann (Knocked Up). I can think of another three or four actresses whose supporting work impressed me. It is a little ridiculous that no critics organizations can think of any.

Thesis Exhaustion

This week I have spent writing. I sat down last Sunday and just started writing the thesis. Technically, what I am writing is my prospectus, which has to be approved before I can write the rest of the thesis. But the prospectus becomes the introduction to the thesis, so I am approaching writing the thing as if I am writing the introduction to a book. Albeit, a clunky book with a huge review of literature in the middle of it.
That said, after writing for a week or so, I have about fourteen pages of the thing. Not to jinx it or anything, but I think it's looking good so far.

On the movie front, I saw Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton, which is a serious drama/thriller. I found it tension-filled and very, very smart. George Clooney is great in it, and the film boast an Oscar-bait performance by Tom Wilkinson. The cast is rounded out by Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack (!). But what, you ask, is Michael Clayton about? This is the film's main problem, really. It's a kind of big-business/legal drama and the stakes are all about business and capital. Michael Clayton is also very much about living with ourselves and the decisions we make, and "doing the right thing" (whatever that means.) The stakes sound kind of bogus, I admit, but the film is acted extremely well, and it's also very well-made technically. (It feels very much like a film made by Steven Soderbergh--who was one of the film's producers.) I enjoyed it very much and I expect that if audiences can commit to caring about the stakes of the film, most people will like it.

I had insomnia (actually, that isn't true; I had too much coffee) the other night and instead of tossing and turning, I popped in the new Criterion DVD of Hiroshi Teshigahara's sixties film Woman in the Dunes. It was not at all what I was expecting. I have been watching a lot of old Japanese movies this year, and I was expecting something contemplative, poetic and understated. But Woman in the Dunes is scary. A man gets trapped at the bottom of a sand dune at the beginning of the movie, and learns to live there. It's occasionally horrifying, always beautifully shot, and really, really creepy. Definitely one to rent.

And then last night I saw Ang Lee's new movie Lust, Caution, whose title I hate. I really liked the film, though, and I might even bump that up to "love" the more I think about it. It's a spy/drama/love story set in 1940s Japanese-occupied Shanghai and Hong Kong. It stars the amazing Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Joan Chen and two younger actors who weren't previously on my rader: Tang Wei and Wang Lee-Hom. All acquit themselves very well. From the trailer, I had assumed that Joan Chen wasn't going to be in the film much, but I was delighted at how much she was in it. This movie is a lush, well-acted prestige-type movie with some very interesting things to say about the impact of sex on our lives, and the ways it ties us to one another, even to people we may hate. It's really fascinating. It's also rather explicit (which is why it has an NC-17 rating, I guess). It's not explicit on the level of, say, Shortbus, but maybe on the level of The Lover. To my mind, though, the sex scenes are incredibly valuable to what the film is doing. Lust, Caution is long-ish and a little slow to start, but I think it's definitely worth seeing. I should also mention that the score, by Alexandre Desplat, is absolutely beautiful.

The Nominees: Part VII of VIII (Aren't We Done Yet?)

THE ILLUSIONIST

1 Nomination:

Best Cinematography: Dick Pope

Director: Neil Burger (Interview with the Assassin)
Cast: Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti, Rufus Sewell

Zzzzz. This is a bad movie, and don't see it for the cinematography either. I mean, yay, Dick Pope's first nomination and all, but from what I recall of this movie (and I spent a lot of it wishing I would fall asleep), I remember that there aren't very many wide shots because it's kind of a low budget affair with very few sets. This is mostly an interior picture. And I could tell that as I was watching it. I am skeptical of this nomination. There are much more deserving pictures that might've appeared here. Including Best Picture nominee The Departed, which is brilliantly shot.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: N/A
My Rating: #65 out of 71

MARIE ANTOINETTE

1 Nomination:

Best Costume Design: Milena Canonero (The Affair of the Necklace, Titus, Dick Tracy, Tucker: the Man and His Dream, Out of Africa, and two trophies: Chariots of Fire and Barry Lyndon)

Director: Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides)
Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Steve Coogan, Shirley Henderson, Rip Torn, Molly Shannon, Asia Argento

Very good movie. Awful reviews. But the costumes in this film are really a vision. And Canonero hasn't won since 1982. I want her to win again. This category seems sort of tough to predict, but I think I will predict it for the win... mostly because Canonero is who I'm rooting for.
Will Win: Best Costume Design
Might Also Win: N/A
My Rating: #23 out of 71

CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER

1 Nomination:

Best Costume Design: Yee Chung Man

Director: Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers, Hero, Raise the Red Lantern, Ju Dou, To Live, Shanghai Triad)
Cast: Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Ye Liu, Man Li, Jin Chen

This movie is fun stuff. Of course, almost nobody saw it. It's not a big martial arts/swordfighting bonanza like Flying Daggers and Hero were. And is it just me or was it not marketed as much as those two flicks were? It has all of the eye candy of those films and more if you ask me. Anyway, congrats to the designer on this nomination. And let's hope for more stuff of substance from Yimou. He is a master filmmaker with a lot more good stuff in him. And any excuse to see Gong Li is a good one in my opinion.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: N/A
My Rating: #33 out of 71

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

1 Nomination:

Best Art Direction: Jeannine Oppewall (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville, L.A. Confidential), Gretchen Rau (The Last Samurai, Memoirs of a Geisha—she died last year) & Leslie E. Rollins

Director: Robert De Niro
Cast: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, Robert De Niro, William Hurt, Gabriel Macht, Timothy Hutton, Lee Pace, Joe Pesci, Billy Crudup, John Turturro, Michael Gambon

Just look at that cast! And then look at my rating down below. I have no explanation for this film or this film's appearance among the nominees for an Academy Award. The only thing I can think of is that everyone who saw this movie just stared at the sets because the plot was so sleep-inducing. Actually, in all fairness, the film does cover a huge span of time and involves lots of beautiful set work. It starts at the beginning of the cold war, so the look of the film really is exquisite, particularly when the film moves across the pond to England and the USSR. In addition, there is a whole plotline that involves the contents of a single specific room. The plot is, in a way about the set. But goddamn, this film is awful.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: N/A
My Rating: #71 out of 71

THE GOOD GERMAN

1 Nomination:

Best Original Score: Thomas Newman (Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Finding Nemo, Road to Perdition, American Beauty, Unstrung Heroes, Little Women, The Shawshank Redemption)

Director: Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Eleven and Twelve, Erin Brockovich, Full Frontal, Traffic, Out of Sight, The Limey)
Cast: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire

Does anyone have an explanation for how this film missed out on a cinematography nomination? I mean, look at that picture! It's gorgeous. But let's talk about Thomas Newman. My favorite of his scores is the underappreciated Nemo, but this guy has obviously been doing a lot of good work in a very short time. Shawshank was 1995 and it's 2007. That's thirteen years and Newman now has eight nominations. But no wins yet. I don't think he's going to win with this one either, but he needs to get one soon. I also want to talk a little about the score that's actually nominated here. Newman's music has a distinctive sound. We all know the way it works from the "Six Feet Under" soundtrack. Kind of minimalist. High on precussions and low on big orchestrations. But not the score for The Good German. Newman has composed a huge, 1940's movie score. It's grand and opulent and very beautiful. So this is a well-deserved nomination. Hand this man an Oscar soon!
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: N/A
My Rating: Unranked: This film has not appeared in Tallahassee just yet.

One more to go...

I Am Thankful For...

Safety Meetings
Thai Food
Relationships that work out
French Feminism
The Frankfurt School
The last bar that served me a Lemon Drop Martini
Karen Finley
My gay godfathers: Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, Thornton Wilder
My favorite independent straight man: Wallace Shawn
My gay brothers: Ryan and Tito
An enormous calming force in my life: my roommate
Oscar Wilde and William Congreve
My favorite actor to watch bar none: Neil Patrick Harris
My best friends: Danny, Derek, Justin, Matthew
My best girlfriends: Ashley, Elizabeth, Wahima, Madison, Jaime, Anna, Linda
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Mary Karen Dahl
Nancy Pelosi
John Paul Stevens
Arianna Huffington
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences
Bombay Sapphire gin
My father and mother
My brother
My sister
My cousins Angela, Katie, and Emily
George Clooney
Isabelle Huppert
Virginia Woolf
Alan Hollinghurst
Richard Wagner
Tori Amos
Julie Taymor
Eric Whitacre
Wong Kar-wai
My students: the good ones
All the men I’ve slept with (no exceptions)
All the men I want to sleep with
Dozens more people who love me more than I deserve

Oscar Nominees: Part Two

CINDERELLA MAN

3 Nominations: Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup
Russell Crowe's excellent performance was overlooked this year, and though everyone talked up this obvious Oscar-baiter as in the running for Best Picture, no one seemed to actually like the film. I did, but I understand everyone's ho-hum attitude. It's like Seabiscuit all over again. And we all regret that little mistake.
Will Win: Nothing
Could Win: Supporting Actor
My Rating: #33 out of 81 films

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE

3 Nominations: Best Sound Recording, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup
It didn't feel like a Jesus-movie to me, but everyone else saw it as such, or maybe it was just all of that right-wing noise about it being a Jesus-movie. At any rate, Jesus usually doesn't fare well with the Academy. Plus, comparisons with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy were inevitable and the writing and the scale of the thing just don't compare.
Will Win: Makeup
Could Win: Visual Effects
My Rating: #28 out of 81 films

WAR OF THE WORLDS

3 Nominations: Best Sound Recording, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects
I liked this picture (at least more than I liked Munich and a good deal more than other Spielberg pictures as well. At its heart, though, it's a B-movie, chock full of aliens, crowd scenes and lasers.
Will Win: Visual Effects
Could Win: Sound Editing
My Rating: #48 out of 81 films

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

2 Nominations: Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay
Cronenberg is definitely not the Academy's cup of tea. But they still really liked this film. I mean, a screenplay nomination is a big deal, and that William Hurt performance was really short and short is not usually up the Academy's alley, either. Still, there are lots of snubs here. Director and Actress among them.
Will Win: Nothing
Could Win: Nothing
My Rating: #6 out of 81 films

HUSTLE & FLOW

2 Nominations: Best Actor, Best Original Song
I think everyone is surprised by this film's popularity, and then they see the film and they understand why. It's formulaic and Hollywood, but boasts some excellent performances and a couple of great songs. Most importantly: to the Academy it's not a gritty, hand-held kind of a thing. It's clean and pretty looking and, like I said, has a lot going for it.
Will Win: Song
Could Win: Nothing
My Rating: #41 out of 81 films

SYRIANA

2 Nominations:Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay
Ah the Clooney. He is everywhere. This movie is a rough go. It looks more intelligent than it is, but it's alarmingly political and really exciting, if defeatist. Seriously,I thought The Constant Gardener was more upbeat, if that gives you any idea how depressing this film is.
Will Win: Supporting Actor
Could Win: Nothing
My Rating: #23 out of 81 films

NORTH COUNTRY

2 Nominations: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress
No one liked this film and these nominations are just an example of the group-think mentality that is pervasive during awards season (and other seasons as well). Don't get me wrong, they think for themselves some of the time, but the Oscars (and maybe this is something that needs its own blog entry) so often wind up being, like any election, a contest between people that the Academy is settling for--not too outlandish, often formulaic, a lot of "give us more of what we already know." The problem with this is that more deserving artists are often overlooked because their work pushes the boundaries.
Will Win: Nothing
Could Win: Nothing
My Rating: #69 out of 81 films

MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS

2 Nominations: Best Actress, Best Costume Design
This movie should've been the favorite of all of the old people in the Academy. It came out a little late to really make a splash, and that's purely the fault of its studio. To get the elderly on board you have to come out much earlier than December 25th. Anyway, it's a light, if overly long, little piece.
Will Win: Nothing
Could Win: Nothing
My Rating: #16 out of 81 films

TRANSAMERICA

2 Nominations: Best Actress, Best Original Song
This movie sucks. I hated it and I'm sorry that it got any nominations at all (apologies to Dolly Parton and her song.) Kevin Zegers is cute, but I hated the film and I hated the lead performance--hell, all the performances. This subject matter has been covered much better before and I was truly sorry to see this film get the attention it did.
Will Win: Nothing
Could Win: Song
My Rating: #78 out of 81 films

Oscar Nominees: Part One

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

8 Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score

The Academy's favorite film of the year, and it's hard to find fault with this drama. It's respectable, well-acted and emotionally affecting. I loved this film, but I am surprised it's taken off as much as it has. I say more power to it and I'm crossing my fingers that it takes home more than two Oscars on the big night.
Will Win: Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay
Could Win: Cinematography, Score
My Rating: #2 out of 81 films

CRASH

6 Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song

The Academy's second favorite film of the year, and Brokeback's only real challenge for the big prize. This film about race relations and interwoven storylines in Los Angeles has appealed to a lot of people. Jean Oppenheimer called it one of the best American films she's seen in years.
Will Win: Original Screenplay, Editing
Could Win: Song
My Rating: #65 out of 81 films

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.

6 Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction

The Academy loved this film more than anyone could forsee: more than critics loved it, too, I'd say. They love George Clooney, too. The man is everywhere. The film's appeal is easy to see, too. When I saw it, the audience applauded after the film's end.
Will Win: Nothing
Could Win: Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction
My Rating: #3 out of 81 films

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

6 Nominations: Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing

Snore. The Academy must've liked this movie more than everyone else did. It had pretty embarassing box office and was widely panned by critics. This movie is tediously boring and obvious Oscar-bait material. It looks so pretty but sounds so stupid.
Will Win: Costume, Art Direction
Could Win: Cinematography, Score
My Rating: #71 out of 81 films

CAPOTE

5 Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay

This critically lauded indie surprised tons of people (those not paying attention) by actually being nominated for Best Picture. Many have called it slow and boring. It's a very thought-provoking and intelligent film, to my mind, but I understand people's aversion. After all, it is, more than anything else, a film anchored by a star-turn from a fabulous actor.
Will Win: Actor
Could Win: Adapted Screenplay (in an upset)
My Rating: #9 out of 81 films

MUNICH

5 Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing
Will Win: Nothing
Could Win: Editing, Score
My Rating: #74 out of 81 films

WALK THE LINE

5 Nominations: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Recording
Will Win: Actress, Sound
Could Win: Editing
My Rating: #37 out of 81 films

KING KONG

4 Nominations: Best Art Direction, Best Sound Recording, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Effects Editing
Will Win: Visual Effects, Sound Effects
Could Win: Sound
My Rating: #46 out of 81 films

THE CONSTANT GARDENER

4 Nominations: Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score
Will Win: Supporting Actress
Could Win: Editing
My Rating: #11 out of 81 films

PRIDE & PREJUDICE

4 Nominations: Best Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score
Will Win: Nothing
Could Win: Nothing
My Rating: #4 out of 81 films

Oscar Nominations

This post is a day late, but, as they say, better late than never, and I know none of you could live without my thoughts on the nominations. So...

BEST PICTURE
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Munich
*I got 4 out of 5 here. I predicted Munich wouldn't make the cut and Walk the Line would grab a nomination instead. I guess that was just wishful thinking. Funnily enough, I strongly disliked both Crash and Munich, yet I LOVE the other three (they're all in my Top Ten.) I expect Brokeback to win this award quite easily.

BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
Bennett Miller, Capote
Paul Haggis, Crash
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck.
Steven Spielberg, Munich
*I got 5 out of 5 in this category. Yay me. But see above for my feelings on these films. I don't like Spielberg as a director (which you've heard me say more times than you'd probably like) and I think Paul Haggis' work in Crash is deeply flawed. I would've liked to have seen Terrence Malick, Michael Haneke or David Cronenberg here much more. Interestingly enough, I'm reading that the director category hasn't matched exactly with Best Picture since the 1982 Oscars (there was a big upset that year: Chariots of Fire narrowly eked out a victory.) Miller, Haggis and Clooney are all being nominated for the first time this year. This is Spielberg's seventh nomination. He's won twice. Anyway, I think this is Ang Lee's award. Everyone expected him to win in 2001 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (his only prior nomination) and he's hugely respected.

BEST ACTOR
Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck.
Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow
Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line
*I predicted this lineup. 5 of 5 again for me. This matches Best Picture pretty closely, too, especially if you note how this-close to a BP nomination Walk the Line was. Ledger, Hoffman, Strathairn and Howard are ALL first-time nominees. Phoenix has one prior nomination (supporting actor for Gladiator). This is Hoffman's party. He's won everything there is to win so far and he's mind-blowing in the role: as both a fine performance and a wonderful act of mimicry. It's unbelievable that he's never been nominated before. He's known mostly as a supporting actor, of course, and he did almost get nominated as a lead in 2000 for Flawless, but it's his year this time. Heath Ledger, his main competition, will have to win some other year.

BEST ACTRESS
Judi Dench, Mrs Henderson Presents
Charlize Theron, North Country
Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice
Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
*I got 4 out of 5 in this category. I am grateful to say that the Academy pleasantly surprised me by omitting the name of Zhang Ziyi in the oh-so-boring Memoirs of a Geisha in favor of Keira Knightley in a film I truly enjoyed (it's in my Top Ten). The Academy missed the big boat here, though, by not giving a nomination to the nothing-short-of-brilliant Joan Allen in The Upside of Anger. Notice, also, the dissimilarity here between Best Picture and Best Actress. I don't really have anything to say about that: draw your own conclusions, friends. I should take this opportunity to bitch one more time about Felicity Huffman's inclusion in this list. It just drives me crazy. I think Transamerica is a puerile, idiotic film and I think Huffman's performance is broad and grating. It's too bad critics got behind her as much as they did. A true shame when they had so many good actresses to choose from (Emmanuelle Devos in Kings & Queen, Vera Farmiga in Down to the Bone, Juliette Binoche in Caché, the aforementioned Joan Allen, Claire Danes in Shopgirl, Q'orianka Kilcher in The New World). I mean, if you're gonna go indie... So Reese Witherspoon wins this one handily and good for her. Her performance here is the best of the list and this is a way for the Academy to honor a film that most of them really liked. She is a true talent and a comedic genius.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
William Hurt, A History of Violence
Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain
Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man
Matt Dillon, Crash
George Clooney, Syriana
*I got 4 out of 5 on this one and it's because I have no faith. I knew that Bob Hoskins really wasn't going to be nominated, and I loved William Hurt's performance. It's one of my favorites of the year, in fact, but I just didn't think the Academy could do it. I am glad to say I've been proven wrong. This is probably going to be the most hotly contested award of the evening. And it's a good list. (I mean, except for Matt Dillon. What's he doing there?) And I don't know who's going to win, frankly. Clooney took home the Golden Globe and Giamatti recently won the SAG award. There are no more important precursors, so it could really be either. We'll see how well they sell themselves in the next couple weeks. Frankly, I wish Jake Gyllenhaal would win. I love his performance. But I guess he's too young, really. He'll have other years (although we said that about Matt Damon and he hasn't been nominated since Good Will Hunting in 1998).

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain
Catherine Keener, Capote
Amy Adams, Junebug
Frances McDormand, North Country
Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
*5 out of 5 again. I rock! Poor Scarlett Johanssen missed out again (snubbed also in 2004 for Lost in Translation). I guess the Academy just doesn't like her. Her films do well and she doesn't. It's so odd. But I am just so happy about Amy Adams' inclusion in this category. Her performance is really remarkable. If you haven't seen Junebug, it's a must-rent kind of thing: heartfelt, intelligent and truly insightful about the blue state/red state divide. Everyone was saying this award was up for grabs, but Weisz has bagged everything so far. I wouldn't be too shocked if the winds changed before March 5th, but right now she's the obvious frontrunner.

Top 6 predictions: 90%. Not too bad.


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Corpse Bride
Howl's Moving Castle
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
*I am SO GLAD that the Animation Branch opted out of Chicken Little. I had no faith in them after last year's embarassing Shark Tale nomination, a film far inferior to The Polar Express, which was inexplicably passed over. But, thankfully, Howl's Moving Castle prevailed. Should I confess I haven't actually seen it? Wallace & Gromit will win this one easily.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Match Point
Syriana
The Squid and the Whale
*This is pretty close to what I predicted. I expected that Syriana, which was having a little category confusion (the screen credits even say it's based on the book See No Evil by Robert Baer) would be omitted. Woody Allen is the most frequently nominated screenwriter EVER, by the way. Match Point is his fourteenth Original Screenplay nomination. He's back! This is George Clooney & Grant Heslov's for the taking, though. Their film is the most widely loved.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
A History of Violence
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Munich
The Constant Gardener
*5 out of 5 again with this category. I liked all of these films, aside from my, by this point well-documented, hatred of Munich, but I can't even be too mad about that one. I mean, Tony Kushner got an Oscar nomination and I'm too happy for him to even be mad about the piece of shit film he got it for. This is Brokeback's Oscar anyway, so it doesn't matter too much.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Batman Begins
Brokeback Mountain
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Memoirs of a Geisha
The New World
*I know it seems crazy that The Constant Gardener missed a nomination here in favor of Batman Begins, but Batman is beautifully shot and Gardener is burdened with occasionally grainy and often jumpy photography that isn't popular with Academy members. I am beyond excited that The New World was included here. It won't win, but I don't even care. I'm just glad someone said mentioned my favorite film of the year. It deserved a lot more nominations that just this solo one, but I got to be happy with what I got.

BEST ART DIRECTION
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
King Kong
Memoirs of a Geisha
Pride & Prejudice
*Whatever. I got only 3 out of 5 here. I'm glad to see Harry made a showing, but I'm a little sad that the respectable White Countess didn't make a showing even here.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Memoirs of a Geisha
Mrs Henderson Presents
Pride & Prejudice
Walk the Line
*I did even worse here, only picking 2 out of 5. This is notoriously a hard group to predict, though I should have seen the Henderson thing coming. Ah well. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Really?! I haven't seen it yet, to be honest, but really?

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (I.E. THE AWARD FOR WHICH JOHN WILLIAMS IS NOMINATED EVERY SINGLE YEAR
Brokeback Mountain
Pride & Prejudice
Memoirs of a Geisha
Munich
The Constant Gardener
*Well, I certainly called the John Williams thing, but something weird happened this year, where I got really pissed and really happy with these nominations. Three of the nominees--Gustavo Santaolalla, Dario Marianelli and Albero Iglesias--have never before been nominated. Usually, the number of first-time nominees they choose is one. This category is usually filled with people who have already been nominated two and three times. (Recently they've shown a penchant for the great-but-not-that-great Thomas Newman.) But this year: three new people! And then the other two nominations went to John Williams. Give me a break! John Williams got his thirty-ninth and fortieth nominations on Tuesday morning. Why do they love him so damn much? I don't get it.

As for Best Makeup and The New World's exclusion. Something is definitely wrong with the world. Overall, though, I think the nominations made me pretty happy.

Movies that were nominated that I still haven't seen:
War of the Worlds (it arrives tomorrow from Netflix)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I already borrowed it from my boss)
Howl's Moving Castle (doesn't come to DVD until March... oops)
Joyeux Noël (hits theatres 3/6/06, so I'll see it right before the ceremony)
La Bestia nel Cuore (Don't Tell) (this movie played an L.A. festival last year, but I missed it. Who knows when I'll see it.)
Paradise Now (hits DVD 3/21/06)
Tsotsi (in theatres 2/24/06)

Good Night.
And Good Luck. I'm off to have a drink with some friends.

Oscar Predictions

The Oscar Nominations, probably my favorite day of my whole year as an addict, are on Tuesday, January 31st at 5:30a. I like the nominations better because I feel like there are more surprises when the nominations come out than there are at the awards show itself. I almost always predict the awards pretty well, but the nominations are a whole other story. I actually am not sure I even like trying to predict the nominations, but my roommate is using the TV, so I can't watch my DVD of The Chumscrubber and I just don't feel like reading. So here are my predictions for Tuesday morning...

BEST PICTURE
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Walk the Line
(Everyone is saying that Munich could show up here too but I just don't think anyone likes it. I think the other spoilers could be The Constant Gardener and King Kong. Cinderella Man is supposedly a dark horse, too. Whatever.)

BEST ACTOR
Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck.
Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow
Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line
(Note the similarity to Best Picture, here. As for alternates, I really think the Howard and Strathairn slots are both really vulnerable and could go to... who? Most frequently mentioned are Russell Crowe for Cinderella Man and Jeff Daniels for The Squid and the Whale, but I can't really see any lineup other than the one I'm predicting.)

BEST ACTRESS
Zhang Ziyi, Memoirs of a Geisha
Judi Dench, Mrs Henderson Presents
Charlize Theron, North Country
Felicity Huffman, Transamerica (Too bad, too. This film sucks.)
Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
(I should be honest and say that I wish three of these performances weren't on this list. But then it seems no one is happy with this category this year. Joan Allen (The Upside of Anger) deserves to be on here like nobody's business. Maybe the Academy hasn't forgotten her and I will be happy on Tuesday morning. Maybe Q'orianka Kilcher (The New World) will show up too. Yeah. Right. Oh yeah, and the other spoiler is supposedly Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice). What?!?!)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain
Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man
Matt Dillon, Crash (This is so irritating.)
Bob Hoskins, Mrs Henderson Presents
George Clooney, Syriana
(I really wish William Hurt would show up here for A History of Violence, but I doubt it will happen. This is a pretty wide open category, I'm told. But as I see it, the same names get mentioned again and again and these are the ones. You might also see Don Cheadle for Crash here.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain
Catherine Keener, Capote
Amy Adams, Junebug
Frances McDormand, North Country
Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
(OK, at the last minute I changed my mind here and added Adams. I hope hope hope she's nominated, but her slot will probably go to Scarlett Johanssen (Match Point) instead. This is a really hard category to call, but I thiink these are the favorites.)

BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
Bennett Miller, Capote
Paul Haggis, Crash
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck.
Steven Spielberg, Munich
(This category is historically unpredictable. We might see someone as out there as David Cronenberg (A History of Violence) or Michael Haneke (Caché) here. No one really knows what the directing branch will do. Terrence Malick (The New World) could show too, as well as James Mangold (Walk the Line) or even Woody Allen (Match Point). Don't hold out for King Kong's director though. That's sooo 2003. We're all over it.)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Chicken Little
Corpse Bride
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Caché
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Match Point
The Squid and the Whale

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
A History of Violence
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Munich
The Constant Gardener

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Brokeback Mountain
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Constant Gardener
The New World (It's a shame no one liked Jarhead. It deserves a nomination.)

BEST ART DIRECTION
Cinderella Man
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Memoirs of a Geisha
Pride & Prejudice
The White Countess

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Casanova
Memoirs of a Geisha
Pride & Prejudice
The New World
The White Countess

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (I.E. THE AWARD FOR WHICH JOHN WILLIAMS IS NOMINATED EVERY SINGLE YEAR
Brokeback Mountain
Cinderella Man
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The New World

I have no ideas about Best Song or any of the visual effects stuff. Expect Batman Begins to do well in all of those categories. War of the Worlds should make a showing here at least once as well and if I don't see The New World up for Best Makeup, there is something wrong with the world. I can't wait until Tuesday!!!