Best Picture Nominees 2008

As is my tradition, I have finished viewing all five of the nominations for the Academy Award category, Best Motion Picture of the Year. This is in no way a prediction of who the Oscar will go to, but I would like to rank the five films in the order that I liked them.

Here is my ranking of favorite to least favorite:

1. THE READER--Stephen Daldry

2. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON--David Fincher

3. MILK--GUS VAN SANT

4. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE--Danny Boyle

5. FROST/NIXON--Ron Howard

For me, when I say "the order order in which I liked them," that is really synonymous with me saying, "the order in which they affected me." So, no, I don't think the Academy will give Best Picture to THE READER, but, of the five, it is the one that emotionally moved me the most.

This one's in the bag

I saw Darren Aronofsky's film THE WRESTLER last night. Wow! I just want to say that they can go ahead and engrave the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role right now. Mickey Rourke has this one in the bag. Yea, I know the nominations are not even decided yet, but this one is his. I have to say I am actually really happy about this too because way back in the 1980s my buddy Matt Jones and I were so into Mickey Rourke. We were like the only two people I knew of who drove to the limited engagement of his film BARFLY in 1987. He had a string of wonderful films like DINER, RUMBLE FISH, THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE, and ANGEL HEART. I'm happy to see this so-called resurrection of Mickey Rourke. What a performance.

Of course, I'd love to predict a second Oscar for this film, Best Original Song for Bruce Springsteen for the title track. However, I can't be so sure. In my totally biased opinion, it would be a lock; yet, that's what I thought for Dead Man Walking so I'll just wait and see on that one.

Daniel Day-Lewis Doesn't Win? Inconceivable

Drainage!  Drainage!  Eli you boy.

Drained dry . . . . my straw reaches

acroooooss the room,

and starts to drink your milkshake.

I----drink----your-----milkshake!!!

[insert sucking sound here]

---Daniel Plainview

I just can't help it.  One more Oscar post before tomorrow.

I have to steal a word from Vizzini here and say that it is totally, absolutely, one hundred percent INCONCEIVABLE to me that somebody other than Daniel Day-Lewis will win the best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Oscar tomorrow.

Go and rent MY LEFT FOOT, THE BOXER, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS and GANGS OF NEW YORK  just to start and then tell me he isn't the single greatest actor of our generation.

Now, back to THERE WILL BE BLOOD and this performance as Daniel Planview. I didn't love the movie.  However, he deserves the Academy Award. Period.

That said, it was totally, absolutely, one hundred percent INCONCEIVABLE that somebody other than Daniel Day-Lewis would win the Oscar in 2002 for his role as Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in GANGS OF NEW YORK too. Thus, it would be fair for you to add, "You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

And the winner is . . .  

Best Supporting Actor: Hal Holbrook

Another word on tomorrow's Oscars.  Other than all the JUNO awards, the one category I feel passionate about is the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role slot.  I know that Javier Bardem is favored and, yes, I saw NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and Bardem is great.  That said, as I previously pointed out in my Early Supporting Actor Standouts post, I really really loved Hal Holbrook's portrayal of Ron Franz in the film INTO THE WILD.  I want Holbrook to win and upset the Bardem prediction in this category.  I really want it!

It is totally beyond my comprehension that INTO THE WILD isn't up for a Best Picture nomination, it's even more difficult to understand why Sean Penn isn't up for Best Director, and it's most perplexing that Eddie Vedder wasn't nominated in the Original Song category. What gives?

The least the Academy can do is give the statue to the great Hal Holbrook. That said, here is a quote I pulled from Variety. This quote is from Javier Bardem himself:

"In 'Into the Wild,' that scene in the truck where Hal Holbrook is asking to adopt the young man, that is one of the best performances I've ever seen. It broke me into pieces. In life, as you grow and become comfortable in your own skin and create who you are, you can escape from what you are. Then the whole disguise falls apart and you are just a human being. With a mature actor, you see a face totally naked, someone who is just speaking and being in front of the camera, and that is so powerful. That explains why performing is an art, when somebody shows us the sculpture of the human soul. It hits you and makes you wonder what you are."

The Big Five

I can't believe the Academy Awards are this Sunday. Yes, I'm one of the geeks who cared that the writer's strike ended soon enough to have my real Oscars ceremony.

I have seen all five nominees for Best Motion Picture of the Year. Here is my own ranking in terms of deservedness, and, yes, the spacing is there to make a point:

1. JUNO
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2. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
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3. MICHAEL CLAYTON
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4. THERE WILL BE BLOOD
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5. ATONEMENT

It's my personal opinion that ATONEMENT doesn't deserve to be in the mix. I thought it was a very poorly executed film that wasn't focused. I want to go on record as saying that I simply cannot understand how the Academy could nominate ATONEMENT over INTO THE WILD. I feel very strongly that INTO THE WILD should have a slot. Indeed, I would have given it a spot over MICHAEL CLAYTON, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, and ATONEMENT.

A word about THERE WILL BE BLOOD. I adore Paul Thomas Anderson and part of me expected to come out of that film blown-away saying, "Best film of the year." Oddly, I feel the same way about THERE WILL BE BLOOD as I did about Martin Scorsese's 2002 Best Picture nomination GANG'S OF NEW YORK: It's a movie I don't really care for, but it contains one of the greatest acting performances I have ever seen. Daniel Day-Lewis is an unexplainable freak of nature. It is beyond my comprehension that somebody voted Adrien Brody over Daniel Day-Lewis then as it's impossible for me to imagine anybody else winning the acting category this year. That said, as much as I adore Daniel Day-Lewis and PTA, the movie wasn't that good.

MICHAEL CLAYTON is a pretty good film. I would give it 3 or maybe even three-and-a-half stars out of five. It was a good night at the movies.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is a fantastic movie. It's one that got under my skin and made me want to discuss it with somebody. It almost reminded me of a Stanley Kubrick film with it's bleak take on the human predicament. It is the Coen Brothers at their finest. I can totally see it being up for the top slot.

However, like I said in my post yesterday, and like I said in an older post, Oscar Nominations, I truly feel that JUNO is not only the best picture of the year, it is also my favorite. I really really really hope it wins the top award. It's the reason I am really excited about the Oscars this year.

You'd have to go back all the way to the grand string of years 1993-1994-1995 to mark the last time that my own personal favorite film of the year was even up for a Best Picture Oscar. That was a nice run with SCHINDLER'S LIST, QUIZ SHOW, and BRAVEHEART respectively.

Bottom line? Having seen all five of them again this year, I'm pulling for the underdog! We'll find out this Sunday.

The Best Movie of 2007

"In my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person

who loves you for exactly what you are."

--Mac MacGuff

I've waited a long time announce my favorite film from last year. The best picture of 2007 is Jason Reitman's JUNO. I am very excited about JUNO because this is the first year in I don't know how long that my own personal favorite film of the year is even up for a Best Picture Oscar. Neither my Best Picture of 2006 or 2005 received the attention that JUNO has received. It almost got me thinking that something must be wrong. Nothing is wrong though.

I gave this so much thought because part of me felt that I should have named Sean Penn's profound film INTO THE WILD my favorite movie of the year. Indeed, Penn's film is the only movie that I would consider a close second; yet, despite it's brilliant direction and seriousness nature, the fact is that I don't love it the way I love JUNO. JUNO is a film that filled me with pure joy. JUNO is a film a could watch over and over. JUNO is a film I adore.

Let me get to the acting first. It's first rate. I cannot tell you strongly enough here just how badly I am pulling for Ellen Page to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Page nails the title role of Juno MacGuff with such honesty and truth. Everybody else is grand too. Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman shine as a potential adoptive couple. Young Michael Cera is totally likable as Paulie Bleeker. The other supporting players are great too. However, for me, the absolute best are J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney. Simmons plays Juno's father, Mac MacGuff and Janney plays Juno's step-mother, Bren MacGuff. They both act so well that they just seem real to me, totally real.

The wonderful J.K. Simmons & Allison Janney rushing

off to the hospital with Juno, played by Ellen Page.

Ultimately, I think the best quality of this film is it's realness and I think that element is best articulated through the MacGuff family. Yes, their exchanges with each other are dripping in sarcasm, but, at the same time there is no denying they love each other deeply. The scene in which Juno tells her dad and his wife that she is pregnant is one of the most well written truthful moments in film I've seen. I love the exchange after Juno leaves:

Mac: "Did you see that coming?"

Bren: "Yea, but I was hoping she was expelled, or into hard drugs."

Mac: "That was my first instinct too, or a DUI, anything but this!"

With dialogue like that, this movie doesn't sidestep the magnitude of the main plot point: teen pregnancy.

Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) in awe of Juno's gift.

I've heard some people raise concern over the film's subject matter or say they don't agree with it morally, but that's like saying I don't agree with murder and drugs so I'm not on board with AMERICAN GANGSTER as a film. Most moral critics always focus on sex and then have no issue with killing and violence. The fact is, in the real world there are teen pregnancies. JUNO is an extremely funny and touching film about a girl that knows she is not ready to raise a baby, yet she values life so much that she is willing to carry to term in order to bless somebody else. It's a story of how a family deals with real life in all it's imperfections. It's a story about love in the real world.

That's the success of JUNO, it's not a cookie-cutter fantasy land where love is easy. And I'm not just talking about romantic love. I'm talking about loving well, period. It's as much about parental love as it is about romantic love. It's as much about the love and acceptance of the outcast or stranger in your life as it is about familial love. In the end, it's love for her unborn child that guides JUNO in her decision of how to deal with the pregnancy.

The heart of Juno: Do you love people with stigmas well?

"Yea, if I could just have the thing and give it to you now,

I totally would. But, I'm guessing it looks probably like a

sea monkey right now and we should let it get a little cuter."

--Juno MacGuff

Despite the underlying important themes in this movie, the strength of JUNO is its ability to make you laugh. It's a comedy. It's a comedy that found me grinning with pure joy for 90 minutes. Which brings me to the real star of JUNO. It's the writing.

The real star of JUNO, writer Diablo Cody.

As much as I desire JUNO to win Best Picture and for Ellen Page to win Actress over all the more experienced ladies, as much as I would jump for joy if Jason Reitman picked up the Best Director win, the Academy Award that JUNO has got to win is for Best Original Screenplay. The real star of this film is writer Diablo Cody. The dialogue she gives these characters is a stoke of genius. The thing I love most about this film is the rat-a-tat exchanges between characters, the sarcasm, the humor, the wit, and, above all, the truth. I want nothing more than for Cody to accept the Oscar for this marvelous writing. JUNO is my favorite screenplay of 2007. JUNO is the greatest movie of last year. JUNO is the only 2007 release I'd like to own on DVD. It's a keeper.

Early Supporting Actor Standouts

It's time for my first Academy Awards post. Thus far in 2007 the only category that has crosed my mind is that of Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Without giving much thought to it, on four occasions I found myself sitting in a theater thinking, "This guy deserves a supporting actor nomination come Oscar time."

The first supporting actor to come to my attention was way back more toward the beginning of the year in Adrienne Shelly's film WAITRESS. Of all people it was 81 year old Andy Griffith playing a wonderful character, Old Joe, that knocked my socks off. Griffith's job as Joe is better than the film itself, but I'd be sad if Oscar overlooks Griffith come nomination time.


Not long after that, I saw Werner Herzog's great RESCUE DAWN. Playing Duane, the always fantastic Steve Zahn struck me as very deserving of recognition for his supporting work alongside Christian Bale. This is a heartbreaking film and I don't know what else to say except that Zahn nails it as this Vietnam prisoner of war. Truly, an exceptional performance.


Ben Foster was the next guy to blow me away in a supporting role. This guy really shined in James Mangold's fantastic remake of 3:10 TO YUMA. Foster plays Charlie Prince, a loyal member of outlaw Ben Wade's gang. The amazing thing is that it would be incredibly difficult to stand out next to Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, but Foster does. Actually, the acting is so all-around extraordinary in this film. The two leads left me speechless. Peter Fonda and the the kid who plays Bale's son, Logan Lerman were great too, as was Bale's wife, Gretchen Mol. It's a total acting film. Indeed, I'm going on record as saying that this is the best acting showcase film since GLENGARRY GLENROSS in 1992! As an ensemble, all the players delivered something I couldn't take my eyes off, every grin, each nuance, the subtle inflections, gave me joy, just like GLENGARRY GLENROSS did. The nomination better go to Ben Foster though. Incidentally, did you ever see Foster in the excellent film ALPHA DOG? Check it out.


Sean Penn's profound work of art INTO THE WILD brought the third necessary supporting actor nomination to my attention: Hal Holbrook. Like with Andy Griffith, it was such a thrill to see an old legend knock one out of the ballpark! Holbrook is 82 now and I remember him from movies in the 1970s mostly in things like ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, CAPRICORN ONE, THE STAR CHAMBER, and THE FOG (four good movies by the way). But, also like Griffith, just being an old legend wouldn't be enough for me to gush over the performance. Holbrook's portrayal of Ron Franz in Penn's movie is deeply moving. In a movie like this, it's hard to deliver a magic moment because the whole movie is filled with them; however, Holbrook does it. Sitting on the mountain with Emile Hirsch, he speaks one of the movies most penetrating lines and he delivers it very effectively. A bit later there is a dialogue in a pick-up truck that has brought everybody I've talked to tears. Watch out for Hal Holbrook come Oscar time.


Not long after I saw INTO THE WILD, Tony Gilroy's MICHAEL CLAYTON starring George Clooney brought my attention to yet another terrific supporting role. This is just a Doah thing, but I actually didn't want to admit that this guy deserves the nomination because it seems like everybody has been praising him way too much since 2002's INTO THE BEDROOM. Nevertheless, Tom Wilkinson deserves a supporting actor Oscar nomination for his turn as Arthur Edens in MICHAEL CLAYTON. Wilkinson is so good that his performance reminds me of Peter Finch's Howard Beale in the classic NETWORK. Except, as MICHAEL CLAYTON moves along, you realize that Wilkinson's Arthur Edens isn't as "crazy" as Howard Beale was at all. Seriously, Wikinson is note perfect in this film.


Now I am not under any illusions that these five men will be the actual five supporting actor nominations months from now. I know there are some really good movies coming out between now and the first of January. This is merely my attempt to bring your attention to five noteworthy performances. Keep in mind that this is not a list of my favorite films this year. In addition, not all the films mentioned here are of equal caliber either. RESCUE DAWN is miles apart from WAITRESS and INTO THE WILD is a far better film than MICHAEL CLAYTON. Also, there are other early 2007 releases I like better than a few of these movies. For example, David Fincher's ZODIAC is a far better film than WAITRESS; yet, nobody stood out to me in that film the way the aforementioned actors do. If you're looking for movies to rent, you won't go wrong watching these five outstanding performances.

I can tell you one thing, come Sunday, February 24, 2008, the Supporting Actor category is going to be the one that is too close to call.

This Oscar Shot's a Keeper

People are undoubtedly going to ask me if I was upset that O'Toole didn't win at the Oscars tonight. Yea, I was bummed, but if there was anything that could have eased the pain it was immediately seeing these four masters on stage together. Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas, truly a great and historic moment.

Academy 's Best Picture Nominees

I'd vote for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (left) over Scorsese this year.
Inarritu is pictured here with his Babel star, Gael Garcia Bernal.
I think Babel deserves the "Best Picture" Academy Award this year.

I'm weighing in on the five films up for the Best Motion Picture of the Year Oscar for 2006. I am actually very pleased because my second favorite film of the year has a chance to win the Best Picture Oscar! That's right, of the Academy's five choices, and given an actual official ballot, I would personally vote BABEL as Best Picture of the Year. I would also give its director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the best directing trophy.

I've seen all five of the films and here is the ranking of how I would vote, in order from greatest to least:

1. BABEL--Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
2. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
3. THE DEPARTED--Martin Scorsese
4. LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA--Clint Eastwood
5. THE QUEEN--Stephen Frears

I purposely left the directors off LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE above because we have one of those weird situations where the Academy did not nominate Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris for "achievement in directing" even though their picture is up. Instead, Paul Greengrass took the fifth slot in the directing category for his terrific film UNITED 93. In my opinion UNITED 93 is a better film than THE QUEEN.

So not colorblind

Yesterday I was listening to a brief news story/summary of the Academy Award nominations on public radio. I forget what station it was, either KPCC, KPFK, or KCRW (89.3, 90.7, & 89.9 respectively in Los Angeles), one of those. So the reporter tells us what all the nominations are and then has to say, "There are a good number of African-Americans nominated this year as well" and then she mentions Forest Whitaker, Djimon Hounsou, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson. As if that matters! Why are "we" as a society still doing this? Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream of not being judged by the color of your skin cannot be realized until we can have people like this reporter on public radio actually STOP pointing out the differences in race. Why aren't Whitaker, Hounsou, Murphy, and Hudson, just good actors as opposed to African-American actors? I think most of us would find it ridiculous to say, "It's very nice that we have a two Mexicans, an Irishman, and a Japanese person nomiated this year." I used to think that being "colorblind" was something that we were striving for, but the more I actually pay attention, I don't think it's happening. Why do we continue to construct these barriers? Maybe it's just me.

O'Toole's Oscar Nomination

O'Toole holding his honorary Oscar in 2003

I told myself I wasn't going to post about the Oscar nominations that came out today, but I just couldn't help myself. Hands-down, the thing I am most excited about is Peter O'Toole is up for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He's nominated for his role in VENUS which I've yet to see. It's only playing in two places in L.A. as of this writing. Yet, he's my favorite actor and I'd love to see him win.

This is O'Toole's eigth Academy Award nomination. He's never won. Right now he's tied with Richard Burton for the most nominations with no wins. If he loses this time he'll sadly hold the record for the most nominated actor with no wins. In case you're not too familiar with O'Toole, here's what he was nominated for in the past:

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
BECKET (1964)
THE LION IN WINTER (1968)
GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS (1969)
THE RULING CLASS (1972)
THE STUNT MAN (1980)
MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982)

Here's what happened: in 1962 he lost to Gregory Peck for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD; 1964 lost to Rex Harrison for MY FAIR LADY; 1968 lost to Cliff Robertson for CHARLY; 1969 lost to John Wayne for TRUE GRIT; 1972 lost to Marlon Brando for THE GODFATHER; 1980 lost to Robert DeNiro for RAGING BULL; 1982 lost to Ben Kingsley for Gandhi. (Just for the record here I want to say that O'Toole really should have been nominated for his performance in LORD JIM in 1965, of all his non-nominated roles that one stands out as something for which he should have been nominated.)

What's cool is O'Toole was given an honorary award in 2003 for lifetime acheivement. At that time he said he didn't really want it because he was still in the game and thought he could win one of the litter buggers outright. Few people thought he'd ever be up as leading actor again.

It's impossible to express just how much joy I've gotten out of this guy's performances over the years. I'm pulling for him.

Kajones?

So the Oscar nominations for the 79th Annual Academy Awards are going to be announced 21 days from now. I just want to say that if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has any testicular matter left in them, they would nominate Mel Gibson as Best Director for APOCALYPTO. Will they shy away because of his anti-Semitic rant and outsider status or honor this masterpiece of a film? We'll see on Tuesday, January 23rd.

So, have you seen APOCALYPTO? What did you think?

Narrative and Character

I recently read an article by Roger Ebert. He was discussing the five best picture nominations for tonight's Oscars. The big topic this year is the lack of "box office" generated by the best picture nominations. It's a far cry from TITANTIC or LORD OF THE RINGS. This year it's "artsy" films that nobody has seen. Here's the Ebert quote I like:

"Hammered by the idiocy of formula television and video games, a generation is forming that has no feeling for narrative and character. The Oscar nominees represent filmmaking at a high level, but who do you know who has gone to see more than two or three of them?"

Best Picture Nominations

With the Academy Awards rapidly approaching on Sunday, March 5th. I have just completed my annual tradition, okay, maybe it's more like a compulsion, to see all five of the nominees for the Best Picture Oscar. Usually, I'll rank them 1-5, in the order I think they deserve to win. This year is lackluster for me. All five of the films are good, even very good, but there's not one I am really excited about. For example, it's not like when SILENCE OF THE LAMBS had to win, or BRAVEHEART was my clear favorite, or "I'll go take a dump on the Academy's doorstep if SCHINDLER'S LIST doesn't win!"

In alphabetical order, here are the nominations this year: (1) Ang Lee's BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN; (2) Bennett Miller's CAPOTE; (3) Paul Haggis's CRASH; (4) George Clooney's GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK; and, (5) Steven Spielberg's MUNICH.

Having seen all five, if I could vote for Best Picture, I'd cast my ballot for GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. Likewise, I'd give the Best Director Oscar to George Clooney. I think his little film is beautifully shot and quite an acomplishment. For what it's worth, I've seen all the Best Actor nominees too and I would definately vote for David Strathairn for playing Edward R. Murrow in this film. These aren't my predictions, just my personal picks.

It's a weird year though because I think the other four films are just about equal for me. And, I don't think I'll ever buy any of these films on DVD so it's just kind of a so-so year, not a lot at stake here emotionally for me, just five pretty good movies.