Love and Hate

I am so having the above relationship with the Oscars.

I always think "What would I do if I were an Academy voter?" when the season comes around. And it is for this reason that I constantly really hate the Academy Awards. Every year they get so much wrong, even when they are getting some things right.

I was in shock in 2007 when they managed to award what I thought were the best (or close to) in each category.
Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Marion Cotillard, Daniel Day Lewis, The Coen brothers x 2 and Diablo Cody all went home with an award and I could not deny any of them, based on the performances given. But that is indeed extremely rare - I can barely remember when it has happened before.

Now of course it could just be my opinion that casts this fog over ever Oscar year.
Just because what I think is the best hasn't won should not mean me going into a little sulk.
Yet that is exactly what I am doing right now.
I have hardly posted on the blog. I have not even gotten close to doing the MAFFE awards, and I really do not care.
What fuels this Oscar depression is reading the constant bloggers going on and on about the 'Avatar' vs 'The Hurt Locker' scandal. Apparently emails have been sent and everyone is up in a tizzy.
Who cares?
Well I care.
The Academy Awards want to be the gold medal of the movie year, and in fact they are.
However they constantly embarrass themselves by nominating films and performances that are many times less than great.
Did they not see Tilda Swinton in 'Julia' this year? *
Or more disturbingly, did they honestly think Sandra Bullock gave a more impressive performance than Swinton?
When the presenters come out, do they not say "The nominees for best performance by an Actress in a leading role are.."? Perhaps they should change it to "The people you have decided to include in the Best Actress category are...". At least it would be honest and not make a mockery of the craft of acting.
Did Bullock really give the best performance by an Actress in a leading role for 'The Blind Side'?
Not by a long shot.
Did she give the best performance of the nominated five? I would have to say no, yet she will still likely win the award.
Why?
Mainly because people think she is due, they want to reward her for her career. Funny, as one of the highest paid actresses working today I would think the gazillions of dollars are reward enough for her career.
It is not like she has been an awards bait actress before. Her nomination is mainly due to the fact her film was a hit, and the fact her performance was a good (not great) one, adds to this need to give her an Oscar.
This is a constant with the actress categories - which is rather depressing.
You are rewarded for being due, popular, sexy, making yourself physically unattractive for the performance and sometimes, very rarely, for giving the best performance of the year.
When that happens, it is usually because no one can deny the performance - this is something that only comes along once or twice in a decade.

This year it is Mo'Nique for 'Precious'.
She is winning an Oscar because no one can possibly deny the performance.

But what about 'Best performance by an Actress in a leading role'?
Well there are only really two nominees who are there solely because of the strength of their performance - Carey Mulligan for 'An Education' and Gabourey Sidibe for 'Precious'.
Meryl Streep is here because she is the greatest living actress and is still turning out wonderful work. The performance is great, but on a Meryl scale it is merely a good one.
Helen Mirren is here because she is another actress who has managed to stay on top of her game for many years, plus she is great in the film, even if she can do that in her sleep.
And we know why Bullock is here.
Yet when these members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences come to vote, most of them will not do so based on the performance. And they wonder why, as an institution, they are losing respect with the public. And they wonder why their ratings are so low.
Treat the voting power you have with the respect you feel your craft deserves! How else will the younger generation know what to strive for if they think Bullock gave the greatest female performance by a lead actress in 2009?
They will strive for mediocrity.

Of course I will be watching the awards. I want to see Mo'Nique come out victorious more than anything.
It will break my heart to see Gabby again ignored, but here is hoping she gets the Spirit Award the night before.

And in case anyone was wondering, my own personal ballot would look like this:

Best Picture - “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Actor in a Leading Role - Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Actor in a Supporting Role - Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”
Actress in a Leading Role - Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Actress in a Supporting Role - Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Animated Feature Film - “Up”
Art Direction - “Avatar”
Cinematography - “The White Ribbon”
Costume Design - “Bright Star”
Directing - “Inglourious Basterds” - Quentin Tarantino
Documentary (Feature) - “The Cove” Nominees to be determined
Film Editing - “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
Foreign Language Film - “The White Ribbon”
Makeup - “The Young Victoria”
Music (Original Score) - “Up” Michael Giacchino
Music (Original Song) - “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart”
Short Film (Animated) - “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park
Sound Editing - “Avatar”
Sound Mixing - “The Hurt Locker”
Visual Effects - “District 9”
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) - “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Writing (Original Screenplay) - “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino

* To be a member of the Academy you really should have seen every film and performance of note for the year.

Mini Review - 'Nine'

So you gather the cream of the crop to make a movie version of the Musical 'Nine'.
You cast Daniel Day Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench and Sophia Loren to play the parts, Anthony Minghella to write and what do you end up with?
A we bit of a miss opportunity (actually a mess, but trying to be nice)

Firstly director Rob Marshall is not that good of a director.
The story is all over the place, choppily edited together into a series of musings with songs.
The lighting is unflattering.
The songs, aside from 'Be Italian' do not capture any energy.
You waste Kidman, Hudson, Dench and Loren (Fergie makes more of an impact that all of them combined). And then all you are left with is Day Lewis, Cotillard and Cruz to save the day, and they nearly do.
Sadly You do not care about Day Lewis's Guido, a self obsessed, self destructive brat (however the performance is very good).
Cruz is sexy, funny and in the end very vulnerable, yet not given enough development time (not her fault at all) for us to really understand her motivations, or to really care.
All that is left is Cotillard as the wife to inject some much needed sense of humanity in these messy proceedings, and boy does she. Sadly the film is not about her, and for most of the film you are sitting there willing her to come back.

Grade - D+

New 'Nine' poster

Is it just me, or is this poster campaign all over the place?


First we had this poster:

I did like it even if the sun light soaked back drop does look a little bit like the Batman symbol. Plus the obsessive compulsive in me got really worried about shoes on a white sofa. I also was not overly happy with the red font. It looked tacked on and not thought out. However it worked very well in setting the mood for the central character.


Then this poster gets released:

I get it, a movie within a movie - poster within a poster.
Still it just does not work for me.
Penélope is caught at an awkward angle (she looks in the throws of ecstasy of arm pit shaving), Kate looks like she is practising her red carpet pose, Marion looks annoyed and bored, like she has been waiting at the Dr's office for a really long time. As for Nicole, well she looks like she need some allergy eye drops and an emergency room visit. She must be having an allergic reaction 'cause her head look HUGE!.


Then we get this photoshopped and jumbled mess:

Daniel must have something in his ear, Marion is fascinated. Penélope is celebrating her newly shaved arm pits. I can almost hear her - "Touch them...they are smmmmoooth"


And now this:

Let me break this down for you.

Daniel Day Lewis - 1 Oscars, 2 other nominations
Nicole Kidman - 1 Oscar, 1 other nomination
Sophia Loren - 1 Oscar, 1 honorary Oscar, 1 other nomination
Judi Dench - 1 Oscar, 5 other nominations
Marion Cotillard - 1 Oscar

None of them make the poster. Let's market this to the American Idol generation.
Fergie is on a potential Oscar Best Picture nominee poster people!!!

9 reasons to see 'Nine'

Or nine reasons why you should film in black and white.











What I love is how the majority of the screen time for the rehearsal montage was given to Penelope.

'Nine' rehearsal montage

Just looks wonderful. No other words

"Nine" Trailer

Now I am excited

Daniel Plainview sings!

This is exciting!

Daniel Day-Lewis may soon decide on his next project. He is currently in negotiations to star in Nine for director Rob Marshall who's original lead, Javier Bardem, dropped out of the production (he was apparently too exhausted)
Imagine Daniel acting with the likes of Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, and Judi Dench!

This is like an great actor orgasm.

Production starts in the fall. Ohhh I am goose bumpy!

MAFFE Awards 2008!! The Lead Actors

Casey Affleck - "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"

Simply stunning work.
His Ford is both creepy and pathetic.
Shows the danger of fandom.


Christian Bale - "3:10 to Yuma"

His everyman father doing something brave and ridiculous to prove himself to his son was heroic work.
You wished he would just turn back.


Daniel Day-Lewis - "There Will Be Blood"

What can I say that has not been said already by much better writers?

A simply towering performance.


James McAvoy - "Atonement"

For an iconic performance his Robbie Turner is up there with Day-Lewis.
You believed in his love, his passion and finally his despair. Your heart breaks for Robbie.


Viggo Mortensen - "Eastern Promises"

Minus the fact that he is incredibly sexy in the role, his is also amazing. His slight character shifts are so slight as to not give him away. You wonder how he did it.


Gorden Pinsent - "Away From Her"

For all the Hosanna's bestowed upon his co-star, people forget that he has the much more difficult role.
You feel his longing and pain as he looks at the woman he loves but who doesn't know him anymore.

Oscar Thoughts.

Firstly what a great night in terms of winners. Everyone I wanted to win, won.

Poor Jennifer Hudson. She really does not seem like she should be an Oscar winner one year later does she? Poor thing could hardly speak. At least Harvey-Air Bardem was sexy and excited about winning a much deserved Oscar (he can be sexy and excited with me any day)

Tilda Swinton gets up there and gives the best speech of the night (how do the brits do this? Always with a good speech!). The moment was only ruined by my friend Jonathan saying "I didn't know Ron Weasley" was nominated.

Then Marion Cotillard wins, which was one of the most enjoyable moments. She was so happy and excited and is the second foreign language performances to win that award! Well done Academy. She seems surprised, excited and just so lovely. So happy for her. See people? Foreign films are so much more than reading.

Then John Stewart brings out Marketa Irglova to finish her rudely cut off speech.

Then, as expected Daniel Day Lewis wins and it is when you see him as himself you realize what an amazing actor he really is, earring or no earring.

I was so happy with the winners. The only ones I was not happy about was Costume design. Just seemed far too obvious. A couple of net curtains attached to hula hoops do not good costumes make.

Will talk about the fashion later.

For the first time ever I saw all the short films (aside from documentary) and all I can say is a majority where a pile of poo poo. The Live Action Short winner was hardly watchable, in fact only two of them were award worthy.

Got the giggles watching "Tonto Woman". After the scene where she washed her tits it officially became known in my group as "Tit Water", "Tit Soup", "There Will Be Tits" or "No Country for Old Tits". Actually laughed about that with my friends for ages.....so juvenile!

"Rat-a-titty"

Also this year I had video conference with my good friends in New York who kindly changed channels as there was a 10 second delay and they kept spoiling the winners for me! Thank you Jonathan (had the horrible realization "Sweeney Todd" won Art Direction before it was announced here in the UK.)

One of the most memorable award shows in a long time. Too bad Lemon face showed up. And why was Seabiscuit Hillary Swank there? Poor dear could eat an apple through a letter box.

And you know, it was wonderful to see that Diablo Cody was so moved, and no Juno-isms came out. Showed that she is more than just quirk. My eyes even misted over.

Now for next year!

Mini Review - Two for Tuesday 2

"A Mighty Heart"

Guess what everyone? Michael here need to have a big ole helping of crow pie. While I still stand by my earlier stance that it is a crime ethnic actors are continuously passed over for roles in favour of safe white big named actors, I have to say Angelina Jolie took my breath away completely in this role. I expected her celebrity to overshadow her performance, but she got lost under brave and stoic skin of Marianne Pearl, a woman intelligently dealing with the kidnapping of her husband.

Also outstanding (again) was Irrfan Khan as the head of police assigned to the case. He is one of those actors that can act out entire narratives with his eyes, giving the viewer so much more to work with. The copy I watched had no subtitles for the time they spoke in Urdu, but with this gifted actor, they were not needed.

Most people know the story (and if you don't, for shame!) and its horrific ending, and Michael Winterbottom deserves all the praise in the world for steering away from sentimentalism and keeping the documentary style film ringing true.
Again I have to mention Angelina. For the first time the woman has proven that she is an amazing actress (imho) and it is a crime Cate Blanchett is nominated in her place at this years Oscars.
A -


"There Will Be Blood"

What can I say about this film and it's performances and director that has not been said already.

I would just be repeating the general consensus and that is a very very boring read. So this is going to be the shortest review EVER, and I am sure you are all glad for that.

The film is visually magnificent. The score is unsettling and genius. Daniel Day-Lewis is phenomenal. Paul Dano stands his ground brilliantly (who knew?). Paul Thomas Anderson has crafted a movie that will be studied for a very very long time.

I didn't love it.

I have an admiration bordering on love, but this is a very very tough film to love. The characters are horrible and the story, for one shot in the desert, is not very warm. However (a fancy 'but') this is not the film to cause flutters and pangs in your heart. It is meant to open the viewers eyes and educate. Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday represent corporate and religious America respectively. They may even represent the world, who knows. What is apparent is that this war is giving the creative talent in the world inspiration through anger. "There Will be Blood" is a very angry film, and Paul Thomas Anderson does not hide it.
In terms of pure balls, he and his film is genius
A -

SAG and DGA announce winners

The DGA (Directors Guild of America) has said to everyones shock and surprise that the Coen Brothers have won Best Director of the year!! Honestly though is anyone surprised?

The SAG have some winners as well.

Best ensemble - No Country for Old Men (this is a good win as this film was truly an ensemble work and all the actors were perfect. Congrats to Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Garret Dillahunt, Tess Harper, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, and Kelly MacDonald

Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis (And he gave a wonderful speech which further cements his Oscar win.)

Best Actress - Julie Christie (This could make her unstoppable for the Oscar win)

Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem (no surprise there)

Best Supporting Actres - Ruby Dee (The one true surprise which means she could be getting an Oscar for life time achievement...and I wouldn't complain)

Best Actor Prediticions

Why Frank? Well I do not know. I thought I would be different and predict him. There has to be a surprise nominee somewhere that no one was expecting, doesn't there?

The Top Five!

1 - It has been too long since Daniel Day Lewis graced our screens. I think over all admiration for him will see him in the mix for “There Will Be Blood”. I also cannot remember a time when he gave a performance nothing less that great, and he plays bad this time.

2 - George Clooney – “Micheal Clayton”. This performance has been critically praised. He is also Hollywood royalty. This will happen. He has loads of Awards for this already and has also been nominated for EVERYTHING.

3 -Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd”. I think this is silly. If he can get nominated for a Disney ride he can get nominated for this. Word is although he is not the best singer, he more than makes up for it in the acting side of things. Not alot of precursor love though.

4 - Viggo Mortenson was probably semi close in getting nom for Aragon for the “LOTR” trilogy. He may have been close for “A History of Violence” too. This time he is praised for his turn as a Russian mobster in “Eastern Promises” and he has BFCA, GG, and SAG to back him up.

5 - Frank Langella is a dark horse, but is critically praised with many 'Oscar' mentions for “Starting Out in the Evening”. He started out will in the precursors, but lagged behind by missing out SAG and GG. I still think sentimentality could win out though.


The Next Five

6 -This is the strangest thing to happen all season. I would never have thought Ryan Gosling would be a serious contender for "Lars and the Real Girl" but he has BFCA, GG, and SAG noms. He could do it. Another nomination so soon though?

7 - James McAvoy is a rising star, and may feel he should have been nominated last year. Now, with a critically successful film where he is singled out. However with no support from the precursors (aside from the Golden Globes) he is in real trouble.

8 - Emile Hirsh has gotten the much sought after SAG nomination for “Into the Wild". This alone could see him through, but he is young and the race is crowded with more loved actors. If the film is a big hit, he should get carried through.

9 - Denzel Washington is an actor the Academy loves. He has 5 nominations and two wins under his belt. The last time he played the bad guy he won…but he has LOADS of competition in this race, and the film, although a hit, is not considered to be amazing like "The Departed"

10 - “In the Valley of Elah” is already dividing critics (much like “Crash” did), but they all agree on one thing. Tommy Lee Jones is brilliant in the role of a grieving father. The good will for the actor and the political nature of the film should see him into the final five.

There Will Be Blood TRAILER!!

For all of you (including me) wetting themselves about this one here it is. Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson in a story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century Texas prospector in the early days of the business.