'Slumdog' fever - (I must be immune)

I do not think I have ever seen anything like this.
It seems that every high end critic knows something I do not about films.
It seems every awards body has seen something I have not.
Perhaps it is time to hang up my coat.

Maybe, just maybe, the awards race really is about the times in which we live, rather than the excellence in film making (I hear many people laughing at my very late realization) .
I mean right now, even though there is a recession, and more people are out of work than ever before, there is a ray of hope in the shape of President Elect - Barack Obama.
This hope has tapped right into the world view of film reviewers, and awards bodies everywhere (well the USA and UK).
Although 'Slumdog Millionaire' is not the best film ever made, nor is it the best film of the year, it most likely is the film that most perfectly captures this new sense of hope after many years of Bush inflicted darkness and war.

Perhaps I should be thankful that a film made up of an Indian cast, set in India is most likely going to sweep the Oscars (a very American (white) centric body of people), even in categories the film really has no place in being.

And I am thankful for that, as minorities have had a hard time breaking into Oscar's little elite club. But I have a reservation because it is at the expense of films that hardly ever get this chance at awards glory. 'The Dark Knight' and 'WALL-E' still could get hurt by this juggernaut. Two genre films that deserve to be in the final five for Best Picture, may end up brushed aside for more 'traditional' films. This is a shame as films should be judged purely on merit and not genre. In the case of 'WALL-E' it still has the animated category, but that is a consolation prize.

Now it seems the 'Slumdog' vice hold on the awards race has reached a pinnacle.

People got upset when Dev Patel got a SAG nomination in supporting actor, many feeling he was either lead or just not that good. Now BAFTA, that sometimes can throw curve balls that can affect the entire race, have not only nominated Dev Patel in lead, but Freida Pinto in supporting (for a role that mainly relies on her beauty) as well. In fact it is almost nominated in every category (so did 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' but that is more default noms and technical brilliance).

However this happens every year. Performances that may not be the best of the year, that get noticed in awards, suddenly get major haters proclaiming them the worst of the year (Check out the recent post by Ryan Adams over at Awards Daily if you don't believe me....poor Dev Freida don't deserve that amount of hate at all).

This all goes to show that this film is a cultural phenomena. People are celebrating how they feel when watching it, more than the merits of the film itself, which is perfectly fine - I have done this many times (hello Moulin Rouge!)
Added to this, the film is technically a foreign indie film for many people, so the feeling of seeing a 'high brow' film adds to the love.

There are two scenarios.

1) The Juggernaut keeps on going and the film wins everything.

2) It eventually hits a wall it cannot pass, and the Academy feel it is rewarded enough and throws some love around.

The Oscar nominations are next week, and for the first time I am feeling a little ill at the thought that things could go horribly wrong.
Perhaps I need to follow the attitude of Sally Hawkins' 'Poppy' from 'Happy-Go-Lucky' and think on the bright side.
But since BAFTA even snubbed her, I think even she may be a bit pissed too so I do not feel so bad.

And as for the 'Feel good film of the decade' quote...it surprises me how short memories are.

Congratulations America

After 8 long, bloody, idiotic and tiresome years you got things rights! I wish Barack Obama a prosperous, healthy and SAFE term in office.

An Actor I cannot look at, in movies I want to see!

A few minutes after it was announced that he'd be playing a wrestler in “The Wrestler”, it's been announced that Nicolas Cage is also planning to search for someone who's vanished in, “The Vanished”
(really, come on now ‘title’ people, a little imagination. Imagine if you thought up all movie titles! We would have “The Little Person with the Evil Ring”, “Gay Cowboys” and “The German Almost Trans-Gendered Lead Singer of a Band”

Anyway Cage's character is a father who goes searching for his college-aged son, "American born Muslim son" who's missing overseas.

We're thinking that the use of that phrase above means that this is, in essence, the story of someone not a million miles from John Walker Lindh, the American college student who went to live in Afghanistan and fight alongside the Taliban.

The film marks the English-language directorial debut of Hany Abu-Assad, the Palestinian-born director of the really wonderful "Paradise Now".

It's set to shoot in April, as soon as Cage finishes The Wrestler for Darren Aronofsky.

I just wanted to put this out there. Both of these films I really want to see, “The Vanished” because it sounds like a very good premise, and “The Wrestler” because I love Aronofsky. But I am f*cking pissed I have to go and watch Nicolas Cage’s face in these.
He is one of those actors that I find it hard to watch. He does so much sh*t that it tarnishes any good project he does. I find him unwatchable…I couldn’t even post a picture – hence the pic of the two leads in “Paradise Now”. If you haven’t seen the film, I urge you to!

No End in Sight trailer

I sometimes feel that this is the end of the world. I see no way out of the mess we are in. Then I see things like this (thanks to Sasha Stone) and it gives me hope that there is at least a dialogue being permitted, no matter how small, and no matter how few people it is between.
I also feel documentaries like this need to be played on national US TV networks and not theaters. If this makes it into a movie theater, do you think Mr. and Mrs. Middle America are gonna fork out $$$ for it, or the latest blockbuster?
A shame, but at least it can still get made.

Countdown Special Comment:

Bush, Cheney Should Resign

I do not often get into politics as I find the whole affair far to dramatic and over the top, hence why I concentrate on Hollywood and the acting and movie making community. However I stumbled upon this MSNBC Special Comment by Keith Olbermann, and I was dumb struck. He deserves a big ole hero cookie.
What ever your stance is, you all know the 'W' is an embarrassing president. I feel so strongly for my American friends as they have to live with it. There is a reason the rest of the world ridicules America, and it resides in the White House. Watch the whole of this video...it is long, but worth it.

Where is the passion?

It seems that is recent year, there has been a noticeable lack of passion when it comes down to movies and the awards race. Sure there are a few performances that get people excited here and there, but on the whole, with Best Picture, it is all very blah.
Sure there have been the films in recent years that have captured the imagination, and expanded the limited range that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences considers to be Best Picture material, but those are very limited.

Sure there have been those films that make us jump up for joy, that make it to the Oscar beauty pagent.
2000 saw Ang Lee’s martial arts epic “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” break the foreign film and martial arts barrier in a very big way. And of course from 2001 to 2003 we not only had Peter Jackson’s brilliant fantasy trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”, but we also saw the hyper active musical love story “Moulin Rouge!” and again Ang Lee came to the rescue to bring us the heart breaking gay love story of “Brokeback Mountain”.
This is all wonderful but that is only six films out of thirty five. Something is up with the movie world.
Sure we can blame conservative Oscar voters, and smaller films getting crap distribution, but is that really all there is to it?
Is convention celebrated so freely, or is it just forced upon us?
Well there is a president in the white house who can barely work a speak-n-spell, and leans more to the K.K.K. side of thinking than is comfortable, and this may explain why films that make us question power (governmental, religious, racial, media even sexual) are few and far between in the main stream.

Then again in the 1970’s Nixon and Ford were both conservative republican presidents, and the Vietnam war was happening, and the movies being celebrated were worth getting sticky white love juice in your pants for. We had “M*A*S*H”, “A Clockwork Orange”, “Deliverance”, “Sounder”, “The Exorcist”, “American Graffiti”, “The Conversation”, “Jaws”, “Network”, “Taxi Driver”, “All the Presidents Men”, “Star Wars”, “The Deer Hunter”, “Apocalypse Now” and many others.
What a great list of movies, from a great decade. They posed questions, excited the imagination and some even acted as a form of protest to the way things were. What has happened? Where is the edge today? Where are all the passionate film makers?

Are people so afraid of practicing freedom of speech these days that they silence themselves?
Sure, we all know that freedom of speech is just a term people like to throw about. When you use it against the conservative masses you get booed, censored, become a public pariah and if you are a singer, you can get your CD’s steam rolled over. Some freedom.
We are living in scary times, and cinema/TV is our only escape from it.

Yet that is controlled by the MPAA, a group of conservative puppets who are watch dogs fighting sex (gay and straight) and nudity in case they corrupt Americas children. Ha!! I doubt the HUGE gun control problem has much to do with Heath Ledger giving Jake Gyllenhaal the ole spit and stick.

How sad is it that conservative politics/greed/and corruption have such a far reach that it has ensnared art in its grasp. If we cannot express ourselves through the arts anymore then we are nothing more than the plot outline in 2002’s “Equilibrium”.

”In a futuristic world, a strict regime has eliminated war by suppressing emotions: books, art and music are strictly forbidden and feeling is a crime punishable by death.”

A bit extreme, but you get the picture. I know I may seem a tad too preachy, touching on a lot of major social problems to explain why the silly Oscar race has seemed so boring as of late, but there is a truth to it all.
So far, all we have in mainstream media is Michael Moore flying the flag for freedom of speech.
We need more of him.
We need more filmmakers out there to get a dialogue going on the social, political and economic injustices in the world, and not just with documentaries.
Make things interesting, challenge yourselves and the world will be a better place. Make me passionate about the movies and not just the performances.

Michael Moore Sicko trailer

What more can I say about this man. He is fearless, unrelenting, and ultimately brave. The U.S. government has targeted him (y’all know his every move is watched) and yet he still goes out and stirs the collective sh*t of American politics and their policies. Now he takes on the U.S. health care system. In a country of such fanatics (religious, anti-abortion, homophobic) I am surprised no one has made an assassination attempt, must be divine interference – only the really good get that!

The little movies that matter

”We have a pair of unfortunate situations here. A man who has nothing in his life except his work, that is unfortunate. And then by a stroke of bizarre chance, he finds someone who makes that not true for a day or two. But then, suddenly, it seems as though the price that has to be paid for that ray of light is some kind of... disgrace. It doesn't seem quite fair.”

I wanted to write a review of “The Girl in the Café” but it seems that in doing so, I will give far too much away. If you decide, out of curiosity, to rent this movie you will be rewarded. If I were to write a full review it would rob you of the chance of discovering this beautiful and funny story, from writer Richard Curtis , as it unfolds.
This romantic comedy unfolds with ease into a political drama. Lawrence ( a hysterically reserved, and awkward Bill Nighy ), a spindly, self-effacing civil servant, is a senior researcher for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, preparing for a G-8 summit that will determine the scope of the world's effort to reduce extreme poverty. In a crowded café, he chats awkwardly with Gina (The luminous and amazing Kelly MacDonald ), a young Scot with time on her hands.
They share a couple of meals, and he invites her to accompany him to the summit in Reykjavík. Once there, as romance blooms, Gina's past, Lawrence's work and proclivity to compromise, and the presence of ministers and presidents spur her to act.
Kelly MacDonald has been around forever. From her debut as the spunky school girl who seduces Ewan McGregor in “ Trainspotting ” to her lead role as the new maid to Maggie Smith in Robert Alman’s upstairs downstairs comedy “ Gosford Park ”.
She is one of those actresses that can easily fade into the background as she is so unassuming. In ‘The Girl in the Café” she uses ability so that when she takes action, it is all the more powerful. I hope her Emmy win for this will lead to a lot more work for her as I think she has real staying power in this industry.

'Recount' to be made by the brave Sidney Pollock

From Variety.

"HBO Films has greenlit "Recount," a scripted movie about the 2000 presidential election, and has attached Sydney Pollack to direct. Pic will follow the Florida recount from Election Day through the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of George W. Bush five weeks later.

No stars are attached yet.

Pic will place an emphasis on what execs say is the "human drama" that permeated news events.

Movie will be produced by HBO Films in association with Spring Creek/Mirage Prods. Danny Strong, who has had roles in pics including "Seabiscuit" and "Pleasantville," wrote the script. Spring Creek's Paula Weinstein, HBO Films' Len Amato and Pollack are exec producing.

Pic goes into production in spring or summer. It will air on HBO, probably next spring, as the country finds itself in the heat of another presidential election. HBO Films is opting to air "Recount" on the net and not release it via theatrical arm Picturehouse because, execs said, airing it on the pay net will guarantee millions of viewers.

Strong's script was a hot commodity when it first made the rounds. HBO Films topper Colin Callender said the movie would focus on many of the smaller players in the drama. "It boils the story down to individuals, men and women and husbands and wives, caught up in events slightly beyond their control," Callender said.

Activists, strategists, politicians and even voters will figure into the storyline. Weinstein said the movie would elaborate on the recount saga in meaningful ways. Locations haven't been chosen yet, but it's likely production will at least be partially shot in Florida. Project is aiming for the widest possible audience and will steer clear of a partisan point of view, according to execs."

to me this is exciting news, especially since it will be airing during the next election. Although 'The Interpreter' was flawed, it was still a tense drama, as was They Shoot Horses Don't They?' and 'Three Days of the Condor'
Who to play the leads though? My guess is a British actor will get one of the roles (Gore) and a chimp for Bush.