Aren’t Oscars full of sh*t.

The results are here from my latest poll.

I asked who you felt deserved the Best Actress Oscar back in 1989.

The results were shocking!! I had no idea that the eventual winners performance/character was so loved, I fully expected her to get my lone vote and be at the bottom of the heap.

This goes to show just how time can change the minds of many.

Here are the results:

5) With 4% of the votes we have Isabelle Adjani – “Camille Claudel”
Tied with
5) With 4% of the votes we have Jessica Lange – “Music Box”

3) With 7% of the votes we have Jessica Tandy – “Driving Miss Daisy” (The eventual winner)

2) With 18% of the votes we have the lovely Michelle Pfeiffer – “The Fabulous Baker Boys”

1) With a whopping 66% we have Pauline Collins – “Shirley Valentine”
Now I was fully expecting the Pfeiffer to run away with this. I honestly thought she would win by a land slide. Perhaps the reason she came in second was due to the fact that many of my British friends voted. Or maybe people went with the character they loved the best.
Or more likely, I am convinced my friends Dean and Lee logged on to 50 different computers to vote though.
Anyway Congratulations Pauline! You deserved it!

For my next poll we will be looking ahead in the Best Supporting Actress category, 1989.
The women you have to choose from are:


Brenda Fricker – “My Left Foot”
Anjelica Huston – “Enemies, a Love Story”
Lena Olin - “Enemies, a Love Story”
Julia Roberts – “Steel Magnolias”
Dianne Wiest – “Parenthood”

Poll is in the side bar to the right, near the top. VOTE!!!!

Mini Review - "Jindabyne"

So I noticed I had not given “Jindabyne” a review.
In fact the displacement of time between watching it and writing it up is fitting.

You see “Jindabyne” is about displacement.
The town itself was displaced due to rising waters, and it was moved higher up. This is not where the displacement ends. The two lead characters are husband and wife. The wife, Clare (Laura Linney wowing again), is from America, and the husband, Stewart (a wonderful Gabriel Byrne), is Irish.

Why do they live in this small town? Well that is never answered, neither are many questions, the secrets of one family should never be tied up neatly in a two-hour running time.

The basic story is while Stewart is on a fishing trip in isolated hill country with three other men he discovers the body of a murdered Aboriginal girl in the river.
Rather than return to the town immediately, they tie her to a branch with fishing wire and continue fishing and report their gruesome find days later.
Stewart's wife Claire is the last to find out.
Deeply disturbed by her husband's action, her faith in her relationship with Stewart is shaken to the core. She wants to understand and tries to make things right. In her determination to help the victim's family Claire sets herself not only against her own family and friends but also those of the dead girl.

The story enough is fascinating, as it is never about the killer. The film is not treated as a who-dunnit. Instead the audience is more horrified by the actions of these four men. Because there is no suspect, the blame is displaced and focused on these men. They are as guilty as had they murdered her themselves.

Is it ever explained why they did what they did? No, perhaps they were in a state of shock, or perhaps there was good fish to be had, or perhaps the death of an Aboriginal girl does not mean that much to four white men.

I will not go into the plot to much as this really is a film you need to discover for yourself. The acting is superb and the script is sharp.

The most fascinating thing about the film was the way in which it was shot. One minute the viewer is with these men seeing there trip from their perspective, and the next we are seeing them from behind the trees, as though we are watching them from afar.
Ray Lawrence has not only created a film that is about physical, emotional and spiritual displacement, he has also made one that takes this theme and let the audience feel it. In watching this film I felt unsettled, like there was a shift in the room.

I was sympathetic to Stewart, then Claire, then the family of the girl.
It was only until the end of the film that I was reminded who the real villain was and the fact that I forgot that stuck with me for a long time.
B +

The Best Supporting Actress Race

(I know she is campaigning for lead, but she better commit category fraud.)

Sometimes I do forget

I forget how the movies can transport you into another world. A world so comfortable that you never want to leave. The movie can make you feel so many things, something we tend to forget with the slew of blockbuster drivel
The hardest thing a movie can make you feel is that elusive sensation of falling in love.
So sometimes I forget about that one movie that made me believe true love was able to be captured on celluloid.
This film did that in spades.
By the the time the forth pic graced the screen, I was head over heels.
Thanks you "Moulin Rogue!" team.






Aside from this and "The Lord of the RIngs: trilogy when, in this decade, has movie making been so magical

Prediction Update Time.

Ok so I have been thinking about the various categories and have decided who I want to predict now (I hope it is at least a month before I have to do this again).
I have been voting with my heart and have tried to drop that horrible habit, but as you can see "The Kite Runner" is still high so I may need to do more work on myself.
The fact that all the heavy films are not doing well gives me great pause as to how this race will turn out. I mean “Enchanted” is scoring massive with critics…could that shake up Best Picture???

Best Picture: I am still holding out hope the studio will get it together in regards to “The Kite Runner”. “Sweeney Todd enters the top five simply because I am so see this happening. The Academy may want a bit of escapism from all the downers this year. See the rest of them here

Best Actress: A tough one. Who to drop and who to keep in. Christie has dropped out of the top five against my heart telling me no. Instead Amy and Laura rise. Why do you say this Michael? Well because with all the world going to shit, and most of the movies reminding us of this, I am thinking the Academy will stick their collective heads in the sand and celebrate the comedies. No where are there stronger comedy performances than in Best Actress. Check ‘em out here

Best Actor: This pretty much remains the same, except Johnny Depp rises into the top five at the expense of John Cusack. And Frank Langella makes his first appearance in the top 10. Go Frank!!! See the rest of them here

Best Supporting Actress: Redgrave slips into the top five, while Swinton and MacDonald remain on shaky ground, barely holding on. They need to beat out veteran Ruby Dee, new kid Amy Ryan and running joke Tomei. They are all fighting here.

Best Supporting Actor: Well Hoffman and Rickman infiltrate the top five while Stahl and Finney plummet. Based entirely on Harry Knowles review, and the love he got last year, Sasha Baron Cohen makes the top ten. I can actually see this happening, but he will have to fight off Rickman. See all the boys here

The Best Supporting Actress Race

News is lacking so some "Juno" clips

(I have yet to see what the fuss is all about (except for clip No. 4...awwee!!_

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Here is a little "The Dark Knight" news for you all....in case you are interested

The Best Supporting Actress Race

All bets are off

Or so it would see.

At this point there seems to be only two sure things in this years Oscar race.

1) Cate Blanchett will get nominated in Best Supporting Actress for "I'm Not There"

2) Ratatouille will get nominated for Best Animated Picture

There is really nothing else. There are safe bets though, but right now they could still suffer from a bad campaign, or a bigger louder late release stealing thunder.

People are saying Daniel Day Lewis is a sure thing for "There Will Be Blood" but maybe Sasha Stone is right with her review. This is a funny ole year. What was going to be a bumper crop of war films filling the slates now looks like it could be the most eclectic bunch of films ever. We are even getting raves for Disney's "Enchanted" and that feel good factor can go a long way!

Who would you have a surprise, but not unworthy nominee for the top categories?
Mine are:

Best Picture - "Enchanted"
Best Director - John Carney for "Once"
Best Original Screenplay - "Once"
Best Adapted Screenplay - "The Assassination of Jessie James"
Best Actor - Don Cheadle for "Talk to Me"
Best Actress - Jeon Do-yeon for "Secret Sunshine"
Best Supporting Actor - Sasha Baron Coen for "Sweeney Todd" (Harry thinks it could happen - See below)
Best Supporting Actress - Samantha Morton for either "The Golden Age" or "Control" (She has garnered two surprise noms before...they obviously love her)

A snippit from Harry Knowles review of "Sweeney Todd"

"However, the character that probably a ton of you are waiting to hear about is Sacha Baron Cohen’s Signor Adolfo Pirelli, the greatest barber in the world – or so he claims. I’m happy to report that Sacha is utterly brilliant and hilarious in that role. During THE CONTEST folks are going to go friggin’ nuts over him – and this is exactly the sort of role that the Academy might nominate for a Supporting Actor nod. It’s a delicious and wondrous character and Cohen blew the audience away with this performance. And I expect that every time this movie plays that beginning with the introduction of Pirelli’s character – the mass audience is going to fall head over heels for the film. His scenes are the lightest and most fun of the film (in a traditional mainstream way)."

The Best Supporting Actress Race

The Year of Opposites

This year the contenders in the acting categories are polar opposites.
I do not mean they are all opposite of each other, rather Best Actress is opposite of Best Actor and so forth.
Best Actress is jam packed with light and fluffy performances (even the dramatic performances are not all that heavy). We have a Disney Princess, an dysfunctional sibling, a smart mouthed pregnant teen and who could forget a horrendously frank sister at a wedding.
Best Actor is all murder, mayhem, greed and grief. Come one men...lighten up!!

The same can be said for those in the supporting categories. Best Supporting Actor is (aside from Philip Seymour Hoffma) awash with crazy, murderous and preachy.

While Supporting Actress is heavier than their lead big sisters, but still a light bunch. Could this finally prove what I have expected for ages...women are funnier than men??

What it definately proves is that this writers strike needs to end so the writers can get back to writing...and please write some brilliant screenplays for women. Sure they can be light and fluffy, but they have such a vast depth with investigating.

The Poll

Come on people!!! I cannot believe Pauline Collins is whooping Michelle's arse in the Best Actresss stakes. Sure I voted for her but I totally thought I was alone! Once the total votes reach 200 I will do the next one!

Vote!!!

The Best Supporting Actress Race

Another "Enchanted" clip

The more I see of this the more excited I get and think Amy is headed for Oscar nominated number two.

The Best Supporting Actress Race