Recapping the Oscars

This year's Oscars will sadly go down as the one that no one watched, which is a true shame since it honored a lot of great cinematic work and there wasn't an undeserving winner in the crowd. Or any particularly painful jokes. Jon Stewart did well; he wasn't Billy Crystal in his prime but he was consistent and, as importantly, he really seemed to dictate the flow of the show. The "He is sooo arrogant" remark after Glen Hasnard spoke was the line of the night (in my humble opinion) and his opening monologue was solid, considering it involved no props, guest stars, or random-but-hilarious video spoofs. Well done, Mr. Stewart, well done.

I was, obviously, thrilled by Marion Cotillard's (semi-surprise) win. I won't run it into the ground too much, but if you've seen La Vie En Rose, you know how incredible she is. And if you haven't, watch a little of this. Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem were predictable, but still nice. (Although why did Lewis have great speeches at the SAGs and Critics Choice and then was utterly corny at the Oscars? And was he purposely trying to look like the spitting image of Kristin Scott Thomas?)

I started to feel bad for Amy Adams about fourteen seconds into "Happy Working Song" when I realized she wasn't going to be aided by any dancing cockroaches. But Kristen Chenowith (ugh) gets a production number that rivals the presidential inauguration? Very painful. Thank God it went to a song from the best soundtrack of the year, Once. The fact that it jumped to number 1 on iTunes' album chart is a testament to the timeless beauty of the song. And when they brought Marketa Irglova back out to speak, after she had been cut off: that was the classiest thing I've ever seen on the Oscars. Her encouragement to all the artists that "spend most of their time struggling" deserved to be heard.

I would have been unsurprised/surprised no matter who won Best Supporting Actress, but I was really happy to see Tilda Swinton take it (and for Michael Clayton to get something.) I watched Michael Clayton again the day of the awards and she really is stellar in it; she layers that character with so much fear and you watch her try to look away from everything she's doing. I was also happy for Diablo Cody; I think she's gotten a lot of flack lately from people who think she's nothing more than a brassy and ironic quote dispenser when, in fact, she provided Juno with superb dramatic structure and a slowly revealed heart. She just forgot that leopard--this is for you, Molly--is for strippers, not strippers-turned-scripters.

The one I really feel bad for is Roderick Jaynes; I bet he would have given a great speech.

In the final tallies, No Country for Old Men got 4, while The Bourne Ultimatum, a box office smash, came in with 3. (Remember when The Matrix won four back in 2000?). I wonder what the ratings would have been like if they had just given Bourne Best Picture...

Reaction is forthcoming...

I know you've been at your computer hitting refresh over and over so you can see my thoughts about the Oscars, but I haven't had time to sit and type 'em up yet. It's been, uh, crazy. But they will appear soon--tomorrow perhaps.

And, of course, one last thing: Marion Cotillard.

Video - 2007: The Year in Movies

This video recalls what a great year 2007 really was for movies. Inevitably, your favorites will be included in the line-up. If you have 8 minutes to spare, it's definitely worth watching.

Oscars: Predictions and Wishes

Here's the round up of what I think should and will win:

BEST PICTURE
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Will Win: No Country for Old Men. It's almost too easy to call this year. It's way farther ahead of its competitors than Llewelyn Moss ever was of Anton Chigurh.
Should Win: Well, this is a tough year for me to pick because, obviously, four of the five nominated films were among my favorite of the year. Now, I picked There Will Be Blood as my favorite film of the year, and it was my favorite, but I think I would be equally happy if Michael Clayton pulled through because it's a smart genre pic made with such precision and it hasn't won any major awards, really. I'm even cool with a win for Juno, which has become so iconic and could very well become the film from 2007 that leaves the greatest mark on our culture. Part of me thinks future generations could very look back at these Oscars and wonder how Juno ever lost. But I'm fine with the inevitable win for No Country, which I like as a Best Picture winner: it's much darker and, in a way, much simpler than the usual fare that takes this award home.

BEST DIRECTOR
P.T. Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Coen Bros, No Country for Old Men
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Jason Reitman, Juno
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Will Win: The Coen Brothers. And they deserve it.
Should Win: I loved the work of all the nominees in this category--except for Schnabel, but we'll get to that--and picking just one is tough because each film called for very different work. The Coens balanced the urgency of the central chase between Moss and Chigurh with the more melancholy, reflective tones of Bell's pursuit. Anderson created something original and extraordinary, a fictional biopic that was pulse-poundingly alive. Gilroy skirted legal-thriller conventions and created palpable tension with sleek framing and a trio of first-rate performances. Reitman managed to not get too tangled in the words of his characters but rather fashion an approachably quirky world that peeled back its layers and revealed its heart. For me, Schnabel's risky technique--putting the viewer inside Bauby's head with several POV shots and occasional cutaways--only worked on occasion, such as while watching the stares from his children. It was hard for me--though not everyone, clearly, since I was one of the few leaving the theater with dry eyes--to connect to a character when I could so rarely see his eyes, the way an actor or actress traditionally communicates his/her thoughts. But it is, by far, the Coens' to lose, and I doubt they will.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages
Will Win: Juno. Diablo Cody will go from stripper/blogger to Oscar winner in just two years. And everyone will want to see her acceptance speech.
Should Win: Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton. The man who wrote the Bournes crafted a perfectly polished thriller with resonating characters, a plot that twisted in all the right places, and dialogue that crackled without being overly quotable.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Atonement
Away from Her
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Will Win: No Country. At this point, all I can say is: Duh.
Should Win: The screenplay for There Will Be Blood is more of an adaptation than most. Upton Sinclair’s "Oil!" was almost more inspiration than blueprints. And yet, knowing when not to change a thing is important, too, and the Coens hold on to so many of Cormac McCarthy’s subtle touches and they do it through both dialogue and action. Should it come to a coin toss?

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney
Daniel Day-Lewis
Johnny Depp
Tommy Lee Jones
Viggo Mortenson
Will Win: Daniel Day-Lewis. His milkshake brings all the awards to his yard.
Should Win: I love what Day-Lewis did with Plainview, the way he seemed to create a (cracked) soul right in front of us. But there are moments—brief and fleeting moments—where I don’t quite buy Lewis, where I feel he’s going more for the audience’s reaction rather than the reality of the character. Clooney, meanwhile, disappears behind his own face. Clayton’s dressed up in nicely tailored suits, so it’s his eyes and his body language that have to tell his story of frustration and ragged disappointment. And while it looks just like Clooney, you could swear it’s not.

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett
Julie Christie
Marion Cotillard
Laura Linney
Ellen Page
Will Win: Not as easy of a call as I think everyone thinks it is. I think that Academy members that actually watch their screeners of La Vie En Rose will suddenly understand the talent of Marion Cotillard. Not only that, but is a pretty showy performance and those are traditionally eaten up. So, although Christie is the favorite, I see Cotillard coming up on the inside. (And I think that, like me, some voters will find her public persona undeniably charming.)
Should Win: It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog that I’m rooting for Cotillard all the way.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck
Javier Bardem
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Hal Holbrook
Tom Wilkinson
Will Win: Javier Bardem. Actually this is the easiest award to predict of the night.
Should Win: Bardem chilled me to the bone from his first scene and he’s not undeserving…but at the end of the year, it’s Holbrook’s gentle, late-in-the-game (late in the movie and late in his career) performance in Into the Wild that will stay with me. The way he conveyed that loneliness and yearning was heart-wrenching without ever being overly-sentimental.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett
Ruby Dee
Saiorse Ronan
Amy Ryan
Tilda Swinton
Will Win: The closest race and the toughest to call. I’m picking Amy Ryan on pure gut instinct. I think her performance offers the least to quibble about in Oscar-terms.
Should Win: Call me crazy, but I think I would vote for Ronan. I think Atonement suffers as soon as she’s not onscreen anymore. The actress—and especially her large, telling eyes—anchor the themes of the film. And it's a fearlessly un-cute performance from a tyke.

Review: "Across the Universe"

As someone who owns those beautifully packaged Music Video Director Packs, which contain the videos of various prominent directors like Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze, I figured that I could approach Across the Universe with the right spirit. I thought that if I went in expecting a bunch of imaginative musical sequences set to Beatles tunes and tried not to care too hard about how they were strung together, it would all be ok. And I was about half right.

The film does start off rather promisingly, full of mirth and color and strong character introductions. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” is used to reveal an Ohio cheerleader's true love, “Hold Me Tight” shows the lead characters’—Lucy and Jude’s—very different backgrounds. “Come Together,” sung by Joe Cocker, plays as one of the best “Welcome to New York” sequences I’ve ever seen. A tie-dye bowling alley is a choreographer’s playground in “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and the mandatory civil rights/Vietnam montage is surprisingly moving when partnered with “Let it Be.” As the film goes on, Julie Taymor feels like the perfect director for this 60s-set project. But then it becomes very clear that Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais were not the right people to write it.

When the film starts to take its story seriously—deathly seriously—is when it falls apart. The characters are, oddly, much better when they’re not fully realized. As simple era-appropriate archetypes onto which we can project events, memories, and meaning, they work just fine, because the songs they’re singing are already familiar to us. But when the filmmakers try to squeeze blood from Lucy, Jude, and the others, it all becomes a little painful and they become a lot less likeable. A large part of that is that the cast of mostly unknowns are, for the most part, not very good actors. Clearly cast for their voices and looks, their emotions never project past the screen. The lyrics fill in the blanks more often than they should have to and you get the feeling that, in a way, this story doesn't quite deserve these amazing songs.

Another large problem is, sadly, the adherence to PG-13 conventions. Some of the scenes would simply make far more sense if the implied drug use was shown. In others—“With a Little Help from My Friends” includes an embarrassing pantomime of “getting high with a little help from my friends”—it plays as stupid and patronizing.

In the second half, Taymor occasionally uses her grand visuals to keep the interest—“Happiness is a Warm Gun” is an exciting burst of energy and, well, uh…”Strawberry Fields Forever” is ok. But it’s the first half hour that shows what the movie could have—and should have—been: an inventive director using all her resources to resurrect the inherent beauty of the songs by the world’s most important band.

About Taymor's Fight With the Studio on Final Cut:

Across an Alternate Universe by Nikki Finke (LA Weekly)

Across the Universe: Julie Taymor May Remove Her Name (Cinematical)

Kinda Obsessed: Second Week of February

A week with the flu means a lot of time on the couch with a bucket by your head and a hand on the remote. So while that forsaken virus turned my body into a achy, feverish mess, at least I got in some quality time with the DVD player, mostly watching the entire first season of The Wire. But being couch-bound also gave me some time to discover four other things to be kind of obsessed with.

JOSHUA ON DVD
I had been excited for this Sundance creepfest about an Omen-like child since I saw the trailer about a year ago, but it never really came to a theater near me for any extended amount of time and it slipped off my radar. But then, low and behold, there it was staring at me from Netflix’s “New Releases” section a couple weeks back and I hit the hallowed “Move to Top of Queue” button. I got around to watching it this week and it actually lives up to that trailer. What’s so great about Joshua is that the kid isn’t possessed—rather, the evil is all of his own accord. And his actions never verge on unexplainable or supernatural, they’re just terrifyingly disturbing. It’s akin to Rosemary’s Nine-Year-Old but with a distinct modern yuppy twist carried out by the driven-crazy parents (played by Sam Rockwell and Vera Fermiga.) Someone else please see it so that we can discuss that final scene: am I interpreting it right? Or does it even matter?

“BETTER THAN THE BEST” by MURS
Until this song came along and the talented rapper name-checked himself, I always thought that Murs rhymed with “purrs.” But no, it’s Murs like “Murse,” the male-skewing purse from Seinfeld. Oh well, he can still take a sample and make the most out of it, as he does here with The Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself.” Over the familiar Motown beat, Murs lets loose a list of reasons why he’s the best rapper in the game. Keeping it light, though, it comes across as more of a fun, tongue-in-cheek boast than anything that would lead a listener to wonder if he has a Kanye-sized ego. Harmless, winking lyrics over a great, recognizable sample: makes for the perfect rap song to usher in spring.

THE POSTER FOR THE BANK JOB

When I saw the trailer for this heist thriller a couple months ago, it seemed good enough, another Jason Statham vehicle that was probably going to be more Crank than In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. But then I found out its actually based on one of Britain's most notorious corruption cases and my interest grew even more. Then this cooler-than-the-other-side-of-the-pillow poster came along, evoking great Steve McQueen actioners from the Golden era. (Actually, I can't find an example, but you get the idea.) The beauty of the car, the framing, the light playing at angles, and the retro-simplicity of it makes it the best throwback poster since the one for Out of Sight in 1998.

JAN TERRI ON YOUTUBE
I’m not sure what happened in 1993 Chicago for Jan Terri to end up with a number of “professionally made” music videos, but here they all are on YouTube for our enjoyment and bewilderment. I hear that Marilyn Manson named Terri as his favorite female singer and I can definitely see how with her unconventional looks, out-of-leftfield lyrics, and obvious speech impediment, she could be a freakshow number for the modern age. And, well, that’s kind of how it plays out. The ditty below, “C’mon little brother” (which heavily incorporates “Frera Jaca”—and why not?) is so perfectly early 90s and Terri simply launches it into the realm of absurdly fascinating. And you may get "Don't you wanna take a....cruise trip??" stuck in your head for awhile.

Writers' Strike: OVER! (According to Eisner)

Sorry for recent lack of posts. I've been sick in bed with the flu, nursing a bottle of lemon-lime Gatorade. But as I head into recovery, so does Hollywood. Because...

A deal has been struck between the major media companies and the Writers
Guild of America to end the writers' strike, former Walt Disney chief executive
Michael Eisner revealed on CNBC.
"It's over," Eisner said. "They made the deal, they shook hands on the deal. It's going on Saturday to the writers in general."
Eisner, speaking live on CNBC's "Fast Money," seemed to hesitate initially about whether it was possible that the writers could still reject the agreement, but finally suggested the deal's acceptance was inevitable.

OK, so Eisner's not the most trusted name in Hollywood, but this certainly isn't bad news. Keep an eye out for updates...

"Arrested Development: The Movie": Probably Happening

From Popwatch today:

In the last few days, Jason Bateman (via E! Online) and Jeffrey Tambor (via XM radio) have both re-confirmed that they, other Bluth famly members, and producers Mitch Hurwitz and Ron Howard are getting the cornball rolling for an Arrested Development movie once the strike is over.

This. is. soooo. amazing. This calls for a celebratory Chicken Dance in this musty ol' claptrap.

Close-Ups from the Oscar Nominees Luncheon Photo

Every year at the Oscar Nominees Luncheon, they take a big class photo. I zoomed in on areas this year that required further analysis. Or in the case of a certain Best Actress nominee, just a close-up.

Julian Schnabel and Javier Bardem are still good friends apparently. And why not? Schnabel helped Bardem get his first nomination in Before Night Falls.


Two words: Marion Cotillard.

I honestly think it's adorable how they put the youngest nominee (Ellen Page) next to the oldest nominee (Hal Holbrook). EDIT: OK, I guess Saiorse Ronan is the youngest nominee, but she wasn't there. So...next youngest.

I've always loved Sarah Polley as an actress (even in Dawn of the Dead....hell, especially in Dawn of the Dead) so I'm surprised her first nomination comes for writing (the screenplay for Away from Her starring Julie Christie.)

The guys from Funny Games were nominated?

It's weird seeing only one Coen brother at a time. It's like when you have Siamese twin friends and then you run into just one of them buying milk at the store and it just, you know, looks wrong.

I love that the couple from Once are now a real life couple. Just look at 'em. How can they not be together?

LOST: "Beginning of the End" Recap

So, you’re due a LOST recap. Instead of traditionally esoteric ramble, I’m going to just bullet point my many individual thoughts on what was an undeniably fantastic premiere, the best of any season unless you count the pilot. (And please, vote in my poll to the left on who’s in the coffin.)

·KEEPING THE MOMENTUM GOING: whereas in the past few years they’ve used the season premiere to focus on a small group of individuals and bring in a new mindbender, this year, they picked up where they left off with pretty much everyone. All of the intensity from the flash-forwards and lingering questions and possible escape from the end of last season has carried over into this season really well. I’m glad we didn’t spend the whole time just with Jack or just with Hurley, but spread the episode out over everyone pretty well.

·BACK TO THE FUTURE: I’ve heard dissenting views, but I’m pretty psyched over the Oceanic 6 arc. I know there are still about 4,815,162,342 questions that need answering from the first three seasons, but what’s so great about this new “mystery” is it’s about the characters. I’ve never felt so invested in them as people rather than elements in a mythology and that’s only going to make every action resonate more. And the flash-forward elements are really driving that. They give an eerie weight to everything that’s happening in island-time.

·JORGE GARCIA, FUTURE EMMY NOMINEE?: Hurley’s whole arc was, I thought beautifully written and wonderfully performed. His acting has never been better and I was moved by both his time with ghost Charlie and Claire. Of course, Hurley now has us wondering: why does he regret going with Locke?

·LITTLE CREEPY HINTS: Was that really Jack’s dad in Jacob’s chair? Doc Jensen says so, but I’m not convinced. What the heck did Charlie mean by “I’m dead, but I’m here”? Is he a ghost, or he is operating on some kind of paranormal wavelength, much like the whispers Sayid heard in the woods by Rousseau’s camp? Or is Hurley just guilty/crazy? Remember his imaginary friend Dave? Are Dave and Ghost Charlie kind of the same thing? And I think my favorite: the guy from The Wire showing up at Hurley’s nut house and asking if “they” are still there. Clearly, the Oceanic 6 abandoned a number of survivors—perhaps very specifically betrayed them—in order to get home. Locke seems a prime candidate for someone who’s still happily whiddling coconut bark on the island…but who else is?

·2 MINOR QUIBBLES: So Naomi, who has a freaking knife in her back, can a) crawl away without any of the thirtysomething people around her noticing and b) create a fake trail and crawl up into a tree to attack Kate? Give me a break. And why did Kate steal the phone and make her own little sojourn? What was the point of that?

In the end, I’m just so thankful it’s back that I would’ve even been ok with an episode about how Kate has issues about staying in one place. But it truly was a very strong episode that seems to be ushering in a very exciting season that will answer questions while also getting us more invested in the characters. I didn't think it could be done, but here we are...

Trailer: "The Grand"

Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, and Tobias Funke? Count me in. I can already see this being an oft-quoted movie from "How did you learn to play poker? By playing darts?" to "I converted to Islam. Last night." to "I give [it] five stars...that have collapsed in on themselves and created the largest black hole in the universe."

Empty Promises

Hey all. So much for live-blogging, huh? Some unexpected things have come up in the professional arena and everything's a little crazy right now. A write-up is forthcoming but I will say this: What an amazing and welcome return LOST! Way to keep the momentum from the end of the last season going!