Author: Jandy Page 92 of 145

Last minute Oscar predictions

On February 22, 2009

Figured I should get some Oscar predictions out there, since the ceremony is, like, tonight. They’re going to be relatively terse, though – my computer died on Friday and my newly ordered one has not yet arrived, so I’m tapping this out on my iPhone. Which is not optimal for writing at length. So you can thank my old computer for saving you from my verbosity.

Predicted winners are denotes by an asterisk, since I don’t know if I can use HTML in the WordPress app. EDIT: Adding HTML from a computer. ;) Italics for my predictions, bold for actual winners.

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog has the momentum, and none of the others are going to catch it.

BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire

Picture and director almost always go together, and Slumdog is so clearly Boyle’s film that there’s no question in my mind this year.

BEST ACTOR
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Rourke is the obvious choice, with the personal comeback story and the Golden Globe (and an Independent Spirit Award earlier this week, I think), but I’ve seen a lot of support for Penn lately. This one could go either way.

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kate Winslet – The Reader

This is the most unpredictable category of the night as far as I’m concerned. I haven’t seen Changeling and highly doubt Angelina has a chance, but all the other four are worthy. Melissa Leo is probably out; Frozen River was released too early and is too small. But between Anne, Meryl, and Kate, it’s kind of a crap shoot. I’m going with Kate because she’s due (and deserves it for both The Reader and Revolutionary Road), and I think Anne’s buzz has peaked and fallen. And Meryl already has some, for better movies than Doubt.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin – Milk
Robert Downey Jr – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road

The Academy likes to use Supporting Actor to throw a completely unsuspected win, but I will be very surprised if anyone other than Ledger wins.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Taraji P Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisai Tomei – The Wrestler

Penelope should have this one in the bag, despite all these actresses being worthy. The only potential upset is probably Viola Davis, whose brief time onscreen was the most memorable part of Doubt.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Milk
Wall-E

I don’t have a strong feeling about this one; I doubt In Bruges can pull off another upset after the Globes. I’ve heard Milk buzz in this category lately, so we’ll go with that.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

It is written. It may be cheesy at times, but it is written.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

There’s more support for Kung Fu Panda than I would’ve expected, but I’d be surprised (and a bit dismayed) if Wall-E loses.

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz with Bashir

Waltz won the Globe and will likely win here. Wish I’d made time to see it. EDIT: I LOSE! I haven’t even heard of Departures.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

Everything I’ve heard about Man on Wire rates it among the best films of the year, period, let alone documentaries. Only possible upset is the post-Katrina Trouble the Water.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Going with the likely Best Picture winner for Cinematography and Editing isn’t always safe, but it’s not a bad bet either. But either Benjamin Button or The Dark Knight could easily win as well.

BEST FILM EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Ditto above, except that it’s extremely likely The Dark Knight will win instead. I’m just currently on a mini-vendetta against TDK’s editing style.

BEST ART DIRECTION
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

Damned if I’m not going to choose Revolutionary Road for something, and this seems the most likely – I really loved the spare design. Subtle, but felt so right.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

Costumes were one of the things I thought Benjamin Button did really well – not only did they use costumes from throughout the 20th century, but the costumes served in large part as narrative cues to the changing time periods. EDIT: Should’ve known to go with the only non-20th-century-set film nominated. Apparently the Academy doesn’t think anything within living memory counts in this category…

BEST MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Could go to TDK just as easily, but I’m giving the edge to Button, since TDK was basically just the Joker.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

So much of Slumdog’s appeal is in the music, plus it’s a huge part of the film’s infusion from Bollywood cinema.

BEST SONG
“Down to Earth” – Wall-E
“Jai Ho” – Slumdog Millionaire
“O Saya” – Slumdog Millionaire

I don’t know which song from Slumdog will win, but one of them will.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

This is a dead heat for me among all thee nominees. I have no idea what the Academy will do, but I’m betting they’ll honor TDK in some of these technical categories, since they shut it out of most of the major awards. EDIT: I originally chose Benjamin Button in this category, then changed my mind at the last second. Should’ve trusted my instincts.

BEST SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted

Ditto above. They may give one of these to Iron Man as well, but I couldn’t guess which.

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted

Ditto above.

BEST SHORT (ANIMATED)
La maison en petits cubes
Lavatory – Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

I usually have to pick shorts based on title, but this year I’ve actually seen the last two, and I feel like picking the charmingly morbid Sundance short This Way Up rather than Pixar’s Presto. Don’t know how it’ll go, though – my animator friend told me he didn’t get screeners of any of the shorts before he had to vote.

BEST SHORT (LIVE ACTION)
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Titles again! Don’t love any of these titles, so let’s take long German words for the win! EDIT: As soon as I saw the clip for this and found out it was a Nazi-era film, I knew I was right. Nazis are GOLD at the Oscars, man.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Conscience of Nhem Ens
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306

Again, it’s all about the title. That one sounds mysterious, doesn’t it?

—————-

Done! And still with an hour to spare. :)

POST-CEREMONY EDIT
I ended up with fifteen of twenty-four correct, and most of the ones I missed weren’t major awards. I’m content with that. And also, yay for Penelope and Kate! Irony – one of the actress presenters was Nicole Kidman, who I believe was originally cast in The Reader until she got pregnant and Kate stepped in. No offense to Nicole, who I love, but Kate is better – and probably still would’ve won the Oscar this year, just for Revolutionary Road instead.

Dissecting The Dark Knight

By Jandy

On January 22, 2009

In Film

Jim Emerson has been dissecting The Dark Knight on his blog scanners for the past few weeks. He’s not what you might call a fan of the film, and he’s been building, post by post, his argument against Nolan’s choices as a filmmaker. His earlier posts are here, here, here, here, and here – all of them focusing on the framing of the schoolbus getaway scene. The comments are excellent, too, arguing both for and against the film very eloquently.

To my mind, he’s a little nitpicky on that scene, but I’m in complete agreement with his latest post, which highlights several different falling sequences in different films to show how poorly-thought-out a major falling scene in The Dark Knight is. After the examples, he then re-edits The Dark Knight sequence into a sequence that is, to me, more coherent and impactful than Nolan’s original. By a long shot.

This is both an excellent example of hands-on film criticism – not just sitting back and saying “I liked” or “I didn’t like” but being incredibly specific, down to the level of individual shots and angles, and suggesting alternatives rather than simply complaining – and also a perfect illustration of what can be done with video in film criticism and why we need to protect fair use. I don’t always agree with Emerson, but I’d be pleased to be half as observant a critic as he is.

Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

By Jandy

On January 12, 2009

In Film, Reviews

directed by David Fincher
starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton
USA 2008; screened 7 January 2009 at Laemmle Theatres

Benjamin Button is different than every one else. He was born old, and grows younger as everyone else grows older. Along the way he lives as an ancient-looking child in an old-folks home, with adoptive black parents, works on a tugboat before and during World War II, has a fling with a diplomat’s wife in Moscow, and carries on an on-again-off-again lifelong true love romance with childhood friend Daisy. As might be expected, this both ends sadly and takes a long time. Not that either of those things is necessarily bad. In fact the main part of the story is handled quite well, mostly well-paced, certainly well performed by Brad Pitt and especially Cate Blanchett, and generally solid.

Unfortunately, Button’s extraordinary story is framed by a present-day narrative of the dying Daisy having her daughter read Benjamin’s diary aloud to her. The film cuts back to this narrative throughout Button’s story, a device which really only works once or twice when certain major surprises are revealed. Beyond that, it’s fluff with little point beyond emotional manipulation. (Even more questionable is the threatening hurricane, which turns out to be Katrina – WHY?) The film would’ve been much tighter without it. Besides the frame story, there’s also another story old Daisy tells about a backwards-running clock, which obviously has a thematic tie-in, but basically never comes up again and has no real significance. I swear, people trying to make important, award-winning films need to learn to hire good editors.

The concept of the film is fantastic – as well as the obvious implications of Benjamin’s backwards life for his relationship with Daisy, the underlying questions of what it would be like to be thirty with the experience of a sixty-year-old (and vice versa) are fascinating. The film only touches on them briefly, and doesn’t try to get too philosophical about it, which is probably good. After all, the focus is the romance, and though it’s strange that everyone seems to just accept Benjamin’s situation with very few questions, leaving the more profound implications as implicit suggestions rather than explicit explorations is a more subtle, more evocative approach.

However, the film is ultimately more interesting in concept than in execution, which is a little disappointing because we’ve come to expect excellence in both from director David Fincher. Once in a while an especially well-lighted scene would remind me Fincher was directing (like the gorgeous shot of Daisy dancing in the silhouette), and one sequence in particular was brilliant on its own – the almost whimsical scene with the car accident. The problem is that the sequence doesn’t fit into the rest of the very standard, very non-whimsical cinematic style. I really would’ve liked to have seen the whole film done with this sort of imagination and stylistic flair. After all, it IS a fantasy.

Of course, Cate Blanchett is perfect, as she always is, in a role that calls for her to age from about 18 to over 60, while Pitt is more than adequate de-aging the same age range. (I don’t mean to sound like I’m dissing Pitt – he just isn’t given quite as much to do, given Benjamin’s general easy-going nature.) The make-up and CGI work is highly convincing, except it did get a little distracting as Pitt’s younger versions kept evoking his earlier film roles – “Look, that’s Pitt like he is right now! And there he is circa Fight Club! And circa Legends of the Fall! And hey, there he is in Thelma and Louise!” But perhaps that’s a failure of my own imagination.

Overall, I did like the film, but it’s easily a half hour too long due to the dumb framing device, and it’s more manipulative than I would like. And the fact that I expect more from Fincher doesn’t help. Above Average

66th Annual Golden Globes – Thoughts

By Jandy

On January 12, 2009

In Film

And spoilers, so if for whatever reason you haven’t watched it yet and don’t want to know winners – you’re probably screwed, since it’ll likely pop up in your feedreader, on your TV, in your newspaper, etc. But at least I warned you, so there. Golden Globe spoilers after the jump.

New Release Review: Australia

By Jandy

On January 11, 2009

In Film, Reviews

directed by Baz Lurhmann
starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman
Australia/USA 2008; screened 29 November 2008 at AMC Theatres

I admit that I haven’t read many reviews of Australia in toto, but the snippets I have read and the general critical feeling indicates that most critics didn’t think it was very good. At all. And in fact, in many ways, they’re right. Australia is a mess. But it’s a gorgeous, sloppy, enjoyable mess.

Australia is not the great epic of the Australian people, or indeed, a great epic at all. It is not a particularly innovative piece of filmmaking. It is not indicative of a specifically Australian filmmaking sensibility, nor a very strong example of Baz Lurhmann’s own flamboyant filmmaking style. There’s a bit of a sense of failed ambition hanging about the film, because you can tell Lurhmann wanted at least some of those things to be true, especially the first one.

An English noblewoman travels to Australia to get her husband to sell his plantation there and return to England. Instead, her husband is killed and she stays on to run the plantation with the help of an Australian cowboy known only as Drover (because that’s what he is, a cattle drover). Meanwhile, she takes a young aboriginal boy under her protection. Lurhmann’s attempt to bring together a uniquely Australian family pulled from each of Australia’s roots (English, aboriginal, and outback drifters) is obvious to an extreme, which is part of why it fails as a national epic – it’s too calculated.

In addition to the overdetermined theme, the film suffers from tonal inconsistency. It can’t decide whether it’s a farce (the first half-hour is full of Luhrmann-esque quick close-ups and exaggerated facial expressions, as if he wanted to remind us that he’s the one who directed Moulin Rouge before settling into a much more staid style for the rest of the film), western, romance, war, family drama, elegy, social rights message picture, travel brochure or national epic. The western and war sections, especially, are so divisively separated that Lurhmann might have been better off making two films instead of one.

But even after that laundry list of defects, and I could think of more if I wanted to, I can’t get past how much I plain enjoyed watching the film, and I would go see it again in a heartbeat. It’s old-fashioned classic filmmaking in the Hollywood tradition. I hate to keep bringing up David Bordwell’s The Way Hollywood Tells It all the time as if it’s the only film theory book I’ve ever read, but it’s applicable here again – elements in the narrative are carefully placed so as to lead the audience to expect certain things to happen, and they do. So yes, it’s predictable, but satisfyingly so. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman play their characters as larger-than-life mythic figures rather than real people, because that’s what they are. Kidman especially works in her role not because she turns in an outstanding acting performance (she’s done that far better in other films), but because she channels old Hollywood star quality so well when she lets herself.

I’ll grant you I’m a sucker for westerns, and I definitely loved that part the best – there’s nothing revisionist about it, and the first half of the film could easily have been made during the golden age of westerns, full of gorgeous vistas, sweeping music and laconic hero figures. Then, suddenly, World War II starts, and it’s almost a whole different movie, which I didn’t like quite as much as the western, though it’s not particularly bad.

So Australia is a mess, yes, trying to pack too many varied things into one film that never quite meshed into a cohesive whole. But it was a very comfortable-feeling mess, and I unabashedly loved watching it. As a compromise between knowing it’s nowhere near objectively good and my subjective love for it, I give it an Above Average.

[Weird side note – according to IMDb, the aspect ratio is 2.35:1, but I would’ve sworn I saw it in 1.85:1. Anyone else see it in the narrower ratio, or was I just on crack? I even made a note about it in my notebook at the time, that it seemed odd to shoot an epic in 1.85:1.]