All Right

Which jackasses actually voted for Tom Hooper over David Fincher? Stand up and admit your complete lack of taste, please.

Fuck you, AMPAS. Your attempts to get more "hip" this year fell flat as usual and the Golden Globes actually made better picks than you did.

Oscar Oscar Oscar!

Last year I was really excited for the Oscars because I didn't have a life at the time. It was right before spring break, everything felt drab and gray, and the days were just an endless cycle of ennui, work, and an occasional senior-fueled spat with the administration.

So the fact that I am anticipating the Oscars this year with only mild eagerness is a sign of progress, I think. I'm looking forward more to visiting a dear friend at her college and getting trashed with her for the first time (she was more uptight about drinking in high school).

And if anything, this has been one of the least exciting Oscar seasons I can recall. I blame the blogosphere for dissecting the race down to every last calibration to the point that any "surprises" that occur have already been predicted in advance. Even with the mild spouts of drama (The Melissa Leo thing, in which Leo will henceforth be referred to as a noun other than the person, as in "pulling a Melissa Leo"), the sudden "The King's Speech" switchabout, the snubs (my poor Andrew - stop saying that, why do I always feel so possessively protective of him? It's the vulnerable Bambi thing he has going on, probs) and happy nomination surprises (Hawkes and Weaver), the Fincher-Hooper showdown, the marvelous HBC speech - everything's been handled with grace, I feel. But I thought this would be a nice last time to give tribute to the 10 BP nominations. Randomly unfiltered, vaguely nonsensical.

BEST PICTURE COMPETITION

The American Rebel

The Royalty Porn/Feel-Good

The Underdog

Ordinary Man in Extraordinary Circumstances/Directorial Vehicle

The Indie Hit

The Family Drama

Pixar - Toy Story 3

The Blockbuster

The Spectacle/Thriller

The Western

LAST YEAR, my Oscar crushes were Kathryn Bigelow, Colin Firth, Anna Kendrick, Jeremy Renner, and Christoph Waltz. By crushes I mean I googled constantly without shame, youtubed them and gossiped about them and wondered about their respective futures.

THIS YEAR, my Oscar crushes were Annette Bening, Colin Firth (rewatched Valmont again the othe rnight), Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, David Fincher, and HBC doesnt count becuase everyone is always obsessed with her anyways or at least they should be. I also became a fan of Amy Adams and Nicole Kidman via Oscar roundtables for the first time. They're both a lot more self-deprecating, charming, funny, and surprisingly non-fussy than I would have expected. Before, I thought Amy Adams was kind of bland and Nicole Kidman a self-absorbed diva, but they've only spoken intelligently and thoughtfully, and been sweetly low-profile throughout this period of incessant self-promotion.

MY FINAL PREDICTIONS:

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Best Original Song: "We Belong Together" Randy Newman

Best Original Screenplay: The King's Speech

Best Animated Short: TBH, I don't have a damn clue. Fail, I know.

Best Documentary Short: Ditto

Best Live-Action Short: I don't even know the nominees.

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo

Best Makeup: Barney's Version?

Best Costume: Alice in Wonderland

Best Sound Mixing: Inception

Best Sound Editing: Inception

Best Cinematography: True Grit

Best Original Score: The Social Network

Best Visual Effects: Inception

Best Documentary Feature: Restrepo

Best Editing: The Social Network

Best Foreign Language Film: Incendies

Best Actress: Natalie Portman

Best Actor: Colin Firth

Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Picture: The King's Speech

Oscar viewing party food suggestions: Sushi, appletinis (The Social Network), frosted cake (Black Swan, The Fighter),beef kabobs (Winter's Bone - not same as squirrel, but oh well), anything organic-y - hummus, fruit smoothies, heirloom tomato hor d'oeuvres (TKAAR), trail mix (127 hours), tea sandwiches (The King's Speech).

Movie Schedule and Oscar Thoughts! (Updated)

My god, I am simply dying to write my Oscar spreadsheet, but I'm going to try and actually base it on legitimate critique as opposed to wishy-washy cyber hype. So I'm gonna have to watch

- Another Year

- Black Swan

- The King's Speech

- True Grit (*so excited*)

- Blue Valentine (ditto. Ok, I am still susceptible to hype and I just want to see what all the bloggers are going on about)

- Another Year

- Winter's Bone (is that available on DVD?)

- Animal Kingdom

- How To Train Your Dragon

- The Fighter

- Made in Dagenham

- Somewhere

That's twelve movies to watch before Oscar nominations come in. Bring it!

But GOD they should just really spread the wealth when it comes to December releases. I firmly believe that part of the Academy's low-ratings problem stems from the fact that most people just haven't had a chance to watch half of the nominated movies before the Oscars come. All of the big contenders come out within a span of six weeks - True Grit, Black Swan, The Fighter, Somewhere, Blue Valentine, King's Speech - and most people go to the theaters about once a month. That's just ridiculous. Especially when there was that latent September-November period when, with the exception of The Social Network, everyone around me was complaining that "there are no interesting movies out right now". It would have been so much better if you had options like The King's Speech or True Grit around then, instead of cramming half a dozen movies into a rushed holiday season where they end up simultaneously fighting for (and ultimately splitting) the attention. Most people DON'T watch a movie on its opening weekend, and then hey - by the next weekend, some more interesting movie has come out. And then the next one, and the next one, until the original movie is relegated to future-DVD status.

And apparently this is AMPAS' new publicity technique - for a host, put up the most bizarre pairing as possible so that people will be enticed to tune in out of sheer curiosity. This is not going to go well. Really. Just because James Franco gives sexy and occasionally appealing performances does not mean that he translates to proper host material. He just lacks that common touch. I mean, have you seen that man on talk shows? Awwwkward. Screw "thinking out of the box", that doesn't mean crap if the decision is ultimately misguided.

That aside, I have't been able to resist my own bout of Oscar predictions:

*= locks

Best Actor:

*Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network

*Colin Firth - The King's Speech

*James Franco - 127 Hours

Robert Duvall - Get Low

Ryan Gosling - Blue Valentine

Best Actress:

*Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right

*Natalie Portman - Black Swan

Nicole Kidman - Rabbit Hole

Lesley Manville - Another Year

Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine

Best Supporting Actor:

*Christian Bale - The Fighter ****

*Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech

*Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right

Andrew Garfield - The Social Network

The last slot is truly a tossup. A small, but extremely insistent regiment of fans for John Hawkes in Winter's Bone has been steadily growing louder, and though these kind of performances don't usually get much leeway til much later during awards season, Oscars has noticed in the past (examples: Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road and Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild). Especially when that kind of buzz is so loud for an unknown actor. Great kudos. Then there's the oft-shunned Sam Rockwell, who got fantastic reviews for "Conviction" and surely will earn sympathy notice after being shut out for "Moon" last year. Then there's Guy Pearce, who despite Rush getting all the preconceived worship, was singled out in nearly every review I've read of "The King's Speech". The poor guy's like Gary Oldman 2.0. There's also rising support for Matt Damon in "True Grit", though we'll have to see how it goes. He'll have to be a real charismatic sonuvabitch to steal the buzz from others.

This is truly the year of the paid-dues-actor: Nearly all the contenders for Supporting Actor, with the exception of Geoffrey Rush and Andrew Garfield, have been hailed as "underrated", solid, consistently interesting actors who have held a mix of lead-supporting roles and never gotten any recognition from any of the major award tents.

**** Out of all of the nominees, Bale's is probably the one whose nomination locked was guaranteed from hype levels of epic proportions. I mean, not that many people have even seen it yet. But just about everyone, including the lousy Oscar bloggers, have been chiming about "how he's going to win fo sho" and that he will definitely knock it out of the park based on this little random review from back in March, despite the fact that more mixed reviews came out later. Not be nominated - win. And unbelievably, he did win the NBR award a few days ago, which probably means that he's a lock. I don't believe he'll win, though. Ok, ok, right now it looks as if it's his to lose.

Best Supporting Actress:

*Helena-Bonham Carter - The King's Speech (finalllllly!)

*Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom

*Amy Adams - The Fighter

*Melissa Leo - The Fighter

????

This is probably the weakest field yet. All four are locks by default. There are rumors that Lesley Manville may be campaigned for Best Supporting Actress, which would probably succeed, especially since the Best Actress field is getting so crowded. Also: the year of the preteen actress. All the fanboys want Chloe Moretz to be nominated for Kick-Ass (not happening, dudes), and Elle Fanning for Somewhere and Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit shouldn't be ruled out. Peter Travers called Hailee Steinfeld "a star" in his True Grit Twitter rave but obviously, the last thing you want to do is take Peter "Hallelujah" Travers' word for granted. I swear studios should start paying him publicity fees for the amount of buzz he generates from his reviews (which somehow manages to come out weeks before everybody else's).

Updates: Jacki Weaver is definitely a lock, and possibly the frontrunner. Jennifer Lawrence's buzz for Best Actress is getting louder.

The Last Breath Before the Festivities Come

Bye-bye, September. Goodbye, last month of bipolar weather (tornados, heat waves, sudden drops and spikes, assholery weather in general), and looking forward to the cooling breath of October. It's raining ferociously today and I'm LOVING it.

Best of all, the fall season means that it's officially time to start speculating Oscar. Of course, it's an yearly ongoing discourse. Bloggers and movie fans briefly sojourn in a state of sickened exhaustion after the Oscars take place, barely taking time to return to a state of normalcy before Sundance comes along and revs them back up. But most early speculation consist of potshots. I came across an Oscar prediction article in April (for God's sake) that predicted The American to win Best Picture for 2011. (Er, just to put it out now and forever, any movie that has the competent but uninteresting Mr. Clooney as its leading man will never win Best Picture. He's charismatic but also an emotional vacuum, and there's always an overly-complacent vagueness to his charm that counteracts any force of conflict of depth. Hence, it's difficult to be invested in him. We like 'em outlandish)

*Dammit! I really did lose half this blog entry. Quick re-write:

September deaths: RIP Sally Menke, editor and MVP to Quentin Tarantino. She was a hero of mine, especially during a short period briefly back when I wanted to become a film editor. Her untimely and tragic death already sparked whispers about whether Tarantino can retain the same level of quality without her. I think he can, but all the same, it's surely a creative and personal blow for him. Menke left big shoes to fill.

Wonderfully funny and (now sad) tradition QT did for Sally Menke:

RIP to Tony Curtis and Gloria Stuart as well.

"The Social Network" marks the beginning of real-time Oscar season, especially with the reviews nearing a hysterical peak. It only makes me more anxious for this to be a Great Movie. Please let it reinvigorate the movie industry into writing great dialogue again, and please let it mark the auspicious beginnings of a better movie decade than the last.

September trailers amp up the growing Oscar excitement: The King's Speech, and True Grit.

Love the song. Love the unknown girl they picked, especially her deliberate line delivery. Cinematographer Roger Deakins is so finally winning his due with this.

Audience members who have already seen it at Toronto are falling over themselves left and right to assure people that it's much better than its pandering trailer. Will rightfully cement Colin Firth's status as one of the best actors of his generation, and perhaps begin a career revival for the unfailingly great Helena Bonham-Carter (no, Harry Potter and her husband's bad movies don't really count, though she was awesome in them).

Oscar Rant #1

And J. LO FOR GOD'S SAKE. Adam Skank-man if you're trying to be hip then at least keep up with us. Who gives a crap about J. Lo anymore?


I realized what I missed. Each year, there's at least ONE montage featuring past movies and actors that are completely unfamiliar to me, that makes me think "wow, who are they? What are these movies?" and inflame my love for movies all over again. This year all we had was the horror montage, aka "excuse to slip in a Twilight scene at the Oscars" montage. There was no REAL celebration of movies, of the past. The Oscars are just as important in honoring tradition and the ghosts of films and actresses and actors past as they are about the Now. I mean, what was up with that tidbit about The Dark Knight? Everything felt dreadfully contrived. "Look! That movie you and your eight-year-old cousin watching actually recognize! Aren't we cool?" I actually missed Sid Ganis, I missed the awkward silences and the long dull speeches. There was a lot of disinterested "you're Taylor Lautner, I'm sure as hell not going to clap for you" moments to "MERYL STREEP AKA THE ONLY CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD ACTOR HERE TONIGHT" sappiness and not a lot in between.

Oscar Recap

For all the changes they put to the telecast, it was no more interesting than last year's. For some reason, it just didn't feel very Oscar-ish.


Maybe that's because we had TAYLOR LAUTNER, MILEY CYRUS, KEANU REEVES, ZAC EFRON and a shitload of other irrelevant actors (Demi Moore? What?) present awards?

Much as I love Neil Patrick Harris, that number was useless. The John Hughes tribute was outrageously long when you think about all the other geniuses who never got the time of day at the Oscars, and the fact that 3/4 of the aging audience had clearly never seen his movies, hence the unenthusiastic applause near the end. So. Awkward.

And Jason Reitman and Tarantino lost their screenplay Oscars? Fuck that. Did anyone care about the screenplays for Precious or The Hurt Locker? This is the time when I feel that, FUCK PRECURSORS, I'm feeling pretty sure that Reitman wouldn't have lost if the media didn't flip out over his supposed "douchebaggery" aka awkwardness with Sheldon Turner, and if people weren't so "oh Precious is so cute, it should go home with something!" The fact that Tarantino and Reitman went home empty-handed is just plain wrong. I hope they got some good consolation booze afterwards.

Only good part of the evening was when Kathryn Bigelow won and when the camera panned to Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem sitting together. OH and when Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr. presented. Thank god these exquisitely talented and funny people also happened to be "hip" with the MTV crowd. Though I wish Jack Nicholson would come back :(


All in all, a severe lack of class or decorum. The whole MTV aura, the 5-actors-fellating-I-mean-presenting, (though Tucci admittedly was funny as fuck) and I stand by my proposition that Adam Shankman can go to hell.

Adam Shankman Rant

Dear Adam Shankman,

Taylor Lautner? (as much as it pains me to even mention his name on this blog, yes) Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron?

Their fans will already be in bed by the time the Oscars start, you DUMB TURTLEFUCK. Or they will youtube them the next day. 1 minute online versus swimming through three hours of boring adult talk and movies they've never even heard of. I would far prefer an organized Kanye-like stunt at the Oscars than have these glossy hacks besmirch a night that supposedly celebrates *good* movies. Even if you argue that the Oscars celebrate populist mediocrity, there is nothing that Efron, Lautner, or Cyrus have done that even reaches mediocrity. They're the reps of Crapland. I'm down with K-Stew because she's been in some pretty solid stuff - Into the Wild, Adventureland, and I loved Panic Room and The Runaways look interesting, at least. She's an industry veteran, despite her debatable acting skills. Whereas all the others have come straight from the showbiz cookie-cutter factory. I mean, was it too hard to get Shia LaBeouf, man? Preteens love him and he's going to be in Oliver Stone's Wall Street 2 (and dating Carey Mulligan!). He actually has more than a 10% chance of retaining a long acting career, unlike the three I mentioned. For god's sake, even Megan Freaking Fox! At least she has a goddamn personality. And unlike Efron and Cyrus, does not resemble a hermaphrodite.

And don't even get me on the John Hughes tribute. Much as I love him, how about a dead guy whose movies can be fondly referenced by at least 40% of an audience? What a fucking shame it will be when we see Scorsese, Bridges, and Streep clap in polite befuddlement ignorance after what will surely be a MTV-birthed montage. Way to make them feel like dinosaurs and remind them that, you know, they're not an important demographic.

Fuck you very much,

Stella

Never Read Oscar Reader Comments Ever Again

I am seriously despairing that I live in a world where most people have never re-read a book, but somehow, eagerly prefer to watch regurgitated Lifetime feces like "The Blind Side" even though they know exactly what they're getting. And love it unabashedly. And call movies like "Avatar", "Up in the Air", and "Inglourious Basterds" (and I quote), "depressing obscure artsy fare".


DO WE HAVE BRAINS THE SIZE OF CATS AND DOGS TO THE POINT WHERE WE FIND EATING SHIT APPEALING?

Sorry. Just in a slightly emotional state right now.

I Need a Life

I'm just....kind of waiting until the Golden Globes. Crazy, right? I have homework, I have Avatar tonight, I have a Lit. Club meeting tomorrow, and I have to write an introduction for my EarthWatch presentation next week. But only the GG is on my mind.

I will just not rest until awards season is over, when I've downloaded the entire Oscars 2010 off Youtube for future rewatches. This is getting to be an all-consuming obsession....the more movies I watch every year, the more excited I get about Oscars (to be more precise, to indulge in my fetish for movie montages.) Last night during the Critics Choice Awards, which btw was shitty and unfunny as hell, I literally clapped when my favorite winners were announced, which were pretty much everyone except the Best Actress/Supporting Actress race, (I have no interest in this year - Monique has it tied up, and I don't care who wins for Best Actress as long as it's not Carey Mulligan) I spent the rest of the night rewatching Inglourious Basterds and Googling Christoph Waltz, which is awkward and adorable as shit in real life.




Obligatory picture. I never have any funny subtitles to add. I just feel like it would be too boring without a nice few pics.


May I add, my love for QT has increased tenfold in the past week, while I was watching IG-related media press. His generosity towards his actors, his sheer flamboyance (btw, this man will never get married. He's too out-of-this-world for anyone, period), but most of all, his puttin' on the movies at Cannes. I swear, if I ever see QT one day, I'll scream girlishly like a Twilighter.




Love.

COME BACK, METHOD ACTING

Today's actors annoy the shit out of me. Dicaprio is probably the primary example. All they give a crap about is affecting some kind of annoying accent and little mannerisms, but they can't play normal people for shit. Dicaprio in Blood Diamond and The Departed - "ooh, look at his little South African accent! His Boston accent! So cute!" 

But good ol'fashioned line delivery and screen presence - wtf happened to that? Daniel Day Lewis remains one of the truly great actors, because in addition to pulling off all that exaggerated character shit, his acting is fresh and vital. Someone once mentioned on the AV Club that when you watch a grandiose performance twice and find it tiring, then it isn't great acting. They were referring to DDL's "There Will Be Blood" performance, because they were still impressed by him upon reviewings - that's because he has killer delivery "as for you, Mr. Tamany-Fucking-Hall, you come down the Five Points again, and you'll be dispatched by mine own hand" (rewatched GONY on a spree the other day and replayed the line over and over again) and subtle nuances in addition to rip-roaring rages. Dicaprio's straining performances in "Blood Diamond" and "The Aviator" on the other hand, makes me exhausted just thinking about it. 

But Deniro and Hoffman - in addition to absolutely tearing everyone down when they were going to the extremes (i.e. Raging Bull and Rain Man) - they were just as good, probably better, when they were playing normal people. "Kramer vs. Kramer" was a revelation for me, just because I never knew how outstanding two actors could be playing normal people without huge Oscar scenes - Hoffman and Streep's tussle at the beginning in the movie is just heartwrenching, impossible to take your eyes off, and restrained. Good lord, what a concept. You think future actors will ever learn any restraint? It's all about extremes. It's either all about "going retard" or dead-eyed monotonous "subtlety", without a flicker of life. 

I watched a 2008 interview at an Oscar roundtable when nearly all the actors dismissed the need for rehearsal, which nearly broke my heart, because I had seen all these "Inside the Actors Studio" episodes where Pacino talked about rehearsing for two weeks straight on Dog Day Afternoon, where Jodie Foster told of how Deniro took her out for lunch and rehearsed their scenes everyday, again and again and again and again until one day, they broke through the mold and began improvising in addition to the script lines. 

Even my beloved DDL dismissed rehearsing, but it's fine because DDL is a genius and whatever works for geniuses. But George Clooney, who said that rehearsals don't help at all - just shut the fuck up. I laughed when Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, and DDL at the oscar roundtable talked about how sad it was to leave their characters behind at the end of shooting a film, and Clooney and Angelina Jolie remained silent, because they've never played another fucking character! They've only played themselves. What losers. 

But oh, lord. Christopher Walken and Harvey Keitel's brilliant, brilliant line deliveries in Pulp Fiction (*watch* monologue, and "So pretty please. With a cherry on top. Clean the fuckin' car.") As an actorphile, those lines and movies like Glengarry Glen Ross are such turn-ons. And after salivating over these, I am forced to think back to all the winners of the acting Oscars of the 2000's, and pull my hair out. Let's take a look back:

2000 - Kevin Spacey - Spacey's a child of the old-fashioned formal training, "delivery and presence come first" acting school, and American Beauty's just a gorgeous example of that.

2001  - Russell Crowe - ditto. His quiet moments in Gladiator are just as intense as the bombastic ones. 

2002 - Denzel Washington - Yay, naturalism. And Crowe was the runner-up which is also fucking brilliant.

2003 - Adrien Brody - beginning example of the "accent" orgy.

2004 - Penn at his Oscar-whoring worst. I'm not even talking about "IS THAT MY DAUGHTER?" The part where he's shaking violently in the quieter scenes is just not subtle at all. 

2005 - Jamie Foxx - *groan* I mean, does anyone even like Ray or Jamie Foxx in Ray anymore? Loved Depp in Finding Neverland, on the other hand - I barely noticed the accent after awhile, and what shone through was his tenderness and presence. 

2006 - Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote - bletch. Heath Ledger was also guilty of the overacting, though he redeemed himself - today, no one talks about Ledger's distracting mumble, but rather, his near-silent, exquisite moment at the end of BBM. Silence, people, SILENCE! One of my favorite things about great actors is that they're supremely gifted at communicating through inarticulacy - not just the loud, bombastic moments. Don't modern actors KNOW why Robert Deniro's mirror scene in Taxi Driver is so iconic? Not for a lengthy monologue or jerking limbs, that's for sure. 

2007 - Forest Whitaker - I have nothing to add. It was charismatic, sure, but points off for prolonging the actor addiction to foreign accents. Ben Stiller, we need more of your satire.

2008 - Daniel Day Lewis - it's deservedly great, but again it worries me about how many knockoff performances this is going to produce. Actors should realize that very, very few can actually pull off a Daniel Plainview-ish character like DDL.

2009 - Sean Penn - Again - the Oscar preference for affectation over Mickey Rourke's dazzling, natural role. I'm admittedly fond of Penn in Milk, just because of how sweet he is in it - but again, the accent, the accent! Fuck accents!

 

2010 -?? 

The race is shaping up to be

Jeff Bridges

George Clooney

Colin Firth

Morgan Freeman

Jeremy Renner

God has mercy, after all. Except for the obligatory "character accent" nomination for Morgan Freeman (for chrissakes, please nominate Damon in The Informant, haven't seen it, but all the praise for how well Damon pulled off a nonshowy, enigmatic character is just gratifying). Fuck Clooney, but whatever. And I've swelled with pride to hear the love for Jeremy Renner in THL (note to Dicaprio, watch the shower scene. THAT's how you pull off a difficult moment. No need for face-wrenching and girly screaming). Of course, none of the five nominees, in my opinion, even matches the average Harvey Keitel performance, but ah well. Accent backlash is welcome for the rest of the century.