Are you excited? Vaguely interested? Actively hostile?
UPDATE: The whole list should be here soon. I'll just say that I loved Julie Christie in "Away From Her" — so I'm glad to see she got nominated, though I hope she won't win just because she played a character whose brain was not functioning properly. (The Academites reward that sort of thing too much.) And I like seeing recognition for my 2 favorite actors — Daniel Day-Lewis and Johnny Depp. Let's make a short list of movies to see before the awards ceremony: "There Will Be Blood," "No Country for Old Men," "Juno," and "Atonement." I doubt if I'll bother with them all. And if they aren't going to put on a big show... well, there's so much less reason to bother.
January 22, 2008
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39 comments:
Actively hostile.
-mildly interested. Daniel Day-Lewis is a major talent IMHO
Yes, Goesh. I have not seen 'Blood' yet, but I imagine it is Oscar-worthy with him in it.
I am pleasantly surprised to see "Michael Clayton" nominated for Best Picture. My wife and I saw it and thought it was truly great, and were very surprised that it did not do better at the box office. Clooney was very good in it as well.
Christie will win.
Dementia is a hot topic. Senility is 'in.'
Whatever you do...DO NOT see Juno. The most overhyped, overwritten, complete piece of garbage I've ever seen. A heartless, terrible movie. If you want to see a good film about a young girl coming of age with wit and heart, see Ghost World instead.
There Will Be Blood was outstanding and gave me the chills throughout.
My favorite two movies of the year, however, were not nominated: Year Of The Dog, about a woman who loves dogs, and Lars And The Real Girl, about a guy who loves a sex doll.
Well, my husband's a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and the producers are courting votes for the SAG awards, so we have received free DVDs of "Away from Her," "No Country for Old Men," "3:10 to Yuma," "Into the Wild," "Hairspray" (don't quite understand that one -- what is it, an anniversary edition?), and one free pass to "There Will Be Blood." Nice gig if you can get it!
The one movie that list makes you think you HAVE to see is "Michael Clayton."
Julie Christie. A charter member of the beautiful people ages beautifully. That's an achievement?
Wow ZPS, the most overhyped, overwritten, complete piece of garbage you've ever seen? Really? More than any other movie, ever? So all the critics except you are wrong, not to mention my three teenaged girls, their friends, my extended family who've seen it. Bow Wow!
The eponymous character in Juno is nothing but a wise ass.
Well, I've seen Ratatouille and Surf's Up. lol I went to add a lot of the others to the queue, and most of them were already there.
And, I can't wait to see Juno, homeskillet.
I am thrilled that three songs from "Enchanted" were nominated for Best Song. "Happy Working Song" was my favorite--in one verse, they rhyme "hum" with "scum" and "determine" with "vermin." Genius.
Amba: Maybe you can send me those DVDs when you're done with 'em?
Btw, "Hairspray" is a remake with John Travolta cast as the mother.
Ah yes, but Juno is a cute-as-a-bug wise ass! Sometimes even the Platonic form of Wise Ass!
I went to see Juno weeks after it came out, and the theater was packed, every seat full, mostly with teenagers who obviously had seen it before.
I came away mostly liking it, and certain that the hardest role was Jennifer Garner's. She had to make a thoroughly normal woman likeable and sympathetic in the face of a cast of eccentric, hip, wiseacres. I thought she did a fine job of it.
I like DDL, too, but I'm reminded of an Emmys show where Kelsey Grammar and John Lithgow were up for Best Actor, and someone quipped, "I thought this was for the best acting, not the most acting." Sometimes DDL acts, a lot.
Yes Beth, I agree about Garner.
Sometimes you can judge a movie by its title. "Michael Clayton" is every bit as unimaginative and boring as its title suggests it will be.
"Juno" might be getting a lot of hype -- at a certain point, no movie can live up to the hype of its fans -- but it is a great movie, a superb comedy, wonderfully written, great characters... jeez, ZPS, did you watch it in a Yukon prison cell? It is anything but "heartless."
My teen daughter and I liked Juno. I've been following the screenwriter since her days as a Twin Cities blogger.
Here she is, from June, 2005, after announcing that her script sold: I wrote it at a Starbucks in a Target, a corporation nestled within a corporation like a sinister matroshka. Each day, the teenaged baristas asked me what I was writing. I'd say, "A movie," and they'd gaze at me with thinly veiled pity. Nobody writes a movie! I must have been delusional.
Diablo Cody is on Letterman tonight. She turned in a great performance on his show the last time she was there. Clip is here.
Juno was heartless, for me, because nothing that anyone said (except for maybe the Jennifer Garner character) was believable. No one talks like the way those people talked all day every day. Sorry...I love to suspend my disbelief, but it didn't work here.
You can't be a one-note wise ass with one-liners for 90 minutes and then finally expect sympathy at the end (which the Juno script did). There was no depth or range or nuance to any of it. Again, if you want to see it done right, rent Ghost World!
Juno is the worst movie I've seen in years!
With the worst actress of the year, Ellen Page!
Don't waste your money, Ann. You don't like girls like Juno!
Language is something that I think works in favor of Juno. It's clearly a shield that the main character uses to hide behind. And every once in awhile it proves to be ineffective against reality. It's the true populist hit of the bunch, although No Country For Old Men is as successful as a Coen brothers movie has been as well.
I've seen a good deal of the nominated movies. No Country For Old Men, Juno, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Sweeney Todd, Ratatouille, and Persepolis most notably. Oscar really has nothing to be ashamed of this year and, for the most part, it's a very unpolitical set of nominees.
Hairspray isn't a remake. It's a movie based on a musical based on a movie. Like The Producers.
I thought No Country for Old Men was good, not as great as many made it out to be though. I think I was poisoned by the outrageously positive reviews. Fargo was better. Javier Bardem would be a good choice for supporting actor though.
I'm most looking forward to There Will Be Blood. Loved Magnolia and Boogie Nights, so there's that.
"You can't be a one-note wise ass with one-liners for 90 minutes"
Sez you!
God save American Idol!
Opera sucks woodcock like an underage adopted Korean stepdaughter. (Movie theme)
"Once" got screwed. It should have gotten more nominations for best song. Admittably, I haven't seen "Enchanted" which got several of the best song nominations.
Though if "Enchanted"'s batch of songs are that good, they really should have brought the "Best Song Score" category out of mothballs, and have it compete against "Once"
Since the decline of the original Hollywood Musical it's been a category that is only used if the Academy believes there is sufficient competition to have it. The last time it was used was when Purple Rain won the category in the 80's.
All the music in "Once" is great, and very much a part of the story. It deserves greater recognition.
My understanding is that many of the songs of "Once" were ineligible due to having been on previous albums by The Frames. It would be a travesty if "Falling Slowly" didn't win though.
Loved Juno. Very moving, despite all the crude language.
(Corrected)
No one talks like the way those people talked all day every day.
Except my 17-year-old son and all his friends.
I agree, Juno uses language as a shield, so she doesn't have to show her vulnerable side. But I think it's pretty evident she's all heart. The scene when she finds out the decision Jason Bateman's character has made was anything but heartless. Kids grow up today in a situation where family is so fragile. They pretend not to give a shit, hence the wisecracks and pop culture comfort food, but just barely below the surface, there is rage and terror. I thought "Juno" captured that as well as anything since the last Nirvana album.
No Country For Old Men is a beautiful film, and easily my favorite Coen Bros drama. If you haven't read the novel, I highly recommend it. Whether you read it before or after seeing the movie, I think you'll actually have a better opinion of the film. It's very easy to lose track of the journey the main character (Tommy Lee Jones) makes in the film. In fact, many who react poorly to the film don't realize that he IS the main character. In the book, he's front and center at the beginning of every chapter in the form of a monologue, it's a great literary device that couldn't have transitioned to the screen well.
-kd
No Country for Old Men it will leave you speechless in a new way.
Talk about a character played by Bardem that might leave him forever type cast.{if enough people see the film.}
It's the first movie I have seen where the director's dare to leave the character as "pure evil." There is no redeeming....
Ann if you go-listen at the end even when a character tells you that you won't...
I also like Daniel Day Lewis and saw There Will Be Blood-I'm thinking the Oscar will go to Bardem...although in the interest of his longterm career maybe it shouldn't.
DD-L is the total package, a master in his craft, a real mechanic and the character transitions me makes are about as pure as they come...he is on equal footing with Nicholson when it comes to this, IMHO
Utterly, utterly indifferent.
I know I used to care but can't remember why anymore.
I'll be very surprised if Bardem doesn't win for No Country for Old Men.
For the rest, I've no idea what will win best picture or director, but I'd guess Christie for Actress (handicapped + great actress + supposedly great movie = win), Jones for Actor (the movie supposedly stunk, but Jones has been great for a long time and Hollywood needs to get its anti-war jones on somehow, plus he should have gotten nominated for "Old Men" but didn't), and Diablo Cody for Screenplay (great personal story, great movie, and Juno's probably not going to win anything else).
Madawaskan, have you read the book? Chigurh is perhaps even more scary. There's some additional philosophizing the really clues you in to what makes him tick, and it's spooky.
-kd
"Say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos."
Nothing real embarrassing in the list but nothing all that standout, either, IMO. It's almost like there's a fixed amount of effusiveness they must expend every year, and by December, they're going to do it no matter what.
Juno. I'm with the consensus here. Cute, funny.
Atonement. Gorgeous production values and quality acting. I'd rather have bamboo shoots inserted under my nails than see this again.
No Country For Old Men. It's good, and like Atonement, oozes talent in every scene. But it's not as immediately rewarding as Fargo or O Brother!. Actually, for non-Coen fans, I'd probably warn them away from this.
Haven't seen Michael Clayton, not sure why I should care. Clooney's sort of the conscience of the Academy, and if he makes a middling film, they'll heap praise on it.
Not sure about There Will Be Blood either, frankly. The love it/hate it response I've been hearing bodes ill.
Meanwhile, I'll agree with ZPS' recommendation of Lars and the Real Girl. Funny but not shallow. Cute but not cloying.
Karl-
Will definitely have to read the book...
Robert R:"My understanding is that many of the songs of "Once" were ineligible due to having been on previous albums by The Frames. "
Oh. I feel an Emily Litella moment coming on.
I thought that the music was all original for the film. I'm not familiar with the Frames', I came to see the film based on some great reviews of it.
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