Yearly Archives: 2008

Michael Clayton

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Finally, I saw Michael Clayton. Now I’ve seen every movie nominated for Best Picture and still stand to my prediction. I thought going into this movie, it being nominated for Best Picture, I was going to see a master piece, and I was a bit disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, this was a really good movie, but it just doesn’t stand its ground against There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men. Its the well-put together story of a “janitor”, Michael Clayton who goes against a big name company with the help of Arthur who was sick of working for the company for reasons that can’t be told. The movie had powerful elements to it and it did make you wonder what was going to happen, but it didn’t do it in a way that was as entertaining as you would’ve hoped. Both Tom Wilkinson and George Clooney were great in this movie, but not nearly as good as Daniel-Day Lewis and Javier Bardem. It was a bit Hollywoody where as There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men stood on their own as their own force. This was a great, I just don’t really see it as Best Picture material, but at least it was better than Juno. Grade: A

The Shining

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This my sixth favorite movie and my favorite horror movie here’s the real trailer for it.  Here’s a spoof trailer. Any true Shining fan would find this funny: 

There Will Be Blood

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I’m a little ashamed at this, but this is my first time seeing Daniel-Day Lewis acting, and let me say this. After viewing this, I went right out and rented Gangs of New York and plan to rent My Left Foot soon because Daniel-Day Lewis is one of the most incredible actors I’ve ever seen. There Will Be Blood is basically a biography of a cruel man who loves at times, but hates more often, while educating you a bit on oil. Don’t take the “E” word as a bad thing, it was actually quite interesting. Let me put it this way, this extremely entertaining 2 and a half hour movie felt like an 82 minute movie. When Daniel-Day Lewis is on the screen, which is most of the time, it’s impossible to be bored. This movie was incredible, but the only problem was that Daniel-Day Lewis made it incredible, that’s why it shouldn’t get the oscar, because if the academy gave There Will Be Blood the oscar for Best Picture, your just giving Daniel-Day Lewis another award, because he basically made the movie. Give him the award for acting, he deserves it, there is no question about that, but don’t give it the Best Picture award. This is an amazing movie, go see it.Grade: A+ 

Oscar Nominations and Predictions

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These are the oscar nominations, I’ve listed the awards in importance to me this year, not every year (least-greatest). I have also put my prediction along with some comments for some awards. The winners will be posted the day of or after the oscar ceremony. Enjoy. Oh and if I put one and didn’t comment on it, I probably haven’t seen any of that category and I just chose a familiar or intriguing name/title.  By the way the actual nominees are in no particular order.PS: We’ll miss ya Mr. Ledger. Documentary Short

  •  Freeheld
  • The Crown
  • Salim Baba
  • Sari’s Mother
Prediction: Freeheld

Live-Action Short 

  •  At Night
  • The Substitute
  • The Mozart of Pickpockets
  • Tanghi Argentini
  • The Tonto Woman
Prediction: The Substitute

Animated Short  

  •  I Met the Walrus
  • Madame Tutli-Putli
  • Even Pigeons Go To Heaven
  • Peter and The Wolf
  • My Love
Prediction: I Met the Walrus

Documentary 

  •  Taxi to the Dark Side
  • War/Dance
  • No End in Sight
  • Sicko
  • Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Prediction: No End in Sight, Michael Moore lies on some of his statistics.

Foreign Film 

  •  Mongol
  • 12
  • Katyn
  • Beaufort
  • The Counterfeiters
Prediction: The Counterfeiters

Music(song) 

  •  Enchanted
  • Once
  • Enchanted
  • Enchanted
  • August Rush
Prediction: Once

Music(score)

  •  The Kite Runner
  • Michael Clayton
  • Atonement
  • Ratatouille
  • 3:10 to Yuma
Prediction: Atonement

Animated Picture 

  •  Surf’s Up
  • Persepolis
  • Ratatouille
Prediction: Ratatouille, this one’s a for sure.

Make Up 

  •  Norbit
  • La Vie En Rose
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Prediction: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Sound Mixing 

  •  3:10 to Yuma
  • Transformers
  • No Country For Old Men
  • Ratatouille
  • The Bourne Ultimatum
Prediction: No Country For Old Men

Sound Editing 

  •  There Will Be Blood
  • No Country For Old Men
  • Ratatouille
  • Transformers
  • The Bourne Ultimatum
Prediction:No Country For Old Men

Costumes 

  •  Atonement
  • Across the Universe
  • Elizabeth: The Golden Age
  • La Vie En Rose
  • Sweeney Todd
Prediction: Sweeney Todd

Visual Effects

  •  The Golden Compass
  • Transformers
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Prediction: Pirates 3

Art Direction 

  •  American Gangster
  • The Golden Compass
  • Atonement
  • There Will Be Blood
  • Sweeney Todd
Prediction: Sweeney Todd

Editing 

  •  The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
  • Into the Wild
  • No Country For Old Men
  • There Will Be Blood
  • The Bourne Ultimatum
Prediction: No Country For Old Men

Cinematography 

  •  Atonement
  • The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
  • The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
  • No Country For Old Men
  • There Will Be Blood
Prediction: No Country For Old Men

Best Supporting Actress 

  •  Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
  • Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
  • Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
  • Ruby Dee, American Gangster
  • Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Prediction: Cate Blanchett

Best Actress 

  •  Laura Linney, The Savages
  • Julie Christie, Away From Her
  • Ellen Page, Juno
  • Cate Blanchettt, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
  • Marion Cotillard, La Vie En Rose
Prediction: Julie Christie

Best Actor 

  •  Daniel-Day Lewis, There Will Be Blood
  • George Clooney, Michael Clayton
  • Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
  • Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
  • Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Prediction: Daniel-Day Lewis, 99.9999% chance of winning

Best Supporting Actor 

  •  Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
  • Tom Wilikinson, Michael Clayton
  • Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
  • Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford
Prediction: Javier Bardem, 99.999% chance of winning

Best Screenplay (original)

  •  Michael Clayton
  • Lars and the Real Girl
  • Ratatouille
  • The Savages
  • Juno
Prediction: Michael Clayton 

Best Screenplay (adapted)

  •  Away From Her
  • The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
  • No Country For Old Men
  • Atonement
  • There Will Be Blood
Prediction: There Will Be Blood, it deserves some kind of big award because it was a great movie.

Best Directing

  •  The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
  • Juno
  • There Will Be Blood
  • No Country For Old Men
  • Michael Clayton
Prediction: No Country For Old Men

Best Picture

  •  Juno
  • Atonement
  • No Country For Old Men
  • There Will Be Blood
  • Michael Clayton
Prediction: No Country For Old Men, I’ve seen every single one except for Michael Clayton, and what I know is that No Country For Old Men deserves this award.
 
PS: Why the hell was Juno nominated when Sweeney Todd wasn’t, that’s bull-crap. What Sweeney Todd have a little too much blood for you academy. 

Heath Ledger, Too Early

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Heath Ledger, the up and coming actor who was just nominated for an oscar two years ago for his role in Brokeback Mountain and who is starring as the new Joker in The Dark Knight, died today at 3:36 pm. He was found by his housekeeper in his apartment unconscious with spilled perscription pills on the ground next to him. The death is an apparent drug over-dose. He was only 28 years old. 

Atonement

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Of course this movie was good, you’d have to be an idiot to think otherwise, even if you haven’t seen it you know it’ll be good because its already basically got a 50% shot at getting best picture. The reason your reading this review isn’t to find out if it was good or not, its to find out HOW good it was. The movie is a about a forbidden love and how it’s torn apart by imagination and war. The movie was visually amazing and was extremely well written, it was also very detailed, but had a few flaws like all movies do. There was a problem though, it wasn’t a problem with the movie per-say, but more of a problem with me. Through out the whole movie, it felt like it was just a movie that wanted to get awards, as opposed to No Country and Sweeney Todd felt like they were actually  trying to be good movies in which they succeeded. I’m going to give this movie the grade it deserves, because it was an amazing movie, but when it comes to he best picture award at the oscars, I pray that this doesn’t win. What a perfect movie is, is when a movie is both entertaining throughout, while at the same time being a piece of art. Well, when it comes to art, Atonement surely succeeded, but when it comes to being an entertaining movie throughout, it just lags a bit behind. Don’t get me wrong this was an entertaining movie, but when it’s competing against two extremely entertaining movies like No Country For Old Men and Sweeney Todd, it doesn’t even come close to taking the cake. The reason I don’t think this movie should win is this: Movies were invented to entertain, that is a movies purpose and the Academy might give the award to Atonement over No Country and Sweeney Todd, just because it was just a bit more artistic, and a lot less entertaining, that’s bull shit. Like I said before I’m going to give this movie the grade it deserves, but what it doesn’t deserve is the Academy Award for Best Picture.  Grade: A-