Crash
Manderlay
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Doom, Cinderella Man, The Upside of Anger
May
Initial D
V for Vendetta
Nanny McPhee
MirrorMask
Fearless
Just Friends
The Hills Have Eyes
Silent Hill
Mission: Impossible III
The Da Vinci Code
X-Men: The Last Stand
The Omen
Superman Returns
United 93
Romance & Cigarettes
Donsol, Batad: Sa Paang Palay, Mudraks, Rotonda
Lady in the Water
Kubrador
American Dreamz
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
The Devil Wears Prada
Sarong Banggi
The Departed
Pulse, Keeping Mum, Akeelah and the Bee
The Banquet, The Prestige, The King and the Clown
The Grudge 2, World Trade Center, Marie Antoinette
The Science of Sleep
The Queen
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
Flags of Our Fathers
Ang Pamana: The Inheritance
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, A Scanner Darkly
An Inconvenient Truth, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, Babel, The Nativity Story
Little Miss Sunshine
Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah Ze Moveeh, Ligalig, Super Noypi
Blood Diamond
Eragon, Volver, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Good Shepherd, Stranger Than Fiction
Apocalypto, Children of Men, The Good German, Sherrybaby
300
Spider-Man 3
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Gone Baby Gone, Eastern Promises, The Golden Compass, Control
Day of the Dead
La Terza Madre
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
79th Academy Awards winners
79th Academy Awards winners (asterisks indicate correct predictions):
BEST PICTURE
The Departed*
BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese, The Departed*
BEST ACTOR
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland*
BEST ACTRESS
Helen Mirren, The Queen*
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
predicted: Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls*
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
predicted: Peter Morgan, The Queen
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
William Monahan, The Departed*
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Lives of Others, Germany
predicted: Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Happy Feet
predicted: Cars
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
An Inconvenient Truth*
BEST ART DIRECTION
Pan's Labyrinth*
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Guillermo Navarro, Pan's Labyrinth
predicted: Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Milena Canonero, Marie Antoinette
predicted: Chung Man Yee, Curse of the Golden Flower
BEST FILM EDITING
Thelma Schoonmaker, The Departed*
BEST MAKEUP
Pan's Labyrinth*
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel
predicted: Alexandre Desplat, The Queen
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"I Need to Wake Up," An Inconvenient Truth
predicted: "Listen," Dreamgirls
BEST SOUND MIXING
Dreamgirls*
BEST SOUND EDITING
Letters from Iwo Jima*
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest*
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
The Blood of Yingzhou District*
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
The Danish Poet
predicted: The Little Matchgirl
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
West Bank Story*
FINAL SCORE: 15/24, 6/8 in the major categories. Enough surprises to keep the ceremonies interesting, with sweet wins by Martin Scorses and The Departed. Three results I'm not happy with: Alan Arkin for Supporting Actor, Pan's Labyrinth's loss in the Foreign Language Film category (travesty!), and the loss of "Listen" after Beyonce and Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson perform it so amazingly.
BEST PICTURE
The Departed*
BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese, The Departed*
BEST ACTOR
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland*
BEST ACTRESS
Helen Mirren, The Queen*
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
predicted: Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls*
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
predicted: Peter Morgan, The Queen
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
William Monahan, The Departed*
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Lives of Others, Germany
predicted: Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Happy Feet
predicted: Cars
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
An Inconvenient Truth*
BEST ART DIRECTION
Pan's Labyrinth*
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Guillermo Navarro, Pan's Labyrinth
predicted: Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Milena Canonero, Marie Antoinette
predicted: Chung Man Yee, Curse of the Golden Flower
BEST FILM EDITING
Thelma Schoonmaker, The Departed*
BEST MAKEUP
Pan's Labyrinth*
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel
predicted: Alexandre Desplat, The Queen
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"I Need to Wake Up," An Inconvenient Truth
predicted: "Listen," Dreamgirls
BEST SOUND MIXING
Dreamgirls*
BEST SOUND EDITING
Letters from Iwo Jima*
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest*
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
The Blood of Yingzhou District*
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
The Danish Poet
predicted: The Little Matchgirl
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
West Bank Story*
FINAL SCORE: 15/24, 6/8 in the major categories. Enough surprises to keep the ceremonies interesting, with sweet wins by Martin Scorses and The Departed. Three results I'm not happy with: Alan Arkin for Supporting Actor, Pan's Labyrinth's loss in the Foreign Language Film category (travesty!), and the loss of "Listen" after Beyonce and Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson perform it so amazingly.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Mini-Reviews
Apocalyp
to
Whatever controversial thing Mel Gibson ends up doing next, it cannot be contested that as a director, he is truly a gifted artist. Apocalypto is essentially a big extended chase scene, an action/adventure film set at an intriguingly dark time and place of savage beasts and human sacrifices. What could have been a cheesy National Geographic special becomes a major achievement because of Gibson's gift for authenticity (the dialect in the whole film is Mayan) and visual beauty, with the costume designs, makeup, and production design being among this year's most memorable. The ensemble is of highly capable, naturalistic actors, thus making it easy to sympathize with them despite the strangeness of the language. For sheer beauty and exhilaration, but not so much for the story itself, Apocalypto is definitely a film worth watching and ignoring Gibson's latest controversies for. Grade: B+
Children o
f Men
From stark beginning (the youngest person in a sterile future human world has just been murdered) to hopeful yet still gloomy end, Children of Men is what many recent science fiction films have tried and failed to be: smart without being condescending, futuristic without being glaringly modern, dark without being constantly shrouded in night, engaging and character-driven without milking audiences for cheap tears or thrills. Its vision of the future, as adapted from P.D. James's novel, is terrifying, with no new births replacing a dying race steeped in chaos and lawlessness, but without resorting to the usual post-apocalyptic tactics of covering everything in a blanket of darkness, the brilliant Alfonso Cuaron makes this future scary and depressing. A comparable movie, at least in terms of general feel, would perhaps be the 1973 film Soylent Green, but Cuaron ups the ante with a fabulous cast (Clive Owen is as good as always, and Michael Caine and Julianne Moore offer strong support), an appropriately "retro" British soundtrack, and the small strokes of genius that he is known for (a deer darting amidst ruins, dogs and cats overrunning the homes of a dying species). Add to the mix astounding cinematography, perhaps this year's best, and you have a certified masterpiece. Grade: A
The Go
od German
Anyone who thought that Steven Soderbergh had just a little too much fun in making Ocean's Twelve (Julia Roberts as Julia Roberts...ummm, ok), sacrificing substance in the process, would probably be inclined to think the same about his latest, The Good German. It is so obviously and admittedly inspired by Casablanca, from the poster to the ending shots, that it becomes little more than a misguided homage to the film and its genre (with a bit of film noir thrown in). The film is ultimately a waste of Cate Blanchett's talent and the beautiful photography, with a rudimentary story and serious miscasting in George Clooney (never more awkward) and Tobey Maguire. Soderbergh should realize that rather than offering an inferior copy, a better way to honor a film genre he loves would be to give the audiences something that they would remember on its own merits. Grade: C
SherryBa
by
The plot and style of SherryBaby are extremely simple; it's a linear story of how Maggie Gyllenhaal's character, Sherry Swanson, tries to rebuild her life, principally as a mother, after a three-year prison sentence. It is a good film, certainly, but there is nothing remotely special about it except Gyllenhaal's brave performance. While her perf is nowhere near being this year's best, it is definitely worthy of praise, and so she has this film to thank for making audiences take notice. Ultimately, however, they might as well entitle this film The Maggie Gyllenhaal Awards Showcase for all its worth. Grade: C+
Images from IMDb.
toWhatever controversial thing Mel Gibson ends up doing next, it cannot be contested that as a director, he is truly a gifted artist. Apocalypto is essentially a big extended chase scene, an action/adventure film set at an intriguingly dark time and place of savage beasts and human sacrifices. What could have been a cheesy National Geographic special becomes a major achievement because of Gibson's gift for authenticity (the dialect in the whole film is Mayan) and visual beauty, with the costume designs, makeup, and production design being among this year's most memorable. The ensemble is of highly capable, naturalistic actors, thus making it easy to sympathize with them despite the strangeness of the language. For sheer beauty and exhilaration, but not so much for the story itself, Apocalypto is definitely a film worth watching and ignoring Gibson's latest controversies for. Grade: B+
Children o
f MenFrom stark beginning (the youngest person in a sterile future human world has just been murdered) to hopeful yet still gloomy end, Children of Men is what many recent science fiction films have tried and failed to be: smart without being condescending, futuristic without being glaringly modern, dark without being constantly shrouded in night, engaging and character-driven without milking audiences for cheap tears or thrills. Its vision of the future, as adapted from P.D. James's novel, is terrifying, with no new births replacing a dying race steeped in chaos and lawlessness, but without resorting to the usual post-apocalyptic tactics of covering everything in a blanket of darkness, the brilliant Alfonso Cuaron makes this future scary and depressing. A comparable movie, at least in terms of general feel, would perhaps be the 1973 film Soylent Green, but Cuaron ups the ante with a fabulous cast (Clive Owen is as good as always, and Michael Caine and Julianne Moore offer strong support), an appropriately "retro" British soundtrack, and the small strokes of genius that he is known for (a deer darting amidst ruins, dogs and cats overrunning the homes of a dying species). Add to the mix astounding cinematography, perhaps this year's best, and you have a certified masterpiece. Grade: A
The Go
od GermanAnyone who thought that Steven Soderbergh had just a little too much fun in making Ocean's Twelve (Julia Roberts as Julia Roberts...ummm, ok), sacrificing substance in the process, would probably be inclined to think the same about his latest, The Good German. It is so obviously and admittedly inspired by Casablanca, from the poster to the ending shots, that it becomes little more than a misguided homage to the film and its genre (with a bit of film noir thrown in). The film is ultimately a waste of Cate Blanchett's talent and the beautiful photography, with a rudimentary story and serious miscasting in George Clooney (never more awkward) and Tobey Maguire. Soderbergh should realize that rather than offering an inferior copy, a better way to honor a film genre he loves would be to give the audiences something that they would remember on its own merits. Grade: C
SherryBa
byThe plot and style of SherryBaby are extremely simple; it's a linear story of how Maggie Gyllenhaal's character, Sherry Swanson, tries to rebuild her life, principally as a mother, after a three-year prison sentence. It is a good film, certainly, but there is nothing remotely special about it except Gyllenhaal's brave performance. While her perf is nowhere near being this year's best, it is definitely worthy of praise, and so she has this film to thank for making audiences take notice. Ultimately, however, they might as well entitle this film The Maggie Gyllenhaal Awards Showcase for all its worth. Grade: C+
Images from IMDb.
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