The Best Article I've Read on Why Crash Isn't As Good As Everyone Thinks It Is

Here is the article.

The Zoolander Alliance

I came up with a little game. Starting with the movie Zoolander, take any stars that have been in at least two movies with each other(of the silly comedy genre) and see how many people and movies you can get. This is what I have so far. Are these people ever in movies with anyone else besides each other?

Zoolander:
-------------
Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson

Meet The Parents:
-------------
Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson

Meet the Fockers:
-------------
Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson

Starsky and Hutch
-------------
Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn

Dodgeball
-------------
Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn

Anchorman
-------------
Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Jack Black

Wedding Crashers
-------------
Will Ferell, Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson

Bewitched
-------------
Will Ferell, Steve Carell

Old School
-------------
Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn

Envy
-------------
Ben Stiller, Jack Black

A Movie About Filming a Movie About a Book About Writing a Book..

Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story (4/5 stars)

Brief Review: Very funny, something like what Adaptation might have been like if it was done as a full blown comedy instead of something (in my opinion) much better. As far as the "watching the movie being made as you're watching it" concept goes though, losing out to my perhaps second favorite movie of all time isn't too bad.

Essentially, it feels like a mockumentary along the lines of Best in Show or Waiting for Guffman, except it is in part an adaptation of a book and part the filming of the adaptation of the book. And due to the nature of the multiple plot layers, it's also pretty weird. What's important is that there's plenty of funny moments throughout, I will not list them, I just recommend you go see if for yourself, it you can. And be sure to stay for the credits, which are actually probably one of the funniest things of all.

Can I Please Have My Two Hours Back?

Domino (1/5 stars)

Every once in a while, I see a really absolutely terrible movie.

Thoughout the thing, I'll want to turn it off, yet I don't, just to see if there's any redeeming value whatsoever.

This movie does not have much. It is really bad. I mean really, really, really, really bad. Not that I thought it would be good, I got it from Netflix, well, just because, but I did not think it would be *this* bad. I wish I could remember some of the particularly bad lines of dialogue. It makes your average tv sitcom work look like a masterpiece. I officially call it, the worst movie of the year!

The *one* good thing about it is that you get to see Keira Knightley punch Brian Austin Green from Beverly Hills 90210 (playing himself) in the face and break his nose. So maybe 5 seconds out of two hours weren't as awful. But definitely not worth it.

Obligatory Top Ten List For 2005

Everyone else on earth does one of these, so, why not.

1. The New World
2. The Constant Gardener
3. The Squid and the Whale
4. Junebug
5. Brokeback Mountain
6. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
7. Kings and Queen
8. 2046
9. Syriana
10. Good Night, and Good Luck

Oh, the Calamity of it All

I only wish I got to see a bunch of movies absolutely for free because I or my spouse had to vote for an awards show.

This woman is making the usual complaints, liberal hollywood, blah blah blah, it is almost not worth parodying since I've already done some similar stuff.

Here is the article

If I hear one more person talk about how Cinderella Man, a movie about a guy who punches other people in the face for a living, is the only movie out there these days with any values relevance, I am going to puke.

It's Almost Over

Pretty soon people.

You'll get to stop hearing Brokeback Mountain jokes on the comedy shows.

There will be new movies that don't completely suck available in the theaters to watch.

I personally won't have to listen to Roger Ebert rant philosophical about how great Crash is anymore (he recently compared it to Charles Dickens for crying out loud). The amount of "it's going to upset!" talk I'm hearing is making me almost rethink my choice of most overrated movie of the year. I don't think it's going to go that far though, unless it wins.

I'll stop talking about awards for awhile (: (except for the upcoming spectacular best of the year *sidebar*, soon to come!)

Yeah, the awards, barely over a week. I wish they were over with already.

The one thing I am going to miss is that I will be in Vegas at a friend's wedding, so I will most likely miss any of the post-ceremony news articles. If anybody sees any good ones, particularly what I'm looking for here is something along the lines of Pat Robertson talking about how the Oscars are trying to destroy the moral fabric of America, etc, etc, please post a comment or email me a link. I need something ripe for parody, I haven't been able to find a good topic for awhile.

I might have a new review of the second movie I'll have seen this year coming soon, it is a matter of if I'll have time to fit it in this weekend. We will see.

The BAFTA Awards

Here are the results:

Best Film
Brokeback Mountain

-- Shocker! I was kind of hoping for The Constant Gardener, too bad.

Best British Film
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit

-- This one was weird. I thought The Constant Gardener would win this for sure (and wanted it to). Blech.

Best actor in a leading role
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote

-- Another shocker! Was hoping for Ralph Fiennes, too bad.

Best actress in a leading role
Reese Witherspoon - Walk The Line

-- Despite the fact that Reese Witherspoon is locked for Oscar, I thought Rachel Weisz (who was nominated in Lead at the BAFTAs) would win, so I was actually pretty surprised.

Best actor in a supporting role
Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain

-- This will be, by far, the most interesting Oscar category. Note that Paul Giamatti wasn't nominated, and George Clooney was nominated twice (vote splitting?) so it could potentially go to any of the three of them. I actually agree with this one based on nominees.

Best actress in a supporting role
Thandie Newton - Crash

-- Um, what? The absolute weirdest award of them all. Note that Amy Adams wasn't nominated, and Rachel Weisz was in lead instead of supporting, so the only real thing to note here is that Michelle Williams lost. She's not going to win (nor should she, she had one good scene for crying out loud).

Original screenplay
Crash - Paul Haggis/Bobby Moresco

-- Yet another complete and total surprise.

Adapted screenplay
Brokeback Mountain - Larry McMurtry/Diana Ossana

-- How unpredictable!

Achievement in Direction
Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain

-- No way!

So let's see here. Out of the 8 major awards (I am excluding British Film), 6 matched what I'm predicting for Oscar. The two supporting categories did not, but I don't think this indicates anything that I didn't already think... pretty much everything except for Supporting Actor is already over and done with. Supporting Actress might go to Amy Adams in a longshot (but I doubt it).

What's really weird is that, considering that this is the British Film Awards (that has a penchant for going for British winners or British films), The Constant Gardener, which had more nominations than anything else (including Brokeback Mountain) won *nothing* except for *BEST EDITING*.

The Most Incredible News You've Ever Heard

Ahh... the most *exciting* time of the year for movies.

Fact: Nothing comes out between the beginning of the year until after the Oscars, except for documentaries and foreign movies. I've seen one documentary so far this year and that is it, waiting for more good stuff to come out. No English-language fiction movies that will not be completely awful will come out until the second half of March.

Fact: The new stuff that's coming out on Netflix I've mostly seen already.

Fact: There isn't even much fun in Oscar predicting at this point because I pretty much feel like I know what's going to win, there's only one more precursor show coming (The BAFTAs, Sunday on BBC), and even that no matter what the results are will not probably change my predictions. Last year there was at least some Million Dollar Baby vs. The Aviator drama (which I guessed correctly, but still had doubts), this year there is nothing. Brokeback Mountain is going to win. Anybody who says anything otherwise is just experiencing some serious delusions (that means *you* Roger Ebert). I am not aware of any movie, ever, which has won all the precursors it has (DGA, PGA, Golden Globe Drama) and did not win Best Picture. It would maybe be the biggest upset in the history of the show. Sigh. Even though I enjoy guessing correctly, and I want to match my 8/8 score from last year, it is still a little more fun when there is a little bit of uncertainty to it.

Fact: There isn't anything up for awards this year that I really hate. Well, Memoirs of a Geisha has 6 nominations, but they are all in minor technical categories which I do not really care about. There's always one or two movies that get way more praise than they deserve and I get to have some fun complaining about it.

For example:

2004: Ray, The Aviator
2003: Seabiscuit
2002: Chicago, Gangs of New York
2001: A Beautiful Mind, Moulin Rogue

There's usually one, more often two Best Picture nominees each year that I simply do not like at all. This year I like all of them, the weakest link being probably Munich, but nevertheless, none of them are bad. And had Munich had a little more time spent on the screenplay and the latter portions of the movie, and the main character's personality progression been done a little better, I probably would've really liked it. It was rushed out to be released on time for awards, I think.

Anyway, I really need more to talk about. Blech.

Nobody With Power Has The Guts To Stop It

Why We Fight (4.5/5 stars)

This is the documentary that I wish everyone would have seen in regard to the American military machine and the effect it has on the situation of the world today, much more than Fahrenheit 9/11, because it doesn't need to resort to blatant sensationalism and ridicule to get the point across.

While the focus is on the present, the movie goes back over 40 years to the last televised address of Dwight Eisenhower, who coined the term "military-industral complex" and warned against many of the things we are seeing today: a constant standing army, a never ending arms race (even though now it seems, the race is between American corporations rather than actual countries), and power in the wrong hands.

Why exactly do we get into the conflicts that we do, on such a consistent basis? Every president dating back this warning, Republican or Democrat, has gotten involved across the globe in various military action. Is it for the reasons we have heard? Is it for something else altogether? The movie stipulates that between lobbyists, politicians, think-tanks, corporations, and other groups, the complex has grown so pervasive that it is almost invisible. "When there is so much money to be made from war, you are going to see more of it." one person is quoted. With all the people in positions of power who benefit from an action, this is not such an implausible statement to believe.

Is it true? I suppose that is something for an individual to decide. But regardless, it is an extremely compelling argument.

40 Years, 6 Hours, 2 DVDs...

The Best of Youth (5/5 stars)

The Best of Youth is a 6 hour long mini-series that originally appeared on Italian television but was also played on a very limited basis in American theaters in 2005. Essentially, it follows the key events that happen to an Italian family for 40 years from the early 1960s to the present.

There is no central theme to explain here, and there are way too many individual events to express, as you might expect of a story about about a family over this amount of time there are many important things going on: people enter and leave the story, different people and plots intersect each other years apart, events of great happiness and great sadness occur, and we see how the characters change as they age and how they are affected by the real-life climate of Italy during the time period.

If I could figure out a way to classify this into a year, it would be one of the best. It doesn't seem like it was made for television, as such it easily blows any mini-series HBO has ever done out of the water (which coming from me, is actually saying quite a bit). The length should not be an issue for anyone who appreciates quality, and if necessary, could be watched in the two 3 hour installments it comes it comes in separately.

Fiction Department Awards Winners 2005

My own personal best of the year. Most anybody (two, tied) got right was seven out of ten. The vast majority got three or less. I guess random guessing isn't easy!

Best Picture

• Brokeback Mountain
• The Constant Gardener
• Junebug
• The New World (winner)
• The Squid and the Whale

Best Director

• Noah Baumbach -- The Squid and the Whale
• Ang Lee -- Brokeback Mountain
• Terrence Malick -- The New World (winner)
• Fernando Meirelles -- The Constant Gardener
• Wong Kar Wai -- 2046

Best Actor

• Robert Downey Jr. -- Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
• Ralph Fiennes -- The Constant Gardener (winner)
• Phillip Seymour Hoffman -- Capote
• Heath Ledger -- Brokeback Mountain
• David Strathairn -- Good Night, and Good Luck

Best Actress

• Emmanuelle Devos -- Kings and Queen
• Q'Orianka Kilcher -- The New World
• Keira Knightley -- Pride and Prejudice
• Naomi Watts -- King Kong (winner)
• Reese Witherspoon -- Walk the Line

Best Supporting Actor

• Mathieu Amalric -- Kings and Queen
• Clifton Collins Jr. -- Capote
• Jeff Daniels -- The Squid and the Whale (winner)
• Jake Gyllenhaal -- Brokeback Mountain
• Val Kilmer -- Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams -- Junebug (winner)
• Maria Bello -- A History of Violence
• Laura Linney -- The Squid and the Whale
• Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
• Ziyi Zhang -- 2046

Best Original Screenplay

• Noah Baumbach -- The Squid and the Whale (winner)
• Roger Bohbot, Arnaud Desplechin -- Kings and Queen
• Stephen Gaghan -- Syriana
• Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco -- Crash
• Angus MacLachlan -- Junebug

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Shane Black -- Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (winner)
• Jeffrey Caine -- The Constant Gardener
• Dan Futterman -- Capote
• Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana -- Brokeback Mountain
• Josh Olson -- A History of Violence

Best Ensemble Cast

• Brokeback Mountain
• Crash
• Junebug
• Syriana
• The Squid and the Whale (winner)

Best Foreign Language Film

• 2046
• Caché
• Downfall
• Kings and Queen (winner)
• Nobody Knows

My review of The New World, the winner.

My review of The Constant Gardener, the first runner up.

Second runner up is The Squid and the Whale, but I do not feel like writing a review right now.

Moral Marketing Really Works

INT. TEENAGE MARKETING FOCUS GROUP ROOM -- DAY
------------------------------------------------------
A well-dressed advertising executive sits at a conference table, intently staring at his laptop computer, working on something that we do not see. A woman walks into the room.

WOMAN:
Sir, the kids for the test with the Motion Picture Association of America are here.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
How long is it until the MPAA people arrive?

WOMAN:
A few minutes sir.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
Don't let them in here until I give you the OK. Send the kids in. After they've been in here for a couple minutes send in the hypnotist.

WOMAN:
Got it.

Two teenagers walk into the room. By their body language it is obvious that they are dating.

TEENAGE BOY:
Can we have our money now, man?

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
In a few moments. I'd like to ask you a couple of questions first.

TEENAGER GIRL:
Okay.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
First of all, how do you guys feel about abstinence?

TEENAGE BOY:
Are you kidding? Why just today, and yesterday, and the day before....

TEENAGE GIRL:
Shut up!

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
Hm, I take that as a no. Well then, how do you feel about saying no to drugs?

TEENAGE GIRL:
Do you mean like, right before I take a test? I don't like doing anything before a test. I have a 4.0 GPA.

TEENAGE BOY:
When my parents are home?

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
Uh, right. Let's move on...

A man walks through the door. This is the hypnotist.

HYPNOTIST:
I'm ready, sir.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
Fantastic! Now kids, as we agreed, this man is going to speak with you for awhile before we show you some advertisements.

TEENAGE GIRL:
Okay.

TEENAGE BOY:
Yeah, whatever. Can we have our money yet?

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
After he's done, you can.

TEENAGE BOY (sighs):
Alright.

HYPNOTIST:
Ok. I want you both to look at this amulet. Watch it swing back and forth. You are getting very sleepy....

The hypnotist proceeds to hypnotize the two teenagers.

HYPNOTIST:
Now, until I say the word "defenestrate", you will agree with everything this man here says.

TEENAGERS (In unison, spaced out):
Ooookaaaaay.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
I'm going to show you a series of advertisements. You will change your opinion and agree with whatever the advertisement is telling you to do, no matter how ridiculous or inpractical it may seem to you. Okay?

TEENAGERS:
Oooookaaaaay.

The executive pushes a button on his computer and the teenagers are shown a video about abstinence.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
Now, what did we learn from that kids?

TEENAGERS:
Sex is baaaaaaad. Unless you are maaaaaarrriiiieeeeed. In a chuuuuuuurch.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
Fantastic! Now, the next one.

The executive plays the teenagers an anti-drug add.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
How about this one?

TEENAGERS:
Juuust saaaay nooooooo. Druuuugs aaaareeee baaaad. If weeee smoke pot or drink alchohol one tiiiiime, we will becoooome heroin addiiiiiicts...... look at our braiiiins oooooon druuuuuuugs......

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
Very good! And also remember kids, stealing is bad. Any kind of stealing is bad.

TEENAGERS:
Caaaaaaan weeeee haaaave ooouuuuur moooneey noooow pleeaaaaase?

ADVERTISING EXEUCTIVE:
Yes, here you go.

The executive hands the kids what looks to be a fairly large amount of money, and then hits a button on his phone.

ADVERISING EXECUTIVE:
Mary? Please send in the people from the MPAA.

A man walks through the door.

MAN:
I am here to see how effective the new advertising campaign you have created for us is. These are the test subjects I presume?

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
That's correct. If everyone is ready, I will show the video now.

The executive plays the video. It looks like something out of an MTV music video. It opens with "Would you steal from.." in text and shows a series of images with teenagers stealing items from various stores. A music store. A book store. An electronics store. Then, "No, because that would be wrong. And you will go to jail." appears on the screen. Next we see "What about these?" which is follwed by a series of scenes from very famous movies. Finally we see "Downloading is stealing. Piracy is illegal." on the screen.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
You don't want to download any movies now, do you kids?

TEENAGE BOY:
Is that for real? We can actually download movies for free, like MP3s?

TEENAGE GIRL:
Cool! How do we do it?

TEENAGE BOY:
I bet we can search for how to do it.

TEENAGE GIRL:
Oh there's so much stuff I want to see. Let's get some right after we leave!

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
Wait! I thought that...

TEENAGE BOY:
What, we actually believed in abstinence and just say no after talking to that guy? Are you nuts? You adults are so full of it. Thanks for the tip about getting movies for free though.

TEENAGE GIRL:
Let's spend our money on some blank DVDs!

The two teenagers leave the room.

MAN:
What guy? This man here?

HYPNOTIST:
Yes sir, I am, uhm, a hypnotist.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE (screams):
A very good one too. Get out of here!

The hypnotist leaves the room.

MAN:
Well clearly this isn't effective.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
Well, don't you need something to at least appear like you are sending a message? Do you have any better idea of what can get through to these kids?

MAN:
Unfortunately no. We'll take it. We'll play it during the ten minutes of commercials before the previews start at all the megaplexes across the country.

ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE:
The ones people are paying ten dollars to get into?

MAN:
Right.

Oscars Vs. New Releases Part Two

In a previous post, I did an analysis of the box office receipts for the Oscar nominees vs. Big Momma's House 2 for the weekend before the Oscar Nominations. Now it's time for the week right after, when you would think that maybe the nominees box office would pick up, due to their new acclaim.

For some of them this was the case, but for most, not.

When A Stranger Calls – 21.6 Million (11% Rating on Rotten Tomatoes)
Big Momma’s House 2 – 13.6 Million (7% Rating on Rotten Tomatoes. No that is not a misprint. It is actually at *7* percent)

Last weekend, Big Momma's House 2 made 27.7 Million in its opening weekend.

Best Picture Nominees (One of them, Crash, is out on DVD and is not still playing in theaters):

11.5 Million

Big 8 Nominees (Writing, Acting, Directing, Picture):

19.1 Million

All Nominees Combined:

26.1 Million

So, an opening movie with an 11% rating not only beat out all best picture nominees put together, but also all big 8 nominees put together.

Additionally, Big Momma's House 2, with a 7% rating, beat out with 27.7 million in its opening weekend last week the entire Oscar nominee slate the weekend after nominations were announced. Again, very sad.

Super Bowl Movie Preview

It's always a little interesting to see what movies people choose to spend ridiculous amounts of money advertising during the super bowl. Also you get to see some of the blockbuster summer movies coming up some of the time. Although curiously, that wasn't really the case this time.

In order, the commercials that I saw:

Click (Jun 30, 2006)

Starring Adam Sander.

Plot outline: "Click" focuses on a workaholic architect who finds a universal remote that allows him to fast-forward and rewind to different parts of his life. Complications arise when the remote starts to overrule his choices.

My buzz factor: I am not really sure yet. If it is your standard Adam Sandler comedy, I'll either not watch it at all or wait for DVD probably. But with this somewhat intriguing description, you never know. He's tried to do a couple of more serious movies and one of them (Punch Drunk Love) actually worked, so there's always the chance it might be good. I'll wait for reviews I suppose.

16 Blocks (Mar 3, 2006)

Bruce Willis action movie.

Plot outline: An aging cop (Willis) is assigned the ordinary task of escorting a fast-talking witness (Def) from police custody to a courthouse. There are however forces at work trying to stop prevent them from making it.

My buzz factor: Um, no.

V For Vendetta (Mar 17, 2006)

Written by the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix), starring Natalie Portman.

Plot outline: A shadowy freedom fighter known only as "V" uses terrorist tactics to fight against his totalitarian society. Upon rescuing a girl from the secret police, he also finds his best chance at having an ally.

My buzz factor: I'm there. Opening day. This is actually #3 on my anticipation list for the year (which I'll post later on).

The Shaggy Dog (Mar 10, 2006)

Starring Tim Allen.

Tagline: Raise The Woof.

Plot Outline: A man tries to live a normal life despite the fact that he sometimes turns into a sheepdog.

My buzz factor: This movie looked so completely ridiculous I thought it might have beeen a joke at first. I'd rather stare at a wall for two hours than watch this even if it was on cable and I was desperately bored.

Poseidon (May 12, 2006)

Summer Action Blockbuster.

Plot Outline: In this remake of the 1972 disaster classic 'The Poseidon Adventure' (1972) , a luxury ocean liner capsizes from a colossal tidal wave, leaving its survivors to fend for themselves as they find a way out.

My buzz factor: Depending on reviews, possibly DVD.

The World's Fastest Indian (Already in limited Release).

Plot Outline: The life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle -- a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.

My buzz factor: This is actually a very small, very independent movie that was technically released last year. It's gotten good reviews so I'll probably see it on DVD. I'm curious that someone spent money on a Super Bowl commerical for it. It must have some tie to Disney (which owns ABC) and it got a free commercial.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Jul 7, 2006)

Sequel. Everybody's back.

My buzz factor: I'll be seeing it, probably theatre.

Running Scared (Feb 24, 2006)

Some awful looking action movie with the a bunch of awful actors.

My buzz factor: Uhh... again no.

Retroactively Relevant

A government passes a wide-ranging anti-terrorism law, allowing among other things, the detention without charges on mere suspicion suspects alleged to be involved in terrorist acts. A bombing occurs. A man has a confession beaten out of him while in prison because of this law, and gets wrongfully convicted. Another innocent man dies in jail. Details of the case are kept secret because of National Security Concerns. The government knows who is responsible and goes after someone else. No major government officials go to jail because of misconduct.

Sound familiar? Yeah, a little. But I'm actually talking about the United Kingdom in the 1970s.

In the Name of the Father 1993 (5/5 stars)

So I've been on a 1990s kick with my non-new release movies on Netflix. I hadn't seen this for a long time so I thought I would again, and it is still very good. It isn't really necessary to do a review, there's enough out there, but it is odd how this reminded me of what has been going on lately (Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, the Patriot Act, etc.) in the world lately.

Oscar Winner Predictions

First, the "Big 8", which is the only thing that anyone actually remembers.

BEST PICTURE
Brokeback Mountain

BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain

BEST ACTOR
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote

BEST ACTRESS
Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
George Clooney - Syriana

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Brokeback Mountain

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Crash

Now, for kicks, I will include my likely to be highly inaccurate predictions for the rest of the categories, the only ones I am interested in are documentary, animated film, cinematography, and foreign film (the last one, being that I haven't seen any of the movies, might give me ideas of what I want to see later? I don't know).

Seriously, no one will *ever* see the documentary shorts and animated shorts. And nobody *cares* which movie has the best costumes, art direction, sound editing, sound mixing, makeup, etc. Sometimes I'm interested in Visual FX but I think King Kong has it so locked up it's not even worth thinking about.

And why, oh why, do the Oscars *still* not have a category for Ensemble Cast? It is the most ridiculous thing in the world. What about the movies like Syriana, or Crash (although each had one nominee) where barely anyone is in these movies for more than ten minutes? Isn't it worthwhile to award the cast in its entirety? The Screen Actors Guild does it, it's about time. End of rant (:

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit

ANIMATED SHORT *I'll pick this one based on title*
Badgered

LIVE ACTION SHORT *again, title*
Ausreisser (The Runaway)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Tsotsi

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
March of the Penguins

DOCUMENTARY SHORT *again, title time*
God Sleeps in Rwanda

ART DIRECTION
Memoirs of a Geisha

VISUAL F/X
King Kong

COSTUMES
Memoirs of a Geisha

MAKEUP
The Chronicles of Narnia

EDITING
The Constant Gardener

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Brokeback Mountain

SOUND MIXING
King Kong

SOUND EDITING
King Kong

ORIGINAL SCORE
Memoirs of a Geisha

ORIGINAL SONG
Crash -- "Into the Deep"

WGA Announces

The Writers Guild of America announced today.

Winners:

Original Screenplay -- Crash
Adapted Screenplay -- Brokeback Mountain

I think I'm ready to take a guess on the Clooney situation and go for broke on the big eight.

The Best From Years Past

While pondering my ballot for this year, I thought about what I would, in retrospect, put down as the top five movies of the year in years past. I've come up with a little something going back to 1994, which was essentially the year around where I first started getting into movies moreso than your average person. Some years were so good (especially 2004, 1999, and 1995) I had to leave off some very good movies, some weren't quite as good, but here it is. For kicks I've included what happened to win best picture.

Special disclaimer on The Lord of the Rings: I consider this really to be a multi-year massive film in a way, I do not want to compare them to each other or put any of them on any individual year.

2004 (Million Dollar Baby):
------------------------
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ****
Garden State
Kill Bill Volume 2
The Motorcycle Diaries
Sideways

2003 (Return of the King):
------------------------
21 Grams
American Splendor
City of God
In America
Lost In Translation ****

2002 (Chicago)
------------------------
Adaptation ****
Far From Heaven
The Pianist
Spirited Away
Talk to Her

2001 (A Beautiful Mind)
------------------------
Amelie ****
Donnie Darko
Ghost World
Mulholland Dr.
The Royal Tennenbaums

2000 (Gladiator)
------------------------
Almost Famous
Amores Perros
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Dancer In The Dark ****
O Brother Where Art Thou

1999 (American Beauty)
------------------------
American Beauty
Being John Malkovich ****
Magnolia
The Insider
Three Kings

1998 (Shakespeare in Love)
------------------------
American History X
The Big Lebowski
Central Station
Rushmore
The Thin Red Line ****

1997 (Titanic)
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Good Will Hunting
The Ice Storm
LA Confidential
Open Your Eyes
The Sweet Hereafter ****

1996 (The English Patient)
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Breaking The Waves ****
Fargo
Secrets and Lies
Sling Blade
Trainspotting

1995 (Braveheart)
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Dead Man
Heat
Leaving Las Vegas
Seven
The Usual Suspects ****

1994 (Forrest Gump)
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Ed Wood
Heavenly Creatures
The Professional
Pulp Fiction ****
The Shawshank Redemption

Big Momma's House 2 Demolishes the Competition

I looked up the box office stats for last weekend vs. the Oscar nominees. Here are some statistics.

Last weekend (Based on the top 50 on Rotten Tomatoes):
---------------------------------------------------------

Big Momma's House 2: 27.7 Million

All "Big 8" (Writing, Acting, Director, Picture) Category Nominees Combined: 17.4 Million

All Nominees Combined: 28.8 Million

Big Momma's House 2 almost took out the entire Nominee slate. Sad.

Sundance 2006

I really wish I could go to this. Although it has turned into such a gigantic industry event if I went I would probably 1) get shut out of most of the movies I'd be remotely interested in seeing and 2) have to wait in line for 5 hours to see some horrible movies that I'd end up not liking. Maybe I can find some industry contacts (ha ha ha, sure) that would allow me to be able to actually enjoy one of these things someday.

Anyway, I thought I'd post what films I heard about that looked remotely interesting.

DISCLAIMER: I do not actually endorse these movies as I do not know enough about them! Heh. I think I'm going to be getting more into disclaimers these days, it for some reason seems like something I should do.

They are:

The Science of Sleep

Written and Directed by Michael Gondry, who directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Obviously I'm going to be psyched for this.

Plot Outline: A man held captive by the people in his dreams tries to wake himself up and take control of his own imaginings.


Little Miss Sunshine

This one received a lot of praise and buzz apparently. It's got a good ensemble cast, and apparently was made before Steve Carell got famous. Should be interesting.

Plot Outline: A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus


Wristcutters: A Love Story

I heard some *extremely* high praise for this one, I am at least intrigued.

Plot Outline: A film set in a strange afterlife way station that has been reserved for people who have committed suicide.


Factotum

A movie based on a Charlies Bukowski book? Hmmmmmm. Lots of people in the cast.

Plot Outline: This drama centers on a jack-of-all-trades who wanders around St. Paul, MN trying to live off jobs which don't interfere with his primary interests - women, drinking, gambling and writing.


This Film Is Not Yet Rated

A documentary based on the bizarre ratings system of the Motion Picture Association of America. Should be fascinating for the movie freak.


Thank You For Smoking

Interested cast, interesting (wacky) subject matter.

Plot Outline: Satirical comedy follows the machinations of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his twelve-year-old son.


And, just because they're the winners:

The documentary prize winner:
God Grew Tired Of Us

Plot Outline: Four boys from Sudan embark on a journey to America after years of wandering Sub-Saharan Africa in search of safety.


The dramatic prize winner:
Quinceañera

Plot Outline: As Magdalena's 15th birthday approaches, her simple, blissful life is complicated by the discovery that she's pregnant. Kicked out of her house, she finds a new family with her great-granduncle and gay cousin.


I wish I knew how these prizes were awarded though. Last year I know The Squid and the Whale won writing and directing prizes, while Amy Adams won a special acting award for Junebug, putting both of these movies on the map. I haven't heard the results of anything but the dramatic and documentary prize so far, and (I think) everything is over now.

Not Such An Experience After All

Bubble (2.5/5 stars)

I was expecting this movie to be a lot weirder than it was. It really wasn't weird at all. I was expecting it to be all kinds of things, but it was, really, pretty dull. Dull characters. Dull plot. Dull message.

You've got a problem when your trailer (I might add, the weirder trailer ever, potentially), the situation under which the movie was released (simultaneous theatre, DVD, and pay per view distribution), and the fact that you used all non-professional actors in your movie is more interesting than the movie itself.

The very end of the trailer said "Another Steven Soderbergh Experience." Well, I'm not the type to say, "oh look, it's so small scale and arty, a masterpiece!". So sorry, I'd skip this one.