Summer Rental #1: Being John Malkovich

Did I see this movie? Because I feel like I didn't. I mean, I absolutely love Charlie Kaufman...and John Cusack...and Cameron Diaz...and Catherine Keener (although I've always hated John Malkovich, ironically). And yet I just couldn't get into this movie. The first hour was absolutely sensational--all time best material--but the last 40-something minutes were just too weird, even for me. This is a well acted film and a well written film, but it just went off on way too many tangents. When you go in so many directions, it's hard to have a conclusion that is truly satisfying. B-

Away From Her in Review

"Away From Her" is truly an acting driven film. Without the great performances from Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent, Olympia Dukakis and Kristen Thompson, the film would be a total disaster. Though on the surface it seems dull, it is really an interesting story. However, it is the kind of film you forget you saw. But, nonetheless, "Away From Her" is a brave character study with fantastic performances. A-

Waitress in Review

I just saw "Waitress". I'm still smiling. This is one of the most delightful movies I have seen in a long, long time. So far, this is the best film of the year by a mile. Keri Russell, Cheryl Hines, Adrienne Shelly (eek...what a sad story! She was excellent in this--both as a writer, director and actress) and Andy Griffith (even though it is a very small part) all deserve Oscar nods for their incredible performances, and the script is simply unbeatable. I can guarantee that I will be pushing for this at the end of the year. A

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Just got back. Don't have time for a review at the moment but I enjoyed it. It's a feast for the eyes and the acting was pretty good (especially Geoffrey Rush). However, the plot goes in so many directions that at times it is hard to keep straight. I still recommend it. A good summer blockbuster.

2 More Days...

I apologize for the lack of blogging these last few days, but in 2 days, I'll be able to write constantly because...

I'LL BE ON SUMMER VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And my last final is tomorrow, so I'll be done with homework for the 06/07 year by then. So, I'll see you then!

PS: How excited is everyone for the premiere of "On the Lot" tonight?

Let's help me expand my film knowledge

Please comment any movies that I need to see. I've got a Top Ten list for movies I desperately want to see, "Network" is number one. I'd appreciate any comments with suggestions.

No Country for Old Men: Oscar Bound?

One of my favorite film critics, Emanuel Levy, who almost always agrees with other critics, has given "No Country for Old Men" a glowing review, after seeing it at the Cannes Film Festival (he also wasn't crazy about My Blueberry Nights. Disappointing...). It can be seen here. The question is: will this turn out to be a contender? Let's see...


PRO: Cormac McCarthy, who wrote the book the film is based on, just won the Pulitzer Prize for his brilliant novel The Road.
CON: That may mean that people want to see more of The Road than of No Country for Old Men.

PRO: The brilliant Cohen brothers are back, with what looks like a black comedy with a Fargo feel to it.
CON: They've been repeatedly snubbed for everything but Fargo.

PRO: This year, the spotlight is on Cannes more than it's ever been berfore. If this does well at the festival, it could do well elsewhere, too.
CON: There are only a handful of Cannes hits that have gone on to do well at the Oscars.

I'm really looking forward to this film!

100 Movies I Need to See

Sigh. This made me feel like I know nothing about film...

MODERN CLASSICS
American Beauty
Sideways
My Cousin Vinny
City of God
Lost in Translation
A History of Violence
There’s Something About Mary
Kill Bill
Almost Famous
Saving Private Ryan
As Good as it Gets
Clerks

CONTROVERSIAL FILMS
Basic Instinct
The Passion of the Christ
Do the Right Thing
JFK

AMERICAN CLASSICS
Amadeus
Manhattan
Hannah and her Sisters
Taxi Driver
The Godfather Part II
Midnight Cowboy
On the Waterfront
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The African Queen
Chinatown
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Maltese Falcon
The Grapes of Wrath
Raging Bull
Apocalypse Now
High Noon
Double Indemnity
A Clockwork Orange
The Philadelphia Story
From Here to Eternity
M*A*S*H
All Quiet on the Western Front
Rebel Without a Cause
Stagecoach
The Silence of the Lambs
Network
The Manchurian Candidate
An American in Paris
Shane
The French Connection
Wuthering Heights
The Gold Rush
Dances With Wolves
American Graffiti
The Deer Hunter
The Wild Bunch
Modern Times
Giant
Platoon
Mutiny on the Bounty
Frankenstein
Easy Rider
Patton
A Place in the Sun
Goodfellas
Pulp Fiction
The Searchers
Bringing up Baby
The Great Dictator
The Third Man
Caddyshack
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Unforgiven
Citizen Kane (I'm sorry...)
The Birds
Doctor Zhivago
City Lights
Bonnie and Clyde
Yankee Doodle Dandy

FOREIGN FILMS
8 ½
The 400 Blows
Seven Samauri
La Belle et la Bete
Cinema Paradiso
Not One Less
Rashomon
M
Amelie
Ran
Fanny and Alexander
Das Boot
Wild Strawberries
The Seventh Seal
The Bicycle Thief
La Dolce Vita
Run Lola Run
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

INFAMOUS FILMS
Basic Instinct 2
Showgirls
Plan 9 From Outer Space
Leonard Part 6
Gigli
Mommie Dearest
Catwoman

Shrek the Third: Will the Reviews Hurt its Success?

With a 44% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 57/100 on MetaCritic, will the reviews hurt Shrek the Third? Well, this is probably the least anticipated of all the three-quels coming out this year. While kids will undoubtedly be seeing this, people age 12 and up may be a little hesitant about making an event to see the film. We'll see soon enough...

Tony Nominations!

While I don't like to diverge the topic, I just NEEDED to post these fairly surprising nominations. Why? Well, I'm naive enough (and gay enough) to LOVE Broadway. The nominations are...

BEST PLAY
The Coast of Utopia
Frost/Nixon
The Little Dog Laughed
Radio Golf

BEST MUSICAL
Curtains
Grey Gardens
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Inherit the Wind
Journey's End
Talk Radio
Translations

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line
Company
110 in the Shade

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Curtains
Grey Gardens
Legally Blonde The Musical
Spring Awakening

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Boyd Gaines (Journey's End)
Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)
Brian F. O'Byrne (The Coast of Utopia)
Christopher Plummer (Inherit the Wind)
Liev Schrieber (Talk Radio)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Eve Best (A Moon for the Misbegotten
Swoozie Kurtz (Heartbreak House)
Angela Lansbury (Deuce)
Vanessa Redgrave (The Year of Magical Thinking)
Julie White (The Little Dog Laughed)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Michael Cerveris (LoveMusik)
Raul Esparza (Company)
Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening)
Gavin Lee (Mary Poppins)
David Hyde Pierce (Curtains)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Laura Bell Bundy (Legally Blonde)
Christine Ebersole (Grey Gardens)
Audra McDonald (110 in the Shade)
Debra Monk (Curtains)
Donna Murphy (LoveMusik)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Anthony Chisholm (Radio Golf)
Billy Crudup (The Coast of Utopia)
Ethan Hawke (The Coast of Utopia)
John Earl Jelks (Radio Golf)
Stark Sands (Journey's End)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Jennifer Ehle (The Coast of Utopia)
Xanthe Elbrick (Coram Boy)
Dana Ivey (Butley)
Jan Maxwell (Coram Boy)
Martha Plimpton (The Coast of Utopia)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Brooks Ashmanskas (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me)
Christian Borle (Legally Blonde)
John Cullum (110 in the Shade)
John Gallagher, Jr. (Spring Awakening)
David Pittu (LoveMusik)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Charlotte d?Amboise (A Chorus Line)
Rebecca Luker (Mary Poppins)
Orfeh (Legally Blonde)
Mary Louise Wilson (Grey Gardens)
Karen Ziemba (Curtains)

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Michael Grandage (Frost/Nixon)
David Grindley (Journey's End)
Jack O'Brien (The Cost of Utopia)
Melly Still (Coram Boy)

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
John Doyle (Company)
Scott Ellis (Curtains)
Michael Greif (Grey Gardens)
Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening)

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Rob Ashford (Curtains)
Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear (Mary Poppins)
Bill T. Jones (Spring Awakening)
Jerry Mitchell (Legally Blonde)

Knightley, Knightley

Hey, before I continue my predix, I would like to ask someone if Kiera Knightley is lead or supporting for Antonement? I haven't read the book, but if you have, could you please say if it's a leading or supporting performance in a comment? Thanks.

Predictions: Round Two (Best Actress)

BEST ACTRESS

1. Natalie Portman-The Other Boleyn Girl-I seriously cannot see any of these actresses winning, but if I had to pick one, I guess it would be her. And yes, I know, I'm denying my short lived "The Other Boleyn Girl will bomb" theory.

2. Norah Jones-My Blueberry Nights-After the Jennifer Hudson win, they won't award another singer an acting award, but if this does well at Cannes, who knows?

3. Angelina Jolie-A Mighty Heart-She desperately needs another nomination. The summer release date is a little concerning, but she might stand out.

4. Sarah Jessica Parker-Spinning into Butter-Losing buzz fast.

5. Meryl Streep-Lions for Lambs-It's Streep. C'mon.

IN THE RUNNING

6. Claire Danes-Evening-She's a pretty talented girl, but the early release date and being snubbed by the Academy in the past doesn't help her case.

7. Cate Blanchett-The Golden Age-The trailer was pretty awful.

8. Helena Bonham Carter-Sweeney Todd-Message to my fellow Oscar lovers: unless they change everything about the show, THIS IS A LEADING PERFORMANCE. I don't think she'll make the cut. Such a shame, too. A great role played by a great, albeit strange, actress.

9. Anne Hathaway-Becoming Jane-It's being released in August. Enough said.

10. Catherine Keener-An American Crime-The release date is WAY too early for AMPAS.

Predictions: Round Two (Best Actor)

Interesting...every nominee I'm predicting is from a predicted BP nominee except for the winner.

BEST ACTOR

1. Joaquin Phoenix-Reservation Road-The buzz has migrated to Depp, but I still think he's a lot more likely.

2. Johnny Depp-Sweeney Todd-Basically, the movie's success depends on him giving a knock-out performance. Because I'm predicting the film as a Best Picture nominee, I kinda have to predict him, too.

3. James McAvoy-Antonement-See above.

4. Tom Hanks-Charlie Wilson's War-Merely being Tom Hanks is usually enough for him to get a nomination.

5. Daniel-Day Lewis-There Will be Blood-See Depp and McAvoy.

IN THE RUNNING

6. Denzel Washington-American Gangster-Sigh. You know how I feel about this.

7. Jack Nicholson-The Bucket List-Possibly. People are saying this (and the film below) will be the sleeper comedy of the year. The problem is...how can it be a sleeper comedy if people are predicting it already?

8. Philip Seymour Hoffman-The Savages-The film looks great, but as you can see from my blog entry on Oscar Addict, I have a bad feeling about this project.

9. Viggo Mortensen-Eastern Promises-See above.

10. Philip Seymour Hoffman-Synecdoche, New York-The script has been leaked. It's being called horrible.

Cohen will NOT play Mercury

I checked it out and it turned out to be false news. Too bad, it would have been brilliant.

Spider-Man 3 in Review

At 7:00 tonight, I entered an incredibly crowded theater to see Spider-Man 3. I have to say, I was excited. The first Spider-Man is easily the best superhero movie ever made, save the 1978 Superman, and the second was good but overrated. I was quite disappointed. Other than the action sequences (which were AMAZING), the film is generally boring and self-aware. By the end, you wonder what it is you just saw. Spider-Man 3 is worth seeing, but only for the action and to stay pop culturally aware. C-

You are looking at the actor who will be playing Freddie Mercury.

Great casting choice of SBC.

That wasn't sarcastic.

Opening Dates of Anticipated Summer Films

MAY 4

MAY 11

MAY 18MAY 25 JUNE 1 JUNE 8 JUNE 22 JUNE 29
JULY 14JULY 20 JULY 27 AUGUST 3AUGUST 17
Fanboys (no poster available)

God, that's a lot of movies. What a fun summer this will be.

April in Review

Here is the A-Z list of important films that opened in April. Oh my god...if April is over...then that means it's May...which means...I GET OUT OF SCHOOL IN 17 DAYS!!!

A
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters-I absolutely loathe this cartoon, and judging by the premise and reviews this got, it was no secret that it would flop. Will I See It? No.

Are We Done Yet?-I totally forgot that this movie was ever released. That says something, no? Will I See It? No.

B
Blades of Glory-Okay, so technically this was released in March, but it was on the second to last day of March. This was quite a fun movie, and it's enjoying box office success. My Rating: B

C
The Condemned-Ha! If I do watch this, it'll be when I need a laugh. It looks ridiculous. Will I See It? Probably Not.

D
Disturbia-The sleeper hit of the month, this update of "Rear Window" not only got a surprisingly good box office number, but also got critical acclaim. Who'd've thunk it? Will I See It? Probably.

E
Everything's Gone Green-I haven't heard of it either, but it's gotten some pretty terrible reviews. Will I See It? No.

F
Firehouse Dog-Wow, this movie looked awful. I have a horrible feeling that I'll end up seeing it when I'm babysitting, but I'll try to avoid it. Will I See It? Probably not.

Fracture-Looks...decent. Will I See It? Maybe.

G
Grindhouse-Despite fantastic reviews and a boatload of anticipation, this flopped. How did that happen? Will I See It? Probably.

H
Hot Fuzz-What a fun movie this was! I really recommend that you get a lot of friends together to go see this one on the big screen. My Rating: B+

The Hoax-I am absolutely dying to see this film. Richard Gere looks great! Will I See It? Yes.

I
In the Land of Women-This looks like the kind of movie I would forget I ever saw. Will I See It? No.

The Invisible-Just what we need...another horror remake. Will I See It? No.

K
Kickin' it Old Skool-I want to have my memory erased of this disaster. This is all-time worst material, people. My Rating: D-

L
None

M
Meet the Robinsons-Like Blades of Glory, this opened on the second to last day of March, so I count it as April. This looks...um...dumb. Let's leave it at that. Will I See It? No.

N
Next-If I do see this, it'll be for Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore. That's it. Will I See It? Probably not.

P
Pathfinder-See The Invisible. Will I See It? No.

Perfect Stranger-My worst of the year list just NEEDS this. I saw a glimpse of the so-called "acting" and Ebert and Roeper (soon to just be Roeper...sad) and it was entertainingly horrible. Will I See It? Maybe.

R
The Reaping-When Hilary Swank isn't winning Oscars, she's making crappy movies like this. Or so I assume. Will I See It? No.

S
Shooter-Yet another action film mega-flop. Will I See It? No.

Snow Cake-In case you haven't read the blog before, I was hoping that Snow Cake would be the sleeper success of the year. Well, it's not going to be. I still want to see it though. Will I See It? Yes.

Slow Burn-I'd never heard of it until I read an article that said it was the worst movie of the decade. Will I See It? No.

V
Vacancy-The premise is pretty good. It hasn't gotten great reviews, but I very well may see this. Will I See It? Maybe.

Y
Year of the Dog-Molly Shannon, Laura Dern and John C. Reilly all look HYSTERICAL. Will I See It? Yes.