Could Melissa Leo End up a Contender?

AwardsDaily has been doing a bit of profiling on Melissa Leo, who stars in the upcoming "Frozen River." They posted a review from the New York Times, which read:

But the biggest thrill for many fans will be watching Ms. Leo perform with enough room to explore one of the complicated, surprising women she’s so good at sketching in smaller roles. Ray is vulnerable to life’s punches, but she’s no sentimental construct. For one thing she’s a bigot, though not overtly — at least toward most of the people she and Lila shovel into the trunk of her car. But she’s furious at having to transport a Pakistani couple she suspects of being Muslim terrorists and soothes her conscience by treating them horribly. At the same time she embodies the almost invisible heroism of someone continually pecked at by poverty. She not only keeps going, but her dogged problem-solving concentration also makes it clear that the thought of quitting doesn’t enter her mind.

There’s also the weird pleasure of seeing how bad Ms. Leo is willing to look for the camera. Ray is old and haggard before her time, her gullied face framed by terrible hair, crimped and dyed a harsh, aging red with bangs that coil wormlike across her forehead but telegraph the message: I’m still trying.

I saw Frozen River at the LA Film Festival, and the film, supporting player Misty Upham, and especially Melissa Leo were simply terrific. While I have my doubts about her chances (will there even be enough money for a campaign?), I can tell you that she certainly deserves the nomination. Here's to hoping she gets it.

Predix Revamp

The Dark Knight was...wow.

Anyways, we need this desperately. Here we go...

BEST PICTURE
1. Changeling (it's Changeling and not The Exchange. For now at least. And I'm not sure if I see this winning, but I really can't select a frontrunner right now...)
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. The Road
4. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
5. Doubt (it kills me not to include Dark Knight, but I think it'll fall short here)

BEST DIRECTOR
1. David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (I guess...)
2. Clint Eastwood - Changeling
3. John Hillcoat - The Road
4. Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
5. Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight

BEST ACTOR
1. Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
2. Viggo Mortensen - The Road
3. Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4. Benicio del Toro - Che
5. Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road

BEST ACTRESS
1. Meryl Streep - Doubt
2. Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road
3. Angelina Jolie - Changeling
4. Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5. Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight (if there's any justice in the world)
2. Robert Downey, Jr. - The Soloist
3. Liev Schreiber - Defiance
4. Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
5. John Malkovich - Burn After Reading

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
2. Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Viola Davis - Doubt
4. Samantha Morton - Synecdoche, New York
5. Frances McDormand - Burn After Reading (I don't know...)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
1. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
2. WALL-E
3. Changeling
4. Burn After Reading
5. Synecdoche, New York

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
1. Doubt
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. The Road
4. Frost/Nixon
5. The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight: In Review

I've had the wonderful opportunity to watch an early screening of my most anticipated film of the year, the sequel to Christopher Nolan's rebirth of the Batman franchise in IMAX and I must tell you, if you have a movie theatre showing this film in your city with the IMAX experience, you should offer yourself the ride because it is a spectacle meant for the biggest screen.

For everybody who were waiting to see Heath Ledger as the Joker, we witness the work of a great actor. He brings so much poise and charisma to a role so complex in its own, it is mesmerizing to watch him steal every scene he is involved in. Nolan brilliantly directs both Ledger and Bale so that we may understand that these two characters are completely opposite in the simple view of good and evil, but both of them are driven and flawed in their own ways by their beliefs, their morals and their flaws. It is not that they need or complete each other like ying and yang, but they chose different paths based on their nightmares of the past.

The film is complete with spectacular visual effects, wild car chases and fist fights but even though the movie is loud with explosions, the true power rests within the dialogue and the characters who are faced with great dilemmas throughout the film. Rachel (Gyllenhaal easing her way successfully into replacing Holmes) must choose which man she will stand by, Lucius must decide whether to help Batman find the Joker by spying on everybody, Alfred must decide whether to give an important letter to Bruce from Rachel and we must stop on Harvey Dent for a minute.

Aaron Eckhart gives a fantastic performance as Harvey because he goes through the most horrible transformation. As a district attorney, he becomes the savior of Gotham Bruce Wayne aspires to be, what he cannot do as Batman by bringing criminals to justice the legitimate way, hence his dubbed White Knight nickname. Unfortunately, the price for doing right in Gotham is putting his neck up for grabs by the thugs out to get him. It is a beautiful thing to watch him become Two-Face, as he goes from a charming and responsible man to a mad driven character who only looks at the ugly sides of people and situations on a path of destruction.

This film is an improvement on past Batman films because it reminds us how even though superheroes are put here to protect us, they are also deeply human and complex and we cannot see things in black and white because that is not the way of the world or the human being. It is something we rarely witness on film in a superhero flick, perhaps because people expect a lot of action and needn't ask to understand these characters, but it is important to understand their actions. Iron Man earlier this summer gave us a hero terribly flawed in his actions but understands the ways of his errors and rised up to save people. Here, Bruce Wayne becomes Batman to protect the people, but he uses justice by taking the law in his own hands and is blamed for his actions (or inactions) when people are harmed. For that he is an outcast, doomed to be alone, but in the final action of the film, we understand why he really is a hero: it is not because he is labeled the outcast, but because he chooses to be, to stand by what he believes is right.

There is some hype as to whether this film should be considered for Best Picture (yes, I've read this on the Net), but I think people should remember this film as it is: one of the greatest superhero films of all time. Heath Ledger will get an Oscar nomination for his portrayal (I'd have to wait to January after seeing all the other upcoming films before deciding whether or not he should win), it should get a nom for Cinematography as well. On the maybe side, Original Score as well as the Sound categories, but we're still a long way from the announcements. I encourage you to see this film very much.

Rating : 4/4

Hiatus (Again)

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates recently, but the movie world has been pretty idle for the past few days. Anyways, I'm going on vacation this week, and I'll be back on July 18. See you then.

The Day The Earth Stood Still [2008] - OFFICIAL TRAILER

I don't know about you, but at the end of the trailer, it doesn't seem like a happy choice. Anyways, I have a feeling this film will not surpass the original, but a December release is interesting nontheless. Enjoy!

The Road: Poster?

I'm not sure at all if this is a real poster or if it's fan made (the lack of Kodi Smit-McPhee's name from the poster leads me to think it's fake...but who knows?) , but I thought I'd post it. Whether it's real or not, I just wanted to remind our readers how excited I am for the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's stunning novel.

Meryl, Meryl, Meryl...

Wonderful.

WALL-E: In Review

Pixar has done it again! From Andrew Stanton, the director of Finding Nemo, and co-written with Jim Reardon (another Simpsons' alumni) comes the story of a robot who may not know the meaning of the word persistency, but he sure embodies the spirit.

It is 700 years into the future. Our hero is the last of a series of robots powered by the sun who is charged with cleaning Earth of its pollution in order to eventually welcome back the human population which has left the planet. His daily routine is fairly simple: pick up garbage, place it in his belly compartment to form small cubes and place them in an orderly fashion (forming most of the skyscrapers on the planet). But after 700 years of solitude, WALL-E has become extremely curious, picking up simple objects and collecting them in his shelter where he protects himself from dusty storms. But one day, his life changes as an advanced verification robot by the name of EVE (as you've guessed, a "female" robot) to find out if the planet is habitable. Of course, their encounter causes WALL-E to fall head over heels for EVE, even though she doesn't understand his intentions. When EVE returns back to her spaceship with a perfect little green plant that WALL-E uncovered, he follows her to an orbiting spaceship on the border of our galaxy and together, they will try to convince their human counterparts to make their way back home.

This film is such a breath of fresh air. As opposed to Stanton's Nemo, much more colorful, alive and very talkative, this film presents a skillful color palette of the mood and settings needed for the scenes and also of Earth's destiny, how we've destroyed our planet by taking too much for granted and leaving our survival in the hands of machines (pay attention because this film pays tribute to one, if not The, greatest science-fiction film of all-time). The film has very little dialogue, and most of it is composed of electronic whizzes, squeaks and purrs (designed by Ben Burtt, who voices WALL-E and we must thank for the Star Wars films). The genius of the film though, is that dialogue is not necessary, as their emotions and the way they address each other show their emotions perfectly as their messages transcend through, so adults will enjoy this film as much as kids will. It is funny how humans are presented in the future, seen as they've lived for so long in an low-gravity environment, they're confined to electronic reclining chairs and grown so fat you can literally put any fast food label combined with Wal-Mart shopping.

It is joyful to see the world through the robots' eyes because it is much easier to read their emotions than humans, and they probably control them much better which is cheerful because it keeps with the spirit of Walt Disney. This is a great animated film and a fantastic science-fiction flick as well. Rumor has it that Disney might make a push for this film for the Best Picture award come Oscar season. If that would be the case, I'm not sure it would help or hurt it's chances in the Animated Film Feature category, but I can easily say that unless another animated film surprises us by year's end, WALL-E will win the category by a landslide. It might compete in the Sound categories, the music categories as well. I'm also predicting an Original Screenplay nomination for this film, seeing as how this is the most refreshing animated features of the year. I won't go as far as putting it up for Best Picture, because we still haven't seen most of the films which will compete in this category, but it will probably make my top 10.

Rating : 4/4

P.S.: Before the film was presented, there was a Pixar short called Presto that was presented. It gives a great laugh, and it will remind you that if you possess an animal, try to be nice to it.

Happy Birthday PTA

I just wanted to mention that today is my favorite living director's birthday and although there is no way (and no reason why) he will see this, I just wanted to wish him happy birthday. Here's to many more fantastic films such as Sydney, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, and There Will Be Blood.

Brief Hiatus

Hey everyone, I'll be gone from tomorrow until the 27th because I am going to the L.A. Film Festival. I am so excited! I'll write reviews of everything I see when I get back.

Updated Personal Predictions

I figured it was about time for me to update my predictions...so I'm doing just that. Just a reminder, my predictions are separate from the site's official predictions. Also, I hate to jump on the Curious Case bandwagon, but I can't help myself. Winners are bolded.

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
The Exchange
Revolutionary Road
The Road

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, The Exchange
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Hillcoat, The Road
Charlie Kaufman, Synecdoche, New York
Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road

Best Actor
Benicio Del Toro, Guerilla
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Viggo Mortensen, The Road
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Angelina Jolie, The Exchange
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
John Malkovich, Burn After Reading
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Road
Brad Pitt, Burn After Reading

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, Doubt
Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading

Best Original Screenplay
Burn After Reading
The Exchange
Synecdoche, New York
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
WALL-E

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
The Road

Original Song category

As of the 17th of June, it has been approved by the Academy that while any number of songs from a film can be considered for an Oscar nomination, only 2 songs can be nominated per film from now on, probably following the three-peat for 2 consecutive years.

I believe that's fair, but what are your thoughts?

AFI's 10 Top 10 Results

I got:

8/10 on Animation
6/10 on Fantasy (why did I predict Ghost, again?)
5/10 on Gangster
7/10 on Science Fiction
7/10 on Western
6/10 on Sports
6/10 on Mystery
6/10 on Romantic Comedy
7/10 on Courtroom Drama
6/10 on Epic

...which adds up to a grand total of 64%

Not as good as I was hoping, but that's what happens when I let my heart vote instead of my brain.

AFI's 10 Top 10 Predix

Following AFI's super-hyped redux of their Top 100 American Film countdown last year, the tradition continues tonight when they do their annual tribute to...well, good movies. This year's theme is 10 Top 10: ten top ten lists of the best (insert genre here)s of all time. I can't watch it tonight because I'm going to be with some friends, but I plan on taping it and watching it tomorrow. Anyways, here are my predix for the list, in alphabetical order only...

ANIMATED
Beauty and the Beast
Dumbo
Fantasia
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
The Lion King
Pinocchio
Shrek
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
Toy Story

FANTASY
Ghost
Groundhog Day
Harvey
Heaven Can Wait (probably not, but I love this movie)
It's a Wonderful Life
King Kong
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Mary Poppins
The Princess Bride
The Wizard of Oz

GANGSTER
Bonnie & Clyde
Bugsy
The Departed
The Godfather (I'm putting Part II in "Epic", because I doubt that one film will occupy two spots on the list, and the first is not listed in the "Epic" selection, while the second is)
Goodfellas
Heat
On the Waterfront
Pulp Fiction
Scarface
Some Like it Hot

SCIENCE FICTION
Alien
Blade Runner
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial
The Matrix
Planet of the Apes
Star Wars
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
2001: A Space Odyssey

WESTERN
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Giant
High Noon
The Last Picture Show
The Searchers
Shane
Stagecoach
True Grit
Unforgiven
The Wild Bunch

SPORTS
The Bad News Bears
Caddyshack
Chariots of Fire
Field of Dreams (here or in Fantasy?)
Hoosiers
The Hustler
Jerry Maguire
The Natural
Raging Bull
Rocky

MYSTERY
Chinatown
The Fugitive
Gaslight
The Maltese Falcon
Murder on the Orient Express
North by Northwest
Rear Window
Rebecca
The Third Man
Vertigo

ROMANTIC COMEDY
Annie Hall
The Apartment
As Good as it Gets (probably not gonna happen, but I really really want it to)
Bringing Up Baby
City Lights
His Girl Friday
It Happened One Night
Moonstruck
The Philadelphia Story
When Harry Met Sally... (see As Good as it Gets)

COURTROOM DRAMA
12 Angry Men
Anatomy of a Murder
The Caine Mutiny
A Few Good Men
In Cold Blood
Inherit the Wind
Kramer vs. Kramer
Philadelphia
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Verdict

EPIC
Apocalypse Now
Ben-Hur (1959 version)
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Forrest Gump
The Godfather Part II
Gone With the Wind
Lawrence of Arabia
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
Titanic

We'll test these out tonight!

David's 1st predictions

I always feel funny about offering predictions for the Oscars when they are several months away, especially since I'm sure there will be films in the top categories we haven't heard about yet, and some of the favorites right now probably won't end up nominated for the big prize (Into The Wild last year, Dreamgirls two years ago), but it's still fun to compare them once we make the final predictions before the official announcement, so here's my early predictions for the big 8 categories:

BEST PICTURE

Che

Doubt

The Exchange

Revolutionary Road

The Road

BEST DIRECTOR

Stephen Daldry - The Reader

Clint Eastwood - The Exchange

David Fincher - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Sam Mendes - Revolutionary Road

Steven Soderbergh - Che

BEST ACTOR

Josh Brolin - W

Benicio Del Toro - Che

Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road

Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn - Milk

BEST ACTRESS

Angelina Jolie - The Exchange

Laura Linney - The Other Man

Sophie Okonedo - Skin

Meryl Streep - Doubt

Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Russell Crowe - Body Of Lies

Robert Downey, Jr. - The Soloist

Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

Liev Schreiber - Defiance

Michael Sheen - Frost/Nixon

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams - Doubt

Kathy Bates - Revolutionary Road

Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Viola Davis - Doubt

Kate Winslet - The Reader

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Burn After Reading

Che

The Exchange

Synecdoche, New York

WALL-E

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Doubt

Frost/Nixon

Revolutionary Road

The Road

As I said, we'll see how it all pans out... To be continued!

The Happening: In Review

The final film on my list is The Happening, the new thriller from M. Night Shyamalan starring Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel. In this film a weird occurence leads to unexplained deaths when people seem to stop moving and to proceed to kill themselves by any means. In what as viewed as a terrorist attack, people evacuate the large cities to go to smaller towns to avoid these attacks. In the film, we follow a professor, his wife and his friend's little daughter trying to avoid the attacks from running away and hiding as much as they can from the occurences which is then viewed as an attack brought on by plants (or trees or grass ?!?).

M. Night has a very good style of filmmaking, reminding me a little of Hitchcock. The Sixth Sense took the world by surprise (with, arguably, the best twist ending ever), Unbreakable and Signs were very good films dealing with human nature. Unfortunately, you have to wonder what happened. The Village was disappointing, Lady In The Water was long and carried no great suspense. In his newest project, the audience is left guessing all the way to the end. Indeed, we are offered with no real explanation as to how this 'thing' attacks the people, why it happens only in certain places and certain times and no possible way of stopping it. Maybe it's the way he intended the film to be, to let us figure out how to stop the obvious, since the only thing clear in this film is it's message. For those of you expecting a twist ending like M. Night delivers in each of his films, well let me just say, if you don't already know, you will probably be disappointed. Wahlberg tries to carry the film, but you can't do it all the time. Deschanel's performance seems inconsistent, and probably the worst thing ever happens in this film, when a father leaves his child going to his almost certain death instead of taking a chance and staying with her. Probably the luckiest thing we see in the film is the absence of M. Night physically in the film, as his role (apparently necessary in a Shyamalan film) is limited to a voice on the phone provoking a weird situation between the couple.

I still haven't given up on M. Night because I believe he is a good filmmaker, but I certainly hope he gets out of his bad streak.

Rating: 1.5/4

The Incredible Hulk: In Review

Next up was The Incredible Hulk. One cannot help but compare this film to Hulk, made by Ang Lee in 2003. That film was much more colorful, longer and concentrated on Bruce Banner's past, referring much to the comic book style. Eric Bana didn't convince me much, the film felt long and the storyline wasn't the best.

In this film, we see a much more darker, more real viewpoint of Bruce Banner's lifestyle, in hiding from General Ross after being exposed to the gamma radiation looking for a cure that will rid it from his system. Unfortunately, he is found and chased by Ross with the help of a merciless soldier named Emil Blonsky (played by Tim Roth, once again brilliant as a villain) so Bruce is forced to return to the States to seek out his former love Betty Ross but Blonsky is subject to a serum developed by the general and he turns into the Abomination, so it's up to the Hulk to stop him.

Edward Norton does a very good job playing Banner. He contributed a lot to Zak Penn's script to develop the characters in a real way focusing on their characteristics and abilities rather on what was past. Even if the direction is a little misguided at times, the film feels more real, more actual. The action sequences carry on a little too much though and are repetitive, which is upsetting. Another thing that bugs me, is that Banner in this film takes into account his heart rhythm to warn him to slow down otherwise he'll turn into the Hulk. Isn't he supposed to transform when he becomes too angry? (I didn't read the comics, so maybe I'm wrong here). William Hurt is disappointing as Ross, but the other actors do have some very nice moments in the film (Liv Tyler screaming at a cab driver) and although it doesn't offer much insight, the film is well presented and should break the 100 million $ mark.

I don't expect this film to compete in any of the categories. You would think that it'd have a shot at Visual Effects (maybe it will), but I expect other films to take that category this year.

Rating : 3/4

Kung Fu Panda: In Review

Yesterday, I did something I never did in my life: go see 3 movies at the movie theater... in a row! First, I offered myself the IMAX experience for the panda, then The Incredible Hulk was next, to finish with The Happening, both of which I'll review next.

In this film, Po, a very big but lovable panda, is stuck living a life of making noodle soups in a restaurant with his father, Mr. Ping (a stork, incredibly, but yet the relationships between all the animals in this film need no judgment, since the target audience is much younger) but in a twist of fate, is chosen by the temple master, a wise turtle named Oogway, as the Dragon warrior who will bring peace to the region and is destined to defeat the fearful Tai Lung, a leopard carrying vengeance in his heart. Dismayed by the kung fu contenders who trained mercilessly under the leadership of kung fu master Shifu, like every story of its kind, he fights through and meets with his destiny.

This is one of the most beautiful animated films I've seen in a long time. The colors are so beautifully painted and sets the mood for every scene, whether it's the lively, brighter colors while Po trains with the other contenders (a tigress, a monkey, a crane, a viper and, yes, a mantis) or the darker colors when Tai Lung escapes from prison. The jokes and quips are simple and doesn't refer to other films or adult situations, which is why children will enjoy this movie. I know, since they were the loudest in the room. Unfortunately, most of the dialogue is concentrated around Po, Shifu and a little of Tigress and Tai Lung, leaving very little room to develop the other characters. I was looking forward to listening to Jackie Chan and Seth Rogen in a film where they could have all the freedom they needed, but they probably have the least dialogue of all the main characters. Dustin Hoffman is great as Shifu, Jack Black does ok as Po, having his ups and downs, Ian McShane is fun as Tai Lung and Angelina Jolie could've been a little more convincing but she's still tough.

There are a lot of action sequences which present little originality, not much dialogue, but the film is short, it's sweet, and the kids will enjoy it and adults too. Expect it to compete in the Animated film category along with WALL-E.

Rating: 3/4

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Trailer

Finally, the english version is found... Enjoy one of this year's favorite upcoming films, one that I will undoubtely attend!

Green Card Contines its Reign...

So I was on YouTube the other day, and I found this clip. Watch it, and you'll know why I posted it.



Am I obliged to see this movie?