The Silence

One of my New Years Resolutions is to keep better record of the films I have seen.  

My first film of 2009 is Ingmar Bergman's THE SILENCE.  It touched on a lot of interesting issues that I enjoy exploring (anger, sex, loneliness, despair) and the Cinematography by Sven Nykvist is stunning. Probably not a movie I would recommend for everyone, but masochists and sadists should enjoy!  Happy New Year!

Best Actress 2008

MY Favorite 5 Leading Female Performances of 2008:

1. Sally Hawkins in Happy Go Lucky

2. Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married

3. Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road

4. Kristin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long

5. Michelle Williams in Wendy and Lucy

Apologies to Melissa Leo. I have not yet seen Frozen River.  

6. Angelina Jolie in Changeling

7. Meryl Streep in Doubt

8. Rebecca Hall in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

1st Stab at a Top Ten List

I haven't seen a few heavy hitters yet (Revolutionary Road, The Wrestler, etc), but here's my first stab.

10. DOUBT

9. A CHRISTMAS TALE

8. THE DARK KNIGHT

7. WALL-E

6. FROST/NIXON

5. HAPPY GO LUCKY

4. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

3. VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

2. RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

1. SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK

Golden Globe coolness

Really cool nominations:

1980 Best Picture (Comedy): Airplane

1981 Best Actress (Drama): Sissy Spacek in Raggedy Man

1982 Best Actress (Drama): Diane Keaton in Shoot the Moon

1984 Best Actor (Comedy): Steve Martin in All of Me

1985 Best Actor (Comedy): Griffin Dunne in After Hours

1985 Best Actress (Comedy): Mia Farrow in The Purple Rose of Cairo

1987 Best Actress (Comedy): Diane Keaton in Baby Boom

1987 Best Supporting Actor: Richard Dreyfuss in Nuts

1987 Best Supporting Actress: Vanessa Redgrave in Prick Up Your Ears

1988 Best Supporting Actress: Lena Olin in The Unbearable Lightness of Being

1989 Best Actress: Andie MacDowell in Sex, Lies and Videotape

1990 Best Actress: Mia Farrow in Alice

1993 Best Actress: Anjelica Huston in Addams Family Values

Other stuff too!

Woody Allen at The Golden Globes

ANNIE HALL (1 win, 5 noms)

Actor

*Actress

Director

Picture

Screenplay

INTERIORS (3 noms)

Actress

Director

Screenplay

MANHATTAN

Zero evidence of nominations

ZELIG (1 nom)

Actor

BROADWAY DANNY ROSE (1 nom)

Actress

THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1 win, 4 noms)

Actor

Actress

Picture

*Screenplay

HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1 award, 5 noms)

*Picture

Director

Screenplay

Supporting Actor

Supporting Actress

CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1 nom)

Picture

ALICE (1 nom)

Actress

MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY (1 nom)

Actress

HUSBANDS AND WIVES (1 nom)

Supporting Actress

MIGHTY APHRODITE (1 win)

* Supporting Actress

EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU (1 nom)

Picture

MATCH POINT (3 noms)

Picture

Screenplay

Supporting Actress

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA (4 noms)

Picture

Actor

Actress

Supporting Actress

NYFC

Movies that have won 4 or more NYFC awards;

07 No Country for Old Men - 4

04 Sideways - 4

02 Far From Heaven - 5

91 The Silence of the Lambs -4

87 Broadcast News - 5

85 Prizzi's Honor - 4

There were fewer awards (no Cinematography, for example) before 1980.

77 Annie Hall - 4

72 Cries and Whispers - 4

There were no supporting awards before 1969, so I'm stopping there...

Woody Allen at the NYFCC

Woody and his films have received the following citations at the New York Film Critics Awards;

1977 Annie Hall

Picture, Actress, Director, Screenplay

1978 Interiors

Supporting Actress - Maureen Stapleton

1979 Manhattan

Director

1983  Zelig

Cinematography

1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo

Screenplay

1986 Hannah and Her Sisters

Picture

Supporting Actress - Dianne Wiest

Director

1989 Crimes and Misdemeanors

Supporting Actor - Alan Alda

1994 Bullets Over Broadway

Supporting Actress - Dianne Wiest

1995 Mighty Aphrodite

Supporting Actress - Mira Sorvino

2008 Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Supporting Actress - Penelope Cruz

Golden Globe WINNER Predictions

This is my gut response to the nominations;

Best Picture - Drama: Benjamin Button

Best Picture - Comedy: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Actor -Drama: Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road

Best Actress - Drama: Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married

Best Actor - Comedy: Dustin Hoffma in Last Chance Harvey 

Best Actress - Comedy: Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder

Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Director: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

Best Screenplay: genuinely baffled - Benjamin Button

Best Foreign Film: Waltz with Bashir

Best Animated Film: Wall-E

Best Score: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Song: "Down to Earth" - Wall-E

Any thoughts?

Oscar Predix (as of 11/29)

Best Picture

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Milk

Revolutionary Road

Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett in Benjamin Button

Angelina Jolie in Changeling

Kristin Scott-Thomas in I've Loved You So Long

Meryl Streep in Doubt

Kate Winslet in The Reader

Best Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road

Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino

Sean Penn in Milk

Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Viola Davis in Doubt

Tarai B. Henson in Benjamin Button

Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler

Debra Winger in Rachel Getting Married

Best Supporting Actor

Josh Brolin in Milk

Robert Downey, Jr. in Tropic Thunder

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Dev Pattel in Slumdog Millionaire

Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road

Best Director

Gus Van Sant, Jr...Milk

Christopher Nolan...The Dark Knight

Darren Aronofsky...The Wrestler

David Fincher....Benjamin Button

Danny Boyle...Slumdog Millionaire

Critics Groups

My favorite time of year is at hand - the various critics circles and pre-Oscar awards will be announced over the following two weeks. I always have a special place in my heart for the New York Film Critics Awards - www.nyfcc.com - I tend to be in tune with their selections far more than the eventual Oscar winners and I'm eager to hear who they choose this year.  Sissy Spacek has been selected as the Best Actress 3x - In the Bedroom, Crimes of the Heart and Coal Miner's Daughter (with an additional citation as Best Supporting Actress for Altman's Three Women in 77). 

I am expecting the following films and actors to pop up all over the critics awards this year;

Best Picture

The Wrestler - If the advance word from Toronto comes true, this will be the critics darling for the year, most likely in NY, which responds best to indie grunge (see Leaving Las Vegas, Naked, 

Wall-E  - the best reviewed film of the year.  At least one of the groups is going to push it outside the Animated Category and acknowledge it's brilliance and ingenuity with the big prize.

Benjamin Button 

Best Actress

This is gonna come down to Sally Hawkins in Happy Go Lucky vs. Kristin Scott-Thomas in I've Loved You So Long (Although the Oscar is looking more like a Streep/Blanchett contest).

Best Actor

Mickey Rourke

Sean Penn

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz

Rosemary DeWitt

(I personally could be argued to award the female cast of Synecdoche, New York here but that's not really fair.  Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Dianne Wiest, Hope Davis, Patricia Clarkson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Watson, etc)

Best Supporting Actor

Heath Ledger

Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder

or the breakout from Revolutionary Road -Michael Shannon.

I'm expecting NYC to go with Downey, for the coolness factor. Also, Heath isn't likely to show up at the ceremony.

Best Director

It's going to be a total surprise. Mike Leigh for Happy Go Lucky, Christopher Nolan for The Dark Knight, Woody Allen???

Golden Globe Comedy/Musical Predix

Now that we are deep into November, the Oscar race is intensiying, and thus GOLDEN GLOBE fever is in the air.  The Drama nominations seem to be clarifying themselves, and I will go on record with some predictions shortly.  What really intrigues me right now is the dearth of competition in the comedy/musical category.  There are a couple of films they may choose to place in this category that really have no business there; Happy Go Lucky, Rachel Getting Married and Synecdoche, New York are not comedies, but all three are critical smashes and may find themselves in some surprise categories.  I'm not counting on that, so here's what the current crop looks like;

Best Picture (Comedy/Musical)

Sex and the City

Mamma Mia

Iron Man

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Cadillac Records

Sex and the City and Mamma Mia seem definite here and I'd venture to say SEX will win.  Other nomination possibilities are Tropic Thunder, Burn After Reading and Wall-E (but seriously, if they are gonna nominate the Pixar film outside of animation, doesn't it qualify as a Drama?).  See what I mean?

Best Actress - Comedy or Musical

Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City

Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia

Tina Fey in Baby Mama (seriously)

Emma Thompson in Last Chance Harvey

Scarlett Johannson in Vicky Cristina Barcelona 

Other scary ideas include Katherine Heigl for 27 Dresses, Kristen Bell for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Beyonce for Cadillac Records, Anna Faris in House Bunny (she also deserves a career achievement award methinks).  Oh and the winner is Sarah Jessica Parker, whereby she becomes her Oscar nomination chances start becoming realistic.  How did this happen?

Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical

Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder

Robert Downey, Jr. in Iron Man

Josh Brolin in W.

George Clooney in Burn After Reading

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Synecdoche, New York

Tricky.  Will Smith in Hancock? Adam Sandler in Zohan?  Ricky Gervais in Ghost Town?  Adrien Brody in Cadillac Records? Javier Bardem for his incredible performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona?  I'd put money on a DOWNEY JR. win here, although it's gonna turn out to be a very good year for Brolin (whose supporting nod for Milk looks solid).

More updates to come, if you like this....

D.

otters are nice

Broadcast News

Some films I've seen lately;

4 Months, 3 Weeks and Two Days - Super-intense movie set in 1987 Romania detailing a very painful day in the life of two women, one of whom is pursuing an "illegal" abortion. Very difficult to watch, but ample rewards.

The Nines - lame supernatural thriller with Ryan Reynolds and Hope Davis.  They both play 3 separate characters.  One of Ryan's is gay.  That is compelling on some level.  Otherwise, no thanks. John August, who wrote GO makes his directorial debut here.

Smiley Face - Hysterical Anna Faris stoner comedy.  Doesn't really add up and never achieves the splendor of Dude Where's My Car, but there are some very very funny scenes and Anna is always a treat.

miss woods comma elle

2 more flicks...

Endured the Hugh Grant/Drew Barrymore thing MUSIC AND LYRICS.  I suspect everyone involved in this movie was aiming for pleasant and generic.  They succeeded! Drew Barrymore bugged me less than usual.  Lots of Broadway folk in the supporting cast, which is always fun to see...Matt Morrison, Jason Antoon, Kristen Johnston, etc.

I'm much more excited about Christopher Nolan's FOLLOWING. It's Nolan's first film and there are some interesting parallels to Memento and his Batmans.  The movie was shot for $6,000 and all on Saturdays.  It is 70 minutes.  I found it very compelling.  Worth a rental.

Bi,

D.

i used to pray for the day you'd leave

OK.  I've watched 2 more films.  Roman Polanski's 1974 classic CHINATOWN and Gela Babluani's underseen and deeply disturbing 13 TZAMETI.  Both movies thrilled me.  I had seen Chinatown on Betamax as a kid...probably when I was 12 or 13.  I remember liking aspects of it, and understanding the tone, but it's a very adult movie and I wasn't able to fully appreciate the fullness of its script until now.  It's a very cynical, romantic, complicated masterpiece. Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway are incredible.  

I recall skimming a couple of positive reviews for 13 Tzameti when it was released in July 06, but never knew what it was about.  I am very happy to have been able to watch the movie without any previous knowledge of its intense content.  If you enjoy slowly building tension with a nice Nihilist energy, please check out the movie.  It's French.  The black and white cinematography is incredible.  The reviews I read after seeing the flick compare it to old school Eastern European cinema.  Does anyone have any specific examples of similar films I should view?

Gonna try to watch a couple of more flix now.  Lata.

2008 Film Blog

I'm going to try to report in on EVERY film I watch over the course of this year, regardless of whether the films are old classics, bullshit entertainment or new releases.

The first movie I watched this year was the 1959 Katherine Hepburn/Liz Taylor "classic" Suddenly, Last Summer.  The material is kinda dated and silly, but everyone commits 100% and the results are fairly captivating.  

My 2nd film of the year was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  Nope, I had never seen it before. I probably would have been OK keeping it that way.  Fun script, and Newman and Redford are ridiculously beautiful, but at the end of the day, who cares?

 

2008 Oscar Predictions

Hey there,

It's a strange Oscar season.  Due to the Writers Strike, no one quite knows what will happen with the actual ceremony, thus there is an odd air of ambiguity regarding the whole process. My predictions indicate a pervasive darkness to the nominees. In my heart, I'm hopeful all this darkness will be embraced, but my brain tells me some big compromises will be made and some random "happy" movies will be represented.  

Here are my current thoughts for the nominations;

Best Picture

Atonement

Into the Wild

No Country for Old Men

Sweeney Todd

There Will Be Blood

Best Actress

Helena Bonham-Carter in Sweeney Todd

Julie Christie in Away from Her

Marion Cotilliard in La Vie en Rose

Keira Knightley in Atonement

Ellen Page in Juno

Best Actor

George Clooney in Michael Clayton

Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood

Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd

Emile Hirsch in Into the Wild

Denzel Washington in American Gangster

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett in I'm Not There

Catherine Keener in Into the Wild

Saoirse Ronan in Atonement

Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone

Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actor

Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James

Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War

Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild

Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson/There Will Be Blood

Tim Burton/Sweeney Todd

Joel Coen & Ethan Coen/No Country for Old Men

Ridley Scott/American Gangster

Julian Schnabel/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The End, for now.