Review: 81st Academy Awards

The 81st Academy Awards had its ups and downs, unfortunately though in my opinions, more downs than ups. To start, Hugh Jackman hosted this year, an interesting choice and I gave him a chance. The intro song and dance was actually pretty funny and interesting with them building low cost props out of cardboard “due to these hard economic times”. The bits about The Reader and The Wrestler were pretty funny but the best part was when Hugh dragged Ann Hathaway up on stage to play the part of Nixon as Hugh played Frost, very funny, and of course the end where he proclaimed “this is the Oscars and I’m Wolverine!”. Though the second musical number, with Beyonce and the cast of High School Musical was not nearly as entertaining and actually just downright bad. Some of my favorite moments from the Oscars this year would be Ben Stiller’s spot on imitation of Joaquin Phoenix, chewing gum and wondering the stage aimlessly. Jack Black’s “secret” for making money in animation, “do one Dreamworks picture a year, then take all the money you made from that movie to the Oscars and bet on Pixar”. Though the best part by far was the skit with Seth Rogen and James Franco reprising their roles from Pineapple Express (I still don’t know how this movie wasn’t nominated for anything, specifically James Franco) as they watched “bootlegged” DVDs of this year’s nominees. Watching them crack up while watching Doubt and The Reader was great, or mistaking Love Guru for Slumdog Millionaire (it is better) but the best part had to be when they were watching Milk (showing all the clips of Franco making out with Sean Penn) and Franco puts his arm around Rogen, hilarious, then of course they brought out Janusz Kaminski, great stuff. Back to Hugh Jackman, while I don’t think he was a bad host I would personally like to see the return of Jon Stewart, he did a fantastic job hosting and it’s not his fault viewership was down last year, after the writer’s strike he had 13 days to prepare for it and most people were not interested in watching because of the lackluster Emmy awards that year.

Now to talk about the categories and who won and who got snubbed.
Original Screenplay: Winner – Milk. A deserved win and a beautiful acceptance speech, but I can’t help but think this was a political win due to the attempt to overturn Prop 8 soon, I still feel that In Bruges should have won this award, amazing writing.

Adapted Screenplay: Winner – Slumdog Millionaire. I found nothing impressive about the writing of this movie, very forgettable, Doubt or Benjamin Button should have won this category.

Achievement in Visual Effects: Winner – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. A close call but well deserved win.

Achievement in Sound Mixing: Winner – Slumdog Millionaire. WHAT? How did Slumdog Millionaire beat out Dark Knight, Wall-E, Wanted and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button for sound mixing? This is just an insult!

Achievement in Sound Editing: Winner – The Dark Knight. Finally some justice as Dark Knight beats out Slumdog in a well deserved win.

Best Live Action Short: Winner - Spielzeugland (Toyland). No problems with this.

Best Animated Short: Winner - La Maison en Petits Cubes. Never saw it but I really liked Presto.

Best Original Song: Winner – Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire. I still can’t believe they didn’t nominate Bruce Springsteen’s song “The Wrestler” for The Wrestler, that’s an insult and that song should have won.

Best Original Score: Winner – Slumdog Millionaire. I’m noticing a pattern at this point. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and Wall-E had beautiful scores and one of them should have won.

Achievement in Makeup: Winner – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Another close call amongst the nominees but still a well deserved win.

Best Foreign Language Film: Winner – Departures. Great acceptance speech.

Achievement in Film Editing: Winner – Slumdog Millionaire. Again, how did this movie win this? The other four nominees had beautiful editing, Slumdog was frantic and annoying at at times. Dark Knight or Benjamin Button should have taken this award home.

Best Documentary Short: Winner – Smile Pinki. Didn’t see any of these.

Best Documentary: Winner – Man On Wire. Great movie, very inspirational. Best part though was having Bill Maher, who’s documentary should have been nominated but whatever, give out the award.

Best Director: Winner – Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire. I like Danny Boyle but think he should stick to movies like 28 Days Later or especially Sunshine, that was an amazing movie. This should have gone to Ron Howard or Gus Van Sant.

Best Costume Design: Winner – The Duchess. Never saw the movie but the costumes did look pretty good from what I saw.

Achievement in Cinematography: Winner – Slumdog Millionaire. I give up, this is ridiculous. Should have gone to Benjamin Button or Dark Knight.

Achievement in Art Direction: Winner – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Well deserved win, that movie was beautiful.

Best Animated Feature: Winner – Wall-E. All these movies were great but Wall-E takes the cake. For a movie that had barely any dialogue, the body language was amazing and kept me excited throughout.

Performance by and Actress in a Supporting Role: Winner – Penelope Cruz. This was one of the biggest snubs of the night, I don’t know what it is about Penelope Cruz but I just don’t find her to be that good of an actress. Viola Davis did an amazing job, but she was only in the movie for 5 to 10 minutes so I feel that Taraji P. Henson should have won this, her performance was perfect and amazing and emotional.

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Winner – Heath Ledger. An absolutely deserved win and it was really nice to see someone besides Christopher Nolan accept the award. His family gave a very emotional and honest speech, one of the best of the night.

Performance by and Actress in a Leading Role: Winner – Kate Winslet. I like Kate Winslet but I just don’t think she’s a “Great” actress. I feel that Meryl Streep should have won for her fantastic performance in Doubt.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Winner – Sean Penn. Great performance and amazing speech but again I can’t help to feel this win was political. Mickey Rourke’s performance in The Wrestler was ground breaking and simply astonishing. Plus, this is probably the closest Rourke will ever be to winning an Oscar, while Penn will probably be nominated again in the years to come. It would have been nice to see Penn give his award to Rourke.

Best Picture: Winner – Slumdog Millionaire. Again, I just don’t get it, this movie was so very forgettable and the performances were terrible (thank you academy for at least realizing this), the story was laughable and it just didn’t move me at all. Every year I look at the nominees for this category and can at least understand why a movie is nominated, I may not always like the movie, but I at least understand. Great performances, great writing, great story, emotional, beautiful imagery and cinematography, this movie had none of that. I think I’ve finally figured out the reason people love it so much, most Americans like to feel like they care about the world, this movie shows scenes filmed in the slums of Mumbai. I think people thought that if they liked the movie and supported it they were somehow helping the people in those slums. That has to be it because this movie, like I said, was very forgettable. I still feel that The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Milk, Frost/Nixon, Doubt, The Wrestler, The Reader, Gran Torino, The Dark Knight or In Bruges should have won over this movie, all were exceptional movies with great writing, great acting, great stories and everything else that makes a movie stick with you.

Review: He's Just Not That Into You

Grade: B-

It may surprise many of you to know that I was actually interested in seeing this movie. There were a number of reasons, first, I like Greg Behrendt, the writer of the book this movie is based on, he is a very funny and honest man when it comes to the subject of relationships and secondly, I like the cast, I don’t care what anybody thinks but I really enjoy Ben Affleck, also I like Justin Long, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston and Scarlet Johansson and was pleasantly surprised to see brief appearances from Kris Kristofferson and Luis Guzman. This movie, set in Baltimore, is about a group of different intertwining relationships and a couple of people trying to find love… and how it can all go wrong sometimes.

It starts in a park where a young girl is pushed down by a boy who then says that she is “made of dog poo”, this girl then goes to her mother who proceeds to tell her that the reason he did this is because he likes her. Then we have the narration about how girls are conditioned to believe that if a guy treats them bad that that just means he likes her. This is just one of many problems about relationships presented in the movie. I was very happy to see that this movie wasn’t a man-hating movie and in fact in several cases, the women were worse than the men.

First you have the (in my opinion) lovable character Gigi, played so very well by the beautiful Ginnifer Goodwin, who is very, how do I put this kindly… psychotic and clingy when it comes to dating. She’ll go on a date with a guy, exchange phone numbers, then literally wait by the phone for him to call, then call him, then drop by a bar she knows he hangs out at in hopes of running into him. She befriends my favorite character in the movie, Alex, played superbly by Justin Long. Alex is a very honest straight forward guy who tells Gigi the inner workings of a guys mind. He tells her things like “if he doesn’t call you, he’s not going to because he’s not interested” and “If he says he’s going out of town and won’t be able to be reached for a couple days, he’s not interested” and many others. Alex is friends with Conor, played by Kevin Connolly, a real estate agent who is hung up on a girl who just toys with his emotions and shows no real interest in being in a relationship with him. This girl, who in my opinion is easily the scummiest character of them all, Anna, played by the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson. Anna, as I mentioned, toys with Conor and strings him along and just uses the guy basically and on top of that she meets the character Ben, played by Bradley Cooper, who is a married man, she then proceeds to tease him and flirt with him until he finally caves and cheats on his wife by sleeping with her. Ben is married to Janine, played by Jennifer Connolly, who is, again in my opinion, crazy and does not have her priorities straight, she is more upset about her husband possibly smoking than her husband cheating on her and we find out at one point, that she never has sex with her husband, ever. Janine works with Gigi as well as Beth, played by Jennifer Aniston, who has been in a relationship with Neil, played by Ben Affleck, for over 7 years and is still not married and wishes to get engaged, but Neil doesn’t believe in the institution of marriage, but her younger sister is now getting married leaving her the last of four daughters to be married. Lastly, going back a couple steps, Janine is friends with Mary, played by Drew Barrymore, a columnist who works at a gay magazine who finds that technology lately, makes relationships, or rather finding one, complicated.

This movie was actually very funny and very good. I really enjoyed it and all the performances were great, especially Justin Long, it’s movies like this that makes me think he needs a better agent, he is such a talented and funny actor he should be making better movies. Also, I am not a big Scarlett Johansson fan but she was pretty good in this as well. I’m not a big fan of Jennifer Aniston in movies but she was great in this. He’s Just Not That Into You is also a very insightful movie, as I have known girls like Gigi and Beth. It is a very honest movie and sometimes brutally so. There is stuff in this movie for men as well as women, so it is not a straight chick flick and I think some guys will enjoy this movie with their girlfriends. This provocative movie is not your typical chick flick, there are no make-over montages, nobody slides down a wall while crying, nobody laughs and cries at the same time, no elderly people saying inappropriate things, no emotional chases down the street, no speech about every little detail that the guy likes about the girl or vice versa and no falling in love montages, in fact I don’t remember a single montage in the entire movie. This really is a movie for everybody. I really do recommend everybody go see this, it is a great date movie.

Review: Push

Grade: B

Push is a sci-fi thriller about a group of young American people with different psychic powers who band together in order to try to bring down a government agency that hunts them down to either experiment on them in order to turn them into weapons or kill them, usually while experimenting on them. There are nine different kind of psychic abilities involved. Movers are people that can move objects with their minds, and if they are advanced enough, can even deflect bullets with their mind. Pushers are people that can put any thought, memory or emotion into a person’s head and can make them perform actions making them think it was their own agenda. Watchers can see into the future or track somebody by seeing what they are going to do. Bleeders are able to emit powerful high-pitched sonic frequencies that can cause blood vessels in people bodies to explode or can destroy certain objects. Sniffs act like psychic bloodhounds by being able to smell an object, or even the air, in order to track somebody and even see what they have done. Shifters are able to shift light to create illusions to the naked eye, for example they could pull out a 1 dollar bill and make it look like a 100 dollar bill for an extended period of time, the effects are not permanent. Shadows are able to “block” the vision of sniffs as long as they are near the subject in question. Lastly, Stitchers are people who can heal people rapidly with their hands, and if they want, even un-heal whatever they’ve done.

This movie mostly focuses around 2 characters played by Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Sunshine) and Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds, Charlotte’s Web) as they try to find a case that contains an item that could bring down the government agency known as Division. Chris Evans did a great job as Nick Grant, a mover who is still trying to develop his powers. He was funny and did great with the action scenes, I have always enjoyed his acting. Evans’ back must be hurting because he had to carry Dakota Fanning’s acting through the movie. I don’t know how this girl still has a career, she has two modes, monotone and boring or screaming her head off (thankfully she didn’t do any of this in this movie because that almost ruined War of the Worlds). Her acting was stiff and drab throughout. Djimon Hounsou did a fantastic job as the evil Agent Henry Carver from division. He did a great job playing a character who clearly does not care if these people live or die, in fact in several scenes, it seems he prefers the latter. The rest of the cast was did a great job as well which included Camilla Belle (10,000 BC) as Kira Hudson, a pusher the Division it tracking as she is the only person to survive the injections they give these people, Nate Mooney as Pinky Stein a shadow they hire to protect Kira and Cliff Curtis (Sunshine) a shifter who helps them with their plan.

I did have a few, minor, problems with this movie. First, there are some scenes where the camera work is a little hectic and can be dizzying. Another being a something I just found didn’t make much sense. Chris Evans’ character at the beginning of the movie doesn’t seem to know how to use his power, he can’t even get a die to roll, but by the end of the movie (which is probably a day or two later) he is an expert at using his powers to the point where he can deflect bullets, a task only the top expert movers are able to accomplish. Lastly, I don’t know who’s idea it was to dress Dakota Fanning like a hooker, but that was grossly inappropriate. Her hair is dirty and frizzy and has ugly pink stripes in it but the worst part, was that the entire movie I had to watch this 13 year old girl walk around in a skirt so short it would make a Jenna Jameson blush and on top of that there were several scenes that she would be sitting or lying down and the camera would be in front of her and she would have her legs open, this was just wrong. Other than that Push was a very fun and very exciting sci-fi movie with a great cast

Review: Pink Panther 2

Grade: C+

The Pink Panther movies have always been classics and I loved the re imagining of the series with Steve Martin back in 2006 so I was kind of excited to see this sequel. In this movie, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, played by Steve Martin, has been working outside of the museum the Pink Panther diamond is kept on display, writing parking tickets for six months. This is an assignment that Chief Inspector Dryfus, played by John Cleese, put him on to get him out of his hair. Now, Chief Inspector Dryfus has been asked to assign Inspector Clouseau to a “dream team” of international detectives to track down and capture a thief known as “the Tornado” who has been stealing historic artifacts from around the world. As he predicted, as soon as Clouseau leaves Paris, the Pink Panther Diamond is stolen by the Tornado and he must now once again, find and save the priceless diamond.



This movie had an all star cast that helped make this movie just as funny as the 2006 Pink Panther. This includes the return of Jean Reno as Ponton and Emily Mortimer as Nicole. Also, John Cleese joins the cast as Chief Inspector Dryfus, Andy Garcia joins as Italian detective Vicenzo, Alfred Molina joins as the English detective Pepperidge and Lily Tomlin as the etiquette teacher Mrs. Berenger. Great cast and a very funny movie. Steve Martin was great as the dim witted Clouseau delivering great physical humor to the role as well as some great lines. John Cleese was hilarious as always, Andy Garcia was entertaining as he tried to swoon Nicole and Alfred Molina was fantastic as the pompous Pepperidge, especially at the end, I won’t give it away.



Over all, this movie was well worth seeing if you like Steve Martin comedies. The story is great and the humor is nonstop. While this one is not quite as funny as the 2006 Pink Panther, it is still well worth watching.

Mini Reviews

Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

Grade: A-

This movie was fantastic. If you have seen the first two Underworld movies then this is a must see. Taking place during the dark ages, Rise of the Lycans is about how the feud between Vampires and Werewolves started. Bill Nighy is back as the evil and corrupt head of the vampires, Victor. Michael Sheen is back as Lucian, the first werewolf that can transform back into a human at will. Victor uses Lucian to create a new breed of werewolves that can serve them and protect them during the day. Lucian falls in love with Victor’s daughter Sonja, as played by Rhona Mitra. Lucian, wanting to be free of his shackles, convinces the rest of the Lycans to rise up and free themselves, then starting the centuries long feud between the two. Rhona Mitra was excellent as Sonja, Michael Sheen was great as Lucian and Bill Nighy was superb as the very intense Victor. The effects were great and the action was a plenty. I highly recommend this movie if you are a fan of the genre.

New In Town

Grade: D+

This movie, about an executive from a corporation in Miami who moves, temporarily, to a small town in Minnesota in the middle of winter to oversee the transition of a plant, was cute. Renee Zellweger plays Lucy Hill, an executive who apparently has never experienced winter. Harry Connick Jr. plays Ted Mitchell, a union rep and single father of a teenage daughter. Siobhan Fallon plays Blanche Gunderson, a Midwestern woman with a killer recipe for Tapioca and Lucy’s assistant. But the man who stole the show is J.K Simmons as Stu Kopenhafer, the plant manager. I don’t know why, but they decided to make J.K. Simmons quite fat. This movie had a few laughs and your typical hate turns to love story and unfortunately most of the big laughs are in the trailer for the movie. None the less, this movie is a very good date movie.

Taken

Grade: B+

I love a good vengeance movie so I was pretty excited to see this, and it was worth it. Liam Neeson plays an ex-spy who has retired to try to spend more time, and get closer to, his daughter who lives with her mom and rich stepdad. His daughter goes to Paris and ends up getting kidnapped by human traffickers, he then tells the kidnappers that he will find them, kill them and get his daughter back. The rest of the movie is very suspenseful as he uses every resource and bit of training he has to rack these people down and get save his daughter. Filled with action and suspense I was on the edge of my seat through most of the movie. There is some pretty shocking scenes and Liam Neeson kicks some serious butt. Well worth it.

DVD: War, Inc.

I had heard of this movie and I like John Cusack so I thought I’d rent it and give it a try. Definitely worth watching, John Cusack is back as a hitman, Marisa Tomei is a left wing reporter and Hilary Duff is hilarious as a Middle Eastern pop star with such great song as “I want to Blow You… Up”. This movie is a great satire about the war in the middle east and coporations rebuilding the countries. Very funny all around with some good action. If you get a chance, pick this one up.

Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Grade: C-

Slumdog Millionaire, the movie that has been winning critic and audience praise, sweeping awards shows and is off to the Oscars where it could be labeled as the best movie of 2008. I feel so alone. Am I the only one that didn’t find this movie all that impressive? Is the story of Jamal Malik, an unlikely winner of India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Jamal, his brother Samir, and fellow orphan Latika, manage to survive an almost absurd number of scrapes, the memory of each one coincidentally providing Jamal with answers to the game show questions. This movie was unbelievable, and I don’t mean that in a “this movie was so good I can’t believe it” way, I mean it in a “these coincidences are so ridiculous” sort of way.

To start the movie you see Jamal being interrogated by the police on suspicion of cheating on the game show because, as is said numerous times, how could a dog from the slums of Mumbai know the answers to the questions on a game show that doctors and lawyers can’t get as far as he has. Now, by interrogating, I mean torturing, they are beating him up, drowning him in a bucket of water and hooking a car battery to his toes. This is where it started to get weird already, they are torturing him and he doesn’t say anything but after electrocuting him they ask what does a slumdog know and he simply replies “the answers”. So do they do what these men look and sound like they’d do? Do they jolt him again? No. They kindly untie him, sit him in a chair in an office, no longer in the back room, and give him some water and let him explain. WHAT? Why are these officers suddenly so sympathetic? Either way now we begin the redundant formula the whole movie follows of showing their conversation, showing a clip from the show then showing his flashback that always manages to somehow, and usually quite oddly and unbelievably, give him the answer to the question. The sad thing is, and part of the reason I didn’t really care much for this movie, that within the first 10-15 minutes of the movie I knew exactly how the end was going to play out, and I was right.

Also, during these flashbacks there are numerous musical montages, this gets old after the second or third. Also, to add insult to injury, one of the musical montages is set to possibly the most annoying song of 2008, M.I.A’s Paper Planes. The sad thing is it wasn’t even the original M.I.A version, it sounded like they got an Indian woman to sing it and it sounded like she was randomly going from singing in Hindi to English in mid sentence.

The performances in this movie were completely forgettable. Dev Patel, who plays Jamal, seemed so plain and bland, never really showing any emotion and who always had a look on his face like even he can’t believe his own dumb luck. I felt no reason to really care for his character. Freida Pinto, Latika, was forgettable, granted she wasn’t on screen that much but when she was I just couldn’t get behind her performance, again she seemed a little flat. The only believable performance was Bollywood star Anil Kapoor who played the host of the game show.

Finally, the love story, which is supposed to be the center of the film, this was the most unbelievable part of the entire movie. Orphaned Jamal and Samir meet Latika when they are around 6 or 7 and allow Latika to join them, it seems, mostly out of pity. She travels with them for a little while before they lose her trying to escape a man using children to make money. Several years later Jamal manages to find her again and he and Samir save her from a prostitution ring, only for Samir to turn to a life of crime that night and Jamal looses Latika again. Then, again, years later, Jamal finds out that Latika is part of a harem belonging to a gangster his brother works for, he sees her briefly one day and promises to wait for her. Samir and some gangsters take her and they all disappear, this is when Jamal gets the idea to go on the game show in hopes that she will see him. I’m sorry, but not one bit of this seemed realistic to me. The only time Jamal ever spent any time with Latika, they were 6 or 7, I’m sorry but nobody meets their soul mate, or even knows what a soul mate is, at that age. I find it impossible that he would love her as much as he seems to think he does. I don’t feel like he even knows who she is. People change a lot under normal circumstances over that period of time, she experienced severe trauma over those years, there is no way that she is the same person that he met when he was 6. The whole love story was completely implausible.

Now, I’m not saying that this was a bad movie I’m just saying that it wasn’t that good and, in my opinion, absolutely does not warrant all the awards it’s being nominated for and wining. The movie, at times, did look very good and and had a fast tempo with some great music that was a great homage to Bollywood movies including, the best part of the movie, the dance sequence that played during the end credits. This movie was a very ambitious attempt by Danny Boyle but I feel he should stick to his strong suits and keep making Sci-Fi movies like Sunshine.

81st Annual Academy Awards

The 81st Annual Academy Awards are coming up and I thought I’d share my thoughts on the matter of my predictions, who I think should win and who, if anybody, got snubbed for the category.

Actor In A Leading Role

Nominees: Richard Jenkins: The Visitor, Frank Langella: Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn: Milk, Brad Pitt: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Mickey Rourke: The Wrestler.

My Prediction: Mickey Rourke: The Wrestler

Who Should Win: This is a tough decision to make, all of these performances were excellent and top notch. Richard Jenkins was touching in The Visitor. Frank Langella was excellent as Richard Nixon, Sean Penn was inspirational in Milk, Brad Pitt was fantastic as Benjamin Button and Rourke gave an amazing performance in The Wrestler. I feel that the person who most deserves it is, in a very close decision for me, Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler. This truly is a comeback performance about a man trying to make a comeback. He was moving and magnificent in this movie.

Snubs: Even though he was nominated for supporting actor, I feel Philip Seymour Hoffman should have been nominated for Lead Actor for his performance in Doubt. The movie centers around his character. Robert Downey Jr.: Iron Man.

Actor In A Supporting Role

Nominees: Josh Brolin: Milk, Robert Downey Jr.: Tropic Thunder, Philip Seymour Hoffman: Doubt, Heath Ledger: The Dark Knight, Michael Shannon: Revolutionary Road.

My Prediction: Heath Ledger: The Dark Knight

Who Should Win: While Heath Ledger’s performance was amazing and he deserves it for the interrogation scene alone in Dark Knight, I feel him winning it will be mostly because he died shortly after filming it. I feel that Robert Downey Jr. Gave an absolutely amazing performance, he’s an American actor playing an Australian actor playing a black Vietnam American soldier. Simply brilliant.

Snubs: Take your pick, Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell and Kevin Bacon in Frost/Nixon, all were fantastic. Oh, and I can’t forget Tom Cruise’s amazing performance in Tropic Thunder. Lastly, but certainly not least, James Franco in either Pineapple Express or Milk, both performances were amazing.

Actress In A Leading Role

Nominees: Anne Hathaway: Rachel Getting Married, Angelina Jolie: The Changeling, Melissa Leo: Frozen River, Meryl Streep: Doubt, Kate Winslet: The Reader.

My Prediction: Kate Winslet: The Reader.

Who Should Win: Meryl Streep gave an absolutely amazing performance as a woman who strongly believes her instincts and tries to fight a world and organization run by men in Doubt.

Snubs: Cate Blanchett was great in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.

Actress In A Supporting Role

Nominees: Amy Adams: Doubt, Penelope Cruz: Vicky Christina Barcelona, Viola Davis: Doubt, Taraji P. Henson: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Marisa Tomei: The Wrestler.

My Prediction: Taraji P. Henson: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Who Should Win: Taraji P. Henson was very touching and gave such an emotional performance as Benjamin Button’s adoptive mother. Really truly amazing.

Snubs: Gwyneth Paltrow in Iron Man

Animated Feature Film

Nominees: Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E

My Prediction: Wall-E

Who Should Win: Wall-E was so good that I would almost say it should be nominated for Best Picture.

Snubs: None

Art Direction

Nominees: Changeling, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, The Duchess, Revolutionary Road.

My Prediction: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Who Should Win: Close call on this one too between Benjamin Button and Dark Knight, both were beautiful but I’m gonna say Dark Knight because they had to design the entire city of Gotham, and they did an amazing job.

Snubs: None

Cinematography

Nominees: Changeling, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire.

My Prediction: Slumdog Millionaire

Who Should Win: The cinematography in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button was so well done that many of the scenes looked like they were filmed in the time period they took place. So very beautifully done.

Snubs: The Spirit looked so artistic.

Directing

Nominees: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire

My Prediction: Slumdog Millionaire

Who Should Win: David Fincher did a perfect job of directing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Snubs: Jon Favreau for Iron Man and Christopher Nolan for Dark Knight.

Documentary Feature

Nominees: The Betrayal, Encounters At The End Of The World, The Garden, Man On Wire, Trouble The Water.

My Prediction: Man On Wire

Who Should Win: Man On Wire was a brilliant and inspirational documentary.

Snubs: Religulous

Film Editing

Nominees: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk, Slumdog Millionare

My Prediction: Slumdog Millionaire

Who Should Win: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, the editing was beautiful.

Snubs: None

Makeup

Nominees: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

My Prediction: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Who Should Win: The makeup in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button was amazing, just see the movie and you’ll understand.

Snubs: None

Music (Song)

Nominees: “Down To Earth”: Wall-E, “Jai Ho”: Slumdog Millionaire, “O Saya”: Slumdog Millionaire.

My Prediction: “Jai Ho”: Slumdog Millionaire

Who Should Win: “Down To Earth”: Wall-E

Snubs: The biggest snub at the Oscars this year is not nominating “The Wrestler” by Bruce Springsteen for The Wrestler. This song was simply amazing.

Short Film (Animated)

Nominees: La Maison En Pettits Cubes, Lavatory – Lovestory, Oktapodi, Presto, This Way Up
My Prediction: Presto

Who Should Win: Presto is another hit from the great people at Pixar.

Snubs: None

Visual Effects

Nominees: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Iron Man

My Prediction: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Who Should Win: Tough decision between Benjamin Button and Iron Man but I have to go with Benjamin Button for the amazing effects provided in that movie, they really managed to make a 7 year old look like an 80 year old Brad Pitt. Again, see the movie.

Snubs: None

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Nominees: The Curious Case Of Banjamin Button, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire

My Prediction: Slumdog Millionaire

Who Should Win: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. I was really nervous about them adapting a short story into a three hour movie but they did, and the outcome was amazing.

Snubs: Iron Man, Dark Knight.

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Nominees: Frozen River, Happy Go Lucky, In Bruges, Milk, Wall-E

My Prediction: Happy Go Lucky

Who Should Win: In Bruges was an amazing movie, extremely well written.

Snubs: None

Best Picture

Nominees: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire.

My Prediction: Slumdog Millionaire

Who Should Win: Most of these movies were great but in my opinion The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button was an amazing movie, absolutely perfect.

Snubs: (After seeing Slumdog Millionaire)The Wrestler, Doubt, Gran Torino, The Dark Knight, Wall-E, In Bruges, Run Fatboy Run, Choke, W., Changeling, Iron Man, Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Burn After Reading, Synecdoche New York.

Review: Gran Torino

Grade: A

Went to see this movie the other day not knowing much about it other than Clint Eastwood was in it and it had something to do with a car. I decided to see it because I like Clint Eastwood for the most part and kept hearing it was good. This movie is one of those instances though that the trailer for it doesn't accurately advertise the movie. The trailer made this movie look like a super serious movie about a man waring with his neighbors, because he's racist, and a local gang. Not quite the case.

To start, the first scene is at a funeral for Clint Eastwood's character, Walt, wife. So now he is alone and, yes, angry at the world. He barely knows sons and their families. He sees his grandchildren as disrespectful, which they are, one shows up to the funeral in a football jersey, the girl shows up in a belly shirt and a short skirt, and another is cracking jokes throughout the funeral. Then a family of Koreans move in next door, which Walt is none too thrilled about because yes, he is a bit racist and he fought in the Korean War. In that family there is a relativly young boy names Tao. Tao's cousin is in a gang and keeps trying to get Tao to "man up" by joining the gang. First they try to have Tao steel Walt's '72 Gran Torino, but Walt catches him in the act. Then the gang tries to get Tao to join the gang again and a fight breaks out at which point Walt runs outside with his rifle out yelling for everybody to get off his lawn. The family thanks him for "saving them and Tao", then Tao's mother makes him work for Walt in order to appologize for trying to steal his car.

This is where the movie really gets interesting. Walt begins to bond with the boy and, in turn, with Tao's family. The suprising thing is that this movie is really funny. Walt isn't being racist in the sense that he really hates these people and wants them gone, he just is used to the racial slurs he picked up fighting the war, which he uses all throughout the movie even to their faces. Great thing is they don't seem to care and still befriend him.

This movie is actually really kind of sweet and funny and inspirational. A fantastic, and perfect in it's own way, role for Clint Eastwood to finish off a magnificent career. This movie is a great way for an amazing actor to leave the business. This movie is probably now one of my favorite Clint Eastwood movies, if not just my favorite. Great movie for all to see.

Review: Milk

Grade: A

I was looking forward to seeing this movie. I had heard stories about Harvey Milk and with the current situation in California over Prop 8, it was about time someone came made a movie like this, maybe a little too late in my opinion. I would like to state that this will not be a normal review. I am going to mix my feelings about the movie in with my feelings about the issues it brings up. If you see or have seen this movie maybe you felt the same way I did and will understand.

For those who don't know, Milk is a movie about gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk. The movie takes place in the 70's in San Francisco California. The majority of the movie involves Harvey Milk, after being elected to supervisor, trying to pass a gay rights law banning businesses and housing from denying people based on sexual orientation and trying to defeat a bill that would fire all homosexual teachers, Prop 6. The cast was absolutely phenomenal. Sean Penn was perfect as the title character Harvey Milk, portraying his characteristics to perfection. James Franco gives another amazing performance as Harvey Milk's lover Scott Smith, it's roles like this and his diverse role in Pineapple Express that proves he will become one of the great actors of our day. Emile Hirsch, who played Cleve Jones, a young man who helped Harvey in his campaigns, was fantastic. James Brolin was excellent as Supervisor Dan White, who killed the mayor and Harvey Milk.

This movie was beautifully done and I have never experienced anything like it. I say that because I have seen movies like Remember the Titans and all movies like it, movies that take place in the 50's 60's and 70's that revolve around racism and haven't really been moved because, in my opinion (and especially after this recent election, I know this will upset some people), racism is dead. YES, there are still a few bad apples out there, and there always will be. In my opinion the only things keeping racism alive today is stuff like affirmative action. Anyway, as I watched Milk I had to restrain myself several times from stand up and yelling at the screen. I have never had a movie make me so angry but in such a good way. Why did this movie upset me so much? Because it absolutely disgusts me that our society, in regards to gay rights, is right back in the 70's. Gay rights haven't improved much if at all since the 70's and we are regressing as well. What's worse is that the argument against gay rights is EXACTLY the same as it was back in the 70's. "Homosexuals are all perverts" "if we give any rights to homosexuals we then will have to give rights to pedophiles, bestiality, thieves, rapist etc.." "Homosexuality is a disease" and my favorite from the people who say they love all and teach tolerance "the bible says so". Seriously WHAT THE HELL!!! During all the debates in the movie, the video clips of disgusting people like Anita Bryant and Rich Stokes, I wanted to stand up on my chair and yell out "GO TO HELL!", just as I do when I watch George W. Bush speak, and all people in support of Prop 8 in California. It just disgusts me that since the civil rights movements and feminist movements in the 60's and 70's that black people and women are now presented as equal people so much as this year we have a black president, almost had a woman president and a woman vice president, but as I said, Gay Rights still don't exist. And once again I have to ask the question, Why does it seem like nobody cares. Almost 2 months ago there was a march on the capital downtown against prop 8, I was there, there were a few hundred people there but nowhere near enough for anybody to care, it wasn't even a news item. Gay people need another Harvey Milk, they need someone to lead them, to rally them, to help aim their anger. Since Harvey Milk I don't think there's been a major political leader for gay rights.

Anyway, Milk is a must see movie for everybody. It is a beautiful piece of inspiration. Hopefully Harvey Milk will recruit more people with this movie.

"If a bullet shale enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door"
-Harvey Milk

Review: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Grade: A+

The other day I went to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button only knowing the length, close to three hours, and the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald that it’s based on. With that knowledge my expectations were not that high, how does one turn a short story into a movie that you could read said story 10 times over while watching, I had a feeling that it was going to be very drawn out and as a result very boring.

Well, I was dead wrong. I will admit, the first 10 minutes is a little slow and doesn’t involve Benjamin at all but is a very interesting story none the less. After that first bit, about a blind man who builds a clock that runs backward, I was hooked. It of course starts with the birth of a very peculiar baby, his mother dies giving birth to him and his father, played by the ever improving Jason Flemyng, seeing what looks like a monster of a baby leaves him on the steps of a nursing home, he is found by a young black woman who works there by the name of Queenie, played by Taraji P. Henson, who decides to take care of a baby that shows physical symptoms similar to those of a man in his 80’s and is close to death. Much to everybody’s surprise the boy lives and begins to grow healthier every year. The movie follows Benjamin’s life as he meets a beautiful girl Daisy, works on a tug boat, helps in WWII on said tug boat, goes home after the war, reconnects with Daisy, played by Cate Blanchett, gets married and has a child. It is a beautiful story well worth watching.

Most of the Story takes place in the beautiful city of New Orleans. It starts 1918 on the day World War One ends, then moves beautifully through the decades. The settings and places are shot beautifully and I loved that the scenes that take place in the first couple decades are shot and edited to look as though it was on old film, very subtly though, you really need to be paying attention to catch it. The visual effects, which there were many of, were beautiful and again so subtle sometimes that you almost couldn’t tell. For instance there is a 10 year old boy, who looks like he’s 75, but also shows the same features as Brad Pitt, this was not done through makeup alone. These effects work so well though that they grip you and truly pull you into the story.

This movie also had some of the finest acting in a movie I have ever seen. Brad Pitt as the title character of Benjamin Button was simply amazing. This is one of the roles he will forever be known for. So beautifully pulling off the physical movements of an elderly man who also has the mentality of a man in his prime. Cate Blanchett was fantastic as the beautiful Daisy. The performance, outside of Brad Pitt’s, that blew me away was Taraji P. Henson as Benjamin’s adoptive mother Queenie. She was superb as the very kind, caring and sweet young woman who works at a nursing home and raises Benjamin. Jason Flemyng was excellent as Thomas Button, Benjamin’s real father. Mahershalalhashbaz Ali was great as the traveling bushman Tizzy. Tilda Swinton was great as Elizabeth Abbott, a woman Benjamin meets and falls in love with while in Russia. Last, but certainly not least, Jarred Harris was fantastic as the out spoken tugboat captain, Captain Mike, who helps Benjamin come of age, so to speak.

When you combine the excellent directing by David Fincher, an amazing story and script, superb acting from a great cast and beautiful visual effects you get the best movie to come out in years and a movie that, in my opinion, will be listed as one of the great classics of all time on the level with Gone With The Wind and Casablanca. This movie is a must see for all movie fans and non movie fans alike

As a P.S. I would like to change my pick for best Drama in my best of ’08 blog to The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button for all reasons stated above.