Oscar, Callala and LaLa

Firstly, the Oscars have been a bit dull.

It is just shy of midnight and there’s been very little entertainment to be honest. Where’s the Best Picture dissections? Where’s the interpretive dance? The voted songs are boring. The presenters (except for Steve Carell) have been about as entertaining as Daryl Somers.

We have just had the Best Actor award presented to Daniel Day Lewis. Best Screenplay went to Juno’s author and ex Exotic Dancer, Diablo Cody (Jon’s comment about taking a pay-cut was gold!). Tilda Swinton snatched the Oscar off Cate in Supporting Actress and then Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) upset Cate in the Best Actress category.

Oh, and I haven’t seen The Bourne Ultimatum yet, but it has cleaned up the techy awards winning 3. Best Sound Editing, Mixing and Film Editing. There must be some good technical quality in that movie!

So, we have the final 2 awards. Time to live blog!

Martin Scorcese comes out to present the final Best Director Award.

Best Director nominees are announced…

I hope the Coen Brothers win……..and they do! They score the gong for ‘No Country for Old Men’ and have already scored the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar earlier on. Nice!

Ha. Ethan makes a funny! He is a man of few words. These brothers are so different to the rest of the directors going around. It’s something about brothers I think. (thinking about the Matrix directing Wachowski Brothers)

Ok. Best Picture time. Denzel Washington struts out to present it.

Juno
Atonement
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood.

(I only ended up seeing 2 of them! I am so slack).

But, YES, one of the ones I saw wins! ‘No Country for Old Men’ wins the premiere Oscar of the night and it’s well deserved. It’s a great movie, and if you haven’t treated yourself yet, SEE IT!

The Coen Brothers almost look embarrassed as the Producer gives the acceptance speech.

Jon Stewart says Goodnight and Drive Safe and we’re done. Wow…it’s only midnight…

Overall, I think Jon Stewart was pretty good. His opening monologue was pretty funny, although quite tame compared to some of his efforts on ‘The Daily Show’

Oh well. All Done for another year.

I had a top weekend with LaLa. We spent our first anniversary (Yes. One Year since that fateful night!) down at Callala Bay (almost LaLa’s namesake!) and had a great time.

The 2 giant Orb-Weaving spiders outside may have freaked us out a little, but it didn’t ruin a fantastic weekend.

Although ‘This is England’ is probably not the best anniversary movie to watch…

Australia Day Long Weekend – Part 3 – Atonement/Sweeney Todd Reviews

Righty-o.

So, are we sick of my marathon posts yet?

Yeah. I am.

This will be shorter.

I have seen 2 movies in the last week and although they are both very different, they are both worth seeing.

Atonement

It’s true. I wouldn’t have seen this movie at the cinemas if it hadn’t been nominated for Best Picture.

I was right. It is a romantic, period piece, (semi) chick flick move. Not your standard chick-flick like 27 Dresses, but let’s just say that humans of the female persuasion are more likely to attend this movie (and drag their other halves!)

At least the other halves would get to perve on Keira Knightly in her see-through slip. But I was a bit turned off by the boney shoulder blades and ribs. (shudder) The lack of breasts on her makes her look like a boy in one scene. Gross.

Pick the one where she’s not anorexic.

James McAvoy is the male lead in this movie and he is excellent. All performances are good, but Keria doesn’t really stretch herself too much really.

The storyline runs from an upper-class English country house to France in WWII. Some of the visuals of the war are amazing, and the grand English street shots are very well done. If anything, this movie should get cinematography accolades.

But, is it worthy of a Best Picture nomination? It’s hard to say as I haven’t seen the other contenders yet, but for me I don’t think there was anything very awardworthy about it. I really want to see ‘Juno’ and ‘No Country For Old Men’ before I can really compare movies.

Having said all that, the movie did keep be interested for the 2 hours and 5 minutes it ran for, although it was probably flying close to the wind on running time. The format of the movie and the way it shows scenes from different perspectives is quite well done and the ending was very much a surprise.

So, if you’re interested in successful novel translation to screen, I think you could do worse, but for me, it wasn’t anything worth cheering about..

I give it 3 1/2 Ming Vases.

Sweeney Todd

It was only 10 minutes before seeing this movie that I realised it was a musical!

Evidently, from the looks and sounds in the audience, a lot of people who were there didn’t realise this either and I think they were a bit disappointed.

Never-the-less, I wanted to see this movie (over Cloverfield and American Gangster) because it had 2 of my favourite movie makers in it. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. The 2 have combined in no less than 6 movies (Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, Charlie the Chocolate Factory, Sleepy Hollow to name a few), and all of them have been quality. They also teamed up with Helena Bonham Carter again to add to the dark, gothic London theme they were looking for.

And very very dark it is. Right from the start you get the imagery of a dingy, dirty old London Town that has burnt Sweeney Todd many years ago. The singing from Depp and Bonham Carter is excellent. You just know that Depp has had the classic theatrical training that enables him to play such a diversity of roles. He’s come a long way from 21 Jump Street!

As with all Tim Burton films, he puts a lot of effort into the scenery and sets for the movie. Remember, he did the original gothic Batman movies that really brought out the real Gotham City. There is hardly any sun in this movie at all. Is that what London is like Aly? 🙂

The movie ebbs and flows between the revenge that Todd (aka Benjamin Barker) craves over the man (Alan Rickman’s character) that took away his freedom 15 years earlier, and the forbidden love that a fellow sailor has over a young girl locked in a mansion. Of course the storylines cross over and make for a rollercoaster ride of murder, music and mayhem.

This is a bloody good…and I mean BLOODY good movie. I don’t think I have seem more red on the screen in a long time. It’s a black comedy, but there aren’t that many laughs in it. The most humourous character has to be Sacha Baron Cohen‘s Signor Pirelli. He does an excellent job as the tall travelling salesman and deserves more movie roles in the future that aren’t Borat or Ali G.

The only downfall of this movie is that you don’t really get to see the acting talents of Johnny Depp further than his singing. He does an English accent splendidly, but this role isn’t that much of a stretch for him I don’t think. The little kid in the movie, Toby played by Ed Sanders, does a fantastic job and I think he’ll get some great roles out of this.

It will make you cringe, smile, sad and nauseous. But it’s a seriously good movie.

It gets 4 Meat Pies

80th Academy Awards – The Best Picture Challenge

Every year I say I am going to do it, and every year I never make it.

2005. 2006. 2007.

The Challenge?

See every movie nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars BEFORE the ceremony.

I came up with this idea because I used to hate that fact that every year, the movies that are all nominated are so new that they have barely been on at Australian cinemas and then they win all these awards and you’re sitting there going, “What the? Never heard of it”

So, the nominees were announced yesterday, and we have 32 days until the ceremony on February 25th. Plenty of time to see 5 movies.

And the nominees are…

Best Picture:

Atonement – I must admit, I have been bagging out this movie since I saw it advertised. It looked like a chick flick romantic period movie to me and I had no interest in seeing it. Of course now that it’s been nominated, I am obligated! I do like James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland, Wimbledon) and Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Carribean, Bend It Like Beckham) is hot when she’s eaten a burger.

Juno – I thought this was a comedy. It has the kid (Michael Cera) from Arrested Development in it, as well as Jason Bateman (Teen Wolf Too). It seems a lot deeper though. A 16 yr old (Ellen Page) gets pregnant and then spends time with the prospective adoptive parents. I wanted to see it for the cast anyway, but I like the fact a movie like this has been nominated.

Michael Clayton – Hey, the movie has my name in it, it must be good. Not to mention that it’s a George Clooney flick and he is like one of my favourite….ever. What’s it about? I dunno. Some lawyer movie about ethics and back-room dealings and what-not. Doesn’t sound overly exciting to be honest, but I guess I can fit it in.

No Country For Old Men – Firstly, this movie is written and directed by the Coen Brothers. Who? Well, look at this for a resume. Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Are Thou? and Intolerable Cruelty. A hunter finds a dead body, drugs and money in the wild west. You can see how the Coen Brothers could have fun with that already. It would be unrelenting, fun, thought provoking and cinematically brilliant. Can’t wait to see it. Oh. And who’s in it? Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson and Josh Brolin. But really. It doesn’t matter. See it!

There Will Be Blood – I don’t know much about this movie, other than it’s got Daniel Day Lewis in it, is about a local farmer and his deaf son, who returns to his father after being rejected. Sounds…interesting. Apparently it is outstanding, but seems a little deep and in depth. It also goes for 2hrs 40 mins and isn’t released here until the 8th of Feb. Not sure about this one, but will see it if I can!

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So there we go. 5 Movies and about 5 weeks to see them in.Who’s up for the challenge?

Hopefully I will knock the first one off this weekend with LaLa in Sydney.

She wanted to see Atonement, so I can do that 🙂 (now it’s nominated at least..)

So, Big Day Out tomorrow, Hottest 100 on Saturday. Weekend with my girl.

It’ll be the best weekend of the year.

See ya’s next week!

Oscar Movies…..again. 2 Down.

Well, if you read my blog last year, you will remember I had a mission to see all of the ‘Best Picture’ Oscar Nominated Films for that year. I failed miserably, only seeing 2 of them before the Oscars happened.

So, it’s time to try again! The Oscars are on March 5th, and I have now seen 2 of the 5 nominated ‘Best Picture’ films.

They are:

Brokeback Mountan
Capote
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck
Munich

So, 3 to go in 3 weeks. I reckon I can do that. Crash is a DVD movie anyway, so it should be easy.

So, here’s a couple of my opinions on the 2 I have seen.

Munich

Let me just give you a quick rundown on Eric Bana’s career…..

So. yes. He’s had a diverse career. His role in Munich is like something you have never seen him do. Not only does he do a pretty damn good Israeli accent, he acts his way so well through this movie, you feel proud to have known him as the guy that impersonated Ray Martin.

I have not been a huge fan of Spielberg’s recent works. To be honest, I haven’t seen them either because his fascination for Tom Hanks is really starting to wear thin with me. Now, if he started a fascination with Eric Bana, I might reconsider. This film is strong, well cast and even though it runs for 2 hrs 45 mins it keeps you enthralled and unsleepy (I was really tired when I went into this movie). I didn’t really know the story of the Terrorist incident at the Munich Olympic Games, but after this movie, you really will know all about it. It’s almost filmed in a documentary style, but the character that Eric Bana plays really pulls you into the film and keeps you wanting to find out more.

No Spoilers here, but the ending may not be to everyone’s liking. I didn’t mind it. I thought there was a lot of texture and a real under current to the film which you really have to keep track of otherwise you may fade.

Anyway, I’m being vague. It’s good. It’s not usual Spielberg tripe. And Eric Bana is the best actor to come out of Australia since…..well…for a while. 4 bombs from me!

Brokeback Mountain

I just came out of this movie about 2 hours ago, so it’s still very fresh in my head. Firstly, let me say that if I were gay, I would so want Jake Gyllenhaal. Damn, I almost envy Heath Ledger getting to kiss him. But I digress. This is a freaking excellent movie. As far as movies go, too many times we see the same old worn out stories rolled out again and again. But has there been a film about gay cowboys recently? I think not!

This movie makes me want to go to Wyoming. Some of the scenery shots are magnificent, and the music? Damn, it may have been country and western styled, but it (almost) had me getting into it.

But what makes this movie so frigging good is the acting. They both act well, but Heath just kicks arse in this movie. I have not seen him perform like this ever, and I have seen most of his movies. (10 Things I hate about You included!) He portrays the confused, likeable, quiet cowboy with scary ease and his thick country American accent was almost perfect. The story in this film keeps you interested and the emotion it invokes, althought probably very different with different people, really pulls you in.

I am not the best person to ask, “Did you like the movie?” after coming straight out of the cinema, because I have a habit of saying that it was “..the best movie I have seen this year.” But this movie is, and maybe it will be all year.

I enjoyed picking the female actors in this movie too. Find Velma from Scooby Doo and Jen from Dawsons Creek.

It’s great! It’s gay! It gets 4 1/2 spurs from me.