15 Directors Who Shaped My Movie Love

So there's this meme going around that Paolo tagged me with. So why not? The idea is that you list 15 directors, mainly off of the top of your head, that contributed to the way you experience and think about the movies. This is not a list of my all time favorites though half of the list would probably overlap. This is the list I come up with when I think briefly on the formative masterminds and/or the ones that have or had some sort of claim on my soul if you will. Three of them I could definitely live without at this point but I'm trying to be honest about the exercize.

Wise with Wood ~ West Side Story 

So here goes in no particular order... 


ROBERT WISE (1914-2005)
When I was a kid West Side Story and The Sound of Music were the most Epically ! Epic !!! movies to me. At the time I didn't quite grasp the auteur theory but at some point I became aware that this guy had made both so therefore "He must be the best director of all time!" Later I discovered that he wasn't but I still think he's a stronger talent than he gets credit for being nowadays.
first encounters: The Sound of Music and West Side Story (on television) 

ALFRED HITCHCOCK (1899-1980)
As I said in my Rope retro, he's training wheels for any young budding film buff who is curious about The Man Behind the Curtain (Hitch or otherwise).
first encounter: North By Northwest (I think I saw it here, the place I saw many old movies for the first time. My parents didn't know what a monster they were creating by taking me there regularly.)

WOODY ALLEN (1935-)
For the same reason as Hitchcock really; it's impossible to think you're watching anyone else's film. Woody was the first director I "followed", eagerly anticipating and attending each movie as soon as I could. As a result, he'll always have a place in my heart.
first encounters: Broadway Danny Rose (in theaters... my older brother's idea), The Purple Rose of Cairo (in theaters, my idea)

Wyler meeting Charlton Heston's son.

WILLIAM WYLER (1902-1981)
The auteur theory isn't everything. This man understood dramatic storytelling and didn't dumb it down but made accessible all the nuances and fine points. Plus he could wring top notch work from all kinds of actors. His resume is deservedly overstuffed-with-classics. Just last month while watching The Best Years of Our Lives I even dreamed of watching all of his movies chronologically in a row for a blog project. I bet it would be an awesome journey. 
first encounters: Ben Hur (revival house) and Wuthering Heights (VHS) 

STEVEN SPIELBERG (1946-)
Because everyone loves him and therefore he was ubiquitous when I was growing up and still is to a degree. There was no question that he was shaping Hollywood and more than one moviegoing generation. I never felt personally attached but he was always present in the movie menu.
first encounters: Raiders of the Lost Arc & E.T. (in theaters)... the latter is the only movie I can ever remember seeing with my Grandma *sniffle*

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Get Away Fom Ripley You Bitches

JA from MNPP here. If you consider Ridley Scott's 1979 masterpiece Alien a horror film (and you really should consider Ridley Scott's 1979 masterpiece Alien a horror film) (and even more specifically it should be considered it a slasher film, just a slasher set in outer space) then it becomes immediately clear that Ellen Ripley, the character immortalized by Sigourney Weaver in this and its subsequent three sequels, started out as a fairly straightforward Final Girl. She fits in right beside Jamie Lee Curtis in John Carpenter's Halloween and Heather Langencamp in A Nightmare in Elm Street - the smart girl who sees the encroaching horror and manages to outwit outplay and outlast the danger.


Ripley's not really the Action Hero we think of until Jim Cameron's sequel - make that Action heroine, THE Action Heroine; she made and broke and burned the mold up with a flamethrower. And even there Cameron does all sorts of interesting things with the idea of an Action Heroine that so many films today don't bother to even contemplate - Ripley, even when she's kicking ass, is a character that is always painted with as much femininity as possible, on top of her butchness.

When I say "femininity" I don't mean objectifying her as a sexualized, desirable woman (although those moments where Sigourney strips down to those tiny underpants are important, I'd argue, in that they stick that obvious physical facet of her womanhood front and center). Adding in the character of the uber-tough Vasquez in Aliens is a clear attempt to slide Ripley's character to the center of the femme-to-butch scale - she seems so demure and ladylike standing next to Jenette Goldstein in her red bandanna! - but great pains are made over and over again to code Ripley as a mother figure. Her protection of Newt and the introduction of the Alien Queen with her pulsing egg sac as the big villain - it's all a way of designating a space for a specifically feminine sort of rage within a heretofore male dominated film space.

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A Link of Their Own

Have your eyes yet feasted on this actual handwritten letter (thx Boy Culture) that Madonna wrote to photographer Steven Meisel? So much pop cultural memory jogging is happening: Herb Ritts, the "Sex" book in idea form, The House of Extravaganza, and --eep! -- everyone's favorite female baseball picture A League of Their Own ("Geena Davis is a barbie doll"... "I hate actresses..." HA!).

That's better than any time machine in taking me right back to 1992. This is why no one should ever throw anything handwritten away ever.

The Big Picture $40 million is the new ceiling for Hollywood drama budgets. It's about time they figured that out. You can make a great one for that amount so why not improve your profitability potential?
All Things Fangirl on Batman 3 speculation (it's actually Batman 8 if you ask me, though I know everyone likes to pretend the first 5 Bruce Wayne pics didn't happen) Which female villain should appear. I say none because of Nolan's girl problem. I was just innocently reading along and then my fur went up and I started hissing. You'll know why.

i09 interviews Eliza Dushku about the departed Dollhouse now that it's all on DVD. Will she work with Joss Whedon again?
Star East Asia Reign of Assassins character posters. I am so ready to see Michelle Yeoh again. Bring this movie to me.
Empire Black Swan graphic design
/Film Green Hornet poster
I Need My Fix Adam Sandler in drag? My eyes!
Topless Robot They're converting the whole Harry Potter series into 3D. I would someday like 2 pennies to rub together myself but sometimes the insatiable miserable greed in this world is really unsettling.

<--- Meanwhile, in my weekly column for Towleroad I've issued a cinema-altering challenge to James Cameron involving Elizabeth Taylor, bitched about the MPAA and their fear of peen, and shared a performance moment from the dueling trans stars of Portugal's Oscar submission. Why is it that no matter where you go in the world, the drag playlists remain exactly the same?

Link-Fest at Tiffany's

Stale Popcorn Glenn surveys the 19 eligible films for the Australian Oscars.
I Need My Fix Jane Lynch gets a wax figure. Glee has now officially taken over the world. Watch it take over the Emmys next.
Hot Blog in depth Sissy Spacek interview. Goes all the way back to the early years.

I didn't work until I was 20. I just looked like I was 13.

HKMDB Daily Stills from the Chinese remake of What Women Want with superstars Gong Li & Andy Lau
Towleroad Jennifer Aniston as Barbra Streisand? People...


Scanners looks at how the reviews of Salt deal with Angelina Jolie's super-sized star persona
Box Office Mojo some release date shifts for Disney and two cancellations. Is the Beauty & The Beast 3D death another sign that 3D is over? If so, YAY! B&tB is perfect as is thankyouverymuch.
His Eyes Were Watching Movies Volver collects another fan. I honestly think that movie will continue to do so until it's regarded as one of Almodóvar's very best. Because it so is.
That Obscure Object old paparazzi photos sometimes freak me out. This is the Thelma & Louise stars: Susan, Geena and Brad. Ah, sweet bird of 1991 youth.
Empire when I read the capsule header or this article about Dolphin Tale starring Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr and Morgan Freeman -- that cast! -- I actually thought I had clicked on the wrong link and gone back to an article from the 1990s. True story, I did.
Low Resolution Have you read Joe's entertaining & thought provoking personal Emmy ballots? You should.

I'm a dancer!
One more round of applause for the "best shot" participants in case you missed their entries: the neon gynecology, the phallic solar plexus, the starry eyes, the sabotage, the makeup and the vomiting dolphin.

must read contemporary post of the day
Op-Ed Maureen Dowd and Sam Wasson, the author of that Breakfast at Tiffany's book discuss the sorry wrist-slitting state of the romantic comedy. They name names. Wonderful discussion. I just may read it again and buy Wasson's book.

must read retrospective post of the day
Nick's Flick Picks reviews James Cameron's The Abyss (1989). As per usual his insights are totally invigorating. He always makes me want to see movies again. You can miss so much. I love this bit on Ed Harris

Harris, whose charisma, gaze, and body were like a periodic table of virile emotion during this period in his career, is tremendously moving throughout this key sequence, and really throughout the movie.

"A periodic table of virile emotion"...god, what a gorgeous distillation of Ed Harris. When is his honorary Oscar coming (since the real thing seems ever out of reach)?

Cape Link

cinema
stale popcorn is counting down the 00s in a comprehensively personal way. Love it
92nd Street Y are you going to the Grease 2 Sing-along?
serious film wonders what film might eventually throw Citizen Kane from its "greatest" throne
hot blog James Cameron discusses science in his science fiction. I love this bit

Asked whether the Alien or a Na'vi would win a fight, Cameron's answer was, "Sigourney (Weaver) would win."

Heh and duh!


/film Ang Lee and the Life of Pi in 3-D
thompson on hollywood talks with Annette Bening about her awards-contender roles in Mother and Child and The Kids Are All Right
natashavc young hollywood '98 fetal flashback: Reese & Ryan
movies kick ass talks up Oscar's 1964 Best Actor race with friends

small screen diversion
critical condition a great thinky piece on Glee's Madonna episode
i need my fix an evening with Glee
what's good... let's hear it for Jonathan Groff's agent
newnownext rich from fourfour visits the set of RuPaul's Drag Race. Lengthy interesting piece with wonderful photos

back to big
Finally, I just wanted to draw your attention to a great reunion pic: Juliette Lewis and Robert DeNiro at the Tribeca Film Festival!


DeNiro showed up at the party for Juliette's latest pic Metropia (she's not in it -- sigh -- just voicework). I mean seeing these two together again is just bananas. The last time I saw them together Juliette was sucking on Bobby's thumb. Which was also bananas. In both connotative senses of the fruit.


At the risk of embarassing one of my best friends, I must ask that if you ever meet Nick Davis you demand to hear his Juliette/Cape Fear voice. It's so unnervingly spot on that the first time he did it for me it made me love both him and Juliette more. And I didn't think I could in either case! So while I'm spreading the link love, please note that Nick is still on his best actress tear having recently written up performances by Ann-Margret, Jane Wyman, Talia Shire and, most controversially, Maggie Smith. Read 'em.

Hedwig and the Angry Link

Michael Reidel Hedwig and the Angry Inch made it from stage to screen and now it's going back again. [Insert a billion exclamation points here] The cherry gummi bear on top: John Cameron Mitchell will reprise his classic role. This show is a-ma-zing live. One of the best experiences I've ever had in the theater way back in 1999 or so. You must come to NYC and see it. Between this and Rabbit Hole, John Cameron Mitchell may have an incredible 2010
MNPP alerts us to the must-read sounding book "The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower". I already want this to be a movie.


MovieLine an imaginary apology from James Cameron for making you sit through Avatar
Cinema Blend Anna Faris to get all Goldie Hawn in a remake of Private Benjamin. Hey she sold Cameron Diaz with great flair, didn't she?
The Playlist has details on Steven Soderbergh's Contagion. The cast list is almost frighteningly A-list huge. Even if it's a disaster, it'll get a SAG ensemble nod.
Just Jared Reese Witherspoon in talks to play a country singer (again). If at first you do succeed...repeat.
Banana Penis [nsfw] Did this predate An Education or is someone using movies brilliantly for safe sex promotion?
Empire State of Mind pretty fun Star Wars by way of Alicia Keys video
Popnography skewers Miley Cyrus and The Last Song and suggests a gay alternative
Blabbeando If you're tired of catty remarks about Ricky Martin's coming out, try this on for size. Definitely something to think about.
(Le Sigh)... Isabelle Huppert to guest star on Law & Order: SVU. The apocalypse is nigh. Someone please shoot me!

Finally, remember that unusual zombie movie I told you about that won the Nashville Film Festival? It's called Make-Out With Violence and if you're curious about it you can now "save it" to your Netflix queue.

<--- poster design by Family Tree

If the movie gets enough 'saves' Netflix will purchase copies to rent out. I really marvel at how many ways there are to distribute movies now and how hard it still is for filmmakers despite all those channels, even when they have a quality movie on their hands. I don't think Make-Out is a perfect movie but it sure as hell was made by people with a filmmaking eye. And it makes you want someone to give the Deagol Brothers more money to make a second feature and see where their talents can take them. This is one of the obvious drawback of film festivals... you see work by all sorts of interesting off-the-map talent and then you return to the real world and notice how many hacks are so gainfully employed by Hollywood. Not that film festivals don't have their own "keep your day job" failures ... but this movie is definitely not one of them.

Twelve Years Ago This Week...

.

... James Cameron became the King of the World.
How have you been handling his reign? (I sent him my first born)

JA from MNPP here. Titanic swept the Oscars on March 21st, 1998. The back and forth and back and forth over the movie's worth still continues to this day - and only got reignited in recent months with Cameron's re-ascent to the top of the box office heap with Avatar, as I know y'all are only too keenly aware - but I've always been a fan. Of Titanic, that is. And all the cheesiness that non-fans decry make for my favorite bits! Kathy Bates telling Leo he shines up like a new penny. The spitting contest and the warm welcoming bosom of the simple ethnic po' folk downstairs. That scene where Frances Fisher appears to be violating her daughter while tightening her corset with violent tugs. Billy Zane's only-in-need-of-a-mustache-to-twirl performance. I love it all!

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Avatar, Science Fiction and Oscar

By now, Pandorans have probably already begun weeping, swaying side to side from their seated, cross-legged position in communal mourning. Only Eywa can save Avatar's Oscar chances now. [Listen to the podcast for more on foot-in-mouth James Cameron] but Eywa doesn't take sides so Pandora is basically SOL. Like most pundits, I'm predicting The Hurt Locker to triumph. If Avatar does manage a Best Picture win, Goliath dodging David's stone-throw if you will, it'll be the first Science Fiction film ever to nab the top honor. Incredible but true.


Let's take a look at Oscar's history with science fiction films. You're a savvy crowd so it probably goes without saying that the Academy thinks that the Visual Effects and Sound categories are the only default place to award sci-fi pictures. They don't even tend to win art direction prizes and they're also rarely seen in costume design categories, Star Wars being an exception on both fronts.

The Only SciFi Best Picture Nominees

• 1971 A Clockwork Orange (4 nominations, 0 wins)
• 1977 Star Wars (10 nominations, 6 wins. Plus 1 special Oscar)
• 1982 E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (9 noms, 4 wins)
• 2009 District 9 (4 noms, ??? wins)
• 2009 Avatar (9 noms, ??? wins)
  The expansion to ten Best Pictures ended the drought with a double whammy! I suppose if you loosen your definition of sci-fi up a bit you might find another...
  

Its Reputation Suggests It Was Nominated. It Wasn't

• 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey (4 nominations, 1 win but no Best Picture spot)
• 1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (8 noms, 1 special prize but no Best Picture spot. One can assume it came very close to the shortlist)
• 1982 Bladerunner (2 noms: art direction and visual effects, both of which it lost. Utter Insanity... especially when it comes to the art direction. Possibly the most influential work in that category in the past 30 years or so)
  

The Only Oscar-Nominated Performances from Sci-Fi Films
It's possible I've forgotten someone(s). Help me out in the comments if I have.

• Melinda Dillon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
• Alec Guiness, Star Wars (1977)
• Laurence Olivier, The Boys From Brazil (1978)
  
• Jeff Bridges, Starman (1984)
• Don Ameche, Cocoon (1985... winner)
  
• Sigourney Weaver, Aliens (1986)
• Brad Pitt, Twelve Monkeys (1995)
  Which should go to show us that that brief burst of Zöe Saldana talk was just that, talk. They don't go for acting in sci-fi movies even when they aren't given computer assists. If you included fantasy films, you'd have to add. But I'm trying to keep this sci-fi.
  

Random Sampling of Famous Flicks and Oscar's Reaction

• 1927 Metropolis (zero nominations. Inside Oscar lists this as an eligible film that failed to be nominated in the Academy's first official year as an organization. But the IMDB lists its release as March 1927 which was before the eligibility period which stretched from August 1927 through July 1928)
• 1931 Frankenstein (snubbed)
• 1935 Bride of Frankenstein (1 nomination, sound recording)
  
• 1951 The Day the Earth Stood Still (zero nominations... though the Golden Globes noticed its Bernard Herrmann score)
• 1953 The War of the Worlds (3 nominations, 1 win)
• 1959 Journey to the Center of the Earth (3 nominations)
  
• 1966 Fantastic Voyage (5 nominations, 2 wins)
• 1968 Planet of the Apes (2 nominations and 1 special Oscar)
• 1968 Barbarella (snubbed)
• 1973 Soylent Green (snubbed)
• 1979 Alien (2 nominations and 1 win)
• 1980 The Empire Strikes Back (3 nominations, 1 win. Plus 1 special Oscar)
• 1984 Dune (1 nomination, sound)
• 1984 The Terminator (snubbed)
• 1986 The Fly (1 nomination and win, makeup)
  
• 1989 The Abyss (4 nominations, 1 win)
• 1991 T2: Judgment Day (6 nominations and 4 wins)
• 1997 The Fifth Element (1 nomination, sound effects)
• 1999 The Matrix (4 nominations and wins: editing, sound, sound fx and visual fx)
• 2002 Minority Report (1 nomination, sound)
• 2007 Transformers (3 nominations, both sounds and a visual effects. The safe categories for massive grossing sci-fi movies that aren't "respectable", critically speaking)
  

Biggest Awards Haul To Date
That honor still goes to Star Wars which managed to take home 1 special and 6 competitive Oscars. E.T., T2 and The Matrix are tied for second place with 4 competitive trophies each.


So the question is...

How will Avatar fare on Sunday night? I think we can safely expect four statues: Art Direction, Cinematography, Visual Effects and at least one of the Sound categories. If it can manage a second sound category win and just one more trophy (Score? Film Editing?) it'll tie Star Wars as Oscar's favorite sci-fi flick. But my guess is it's going to fall short of that lofty goal, a mark which is itself considerably shorter than some pundits were guessing a month ago when a lot of people thought it was taking two handfuls of gold men. The Hurt Locker has too much heat to lose the race... or does it? You tell me.
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New Podcast: Nathaniel, Katey and Joe ...in 3-D

Joe, Katey and I are back, talking about Hollywood's High Holy Night. As per usual I'm having lots of bandwidth financial drama so I've had to bare-bones the original site (only this year's awardage and Oscars being available) but you can download the podcast from MediaFire or nab it from Rapid Share (Even iTunes seems to be charging me money... which I don't recall happening before. Woe to the technologically stoopid ...i.e. me!)

This podcast is brought to you completely unedited in a wild attempt to exorcise my control freak demons.

Discussed James Cameron, 3D as the future of cinema (and the past of cinema), The Last Station, Avatar, the box office of the Best Pictures then and now, RomCom Queens and Oscar, Adam Shankman and Oscars 'as you've never seen them', Dave Karger's doubts about The Hurt Locker, Sandra Bullock 'learning her place', the Precious resurgence, self-fulfilling prediction prophesies and "Oscar Stories", Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jeremy Renner.

Questions:

• "The real nominees"... are they the ones everyone assumes they were? Nathaniel's not so sure.
  
• What on earth will it take for Meryl Streep to win a 3rd?
• What will the future hold for Carey Mulligan and Gabby Sidibe?
  

With odd cameos from: Alfred Molina, Brokeback Mountain, Randy Newman, Kathryn Grayson, Katharine Hepburn, Chris O'Donnell, Sigourney Weaver. And Kathryn Bigelow on bass.

Join the conversation in the comments.

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Oscar Symposium Day 1: 'I'm an Oscar Winner, Get Me Outta Here'

Nathaniel: Welcome to the 5th annual Oscar Symposium. Each year I invite a handful of smart movie types into my virtual home to decipher, debate and occassionally defenstrate the choices made by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. This year's illustrious panel unintentionally mimics the general geography of AMPAS (Los Angeles / New York / London) if not, one feels free to assume, their psychology. Please welcome: Peter Knegt, Guy Lodge, Karina Longworth, Tim Robey and Sasha Stone.

But we aren't hear to predict.

Who doesn't know that Jeff Bridges, Mo'Nique, Kathryn Bigelow, and Christoph Waltz are taking Oscar to bed on March 7th? The Academy received its Bachelor of Arts And Sciences from The School of Redundancy School.

We're here to gab.

Here's a kick off. Adam Shankman of Hairspray, So You Think You Can Dance and Bringing Down the House fame, who is producing the show this year, has promised to play up the horse race aspect of the show, declaring that the Oscars are really "the best dressed reality show competition on the air". Never mind my distaste for the ubiquity of reality television... if we're really going to play it like that, let's play it like that. Shouldn't they have started filming the potential nominees months before the show, sending cameras to invade their every private moment (er, wait. that's called "paparazzi") and watch the triumph or heartbreak when they do or don't make the finals? A So You Think You Can Act? face/off might be the only way Meryl Streep can ever win a third Oscar, so let's do it. And if we're playing it like this, why can't we vote people off? You're the judging panel... so who are you jettisoning in the first episode, and who gets a "raise your game or go home" stern warning?

Guy Lodge: You break my heart with your talk of sure things, Mr. Rogers. Does this mean that I should withdraw my bet on a Lovely Bones write-in sweep of every category, including a Gordon E. Sawyer Award for the technological achievement of Susan Sarandon’s wig collection? Clearly, I haven’t been keeping up. It’s hard, after all, what with the dearth of film awards reporting on the web. Someone should really create a site for it. I’m sure it’d do quite well.

"how'd I get dragged into this?!?"

Read the rest of DAY ONE
Topics include but are not limited to: nominees we're not comfortable with, the soulless campaign machine, what the Oscars are *about* and potshots at Nine, James Cameron, The Blind Side and Invictus.
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Today Show and The Hurt Locker

Saw this on Awards Daily and had to share here. Since I rechristened the war film The Sexy Locker a few weeks ago, I find that I'm even more fond of it. I suppose this is why we give our loved ones nicknames... terms of endearment, if you will, to place it closer to the Oscar vernacular. And you need a little warm and fuzzy when you're dealing with the cold hard tick-tock realities of bombs and perpetual near death experiences.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I love how Kathryn Bigelow is totally gracious about all the "first woman" and "ex-wife" business that comes with the Oscar media circus, but is smart and confident enough to sidestep it simultaneously. She never brings it up herself (and don't be fooled: it would help her win if she fully embraced it) but just acknowledges it with a smile and moves on. Film Experience contributor Jose wrote up his frustration with this media reduction on his blog Movies Kick Ass. David Poland recently sounded off about it, too.

I concur with both of them but the reason I've mentioned the Cameron/Bigelow marriage so often is because I'm entitled to. When I was a baby cinephile I was a fan of both of them while they were married... So, I get a waiver. I'm allowed to bring it up because I have no sensationalistic agenda, just nostalgia. Like Demi Moore and Bruce Willis after them, I find super friendly divorced couples totally fascinating.

Anyway, speaking of gracious: Anthony Mackie.

And he has a right to sour grapes if he wanted it given the actual Supporting Actor shortlist. Here's my alternative ballot... (and yes, I will finish my personal awards soon. I'll start again tomorrow. I'm usually finished before Oscar but Sundance threw off my timetable this year)

California Mountain Link

MTV Kill Bill 3? Daryl Hannah shouldn't tease me this way. I love Elle Driver too much to breathe properly when she's mentioned.
My New Plaid Pants "The Golden Trouser Awards" I love these every year. So fun
Cinema Blend reminds us why Avatar isn't really the #1 movie of all time. There's more than one reason. There's a few.
Bright Lights After Dark on James Cameron's signature motif: The Artificial Body.

Deadline Hollywood Terrence Malick to start filming his Tree of Life follow up already? No movies for decades and then four in a twelve/thirteen year span? What invader snatched his body?
By Ken Levine a tribute to the resilience of actors. It's hard out there. (This sorta puts those Oscar nominations into perspective. As in: just even being in the conversation, even if you were eliminated early on. That's gold)
Cinema Styles really hates Up. But has truly thought the position out.
Movie City Indie "Obligatory Generic Oscar Morning Report." So funny.
In Contention 10 Snubs That Sting

"That's (Not) a Bingo!" (Best Director, Supporting Actor)

I'd love to announce that I've completed this year's Oscar'ish 1/2 of the FiLM BiTCH Awards before heading out to Sundance but I can't shout that out triumphantly because it didn't come to pass. However, I did complete a few more categories while packing my bags for the festival. More when I return obviously.

img src

SUPPORTING ACTOR
By now the sweepers in awards season would be getting really annoying if most of them weren't such terrific, deserving performances. I'm on consensus this year I guess. I definitely don't wanna quibble with the Christoph Waltz enthusiasm: he's on my list, too. Bu

t it was interesting that on a second viewing of Inglourious Basterds he didn't dominate the film for me as much. This is not to say that the performance is lesser than I at first supposed. It's just different. He's very much part of the ensemble, and my favorite thing about the performance, as I indicated in the write up is all the facetious diplomacy. You see, everyone sharing the scene with him realizes who's in control... and I mean both the actors and their characters. But even though Waltz is holding the reigns, it's this intensely dominating connection to the other actors that makes this less a show-off vanity turn and more of a film-lifting contribution.

SONG
Went a little Crazy Heart crazy. Yet I still don't love the film. If this film had only been the musical performances, with the movie just following Bridges who can give you every detail of Bad Blake's life while just hitting these dive bars and singing, I might have loved it. It's the rest of the movie I didn't care for, a story I've heard a hundred times and one that's usually told with a bit less repetition. But I love Bridges up there singing those songs like it's as natural and familiar to him as any bodily function. He's been singing them his whole life... or at least Bad Blake has. Same difference.

DIRECTOR
I'm still weighing the pros and cons of 2009 but one thing I absolutely loved about the film year was the diversity of voices. Even if "The Year of the Woman Director" was a bit reductive sounding -- does that mean they're not allowed to direct next year? -- it wasn't only the justly lauded Kathryn Bigelow (The Sexy Locker!) who was working wonders. Jane Campion returned to the silver screen with none of her considerable transporting skill and visual sensitivity diminished. I can't wait to see Bright Star again (out on DVD!).

My favorite directorial achievements of the year, all 12 of them, represented a wide swath of voices, nationalities and types. People are calling James Cameron "King of the World" again. And even though Avatar did earn him the title (again), there's room at the cinema for multiple royals. Don't you think?

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Golden Glibs

Adam of Club Silencio with a few post-Globe queries...

Does "Best Supporting Actress in a TV Drama" winner Chloë Sevigny know that the Hollywood Foreign Press actually gave an award to lesser known actress, Chloí Sevigny?

How many Weinsteins does it take to buy a nomination for Nine?

Is getting to hear "Thomas Jane, Hung" the sole reason he took that role? Reason enough to nominate him.

Glee and Modern Family can garner nominations after a half-season run, remembering that when the nominations were announced even fewer episodes had aired. Is Glee really about the wonder of "art's education," Ryan Murphy, or the wonder of voters' current TiVo playlists?

Is Drew Barrymore still playing Edie Beale? She truly is a staunch character.

Does Meryl "T-Bone" Streep know that Stanley Tucci murders little girls?

Did The Hangover really win Best Picture, or was that the effects of a hangover?

Could James Cameron's Avatar be topped at the box office by James Cameron's Avadah?

Is James Cameron a winner, or are we all winners for James Cameron being a winner?

Glenn on Kate as "Rose DeWitt Bukater"

It's "Kate Winslet Day" Pass it on.

While it may not be my very favourite Kate Winslet moment it was, for whatever reason, the one that immediately leaped into my mind when Nathaniel asked us to share. Perhaps it is residual Avatar love, but the Kate Winslet moment I wanted to highlight was the cold and watery goodbye between Winslet's Rose and Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack. By now I think the pendulum has swung back in Titanic's favour, especially with Avatar reminding everyone just what it is and was that James Cameron does so well so hopefully you guys don't try and bury me in the comments.


This scene in particular is not even the best in the film, but you have to admit that it's probably the moment that solidified Kate as a face that will be forever recognised around the world. Come to think of it, it's quite amazing to think that KATE WINSLET is the star of the highest grossing movie of all time, isn't it? The same woman who would go on to make Hideous Kinky, Holy Smoke!, Little Children, The Reader and Romance & Cigarettes.

I still think Titanic is a fantastic movie - I'd say it's better than Avatar, but is that pushing it? - and I still tear up with Winslet's Rose tries to call for help and she paddles towards that whistle and tries to hardest to get the rescue boats attention. I'm sure it's uncool to say so, but my heart goes on for Titanic and Kate Winslet in it.

The Magnificent Seven ?

"Bake offs" sounds like something the Academy would have asked 1950s candidates for Best Actress to do. But no, it's a term for the winnowing of contestants in various Oscar races prior to the nominations themselves. They almost never go for visual effects that aren't solely computer generated which is why (we presume) that Where the Wild Things Are's fantastic blend of puppets, stunts, sets, makeup effects and CGI didn't place. The seven finalists for Oscar's Best CGI competition also known as best visual effects are:

• Avatar
  flying dragons, 3D, actors as statuesque blue aliens, spaceships and exo-skeletons
• District 9
  prawn-like aliens, grotesque transformations, and badass weaponry
• Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
  sinewy sinister black clouds, frequent apparating, and the usual
• Star Trek
  world destruction, space drilling, and boldly going where 9 other films had gone before
• Terminator Salvation
  heavy metal, resurrecting Ahnuld, aerial craziness and a brand new cyborg
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
  giant f***ing robots... again
• 2012
  mass global destruction imagined by sadistic computer artists

Sam Worthington -- the unofficial new mascot of the category!

My predictions for the Oscar nominees are in red. For those of you who've already forgotten what the semi-finalists were, know that those 7 films above were found worthier of effects honors than these eight: Where the Wild Things Are, Sherlock Holmes, GI Joe Rise of Cobra, Watchmen, Angels and Demons and animated pictures Coraline, G-Force and Disney's A Christmas Carol. Do you agree or think this branch need their eyes checked (or their minds opened) before they do any more baking?

Oscar Trivia: Should Avatar win the Oscar for visual effects it will be the 5th James Cameron film to do so: Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2 and Titanic were all winners. And he's only made 8 features. His only film to be nominated that did not win this category was True Lies.

Cat Fights From Another Planet

There was reason to worry. What on earth was taking James Cameron so long anyway? It's been twelve years since Titanic, weighted down with Oscars and cash, sank into the ocean. For nearly a decade it looked like the reliable blockbuster director might never come back up for air. Was Titanic just too daunting to follow up? But, just as the negative buzz prior to Titanic's release evaporated when people actually saw the great big movie, Avatar dispels any doubts within minutes. The old saying "if you rest, you rust" does not apply to James Cameron. He may have spent years geekily perfecting yet more groundbreaking cinematic technology but thankfully he didn't lose his love of fierce women, action sequences laced with emotion or his storytelling instincts in the process.



Avatar bombards you with backstory in its opening scenes but it's never weighed down by all the fantastical exposition (for a director so fond of lengthy movies -- this one clocks in at 162 rousing minutes -- his movies sure fly). With a series of quick scenes we get the basics: Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is an ex-marine who has lost the use of his legs, he's been recruited by bossy plant-loving Dr Grace Augustine (Cameron stand-in and Aliens survivor Sigourney Weaver) for an elaborate scientific and diplomatic mission to the planet Pandora. There, he'll be animating an alien body created specifically to be compatible with his own genetic code.

Read the rest of my Avatar review in my weekly column at Towleroad

Click on any label below for more on these topics. I've been a Cameron fan for a long time. I recently reexamined and detailed the greatness of both Terminator and T2: Judgment Day
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Los Angeles Critics Spread the Wealth

Last year the LAFCA (one of the twin titans of critics groups, the other being their east coast rivals the NYFCC who announce tomorrow) made some fine choices last year, a best picture win for WALL•E and a smart off-mainstream choice for production design given to the brilliant Mark Friedberg on Synecdoche, New York. Here's what they had to say this year... there's something for everyone.

Picture The Hurt Locker [ru: Up in the Air]
Director Bigelow, The Hurt Locker [ru: Haneke, The White Ribbon]
Actress Yolande Moreau, Séraphine [ru: Carey Mulligan, An Education]

• Generally there's one acting category wherein the LAFCA will not stick to the status quo. And here it is. She also won the César in France.
  

Actor Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart [ru: Colin Firth, A Single Man]
Supporting Actress Mo'Nique in Precious [ru: Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air]
Supporting Actor Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds [ru: Peter Capaldi, In the Loop]

• Sweepers! Or shaping up to be nearly so.
  

Screenplay Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for Up in the Air [ru: Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche for In the Loop]
Production Design Philip Ivey for District 9 [ru: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Avatar]
Cinematography Christian Berger for The White Ribbon [ru: Barry Ackroyd for The Hurt Locker]
Foreign Film Summer Hours [ru: The White Ribbon]
Documentary (tie) The Cove and The Beaches of Agnes
Music/Score T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton for Crazy Heart [ru: Alexandre Desplat for Fantastic Mr. Fox. Strange that this wasn't a multiple film prize since he also scored Coco Avant Chanel and Chéri this year]
Experimental Film C.W. Winter and Anders Edstrom for The Anchorage
Career Achievement Jean-Paul Belmondo

How do you think the LAFCA did this year? Can you also get behind these "best" decisions? Where do you disagree most?

<-- James Cameron & Kathryn Bigelow on the set of her terrific film Strange Days (1995) which he produced. They had divorced four years earlier in 1991 after three years of marriage.

The NYFCO also announced today. That's the New York Film Critics Online... I wish their call letters were less confusing because I've seen people mistake them for the NYFCC in the past and that ain't right. Anyway my girl Katey is part of the NYFCO so I have to respect. The online critics went with James Cameron's Avatar for Best Picture and Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director for The Hurt Locker. This once again underlines my year-long hope for an ex-spouse battle come Oscar time. I've been a fan of Bigelow and Cameron, separately and together for 20+ years now. So it's nice to see them enjoy a good year simultaneously. The big winner, if you're into counting, was Inglourious Basterds which has taken 3 prizes so far (Supporting Actor, Screenplay and Cinematography) You can see rest of their prizes here...
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A Brief Conversation About AVATAR

Joe Reid: "Only a biased and out of touch voting body would ignore this film." Take it down a notch, Awards Daily, damn. I'm not going to be able to endure the Avatar aftermath, am I?


Nick Davis: The antidote is to drink pure champagne for 2 hours, which is what it's like to watch Meryl Streep in It's Complicated. Yay!

The other antidote will be if Avatar is actually as good as people are suddenly saying.

Joe: My fear is, after these reviews, anything can be as good as they're saying.

Nick: Off to that movie where Matt Damon takes off his rugby shirt, and thereby heals a nation.

Katey Rich: I am about to see Avatar. I will give you the only opinion you need on whether or not this movie is good. OBEY ME.

Joe: Godspeed! I'm sorry your eyeballs will never be the same!

Katey: It's not just my eyeballs. CINEMA will never be the same!

Joe: That's right! In that case, have fun at the Avaglomb!

[3 hours later]

Nathaniel R: My eyeballs are DEFINITELY not the same. But I suspect that has a little more to do with the fact that I chased a Darphin Facial with a 3hour 3D movie than the quality of said movie. My eyes have been red, puffy and runny ever since. I think some errant oils and oxygenating serums entered them.

As for the movie: Wha...Uhhhhaa-oooh! whahuhOOHHHhhhAAARGHhhh WHOO ai'yi'yi' Yeehaw (heh) SNIFFLEaAAAHHHhhhhHHTa-da!

Yes, that was my review.

Katey: Can my review just be one of those Na'vi "ai yi yi!" battle cries? I loved it. Cameron and his warrior women forever.


Joe: Wow. Well that did it. My expectations have officially been raised. God help me.

Katey: Oscar has to go for it, right?

Nathaniel: I am going to say a tentative "yes" on Oscar going for it. And now my dream of an ex-husband / ex-wife faceoff for the first time in any category can see the light of day!

Katey: I am SO excited about Bigelow vs. Cameron. Maybe I'm secretly an Us Weekly editor?

Joe: There could NOT be a better time for me to pitch my Linda Hamilton/Suzy Amis remake of "Thelma & Louise"!

Nick: Y'all are crazy. I did get my Avatar ticket for next Friday this morning, before spending four hours with Matt, Morgan, a princess, and a frog. My eyeballs are definitely still the same.
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I Think About Movies Too Much.

I do. There's something wrong with me.

<--- I saw this headline on MSNBC today and my mind literally launched into an instant (and instantly inappropriate) interior monologue

Why would people want to watch The Abyss when they're broke? James Cameron's movies always look so expensive. But I'm glad people are rediscovering it. It's so blue and tense and claustr

A second later I realized that I was thinking about Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (what happened to her?), mice who learn to breathe in water, Michael Biehn's moustache, serpentine watery intruders and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation instead of worrying about my fellow citizens and how they're going to pay their bills.


I think about movies all the time.

If you're reading I'm just assuming you have this problem, too. We're in it together and since nothing can be done we drink them up and learn to breath them in. There is no escape from this escapism.
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