Monday, January 08, 2007

8 & 1/2 Links

Slate have you been reading the "movie club"
Jackie Beat is telling you she hates Dreamgirls --even the costumes enrage the world's greatest drag queen (and 70s obsessive).
The Flick Filosopher (a friend of mine) trashes a movie I just praised, Curse of the Golden Flower but considering how mean I am to Blood Diamond, we're even.
The NYT movie trifecta: Scott, Dargis, and Holden announce their Oscar ballots. Some interesting choices but they reveal themselves the secret headquarters of the Eastwood mania that I was so bitchy about earlier this season. Despite a much wider range of choices in all categories than Oscar frontrunners (good for them) - Eastwood is the only director and Letter the only film that scores on all their ballots. Whaa...? And is A.O. kidding with this Oliver Stone stuff?
Gallery of the Absurd on Hollywood's hottest accessory.
The Movie Blog on Sweeney Todd casting (I guess this means no more Jim Broadbent) as well as a new Wonder Woman rumor. I've been overdoing the Buffy marathons lately and I gotta tell you: I wish Whedon would go back to TV. So few people do it as well. It's maybe fun that Buffy Season 8 will be a comic book but how about Faith the Vampire Slayer on the freaking telly. Eliza Dushku ain't busy or anything.
Nicks Flick Picks is back!!! He's revisiting The Devil Wears Prada.
Arthur & The Minimoys I'm sure by now you've read elsewhere that this is no longer eligible for the animated Oscar competition (meaning they have under the number of eligible required to justify a five-wide shortlist in the category. Every blog entry I've read on this seems sad that there'll be only three but I have to ask: If there were only 15 live action movies in any given year would you really want 33% of them nominated for Best Picture? I'd rather the category not exist and wait for another Beauty & The Beast breakthrough. I love that Miyazaki has an Oscar now but this is such a ghetto category.

12 comments:

adam k. said...
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adam k. said...

I think Nick's being a tad harsh on Devil Wears Prada, but that's a good review, and most of his issues with it are pretty valid. You do get the sense of a film that constantly struggling to be better than it was supposed to be, but is often dragged down by its origins. Still not sure how I feel about it.

I've decided that the moment when Andy destroys her BlackBerry can be sort of justified if it were one of those things that Runway bought for her as a work expense, and then she decided she was quitting and she didn't want or need it.

And am I the only one who didn't think Simon Baker was THAT bad? It's not his fault his eyebrows look like that.

Michael Parsons said...

Arthur and the Minimoys...bless. I love the idea of a budding romance between an 10 year old boy and a 48 year old pop diva set in the harsh backdrop of a war under the bushes.
Kind of like The English Patient.

Paxton Hernandez said...

His eyebrows aren't his fault. True that.

But that lame half-ass performance in The Devil Wears Prada is 100% his fault.

They needed someone to play a really charming womanizer. Amazingly, Baker manages himself to play a bastard and a boring, unattractive annoying person at the same time.

Anonymous said...

Sophia Bush as Wonder Woman? I trust Joss Whedon implicitly, but not only was the poor girl on One Tree Hill, she married that awful lead on the show. What the heck is that?!? Joss is really good at re-casting actors from one project to the next. Let's hope he brings out the best in someone he's brought out the best in before. Sophia Bush? You can't squeeze blood from a turnip.

Glenn Dunks said...

As I said at Nick's, i too had issues with Prada, but I just have so much fun while watching it that I don't really care. I can just skip the, what? two scenes that I don't like.

I'm not sad about the animation race thing. It just means that Ice Age 2 and Open Season won't get in.

Anonymous said...

Nick is wonderful.

Paxton Hernandez said...

But that also means Paprika, Renassaince and A Scanner Darkly have 0% chances of getting nominated. Which sucks.

Blame it on Doogal. If that film had been submitted we would have 16 for the shortlist. F'ck.

Paxton Hernandez said...

Don't get me wrong. I had a blast while watching The Devil Wears Prada, but that ending (gosh, that ending) left a soury bittersweet (more bitter than sweet) taste on my mouth.

Brian Darr said...

I may be a huge animation fan, but I'm totally in agreement with you. This is a ghetto category in more ways than one. Especially at a time when the worlds of animation and live-action are increasingly merging thanks to the current state of visual effects (I wonder how much more animation there is in Arthur & the Minimoys than in the new Charlotte's Web, for example) it makes even less sense to try to separate the two forms during award season, and I'm glad that the bar for nominees in this category just got a smidgen higher (it's not like the now-disqualified film had much chance of a nomination in the first place).

Brian Darr said...

And I think Renaissance, Paprika and a Scanner Darkly would have been left out in the cold even with five nominees. After seeing nominations like Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius over Waking Life and Brother Bear over Millenium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers I sense the animation branch is too kiddie-focused and protectionist to nominate a non US-studio film not made by Miyazaki.

Glenn Dunks said...

Plus they grossed a combined total of about $29. I quite liked Renaissance but it wasn't getting anywhere near Oscar.