Favorite 100 Movies of the Decade (#100-76)

We're doing this a little different than we did the male and female performances... but we're still skipping the 2009 films -- we'll get to those starting this weekend (I'm not quite ready to start the awards... sorry!). I'm still turning the 2009 movies around on my tongue and deciding how they taste. Had Avatar for a second time tonight. Verdict: deliciously bold flavors ... with a distinct cheese popcorn aftertaste. I will gladly devour it a third time.

DISCLAIMER 1: As you would surely know if you've ever made such a list, judging/enjoying an entire decade is a very personal thing and also a hopelessly ephemeral process. The movies would be in a different order if the list were made on another day. And decades take years to settle. I didn't know with 100% certainty when the 1990s ended that The Piano, Heavenly Creatures and Boogie Nights would cement themselves as my definitive trinity for that time frame but they did.

the list #100-76, #75-51, #50-31, #30-16 and #15-1.

Awards for 2009 begin tomorrow or thereabouts.

DISCLAIMER 2: I'm leaving out documentaries because -- personal thing -- I can't compare them to narrative features very well. Just not a trick I'm good at performing. But if you must know my favorite documentary of the decade is Grizzly Man with a sly wink towards The Gleaners and I and a shout out to Trouble the Water.

DISCLAIMER 3: I've decided to combine trilogies and two-parters (if i love them) because I am lame (sorry Robert!) and you should know ahead of time. This affects their final rank in every case though not in a positive way.

"I thought you might be worried... about the security... of your shit."

100 Burn After Reading dir. The Coen Bros (2008)
When the Coen Bros are feeling misanthropic I prefer their full throttle satires to their seriocomic efforts (I can't love A Serious Man. I tried) And because the actors seem to be having a blast going deliciously big.

99 Away From Her dir. Sarah Polley (2007)
We'd been away from her (Julie Christie) too long. Polley must direct again.

98 Match Point dir. Woody Allen (2005)
97 Vicky Christina Barcelona dir. Woody Allen (2008)
Because Woody used to deliver classics. And he almost did it again... twice!

96 Jesus Son (1999, released in 2000)
Because even "Fuckhead"(s) need love. Samantha Morton sure can shimmy.


95 Monsters Inc dir. Pete Docter, David Silverman and Lee Unkrich (2001)
A genius concept executed with Pixar panache.

94 The House of Mirth dir. Terence Davies (2000)
The inexorable downfall of Lily Bart still haunts me. You could blame that on the rich source material but this is real cinema: the gilded age tableaus, the musical interlude over the water, and the stomach turning malevolence of one Laura Linney (way scarier than she was in Mystic River)

93 The Painted Veil dir. John Curran (2006)
Because sometimes those movies that get buried at the tail end of December and are completely ignored by just about everyone including that 13" shiny gold guy are way better than you could possibly expect them to be. Naomi Watts is the best she's ever been in a film not directed by David Lynch.

92 Låt den Rätte Komme In (Let the Right One In) dir. Tomas Alfredson (2008)
I despair that Hollywood is foolish enough to remake it. I'd wish them good luck (because boy will they need it) but I don't feel particularly generous about this urge of theirs.

91 Monster House dir. Gil Kenan (2006)
Because right from its bratty first frames its hilarious, inventive and golden with nostalgia.


90 The Triplets of Belleville dir. Sylvain Chomet (2003)
The theme song is still stuck in my head 7 years later.

89 The Others dir. Alejandro Amenábar (2001)
I still chuckle thinking of Nick's description of Nicole Kidman's hit performance... "ceramic befuddlement" (teehee)

88 Junebug dir. Phil Morrison (2005)
Amy Adams is bliss but so is the rest of the movie. My favorite scene: George singing at church and his wife's silent stunned curiousity. Morrison must direct again.

87 The Squid and the Whale dir. Noah Baumbach (2005)
Pitch perfect performances elevate this already exquisite example of the riches that talented filmmakers can mine from their own backstory.


86 Michael Clayton dir. Tony Gilroy (2007)
The kind of expertly judged mainstream movie Hollywood ought to be making a lot more of. Bonus points: If there were only five nominees for Supporting Actress in the decade, Tilda Swinton would still look awfully win-worthy in the shortlist.

85 The Departed dir. Martin Scorsese (2006)
Repeat viewings don't diminish its potent plot turns and they actually improve the performances... particularly amping up the slipperiness of Matt Damon and the pain in Leonardo DiCaprio's eyes. And how many remakes can claim to be better than the original, anyway? Not too damn many. What's more: Infernal Affairs wasn't exactly a mediocrity.

84 No Man's Land dir. Danis Tanovic (2001)
I still think about that ending.

83 In Bruges dir. Martin McDonagh (2008)
Because it's a trip to see a great playwright transfer so well to filmmaking. And because Colin Farrell guilt-ridden hitman hurts so authentically without diminishing the funny.

82 8 Femmes (8 Women) dir. François Ozon (2002)
Love that curtain call finale. Take another bow, ladies.

81 The New World dir. Terrence Malick (2005, released in a different version in 2006)
Because I've only seen it once, don't know which version that was, but still vividly remembering touching the grass, feeling the water and blinking in the sunlight from my theater seat. And, finally, marvelling that there were two New Worlds when one was already enough.


80 Demonlover dir. Olivier Assayas (2002, released in 2003)
As icy and diabolically mysterious as Summer Hours is warm and practically forthcoming. How does Assayas do it? And can he keep on doing it?

79 Une Liaison Pornographique (An Affair of Love) dir. Frederick Fonteyne (1999, released in 2000)
There aren't as many intelligent, sexy, absorbing relationship movies as there should be. At least the French still make them. Merci!

78 Temporado de Patos (Duck Season) dir. Fernando Eimbcke (2004, released in 2006)
A true original and one that rewards the patient viewer. So many movies that cost 500 times as much don't give half this much pleasure.


77 Zodiac dir. David Fincher (2007)
Fincher's obvious affinity for obsessive haunted analytical men makes me worried for him. Do you think he'll be tearing his hair out while drinking himself to oblivion for years trying to solve the mystery of Benjamin Button being his most popular film and the only one Oscar ever cared for (even though it's nowhere close to his best)?

76 Un Conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale) dir. Arnaud Depleschin (2008)
I would so give Catherine Deneuve my bone marrow, wouldn't you? Desplechin's rich, thick anecdotal, testy, restless, mysteriously moving scrapbooky-cinemathing about the Vuillard family and their dying mother is so generous that I can shove nine-plus adjectives into this sentence (just did!) and still come up short in describing its arsenal of moods, feelings and detours.
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next: 75-51
Aronofsky your supplier, Patrick Bateman the abstract, Morvern the enigma... and more

then: 50-31
idiots, unwanted pregnancies, superheroes, and a busty crusader

Directors of the Decade: Martin Scorsese

Robert here, with a new series on the filmmakers who've shaped the past ten years. We'll feature new directors who've lent their voice to the cinematic landscape as well as veterans. First up: Martin Scorsese


Number of Films: Six.
Modern Masterpieces: None.
Total Disasters: None
Better than you remember: Gangs of New York
Awards: 9 Oscars for his films (including 1 Best Director and 1 Best Picture)
Box Office: The Departed is his highest grossing at $132 million (though no film he directs makes as much as the A Shark Tale for which he lends his voice talents.)
Critical Consensus: High praise for all. Highest praise for No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Favorite Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio stars in three films.


Let's talk about:
Oscar. It seems pretty obvious that the great Martin Scorsese started off this decade with a clear goal for himself: win an Oscar. Can you blame him? The man was considered by many, America's greatest living director. If I were Martin Scorsese I'd have wanted an Oscar. Not only that, but I'd have been upset that at no time during three decades of masterpieces had the Academy seen fit to give me one. For Scorsese, things weren't looking promising. Coming off of two of his weakest pictures (sorry Kundun fans) it seemed as if he'd join the ranks of Kubrick and Hitchcock. Yes, Martin Scorsese was on his way to becoming one more symbol of how unfortunate The Oscars were.


Martin Scorsese's films during the past decade have been uneven but never uninteresting. And they've demonstrated that Scorsese the man is still committed to exploring the same topics he's always been (namely New York City and the minds of single, conflicted, often desperate men). It seems unfortunate to want to view them primarily through the prism of Oscar, but more than any other filmmaker, it's inevitable. This was Martin Scorsese's Oscar decade. First up, anything but a sure thing: Scorsese directed a period piece about the violent symbolic birth of New York starring that kid from Titanic we were still tired of hearing our little sisters swoon over and Daniel Day Lewis, who himself was coming off two of his weakest pictures (sorry Crucible fans). Gangs of New York ended up a little unfocused and took too much flack. It's surprisingly easy to watch (thanks primarily to Day Lewis) even if it failed to win a single Oscar.

Next attempt: a lavish biopic about one of Hollywood's most interesting characters. The Aviator was a biopic only as Scorsese could make one... big, exhuberant, unexpectedly dark. Howard Hughes easily fit into Scorsese's world of Travis Bickles, Henry Hills and Rupert Pupkins. The film also established Leonardo DiCaprio as the real deal and Scorsese's most solid acting collaborator since Robert DeNiro.



Finally, of course it was Scorsese's least Oscar ready film that eventually won him the prize. The Departed was a modern celebration of crime cinema (more specifically Hong Kong crime cinema) and won, in part thanks to the changing tastes of the Academy (I said, changing, not improving).

A lot of watchers suggested that the lesson here was: "stop trying so hard to win an Oscar" (tell that to Clint Eastwood). And maybe it was. Scorsese heads into the next ten years, unencumbered by any need to win an Oscar. Who knows, maybe he'll win another one.

We Can't Wait #6 Shutter Island

Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow, Elias Koteas, Jackie Earle Haley and Patricia Clarkson
Synopsis: Marshals Leo & Mark attempt to find murderous Emily! She escaped from Ashecliffe Asylum where Dr. Ben & Max both work!! She might be hiding on Shutter Island!!! (I'm gagging on multiple exclamation points because it sounds like such a pulpy thriller. Wheee)
Brought to you by the novel by Dennis Lehane by way of Paramount Pictures
Expected Release Date October 2nd

In our mad rush to complete the We Can't Wait series, my blog buddies and I zoomed right by Scorsese and Co. So, there's no conversation. Still and all... I doubt you need any convincing. A Scorsese picture is an event and when you combine what sounds like addictive actorly narcotic (insane asylum setting!) and a cinema friendly plot with this enticing cast ... well, it's an embarrassment of (potential) riches, isn't it?

What we have here is a highly anticipated picture but it could also be an Oscar hopeful, too. How sweet would it be to see Mortimer & Clarkson taking up the semi-annual 'two supporting actress nominees from one film' tradition? And how far ahead of myself am I getting!? Too far. Pull it back, pull it back. (whew. it's not time for that yet. April 1st Nathaniel, April 1st)

Ruffalo, Haley, Williams and DiCaprio on set (photos from Just Jared)

Not that Shutter Island (also known by its alternate title Ashecliffe) will have to bear the weight of golden expectations. The Departed finally put that "Give Scorsese the Oscar!!!" cause to rest. Finally we can get back to the more important business of enjoying his mad cinematic skillz. Great movies (and we hope it is one) are their own reward.

On the other hand, aren't we going to run out of Lehane novels to adapt pretty soon?

In case you missed any entries they went like so...
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We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
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"Cranberry Juice"

Leonardo DiCaprio = amazing in The Departed. You knew that already but it's worth repeating from time to time.

Mark(y) @ the Beach

Mark Wahlberg at the beach for Vanity Fair in 1993. He was 22 years old.

[img src]

We had yet to see him on the big screen (his first theatrical feature The Renaissance Man, a Danny DeVito vehicle, was due the following year) so he was still in his "Marky Mark" underwear flashing rap star days. Early response to his acting was muted. It wasn't until the one-two critical successes of Boogie Nights (1997) and Three Kings (1999) that people started thinking 'hey, this guy is a decent actor'. Oscar voters ignored his brilliant I Heart Huckabees (2004) performance --his best ever say I-- but he'd get his first nomination for The Departed two years later. But ouch. M Night Shyamalan's The Happening just gave him his first round of truly bad performance reviews. How quickly will he recover?

time capsule: In late 1993 when this photo premiered in Vanity Fair, Oscar buzz was growing for current releases Schindler's List, The Piano, Remains of the Day, In the Name of the Father, Philadelphia and The Age of Innocence. The latter two would stumble on nomination morning, missing key top categories. Summer hit The Fugitive took one of the best pic slots.

Musicians at the movies ~ Wahlberg wasn't the only singer working the screen. Will Smith, his contemporary in rapping and movie star dreams, made the transition to serious actor a touch faster: Six Degrees of Separation was also in theaters Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack from 1992 was still dominating the radio with hit after hit. In 1993, people still thought she was going to have a huge film career, too. (Oops). Madonna was torching whatever goodwill advances she'd made as an actress from A League of Their Own by following it up with Body of Evidence though she was actually pretty good in Dangerous Games (also that year, though no one saw it). Meanwhile, Janet Jackson was Poetic Justice and Tina Turner was getting wondrous biopic love courtesy of the incredible Angela Bassett, who received a well earned Best Actress nomination.

previously on @ the beach: Liev & Naomi, Natalie Wood, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, Saïd, James Bond and Honey Ryder.

click here for the freshest post (The Dark Knight)

"All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing! All Killing!"

For the second episode of the new series Best Pictures From The Outside In, Nick, Goatdog and I took a look at a dancing sister act in New York (Broadway Melody, 1929) and those mirrored brother moles in Boston (The Departed, 2006). Though this is an absurd pairing from either end of Oscar's timeline, there are a couple of similar features. Both movies are big on technique: Broadway Melody advertised itself as "All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing!" arriving as it did during the death rattle of the late silents (which were hugely superior to the early sound films); The Departed has Martin Scorsese, a showman who loves freeze frames, iris fades and any manner of cinematic tricks.

For those of you unfamiliar with Broadway Melody it's the story of The Mahoney Sisters, Hank (Oscar nominated Bessie Love) and Queenie (Anita Page), a regionally successful vaudeville act trying to make it in the Big Apple. It's very much of its time. The sisters join the "Zanfield" Revue and Queenie has to fight off the advances of movie mogul "Jacques Warriner", so I think you know already (if you know anything about showbiz history) that it was a contemporary inside-showbiz thing. It probably resonated with them back then and the idea of sound pictures was still fresh and super-exciting.

Our first Best Picture match-up (Wings and No Country) had wondrous parallels and both movies were top grade. This time out, it's a massacre. The Departed is a great movie. Broadway Melody is ... not.

Read the entire lively discussion @ Goatdog's blog

Best Film Editing (and Thelma Sighting)

So the ACE (American Cinema Editors) nominations were announced. Awards Daily, what would we do without ye? We've got...

Drama The Bourne Ultimatum, Into the Wild, Michael Clayton, No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood

...and while we're on the subject of Blood this is making me laugh. (God, that's catching on quickly) As for The Bourne Ultimatum. I agree it's a rush to watch but I worry about honoring this film with editing trophies. It's not that I don't think it's well edited. I do. It's that should it prove as influential, I worry. To me Bourne's editing has already achieved the pinnacle of the jarring "I don't know where I am or where the camera is or how any of this is happening spatially or timing wise...but...I'm excited anyway" thing. That's as good as it gets. From here on out, if editors and DPs keep pushing this type of lensing & cutting in combination, the movies --especially action movies --will become total abstractions. No relation to actual physical events, even violent ones, should be assumed. As ludicrous as some of the action sequences are in Live Free or Die Hard (a bit more old school) I found them especially fun to watch because you can (sort of) mostly tell where the characters are standing, running, being thrown to and where the vehicles / weapons are and where the walls of the building or elevator shaft are in relation to both characters and weapons. You know? I like to know where I am is what I'm saying.

Comedy Hairspray, Juno, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World End, Ratatouille and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

The editing nominations basically just go to the popular awardsy films... editing being one of the most difficult processes to judge since voters will never know what footage the editors ever had to work with. I like Juno well enough but I'm not so certain that its editing is anything special. I can get behind Hairspray and Ratatouille here, though. Their pacing, flow and energy seem well shaped or boosted. I was especially heartened to see that Adam Shankman as a director was not an unimaginative slave to the reaction shot during musical numbers. I H-A-T-E it when musicals take you out of the number repeatedly to make sure you know that people are watching the number. Ugh (I'm talking to Chris Columbus and Rent)

While on the subject of editors, I forgot to mention that I sat but one row behind the magnificent Thelma Schoonmaker at that Paul Thomas Anderson DGA event I posted about. Thelma of the three Oscar wins (The Departed, The Aviator and Raging Bull) and razor sharp eye for which frames to delete or splice together! While exiting the screening she was assaulted (in the non dangerous way) by a fan who stopped her to tell her how absolutely brilliant she was. She thanked him kindly, said goodbye to her movie-going companions and exited for the brisk night air on 57th street. I didn't have any particular disruptive inclination to follow suit or shout "Thelma, you rock!" as accompaniment for her exit, but my heart was beating a little faster as I left the building, I do freely admit.

Oscar Prediction Page (for the technicals)
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A Pre-Coffee Glance Back at Last Night

I'll whip up something "Oscary Review" later but the coffee injection is required first... a lot of it.

Things I Was (Mostly) Right About: I predicted that Pan's, Dreamgirls, and The Departed would walk off with the most Oscars. Dreamgirls didn't. The other two did.
Things I Was Wrong About: Lots of things (all the Oscar pages are updated)
Highlights: Finally seeing Martin Scorsese win. I was so completely nervous and thrilled
Low Points: Seeing Emmanuel Lubezki lose for cinematography (for Children of Men) to Pan's Labyrinth. I'd argue that Lubezki was the most deserving frontrunner in the entire building in any category. That was hard to sit through.
Ellen as Host: Yes please. Let's do it again.

Oscar Results

I did OK in my predictions and was right in a couple of last minute hunches (like abandoning Pans in foreign film) and wrong in a couple of others (like going back to Murphy in supporting) and at least I called The Departed right. The Oscar results (and my prediction ratio) are here. More tomorrow when I have time. Good night.

That Infernal Marie Who Lets Them Eat Crack

Today on DVD

The Must See
My love for Sofia Coppola's third film Marie Antoinette has not always been met with 'to each their own' kindness. But give it a chance. It's dreamy, brave, and a rather compelling portrait of the hermetic world of royalty. For this moviegoer it wipes the floor with The Queen and is so dreamily committed to its own point of view that it probably doesn't even notice Elizabeth II's frumpy muffled indecisive protests as it does so. It's impressive stuff and people missed the boat. Don't be one of them.
Viewing tip: It's a leisurely paced movie so ixnay on the distractions. Have finger licking good pastries at the ready. Turn the sound up.

Oscar Goodies
Half Nelson had a tiny run in theaters so you probably haven't seen it. Ryan Gosling got a well deserved Oscar nomination for his crack addict junior high school teacher so witness his impressive command of his craft. The movie plays well on DVD, too since it's already "small"

The Departed also arrives. You've probably seen it but if not, catch up before every last detail has been spoiled for you.
Viewing Tip: Watch it with a group. This'll help approximate that rather electric moviegoing experience of watching it with an audience clearly on the movies wavelength and loving every twist and turn.

Indulge Your Curiousity
The Infernal Affairs Trilogy. Insert clichéd ad copy here "If you loved the Departed...". But seriously. If you wonder why I rave about Tony Leung Chiu Wai so much, this is as good a place as any to start. His role is played in the American version by Leonardo DiCaprio. The Matt Damon role was originated by Andy Lau who you'll remember from House of Flying Daggers' romantic triangle.

My Mother Will Be Excited
Beauty & the Beast: The Complete First Season. Younger readers may not remember this series at all but it stars Linda Hamilton (Terminator's Sarah Connor) as the beauty and Ron Perlman (Hellboy) as a lion-like man who lives underneath the city. It was actually critically acclaimed back in the day with Golden Globe noms for the stars.
Viewing Tip: Go cold turkey on the romance novels for a week and you'll probably be in the right salivating mood for this.

Scorsese Triumphant

My brain knows that awards are just popularity contests that are vaguely related to perceptions about talent. My heart does not. It leaps when a cinematic giant is awarded for something... especially if they've had to wait a long time.

Martin Scorsese's directorial gifts have won him legendary status with cineastes, many critics and festival prizes, two Golden Globes, two NBRs and one BAFTA. But curiously the man who made Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Age of Innocence and many more has been denied the top two competitive directorial prizes: The Directors Guild Award and the Oscar. Last night the DGA finally became his for his great work on The Departed.

One down. One to go?

Will Little Miss Sunshine Shoot The Departed in the Head?

Scott Feinberg has a good piece up about why Little Miss Sunshine will win the Oscar. I'm not as convinced but it is my current guess as well and was before reading this. I just think it has the virtue of being a standout in the lineup. Not the best mind you -- My vote would go to The Departed -- but the standout. It has a feel good warmth that alludes the others and the other films seem more easily narrowed down to a particular strong element rather than a 'whole' package. The Queen is The Mirren Show. Babel is all about its multi-continent message and sprawl. The Departed is Scorsese doing his crime thing to great popcorn effect. But Little Miss Sunshine? It's a whole package. How do you separate its elements?

In truth either The Departed or Little Miss Sunshine as a winner would be delightful because it would be Oscar finally trying something different. Honoring a pulpy crime flick or a straight up goofy comedy? Unthinkable. Which is exactly why they should think seriously about doing it. I've updated the Best Picture page with detailed comments and the current prediction.

Thoughts?

Tuesday Top Ten: Oscar Talking Points

Tuesday Top Ten! ~a new weekly feature. For the listmaker in me and the list lover in you

Ten Talking Points Re: Oscar Nominations
10. Click can now call itself an "Oscar Nominee" (curse the makeup branch!) That sound you hear is figure eights and triple lutzes from Hell's new ice rink.

09. Oscar continues to strengthen its ever growing love affair with placing lead performers into supporting slots. Thelma Ritter, Jason Robards, Fay Bainter, Walter Brennan and all sorts of acclaimed character actors (RIP) may feel free to turn over in their graves. At the rate this trend continues to grow with almost no one batting an eyelash at category fraud but merely accepting it or even defending it, their modern counterparts will soon never have a shot at even one Oscar nomination, let alone frequent honors.

08. The Cinematographers and the Art Directors are thinking for themselves. What's up with that? They've freed themselves from the shackles of the Best Picture field. It's rather shocking when you stop to consider how long it's been since they ignored the big dogs. That hasn't happened in either category in the past 40 years (anyone know how far back you have to go to find another instance?

07. The Oscars will have performances from at least two beloved lesbians: Ellen DeGeneres is hosting and Melissa Etheridge will presumably show up to sing the Best Original Song "I Need to Wake Up" nominee. No word on whether or not Jodie Foster will be a presenter.

06. The costumer designers finally woke up and smelled the value of contemporary films in their midst. It's not like The Queen has 'period' costumes and The Devil Wears Prada --can I explode with glee? Patricia Field (previously of Sex & The City fame) is a genius. And let's hear it for Marie Antoinette's Milena Canonero who joins the top ten costume designers of all time (in terms of nominations) with her eighth nod from the Academy. She's now tied with Jenny Beavan (a snubee this year for her work on The Black Dahlia)

05. Kate Winslet is now a five-time Oscar nominee. At only 31 years of age she has now entered the top twenty-six most nominated female actors of all time. Only three others in that list (Thelma Ritter and Deborah Kerr with six nominations & Glenn Close with five) are Oscarless.

04. No Casino Royale anywhere. Not even in the unhyped tech categories. And that complete snub came after an astounding showing @ BAFTA and gigantic box office and pop cultural success. The Academy liked it less than a few other Bond films ... imagine that.

03. A great year for Hispanic filmmakers. Unless your names start with Pedro and ends with Almodóvar (He was shut out of Best Director -damn, Best Screenplay -shame, and Best Foreign Film for Volver -heresy!) But the Three Amigos (Gonzalez Innaritu, Del Toro, and Cuaron) were all nominated in one way or another. Good on them and a nice semi rare rather widespread acknowledgement from the Academy that you don't have to be American to be a mover and shaker in the cinema.

02. Is Letters From Iwo Jima the lowest grossing Best Picture nominee ever (at the time of nominations)? It's certainly one of them. To date it's earned only $2.5 million. That's well under the totals for other late blooming BP finalists like Capote, Life is Beautiful, In the Bedroom, and Cider House Rules which were all nearing $20 million when they were boosted by AMPAS. In recent years only Million Dollar Baby, The Pianist, and Secrets and Lies were under $10 million and all were bigger moneymakers than Iwo Jima prior to their lucky day. Calling all box office gurus: Is Letters From Iwo Jima actually the lowest grosser ever (pre-nominations)? Help us out.

01. Dreamgirls gets the most nominations (8) but is shut out of Best Picturewhich has, according to preliminary research, never happened before. The picture that still holds the record for the most nominations ever without a corresponding Picture nod, is They Shoot Horses, Don't They?. It received 9 but no best picture but it was not the nomination leader in its year.


FULL NOMINATION LIST HERE

Previous Tuesday Top Tens (New Series):
Alexander(s) The Great
Best 2006 Movies from The Departed (sure) to Marie Antoinette (you heard me)
Movies by The Three Amigos Best of Cuarón, González Iñárritu and Del Toro


Tags: costume design, movies, Oscars, Academy Awards, cinema, Film, cinematography, costumes, Kate Winslet, Clint Eastwood, Casino Royale, Melissa Etheridge, hispanic, Volver,Dreamgirls, Pedro Almodovar

Let There Be Oscar Nominations

I've been grumpy this awards season, I'm the first to admit. So now I will attempt to only say nice things about the Oscar nominations --there'll be plenty of time for bitching later on... wish me luck

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

• Think, happy thoughts. think happy thoughts... Given that all of these movies opened by October -- except Letters From Iwo Jima which you can count as opening before that (if you get flexible with your thinking) considering it's part one, Flags of Our Fathers, provided a lead-in. Maybe we'll all get to see the prestige pics opening during the fall next year instead of the last week of December *cough --distributors of Children of Men & Pan's Labyrinth --what on earth were you thinking when you had such major films?
  

Best Actress
Pénelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

• Think, happy thoughts. think happy thoughts... A very classy line-up. It's so nice to see a list that isn't exclusively young hotties and -- this is the best part I'm almost tearing up -- doesn't rely so heavily on that de-glam gimmick. Yay!
  

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

• Think, happy thoughts. think happy thoughts... I am so relieved that Ryan Gosling was not denied. I was getting worried there with huge pop culture momentum for both Daniel Craig (whom I love and who gives thrice the action performance that DiCaprio gives in Blood Diamond --happy thoughts. Um... ) and Sacha Baron Cohen (who was good but didn't deserve to unseat Gosling's stellar painful work. I cannot fuc DiCaprio is nominated! Yay! I'm just going to pretend it's not for that.
  

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

• Think, happy thoughts. think happy thoughts... The best thing I can say here is that I've been predicting this exact lineup for a long while... even before Breslin started getting attention. So I feel smart. Happy Thoughts screw counting sheep... I can just think of this category and my insomnia: CURED! Thanks AMPAS
  

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

• Think, happy thoughts. think happy thoughts... It's kinda fun that they went opposite of the Globes "give me only huge stars!" and I'm quite pleased that it's 80% actual supporting performances too! One day if we're lucky we'll see a supporting list that's 100% supporting again. Also: very pleased that they were discerning enough to choose Wahlberg over Nicholson. Smart move.
  

There'll be expanded thoughts later today and obviously more obsessing later on as the night at the Kodak looms large. But this morning is a time for mourning the snubs, realizing you were way offbase or right on the money in your predictions, and immediate impressions. Leave them in the comments. For the full nomination list and links to more information click here --you know you want to.

The Supporting Actor Oscar Race. It's Smokin' Hot

If you're an awards junkie you'll know this feeling: after a number of years of following the Oscar race, it gets less surprising -- boredom sets in as groupthink reigns from critics associations to industry awards and you think "why do I care again?" So you must celebrate those rare moments when one category remains blurry right up until the morning of Oscar nominations. The Actress race of '03 was like this. Beyond Charlize Theron (the eventual winner) and Diane Keaton (the presumed runner up) it seemed like it might go any which way in terms of the nominations ... and it did.

The only acting category to remain in a perpetual state of flux this year is Best Supporting Actor. Believe it or not there's but one sure thing. Eddie Murphy is the only contender to score in all the precursory ways (BFCA, GG, SAG and a critics awards). Beyond him, any combo of men seem possible. How did this happen?

The NBR and the BFCA
The two early groups started the drum rolling for 'best overachievement in screaming' by Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond (perhaps edging out Brad Pitt's yell-a-thon in Babel?)

Djimon Hounsou -Blood Diamond

The BFCA, which itself practices Oscar Prediction overachievement, also noted that they thought the following performers had a shot @ the Kodak theater in February:

Ben Affleck - Hollywoodland
Alan Arkin -Little Miss Sunshine
Adam Beach - Flags Of Our Fathers
Eddie Murphy -Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson -The Departed

The Big Three Critics Groups (NYFCC, LAFCA, NSFC)
The plot thickened when the three most important critical bodies didn't agree. Los Angeles said Michael Sheen for The Queen. New York gave their kudos to comeback kid Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children. The National Society of Film Critics, the final major critics groups, enjoyed the s***-talking stylings of Mark Wahlberg. More names for Oscar to think about.

Jackie Earle Haley -Little Children

Michael Sheen -The Queen
Mark Wahlberg -The Departed

Other Critics
The many smaller critical organizations tend to color within the already set Oscar lines. This year six men divvied up the wealth. The overall tally of prizes from the critics so far --yes there's more to come-- is as follows (if I'm counting correctly): Haley: 8. Sheen: 4. Nicholson: 3. Hounsou: 3. Wahlberg: 2.Murphy: 2.

Golden Globes
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, who love themselves some movie star wattage, so they went with the biggest names: Affleck, Murphy, Nicholson, Wahlberg and then they added another celebrity to the supporting actor mix

Brad Pitt -Babel

Screen Actors Guild
The massive actors union went with the previously honored Arkin, Haley, Hounsou, and Murphy. But for their final trick, in a truly confusing move, they threw a lead actor into the supporting ool of names...

Leonardo DiCaprio -The Departed

In case you haven't figured out where this is going: that's a lot of names for AMPAS voters to think about. That's especially weird when you consider that it wasn't a banner year for supporting actors. Raise your hand if you think this list of performances is truly special. Meanwhile in the Best Actress race, with at least a dozen fine portrayals to choose from, there's virtually no variety. Oh the mysteries of Oscar season.

Beyond the lack of agreement from precursors lives more doubt. Many of the performers have strikes against them: Alan Arkin is a veteran but he's also from a big cast who can siphon votes. Hounsou could ride that damn Blood Diamond wave but he's one of the very few who can't get a boost from being in a buzzy Best Picture. Jack Nicholson is an Oscar fav but some feel he's just playing "Jack" again. Pitt is a massive star but reaction to the film and his performance is mixed. Haley, the critical leader, is playing the kind of role that Oscar almost never recognizes. In fact, I can't think of a single time when such a role has been nominated. If deviant roles are nominated they are almost always in easily digestable "love to hate" form which his is not. He does have that great "comeback" hook but so to, to a lesser degree, have Affleck and Murphy.

This, awards junkies, is the only truly volatile acting race. Balloting will be tight. Who will prevail? Dozens of heads are better than one --try and figure this out in the comments.

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Related Pages and Posts:
Oscar Pages * Globes * SAG * My Top Ten * Critics Awards * Djimon Hounsou * Brad Pitt * Brad in Blue. Jack in the Green * Brangelina in Wax * Brad Pitt's Girls in Melissa Etheridge Videos *

Tags: movies, cinema, Brad Pitt, supporting actor, blood diamond, film, Eddie Murphy, Jack Nicholson,Oscars, Academy Awards, Babel, Leonardo DiCaprio

DGA Noms = Best Picture

My internet went bye-bye just as important stuff started happening. argh. Anyway the DGA announed their nominees:

• Bill Condon, Dreamgirls
• Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
• Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, Little Miss Sunshine
• Stephen Frears, The Queen
• Martin Scorsese, The Departed

So, the DGA Nominations have confirmed what many have been expecting all along: Oscar’s Best Picture Oscar nominees will be Babel, The Departed, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen. (that happens to be exact PGA Nominee lineup this year) Remember that DGA nominations are typically more predictive of Oscars Best Picture lineup than the Best Director lineup.

So what is there left to argue about? Well, the directors branch within AMPAS is miniscule compared to the voting membership of the DGA and their eventual Oscar shortlist is always similar to the Guilds but skews ever so slightly towards more auteurist or critical champs. So expect Frears (The Queen), Scorsese (The Departed), and Iñárritu (Babel) to hold their positions. Dayton & Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) or Condon (Dreamgirls) will lose their spot to one of the presumed runners up: Clint Eastwood- Letters From Iwo Jima or Paul Greengrass –United 93 or any one of the Hispanic longshots: Alfonso Cuarón - Children of Men, Pedro Almodovar –Volver or Guillermo Del Toro –Pan's Labyrinth. May the best directors triumph! (That’d be Almodovar and Cuarón in case you haven't been paying attention)


But who knows, maybe the DGA list is the Oscar list too? Here's what could be going down: Oscar members prone to vote for the lone director maverick spot. Those who have voted for people like David Lynch, Atom Egoyan and Mike Leigh in past races probably have too many critical darlings to choose from this year. Plus the studios are still hooked on that risky last two weeks of December game despite Oscar not following the old schedule that always rewarded that game. I'm so glad Oscar isn't waiting till March anymore --I like the film year to be the real calendar year and not some weird Miramax-fashioned January to the next March thing. But I'm not at all happy that the studios are still trying to pretend that Oscar is on the old schedule. Maybe they'll learn this year if Christmas's critical hits (Letters From Iwo Jima, Pan's Labyrinth, Children of Men) all bomb w/ the golden guy?

P.S. I apologize for repeating myself. My mind goes round in circles this time of year.

related pages:
Oscar BEST PICTURE Predix -update in progress
Oscar BEST DIRECTOR Predix -update in progress

Brad in Blue. Jack in the Green.

Things Movie actors I'm thinking about...
Vanity Fair Robert Wilson may be an avant-garde kook but since he can convince Brad Pitt to stand nearly naked in studio rain for Vanity Fair's "Art Issue" who am I to judge. I merely thank. [src]
Hollywood Bitchslap interviews the underappreciated Veronica Cartwright and gets fun details on The Children's Hour, The Birds, and Alien. Goodness this woman has been in a lot of cool films. That ain't the half of it.
Low Resolution Joe is working out his feelings about the Witherspoon / Phillipe split. We'll need to make this a group therapy event to get through...

And finally leaving work yesterday I heard half of a cell phone conversation that perfectly illustrates the "word-of-mouth = box office" equation:

i saw that new jack nicholson last night... yeah... the departed. jack was badass...badass...every self-respecting jack fan has to see it...nicholson and scorsese ...yeah! ...what else do you need?

The Departed has already earned $91 million. By next weekend it'll pass The Aviator's $102 total. Since it's not slowing down much at all, it'll also pass Cape Fear which, if you adjust for inflation, is still Scorsese's biggest hit at the reachable $124.

Those Oscar nominations are beginning to look like easy gets. Oh, and Ellen Burstyn likes it, too.

Marty vs. Clint: Round Two

Deja vu --wasn't it just two years ago when we had a Martin Scorsese movie and a Clint Eastwood picture arriving within weeks of each other, fighting it out for critical kudos and audience dollars? The big difference this time is that it's October instead of December and neither movie, due to genre in the first case and quality in the second, is as red carpet friendly.

Before I get to The Departed I feel it necessary to restate, quickly, that I am firmly pro Aviator. So, I’m not sure (entirely) what this current fuss is about --this general consensus that the acclaimed auteur has finally ‘recovered’. It’s as if he’s been dropping embarrassing stink bombs for years. I didn't like Gangs of New York (messy, overlong, hit and miss acting) but Marty made The Aviator just two years ago. That was a wonderfully glitzy, gorgeous and crackling movie with strong performances. While it may be true that this auteur’s best films are behind him, whose aren’t? –-I mean as far as iconic filmmakers of the 70s go.

I don’t love Scorsese's new pic quite as much as I loved The Aviator but that’s a taste statement rather than a qualitative one. Give me a choice between two equally well made pictures: one is about glamourous Hollywood types and the other is about foul-mouthed criminals on both sides of the law. Which one you think I’m gonna grab at lustfully?

Aside from a little late film fatigue, I was thoroughly entertained by The Departed . It's a pretty faithful redo of another good picture, Infernal Affairs but I liked it more. It was easier to follow (maybe because I’d seen the original?) and the small shifts in story made it more of an ensemble piece. And oh how they ensemble! Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio all relish the opportunity to get a little bloody for Marty. I don’t think the new film has solved the problem of this story’s lone female character (what is this psychiatrist thinking?) but Vera Farmiga works hard to make some sense of her. And here’s a neat little twist of pleasure: the film is overloaded with deadly competitive character agendas but you won’t see a more superb example of cohesive ensemble acting.

Scorsese can justifiably take another bow though we should send some credit to the screenplay which has balls of steel –I’m not sure that it’s completely graceful in its relentless forward motion but it’s easy to see why the audience gets so high on the third (fourth?) act developments. I wouldn't call it twisty exactly. After all, it’s only a shocking movie because most Hollywood storytelling is so wallflower shy. This one has personality, kick and bite. B+

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thoughts on Flags of Our Fathers tomorrow...