007 : Only Two Oscar Kills

This morning's awesome Casino Royale showing at the British Academy's --known asBAFTA-- nominations, where it did nearly as well as the Oscar buzzing The Queen got me thinking: does Oscar like James Bond? It was a question that had literally never occurred to me. Perhaps that was for the best. But Daniel Craig being Daniel Craig sigh and constantly invading my mind... I wondered: could the newly blond superspy be the Academy's favorite Bond ever? I apparently had nothing better to do this morning (?) so I set out to find the answer.

JAMES BOND + RED CARPET
To keep this awards history simple, I'm sticking to the big guns:
The Golden Globes, BAFTA (that's the British Oscars to awards virgins), and the Oscars themselves.

The Sean Connery Years
1962 Dr. No
James Bond's debut garnered only a GG nomination for "best newcomer" for Ursula Andress as "Honey Ryder" --She did have quite an entrance. It burns itself into the memory banks
1963 From Russia With Love
The series wins its first award: Cinematography from BAFTA. Song is Globe nom'ed
1964 Goldfinger
In my opinion they should have invented an Oscar for best character name because "Pussy Galore" -- come on. That's golden. With Goldfinger Bond nabs his first of two Oscars: best sound effects --that accessory packed Aston Martin (like Batman's utility belt) probably had something to do with it. There's also the first of what turns out to be a handful of Art Direction nods from BAFTA
1965 Thunderball
Connery was really kicking these films out, wasn't he? It won the last of its Oscars for visual effects. BAFTA came through with a second art direction nod
1967 You Only Live Twice
Third Art Direction nomination from BAFTA (musta been that volcano'ed headquarters) but nothing else

A One Off
1967 Casino Royale
It's not an official Bond film but it does feature Ursula Andress (the first Bond girl) having another go at Bond (played by Peter Sellers) and it was Oscar nominated: best song for "The Look of Love" and BAFTA nominated: costume design.

The George Lazenby years year
1969 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
The Golden Globes honored Mr. Lazenby with a newcomer nomination (they don't have that category anymore) but he lost to midnight cowboy Jon Voight

Back to Sean Connery
1971 Diamonds Are Forever
A sound nomination from Oscar

The Roger Moore Years
1973 Live and Let Die
The Academy saw fit to award the McCartney's title song with a nomination. But they lost to "The Way We Were" sung by Barbra Streisand who has never, you'll be shocked to read, played a Bond girl
1974 The Man With the Golden Gun
No one saw fit to bestow prizes on this one
1977 The Spy Who Loved Me
Who knew? This is the big kahuna of Bond films according to awards bodies. In the year of Annie Hall and Star Wars, James Bond also got to them. Its score was nominated at the Globes, Oscars, and BAFTA. It also won two art direction nominations (its only from Oscar and one of a handful from BAFTA) and the theme song "Nobody Does It Better" (you're already singing it aren't you?) was Globe and Oscar nom'ed
1979 Moonraker
I figured. Since it's Bond's spaciest adventure it got itself an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects. No prizes though
1981 For Your Eyes Only
Do you miss Sheena Easton? Nah, neither do I. But that title song she warbled got Globe and Oscar nominations

The Really Confusing Year
1983 Never Say Never Again
Some people don't count this in the Bond series. Legal disputes and all. But since it's Connery and I'm a completist I'm throwing it in. This actually got an acting nomination! From the Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actress. But still...
1983 Octopussy
Many people thought of 1983 as the death knell of the series what with the confusion, two rapidly aging Bonds and neither film well liked. Awards bodies agreed -- zippo

Roger's Farewell
1985 A View To A Kill
The Golden Globes liked Duran Duran's theme song enough for a nomination but no win

The Timothy Dalton Years
1987 The Living Daylights
1989 License to Kill
James Bond is dead to awards bodies. Dead. Neither Dalton picture got a thumbs up

The Pierce Brosnan Years
1995 Goldeneye
After the longest Bond hiatus ever (five whole years went by without a Bond flick) the series gets a welcome back from BAFTA who honor it with two nominations: sound and visual effects
1997 Tomorrow Never Dies
Golden Globe sings the original song to a nomination. Nothing else
1999 The World Is Not Enough
and neither is film to the awards groups who all pass
2002 Die Another Day
Madonna has a go at James Bond and wins a Golden Globe nomination. Everyone else looks politely away. Oscar don't do Pierce Brosnan. Or Madonna as a song writer for the movies. They've passed her by many times: Live to Tell, Into the Groove, I'll Remember, This Used to Be My Playground...


Daniel Craig Debuts!
2006 Casino Royale
The Golden Globes pass (rightly) on the hideous theme song but BAFTA goes hog wild for the huge rebirth of the franchise: nine regular nominations plus a "newcomer" citation for Eva Green. Those honors have to be due to the sextastic Daniel Craig filling out Bond's tuxedo & speedo. They even gave him a "Best Actor" nomination.

Will Oscar bite? It's a good question. Oscar has mostly ignored the series --take the song category for instance: 20+ tunes, some of them classics, and only three nominations for songs? But given that the 007 home team (BAFTA) went crazy this year for him and they never have before, perhaps Oscar will finally cozy up to the rejuvenated super spy

Tags: Daniel Craig, movies, James Bond, film, Academy Awards, oscars, 007, cinema

Timing is Everything

Oscarwatch --which I've been linking to a lot (tis the season!) just linked to and agrees with this article by Dan Harris in Entertainment Weekly which is critical of Oscar's shortened schedule. I absolutely and vehemently disagree with it. Can't people see that extending the Oscar season only makes the studios lazier about distribution models. The long schedule helped to create the Miramaxization of Oscars: long expensive campaigns, agonizingly slow rollouts, one week qualifiers. That old system did not do moviegoers any favors. It just left them out of the equation. It turned film conversation into marketing conversation.

It's not the Academy's fault that their members don't have time to see the movies. It's the studios. The Academy should stick to their guns.

BAFTA

Oscar Watch has all the BAFTA Nominations and there's love for the usual suspects particularly The Queen (10 nominations), Babel (7 noms) and The Departed (6 noms). But the "rock on" award is definitely BAFTA's Best Actor nomination for our new James Bond, Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. Sweet.

Talking Points

* Babel did well but received not one acting nomination.

* Their makeup list includes Marie Antoinette, The Queen, Devil Wears Prada, and Dreamgirls (none of which appear on Oscar's finalist list) reminding us that it's really only the Oscar branch that thinks makeups only means prosthetics.

* Their costume design list includes 2 contemporary features (The Queen and The Devil Wears Prada). I'd love to think this means Oscar would wake up to the reality that modern films have costumes but I'm not going to hold my breath. Oscar used to know this in past decades but since oh about the 80s onward it's no go. The last contemporary costume nominee was the drag queen spectacle The Adventures of Priscilla... (1994)

* Pan's Labyrinth (7 nominations) did very well and Children of Men (3 nominations) was honored in technical categories. BUT... they've had time to build in the UK: Pan's opened in November and Children in September. What were the US distributors thinking?

* Charismatic James McAvoy shows up in the awards race for the first time in The Last King of Scotland --too bad it's in a fraudulent category. If you've seen the movie you'll know that he is actually the leadiest lead ;) -- it's not Forest Whitaker.

Cutters and Critics

I've updated the Critical Awards pages. There've been 23 so far. We're almost finished with this: Cinemarati is next week and there might be one or two city stragglers. I lose track, don't you? Also updated: Editing Oscar Predictions (in light of this morning's EDDIE Nominations -that's from the Editors Guild). Enjoy or roll your eyes and how long and multiheaded the awards beast is...

Linkz

Artifacts asks if Scarlett Johansson is actually a soul sucking vampire. Well,now that they mention it...
Stale Popcorn is always so tasty. Anne Heche 4evah
Oscar Watch goes into the Labyrinth
Hot Toddy's Toaster Oven a swell post on "perserverance" & blogging. I feel it
Carpetbagger details a fun Pedro & Clint (!) moment @ the NBR Awards
Bright Lights After Dark wonders whom United 93 is kidding
EW PopWatch on the new Charlie Kauffman project. I'm excited for it too... although I do have trouble buying ice cold hotties Catherine Keener and Tilda Swinton as the lovers of one Phillip Seymour Hoffman. OOooooh on the ladies. Ewww on PSH.
~and~
um... this is just not right! I can't be a party to this

Guild Madness

I cannot keep up! Hollywoods guilds (which tell us a lot about the technical categories at the Oscars) are announcing all over the darn place. And there's more coming out at us tomorrow (including BAFTA nominations) I've updated the Oscar pages for Screenplays(reflecting the WGA announcement) and Costume Design (The CDG nominations in three categories) and Animated Film (recent announcements for both Short Films and Features)

Pop Quiz

Question: What was the weirdest movie of 2006?

a: the one by Mel Gibson that's about torturing Jesus ancient peoples
b: the one where Björk and her boyfriend wear squids, play with petroleum jelly and saw off each others limbs
c: the one where Gong Li refrains from eating her sherbet flavored castle but still manages to chew scenery whilst encased in gold
d: the one where Ron Howards daughter pretends she's Daryl Hannah in Splash and M Night Shyamalan declares himself genius and savior of the entire world (which totally pisses Mel Gibson off by the way...)
e: the one by David Lynch
f: the CG musical about penguins

Answer: (highlight to read after you guess)
The Answer is F because seriously... Happy What the Fu** is more like it. Busby Berkley dance numbers, hiphop moves, robin williams voice from multiple bodies, malevolent alien humans, heartsongs, wide environmentalist reform, wholesale Moulin Rouge! lifts, Brittany Murphy loving Elijah Wood (!), hispanic penguins, that sudden jump cut zoom out to outer space. That was some freaky freaky shit. I'm late seeing it but why didn't anyone warn me. George Miller is a nut.

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.

*

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

Mamma Mia! Here Streep Goes Again

It's all Meryl Streep all the time here at the Film Experience. What is going on? News is just in that Streep has taken the lead role in Mamma Mia (formerly rumored for Michelle Pfeiffer) a film adaptation of the long running Broadway musical that basically caused the über annoying "jukebox" musical phenomenon on Broadway. I've never seen the show because I love ABBA too much and I love the Broadway musical too much to combine them --something about it just freaks me out.


I will however see the movie because I can't get enough of Meryl's pipes which are just phenomenal in Ironweed, Silkwood, Postcards From The Edge, and A Prairie Home Companion. Forgotten musical fact: Meryl really wanted the lead in Evita which, after years in development hell, finally went to Madonna.

Meryl has to be the busiest fiftysomething in Hollywood. Check out her IMDB page which lists an incredible 8 upcoming films and that's not even counting Mamma Mia. Oscar #3 here she comes.

Calling All Streep Fanatics

Apparently the New Jersey Hall of Fame is considering Meryl Streep for honors this year. You can click on this image to go vote for her.


If you're scratching your head wondering why she hasn't been honored already, well, it looks like this is the inaugural year for this Hall of Fame. La Streep is up against Bruce Springsteen. Apples and oranges but vote for Meryl! You know you want to.

previous Streep offerings:
Top Ten of 2006 (Streep double dips)
Meryl as "Yolanda" An appreciation of her Prairie performance
Meryl Sings "My Minnesota Home" with Lily Tomlin
The A to Z of Meryl Streep just like it sounds
Meryl: Your Favorite Actress of All Time chosen by Film Experience readers
Hump Day Hottie: Meryl Streep a beauty
Bronze Medal for 2002's Adaptation
...um, I guess I kind of like Meryl?

I'm Linking As Fast As I Can

TFE minor oscar prediction update fussing. Plus a new poll
CNN lookie --Baz Luhrmann on Sydney
Oscar Watch my girl Susan P talks to the great Maggie G
Cinemarati's Catherine Cantieri investigates "the musical (acting) dilemma"
Solace in Cinema tells us vikings are hot in tinseltown. Who knew?
Hairspray Michelle go "bang" -a new still
Buffy Season 8 -MNPP has a peak at the comic.
Buffy Season 8. Part 2 and Reel Fanatic has snippets of an interview.
Brevity is Wit investigates the DGA's female nominees over the years on account of that husband and wife Little Miss Sunshine nomination
Jeffrey Wells on the DGA Nom snubs. I kinda wish people would stop blaming screener issues for last minute releases not getting votes. It's clearly the studios fault for withholding both late blooming critical champs (Children of Men & Pan's Labyrinth) until the Oscar field was already set.

Top Ten of 2006

You’ve been patiently waiting. I’ve been rewatching. So here we go. The Film Experience Top Ten of the Year. Featuring (among other things)…

“That’s all” is the catchphrase she said.
Cruz’s mom? She’s back from the dead
Marie let them eat cake
The orgasms weren’t fake
And poor Leo got shot in the head

The Top 10 Movies of 2006...


Discuss and share your top ten in the comments. If you haven’t been around the past week, start at the beginning of the complete three page “Year in Review”

All that’s left now to wrap up 2006 is the Film Bitch Awards (my version of the Oscars) and the Oscars themselves. Woo-hoo!

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

Best 2006 Auteurs

Didn't really intend to triple your pleasure with three straight director posts but that looks like how it's panning out. In about six hours the Directors Guild will announce their picks for best of the year and we'll have to discuss that too.

But before that: my top five. Given my exclamatory reaction upon my first screening of The Fountain, you probably knew that Darren Aronofsky would make the shortlist at the 7th annual FiLM BiTCH Awards and he does. It's his second nomination. He won the bronze in 2001 for Requiem for a Dream. But who joins him? Check it out.

[the top ten films of the year will be posted tonight]

Which Mexican Director Will Wow DGA?

The wonderful Sasha Stone over at OscarWatch is thinking about the rapidly approaching DGA announcement. She asked me for my predictions so why not share them with you as well? I went with the following men:

• Alfonso Cuarón Children of Men
• Clint Eastwood Letters From Iwo Jima
• Stephen Frears The Queen
• Alejandro González Iñárritu Babel
• Martin Scorsese The Departed

Of course now that I've sent them I'm having doubts. It's kind of backwards logic but I'm more hopeful that Cuarón can slip into the eventual Oscar directing shortlist than the guild shortlist for his exceptional work on Children of Men. It's strange but the DGA shortlist is usually more indicative of where Oscar's Best Picture list will be than it's Director's list. So I probably should've replaced Cuarón with Dreamgirls' Bill Condon. I'm still angry at Universal for sitting on Children of Men rather than releasing it early enough for it to properly build. Movies that improve with age and second viewings warrant earlier releasing. This is not a complicated concept. Movies that blow their wad right away like oh, say, Dreamgirls need the safety of December.


One has to wonder how much mileage Children of Men and Pan's Labyrinth in particular can get when they're essentially competing with each other for last second "oh this is cool" attention. In many cases they're even sharing media stories with Babel which is already firmly established as a big Oscar contender. The 'Three Amigos' story of this friendly trio of acclaimed Mexican filmmakers makes for a great press angle but won't it divvy up the votes too much for a true impact?

I hope that the movie studios have noticed that the movies doing particularly well this year in precursors: The Departed, The Queen, Babel and Little Miss Sunshine all opened by October. It'd be nice if December was free of this mad rush of last minute Oscar releases and we could all just enjoy the holidays and maybe see favorite movies again without the pressure to see a million new ones. It'd be nice if awards bodies really had time to think their choices through. It'd be nice if money grew on trees, I had an unending supply of chocolate and Clive Owen was my personal loveslave

As for my own awards


Don't look so worried, Clive. There'll be some action for Children of Men --it improves so markedly on second viewing I'm ready for a third. The 7th annual FiLM BiTCH Awards start in force tomorrow.

previous related posts:
The Three Amigos -Cuarón, Iñárritu, Del Toro
Catblogging: Children of Men -Clive Owen loves the putty tats.
Oh Guillermo JA reveals the masturbatory weirdness of the Pan's Labyrinth auteur

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.

Awards Lust (My Own)

If you enjoy the experience of reading the film experience, please take a few minutes out of your day today to nominate me in appropriate categories in the 2007 bloggies. The nominating round ends shortly. What are the appropriate categories? Well, I am so tiny and flexible, you can shove my square peg into any round hole: entertainment blog, glbt weblog, best writing, most humourous, best kept secret... It may seem like a lot of people are reading my blog already (thank you, mwah) but in the grand scheme of the internet this is a grain of sand on the beach: you really should pat yourself on the back because you're a regular visitor and you found me despite the fact that I have

• no marketing push
  
• no corporate backing
  
• no industry connections that I'm beholden to that would cloud my vision
  
• no way of rising through the clutter of the blogosphere and outsider wary media ranks without your "word of mouth" be that in the form of forum linkage, blog entries about the film experience, informal chitchat, e-mailing of posts, and whatever else.

If this sounds like a really self serving post, it is! Duh. In the immortal words of Jennifer Coolidge in For Your Consideration "What about ME!?"

On a less self-serving note: You can nominate more than one blog for each award so submit other favorites as well. Share the love.

Whores R' Them

God Bless Erik Childress for calling certain "critics" out on their blurb-whoredom. They give other film writers a bad name. It's "2006 -Whores of the Year". The only thing I can't really fathom about this list is how there's no Peter Travers from "Rolling Stone" on it. Now, I understand that the winning dishonor is actually called "The Peter Travers Quote Whore of the Year Award" but color me confused --shouldn't he still win every year? Isn't his name, along with some breathlessly interchangeable quote, attached to 91% of all movie posters and TV spots? I sometimes mistake movie marketing for an elaborate punk'd promotion of "Rolling Stone".

National Society of Film Critics

Tom O'Neill has the full dishy scoop but the short news is this: Pic: Pan's Labyrinth. Dir: Paul Greengrass United 93, Actor: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen Supporting Actor: Mark Wahlberg, The Departed and Supporting Actress: Meryl Streep The Devil Wears Prada and A Prairie Home Companion who I just barely wrote about. Fancy that.

Meryl Streep in A Prairie Home Companion

It didn't take Meryl Streep long. By 1987 at the very latest, just ten years into her career, we knew that she could do everything. We'd already heard the accents, seen the funny, witnessed the sexy, fallen in love, had our hearts broken and heard the magnificent singing voice. If she were less endearing and emotionally attentive as a performer her technical range would be just hateful: a thing to curse as she popped up again and again in films. But this woman has it all. She is, put simply, the most consistent versatile actor in the movies.

So what is there left for Meryl Streep to do? It turns out quite a lot.

The joy of watching her now, thirty years into a great filmography, is seeing which actors' muscles get flexed for each new project and seeing which past performances are its predecessors. There's also a communal thrill watching her --remember, we're twenty years past the point of 'nothing left to prove!'-- surprise both herself and us in each performance. Can you name another movie star who so regularly seems to be having a grand ole time while they're acting? Can you name another actor who is so technically accomplished but still regularly manages moments that feel spontaneous onscreen? I can't.

I've seen almost all of her filmography which could explain why I prefer her comedic work. There's less of it so you have to hold it closer. Plus the thing I love most dearly about Meryl Streep (her joy in acting) bubbles right to the surface when she's asked to joke about. The Meryl Streep performance I cherish most on a personal level is probably her work in 1990's Postcards From The Edge wherein she also joked, sang, and played an entertainer. And all of this, if you'll excuse the breathless intro, is a very long way of saying that I was thrilled to see her comedic and musical chops get a work out again as "Yolanda Johnson" in A Prairie Home Companion .

Yolanda (Streep) is part of a singing group "The Johnson Girls" that once had more members but now includes just herself and her sister Rhonda (Lily Tomlin). For the first half hour of the film we get to know Yolanda in a series of brief sequences backstage. In the first she enters the theater where A Prairie Home Companion will hold its last broadcast (please note: this is a fictional film about the still running radio program) with her sister and daughter (Lindsay Lohan). She is holding too many things and nattering incessantly mostly to herself but ocassionally to others. Streep gives her character a quick easy laugh and a fluid temperament. As this sister act prepares for the show, Streep fills you in on the rest of Yolanda.

Yolanda's body language is a little fussy but also slow and open. She's often got her arms outstretched. She has a welcoming folksy presence but you get the immediate sense of fatigue from both age and a life on the road. There's also a weird dichotomous specificity of feeling that Yolanda is both a nervous girl and an old woman entirely at ease with her lot in life. Regarding the latter: several verbal remarks indicate otherwise but Streep plays them more like canned instinctual responses. They seem to come from the character's simple humor and are uttered primarily for her sister Rhonda's benefit. It's Rhonda who harbors more illwill toward their showbiz history. The famous Altman overlapping dialogue aids Lily and Meryl in detailing this sister act. Yolanda and Rhonda have spent their entire lives together and the actresses ably sell this. They're constantly talking to each other, but it's a well rehearsed decades-long togetherness: their minds are free to float elsewhere knowing that they'll always return to one another.

Yolanda's primary concerns are her death-obsessed daughter (whom she clearly worries about but takes joy in) and Garrison Keillor, the host of the show. You realize through her shift in demeanor with the host that she has either loved or romanced him before the events of the film takes place --Streep shows you this with simple glances even before the dialogue confirms your suspicions. She makes this dead romance her best running gag in the film, mining it for abundant laughs that a lesser actor wouldn't even know where to find let alone amplify.

By the time Streep hits the stage you're already completely aware of this woman's personality and her circumstantial simplicity (this life as a midlevel sister act, the only life she's ever known.) And, then in her vocal performances onstage she just keeps on deepening those initial impressions while giving a musical performance, full of idiosyncratic feeling and beauty.

As in all the best ensemble pictures, the performances of other actors inform each individual turn as well. In a great moment backstage Yolanda, realizing Rhonda is upset about a story they've been retelling, sings an old familiar tune and embraces her sister. When the tune ends, Rhonda tearfully says "singing is the only thing that ever puts me right". She's talking about herself but in Meryl's exuberant, silly, and vocally powerful stage performance that follows, you realize the same is true for her. They're peas in this showbiz pond. Singing also puts Yolanda right.

There were supporting roles with more traditional character arcs this year, juicier roles that actresses bit into. But there wasn't a single one that made me feel so many things simultaneously about both actress and role. In so many melancholy and bittersweet ways Robert Altman's last film is a farewell. Casting America's most enduring Great Actress in this role made it all the sweeter. In the film's last scene the sisters and friends gab around a table about the departed radio show. Yolanda, giggling and reminiscing, is determined to jumpstart a farewell tour...

I love doing that last show. I just wanna do one last show and then another until I'm in a wheelchair. I just wanna keep doing 'em.

The Angel of Death (Virginia Madsen) enters this final sequence and smiles benevolently at these principal players corking Yolanda's infectiously loud joy. You realize immediately that one day all of us will give our last performance. One day all of these actors will be gone --even this beloved goddess of the cinema. Feel free to tear up. It's a testament to the film that the feeling is still somehow a good one. Meryl Streep is only 57 years old. She's been knocking her performances out of the park for thirty years and there's no reason we can't hope for thirty more. She'll keep giving one last great performance until they put her in a wheelchair. She's gonna keep giving 'em.



Now head on over to the Supporting Actress Blog-a-Thon and read other odes to favored turns in this year's movies.

Tags: movies, cinema, actress, Meryl Streep, 2006, supporting actress, A Prairie Home Companion, Postcards From The Edgefilm, Lily Tomlin

Year in Review: Under Appreciated & Special Citations

Re: 5 underappreciated films & 2 special citations

(excerpt) #3 Curse of the Golden Flower
Fans of the action packed wuxia pictures Hero and House of Flying Daggers were inevitably going to be thrown by Zhang Yimou’s latest. It’s dressed up in the same genre clothing but one of these films is not like the others. Swords, flying weaponry, and gravity defying warriors do eventually make appearances in Curse of the Golden Flower but they’re a tertiary concern. If your action cravings subside in time, you’re likely to find this whole affair an elaborate and temperamental hoot. This time around Yimou is more interested in high stakes melodrama (incest, betrayals, murder) subtextual political messages (there’s a cynical black comedy about intractable power inside) and the imperial beauty of Gong Li (an endless supply of close-ups starring her face and cleavage await you). The only thing this filmmaker seems to love more than Gong Li is color...

READ THE REST
for more on Zhang Yimou's gonzo colorogy, my issue with INLAND EMPIRE, Bettie Page, a Frankenstein monster of a movie, and one genre that Nathaniel loves more than most and probably more than he should.


previously in the 'Year in Review'
"Our Leaders. Ourselves" the ruling class * They're Bringing Sexy Back the hottest star turns * The Overrated from Dreamgirls to Clint Eastwood * Best Trailers, Posters marketing efforts * Cinematic Shame -obnoxious actors and terrible films * Stocking Stuffers cool items from the movies * This Blog is so self indulgent!

Tags: movies, cinema2006, box office, The Painted Veil, Inland Empire, The Black Dahlia, frankensteinfilm, Gong Li, Bettie Page

Black Link Moan

popbytes was kind enough to post the Black Snake Moan poster. Whaddya think?
Being Boring I love top ten lists that feel like they're coming from actual people rather than groupthink hack critics. Not Boring at all
Deep Focus, a Cinemarati colleague, also lets top ten fly.
The Gilded Moose is scaring me.
David Thomson treats Brad Pitt like an actress. Over in his 40s? No way! [src]
ModFab has bad news about Broadway's best comedy The Little Dog Laughed. It's closing soon. Get your tickets! Especially if you love gossiping about who is gay in Hollywood.
My New Plaid Pants loses all remaining marbles over The Golden Compass. Sure does look beeyootiful but I worry about it being toothless since they've decimated it's thematics to not offend Jesusland
Oscar and the City asks the question on the collective awards-watching brain. Will the SAG supporting actress list transfer intact to Oscar? Four spots seem sown up. But that fifth... where will it go?

*

And speaking of Supporting Actresses --don't forget that tomorrow is another blog-a-thon. This one is hosted by Stinky Lulu and here's how to play along. And I've posted the fun promo below. The promo uses one of Sara Ramirez's (Grey's Anatomy) best moments from "Spamalot!" for which she won the TONY. The musical accompaniment to the clip is her hilarious second act ballad "Diva's Lament".

Jennifer Hudson isn't the only huge voice making it as an actress.



unnecessary addendum: I hate Grey's Anatomy as a general rule --is it because so many people I know watch and discuss it? Is it because it uses that highly annoying (at least 10 year's past its prime) cliché the "lessons learned narration framing" Or is it because Ellen Pompeo is a poor man's version of She Who Must Not Be Named? (The original is bad enough. Do not force a downgrade on us) So many reasons to hate! Yet, despite my hate I mention the show because Sara Ramirez is awesome. And if it were a Mr. Michelle Pfeiffer show instead of a whoever the hell made it show, you know Sara would've already been given a bajillion opportunities to show off her powerhouse pipes. You know how that man do. (Think Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Chicago Hope etc...)

Friday CatBlogging: Children of Men

There are many, many things to admire about Children of Men but precious little to love -- I mean not in the traditional cuddly way of loving things. So thank you to the sound guy who made sure we heard the purring as Clive Owen, smoking some weed on his best friend's couch, absently pets a large and lazy feline. The scene has a terrific lived-in quality. You know that this exact moment: friends, weed, cat has occurred regularly for years.

And thank you to the editor for another moment later in the film --a cutaway to a tiny adorable kitten eagerly climbing up Clive Owen's leg. So cute. I wanted to reach through the screen and take him home with me. The kitten can come, too.

Today in Pissing Nathaniel Off...

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (also known as BAFTA) have released their finalists for acting nominations (from which the traditional five wide nominated shortlists are then drawn) and they have listed Anne Hathaway from The Devil Wears Prada under "Best Supporting Actress"

Supporting !

Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada.

You have to be kidding me. I just. I don't know what to say anymore...

As much as I am beginning to resent my status as an angry broken record on this particular topic, and as much as I wish that more media voices (and voices louder than mine --I don't know, someone cranky and integrity-filled and super famous like, say, Sean Penn) would take on some of this anti-category fraud load, I gotta keep fighting the good fight. I gotta keep shouting until people finally get embarassed. It may take me decades but eventually someone somewhere in the film world will be ashamed.

"Our Leaders. Ourselves"

Two of the past year's most talked about films, Stephen Frears The Queen and Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, kick off in virtually the same way: A direct acknowledgement of the movie going audience from her royal majesty. In the first film after a brief Princess Diana news clip we watch as Elizabeth II (Helen Mirren) sits still for a portrait. In close up, she turns her head to smile at the audience as the title card arrives: The Queen. The second film offers us a luxuriously decadent long shot of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France reclined in splendor, a towering cake behind her. She turns lazily to the camera with a self-possessed smile. In both cases one immediately wants to know what this royal will reveal about her character as the film progresses.

It goes without saying that these films diverged considerably from there. Despite their shared ‘meet the royals’ opening and their preoccupation with queens in their bubbles, they diverge considerably in style, tone, dramatic purposes and effect. But it struck me as I watched them both again recently that the Shakespeare quote used in The Queen “heavy is the head that wears the crown” could be placed at the start of a number of the year’s films and make a peculiar sense.



READ THE REST... for more on 2006's dangerous authorities and the vacuum of good leadership suggested by three of the year's scariest films.


previously in the 'Year in Review'
The Overrated from Dreamgirls to Clint Eastwood * Best Trailers, Posters marketing efforts * Cinematic Shame -obnoxious actors and terrible films * Stocking Stuffers cool items from the movies * This Blog is so self indulgent!


Tags: movies, cinema, royalty, apathy, 2006, authority figure, United 93, An Inconvenient Truth, leadership queen, film, Helen Mirren, Kirsten Dunst,world leaders

A Headline To Warm Your Heart

Swank gets Fail Grade in Freedom Writers

SAG Nominations (What is an Ensemble?)

Best Ensemble
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine

Many awards watchers would love it if the Academy Awards added a “best ensemble” category to their annual prizes. I would hate it mostly because people (including the voting actors) don’t usually stop to consider what “ensemble” really means. For example: Does the strength of Dreamgirls come from the group acting, the interplay between its stars, or is it in the musical performances and the production values which sell all the star wattage?

MORE HERE Grumpy thoughts on each category

Movie Mash-Up: Miranda's New Assistant

Each January I like to let you all into my movie addled brain where all the movies run together. Characters from one film are free to converse or [insert verb of choice here] with characters from another all year long. Plotlines expand to include unlikely swerves into new genres and movie mash-ups are born.

So here's a new poll The Devil Wears Prada... Again.


The pitch: Miranda (Meryl Streep) has lost her assistant Andrea (Anne Hathaway) and is none too pleased. The search is on for a new assistant to use and abuse. Which movie character would you most like to see get this job?

Take the poll and have fun with the scenarios in the comments. You know you want to play along.

PGA Nominations (+ Linkage)

fourfour hates on Dreamgirls, nominates JHud for canonization
NY Times on the Oscar Documentary race.
Hollywood Bitchslap names Superman Returns #1 on a top ten. Cajones.
GreenCine Daily points to a few interesting roundtables around the web.
Reuters French critics boo at Russel Crowe and Ridley Scott's A Good Year.
crumb by crumb Leo SAG confusion for The Departed. Uh oh.
film ick Todd Haynes Dylan pic goes to The Weinsteins. This is not good news folks. The Weinsteins only understand one type of release pattern: platform with qualifier for Oscar and this is not the kind of movie that Oscar will love no matter how great it is. I now fear that I won't see this movie until December 30th. Ugh.

And finally, regarding the Producers Guild Nominations for Best Picture. They chose

• Babel
• The Departed
• Dreamgirls
• Little Miss Sunshine
• The Queen

Maybe Clint Eastwood fever will die out prior to the Oscar nominations? (he said, with desperate hope catching in his throat). But speaking of relating things to closely to Oscar, I read a really annoying thing over at EW's popwatch (which I shan't link to) which is a perfect embodiment of why awards season is so miserable and sycophantic these past few years. After a brief history of recent PG winners (which did not go on to win the BP Oscar) Whitney Pastorek asks "have they lost their mojo?" argh. Can we PLEASE stop viewing the worth of all awards giving bodies as how they do or do not predict Oscars? How about whether or not they make good choices? The last two PGA winners are better than the last two Oscar winners so why does this signify "losing their mojo?" I blame the BFCA for this new awards bodies as prediction bodies problem. I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it: If the only thing that matters is an awards' Oscar predictive power than there should be no awards. None. Either abolish all awards giving entities outside of the Oscars or accept that they should be judged by the quality of their own choices.

Year in Review: Bringing Sexy Back

they're bringing sexyback
other actors: watch how they attack
If that's your movie, baby watch your back
They're burning up for us and that's a fact

hey, it's a sing-a-long:
Madame DuBarry: Dirty Babe
Bettie Page: You see these shackles baby I'm your slave...
I'll let you whip me if I misbehave
James Bond: It's just that no one makes me feel this way

To see who made the list of the year's sexiest performances, click here. Return and discuss. In a remarkable fit of restraint I passed on Channing Tatum. Figured I gave him enough play this year

previously in the 'Year in Review'
The Overrated from Dreamgirls to Clint Eastwood's double dip
Best Trailers, Posters the greatest marketing efforts
Cinematic Shame -obnoxious actors and terrible films from Blood Diamond to The Covenant
Stocking Stuffers cool items from the movies of 2006
This Blog is so self indulgent

Consensus vs. Nathaniel

I know I've already dropped non too subtle hints about this throughout the year but I broke up with consensus this year. It was really clingy. I needed space. Last year consensus saw Brokeback and History of Violence topping the charts and they also topped me. So either I had an off year in 2006 or the rest of the world did. My vote is -- you guessed it -- the rest of the world.

Take a look at the MCN charts of top tens... here's their top 18 so far:

Army of Shadows, Babel, Borat, Casino Royale, Children of Men, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, The Departed, Dreamgirls, Flags of Our Fathers, Half Nelson, L’Enfant, Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Children, Little Miss Sunshine, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Queen, United 93, Volver

The ones in bold are the only ones that match my top 18 and some of them just barely. (I chose the seemingly arbitrary number 18 because I still have several titles arguing about who gets placement at 19 and 20) I regret to inform that I did not see the three foreign films listed here apart from Volver. Usually, as you know, I am a big cheerleader o' the subtitles. I'm not sure what happened but in this one category I most certainly did have an off year.

As for Army of Shadows. I want to see it but I wouldn't put a 37 year-old movie on a current top ten list even if it were my favorite of the entire decade. I'd just adjust the top ten lists from older years. My rule on this is based on release patterns I've noticed in the past several years. It goes like this: you have a two year window to open in NYC... by about the two year mark obscure movies or foreign language films that haven't found a distributor rarely do and they end up on DVD. If you can't make it to a theater in the US's most cinema loving city in that 24 month span of time, you're not a current film. If we allow old movies seen for the first time to appear on everyone's lists and such I can only imagine where it leads: A solid but unsensational Clint Eastwood picture is discovered unreleased in some vault when I'm 98 and on my death bed I'll have to live with another round of misguided "Clint Eastwood is the greatest director who ever lived!" nonsense all over again. Argh! Just, no. An old film is an old film. Write about it --give it a bigger word count than your entire top ten combined, praise it to the skies, give it a "Movie Event of the Year" citation but a place on a current best of cinema list? It's not current.

All of this is a long and obnoxious way of saying that a difference of opinion is a good thing and groupthink a curse but when you can't quite drink the kool-aid you get lonely.

P.S. I apologize for my tardiness at delivering my actual top ten but I've got friends in town and people are more important than lists. Shocking but true.

Talk amongst yourselves: Where do you part from the critical consensus this year?

Cat Fight!

Bacall Vs. Deneuve ~Interesting piece by Germaine Greer @ the Guardian about the devolution of screen women. The problem with the article is putting Lauren Bacall on a pedestal and cutting Catherine Deneuve down. I hear what the author is saying about the roles BUT Deneuve is a world class actor and Bacall is only a world class "star" so the argument falls apart from there.

Hudson Vs. Holliday ultranow has mashed up "And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)" Someone had to do it.

Travis vs. Walter & Bill OK, OK. this is not a catfight but Travis Hoover does list Pan's Labyrinth as #1 overrated (something I'm totally onboard with --shoulda made my list but it was the second viewing yesterday that clarified my "wow, this is overpraised" feelings) while Walter Chaw & Bill Chambers both have it at #1 and #2 respectively for their top ten lists @ Film Freak Central.

Beyoncé vs. AMPAS Music Branch -word comes via The Envelope that Ms. Knowles won't be winning an Oscar for her Dreamgirls original "Listen" after all. The song has several songwriters and, just as in the best picture nominations for producers, apparently they only allow so many credited people to be nominated. [thx, preston]

TTT: Three Amigos

Tuesday Top Ten! ~a new weekly feature. For the listmaker in me and the list lover in you. Today's top ten should in no way be confused with the year in review: top ten of 2006 which is coming in the next couple of days (or something -shut up)

Top Ten Films by the 'Three Amigos', Mexico's trio of celebrated filmmakers: Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Guillermo Del Toro who, awards watchers take not, all seem to be vying for this year's "lone director" spot on the Oscar shortlist.

It seems obvious that Scorsese (The Departed), Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima), Condon (Dreamgirls), and Frears (The Queen) will place in the directors nominations. But the fifth slot is, as ever, up for grabs. It's between any of these three Mexican auteurs, Pedro Almodovar (Volver), Paul Greengrass (United 93) or *sigh* a double dip for Eastwood (Flags of...). Who do you think will nab the coveted spot? Or do you think two of them will, leaving Condon without a song for Dreamgirls?

Anyway... the list:

1. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001, Cuarón)
2. Children of Men (2006, Cuarón)
3. Pan's Labyrinth (2006, Del Toro)
4. Powder Keg (2001 *short The Hire, Iñárritu)
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004, Cuarón)
6. Amores Perros (2001, Iñárritu)
7. Cronos (1993, Del Toro)
8. Babel (2006, Iñárritu)
9. Mimic (1997, Del Toro)
10. Hellboy (2004, Del Toro)

I have not seen The Little Princess but given my affection for Cuarón, easily my favorite of the three, it would knock some of these down a peg. You'll notice that Iñárritu's highest rank comes from a short film. I still don't think his miserabilism works particularly well in the two hour format. It's too aggressive and forcefed. But in short form: wowie. I'm not a fan of Del Toro's The Devil's Backbone. Now, consensus opinion tells me I should rethink that but consensus also says that Pan's Labyrinth is a masterpiece (ignoring the movies considerable difficulty in fusing its two halves and its able but unrevelatory central performance) so: consensus be damned. Pan's sure is a beaut' to look at, though.

p.s. Speaking of beauty...here's hoping that the talented Fernando Eimbcke can raise his profile soon and become a fourth amigos --at least in regards to international media attention.

Todd Haynes

Today Todd Haynes, easily one of a handful of the most vital voices in American cinema, turns 46. Later this year his 5th full length feature I'm Not There an experimental film about the life of Bob Dylan (to be played by seven actors including: Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, and Richard Gere) will arrive. [On a totally irrelevant note that will be of interest to Oscar watchers only: early buzz (which should always be taken with a whole entire block of salt) suggests that Cate Blanchett has the meatiest most Oscar-friendly part among the Dylan avatars] This filmmakers chief muse Julianne Moore will also appear but her role has not been revealed.

There's good reason to hope that this adventurous musical biopic will be one of the 2007's best films. Haynes has not made a less than fascinating film yet. His early shorts pointed to a filmmaker with a highly original voice: Dottie Gets Spanked (1993) is hilarious and you should look it up. The banned Karen Carpenter doll epic Superstar(1987) is harder to find but find it you should --it's smashingly inventive. The four features that followed made good on the promise. Poison (1991), Safe (1995), Velvet Goldmine (1998) and Far From Heaven (2002) make for quite a filmography. There's not a bad film among them and two of them are masterpieces.


If you've missed any of those, catch up on this filmography before I'm Not There arrives. There's no release date yet but it sounds like an October-ish release, doesn't it?

2007 Wish List

I'm keeping my New Year's Resolutions to myself but here is my wishlist for 2007. I'm trying to not to be too greedy. But re: the following seven things. Pretty pretty pretty please.

• Michelle's Pfeiffer's comeback. There's three movies. Let at least one of them be awesome and well received. May she be smart enough to follow them with a challenging drama for 2008 and use the momentum of 07 to win her 19-years-overdue Oscar. Damn you Jessica Tandy!
  
• Paul Thomas Anderson's comeback. It's been four plus years since we saw something from this young director (Punch-Drunk Love) and even longer since he flexed his possible-heir-to-Altman ensemble skills (Boogie Nights & Magnolia). I have high hopes for There Will Be Blood
• A movie I deeply and truly love. This year has been bereft of them. Give me another Far From Heaven, Brokeback, Moulin Rouge!, In the Mood for Love, or A History of Violence.
  
• Spider-Man 3. The first two are the best superhero movies ever made. Let it be as fun, eye popping, and well constructed as the last two. Bow out on top.
• When the year is over, let there be a reason for a cutesy titled article: How Julianne (Moore) Got Her Groove Back.
  
• Sweeney Todd's transfer to film. I don't have high hopes. Tim Burton, Tim Burton's muse, Tim Burton's wife, and a bunch of other non-singers: Prove me wrong. Work shocking unlikely magic. I beg this of you. This is one of the greatest pieces of musical theater ever written. Do right by the material.
• A year filled with film experiences worth writing and reading about.