Author Archives: lovepirate77

Hairspray

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(Without love life is)
Like a week that’s only Mondays
Only ice cream, never sundaes
Like a circle with no center
Like a door marked “Do Not Enter”
Darling I’ll be yours forever cause I never want to be without love.

Sorry, that is by far my favorite quote from Hairspray.  And, oddly enough, I’m way more excited about it than I ever imagined I’d be.  In the days before it was a musical, I saw John Waters’ original 1988 film, and was unimpressed.  Ricki Lake’s acting was stiff and the tone of the movie seemed off.  I later came to realize that’s how all of Waters’ films are, and I have done my best to avoid them ever since.  So back in the days when my parents and I would go to New York City every year for Thanksgiving, my dad and I were surprised when my mother suggested we see the new Broadway musical version of Hairspray as one of the typically 3 plays we would see each trip.  I knew it had garnered acclaim, and at that point it had probably won it’s massive amount of incredibly well deserved Tony Awards, but I wasn’t thrilled by the prospect.

So here I am, years later, finding it hard to sleep in anticipation for the new film adaptation.  I’ve seen it twice on stage (the original Broadway cast and the touring version), and I have my midnight screening ticket sitting on my desk.  I’ve been listening to the soundtrack constantly for months (both the stage and new screen versions).  I’ve almost been in at least one wreck from becoming too involved while singing in my car (not kidding).  Never did I think that something would match my Harry Potter enthusiasm, but Hairspray is coming mighty close.

For those who don’t know much about Hairspray, here’s what it’s about.  Music, big hair, optimism, segregation, prejudice, love, tolerance, sex, and dance.  And that’s just the obvious bits.  You take all of that, and you wrap it up in the most enjoyable package ever created, with by far the greatest final number of any musical I’ve ever seen in any media.  This is something with great messages, and a great story, that is deep but not ponderous, fun but not silly, heartfelt but not sappy or cheesy, and positive but not preachy.  This is something even the most hardened, cynical pessimist (or conspiracy theorist 🙂 ) can enjoy.  If there ever was a movie that everyone can enjoy, it is this.  It might have the greatest casting of all time, I can vouch for the music being top notch (especially Zac Efron, Nikki Blonsky, Amanda Bynes and Elijah Kelly), and is coming at the perfect time.

Now, it may sound like I’ve already made up my mind on this film, and that I’m making assumptions and am pitching something as a fan and not a critic.  That may be partly true, but it’s also partly 100% wrong.  This all adds up to me having the highest expectations of any film this year.  I can say that the music is perfect on the soundtrack, and that is one of the biggest indicators that I have as to the quality of the film.  And since I doubt I’ll get to write a review since I’ll be trying to get some sleep before Harry Potter (see my last post) this is more of a pre-review.  But it’s also a plea.

PLEASE GO SEE HAIRSPRAY THIS WEEKEND!  Go with your friends, your parents, your significant other, your children, and anyone you can grab off the street.  This is what movie musicals are supposed to be: entertainment.  And if we go out in droves and show them that this sells, as it should, even better than the Dreamgirls and Chicago type movies then we can bring back one of the greatest film genres of all time (Westerns are next) in a way that the makers of Moulin Rouge! never even dreamed would happen.  (I’m hoping that all the kids who know Zac Efron from High School Musical will drag everyone they know along just to see Zac Efron, and then realize that it wasn’t the high school drama part of HSM that they liked but the musical part (if you’ve seen it, “Stick to the Status Quo” is like something that could be directly out of Hairspray).)

So if you can’t tell, I’m kind of loopy, I’m so excited about the next few days (less than 48 hours!) and about the wedding and the honeymoon and being married that I really can’t sleep.  I’m also running on 2 hours of sleep from last night because my air conditioner was broken and it was too hot to sleep.  Stupid desert!  I hope before I leave to write my long overdue reviews of Transformers and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix but I have lots to do.  Anyways, if you do go see Hairspray, leave me a comment or send me a message and let me know what you thought.  And if you don’t come out with a smile on your face, then I will be very surprised.

Help!

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Hey y’all, I need some help.  I have something of a dilemma for what to do on Friday and Saturday.  You see, at midnight on Friday night, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out, and I have a preordered copy from FYE which will be opening at midnight.  However, I am leaving a scant six hours later to fly back home for the wedding (YAY! way cooler than Harry Potter).  It’s obvious I will get no sleep between getting the book and the flight, and I’m planning on reading from the instant I get the book until I can’t keep my eyes open any longer (which will most likely be on Sunday some time).  Adding to that is the fact that Hairspray has a midnight showing Thursday night that I want to go to.  I’ve been looking forward to Hairspray more than any other movie this year.  So basically I need help finding sleeping time.  Would it be best to go to sleep as soon as I get back from Hairspray and sleep late (assuming all my packing and pre-trip stuff is done) and wake up some time in the afternoon to finalize everything and prepare for HP?  Or, do I get back from Hairspray and stay up until the late morning or early afternoon and sleep then, storing up my sleep so that as soon as I wake up I can get my book and start crying (oh, you know I will)?  Any suggestions?  Am I crazy?  Am I weird?

In other news, I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE WEDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I’m tired and my AC isn’t working in here.)

Live Free or Die Hard

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I was one of the few who were ridiculously thrilled when it was announced that, after years of rumors, there would finally be a fourth Die Hard film.  I’ve always been a huge Bruce Willis fan and I honestly couldn’t wait.  The original three are wonderful and unique and truly redefined what could be done on screen.  They’re three of the most pulse-pounding, hilarious, and heart-wrenching films in history, and they showed that just because you fill a movie with fights and explosions, it doesn’t mean there can’t be a heart and soul that soars and falls as much as in a great drama.  The Dragonslayer Myth was never (and hasn’t since been) so real, so pure, and so totally badass.

I’m here to say that Live Free or Die Hard delivers on all those fronts, though in a more restrained way.  The film takes one of my favorite characters in all of cinema and puts him in a believable and rather terrifying situation: a “terrorist” group has shut down the nation’s digital infrastructure, dealing a possibly fatal blow to the economic and social welfare of our country.  In today’s society, it doesn’t feel nearly as far fetched as it sounds.  They teamed our John McClane with an enjoyable sidekick (Justin Long), who keeps the plot rolling and makes McClane’s heroics seem even more incredible.  It’s a move that worked wonderfully in the third of the series and for the most part it pays off here.

The one aspect where Live Free or Die Hard seemed to fail (and fail is a relative term here) was in the role of the villain.  In the first three films you had villains who were as memorable as our heroes, who you enjoyed every moment they were on screen and who you missed when they weren’t.  Jeremy Irons brought a sadistic joy to his role in number three, William Sadler and John Amos brought a sense of reality and military discipline to number two, and Alan Rickman is one of the biggest Oscar snubs in history for his iconic role in number one.  Timothy Olyphant, however, brings very little.  The only real glimmer of a character comes in the moments where he is afraid of McClane, as he should be, but otherwise he is just a placeholder.  Part of the problem is that he is too young to be particularly threatening or wise, and he lacks any sort of color at all.  I’m not sure how much of that last bit is due to the writing, but I imagine he still wouldn’t have brought much to the table.

The action scenes are spectacular, particularly the helicopter chase and its finale.  There is an action piece in the end with a fighter jet that is fairly unnecessary, and it was probably inserted to throw in some more explosions before the tense and wonderfully low-key final sequence.  In my opinion they could have left it out, but the film doesn’t suffer much from the extra action.

What really matters, though, is our man McClane.  He is probably the most heroic of all movie heroes, and at the same time the most relatable.  Every hit he takes we all feel, which is part of the magic of the character, and part of the magic of Bruce Willis’ performance.  In the end, the only thing that can make this a Die Hard film instead of another action film is Willis and McClane.  He is older and slower and sadder, but he is still the same man, the one we want him to be.

The one real difference between the McClane of this film and the McClane of the others is that he makes more of an active choice to be involved.  In the first three he became involved against his free will and had no choice but to see the situation through.  In this film he is still thrown into things, but he has much more of an opportunity to step away and let others handle the situation.  At first I saw this as a negative, because the original trilogy was really an example of what a man can put himself through when he has no other choice but to die and allow others to die too.  This time he chooses to put himself through it all, because it’s the right thing to do, and someone has to.  If he had done nothing, the bad guys would have gotten away with their plan, but there would have been no personal cost to him.  But being the older and wiser man he is, McClane does what is right, and chooses to put himself at risk for the good of strangers.  I think that is the mark of good filmmaking, and it’s subtle.  A hero who does something heroic because he’s the hero isn’t nearly as interesting as a man who does something heroic because it’s the right thing to do.  And that is where John McClane really shines.

On a side note, to wrap this up, I’m rapidly losing my faith and my patience with the MPAA rating system.  Generally I think ratings aren’t that important in this day and age because you can easily go online (www.kids-in-mind.com) and see exactly what is in a movie before you take your family to see it.  It’s great that this information is available and it means there is no excuse for being surprised or offended by the content of a film.  The ratings are generally a guide for families, and I think that is great, but the R rating has really ceased to mean much.  As the rules stand, generally in a PG-13 movie you can say the word “fuck” or its derivatives 2 or 3 times as long as it is not in a sexual context.  Any amount over that line, or any sexual context, and you get an R rating.  I’m ok with that, as stupid as it is, but why have a rule if you can get around it?  When McClane delivers his signature line “Yippee-ki-yay Motherfucker!” a sound effect is used to cover the “fucker” part (only partially cover, you can still clearly hear it, I am glad to say).  How moronic is that?  Why base a rating on the existence of a phrase or word in a movie if you can get a lower rating by making it harder to hear, even when everyone can hear exactly what is being said and knows it anway?  For Pete’s sake, they used the line in the trailers and commercials for the movie, and on the posters.  By now everyone of every age knows what he’s saying (“Mommy, why does it say ‘Yippee-ki-yay Mo-” and cut off on the poster?  What does that mean?”).  It is dumb that there are words in our society that are forbidden, but it is far dumber that you can get away with obviously implying those words but not actually saying them.  It’s like we have rules just to make ourselves feel better when we do something we’re ashamed of or embarrassed by, because we really don’t understand why it’s something to be ashamed of or embarrassed by in the first place.

Anyways, I’m sorry about that, but it makes me furious (don’t even get me started on other aspects of the ratings, such as the disparity between violence and nudity in film).  Live Free or Die Hard was a real blast, incredibly exciting and funny, and, with the exception of the villain, exactly what we expect from a film with Die Hard in the title.  It’s a white-knuckle thrill-ride which will be hard to beat this summer.  Yippee-ki-yay Motherfucker!
< A >

Unemployed

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So in case you haven’t heard, I got laid off last week.  The company is downsizing its salary workforce and they decided I wasn’t needed.  I’m not particularly surprised but it was still kind of shocking.  After the wedding (4 weeks from tomorrow, I am so crazy excited!!!!) we’ll come back here and pack everything up and move back east, where we’d much rather be (it’s hot here, did you know that?).

But yeah, it’s pretty scary at the moment.  I mean, I’m not freaking out or anything, but not having a source of income, especially when we’re about to get married, it’s scary.  I’m looking for another mining engineering position back east.  I have a year experience under my belt, which should help, but we’ll see.

So if you pray, and have some spare time, if you could pray for us, that we get through this and it all works out.  I don’t know what will happen, but we’ll see, I guess.

Ratatouille

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I am a picky eater, just ask my family, or my soon-to-be wife, or my friends, or anyone who has ever eaten with me.  It’s not that I don’t necessarily like to try new foods, it’s that I know what I like the most, and given the choice, I will choose those foods.  Take for example the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I ate one for lunch every day at school starting in kindergarten, and having eaten so many has given me a very refined sense of what makes a good PB&J to me.  It must use JIF Creamy Peanut Butter and Welch’s Concord Grape Jam.  Any other brand or type will just not do.  I generally go with Sara Lee Whole Grain White Bread, if I can find it, but it is really the inside that matters the most.  The construction of the sandwich is of the utmost importance.  Too much peanut butter and it is sticky and you are forced to drink too much, and too much jelly makes the sandwich soggy and overpowers the flavors.  Despite all the conditions, however, any PB&J is generally enjoyable, but not all are the same.

 

So it is with film.  I am certainly very picky when it comes to what I see in the theater.  I like anything that is well made, but there are certain types of films I return to when given the choice.  For example, 7 of the last 10 films I have seen were animated.  And while all were enjoyable, much like any PB&J, Ratatouille was made just the way I like them.  A Pixar film is like a sandwich made with exactly the right ingredients.  You know to expect the best of the best every time.  However, if you have eaten as many sandwiches as I, you know that perhaps every once in a thousand tries, if you’re lucky, you happen to make the perfect sandwich.  It cannot be planned, forced, or studied, it just happens.  The mix of the ingredients is perfect, just the right balance.  And when you take that final bite, instead of feeling satisfied, you feel fulfilled, as if nothing could have possibly been any better.  You can’t explain why, you can’t measure it, or quantify it, or even describe it.  It’s just perfection.  Ratatouille is perfection.  It has the indefinable quality of taking something made just the way you like it, and doing it so well that it becomes more than you ever imagined it could be.

 

So enough with the sandwich metaphor, right?  Let me put this in a way easy to understand.

Is Ratatouille the best animated film of the year so far?

Yes

Is Ratatouille the best film of the year so far?

Yes

Is Ratatouille the best Pixar film yet?

Yes

Is Ratatouille the best computer animated film ever?

It just might be.

Is Ratatouille the best animated film ever?

 

Well, that one is up for debate, but it will almost certainly crack my top 5, if not move all the way to the top.  I’ll have to see it a few more times to be sure.  It really is perfect, though.  It is a story full of heart, but is never sappy or melodramatic.  The days when the words animated and cartoon were one and the same are long gone.  Films like Ratatouille are truly the great connectors, bringing us all together to a point where we can move past things like “That’s just for kids” and realize that these films are made for all of us.  We can all enjoy them and grow together as a result.  Nothing in this world compares to sitting in a theater filled with people of all ages, races and backgrounds and sharing the emotional experience of cinema.  Lauging, crying, smiling together with strangers who you may never see again.  That’s what it’s all about.

 

So I’ve basically been rambling about everything but Ratatouille but that’s because I really find I lack the words to describe it directly.  I can only describe how it makes me feel about other things.  It truly is the first great film of the year, and is so far above everything else I’ve seen lately (much of which I very much enjoyed) that it’s hard to even classify.  The voice acting is some of the best I’ve seen, the animation has never looked so 100% real, the story was an absolute joy, made for adults but still enjoyable by kids.  None of that, however, really does it justice.  All I can really say is that it would truly be a tragedy for you to miss it.  And that is the highest praise that can be given to any film.
< A+ >

(Also, I’ve been freaking out about WALL-E for months, and the teaser trailer is showing before Ratatouille.  It looks to be even better.)

“Ticks” by Brad Paisley

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I just heard this on the radio for the first time this morning.  I love Brad Paisley, he never disppoints.  Here are the lyrics, and you can hear it over on his Myspace page http://www.myspace.com/bradpaisley.

“Ticks” – Brad Paisley

Every time you take a sip in this smoky atmosphere
You press that bottle to your lips and I wish I was your beer
And in the small there of your back
Your jeans are playing peek a boo
I’d like to see the other half of your butterfly tattoo

Hey, that gives me an idea
Let’s get out of this bar and drive out into the country
And find a place to park

Cause I’d like to see you out in the moonlight
I’d like to kiss you way back in the sticks
I’d like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I’d like to check you for ticks

I know the perfect little path
Out in these woods I used to hunt
Don’t worry babe I’ve got your back
And I’ve also got your front
I’d hate to waste a night like this
I’ll keep you safe you wait and see
The only thing allowed to crawl all over you
When we get there is me

You know every guy in here tonight
Would like to take you home
But I’ve got way more class than them
And that ain’t what I want

Cause I’d like to see you out in the moonlight
I’d like to kiss you way back in the sticks
I’d like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
and I’d like to check you for ticks

Oooh, you never know where one might be
And oooh, there’s lots of places that are hard to reach

I’d like to see you out in the moonlight
I’d like to kiss you way back in the sticks
I’d like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I’d like to check you for ticks

Oh, I’d sure like to check you for ticks

64

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An interesting thing happened last night (or a funny thing, depending on how you look at it). I have been cleaning my incredibly messy apartment the past few days because my parents are coming out this weekend, and will be staying in my apartment until Monday, when they will head up to Palm Springs for the week, before returning to my apartment the next weekend. I’m really excited about it, because I love my parents very much, and we’re also really good friends, and they’re my heroes. It’s just the way I was raised, being an only child, so I just love spending time with them. We’re all very alike and enjoy being together.

So anyway, I was cleaning off my desk and in particular I was organizing the pile of movie tickets that had accumulated on my desk. I save all my ticket stubs, and I place them all in one of those sticky-paper photo albums. So I was going through my tickets, and putting them in chronological order with the help of my Excel workbook that I use for cataloguing all the movies I’ve seen and the DVDs I own. I was having trouble with some of my ticket stubs, because the ones from my local Ultrastar Theater in El Centro had problems with the ink wearing off while in my wallet (where I used to display the most recent 16 stubs). I eventually stopped displaying them in my wallet for this very reason.

So I was going through, and struggling with trying to read the faded writing, and I came across one I couldn’t identify. I could read the date and time on the ticket but could not read the movie title. I checked my Excel sheet and I was shocked to find that I had no film listed for that date. After a few minutes I managed to decipher that it was the film Fearless, starring Jet Li, and I realized I had completely forgotten to log it on my computer. I was ecstatic because last year I set a new personal record by seeing 63 films in the theater. The addition of Fearless boosts that number to 64.

Yeah, Ginny laughed at how pathetic I am too. It’s ok, don’t feel bad. I’m happy, and that’s what matters. And Ginny thought it was cute… so ha!

Oscar Wrap-up

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Well, needless to say, I am very disappointed in the Academy for giving crap like The Departed the Oscar for Best Picture.  Don’t get me wrong, The Departed was spectacularly acted, but it wasn’t anywhere close to deserving of the highest award.  Of all the eligible films I saw last year, I can think of at least 18 films that were beyond a doubt more deserving.  Now, I understand that trying to judge art is entirely subjective, and that just because a film wins an Oscar does not make it better than another film (and vice versa), but the Oscars have always been very important to me.  I’m not entirely sure why, but I have a deep personal connection to them, and have for as long as I can remember.  I can’t recall ever having missed any of the ceremonies, though I cannot recall when I first started watching.  I don’t think it’s the glamour, the celebrities, the jokes or any of those things that make it so endearing to me.  I think, for me, it’s the fact that it is taking one of the things I love the most, and celebrating it as fully as possible.  Sure, there are mistakes and biases inherent in the awards themselves, but for me Oscar Night is a night not about specific films but about cinema as a whole.  It’s a night for me to justify my love for film to myself.  I love it when the films that have meant so much to me win awards because it shows that I’m not out of my mind, and that I’m attached to something of value, instead of to useless fluff.  It shows to me that movies aren’t just about shoveling handfuls of popcorn in your mouth (by the way, check out the most awesome Strong Bad E-mail Ever!) or about escaping from reality or having fun.  Movies are our dreams (so says Scorsese) and they at least mean more to me than just that.  I don’t go to all these movies because I’m bored on the weekends, or because I’m a loser, or whatever, I go because they speak to me, they teach me, they make me think, they make me feel, they show me things that I’d otherwise never get a chance to see.  What I love about the Oscars is that they acknowledge this, the hard work and the effort that goes into an art form that can do all those things, and still entertain and enthrall, and can mean so many different things to so many different people the world over.  It’s a big part of my dream to be a director someday.  Not necessarily winning or even being nominated, but just being a part of it all.

 

So I get disappointed when they choose to award a film like The Departed, which had no purpose or reason behind it except to show that people are ugly to themselves and to one another.  While this is a worthwhile subject to explore, there was no why behind it, it didn’t matter why the people acted the way they do, or what they can do to change or make things better, it just simply showed that they were that way.  It lacked everything that gives movies more depth than just a simple still picture.

 

Other than The Departed, however, I was fairly pleased with the award winners.  I only got 13/24 correct from my predictions, the same tally as last year, though I only got 5 out of the big 8 correct this year.  I was wrong about both awards The Departed won, and was wonderfully surprised by Alan Arkin’s win for Little Miss Sunshine.  I still would have given the award to Eddie Murphy, but I think Arkin was fantastic as well.  I was happy for Scorsese, even if I didn’t agree, and was thrilled with the wins by Mirren and Hudson, both of whom shined out brightly above the rest.  I also think it’s great for the Academy to show that singing and acting are not mutually exclusive.

 

I was also surprised by Pan’s Labyrinth, which won several awards I didn’t think it would, and lost what I thought was a sure bet because of publicity alone for Best Foreign Language Film.  Melissa Ethridge’s win for Best Song also shocked me, and I was pleased that they didn’t bow to Dreamgirls just because of its 3 nominations.

 

I thought Ellen Degenerous did a good job hosting.  She was calm and sweet and warm and everything I hoped she would be.  Most people will be saying that it wasn’t funny enough, but I think it was very classy, and I’ll take funny over classy any day.  Besides, they managed to work in an AWESOME Snakes on a Plane joke, and it doesn’t get any better than that (the contortionist/interpretive dance people were a perfect addition, and I hope they come back next year).  I enjoyed the sound effects choir, and all of the film montages except the Michael Mann one about America, because it was pretty pointless.  I was happy to see Al Gore pop up many times, and be funny and charming and moving in his acceptance speech.  I also loved the moments of Coppola, Speilberg and Lucas on stage together, and it just reminds me what a shame it is that Lucas has never won an Oscar.  Those three are the ones I measure all others by, and if I ever get to live my dream, they’re the ones I’m going to measure myself by.

 

Overall I’d give the night a solid B+.  It ran a bit too long, and had some superfluous bits, but was very classy, and the award winners were good overall, just brought down by the Best Picture disappointment.  But still, I’m already counting down the days to the 80th awards show, which promises to be a big deal, I’m sure.

Last Minute Oscars Update

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So I finally managed to see Letters from Iwo Jima, less than 24 hours before the Oscars, and it certainly now has me rooting for it.  I made some last minute changes to my previous post, though I changed no predictions.  I did change my personal pick for Sound Editing, and I changed my comments for Best Director and Best Motion Picture.  It was a truly phenomenal film, and has once and for all proved to me how enormously skilled Clint Eastwood is (I also watched Unforgiven yesterday, one of his two Best Director wins so far).  It’s a shame that most of the voters had probably not even seen this film before voting, so it won’t stand much of a chance in the major categories.  I still give it an A+ though.

(On a side note, I’m a bit Japanese’d out.  I watched all 3.5 hours of the legendary Seven Samurai, and then I proceeded to the theater to see the 2.5 hour Letters from Iwo Jima, both of which are in Japanese with English subtitles.  You’d think I’d be able to speak Japanese after all that… or not.  Whew.)

The 79th Annual Academy Awards

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With the Academy Awards fast approaching (Sunday night), I figured it was time for me to offer up my opinions, picks, and predictions.  Last year I correctly predicted 13 out of the 24 winners, and 6 out of the 8 winners in the major categories (acting, picture, director, and screenwriting).  I’m now going to give you my breakdown of the categories. For each category I have my prediction of who will win (the nominees can be found here), and my pick if I could choose from any film eligible, whether nominated or not. So without further ado.

Best Short Film, Live Action:
Prediction: West Bank Story
My Pick: N/A

Best Short Film, Animated:
Prediction: The Little Matchgirl
My Pick: No Time for Nuts

Best Documentary, Short Subjects:
Prediction: Recycled Life
My Pick: N/A

Best Documentary, Features:
Prediction: An Inconvenient Truth
My Pick: An Inconvenient Truth

I was pretty angry that Shut Up & Sing wasn’t nominated.  It’s not my pick, but I definitely think it deserves the nomination.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:
Prediction: El Labortino del Fauno (from Mexico)
My Pick: El Labortino del Fauno (from Mexico)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year:
Prediction: Happy Feet
My Pick: Happy Feet

This is a tough call.  I think Happy Feet was deeper and therefore got more attention, but it did not get the overwhelmingly good reviews that Cars did.  Plus the Academy has a Pixar bias (The Incredibles, Finding Nemo)

Best Achievement in Visual Effects:
Prediction: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
My Pick: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Best Achievement in Sound Editing:
Prediction: Letters from Iwo Jima
My Pick: Letters from Iwo Jima 

Best Achievement in Sound:
Prediction: Dreamgirls
My Pick: Dreamgirls

Best Achievement in Makeup:
Prediction: El Labortino del Fauno
My Pick: El Labortino del Fauno

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song:
Prediction: “Listen” – Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler, Anne Previn; Dreamgirls
My Pick: “Life is a Highway” – Rascall Flatts; Cars
I definitely don’t understand why three of the nominees are from Dreamgirls, which is not an original musical.  I understand “Listen” was an excuse for Beyonce to get to show off in the movie, and the other two are nice, but it just doesn’t make much sense.  None of the songs nominated from Dreamgirls made nearly the impression that the original songs did, and nominating them just because they’re from a musical seems lame.  Or maybe it’s just an excuse to keep a country group from performing at the Oscars (just kidding).


Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score:
Prediction: Gustavo Santaolalla; Babel
My Pick: Bill Conti; Rocky Balboa

Best Achievement in Costume Design:
Prediction: The Devil Wears Prada
My Pick: A Prairie Home Companion

Best Achievement in Art Direction:
Prediction: Dreamgirls
My Pick: V for Vendetta

Best Achievement in Editing:
Prediction: United 93
My Pick: United 93

Best Achievement in Cinematography:
Prediction: Children of Men
My Pick: The Illusionist

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Published or Produced:
Prediction: Children of Men
My Pick: A Prairie Home Compaion

So at first I was extremely pissed that Borat got a nomination.  It’s such trash that to name it among these other outstanding films is insulting and enraging.  Then I realized the irony of it.  For a movie that claims to be almost completely improvised and claims to show real people giving their real opinions, it has to have had a significant portion pre-scripted (as the testimonials following its release have attested to), which completely undermines its credibility as a revealing faux-documentary which exposes the true views of Americans.  Though, I’m probably just reading into this what I want, so I can allow myself to watch an awards show that nominated Borat for anything.  But I love irony.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen:
Prediction: Little Miss Sunshine
My Pick: Little Miss Sunshine

Best Achievement in Directing:
Prediction: Martin Scorsese; The Departed
My Pick: Robert Altman; A Prairie Home Companion

I’m sure this will be Scorsese’s year.  The Departed was well directed in spurts, but overall was lacking.  Part of that is due to the script and we can’t completely fault Scorsese for that.  However, I don’t think he deserves this unofficial lifetime achievement award.  After all, it’s supposed to be the best directing in 2006 and biases shouldn’t come into play.  Of the nominees, it should either be Eastwood or Greengrass, both of whom took a story and made it into art of the highest quality.  They made people feel more than just shock, fright or revulsion, unlike Scorsese.  There is a reason Eastwood already has two awards in this category, and Greengrass took an impossible film and made it spectacular.  Even Frears deserves the award over Scorsese, with his subtlety and grace.  I’m sorry, but I think even the best Scorsese is overrated, and this isn’t anywhere close to the best Scorsese.  Unfortunately, I still think he’ll win.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:
Prediction: Jennifer Hudson; Dreamgirls
My Pick: Jennifer Hudson; Dreamgirls

If you had taken Hudson’s performance of “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” and put it in anything else whatsoever, including Borat, she would still deserve the nomination and the win.  And the rest of her performance in Dreamgirls is just as phenominal

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:
Prediction: Eddie Murphy; Dreamgirls
My Pick: Eddie Murphy; Dreamgirls

Yes, that’s not a mistake.  Perennial fat-suit wearing funnyman Eddie Murphy deserves to win for his both flashy and haunting performance in Dreamgirls.  Besides the outlandish performances and personality he showed, the heart-wrenching scene where he silently waits for all of his friends to leave the room before shooting up shows why he deserves this award.  (And if they ever have a Best Animated Performance award, they will need to go back in time to award it for his role as Donkey in Shrek.)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:
Prediction: Helen Mirren; The Queen
My Pick: Helen Mirren; The Queen
Surest bet this year, and the most deserved.


Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:
Prediction: Forest Whitaker; The Last King of Scotland
My Pick: Sylvester Stallone; Rocky Balboa

Of the nominees in this category, the only film I saw was The Pursuit of Happyness.  So while it may be unrealistic, Stallone’s performance showed that actors do get better with age, even if it takes 4 movies in a series and 21 years between such wonderful performances.

Best Picture:
Prediction: Little Miss Sunshine
My Pick: A Prairie Home Companion

I’ve made no secret about how I think A Prairie Home Companion was by far the greatest film of 2006.  The surprise here is the prediction of Little Miss Sunshine for Best Picture.  I know I’m predicting a major upset here, but I have my reasoning.  The Departed, despite Scorsese’s predicted win, is just too violent and has a story too overblown and difficult to identify with to be a major contender.  The Queen, while wonderful and understated, is too British and doesn’t pack enough punch or resonance in America for voters to mark it down for the win.  Babel (which I did not like) has a good premise and some strong performances, but is not so much of a film as a thesis on the interconnectedness of man.  It has some major plot holes and just feels too contrived.  While this type of film does appeal to the Academy, with its large and ethnically diverse cast and sprawling locations, I just don’t think it is the sort of film that people will remember 20 years down the road.  I loved Letters from Iwo Jima and I think it is an immensly deserving film, far, far better than Babel and The Departed, but I was only able to see it less than 24 hours before the awards ceremony which shows its distribution problems.  The vast concensus seems to be that it has little chance, because most of the voters have probably not seen it.  It is a unique and interesting film, wonderfully shot as only Eastwood is capable of, and beautifully acted.  However, I do not think it has much of a chance, which is a shame.  So I’m going with Little Miss Sunshine, the dark “independent” comedy that everyone could find a way to identify with.  Bitingly funny, warmly touching, and all around enjoyable, it has the emotional punch to make voters think twice before marking their ballot for something bigger and flashier.  It was the one film of these five that people seemed to want to see again and again, something that made them feel good, and important, and special.  It’s been either 7 or 8 years since a comedy won (depending on whether you consider American Beauty a comedy.  I don’t, so I go with Shakespeare in Love from 8 years back) and I think with the world the way it is, another comedy is due.

 

So, what do you think?  Disagree with any of my predictions or picks?  Or agree?  The Oscars are Sunday, and afterwards I’ll post my score and my thoughts on the event and the awards for those interested.  Have a great Oscar Week.