Here are the TEN (!) nominees for Best Picture:
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
Which will win and why? Which should win?
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Best Director
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Who will win and why? Who should win and why?
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Who will win and why? Who should win and why?
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Who will win and why? Who should win and why?
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Who will win and why? Who should win and why?
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Who will win and why? Who should win?
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Who will win and why? Who should win?
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Who will win and why? Who should win and why?
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Who will win and why? Who should win and why?
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Who will win and why? Who should win and why?
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Who will win and why? Who should win and why?
Best Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up
Which will win and why? Which should win?
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up
Which will win and why? Which should win?
Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson & Tom McCarthy, Up
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Which will win and why? Which should win and why?
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson & Tom McCarthy, Up
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Which will win and why? Which should win and why?
Best Adapted Screenplay
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche, In the Loop
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Which will win and why? Which should win and why?
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Which will win and why? Which should win and why?
Best Documentary Feature
Burma VJ (Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller)
The Cove
Food, Inc. (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein)
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith)
Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa)
Which will win and why? Which should win and why?
The Cove
Food, Inc. (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein)
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith)
Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa)
Which will win and why? Which should win and why?
Best Foreign Language Film
El Secreto do Sus Ojos (Argentina)
Un Prophete (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
Ajami (Israel)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
Which will win and why? Which should win and why?
Un Prophete (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
Ajami (Israel)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)
Which will win and why? Which should win and why?
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Who Will Win?
The Oscar race is ON and while thinking about movies is not perhaps as important as thinking about the economy, world peace, or global warming, thinking about who will win those gold statues does provide a nice respite from all these more serious problems.
Last Wednesday, I took a group of students to see "Milk," Gus Van Sant's movie about the gay rights activist Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the United States. He was elected to the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, in 1977. Shortly after being elected, Milk mounted a grassroots campaign against Proposition Six, which would have made it illegal for any gay or lesbian teacher to teach in California public schools. Milk, along with Mayor George Moscone, was shot and killed by Dan White, another city supervisor in 1978.
Most of us who went to the movie agreed that Sean Penn was brilliant as Harvey Milk: there was not a trace of the dour, tense, frequently angry actor in this portrayal. Milk is mostly happy, mostly optimistic, flirtatious, sexual, effusive - and a remarkably effective grassroots politician.
The movie may have glorified the impact of Milk's life - the last shot, of a long, candle-light procession through the streets of San Francisco makes it seem as if Milk were a saint - but the movie packs a wallop nevertheless, not in the least because it came out just as California was passing Prop 8, forbidding gay marriage. One student said that the movie made her wonder just how far we've come - given that in 1978 Milke and his supporters defeated Prop 6, but thirty years later the same cannot be said for Prop 8.
This afternoon, I went with another group of students to a movie about a very different kind of life: the life of Benjamin Button, in David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." This very long movie (almost three hours running time) charts the course of Benjamin, who is born as an old man and gets progressively younger through the course of his life.
Benjamin, played by Brad Pitt, starts out as a wizened, abandoned baby, who eventually turns into...well, Brad Pitt, in all his golden movie-star glory. (We wondered, in fact, if Benjamin's transformation would pack such a wallop if played by another actor - someone slightly more "ordinary.")
The special effects in the movie are quite amazing - in Benjamin's early days, he's a little old man on crutches, but with the face of a very old Brad Pitt; more remarkably, he becomes the young Brad Pitt of 12 years ago, in his first role in "Thelma and Louise," (one of the all-time great movies - if you haven't seen it, rent it now!) - we all know how "old" gets achieved in Hollywood, but the change to "young" (without Botox, etc, we assume) is stunning. A few people I know who saw the movie thought the special effects were distracting, but we didn't. This was the second time I'd seen the movie and I was surprised to find myself even more engrossed the second time around: I was immersed in the New Orleans world created by the movie and in the unfolding of Benjamin's life.
We talked about "BB" as perhaps being the anti-"Slumdog Millionaire," in that Benjamin isn't on a particular quest (although his love for the beautiful Daisy does fuel some of his adventures) and he isn't motivated by ambition or material gain. He simply lives his life according to what comes along - and while some may say that he's passive, it might also be that in Benjamin's attitude, Fincher implies a critique of the hustle-bustle-get-rich-quick sensibility that has governed so much of US culture in the last decade.
Several of the students who came with me to "BB" had seen "Slumdog" last week, and they decided that "BB" deserves to win the Best Picture Oscar - and maybe it will. In some ways, the story of Fincher's movie is more original than the "Slumdog" story, but it's possible that the lesiurely pace and lack of conflict in Fincher's movie will play against it. Benjamin, unlike Jamal in "Slumdog," never encounters any truly bad people - his conflict is primarily with his own body, which is seldom at the right physical age for what's happening to him.
After the movie, I asked the group if they could see anything that unifies the best picture nominees - The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Benjamin Button, and Frost/Nixon - and we couldn't come up with anything. But as I think about it, I wonder if there isn't some subtle link: all these movies are about reaching across boundaries, about the concept of individual human dignity, about accepting (or denying) differences: The Reader pivots on whether we can find ourselves in sympathy with someone who worked with the SS in Nazi Germany; in Slumdog, Jamal must triumph against an entire culture that sees "slumdogs" as less than human; in Milk, Harvey Milk teaches an entire city that gays and lesbians have human rights; in Benjamin Button, age (and race) cease to be reasons for alienation and distrust; in Frost/ Nixon...well, maybe the similarity ends there: or at least, that's the movie I haven't seen yet: are we asked to find sympathy with Nixon? Or only with the country whose principles he betrayed?
I'm not sure. But I think "Benjamin Button" has my vote for Best Picture. What about you?
Last Wednesday, I took a group of students to see "Milk," Gus Van Sant's movie about the gay rights activist Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the United States. He was elected to the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, in 1977. Shortly after being elected, Milk mounted a grassroots campaign against Proposition Six, which would have made it illegal for any gay or lesbian teacher to teach in California public schools. Milk, along with Mayor George Moscone, was shot and killed by Dan White, another city supervisor in 1978.
Most of us who went to the movie agreed that Sean Penn was brilliant as Harvey Milk: there was not a trace of the dour, tense, frequently angry actor in this portrayal. Milk is mostly happy, mostly optimistic, flirtatious, sexual, effusive - and a remarkably effective grassroots politician.
The movie may have glorified the impact of Milk's life - the last shot, of a long, candle-light procession through the streets of San Francisco makes it seem as if Milk were a saint - but the movie packs a wallop nevertheless, not in the least because it came out just as California was passing Prop 8, forbidding gay marriage. One student said that the movie made her wonder just how far we've come - given that in 1978 Milke and his supporters defeated Prop 6, but thirty years later the same cannot be said for Prop 8.
This afternoon, I went with another group of students to a movie about a very different kind of life: the life of Benjamin Button, in David Fincher's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." This very long movie (almost three hours running time) charts the course of Benjamin, who is born as an old man and gets progressively younger through the course of his life.
Benjamin, played by Brad Pitt, starts out as a wizened, abandoned baby, who eventually turns into...well, Brad Pitt, in all his golden movie-star glory. (We wondered, in fact, if Benjamin's transformation would pack such a wallop if played by another actor - someone slightly more "ordinary.")
The special effects in the movie are quite amazing - in Benjamin's early days, he's a little old man on crutches, but with the face of a very old Brad Pitt; more remarkably, he becomes the young Brad Pitt of 12 years ago, in his first role in "Thelma and Louise," (one of the all-time great movies - if you haven't seen it, rent it now!) - we all know how "old" gets achieved in Hollywood, but the change to "young" (without Botox, etc, we assume) is stunning. A few people I know who saw the movie thought the special effects were distracting, but we didn't. This was the second time I'd seen the movie and I was surprised to find myself even more engrossed the second time around: I was immersed in the New Orleans world created by the movie and in the unfolding of Benjamin's life.
We talked about "BB" as perhaps being the anti-"Slumdog Millionaire," in that Benjamin isn't on a particular quest (although his love for the beautiful Daisy does fuel some of his adventures) and he isn't motivated by ambition or material gain. He simply lives his life according to what comes along - and while some may say that he's passive, it might also be that in Benjamin's attitude, Fincher implies a critique of the hustle-bustle-get-rich-quick sensibility that has governed so much of US culture in the last decade.
Several of the students who came with me to "BB" had seen "Slumdog" last week, and they decided that "BB" deserves to win the Best Picture Oscar - and maybe it will. In some ways, the story of Fincher's movie is more original than the "Slumdog" story, but it's possible that the lesiurely pace and lack of conflict in Fincher's movie will play against it. Benjamin, unlike Jamal in "Slumdog," never encounters any truly bad people - his conflict is primarily with his own body, which is seldom at the right physical age for what's happening to him.
After the movie, I asked the group if they could see anything that unifies the best picture nominees - The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Benjamin Button, and Frost/Nixon - and we couldn't come up with anything. But as I think about it, I wonder if there isn't some subtle link: all these movies are about reaching across boundaries, about the concept of individual human dignity, about accepting (or denying) differences: The Reader pivots on whether we can find ourselves in sympathy with someone who worked with the SS in Nazi Germany; in Slumdog, Jamal must triumph against an entire culture that sees "slumdogs" as less than human; in Milk, Harvey Milk teaches an entire city that gays and lesbians have human rights; in Benjamin Button, age (and race) cease to be reasons for alienation and distrust; in Frost/ Nixon...well, maybe the similarity ends there: or at least, that's the movie I haven't seen yet: are we asked to find sympathy with Nixon? Or only with the country whose principles he betrayed?
I'm not sure. But I think "Benjamin Button" has my vote for Best Picture. What about you?
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Reader
It's hard to write about all the issues raised by this movie without giving away a few key plot points, but I'm going to try, because even though I didn't like the movie very much, I think it's worth seeing (and seeing on the big screen, too, rather than waiting for the DVD, because the movie is visually quite beautiful).
Here's one question raised by this movie: at what point do we forget the crimes of previous generations and move forward? Can we ever do that? Should we ever do that? Are there some crimes so egregious they can never be forgiven, never glossed over?
Here's another question: what happens if justice and morality do not necessarily line up? What happens when we realize that a law-based society may not necessarily be a moral society?
And here's another question - a real humdinger: what happens if you find out that your first love - an older person, a grown-up, someone who brought you a golden summer of sexual pleasure, emotional intimacy, kindness, romance - what if you found out that this person was, before you ever knew her, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. What would you do? How would you feel?
"The Reader" asks all these questions, and more, but isn't preachy or moralizing - in fact, it is a movie that is almost disconcertingly without a moral: it raises questions but doesn't answer them. I appreciated the fact that the movie didn't blare a message from a soapbox - it's much more subtle than that - but I wonder if the movie's subtlety didn't also create a sense of distance that prevented me from fully locking in on the emotions of the characters. I felt oddly unmoved at the end of the movie, which I don't think was the director's intention.
On the other hand, images and conversations from the movie are still bouncing around in my head, so maybe it's one of those movies whose emotional impact takes a little while to sink in...
I'd be surprised if the movie wins Best Picture, however. It asks Big Questions - but Hollywood only likes movies to ask Big Questions if they also provide Easy Answers. And "The Reader" isn't about answers - only questions.
What did you think?
Here's one question raised by this movie: at what point do we forget the crimes of previous generations and move forward? Can we ever do that? Should we ever do that? Are there some crimes so egregious they can never be forgiven, never glossed over?
Here's another question: what happens if justice and morality do not necessarily line up? What happens when we realize that a law-based society may not necessarily be a moral society?
And here's another question - a real humdinger: what happens if you find out that your first love - an older person, a grown-up, someone who brought you a golden summer of sexual pleasure, emotional intimacy, kindness, romance - what if you found out that this person was, before you ever knew her, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. What would you do? How would you feel?
"The Reader" asks all these questions, and more, but isn't preachy or moralizing - in fact, it is a movie that is almost disconcertingly without a moral: it raises questions but doesn't answer them. I appreciated the fact that the movie didn't blare a message from a soapbox - it's much more subtle than that - but I wonder if the movie's subtlety didn't also create a sense of distance that prevented me from fully locking in on the emotions of the characters. I felt oddly unmoved at the end of the movie, which I don't think was the director's intention.
On the other hand, images and conversations from the movie are still bouncing around in my head, so maybe it's one of those movies whose emotional impact takes a little while to sink in...
I'd be surprised if the movie wins Best Picture, however. It asks Big Questions - but Hollywood only likes movies to ask Big Questions if they also provide Easy Answers. And "The Reader" isn't about answers - only questions.
What did you think?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Best Picture
Here are the nominees for Best Picture. Which should win and why?
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Achievement in Directing
Here are the nominees for Achievement in Directing. Who should win and why?
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Best Actor
Here are the nominees for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. Who should win and why?
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Actress
Here are the nominees for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. Who should win and why?
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, The Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, The Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader
Best Supporting Actress
Here are the nominees for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. Who should win and why?
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Best Supporting Actor
Here are the nominees for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Who should win and why?
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road
Best Foreign Language Film
Here are the nominees for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. Which should win and why?
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel)
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