Not to toot my own horn, but I'd say I did pretty well on my Oscar choices. I only missed one on the major categories but who saw Tilda Swinton's win coming? She did a great job in "Michael Clayton" but no one was buzzing about her taking home the award. Of course, unless I have a strong opinion to the contrary, I love a good surprise winner. Case in point, I felt Marion Cotillard deserved the Oscar for Best Actress and was tired of hearing all the talk about Julie Christie. When Marion's name was called on Sunday night, I was so excited for her. She was so graceful and humble about her win that you couldn't help but be happy for her. And, I will admit, I had a bit of smugness in me the next day when everyone was talking about her being the surprise win of the night...I called that one all along!
I can't be too proud though because I was beat in our Oscar contest by a guess. Rian takes the ribbon by blindly choosing "A Golden Compass" for visual effects. We didn't even see the movie! But, I will accept my defeat and move on. After all, if I wouldn't have changed my choice for Art Direction (from Sweeney Todd to Atonement)at the last minute, I would've at least tied him. I did however, also change my choice for Costume Design to "Elizabeth" after watching that film...and, it won so therefore paid off!
Here are all of my correct choices for this year's Oscars:
Best Picture: "No Country for Old Men"
Best Director: Joel & Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Best Actor: Daniel-Day Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Adapted Screenplay: "No Country for Old Men"
Original Screenplay: "Juno"
Original Score: "Atonement"
Costume: "Elizabeth"
Makeup: "La Vie en Rose"
Animated Feature: "Ratatouille"
Ok, I know that 11 out of 24 doesn't sound so great but when the others are mostly "guess" categories, I'd say I at least deserve a little kudos.
All in all, it was a good show and the 2 hour arrival special was enjoyable as usual. Gary Busey interrupting Jennifer Garner's interview was great and when he had no clue who she was, that was even better. Gotta love that!
I will say that the most entertaining part of the night was the last few minutes of the broadcast when Channel 7 accidentally broke into the feed with audio and you could clearly hear them talking. Right after the announcement of the Best Picture, you heard "I don't believe in this Oscar bulls**t but this is the best movie of the year." Someone says "What's it about?", "A guy with no expression keeps blowing up everything." ha ha. Great to hear the uncensored opinions of the news broadcasters waiting for their go ahead to do the news...
I will stop back by later this week with my Best/Worst Dressed list...
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Ladies and Gentleman...
The countdown is at 7 hours...Red Carpet arrival, here we come! Oh, how I love Oscar Sunday. Last year I was on a family vacation in Maui so we enjoyed the day in the sun and then cranked up the BBQ and had a nice dinner in while watching the show. The broadcast was delayed there so it took all my strength not to cheat and check the winners on the computer. This year, I'm at home. It's 29 degrees outside and the ground is covered with snow. A perfect day to cuddle up with a blanket and enjoy the hype.
We are down to one last movie, "In the Valley of Elah" which we are just about to watch. Then, I need to sit down and finalize my picks. It was a great crop of movies this year and will be interesting to see who takes home the Oscar for Best Picture. I will be even more surprised to see who wins Original/Adapted Screenplay since I am still struggling with my own choice.
For those other movie lovers out there, enjoy this "Super Bowl of the movie world" and I'm sure I'll have something to say later this week regarding the winners and fashion choices. Ah, if only I could figure out a way to be a seat filler, I would die happy...
We are down to one last movie, "In the Valley of Elah" which we are just about to watch. Then, I need to sit down and finalize my picks. It was a great crop of movies this year and will be interesting to see who takes home the Oscar for Best Picture. I will be even more surprised to see who wins Original/Adapted Screenplay since I am still struggling with my own choice.
For those other movie lovers out there, enjoy this "Super Bowl of the movie world" and I'm sure I'll have something to say later this week regarding the winners and fashion choices. Ah, if only I could figure out a way to be a seat filler, I would die happy...
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Oscar week is upon us!!
It's Oscar week! yay! Time for me to write my predictions (and opinions) about the main categories...
Best Picture: "No Country for Old Men" Although the other movies in this category were enjoyable, my personal opionion is that this movie should take the award. It was completely disturbing and (spoiler alert) doesn't have that "feel good" ending that I so hate in movies. Come on people, occasionally the boy shouldn't get the girl and things don't turn out all hearts and flowers!
Best Director: Hmmmm. This one really is hard for me. Since I really have no idea how the Academy decides what makes a "best director", I am going to go with "No Country" solely because I think Best Director and Best Picture should go hand in hand. If we feel a movie deserves Best Picture, then the Director certainly did his job!
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis deserves this Oscar. His portrayal of a money-hungry oil man made you both love and hate him.
Best Actress: I'm going away from the buzz and giving the award to Marion Cotillard. I think she did a fabulous job in "La Vie en Rose". I think Julie Christie's role was good but I feel Marion had to stretch farther to portray her character. She was a believable quirky Edith Piaf and well deserving of this Oscar.
Animated Film Feature: "Ratatouille" Not much to say about it except that as an adult, I found myself completely entertained with this movie.
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem. He definitely deserves this award. Javier's role outshined everyone else in this category.
Best Supporting Actress: I'm completely going to take a guess because all of the nominees seem pretty even to me. So, I will choose Cate Blanchett...solely because she won the Globe. Lame, I know but give me a break, some of these are really hard!
Original Screenplay: This is another hard one since all of these stories are so different. I need more time to mull this over.
Adapted Screenplay: All of these were good movies! Can "Atonement" take the Oscar after winning the Golden Globe? I have no idea. I need more time to think about this one.
Art Direction: "Sweeney Todd" gets my award. This movie really makes you feel like you are watching a Broadway production.
Cinematography: "Diving Bell and the Butterfly" If this category is chosen solely on making lighting and camera choices, I choose "Diving Bell." Watching this movie placed me the hospital bed feeling and seeing what Mr. Bauby felt and saw. I thought the camera angles played a huge part in the feel of the film.
Costume Design: "Atonement" is my pick...but, I won't be surprised if "Elizabeth" wins because I haven't seen it and can't make an educated guess on whether it should win. But, I still have 6 days left to fit it in!
Makeup: I'm giving the award to "La Vie en Rose." As the main character ages, the makeup transforms the young and beautiful Marion Cotillard into an older, sickly Edith Piaf. And let's face it folks, can they honestly give an Oscar to "Norbit"?????????
Film Editing: Come on, do you think I really have the knowledge to know the hard work that goes into editing a movie??? I pick "Into the Wild" because that story took place over 2 years yet the editing made it very fluid and easy to follow. I might be way off track but who cares...that's my pick.
Original Score: Total guess..."Atonement"
Sound Editing: Another blind pick..."There Will be Blood"
Sound Mixing: Blind pick again..."No Country for Old Men" Sorry sound people, I have NO idea how hard your job is or even if I could tell if you made mistakes...
Visual Effects: "Transformers" To me, this movie was surprisingly enjoyable. To be honest, I didn't really want to see this movie but did because of its nominations. I found myself glued to the screen the entire 2 + hours. The visual effects were fantastic! As much as I liked the "Pirates of the Caribbean", my Oscar goes to this film.
Alright, there is my list. We didn't complete the other categories so I my picks would be completely based on the title. We saw more movies this year than ever and I'm expecting a great Sunday night....Bring on the Oscars!!
Best Picture: "No Country for Old Men" Although the other movies in this category were enjoyable, my personal opionion is that this movie should take the award. It was completely disturbing and (spoiler alert) doesn't have that "feel good" ending that I so hate in movies. Come on people, occasionally the boy shouldn't get the girl and things don't turn out all hearts and flowers!
Best Director: Hmmmm. This one really is hard for me. Since I really have no idea how the Academy decides what makes a "best director", I am going to go with "No Country" solely because I think Best Director and Best Picture should go hand in hand. If we feel a movie deserves Best Picture, then the Director certainly did his job!
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis deserves this Oscar. His portrayal of a money-hungry oil man made you both love and hate him.
Best Actress: I'm going away from the buzz and giving the award to Marion Cotillard. I think she did a fabulous job in "La Vie en Rose". I think Julie Christie's role was good but I feel Marion had to stretch farther to portray her character. She was a believable quirky Edith Piaf and well deserving of this Oscar.
Animated Film Feature: "Ratatouille" Not much to say about it except that as an adult, I found myself completely entertained with this movie.
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem. He definitely deserves this award. Javier's role outshined everyone else in this category.
Best Supporting Actress: I'm completely going to take a guess because all of the nominees seem pretty even to me. So, I will choose Cate Blanchett...solely because she won the Globe. Lame, I know but give me a break, some of these are really hard!
Original Screenplay: This is another hard one since all of these stories are so different. I need more time to mull this over.
Adapted Screenplay: All of these were good movies! Can "Atonement" take the Oscar after winning the Golden Globe? I have no idea. I need more time to think about this one.
Art Direction: "Sweeney Todd" gets my award. This movie really makes you feel like you are watching a Broadway production.
Cinematography: "Diving Bell and the Butterfly" If this category is chosen solely on making lighting and camera choices, I choose "Diving Bell." Watching this movie placed me the hospital bed feeling and seeing what Mr. Bauby felt and saw. I thought the camera angles played a huge part in the feel of the film.
Costume Design: "Atonement" is my pick...but, I won't be surprised if "Elizabeth" wins because I haven't seen it and can't make an educated guess on whether it should win. But, I still have 6 days left to fit it in!
Makeup: I'm giving the award to "La Vie en Rose." As the main character ages, the makeup transforms the young and beautiful Marion Cotillard into an older, sickly Edith Piaf. And let's face it folks, can they honestly give an Oscar to "Norbit"?????????
Film Editing: Come on, do you think I really have the knowledge to know the hard work that goes into editing a movie??? I pick "Into the Wild" because that story took place over 2 years yet the editing made it very fluid and easy to follow. I might be way off track but who cares...that's my pick.
Original Score: Total guess..."Atonement"
Sound Editing: Another blind pick..."There Will be Blood"
Sound Mixing: Blind pick again..."No Country for Old Men" Sorry sound people, I have NO idea how hard your job is or even if I could tell if you made mistakes...
Visual Effects: "Transformers" To me, this movie was surprisingly enjoyable. To be honest, I didn't really want to see this movie but did because of its nominations. I found myself glued to the screen the entire 2 + hours. The visual effects were fantastic! As much as I liked the "Pirates of the Caribbean", my Oscar goes to this film.
Alright, there is my list. We didn't complete the other categories so I my picks would be completely based on the title. We saw more movies this year than ever and I'm expecting a great Sunday night....Bring on the Oscars!!
Friday, February 8, 2008
Movies, Movies, Movies!!
Well, Oscar season is in full swing at the Lindell house. We are avid movie-goers and each year we try to see as many Oscar nominated movies as we can (prior to the big day!). I will admit, it sometimes gets a little frustrating considering the HUGE number of "limited release" movies that are nominated. Some are only in theatres in NYC/LA while others are released on DVD after the Oscars air. So, we have our fair share of searching for those little artsy theaters around the Buffalo area in order to complete our quest. This year, we've been pleasantly surprised at the availability of the nominated movies. Here is our list (as of today) that we've seen:
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Sweeney Todd
Eastern Promises
Away From Her
La Vie en Rose
The Savages
Ratatouille
Surf's Up
Charlie Wilson's War
Into the Wild
I'm Not There
American Gangster
Lars and the Real Girl
Across the Universe
Pirate's of the Caribbean: At World's End
The Bourne Ultimatum
Ok, so I admit, there are a couple of older ones that we saw last spring/summer but most of them have been seen over the past 2 months. We do get a good head's start after the Golden Globe nominations come out since a lot of those cross over into the Oscars. It's a fun endeavor each year because we have a lot of time on our hands and love the weekday afternoon empty theaters. Also, it's great because there are several movies each year that we see because of their nomination that we probably would've just skipped by on the title alone. You definitely get away from the usual "blockbuster" types...sort of like our own "book club" but with movies. Maybe we should start having a pow-wow in a coffee house at the conclusion of each film. :-)
We have a few more to see:
In the Valley of Elah
Assassination of Jesse James
Gone Baby Gone
The Golden Compass
Elizabeth
The Kite Runner
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers
Other than that, we need to hear the nominated songs (will probably just listen to them instead of watching the movie) and there are 2 documentary features that are available on DVD:
Sicko
No End in Sight
Unfortunately, the Foreign Language Film, Short Film-animated, Short Film-live and Documentary-short aren't available for us lay-people to see. Oh well, those are what make our contest (to see who picks the most winners) more fun as neither of us have a clue who should win in those categories...it's a blind pick.
Well, that's about it for my movie post. I've gone on long enough. Hopefully there are other movie lovers out there who can read this and not think I'm crazy...Now I just have to hope this writer's strike ends soon so the Oscars will go on!!
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Sweeney Todd
Eastern Promises
Away From Her
La Vie en Rose
The Savages
Ratatouille
Surf's Up
Charlie Wilson's War
Into the Wild
I'm Not There
American Gangster
Lars and the Real Girl
Across the Universe
Pirate's of the Caribbean: At World's End
The Bourne Ultimatum
Ok, so I admit, there are a couple of older ones that we saw last spring/summer but most of them have been seen over the past 2 months. We do get a good head's start after the Golden Globe nominations come out since a lot of those cross over into the Oscars. It's a fun endeavor each year because we have a lot of time on our hands and love the weekday afternoon empty theaters. Also, it's great because there are several movies each year that we see because of their nomination that we probably would've just skipped by on the title alone. You definitely get away from the usual "blockbuster" types...sort of like our own "book club" but with movies. Maybe we should start having a pow-wow in a coffee house at the conclusion of each film. :-)
We have a few more to see:
In the Valley of Elah
Assassination of Jesse James
Gone Baby Gone
The Golden Compass
Elizabeth
The Kite Runner
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers
Other than that, we need to hear the nominated songs (will probably just listen to them instead of watching the movie) and there are 2 documentary features that are available on DVD:
Sicko
No End in Sight
Unfortunately, the Foreign Language Film, Short Film-animated, Short Film-live and Documentary-short aren't available for us lay-people to see. Oh well, those are what make our contest (to see who picks the most winners) more fun as neither of us have a clue who should win in those categories...it's a blind pick.
Well, that's about it for my movie post. I've gone on long enough. Hopefully there are other movie lovers out there who can read this and not think I'm crazy...Now I just have to hope this writer's strike ends soon so the Oscars will go on!!
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