Miscellaneous Movie Musings

[innerSpaceman]

I wonder if Cate was nommed for Liz because her earlier portrayal of the same character was nommeed. Also if her nom in both Best and Supporting will cancel each other out.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

I saw Atonement - I thought it was ok. Acting was good but I didn't think it was the greatest movie. I was a bit surprised by Keira Knightly, she was way better in this than Pirates.

The film - eh...

[innerSpaceman]

Ok, no Diving Bell ... and I haven't seen the majority of Best Supporting Actress noms. Nonetheless ... Ladies and Gentlemen, the Zlick Picks:

Best Actor: George Clooney in Michael Clayton (Zlick's Acadamy prediction: Daniel Day Lewis)

Best Supporting Actor: Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton (the actual Oscar will go to Javier Bardem)

Best Actress: Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose (with the Academy following suit)

Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton (with the Academy once again agreeing on me on la femme talent)

Best Animated Film: Ratatouille (with an Oscar for sure)

Best Art Direction: Sweeney Todd (and the Academy once again agrees with Steve)

Best Cinematography: No Country for Old Men (and I believe the Oscar-winner will be The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)

Best Costume Design: Elizabeth, the Golden Age (and I think the Academy will likewise be swayed by the spendlor of gaudy)

Best Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for No Country For Old Men (and I feel the Academy will be breaking out the second Oscar when they concur)

Best Documentary Feature: Sicko (and Michael Moore will once again wow with his acceptance speech)

Best Documentary Short - no selection (I haven't seen any of them)

Best Editing: No Country for Old Men (though I think the Academy will be swayed by the flashier work in The Bourne Ultimatum)

Best Foreign Language Film - no selection (I haven't seen any of them - but I will say that The Orphanage was robbed!)

Best Makeup: La Vie en Rose (with the Oscar going to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End)

Best Musical Score - Ratatouille (with the Oscar dancing to the beat of the same drummer)

Best Original Song - Happy Working Song from Enchanted (with the Oscar going to "That's How You Know," also from Enchanted)

Best Animated Short Film: A Zlick Oscar Upset: NONE (but the inevitable Oscar going to Even Pidgeons Go to Heaven)

Best Live Action Short Film: Tanghi Argentini (and the Academy must agree)

Best Sound Editing: There Will Be Blood (with the Oscar going to No Country For Old Men)

Best Sound Mixing: The Bourne Ultimatum (and the Academy agrees)

Best Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (and the Oscar indeed goes to Pirates 3)

Best Adapted Screenplay: There Will Be Blood (with the Academy choosing No Country For Old Men)

Best Original Screenplay: Michael Clayton (and the Academy concurs)

and finally:

Best Picture of the Year: Michael Clayton (and the Oscar goes to: No County For Old Men)


Stay Tuned tomorrow night, to see how well I've been right!





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[Strangler Lewis]

Watched Michael Clayton last night, which makes me four of five on the Best Picture nominees for the first time in years. Tom Wilkinson was great. Tilda Swinton was great. The script was kind of Networky, but okay. My biggest problem was with the Michael Clayton character. I didn't believe for a second that such a person exists. I thought the loan shark bit and the gambling addiction felt tacked on to give fake grit to an implausible character. The ending left us wondering what he was going to do now not in the good way that moral dilemmas often do, but in the bad way that we had no idea who or what this person was in the first place. That said, I thought George Clooney did well enough, and I cared about his character. Of course, I cared about the characters in The Golden Compass, and none of that made a lick of sense either.

[Alex]

I noticed the In the Valley of Elah was available through On Demand so I swallowed my pride and watched in pan and scan.

Paul Haggis took a pretty good murder mystery movie and tried to make it a bit too socially significant at the end but then Haggis is all about slapping you about the shoulders with message.

It is a good performance from Jones, though maybe a bit too similar to his role in No Country For Old Men. Really, I can easily envision both characters as the same person. And the events of this movie feeding into how he responded to the events in No Country.

Charlize Theron was good too, but sadly just a bit too pretty for the environment she was in so it was kind of distracting.

[Alex]

Once was my favorite movie last year (though I'll grant that No Country for Old Men was better) so I'm very happy they won in the only category they were given an opportunity.

[Alex]

Very international group of winners tonight. I wonder if this this the first time that not one of the acting awards went to an American?

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Alex

Very international group of winners tonight. I wonder if this this the first time that not one of the acting awards went to an American?

To answer my own question (and having done so the hard way), I only went back to 1950 but since then it has happened one other time. In 1965 Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, and Peter Ustinov all won having been born in the UK (using birthplace s the standard, don't want to get into citizenships) while Lila Kedrova born in Russia was the fourth.

Twice in that time frame 3 out of the 4 were foreign-born. 1957 (Yul Brynner, Ingrid Berman, and Anthony Quinn) and then again in 1990 (Brenda Fricker, Jessica Tandy, and Daniel Day-Lewis).

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Alex

To answer my own question (and having done so the hard way), I only went back to 1950 but since then it has happened one other time. In 1965 Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, and Peter Ustinov all won having been born in the UK (using birthplace s the standard, don't want to get into citizenships) while Lila Kedrova born in Russia was the fourth.

Twice in that time frame 3 out of the 4 were foreign-born. 1957 (Yul Brynner, Ingrid Berman, and Anthony Quinn) and then again in 1990 (Brenda Fricker, Jessica Tandy, and Daniel Day-Lewis).

This year, however, at least two of the winners (Day-Lewis and Swinton) were playing Americans, thank God. I don't recall if Anton Chigurh was American or not.

[blueerica]

I thought it was as well, as remarked (well before he could have known it), by Stewart.

Again, one of the better Oscar ceremonies in my memory.