Month: February 2008

Best of the 2008 Oscars

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Best Picture
No Country for Old Men

Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Best Supporting Actress
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Animated Feature
Ratatouille

This entry was posted in Awards, News.

Winners Circle:The Winners of the 80th Annual Academy Awards

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Best Costume Design
Alexandra Byrne, Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Best Animated Feature
Ratatouille, Brad Bird

Best Makeup
La Vie en Rose, Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald

Best Visual Effects
The Golden Compass, Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Moriss, Trevor Wood

Best Art Direction
Sweeney Todd, Art Direction: Dante Feretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Best Live Action Short Film
Le Mozart de Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets), Philippe Pollet-Villard

Best Animated Short Film
Peter & the Wolf, Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Best Supporting Actress
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Adapted Screenplay
No Country for Old Men, Joel & Ethan Coen

Best Sound Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum, Karen Baker & Per Hallberg

Best Sound Mixing
The Bourne Ultimatum, Scott Millan, David Parker, Kirk Francis

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Best Film Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum, Christopher Rouse

Best Foreign Language Film
The Counterfeiters, Austria

Best Original Song
“Falling Slowly” from Once, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova

Best Cinematography
There Will Be Blood, Robert Elswit

Best Original Score
Atonement, Dario Marianelli

Best Documentary Short Subject
Freeheld, Cynthia Wade & Venessa Roth

Best Documantary Feature
Taxi to the Dark Side, Alex Gibney & Eva Orner

Best Original Screenplay
Juno, Diablo Cody

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Director
Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Best Picture of the Year
No Country for Old Men

This entry was posted in Awards, News.

Creep Show: Review for "Vacancy"

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The thriller Vacancyis your standard issue slasher film, but it’s better. Amy (Kate Beckinsale) and David (Luke Wilson) are on the verge of divorce. They’ve recently come from their parents’ wedding anniversary when they need to stop at a strange gas station to get some help. The guy who “fixes” their car makes it worse and it breaks down a mile or so down the road. They decide to stay the night at a hotel. While watching some of the videos, they see people getting killed in a low-budget horror flick way, but at the same time rather ghastly. They find out that people were killed in the same room. These sickos were watching them all along, like a sick peep show. But these victims are smarter and create a plan to get away. What follows is a cat and mouse game of high tension. This film was excellently written, directed, and acted, though the ending was horrible. Very scary and exciting.
Grade: B+

This entry was posted in Horror.

The Bets: Who I Think Will Win

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Best Actor will definitely go to Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood. He’s a brilliant actor and he’s given a great performance. But I think Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd deserves it. He’s scary and he slashes and he sings. Best Actress is a tough one, with the brilliant Julie Christie as an Alzheimer’s patient in a heartbreaking performance in Away From Her, Marion Cotillard in an outstandingly realistic portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, Ellen Page may also take it as witty Juno. But if I know the critics, I think it will be Christie. Best Supporting Actor is a no contest for Javier Bardem, who has gained many critics awards for his role as a hit man in No Country for Old Men. Best Supporting Actress is a little trickier, but young Soairse Ronan from Atonement has no chance. Gone Baby Gone‘s Amy Ryan gave a tremendous performance as well as Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton, Cate Blanchett as a Bob Dylan-esqe character in I’m Not There, and a short but sweet performance by Ruby Dee in American Gangster. Best Director may go to Joel and Ethan Coen for No Countryor Paul Thomas Andreson for Blood and even Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Best Picture I think may go to No Country, which has been well received by critics. We’ll have to see the winners Sunday night at 8/9 p.m. est LIVE from the Kodak Theater on ABC.

This entry was posted in Awards, News.

You Can Never Have Too Much "Spam": Review for "Spamalot"

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Spamalot is somewhat an adaptation/remake of Monty Python’s hilarious Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The original tale revolves around King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The title is a pun on “Camelot” and the long running Python gag “Spam”, which, if you dot already know, is canned meat. There were several differences from the movie, which, in essence, shouldn’t matter. Eric Idle, one of the originals, wrote the book and the lyrics for the play. The Lady of the Lake character is very funny, and the actress who plays her has a tremendous voice. Her rendition of “What Ever Happened to My Part?” is hilarious, in which she complains of not being on the stage for long and makes fun of Posh Beckham. However, in the style of those dirty minded comedians, there’s plenty of swearing and ladies showing lots of skin. The show, though advertised for families, is not exactly family friendly. There are very funny parts in the second act when it was like the original film with the Ones Who Say “Nee” and the Black Knight scenes. Lancelot, who falls in love with Guenivere in the original tale, falls in love with Price Herbert. That doesn’t bother me in the slightest, it was just the style that they did it in. A funny line that Lancelot said at the end of the show about same sex marriage is “To think that 2000 years in the future this will still be controversial.” It is true and put very frankly. There are very clever scenes in which they use a projector. The play is clever, funny, and sometimes hilarious!
Grade: B+

This entry was posted in adaptation, Broadway, musical, remake.