-srd

-srd

-srd

updated: karen vu requested an f-bomb count. i counted 39.

1. Best Picture: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk,” “The Reader,” “Slumdog Millionaire.“

my take: HUGE snub here for the dark knight.  it doesn’t deserve to win, but it should have at least been nominated.

2. Actor: Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”; Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”; Sean Penn, “Milk”; Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler.”

my take: it’s close between penn and rourke, but everyone loves a comeback story.  this is rourke’s year.

3. Actress: Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”; Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”; Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”; Meryl Streep, “Doubt”; Kate Winslet, “The Reader.”

my take: it’s kinda strange that winslet got the nom for the reader and not revolutionary road, but she’s due regardless.

4. Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, “Milk”; Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”; Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”; Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”; Michael Shannon, “Revolutionary Road.”

my take: easily the biggest lock of the year.  hilarious that downey got the nom for being the dude, playing the dude, disguised as another dude.

5. Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, “Doubt”; Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”; Viola Davis, “Doubt”; Taraji P. Henson, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler.”

my take: this is a tough one.  i’m gonna give it to tomei, but don’t count out adams or cruz.

6. Director: David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; Ron Howard, “Frost/Nixon”; Gus Van Sant, “Milk”; Stephen Daldry, “The Reader”; Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire.”

my take: would’ve liked to see aronofsky here, but boyle’s a pretty safe bet.

7. Foreign Film: “The Baader Meinhof Complex,” Germany; “The Class,” France; “Departures,” Japan; “Revanche,” Austria; “Waltz With Bashir,” Israel.

my take: i actually haven’t seen any of these yet, but waltz with bashir looks amazing.

8. Adapted Screenplay: Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; John Patrick Shanley, “Doubt”; Peter Morgan, “Frost/Nixon”; David Hare, “The Reader”; Simon Beaufoy, “Slumdog Millionaire.”

my take: i’d like slumdog to completely sweep the awards, but people seem to really like doubt.

9. Original Screenplay: Courtney Hunt, “Frozen River”; Mike Leigh, “Happy-Go-Lucky”; Martin McDonagh, “In Bruges”; Dustin Lance Black, “Milk”; Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter, “WALL-E.”

my take: kind of a random pick here.  did wall-e even have a screenplay?

10. Animated Feature Film: “Bolt”; “Kung Fu Panda”; “WALL-E.”

my take: while i did really like kung fu panda, wall-e is garaunteed the win.

11. Art Direction: “Changeling,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Duchess,” “Revolutionary Road.”

my take: tough call.  i’ll default to the dark knight.

12. Cinematography: “Changeling,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Reader,” “Slumdog Millionaire.”

my take: another tough call. another default pick.

13. Sound Mixing: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Dark Knight,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “WALL-E,” “Wanted.”

my take: de-fault! de-fault!

14. Sound Editing: “The Dark Knight,” “Iron Man,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “WALL-E,” “Wanted.”

my take: how is this different from sound mixing again?

15. Original Score: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Alexandre Desplat; “Defiance,” James Newton Howard; “Milk,” Danny Elfman; “Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman; “WALL-E,” Thomas Newman.

my take: another huge snub for the dark knight, on par with last year’s dq-ed score for there will be blood.

16. Original Song: “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E,” Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman; “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman and Gulzar; “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam.

my take: this is probably the most fucked up category.  only three songs nominated and no springsteen love? wtf.

17. Costume: “Australia,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Duchess,” “Milk,” “Revolutionary Road.”

my take: just a personal choice, not a real  prediction.

18. Documentary Feature: “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon),” “Encounters at the End of the World,” “The Garden,” “Man on Wire,” “Trouble the Water.”

my take: one of the best-reviewed movies of the year.  it’s a documentary and a heist film, all rolled into one.

19. Documentary (short subject): “The Conscience of Nhem En,” “The Final Inch,” “Smile Pinki,” “The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306.”

my take: no clue, stab in the dark.

20. Film Editing: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Dark Knight,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk,” “Slumdog Millionaire.”

my take: lot of people complained about the editing in the dark knight, so i’m gonna go with slumdog again.

21. Makeup: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Dark Knight,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army.”

my take: the makeup in button is jaw-dropping at times. i’d say a pretty safe bet.

22. Animated Short Film: “La Maison en Petits Cubes,” “Lavatory — Lovestory,” “Oktapodi,” “Presto,” “This Way Up.”

my take: no clue. i’ll watch these on itunes and get back to you.

23. Live Action Short Film: “Auf der Strecke (On the Line),” “Manon on the Asphalt,” “New Boy,” “The Pig,” “Spielzeugland (Toyland).”

my take: ditto.

24. Visual Effects: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Dark Knight,” “Iron Man.”

my take: really tough call here.  i’d like to give it to the dark knight for the minimal use of cgi, but button seems more likely.

we’ll see what happens in a month when the awards are announced.  i’ll probably live-tweat them, so prepare your facebook’s to be bombarded by my snarky comments.

-srd

well, /film reported yesterday, and ew confirmed this morning, that a settlement has been reached and watchmen will be released on march 6.  the details are currently sketchy, but essentially warner brothers is gonna pay fox some money up front as well as a percentage of the box office gross.  and we get watchmen.  finally.

is it march yet?

-srd

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Majel Barrett Roddenberry, “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry’s widow who nurtured the legacy of the seminal science fiction TV series after his death, has died. She was 76. Roddenberry died of leukemia Thursday morning at her home in Bel-Air, said Sean Rossall, a family spokesman.

At Roddenberry’s side were family friends and her son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr.

Roddenberry was involved in the “Star Trek” universe for more than four decades. She played the dark-haired Number One in the original pilot but metamorphosed into the blond, miniskirted Nurse Christine Chapel in the original 1966-69 show. She had smaller roles in all five of its television successors and many of the “Star Trek” movie incarnations, although she had little involvement in the productions.

She frequently was the voice of the ship’s computer, and about two weeks ago she completed the same role for the upcoming J.J. Abrams movie “Star Trek,” Rossall said.

Roddenberry also helped keep the franchise alive by inspiring fans and attended a major “Star Trek” convention each year, Rossall said.

“I think `Star Trek’ will always be her legacy,” Rossall said.

“Star Trek” and its successors often focused on political and philosophical issues of the day. Roddenberry and her husband, who died in 1991, believed in creating “thoughtful entertainment” and were proud of the show and the passionate devotion of its fans, Rossall said.

“My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that `Star Trek’ fans played a vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years. It was her love for the fans, and their love in return, that kept her going for so long after my father passed away,” her son said in a statement on the official Roddenberry Web site.

Born Majel Lee Hudec on Feb. 23, 1932, in Cleveland, she began taking acting classes as a child. She had some stage roles, then in the late 1950s and 1960s had bit parts in a few movies and small roles in TV series, including “Leave It to Beaver” and “Bonanza.”

She met her husband in 1964 during a guest role for a Marine Corps drama he produced called “The Lieutenant.” That same year, she was cast in the pilot for the “Star Trek” series as the no-nonsense second-in-command. The pilot did not appeal to NBC executives and a second pilot was made, although parts of the original later showed up in a two-part episode called “The Menagerie.”

The couple married in Japan in 1969 after “Star Trek” was canceled. After her husband’s death, Roddenberry continued her involvement with the “Star Trek” franchise.

She also was the executive producer for two other TV science fiction series, “Andromeda” and “Earth: Final Conflict.”

-srd

a while back i posted about my excitement for gran torino, the new clint eastwood vehicle (i should be shot for that pun).  turns out, the movie is terrible.  like god awful bad.  the script was all around poorly written, the performances from everyone are amateur at best and laughable at worst, and eastwood, christ, eastwood.  man oh man.  he just growls the whole movie and whips out pretty much every racial epithet for asians i’ve ever heard, including some i hadn’t.  do not, i repeat, do not waste your time with this movie.

earlier this week i rewatched both troll 2 and the room with the dudes ahoy.  gran torino was a fitting addition to the trilogy of shit.

-srd

/film, care of variety, reported this week that stephen norrington is planning to direct a remake of 1994 cult-classic the crow.  stephen norrington, go fuck yourself.

seriously, this is the auteur that brought us not only blade (the first one, not the cool one directed by del toro) but also THE LEAGUE OF FUCKING EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN.  if i have to spell out for you why this is a terrible idea, then you clearly never saw that cinematic abortion.  consider yourself lucky.

look, the crow is barely 15 years old.  that is way too new to garner a remake, especially considering the original still holds up (i’m a recovering emo kid, i have to watch it once a year).  plus, PLUS, the dude wants to take away the gothic stylings of the original in favor of something “realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style.”  the art direction of the original is large part of what makes the film work, especially the way detroit is depicted as near post-apocalyptic, which is actually fairly accurate.  the one upside, as pointed out by the guys at the /filmcast, is maybe he’ll cast robert pattinson as the lead which will result in a repeat fatal on-set accident.  one can hope.

in summation: stephen norrington, go fuck yourself.

-srd

1. the dark knight

i’m not sure i even need to explain this one.  it’s fucking brilliant, relentless, bleak, heartbreaking, all of the promise of batman begins amped up 100% and mixed with clearly the best performance of the year in heath ledger.  while i’m not sure if it should win best picture, ledger definitely deserves a posthumous best supporting actor win.

2. wall-e

talk about gorgeous.  i can’t even imagine what this looks like in 1080p.  not since the silent era has a character done so much with so few actual words.  pixar can really do no wrong and wall-e is further proof of that.  i have a hunch that this might be the first animated film since beauty and the beast to garner a best picture nod from the academy.

3. forgetting sarah marshall

i actually didn’t think i was going to like this one going in, but i think i enjoy it more and more every time i watch it.  it’s easily the best of the apatow crop from this year.  paul rudd, russel brand, jack mcbrayer, bill hader, the entire support cast is hilarious.  and russel brand, christ.  i get “inside of you” stuck in my head every time i hear it.

4. bigger, stronger, faster*

i’m a documentary junkie.  i really want to see dear zachary, but considering the doc’s i’ve seen this year, bigger stronger faster is my fav.  and i don’t even like sports or care about bodybuilding.  it’s just really compelling and well done and makes you interested in something you would have never thought twice about before.  that’s the mark of a great doc.

5. let the right one in

i’ve talked about this film here before, but i just can’t say enough about it.  the cinematography is breathtaking, the relationship between the young protagonists is honest and refreshing.  it’s a great new take on a tired genre that goes above and beyond standard fare and dares to do something unique.  there’s already a remake in the works, which is troubling.  see the original now.

-srd

roger ebert is awesome.  i won’t post the whole thing here, but check out his lengthy “review” of ben stein’s joke of a documentary expelled: no intelligence allowed.  he so thoroughly eviscerates both stein and the intelligent design crowd, it’s breathtaking.  bravo, sir.

-srd