john hughes is gone

gawd today sucks. i just got home from an completely terrible day at work. and i click on the computer and am immediately faced with some incredibly sad news. one of my all time favorite film makers has died. john hughes is responsible for quite a few of my favorite films: breakfast club, sixteen candles, pretty in pink, vacation (et al.), the great outdoors and planes trains and automobiles. although he has been retired for at least a decade now, i always sort of thought he would do some sort of comeback film eventually which would launch him into a renewed critical spotlight. i guess that will never happen. life bites.

and the title for best poster of the year goes to

love love love the poster for the upcoming disney movie prince of persia. i never really gave this movie a second thought, but my curiosity is definitely piqued. i honestly don't even know what the movie is about, but if jake gyllenhaal looks like this in it, i'll be there.

two trailers, two reactions

a lot of trailers for fall movies seem to be trickling out these days, and here are two big ones. first, amelia always seemed like a contrived concept for a movie from the beginning to me. i mean, i personally think biopics are played out and pretty much always end up being way too formulaic (see: milk). plus, hilary swank as amelia earhart? way too predictable. that being said, after seeing the trailer this week, i am actually getting excited. i love the way the dialogue sounds in this trailer. it sort of has an authentic vintage feel to it, which leads me to hope that maybe this is actually going to be a well written script. and as predicatble as swank's casting may be, she does look fantastic in it. of course, she's gonna have to be truly awesome to get any awards attention (critics are gonna be gunning for her) but i don't think it's out of the question.

on the other hand, i just caught the trailer for soderbergh's the informant over at awards daily. this is definitely a movie i have been looking forward to all year, since i generally like soderbergh's movies, and i love matt damon. plus the story seemed to be reminiscent of the insider. but this trailer looks just awful. first of all, who knew this was gonna be a comedy? i just assumed it was going to be a sort of thriller, but the trailer makes it look like a poor version of charlie wilson's war. i really hope the movie turns out to be a lot better than it is looking right now, but at this point, the trailer makes the film look completely unfunny. the acting seems questionable. and what's up with the stupid exclamation point they tacked on to the title? i hate exclamation points.

now where are the theatrical trailers for invictus, avatar, nine, and green zone?

BRILLIANT review of antichrist

i just read this fucking amazing movie review of antichrist on in contention, written by guy lodge. i don't think i've ever read one of his reviews before, but i will definitely look them out in the future. i wish i could write like this. this is absolutely the best reflection not only on antichrist, but on any of von trier's work that i've ever read. . . and by a u.s.-american no less. i can't say that i have ever seen any critic in this country "get" von trier before. i love how lodge begins this review by reflecting on the possibility that maybe von trier actually is the greatest living filmmaker. of course, making such a statement definitively would be silly, but i think it is really a shame that u.s. critics haven't ever truly warmed up to his brilliance. in my opinion, von trier is the greatest film maker working today, and i always feel frustrated when his movies are released in the u.s. to mediocre-at-best reviews and audiences of dozens. i have been looking forward to antichrist for almost a year now, and after reading lodge's review i absolutely can't wait. you just have to read this.

this is the gayest thing you will see today.

mickey rourke in the iron man sequel. um. okay. i guess if you're into leather daddy porn. . .

congrats charlotte gainsbourg

after all the drama surrounding lars von trier's antichrist this week at cannes, charlotte gainsbourg was announced as the winner of the best actress prize today. so far i've been disappointed by two big movies i was looking forward to this year, angels & demons and earth, but i am getting more and more excited about antichrist every day. any movie that is able to piss people off this much has to be worth seeing. maybe this will be the movie that will finally get von trier some (limited) mass appeal. right now it seems only die hard fans follow his work, but it is only a matter of time til he makes a movie that is seen in the u.s. by more than 40 ot 50 people. if you haven't heard about the movie and why people detested it so vehemently when it first screened this week, check out this post at awards daily. as one would expect from von trier, it sounds like antichrist is going to be really difficult to watch, but i am sure it will be brilliant. and now that gainsbourg has won this prize, i think it gives the film a little needed caché. i mean, despite the vitriol being spewed at it, if the acting is this good, how bad could it be? check out complete list of cannes award winners here.

this could be the worst trailer i have ever seen.

remember when michael bay made that film version of wuthering heights with the cyborg heathcliff and the bloodthirsty ghost of linden feasting on catherine's blood? and remember joe eszterhas' all lesbian great expectations set in the brothels of victorian london? oh wait, those don't exist. but thankfully we do have guy ritchie's new sherlock holmes. to say arthur conan doyle is rolling in his grave would be an unnecessary cliche, but i do believe that this could go down in history as the single most egregious filmic interpretation of beloved literature ever, as well as one of the most inaccurate portrayals of a particular period of history that have ever been depicted in a movie. in short, guy ritchie is an utterly untalented hack that in no way deserves to have a role in the film industry outside of maybe gay porn boom mic operator. watch the trailer only if you are in the mood to feel nauseous.

p.s. what's up with that explosion at the end? is that an outtake from the new terminator movie, or is this one of those good old fashioned victorian missile attacks i've heard so much about?

it's angels & demons day!

[replace rex manning w/ angels & demons]

the day we've been anticipating for years is finally here. angels & fuckin demons y'all! my post-show thoughts are forthcoming.

wtf?!?

oh. my. gawd. if this is for real, it is absolutely the best em-effing thing you will hear all day. from imdb:

--Hopkings to feast as Hannibal again--

"Anthony Hopkins is teaming up with director Sir Ridley Scott to bring his most infamous villain Hannibal Lecter back to the big screen.

The actor will reprise his cannibalistic serial killer for the fourth time in a second sequel to the 1991 hit film The Silence of the Lambs, for which he won a Best Actor Oscar.

Hopkins also appeared in 2001's Hannibal before starring in the 2002 prequel Red Dragon.

And actress Cate Blanchett has been tipped to take over the role of Clarice Starling after Jodie Foster pulled out to direct Claire Danes in the forthcoming Flora Plum.

A spokesperson for film-makers Universal says, "Hopkins and Scott are both very committed. We like what we've got, and the revised script is really, really good."

not only is anthony hopkins reprising his role as hannibal lector, BUT cate blanchett is playing clarice starling?!? if this is true i will fucking melt into the carpet. please be for real!

on dvd: the reader

the reader is one of those movies that has really grown on me. the first time i saw it, i thought it was a fine movie, but not necessarily extraordinary. but then when i watched it again, knowing the twist from the beginning, i definitely felt like i could appreciate it more, especially the really nuanced performances of kate winslet and ralph fiennes. it definitely wouldn't have been the same film without the deeply, disturbingly sympathetic performance that kate winslet gives here. still, it is a little depressing that kate won her oscar for this role. in fact, i don't even think it was among her four career bests. those would be:

#4. Sylvia Davies in Finding Neverland
#3. Sarah Pierce in Little Children
#2. April Wheeler in Revolutionary Road
#1. Rose Dewitt Bukater in Titanic

I guess I would put her performance in the reader in the fifth spot. in any case, i can't help but be amused by the old clip of kate from ricky gervais' extras that i posted above. i hope that her oscar win isn't forever accompanied by an asterisk reading "this oscar obligatorily awarded for perfomance in holocaust film"

trailer: rudo y cursi

rudo y cursi is supposed to be out in limited release on may 8. hopefully it will be in dc then or at least soon after, but i've been waiting for this one for at least a year now, so i am not holding my breath. it has been like forever since gael had his last starring role in a movie (i think the last one was science of sleep). i've enjoyed some of his supporting stuff, like babel and blindness, but i am definitely looking forward to this one, which seems more mexican and thus more in the vein of his best work. check out the trailer here.

antichrist trailer!!!!!

i've been looking at the imdb page pretty much every week waiting for the trailer to the new lars von trier film. and awards daily finally posted it this morning. maybe i'm still just excited that i finally got to see a little bit of the film, but this trailer looks absolutely amazing. it literally gave me chills. i can't wait to see this movie (if it's ever released in the u.s., which is always in question when it comes to lars von trier's work). check it out here.

10 movies to look forward to this year (plus 40 more)

yeah, that's right. i tried to narrow it down more, but i just couldn't so here are the top 10 movies i am most looking forward to this year plus 40 more that may or may not be worth my time. of course most of these films don't even have trailers yet, so who really knows what they will look like when they are done. gawd knows there have been many films lately that looked good on paper, but ended up being absolutely ridiculous on screen (paging miracle at st. anna). in any case, moreso than in any other year i can remember. i have a pretty good guess what my fave movie is gonna be this year. . .

1. angels & demons- three years ago i was one of 14 people worldwide who loved ron howard's the da vinci code. now i have seen it a dozen times and i still can't figure out why people thought it was so terrible. in fact it was my fave movie of 2006. now the prequel is coming out may 15. the book is awesome and the movie will be too.

but there are at least a few more movies coming out this year that could potentially achieve high levels of general bodaciousness, including

2. nine- this year's dreamgirls. definitely the most hyped movie of the year, 9 months in advance of its release. it is definitely the one to beat at this point, but it also has the most to lose. a musical starring a lot of awesome people including nicole kidman, dame judi and daniel day louis.

3. inglourious basterds- this is one of the few movies on the list that i have actually seen the trailer for, and it looks awesome. granted, quentin tarantino can be sort of hit or miss, but i think he is due for something great. and plus the trailer has just a hint of pulp fiction going on, which is a good sign.

4. julie & julia- amy adams is quickly rising on my list of favorite actresses, and this is definitely one of the films i am most looking forward to this year. if you've seen the pictures of meryl streep as julia child, the resemblance is sooo eerie. i can't wait to hear how meryl effects julia's voice and mannerisms. this is going to be hilarious.

5. the informant- like amy adams, matt damon has definitely emerged as one of my four or five favorite actors this year. i've been going through pretty much everything he's done this year, and i definitely like his action-y stuff the most. this soderbergh-directed political thriller about a government investigation of big agro-business seems right up my alley.

6. biutiful- iñárritu's first film since babel a few years ago. honestly, i don't know too much about the film other than the brief imdb summary ("a man involved in illegal dealing is confronted by his childhood friend, who is now a policeman") but it's iñárritu, so odds are it will be fantastic.

7. rudo y cursi- a football movie reuniting gael and diego luna. it's already been seen at sundance and was, i believe, released in mexico last year. according to imdb it's finally coming to the u.s. in may. i hope they're right. i've been waiting for this one for a year now.

8. the boat that rocked- the trailer is already out for this one, and it looks great. i think bill nighy is an odds on favorite for an oscar nomination. this looks like a trippy film about a hippie radio station trying to outwit the authorities. the weird thing is that it is being released in the uk like next weekend, but it isn't coming to the u.s. til late august. i don't quite get the delay.

9. antichrist- finally, another lars von trier movie is supposed to be release this year. he has been working on this one for a while, and it sounds like one his more ambitious projects. it's supposed to be a horror/thriller thing (a la his europa trilogy) where a couple camping in the woods meets a satanic force or something like that. i am doubtful that i will actually get to see this in 2009 (his stuff is always released in the u.s. dead last if at all), but if it actually does come out this year i will be a happy boy.

10. earth- of the top 10, this is definitely the movie that is most likely to fail. this is a much hyped feature length version of the bbc documentary planet earth. if they include new footage, tell new stories and keep the adult candor it could be incredible on the big screen. if it is just clips of the dvds i have on my shelf pieced together and/or dumbed down i will be really disappointed. it's coming out on april 22.

but there are lots of other movies coming out this year that definitely look like they have potential. here's 40 of them (haha). . .

in addition to the informant, there are a few other movies coming out this year that fall into the political/juridical/spy thriller genre. (11) state of play stars russel crowe as an investigative reporter following a story about the murder of congressman's mistress. (12) killing pablo is the story of the assassination of colombian drug kingpin pablo escobar. and (13) the taking of pelham 1 2 3 is a remake of an old 70s movie about a new york hostage crisis.

there are also quite a few movies coming out this year about the wars in iraq and afghanistan. granted the track record for these kinds of movies has been pretty grim with the exception of in the valley of elah, but maybe this year will be the one where that turns around. (14) the hurt locker is about a bomb squad in iraq, and the female director kathryn bigelow has been getting oscar buzz which is always a plus. (15) green zone reunites matt damon with paul greengrass (bourne trilogy) about cia agents searching for weapons of mass destruction. and (16) men who stare at goats is about a secret paranormal force in the iraq war.

a bunch of action movies this year, like inglourious basterds, also have period drama elements. the most anticipated of these are (17) public enemies, a johnny depp movie about the government pursuit of john dillinger and (18) shutter island, a martin scorsese/leo dicaprio film about the hunt for a murderer in the 1950s.

there are a bunch of other period dramas coming out in 2009 too. (19) cheri has my attention because people are talking about it being michelle pfeiffer finally getting her oscar. it's a romantic drama set in 1920s paris. (20) love ranch is a helen mirren-helmed look at the funding of the nevada brothel the bunny ranch in the 1970s. and (21) the young victoria focuses on the early years of the reign of queen victoria, played by emily blunt.

julie and julia and the young victoria aren't the only biopics i'm looking forward to this year. (22) amelia is the story of the life of amelia earhart played, perhaps too predictably, by hilary swank. (23) the human factor (or, depending on who you listen to, mandela) is the story of the life of nelson mandela, played, perhaps too predictably, by morgan freeman (but directed by clint eastwood, which is a definite plus). (24) the mercenary: love and honor is the story of catherine the great played, perhaps too predictably, by angelina jolie. (25) coco avant chanel is the story of coco chanel, played, perhaps too predictably but it's good to see her anyway, by audrey tatou. and (26) toussaint is the story of revolutionary haitian slave toussaint l'ouverture. i'm not sure who's playing the lead, but i am sure it will be a predictable choice.

nine isn't the only musical i'm looking forward to in 2009. the remake of (27) fame is coming out this year, and it's bound to suck, but i'll probably see it anyway.

strangely enough there are a bunch of movies coming out this year with apocalyptic, science fiction-y themes. lars von trier's antichrist is one. but another that i am really looking forward to is (28) avatar, the long, long awaited james cameron movie about an futuristic extraterrestrial war. i really hope it's good. then there's (29) 2012, a big budget blockbuster type movie about the end of the world with no realistic scientific content whatsoever by roland emmerich, maker of the day after tomorrow and other big budget blockbuster type movies with no realistic scientific. content whatsoever. and there's (30) 9 (what's with the numerical titles?) an animated film about a post-apocalyptic planet and (31) the road, an adaptation of a novel about a post-apocalyptic planet. it's been in the works so long, and it's been built up so much, that it is pretty much bound to fail though.

in addition to the road and angels & demons there are a few other popular novels coming to the big screen soon. (32) dirt music sounds particularly good. it stars russell crowe as a crusty alcoholic australian (do you think he can pull it off?) (33) need, also based on a novel, stars nicole kidman as a new york therapist whose husband is having an affair.

there are a few spanish language movies coming out this year that sound good. rudo y cursi is one. (34) almodovar's los abrazos rotos is another. it stars penelope cruz in yet another role (maybe one too many) in a quirky almodovar dramedy. (35) pedro páramo is another gael film about a mexican ghost town.

dark comedies have been becoming more and more popular lately, and there's a few potentially good ones coming out this year. i just saw the trailer for sam mendes' new film (36) away we go, and i actually think the trailer is pretty terrible, but it's sam mendes so i still hold out hope. (37) a serious man is a coen brothers flick about a failed marriage of a quirky midwestern couple. and (38) serious moonlight is an adrienne shelley-penned movie (i loved waitress) about a woman's revenge on her husband who's having an affair. it has meg ryan. *yea*

there are a few weird fantasy/literary/experimental-sounding flicks coming out this year that could definitely go either way for me. (39) the imaginarium of dr. parnassus is by terry gilliam so you know it's gonna be weird. it's also heath ledger's last film. (40) cirque du freak stars salma hayek as a bearded lady-slash-vampire. enough said. and (41) the tempest could be a normal retelling of the shakespeare play, but it's by julie taymor so it's bound to be bizarre.

last year there were two award winning independent films about immigration issues, the visitor and frozen river, and this year a couple more are coming out. (42) crossing over, already out in limited release, has been described as crash-lite, only focusing specifically on race and immigration. (43) mammoth sounds sort of like babel. it consists of parallel stories about a wealthy new york couple and the family of their filipina maid. and it stars gael (he has three movies coming out this year, *yea!*).

strangely enough, husband and wife paul bettany and jennifer connelly are starring in two films together this year. (44) creation is a story of the life of charles darwin and his wife emma. and (45) american pastoral is the story of a couple living after wwii and fighting with their politically rebellious daughter played by evan rachel wood.

one of my fave actresses, julianne moore has a couple films coming out this year. (46) a single man is the first film directed by fashion photographer tom ford. it's about a man dealing with the death of his long time wife. (47) chloe is about a woman trying to catch her adulterous husband in the act.

then there's (48) seventeen again, the first big non-musical film for my boyfriend zac efron (49) rage, an experimental british film about murder in the fashion industry, has gotten terrible reviews, but it stars judi dench smoking a cigarette which intrigues me for some reason. and (50) happy tears could finally get parker posey some awards attention as one of two sisters (demi moore's the other) dealing with the imminent passing of their father.

*deep breath* did i forget anything?

final reflections

best of the year- slumdog of course, but also kate winslet in revolutionary road. i think it was watching her in the reader again yesterday that really made me reflect on just how good she was in the other film. like marion cotillard last year or adriana barraza the year before, i will definitely remember kate's as the best performance this year.

worst of the year- i know that the razzies were handed out yesterday and they gave the worst pic award to mike myers the love guru, but i can't even imagine that it could even compare to spike lee's hysterically bad miracle at st. anna. the funny thing is that i was really looking forward to this movie. i actually do recommend it though, because i think it is worth watching just because it is just that bad that you have to see it for yourself. at one point there is an entire scene in which an italian peasant girl hangs up laundry topless. i'm not kidding. and could someone please explain to me how this village doesn't even have any food because of the nazi blockade, but yet the lusty rochelle rochelle wannabe seems to have an endless supply of makeup and seems to have time to wash and blowdry her long wavy black hair every morning?

worst of the year, runner up- (and i have to admit that i like her music, but) paris hilton is just unconscionably bad in repo: the genetic opera. i mean, really, really bad.

most prolific- kate winslet gave two great performance, but clint eastwood managed to do it all. he reminds me of one of those old vaudeville guys with a harmonica and a drum and a banjo or whatever.

most inexplicable nomination- i'm tempted to say robert downey jr.'s best supporting actor nod for tropic thunder, but people liked it so i guess to each his own. but i really don't understand philip seymour hoffman's best supporting actor nomination, since this is very obviously a leading role. and while we're at it, there's dev patel's best supporting sag nomination and kate winslet's recognition as supporting in the reader. people really seem to have been playing around with the categories this year

what would make me happy- no montages. amy adams wins best supporting actress. slumdog wins in all eight categories in which it's nominated.

my oscar predictions

i've been reading everyone's oscar predictions this week as they've been posted on the blogs, and i don't think i can remember a year in which everyone seems to agree as much as they do this year. there are really only a couple races that people are still debating. and my predictions will pretty much follow suit. here they are.


supporting actor:
will win. . . heath ledger (not that he doesn't deserve it)
should win. . . for me, this is the weakest of the four acting races. there are a lot of good performances, but nothing that stands out as heads above the rest. that being said, i think i will go with the flow and endorse ledger for the win. still, i did have to think long and hard about whether or not to pick him or brad pitt in burn after reading. that comes in a close second for me.
my five. . . heath ledger, michael shannon, brad pitt (burn after reading), ralph fiennes (the reader) and david gulpilil (australia)

supporting actress:
will win. . . this is the one race this year on which i am going to venture out on a limb. remember last year when tilda swinton won for michael clayton? it seemed that the movie was nominated for so much and they needed to give it something. that's why i don't think penelope cruz will win this one. i have a feeling it will go to one of the actresses from doubt or benjamin button. i am going to predict taraji p. henson winning this, since i think that the academy will want to give button something. it isn't my favorite performance of the year, but henson is a fine actress, and i'm happy for her.
should win. . . of all the nominated actresses in the category, i would vote for amy adams. but the person who should win the category is debra winger, from rachel getting married. i went back and forth between her and rosemarie dewitt, but it's winger's much smaller but much eminently devastating performance that stood out for me.
my five. . . debra winger, amy adams, viola davis, rosemarie dewitt (rachel getting married), kathy bates (revolutionary road)

best actor:
will win. . . mickey rourke, probably. it's obviously between him and sean penn, but seeing as how penn just won a couple years ago for mystic river, i think the voters will go for rourke. how much am i not looking forward to hearing his loopy acceptance speech. hopefully he won't use the word "fag" too much.
should win. . . frankly, rourke is playing himself. and penn is fine, but this isn't even in the same league as his best performances. unfortunately, none of the top three male performances of the year are even nominated in this category. the academy really dropped the ball on this one. it is REALLY close for me, but i am going to pick clint eastwood in gran torino as my favorite actor of the year. leonardo dicaprio and philip seymour hoffman are close on his heels though.
my five. . . clint eastwood, sean penn, richard jenkins, leonardo dicaprio (revolutionary road) and philip seymour hoffman (doubt)

best actress:
will win. . . please dear God it has to be kate winslet. there are lots of grumblings out there of an upset (melissa leo maybe?) but i just don't think it's going to happen. winslet gave two of the best performances of the year (in any category) and i expect her to win here for the lesser of the two.
should win. . . winslet, but for revolutionary road. if i had to pick a single performance as the best of the year (a la marion cotillard last year) it would be this one. i wonder if the reason that she got nominated for the reader and not this other movie is just because of the order in which the ballots were counted. my feeling is that if you added up all of the votes, winslet would have placed first AND second, and maybe she would have ultimately come out on top for rev road. honestly, i haven't heard a single person saying that her performance in the reader was the better of the two.
my five. . . kate winslet (revolutionary road), kate winslet (the reader), meryl streep, angelina jolie and cate blanchett (curious case of benjamin button)

director:
will win. . . danny boyle. there really isn't any other possibility here. honestly, it is really time for him to finally get this recognition, and everyone is ready to give it to him. even if there was some cataclysm and slumdog missed out elsewhere, boyle will nevertheless win this.
should win. . . danny boyle, no contest. not only did i love this movie, but the direction is fucking fantastic in and of itself. it is interestingly cast, shot beautifully, and the narration is pieced together so creatively. i can't wait to see what he does next.
my five. . . danny boyle, clint eastwood (gran torino), jonathan demme (rachel getting married), sam mendes (revolutionary road) and baz luhrman (australia)

original screenplay:
will win. . . sooo sooo unfortunately, dustin lance black's screenplay for milk will win here. this is a travesty. milk really could have been a fine movie if it had been written better, but as is i think this is just a remarkably bad piece of writing. it is so predictable, so cliched, so un-interesting and so passionless. basically black took bits and pieces from all of these other biopics and in a weekend pieced them together into this boring boring boring film about a really interesting person. if milk hadn't been saved by fine acting it would have been a total wash. in short. i HATE this screenplay.
should win. . . of the nominated five, i would pick courtney hunt's screeplay for frozen river. not only is it a great, well written work, but i am always happy to see women nominated in the major categories, since they so rarely get there. however, the best screenplay award should really go to another women, jenny lumet, for her fascinating script for rachel getting married.
my five. . . jenny lumet, thomas mccarthy (the visitor), clint eastwood (gran torino), baz luhrman (australia) and joel & ethan coen (burn after reading)

adapted screenplay:
will win. . . simon beaufoy is probably going to win here for his screenplay for slumdog, but something tells me that it isn't a landslide. for me, of all the parts of this movie it is probably the screenplay that is most fallible, although it is still fantastic. if the movie is going to be beaten anywhere, it might be here. and i have a feeling they could reward david hare for the reader, if anything is bound to sneak in. they might want to reward the reader somewhere, and it could definitely be here.
should win. . . i pick beaufoy's screenplay, but, like i said, it isn't a landslide for me. there are definitely some great adapted screenplays out there this year. i would probably choose as a very close runner up justin haythe's script for revolutionary road. the two films couldn't be any more different and each is fantastically written in its own way
my five. . . simon beaufoy, john patrick shanley (doubt), david hare, justin haythe and howard rodman (savage grace)

picture:
will win. . . slumdog. i realize the bloggers are just trying to make things interesting, but no- there will not be a benjamin button upset. no- there will not be a reader upset. no- mickey rourke will not get drunk and burn the place down before they give out the final award (hopefully). everyone loves this movie. everyone is voting for it. it's slumdog all the way.
should win. . . SLUMDOG *yea*
my five. . . slumdog millionaire, revolutionary road, burn after reading, gran torino and rachel getting married

other categories:
cinematography. . . slumdog could very will win in every category in which it's nominated. it will probably win here as well. my pic would be the amazing camera work in australia, with roger deakins work for revolutionary road coming in a close second.
editing. . . this is one of the places that i think slumdog is really breaking new ground. it is so fascinating how the editors pieced this work together, going back and forward through time and really making the scenes fit together like this beautiful jigsaw puzzle. slumdog will and should win here.
song. . . it would really be a shame if the slumdog songs cancelled eachother out and the lame peter gabriel song from wall-e won instead. that seems to happen like every year. i am predicting slumdog's jai ho will win, and it deserves it, but the best song of the year unfortunately didn't get a nomination. that would be bruce springsteen's "the wrestler." i would put jaime cullum's "gran torino" in the number two spot.
score. . . a.r. rahman's score from slumdog is really fun and creative and there is no doubt it's winning this one (are we sensing a pattern here?) for me though it's the score to revolutionary road that really blew the others out of the pack and got totally SCREWED out of a nomination (like pretty much everything from rev road). like the score to atonement last year, i love the way the music in this movie really works to tell the story. this is unbelievable work. the film wouldn't be the same without it.
makeup. . . i'm not sure, but i sort of think that the makeup for benjamin button and the reader was a little bit overdone. it wasn't my fave. i guess if i had to pick a favorite, i might choose the dark knight for this one, but button will win in the end i think.
art direction. . . people are generally predicting that benjamin button will win the art direction award this year, but for me there is absolutely nothing transcendent about this movie, and this category is no different. i am going to go out on a limb and pick revolutionary road to win this one. no doubt it deserves it.
costumes. . . i haven't seen the duchess, but that seems to be the film that is favored to win for best costume, with benjamin button nipping at its heels. i would pick australia as my favorite. like atonement's green dress last year, nicole kidman's red dress in the ball scene in this movie is definitely the single best outfit of the year (so gorgeous). freida pinto's yellow number with the scarf in slumdog was pretty hot too though.