And the Award Goes To...

Every year, after the so called best movies are all released (all in the same week no less) announcements come out about the nominated films for the Academy Awards. Now here's what I don't understand, why doesn't the best film or best person ACTUALLY win the award? So I am submitting to you now my thoughts on who WILL win and who DESERVES to win.

BEST PICTURE

Who Will Win: MILK - Now I haven't actually seen this film so I may be biased, but I don't think it deserves the win.
Who Should Win: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - This movie deserves the win due to the fact that it is BY FAR the best movie that has come out all year.

BEST ACTOR

Who Will Win: SEAN PENN - I'm gonna lay something out there, I HATE Sean Penn. I think he is a HUGE over actor and definitely did not deserve the Oscar for Mystic River, especially over Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York. I did hear his performance in this film is incredible, but that still doesn't sway me.
Who Should Win: FRANK LANGELLA - He was absolutely perfect as former President Richard Nixon. His performance could not have been better in any way. This is the guy who should take it home.
Honorable Mention: MICKEY ROURKE - I would say that he deserves the win for the Wrestler, but to be perfectly honest, he was just being himself and not playing a character.

BEST ACTRESS

Who Will Win: MERYL STREEP - I did not see Doubt, but I'm sure miss Streep was great in it as usual. And knowing how the Academy feels about her, she'll probably take it home.
Who Should Win: KATE WINSLET - I didn't see Revolutionary Road either, but every single movie that Mrs. Mendes (Yes she's married to Sam Mendes) is in, she gives an Oscar worthy performance, I mean she has been nominated 5 times and never won.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Who Will Win: HEATH LEDGER - By far the greatest performance of the year.
Who Should Win: HEATH LEDGER - see above
Honorable Mention: ROBERT DOWNEY Jr. - His performance in Tropic Thunder was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Now Comedy roles rarely, if ever win Academy Awards and if Heath Ledger wasn't in contention, the Award definitely should have gone to Downey Jr. "I don't read the script, the script reads me" Classic.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Who Will Win: KATE WINSLET - Considering she will be nominated for Best Actress and Supporting, she has a better shot in the Supporting area for The Reader.
Who Should Win: VIOLA DAVIS - Now yes, she does have an edge in playing her role in Doubt on the stage, but her transition to film was seamless. She should take it home.


That's how I feel about the year in film. You don't like it, I don't care. I'm right. You're wrong. Learn to like it.

'And if ya don't know, now ya know N*gga'

As I sat watching the green load bar on my computer screen, a nerdy chick explained the woes of my Dell computer to me. She suddenly gasped when she saw a glistening object hanging on my wall. "You like Biggie?" she asked enthusiastically. She be frontin' bout my phat blingin' B.I.G. dawg tag dat I nab'd fo 650 tix at D and B's fo sho (Dave and Buster's fo' ya'll honkies). After affirming I was in fact a fan of Christopher Wallace and his rhymes about receiving fellatio from promiscuous strumpets around Brooklyn, she proceeded to divulge Notorious, the movie based upon the great Notorious B.I.G.

This was my first time hearing of this title, despite a teaser being out three months ago. Well I just watched the theatrical trailer and though it's no 8 mile, it'll definitely get more nods than 50's stank dirty, Get Rich or Die Tryin'. George Tillman Jr. is going from bringing a man out of racial ties (Men of Honor) to bringing a man out of the grave in Notorious. He's chosen Jamal Woolard to play the title role. Who? I'm asking the same question. It's his first time on screen and from the trailer, it may be his last. He's big, but Biggie he is not. In any case, this movie will show the life of Biggie, Puffy, Pac, and all the other East/West hoodlums when the rap industry transformed words in the studio to actions out on the street. This is a story that has been waiting over ten years to be told, this January we will listen.

Check the trailer out Apple or YouTube and tell us what you think.

The Curious Case of Brad Pitt.

It is truly amazing how far technology has come in such a short period of time. Lord of the Rings was an epic achievement but in just eight years, the visual level of Benjamin Button was remarkable. I will warn you that being a 2 hour and 48 minute film, it does start out a little slow. The visuals do not.

Although Brad Pitt will most likely never win an Academy Award (which is a damn shame) his performance in this film, while not incredibly demanding, was perfect. He was great and believable as an old man and you could really see the character change as his age did. Cate Blanchett was stellar as usual. Her best moments came when she is an old woman recounting her story.

The story itself was interesting enough but the way that it is told is what makes this movie great. Those watching will feel the similar style of Forrest Gump as that and this were both written by Eric Roth. The visual style was really director David Fincher at his best. Fincher and Pitt have given us Se7en and Fight Club, both with unique styles of there own, and Fincher continues to reinvent himself with this film.

I have no doubt that this movie will be up for Best Picture, and what it deserves the most is Best Makeup, Special Effects and Cinematography. When you see Brad Pitt at around age 21 you will almost not believe your eyes. I leave you with this, so far this year, Benjamin Button is one of the best.

Walküre

Nazis! Conspiracies! Cruise! Rejoice! 'cause Valkyrie has all three. Though they don't come together as they one could have hoped, Bryan Singer has succeeded in bringing something a little less Superman Returns and a little more The Usual Suspects. 

This is not a war movie, it's not about the horrific nature of the Third Reich or its controllers, the Nazis (or their awesome leather trench coats). All these are merely the backdrop to tell a story of the heroic acts of a courageous few that stood up to what they knew as evil. 

And evil Hitler was. Singer made sure to keep him out of direct lens focus to ensure the diabolical puppeteer behind the scenes to stay true to our image of the Fuhrer. David Bamber performed the role as it should have been. Another stand out was Clarice van Houten, Stauffenberg's wife. It was unfortunate she was given such a small role as not only was she the only one with an authentic German accent, she's a phenominal actress. The acting of all others involved was equally fitting. 

Where they all succeeded, they all equally failed. Near every actor, regardless of birthplace, threw all regard for authenticity to the dogs and gave their character an English accent. Even as these supposed Nazis are scheming against the Brits, they speak their evil doings in proper English. Tom Cruise apparently decided not to stoop so low and brought in nothing but his gold, ol' fashioned American tongue for most of the film. In the prologue, he speaks in German. If the entire movie was done in this way, it would have been far more historical and believable. Why Mr. Singer chose to allow so many different forms of English or the English language in general is beyond me. In any case, this mess of cross cultural Nazi slander gave Valkyrie even less credibility; it seemed these Nazi freedom fighters weren't German at all, but in fact Allied soldiers dressed up in swastikas.

Valkyrie is based on a true story and it stayed very close to fact; near all events portrayed in the film are as they were 54 years ago. I would recommend reading up on the historical events that actually happened, they're quite fascinating. If not, just take my word for it, Valkyrie is near dead on. Though slow in some areas and unbelievable in others, for the shere historical value, Valkyrie should be on your list of films to see, it exemplifies the bravery and heroism of individuals needed then and now.  

Jokes aside...

'Whoa! The Joker? Why is he posting about The Joker? Wtf bro, didn't The Dark Knight come out like 5 months ago?' Yes, my dear observant movie goer, it did. The DVD however came out more recently. When? Well, the regular edition came out ten days ago, the special addition blu ray came out this week and an even specialer (sounds dumb but it is a word) edition will come out next week. I happened to pick one of those bad boys up today and guess what? Seeing the Joker's performance the second time is even better than the first.

As I was watching, I was counting down the minutes, scenes and lines until the Joker would make his way on screen. Heath Ledger makes this movie. Disagree with me? Give me your address and I will come to your house with a copy of The Dark Knight and make you watch it (by force if necessary) until your opinion has changed. From his introduction with the pencil trick, the 'Why so serious' monologue, the faulty remote mechanism, 'Hey! I wanna drive!', unstoppable force/immovable object... etc. Each of these scenes brought this movie to #4 on imdb, and if there could have been a spin off (Joker goes to summer camp?) I would bet it would do just as well as TDK.

Unfortunately, and for the good name of the franchise, there will be no spin offs. What there will be is the Academy Awards. If Mr. Ledger doesn't get our old pal Oscar, I'll bow my head to Mr. Langella (MAYBE Mr. Rourke) and then travel to each member of the academy's houses with a copy of The Dark Knight in hand.

The Wrestler

There has always been one thing that I could never figure out, why aren't all movie posters badass? In every movie there is always one scene or one frame of film that would make an awesome movie poster. The first thing that drew me to the film The Wrestler was the poster. The second was the trailer. The third was director Darren Aronofsky(yeah, that's spelled right). The fourth was Mickey Rourke.

Little did I know that it was gonna be number four, Mickey Rourke, that would make this movie what it is, an emotional story of a great, once-upon-a-time professional wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson. In the real world he's a normal guy with normal problems, but the adrenaline rush from the ring is what keeps him going.

The supporting characters of Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood both serve their purpose well but are not what's special about this film. Mickey Rourke delivers a masterful performance and truly brings the character and the film to life. This story is truly a character study and one that is done exceptionally well. Mr. Rourke will definitely warrant an Oscar nod for this but most likely will not be taking home the statue.

The Wrestler is funny, heartbreaking, and at sometimes difficult to watch. With the amount of high quality films being released over the next two weeks, this one is gonna be up there.

Anyone got a light? I got a light. ...

If you like High School Musical 3, Ne-Yo and/or Gossip Girls, then you probably won't like Gran Torino. If however, you're a God-loving American that hates rap, loves a nice tight hair cut and early morning dew with a side of Pabst, you'll love this movie. Clint Eastwood has brought to light all racial/gender/religious/age tensions in his newest film, Gran Torino. While the story was a bit unoriginal, the humor and racial taboos it brought forth kept it strong.

Eastwood's acting was, of course, phenomenal. Sadly, I can't say the same for about 95% of the other actors throughout the entire film. Granted, many were first timers to a big league movie like this, but come on, if you're on the same screen with Dirty Harry, man up. I will give props to John Carroll Lynch (Fargo, Zodiac, The Drew Carey Show) though, his role as trash talking barber was nothing short of hilarious. Everyone else could use some more practice - 4th period high school drama at least.

So the ending was a bit anti-climactic, the acting by most took near all sincerity out of emotional scenes (though not enough to keep a fat woman next to me from sobbing uncontrollably), and many scenes were useless and/or cheesy, but Gran Torino proves Clint Eastwood is still a bad ass. This movie touches on so many of the racial problems that are wrong with America and the story of one man's reluctant quest to overcome them. If that's not your thing, you can still hear ol' Clint call someone a gook.

- - - - -
Here's some food for thought. Gran Torino opening weekend brought in $271,720... from 6 theatres. That's an average of $45,287 per theater. For comparison's sake, The Dark Knight, the highest opening film of all time, had a per screen average of $36,283. BURN. Alright, alright you naysayers. Yes, it's probably true that if The Dark Knight was packed into 6 theaters there would be all sorts of fire hazards and riots/mass histeria and according to economics it probably could have made more than $45,287... but can we give Mr. Eastwood some credit? This is quite a feat.

Oh, and Frost/Nixon garnered over $60,000 per theater. Booya!


...And I'm bringin' it back, "How am I not myself?"