Oscars 2013

Yep, it's that time of year again... the list of nominees are:

Best Picture:
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"
"Silver Linings Playbook"
"Zero Dark Thirty"
"Lincoln"
"Les Miserables"
"Life of Pi"
"Amour"
"Django Unchained"
"Argo"
Best Supporting Actor:
Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Alan Arkin, "Argo"
Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"
Best Supporting Actress:
Sally Field, "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"
Jacki Weaver, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
Amy Adams, "The Master"
Best Director:
David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"
Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"
Michael Haneke, "Amour"
Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Best Actor:
Daniel Day Lewis, "Lincoln"
Denzel Washington, "Flight"
Hugh Jackman, "Les Miserables"
Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"
Best Actress:
Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"
Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"
Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Best Original Screenplay:
"Zero Dark Thirty"
"Django Unchained"
"Moonrise Kingdom"
"Amour"
"Flight"
Best Adapted Screenplay:
"Lincoln"
"Silver Linings Playbook"
"Argo"
"Life of Pi"
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Best Animated Feature:
"Frankenweenie"
"The Pirates! Band of Misfits"
"Wreck-It Ralph"
"Paranorman"
"Brave"
Best Foreign Feature:
"Amour"
"A Royal Affair"
"Kon-Tiki"
"No"
"War Witch"
Best Visual Effects:
"Life of Pi"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"The Avengers"
"Prometheus"
"Snow White and the Huntsman"
Best Cinematography:
"Skyfall"
"Anna Karenina"
"Django Unchained"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"
Best Costume Design:
"Anna Karenina"
"Les Miserables"
"Lincoln"
"Mirror Mirror"
"Snow White and the Huntsman"
Best Documentary Feature:
"Searching for Sugar Man"
"How to Survive a Plague"
"The Gatekeepers"
"5 Broken Cameras"
"The Invisible War"
Best Documentary Short:
"Open Heart"
"Inocente"
"Redemption"
"Kings Point"
"Mondays at Racine"
"Snow White and the Huntsman"
Best Film Editing:
"Lincoln"
"Silver Linings Playbook"
"Life of Pi"
"Argo"
"Zero Dark Thirty"
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
"Hitchcock"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"Les Miserables"
Best Music (Original Score):
"Anna Karenina"
"Argo"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"
"Skyfall"
Best Music (Original Song):
"Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"
"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted"
"Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"
"Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
"Suddenly" from "Les Misérables"
Best Production Design:
"Anna Karenina"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"Les Misérables"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"
Best Short Film, Animated:
"Adam and Dog"
"Fresh Guacamole"
"Head over Heels"
"Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'"
"Paperman"
Best Short Film, Live Action:
"Asad"
"Buzkashi Boys"
"Curfew"
"Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)"
"Henry"
Best Sound Editing:
"Argo"
"Django Unchained"
"Life of Pi"
"Skyfall"
"Zero Dark Thirty"
Best Sound Mixing:
"Argo"
"Les Misérables"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"
"Skyfall"
Since I've seen just three of the nominees, I can only offer some wholly non-scientific and opinionated observations.

No huge shocks in the Best Picture category. Lincoln, Life of Pi, Zero Dark Thirty and Les Miserables were all locks, prestige pictures from repeat offenders… er, winners. Django Unchained qualifies too; the Academy loves to nominate Tarantino even if they don't let him win anything. Argo surprises me: a good movie, but not really typical Oscar bait. Michael Haneke's Amour is an outlier too. Beasts of the Southern Wild and Silver Linings Playbook fulfill the precocious indie quotient.

Some people seem upset The Hobbit or The Master were left out, but neither film met with exactly universal acclaim. I'm glad at the lack of popcorn blockbusters, though it's not really a shock: The Avengers wasn't aiming for awards, Prometheus got mixed reviews and The Dark Knight Returns had a mute reception.

Acting categories? Daniel Day-Lewis seems a lock. Best Actress seems a dead heat between Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence, two hot (career-wise) actresses anchoring prestige pictures. Supporting Actor is a toss-up: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Arkin, Tommy Lee Jones and Christoph Waltz are all past winners with a lot of great buzz. Robert De Niro's the outlier, though he deserves a "welcome back to quality roles" bone. Supporting actress is Anne Hathaway, no question.

The Best Director, however, indicates we’re playing with loaded dice. Tom Hooper, Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck were all shut out, even with their pictures earning Best Picture nods. Call me cynical but given the lack of Best Picture buzz around Life of Pi and others, this seems a set up for Lincoln to run the table. Since I loved the movie I'm not too upset, but it does neuter the suspense considerably.

Not that I'll be watching anyway. Seth McFarlane's hosting this year, when he'd be much more entertaining with his entrails devoured by rabid badgers.

Rest assured I'll be catching (and reviewing) at least three of these movies over the weekend. Stay tuned to find out which ones.

Best & Worst Books Read in 2012

This year Groggy looks at his best and worst 2012 reads. Usually I post these lists on Facebook, since this is after all a film blog. But glitches in Facebook's Note system deleted at least one of my previous lists, so this seemed a safer alternative.

Despite having a full-time job (and hence next to nil free time) I still managed over 100 books this year. Sure, many of them were re-reads, which is why you won't see any Flashman books on this list. And yeah, a handful of Goosebumps books pad out the list. So it's not like I'm reading Crime & Punishment 100 times. Still it's enough for a list.

Anyway, without further adieu:

Best Ten Books Read in 2012:

Groggy reads 99% percent history and other nonfiction these days. Back in college of course there was more time and hence more variety of subjects; now I have to be pickier. Nonetheless, even within this narrow confine I found a lot of worthwhile books this year, a few classics and a few recent volumes.

10. Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations - Georgina Howell

Gertrude Bell is a truly remarkable woman: Alpine adventurer, explorer, archaeologist, Arabist, intelligence operative, Middle East Kingmaker. Howell's sprawling biography does her justice. The book explores Bell's myriad talents, unique, vivacious personality, her personal frustrations and public achievements. Its main success, perhaps, comes in illumniating an incredible personage shamefully overlooked.

9. Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century - Mark Mazower

 

Mazower's provocative book eschews traditional 20th Century narratives for barbed analysis of European politics. His sociopolitical dissection points up uncomfortable facts: the differences between Nazism and "old right" Fascism, appeal of totalitarian movements to interwar Europeans, Stalin's remarkable economic achievements coupled with political oppression, Thatcherism's inherent unworkability, the USSR as Europe's last traditional empire. Mazower's chapters on Nazi imperialism and internationalist idealism presage more recent volumes. The European Union has proven more successful than Mazower suggests, but the book remains a remarkable volume.

8. Bloom County: The Complete Collection, Vols. 1-2 - Berke Breathed

Berkeley Breathed's brilliant '80s satirical comic strip, part Doonesbury and part Calvin & Hobbes, now comes in beautifully-packaged compilations, complete with Breathed's commentary. True, many jokes are very dated: who remembers James Watt or Joan Jett? But Breathed's playful art, lovable characters and colorful sense of humor remain timeless.

7. The White Nile - Alan Moorehead

Aussie author Moorehead was a brilliant narrative historian, mixing colorful prose with a warm human touch. Moorehead chronicles European exploration and exploitation of the Nile, the 19th Century's greatest frontier. His subjects are a diverse lot: the contentious Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke, the glamorous adventure couple Stanley and Florence Baker, Henry Stanley and Dr. Livingstone, the messianic Mahdi, the enigmatic Gordon of Khartoum. Moorehead ties them splendidly together, crafting a vivid, compulsively readable epic. His complementary volume The Blue Nile is a bit sloppier but also highly recommended.

6. A Line in the Sand: The Anglo-French Struggle for the Middle East, 1914-1948 - James Barr

Much has been written about Britain and France's conniving to divide the post-WWI Middle East. Less often told is the resultant imperial rivalry. In this fascinating chronicle, Barr analyzes the fissures in the Anglo-French alliance, as the two powers jealously jockeyed for power, influence and oil. Both powers used regional nationalism, be they post-war Arab movements or the rising tide of Zionism, to undermine each other, with disastrous results. Barr's account is lucid, eye-opening and compellingly written.

5. The October Country - Ray Bradbury

The literary world lost a giant with the passing of Ray Bradbury. This story collection is one of his best, here leaning towards overt horror. Some of Bradbury's scariest stories are here: the killer baby of "The Small Assassin," the pitiless fate of "The Scythe," the shocking image which concludes "Skeleton." For Bradbury fans whose tastes skew darker, this is invaluable.

4. The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery - Eric Foner

Foner delivers an invaluable account of Abraham Lincoln's views on race. In Foner's view, Lincoln underwent a painful personal evolution, from a "moderate" Whig accepting white supremacy while restricting slavery's spread, to an abolitionist advocating resettlement of freed blacks, to a full-throated advocate for equality. Honest Abe comes off as extremely flawed but admirable, seeking to sublimate his prejudices to the greater good. Foner treats Lincoln with admirable delicacy, avoiding modern value judgments to show a statesman both very much of his time, yet undeniably revolutionary.

3. The Siege: The Full Horrifying Account of the Kut Disaster - Russell Braddon

Braddon's account of the Siege of Kut bests even Woodham-Smith's The Reason Why as a study in military failure. Braddon seethes with anger at this masterpiece of mismanagement, when arrogant British generals sent 6th Division to do an army's job, underestimating logistics and numerically-superior Turkish opponents. At book's center is Charles Townshend, a self-proclaimed genius who launched a disastrous campaign against impossible odds, trapped his division in a disease-ridden village, panicked his superiors into ill-advised rescue attempts and enjoyed a cushy captivity while his men endured forced labor. True, it's not objective: Braddon makes his contempt for Townshend plain, and his own POW experiences color his empathy for the soldiers' plight. Faced with a craven villain like Townshend though, who could blame him?

2. The Destruction of Lord Raglan: A Tragedy of the Crimean War, 1854-1855 - Christopher Hibbert

For readers unwilling to slog through Kinglake's nine-volume history, this is the best popular account of the Crimean War. Hibbert gives a brilliant grunt's-eye view of the conflict, mixing blow-by-blow battle accounts with the terrifying monotony of life in the trenches. His main point, that Lord Raglan's been unfairly smeared from 1855 onwards, is highly debatable; Raglan still comes off as a decent man with no business leading an army. Contextualizing his performance amidst bureaucratic muddle, poor weather and a military completely unprepared for a major war makes it more understandable, and Raglan himself sympathetic.

1. Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 - Gordon S. Wood

Wood's entry in the Oxford History of the United States never fails to impress. It's a truly remarkable tome, overwhelming the reader in its sheer breadth and depth. Wood touches on every conceivable topic - the rise of evangelical religion, women and minority roles, attitudes on slavery, the contrast between America's high ideas and low culture - with skill and sensitivity. He couples these microhistories with shrewd analyses of the Federalist-Republican split, Hamilton's financial system, the Revolution's international impact and the Republic's hesitant early foreign policy. A masterpiece.

Honorable mentions: Glory Road (Catton), The Arab Awakening (Antonius), Quartered Safe out Here (Fraser), (Kabaservice), The Great Anglo-Boer War (Farwell), Founding Brothers (Ellis), The Fierce Pawns (Macrory), Rule & Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party (Kabaservice)

Worst Ten Books Read in 2012:

I also found time for some truly wretched works. Their sins range from sublimating history to a political agenda, to tackling an impossible subject, to intellectual laziness and sloppy construction, to just plain bad writing. And yes, there's an R.L. Stine book included.


10. Chitral Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Major General Charles Townshend - N.S. Nash

This biography sets about the thankless task of rehabilitating Townshend, the antagonist of Kut. Soldier-turned-journalist Nash tries his hardest to be fair, approaching his subject with brusque humor and inside knowledge of armed forces social climbing. For all Nash's pleading, Townshend still comes off as an arrogant twit who needlessly sacrificed his men in pursuit of selfish glory. Not a bad book, just a fatally misguided one.

9. The Crimean War: A Reappraisal - Philip Warner 

After reading some really great Crimean War histories this year - not only Hibbert but Orlando Figes' The Crimean War - it was inevitable I'd find a bad one. Warner presents interesting arguments that our understanding of the Crimea is flawed, and that it was really a success and credit to the Anglo-French-Turkish alliance. Unfortunately they're couched in a dull, dry, meandering book that becomes too saturated in details to see the big picture. When a 200 page book takes four months to read, it probably hasn't succeeded.

8. Three Empires on the Nile: The Victorian Jihad, 1869-1899 - Dominic Green

One of the pitfalls of narrative history is it forsakes analysis for storytelling. Woe then to the historian who can't tell a story. Green ties together several related topics - the collapse of Khedivist Egypt, Urabi Pasha's nationalist coup d'etat, the Mahdist Wars. Unfortunately he presents each story in spectacularly superficial and uninteresting fashion, providing zero insight into this epochal clash of imperialism, Islamism and nationalism. Attempts to equate the Mahdists with al-Qaeda do its author no credit, either. With so much ink spilled over the Mahdi already you're well-advised skipping this one.

7. Military Blunders: The How and Why of Military Failure - Saul David

There are some things you don't expect from a book written in 1997 and reprinted in 2012. For instance, the author referring to Russians as "Asiatics of low intelligence." Or repeating the canard that Singapore fell to Japanese troops because all its guns faced the sea. Or confusing Matthew Ridgeway with Maxwell Taylor. Even the accurate bits are just regurgitation of Geoffrey Regan's work - pretty damning in and of itself, considering Regan's been recycling himself for years. A shame as I enjoyed David's biography of Lord Cardigan.

6. Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East - Karl E. Meyer & Shareen Blair Brysac

Ostensibly a look at how British and American policymakers shaped the last 150 years of Middle Eastern politics. In reality it's a scatter-shot, meandering collection of biographical essays, some scarcely connected to the topic. Fiona Shaw and Lord Lugard are interesting figures but how on Earth do they relate? Last time I checked South Africa wasn't part of the Middle East. A longish chapter on the CIA in Beirut rambles without divulging any points-of-interest. Chapters on T.E. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell and Paul Wolfowitz border on superficial. The book's only interesting in the margins, and the margins aren't worth it when most of these figures have biographies of their own.

5. Planet of the Lawn Gnomes - R.L. Stine

Picking on Goosebumps books, especially the new Horrorland series, is like shooting fish in a barrel. But childhood nostalgia compels me to read them, so here we are. Glance at the title and spend about 30 seconds shaping a story around it. You've given it more thought than R.L. Stine did.

4. The Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud - Brian Garfield

Novelist Garfield vindictively destroys Richard Meinertzhagen, one of England's most eccentric heroes of the 20th Century. He's admittedly convincing in spots, deflating some of Meinerzhagen's more egregious anecdotes (the "Heil Meinertzhagen" silliness) and showing him an ornithological fraud (an argument made before). But Garfield goes beyond into extreme nuttiness, for instance hinting with Glenn Beck-ish "just asking questions" delicacy that Meinertzhagen murdered his wife. It's a tiresome screed, bloody-minded in its willingness to promote any nonsense that reflects negatively on its subject.

3. American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies and More Dirty Lies that the Government Tells Us - Jesse Ventura

This semi-literate rant, courtesy of America's favorite wrestler-turned-politician, is more funny than offensive. While reading, I couldn't help remembering Ventura's appearance as a Man in Black (with Alex Trebek!) on The X-Files. "Mr. Ventura, your scientific illiteracy makes me SHUDDER!"

2. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the British Empire - H.W. Crocker III

The PIG Guides never cease to amaze with their vacuous demagoguery. Groggy readers know I'm an unrepentant Anglophile, but even I blanch at Crocker's high Victorian jingoism. Given the plethora of recent pro-empire books by Niall Ferguson, Lawrence James and Saul David its premise of an intellectual conspiracy to slander Britain is dubious to begin with. But Crocker's reactionary racial and political attitudes - calling the Irish "shiftless, ignorant, stubborn, contumacious and cruel," deeming the Maori genocides "fun with muskets," claiming the Opium Wars a "defense of free trade" - are shocking in a book published last year. All wrapped in a smug, self-satisfyingly contrarian attitude that reflexively deems dissenters part of a liberal-Marxist-Muslim conspiracy to hide the truth. Charming.

1. The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda and an Unnecessary War - Thomas DiLorenzo

This mendacious piece of garbage makes the PIG Guide look like Sir John Fortescue. Not only does it slander America's greatest President to promote an extremist neo-libertarian agenda; that would be obnoxious enough. But it's painfully obvious that DiLorenzo is a hack who can't even keep his propaganda straight. He arrogates states the right to secede and repudiate the Constitution, then chastises Lincoln for claiming seceded states outside Constitutional protection. He claims that Lincoln ignored chances for "peaceful abolition" when the South rejected precisely that. Or selective facts: He cites Andrew Jackson as a guru of small government, ignoring how Jackson overrode the Supreme Court re: expelling the Five Civilized Tribes, or his decidedly Unionist reaction to the Nullification Crisis. Or brazen lies, like saying the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free a single slave. Or paranoid rants about the "Marxist" Lincoln cult. The result? A book that commits every conceivable sin: it's poorly argued, ideologically slanted, inaccurate and painfully unreadable.

An equivalent film-related list will come in the next week. There are still some year-end theatrical releases to catch so stay tuned!

Stupid Oscars

Usually the Internet Movie Database forums are an intellectual cess pool of trolls, fanboys and gossip, but occasionally a nugget of wisdom emerges. A user named Fuzzynavel1 compiled an interesting series of posts regarding 40 years of Oscar Controversy and Stupidity. If he/she posts it anywhere permanent I'll revise the link.

A few choice excerpts for your amusement:

1972 – Charlton Heston was scheduled as the host, but when he got stuck in traffic, Clint Eastwood substituted. Eastwood was not prepared, it wasn’t his fault, and he was stuck with Heston’s material, which made no sense at all coming from him. Eastwood was so embarrassed that he decided never to return unless nominated. Thankfully, most people have forgotten about this atrocious mishap. This was also the year Sacheen Littlefeather accepted for Marlon Brando. His excuse for refusing the award was Hollywood and American society’s treatment of Native Americans. Whether he was sincere or simply staging an elaborate joke is still debated. Littlefeather was not much of a Native activist but an aspiring B-movie actress who later appeared in Playboy.

1977 - The Jewish Defence League showed up before the show to protest the nomination of Vanessa Redgrave for Best Supporting Actress because of her support for a Palestinian homeland. Several of them burned the actress in effigy. She had to be snuck in the back of an ambulance through a secret entrance to get her safely into the theater. In her acceptance speech, she dedicated the award to Hollywood’s courage in resisting “Zionist hoodlums”. Of course, the producers exploded, and it fell to Paddy Chayefsky to go onstage and denounce Redgrave for subverting the Oscars with her politics. She did have her defenders, including Foreign Film-winning Israeli director Moshe Mizrahi. After the ceremony, Redgrave went to dinner accompanied by her bodyguards and no one spoke to her. When Debby Boone performed Best Original Song nominee "You Light Up My Life", she was accompanied by a chorus of little girls who were announced to have come from The John Tracy Clinic for the Deaf and they interpreted the lyrics in sign language. It was later reported that the girls were really students rounded up at a nearby elementary school, and that they were actually signing gibberish. None of them were deaf.

1978 - The biggest controversy was started by Jane Fonda, who led a campaign to prevent The Deer Hunter from winning the top prize, suggesting that her own film Coming Home told the real story about Vietnam. She hadn’t actually seen The Deer Hunter, but her friends told her it was racist. During the post-awards press scrum, when asked about The Deer Hunter, she said “I still haven’t seen it, but it doesn’t matter because our film is the best one”.

1989 – Mel Gibson had recently presented an award via live hookup from Australia, and the feed accidentally opened up again during the performance. Gibson proceeded to munch on a sandwich throughout the entire song.

1991 – Originally, the producers of the show wanted Mother Teresa to present an honorary award to Satyajit Ray, but the idea was shelved when they thought it would be inappropriate to have her mingling among celebrities like Jack Nicholson and Madonna.

1999 - Eighteen days before the awards ceremony, 55 Oscar statuettes en route from Chicago to the Academy were stolen from a Roadway Express shipping dock in Bell, California. A week and a half later, a scrap metal dealer, Willie Fulgear, found 52 of the statuettes in a Dumpster behind a grocery store. For finding the awards, Mr. Fulgear received two tickets to the Academy Awards show where he was given a $50,000 check from the shipping company. A few months later, $40,000 of his reward was stolen from a safe in his apartment. In June 2003, FBI agents in South Florida performing a drug bust found one of the three missing Oscar statuettes.

I knew there was a reason I hated the Oscars.

Oscar Time is Here

It's that time of year again...

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis in "The Help"
Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

Animated Feature Film
"A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
"Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
"Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
"Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
"Rango" Gore Verbinski

Art Direction
"The Artist"
Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
"Hugo"
Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"Midnight in Paris"
Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
"War Horse"
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography
"The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth
"Hugo" Robert Richardson
"The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki
"War Horse" Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design
"Anonymous" Lisy Christl
"The Artist" Mark Bridges
"Hugo" Sandy Powell
"Jane Eyre" Michael O'Connor
"W.E." Arianne Phillips

Directing
"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Alexander Payne
"Hugo" Martin Scorsese
"Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
"The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)
"Hell and Back Again"
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
"Pina"
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
"Undefeated"
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas
Documentary (Short Subject)
"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement"
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
"God Is the Bigger Elvis"
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
"Incident in New Baghdad"
James Spione
"Saving Face"
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom"
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing
"The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Kevin Tent
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
"Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
"Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film
"Bullhead" Belgium
"Footnote" Israel
"In Darkness" Poland
"Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
"A Separation" Iran

Makeup
"Albert Nobbs"
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
"The Iron Lady"
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
"The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams
"The Artist" Ludovic Bource
"Hugo" Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse" John Williams

Music (Original Song)
"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets"
Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from "Rio"
Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown; Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Picture
"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
"The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
"The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
"Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
"Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
"Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
"The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
"War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Short Film (Animated)
"Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
"La Luna" Enrico Casarosa
"A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
"Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)
"Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
"Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
"The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
"Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
"Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing
"Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce
"Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
"War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
"Hugo"
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
"Moneyball"
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
"War Horse"
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
"Hugo"
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
"Real Steel"
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
"Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
"The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
"Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
"The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
"Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
"Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
"A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi

Living in the sticks has its drawbacks, namely the theatrical movie selection sucks. For that reason, I'll abstain from commenting except to say that a) go Rooney Mara, and b) Moneyball doesn't deserve a damned thing it was nominated for. Maybe sound mixing...

Stick around for a review of Serpico.

Groggy Wants YOU

Well, job hunting didn't go well last week, so back to summer vacation.

Here in the US, Memorial Day is just a week away. Last year I did a mini-marathon of classic war films to celebrate, and I'm keen on doing it again this year. Problem is, aside from Twelve O'Clock High, I'm drawing a blank on what to watch.

If you'd like to recommend a war film for me to watch and review, please do so in the comments section of this post. Just keep in mind that my availability is limited to Netflix, various movie channels and local video stores, so nothing impossibly arcane or obscure please. Read this blog next week, May 30th-June 3rd, to see which ones I choose.

Though it's a few days old, I'd like to link to Jack L.'s excellent review of The Passion of Joan of Arc, as part of his Silent Film Marathon.

Also, the Large Association of Movie Blogs (LAMB) is having its annual "LAMBy Awards" to determine the best bloggers in a variety of categories. Click here to find out who's been nominated for what.

I have a few films in the pipeline this week, including obscure gems like The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (Peter O'Toole's first big movie) and The Raid. I also have a backlog of movies I didn't get around to last week, like Mildred Pierce and The Tailor of Panama, which I may or may not get around to. Here's to another week of reviews - in between job searching and helping my mom recover from surgery, of course!

You know what's not "cool," James Franco? You.

As I'm sure you know, the Oscars were held Sunday night. The King's Speech won most of the big awards, which upset me just a bit, but I'll get over it. Harder to get over is the truly awful ceremony. Despite my previous protestations, I did watch about half of the show and what I saw was horrendous.

Co-host James Franco is getting torn a new asshole for his antics Sunday night. Well, let's be fair: calling them "antics" is really a stretch. All he did was mumble semi-intelligibly and act like he was high or impossibly bored. Heck, he literally spent half the show tweeting on his Blackberry, uploading little five second videos for his fanbase of drooling teen girls and hipsters to marvel over. Even in a drag segment he just made a puerile Charlie Sheen joke, which a gopher could do at this point. To compensate, the pretty Anne Hathaway had to overact hysterically. It was like watching a high school talent show hosted by a bored stoner kid and a perky cheerleader; in other words, it wasn't pretty.

Many commentators have already roasted Franco to unrecognizable char over this. Anne Hathaway apparently agrees with this criticism, and she should know. There's even a piece arguing at length that he was "baked." It seems that Franco may actually have hurt his career with his performance. As someone who suffered through just enough of the ceremony to pass jugment, I'd say this criticism is fully deserved.

I can't say I have much feeling towards Franco either way; I've only seen him in Spider-Man and Milk, so I'm not jumping on or off any bandwagon. All I know is that on Sunday, I saw a smug, self-satisfied douchebag dicking around, wasting 37 million people's time and ruining Hollywood's biggest awards ceremony. Franco's own comments on the issue - bascially a "fuck you" to anyone who watched - seem to reinforce this idea. If you really don't give a damn, you stupid prick, why the hell did you agree to host the show in the first place?

Some of his defenders are claiming this was "performance art" like his turn on General Hospital, but if so it was the worst performance in histrionic history: worse than Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack, worse than Bela Lugosi in Bride of the Monster, heck worse than Mrs. Hay's 4th grade production of The Wizard of Oz. No, I think Franco just thought he could get away with sleepwalking through the Oscars. Fat chance.

I have no idea why Franco and Hathaway were paired up in the first place, as neither is exactly known for being funny (and starring in awful romcoms doesn't count), and certainly they had zero chemistry. Presumably this was to get the youth audience to watch, but with a show crammed with the same old shit - horredous musical numbers, navel-gazing tributes to Hollywood's past glory, overlong presentations, unfunny jokes, and awarding Best Picture to a safe piece of Oscar bait - its effect was neglible. And Mr. Franco, pretending like you don't care about anything stopped being cool in the late '90s. Franco and Hathaway were about as "cool" as Hank Hill.

Either way, barring a hilarious Kirk Douglas bit, the Oscars were a disaster Sunday night, and I was reminded of why I skipped the show last year. And James Franco: you suck.

Oscar night

The Oscars are tonight. It's doubtful that I'll watch, since I have stuff to do and find the ceremony interminably dull, but I do care this year who wins.

The awards I'm willing/able to pick:

Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit

Best Actor
Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actress
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Supporting Actor
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Best Supporting Actress
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Best Animated Feature Film
Toy Story 3

Best Original Screenplay
The King's Speech

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Social Network

Best Art Direction
The King's Speech

Best Costume Design
True Grit

Best Original Song
We Belong Together - Toy Story 3

Best Film Editing
The Social Network

Best Sound Editing
Inception

Best Sound Mixing
The Social Network

Best Visual Effects
Iron Man 2

Best Picture: Do I go with my head and pick The Social Network? Or heart and say True Grit, even though it has no chance?

The Social Network

Oscar time

Well, it's that time of year again. Oscar nominations are out:

Best Picture
'Black Swan'
'The Fighter'
'Inception'
'The Kids Are All Right'
'The King’s Speech'
'127 Hours'
'The Social Network'
'Toy Story 3'
'True Grit'
'Winter’s Bone'

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, 'Black Swan'
David O. Russell, 'The Fighter'
Tom Hooper, 'The King's Speech'
David Fincher, 'The Social Network'
Joel and Ethan Coen, 'True Grit'

Best Actor
Javier Bardem, 'Biutiful'
Jeff Bridges, 'True Grit'
Jesse Eisenberg, 'The Social Network'
Colin Firth, 'The King's Speech'
James Franco, '127 Hours'

Best Actress
Annette Bening, 'The Kids Are All Right'
Nicole Kidman, 'Rabbit Hole'
Jennifer Lawrence, 'Winter's Bone'
Natalie Portman, 'Black Swan'
Michelle Williams, 'Blue Valentine'

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, 'The Fighter'
John Hawkes, 'Winter's Bone'
Jeremy Renner, 'The Town'
Mark Ruffalo, 'The Kids Are All Right'
Geoffrey Rush, 'The King's Speech'

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, 'The Fighter'
Helena Bonham Carter, 'The King's Speech'
Melissa Leo, 'The Fighter'
Hailee Steinfeld, 'True Grit'
Jacki Weaver, 'Animal Kingdom'

Best Animated Feature Film
'How to Train Your Dragon'
'Illusionist'
'Toy Story 3'

Best Foreign Film
Mexico - 'Biutiful'
Greece - 'Dogtooth'
Denmark - 'In a Better World'
Canada - 'Incendies'
Algeria - 'Outside the law'

Best Original Screenplay
'Another Year'
'The Fighter'
'Inception'
'The Kids Are All Right'
'The King's Speech'

Best Adapted Screenplay
'127 Hours'
'The Social Network'
'Toy Story 3'
'True Grit'
'Winter's Bone'

Best Art Direction
'Alice in Wonderland'
'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I'
'Inception'
'The King's Speech'
'True Grit'

Best Costume Design
'Alice in Wonderland'
'I Am Love'
'The King's Speech'
'The Tempest'
'True Grit'

Best Original Song
'Coming Home' - 'Country Strong'
'I See the Light' - 'Tangled'
'If I Rise' - '127 Hours'
'We Belong Together' - 'Toy Story 3'

Best Original Score
'How to Train Your Dragon' John Powell
'Inception' Hans Zimmer
'The King's Speech' Alexandre Desplat
'127 Hours' A.R. Rahman
'The Social Network' Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Best Documentary
'Exit Through the Gift Shop'
'Gasland'
'Inside Job'
'Restrepo'
'Waste Land'

Best Film Editing
'Black Swan'
'The Fighter'
'The Kings Speech'
'127 Hours'
'The Social Network'

Best Makeup
'Barney's Version'
'The Way Back'
'The Wolfman'

Best Sound Editing
'Inception'
'Toy Story 3'
'TRON: Legacy'
'True Grit'
'Unstoppable'

Best Sound Mixing
'Inception'
'The King's Speech'
'Salt'
'The Social Network'
'True Grit'

Best Visual Effects
'Alice in Wonderland'
'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1'
'Hereafter'
'Inception'
'Iron Man 2'

Best Documentary (Short Subject)
'Killing in the Name'
'Poster Girl'
'Strangers No More'
'Sun Comes Up'
'The Warriors of Qiugang'

Best Visual Short Film (Animated)
'Day & Night'
'The Gruffalo'
'Let's Pollute'
'The Lost Thing'
'Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)'

Best Short Film (Live Action)
'The Confession'
'The Crush'
'God of Love'
'Na Wewe'
'Wish 143'

Quick thoughts:

I've seen six of the ten Best Picture nominees, and aside from 127 Hours I've no great desire to see the rest. As I've expressed my loathing for the ten nominees system before, I don't see the need to waste time and money on padding anyway.

It's nice to see True Grit getting nine nominations. But does it stand a chance of winning any? Maybe Steinfeld and Deakens.

It seems The Social Network is the prohibitive favorite right now, and if it won Best Picture I'd be satisfied. It was a good flick.

The King's Speech and Toy Story 3 I'm more or less indifferent about, but I'd have no problem with either winning (like Toy Story 3 has a chance in hell).

Screw Inception and Black Swan. Vapid hype and hot air ought not be the stuff of Oscar nominations.

I haven't seen enough of the performances to pick winners there, though I'm pleasantly surprised to see Geoffrey Rush get a nomination.

I might actually watch this year since I have a dog or two in the fight. Plus not holding the Oscars over spring break helps, too. We'll see.

I will definitely keep an eye on TCM, as usual, since their 31 Days of Oscar is starting soon.

And finally, a nice piece detailing why True Grit is a hit. Good man, you've saved me the trouble.

Down the Home Stretch

Hope you all had a great Turkey Day!

First, I'll acknowledge the passing of Leslie Nielsen, star of Forbidden Planet, Airplane! and The Naked Gun. Not a personal favorite but I know he has a lot of fans out there.

It seems that Irvin Kershner, the director of The Empire Strikes Back, has just joined him.

On a lighter note, a number of Honorary Oscars were recently awarded. I'll direct your attention to speeches by two of them: actor Eli Wallach, and film restorer (and David Lean biographer) Kevin Brownlow. Enjoy!

This term is lurching to a conclusion, and I'll be extremely busy for the next two weeks. Don't expect regular reviews, but I'll do my best.

Oscar Commentary

I didn't watch one second of last night's Oscars, so this will have to suffice:

Brief Oscar Commentary

The Oscar nominations came out today. If you expected me to care, you were wrong.

Is anyone surprised that Avatar and The Hurt Locker got Best Picture nods? I seriously doubt it, and it's unquestionably going to be a two-film race. Which leads to the question, again, of why the hell we are expanding to ten nominees this year? It's often hard enough to get five worthy nominees; ten is just absurd padding, particularly since it's effectively a two-movie race. All this will do is pointlessly dilute the field, further diminish the Oscars' credibility, make it impossible for me to go out and see all the Best Picture nominees, and lead to an even longer, more boring and wanky ceremony than last year.

In short, I don't give a fuck about the Oscars this year, and I'm not going to bother watching. I will be more than happy to peruse TCM's 31 Days of Oscar, however.

That is all.

Oscar Prattle

Well, after twelve mostly sleepless insomniac hours, here are some thoughts about last night's Oscar ceremony. A complete list of winners can be seen here.

- First off - YAY Slumdog Millionaire! The best film won last night and it was really gratifying to see Slumdog pick up eight Oscars. In terms of films at least, this year's Oscars were much better than last year's parade of bleak, dark, misanthropic, soul-destroying crap. I'm referring of course to Juno.

- Hugh Jackman was a tolerable host. He did a great job with the requisite musical numbers but a mediocre job with the interstitial material (other than a nice line about doing a downsized version of Australia called New Zealand). I guess he was preferable to Jon Stewart, who I find rather grating.

- As for the musical numbers themselves? They're usually pretty dull and tedious and this year is little different. Jackman's a great singer and dancer but he didn't have a lot to work with. I did like his song about not seeing The Reader (lucky him!) but the rest of the intro number was the usual tired Billy Crystal schtick that annoys the crap out of me. The musical homage number with Beyonce was just beyond bizarre and completely baffled me. The medley of Best Song nominees didn't do much for me either, were I to be fastidiously honest; Jai Ho is the only one I really liked anyway (and even that's not my favorite song from Slumdog) and cutting the songs into thirty second segments before mashing them together didn't work. (And it's not worth it at all if we don't have Dev and Freida jamming onstage anyway.) I did appreciate the orchestra's constant playing of the Lawrence of Arabia theme though.

- The montages and clips last year were pretty straightforward and economical, but they worked. Seeing a ten second clip of every Best Picture winner last year achieved the desired affect of nostalgia and awe on me. Editing together a seemingly random compilations of clips of past and present films, as they did this year, didn't work and was extremely awkward. The other montages were just bizarre (though the actor's montages were pretty straightforward), and on what planet does Twilight deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as the Oscars, let alone prominently featured in a clip show about romantic films?

- Seeing Tina Fey and Steve Martin together as presenters made me think that Steve Martin should have played John McCain on SNL this past election season. Someone missed a bet.

- Presenters didn't do much aside from the usual wankery. The Judd Apatow short film was funny (I thought them cackling insanely at the stupidity of The Reader was loads of fun), and I liked Ben Stiller's Joaquin Phoenix impersonation, though it distracted a bit from the award being presented. Otherwise no one worthy of note. The Twilight asshole, the always-obnoxious Bill Maher (see my documentary! PLEASE), and Zac Efron were particularly bad.

- Even more obnoxious and tedious than this usual was the conceit of having five previous award winners introducing the nominees at ridiculous length. It may have seemed like a great idea on paper, but in practice it led to extremely tedious and ridiculously drawn out introductions. Not to mention, the only interest seemed to be in a) finding out Eva Marie Saint is still alive and b) who gets to wank off to what nominee. And is it just me or did Sophia Loren look like a mummy? Yikes.

- Biggest surprise of the night was Penelope Cruz. I was hoping Amy Adams or Viola Davis but was expecting Marissa Tomei. But who had money on Cruz?

- Probably my favorite acceptance speech was Danny Boyle, particularly the Tigger hop, which was silly but endearing. Kate Winslet gave a really nice, classy speech which made up for the fact that she won for a movie that sucked ape balls. And I liked the Japanese guy who quoted Mr. Roboto, though I can't fathom why.

- Heath Ledger's winning surprised no one. I'm not a huge fan of his performance but I just want to say this for the sake of the morons on Film General: he didn't win because he's dead. He won because he had pathetic competition. Everyone else was basically a seat-filler, with Josh Brolin the only other one who had even an outside chance. (And you know it's a joke when Robert Downey gets a nomination for Tropic Thunder. That's worthy of a What.) And maybe, just maybe, his performance was good.

- Sean Penn's winning over Mickey Rourke was a surprise. What wasn't a surprise, though, was his classless douchebag speech where he calls out his political enemies, something he seems unable to open his mouth without doing (see also his SAG speech where he called out Bill O'Reilly for no reason whatever). Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter for Milk, managed to get out a similar plea for tolerance in a heartfelt and touching manner, without insulting those who disapprove of his lifestyle. Penn on the other hand is a grandstanding, egomaniacal prick as usual - the fact that he's a straight white actor and not a gay screenwriter makes it all the more amusing and/or pathetic.

- An even lower point than Penn's usual prickishness, which can be chalked up to personal distaste of the man, was the In Memoriam segment. We had an absolutely atrocious directorial decision of showing various small screens displaying the window, and extremely wide shots of Queen Latifah performing. So wide, in fact, that the video monitors weren't even visible for the first two or three people! The idiot responsible for that sequence should be shot; we're paying homage to deceased artists, not gawking at your idiotic technology. If I'd have missed Paul Scofield or Charlton Heston or Paul Newman due to their idiotic boneheaded directing I would have smashed someone's head in. Even then they left off a few names (*cough* Patrick McGoohan!). What should have been the best part of the night was one of the most awkward and annoying. But at least the Pauls and Chuck were on there; I just about teared up at Scofield and Heston in particular.

All in all, it was a decent show in spite of the aforementioned rough patches, and the right film won for most of the right awards. So, I'm not overly upset, just tired.

Oscars!

Well, the Academy of Twats and Tools has spoken! Here are your 2009 Academy Award nominees.



Best Motion Picture of the Year

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Ceán Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall
Frost/Nixon (2008): Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Eric Fellner
Milk (2008): Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks
The Reader (2008): Nominees to be determined
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Christian Colson

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Richard Jenkins for The Visitor (2007/I)
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon (2008)
Sean Penn for Milk (2008)
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Angelina Jolie for Changeling (2008)
Melissa Leo for Frozen River (2008)
Meryl Streep for Doubt (2008/I)
Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Josh Brolin for Milk (2008)
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder (2008)
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt (2008/I)
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008)
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams for Doubt (2008/I)
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Viola Davis for Doubt (2008/I)
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler (2008)

Best Achievement in Directing

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Stephen Daldry for The Reader (2008)
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon (2008)
Gus Van Sant for Milk (2008)

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Frozen River (2008): Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008): Mike Leigh
In Bruges (2008): Martin McDonagh
Milk (2008): Dustin Lance Black
WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt (2008/I): John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon (2008): Peter Morgan
The Reader (2008): David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Simon Beaufoy

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Changeling (2008): Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight (2008): Wally Pfister
The Reader (2008): Roger Deakins, Chris Menges
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Anthony Dod Mantle

Best Achievement in Editing

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
The Dark Knight (2008): Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon (2008): Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
Milk (2008): Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Chris Dickens

Best Achievement in Art Direction

Changeling (2008): James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
The Dark Knight (2008): Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
The Duchess (2008): Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road (2008): Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Australia (2008): Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Jacqueline West
The Duchess (2008): Michael O'Connor
Milk (2008): Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road (2008): Albert Wolsky

Best Achievement in Makeup

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight (2008): John Caglione Jr., Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008): Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Alexandre Desplat
Defiance (2008): James Newton Howard
Milk (2008): Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman
WALL·E (2008): Thomas Newman

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman, Gulzar("Jai Ho")
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam("O Saya")
WALL·E (2008): Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman("Down to Earth")

Best Achievement in Sound

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight (2008): Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty
WALL·E (2008): Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt
Wanted (2008): Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

The Dark Knight (2008): Richard King
Iron Man (2008): Frank E. Eulner, Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Tom Sayers
WALL·E (2008): Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
Wanted (2008): Wylie Stateman

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
The Dark Knight (2008): Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin
Iron Man (2008): John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, Shane Mahan

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

Bolt (2008): Chris Williams, Byron Howard
Kung Fu Panda (2008): John Stevenson, Mark Osborne
WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)(Germany)
Entre les murs (2008)(France)
Revanche (2008)(Austria)
Okuribito (2008)(Japan)
Vals Im Bashir (2008)(Israel)

Best Documentary, Features

The Betrayal - Nerakhoon (2008): Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World (2007): Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser
The Garden (2008/I): Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Man on Wire (2008): James Marsh, Simon Chinn
Trouble the Water (2008): Tia Lessin, Carl Deal

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

The Conscience of Nhem En: Steven Okazaki
The Final Inch: Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant
Smile Pinki: Megan Mylan
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306: Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde

Best Short Film, Animated

Nominees:La Maison en Petits Cubes: Kunio Kato
Ubornaya istoriya - lyubovnaya istoriya (2007): Konstantin Bronzit
Oktapodi (2007): Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand
Presto (2008): Doug Sweetland
This Way Up (2008): Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes

Best Short Film, Live Action

Nominees:Auf der Strecke (2007): Reto Caffi
Manon sur le bitume (2007): Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont
New Boy (2007): Steph Green, Tamara Anghie
Grisen (2008): Tivi Magnusson, Dorthe Warnø Høgh
Spielzeugland (2007): Jochen Alexander Freydank

I got four of my five Best Picture nods correct. I should have known Benjamin Button was going to get it, but otherwise nice work Grogs.

Now... to the the-ater! WE'VE GOT MOVIE SIGN!!!

Groggy's 11th Hour Oscar Predictions!

Yes, Oscar nominations are less than twelve hours away! It's time to preserve my idiocy and ignorant for all time by making some predictions using my amazing prognosticative (sic) powers.

I'm only going to do Best Pictures - the five I think are most likely to get noms and five that have a good shot. I know a lot of you care about Best Sound Editing or Best Gaffer, but I don't.

The Nominees Are...

Slumdog Millionaire - The almost universal critical praise, its slowly-gathering box office success and great word of mouth, and its Golden Globe success make this pretty much a lock. Let's hope it's a win too.

Frost/Nixon - The acclaim the movie's getting, particularly for its lead performances, makes it all but a lock. I would be extremely surprised if this didn't get a nod.

Milk - Hollywood loves a well-made cookie-cutter biopic, and its progressive subject matter will make the Academy (and Sean Penn) feel warm and tingly inside by voting for it. Am I cynical? You betcha.

The Wrestler - Will Mickey Rourke's performance alone be enough to jettison it to contenton? We'll see, but I'm willing to give it that chance.

The Reader - The year's Dark Horse, not much chance but you can never be sure. Everyone loves a Holocaust film, right? (Wait, then where's Boy in the Striped Pajamas? Nevermind.)

Also Ran...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - A few months ago this would have been an unquestioned lock, but mixed critical reviews and largely negative buzz from the people whose opinions matter in these things. Still, it's been a big hit and it has elements of the movie that the Academy likes to suck up whenever possible, so we'll see. Speaking of which, I need to see this film ASAP.

Revolutionary Road - DiCaprio and Winslett together isn't going to result in anything besides a Kate Winslett nomination.

Doubt - As much as I love this movie, I don't see anything beyond the three acting nods for Streep, Hoffman and Adams (and maybe Davis). I would love to be surprised though.

Gran Torino - Poor Clint. First the Changeling buzz fizzled out, now this movie's going to miss out except maybe a Best Actor nod. Wait a minute - Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby? No "poor Clint", try "Move over Clint - give someone else a turn!"

The Dark Knight - Popularity and critical acclaim count for something, but I don't see this getting any nods beyond Best Supporting Actor for Ledger and a few technical awards.

Thanks for your time. Let's keep our fingers crossed that I get one of these selections right...