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The Oscar Quest: Best Picture & Best Director – 2007

This was a tough year. One where, even though I’d have voted a different way on Best Picture, you really can’t fault their decision too much (or can you?). I thought these five were a really strong set of nominees. Personally I’d have gone another way with the fifth nominee, but, the Academy is the Academy. Still, these five are all good films. Good job, Academy, for picking well. And good job, Hollywood, for giving us the best year probably in all the 2000s.

Best Picture – 2007

And the nominees were…

Atonement (Focus Features)

Juno (Fox Searchlight)

Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.)

No Country for Old Men (Miramax, Paramount Vantage)

There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage, Miramax) Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  February 21, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pic of the Day: “That is one big pile of shit.”

Posted by  |  February 21, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | 1 Comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Actor & Best Actress – 2007

Dare I say it? Did they actually get both of these right? Yeah, they did. Frighteningly so. Best Actor was a no-decision. This was perhaps the best male lead performance of the decade. Best Actress was between two very, very good performances, and in my mind, they picked the correct one, though I’d have been happy with either. Hooray, good decisions.

Best Actor – 2007

And the nominees were…

George Clooney, Michael Clayton

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah

Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

George Clooney — In my mind, without Daniel Day Lewis going all ape shit on this category, Clooney wins this hands down. He gave an amazing performance in this film, and it’s a shame he didn’t win. But really, with Mr. Plainview in the category, he’s a distant second choice. But still, he’s great in this film. He’s a lawyer who is his firm’s “fixer” — think the Winston Wolf of the legal world. He makes problems go away. And when he finds out his mentor, Tom Wilkinson, went crazy in a deposition room, he starts dealing with that. Slowly he figures out a conspiracy, and, when bad shit starts to happen, his loyalties begin to sway. It’s a very good performance, and I hate that I can’t vote for it. But… Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  February 20, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pic of the Day: (No quote, the picture just whistles its theme song.)

Posted by  |  February 20, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor & Best Supporting Actress – 2007

Oh, this year. One mostly no-brainer and the other — well, what happened there? This year was actually a very good year for movies. I went back and looked — there are at least twenty legitimate good to great films that came out that year. It’s actually kind of incredible. But, in these races, well…

Best Supporting Actor – 2007

And the nominees were…

Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War

Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild

Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Casey Affleck — This is sort of a quasi-lead performance, but, it’s more of an ensemble film. I’d have loved if Pitt got a Best Actor nom for this, because he deserved it. Actually, the film deserved a Best Picture nomination too, but, we’ll let that go. Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  February 19, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pic of the Day: “I hope you die!” “That’ll be the day.”

Posted by  |  February 19, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Picture & Best Director – 2006

The year justice was served. Though the dish is best served warm, this one felt more reheated. They kind of just went through the motions here. They were like, “Fine, we’ll give Marty the fucking Oscar.” I’m not complaining, though. He’s deserved it like ten times over already. I think they felt the need to give him Best Picture to so they can be like, “If we give him Best Director for a Best Picture, then its like we set a benchmark and we have an excuse for not giving it to him all those other times.” But, whatever, this, to me, were actually perfect decisions. They voted for the best picture on this list. I’d have nominated some other films, but, you know, take what you can get.

Best Picture – 2006

And the nominees were…

Babel (Paramount Vantage)

The Departed (Warner Bros.)

Letters from Iwo Jima (Warner Bros.)

Little Miss Sunshine (Fox Searchlight)

The Queen (Miramax) Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  February 18, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pic of the Day: “You sure the cop’s okay?” “He’d better be, he’s my cousin.”

Posted by  |  February 18, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment

The Oscar Quest: Best Actor & Best Actress – 2006

More blandness. Weak, weak categories. To the point where the people I’m voting for are purely for the people and absolutely not for the performances. There’s almost nothing to say about these. They’re just — not interesting.

Best Actor – 2006

And the nominees were…

Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond

Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson

Peter O’Toole, Venus

Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness

Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

DiCaprio — Why — and I mean this from the bottom, top and center of my heart — would they nominate Leo for Blood Diamond and not for The Departed? I mean, seriously. All he does in this is put on a South African accent, run around a bit, and die. I’m pretty sure that’s it. The Departed was seriously a hell of a performance. I know he refused to campaign for it, but, when has that stopped anyone? You missed the boat, Academy. Read the rest of this page »

Posted by  |  February 17, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Oscars, The Oscar Quest | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pic of the Day: “Howard, you really think they’re gonna let you put out a whole movie just about tits?” “Sure. Who doesn’t like tits?”

Posted by  |  February 17, 2011 | Categories: Movies, Pic of the Day | Tags: | Leave a comment