No Comments That was for my first round, January 26, 2007. Purely by accident, round 2 was today, one day past exactly four years later (4 years exactly if you go Friday – Friday). Weird. So weird.
This begins considerably more than three days of Vicodin. At least, this time I got them to prepare me for more, whether or not I need it.
No Comments The Oscar Nominations are in! All sixity billions of them! And that’s just the nominations for Best Picture!
Best Picture
War Horse – Haven’t seen it. Hate horse movies. Inevitably feel emotionally manipulated.
The Artist – LOVED IT
Moneyball – Haven’t seen it. Wanted to tho!
The Descendants – What? Was this a movie?
The Tree of Life – Haven’t seen it.
Midnight in Paris – Saw it, liked it, not Best Picture tho, eh?
The Help – Haven’t seen it. Would rather watch the latest Mr Bean.
Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – What? Was this a movie?
Best Actress
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs – What? Was this a movie?
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Haven’t seen it.
Viola Davis, The Help – Haven’t seen it. See above.
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady – Haven’t seen it (yet).
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn – Haven’t seen it. She’s about the worst Marilyn ever tho, eh?
Best Actor
Demian Bichir, A Better Life – What? Was this a movie?
George Clooney, The Descendants – What? Was this a movie?
Jean Dujardin, The Artist – LOVED IT
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – LOVED IT
Brad Pitt, Moneyball – Haven’t seen it.
Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, The Artist – LOVED IT but Best Supporting Actress? SEXISTS.
Jessica Chastain, The Help – Haven’t seen it. See above.
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids – Saw it. Pointless. Comedians never win.
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs – What? Was this a movie?
Octavia Spencer, The Help – Haven’t seen it wait weren’t we just here? OH GOD IT’S A WOMEN CRYING MOVIE ISN’T IT
Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn – Haven’t seen it but I hear he really chews up the scenery in it.
Jonah Hill, Moneyball – Haven’t seen it.
Nick Nolte, Warrior – What? Was this a movie?
Christopher Plummer, Beginners – What? Was this a -oh wait I did hear about this one! I think he’s gay?
Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – What? Was this a movie?
Best Director
Michel Hazanivicius, The Artist – LOVED IT
Alexander Payne, The Descendants – What? Was this a movie?
Martin Scorsese, Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris – Saw it. Liked it. Not Best Director tho, eh?
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life – Haven’t seen it.
Best Original Screenplay
Michel Hazanivicius, The Artist – LOVED IT
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, Bridesmaids – Pointless, comedies never win.
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris – Saw it. Liked it. Could win for this one, I suppose.
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call – What? Was this a movie?
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation – Haven’t seen it but it’s supposed to be amazing.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants – What? Was this a movie?
John Logan, Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
George Clooney, Beau Willimon and Grant Heslov, The Ides of March – What? Was this a movie?
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, Moneyball – Haven’t seen it.
Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – LOVED IT kind of getting screwed in nominations tho, eh?
Best Foreign Feature
Bullhead – Haven’t seen it.
Footnote – Haven’t seen it.
In Darkness – Haven’t seen it.
Monsieur Lazhar – Haven’t seen it.
A Separation – Haven’t seen it but it’s supposed to be amazing.
Best Animated Feature
A Cat in Paris – Haven’t seen it.
Chico & Rita – Haven’t seen it.
Kung Fu Panda 2 – Haven’t seen it.
Puss in Boots – Haven’t seen it.
Rango – Haven’t seen it.
Art Direction
The Artist – LOVED IT
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Was v good.
Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
Midnight in Paris – Was v good.
War Horse – Haven’t seen it.
Cinematography
The Artist – LOVED IT
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Haven’t seen it.
Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
The Tree of Life – Haven’t seen it.
War Horse – Haven’t seen it.
Costume Design
Anonymous – What? Was this a movie? Or a joke?
The Artist – LOVED IT.
Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
Jane Eyre – Haven’t seen it.
W.E. – HAH AS IF. Haven’t seen it.
Documentary Feature
Hell and Back Again – Not Senna.
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front – Not Senna.
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – Not Senna.
Pina – Not Senna.
Undefeated – Not Senna.
Documentary Short Subject
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement – Haven’t seen it.
God Is the Bigger Elvis – Haven’t seen it.
Incident in New Baghdad – Haven’t seen it.
Saving Face – Haven’t seen it.
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Haven’t seen it.
Film Editing
Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist – LOVED IT
Kevin Tent, The Descendants – Haven’t seen it.
Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Haven’t seen it.
Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
Christopher Tellefsen, Moneyball – Haven’t seen it.
Makeup
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle, Albert Nobbs – What? Was this a movie?
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Ehhh, mostly dirty kids and Voldemort’s no-nose.
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, The Iron Lady – Hmmm. A possibility.
Music (Original Score)
John Williams, The Adventures of Tintin – Haven’t seen it.
Ludovic Bource, The Artist- LOVED IT
Howard Shore, Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
Alberto Iglesias, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – So good.
John Williams, War Horse – Haven’t seen it.
Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, Bret McKenzie – Haven’t seen it.
“Real in Rio” from Rio, Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett – Haven’t seen it.
Sound Editing
Drive – Haven’t seen it.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Haven’t seen it.
Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon – Haven’t seen it.
War Horse – Haven’t seen it.
Sound Mixing – Haven’t seen it.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Haven’t seen it.
Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
Moneyball – Haven’t seen it.
Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Maybe.
Hugo – Haven’t seen it.
Real Steel – What? Was this a movie?
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Haven’t seen it.
Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon – Haven’t seen it.
Short Film (Animated)
Dimanche/Sunday – Haven’t seen it.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – Haven’t seen it. Baby has the iPad book tho!
La Luna – Haven’t seen it.
A Morning Stroll – Haven’t seen it.
Wild Life – Haven’t seen it.
Short Film (Live Action)
Pentecost – Haven’t seen it.
Raju – Haven’t seen it.
The Shore – Haven’t seen it.
Time Freak – Haven’t seen it.
Tuba Atlantic – Haven’t seen it.
To sum:
• The Artist was amazing. So clever and cheerful and unusual and actually a standout film in a way that a Best Picture should be.
• Senna?!?
• I’m surprised We Need to Talk About Kevin didn’t get anything but I suppose it hasn’t even been released here yet. And it’s not exactly The Feel Good Movie Of the Year.
• And finally: I think it’s ridiculous that the Oscars forces all the technical winners to eat a rubber chicken and have their awards presented by the star of whatever ABC sitcom they’re trying to promote when that technical stuff is probably more interesting than the Best Foreign Language Short Animated Adult Contemporary Film Editing Award that they do force us to sit through (interspersed by thirteen ad breaks for that award alone) on our way to Best Picture. I mean I love animators as much as the next person, but they’re not exactly decorative and they don’t make the movies we actually see, whereas the Award For Best Use Of a Particle Generator in a Robot Exploding does, and moves the film industry forward. Just my two cents.
• And the final final thing, which should be obvious but apparently isn’t: We actually kind of LIKE seeing these awards handed out to people, even the animators and digital effects guys! If we’re watching the Oscars, it’s probably because we like the movies! So maybe, if your four hour running time is getting to be a deal breaker for most viewers, you could, um, cut the ad breaks? When most stars won’t even go because it’s too long to go without a cigarette and by the end of it their boob job is starting to droop anyway so what’s the point of putting all that bloody work into it, maybe you should make it shorter not by not showing the awards but by not showing the endless makeup ads. Just an idea. Oh, and if you’re trying to save your stupid industry, maybe getting more people to be interested in the biggest awards night of the year is a bigger deal in the long run than cashing in on ad revenues for the broadcast?
No Comments I just thought this was funny (and informative!):
Vinnie Jones’ hard and fast hands-only CPR
1 Comment This is literally the funniest thing I’ve seen in years. Or at least it made me laugh harder than anything else. I am in tears. Honest tears.
Sh*t Punjabi Mothers Say
Omg it’s so good.
1 Comment A little late, but awesome:
The 30 Most Important Cats Of 2011
(I think number 4 is my favourite)
3 Comments Audio of the Costa Concordia’s captain trying to weasel out of going back to his ship:
I said on Facebook the other day that I find it reassuring that abandoning ship is still something one can get arrested for. Like, despite everything, sometimes someone is still going to expect that you do something heroic or else you’ll end up in handcuffs.
Also: Italian is a really good language to sound pissed off in. I think we all already knew this, but sometimes it’s nice to have a refresher.
2 Comments Late last week fans of the popular ITV/Masterpiece Theatre drama Downton Abbey were thrilled to discover (via most major press outlets who love any excuse to run photos of our favourite posh people) that the ladies of Downton Abbey have been recycling costumes from other major period films and dramas. See for instance:
Daily Mail – Hand me Downton: How dresses in ITV hit have been recycled from other major films
• Gowns and accessories previously worn by stars including Uma Thurman, Emma Thompson and Catherine Zeta-Jones
• ’You can’t supply originals to everyone because it would make an already expensive programme simply unaffordable’, says costumier Tim Angel
And I think in these recession-hit times, it’s a lovely sign of true aristocracy that they’d be doing something a little bit on the cheap. Nothing so vulgar as buying things new, oh no.
Anyway,
…Last night I ran into Laura Carmichael’s name on Twitter (middle sister Lady Edith) and for whatever reason (insomnia) I didn’t recognize it so I did a quick Google search on my phone and found this picture:
…of all three actresses at the premiere of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Note the dress Laura Carmichael is wearing? Now look at this photo of a different mix of actresses from this fall’s Emmy Awards:
See the dress Michelle Dockery is wearing? It’s not at all the same dress! Except it is a very similar dress! So I think any excuse to run some photos of our favourite posh people, eh?
1 Comment This is amazing (but ignore the idiotic American-style narration):
1 Comment I dunno how many of you have been watching The Killing (Danish version), or have been paying attention to Girl With a Dragon Tattoo (I haven’t seen either version and I’m not really sure I want to after learning the level of detail about it that I’ve learned so far), but if you have, you’ll find this is the funniest damned thing ever:
Hürda Gürda Mürder
And if you haven’t, I think you’ll at least appreciate the bit about the English mysteries, and probably get the gist for the Scandicrime genre.
2 Comments This isn’t a picture you’ll welcome if you think Thatcher must be branded an ogre, but it seems accurate enough. Those who knew her in office have testified to her common decency. She was, reportedly, “always incredibly kind to her friends and the girls who worked for her”, making sure everyone at Downing Street and Chequers had a Christmas present. She was “empathetic and compassionate”, offering comfort to visitors in need of it. She was “funny” and “playful”, but distraught when Mark, her son, went missing in the Sahara, and (as in the film) devastated by the assassination of Airey Neave.
Yet Thatcher isn’t alone on the right in displaying a bit of humanity. Indeed it sometimes seems as if this quality is in shorter supply on the left. With whom would you rather go on holiday? Verminous Churchill or dear old Nye? Boris or Ken? Cameron might even have it over Ed Miliband, let alone Brown, Balls or Mandelson. Inconceivable as this may seem to some, those who are ideologically incorrect can actually be quite nice. Why shouldn’t they be?
Progressives like to equate their own cause with righteousness, but all rightwingers aren’t out simply to protect privilege. Some are as eager as their rivals to benefit the disadvantaged, but have a different view of what this will entail. Thatcher wanted the downtrodden to be liberated; she had little time for the undeserving rich. It’s quite hard to convince yourself that Iain Duncan Smith is out to grind the faces of the poor just for the fun of it.
The relative modesty of the right’s political project leaves scope for human feeling. If you’re out to conserve rather than transform, you can take a more relaxed view of things. If you’re already doing nicely, you’ll be less prone to envy and resentment and may be softened by guilt or noblesse oblige.
On the left, things are different. The justice of the cause brooks no sentimental aberration.
See?! Amazing. Granted, this is on the film blog and not Front Page Breaking News (FLASH: Right Wing Kind, Experts Say), but still!
No Comments Is this a movie for me or what? We saw this trailer yesterday in front of The Artist, and I was laughing harder than the absolutely ANCIENT people next to us (it’s an art house theater in Palo Alto; everyone’s always prehistoric). All my favourite actors in a movie about old people and travel and India… Bliss. *covers self in bathrobe and sensible shawl and enjoys extreme old age early*
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
1 Comment [A]fter almost every one of these debates we at NR and elsewhere say “ABC lost. Big time.” and “Big loser: ABC News” – or CNN or MSNBC or whoever it is. And then ten days later (or, in this case, the following morning) there they all are again acquiescing in some condescending media bigfoot’s wish to spend 20 minutes discussing whether the Supreme Court has a right to ban diaphragms for transgendered adoptees or whatever hallucinogenic George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer were chugging down in the green room last night.
This country is broke, and the unprecedented scale of its brokeness is an existential threat. Yet, with the exception of Newt’s occasional flashes of contempt for the questioners, everyone else plays along with this absurd game.
I don’t watch it, and I don’t really see why they have to take part in it. It’s the Republican nomination they’re going for, so it’s hardly time to be assuaging the worries of a bunch of liberals, non?
3 Comments /wails
22 Words – A dog’s seeing eye dog
CLICK THROUGH TO SEE ALL THE PICTUUUUUUUURES
1 Comment Good lord:
AP – Bird plane runs afoul of federal regulators
Ten young whooping cranes and the bird-like plane they think is their mother had flown more than halfway to their winter home in Florida when federal regulators stepped in.
Now the birds and the plane are grounded in Alabama while the Federal Aviation Administration investigates whether the journey violates regulations because the pilot was being paid by a conservation group to lead the cranes on their first migration instead of working for free.
FAA regulations say only pilots with commercial pilot licenses can fly for hire.
They couldn’t have waited to investigate this and accordingly dole out the fines after the birds had reached Florida?
The rules are aimed, in part, at preventing businesses or charities from taking passengers for joyrides in sometimes risky planes.
“That’s a valid rule. They shouldn’t be hired to do that. But it wasn’t written, I believe, to stop a wildlife reintroduction,” Joe Duff, an Operation Migration co-founder and one of its pilots, said.
Emphases mine.
No Comments The Times, homepage, above the full colour photo of Meryl Streep in a blue suit:
First line under the photo:
David Cameron launched an extraordinary attack today on…
What he actually said:
“My sense was: a great piece of acting – really a rather staggering piece of acting – but a film I wish they could have made another day.”
