The Illusionist

The Illusionist is a turn of the century movie about a magician that is in love the a Dutchess. Surprise, the Dutchess is betroved to the mean, evil Crowned Prince. Yeah, so what, nothing special about the story line. Very simply written, and directed the same. The story was quite predictable and non suspenseeful. However, given that, it was entertaining. The movie was beautifully filmed and the Cinematography was excellent, hence the nomination. Edward Norton and Jessica Biel were both excellent in the movie. Good depth and range with the character. As most people know, I am the president of the anti-Paul Giamatti club. I have not been a fan of his since people made a big deal about him not getting an oscar nomination for Sideways. That was because he did not deserve it! The movie was cute, but it did not deserve its best picture nod either. Oh well, as much as I prefer not to see Paul on film, he actually did a good job in this one. I am cringing as I write this, but I am fair, when fairness is deserved.

SAG Awards - Sunday

Just a freindly reminder that the Screen Actor's Guild Award Ceremony is this Sunday night!

Everyone watch so we can discuss it! www.sagawards.com

Academy Award Nominations - Best Actor

Mr. Whitaker is totally the front runner in the field. It was a great performance, that made the movie. Not my favorite movie, but I can not say a bad word about this acting job.

Leonardo DiCaprio gets a nomination for Blood Diamond. I think the he was excellent in this movie. The big surprise was that he got a nod for this instead of The Departed. I personally think that this is a good choice. I think The Departed may be an overall better movie, but Leo does a much better acting job in Blood Diamond

In the Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith does a fantastic job. He is loving, caring and motivated as all hell. I think this is an astonishing performance, perfect for a nomination, but not for a win.

I have yet to see Venus or Half Nelson. Therefore, I can not comment on the acting job. I will update as soon as I have something important to say.

Academy Award Nominations - Best Animated Film

I think that the animated category is very weak this year. Initially there were talks about having 5 nominees for animated film. Unfortunately, the rull depends on the number of qualifying films. Arthur and the Incredibles did not meet the eligibility criteria and as a result we only have 3 nominated films. Cars is most likely the front runner, although I found it to be kind of boring and nowhere near as good as Finding Nemo nor The Incredibles. It was a disappointment, because I expected so much more from Pixar. I thought Happy Feet was very boring. Yes, we know that Penguins are adorable and fun, but we already had March of the Penguins, in order to keep up the momentum we need sustenance. Personally, I think that Monster House was the most entertaining of the three movies. I actually enjoyed it, although, I think the content was a little intense for young audiences.

Academy Award Nominations - Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, do we need to say more. She is by far the front runner. The American Idol finalist who beat her season's winner for this role, did an amazing job. Her voice was flawless and her acting was pretty great for her first movie role. She has the momentum after winning the Golden Globe. There is little doubt that she will be holding the statuette on February 25th.

Cate Blanchett is probably on of the best actresses in Hollywood. She would probably be the one that would that could put up the biggest fight against Jennifer Hudson, if she had won this category last year. Her performance was amazing, and the chemistry with Judi Dench was fantastic.

How, How adorable is Abigail Breslin. This was the nomination that made me smile the most. The little girl that did a striptease to Superfreak in a beauty pageant is great. I was really surprised that the Academy honored this lovely little girl, but I am so excited. She will be the cutest person on the red carpet

The two women from Babel did amazing acting jobs. I think that their performance were excellent, but different. I think the was more emotion and raw talent with Adriana Barazza. Riko Kikuchi's acting was very good, I just found it to be a little boring. I might be a little biased, because her story line I found to be boring and insignificant.

Academy Award Nominations - Best Supporting Actor

Despite what the critics are saying, I think that Djimon Hinsou is the front runner in this category. Second time nominee, wows the audience as a man that will do almost anything to be reacquainted with his family. Djimon's range and depth was seen previously in In America, which earned him is first nod. This performance takes is acting ability to that of a real star. This is where my vote lies!


Eddie Murphy seems to be every one's favorite. While I agree that Dreamgirls is an amazing movie, and did get snubbed for best picture, and that Jennifer Hudson has a strong lock in on Supporting Actress, Eddie's performance was just OK to me. He was the least interesting part of the movie. If his character was removed, I think the same overall effect of the movie could have been reached. For me, that is not what I think a Best Supporting Actor should be all about.



Jackie Earlie Haley, whose has really done nothing in Hollywood since the 1970's rendition of The Bad News Bears, did pull all the stops on his portrayal of a child molester. There were some amazing scenes in this movie. There is some tough competition in this category, so I think he is a long shot. However, the Academy does like to sometime give the Supporting Award to an underdog. We will see, but I am comfortable with saying that he will walk away with the golden statue.



I think you have realized now, that Little Miss Sunshine was one of my favorites of the year! Yay for all of its nominations! And of all the actors in the movie, I think that Alan Arkin probably deserves a nomination. Although, Steve Carrell was really, really great in this movie. On of my favorite things is when a actor, that I think is very one dimensional, proves me wrong. That is what Steve Carrell did for me in this movie. Well, back to Alan Arkin. The scene that I think gave him the nomination was when he was comforting Olive in the hotel room, the night before the pageant.Finally, Mark Wahlberg! I think that he did do an fairly good acting job in this movie, but he was not the best. I think Jack Nicholson was much much better. It would be interesting to see the politics behind this nomination. I am happy for him, but he will not, and should not win.

Academy Award Nominations - Best Actress

What an amazing year for women. I think I may be a little biased, but I think the women are the stronger more interesting characters. Over the last few years, it has always been a strong, strong competition in this category. This year few have some veterans, and some newbies!

Let's start with the front runner, Helen Mirren. She is a two time supporting nominee, never a winner. She was nominated in 1994 for The Madness of King George and in 2001 for Godsford Park. What an amazing job portraying Queen Elizabeth. It is what made the movie. However, I am a little bored with "The oscar goes to.." whoever imitated someone the best. I want a more original character performance.

Now to another veteran Academy Award Nominee. Judi Dench has been nominated five time, with one win. It was her 90 seconds of screen time playing Elizabeth I (I see a pattern here) in Shakespeare in Love. This performance was amazing. It could not have been better acted. I think she is the one that has a chance of dethroning Helen Mirren.

And now for the woman that could stand in front of the camera stare back at you for 2 hours, and she would still get a nomination. This will be Meryl Streep's 14th nomination, from which has has earned 2 statuettes. This first for Kramer vs. Kramer and the second for Sophie's Choice. She is an incredible actress, and this role was very good. I am not certain she deserves this nomination, but after all she is Meryl Streep. I absolutely do not think that she will win!


Five time nominee, Kate Winslet, yet again will be just a nominee. I love her and think she is phenomenal, but in this race, she is right there with Meryl. She should be glad to be nominated, no need to prepare and acceptance speech. She should not do the half-stand to accept the award as the winner is called, like she did when she was nominated for Titanic.

Penelope Cruz so deserves this nomination. She was amazing in every way. The movie was great, and she was an essential part. She was smart, sincere and made the audience fall in love with her. No one could have done a better performance. Once, again she will have to wait for another year to give an acceptance speech. This race is between Helen and Judi.

Academy Award Nominations - Best Picture

A little bit of unexpectedness in this category. No Dreamgirls! This is really surprising after its Golden Globe win. How exciting is it to have Little Miss Sunshine in the race. This is definitely the little movie that could. I think this is the most entertaining movie of the year. I have seen it twice and laughed hysterically both times.

I totally agree with giving a nomination to The Departed. It was well done, with great acting. I was so totally shocked that I enjoyed this movie. Babel was a no brainer. It is winning everything. I honestly think that I am going to have to give it a second chance before Oscar night.

I think the Queen was a well done movie, I am not certain that I would call it a Best Picture contender. The acting was what made this movie.

Finally, Letter's From Iwo Jima. This one of the 3 movies that I have not seen. I will suspend my opinion until that time.

Golden Globe Fashion

One of the most important issues revolving around awards season is fashion. The one thing that is so very unfair about the red carpert! Male vs Female! Women get the chance to wear gourgeous gown, with fabulous hair and makeup, not to mention the shoes! What do men get. A black tux! Not too fair :-)

Anyway, here is a great example of male fashion. The best dressed male of the night, was Leo! Very distinguished look!




When it comes to women, there are the best and the worse dressed. Then there are the cute ones!

My pic for the very, very best dressed women of the night was Reese Witherspoon. She was looking H-O-T hot. You know that she was totally saying, Ryan...eat your cheating ass out!

Another hot woman on the carpet, was Best Supporting Actress winner Jennifer Hudson. Beautiful, sophisticated and glowing. This was a great Red Carpet Novice!


Jennifer's Dreamgirl costar, Beyonce, was not as great on the carpet. Yes, she had a hot body, but that dress was a tad bit hideous. I found it completely inappropriate and quite trashy.




On the cute aspect, America Ferrara was adorable. She just looked great! Her acceptance speech was the best aslo. She was so modest and sweet. Yay for her!

Golden Globe Party

Monday night was the 64th Golden Globes, and we celebrated. In attendance was Mark, Aaron, Amy, Alison and me! We had such a wonderful time. The awards were ok, a little boring overall, but the company was great. The night included dinner, dessert, a wonder Amy original appetizer, drinks and of course an ballot. The ballot was created and distributed by Mark, who added some wonderful graphics.

There were two distinct highlights of the night. The first being Amy's wonderful Onion dip. It was amazing, so so good! we devoured almost the entire dish! The second was Jennifer Hudson's win and subsequent mention of Florence Ballard in her acceptance speech. Pretty hilarious moment. From what I have heard, Diana Ross is taking her lawyers which her when she sees the movie. What more could one ask for than a great movie with lots of controversy. First, the Jennifer getting more acclaim than Beyonce and now Diana Ross taking her lawyers. Fabulous!

As for the movie part of the awards, they were pretty predictable. Helen Mirren, Forrest Whitaker, Meryl Strep, Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy. This was a fairly easy prediction. In terms of the party ballots, I was glad. It allowed me to recover from a very low score during much of the television awards. My one big comment, how does Helen Mirren get two awards, one for playing Elizabeth I and one for playing Elizabeth II. I think that is a little much. I am also a little tired of people always getting the award because the can imitate a real person. Every year it is all about the person that can do the best impersonation. Maybe that is what the category should be called. Best Lead Female Impersonation, and Best Lead Male Impersonation. Wow, I was just reading that over. I like it ever more, any time you have Female Impersonations, you know you are going to have a great time!

The Ballot was an interesting one. Here are the rules, You get to votes in each category. You get to vote for who you truly thinks deserves to win, and then who you think based on critics and other wins who will win. It is ok to choose the same nomination for both type of win. This is called "doubling up". If you pick the winner based on critic's prediction you earn 1 point. If the winner is the person that you really want to win you get 2 points. If you "doubled up" on the winner you get 3 points.

The winner this year was Alison! Who won bragging rights for the next year (or at least till Oscar night)!

Here was the rankings, out of a total 75 points.

Alison - 34
Aaron - 26
Amy - 23
John - 20
Mark - 19

Interesting enough John and Mark had seen the most movies, with only about 3-4 nominated movies not seen, and Mark is the 4 time reining Oscar Ballot Champion.

That is enough for now. Will discuss Golden Globe Fashion soon!

John

Movie Ratings

Title Mark John

Apocalypto *** **
Babel *** **
Blood Diamond, The **** ****
Bobby ***** ****
Borat n/a *
Cars *** ***
Catch a Fire *** ***
Charlotte's Web **** *****
Children of Men **** **
Curse of the Golden Flower **** ****
Da Vinci Code, The *** ***
Departed, The ***** ****
Devil Wears Prada, The **** ****
Dreamgirls ***** *****
Flushed Away *** ***
For Your Consideration **** ****
Fountain, The *** **
Fur **** ***
Ground Truth, The **** n/a
Happy Feet **** ***
Holiday, The **** *****
Illusionist, The **** n/a
Inconvenient Truth, An **** ****
Infamous ***** ****
Kinky Boots **** n/a
Last King of Scotland, The *** **
Little Children **** ****
Little Miss Sunshine ***** *****
Marie Antoinette **** ****
Monster House *** ***
Notes on a Scandal ***** *****
Over the Hedge **** ****
Painted Veil, The **** ****
Pan's Labyrinth **** ****
Pirates of The Caribbean: DMC *** **
Prairie Home Companion, A **** ****
Prestige, The ** **
Pursuit of Happyness, The **** ***
Queen, The **** ****
Running with Scissors **** ***
Scanner Darkly, A *** *
Shut Up and Sing ***** *****
Stranger than Fiction ***** ****
Superman Returns *** ***
Thank You for Smoking **** ****
United 93 *** ***
Volver (Spain) ***** *****
World Trade Center **** n/a
X-Men: The Last Stand *** ****

The Painted Veil - John

Frist, I have to say, Naomi Watts is probably one the most underappreciated actresses in Hollywood. She is such an amazing actress, who hads deserved much more acclaim. Once again she gives a tremendous performace. There is nothing about her portrayal of Kitty that I would have changed. Edward Norton is also fantastic.

This movie is visually stunning. Cinematography was breath taking. This is where this movie will shine in the awards season. The story was predictable, but for this movie, I did not find that annoying. It was very entertaining and touching.

I have been debating on my rating for this movie. After much internal debate, I think I am going to go with ***3/4. Although, Naomi Watts gets ****3/4. She should get an oscar nomination for this movie, but alas she does not seem to be in the running.

Pan's Labyrinth - John

I was very eager to see this movie and I am glad that I did. It was very good. It is not your typical fantasy movie. It was more about the life of the little girl. What I really liked about this movie was it was not what I expected. It kept my attention and was very entertaining. Ivana Baquero, who was the lead character was amazing. She did such a great acting job! I really, really love it when young actors do well! The only thing that I was slightly disappointed about was the fantasy part. The parts that were there were great, I just wanted more.

I definitely think this movie will get nominated for Foreign Language Film. Not sure what else, possibly special effects.

This movie gets ****

Children of Men

Alfonso Cuaron, director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban & Y Tu Mama Tambien, has made an exhilarating action thriller with a powerful social message. It is somewhat grim, but not depressing given the subject matter. It takes place in the not too distant future in a world in which humans have lost the ability to reproduce. I don’t like knowing too much about a movie before I see it so I won’t give too much away here. I found it very exciting and entertaining. I really enjoyed it. The acting is amazing: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore & Michael Caine. "Thrilling, important, and invigoratingly bleak, Children of Men is one of the very best movies to come out in 2006." (Entertainment Weekly)

Overall rating ****

Children of Men

Ugh...Not that great of a movie. There was a man in the last row, of my theater who snored for the last 10 minutes of the movie. I could not get angry with him, because I could toltally sympathize with his boredom.

The movie was slow and very predictable. Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, are both great actores, but I thought the acting was mediocre (they really had nothing to work with). I had read that the action sequences were suppose to be amazing. Well, they were not. There was nothing about this movie that made it stand out in my mind. I can not imagine where it could get nominated. There has been talk for screenplay, but I think any College Freshman could have written a very similar screenplay.

Overall Rating **

Charlotte's Web

What a sweet, sweet story. Going into this movie, I told myself that there is no way I am going to cry. I know the story, I know what happens, no surprises, no tears. The makers of this movie, did such a wonderful job of bringing the characters to life, you can not help but get tearful. Alright, I was crying, tears were streaming down my face.

The story was just a great as I remember, and who can not help but love Dakota Fanning. She has such great talent for someone so young. I am sure we are going to see amazing things from her as the years go on!

As for awards, I think that it may have a long shot for best adapted screen play, and maybe editing, but no major awards. I think that this movie may be overlooked come January 23rd.

Overall rating *****

Pursuit of Happyness

Huge Buzz on Will Smith, which he so deserves! He really pulled out all the acting stops. You could really feel his suffering, and love for his son! The movie, on the other hand, was just ok. It did an amazing job of pulling you through the misery and disappointment this family suffered. However, the ending was very anti-climatic, leaving me, well, wanting more. There should have been a better "moment", which made the difference of a good movie and a great movie.

I am going to Rate this *** overall, Will Smith's performance gets ****1/2. He is a shoo in for an oscar nomination, but I think at this point. He has a slim chance at winning.

John's Introduction

And away we go!

For sometime now, people have suggested that I start a movie blog. Some of my friends and myself are sort of crazy about movies. More specifically, oscar nominated movies! I saw every nominated movie (except Foreign Language) for both 2004 and 2005 and am well under my way for 2006!

So, he were are, at the beginning of 2007, awards season underway, and many movies to be reviewed. Please feel free to post your views on any movie that you may have seen or plan to see. Old movie reviews welcome also!