No Country for Old Men is easily one of the best films of the year. It’s a film I can’t wait to saver over and over again on DVD. The way the film uses it’s aspect ratio and sound for pure effect is mesmerizing.
Major props to Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly MacDonald, and Josh Brolin.
More later…
Thursday, December 6, 2007
NBR Results
Best Film: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Best Director: TIM BURTON, Sweeney Todd
Best Actor: GEORGE CLOONEY, Michael Clayton
Best Actress: JULIE CHRISTIE, Away From Her
Best Supporting Actor: CASEY AFFLECK, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Best Supporting Actress: AMY RYAN, Gone Baby Gone
Best Foreign Film: THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
Best Documentary: BODY OF WAR
Best Animated Feature: RATATOUILLE
Best Ensemble Cast: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: EMILE HIRSCH, Into The Wild
Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: ELLEN PAGE, Juno
Best Directorial Debut: BEN AFFLECK, Gone Baby Gone
Best Original Screenplay (tie):
DIABLO CODY, Juno and NANCY OLIVER, Lars and the Real Girl
Best Adapted Screenplay: JOEL COEN and ETHAN COEN, No Country For Old Men
Top Ten Films:
(In alphabetical order)
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
ATONEMENT
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
THE BUCKET LIST
INTO THE WILD
JUNO
THE KITE RUNNER
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
MICHAEL CLAYTON
SWEENEY TODD
Best Director: TIM BURTON, Sweeney Todd
Best Actor: GEORGE CLOONEY, Michael Clayton
Best Actress: JULIE CHRISTIE, Away From Her
Best Supporting Actor: CASEY AFFLECK, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Best Supporting Actress: AMY RYAN, Gone Baby Gone
Best Foreign Film: THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
Best Documentary: BODY OF WAR
Best Animated Feature: RATATOUILLE
Best Ensemble Cast: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: EMILE HIRSCH, Into The Wild
Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: ELLEN PAGE, Juno
Best Directorial Debut: BEN AFFLECK, Gone Baby Gone
Best Original Screenplay (tie):
DIABLO CODY, Juno and NANCY OLIVER, Lars and the Real Girl
Best Adapted Screenplay: JOEL COEN and ETHAN COEN, No Country For Old Men
Top Ten Films:
(In alphabetical order)
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
ATONEMENT
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
THE BUCKET LIST
INTO THE WILD
JUNO
THE KITE RUNNER
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
MICHAEL CLAYTON
SWEENEY TODD
Sunday, December 2, 2007
The Lion King in Detroit
The Lion King was a phenomenal experience, even though I had what you would call an “obstructed” seat in the balcony. It didn’t matter. If a player was out of view, it was only for a matter of seconds.
There was only one hiccup during the night when the actor who was playing Scar had trouble with his microphone, which went out during the tail of ‘Be Prepared’. He swatted at it in effort to fix it, but it only made it worse. He sounded like he was under water. Lucky for the audience it came back a few seconds later.
The standout out for me was the actress who played Nala, Erica Ash. Her rendition of ‘Shadowland’ was a real “scorcher” as I like to say.
A truly once in a lifetime experience.
By the way, while in Detroit I ate an à la carte restaurant called The Sign of the Beef Carver. I had a hot turkey sandwich smothered in gravy with a slice of pumpkin pie on the side.
There was only one hiccup during the night when the actor who was playing Scar had trouble with his microphone, which went out during the tail of ‘Be Prepared’. He swatted at it in effort to fix it, but it only made it worse. He sounded like he was under water. Lucky for the audience it came back a few seconds later.
The standout out for me was the actress who played Nala, Erica Ash. Her rendition of ‘Shadowland’ was a real “scorcher” as I like to say.
A truly once in a lifetime experience.
By the way, while in Detroit I ate an à la carte restaurant called The Sign of the Beef Carver. I had a hot turkey sandwich smothered in gravy with a slice of pumpkin pie on the side.
Friday, November 30, 2007
The King of Broadway
I’m seeing the musical The Lion King tomorrow night at the Detroit Opera House. It’s the first time I’ve seen anything there and it’s the largest theatre in the state of Michigan.The Detroit Free Press reviewed last night's opening performance.
Sweeney Has Come
Sweeney Todd screened last night three times for the media, once in New York and twice in Los Angeles. The early “reactions” have been extremely positive. Here is a sampling of the best:
Tom O'Neil, Gold Derby:
"An embargo surrounding this film prohibits us journos from reviewing it, but we're permitted to discuss it in general terms, so let's try to tread that fine line so I can inform you about the most important movie of 2007. Certainly, it's the best I've seen all year, although, of course, I'm a bit biased as a diehard fan of the Broadway show.
Everybody whose opinion I pooled after the screening tonight said they thought the movie and Johnny Depp were brilliant. And everybody thought it was outrageously bloody and grisly. Many said they didn't think it could win best picture because of that. Yes, there was widespread belief that it'll be nommed for best pic, director and actor — maybe even best actress (Helena Bonham Carter), too — and that MAYBE Johnny could win, but not the film. Not because it doesn't deserve it. But because of all the blood, they say.
But is that true? Hold your derby horses, naysayers! Didn't lots of Oscarologists say "The Departed" was too violent to win last year? Didn't "Silence of the Lambs" break the taboo against horror flicks winning? Hey, are we all such a nation of wimps that we'll let a little blood — OK, a lot of it — get in the way of the year's best picture winning best picture?
After tonight's screening, I asked a number of journos the same questions: Do you think "Sweeney Todd" is going to have huge megabuzz and a high Cool Factor when it comes out? Yes, they all agreed. Is it going to be one of those Gotta-See Pix? Unanimous answer: yes.
If that's true — and it clearly is — then those factors may be enough to help it float the blood biz. And, frankly, the red stuff is handled in such an outlandish, cartoonish way that it often doesn't feel real.
But the movie does. In fact, it makes viewers feel so deeply in profound emotional and psychological ways, that it will haunt you, on many levels, long afterward. Director Tim Burton has created a masterpiece for the ages. If namby-pamby Oscar voters are too squeamish to give it the best picture award it deserves, Sweeney Todd would be entirely justified to give them all a close shave."
Jeffery Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere:
"I went to last night's screening of Sweeney Todd (Dreamamount, 11.21) with a guarded attitude. Here we go, another flush of the downward Burton swirl, get ready for it. The man has been in a kind of losing-it mode since Planet of the Apes and he's had his day...live with it. And then it began, and less than two minutes in I knew it was exceptional and perhaps more than that.
Ten minutes later I was feeling something growing within me. Surprise turned to admiration turned to amazement. I felt filled up, delighted. I couldn't believe it...a Tim Burton film that reverses the decline! Call me a changed man. Call Burton a changed man. Sweeney Todd is his best film since...Beetlejuice?
I have to leave for LAX and a flight to Boston in less than an hour, but I have to get at least some of this down.
All my life I've loved -- worshipped -- what Stephen Sondheim's music can do for the human heart. Blend this with a tragic, grand guignol metaphor about how we're all caught up with some issue of the past -- needing on some level to pay the world back for the hurt and the woundings. Add to this Burton's exquisite visual panache and precision, the drop-dead beautiful, near monochromatic color, the ravishing production design and...pardon me for sounding like a pushover, but this movie pushes over.
At times it melted me like a candle. I was lifted, moved. I was never not aroused. Every frame is a painting.
Johnny Depp is fantastic as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- he has to be a Best Actor candidate as of this moment. It grieves me to admit this, but bully-boy David Poland predicted that Depp's Todd would be a major contender early last year. Helena Bonham Carter can't sing very well but she's great anyway. Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Jamie Campbell Bower (a major new arrival), Jayne Wisener, Sascha Baron Cohen...everyone fills the bill."
Tom O'Neil, Gold Derby:
"An embargo surrounding this film prohibits us journos from reviewing it, but we're permitted to discuss it in general terms, so let's try to tread that fine line so I can inform you about the most important movie of 2007. Certainly, it's the best I've seen all year, although, of course, I'm a bit biased as a diehard fan of the Broadway show.
Everybody whose opinion I pooled after the screening tonight said they thought the movie and Johnny Depp were brilliant. And everybody thought it was outrageously bloody and grisly. Many said they didn't think it could win best picture because of that. Yes, there was widespread belief that it'll be nommed for best pic, director and actor — maybe even best actress (Helena Bonham Carter), too — and that MAYBE Johnny could win, but not the film. Not because it doesn't deserve it. But because of all the blood, they say.
But is that true? Hold your derby horses, naysayers! Didn't lots of Oscarologists say "The Departed" was too violent to win last year? Didn't "Silence of the Lambs" break the taboo against horror flicks winning? Hey, are we all such a nation of wimps that we'll let a little blood — OK, a lot of it — get in the way of the year's best picture winning best picture?
After tonight's screening, I asked a number of journos the same questions: Do you think "Sweeney Todd" is going to have huge megabuzz and a high Cool Factor when it comes out? Yes, they all agreed. Is it going to be one of those Gotta-See Pix? Unanimous answer: yes.
If that's true — and it clearly is — then those factors may be enough to help it float the blood biz. And, frankly, the red stuff is handled in such an outlandish, cartoonish way that it often doesn't feel real.
But the movie does. In fact, it makes viewers feel so deeply in profound emotional and psychological ways, that it will haunt you, on many levels, long afterward. Director Tim Burton has created a masterpiece for the ages. If namby-pamby Oscar voters are too squeamish to give it the best picture award it deserves, Sweeney Todd would be entirely justified to give them all a close shave."
Jeffery Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere:
"I went to last night's screening of Sweeney Todd (Dreamamount, 11.21) with a guarded attitude. Here we go, another flush of the downward Burton swirl, get ready for it. The man has been in a kind of losing-it mode since Planet of the Apes and he's had his day...live with it. And then it began, and less than two minutes in I knew it was exceptional and perhaps more than that.
Ten minutes later I was feeling something growing within me. Surprise turned to admiration turned to amazement. I felt filled up, delighted. I couldn't believe it...a Tim Burton film that reverses the decline! Call me a changed man. Call Burton a changed man. Sweeney Todd is his best film since...Beetlejuice?
I have to leave for LAX and a flight to Boston in less than an hour, but I have to get at least some of this down.
All my life I've loved -- worshipped -- what Stephen Sondheim's music can do for the human heart. Blend this with a tragic, grand guignol metaphor about how we're all caught up with some issue of the past -- needing on some level to pay the world back for the hurt and the woundings. Add to this Burton's exquisite visual panache and precision, the drop-dead beautiful, near monochromatic color, the ravishing production design and...pardon me for sounding like a pushover, but this movie pushes over.
At times it melted me like a candle. I was lifted, moved. I was never not aroused. Every frame is a painting.
Johnny Depp is fantastic as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- he has to be a Best Actor candidate as of this moment. It grieves me to admit this, but bully-boy David Poland predicted that Depp's Todd would be a major contender early last year. Helena Bonham Carter can't sing very well but she's great anyway. Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Jamie Campbell Bower (a major new arrival), Jayne Wisener, Sascha Baron Cohen...everyone fills the bill."
Sunday, November 25, 2007
By a Nose
Are people still talking about Nicole Kidman’s Oscar winning role as Virginia Woolfe in The Hours? I didn’t think so.What a ridiculous performance in a pretty dreadful movie. Not once watching the movie do I ever believe I’m watching Virginia Woolfe. What I see is Nicole Kidman strutting around the screen wearing a big rubber nose on her face. Oh, how brave of her! The illusion is broken folks… and it isn’t coming back. She would have been better off forgetting the prosthetic nose and just playing the role without a physical attribute and try to create some sort of emotional truth. Joaquin Phoenix doesn’t look anything like Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, but at least his performance, which I consider to be petty good makes you believe he could be Johnny Cash. He doesn’t reply on some gimmick, which the nose is...
... and she still doesn't even look like Virginia Woolfe!
My Top Ten of the Year So Far...
1. Hairspray (Adam Shankman)
2. Zodiac (David Fincher)
3. The King of Kong (Seth Gordon)
4. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
5. Ratatouille (Brad Bird)
6. Waitress (Adrienne Shelly)
7. Away From Her (Sarah Polley)
8. The Bourne Ultimatum (Peter Greengrass)
9. The Devil Came on Horseback (Ricki Stern & Anne Sundberg)
10. The Hoax (Lasse Hallström)
There are still a ton of movies to see.
"It's a silly place"
Zack Snyder’s 300 is one of the great howlers of 2007. No film has provided me this much laughter in a long time. The first time I saw the film I was practically on the floor in hysterics. The prologue, the sex scenes, the dancing oracle, the deformed creature, the unintentional homoeroticism! It’s all too much for one viewer to handle…I know this flickering hard-on is beloved to many, but I just fail to see it’s greatness. I’ve tried real hard during several screenings to see what everyone else sees, but I can not. Admittedly I’m jealous.
A Coversation with Irvin Malcolm
Friday, November 23, 2007
Friday Night
A lazy, lazy Friday night... no Real Time with Bill Maher tonight due tot he on-going WGA strike. I'll guess I just have to watch Hairspray again on DVD.
I can hear the bells.
I can hear the bells.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Gold Rush
Here are my current Oscar predictions:
BEST PICTURE
Atonement
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
No Country for Old Men
Into the Wild
Juno
BEST DIRECTOR
Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Joe Wright - Atonement
P.T. Anderson - There Will be Blood
Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ridley Scott - American Gangster
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will be Blood
Denzel Washington - American Gangster
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
James McAvoy - Atonement
BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Julie Christie - Away from Her
Amy Adams - Enchanted
Ellen Page - Juno
Keira Knightley - Atonement
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Casey Affleck - The Assignation of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
John Travolta - Hairspray
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett - I’m Not There
Kelly McDonald - No Country for Old Men
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Leslie Mann - Knocked Up
Ruby Dee - American Gangster
BEST PICTURE
Atonement
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
No Country for Old Men
Into the Wild
Juno
BEST DIRECTOR
Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Joe Wright - Atonement
P.T. Anderson - There Will be Blood
Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Ridley Scott - American Gangster
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will be Blood
Denzel Washington - American Gangster
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
James McAvoy - Atonement
BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Julie Christie - Away from Her
Amy Adams - Enchanted
Ellen Page - Juno
Keira Knightley - Atonement
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Casey Affleck - The Assignation of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
John Travolta - Hairspray
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett - I’m Not There
Kelly McDonald - No Country for Old Men
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Leslie Mann - Knocked Up
Ruby Dee - American Gangster
Monday, November 19, 2007
Days of Heaven
I remember renting Days of Heaven a long time ago from my local rental house and when I got home to play it, the sound was completely fucked up on the VHS tape. It didn’t matter. I found the plot easy to follow. The film contains very little dialogue and the gorgeous images simply spoke for themselves.
I wish I could hug this film.
No American film has rivaled Days of Heaven’s beauty since 1978. Most modern films use filters and are digitally color corrected so they appear slick and glossy and look like every other motion picture. Rarely now does a filmmaker rely on his film stock and lighting.
I wish I could hug this film.
No American film has rivaled Days of Heaven’s beauty since 1978. Most modern films use filters and are digitally color corrected so they appear slick and glossy and look like every other motion picture. Rarely now does a filmmaker rely on his film stock and lighting.
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