Movies, movies, movies :)

[lls_mutant]

I should be writing reviews these days, because I know my reviewing time is going to be severely limited over the next month. While I know that not every last second of my days will always be baby-related, I also know that the next month will be seriously sleep-deprived.

Oh well. At least I'm working on something.

I've been relatively quiet on the subject of the Goblet of Fire movie, probably because I haven't bothered to seek out much about it. Don't get me wrong- I am actually very excited about it. But I know the plot and I know the ending, and I feel like I know enough already that I don't want to see tons of pictures and clips- I'd like to save something for the movie. I'm really hoping we'll be able to get tickets this weekend, because otherwise, getting to see it before it comes out on video will be quite hard.

Although I'm certainly an avid R/S shipper and that's where the majority of my fandom activity takes me, GoF is actually my favorite of the books. I'm in fandom for R/S, but I read the books for Harry, and I love Harry in GoF. Plus, there is much Ron and other assorted Weasley, and I love the Weasleys as well. I suspect Steve Kloves may drive me nuts if he continues his character assassination of Hermione (I'm sorry, but I don't like the way he keeps taking away her awkward aspects and giving her Ron's best lines) and Ron (Ron is more than a comedic buffoon), but it wouldn't be fun if I didn't have something to complain about! I also think that GoF has one of the best plots for a movie. It's possible to streamline a lot of it down, and the main plot of the Triwizard Tournament and Voldemort's return should make a kick-ass movie. As much as I love OotP, I'm skeptical of how that will translate. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to the GoF movie.

It's sad, but we've had such a crappy year overall for movies, and now that I'm about to have to give up much theater-going, good movies are coming out. I'd like to see Aeon Flux, Brokeback Mountain, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Memoirs of a Geisha, Rent... I'd even really seriously consider King Kong (which hubby wants to see) and The New World (which I'm dubious about), but I might get to see one in the theaters. ::sigh::



Does anyone have any early predictions for Oscar nominations? I adore the Oscars, I admit, even if half the time they get it wrong. Actually, they can be rather predictable, and I'd like to point you all two articles: Justin's Guide to How to Win an Oscar and... shoot. I could have sworn there was a second one that listed all the Oscar Winners in the past ten years and what "Oscar Winning Traits" they had. Anyway. My early- very early- thoughts on Oscars.

First thought: I don't care how much I like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it has no chance at being nominated for anything aside from effects Oscars. That's just the way these things go. The ONLY two things that might give it hope are the Lord of the Rings sweep two years ago, and the fact that Cedric dies. Dying gives you more of a chance at an Oscar.

Other thoughts, in order of release (and mainly on movies I saw):

Coach Carter: Samual L. Jackson doing the real person thing. Possible shot. However, the idealistic, influential teacher schtick has been done by others better in better movies, so I wouldn't be holding my breath.

Sin City: Effects and cinematography are a possiblity, as should be adapted screenplay. I could also see Mickey Rourke having a shot- the Academy loves the comeback kid.

Fever Pitch: Frankly, I don't think it deserves an Oscar, but it actually made me like Jimmy Fallon, so shouldn't it get some sort of award for that? Sweet romantic comedy, but doesn't have the Sox chance in the Series at actually being nominated.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: I'd actually kind of like to see this up for the soundtrack, and maybe even musical number for the "Goodbye and Thanks for All the Fish." I thought the guy playing Arthur Dent did an excellent job, but nothing about this movie remotely screams Oscar.

I would, however, like to point out I'm just about to enter the May releases, and this is pretty much all I've seen thus far.

Kingdom of Heaven: Acting was decent, but not overly memorable. (Although I'm always a sucker for seeing Edward Norton nominated.) Sets were gorgeous, but I'd give the nods elsewhere. Script was adequate. Kingdom of Heaven was the best of the sand and sword epics, but I still wouldn't be bringing people up to the podium.

Kicking and Screaming: I didn't see it, but isn't it time Will Ferrall won an Oscar? Isn't it? Ha. Right. Yes, I am utterly joking. I can't stand the man.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: Move over to your normal places, George Lucas. Effects and whatnot. No acting or script awards for you.

Madagascar: Probably my pick (I think) for animated flick. If nothing else, just for the penguins. Hmmm. I need a Madagascar penguin icon.

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants: I just wanted to say, I haven't seen this yet, but I've heard really, really good things about it. I should watch it.

Cinderella Man. The first big Oscar contender of the year. I can't stand Russell Crowe as a person, from all I read about him, and I'd almost hate to see him be nominated just because he can be an immature prick, but he really did do a good job in Cinderella Man. Howie would probably point out Renee Zellweger's performance, which was also good, but I have a good-natured dislike of her simply because a.) I get sick of hearing how great it was she put on weight for Bridget Jones (I thought she looked much better), and b.) my husband has a crush on her, so I feel about her about like he feels about David Wenhem or Ewan McGregor. I did think Paul Gia-whotsie did a good job as the manager as well, but who knows. The huge advantage that Cinderella Man has it that it's based on a true story. The Academy LOVES anything that's based on a true story. I might give this a shot at best director or best picture, but it was stupid and got released in June, so forget it.

Batman Begins: I've yet to see it, but there sure are a lot of good effects movies this time around. Like, actual quality. And I've heard Batman Begins was phenomenal. But a superhero movie having a chance at the Oscars? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

March of the Penguins: Does anyone think this will NOT win Best Documentary?

The War of the Worlds: If there is a merciful God, this movie will be blasted off the Earth, never again to see the light of day. There is nothing worth honoring in this one.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Again, we have the awards for things like effects and cinematography and all that. I think Johnny Depp can skip the Oscars this year (at least for this), and Tim Burton should probably skip sleeping through it only because of The Corpse Bride. Maybe the Oompa Loompa could wrangle a nomination, but that's probably it.

Broken Flowers: Haven't seen it, but if the Academy feels guilty that Bill Murray's been neglected for so long and lost to Sean Penn the year Lost in Translation comes out, he's got a good shot.

The 40 Year Old Virgin: Saw it, and was surprised how clever it was, and how sweet in spots. But sex (or lack of sex) comedy? No chance.

Jarhead: I thought, had some excellent acting. I really liked Jamie Foxx, and I was impressed with Pete Sarsgaard, as well. I'd also kind of like to see it up for adapted script, and even best movie of the year. Look, I REALLY liked Jarhead, okay?

Side note: Jake Gyllenhaal. Okay, the guy played a real-life Marine in Jarhead and is playing a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain. Is it possible for him NOT to get an Oscar nomination this year? Seriously? I mean, the only way he'd be more guaranteed a nomination is to play a real-life gay Marine. Or to die. But seriously, I've liked Jake Gyllenhaal for a long time, despite The Day After Tomorrow, which was one of the most hideous pieces of claptrap I've ever laid eyes on. And while I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, he was phenomenal in Jarhead. As long as he's not trying to be Tobey Maguire, Jake is a really, really good actor. (Plus, let's all admit it. He looked GOOD in Jarhead.)

Walk the Line: I have to admit, I really like Joaquin, and have ever since I saw him in Quills. I haven't seen Walk the Line yet, and probably won't until it comes out on video. (Howard is not a Johnny Cash fan. My thought is we'll do a trade: I'll watch Ray if he'll watch Walk the Line.) I might even be impressed by Reese Witherspoon in that one. But playing a country music icon might get Joaquin some gold. However, he did his own singing, and as the cast of Moulin Rouge! and Chicago can attest, that doesn't really seem to impress the Academy. (Although Catherine Zeta-Jones did get Best Supporting Actress that year. But still.)

So, here's my predictions (or my own nominations). Some of them I haven't seen, but I'm going on reputation and my EW magazine.

Best Lead Actor:
Jake Gyllenhaal for Jarhead (at least, he'd better be)
Viggo Mortensen for A History of Violence (haven't seen it, but love Viggo)
Bill Murray for Broken Flowers (haven't seen it, but see my note about Bill Murray)
Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line (he's playing a real person- they love that)
::grumble and sigh:: Russell Crowe for Cinderella Man (real person and Academy sweetheart)

Best Lead Actress
Ziyi Zhang for Memoirs of a Geisha (Haven't seen it, but I like her)
Charlize Theron for North Country (Academy sweetheart and playing a real person and did the relatively unattractive thing again)
Felicity Huffman for Transamerica (she's playing a transexual. Come on.)
Don't know who else.

Best Supporting Actor
Peter Sarsgaard for Jarhead (again, totally worthy)
Jake Gyllenhaal for Brokeback Mountain (thus pulling this year's Jamie Foxx and sadly splitting his votes so he gets nothing)
Edward Norton for Kingdom of Heaven (I like Edward Norton, so there)
Paul Giamatti for Cinderella Man (the acting job I truly liked, but the Academy hates him, so...)
Mickey Rouke for Sin City (utter longshot)
Deep Roy for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (because that would be the best coup d'etat EVER)

Best Supporting Actress
Renee Zellweger for Cinderella Man (Academy darling)
Michelle Yeoh for Memoirs of a Geisha (just because I think she's always so classy)
Shirly MacLaine for In Her Shoes (because the Academy loves great actresses playing grandma types)
Anne Hathaway for Brokeback Mountain (just because I like Anne Hathaway)
Who knows?

Best Picture
Jarhead (my current pick, but I haven't seen a lot of the others)
Memoirs of a Geisha (Academy loves that sort of stuff)
Brokeback Mountain (because I think the Academy is at least ready to nominate gay cowboys)
Walk the Line (because the real-people factor needs to be fully represented)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (because I am an unrealistic optimist)

Best Animated Feature
Madagascar (the penguins!)
The Corpse Bride (Tim Burton deserves some loving)
Chicken Little (because Disney controls ALL.)

Best Visual Effects
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (I'd even give it a win!)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (I'm skipping the whole title)
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (this is where these movies we actually LIKE get nominated)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton again!)
The War of the Worlds (which SUCKED!)


Any other thoughts?

Comments

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about the Academy Awards, but I definitely agree that of all the HP books, GoF has the best plot for a movie. It's all about action and adventure, with a real mystery and some scary shit going down at the end. That's the sort of stuff that makes for a good movie. Plus, there's dragons and mermaids and a giant maze. Really, what's not to love?

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Plus, the it's pretty easy in this one to strip away what's not quite relevant to the main plot.

And I'm dying to see what a skrewt looks like! :)

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

Oh, and just to chime in, as far as movies that deserve Oscar consideration, I agree with Kerry that The Constant Gardener needs to be on the list. That movie was brilliant. Heartbreaking in that 'you can't ignore because it's so real' sort of way.

[medicinal-mirth.livejournal.com]

The Constant Gardener needs to be on the list

That movie was brilliant. I'll even admit I cried. And a strange combination of tenderness and in-your-face realism, I thought. Oh, I loved it.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it yet, but with three recs from people I trust, I think I must. When it comes out on video, I'll be renting then!

[sasha-davidovna.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen many movies this year :( but I agree with those choices based on what I have seen. I'd really like The Constant Gardener to get nominated for a few things too, but it may be too overtly political a film. :(

I've been trying not to get too excited about GoF, as the other three have all been kind of disappointing to me, but definitely does have the most cinematic plot of the six so far, I think. And I'm not as attached to it as I am to PoA, so I'm not as likely to be disappointed by the things they change. *coughRemus/Lily,Jameswho'sJames?cough*

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen The Constant Gardener. I take it it was good? Overtly political won't stop the Academy though- Farienheit 9/11 won the one year!

The Remus/Lily and James, what James? drove me nuts, too. I'm also not crazy about Kloves and his obvious H/Hr shipping tendencies. (And it really drives me nuts what he does to Ron.) But I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

[medicinal-mirth.livejournal.com]

It's sad, but we've had such a crappy year overall for movies, and now that I'm about to have to give up much theater-going, good movies are coming out.

I wish I could tell you that you're wrong about having to give up a lot of movie-going, but ... sigh. I read through your list of movies and I have seen so so few of them, and of the ones coming out that I'd like to see, hopefully I'll manage one or two in an actual theater. Oh, well, once the baby comes you really won't think about it as much as you will be rather occupied. :)

I'm really looking forward to GOF. I absolutely will see it in the theater because the first three movies I only saw once they were on DVD. So there! I think you're right, that it will translate to screen beautifully. I'm hoping, anyway.

I did see A History of Violence, and as much as I too adore Viggo, that movie left a lot to be desired. It started out good, with an interesting plot, and kind of degenerated into an unexciting tangle of action/romance/family drama. Viggo deserved much better lines. Actually, the actor who played his son was wonderful, and had some of the best scenes, I thought.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Nope, I'm a realist. We might get to one or two films here and there (especially since my in-laws live 5 miles away), but most of our movie viewing will be at home. Fortunately, the movie review site I write for encourages us to review movies from any time, not just new releases!

That's disappointing about History of Violence. I was nominating Viggo just because I like him, but :P~~~ to it degenerating. That's really too bad- it looked promising from the trailers. ::Sigh::

[tesseract-5.livejournal.com]

I'm in fandom for R/S, but I read the books for Harry, and I love Harry in GoF. yes YES.

I'm totally in agreement with your picks, I've heard raves about Viggo in History of Violence. I'm saving that one to rent, because it only played at the crappy theater in town. I refuse to pay money to see movies in this one theater. *shrug* One is allowed one peice of snobbery.

Phillip Seymore Hoffman should get a nomination for "Capote" from what I've heard.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Hey, with as much as they charge for theater tickets, it had better me a nice theater. I don't blame you and I wouldn't call it snobbery :)

We're going to have to rent it, too, just because there's no way we'll make it to the movie in the theaters. I'd like to, but yeah- it's so not happening. Oh well!

Haven't seen Capote... which means that he's got a good chance! :)

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

What about "Crash" for best picture? I can't remember when it came out - very early this year? I thought it was excellent.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

That was getting a lot of attention in my EW... I haven't seen it yet. Maybe we'll have to rent that one. There was just something about the description of it that gave me unconscious "Lost In Translation" vibes, I think. But yeah... I've heard it was really good.

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

It's worth renting. I thought it was LOTS better than "Lost in Translation," which really left me cold. "Crash" is like... "Magnolia" (which I didn't care for) done right. It's got a lot of different characters and interweaving storylines, but somehow I ended up caring about everyone. Even the racist policeman. It was well acted, too.

[misscake]

*throws two cents in*

We just saw Kiss Kiss Bang Bang yesterday. It's not really Oscar material but it has some hilariously funny moments and a plot that keeps you guessing. Robert Downey Jr. does a great job of turning a flawed character into a sort of everyman and making you identify with him.

Also, enjoy your films while you can. :D Look for cinemas that offer films viewings for mothers so you can bring the baby and no one cares when/if the baby gets fussy.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

You know, I'd been waiting to hear "real" reviews (i.e., people I know) on that one. Hmmm. We may have to rent that then. I either like Robert Downey Jr. or despise him, so I wasn't sure which way I'd go. But funny is good.

And yeah, we're figuring we'll see GoF in the theaters, and then it's all about the rentals for us!!!!!