Here's something you might be interested in.
I saw the list of Oscar nominations. A lot of what everyone would expect...Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Buttons getting loads of award nominations. Same with Doubt, Milk, and all the usual suspects.
I saw that there was no Clint Eastwood, which will upset a lot of people (Spike Lee will be overjoyed). I was glad, too. His performance wasn't so great in this film. Neither was his direction. It was just Clint playing Clint, barely saying his lines, just kind of growling them.
I would've never thought an old man telling kids to "get off his lawn" would be a Hollywood movie that would be praised so much.
The Reader was a disappointing movie (although a very entertaining publication and website, huh?) I can't believe it got the nominations it did. Kate was great in it, sure. But it was a poorly written character and screenplay.
No Leonardo, which is good. The clips I've seen of Revolutionary Road...I would laugh when he started yelling at Kate Winslet (geez, how many movies did she do last year?) Leo almost couldn't pull it off in The Departed, but I think with all the star power around him (Nicholson, Walhberg, Baldwin, Damon), it ended up working alright.
I was happy to see sad-sack Richard Jenkins get nominated for The Visitor. I'm sure our critic Duncan would've prefered he got the nod from Burn After Reading, which he was also great in.
I liked him in Step Brothers, too. I know most of the critics hated that movie, but geez...for a comedy, a lot of the scenarios worked.
Langella got the nod as Nixon. And, if I remember correctly, Anthony Hopkins was nominated when he played Nixon. I guess playing Tricky Dick is like playing a drunk or mentally challenged person. You get the automatic nomination.
Speaking of which, the actor that explains to Ben Stiller why he didn't get a nomination for playing a retarded character...Robert Downey, Jr. in Tropic Thunder. The movie was okay, but Downey was great in it, playing a "dude, that's playing a dude, that's really another dude." I'm guessing if he wins the award (it would be a long shot), he wouldn't accept in black face. Ted Danson once did something in black face and got a lot of bad press from that (and he was dating Whoopi Goldberg at the time).
Bruce Springsteen didn't get nominated for his song The Wrestler. I can't remember which movie it was written for, though.
I heard the song when the credits rolled, and it sounded okay. But, his ballads don't usually work for me. It's like he's trying to hard. I hated the Philadelphia song. Well, I guess I should change that. It's the ballads he does for films. I like the ballads I'm on Fire, Tunnel of Love, and Candy. But his movie songs just don't work. I'm sure lyrically it's fine. Maybe I'll Google the lyrics later and check it out.
Benjamin Button was a good movie, but I liked it better when it was Forrest Gump. So, I have no problem with it being nominated for Best Picture, although I do for best screenplay. Since Roth borrowed so much from his Gump screenplay.
The Reader being nominated for Best Picture is the most ridiculous thing in five years. If the Academy is saying this is one of the best five movies of the year, than nobody should even be going to see anything. Save your money.
Man on Wire was the best documentary of the year. I saw it twice. Although I was disappointed to see that Bigger, Stronger, Faster didn't get a nomination. It was great.
Hathaway getting nominated for Rachel's Getting Married was expected, and I agree with the choice. I'm not sure why the movie didn't get a few more nominations. Maybe remove The Reader, and put this in for Best Picture.
Melissa Leo is great in Frozen River, but the picture isn't nearly as good as all the critics said it was. It's a bit slow.
Josh Brolin getting nominated for Milk, is odd. I didn't think it was much of a performance. Don't get me wrong....it wasn't a bad performance. Just a performance that isn't worthy of a nomination.
In Bruges was good, but not as great as all my friends seem to think it was. A nice original screenplay, though.
Amy Adams in Doubt is a great nomination. She had to go thru a range of emotions, and I think the performance was better than Meryl Streep. But, if your name is Meryl Streep, you're going to get a nomination no matter what you do. It's in the Academy Awards handbook, I think.
The director category...well, each of those directors did things with their films that I thought made them weak.
This is the first year that I haven't seen a singe one of the foreign films that was nominated. And, I don't feel like I'm missing much.
Heath Ledger got the nomination, and will probably get the win, for playing The Joker in Dark Knight.
I'm wondering how many times they'll show Jack Nicholsons face when they bring up Ledger and the Joker during the awards show.
They already show Jack a bunch of times, but add the fact that he was the first to play The Joker, they might as well have a split screen and just have his face on the screen the entire night.
I saw the list of Oscar nominations. A lot of what everyone would expect...Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Buttons getting loads of award nominations. Same with Doubt, Milk, and all the usual suspects.
I saw that there was no Clint Eastwood, which will upset a lot of people (Spike Lee will be overjoyed). I was glad, too. His performance wasn't so great in this film. Neither was his direction. It was just Clint playing Clint, barely saying his lines, just kind of growling them.
I would've never thought an old man telling kids to "get off his lawn" would be a Hollywood movie that would be praised so much.
The Reader was a disappointing movie (although a very entertaining publication and website, huh?) I can't believe it got the nominations it did. Kate was great in it, sure. But it was a poorly written character and screenplay.
No Leonardo, which is good. The clips I've seen of Revolutionary Road...I would laugh when he started yelling at Kate Winslet (geez, how many movies did she do last year?) Leo almost couldn't pull it off in The Departed, but I think with all the star power around him (Nicholson, Walhberg, Baldwin, Damon), it ended up working alright.
I was happy to see sad-sack Richard Jenkins get nominated for The Visitor. I'm sure our critic Duncan would've prefered he got the nod from Burn After Reading, which he was also great in.
I liked him in Step Brothers, too. I know most of the critics hated that movie, but geez...for a comedy, a lot of the scenarios worked.
Langella got the nod as Nixon. And, if I remember correctly, Anthony Hopkins was nominated when he played Nixon. I guess playing Tricky Dick is like playing a drunk or mentally challenged person. You get the automatic nomination.
Speaking of which, the actor that explains to Ben Stiller why he didn't get a nomination for playing a retarded character...Robert Downey, Jr. in Tropic Thunder. The movie was okay, but Downey was great in it, playing a "dude, that's playing a dude, that's really another dude." I'm guessing if he wins the award (it would be a long shot), he wouldn't accept in black face. Ted Danson once did something in black face and got a lot of bad press from that (and he was dating Whoopi Goldberg at the time).
Bruce Springsteen didn't get nominated for his song The Wrestler. I can't remember which movie it was written for, though.
I heard the song when the credits rolled, and it sounded okay. But, his ballads don't usually work for me. It's like he's trying to hard. I hated the Philadelphia song. Well, I guess I should change that. It's the ballads he does for films. I like the ballads I'm on Fire, Tunnel of Love, and Candy. But his movie songs just don't work. I'm sure lyrically it's fine. Maybe I'll Google the lyrics later and check it out.
Benjamin Button was a good movie, but I liked it better when it was Forrest Gump. So, I have no problem with it being nominated for Best Picture, although I do for best screenplay. Since Roth borrowed so much from his Gump screenplay.
The Reader being nominated for Best Picture is the most ridiculous thing in five years. If the Academy is saying this is one of the best five movies of the year, than nobody should even be going to see anything. Save your money.
Man on Wire was the best documentary of the year. I saw it twice. Although I was disappointed to see that Bigger, Stronger, Faster didn't get a nomination. It was great.
Hathaway getting nominated for Rachel's Getting Married was expected, and I agree with the choice. I'm not sure why the movie didn't get a few more nominations. Maybe remove The Reader, and put this in for Best Picture.
Melissa Leo is great in Frozen River, but the picture isn't nearly as good as all the critics said it was. It's a bit slow.
Josh Brolin getting nominated for Milk, is odd. I didn't think it was much of a performance. Don't get me wrong....it wasn't a bad performance. Just a performance that isn't worthy of a nomination.
In Bruges was good, but not as great as all my friends seem to think it was. A nice original screenplay, though.
Amy Adams in Doubt is a great nomination. She had to go thru a range of emotions, and I think the performance was better than Meryl Streep. But, if your name is Meryl Streep, you're going to get a nomination no matter what you do. It's in the Academy Awards handbook, I think.
The director category...well, each of those directors did things with their films that I thought made them weak.
This is the first year that I haven't seen a singe one of the foreign films that was nominated. And, I don't feel like I'm missing much.
Heath Ledger got the nomination, and will probably get the win, for playing The Joker in Dark Knight.
I'm wondering how many times they'll show Jack Nicholsons face when they bring up Ledger and the Joker during the awards show.
They already show Jack a bunch of times, but add the fact that he was the first to play The Joker, they might as well have a split screen and just have his face on the screen the entire night.