Tag Archive for 'kate-winslet'

Oscar nomination eve or, let’s get some money up in here

Published by Rob on January 22, 2007 in Celebs, Films and Oscar Fever. 1 Comment

departed-2.jpgIt’s Oscar nomination eve. And because everyone who follows the yearly blood-and-heartbreak spectacle of Oscar season knows that finding out the nominees is the fun part, I’m gonna lay it all on the line now. Hold me to these predictions, folks. Here’s who I think is getting hysterical calls from their publicists tomorrow morning at 5:30 PST (Jordan, set your alarm).

Best Picture

  • Babel - “Como se dice Crash 2?”
  • The Departed - Pissah
  • Dreamgirls - And I am telling you a grotesque whitewashing of the rise of black music in America is likely to win
  • Little Miss Sunshine - I knew Sideways, and it’s no Sideways. But people seem to love it.
  • The Queen - Who can resist a tabloid tale, brilliantly told, in a classy package?

Best Director

  • Bill Condon, Dreamgirls - Keepin’ it gay
  • Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima - It’s Clint, it’s depressing, it’s in Japanese, it’s in!
  • Stephen Frears, The Queen - A lot of good titles on his CV
  • Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel - I can’t wait to hear Ang Lee pronounce this one
  • Martin Scorsese, The Departed - Who will break Marty’s heart this year?

Best Actor

  • Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed - Competing with himself for Blood Diamond is unlikely to be an issue, since everyone hated Blood Diamond
  • Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson - Crack is whack. Voters will find a new outlet for the promise they used to see in Edward Norton.
  • Peter O’Toole, Venus - His recent personal appearances are the best argument for teetotaling since Dina Lohan
  • Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness - Who else could rock an intimate drama about life on the bread line to $150 mil and counting?
  • Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland - Idi Amin-motherfucker

Continue reading ‘Oscar nomination eve or, let’s get some money up in here’

“Children” of the year

Published by Rob on January 8, 2007 in Films and Oscar Fever. 0 Comments

childrenofmen2.jpgI don’t have much to kvetch about today, so I figured I’d direct everybody’s attention to what I think are the two best movies of 2006, both of which expanded into more cities this past weekend.

First of all, Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, is now in wide release, and it’s as good as you’ve heard. In fact, I’m even more enamored with it than I was with Cuaron’s Y Tu Mama Tambien, and that had extended full frontal nudity by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. But every shot of this bleak yet gallows-funny portrait of the not-too-distant future contains so much wit, horror and sadness that I can’t wait to see it again. This YouTube montage - a last-ditch viral marketing attempt by Universal to get the movie a Best Picture nomination? - sums it up pretty well, although it’s spoiler-heavy.

Second of all, Little Children, directed by Todd Field, has finally expanded into a few more theaters after three months of steady business in the top markets (it’s in its jaw-dropping twelfth week at the Landmark theater here in Cambridge). In fact, I’m even more enamored with it than I was with Field’s In the Bedroom, and that had Sissy Spacek breaking dishes and giving Marisa Tomei a vicious face-slapping. Kate Winslet is going to get her fifth Oscar nomination for this movie, and she should win, because she reminds you of aspects of yuppy mom malaise you forgot existed in one of the best-ever cinematic portrayals of Privileged Straight Female Ambivalence. And she’s just one of the movie’s large, flawless ensemble. Plus, there’s Patrick Wilson’s ass.

I don’t think either of these movies will make the Best Picture cut at Oscar time. That Little Miss Sunshine was so darling, don’tcha know, and Dreamgirls! You go, sister! And that’s a ridiculous shame. These are both totally accessible Hollywood movies, in a way. But they challenged me to think longer and deeper about our world now - procreation and the passing on of generational anxieties is of crucial importance in both, as is the the phrase “homeland security” - than anything else in a long while.

So go see them, dammit! Yes, I know Stomp the Yard comes out on Friday. You can wait for the DVD.

Why ‘Children of Men’ should be nominated for Best Picture [YouTube]