Lost - S4, E5: "The Constant"

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Season 4, Episode 5 - "The Constant"

Film Script's Top 7 - Biggest Oscar Mistakes

OK...so I mentioned I was going to do this post at the Oscar party. I wanted to give everyone a little time to fully digest this years awards, and to sift through 80 years of Oscar getting it wrong. You've only got 7 spots on here, so it's going to be tough narrowing it down. To be clear, this is a list of mistakes the Oscars have made, either by giving the award to an undeserving film, or not even nominating the film you think should have won. Now, further clarification may be needed. I don't want a list of what time has proven to be the biggest snubs, otherwise Citizen Kane would almost have to be on the top of all the lists. I'm still working out the kinks in mine, but will be on later today or tomorrow with the final 7. In the meantime, ladies and germs, start whittlin' away. God knows the wonderful Oscar voters have given you no shortage of options.

Lost - S4, E4: "Eggtown"

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Season 4, Episode 4 - "Eggtown"

My Blueberry Nights (Wong Kar Wai, 2008)

The promising first English-language film from director Wong Kar Wai, My Blueberry Nights recalls similarities to his Hong Kong debut As Tears Go By. Both films run a little choppier than the best Kar Wai films, with a couple of scenes that seem to stick out as rough or set-up (the nosebleed scene specifically) but singling them out feels like nitpicking a film that offers so many beautiful and meditative moments and feels like the director is once again on the verge of delivering a masterpiece (Tears itself was a less-developed precursor to his first classics Days of Being Wild and Chungking Express).

And My Blueberry Nights is a more fully formed feature than Tears ever was. At times poignant and melancholic – emotions that seem to breathe through every scene of film in a Wong Kar Wai movie – My Blueberry Nights offers some of the breathless moments of life’s retrospection that we’ve come to expect from his features… moments spent reflecting on the lives these characters have led and informing us of the future they have before them. There’s a scene early on as Jude Law and Norah Jones’ characters discuss a bowlful of keys and the lives attached to them, that wouldn’t work if not for Kar Wai’s gentle touch. The “You can’t blame the Blueberry pie” line alone works wonders for informing us about whom these people are (and immediately makes up for vagueness the title has before you reach it). People are always what a Wong Kar Wai film is foremost about (in Fallen Angels he might have been the first filmmaker to ever create a hitman relationship movie) and this story is no different.

Here we meet Norah Jones’ jilted lover and come to know her first only through her moments with Law’s diner owner/clerk. And sometimes the story is best told in these glimpses, short bursts of scenes that are spliced up, sped up or slowed down giving the viewer more an idea of who they are then a full picture.

Then Kar Wai does what he does best, he lets Jones character retreat into the background while her story plays on via Law. Our prime participator in the story becomes an observer of another one, as Jones hops a bus and witnesses a disintegrating marriage between David Straithairn’s nightly drunken cop and the woman that got away (Rachel Weisz) down in Memphis. Then once that wraps and Jones moves on, we’re treated to another one where Jones plays only a slightly more engaged presence to Natalie Portman’s surprisingly genuine and wonderful performance as Leslie, a poker pro that naturally sends them both off to Las Vegas.

These are the straying storylines of Wong Kar Wai’s American road trip. And it all leads us back home again, where as the film closes we realize that’s where we wanted to be in the first place. There isn’t a lot of time dedicated to the budding relationship between Law and Jones, but it’s one you can’t wait to see revisited. It’s a beautiful movie, bursting with the vivid colors, largely neon, of Christopher Doyle’s cinematography… and it’s a cinematic treat.

Try the Blueberry pie.

The Official 2008 Academy Award Predictions Thread

It's time for predictions! Make sure to include the one you think will win, but also make sure to throw in your commentary for who should win. We really should have some sort of prize for the person with highest percentage of correct choices... but for right now all you get is bragging rights unless someone comes up with something.

Best Picture
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Actor
George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie, "Away From Her"
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Laura Linney, "The Savages"
Ellen Page, "Juno"

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"
Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton"

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"
Amy Ryan, "Gone, Baby, Gone"
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton"

Best Director
Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Jason Reitman, "Juno"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"

Best Foreign Film
"Beaufort," Israel
"The Counterfeiters," Austria
"Katyn," Poland
"Mongol," Kazakhstan
"12," Russia

Best Adapted Screenplay
Christopher Hampton, "Atonement"
Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"
Ronald Harwood, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"

Best Original Screenplay
Diablo Cody, "Juno"
Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, "Ratatouille"
Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages."

Best Animated Feature Film
"Persepolis"
"Ratatouille"
"Surf's Up"

Best Art Direction
"American Gangster"
"Atonement"
"The Golden Compass"
"Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
"Atonement"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Sound Mixing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"3:10 to Yuma"
"Transformers"

Best Sound Editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"There Will Be Blood"
"Transformers"

Best Original Score
"Atonement," Dario Marianelli
"The Kite Runner," Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton," James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille," Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma," Marco Beltrami

Best Original Song
"Falling Slowly" from "Once," Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush," Nominees to be Determined
"So Close" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz

Best Costume
"Across the Universe"
"Atonement"
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
"La Vie en Rose"
"Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

Best Documentary Feature
"No End in Sight"
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience"
"Sicko"
"Taxi to the Dark Side"
"War/Dance"

Best Documentary (short subject)
"Freeheld"
"La Corona (The Crown)"
"Salim Baba"
"Sari's Mother"

Best Film Editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"Into the Wild"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Makeup
"La Vie en Rose"
"Norbit"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

Best Animated Short Film
"I Met the Walrus"
"Madame Tutli-Putli"
"Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)"
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)"
"Peter & the Wolf"

Lists of Bests

So the Academy Awards are less than a week away at this point (and yes the official "Film Script" Oscar predictions post is forthcoming) but for now I'm focused more on the future of the "Screening Room Sessions" that are set to resume after the Oscar season has officially ended. I had postponed the viewings so that I could catch up with as many Oscar contenders as possible and now that I have (with the notable exceptions of La Vie En Rose and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), I'm ready to refocus.

And for that... I need a list of films that we (myself, Tyler and whomever else wants to participate) haven't seen yet and want to discuss a little more in depth on the site.

So, what exactly is the "Lists of Bests" and how does it pertain exactly? Well, if you're an eagle-eye reader of the site, you may have noticed the RSS feed located in the right hand column near the bottom with an ever-expanding group of lists that "I am working on..."

The site is set up through "43 people" and "All Consuming.net" if you've heard of either of those previously, but really it's just a checklist for some of the "Best Films" of all-time. Academy Award Winners, AFI lists, the 1001 Movies You Need to See Before You Die, etc. etc. etc. I've filled out a ton of them already and there are surely more to come.

What I propose is that Tyler (and anyone else interested) goes to the site simply by clicking on the link in the right hand column and filling out some of the same lists as I have (some, not all obviously). Try to use the same login (chachiincharge) you have on this site so it will be easy for me to compare lists and see which films we truly need to add to our queue and watch immediately.

Personally, I think starting with either Academy Award Winners or the American Film Institute Top 100 list is a good place. But any list you fill out I will keep in consideration.

So get going and we'll get the Screening Room prepped for 2008!

Trailer Bulletin: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Your thoughts?

Lost - S4, E3: "The Economist"

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Season 4, Episode 3 - "The Economist"

Party Time!

Well, it seems as though the writers strike will end tomorrow, which means several things. Lost will get its full 16 episode season, more than likely uninterrupted. Conan will no longer have to spin his wedding ring on his desk to kill time. And, the Oscars will have Bruce Vilanch to write jokes. So, as has become tradition, I will be hosting an Oscar get-together. Basically, I will spend that Sunday making a bunch of pizza and desserts and whatnot, then everyone will come and eat and laugh and argue and be merry. It's a good time. I make some pretty awesome pizza (Chachi will back me up on this), and this year I will be making a couple of the desserts I've been working on in class (I'm studying to be a pastry chef, for those who were unaware). Unfortunately, there is a small cover charge. $5-7 a person, just to help cover the ingredients (I'm a poor college kid working part-time in the Best Buy warehouse, give me a break). So, to sum up, pizza, dessert, Oscars, and good friends, plus a Pioneer Elite plasma HDTV, all for the low, low price of $5-7 a head. I will be needing RSVPs by the middle of next week, so shoot me an email to ptp22@email.vccs.edu. Of course I'll need to know how many, but also if you have a favorite pizza, I'll take requests, and, any allergies or the like as well...I don't like being responsible for hospitalizing people. So, get back to me sometime in the next week or so, and I'll get you the address and we'll have ourselves a party.

RIP Roy Scheider

1932-2008

Lost - S4, E2: "Confirmed Dead"

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Season 4, Episode 2 - "Confirmed Dead"

Must See Movie of the Month: February 2008

Who else wants to see it and what are your "must see's" of the month?

Other Notables:

In Bruges, Jumper, Vantage Point, Be Kind Rewind, Semi-Pro

Recent Watches: February 2008

The February forum for "Recent Watches" conversation is now open.

I WILL catch up this month with - among others - responses to There Will Be Blood, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Across the Universe, Persepolis, Rendition, Redacted, We Own the Night, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, The Namesake, Beowulf, 27 Dresses, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, etc. etc. etc.

Lost - S4, E1: "The Beginning of the End"

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Season 4, Episode 1 - "The Beginning of the End"