The WGA and BAFTA gave out their awards this weekend. I am sorry to report that there were very few surprising results. What surprises were in store, though, were quite rewarding.
WGA
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire (based upon the novel Q&A by Vikas Swarup)
Beat out Eric Roth's Benjamin Button, Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon, John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, and The Nolans' The Dark Knight. Of course, it's the only nominated screenplay I haven't read. I haven't read the novel either, and that's also the one exception here. I need to read the damn script already. 'Twould be nice to know what the fuss is about.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Beat out Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Robert Siegel's The Wrestler, Thomas McCarthy's The Visitor, The Coens' Burn After Reading. I've not read Siegel's script, but the rest I have. This is a good choice, I have no qualms. It seems the Screenplay race is decided. Dammit, when even these categories get dull and predictable....
BAFTA
The BAFTAs announced today, and that's always interesting. They allow double nominees in acting categories, say "FUCK YOU" to category fraud, and have the tendency to surprise us all. Even if they have the same movies, they nominate them in unfamiliar categories. Let's just look.
BEST FILM: Slumdog Millionaire
Same nominees as the Oscars. It's getting to be a dull affair, isn't it? What's worse, I keep reading how it's the "under dog". Really? Do people not know what that word means?
BEST DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Defeated Stephen Daldry (The Reader), Clint Eastwood (Changeling), David Fincher (Benjamin Button), and Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon). It makes sense. He's the front-runner, one of two Brits nominated. Plus, Boyle's done a lot for British cinema. And he's the front-runner.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Martin McDonagh, In Bruges
Also-rans: Dustin Lance Black's Milk, Philippe Claudel's I've Loved You So Long, The Coens' Burn After Reading, J. Michael Straczynski's Changeling. I was right. It really is All Awesome on the McDonagh Front. Much admiration for this pick.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Beat out David Hare for The Reader, Justin Haythe for Revolutionary Road, Peter Morgan for Frost/Nixon, Eric Roth for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. So, now he's won everything. And he'll get the Oscar, too. Beaufoy, by the way, also wrote Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, a film deeply admired here (Hollmann Award Nominee for Best Actress, Frances McDormand). So now that I know that, awesome!
BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: I've Loved You So Long
Defeated The Baader Meinhof Complex, Gomorrah, Persepolis, Waltz with Bashir. This movie wasn't even in contention for this category at the Oscars. Of these, I've only seen Persepolis. Last year. So...why am I commenting on this at all?
BEST ANIMATED FILM: WALL-E
Beating out Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir. Obv. WALL-E is so going to own this category.
BEST LEADING ACTOR: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Also nominated: Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), Sean Penn (Milk), and Brad Pitt (Benjamin Button). Last year, BAFTA matched Oscar's acting categories four-for-four, so this may bode well for Rourke. The idea of a split between him and Penn for a win by Langella or Jenkins or Pitt is an interesting one, though. Like when Adrien Brody beat out Daniel Day-Lewis and Jack Nicholson in 2002.
BEST LEADING ACTRESS: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Not only did she win against herself for Revolutionary Road, but Meryl Streep (Doubt), Angelina Jolie (Changeling) and Kristin Scott Thomas (I've Loved You So Long) are also bridesmaids. After last year, this could bode well for Winslet, who always wins for The Reader when it's nominated. I'm still not completely convinced, of course, but that's because I like suspense.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
The Losers: Robert Downey, Jr. (Tropic Thunder), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), Brad Pitt (Burn After Reading). What an awesome lineup this was. That posthumous Oscar is looking like a done deal for Heath. Bring it, says I.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Nommies: Amy Adams in Doubt, Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire, Tilda Swinton in Burn After Reading and Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler. BAFTA and I remain the only ones to nomainte Adams without Viola Davis. A Cruz win here is awesome, and a Cruz win at the Oscars would mean a spiritual win for Woody Allen. Which is, of course, amazing.
For complete results, check this out.
Showing posts with label WALL-E. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WALL-E. Show all posts
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Monday, July 7, 2008
Days of W
Before the wasted effort that was Hancock last Tuesday, I was able to enjoy at least two days of uninterrupted cinema awesomeness. There's something magical, apparently, about the 23rd letter of the alphabet. My name, of course. The Waldorf-Astoria, which made a salad that inspired one of the greatest episodes of Fawlty Towers. Then, of course, there's the double-header of WALL-E and Wanted.
WALL-E
Can Pixar do no wrong? Just a year after I proclaimed Ratatouille to be the greatest animated film ever made, along comes this charming story of a garbage-crushing robot that falls in love with a lady bot after years of solitude. Naturally, this leads to a spaceship populated by the Earthlings who fled the dying Earth centuries ago, and now find themselves to be morbidly obese, dependent on machines, and voiced by Kathy Najimy and Jeff Garlin. We learn a little about saving the Earth, our shallow natures, la-di-dah.
The love story is as touching as they come. It is, perhaps, the most realistic romance to come out of the House of Mouse. EVE is a modern woman--independent, kick-ass, genuinely cares about her job--but stands by her man when he needs her. Interesting, actually, that it does work out that way: she really doesn't need him, but he definitely needs her. It's a "woman behind the man" story, after all, like the Osbournes. Using the music of Hello, Dolly! as background is not only endearing, but--like Woody Allen using Gershwin to underscore Manhattan--surprisingly appropriate. It's a reminder of the power of a Broadway tune.
And yes, there are important lessons to learn. And everyone should take notice. Leaving the theater, the parking lot was crowded with birds picking at scraps of litter: unfinished sodas, shopping bags lazily discarded, ticket stubs to WALL-E. So apparently, not everyone took the eco-friendly message to heart, but it was first time I ever shake my head at the state of things. And picked up trash.
It's a visual stunner, of course. Lucky enough to see it in Digital, I was in absolute awe of what the Pixar animators created. Until the people show up, you could almost swear it was live-action. The trick of the light, the rattling of pebbles, the dusty film over an abandoned refrigerator are lovingly and painstakingly recreated. It's downright shocking.
Thomas Newman's score is also damn good, as is the song over the end credits. ****
WANTED
What a different movie this was. James McAvoy with an American accent? Morgan Freeman throwing out f-bombs? Violence being glorified in a Hollywood movie? Okay, maybe not that last part, but the whole thing is pretty shocking.
Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) is a pathetic accountant who learns that he is an assassin by heredity. Now, at first, I rolled my eyes. "Killing's genetic?" I thought. "Laaaaaame." I guess the movie heard me, because it proceeded to show me how not lame that was. Not lame at all.
Blondes get fucked. Bosses get yelled at. A keyboard smashes into someone's face, the letters F-U-C-K-Y-O-U falling out in slow-mo. Angelina Jolie gives us a glimpse of that magnificent ass of hers. Bullets curve into people's heads. Rats are used in a fashion I would never have thought of, much less put into a movie. It's exciting, exhilarating, fun, bad-ass, sexy, and so on, and so on.
True, there were a few moments where Timur Bekmambetov's direction took me out of the film. I want to say it was the first car chase scene, when I almost threw up. Or the railway-foot-chase scene, when I almost threw up. Still, I was not falling asleep as I did during the insufferable NightWatch, so it was at least a step up.
Look, I'll just come out and say it: I loved it. If you don't love it, revoke your Man License. It's got the Holy Trinity: Broads, Bullets, and Morgan Freeman. It distracts you from everything else going on in your life, and it makes you want to learn to shoot a gun. Mission accomplished, I'd say. ****
And here is the rest of it.
WALL-E
Can Pixar do no wrong? Just a year after I proclaimed Ratatouille to be the greatest animated film ever made, along comes this charming story of a garbage-crushing robot that falls in love with a lady bot after years of solitude. Naturally, this leads to a spaceship populated by the Earthlings who fled the dying Earth centuries ago, and now find themselves to be morbidly obese, dependent on machines, and voiced by Kathy Najimy and Jeff Garlin. We learn a little about saving the Earth, our shallow natures, la-di-dah.
The love story is as touching as they come. It is, perhaps, the most realistic romance to come out of the House of Mouse. EVE is a modern woman--independent, kick-ass, genuinely cares about her job--but stands by her man when he needs her. Interesting, actually, that it does work out that way: she really doesn't need him, but he definitely needs her. It's a "woman behind the man" story, after all, like the Osbournes. Using the music of Hello, Dolly! as background is not only endearing, but--like Woody Allen using Gershwin to underscore Manhattan--surprisingly appropriate. It's a reminder of the power of a Broadway tune.
And yes, there are important lessons to learn. And everyone should take notice. Leaving the theater, the parking lot was crowded with birds picking at scraps of litter: unfinished sodas, shopping bags lazily discarded, ticket stubs to WALL-E. So apparently, not everyone took the eco-friendly message to heart, but it was first time I ever shake my head at the state of things. And picked up trash.
It's a visual stunner, of course. Lucky enough to see it in Digital, I was in absolute awe of what the Pixar animators created. Until the people show up, you could almost swear it was live-action. The trick of the light, the rattling of pebbles, the dusty film over an abandoned refrigerator are lovingly and painstakingly recreated. It's downright shocking.
Thomas Newman's score is also damn good, as is the song over the end credits. ****
WANTED
What a different movie this was. James McAvoy with an American accent? Morgan Freeman throwing out f-bombs? Violence being glorified in a Hollywood movie? Okay, maybe not that last part, but the whole thing is pretty shocking.
Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) is a pathetic accountant who learns that he is an assassin by heredity. Now, at first, I rolled my eyes. "Killing's genetic?" I thought. "Laaaaaame." I guess the movie heard me, because it proceeded to show me how not lame that was. Not lame at all.
Blondes get fucked. Bosses get yelled at. A keyboard smashes into someone's face, the letters F-U-C-K-Y-O-U falling out in slow-mo. Angelina Jolie gives us a glimpse of that magnificent ass of hers. Bullets curve into people's heads. Rats are used in a fashion I would never have thought of, much less put into a movie. It's exciting, exhilarating, fun, bad-ass, sexy, and so on, and so on.
True, there were a few moments where Timur Bekmambetov's direction took me out of the film. I want to say it was the first car chase scene, when I almost threw up. Or the railway-foot-chase scene, when I almost threw up. Still, I was not falling asleep as I did during the insufferable NightWatch, so it was at least a step up.
Look, I'll just come out and say it: I loved it. If you don't love it, revoke your Man License. It's got the Holy Trinity: Broads, Bullets, and Morgan Freeman. It distracts you from everything else going on in your life, and it makes you want to learn to shoot a gun. Mission accomplished, I'd say. ****
And here is the rest of it.
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