CAN'T WAIT

Michael Mann's Public Enemies. July 1st. Oh baby.

REACTIONS TO OSCAR

Hugh Jackman did a wonderful job. The opening number was dynamite. I wished he had been around more often (he seemed to disappear at the mid-show point) but overall, he did a great job. The stage itself was beautiful and it the entire production oozed class and old-school Hollywood charm.

The awards themselves were exceedingly predictable. I got 20 out of 23 predictions correct. The only major surprise was Departures snagging best foreign language film from Waltz with Bashir, the film that had been expected to take the prize. Sean Penn winning best actor, I guess, was inevitable, but I'd have given the trophy to Mickey Rourke. Penn was indeed great as Harvey Milk, but there was something about actor and role for Rourke in The Wrestler that was just totally sublime.

As for my totally superficial comments about the ladies and the guys, Anne Hathaway looked very classy and elegant (great dress). Angelina Jolie was viper-licious in a simple black dress with emerald earings and ring. I liked Jessica Biel's hair-style, even if her dress was very outrageous. Amy Adams is very cute and she had some great make-up going on. Both Natalie Portman and Jennifer Anniston looked sexy. Brad Pitt looked classic and cool in his tux. Hugh Jackman oozed sex-appeal and charm.

Where was Jack Nicholson?

Jerry Lewis was a class-act but he looked a bit off.

Wasn't M.I.A supposed to sing?

Ben Stiller did one of the funniest things of his career with his impression of the recently in-a-daze Joaquin Phoenix.

Bill Maher was his ususal funny, sarcastic self. Love the dude. When Phillipe Petit balanced the Oscar on his chin after Man On Wire won best documentary was hilarious and totally in keeping with that guy's energy and spirit.

The bit with Rogen and Franco reprising their roles from 2008's funniest film Pineapple Express was inspired. It would've been SO FUNNY had they hosted the entire show in character. Now THAT would have been ballsy.

The best quote of the night was from Rourke, when he appeared on the Barbara Walters special. When asked by Walters if he cared about winning best actor, he responded that it would be a nice way to "cap off this comeback that everyone keeps talking about," but at the end of the day, he didn't really care. Then he layed this choice nugget down:

"I can't eat it. I can't fuck it. And it's not gonna get me into Heaven." Way to stay grounded, Mickey.

The clip montages were all really well done. Lots of good movie moments from 2008.

One thing that disappointed me with the show was the fact that the prodcuers eliminated the "Oscar clip" for the nominated actors. Yes, the idea to bring out past Oscar winners and having them address the nominees directly was very cool and very classy, but there is something always so powerful about when you see that 60 second Oscar clip of each actor doing their thing. I was hoping that a clip would be played for the eventual winner after they gave their acceptance speech, but that wasn't in the cards.

And also, at the end of the show, there was a preview of upcoming films from 2009 that ran over the credits. That brief glimpse of Michael Mann's Public Enemies was fucking awesome. The images of Depp's blasting-away machine gun and of Marion Cotillard's legs (I presume they're hers) in the bathtub were really exciting.

All in all, it was a fun night, even if the show ran 20 minutes over its scheduled run time. The show itself was lavish and extremely well done. I hope the Academy brings back Bill Condon to steerthe ship again.

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...

Here are my predictions for Oscar 2009. More than the actual awards themselves, I'm looking forward to the show as a production. Writer-director Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, Dreamgirls), is exec-producing the show, and A-list star Hugh Jackman (Australia, Wolverine), is hosting the shin-dig. It should be a different atmosphere this year. Very curious to see how it all pans out. Anyways, without further ado, here are my predictions:

Best Picture

Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
My choice: Slumdog Millionaire
Note: If Benjamin Button were to upset I'd be pretty happy. But Slumdog is the film of the moment.

Best Director

Winner: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
My Choice: David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Note: This is a very tough decision to make. Boyle has really evolved as a filmmaker, and he brought a lot of flair and style and energy to Slumdog Millionaire. But Fincher's craft and sensibilities have really been maturing. He should have been nominated for his brilliant work in last year's masterpiece Zodiac, but with Button, he really turned a corner, showing a side of himself as a storyteller that he never has.

Best Actor

Winner: Sean Penn, Milk
My choice: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Wouldn't it be cool...if Richard Jenkins won for The Visitor?

Best Actress

Winner: Kate Winslet, The Reader
My choice: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Note: Winslet should've been nominated for her work in Revolutionary Road. Not that she's bad in The Reader -- far from it. It's just that Hathaway was a revelation, really coming into her own with the best written role of her career. I hope it leads to good stuff down the path.

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
My Choice: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Note: Heath had a tough act to follow with the role of the Joker, which had been made famous by Jack Nicholson about 20 years earlier. He totally owned The Dark Knight. However, I'd laugh my ass off if Robert Downey Jr. won for Tropic Thunder.

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
My Choice: Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
But...if Taraji P. Henson or Amy Adams won for their equally impressive work, I'd be happy. This is a strong category.

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: Dustin Lance Black, Milk
My choice: Mike Leigh, Happy Go Lucky
Note: It'll never happen, but if Martin McDonagh heard his named called up to the podium for his truly original In Bruges screenplay, that'd rule. I'd argue that Milk was a rather traditionally conceived screenplay, and was bolstered by stylish direction and a powerhouse performance from Penn. Reward something truly original, like In Bruges, Happy-Go-Lucky, or even the subversively brilliant Wall*E, a film that used very little actual dialogue, but relied upon genius plotting and a streamlined narrative to tell an extremely compelling story.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
My Choice: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Why: However contrived, this is a masterful effort by Beaufouy. In adapting the novel Q&A, he fused an old-school, Hollywood romance with a new-school, non-linear sensibility, creating a wild and fresh feeling story that while ultimately predictable, thrills you for a brisk two hours.

Best Animated Film

Winner: Wall*E
My Choiuce: Wall*E
Why? Wall*E is my favorite animated movie of all time.

Best Cinematography

Winner: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
My Choice: Claudio Miranda, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Note: This is my favorite category every year. And it's always damn near impossible to pick a favorite. Film is a medium consisting, first and foremost, of the visual image. In my opinion, the most important aspect to a film is how it looks. You've got a massive movie screen to fill, and if you're projecting an image that isn't well composed, well, you might as well stop right there. Mantle, shooting in various film speeds and stocks, made Slumdog Millionaire feel vital and alive in a way that few films have in recent memory. Sure, he ripped Tony Scott off a lot, but Mantle juggled a lot of different aspects of the craft in composing his film. However, the visual artistry of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button cannot be dismissed. The film, simply put, was one of the most ravishing things I've ever seen on a big screen. Miranda's use of light, texture, shadow, and color, under the supervision of Fincher, was something that washed over me, making me feel warm and soothed on the inside. But hell -- if Wally Pfister won for The Dark Knight, I'd jump for joy as well.

Best Editing

Winner: Chris Dickens, Slumdog Millionaire
My Choice: Chris Dickens, Slumdog Millionaire
Note: The editing of Slumdog is relentless yet extremely coherent. It's a fabulous effort.

Best Visual Effects

Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
My Choice: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Why? Flawless, groundbreaking work.

Best Original Score

Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
My Choice: Slumdog Millionaire
Why? Lots of catchy, exotic tunes.

Best Original Song

Winner: Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire
My Choice: Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire
Why? It's a catchy beat.

Best Costumes

Winner: Michael O'Connor, The Duchess
My Choice: Jacqueline West, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Note: An almost impossible category to guess. It could easily go to Button. But the work in The Duchess was big and flashy and very realistic feeling.

Best Documentary

Winner: Man on Wire
My Choice: Man on Wire
But, wouldn't it be cool if...Werner Herzog got a chance to thank the Academy?

Best Foreign Language Film

Winner: Waltz With Bashir
My Choice: Can't Say
Sadly, I haven't seen any of the nominated films. But not for lack of desire. They just haven't opened near me yet. Really want to see Bashir, and really want to see France's selection The Class.

Best Art Direction

Winner: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
My Choice: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Why? Beause it was f'ing gorgeous to look at.

Best Sound Editing

Winner: The Dark Knight
My Choice: The Dark Knight

Best Sound Mixing

Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
My Choice: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Animated Short Film

Winner: Presto
My Choice: Presto

Best Live Action Short Film

Winner: New Boy
My Choice: Don't really have one. This is a total guess.

Best Make-Up

Winner: Button
My Choice: Button
Why? Because the work done was brilliant.

Best Documentary Short Subject

Winner: The Final Inch (total guess)

DVD QUICKIES

Provocatuers Larry Charles (Borat, Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Bill Maher absolutely crucify (pun intended) all religious sides in Religulous (****), a piercing, hysterical, and often enraging documentary about the world's dependence on the belief of a higher power. Maher, a sarcastic prick if there ever was one, focuses his efforts on all religious sects -- nobody is safe in this incendiary piece of cinema. The fact that he's totally right all throughout the documentary is beside the point; what's most fascinating is the blind devotion that some people have for the idea of god, something that Maher justifiably trashes in this film. Going up against scholars, theorists, scientists, priests, rabbis, politicians and anyone who'll talk to him, Maher cuts everyone down to size, leaving many of them searching for words, words they'll never be able to find. The points that Maher and Charles are making are obvious and direct -- without any concrete proof and with so many biblical contradictions throughout any number of religious texts, how could anyone take any of this seriously? Sure, the film is one sided; Maher is an atheist and this film's goal is to essentially debunk anyone with a religious belief. This is a film that will piss a lot of conservatives off; I think it's a spot-on expose of how corrupt the world's religious leaders have become, and it provides ample evidence of how inane and backwards some religions operate. The sexual abuse scandals of the Roman-Catholic church, the endless years of religious-based death and war in the Middle East, the ridiculous contradictions of Judaism, the absurd notions that Scientologists and Mormons cling too -- all of these issues are discussed and critiqued. And to be honst, it's all rather disgusting, and, in a nut-shell, fucking retarded. Religulous is an incisive, angry, and yet thoroughly emotional documentary, something that everyone should see at least once, no matter what your religious inclinations are.

Courtney Hunt's quietly electrifying debut Frozen River (****) is everything independent cinema should be: thought provoking, risk taking, strange and new, and extremely powerful. Anchored by Melissa Leo's Oscar nominated, tour de force performance of a woman nearing her emotional breaking point, Frozen River subverts its thriller genre roots, and by its conclusion, provides a strange tableau of hope amidst a cold background of despair. The plot revolves around the smuggling of illegal immigrants over the Canadian/NY border in Mohawk territory, with shades of Wages of Fear and Sorcerer thrown in for good measure. Co-starring Native American actress Misty Upham as the woman who brings Leo's character into the smuggling ring, Frozen River takes it time mounting an intricate story that reflects the problems of these two women, who while coming from very different social circles, are very much alike. There is a distinct feeling of tension running throughout every scene of Frozen River; you never know what's going to happen from moment to moment. Simple plot strokes become major developments, and Hunt's expertly conceived original screenplay (which was Oscar nominated) never sags for a second, allowing all of its characters to come full circle, and the plot to connect all of its dots in a richly satisfying way. The ending is a whallop, something you'll want to discuss right away, and while it might seem like a little too much, it makes complete thematic sense upon further reflection. This is a fantastic and intimate movie.

MOVIES FOR THE WEEKEND

Nothing. At least not in the theaters. I'd like to see The International but I might wait until DVD. But there are zero new releases this weekend that interest me.

I will probably rent something on DVD -- maybe Miracle at St. Anna or Choke or Flash of Genius.

Of course, this Sunday is the Oscars. I'll be posting my predictions at some point over the weekend. I am really rooting for Mickey Rourke, and it'd be nice to see a few surprises. But I think that Slumdog Millionaire is going to clean up.

ANTICIPATION

The marketing blitz for Watchmen is now in full swing. The film hits theaters in a few weeks (on 3/6) and the early word from long-lead press screenings has been...well...mixed. I have never read the graphic novel that Zack Snyder's film is based on -- I just can't get into reading comics or graphic novels. That being said, I am extremely excited to see this film. I am a huge fan of Snyder's previous work (his hardcore remake of Dawn of the Dead and the gloriously stylish 300) and from the footage in the trailers that I have seen thus far for Watchmen, I am quite anxious to see what he's cooked up. Anticipation is building. What will fans of the graphic novel think? How big will the film be at the box office? Will the hard-R rating hurt the film? Will there be a lot of curious non-fans of the graphic novel who will check the film out based on the trippy trailers? It's the first big "event" movie of 2009 and I am really hoping that it's a lot of fun.

LOVE THIS GUY

To state that I'm a fan of Danny McBride's work would be an understatement. I think this guy is one of the funniest people on the planet right now, up there with the likes of Kristin Wiig, Sascha Baron Cohen, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone. And McBride is just getting started. His goofy mug might not be totally recognizable yet, but after this summer's impending blockbuster The Land of the Lost opens, he'll really be in the Hollywood spotlight. If you saw last year's two funniest movies -- Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express -- than you might remember him as the loud-mouthed explosives expert in Tropic and as the gun-toting, loyalty-reversing, pot-dealing buffoon named Red in Pineapple.

This guy doesn't just spice up the scenes he appears in -- he OWNS them, completely takes them over, and leaves them in smithereens. At one point, McBride was an aspiring director. He was classmates with filmmaker David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Snow Angels) while in film school, and was offered a spur-of-the-moment chance to act in one of Green's earlier efforts, All the Real Girls. Apparently, an actor had to back out, and Green asked McBride to do him a favor. Thank you, Mr. Green, for getting McBride in front of a camera, because if you hadn't asked him, we might not all be able to enjoy this guy's amazing comedic chops.

McBride was a one-man tour de force in The Foot Fist Way, an amazingly cheap-looking but incredibly funny black comedy directed by up-and-comer Jody Hill, whose latest film, Observe and Report, is getting some seriously strong buzz. The Foot Fist Way was an amazing opportunity for McBride to go all out with a white-trash character that he's now refined to perfection on the new HBO show Eastbound and Down. In Eastbound, McBride plays a washed-up major league baseball pitcher who gets thrown out of the majors and heads back to his hicky hometown to become the gym teacher at his old middle school. Last Sunday's pilot was hysterical, and further proof that McBride and Hill (who co-created, co-wrote, and directed) are a new comedic force to be reckoned with. Their ability to mix the sarcastic with the crude is phenomenal; it's reminiscent of the work being done on the underrated FX comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

If you aren't familiar with McBride, trust me, rent some of his work and get to know him. You'll be laughing all f'ing night. Here's a link to his IMDB page.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1144419/