Oscar Rant 2012

To quote the host from an earlier ceremony, “So, where were we?”

My last post summarized the Summer of 2011 as belonging to the comicbook film genre. Indeed, three of the four major hero-in-spandex films were among the year’s top 20 in box office draw – according to boxofficemojo.com – with Thor actually cracking the top 10 ($181 million). Looking further, superheroes may have enjoyed the exposure of the summer months, but 2011, if anything, was the year of the franchise.

The nine top-grossing films on top of Kenneth Branagh’s hammer-fest, interestingly, are all sequels or part of an established franchise. This remains the case with the 11^th spot – Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes ($176.7 million) - ending at #12 with Captain America: The First Avenger, yet another comicbook film ($176 million).

Look at that again. Of the twelve highest-grossing films of 2011, only two are not sequels and both of them Marvel Studios films that are, actually, part of a mega-franchise Disney is hoping will be an incredible/uncanny/amazing/invincible moneymaker in 2012 with the release of The Avengers. All told, these twelve films garnered a total well over a staggering $971 million, which is up from 2010’s $926.5 million. Regardless of what the trades report, people are still seeing movies.

True, these top twelve films are summer-time popcorn films and succeed for a reason. They are light, fluffy, non-filling and have broad appeal. Movie producers know that, story merits aside, it is much easier to fill a theater with a coveted demographic to see Transformers 3 than a film about Irish cross-dressers. And while it is right and good that Albert Nobbs receive three nominations, would it not also be proper to fully celebrate all that the cinema has to offer and award one of the top-twelve with something other than Sound Mixing?

For 2012, the highest-grossing film of any of the major Academy Award categories, excluding Animated Features, of which none this year were simultaneously nominated for Best Picture, was The Help ($169.6 million), which ranked the 13^th highest. Bridesmaids, up for Original Screenplay, is at #14 ($169 million) then no other Oscar nods until The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, up for Best Actress, at #28 ($101 million). To find the next film up for either Picture or Director, you have to look down the list until #41 for War Horse ($78 million). The film to beat this year that has been leading most of the Guild Awards, The Artist, is not even in the top 100 list bringing in only $24 million.

This is not to shortchange the, ahem, artistry of Hazanavicius’ film, nor to even deny the Oscar-worthiness of the cast and crew. Rather, to once again question the Academy’s uber-snotty elitism and their apparent dismissal of fan appreciation.

When the Academy increased the Best Picture category from five nominations to ten in 2010, the rationalization was to get more people interested; interested in the nominations, the awards telecast and, hopefully, the just film itself. This year that formula was tweaked a little and through whatever mathematical voodoo PricewaterhouseCoopers decided on, there are nine noms. But of those nine, aside from The Help, none were a mega-success. How can these selections help, let’s admit it, the ratings of the telecast if the average Harry Potter-Transformers-Twilight-Hangover-Pirates-Thor moviegoer has not even heard of, let alone gone to see,The Artist, The Descendants and, heaven help us all, Tree of Life?

The 2010 nominations list made it fun to see films like District 9, The Blind Slide and Inglorious Bastards as potential gold-winners. These were movies people saw and were excited about. Looking at just a year ago, two of the ten Best Picture nominations were among the year’s top ten grossing films. Two others made the top 20, including winner big-winner The King’s Speech.

2012 has taken a major step back. Does this mean Thor should have been nominated? Not necessarily. However, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hollows had much anticipation and support backing it making the film akin to previous award-winner Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King to deserve a shot. Bridesmaids had a strong resurgence during the awards preamble and would once again give a true comedy a shot at the top prize, something that hasn’t really been seen since the Full Monty in 1998, dark comedies or dramadies like Juno, Sideways and Brokeback Mountain excluded of course.

As a final selection for the nine noms, how about Super 8? Super 8, writer-director J.J. Abrams’ love letter to his childhood, contained universally-familiar elements of friendship, first love and teenage bucking authority wrapped around a clever and equally-familiar tale paying homage to films of that time: E.T., Back To The Future and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. One would think that, Hugo aside, a film that caters to the historical ideals of the Academy while also maintaining a distinct handhold on the pulse of mainstream America, would be one of those choices that film snobs and popcorn-eaters alike could nod in agreement to.

Obviously not.

Super 8 did bring in a decent $127 million but was a little lost sandwiched in the summer of super-heroes. It was very lost when it came to nominations as J.J. Abrams’ film did not score one single nom. Not even in the ubiquitous Sound Editing/Sound Mixing categories. This film deserves better than that. It certainly deserves more praise than the despicably-sappy Extremely Loud & Incredible Close, the sentimental War Horse and, excuse me, the nearly-unwatchable Tree Of Life.

Also in question is the blindly-accepted notion that all Best Pictures noms automatically are awarded Screenplay noms. Seeing as how there is barely any dialogue in The Artist, I move to have that nomination revoked from the Original list. Likewise with A Separation getting a Foreign Film entry, a domestic film might be better suited. Such replacements could include the aforementioned Super 8 as well as the smartly-written rom-com Crazy, Stupid Love. Love, by no means a Best Picture contender, did have a great script.

The Adapted Screenplay category is significantly tighter packed with serious contenders (Moneyball should win, but probably won’t). However, Ides Of March seems to be more known for its performances, although Paul Giamatti’s absence from the Supporting Actor category is a head scratcher, and could be dropped. Ides’ replacement, then, could be the Philip K. Dick adaptation of The Adjustment Bureau, a clever love story wrapped around a chase mystery complete with two well-likeable characters.

The Oscars are supposed to celebrate and honor the craft of making film and the enjoyment such brings. A Best Picture should be just that: a timeless film that can be watched at any time. The Artist certainly calls up that great sense of nostalgia, but can it maintain such appeal? One can easily surmise that five years on heads can be scratched and blogs populated with the absurd thought that a silent film won top prize.

As Always,

theJOE

The Comic Summer of 2011

If at the beginning of the year, maybe during the Super Bowl commercial blitzkrieg and perhaps after Nick Collins ran in a 37-yard INT return giving the Packers a 14-0 lead over Roethlisberger’s Steelers, a do-or-die choice decision was posed asking which comicbook movie I would most be looking forward to during the upcoming summer, hands down that selection would have been Warner Bros.’ Green Lantern. Now, with the summer movie frenzy winding down alongside the remaining weeks of extended daylight and four (or thereabout) films later, given that same do-or-die decision, I am unsure if the green ring-slinger would achieve that unanimous fanboy nod.

The Summer of 2011, if perhaps overbearing and even a tad deluged, was a dream for fanboys with eight(!) comicbook-related films but also catered to the general movie going public with three of the four major releases exceeding the $100M mark and the fourth – Captain America – well on its way proving that these once niche-only films can be a financial success. What went wrong? And what went right? And why didn’t Green Lantern deliver?

Looking at that last question first, Green Lantern did deliver, just not as mainstream-receptive or financially-viable as intended. Despite overall horrible reviews (USA Today called it a “lifeless spectacle’) the film debuted in the number one spot with a weekend take of $53 million. Although certainly not in the same class of 2010’s Iron Man 2 ($128 million debut) or 2008’s The Dark Knight ($158 million debut), Green Lantern was not a financial success, but neither a horrendous flop ending with $114 million in North America and $147 million worldwide; Blu-Ray sales will certainly add to those numbers as will all of that green merchandising.

From a fanboy perspective, Green Lantern was a nearly literal adaptation pulling many elements directly from the comics and giving hardcore fans the planetary expanse of Oa, Tomar-Re, Kilowog and thousands of other Lanterns in the Corps, the seduction of Sinestro, Amanda Waller and even Hal’s family and daddy-issues. For the standard movie-goer expecting the next Iron Man or Spider-Man, the film was too slow, contained too many supporting characters (Amanda Waller, Tomar-Re, Kilowog and the complete Green Lantern Corps) and too many unnecessary plot points (Hal’s family and daddy issues). Regardless of how good the film looks, literal comicbook adaptations don’t always make for great films. Watchmen being the perfect example of this and a warning that the second Wolverine film and rumored Daredevil reboot need to heed.

Deciding on what went right, look no further than Thor as the God of Thunder proved that even slightly-silly films that rely heavily on a factor of fun can make a hefty showing ($180 million US and a worldwide total of well over $447 million). Thor had a few pacing issues – the film’s main story only took place over the events of a few days, yet Asgard eternal is worried about the length of the Odinsleep plus the blonde god and the human scientist chick became soulmates rather quickly - but its occasional tongue-in-cheek smile, letting you in on the joke and level-setting that it’s okay to laugh both with and at the principal events, and scoundrel of a main character, again, made for a fun film and set up the next big piece of an on-going saga.

That next big piece, making Thor a connecting bridge from Iron Man 2 into summer 2012’s Avengers, also adds to this film’s success. The fact that there is a connection with events and characters leading into something bigger adds to the excitement and even harkens back to the time of serials during cinema’s Golden Age. Now, instead of waiting three or more years for the next sequel to arrive, fans need only wait as long as a year to as short as month for next that next piece. Tony Stark in The Incredible Hulk. Mjolnir in Iron Man 2. Hawkeye in Thor. Howard Stark and the Cosmic Cube/Tesseract in Captain America. And, of course, Samuel L. as Nick Fury in all of the above.

Perhaps this connection to something larger, something that can now almost be taken for granted in the Marvel Studios films, was one of missing elements that Green Lantern lacked. While Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan was making hot rod ring constructs or blasting away at Parallax in downtown Coast City, there is no mention of a Metropolis. No tease of a Dark Knight guarding a Gotham City or a scarlet speedster racing through the Mid-West. When Green Lantern makes his not-so big debut in trying to prevent a helicopter crash, not even an utterance of a line like, “He can fly like Superman!” was heard. As it stands now, Green Lantern is the only hero in his own little universe. We can only hope that with Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film, some tie-ins to Nolan and Batman screenwriter David Goyer’s upcoming Man Of Steel film are in place.

Captain America: The First Avenger, then, might be considered the most complete package of the superhero films. Whereas X-Men: First Class had a solid story, its shoehorning into the prior film continuity had many fans, myself included, questioning “Why?”. Cap brought about a sense of honesty and kept the superhero fantasy elements down to a more-believable, and ultimately more entertaining, Indiana Jones-style tone. Even though Cap had a more traditional Marvel-style origin - as opposed to Thor, which was a tale of repentance rather than acceptance – the tone of its storytelling, the modern-day bookends, two separate montages, the quick views into the lives of others, broke away from the normal comicbook fare. By having the film be a period piece, the historical aspects lent to a comfortable familiarity that audiences could identify with more so than perhaps Tony Stark’s sophisticated Malibu mansion.

By now, though, most moviegoers can identify with, easily recognize, and might even be a little bored of, the superhero origin story, which is as formulaic as a lost love rom-com. Those that do tend to break away often do so in the sequel; it is considered that X-Men 2 and Spider-Man 2 far outshine their first installments story-wise. Green Lantern, as an example, could have fared much better by ditching the whole origin back-story of the universe and Corps and simply focused on an Earthman being granted a cosmic genie bottle. With ramped up action, the origin tale being dealt with as key flashbacks and the introduction of one other Corps-member, ala Sinestro, as a mentor, well, not only do you get the Highlander formula, but perhaps even a better-performing film.

Oversaturation of the genre, if not already here, will quickly bring about ennui and a lack of passion from both fans and filmmakers. The product must be better than good, it must be stellar. Otherwise, this genre will go the way of the Western, where only one or two good films are produced every three or four years. On the other hand, with physical comic book sales hitting market lows, the propagation of movies, even bad ones (yes, I’m looking at you Dylan Dog and Green Hornet), might be the sole savior of the medium.

So how did this summer fare for me? Green Lantern looked the best and Captain America was definitely the most complete, but I’m backing Thor as my final answer. The superhero action coupled with the adult trying to outgrow his boyish ways theme and backed with a good cast, gods and mortals alike, made Kenneth Branagh’s film a hammer-throwing pleasure. The next big question being how will this scoundrel of a god handle taking orders from Chris Evans’ all-too-human Captain America let alone how will his personality mesh with that of Robert Downey, Jr’s hyper Type A portrayal of Tony Stark in next year’s Avengers?


As Always,
theJOE

Oscar Rant 2011

Listening to XM’s Cinemagic channel at this year’s nomination breakfast, the co-host made an interesting observation: no matter how good an individual film might be in the year it was released does not necessarily ensure its status as a classic film in the hearts and minds of movie viewers everywhere. Age notwithstanding, winning films of recent years don’t seem to possess that compelling quality that makes you stop-and-watch while channel-surfing. As good as a film as 2005’s CRASH is, and it deserved to win that year, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to stop and watch it, particularly Michael Pena’s emotional scene in which he believes his daughter was shot. And after seeing CHICAGO (2002) once, do you really need to tap your shoes along with Richard Gere again?

Maybe the comfort of a well-aged film does lend to its classic appeal. Looking back 30+ years uncovers a host of great award-winning, repeat-viewing classics. Those numbers flow to a trickle as the years become more contemporary. PATTON (1970), THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971), THE GODFATHER (1972), THE GODFATHER, PART II (1974), ROCKY (1976), ANNIE HALL (1977). Then there is a gap until PLATOON (1986) and again until the 90s brought about SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991), UNFORGIVEN (1992), BRAVEHEART (1995) and TITANIC (1997). The 21st Century might only have one: GLADIATOR (2000). This trend might change now with this new decade that is upon us.

Last year’s addition of five more films to the standing list, although a confirmed ploy to get more viewer ratings for the live telecast, did indeed gather more buzz but also served as a reward to films that probably deserved such merit but in previous years would have been looked over faster than Baz Luhrmann in the editing room. Even though 2010 was still just a two-pony race, films such as DISTRICT 9, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, UP IN THE AIR and A SERIOUS MAN all received credit, a slap on the back from the Academy signifying a job well done. One could only hypothesize that if there were 10 nominations available in 2009, fan-favorite DARK KNIGHT could very well have been on that list.

This year, and perhaps for the first time since 2004, every Best Picture nominee is a solid one and yes, although there are probably only two or three true front-runners, there could indeed be enough momentum for a few of the other nominees to mount a surprise – but certainly not unwarranted – victory.

On top of that, many of these films are solid enough to stand the test of time. The antics and humor in THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, the hip and complete now-ness of THE SOCIAL NETWORK, TRUE GRIT’s classic motifs, the mind-bending trippiness and complexity of INCEPTION and, no more need be said, TOY STORY 3. Can not KIDS be the neurotic 21st Century love story counterpart to ANNIE HALL? Can not the skeevieness of WINTER’S BONE’s Mountain Mafia be compared with Michael Corleone’s Cosa Nostra? The dark thoughts of Nina’s SWAN parallel Hannibal Lecter’s? The strife of the FIGHTER’s Mickey Ward and ROCKY’s, well, Rocky?

As strong as this class may be, there are, naturally blatant omissions. Of those previously nominated, INCEPTION seems to fare the worst with its master architect, Christopher Nolan, being absent from the Achievement in Directing category, as well as not being nominated for editing, which surely must be a bad dream (or a dream within a dream within a dream…). BLACK SWAN, as well, got ignored on the costume front (are leotards and tutus too blasé?) and, the film’s most egregious snub, Clint Mansell’s score went unrecognized (ta-ta, Tchaikovsky).

There were also those films whose representation was entirely, or nearly, overlooked. Case in point, Ben Affleck’s THE TOWN. Affleck’s film had Indie chops but a big-movie feel and was adequately successful in the B.O. bringing in just under$ 100 million domestically. The story, a classic heist caper with a believably-surprising love interest added in, contained drama, action and more than a few stressful scenes. It also proved that Affleck has Indie cred as a sophomore director. Yet aside from Jeremy Renner’s most-worthy nomination, this film failed to pick up director, picture or adapted screenplay nods. You couldn’t get away with a crime like this in Charlestown.

The other absent nominee? SHUTTER ISLAND. Yes, SHUTTER ISLAND was released in 2010. You remember this one: Scorsese, DiCaprio, Ruffalo, a Dennis Lehane story with a creepy mystery occurring in a mental ward. Obviously the real mystery is how this was forgotten.

With that, I’d like to take this forum and provide a few corrections to certain nominations. Beginning with the big gun: Best Picture. With slots available for 10 noms, I’d like to give the aforementioned TOWN and SHUTTER ISLAND some recognition. To do so, I propose that TOY STORY 3, which will already win Animated Feature, be removed. And for that other spot, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT. KIDS is, actually, a very enjoyable film with sharp dialogue and enjoyably flawed characters. Given the choice though, I’d much rather see TOWN or ISLAND in its place. Alternately, THE FIGHTER can be removed, but the Academy does seem to enjoy a good boxing flick (See: MILLION DOLLAR BABY, RAGING BULL, ROCKY, WHEN WE WERE KINGS, CINDERELLA MAN, ALI, HURRICANE).

For Adapted Screenplay, again, let’s remove TOY STORY 3 and this time 127 HOURS to make room for TOWN and ISLAND. And for director, Ben Affleck deserves some recognition here as does Christopher Nolan. I propose both Tom Hooper and the always-enjoyable Coens bow out this year.

Finally, in the Original Score category, add both Danny Elfman’s work on THE WOLFMAN, which incorporated classic movie themes along with his usual dark tones, and TRON: LEGACY’s Daft Punk, whose electronica and orchestration is just as powerful, intricate and completely danceable as that of the SOCIAL NETWORK’s Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Those to be removed would be A.R. Rahman (127 HOURS) and John Powell (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON). Hans Zimmer (INCEPTION), Alexandre Desplat (KING’S SPEECH) and THE SOCIAL NETWORK are well-deserved nominations. Squeezing in Clint Mansell’s BLACK SWAN would be a tricky task.

Surprisingly, the Academy got all four acting categories right. Peppered within the nominations are fresh faces (SOCIAL NETWORK, TRUE GRIT, WINTER’S BONE), vets (RABBIT HOLE, KING’S SPEECH) and shocks (ANIMAL KINGDOM). And of those four, Supporting Actor is by far the tightest. Any chance a group award can be handed out to these blokes?

The quality of this year’s crop gleaned by the Academy, of course, all has to fall back on the creative process in Hollywood. If writers and directors are able to continue with creative freedom, then actors will produce inspiring performances and moviegoers will continue to pay for movies and rent movies. The business will, and should, follow. Allow the moviegoers to talk about exciting and compelling and original movies. That is what helps define a classic.

Oscar Rant 2010

The Academy actually had a good idea by expanding the Best Picture category to ten films. Interest, either pro or con, has been garnered with the additions and has, very much so, opened up the race to allow the inclusion of well-received top grossing films – two, count ‘em two(!) sci-fi flicks, a World War II B-film homage and a sappy sports film – along with those few select art house-only hidden treasures – two of which are personal tales of men seeking a destination of sorts, either of which, in a different year, would be a top contender for Hollywood’s Golden Boy but will ultimately lose this year to a film with guns and explosions.

But has the opening of the Best Picture category to include Sandra Bullock films really made the race any more different? Or are there still just the two top contenders along with one possible dark horse making the others – just more of them – as irrelevant as the Mets starting rotation? And can it be that, yet again, those deserving have been overlooked? And for the record, regardless of how many nominees there are, AVATAR definitely gets one of those nods.

This year, the Actor in a Leading Role category is one of the tightest. Jeff Bridges, it can be argued, should have won the Award for his role in 1998’s THE BIG LEBOWSKI (Although was that role really acting? It was certainly a more endearing and lasting performance than Roberto Benigni who won for –excuse me– LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.) and Morgan Freeman’s portrayal as Nelson Mandela is a slam-dunk of a nom. And although Clooney, Firth and Renner are all deserving, perhaps two others should be placed here instead.

Michael Stuhlbarg for his role as Larry Gopnik in the Coen Brothers’ award-worthy A SERIOUS MAN is an actor in every sense of the word as the range of emotions he portrays, often times silently, totally clues the audience in on the turmoil of his character and proves that this mostly television-role actor can play with the big boys. Didn’t Clooney and Hanks also start on the small screen? Sharlto Copley, the every-day middle management corporate warrior turned Prawn-lovin’ revolutionary from DISTRICT 9, like Stuhlbarg, uses his emotions to totally change and evolve, along with his body, directly on the screen moving from pity to scorn to heroism. Even though the Academy snubbed Copley, Sir Ridley Scott did not and cast the South African in another popcorn shoot ‘em up as one Howling Mad Murdock.

The Adapted Screenplay category nominated the wrong former British miniseries. Instead of IN THE LOOP, STATE OF PLAY should have this spot. Believable political intrigue and honest-to-goodness investigative journalism made this a well-written story that harkened back to the likes of ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN. With journalistic movies on the mind, why did THE SOLOIST completely get forgotten?

DUPLICITY, a fast-moving industrial-spy flick with Tarantino-cool dialogue, was also completely ignored. Tony Gilroy, no stranger to awards, will, unfortunately, be eating poppers on his couch in the Hollywood Hills this year as DUPLICITY was not recognized for Original Screenplay or, perhaps, Director. Like with THE SOLOIST, films released in March and April are most often ignored. THE WONDER BOYS, released in February 2000, is a prime example of this, but a season-end re-release garnered the film a Best Song win and an adapted screenplay nom, losing to the very-worthy TRAFFIC.

Another March-released film that, potentially, could have received an Adapted Screenplay nom along with a variety of minor category nominees (such as Costume, Makeup and Art Direction at the very least) is Zach Snyder’s WATCHMEN. Yes, the under-performing hardcore-fanboy gala, although far from a perfect film, was extremely meticulous with look and feel as well as design and dialogue lifting whole scenes directly and pristinely from what is referred to as the greatest Graphic Novel. Although a summertime release might not have generated any more revenue for the film, especially with an already fanboy-heavy schedule including WOLVERINE, STAR TREK and TRANSFORMERS, it might have remained in the thoughts of the nomination committee.

Finally, looking at those indeed nominated, once again those worthy will probably not win due to the Academy’s politics and the money of producers. Vera Farmiga’s character, Alex Goran from UP IN THE AIR, moved from interesting to likeable to betraying and should indeed win. But she’s not the favorite according to most polls and previous award ceremonies. James Cameron will hopefully win for Director. Even though AVATAR probably does not deserve to win for Best Film, as its Dances With Aliens storyline was not the most, well, original, he proved that he is indeed the best he is and what he does, be it here on Earth or out on Pandora, which is a real place, right?! The merging of 3D CGI to ultra-looking reality was as flawless as his craft.

Be it any other year, Henry Selick’s CORALINE would win Best Animated Feature. But damn Pixar and their constant A+ 10-star productions (how dare they!) will win again. Here’s hoping Michael Giacchino’s score for UP wins the award, although, he should rightly win for his not-nominated STAR TREK score.

And who does get the top award, that for Best Film, if not AVATAR? In an AVATAR/BASTERDS/HURT LOCKER-free season, both A SERIOUS MAN and UP IN THE AIR would the neck-to-neck contenders. One, an open-ended Jewish tale was an art-house favorite while the other, Jason Reitman’s slick-yet-familiar airport-themed film, could have proved that the third time is a charm for the young director. Interestingly enough, most films nominated this year all have the potential to win. But it all falls down to what film becomes the media-darling with the most successful word of mouth. What producer will woo the Academy the best? Danny Boyle, for better or worse, was on the upside last year for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. But overall, wasn’t THE WRESTLER the better film? Yet like it’s main character, Randy the Ram, it became abandoned.

Who will be this year’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE? An even better question: who will be this year’s WRESTLER?


As Always,
theJOE

Oscar Rant 2009

Sunday marks that high-honored tradition when the elite, the powerful, the rich, the beautiful, the famous converge together to pay and give homage to … themselves. Yes, the Academy Awards, in theory, are to gift those deserving recognition for their contributions to entertainment and pop-culture but, those with real power, those producers and studios complete with the pull of money, ultimately decide what is considered beloved, usually their product, and what is drivel. Just like how many heroic and noble deeds are unrewarded with attention, so too do certain elements of much-enjoyed celluloid get lost in the wind of those Hollywood political airbags.

There is a fine balance between accolades deserved on the basis of financial – and popular – success and those of critical. For most instances, these are as separate as Hitchcock and Van Sant’s versions of PSYCHO. Of all of 2008’s winners, the highest box office draw was THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM’s US $227 million. ULTIMATUM won Best Achievement in Editing, Sound and Sound Editing and was not nominated for film, director or actor. And perhaps it should have. By contrast, the award-winning, and quite good, mind you, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, grossed US $61.9 million at the time of the ceremony and took home statues for Directing, Picture, Actor and Screenplay. ULTIMATUM and NO COUNTRY are two completely different movies filmatically (although not, perhaps, in terms of body count), but each equally good on their own and should have perhaps contended against each other.

In 2008, THE DARK KNIGHT grossed US $532 million with a total of more than $900 million worldwide making it the 4th highest grossing film in history (Cameron’s TITANIC still leads the pack by a tip of the iceberg). Runaway hit SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, which has so far accumulated US $88.1 million, and THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – US $122.5 million – far lead their competition: FROST/NIXON (US $16.9 million), MILK (US $26.7 million) and THE READER (US $19.4 million). However, would it not make sense to honor architect Christopher Nolan for his film that has accrued 8 nods, let alone a gross that is almost double of all nominations combined?

The answer, unfortunately, is that genre films do not get respect. Having the haughty Academy recognize the merits of a popcorn film will occur around the same time as total and complete sense is made out of the two PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN sequels. Because of this, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY will not win the Makeup category even though the likes of entire Troll Market scene out scopes the Creature Cantina from the original STAR WARS (BENJAMIN BUTTON will win).

Comicbook films are not the only ones that are to be singled out here, so let’s include Westerns and Sci-Fi into the genre niche. 2008 did not produce much from either stable but two noteworthy exceptions should have at least made a few of the minor nominations such as editing, cinematography (both of which really should be held in higher regards along with the Top 6), sound and costume. Those films? Ed Harris’ APPALOOSA and J.J. Abrams’ CLOVERFIELD. By comparison, last year’s Academy did see THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES (2 noms, no wins), 3:10 TO YUMA (2 noms, no wins) and TRANSFORMERS (5 noms, no wins). No wins, just like if you are a Thrasher’s fan, means no respect.

Ignoring THE READER, which most of the American cinema-going population did, along, rightly so, with SWING VOTE, then who was slighted? Aside from the aforementioned Christopher Nolan, perhaps Josh Brolin should have been nominated in the Leading Actor role for his spot on portrayal of George W. Bush in Oliver Stone’s W. Brolin was able to both lampoon and credit the 43rd President and such acting should not be overlooked. But it was. The family-friendly, and OLD YELLER-ending, MARLEY & ME could not sit, heel or run with Adapted Screenplay and Beyonce Knowles cannot scream, “At Last” for her Etta James casting in CADILLAC RECORDS either.

On very rare occasions, the Academy gets it right allowing style and sense to outweigh the politics of the Hollywood Illuminati. In this Century, CRASH and ONCE rightly brought home Oscar over the heavily-favored BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and not-so enchanting ENCHANTED.

This year, two first-time directors are getting much-deserved recognition and hopefully one of them will be awarded. Danny Boyle is single-handedly responsible for making Ewan McGregor a star (they did three films together, two of which are as slick as Techno), giving heroin a new slang and injecting life into the undead. David Fincher went from directing pop biggest names (Madonna, Michael Jackson, Sting) to giving pop to some of Hollywood’s A-listers (Sigourney Weaver, Brad Pitt (also with a hat trick), Jodie Foster). Regardless of Sunday’s outcome, let’s home this is not the only Red Carpet trip either of these two see.

Not all is lost. Hollywood is the place where dreams can come true and the impossible is all too possible. How else can you explain Uwe Boll’s constant employment? Look at it this way, the Academy even allowed a popcorn movie – and a trilogy at that – to sweep it all it 2004 giving fanboys – and the genre market alike – a little hope and some smiles.

(Side note: supporting actor Sir Ian McKellen was most outrageously snubbed for the first LORD OF THE RINGS installment in 2002 to Jim Broadbent’s performance for IRIS, a film that only grossed US $5.5 million.)

As Always,
theJOE

Shear-ly a One-Joke Movie

Obviously connections between Jonathan King’s horror-comedy BLACK SHEEP, a ridiculous little film about genetically-engineered sheep that bleat to a murderous rampage, and the early works of Peter Jackson can easily be made. After all, not since DEAD ALIVE – or perhaps the very-underrated FRIGHTENERS – has New Zealand been the backdrop for a schlocky horror film.

Unfortunately, BLACK SHEEP spends entirely too much time deciding if the film is to be either a gory horror-fest, or a light-hearted Spielbergian romp ala ARACHNOPHOBIA or GREMLINS. Nathan Meister’s fear of sheep is a little too forced and the obligatory romance between his character, Henry, and that of Danielle Mason’s lacks any sort of chemistry, genetically-engineered or not.

What was missing from the film is the element of pure sarcasm; an event where the actors can almost get away with winking to the audience in shared knowledge. In a film featuring zombie sheep, the audience is not looking for the sophistication of THE RING or even the horror of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, rather something akin to what should be this film's goofy contemporaries: the EVIL DEAD trilogy, SLITHER and even SHAUN OF THE DEAD.

BLACK SHEEP does have its charming moments, charming, that is, for those lovers of zombies. The attack during older-brother Angus' speech is the highlight of the film. That and the movie downright looks great. Even aside from Weta’s high-caliber practical effects, the lighting and, in particular, the sets provided a top-notch feel to the production. That creepy drop of nervous anxiety running down your spine was the only feeling missing.


As Always,
theJOE

Soup

I like soup. Although I don't partake of soups with every meal, they make a great - and often tasty - compliment or appetizer. Here is a list of my favorites.

1. Tomato
2. French Onion
3. Italian Wedding
4. Chicken Noodle
5. Chili
6. Wonton
7. Cream of Mushroom
8. Steak Stew
9. Miso
10. Ramen
11. Minestrone
12. Pasta Fagioli
13. Avgolemono
14. Pho
15. Revenge (best served cold)



As Always,
theJOE