Sunday, February 24, 2008

There Will Be Speeches

A couple of my fellow bloggers and I saw over 10 hours of movies yesterday, as part of AMC's Best Picture Showcase. There was a diverse audience, composed of people who want to see good films even if they may not like them, who get into the films enough to respond outwardly, and are ready to chat about them while waiting in line at the concession stand or when milling about between films — the best kind of audience, in my opinion. It was a fun experience, and I hope they continue to do it every year.

As for the Oscars themselves, here are George Clooney's picks:
Picture: No Country For Old Men
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Actor: Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Actress: Julie Christie (Away From Her)
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone)
Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody (Juno)
Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Cinematography: Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood)
I'm inclined to agree with Clooney's picks, although the Actress categories are up in the air for me. The winners could easily be Marion Cotillard and Cate Blanchett, or Laura Linney and Saiorse Ronan (OK, maybe not that far). Also, I wouldn't count out cinematographer Roger Deakins, who's shooting for his first Oscar (he's up for two films). I'll go out on a limb and say that Ratatouille will win for Animated Feature, although I wouldn't be too surprised to see Persepolis take it. I've seen both, and they're great in their own ways.

SNL was back last weekend, and here's its spoof of the Oscar nominated films:

You can also consider the latest Digital Short a movie spoof as well. (Not a movie spoof: Tina Fey and Steve Martin brought the funny in the monologue.)

4 comments:

murtini said...

Well, that Tilda Swinton win came out of nowhere! As I said, that category was up in the air. She did a solid job in a very good picture, though, and has the body of work to go along with it.

murtini said...

Congrats to Original Score winner Dario Marianelli, even though that would not have been my choice. I must say, the use of a typewriter as a prominent instrument in his score for Atonement constantly reminded me of the cash register sounds used in the theme of the PBS-mainstay British comedy, Are You Being Served -- kind of killed the drama for me!

asdf said...

I like George Clooney's comments:

"Marion Cotillard does an old person trying to be young, instead of what everyone does — a young person trying to be old."

I'll be checking out la vie en rose. The ones that surprised me were the wins for Bourne Ultimatum. I totally forgot that was 2007. That movie was great.

Tilda Swinton to me looked nothing like the character she played in Michael Clayton.

Overall 2007 didn't really have any shortage of good films. Although, no 2007 comedy film stands out for me.

murtini said...

Clooney covered his bases well. He picked Julie Christie and Amy Ryan to win, but talked about Cotillard as having the best performance of the year, and, "If [Michael Clayton] has a shot at anything, it's best supporting actress with Tilda Swinton."

Swinton had a nice, seemingly impromptu, acceptance speech. For how many more years, though, can Batman and Robin be such a font of humor for George Clooney and his pals? What a movie!