Post Tagged with: "movies"

So, here’s where we’ve been and here’s what’s left. Happy red-carpet watching!

The last time I took on the Oscars, I defined art direction as the extent to which the world of the film engulfs the viewer and becomes an essential character in the filmic narrative. Conversely, I’d say cinematography is about capturing that, about how “pretty” the movie is: the representation of the thing versus the thing itself.

So, last Friday my friend Emmet came over to watch the premiere of Dollhouse. And can I just say—SOOOO GOOD!! God, I forgot how fantastic it is to have fresh Joss on television. There are just some things that every season of Buffy on DVD can’t fulfill. I mean, I grew up with Buffy: she was a year ahead of me in high school.

(the third in a series—see intro post for details) I’m bored and left cold by this entire roundup. If Kate Winslet had been nominated for Revolutionary Road, we could all congratulate her and be done with it. And I’m on the record as disliking Kate Winslet. First up, though, is [...]

Maybe I should subtitle this: “The Canonization of Heath Ledger.”

It’s not quite fair. If he were alive, I think he’d still be nominated. I think he’d still probably win. He gave one of the most objectively mind-blowing, history-of-cinema-altering, entirely revelatory performances ever delivered, and did so in a big-budget popcorn summer blockbuster action movie.

So far, I’ve been just setting Doubt to one side, and sticking a pin in it, and pretending it doesn’t exist in the Oscar pool; maybe I’ll decide to let the writer/director collect something, and not bother with any of the performances.

Here’s the first installment in my pick-the-Oscar-winners challenge. Our nominees are: Richard Jenkins, The Visitor; Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon; Sean Penn, Milk; Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; and Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler.