Mean Creek

Remember I was talking about giving a "best acting by an ensemble of actors" award for Mean Creek during my Oscar nominations post? Turns out that the movie actually has won one such award. The Independent Spirit Awards have a "special distinction award" for the ensemble cast of Mean Creek.

The nomination committee says, "These young actors turned in performances so uniformly unselfish, and so intricately in tune with one another, that it became impossible to single any one of them out from their extraordinary achievement together. Their work is of such high quality that it moves beyond craft to achieve that mysterious truth and beauty that constitutes the finest acting."

And how young are these young actors? look at the pic below. courtesy Carly Schroeder (who is the only girl among the key actors of the movie and has performed absolutely superbly)




Mean Creek came out on DVD yesterday (in US). Watch it, if you haven't yet.

42!!

Nope. Wrong Answer. It actually is 672! The question, of course, is "what is the number of pages in the forthcoming book - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince?" :)

I thought I have written enough about movies. So back to Harry Potter stuff! :) Anyway, the news, as I said already, is that the US edition will have 672 pages. This is almost 200 less than Order of the Phoenix. I am yet to decide whether that is a good thing or not.

On a related note, JKR gave birth to a baby girl yesterday. And her full name is Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray!! Phew!

two-thirds right!!

So, the nominations are out and 67.5% of my predictions were right!!! YAY!!! :)

Some observations:

After Globes, Natalie Portman gets a shot at oscars too for Closer.

Alan Alda gets recognized for The Aviator (good for him! though I would really have liked to see Rodrigo De la Serna get a nod for The Motorcycle Diaries)

Jamie Foxx had a supporting role in Collateral??? I don't know what is a leading role then...

Extremely happy for Catalina Sandino Moreno and Kate Winslet!!! The day I saw Maria Full of Grace, I told Neelaabh that the girl in that movie definitely deserves an oscar nomination. But I didn't think it very likely as they don't normally nominate actors from foreign language movies unless the movie itself becomes an unusually big box-office success in the US or the actor in question is highly popular here.... Really, Really happy for Catalina. And what can I say about Kate Winslet. She was one of the best things about Eternal Sunshine. And that is saying A LOT as that happens to be my no. 1 movie of the year.

Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby? Now where did that come from?? He probably deserves it (I wouldn't know as I haven't seen the movie) but if he doesn't, Javier Bardem and Paul Giamatti might just murder him before he gets to the red carpet. On second thoughts, Javier Bardem and Paul Giamatti might murder him regardless of how good his performance was. You don't get a chance to give great performances like they did in The Sea Inside and Sideways every day. (well.. I haven't seen The Sea Inside yet, but going by what I read in the reports, he is incredible in that role. And the trailer shows enough to help you understand what they mean.)

Both Eternal Sunshine and The Incredibles get nominated for best original screenplay!!! Now I have a problem deciding which one to root for!!! :) Eternal Sunshine is superb and The Incredibles wouldn't probably deserve it if it would win (I know it won't win though... ) but it would be great to see Pixar get some recognition outside the obvious "best animated feature" category, which is theirs to keep till eternity. :)

Nice to see personal favorites The Motorcycle Diaries and Before Sunset for adapted screenplays. Though its stretching the definition of "adapted screenplay' a bit to call Before Sunset adapted. All it is based on is the original lead characters created for the prequel Before Sunrise.

Best Foreign Picture had most of the unexpected names. Some movies which I'd have thought were obvious candidates (The Motorcycle Diaries, House of Flying Daggers) were not there.

It seems I am beginning to get a feel for what great cinematography is, even though I know practically nothing about photography. at least three out of the 5 nominations (House of Flying Daggers, A Very Long Engagement, and The Passion of the Christ) had me raving about their cinematography when I saw them. Specially HoFD and AVLE. They are two of the best looking movies I have EVER seen. Just the images are a thousand times the ticket's worth. Add some great background score, a gorgeous leading lady (Zhang Ziyi and Audrey Tautou), a cameo of Jodie Foster in AVLE, and some breathtaking choreography (action or otherwise) in HoFD and you have two of the most sensually satisfying movies one can think of.

One special mention. There is this very good movie called Mean Creek which deserves a "great acting by an ensemble of actors" nomination. Pity there is no such category. Its a movie featuring some young actors (early to late teenagers) and all of them are absolutely great.

Julia Roberts was wrong!

Julia Roberts didn't know what she was talking about when she said that Aishwarya Rai is the most beautiful actress in the world today. She probably hadn't seen Zhang Ziyi then! If you thought that she looked stunning in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero, go and see House of Flying Daggers. She is a goddess! (and doesn't act too badly either, refer to my choices for best actress oscars in the previous post).

Have a look at these stills from House of Flying Daggers. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics.








Or.. just go and see the trailer here. Or... better still... go and see the movie!! :)

Nominating the Nominations...

Ok people, the oscar nominations are here. And here are my choices and predictions. Remember, my choices are constrained by the movies that I have seen. The predictions are based on both my own impressions of the movies/performances and my understanding of Academy voters' biases.

Best Picture: Predictions
The Aviator
Million Dollar Baby
Sideways
Finding Neverland
Kinsey
Best Picture: My Choices
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kill Bill-2
Finding Neverland
The Aviator
Before Sunset

Best Director: Predictions
Martin Scorsese (Aviator)
Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby)
Alexandar Payne (Sideways)
Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers)
Mike Nichols (Closer)
Best Director: My Choices
Martin Scorsese
Zhang Yimou
Marc Forster (Finding Neverland)
Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine)
Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill-2)

Best Actor in Leading Role- Male: Predictions
Leonardo DiCaprio (Aviator)
Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland)
Jamie Foxx (Ray)
Javier Bardem (The Sea Inside)
Paul Giamatti (Sideways)
Best Actor in Leading Role - Male: My Choices
Leonardo DiCaprio
Johnny Depp
Liam Neeson (Kinsey)
Paul Giamatti
Jamie Foxx (Collateral)

Best Actor in Leading Role - Female: Predictions
Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby)
Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake)
Annette Bening (Being Julia)
any two among Zhang Ziyi, Nicole Kidman, Kate Winslet and Uma Thurman
Best Actor in Leading Role - Female: My Choices
Zhang Ziyi (House of Flying Daggers)
Kate Winslet (Eternal Sunshine)
Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace)
Uma Thurman (Kill Bill-2)
Emma Watson (Harry Potter) (I know I know... but what the heck! its my list! I can indulge myself here!! :) )
And now that the list has turned into "I-have-a-crush-on-these-actresses" list, why leave Natalie out.. :) so...
Natalie Portman(Garden State)

So.. there you go... I must say that I haven't seen Million Dollar Baby, Closer, Ray, Vera Drake, Being Julia and The Sea Inside yet. I guess the two lists could've been more similar otherwise.

while on Miyazaki's art..

Another GREAT image. This one is from Castle in the Sky. Notice the robot with the birds around its head. Interaction between humans, technology and nature is a recurring theme in Miyazaki's movies.




Again, courtesy Studio Ghibli

Rediscovering Animation.

You have seen quite a few animation movies. Some of them ordinary (Shrek 2, for instance), some good (The Lion Kings and Aladdins of this world) and some stupendous (one word.... Pixar). And yet, if you haven't seen anything by Hayao Miyazaki yet, you have missed a completely different sub-genre of animation - the Epic Animation.

I don't know if its a genre patented by Miyazaki or most Japanese animation is like that but going by what I have heard/read about him, his work is as good as it gets in Japan, or anywhere else on the planet for that matter.

Miyazaki doesn't make your normal laugh-a-minute, cute action-adventures for kids (not that there's anything wrong with that. Pixar people do that brilliantly and who would want to miss their gems?). His style is different. Simpler in a way (he doesn't approve of computer animation and still makes the hand-drawn kind) and yet producing images that remain with you forever. And not just because they are beautiful and grand and bubbling with imagination but also because the pictures tell stories that are simple yet great.

I don't think I know enough about art to even attempt reviewing his work (or anybody else's) but you know you have seen something special when what you expected to be "just an animation movie" keeps coming back to you more than a week after you have seen it. I don't know if everyone would like them as much as I did. Maybe you'll find them good but not as great as others you might've seen. Maybe you'd be disappointed because you'll find that some of his work isn't quite as "entertaining" as, say, The Incredibles. But the fact that IMDb's top animation movies list has one of Miyazaki movies at no. 1, 2 in top 3, and 4 in top 9 gives me hope that a lot of people do like his work as much as I do. And the fact that he is considered a veritable movie-making God (animation or otherwise) in Japan must count for something too. Which reminds me of the little factoid that his Princess Mononoke was the highest grossing movie in Japan EVER before Titanic replaced it later that year. Which reminds me of the fact that Titanic's record was broken by another Miyazaki film - Spirited Away - when it released in 2001. Which reminds me to predict that his latest - Howl's Moving Castle - will take the mantle over very soon (actually it might already have done so. Last I checked, it had already collected more that $150 million and was moving relentlessly towards $200 million dollars without any sign of slowing down.) I am citing all these figures so that you don't misinterpret my raves about his art as an indicator that his work might not be "for the masses".

So, the next time you feel like watching a movie, get a Miyazaki movie regardless of whether you are in the mood to see a great piece of art or just want to have a good time with a light-hearted movie. Among the three that I have seen, I'd recommend that you see Castle in the Sky first. But don't miss the others too.




An image from Miyazaki's current release - Howl's Moving Castle.
courtesy: Studio Ghibli

Golden surprises!

Golden Globes winners have been declared! And some were real surprises! Leonardo DiCaprio took the trophy for The Aviator (superb movie, great acting but he wasn't frontrunner mainly because of other great performances in the fray). The movie itself won the best movie in drama category (ahead of widely tipped Million Dollar Baby).

But the news of the night, as far as I am concerned, is coming of age of our little Mathilda! Natalie Portman wins her first golden globe for Closer!! Here is one case of a talented teenager growing up and fulfiling the early promise shown unlike many others who end up with disappointing careers. She was sooo charming in Garden State and now a golden globe for Closer!! And lest I forget, there is a certain Revenge of the Sith about to release in a few months. What more could she ask for? An oscar maybe... :)

Natalie Portman zindabad!! :)

Hermione-Vicky madness!!

Emma says that Hermione is supposed to kiss Viktor Krum in the fourth movie!! I don't think Mike Newell and Steve Kloves love their lives much. Kiss??? Krum??? Hermione!!!!!

And from 0 km!!

Credit: ESA/NASA/University of Arizona