Oscar Nominations 2006

Well, I got 35 out of 40 correct in the big categories. And I got the 3 animated features right too though those were pretty obvious.
And about the nominations:
- Very weird that they nominated William Hurt for supporting actor and not Maria Bello for supporting actress.
- Awesome to see Amy Adams and Keira Knightley nominated as I predicted.
- And it's very weird, but Munich got best picture, director and screenplay, yet it seems like everybody is putting it in 5th place in their lists.
- Revenge of the Sith is the first Star Wars movie that didn't get a nomination, pretty much because World of the Worlds got the nod and both were done by ILM and the Academy always gives each of the big companies one nod. WETA got teh nod for King Kong while Narnia was a mix of all of them.
- Walk the Line didn't get a best picture nod, nor director or screenplay, which makes me think that the Academy might go with Felicity Huffman for the win instead of the favorite, Reese Witherspoon. And we already know Joaquin Phoenix doesn't have a chance.
- Memoirs of a Geisha got a lot of technical nominations and nothing else.
- Hustle & Flow getting a best song nomination is great, hope it wins. And where did that Crash song come from? Haven't heard it yet, but great to not see Alanis nominated for her Narcia closing credits song.
- Brokeback Mountain leads everybody with 8 nominations despite not getting a nod for editing.

Anyway, on to the actual nominations:

PICTURE
"Brokeback Mountain" - Focus Features
"Capote" - Sony Picture Classics
"Crash" - Lionsgate
"Good Night, and Good Luck" - Warner Independent Pictures
"Munich" - Universal Pictures and Dreamworks Pictures

ACTOR
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote"
Terrence Howard, "Hustle & Flow"
Heath Ledger, "Brokeback Mountain"
Joaquin Phoenix, "Walk the Line"
David Strathairn, "Good Night, and Good Luck"

ACTRESS
Dame Judi Dench, "Mrs. Henderson Presents"
Felicity Huffman, "Transamerica"
Keira Knightley, "Pride & Prejudice"
Charlize Theron, "North Country"
Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line"

SUPPORTING ACTOR
George Clooney, "Syriana"
Matt Dillon, "Crash"
Paul Giamatti, "Cinderella Man"
Jake Gyllenhaal, "Brokeback Mountain"
William Hurt, "A History of Violence"

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, "Junebug"
Catherine Keener, "Capote"
Frances McDormand, "North Country"
Rachel Weisz, "The Constant Gardener"
Michelle Williams, "Brokeback Mountain"

DIRECTOR
George Clooney, "Good Night, and Good Luck"
Paul Haggis. "Crash"
Ang Lee, "Brokeback Mountain"
Bennet Miller, "Capote"
Steven Spielberg, "Munich"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Crash," Bobby Moresco and Paul Haggis
"Good Night, and Good Luck," Grant Heslov and George Clooney
"Match Point," Woody Allen
"The Squid and the Whale," Noah Baumbach
"Syriana," Stephen Gaghan

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"Brokeback Mountain," Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana
"Capote," Dan Futterman
"The Constant Gardener," Jeffrey Caine
"A History of Violence," Josh Olson
"Munich," Tony Kushner and Eric Roth

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year:
"Howl's Moving Castle" Hayao Miyazaki
"Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" Tim Burton and Mike Johnson
"Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit" Nick Park and Steve Box

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:
"Don't Tell" Italy
"Joyeux Noël" France
"Paradise Now" Palestinian Authority
"Sophie Scholl - The Final Days" Germany
"Tsotsi" South Africa

Achievement in Art Direction
"Good Night, and Good Luck."
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"
"King Kong"
"Memoirs of a Geisha"
"Pride & Prejudice"

Achievement in Cinematography
"Batman Begins" Wally Pfiste
"Brokeback Mountain" Rodrigo Prieto
"Good Night, and Good Luck." Robert Elswit
"Memoirs of a Geisha" Dion Beebe
"The New World" Emmanuel Lubezki

Achievement in Costume Design
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
"Memoirs of a Geisha"
"Mrs. Henderson Presents"
"Pride & Prejudice"
"Walk the Line"

Best Documentary Feature
"Darwin's Nightmare"
"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room"
"March of the Penguins"
"Murderball"
"Street Fight"

Best Documentary Short Subject
"The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty Dan Krauss of the Bang Bang Club"
"God Sleeps in Rwanda"
"The Mushroom Club"
"A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age Corinne Marrinan and Eric Simonson of Norman Corwin"

Achievement in Film Editing
"Cinderella Man"
"The Constant Gardener"
"Crash"
"Munich"
"Walk the Line"

Achievement in Makeup
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"
"Cinderella Man"
"Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith"

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
"Brokeback Mountain" Gustavo Santaolalla
"The Constant Gardener" Alberto Iglesias
"Memoirs of a Geisha" John Williams
"Munich" John Williams
"Pride & Prejudice" Dario Marianelli

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
"In the Deep" from "Crash"
"It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from "Hustle & Flow"
"Travelin' Thru" from "Transamerica"

Best Animated Short Film
"Badgered"
"The Moon and the Son: An Imagined John Canemaker and Peggy Stern Conversation"
"The Mysterious Geographic Explorations Anthony Lucas of Jasper Morello"
"9"
"One Man Band"

Best Live Action Short Film
"Ausreisser (The Runaway)"
"Cashback"
"The Last Farm"
"Our Time Is Up"
"Six Shooter"

Achievement in Sound Editing
"King Kong"
"Memoirs of a Geisha"
"War of the Worlds"

Achievement in Sound Mixing
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"
"King Kong"
"Memoirs of a Geisha"
"Walk the Line"
"War of the Worlds"

Achievement in Visual Effects
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"
"King Kong"
"War of the Worlds"

Oscar Nominations 2006 Predictions

Nominations in 5 minutes. These are my predictions:

Best Picture:
Brokeback Mountain
Good Night, and Good Luck
Crash
Capote
Walk the Line

Best Director:
Ang Lee
George Clooney
Paul Haggis
Steven Spielberg
David Cronenberg

Best Actor:
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Heath Ledger
Joaquin Phoenix
David Strathairn
Terrence Howard (or Russell Crowe, but I'm going with Terrence)

Best Actress:
Reese Witherspoon
Felicity Huffman
Charlize Theron
Dame Judy Dench
Keira Knightley (I'm going with her but It'll probably be Ziyi Zhang)

Supporting Actor:
Paul Giamatti
Jake Gyllenhaal
George Clooney
Matt Dillon
Bob Hoskins (or Howard if he doesnt get best actor, but Im going with Hoskins)

Supporting Actress:
Maria Bello
Michelle Williams
Amy Adams
Rachel Weisz
Catherine Keener

Original Screenplay:
Match Point
Good Night, and Good Luck
Crash
The Squid and the Whale
Cinderella Man (or Syriana but I think it won't get enough votes)

Adapted Screenplay:
Brokeback Mountain
Munich
Capote
The Constant Gardener
A History of Violence

Animated Feature:
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Howl's Moving Castle
Wallace and Gromit

Match Point

If you thought Woody Allen was back after his early 2005's great tragicomedy Melinda & Melinda, you were so wrong. Now Match Point is a comeback to form, a work of art and just a tremendous film I didn't know Woody was able to give create. It's not amazingly original like to get an Award for it, but that because a few (and maybe just 2) other original scripts are better, but it's very nomination worthy.

Match Point is a thriller, a romantic thriller. It's very smart and leaves a couple questions unanswered and that are to tertiary you won't even notice them on your first viewing (at least it took me more than one).
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers plays Chris Wilton, a young retired tennis player who was a pro but left the tour not because of injuries, but because he knew he couldn't be on the same level as Agassi, he says. He also mentions Greg Rusedski but I didn't he meant it 'not even as Rusedski' who was obviously not in the same level as Andre. And way to go Woody, mentioning 2 players who are no longer playing, but hey, he made the movie last year and at least Agassi was still active so the whole thing is maybe 25% ok.
Anyway, sorry for the tennis talk (though tennis is part of the movie), but Chris is now a tennis instructor in a big name club and there is where he meets Matthew Goode's Tom Hewett, with he hits it off (not in a gay way though it kind of looks like it) right from the start due to their love for opera, and after meeting the family Chris gets invited to their country house where he starts a relationship with Tom's sister Chloe, played by the delightful Emily Mortimer, whose part in that disaster called Formula 51 is pretty much the only low point of her career (2005's Dear Frankie was excellent btw).
But that's not all, as in that same visit to the country house Chris meets Nola Rice, a young American with whom he immediately flirts, the tension is palpable, right there he learns that Nola is Tom's fiance, a failed actress with a very low self esteem when somebody talks about her career.

This whole thing with Nola is a problem, because Chris will eventually marry Chloe (who gets immediately crazy about having a baby right after getting married) but he has Nola always in mind. An affair in imminent, but before that we get one of the best scenes in the movie, and there are many, but in this one, Chris and Nola walk into each other on the street and go to a bar for a drink after one of Nola's blown auditions.
They are sitting at a table, drinking, she's smoking, and they are talking about the effect Nola has on men, and how sexy she is, and then they talk about their respective partners, how they met and if it was love at first sight. "He was handsome", she says about Tom. "She's sweet", he says about Chloe. And they stare at each other, and that leaves the door very open for what will happen later, which they will spend the entire movie trying to keep hidden from the other members of the family.

But this is a thriller, and that comes when it gets increasingly difficult for Chris to keep up with Nola on one side and the Hewett's on the other. After all, getting married to Chloe means that he's very well liked by mom Eleanor (Shaun's mom Penelope Wilton) and also by mighty rich dad Alec (a back to his normal shape Brian Cox). Chris gets an easy and high paid job, a car and chauffer, secretary, expense accounts, and of course the access to the country house, which has all the commodities he never had. Can he give all this up for Nola? Tough choice.

The tour de force performance everybody talks about (including the award givers) is that of the amazingly hot Scarlett Johansson as Nola. She's sexy and beautiful, and just perfect, but Nola gets difficult and clingy towards the end and so she loses likeability. And Rhys-Meyers' performance is more than great in the lead, especially in the gripping and highly tense scenes at the end when the movie reaches its higher levels of greatness.
But there's also the Woody Allen tough of course. He found a very nice spot in London that works just like his high class Manhattan neighborhoods he always used (remember that he got tired of it seems and decided to go across the Atlantic and make movies in England and at least one in Spain as of right now). It's London of course, but it's Woody's London.
And the music is also his touch, the beautiful opera sound every now and then even when it's not featured.
The acting, the writing and everything else, Match Point is what Woody is capable of these days, and it's magnificent.

Underworld: Evolution

Kate Beckinsale is back in leather and fangs for Underworld: Evolution, the sequel to the Vampires versus Lycans action hit from a few years ago. This time around, without having to introduce anything new, director Len Wiseman is able to make an easier to follow story by just having the entire history of his universe plus the whole first movie, all in the first 15 minutes, via narration and showing some key shots, and so that sets us up for what's to come, which is non-stop action, gore, and almost naked Kate. The result is a better movie that expands what we knew and though it ends with everything pretty much explained and done, there is hope for this to be a trilogy and that third outing really can't get here any faster.

After the summary we start this one right where left off the last time, which Kate's Selene having just killed Viktor (Bill Nighy) and now on the run from those who are sure to want to get revenge for killing one of the powerful ancestors. Scott Speedman's Michael, who is now a hybrid (originally lycan now mixed with vampire) with unknown abilities and maybe unlimited power is with her, and they start kind of cold, mostly because of the shock of what they just did and running away, but then they get close again and the love is palpable. No real nudity, but Wiseman gives us a really erotic sex scene between the two of them, especially awesome because Beckinsale is his real life wife.
While that happens, vampire traitor and second in command Kraven (Shane Brolly), goes back to the mansion to destroy Marcus (Tony Curran), or his body actually which is in his tomb waiting to be waken up some day. But when he gets there and opens the tomb there's nothing there. If you remember, the first movie ended with the scientist lycan dying on the floor and his blood ran through the cracks and so now Marcus is alive again, more powerful than before, and wanting to get his sweet revenge. Not on Selene for killing Viktor though, it's more of a general revenge on his race for what happened in the past, which we learned at the beginning of the movie.

It turns out that, as we all know, at the top of the pyramid was Alexander Corvinus (Derek Jacobi) who had 2 sons. One them was Marcus and he was bit by a bat, and went on to be the royalty of the vampires under the command of Viktor who was the warrior and leader. The other son was William, and he was bit by a wolf, and went on to lead the lycans in battle, but they were different lycans back then. Once bitten, they couldn't go back to their human form.
At one point Viktor finally captured William, but since he was also royalty, even being a lycan, he didn't kill him but put him in a tomb in a cave with a lock he could only open, and Marcus always resented him for that, and has always wanted to set his brother free again. The lock consists of 2 parts, one is inside Viktor himself (easy to access now that he's dead), but the other part is a medallion Viktor gave his daughter, the one that fell in love with the lycan Lucious (Michael Sheen) and was sacrificed by Viktor because of it. But Lucious kept the medallion, which he ended up giving to Michael at the end of the first movie, and so that's what Marcus is looking for now. Plus the blood of Selene, so he can get her memories, and this is because she is the only living person who knows where the tomb is, since she was there when she was a kid with her father, who was the one that made it, and that's why Viktor killed him and all of Selene's family, because they knew, but since he didn't have a daughter no more, he took mercy on Selene and let her live, and that's how the whole circle ends is complete.

Yes, I know that was too long maybe but I absolutely love the story and everything Wiseman and his co-creators Danny McBride (who wrote the screenplay) and Kevin Grevioux have done with this movies. The action, the gadgets, the style, the pacing, the effects and the characters, everything is great in Underworld: Evolution, and hopefully what's best is yet to come.

Golden Globe 2006 Results

Here are the Golden Globe 2006 winners and some comments:

Best Picture Drama - Brokeback Mountain
Best Picture Comedy/Musical - Walk the Line

Best Director - Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain

Best Actor in a Drama - Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical - Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line

Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical - Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line
Best Actress in a Drama - Felicity Huffman - Transamerica

Best Supporting Actor - George Clooney - Syriana
Best Supporting Actress - Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener

Best Screenplay - Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana - Brokeback Mountain

Best Foreign Language Film - Paradise Now (Palestine)

Best Original Score - John Williams - Memoirs of a Geisha
Best Original Song - 'A Love That Will Never Grow Old' from Brokeback Mountain


I got 9 correct out of the 13 categories, with winning predictions for the best pictures, director, and the 4 lead performance awards.

With Brokeback Mountain winning screenplay, it's even more of a lock for the Oscar now. But I was really surprised it won though, and I actually thought it had no chance. That Crash didn't win anything at all is a bad sign for the Oscars, but it's still a lock for nominations in picture and original screenplay, and I'm going with it to win the last one, even with Syriana now being put in that category instead of adapted which is what everybody thought it was.

And Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor drama as expected, but his speech kind of sucked, and that counts. And I'm still going with Ledger for the Oscar, though I may reconsider depending on the SAG results. Both of them will get Oscar noms of course, as will Joaquin, Felicity and Reese, and then Weisz and Clooney for supporters. And since we are in the subject, these supporting winners mean nothing because if you remember last year, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen won for Close and then they lost at the Oscars. Plus I’m hoping my number one pick Amy Adams gets a shot at the big one.

In the smaller categories, Paradise Now won as expected and will go to win it all on the big night. I hope buzz changes from John Williams and Gustavo Santaolalla gets stronger support for best score. Brokeback winning best original song at the Globes means nothing because the song is not eligible for the Oscars.

The Screen Actors Guild awards are on the 29th, and then the Oscar noms are on the 31st, my nomination predictions will come on the 30th. I pretty much have them all in my mind, but I want to be sure about the supporters, especially how much love the Crash guys get.

Golden Globe 2006 Predictions

This Monday the 16th the Foreign Press will announce their Golden Globe winners in their annual gala, and here are my predictions. The Globes are the most important awards after the Oscars, and even though they sometimes go different ways, the Globes always end up helping someone's chances to get nominated or win later at the Oscars if it is a close race.

Best Original Song should go to A Love That Will Never Grow Old from Brokeback Mountain, though they will probably go with Alanis Morissette and her Narnia song Wunderkind. Mostly because of the big name she is. Remember last year when they gave it to Mick Jagger for the Alfie song and then he didn't get an Oscar nom. That sucked though, because the song ruled and deserved to win, but the point is that the Globes like to go with a big name (Bono was a winner too a few years ago and then lost the Oscar to Eminem).
Hakeem's Prediction: Alanis Morissette's Wunderkind from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Best Original Score should go to Gustavo Santaolalla's sublime work in Brokeback. The way he played just the right tunes when the lead characters interacted with each other gave their love even more resonance. John Williams has had the most buzz so far having scored three big movies this year, and his Memoirs of a Geisha one was probably the best of them (War of the Worlds and Munich were also his). The award will go to him this time, but expect Santaolalla to take the big one home next month.
Hakeem's Prediction: John Williams for Memoirs of a Geisha.

Best Foreign Film should go to Kung Fu Hustle, even though it was originally released years ago and it's not eligible for this year’s Oscar. But it got released here in the States this year so it qualifies for the Globes, and it's my favorite of the ones nominated. Not sure why OldBoy wasn't nominated, or The Edukators, Downfall or 2046. Very weird nominations. Anyway, the Globe will go to Paradise Now or Tsotsy, two very important movies. Of the two I've only seen Paradise Now and it's excellent, and I'm making it my pick for the fact that many other movies this year have included Palestinian suicide bombers (like Syriana and Munich), but none of them was as good as this one.
Hakeem's Prediction: Paradise Now from Palestine.

Best Screenplay will be all about Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco's work in Crash, a movie that despite being released early in the year, has had very strong legs and it's pretty much a lock for an Oscar nom. Nobody will probably go with Haggis as a director being that this is his first big job behind the camera, and they snubbed him last year for his Million Dollar Baby screenplay so this year they are giving it to him no matter what. Munich and Brokeback have no chance here, especially with Crash being an original work. Woody Allen's Match Point should have a chance. This is his best work in years it seems and the screenplay is always his strongest work, but there's no buzz. That he came back with something great and was nominated is award enough I think. The only one that could upset Crash is George Clooney for Good Night, and Good Luck, mostly because Clooney should end the night with at least one award, and this is his best chance, a politically charged script that he also directed. Still, I'm predicting he'll win none.
Hakeem's Prediction: Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco for Crash.

Best Supporting Actress is an easy category, especially since my favorite one, Amy Adams in Junebug, was criminally omitted, so they are most likely going with Michelle Williams' work in Brokeback. She's new to this, and she's young and her performance was excellent even if it was kind of smallish. I did not like Frances McDormand's work (North Country), nor Rachel Weisz's (The Constant Gardener), whose character I actually hated, but I did not like their movies so I guess that doesn't help. Shirley MacLaine was good in In Her Shoes, a movie I really liked, but I felt that both Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette gave better performances.
Hakeem's Prediction: Michelle Williams for Brokeback Mountain.

Best Supporting Actor should go to Matt Dillon. His was my favorite performance in Crash and it's his strongest work in a very long career where he's done pretty much everything. I was actually surprised that they nominated him though, but it makes total sense. This is a tough category since everybody is nominating very different people. Will Ferrell (The Producers) has no chance though, nor Bob Hoskins for Mrs. Henderson Presents, unless he wins and then he’s a front-runner for the Oscar. The other two spots are Clooney for Syriana and Paul Giamatti for Cinderella Man. Again, Clooney should win something, though for this would be wrong, because his character was a lead in the movie. Giamatti lost best actor last year here and then was snubbed of an Oscar nom, so maybe the Globes will give it to him this time to cement his chances for an Oscar. I liked his performance, worthy of a nomination I mentioned in my review, but he needed a big scene that would make you give him the award. The again, I said the same thing about Morgan Freeman last year and he won the Oscar (though not the Globe).
Hakeem's Prediction: Matt Dillon for Crash.

Best Actress in a Drama I can't really call, because I haven't seen Felicity Huffman's work in TransAmerica, the front-runner so far. Of the rest, I absolutely loved Gwyneth Paltrow in Proof, and it's one of my top three female performances of the year, but the movie didn't make any money and has had no buzz, so we can probably count her out. Then we have Maria Bello for A History of Violence, where hers was a very strong but supporting performance; Ziyi Zhang for Memoirs of a Geisha, where she was overshadowed by Michelle Yeoh's fantastic work; and Charlize Theron for North Country, which was a great performance in a movie I didn't like. Plus none of them have had any buzz lately. Felicity Huffman's had all the buzz needed (though not as much as Witherspoon, thank God she's in the other category), and the role (that of a transsexual) looks and sounds like it works and it's very strong, so I'm going with her (plus she won't win for her TV role in Desperate Housewives so this one is for her).
Hakeem's Prediction: Felicity Huffman for TransAmerica.

Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical will definitely go to Reese Witherspoon for her excellent portrayal of June Carter in Walk the Line. She sings in the movie, and cries and she's tough and she has an accent to do. It's just perfect. The other big reason she'll win is because none of the other performances is even close enough to hers. Sarah Jessica Parker being here is just the Foreign Press showing her love (she's been nominated like 8 straight years now, tying Nicole Kidman I think who had the same support last year with that Birth nomination). Yes, she gives the best performance in The Family Stone, but it's not a lead role, they were all supporting there, so she's out here. Laura Linney the same, great performance, but supporting, and it's worst that Parker because Jeff Daniels and the kids were better than her. Then Judy Dench and Keira Knightley, the only ones that could upset Reese. I don't think the Dame will be able to pull it off, just because Mrs. Henderson Presents has received mediocre reviews at best (I haven't seen the movie so I can't give an opinion performance wise). Knightley on the other hand, I saw and was delighted. She's breathtaking in Pride & Prejudice, and the movie has received excellent reviews all stating that she's great. With so few great female performances this year, there's some talk of Keira upsetting Reese and then P&P taking the big award from Walk the Line, but I just don't see it.
Hakeem's Prediction: Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line.

Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical will go to Joaquin Phoenix. Now, I don't think at all that his performance is better Jamie Foxx's last year, but Joaquin does his own singing in Walk the Line, and that has to count for something. Still, Phoenix is just great in the movie, and he doesn't have much competition to tell you the truth. Johnny Depp is out, this was a weird nom for portraying a totally weird character, which is good, but there's no way they are giving him the award. His Michael Jackson's Willy Wonka is not in the same league as his Keith Richards' Captain Jack Sparrow. Then Cillian Murphy is nominated just because the role is difficult, another transsexual. But Breakfast on Pluto has received bad reviews, and there's no buzz for him so he's out. Nathan Lane being here is just like Kevin Spacey's nom last year. There's a musical, they need to nominate its people, but Lane's performance is not worthy of awards. Pierce Brosnan being nominated is just great, though again not worthy of an award. But I'm glad he's here because his work in The Matador is great, and totally against his usual James Bond, and Thomas Crow, and that After the Sunset guy. The only possible upset could be by Jeff Daniels for his excellent performance in The Squid and the Whale, a movie I loved (number 27 in my best of the year list) and thought it was better than Walk the Line. And Daniels has had a career where he's done everything (just to think that he was in Dumb and Dumber) and this would be a good tie to reward him and give him a much needed boost for the Oscars. I'm predicting that the Foreign Press will go with Walk the Line all the way but if they don't, then Daniels is winning this one.
Hakeem's Prediction: Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line.

Best Actor in a Drama is the toughest call of the night. Cinderella Man's Russell Crowe is out, as is Terrence Howard for Hustle & Flow. I would love for him to win which would probably get him an Oscar nom, but I don't think so. Then one of the locks for an Oscar nom is David Strathairn for Good Night, and Good Luck. I don't really love his performance of Ed Murrow. It's very blank and monotonous. And critics have loved him so far, but they are all going with Philip Seymour Hoffman and his spot on, creepy wonderful performance of Truman Capote in Capote, another movie I didn't love. My personal pick is Heath Ledger and his mind-blowing work in Brokeback Mountain, where he's just perfect. The thing is that Hoffman deserves an award, there's no doubt about that, and the Foreign Press will give him the Globe, but I don't think he'll get the Oscar next month. The big one will go to Ledger who gives a better performance with a more difficult role, and is a character more likeable than Hoffman's. You leave Capote not liking him, and that's going to influence the voters towards Ledger's (without saying too much so I don't spoil it) heartbroken ending.
Hakeem's Prediction: Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote.

Best Director will go to Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain. He's won all the other critics' awards, and he's loved by the Foreign Press having nominated him for Sense and Sensibility and giving him the Globe for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (btw, all his great work gets awarded every 5 years it seems, 1996, 2001 and now in 2006). The other nominees are all out of the picture except for George Clooney who has a minimal chance, but again, because of the fact that he has 3 noms and should win one. But he won't be able to pull it off, Ang Lee is just too strong. Then Woody Allen could have a chance, he's nominated for directing and for the screenplay, and Match Point is nominated for best picture and Scarlett is nominated too, but there's no buzz for him, especially in the Best Screenplay category, so a directing award seems pretty impossible. Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are out just because King Kong and Munich didn't get a best picture nom (and pretty weird that David Cronenberg didn't get a nom since his A History of Violence is nominated). And then Fernando Meirelles for The Constant Gardener, another movie I didn't like. Politically charged and important, but Weisz's character I totally hated and that hurt my view of the movie. The movie did get a best picture nom, and Weisz did get nominated, but the screenplay and Ralph Fiennes were overlooked, so I'm counting Meirelles out.
Hakeem's Prediction: Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain.


Best Picture Musical/Comedy is a weak category. The Producers was bad I thought and it's here because it's a musical. The Squid and the Whale didn't get its screenplay nominated, the best thing it has, so it's here just because there's nothing else to nominate. The same goes to Mrs. Henderson Presents. Bad reviews, and no support for acclaimed director Stephen Frears, but it's European so that gave it the spot. Again, there's talk of a Pride & Prejudice upset, and even though I loved the movie and though it was better than Walk the Line, there's no way the Johnny Cash biopic is not winning. Ok, so no love for director James Mangold (who didn't impress me at all), but the movie will win the acting awards so this is pretty much a lock.
Hakeem's Prediction: Walk the Line.

Best Picture Drama will go indisputably to Brokeback Mountain. Is the most awarded movie of the year by the critics, and it's had all the buzz in the world. It's an important movie, revolutionary even, that everybody is respecting and giving it their praise. Plus it'll win awards for all its nominated performances and its director, so there's no way it's losing here. Good Night, and Good Luck is a distant second, especially with Munich not nominated. And btw, I'm not liking how some of the press is pushing for Munich lately. They didn't even like it judging by the mostly mediocre reviews and a rotten rating from the big name critics.
But whatever, it's not here, and so Clooney's movie is the only possible upset, but the movie is just so small that I think it's impossible. Then it's Match Point, which's gotten a ton of nominations but mostly because everybody is happy Woody Allen is back; then it's The Constant Gardener which did not get enough noms like to do any fighting here; and finally A History of Violence with pretty much the same problem, no Cronenberg, no screenplay, and no Viggo Mortensen.
Hakeem's Prediction: Brokeback Mountain.

Last Holiday

Queen Latifah stars as Georgia Byrd in Last Holiday, a remake of the Alec Guinness 1950's movie, this time switching genders to make it about a woman who's done nothing in her life other than follow orders and always being in the background. She works at a chain story kitchen department selling cooking products and showing people how to cook them. She also dreams of being a chef one day, though that would probably never happen, until one day, when she finally decides to talk to the guy she likes. The whole thing ends up in a mess, with Georgia hitting her head against a counter, taken to the clinic and diagnosed with a fatal problem in her head. She has only 3 weeks to live, so she quits the job she hates, sells everything she has and flies to Prague and stays in the Grand Hotel Pupp, the place she's always dreamed of visiting, where she'll meet one her idols, and enjoy life, at least what's left of it.

Despite looking silly from the outside, the movie it's actually good, and very enjoyable. Director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club, Maid in Manhattan) and writers Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman (both wrote How the Grinch Stole Christmas and are writing the upcoming Shrek 3) have a made a very nice holiday movie with sweet characters (like Gerard Depardieu's Chef Didier, a famous chef Georgia absolutely loves) and European locations that give the movie class.
It's got some slapstick comedy in it too, like Georgia snowboarding down a mountain or base-jumping, but other than that is just her enjoying herself and making very rich friends by just being herself. Timothy Hutton plays Matthew Kragen, the owner of the chain store company Georgia worked at, who just happens to be visiting the same hotel she's at with the New Orleans' Senator Dillings (played by Giancarlo Esposito). Kragen is accompanied by his secretary/secret lover Ms. Burns (played by Alicia Witt) who is very bitchy at first but then ends up being friends with Georgia. And LL Cool J reappears towards the end for the happy ending as Sean Matthews, Georgia's love interest back at the company.

A simple short story, very nicely done and sweet, the movie works just fine with good performances all around led by Queen Latifah's highly likeable personality. Last Holiday is different than the commercials and ads make you think, it's better, and it's a good movie.

Hostel

Eli Roth has a sick mind, very sick. Hostel is his follow up to 2002's Cabin Fever, a movie I did not like, but it had some nice ideas and very nice gore. Now this one, this one is something else, this one will make young Americans totally avoid going backpacking to Eastern Europe for a while, as our heroes Jay Hernandez's Paxton and Derek Richardson's Josh meet with Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson), a crazy Icelander, and together travel through Europe in search for sex, booze and more sex. They find all that of course, because there's a saying that "if you ask 20 women in any European city to fuck you, at least one of them will", but they also find something they hope they had never found.

There's a torture house, but the people in there are nice. They are in Bratislava, Slovakia, and they put you in a nice hotel, let you stay in the same room with beautiful naked women (check out the gorgeous and amazingly hot Natalya, played by Barbara Nedeljakova), they let you fuck these wonderful young women the first night, but the next night prepare because they are going to kidnap you, strap you to a chair, and then they are going to fuck you in the ass. Not literally though, but what happens to you could be anything, literally. And the reason why it all happens it's great so I won't spoil it.

But the movie starts with the guys partying and trying to get laid, and we get nudity, lots of it. And once the torture begins the movie is a feast for any horror fan. The things put in there are homage to Takashi Miike's work (especially Audition), but it's also from Roth own rotten mind. For example, and the only thing I'll mention (it's much better to experience these things than to read them here), it's a scene involving an eyeball that almost kills you of how much disgusting it is. And it's amazing.

Quentin Tarantino produced the movie and "presents" it even though it's not his movie. He does it because the movie really deserves to be seen and his name there will probably attract lots of people. For those that get scared easily and want some laughs, the movie delivers too. There's the classic guys banter, and there's also a bunch of creepy kids that show up every now and then asking for money and they are hilarious.
The excellent make-up effects by Greg Nicotero (Land of the Dead, Kill Bill, Sin City) make for so much good, realistic gore, and the atmosphere and tension Roth creates once the characters get to the torture house is truly terrifying. Hostel is fucking sick, and that's a very good thing. My hat (if I'd wear one) is off to you, Eli Roth. Can't wait for what you have in store for us next.

Grandma's Boy

A guy you've seen in every Adam Sandler movie but you don't know his name stars in Grandma's Boy, a movie that combines videogames and weed, David Spade, Rob Schneider and Kevin Nealon (though sadly no Sandler), and a fat guy sucking a hooker's tit for 13 straight hours. Directed by Nicholaus Goossen, and written by Barry Wernick, Nick Swardson and aforementioned unknown actor who's actually called Allen Covert, this is a very funny geek stoner comedy that with a simple story and many idiotic characters, makes for a movie that delivers exactly what it wants, and that is laughs. Some stupid, some disgusting, but still laughs, and many of them.

After Covert's titular character named Alex gets kicked out of his house, he ends up living with his grandma Lilly (played by Doris Roberts), and her two roommates Grace (Shelley Knight), an old lady who used to hand job Charlie Chaplin, and Bea (Shirley Jones), who is kind of Anchorman’s Brick but very old and female. Alex is 35 years old and works at a videogame company as a tester (it's what he loves, so no problem there), and he's the very best one there, and a master gamer. With him work his friend Jeff (played by stand up comic Swardson) and a bunch of other guys like Jonah Hill's Barry the aforementioned fat guy (also the fat guy trying to buy boots at the eBay store in The 40 Year Old Virgin), and Kelvin Yu's Kane, the token Asian guy with the pimped out car. There's a million funny lines, and there's hotness from Linda Cardellini's Samantha, the guys' new boss, but most of the laughs come from Joel Moore who plays J.P., the genius that develops the games there, a totally introverted guy who sounds like Napoleon Dynamite when he's not talking like a robot, all while wearing a long black coat pretending to be Neo and being in the matrix. The guy is pretty impossible to completely describe but he's really funny.
There's also Peter Dante, another Sandler regular who here plays Dante, the stoner who gets Alex the weed, many different kind of weed, and he's also into animals, as we see him getting first a lion from Africa, and then a monkey whom he teaches karate.

If you are wondering, the movie does have a plot that they put to work by the end of the movie about J.P. stealing a prototype videogame Alex had been working on for years. But before that is all jokes and videogames and weed, and it works, Grandma's Boy looks stupid, and don't get me wrong, it is, but is still funny, and it's probably even funnier if you know your videogames and watch it stoned.