Oscars

So tomorrow is the big night. I'm missing a Say Anything show in Philly to see this so I'd better be pleased with the results. I can't wait to see what Chris Rock has to say, as I'm a HUGE fan of his. I'm sure he'll drop a few controversial remarks and some organization somewhere is sure to be pissed at him on Monday morning. But the reason for this post is my picks, so if there's any last minute pools you want to enter, here's what you need to know.
Best Animated Feature: The Incredibles
I absolutely loved this movie. Best animated movie since the Nightmare Before Christmas.
Best Visual Effects: Spider-man 2
Only reason I care about this category is so I can see my favorite movie of the year win something.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Sideways
I'm guessing this will follow last year's big indie picture, Lost in Translation and only win in the screenplay category. I'm not sure why. Maybe the Academy just values originality more in writing than film.
Best Original Screenplay: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
How this is not nominated for Best Picture is beyond me. The best film of 2004 had damn well better win SOMETHING. Oh yeah and Charlie Kaufman's a genius.
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett
She was phenomenal in the Aviator, and between this, the Life Aquatic, and Lord of the Rings, she's quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses (even though I'm almost always annoyed by her character when she first appears in a movie)
Best Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman
Yeah he's been better in other things, but this is his fourth nomination without a win yet and he's getting up in years so I think they'll give it to him this time since there's not really a stand-out in this category.
Best Actress: Hillary Swank
Her performance in Million Dollar Baby has Oscar written all over it. I'd go into further details but that'd give away too much of the movie. Just trust me on this one if you haven't seen it. (Personally I'd love to see Kate Winslet win this one but the smart money's on Swank)
Best Actor: Jamie Foxx
Biggest no-brainer of the night. He's probably already got a spot on the mantle cleared for it. Aside from Clint, every nominee in this category is playing a real person. Where Foxx stands out is that unlike the rest you don't once think of him as anyone aside from the person he's playing over the course of the movie. Add to that the fact that he's playing a blind heroin addict and you start to see why pretty much everyone's written this one off already.
Best Director: Martin Scorcese
I don't care that most people are calling Clint the favorite here. I don't care about the criticisms of the film being a little long and needing some of the fat trimmed. It is a CRIME that Marty has not won this award yet and I think this year they've got a good enough reason to finally give it to him (as opposed to 02's Gangs of New York).
Best Picture: The Aviator
My favorite of the films nominated. Ray and Finding Neverland are great films but not considered big contenders and Sideways is a little too offbeat and indie for the less hip members of the Academy. The biggest competition comes from Million Dollar Baby, but I think the Aviator's got the edge here.
So there you have it, and unlike Entertainment Weekly i won't even ask for a cut of the winnings.

DVD Shelf

If anyone's interested in checking my credentials as a film connoisseur, you can take a look at my dvd collection here. This should give you some insight to my tastes and what you can expect me to post about.

Hi

Well, this is my first post on here so I should probably lay out exactly what this blog will entail. Basically I'm just gonna provide news and reviews for any movie that interests me. Generally that includes movies that fall into the somewhat broad category of "Geek Movies" which ranges from everything from sci-fi flicks like Star Wars and Spider-man to low budget indie fare like Garden State and Sideways, and maybe the occasional horror movie (although that's not really my area of expertise). I'll also address upcoming films from my favorite actors and directors that might not necessarily be considered "indie" (seriously what does indie even mean anymore anyway?). To answer the obvious question, no I am not one of those guys that goes on movie sites and trashes everything in the talkback. I just figured it'd be a funny, ironic title that would give people an idea of the content I was going for.

To start with I'd like to take a brief look at 2 movies I've seen recently. If you take a look at the upcoming release schedule you can see how this will quickly turn into a blog focusing on future movies while the reviews will mostly take a backseat (yeah, this year's winter line-up is pathetic). So if you hate my review style, you won't have to see it again for a while. First up is this past weekend's release, Constantine. I was actually fortunate enough to see this in an advance screening conducted by the University a week before its release, and had the somewhat unique experience of seeing a movie before the reviews had come in, allowing me to completely take the movie as it was. As probably few people reading this know, Constantine is based on the comic series, Hellblazer. I admit, I've never read Hellblazer, even though many of my favorite writers have worked on the title. This is probably for the best, as many of the fans of the comic seem to be pretty disappointed by the film. Personally I had a great time and thought it was a thoroughly entertaining picture, with several jump-out-of-your-seat moments. It kinda drags a little at the end, but overall I thought it was very well done, if a little over-directed at times. The whole cast gives very good performances, including Keanu Reeves who is generally a questionable actor at best. For me the highlight of the movie was the unique and irreverant take on religous themes (think the Exorcist meets the Matrix meets Indiana Jones) and probably the best vision of Hell I've ever seen in a movie. Oh and that Vertigo logo at the beginning floored me. Hope we see that again.

Next up is Million Dollar Baby which I finally saw last night. Ok, this movie's been out for a while now, but with the Oscars next week, I wanted to comment on it since I always try to see all the Best Picture nominated films (still haven't seen Finding Neverland, but 4 out of 5 ain't bad). I really thought I had this movie figured out before even seeing it, but that turn in the third act completely hit me in the gut. I read plenty of reviews telling me that would happen, but I still didn't think it would. I was underwhelmed by Mystic River last year and expected the same reaction to Million Dollar Baby, so I was pleasantly surprised to be so affected by a movie that I really wasn't all that jazzed about going into. The 3 principle cast members give outstanding performances and I'm pretty sure now that Hillary Swank has that Best Actress Oscar in the bag (sorry Annette). Then there's Morgan Freeman, who I'd be happy to seen in any movie whether his role belongs in there or not (Robin Hood anyone?). He delivers another solid performance that's a little grittier than he normally plays. Overall I still think I'd give Best Picture to the Aviator (well, in a perfect world it would go to Eternal Sunshine), but the race in my mind at least is now a lot tighter.