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Monday 8th March 2010, 11:33
Oscars: Who won what
Well, what a ceremony. Was it? Well, not that many memorable moments. George Clooney's face looked sour during Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin's berating of him at the start. The hosts were quite amusing, but there wasn't the gusto of a Billy Crystal-style uber-pastiche, or a Hugh Jackman song-and-dance number (which they handed over to Neil Patrick Harris). None of the speeches were all that amusing. When the most interesting speech is Christoph Waltz likening his film to a ship, you know it probably wasn't worth staying up all night for.
That said, great news for The Hurt Locker, yah boo sucks to Avatar, which won for anything technical and visual (though not even the sound awards) but that's it. Maybe it would have had a shot at Best Foreign Language if it had been put in for that.
And the Brits came away sadly empty-handed. Much as we were rooting for Colin Firth, Carey Mulligan (and An Education generally), Helen Mirren, Nick Park (for Wallace & Gromit's A Matter of Loaf and Death), and Armando Ianucci & co (for In The Loop's screenplay). We'll satisfy ourselves with The Young Victoria's Best Costumes. It's all we wanted anyway.
Here's the list...
BEST PICTURE Winner: The Hurt Locker Avatar The Blind Side District 9 An Education Inglourious Basterds Precious A Serious Man Up Up in the Air
BEST DIRECTOR Winner: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) James Cameron (Avatar) Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) Lee Daniels (Precious) Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
BEST ACTOR Winner: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) George Clooney (Up in the Air) Colin Firth (A Single Man) Morgan Freeman (Invictus) Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
BEST ACTRESS Winner: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) Helen Mirren (The Last Station) Carey Mulligan (An Education) Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Winner: Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) Matt Damon (Invictus) Woody Harrelson (The Messenger) Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Winner: Mo'Nique (Precious) Penelope Cruz (Nine) Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart) Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Winner: El Secreto de Sus Ojos - The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina) Ajami (Israel) The Milk of Sorrow (Peru) Un Prophete - A Prophet (France) The White Ribbon (Germany)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Winner: Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman (The Messenger) Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (A Serious Man) Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy (Up)
BEST ANIMATION Winner: Up Coraline Fantastic Mr Fox The Princess and the Frog The Secret of Kells
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Winner: Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire) Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell (District 9) Nick Hornby (An Education) Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche (In the Loop) Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air)
BEST ART DIRECTION Winner: Avatar The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Nine Sherlock Holmes The Young Victoria
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Winner: Avatar Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds The White Ribbon
BEST SOUND MIXING The winner: The Hurt Locker Avatar Inglourious Basterds Star Trek Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
BEST SOUND EDITING The winner: The Hurt Locker Avatar Inglourious Basterds Star Trek Up
BEST ORIGINAL SONG Winner: The Weary Kind (theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart by Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett Almost There from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman Down in New Orleans from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman Loin de Paname from Paris 36 by Reinhardt Wagner, Frank Thomas Take It All from Nine by Maury Yeston
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Winner: Up (Michael Giacchino) Avatar (James Horner) Fantastic Mr Fox (Alexandre Desplat) The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders) Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)
BEST COSTUMES Winner: The Young Victoria Bright Star Coco Before Chanel The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Nine
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE The winner: The Cove Burma VJ Food, Inc. The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers Which Way Home
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT Winner: Music by Prudence China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant Rabbit a la Berlin
BEST FILM EDITING The winner: The Hurt Locker Avatar District 9 Inglourious Basterds Precious
BEST MAKE-UP Winner: Star Trek Il Divo The Young Victoria
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM Winner: Logorama French Roast Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) A Matter of Loaf and Death
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM Winner: The New Tenants The Door Instead of Abracadabra Kavi Miracle Fish
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Winner: Avatar District 9 Star Trek
Wednesday 3rd February 2010, 02:15
The Oscar shortlist
The Oscar shortlist has been announced. Here they be, along with predictions from Movie Banter's Paul Kerensa (marked PK), or at least what should win, even if it won't. I've gone a bit Brit-heavy, so I'm only lying to myself. Results announced on March 7th...
BEST PICTURE Avatar The Blind Side District 9 An Education The Hurt Locker - PK Inglourious Basterds Precious A Serious Man Up Up in the Air
BEST DIRECTOR James Cameron (Avatar) Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) - PK Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) Lee Daniels (Precious) Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
BEST ACTOR Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) - PK George Clooney (Up in the Air) Colin Firth (A Single Man) Morgan Freeman (Invictus) Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)
BEST ACTRESS Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) Helen Mirren (The Last Station) Carey Mulligan (An Education) - PK Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Matt Damon (Invictus) Woody Harrelson (The Messenger) Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones) - PK Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Penelope Cruz (Nine) Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart) Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) Mo'Nique (Precious) - PK
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Ajami (Israel) El Secreto de Sus Ojos - The Secret of Their Eyes (Argentina) The Milk of Sorrow (Peru) Un Prophete - A Prophet (France) - PK The White Ribbon (Germany)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) - PK Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman (The Messenger) Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (A Serious Man) Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy (Up)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell (District 9) Nick Hornby (An Education) Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche (In the Loop) - PK Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious) Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air)
BEST ANIMATION Coraline Fantastic Mr Fox The Princess and the Frog The Secret of Kells Up - PK
BEST ORIGINAL SONG Almost There from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman - PK Down in New Orleans from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman Loin de Paname from Paris 36 by Reinhardt Wagner, Frank Thomas Take It All from Nine by Maury Yeston The Weary Kind (theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart by Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Avatar (James Horner) Fantastic Mr Fox (Alexandre Desplat) The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders) Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer) Up (Michael Giacchino) - PK
Wednesday 29th July 2009, 04:00
Bryce Dallas Howard in Twilight: Eclipse
Access Hollywood is reporting that Bryce Dallas Howard will be replacing Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria in the next Twilight movie (ie. after New Moon), who's leaving due to "scheduling conflicts". I realise that putting that in quotes makes it sound sarcastic, but it's the given reason, so my options are limited.
Given that Rachelle Lefevre is hardly a household name, I can't imagine she'd be doing anything that much more important than the Twilight franchise in the immediate future, so I feel justified in my skepticism, while at the same time not wanting to voice any alternative theories for fear of lawsuits. So make up your own deviant ideas. Weirdos.
Friday 24th July 2009, 21:20
Gary Oldman: Batman is next year
Gary Oldman is at Comic-Con, and is quoted from various sources as saying: "The next Batman is next year, so I think it is two years away. But you didn't hear it from me."
"You didn't hear it from me" doesn't seem to carry all that much weight when you're famous and speaking in public in an environment which pretty much consists entirely of your target audience.
Given the fairly throwaway nature of this comment, there's of course no word on plot, casting, or even director - Christopher Nolan's busy at the moment with Inception, so does this mean there's another director on the cards? Or a late 2010 start? Or other baseless rumours which are pure conjecture? My money's on the latter.
Wednesday 22nd July 2009, 22:31
Sam Raimi directing World of Warcraft
I'm not sure if this has been brewing for a while, but the news that Sam Raimi's directing a film version of World of Warcraft has come completely out of left field for me - thoroughly appreciated nonetheless! Having been a fan of his from Evil Dead through to Spider-Man 2 (let's forget 3 for the moment), via of course Darkman and many others, I'm hoping having a big-name director onboard will elevate this above usual game to film fare.
In its favour is the fact that WoW is more of an overall universe rather than a typical game, so rather than having to try and follow the sort of half-arsed game plot such films often do, they can take the world and build something interesting into it. The only downside is that Sam Raimi's Oldsmobile, which has featured in every film he's made except The Quick and the Dead, for obvious reasons, probably won't fit into this either. Provided he gets Bruce Campbell in there somewhere I'll be happy.