5 days and counting........

Here's something I wrote for my homeschool newsletter. *sniff* SO PROUD!!

The Academy Awards are just a few days away. Are Reese Witherspoon and Philip Seymour Hoffman really shoo-ins? Will Crash steal the Oscar from Brokeback Mountain? Will George Clooney walk home with anything other then the complementary nominee sweat shirt? The answers, (in my opinion) are yes, no, and yes. Although Felicity Huffman and Heath Ledger offer some fierce competition, as Time magazine put it, the only thing that would stop Hoffman from winning is "an asteroid hitting planet earth." And of Witherspoon, "it's hard to think of a more winning or comfortably graceful performance." Other nominees are Joaquin Pheonix, David Strathairn, and Terrance Howard for Best Actor, and Judi Dench, Keira Knightley, and Charlize Theron for Best Actress.

As far as the much-heated Crash VS. Brokeback Mountain debate, I think Brokeback Mountain will win, even with Crash's enthusiastic fan base. Brokeback Mountain has all the ingredients for an Oscar win. It's the classic hollywood love story, comparable with Wuthering Heights or Titanic. What could hurt its chances are the academy members not being comfortable with the gay subject matter, or they could simply be tired of hearing gay cowboy jokes for two months straight. Oscar bloggers have been chattering about how close the Best Picture race is, saying that Crash has gained a lot of support by sending DVDs to all the members of the academy, making it the "last movie seen", therefore keeping it fresh in everybody's minds. Other nominees are Capote, Good Night, and Good Luck, and Munich.

The supporting acting categories this year are a little harder to call. George Clooney and Rachel Wiesz, with their Golden Globes (and Wiesz's SAG) in tow are the front runners, but an upset is possible from Paul Giamatti or Amy Adams. William Hurt has been around too long, and had too little screen time. Jake Gyllenhaal hasn't been around long enough, and had too much screen time. (It really wasn't a supporting role.) Matt Dillon could pull a surprise win, and the academy is itching to give Giamatti something this year, since they left him out in the cold last year for Sideways. But you've got to love a guy who puts on 35 pounds, grows a beard, breaks his back, and openly complains "This is early, I haven't had a drink yet" while accepting his Golden Globe.

One would think, that with a Golden Globe, a SAG award, and a BAFTA nomination Wiesz would be considered a lock, but critics keep shouting that the Best Supporting Actress race is wide open. A case could be made for any of the other nominees. Best Picture usually takes an acting award, so if Brokeback Mountain wins Michelle Williams could take home an Oscar. Premiere Magazine said Catherine Keener "is due for a long-term career prize", and Junebug's extremely enthusiastic fan Roger Ebert says "[Adams] work in Junebug is the most effective and in some ways most difficult performance in any category this year." The only nominee nobody's talking about is Frances McDormand who is nominated for North Country. Wiesz will probably win, as votes will be split among the other nominees.

Witherspoon and Hoffman...... who would have guessed??

The BAFTAs have been announced! The winners were mostly no-brainers, but there were some surprises. I know I was ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED to see Philip Seymour Hoffman, Reese Witherspoon, Ang Lee and Brokeback Mountain take home awards. But seriously, where exactly did Thandie Newton and Jake Gyllenhaal come from?! (Not that I had any doubts or anything.) I wish I could have watched the ceremony!!!! Maybe we should start getting more then four channels.....

Yes, that's right, I'm 40. Got a problem with that?!

I finally saw Brokeback Mountain! It was reeeeeealy good! After reading a million* movie reviews going on and on about how great Heath Ledger was, I though he was going to upstage everyone else, but all the acting was really good! (hmm....I guess there's a reason for all those acting nominations....) Maybe everyone was surprised to see "Mr. Pretty-boy-star-of-flops" in a serious movie, but in his defense, a lot of his earlier movies were good**, and his acting was never bad in any of them.
Did anyone know that there was CGI?! I didn't! Apparently, the hail, some sheep, some set pieces, and some of the sky were all CGI! I just have one teeny tiny little complaint. There's nothing anyone could have done about this, so it's nobody's fault, but....erm....they didn't age very gracefully. In the end of the movie everyone is supposed to be 40ish, but they're being played by 25-year-olds!
I think Brokeback Mountain will win the Oscar, even though a lot of people are making noise about Crash. They're both really, really good movies, can we please have a tie?

*rough estimate

**why is everyone picking on Ned Kelly? And there's nothing wrong with a fun romantic comedy ever-so-loosely based on The Taming of the Shrew!

triumphant return from movie pillage

Last week I saw four really good movies!

Good Night, and Good Luck. Me and my dad went to see this during the super bowl, there were about a dozen people in the audience. I liked it okay, but I felt a little stupid when everyone except me would laugh at a joke. *face palm* It was a REALLY good thing I looked up Edward Murrow, because otherwise I don't think I would have gotten a lot of it. It had a good soundtrack, and very good cinematography.

The Lords of Dogtown. A skateboarding drama. Ah yes, my favorite kind of movie. (hahahaha no.) I didn't really think I would like it, but I actually did! If you rent this movie on DVD, you have to watch the special features. The director said "gnarly" in everyday conversation, and had the complete look of a "California surfer chick". Heath Ledger's performance was reminiscent of Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. (Another good movie I didn't think I'd like but did.) Don't worry Heath, nobody thinks you're a pretty boy anymore!

Adaptation. It starts out with a man who is having trouble adapting a book in to a screenplay. He wants the movie to be like "real life", no extra guns, drugs or excitement. In the end of the movie he's in a swamp with his twin brother hiding from a high writer, an alligator, and an eccentric orchid dealer. This movie was weird beyond belief, but still really enjoyable.

Capote. I finally saw it! I really liked it. Philip Seymour Hoffman was really, really good. He almost upstaged the whole movie. I think that Clifton Collins Jr. should have gotten a nomination for best supporting actor, for playing Perry Smith. I almost had In Cold Blood finished when I saw Capote, but I still have 40 more pages to go! I think reading the book makes you a little more sympathetic to Perry, as it has more of his background in it. Now I have to read the book the movie was based on!

This is Leslie speaking to you from her blog

I saw Crash! It was really, really, really, good. I'm glad it won best ensemble at the SAG awards. (Yet ANOTHER show I didn't see. I was sulkily watching the Lord of the Rings and checking to see if IMDb had updated the winners.) I usually look down my nose at musicians-turned-actors/actors-turned-musicians, but Ludacris was good, and I was surprised Matt Dillon was the only cast member to get an Oscar nomination. (Don Cheadle was SNUBBED!!!)

I think I'm going to see Good Night, and Good Luck today. I have been researching Edward Murrow, (by "research", I mean read a few paragraphs on wikipedia) and reading movie reviews. Speaking of reading up, I started In Cold Blood! It's really good, I didn't think I would like it, but I do. I need to hurry up and finish it so me and my mom can go see Capote!

In my ever-growing Oscar obsession, I made a college of movie ads. It's hanging in my room next to my CDs and Utah Shakespearean Festival posters.

Well, that's my movie report. I am going to go read more movie reviews now. So good night, and good luck. (har har har. Sorry! I couldn't resist!)