Oliver 40274: movie stuff

Showing posts with label movie stuff. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

List of 80th Annual Oscar Nominees

The nominees are out for the 80th Oscar awards.

Best Picture

Best Actor

George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Actress

Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

Supporting Actor

Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Director

Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman, Juno
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Foreign Film

Beaufort, Israel
The Counterfeiters, Austria
Katyn, Poland
Mongol, Kazakhstan
12, Russia

Adapted Screenplay

Christopher Hampton, Atonement
Sarah Polley, Away from Her
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Original Screenplay

Diablo Cody, Juno
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

Animated Feature Film

Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf's Up

Art Direction

American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood

Cinematography

The Assassination of Jesse James
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Sound Mixing

The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers

Sound Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

Original Score

Atonement, Dario Marianelli
The Kite Runner, Alberto Iglesias
Michael Clayton, James Newton Howard
Ratatouille, Michael Giacchino
3:10 to Yuma, Marco Beltrami

Original Song

Falling Slowly from Once, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
Happy Working Song from Enchanted, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
Raise It Up from August Rush, Nominees to be determined
So Close from Enchanted, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
That's How You Know from Enchanted, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.

Costume

Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie en Rose
Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Documentary Feature

No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance."

Documentary (short subject)

Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother

Film Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Makeup

La Vie en Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Animated Short Film

I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)
My Love (Moya Lyubov)
Peter & the Wolf

Live Action Short Film

At Night
Il Supplente (The Substitute)
Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

Visual Effects

The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers

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Monday, January 7, 2008

Fellini, Artist at Work

Continuing our series on the Italian director Federico Fellini and his movies, this installment is on the director himself. In this post will discuss early influences and achievements. Future posts will investigate his career as filmmaker and artist.

While this exploration is important for film buffs, it is for anyone who has been moved by a Fellini film and would like to know more about this dynamic director.

Fellini - The Early Years

Fellini's early ambition and career choice was that of newspaper reporter. During the 1930's, while working in the Italian capitol of Rome, he remarked that he was inspired by American films of glamorous newspapermen of the period. He reported police news for the popular paper Il popolo di Roma, cartoons and short stories in Marc' Aurelio (a weekly satirical magazine). From there he moved to radio - and the next progression was to film.

In 1943 he met Giulietta Masina, who had a profound influence on his life and work. After getting to know each other from initial work on a radio serial, they were married in 1943. Giulietta went on to star in six of Fellini's films (Variety Lights, The White Sheik, La Strada, Il Bidone, Nights of Cabiria, Juliet of the Spirits).

Fellini - The Work

"Cinema is basically a pictorial medium, therefore a director must be curious about the multiple aspects of reality."

Fellini originally loved the black and white film medium. He thought that it allowed the viewer to engage more imaginately with the characters and objects in the film. The viewer would project the colors onto the film. In his first color project, Juliet of the Spirits, Fellini became a convert, playing with color and content like an artist on a canvas. Color became an integral feature of the film. When asked about his use of color, Fellini described cinema as movement and color as immobility. Trying to blend the two was the supreme ambition.

To compose a film, Fellini needed to know intimately everything in every shot - every shirt, every tie, every moustache. Understanding that art and life are not equivalent, he choose to create worlds that existed only on the screen. Enter a Fellini world and be prepared to witness another world where fantasy and reality twist and intertwine.

I hope this short essay leads you to explore Fellini's films and work. Stop back and leave us a note as you explore..

Fellini Research & Links...

IMDB

Wikipedia

Senses of Cinema

Related Posts...

Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits

Fellini's 8 1/2

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Saturday, December 22, 2007

AFI Announces 2007 Awards

The American Film Institute has released their 2007 Film Awards. They named 10 this year.

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
INTO THE WILD
JUNO
KNOCKED UP
MICHAEL CLAYTON
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
RATATOUILLE
THE SAVAGES
THERE WILL BE BLOOD

I'm not sure how Knocked Up got in there. But at any rate, their picks are always worth checking out. Look for Oliver 40274 reviews on these movies during the coming months.

How about you? Do agree with these picks?

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Sunday, December 16, 2007

Horror Movie Preview

This is a trailer for a Spanish language horror movie. The trailer is brilliant. We don't see any of the actual movie. We see instead the looks on people's faces that are watching the movie...

Even if you are not a fan of horror movies you can see how this would be an effective grab for those who are.

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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

25 Great Websites for Film Buffs

What are the best sites on the web to scratch your itch for movie information? Look no further - here they are. Each of these sites satisfies a particular film niche that make it stand out from the crowd.

Forums

Movie Forums - This forum site is a great place to unwind and chat a bit with other movie fanatics.
Talk-Movies - Talk Movies has discussion boards broken down into various genres such as Westerns and Sci-Fi.

Databases

IMDB - everyone knows IMDB, but it remains the big daddy of movie information. Check out the external reviews section of a movie for a great cross section of opinion on a movie.
All Movie - Part of the All Media family of websites, the All Movie site allows you browse movies by genre. It also has articles and spotlight features.
Bollywood Movie Database - Simple database that gives you pertinent details on Asian films. Has many references that IMDB doesn't. No browse feature - you must know what you are looking for to find this site useful.
Yahoo Movies - Yahoo always does websites right and their movie site is top notch. It especially excels at keeping a list of movies that you rate, review, etc.
Rotten Tomatoes - a dependable, objective resource for coverage of movies and videos

Movie Reviews

Critical Critics - They bill themselves as having the most poignant reviews on the web, penned by the most acclaimed film critics on the planet. They may just be right... (Oliver 40274 excluded). Their reviews are brutally honest and are not to be missed
Reviewing Whatever - Written by a journalism student, her reviews are witty and fun. Laura doesn't just do movies, check it out see what else she is reviewing.
Shhh.. The Movie's Starting - Read Tava's intro for why she writes reviews. She gets 5 stars just on her intro. Her reviews are great reads and way too far apart.
Oggs' Movie Thoughts - Smart, talented review writing from the Philippines
The Guru's Movie Reviews - More than movie reviews, here you'll find reviews of TV shows and stay updated on the latest DVD releases.
Nehring the Edge - One of the best places to visit on the Internet for a quick take on whether or not to rent that movie... [site moved to Good News Film Reviews]
Roger Ebert - Roger has taught America how to love movies. His pulls things out of movies that you missed and give you a greater appreciation for the craft.
Horror Movie a Day - Hard to believe that this guy could watch a horror movie a day - but the site is alive and doing well. This site is so well put together that I'm tempted to steal some of his layouts...
Christian Spotlight - Their goal is to provide accurate, biblical answers on a wide variety of questions asked by Christians and non-Christians about today's movies.
Flickhead - OK, I admit I don't know how to describe it but its one of my favorite movie sites on the web.

Independent Movies

IFC - If you don't get this station call your cable company immediately. IFC shows independent films, uncut and unedited, 24 hours a day - without commercial interruption. IFC also has exclusive live coverage of special events including the Independent Spirit Awards and Cannes Film Festival, creative on-air festivals and one-of-a-kind original series and specials.
Underground Film - Underground Film is a content framework for film distribution. Here you can watch films direct from the filmmakers themselves.
Indiewire - indieWIRE is the leading news, information, and social networking site for the international independent film community.

Movie Information

Film Ratings - Find out why movies got the rating they did and learn everything you ever wanted to know about the film rating system.
Film Sizes - No really, this is a very interesting site.

Fun & Games

Movie Quotes - Test your movie knowledge by identifying famous movie quotes
Mr MovieTime - Find times for movies at a theatre near you.
Movie Posters - Hang a movie on your wall.

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

The Critical Critics: Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten (2007)

I first saw Joe Strummer in a Jim Jarmusch movie Mystery Train. At the time I was unfamiliar with Strummer. I was really impressed with the performance I saw (and the movie - but that's another review...)

Turns out Joe has 12 movie acting credits under his belt. Not to mention the side career as outspoken front man for The Clash.

OK - for anyone under, say... 35, The Clash was a band that formed in 1976 (!) and spearheaded the British punk scene. As the band matured, their music broadened. While other punk bands floundered in local pubs and beer halls, The Clash had a wider appeal and routinely sold out huge stadiums. Worldwide.

If Joe even interests you a little bit, be sure and check out Mystery Train. Jarmusch clearly wrote the role of English Johnny specifically with Strummer in mind.

Mystery Train is in my Top 100 Movie List.

Research Mystery Train at Amazon here.

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Saturday, September 29, 2007

Guru's Movie Review Carnival

We all love a good, intelligent movie review. They help us to appreciate certain aspects of a movie that we might have otherwise missed. I prefer reading reviews post movie watching.

One of my favorite review sites is The Guru's Movie Reviews. Check out the movie review carnivals they are hosting. The carnivals highlight movie reviews from various blogs. Here's the first two..

Movie Review Carnival #1

Movie Review Carnival #2

They're coming about about twice a month so stay tuned in and connected.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Tips for Using Film Critics

How many time have you heard this... "I don't pay any attention to film critics. They always get them wrong." ?

Film critics can be very useful to you and your movie watching experiences. Learning how to use film critics can make your movie viewing more rewarding, less frustrating, and save you some money to boot.

Here are the top 5 tips to getting the most out of a movie critic...

Find a movie critic whose opinions about movies you have already seen agree with your tastes. Once you find that person, let them spend the money seeing new movies. If they like a flick, chances are you'll like it. If they trash a film, don't waste your money on it.

Visit critic aggregator sites such as Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes to see tons of reviews pulled together into one score. The good stuff will filter to the top.

Don't pass up on the smaller produced inde films. There is a lot of dreck out there. Your favorite critic will point you in the right direction and point out exceptional films to check out that you won't find at your local theatre.

Don't just pursue the 5 star films. Critics are quite stingy with the stars and may only reward 4 or 5 films a year a 5 star rating. Three and a half or better means the film is a good solid piece of work and deserves your attention.

Create your own list of top movies at sites like IMDB or Yahoo. Then easily compare your favorites with critics favorites. Find a good match and you've got your man...

Reading an articulate critic's writings about film and film making can only help you to increase your enjoyment of movies. If you want to increase the value of the time you spend watching movies, find a good critic and step up to the next level.

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Monday, August 13, 2007

100 Greatest Movies List

The AFI recently came out with their list. This is my list.

Its quite a task to list your top 100. The first 60 roll off easily. The last 20 are difficult because you are deciding if a movie will make the cut. After 100, if I see another movie that I want in this list - then something has to come out.

Watch for comments as I edit this list as I see more movies.

I encourage all movie lovers to develop their own list. It's a great way to look at film more critically.

In alphabetical order...