Steady Diet of Film

Oscar Live blog this Sunday!

 

I'm delighted to inform you all I'll be liveblogging the Academy Awards this weekend with Greencine's Craig Phillips and Aaron Hillis along with Lisa Rosman (US Magazine and Flavorpill) and Kathy Fennessy (Seattle International film festival).

We'll be discussing the gowns, the gossip, Hugh Jackman's magnificent biceps and maybe even a couple of the films if there's time.

I hope you'll join us at Greencine's Oscar Live Blog this Sunday at 4:30 PST.

Live-blogging the Golden Globes!

First let me share my favorite Forced Enthusiasm Day of Awards puff piece: 'Jennifer Lopez's trainer says "she will be ready" '.

Placed under the jump for profanity and allusions to the Jonas Brothers' virginity..

   

Will Smith deserves an Oscar for Seven Pounds

 

Seven Pounds is a parade of high-pitched misery viewed through a honey-soaked lens with a December release date, otherwise known as Oscar Bait.

But even though every year we get five or six films positioned the precisely same way, as David Poland writes, the knives are out for this particular film for a particular reason:

The Kill Will campaign has reached full steam. The media is drooling to get its shots in against the undeniable biggest movie star in the world. They didn't believe in him in The Pursuit of Happyness, obsessing on the title spelling and his son in a supporting role ... And now, another drama, very much in the European style that critics always claim they want more movies to emulate, complex, forcing the audience to think from frame one until “The End,” and there is very little buzz around his central performance as a man trying to do at least three very complex things at once.

The Playlist has cataloged many examples of this campaign, including the NY Post's decision to spoil the highly guarded ending and the Village Voice breaking Sony's review embargo to write: "Dispiritingly obvious and phony from top to bottom". 

To say Seven Pounds is hokey melodrama is like complaining that there's too much coffee in your coffee. It gives a B-movie pulp treatment to the romantic drama formula, I'm not sure if that's exactly what the genre needed. But after sitting through Australia anything seems fair. And I don't know which America these critics are residing in, but a film being phony or cliche is not a mutually exclusive concept to box office or Oscar success. And such focused disdains begs the question, is anything about the premise or execution of Seven Pounds really anymore absurd than anything about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (a film no one can discuss without mentioning Forrest Gump), The Wrestler or The Reader?

Here's a cliche for you: the movie business is just that, a business. And as much as as some of us having poking fun at the grotesque display  of self-congratulation and excess winning an Oscar means something in that business (even if in recent memory, its benefits have not seemed all that tangible). Every actor who achieves any modicum of success sets a goal to win an Oscar at some point in their career, they would be a fool not to (we should all be so lucky to have such clear metrics for achievement in our chosen enterprises). And to accomplish that goal there are certain films that are going to get an actor across the finish line and some that won't.

The roles that are available to black actors are proven to be more histrionic. There just are not roles for black actors in films with the lofty literary cache of Brokeback Mountain or prestige of The Departed. There has never been a black Queen of England.

The roles that have seen black actors get Academy wins in recent memory have been the genocidal dictator Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker), Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx in not such a terrible role but Ray was such an abysmal film it was beneath any kind of human dignity) and let us never forget that poor Halle Berry had to be molested twice to get her Oscar.

There's no need to lay all the blame for this phenomenon at the feet of the big studios either. The scrappy Sundance darlings that have made it to Oscar night of late have been Little Miss Sunshine (Alan Arkin was nominated), Transamerica (Felicity Huffman was nominated), Junebug (Amy Adams was nominated) and Juno (Ellen Page was nominated). The indies with black characters?  Hustle and Flow (Terrence Howard was nominated).

Now Will Smith, long reviled by some critics because of his massive box office successes, has chosen a racially neutral role where he gets to cry, make bad choices, lash out with violence, mourn and wind up the hero all without having to wear an obnoxious prosthesis, take steroids or be a Nazi. But suddenly all the world's a hater.

Live-blogging the Oscars!

hey everyone, I'll be live-blogging the Academy Awards this Sunday with the talented Agnes Varnum and Craig Phillips at Greencine. Full details follow:

GreenCine will host an online commentary throughout the Academy Awards ceremony, moderated by GC editor Craig Phillips and a team of witty film bloggers including Erin Donovan (Steady Diet of Film blog), Agnes Varnum (Doc It Out). Special guests include… you! And a host of other cinephile goofballs from all over the world along for the ride.

Where:  Online at http://www.greencine.com/static/oscarliveblog.jsp  (you can register there for an e-mail reminder)
When:  Sunday, February 24. Virtual seating begins at 4:45pm PST/7:45pm EST

We take film seriously so we’ll be taking the awards seriously - but only up to a point; if you can’t make snarky comments at the Oscars, when can you?

GreenCine’s editors and writers have years of experience writing about film online, via our award- winning, ever-popular film blog GreenCine Daily, with our oft-quoted primers and interviews, and in our numerous DVD reviews. Together, we’ve helped put together one of the premier sites for film lovers everywhere, and with our highly-regarded DVD rent-by-mail service, GreenCine.com has become a place for cinephiles to get their hands on an incredible array of films, new and old, international and American, all the while being part of a fabulous film community.

Our Live Blogging of the Oscars continues that tradition while adding the excitement and immediacy of a live event.

Our commentary. Your comments. Trivia questions. Polls, pictures and punditry. All this and it’s free. Jump in, jump out, jump back in again when you just can’t believe Daniel Day Lewis actually said *that.*

The Oscars are fun, but let’s face it, they need friends around to add running commentary. Consider us your virtual friends for the evening, tux and gown optional. We’ll also be giving away an Oscar-nominated film on DVD as well as a free one month GreenCine membership, so tell your friends!

More on Oscar Night

2008 Oscar nominations announced. Excuse me, what the fuck?

This morning the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced their nominees for a little  award you might have heard of called THE OSCARS.

And since the Oscars are the only top-tier awards show likely to get a waiver from the WGA, February 24th will probably be the last time for a good long while that fashion and film lovers get to enjoy communal prognostication.

Some thoughts on the nominations below and full list after the jump:

+Even though it feels a tad excessive, I'm thrilled Enchanted was nominated for three different Best Original Songs. It really was a fairly perfunctory film made memorable by Amy Adams and those spectacular music and dance sequences. Adams having already established some Oscar cred (nominated for Junebug in 2005) will hopefully perform at least one of the songs at the event.

+There Will Be Blood's much-ballyhoo'd score was not nominated. Jim Emerson at Scanners explains why.

+Juno was nominated for four awards: Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Actress (Ellen Page). Seriously.

+My deeply beloved the Savages nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress.

+Philip Seymour Hoffman nominated for Charlie Wilson's War. Read Stephanie Zacharek's review for Salon to further understand why.

+Hal Holbrook recognized for his small, but incredible role in Into the Wild.

+Cathy has been wondering why Javier Bardem keeps getting put in the "Supporting Actor" category when he is like, the best thing since sliced bread in No Country for Old Men. Were the producers just concerned he would get steamrolled by the Daniel Day-Lewis Milkshake Express?

+Persepolis nominated for Best Animation feature, here here!

+Foreign Language category nominations are, as expected, pretty lame.

+Big congratulations to producer Audrey Marrs and director Charles Ferguson for their Best Feature-Length Documentary nomination for No End in Sight. The film is a first-time film effort for both of them. 

+Documentary short category has some fantastic and varied films including Cynthia Wade's and Vanessa Roth's deeply moving Freeheld and James Longley's (Iraq in Fragments) Sari's Mother. Big congratulations to the nominees!

Obligatory Oscar coverage

Instead of live-blogging with loathing like every other film blog I celebrated the Oscars eventually with corndogs, beer, cake and hissing at Al Gore (is he Botoxed or just internalizing all my hate?) But first I spent a good 30 minutes of Oscar's time navigating an unfamilar area of Berkeley trying to find the hottest Oscar spot.  Anywoo:

• Prettiest dressed: Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz (Alexander McQueen FTW!!! uhm or Atelier Versace totally biting his style, hmm) and Francis Ford Coppola with his very rebellious blue bowtie decision (men's  formal fashion = so boring).
• Scariest image: drunk-fool bald-headed Jack Nicholson, that is a whole lot of ugly to have in a sea of America's finest celebrities.  It almost seems cruel, but then I remember that he is wearing sunglasses indoors thus = douche.
• Biggest Yeah-You-Better: Marie Antoinette for costumes.  Only nominated for one award when it was the most exciting concept/best executed film of 2006?  Are we not supposed to like movies or something?
• Awesomeness: Ennio Morricone and Ruby Yang for accepting their awards in Italian and Chinese respectively.  Our lazy American ears almost shrivel at the notion of hearing other languages.  but you say, Funk That!
• Freaky Shadow Dancing: Those penguins! That shoe! The gun!  Eek!  This was my favorite "updating the traditional" gimmick of the evening. 
• Best WTF Moment: Nicholson and Keaton fighting/in-joking while presenting Best Picture.  Why were they mad during the intros and then almost making out when it came to announcing the winner?  Uhm, the short answer will do just fine.
• Hostess with the Mostest: Kudos to Ellen Degeneres for being able to articulate what we're all thinking but making it seem much less mean.   And your girlfriend is so hott she scalds the tv screen.
• Best Website: Oscar's official Evolution of Fashion coverage. Drool! 
• Are You on Crack?: People thought Jerry Seinfeld's bit was funny?  You can't possibly be so attached to 1992 that you're still laughing at the same jokes.  Get off the rock!

EDIT: Behold!  The victory burrito for awesome Oscar predictions!  Thank you, Shawn!  Your devotion to Eddie Murphy was touching but ultimately foolish.

Oscar time!

The nominations are in!  Full list after the jump:

The good news:

• Eddie Murphy!  I loved watching him in Dreamgirls, I'm glad he's back (also won the Globe for this role).
  
• Iraq in Fragments! Congrats, James!
• Borat for Best Screenplay...?  Actually, this is just weird news.
• Days of Glory a film that is really changing people's minds & lives nominated for Best Foreign Film.
• Perpetual "up and coming" Forest Whittaker nominated (and won the Globe). 
• Mark Wahlberg nominated for playing the same role in the same film as Jack Nicholson, but not as douchebaggily.
• Monster House!

The not so good news:

• Only two first-time directors nominated for a major award this year (Little Miss Sunshine team and Deliver Us From Evil's Amy Berg)
• Marie Antoinette only getting nominated for costumes.
• Two non-professional actors nominated from the same film that Cate Blanchett was in, Cate nominated for a sex scandal movie.
• Children of Men not being able to overcome the awards-generating machine that is Hollywood.
• Fountain gets nothing?  Ouch.

a dadaist blogging of the Golden Globes

Jennifer Hudson sweet but wow, kinda dumb.  Beyonce's crying! This Leo gag is cute.  J Ti!!!  Prince is short, LOLLERSKATES!  Jeremy Irons: I.... am... AN ACT-TOR!!  The wee little Nicholson daughter, what a creepy tradition.  Aww, Kyra Sedgwick! You rock, but why didn't anyone love you enough to tailor your dress?  OMG, is J Lo talking to Martin Scorsese??  Vying for a role in his new Teddy Roosevelt biopic?? OMG!!! Renee Zellwegger's dress is GORGEOUS.  And anyone who knows me knows how hard that was for me to say.  Will Ferrel makes love to the camera.  Wow, there are a lot of tv shows I've never heard of.   How is Sarah Paulson so egotistical when she didn't even exist last year?  Emily from the Devil Wears Prada so cute!  What is this movie, I want to see it.  J LO!!  Jess from Gilmore Girls gives me the wifebeater vibe.  Jason Lee, I want to stab your beard.  What is this insane LSD-soaked screensaver behind the awards acceptors?  Kiefer wants to kill funny-funny Hugh Laurie.  He probably wants to torture him while a thousand clocks tick tock in the background.  Lots of green dresses tonight, I dig it.  Nancy O'Dell, I'm sure you're a lovely person but to me you will always be the ho bag that got Austin Scarlett kicked off Project Runway.  OMG, Hilary Swank with another sob story...  God, you make poverty dull.  Aww, Charlie Sheen intros his big brother's film... DRUNK!  "STAND UP!  DO IT!!!"  You know what, I liked Bobby and I don't care who knows it.    New Category, OMGz!!!  Uhm, cartoons... yay.  So creepy when men thank wives for bearing children and the women just have a dazed smile.  WTF, was that a racial slur at Tony Shaloub?  Okay, I usually hate when people bring out the list of names to thank but I make exception for Meryl Streep.  Why is Reese Witherspoon still 14 years old?  How is that even possible?  Wow, another British queen movie...  Hey! I found Prince!  Hah, Eddie Murphy FOR FREE?!  Poor Sarah Jessica Parker, everyone is talking while she talks!  And she appears to have skinned a very shiny snake and slithered into its carcass.  Bill Nighy, that wasn't very nice to steal Mr. Scorese's glasses.  Oh dear, Cameron Diaz, your outfit... no.  Also, why can't you read a teleprompter?   Wow, producers told someone to wrap it up and they did.  Tim Allen -- still retarded.   OMG, I too am a smart, beautiful, courageous business woman who occasionally walks into glass doors!  Hottest hair of the evening: Vanessa Williams.  Whoa!  Haha, Dreamgirls in 800 theaters!  Well said, Jamie Fox.   Woot, Clint!  Oh no, Drew Barrymore!  Hugh Grant just said you can't pronounce a French name!  Nu uh!  A win for America Ferrera is a win for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants!  Yay!  What a dumb tv hostess: What do you want to say to all the people who didn't want you to play the Ugly Betty role?  America: Uhm, I don't know who that is.   Angelina Jolie: "I could be saving soo many indigent orphans instead of doing all this blithe clapping.  Blah."  Wow, I went to go get more mints and Warren Beatty is still onscreen .  OMG!  Martin Scorsese Wins!!  I wish they would've played Dropkick Murphys while he walked to the stage, hee!  Yay, I'm glad Scorsese knew the film is called Infernal Affairs, Ms. Diaz did not.  OMG, Devil's With Dirty Faces! Scorsese's geeking out!  Whoa, Borat is hot...?  And British!  ANUS AND TESTICLES! Oh it doesn't get any better than that.  Ice-T is on Law & Order, this is why I don't "watch television".  EWW!  DANE COOK GO AWAY AND DIE!!  JUST LIKE YOU TRY TO DO WITH LAUGHTER ITSELF!!!  Whew, J Lo time!  Yay, Dreamgirls!    Stop hushing the gays, fake orchestra!  Gimme gays!!  Aww, couple presenters are so cute.  Especially when they are smoking hott.  Grey's Anatomy, I don't get it.  Helen Mirren better get a raise after tonight.  Leonardo DiCaprio, master of the double nod.  Forest Whittaker wins!  Not a big surprise but great to see, he's been "up & coming" for like, 20 years.  Thank God, someone in this heathen town finally thanked God!  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (never going to get used to that) presents the final award?  I hope he's still high on painkillers.  So much sarcastic, drunk clapping from Alec Baldwin!  Despite his being a wifebeater I think we could drink beers together.  No one is less interested in this award than the Governator himself.  And the award goes to Crash Internationale.  MEXICANS ARE TAKING JOBS (and vanity awards) FROM HARD WORKING AMERICAN DIRECTORS!!  By the time you read this Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu will be in Guantanamo Bay.    I ate an entire bowl of mints while watching & writing this.  Great night!

Link round up:

+Christopher Campbell comes to Beyonce's defense after her songwriting credit was not listed on the Oscar submission.  [Cinematical]
+Anne Thompson gives a shout out to the PictureHouse gang for a stellar job marketing Pan's Labyrinth which not only garnered the film a great holiday box office take-in but is giving director Guillermo del Toro and his production design team a bit of Oscar buzz. [RiskyBiz]
+del Toro explains to Sean Axmaker why Pan's Labyrinth never could have been made in Hollywood. [GC]

Uma, the ladies are here to help.

All the Oscars have ever represented to me was a huge ad buy (often called "the female Superbowl") and a fashion show but apparently everyone in America is dying to win their office pool thus we all must be inundated with every organization you didn't know existed making their unofficial Oscar picks by giving out their own awards. 

But the Alliance of Women Film Journalists have really struck out of the herd with their EDA awards (an acronym for "Excellent Dynamic Activism" named for actress Eda Reiss Merin) with categories like: Best Performance By An Actress Or Actor In Support Of A Female Protagonist Or Female Perspective (ahem!), Actress Most In Need Of A New Agent, Movies You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn’t and Best Depiction Of Nudity Or Sexuality.  A full list of nominees after the jump, winners are announced later this month.