Liz's blog

Requiem for Krypton, pt. 1

2007-04-07T23:34:00.000+02:00

This is the brillant 3-hour documentary featured on the Superman Returns extras DVD, directed by Bob Burnett. It follows every step of the production of the film.
Okay, so here we go! Hope it won't completely uninteresting for you guys. I've included links to the IMDb pages of everyone -it might be helpful to you!
Screencaps were made by yours truely, so they're kind of bad (I'm NOT good at screencaping at all, I apologise!). I also resisted the temptation of putting screencaps of Bryan all over the place. You have to see the man in action to know what I'm talking about...!

Part 1: Secret Origins and First Issues - Cristallizing Superman

* July 6th, 2004 : rough sketchings of a first act.

* The following title cards read:

"While on a Hawaiian vacation, Bryan, Mike and Dan write an extensive treatment for what will become Superman Returns. They have yet to be hired by Warner Bros."
"Almost twenty years passed since the Man of Steel last flew across the silver screen.
During that time, many attempts were made to bring about his return...
In the end, it was a vision faster and a reverence more powerful, which leaped beyond previous attempts"
"Days before presenting his treatment to the studio, Bryan refines it before screenwriters Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris, assistant Jason Taylor and best friend Gary Goddard ("Masters of the Universe")..."

* Bob Burnett, who filmed this documentary, later revealed that this tidbit of Bryan rehearsing for the studio was shot by Dan Harris.

* 5 o'clock at the Prince Theater in Jersey was the place where Bryan first saw Richard Donner's Superman. He can sing the theme song pretty well ("dum-bah-dum...").

* Bryan had first presented a rough sketch for Richard Donner and his wife (who produced the first two X-Men films), in a hotel room in Austin.

* "Versimilitude" was to be the first rule, according to Mike. There had to be "scientific logic behind everything".

* Dan defines the film as an "action-adventure romance comedy".

* For Bryan, it was all about the "struggle with Clark Kent when faced with working with Lois Lane. Superman is her old love, her first love".

* September 2004 : 12 weeks until the start of the shooting. Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas is already working on the project. He has "120 sets [to deal with], double to what was on X2".

* Gabriel Hardman is the key storyboard artist for Bryan. Storyboard stage is where the "film in its visual sense is created". Editorial comments are then brought by Bryan. Storyboard artists design around "one third of the actual shots".

* Production illustrations give "the emotion, lighting, atmosphere". The drawings are then turned into 3D, meaning "architectual models", to "design the shots".

Screencap of the beautiful, shiny production art!

* Dan described production art as a way to "giving visual voice" to what they're doing, since it all comes from Mike and Dan's ideas.

The Superman Returns bible! Wish I had a copy...

* According to Guy, there are "15 to 20 department heads" working on this film, so "information needs to be consistent", hence the existence of a bible. It is a huge book where all the informations are contained, so that "all heads of departments can have all images of the set".

Dan, Bryan, Mike and exectuive producer Chris Lee

* Meanwhile, the screenwriting process is underway. Bryan, Dan and Mike "read the dialogue to each other outloud", and then Bryan decides if "this is good, this is terrible". Mike assimilates it to "getting graded on a college paper".

* According to Bryan, Dan has to go skydiving: "If you want to write about people who fly, you need to fly".

* "The human race needs a Superman." -exectuive producer Gil Adler

* October 5th, 2004 : first draft of the screenplay is delivered in 3 days. That means Mike and Dan have written it in a couple of months!

* Filming is scheduled for March. Casting with casting director Roger Mussenden is underway. He's worked with "10 casting directors in the world... London, New Zealand, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles". Him and Bryan found that "known actors took you out of the story", hence their decision to cast an unknown.

Brandon as Clark, on the farm

* Brandon Routh was "found in Los Angeles". Bryan decided to cast him as Superman after their "one-on-one", once he understandood "the essence of the person".

* Dan knew Brandon would get the role. On the day of Brandon's screentest, Dan said, "I think this is the guy".

* " -I'm eating up a lot of tape.
- Tape's cheap.
- Yeah, I know, but people's time isn't." - Bob Burnett and Bryan Singer

* On the day Brandon prepared for the screentest, Bob Burnett kept asking questions about what it felt like to be the only one on the planet testing for this. Bryan was yelling on the side: "way to keep that stress level down, Bob!" (*lol*)

* That was the first time Bob asked Bryan and Brandon "what it's like to work together".

Oh, that goofy smile!

* Brandon looked straight at the camera and described how Superman should be: "confident, strong, intelligent, caring, [with] a strong sense of justice". When he finished, Bob assured him he was "going to do well". Heh...

Searching for the Clark Kent look...

* When Brandon tested several pair of glasses, someone said "wow, you can't recognize him!". Hee hee...

* Brandon's thoughts on that day: "I didn't know if anybody was auditioning. But I remember thinking that it was interesting that the DVD crew was there filming this. And then, people kept laying hints...".

* His screentest was shot on 65mm film. Bryan then geeks away about all the films that have been shot on this particular format...

* The audition was the scene in which Clark explains why "saying goodbye was hard", and then the Lois and Superman on the rooftop of the Daily Planet scene.

* November 2004 : beginning of the visual effects, motion-capture stage for Brandon.

* At that time, Bryan had "Brandon Routh, a dog named Smurf, Smurf's son" cast ^^

* December 2004 : casting of Kate Bosworth. Bryan said that Kevin Spacey was very "complimentary" of her. Mike (or Dan, not sure which)'s reaction to that announcement was "Whatever, dude" *lol* -I think they were concentrated on their writing...

Brandon and exectuive producer Gil Adler

* In January 2005, Brandon, along with the rest of the crew, departs for Australia.

* "We fear for our lives for the next six months." -Dan at the airport ^^

* Meanwhile, at the costume departement... Costume designer Louise Mingenbach and her team have been working on the film since August 2004.

* Louise describes the suit as "so iconic, so classic, we're just redesigning something that's been good for decades". Also, "the fact that Mrs. Kent made the suit is suspended here".

* She worked alongside Guy Dyas, because they had to be "careful to control the colours he was using on set." Superman had to be the "red, the blue, the yellow".

* When Bryan came to see the costumes and did a bit of a grimace when seeing Kitty's outfits, Louise answered him : "What...? élégant, au contraire" :p Bryan didn't want it to look "cartoonish".

* Louise knew there would be "a million criticisms to the costume", but explained that, ultimately, you have to "make your Superman, the best Superman he can be."

I don't need a caption for that screencap, do I?

* And finally, when Brandon finally put on the suit... Bryan asked him if he was "afraid of the Superman curse", and Brandon answered: "I could not accept the role and something could still happen to me and I will not have been Superman, so best accept the role". "I thought that was kind of smart", Bryan added.

All you need is... music!

2007-04-05T20:25:00.000+02:00

Two music thingies!

Okay, so the first one is taken from that journal entry.

Feel free to copy and paste the results in the comment section or on your own blog! It's so much fun ^^
Here are my results and the silly comments! All of it is actually true, in case you doubt it...

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press 'play'
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the 'next' button.

Opening Credits
Track: Arcade Fire - Intervention
Album: Neon Bible

Hell yes! I would love my life to start on 'Intervention', although the lyrics are not exactly cheerful ("Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home"). It's still one of my favourite songs of the album.

Waking Up
Track: Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger
Album: (What's the Story) Morning Glory?

Heh! I would certainly love to wake up to the sound of Liam Gallagher's voice... Plus, it's such a classic, one of my faves.

First Day At School
Track: Arcade Fire - Keep the Car Running
Album: Neon Bible

Tee hee, this is MOST DEFINITELY going to happen (first day at Otago, I can see myself listening to that song). It's my favourite song of AF's new album ever since they performed it on SNL! And possibly one of my favourite of all AF songs, with 'Rebellion (Lies)', 'In the Backseat', 'Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)', 'Windowsill' ... pretty much all of them!

Falling In Love
Track: Harry Gregson-Williams - The Blitz 1940
Album: The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Original Soundtrack

Haha, I hope not! It's a wee bit loud for falling in love! *lol*
I wouldn't say no to falling in love with Harry Gregson-Williams, though (I know he's married, kids blah blah). He's such a fanstically talented composer.

Fight Song
Track: Tim Finn - Winter Light
Album: The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Original Soundtrack

Once again, I hope not! That's not a fight song at all, it's all sweet and gentle! *lol*

Breaking Up
Track: Death Cab for Cutie - Summer Skin
Album: Plans

Oooh, that one is quite good! The last line of the song is, 'And we left our love in our summer skin...', so yeah, it's appropriate for a break-up... As all Death Cab songs often are!

Prom
Track: Coldplay - Clocks
Album: A Rush of Blood to the Head

YEAAHH ^^
I'd love to listen to that gorgeous song on my prom night! Except for the tiny insignificant detail that I've finished high school a long time ago and we don't get any proms in France. But still, it would have been an ideal song to have on a prom night (although you can't dance to it). As any Coldplay song, it makes me happy :)

Life's OK
Track: The Killers - Glamourous Indie Rock'n'Roll
Album: Hot Fuss

Haha! That's the bonus song in the band's first album. Anyway, I don't know what "Life's OK" supposed to mean... but yes, if you wanna know, life's definitely okay as long as I listen to the Killers. And Brandon Flowers' voice (*fans self*). And Mark Stoermer's genius basslines.

Mental Breakdown
Track: Lithium - Nirvana
Album: Nevermind

Haha, how appropriate! When I'll have a mental breakdown (which... doesn't happen a lot), I'll remember listening to this song *lol*

Driving
Track: David Gray - Nightblindness
Album: White Ladder

Oh no! That song is just soooo beautiful and sad, I wouldn't want to listen to it while driving. While crying my heart out, probably, but not behind a wheel. It's really one of the saddest but beautiful songs I know.

Flashback
Track: James Morrisson - This Boy
Album: Undiscovered

Ooooh I really love this song! One of my favourite of James' album. It's really quite lovely. I would be having a flashback of... well, I dunno, it's a sad song as well...

Getting Back Together
Track: Arcade Fire - Haïti
Album: Funeral

I'd love to get back with someone on the sound of Régine's voice! But it's not a particularly cheerful song either -concerned with death, as often with AF... Still, I love it.

Wedding
Track: John Ottman - Main Titles
Album: Superman Returns Original Score

HAHA! *rotfl*
I swear that's true! I fell off my chair when I heard "dum-bah-dum"... That HAS to be a sign of destiny, I swear! I'm just bound to marry someone who's related to the film! Preferably its director! Or screenwriter. Heeeeee! This song will definitely play at my (distant, non-existent) marriage.
I'm still laughing my arse off, though! How weird and coincidental, huh? Out of the hundreds of songs, it just had to be that one. I goddamn swear, Bryan... XD

Amazing Hot Sex Porno Scene
Track: Thomas Newman - Shawshank Prison [Stoic Theme]
Album: The Shawshank Redemption

*once again, rotfl*
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I could never, ever, picture myself or anyone having sex on a Thomas Newman score! That is so weird and wrong! Especially the Shawshank theme, it's so beautiful and... innoncent. *loool*

Birth of Child
Track: Thomas Newman - Six Feet Under Title Theme
Album: Six Feet Under Soundtrack

OH the irony ^^
This theme song definitely fits with death, not birth... But then again, Six Feet is full of ironies so I guess this one's appropriate.

Final Battle
Track: Annie Lennox - Into the West
Album: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Haha! Excellent. Very fitting! Although this song is awfully sad and reminds me of the end of the Lord of the Rings obviously -so I hardly ever listen to it, even though I love it.

Death Scene
Track: The Smiths - I Know It's Over
Album: The Very Best of the Smiths

Hee! Once again, very appropriate! My media player has brains, it's SCARY!
And I love the Smiths very, very much.

Funeral Song
Track: Hans Zimmer - Corynhorinus
Album: Batman Begins

Oh. I'm not laughing because this is one song I'd like to be played during my funeral. How very morbid of me to say so... Not that I've thought of it or anything but... It's quite a gorgeous track, this one. It starts with the little piano theme which plays out in the film when Bruce thinks of his parents. And by the way, it says Hans Zimmer, but you can tell James Newton Howard was the one who wrote that theme. It has all the subtleties and gentleness of a Howard composition. And it's very, very beautiful. The whole of the Batman Begins scoring was really amazing -even though I expected David Julyan to work on this one, it turned out to be fantastic.

End Credits
Track: Sufjan Stevens - Pittsfield
Album: The Avalanche: Outtakes & Extras from the Illinois Album

Aaaaaah, yes, definitely. This is the penultimate (heh) track to The Avalanche, which is this insanely good album by Sufjan, who is of course one of my favourite singers ever. And it's one of the best, one of my favourites. I would definitely pick it as an end credits' song. It has a tremendously HUGE finale, with loads of trumpets and whatsnot playing very loud.
It would have been funny if my media player had picked 'Analyze' by Thom Yorke, which was an actual end credits' song, to The Prestige XD
But Sufjan's 'Pittsfield' is really fine by me!

Have fun doing your own life soundtrack shuffle, and don't forget to post the results!

The second thing is taken from this post on Fish's awesome blog.

List 10 musical artists you like, in no specific order (do this before reading the questions below)

1. Coldplay
2. Arcade Fire
3. Thomas Newman
4. Death Cab for Cutie
5. Sufjan Stevens
6. David Gray
7. Oasis
8. The Killers
9. Guillemots
10. Danny Elfman

-What was the first song you ever heard by 6? [David Gray]
I reckon it was "This Years Love", although I didn't know it was him at the time.

-What is your favorite song of 8? [The Killers]
Ooh, that's a tough one! Hmm, "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" is probably my fave.

-What kind of impact has 1 left on your life? [Coldplay]
Wow. That's a looooong question. I could write an essay on that. I guess it just changed my life in a hugely positive way. What a dramatic sentence, but... It just helped me out when nothing else did. Coldplay's music talked to me in ways no band ever has, or ever will. As good as, y'know, Arcade Fire or Death Cab are (my other two favourite bands), it's just waaaaaay different from the way Coldplay's music affects me.

-What is your favorite lyric of 5? [Sufjan Stevens]
That is SUCH a difficult one. Sufjan's lyrics are all kinds of awesome. I guess it'd be from "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." : "And in my best behavior, I am really just like him; look beneath the floorboards, for the secrets I have hid".
There's also the beautiful ending of "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Are Out to Get Us!", which goes like- "I can't explain the state that I'm in; The state of my heart, he was my best friend [...]
My friend is gone, he ran away; I can tell you, I love him each day
Though we have sparred, wrestled and raged; I can tell you I love him each day".
Those lyrics sung by Sufjan are just to die for...

-How many times have you seen 4 live.. [Death Cab for Cutie]
HAHA! Once, actually! In February of... 2005, if I'm not mistaking. One of the best evenings of my life, really!

-What is your favorite song by 7? [Oasis]
OH that is so tough. I guess I'll just have to say "Wonderwall", it's such a classic.

-Is there any song by 3 that makes you sad? [Thomas Newman]
Definitely. All of them! Although "Any Other Name" from American Beauty has to be one of the most emotional songs I've ever heard. I hardly ever listen to it, it's so traumatic.

-What is your favorite song by 9? [Guillemots]
Hee! "We're Here" is probably the one.

-When did you first get into 2? [Arcade Fire]
Haaaaahaaa! Very, very recently. About two months ago, or less. I read that Chris and Jonny (from Coldplay XD) went to one of their gigs in London, so I rushed to buy the album and it was so bloody brillant I could barely believe it. I actually found out about AF by myself, which is something I'm quite proud of (even though it meant that, yes, I was living in a cave because I'd never heard of them before!)

-How did you get into 3? [Thomas Newman]
Wow. That's a good question. I've always loved movie scores, one of the most important aspects of a film, that goes without saying.
And errr, I guess it was when Thomas scored Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events three years ago, that I first heard of him. Then, I just discovered by myself his works; I remember listening to his Angels in America music quite a lot at the beginning; then eventually, American Beauty, Finding Nemo, Road to Perdition... Cinderella Man was the first time I actually went to see a film just because of him scoring it, and then there was Jarhead, Little Children and very recently, The Good German.

-What is your favorite song by 4? [Death Cab for Cutie]
Those favourite questions are SO difficult. My favourite Death Cab song is "Marching Bands of Manhattan", although "Transatlanticism" is by far their most beautiful work.

-How many times have you seen 9 live? [Guillemots]
HAHA! I swear I didn't do it on purpose! See, I've only been to two concerts in MY ENTIRE LIFE, and so it happens that I've associated the two ONLY bands I've ever seen with the numbers which are related to that question. Anyway, I saw Guillemots live barely two months ago, and it was my first time seeing them, and it was pure joy, really.

-What is a good memory concerning 2? [Arcade Fire]
Well, I reckon there isn't any particular memory I've come to associate with Arcade Fire because I've been knowing them for such a short period of time. But oddly enough, "Crown of Love" always makes me think of Superman Returns, so I'll just say that XD

-Is there a song by 8 that makes you sad? [The Killers]
Not... really. Although "Everything Will Be Alright" is kind of slow for them.

-What is your favorite song of 1? [Coldplay]
HAHA. I could never ever answer that, except that it's either "The Scientist" (classic!) or "Gravity" (B-side on their "Talk" single).

-How did you become a fan of 10? [Danny Elfman]
Once again, a GOOD question. Errrrrrrrrr... Okay, the first time I ever heard Danny Elfman's music was when I was 6 and saw The Nightmare Before Christmas during a classtrip to the movies XD But I didn't know it was him then.
The first time I did hear his name and recognise it was for his scoring of the Planet of the Apes, which I thought was a masterpiece at the time (I was discovering films okay, now I know it's rubbish, but still...). So that was about... five or six years ago. Then of course, since he scored every Tim Burton film (except for Ed Wood which was Howard Shore's work), and I've seen every single one of them, then I got pretty familiar with his work. And obviously he's been scoring the Spider-Man films so wonderfully (even though, yes, it bears a slight resemblence to his Batman scores). But I am SO DISTRAUGHT at the idea of him not doing Spider-Man 3! It is apparently scored by Christopher Young, who I'd never even heard of before... Anyways, I have been a Danny Elfman fan for quite a long time now :)

Have fun doing your own ^^

Review of the month: March

2007-04-04T00:46:00.000+02:00

100th message sur my blog! Yoohoo! And it'll be a review of the month post.
So, last film reviewed was Catch a Fire. This month's featured films are...

* The Painted Veil, directed by John Curran. Set in Shanghai during the 1920s, it tells the love story between an English doctor, Walter Fane (Edward Norton), and his estranged wife, Kitty (Naomi Watts). Based on the novel by the great W. Somerset Maugham, it is both epic and intimate, sweeping and romantic, beautiful and tragic. In order to render Walter's awkwardness with his wife and Kitty's uneasiness in adapting to the surroundings, the director has settled for a slowly-paced storytelling; which, for once, greatly benefits the film, as it corresponds with the building-up of the chemistry between the two characters. Ultimately, it also makes for more dramatic tension. But the film never assaults the viewer -I was very sensible to it, because it felt so gentle and delicate. It is melodramatic, but not in a in-your-face sort of manner. It is a bit odd to say so, but the fact is, the two characters are not flamboyant, dramatic characters; they're two simple people trying to adapt to the situation and understand each other. Both Edward's and Naomi's performances were absolutely incredible. Naomi Watts, who has been one of my favourite actresses since a long time really, was outstanding; considering that her character, on paper, is nothing short of a spoiled brat. Kitty's not instanteneously likeable --I'd even say the opposite. But Naomi's layered performance, revealing her character's sensibility, eventually lead to an admirable, strong female figure. She is only matched by the wonderful and talented Edward Norton, as he proves, yet again, that he is one of the most brillant actors of his generation. His performance was very much restrained and yet, you could tell every single emotion going through his character's head. Amazing.
The photography is also gorgeous. The film is very soft-toned, beautifully lit. I highly recommend it to everyone who's romantic in a sort of grand way...

* The Number 23, directed by Joel Schumacher. Very, very neurotic, nervous thriller which I enjoyed, being paranoid and nervous myself. Definitely not for a mainstream audience, though. The directing wasn't too bad for Schumacher -I reckon he's trying to improve since his Batman debacle. He's greatly helped by Matthew Libatique's fantastic photography, though -whose lighting gives every scene a very special mood, and really fits the story, too. Now about that one... Some will deem it a bit cheap, others too cliché; but I reckon it was quite okay. Not as smart or cool as you'd thought it'd be, but good enough. All my reviews are spoiler-free, so I won't say anything on that. Also, Jim Carrey is one hell of a good actor. But I already knew that...

* Au-delà de la Haine, directed by Olivier Meyrou. Winner of the Best Documentary Feature at the Berlin Film Festival, this is gutwrenching filmmaking, as awful as reality gets. Somewhere along the lines of Paul Greengrass' own filmmaking, I might add; except that since this is a documentary, none of it is fiction. It follows the harsh and difficult journey of a family whose elder son was assaulted and beaten to death by three kids because he was gay. Actually, he died drowning --the three youngsters dumped his body thinking he was dead while he wasn't; thereby committing murder. Surely there are no words to describe such an atrocious act, so all there is to do here is to listen to the parents and the siblings speak about it, as they try to understand, heal, and live on, with the shattered pieces of what they have left. Although this kind of event makes you despair in mankind, there is also the bravery, and the nobility of these people --these parents, this family; which is recognised and honoured in this feature film. As we follow them through every step of the judicial case, it becomes quite evident that, although they will never get over it, they are also ready to forgive and forget. Which would make the world a better place, if people remembered how to. I'm not saying those three skinheads fanatics should be forgiven, and indeed in the end, they are sentenced to a number of years in prison for their crime of hatred (which is less than they deserve). But the family's own willingness to adress those issues and face the horror of it all is a spectacularly noble gesture, one that is now enshrined and captured on film for prosperity and future generations, thanks to this documentary. I would never urge anyone to see it, because it is very hard to take in; and I was literally anguished while watching it, wondering why the hell did I put myself through it. But to sum it up in a word, this is indispensable viewing, for any human being who lives in today's society.

* Angel, directed by François Ozon. There's only one word to characterize this film: annoying. It wasn't even boring, just bloody irritating. Let's start with the main problem: Angel, the title character, is an incredibly loathable character. She's full of herself, selfish AND a terribly bad writer. Oh, and spoilt rotten, too. So are we supposed to care for what happens to her? Secondly, the director went for melodrama at its highest -clichés flying all around. I kept wondering whether it was deliberate and ironic, in which case the film would make much more sense; or if it was unintentional, in which case I feel sorry for everyone involved in this mess. It's a shame, because I love this director. His previous effort, Le Temps qui reste, was admirable in its simplicity, and very touching. But for the life of me, I can't understand why he would want to tell such a story as Angel, and shoot it so ridiculously. The only positive thing about it was the apparition of Simon Woods on screen, but it was for such a short time, it felt more like a cameo. So the only thing I can say about this film is to stay away from it.

* 300, directed by Zach Snyder. Frank Miller's ultra-gory, beloved graphic novel gets the screen treatment in a hybrid, fantastically enjoyable film, which dazzling visuals make up for what it lacks in depth. This is triumphant filmmaking in every sense of the word, as blood gleefully splatters the screen and very manly warriors scream their guts out as they are heading for battle. It is also everything you'd expect, coming from the Dawn of the Dead director meeting the Sin City creator; excessively violent, outrageously beautiful and hackneyed characters all around. The truth about this film is that either you'll really love it and ask for more, or you'll just hate it for its lack of subtlety or good sense. If you're part of the latter, then you have only yourself to blame, for this is a film which is not ashamed of what it is at all. Yes, the good guys are white and noble and the bad ones are black and twisted; yes, everything is made simple and plain and has no ambivalence whatsoever. But this is all becomes it comes from a work of fiction, a totally unrealistic reivention of history, out of the imagination of one man -in this case, Frank Miller; and it characterizes itself as such. I'm insisting on the last part because people made such a fuss out of this... In any case, you'll just have to go and see it for yourself, because this is the kind of experience you want to have on a BIG screen, and not on your television, trust me.

* Sunshine, directed by Danny Boyle. My favourite film this month, which I've reviewed in this post.

* Curse of the Golden Flower, directed by Zhang Yimou. A not-so-epic film about a past dynasty in grand and golden China. Sounds familiar? Anyway, the film was absolutely beautiful to look at; as one might expect, both production and costume design were beyond any reproach, and the colours were absolutely dazzling, in the head-spinning sense of the word. But for all the visual, impressive feat that the film is, there is one thing lacking, and this is originality. The characters are all more or less stereotypes which actions, and consequently dilemmas and all the emotions it involves, are sort of predictable. There a few twists and complications in the plot, but they all seem to be excuses in order to set up the Big!Battle! at the end of the film. This is not to say that the characters are one-dimensional, but they're not compelling enough for the audience to care. This is a shame since it has nothing to do with the actors -they're doing just fine (Chow Yun-Fat especially, who looks nothing like himself in this film). It's just a wee bit conventional in its storytelling. Family betrayal has been told before, is what I'm trying to say. It just lacked that daring touch which made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon so exceptional. In my humble opinion, of course. But the film was fine otherwise. It was entertaining and provided plenty of oooh and aaahhhs for the eyes.

* Ensemble, c'est tout, directed by Claude Berri. My second French film this month, how about that? I was kind of dragged there, too. But nevermind, because it turned out to be a very nice quite charming, romantic comedy, in which Camille (Audrey Tautou) is a cleaning lady who befriends Philibert (Laurent Stocker, a revelation), who is this quirky, incredibly funny character. He comes from a very aristocratic family -as you might have guessed from his name, and shares his flat with his friend Franck (Guillaume Canet), whose grand-mother (Françoise Bertin) needs to be taken care of. Eventually, Camille comes around to take care of her, as relationships between this group of people blossom and evolve. It's all very unlikely to happen in real life, but sweet nonetherless. The four actors were fabulous, especially Audrey Tautou. She was so vulnerable and stubborn at the same time. I really liked her in this film (unlike a certain huge summer blockbuster which was a load of bollocks). The film is also based on a bestselling book in France which I haven't read, written by Anna Gavalda. It has been translated into English as Hunting and Gathering. Anyway, the film is nothing life-changing (doesn't claim to be either), but it's good enough.

* Freedom Writers, directed by Richard LaGravanese. I know this film looks particularly bad and sirupy, not to mention a cheap copy of Dangerous Minds or any film involving an inspiring teacher. I went to see it without no expectations whatsoever; and I loved it. I know it all felt a bit familiar and cliché, especially at the beginning of the film, but I found myself genuinely moved by the end. Maybe I'm being over-sensitive, but the film is placed in a particular context, the Rodney King riots in L.A. at the beginning of the 1990s, thus making it much more believable. And indeed, the film is based on true events (and they keep telling us!). Basically, it is the story of Erin Gruwell (a real-life person, of course) who encourages the pupils of her largely-discriminated and divided class to find their "voices" by writing in diaries. It is as mushy as it sounds, but it's incredibly rewarding in the end. On a totally superficial note, I kind of fell for one of the kids (who plays the only white kid in the class). Not because he was white (which would be icky), but because he was dorky as hell. Patrick Dempsey, on the other hand, is a total douchebag in this --an undeserving husband who basically has no place in the film, and reinforces the stereotypes which you might find in it. But overall, the screenplay (which was written by the director) is quite good, and consequently, so is the film. Hilary Swank gives another fine performance, too. I'd recommend it to anyone who's a bit interested in harsh, teenage life... because it is, believe it or not!

* Les Témoins, directed by André Téchiné. Another French film, my! Told you I wasn't making any distinctions. So, this is the painful chronicle of people discovering AIDS, at the time when the virus was barely identified, and was becoming more and more widespread. Our group of characters involves a benevolent doctor, who also happens to be gay; the object of his desires, a young, charismatic boy, and his older sister; the doctor's lady friend who's completely whacked and irresponsible, and finally, her husband who is a policeman. It all sounds a bit complicated, but it isn't. Not unlike Ensemble, c'est tout, their relationships quickly fall into place --all over the place, I daresay. This is very much an ensemble film; even if some of the characters are totally loathable (the policeman's wife), it is a human drama which is always interesting and accurate in its portrayal of social behaviour. But most of all, it is also a reflection on the first days of this terrible disease, and the way it affects lives; and how one is supposed to handle that, when what is to be faced promises nothing but suffering, and ultimately, death. Yup, the film is a bit depressing, so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants to see a cheerful film (where the world is beautiful and The Littlest Elf is not far behind). I would recommend it, however, to anyone who wants an interesting insight on AIDS' apparition.

* Bridge to Terabithia, directed by Gabor Csupo (who? He created the Rugrats, apparently!). The first thing I'll say about this film is GIVE IT A CHANCE. I know it looked like such a cheap rip-off of Narnia, minus the wonder, plus bad VFX. Well, it isn't what it looks like at all. Very much like Sunshine, it is being marketed as something it isn't at all. Which is a shame, because tons of people will miss out on it, casting it off as ridiculous, childish fantasy, surfing on the Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter/Narnia vague of success. Well, I loved it, and highly recommend it to anyone who still values imagination. Because this is all what the film is about --imagination. That's all I need to say, really. I won't disclose any spoilers, but suffice it to say that it is a beautiful ode to the power of imagination. Yes, the heroes are kids, but precisely because they are, it all makes even more sense. I wasn't expecting something as touching and powerful, but it was. The movie is not flawless -it has its lot of clichés and exaggerations. And a bunch of bad, bad pop, kid-friendly songs. But it also has plenty of heart and sweetness. The story focuses on Jess, who is a shy, introverted boy; and Leslie, the new girl in his school. Despite their obvious differences (social and behavioural), they become friends, and as any kids would, start to play around and invent things in order to escape reality. I won't go further into the plot -it's pretty hard to talk about the film without spoiling it. And I have the feeling that nothing I'll write will convince anyone to go and see the film, anyway, because it was so badly misleading the audience in its marketing campaign. Shameful, because this is unlike any other family film I've seen -sincere, smart and engaging.

* Miss Potter, directed by Chris Noonan. This charming film tells the story of the most famous illustrator/author of all children's books, Beatrix Potter. You are probably familiar with her work, and seen her cute little bunnies in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. In any case, this is the story of her life. My feelings are shared on this one. On one hand, it was well-directed, beautifully designed and lit, with a good screenplay. On the other hand, it was a bit too naive, and quite difficult to engage with. Beatrix comes from a very aristocratic family and had everything she wished for. She achieved her goal, which was to be a published author, and found love at last; yet, she was still unhappy. Life was so harsh in those times, I couldn't help thinking she was actually very lucky. The screenplay was well-written, so I could understand why she still had problems, but I couldn't empathize a hundred percent with her. It was also a bit too cute and mushy. The performances, though, were all very good; Renée Zellweger (who's either cute as a button or annoying as hell) threw herself entirely in the role. Both Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson gave great supporting performances. I'll always love Ewan (I even put up with the Island for him), and I went to see this film with a fellow Ewan fan so... I have to say, he was especially adorable in this. But when isn't he, after all? Anyways, the film was okay, but maybe I've become too cynical to believe in that sort of story (I hope not, though).

Coming up is more rambling about films. Stay tuned!
[Can you believe I did a post without mentioning Bryan! Oops.]

Valkyrie

2007-03-30T18:18:00.000+02:00

It's the tentative title for Bryan's thriller I keep talking about, according to Liz Smith's New York Post column, published yesterday.

"And then [Bryan and writers Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander] went to UA with their project titled "Valkyrie."

Well, about that title... It's apprently from "Operation Walküre" which was the codename for the assassination plot. Of course, it's nothing definitive, but it's still appropriate and...makes...sense, I guess. It sounds a bit exotic, but I kind of like it.
The article then continues:

At UA, Bryan met with none other than Tom Cruise and just in the last month, Tom has been set to play the lead as a heroic German colonel, Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the man who led the "July Plot" to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Okay, about the Cruise playing a 'heroic' German colonel. That's something I'm very curious to see in the film. Because, see, in Wikipedia's account of the event, Stauffenberg (the character played by Cruise) is, quote, "a political conservative and a zealous German nationalist with a taste for philosophy. He had at first welcomed the Nazi regime but had become rapidly disillusioned. [...] He brought a new tone of fanaticism to the ranks of the resistance."
Not sure this correlates with my defintion of 'heroic'. I mean, obviously, this man did try to kill Hitler, at the cost of his own life -when the plot was ultimately uncovered, he was immediately executed. And surely, he is one of the many figures of German resistance. But it just seems... the way he is described makes it sound as if there were a double moral standard in his character.
I've already expressed my doubts as to how we, as an audience, are supposed to be sympathetic to high-ranked Nazi officers. I know they were plotting against Hitler -this being the whole point of the film... And yes, they were part of the German resistance, which at the time, was all kinds of heroic and incredibly inspiring... But there's something vaguely disturbing about it.
That being said, Todd Bowen was a very disturbing protagonist in a very disturbing film, so I know Bryan is good at portraying 'disturbing'. Heh.
Smith then quotes Bryan himself:

Singer says: "Originally, Chris and Nathan and I brought the project to UA because it seemed like a good match. UA was founded as an artist-based studio. Tom and Paula Wagner were clearly carrying on the tradition. The film was green-lit quickly. I admit in the back of my mind I always thought Tom would be a great fit for this role, beyond his physical resemblance. We met a few times about production and my desire to offer the part to him crystallized."

Hmmmm. "Clearly carrying on tradition"? As in "making heaps of money from films"? Hee. Sorry, but I'm still doubtful about the whole United Artists' revival. I mean, c'mon, who are they kidding? The film industry is no longer what it used to be, it just isn't.
Plus, Cruise and Wagner definitely do NOT qualify as the worthy heirs of Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith. Just saying.
But it's not like I'm questioning Bryan's casting skills or anything. Because I'm not.
Smith finishes her article by saying,

This seems to be one of those adventures that happen only rarely. UA will forge ahead and make the movie early this summer because Bryan is set to go ahead on "Superman" at Warner Bros. The McQuarrie-Alexander script is described as excellent, with suspense, honor, horror and history all mixed in together. To some of us, it will be heroic history; to youngsters, it will be a thriller.

Well, I'm sure it is excellent. Sounds quite epic.
I'm just a bit worried for Bryan, as I always am. I guess I got used to him doing action/adventure/superhero films. But I'm glad he's chosen to tackle such a sensitive story --and I'm sure he'll be doing just fine, in fact.
Am still waiting on the crew announcements, though... It kind of is Bryan's first 'period' film, in the sense that it is set in actual past history. Production and costume designer are going to have a jolly time reconstructing it! I suspect Guy Dyas and Louise Mingenbach will be working on the pre-production for the Supes sequel, and might not be involved with this project. But Bob Mayer Burnett, my new favourite crewmember, did say Warner would try and make it fit with Superman schedule, so who knows?

Okay, I'm rambling now. Sorry.

In other less exciting news (or possibly not), an exclusive trailer for Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Thirteen ("Hollywood-coolest-stars vehicule" also applies here) is up at Yahoo!Movies. You might ask why I love the Ocean franchise, considering how pretentious and self-congratulating it looks. Two words: Matt Damon. The trailer isn't too bad, but the teaser was funnier. But the fake nose? Cracked me up.

Next post will be my review of the month, after which I intend to start a new feature on this blog --DVD commentaries and extras recap! I was thinking of creating a whole new blog for it, but I'd rather keep with this good ol' one.
Stay tuned... or run away in the opposite side, if you're sick of reading about me babbling about Bryan. There's going to be a lot more of him to come, since the first DVD extra I intend to recap is... Requiem for Krypton: Making Superman Returns. Now, that's a surprise!

The Bourne Ultimatum Teaser Trailer!

2007-03-28T23:58:00.000+02:00

Watch the glorious footage here! It's action-packed, has tidbits from both Identity and Supremacy and in short, is bloody brillant. Not much revealed about the plot, but still very very exciting. The thought of all these characters returning to the big screen (Jason obviously, Nicky, Pamela Landy etc.) makes me shiver. I am so looking forward to seeing it. Oh, and it's DIRECTED BY PAUL GREENGRASS, so it adds to the excitement as well. Did I mention Matt Damon?

*takes a deep breath*
Speaking of the Paul, the results for the Empire Awards were published today, alongside gorgeous photoshoots featuring various people I really love (namely, Brandon Routh, Paul as I said earlier, Christopher Nolan). I'll repost those three here, but you can see all the winners and beautiful pics over there.

The results are, as expected, quite to my liking, except that Superman Returns got kind of shortlisted in all the categories it might have won. Bryan, too. Sniff. But then again, he lost out to Chris Nolan, so I'm not complaining or anything. Don't ask me to choose between Bryan's and Chris' directing, though; because I could never possibly answer.

Also, the shiny new covers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are up on MuggleNet, but I don't want to think about the Apocalypse too much, plzthx!

"But that was then; this is now."

2007-03-27T22:58:00.000+02:00

Read the Independent's comprehensive articles about the agreement reached in Northern Ireland. It is optimistic, moving and most of all, kind of gives you your faith back in humanity. It may seem like nothing, but it's been a long and painful way to get there.

"The fact that there was no handshake [between Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams] did nothing to spoil the occasion, since the sight of the two men together, flanked by their respective teams, had enormous political and psychological impact."

Leading article : A Triumph of Both Style and Substance

"It will be fascinating to see what relationship may develop between the Protestant patriarch and the one-time IRA commander. But if yesterday's introductory Paisley-Adams performance is anything to go by, the expected friction may be less than anticipated, given that the two men have spent a full generation eyeing each other from opposite ends of the political spectrum."

Two worlds come together to broker a new era of hope

"For anyone who endured the conflict of the last 30 years, even as a spectator, or who is conditioned by the generations of sectarian animosity that preceded and fuelled it, the appearance of Adams and Paisley together was an emotional occasion."

Commentary: A message of hope to a long-suffering people

And The Daily Telegraph, being --well, what they are, has a somewhat less enthusiastic point of view on the question but still acknowledges the positive side of things. The glass is still half-empty for them, apparently.

"Yet we should not get carried away. Northern Ireland has a habit of throwing up too many historic moments that have proved illusory. The depressing truth is that Northern Ireland has been repeatedly let down by its political establishment. It now has a chance to rectify that."

The hard men of Ulster make their peace

Yeah. Well done, pricks. Not insulting at all, that editorial.

The sky's the limit

2007-03-23T11:47:00.000+01:00

...but not for Danny Boyle. The director of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later brings us his own space odyssey in Sunshine, a sci-fi/psychological thriller in which a rescue mission is sent to reboot the dying sun. Remember how I was expecting this film very badly? I had the pleasure to see it yesterday for its premiere -so I thought I'd have a special post for this film. I'll try to keep it spoiler-free.

Sunshine is the direct and worthy descendent of Ridley Scott's Alien (easily one of my favourite films of all-time). Set in a spaceship, with all the confined rooms and corridors it involves, the same sense of claustrophabia and uneasiness is quickly conveyed. When we meet the astronauts of the Icarus II mission, they are already depressed and tense -things are about to snap and unravel soon. Each of these characters' personalities is brillantly exposed, even though not a single word on their past is mentioned. They all have their own demons to face, a fact which becomes more and more obvious as the mission is getting closer to its aim. The film has serious depth in the portrayal of its characters and of its subject. This is not fantasy science-fiction, but as close to reality as possible. Science talk is a bit difficult to adjust to in the beginning, but it all quickly falls into place.
Similarly, the special effects are very, very impressive. They're not blatant, huge VFX; but rather special effects which blend perfectly into the film's landscape and make up for dazzling visuals. It is as far as Armageddon and other Hollywood films as it can get in its depiction of space. Boyle's stubborness to recreate space as it might be in reality is very much visible; each detail and element is rendered with impressive credibility and therefore, beautiful to look at.
The form is here only matched by its content -the film does not limit itself to a sci-fi, disaster plot, but goes deep into its characters' minds, as the rescue shuttle gets closer to the sun. As Danny Boyle puts it himself, this is "eight people strapped at the back of a bomb" (indeed, the only way to reignite the sun is to drop a bomb at its center), and this makes for great suspense and thrills. I won't go further into the plot because it might spoil you, but let's simply say that the story is brillantly told and that the characters' dilemmas are bone-chilling. It is also a great exploration of one's sanity when facing such tremendous events, but once again, I can't say too much about it... There's a bit of a philosophical side to the plot as well, which is very much welcomed. Because this is space we're talking about --the infinite greatness which overwhelms us and goes beyond anything we could ever imagine. It is the perfect setting to tell of humans' unexplored depths and other psychological challenges, because you simply have no way of knowing what might be actually happening up there. It sounds a bit confusing, but when watching the film, it really isn't.
The directing is every bit as meticulous as you'd expect; Boyle surpasses himself in telling the story of these doomed characters. Not only is the film a psychological thriller (as I've already pointed out), but it's also filled with effective suspense and tension. There are a couple of BRILLANTLY scary shots, but once again, I'll keep mum about it. Let's just say that the shadow of Scott and Kubrick is not far away here...
Finally, a word on the performances. Looking at Cillian Murphy's filmography, I realized I've seen all his movies in theaters since the Girl With A Pearl Earring; Cold Mountain, Batman Begins (obviously), Red Eye, Breakfast on Pluto, The Wind That Shakes the Barley. So it's a bit of an understatement to say that I'm very fond of him as an actor. I might be biased when saying that once again, he's really impressed me in this film. He has the required poise to carry this film on his shoulders, and brings an intelligence to the role which I thought was very appropriate. The fact is, his character Capa is not your typical hero, but rather a reluctant, pushed by circumstances hero, more than anything else. And that fits Cillian very well indeed. I am so impressed by the career he's building for himself; surely one of the greatest Irish actors alongside Liam Neeson.
The other performances, I have to say, were also very good, and that's considering the limited screentime for each (there's eight crewmembers aboard the ship, it's a lot of characters to deal with). Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans, Troy Garity, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong and Michelle Yeoh give all-around good and believable performances, something that is somewhat of an achievement when there is so much to explain to the audience in terms of scientific reasoning and spaceship functioning. But most of all, they all fit the part, and they're not one-dimensional, uninteresting characters -which, once again, is quite a treat. The film has few flaws, I can tell you that...
In a few words, Sunshine is a tremendously beautiful, incredible journey through space, but also through its characters' minds. It's thrilling, scary, entertaining, creative and all kinds of uncomfortable. In other words, you do not want to miss it.
Sunshine is released in two weeks' time in the UK, and out in France on April, 11th.

And finally, quick movie news...

* New Spider-Man 3 theatrical trailer, and it rocks my socks. You can view it here (HD link is here, and it's even more glorious). This is also a new fanart, curtesy of CS.net.
* Variety reports that Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet will reunite in the next Sam Mendes film. This is possibly the greatest film news ever announced. Read the article here.
* Another pair-up of incredible talents announced by Variety today; Jonathan Nolan, co-writer of Memento and The Prestige (as well as Bat sequel The Dark Knight) is set to pen Interstellar, one of Steven Spielberg's next films. One word: wow. More about it here.

Stay tuned for more movie reviews and news!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!

2007-03-21T10:29:00.000+01:00

This is my reaction to the announcement that Tom Cruise got a part in Bryan's WWII thriller I told you about a few days ago, Variety reported today. Let's analyze the article, which you can find here.

United Artists has set Tom Cruise to star for director Bryan Singer in the untitled WWII thriller that will begin production in the summer.

Meaning that Bryan did not have his word to say in it?
Heh. I'm just kidding. Apparently, Bryan himself wanted Cruise in his film *facepalm*

Since Cruise and C/W partner Paula Wagner took MGM topper Harry Sloane's offer last fall to resuscitate the UA label and make four to six films per year, Cruise has taken a starring role in the first two pictures.

So he has a nasty habit of inviting himself in each of the films he's producing. GREAT.

Chris McQuarrie wrote the script with Nathan Alexander. Singer and McQuarrie will produce, and Alexander will be co-producer.

Nathan who? The only credit he has on the IMDb is as a PA to Chris McQuarrie. Here's to hoping he's a great screenwriter, too. (How awesome is that, though? One day, you're bringing coffee; and five years later, you get to co-write a screenplay. Heh)

Singer and McQuarrie brought the WWII project to Cruise and Wagner because they felt the material would be a good match for UA. Singer, who is in the early stages of mounting a sequel to "Superman Returns," was able to fit it in before the Man of Steel is ready to take off again for Warner Bros. and Legendary.

Sooooooo, no delay for the sequel to Superman Returns. Now, that's great, because it means this film will have to be shot and released quickly. On the other hand, Bryan will be multi-tasking and overseeing both the direction of his film and the pre-production stages (which are tremendously important) of the Supes sequel. But he's a grown man, he can handle it, right?

At the time UA made the deal, Cruise sparked to it only as a project for the studio. That changed quickly. The thriller is based on actual events, as German generals hatch a scheme to assassinate Adolph Hitler at the height of WWII. In subsequent meetings, Singer asked Cruise if he wanted to play a central role and he agreed Tuesday.

I'm pretty sure Bryan didn't "ask" him.
Gaaaaaaah, alright, FINE. So what if Bryan was the one who wanted Cruise to be in his film? It's only natural. Natural in the sense that Bryan needed a big name to sell his film, and despite all his off-screen antics, Cruise remains a huge asset in any films he might star in. And he's not so bad as an actor. I mean, alright he's a freaky nut, but he can act. I rather love his latest movies (and yes, that includes MI:III, which I thought was rather awesome -but this might have something to do with me being an longtime Alias fan), and errr, he's had an interesting carreer as an actor.
But in any case, I'm sure Bryan knows what he's doing. And he's PRETTY good at casting his films -he once said that it was the part of filmmaking he most disliked, while admitting that it was "probably the part I'm best at" as well. The line-up for all his films have been amazing, and this one will be no different. Plus, even if Cruise has a "central" role, the film also has an "ensemble character intrigue", meaning that other parts will be as important as his. I'm not worried --just surprised in a disagreeable kind of way. It doesn't fare well for the box-office perf of the film, though. Because I can see it coming --the film being marketed as the next Tom Cruise vehicule; and people have been so sick and tired of him, too. But I reckon it doesn't matter, because obviously, Bryan is not making this film on the basis of how it will fare at the box-office -never had to because he's such a successful director, and never will because his name isn't Brett Ratner. Hem.
Okay, the other thing to discuss in this bit of article is the tidbit about the plot, which I've bolded in the citation. Empire developed a bit in their own story, quote:

We also now know the story – it's the plot to kill Hitler, as made not all that famous by a TV movie called The Plot To Kill Hitler back in 1990. It focuses on several of the Nazi dictator's own generals, who tried to do the monster in by planting a bomb in his battlefield bunker. Now, Hitler did die in a bunker, but hopefully it's no great spoiler to reveal that it wasn't from a bomb blast (watch Downfall for that particular story). See where this is going?

Now, I think this is the most interesting part, even more so than The Cruise inviting himself (oooh okay, starring in the film on Bryan's invitation). That particular story sounds WICKED but most of all, it sounds very difficult to tell in a proper way. In no way am I questioning Christopher McQuarrie's skills, but how do you expect the audience to have sympathy for a bunch of Nazi generals? Even if they tried to kill Hitler? (and they failed to do so!) ...
I'm sure they came up with something great, though. I can see why Bryan would want to tell such a story, and it does seem to have great potential -suspense, betrayal, murder, morally questionable characters...

Now all we need is a title, more announcements about the casting and most importantly the CREW, a release date, a trailer, and I'll be set and ready to see this film. Even if Cruise's starring in it.

Blogging at the speed of light

2007-03-16T19:36:00.000+01:00

What can I say, the only thing moving faster than the movie industry is the Internet...
Here comes the usual batch of movie articles and news, that you may or may not care about.

* The Hollywood Reporter reports (oooh the pun!) that incredibly taltented and beautiful Cate Blanchett has signed on to star in Indiana Jones 4. (photo curtesy of Oscarwatch)
I would totally love to see her as Indy's nemesis. Or his love interest. Or both, go figure...

* ShoWest 2007, which is the annual convention of theaters owners in Las Vegas (read: where all the big blockbusters are being promoted like pieces of meat), started this weekend. USA Today's Scott Bowles is blogging from there and of course, it all turns out to be very interesting. Steve Carell's quote cracked me up -"I love the awards season. I wish they'd go on all year. It would mean I didn't have to work.". Hee.
What is even more interesting, though, are the photos posted by Latino Review -exclusive promo posters for this year's most anticipated films. Of course, those posters are not the final, official theatrical poster, but it's still very exciting. I'll post here The Bourne Ultimatum and The Golden Compass posters, but there's plenty more at the link above.

I love both taglines! Great to see Jason Bourne bringing it "home" (while the first two movies' car chase scenes were set in Paris and Moscow, Ultimatum's was shot in NYC) and nice Pullman quote there from Northern Lights.

* Box-Office Mojo reports on the 300 phenomenon at the US box-office. The film has cashed in $70 million in its first weekend; it is now expected to bypass the $100 million in its second week. I think the power of Internet fanboys is now proved...

* Scott Foundas' review for Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes The Barley is nothing short of perfect.

[The movie] is, rather, a profound consideration of the fog of wars that rage between not only nations but, all too often, within their own borders. And it is about how friends — and even brothers — who once fought side by side against a collective oppressor can, in a moment, find themselves stationed on opposite sides of an ideological divide.

You can read the rest at the LA Weekly website here.

* MSN Movies has a feature on female filmmarkers, or lackthere of...

"Still, despite the obstacles in Hollywood and elsewhere, women have continued to direct -- underground, independently, sometimes hitting a home run only once or twice within or outside the ruthless studio system."

More about Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola and fellow female filmmakers here. I wish there were more. Andrea Arnold, the British director of the wonderful Red Road, looks very promising to me. I'll keep my fingers crossed for more women expressing themselves through the beautiful art -because it is- of filmmaking. The thing is, we have a fair amount of female directors in France. But at a world scale, it doesn't seem to work that way.

* Empire's newsletter, which came through a few hours ago, made me laugh outloud. Here's a screencap-

Heh! Something tells me I'll be developing an obsession of my own on this film...

* Speaking of which, the merry fellas over there (at Empire, I mean, not on the surface sun) snatched an exclusive interview with Superman himself, also known as Brandon Routh, in which he discusses the film's sequel.

“I suggested that Bryan call it Superman Returns Again, but I don’t think that will happen..”

Well, I'm glad The Supes isn't working at the WB development departement...
You can read the full interview (lots of teasing instead of actual information, as always) at the following link.

* The lovely, talented, intelligent, great Tim Robbins is featured in an awesome article from The Times.

“Let’s try and get through this interview without mentioning politics,” he says with a smile. “For some reason, everybody always wants to talk about that with me . . .”

The full article is here.

* And in what is the first musical news featured on this blog not about Coldplay (hee), last week saw the release of Arcade Fire's sophomore album, Neon Bible. The New Yorker has an excellent piece on the band. The caption to the image is rather lovely-

"The songs aim, without apology or irony, for grandeur. More often than not, they achieve it."

Meanwhile, The NY Mag takes us backstage with the band in a short but very pleasant article. On the plus side, it is accompanied by a wonderful slideshow, from which the following pic is extracted.

"Arcade Fire had magically synthesized anthemic bar-band songs with the highbrow chops of a string quartet."

More right here.

The band's new album has been getting raves from the critics. Rolling Stone calls it "an aggressively gothic record", which I guess is positive since the rest of the review is. Village Voice has quite an hilarious article -they can't seem to believe how big the band is, in every sense of the word. Apocalypse Now indeed... And finally, Pitchfork Media sums it all up accurately-

"And even as press coverage and fan obsession suggest that the world is making a place for them, the band is still looking for a way to understand that world, and to see it for what it really is-- or at least as it appears in the distorted mirror they hold to it."

Well, I think I've finally found a band which I love as much as Coldplay. Can you believe I just wrote that?

Finally!

2007-03-14T22:41:00.000+01:00

I just spent two hours writing a message and the stupid computer deleted it all...

Okay, so, remember how I was all worried about Bryan Singer not doing anything? I was so anxious no to hear from him... It's silly, but I was. Well, it seems that someone has answered my thoughts (hee), since Variety reported today that Bryan is set to direct a thriller set during World War II... which will be written by none other than his Usual Suspects screenwriter, Academy-Award winner Christopher McQuarrie! Eeeeeeeeeeee!! It will apparently be an "multi-character ensemble piece", just like Suspects. Tom Cruise's recently acquired studio, United Artists, will be in charge of production.

Why is this news so greaaat?
* This is the first collaboration between Bryan and Chris McQuarrie since The Usual Suspects, which, as we all know, pretty much changed the concept of crime thriller as we imagined it. I'm not expecting a film as GREAT as Suspects, but I'm very happy indeed to see the two of them working together again. I can only wish for Mike and Dan (X-Men 2 and Superman Returns co-writers) to help a bit, too!
* This will delay the planned sequel to Superman Returns, but I am not bothered by that fact at all. As I've said in my earlier post, I wanted Bryan to go back to smaller-budgeted films; because I was afraid he would be typecast as a sci-fi, 'superhero' director. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but he's versatile enough to change registers. I was also scared he would stick to the ABC lot and not do feature films anymore; so I'm quite relieved now. No offence, but television... doesn't suit his talent. He's meant for bigger things!
* Bryan has this morbid fascination for the Second World War and the Holoclaust -an event in which he "lost all his family history" (in his own words). This was made quite evident in his second feature film, Apt Pupil. The fact that this project is set during WWII is not a coincidence. According to Variety, Bryan declared-

"It's a period in history that has always fascinated me, and we found a very interesting story that materialized into a pretty wonderful script."

I can't wait to find out more. I'm rather interested to find out what he has to say about the subject...
* The film will not be produced by a major Hollywood studio. The thing is, I thought Warner Bros. backed Bryan quite well --they handled Supes just fine, let him do his own thing without interfering, promised a sequel despite the box-office results. And yet, Bryan did not bring this project to them or to any sub-branches, such as WIP (Warner Independent Pictures). Still in the Variety article, Bryan was quoted as saying,

"We brought it to UA and it was nice one-stop shopping. We decided it was the right place to make this movie, as opposed to shopping it around."

So, about Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner's United Artists financing the film... Well, it doesn't really matter. As long as it's not the 20th Century Fox, it's fine by me. Fox mistreated him in every way a studio can mistreat its director. I trust that UA, being a smaller-sized company, will actually GET OFF HIS BACK. Even if it means that technically, Bryan will be working for a Scientologist midget. He's friends with Steven Spielberg, you know (I'm speaking here of The Cruise). So he can't be all that bad.
I'm still surprised that Bryan didn't went for WB, though. Something's off...

I can't wait to see this project coming along, and of course, to see the film in theaters! I hope everyone will be back onboard (by which I mean, Bryan's collaborators; Tom Sigel, John Ottman, Louise Mingenbach, Guy Hendrix Dyas).

Speaking of Bryan's people, I kind of totally fell for Dan Harris. I did. I bought Imaginary Heroes (which was never released in France) and it was incredible. I mean, I thought Zach Braff's Garden State was pretty awesome in terms of directorial debut, but Imaginary Heroes is... something else entirely. Far superior. The only comparaison which comes to my mind is Sam Mendes' own first film, American Beauty. It's almost as good --only not a masterpiece. I insist on the "almost". But it's good enough.

Imaginary Heroes tells the story of Tim, a fucked-up teenager in a family who is slowly falling apart, starting with the suicide of the eldest of the three children. So far, nothing very new. Family dramas always start on a premise such as this one. There's the usual lot of drug use, violence, death -things that might or might not speak to a viewer; but, most importantly, there's also the fundamental questioning of whether one can belong to a family, how one is supposed to interact with them, the difficulty of facing and saying things when it comes down to our dearest ones. Tim (a wonderful and fierce Emile Hirsch), at some point, says a very simple line -"Sometimes I feel like I don't fit into this family". And this line just struck me as both very simple and complex. The entire film is about this bitter irony of being a family, loving and not getting along with it; and each character's burdens and ways of coping with life, without ever making them cliché, one-dimensional or uninteresting. More than the directing, the writing is of the highest quality. I was just blown away by it. Dan was 22 when Bryan offered him to write X-Men 2, just because he had read the Imaginary Heroes script. And I can totally understand, because there's an unusual sincerity and maturity to it. You don't have to necessarily have a dysfunctional family or unhappy life to understand. I was so surprised to see how excellent it was. Dan must have been my age when he wrote it, perhaps a bit older. But in any case, it was really brillant. A very promising debut, indeed...

There's also the tiny insignificant fact that Dan is INCREDIBLY good-looking. In a non-director, non-regular kind of way. If you're curious, here's a pic at the X-Men 2 premiere (on the right is Mike Dougherty, his writing partner).
It's just not normal for someone that good-looking to be that smart and sensitive and talented and...
...he's what, 26?
And he co-wrote Superman Returns, too?
He's ridiculously perfect.
(Plus, he's one of Bryan's best pals *bangs head against the wall*).
I'm tired of perfect people. Siiiiiiiiiiiigh.

Review of the month: Feburary

2007-03-08T18:45:00.001+01:00

Sorry, this was due a long time ago. Last film reviewed was The History Boys... Since that, I've seen-

* Bobby, directed by Emilio Estevez. An admirable directorial and acting effort, it tells the story of Senator Bobby Kennedy's assassination in 1968. As the date obviously shows, it was a turning point in American history. But more than that, the events find a strange echo in today's situation. The film however, although not entirely apolitical, focuses on a huge group of characters around the senator --about fifteen of them at least. The ambitions of the film are nothing short of grand, and indeed, it might be too ambitious; but the fact remains that it succeeds in telling its story, and most importantly, its message. And a beautiful message it is, as the last ten minutes reach one of the most intensy emotional climax in recent years. The trouble is, before those final, epic minutes, the film's rhythm tends to drag a little bit. Because it has so many characters, and because each of those need to be developed so that the viewer can sympathize with them, it might seem uneven. Ultimately, some characters stand out and others don't.
A word on the fantastic cast - all the actors outdid themselves, especially Freddy Rodriguez, Sharon Stone, Demi Moore and Lindsay Lohan. Their performances are ones of the finest among a stellar, top-notch cast (also noteworthy perfs are Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen, Laurence Fishburne). Definitely a movie I'd recommend to anyone who's a wee bit interested in contemporary history.

* Blood Diamond, directed by Edward Zwick. There is loads to say about this film, but I'll just say this first; I thought, honestly, that the film was overrated. Edward Zwick's directing is downright blend, to be polite. Boring at best. There was something about it which really annoyed me. Some choices were just of bad taste, too Hollywood-ish, too Americanized, whatever you want to call it. I mean, the sweeping, majestic landscapes (yes it's a gorgeous country, but over-the-top when used so heavily); the bad guys running all around but never catching them... some things just felt wrong. The screenplay, which was fine if not a bit bleak, deals with the diamond trade in Sierra Leone and the civil war which was brewing at the time. For such a sensitive subject, you might want a director who actually feels involved, and whose filming is energetic and engaging. Zwick settled for mildly concerned instead, and as a result, the finished product is not as amazing as it should have been. The relationship between the characters were also quite clumsily written, and although the film is not entirely devoid of emotions and ideas, it was simply trying too hard. It's a pity because you could feel it had things to say. On the hand, both editing and photography were neat. James Newton Howard's scoring was a bit louder than what we're used to with him, but it was good nonetherless.
About the 5 Oscar nominations, though... Djimon Hounsou's performance surely deserved the nod, but Leo DiCaprio's Billy Costigan from The Departed is more memorable than this character. There's been a lot of confusion about whether Leo should be lead or supporting this year, and The Departed being such an ensemble film ended up hurting the chances of all its actors... So the Academy went for Blood Diamond instead and Leo got nominated as lead for this particular film, which is understandable. But both his Departed performance and character were better, in my opinion.

* Snow Cake, directed by Mark Evans. Here's a lovely, charming film which was funny and thoroughly enjoyable. It tells the story of a lonely and traumatized man, Alex (played by Alan Rickman) and an autistic woman, Linda (a brillant Sigourney Weaver). There's some really tragic elements to the story -the death of her daughter, the burden of the past; and yet, it all feels so true-to-life and natural, you just can't help laughing and crying along. It feels so great to see honest storytelling -don't ask me what I mean by it, it's just... There's such a great sincerity in this movie, in the characters it depicts, in the situations it shows. It's the kind of small film which intentions are nothing less than to move the viewer, and it succeeds brillantly in doing so. All the hardships in life are usually made so cliché in films, but it's not the case here at all. There was a great attention paid to details which I really loved. And needless to say, Alan Rickman absolutely fitted the part.

* The Pursuit of Happyness, directed by Gabriele Muccino. Speaking of cliché -I have to admit, that before seeing it, I thought this film was a huge one. I could see the way it was and the way it would end. But I still went, and I was pleasantly surprised. The film was actually quite good, and touching in its own little way. Although the storyline is predictable, the characters are just very well-written. Will Smith's performance, of course, helped tremendously in making it believable. Once again, a so-called 'comedian' actor shows off impeccable acting chops; and Smith's Oscar nomination is entirely called for this time. The fact that his super-talented little son Jaden plays his child in the film also helps... What I liked most about it, though, is how unpretentious it was. The Big! Lessons! You're! Learning! From! Life! were actually subtle. And it was all so heartwarming. Not in the syrupy, fake kind; more like genuinely heartwarming. I loved it, but wouldn't want to see it again, because, yes, it made me cry buckets.

* Hannibal Rising, directed by Peter Webber. There's nothing fundamentally bad about this film, except that it's sort of ridiculous. Really. I don't know how Thomas Harris' books are like, but his screenplay for this film was just preposterous. As I was watching, I was asking myself whether we were supposed to really believe in all that nonsense before our eyes. Let me explain: the film starts off as a realistic, revenge story, but then drifts into dangerous waters, that is a slasher film in which the serial killer is conducted and motivated by love. Yeah, right.
Technically, the film is quite good. It's visible that Peter Webber did his best. So did Gaspard Ulliel, by the way. Of course, his character doesn't seem to have any relation to Anthony Hopkins' (oh, the irony), but that's the screenplay's flaw, really. Le Gaspard himself brings a certain poise and intelligence to the part. But the truth is, I only went to see the film for Kevin McKidd's tiny, tiny role in it (yup, Fish and myself are hopelessly desperate when it comes down to Rome). So I didn't expected much, and didn't got much, really. I was sort of disgusted by the gloominess at the end of it, but nothing more. In other words: quite forgettable.
I wish Gaspard would go back to shooting with Gus Van Sant, now that'd be interesting...

* The Last King of Scotland, directed by Kevin Macdonald. There's so many things to praise about this film, I don't even know how to start. Suffice it to say that first, the film is part of an amazing revival in politically-engaged films; and second, Forest Whitaker's Academy-Award winning performance is not disappointing at all. Now, here's a film which will surely be deemed controversial (for its explicitely graphic use of violence and Idi Amin's portrayal), but in any case, gets under the viewer's skin. The directing was every bit as dynamic as expected, the suspense efficiently built -there's a thrilling (in the 'thriller' sense, I mean) aspect to the film which I can't quite put my finger on. The excitement and exoticism of it all is brillantly captured. Most of all, though, it features an unforgettable character, and that is Idi Amin Dada. The whole Oscar buzz around it is just nothing compared to what Forest Whitaker did with this character. I'll just leave it this way -very much like Philip Seymour Hoffman's Truman Capote, the performance was more real that life. There's also James McAvoy fantastic turn as a selfish, not-so-naive protagonist. The film kind of made me think of The Constant Gardener. Ooh! I can't believe I just wrote that... it's not that good, of course, but still, worthy of the comparaison. The characters, the setting, the storytelling, the entire film was so well-crafted. It's thought-provoking, gut-wrenching, chilling, and all kinds of awful. In short, definitely my favorite film this month (last month's was Little Children).

* La Môme, directed by Olivier Dahan. Another musical 'biopic' except that it's a FRENCH one, which makes me incredibly proud. Okay, first things first, I don't see that many French films. That's shameful and sort of a coincidence, but it remains true. Most French films just aren't that appealing to me. This one, however, was different. Not necessarily because it was French, but because we don't get to see that type of film much. Such an epic, dramatic film, I mean. The sheer length of the film was a challenge, and yet, you're not bored for one second. The editing choice was quite brave as well, if not a bit awkward. Overall, the film looks absolutely gorgeous -from the production design to the sound mixing (which is astonishing, really).
But the true star here is Marion Cotillard. This is a once-in-a-lifetime, career-defining performance. No wonder so much has been said and written about it, because it's absurdly good and intense. As I've posted earlier, I reckon she deserves an Academy Award and all the acting prizes out there, because she's accomplished such a seamless and accurate work here, I'm not sure words can even describe it, really. You just have to go and see it for yourself.

* Letters From Iwo Jima, directed by Clint Eastwood. Well, what would you expect from Clint: a superb film, accurate in both its storytelling and filming, with this particular aesthetic which everyone has come to associate with his name. The companion piece to Flags of our Fathers, it depicts the battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective, which is not only innovative but also surprisingly relevant. While Flags focused on how the soldiers were mythicized after the war, Letters is simply and purely a grand war film. As hellish as it can get. Throughout the lengthy running time, the audience can barely breathe -although the set-up before the actual battle is quite long, the viewer is never spared. Because of all the war movies, or the everyday depiction of violence, one would think things would become easier to see or understand, but it never does. The harshness and cruelty, not to mention the utter despair and sadness of war always hits us hard, and all the more so here, because it is so brillantly staged and told. As a director, Eastwood has reached the ultimate state of grace; like Scorsese or other great filmmakers, it all flows so smoothly and easily that the viewer cannot help being entranced by the spectacle before his eyes. But most importantly, it always go straight for the heart and never loses its focus. More than a film about history, it's about humanity.

* Dreamgirls, directed by Bill Condon. This film made me feel incredibly cheerful -the equivalent effect of a spell which lasted for two hours non-stop. I have to say, I was a bit annoyed at first because it had so much Oscar buzz, and to be honest, I was just thinking before seeing it, "let's just stop with the musicals already! Can't people be creative anymore?"... As it often is the case, my prejudices turned out to be completely unjustified. There are many flaws to be acknowledged in the film -the clichés in the characters, especially; but the truth is, it is packed with incredible energy and offers the sort of pure entertainement which is rarely seen nowadays. Bill Condon was the man to handle this project -he turned it into something that is so fresh and alive that you cannot help being captivated. I was certainly seduced, not to mention the fact that John Myhre's production design was astoundingly beautiful. Now, did Jennifer Hudson really deserved that Oscar? Well, yes and no. Yes, because clearly, no one else would have been able to accomplish what she did here. And no, because dramatic as her performance might be, the Babel ladies and Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin were much more subtle in theirs. But it's still fair to say Hudson is a real gem in this film, singing her heart and guts out. And Beyoncé, which I kind of really didn't care about before, was fantastically beautiful and charming as the naive Deena. Then of course, there's the matter of Eddie Murphy, who was good, but not exactly worthy of all the awards which were bestowed upon him (he was just different from what he usually is, that's all). So performance-wise and technically, the film is pretty much outstanding. But you could see it coming, the film has a major weakness --that is the lack of complexity in its screenplay, which clearly comes from the fact that it was a Broadway show in the first place, and indeed, this is where it truely belongs. No offense intended, but let's just stop with the musicals before it gets worse (and this comes from a girl who has Moulin Rouge! and Walk the Line among her favorite movies...).

* The Good German, directd by Steven Soderbergh. My feelings are shared on this one. On one hand, the film looked absolutely beautiful, the black-and-white images were splendid and the photography was a real accomplishment indeed. On the other hand, the screenplay had too many glitches, the pace was poorly handled, the story quite confusing, and not engaging enough. It was trying very hard to be an old-fashioned crime film, and indeed it was quite old-fashioned, but not successful on the whole mystery/crime side. There was something fundamental lacking in the film. It wasn't really coherent, in the sense where it was supposed to tell about the post-WWII situation, but it didn't exactly develop any reflection about it; rather, it focused on the main characters' relationships, but without saying anything special about them either. It felt a bit emotionally dry. Whatever you'd want to call it. That's a shame because both George Clooney's and Cate Blanchett's performances were okay (Tobey Maguire is hardly onscreen!).
That being said, THOMAS NEWMAN SCORED THIS FILM, so I really concentrated on that more than anyhting else. And his score was quite impressive, as it often is. I know that it sounded a bit too loud sometimes, way louder than what we're used to with Tom, but still... It was a typically Newman-ish score, with all the delicate little sounds you'd expect from him, and that quirkiness which is so characteristic of him. It's just such a pleasure for the ears, his music. The Academy-Award nomination? Is deserved. Or so I thought...

* Notes on a Scandal, directed by Richard Eyre. Here's a very potentially provocative film, but which in actual fact, really isn't. The thing about this film is that the screenplay is absolutely fascinating. It is about a dysfunctional relationship between a young teacher, brillantly portrayed by Cate Blanchett, and an older lady who is a fellow teacher -a completely, insanely good-and-creepy Judi Dench. And there's just so many depths to the story that I won't even try here to summarize it... I loved it because it was both intelligent and very well-shot. There's an incredibly well-built suspense and tension running throughout the entire length of the film, and the two lead performances are really solid and effective. Surely the story is sometimes far-fetched, but it never sounded fake or too dramatized. It certainly is gripping and mesmerizing in a sort of terrifying way. Plus, the very British-looking kid is terribly cute in it (and he's my age). I have to add, Philip Glass' scoring was terrific.

* Catch A Fire, directed by Phillip Noyce. First of all, I love this director; he made the achingly beautiful, poetic and tragic Rabbit-Proof Fence, which sadly was very little seen. In any case, I didn't even know he was the director of this film; I only went because Tim Robbins is, well, Tim Robbins, meaning one of the best actors of his generation and one which I love very much. He's the kind of actor (alongside Ed Norton, Joaquin Phoenix, Ralph Fiennes, Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp etc.) whose sole name can get me to the theater. Anyway. As expected with any film dealing with South Africa's painful, painful history, the film was tremendously moving and very difficult to watch, all the more so because the end of the film (no spoiler, don't worry) shows an interview footage with the actual person who went through all these events, and whose life is basically the entire subject of the film. That was such a beautiful gesture and ending... Now, the film itself. There isn't much to criticize, really. It was just very powerful. How can one justify the terrorists' use of violence, though, and condemn it at the same time? That's quite a tricky question; but the film is never patronizing or judgmental. It is just trying to tell the story rightfully, and it does so with sincerity and delicacy. Derek Luke's lead performance was awesome, so was Tim Robbins as an awful, discriminating policeman. Highly recommenced to anyone who's interested in seeing a smart, moving, historical thriller.

One last thing I'd like to mention; Ewan McGregor was recently interviewed on French television, and I didn't think there could be more adorable or charming... You can see the video here (registration is required to see the video, I believe). Sigh.

Edit : F***** hell, I totally forgot to review The Lives of Others. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiite, the thing is I really adored it! I must have lost my ticket or something -I can't remember all the films I'm seeing each month, so I keep my tickets and review from then on. GOD. I'll do it quickly...
Das Leben der Anderen was the most brillant, amazing film this month, alongside The Last King of Scotland. It featured an unforgettable trio of characters -Christa-Maria, Dreyman and Wiesler; had the most beautiful ending I've seen in a long time... it was also incredibly moving and subtle, despite the seemingly simplistic directing -or how to say a lot without actually saying anything. The unfolding of the story proves to be completely heartbreaking. There was just something deeply beautiful about this film. Some shots were memorable both for their simplicity and emotional content. And at the same time, the film had so many layers -on East Germany and freedom of expression (or lackthere of), on the nature of art... I highly recommend it, really. You'd be surprised to see how good it is.

Election time in Northern Ireland

2007-03-07T18:09:00.000+01:00

... the outcome of which will be of tremendous importance for the stability of the region. If Ian Paisley's DUP and Gerry Adams' Sinn Féin do not strike an agreement by the 26th of March, a deadline set by the British governement, who knows what will happen... In the meantime, people went back to polls to elect the 108 members which will seat in the Stormont Assembly.

The Independent has a full, interesting report on the elections which you can read here.

Academy Awards, con'td!

2007-03-04T14:46:00.000+01:00

It's already been a week since the Academy Awards, but the ceremony is only once a year, so we might as well enjoy it as much as possible! There's been so many articles and pics on the subject all around the Internet, I'll just post here my faves.

*First of all, about the telecast. Every year, I read that 'many people think this was the most boring Oscar ceremony ever'. I mean, c'mon folks. I thought Ellen DeGeneres' hosting was brillant (even though the opening speech was predictable). I hope she'll get to host next year, too! And by the way, the pic with Clint Eastwood for her MySpace page, taken by Steven Spielberg? It's really there! Hee!

*The Academy Awards' official site has a brand new look, and features tons of cool videos; including the Thank You cam. Helen Mirren's one is particularly delightful. But the most interesting one is definitely Errol Morris' nominees interview montage, which was broadcasted at the beginning of the telecast. I've screencaped it because it was just so great and funny (I apologize for the quality of the screencaps, I suck at it).

Best Actor nominees - Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Peter O'Toole and Forest Whitaker

Best Supporting Actor nominees - Alan Arkin, Djimon Hounsou, Eddie Murphy and Mark Wahlberg

Best Supporting Actress nominees - Abigail Breslin and Jennifer Hudson

The Queen nominees - actress Helen Mirren and screenwriter Peter Morgan

Letters From Iwo Jima nominees - director Clint Eastwood and producer Steven Spielberg

The three amigos - Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo Del Toro

The "still haven't won an Oscar" people - sound mixer Kevin O'Connell (19 nominations) and composer Thomas Newman (8 nominations, sniff)

Watch the video here!
I love my Tom.
"So you have failed to win an Oscar eight times?"
"No, I've failed seven but this will be my eighth."
And Clint: "We're nominated for picture, director... things like that", heeeeeeeee!
Peter Morgan's tidbit is also hilarious -"Any sexual thought about the Queen is a treasonable thought, let's just be quite clear about that... off with your head...". Classic!

*Speaking of which, there's been quite a nasty story about Kevin O'Connell and his fellow sound mixers during the pressroom, reported by EW:

Boy, Dreamgirls' sound mixing winners weren't too sympathetic to their Apocalypto rival, 19-time loser Kevin O'Connell. [One said] ''I just wonder what Kevin's trying to do out there by trying to get an award by using sympathy. Kevin's an okay mixer but enough's enough about Kevin.... I just think that he should take up another line of work.''

Ugh. Asshole. I don't think nighteen nominations are the work of an 'okay' sound mixer. I mean, the guy who said that just won a fuckin' Oscar, and all he can think of to do is bashing his fellow nominee who just lost. That's just so low and lame.

*Here are more of my favorite pics from that night, curtesy of the IMDb and The Envelope.

Two of Britain's greatest actresses on the red carpet: Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren

George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen share a laugh backstage...

Hugh Jackman and Penelope Cruz walk back composer Gustavo Santaolalla on the Kodak Theater scene.

Naomi Watts reunites with her 21 Grams director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, at the Vanity Fair Party.

Another happy reunion: the Six Feet Under Cast! Pictured here are Freddy Rodriguez, Rachel Griffiths and Michael C. Hall. I heart them!

Queen Helen Mirren sits proudly with Oscar...

...while Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio snuggle happily (awwww, awww and awwwww! These two! Really! Hem.)

On a lesser glamourous side, a pic of Kirsten Dunst who seems a wee bit drunk. Or maybe she's just dancing, go figure...

*Out of all the reports, my favorite one is David Edelstein's. Quote:

Jaden and Abigail were to die for, and it was nice to see a pair of presenters who weren’t drunk.

Heh. You can read the rest here. Empire's Helen O'Hara minute-by-minute blog is also quite epic, as it often is the case. She should work for Television Without Pity, I reckon her recap of the ceremony is fantastic!

*There's an interesting article over The Guardian about how Oscars also translate into money for the producers. Quote:

"For the right sized movie - especially one that isn't an obvious commercial choice - it's the difference between life and death."

The article also mentions Thomas Newman (among others), which is quite nice. It is located at the following link.

*You can read a brillant article about the Oscar-nominated cinematographers of this year -Vilmos Zsigmond, Emmanuel Lubezki, Richard Pope, Guillermo Navarro and Wally Pfilster right here. I love that some people have NOTICED what a gorgeous job these directors of photography have done this year.

*There's also a somewhat pompeous but tremendously interesting article about chronological construction in films, or lackthere of, at The New Yorker. It took me ages to read it, and I hate David Denby (he's the one who wrote it), but it's still worth mentioning because he analyses, among many others, Babel, Memento, Pulp Fiction, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It can be found here.
True enough, the writing is correct but a bit too formal, if you ask me.

*Elsewhere, The Bourne Ultimatum is now filming in Washington DC, according to the Wasington Post. Keeping track of the film's shooting is becoming difficult!
Also, Empire has posted some pics of the NY filming, including this very classic Jason Bourne-type of pic.

You can see the rest of the stills here.

*Variety reports that Flushed Away did very bad business for Dreamworks. I hate that it was such a great animated feature and yet, was overlooked by the American audience. Why did they flock to see Over the Hedge, Madagascar etc. and not this one, who was actually quite smart? And now Aardman and Dreamworks have ended their collabration, just because of mildly disappointing box-office results. I hate that sentence (replace it by 'hugely' and you get what Superman Returns allegedly was for Warner Bros.). I hate the fact that it's always all about money -and obviously, Dreamworks does not have enough faith in Aardman for continuing their partnership. See, if they really loved Aardman's works and believed in them, then they'd be willing to take the risks and stay loyal, no matter what the financial cost is. But being a big Hollywood corporation, they're not. Such a shame...

*Speaking of which -admire the delicate transition here- according to the IMDb, Bryan (Singer, obviously) is on executive producer duties for Dirty Sexy Money, an ABC series in which Peter Krause (of Six Feet Under fame, of course) signed on as well. Why is Bryan wasting his talent and precious time on this? Or on the bloody Footballers Wives remake? He better explain it soon, because his fans (namely, me) are waiting. And because he's going to be busy for the next two years planning the Superman sequel, I'm pretty sure he won't get around to do Logan's Run, which is a longtime project of his. I believe Mike and Dan, apparently also in collaboration with Christopher McQuarrie (his Usual Suspects screenwriter) even already penned a screenplay of it. Here's what he said about the project during the Superman Returns press junket--

Q: Is Logan's Run dead?
A: It’s not dead, it’s too magnificent. The world we developed and the things we pre-vised is too extraordinary. Not only was I shooting this movie over the last two years, but I have my [Fox] TV series House and I also produced The Triangle mini-series for the Sci-Fi network which was simultaneously shooting in South Africa. So some of these things were relatively new to me, over the last two years, while making Superman Returns, so that these two years were very overwhelming and I couldn’t jump right into a movie of that scope. Logan's Run was becoming a movie of tremendous scope, and [I've explained] how challenging and exhausting these things can be.

*frustrated*
I would just love to see Logan's Run finally going somewhere (he was supposed to do it before the X-Men films, can you imagine?), but instead, there's this silly thing with ABC going on; and I really wish he'd go back to filmmaking and start working on either that or the Supes sequel, or any of the smaller-budgeted films he's got going on (there's two of them, apparently). I'm just worried for him, you see.

*To finish the round-up of my fandoms, I found this lovely Rome ad of Brutus. I'll definitely miss Tobias Menzies. He was just so perfect in his role. Sniff. And because I heart him a lot, I've also seen Pierrepoint, which is known in the US as The Last Hangman; in which he has a tiny role but definitely a memorable and touching appearance. Sigh.
The lovely fans over at Tobias Menzies Daily also have his first feature film, The Low Down, directed by Jamie Thraves, available to download. The funny thing is, Thraves is a well-known music video director --he notably filmed for Radiohead, Blur, Coldplay and recently, Death Cab for Cutie. Needless to say, I love him.

Anyway, the ad!

I reckon it's beautiful. He looks so... Roman (heh). Plus, the tagline --no, TEH tagline. Gaaaah. I'm missing him badly.

*Hmmm, what else? I've recently attended a Guillemots concert which I've 'reviewed' here -it's not so much a review as a few words written quickly the day after the gig.

*And as you might all already know, I'm going to study in NEW ZEALAND NEXT YEAR. Sorry. I just can't help thinking about it. I haven't mentioned it here yet, so there you go. Am leaving with my very good friend Fish (she's actually a person despite what the nickname might say). We're just the happiest people on Earth right now :)

Edit: I also meant to post the artwork recently revealed for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I can hardly wait!

Academy Awards winners and photopost!

2007-02-26T21:43:00.000+01:00

Finally, here are the results of the 79th Academy Awards ceremony. After months of speculation and headscratching, there we are... I was planning on posting this morning but the stupid computer crashed. In compensation, you get a ridiculous amount of pictures with the post. You may already know who won, but not what I think about it (not that you'd care...).
Photo credits-- it all belongs to IMDb / MSN Entertainement / Yahoo!Movies / Empire Online. Their Oscar coverages are simply delightful!
Moving on!

The report...
Best Picture
Winner: The Departed
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Well, that was unexpected! Not quite an upset, but still a surprise... Who thought The Departed would be winning The Big Prize? I'm really glad that, UNLIKE LAST YEAR, the Academy actually chose a deserving film. Infernal Affairs fans will not be happy, but I reckon the film is still a cinematic achievement which deserves its prize. And for once, the Academy went for the more 'mainstream', closest-to-the-audience choice.

Best Director

Winner: Martin Scorsese – The Departed
Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel
Clint Eastwood – Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Paul Greengrass – United 93

Two words: Tee hee. Twenty years later... Can you believe he finally won a Best Director Oscar? Something tells me Harvey Weinstein is *not* happy about that!

Best Actor

Winner: Forest Whitaker – The Last King of Scotland
Leonardo DiCaprio – Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling – Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole – Venus
Will Smith – The Pursuit of Happyness

Expected and deserved, of course...

Best Actress

Winner: Helen Mirren – The Queen
Penelope Cruz – Volver
Judi Dench – Notes on a Scandal
Meryl Streep – The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet – Little Children

Ditto what I said about Forest Whitaker's win. Really!

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Alan Arkin – Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Djimon Hounsou – Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy – Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg – The Departed

Gee, the Academy must really hate comedy actors. I predicted Eddie Murphy there, but yay for Alan Arkin! He was so awesome in the film, although it's such a shame because to me, Little Miss Sunshine is very much an ensemble kind of film, just like The Departed is. But his performance as the foul-mouthed, crackhead grandpa was all kinds of awesome...

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Jennifer Hudson – Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Cate Blanchett – Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin – Little Miss Sunshine
Adriana Barraza - Babel

Yup, as expected. From American Idol to Academy Awards, what a fairytale for Jennifer Hudson! I would have loved to see little Abigail pulling off an upset, but she's got a very bright future ahead, and many more Oscar nominations, I say!

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine
Guillermo Arriaga - Babel
Iris Yamashita - Letters From Iwo Jima
Guillermo del Toro - Pan's Labyrinth
Peter Morgan - The Queen

No surprise there! First try, first Oscar, well done, Mr. Arndt! But Little Miss Sunshine's screenplay had been sweeping all the awards so far, so it makes sense. Heck it even won over Brokeback Mountain at the French Césars... I'm still very glad for LMS, glad Fox Searchlight pushed it in the awards' race, and to see it recognized by the industry.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner: William Monahan - The Departed
Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton & David Arata & Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby - Children of Men
Todd Field & Tom Perrotta - Little Children
Patrick Marber - Notes on a Scandal

But Children of Men... *mumbles*
Wow, that's a third huge win for The Departed! Film + Director + Screenplay = definitely the biggest awards a film can ever dream of winning.

Best Foreign-Language Film

Winner: The Lives of Others (Germany)
After the Wedding (Denmark)
Days of Glory (Indigènes) (Algeria)
Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico)
Water (Canada)

Here's a small upset, if I might say so. With its total six nominations, you'd think Pan's Labyrinth would easily scoop up Best Foreign-Language Film. But Germany's The Lives of Others was just too good to be ignored; and if Pan had not won in the other categories, I would have bitched endlessly. But the Academy apparently went for diversity here, which is fine, really.

Best Animated Film of the Year

Winner: Happy Feet [George Miller, the director, is here pictured with Cameron Diaz]
Cars
Monster House

Bloody penguins win over good sense. The animated picture category NEEDS a total makeover, I reckon. Sniff for Pixar and Gil Kenan. Next year, guys, next year...

Best Art Direction
Winner: Pan's Labyrinth
Art Direction: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Pilar Revuelta
Dreamgirls
Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
The Good Shepherd
Art Direction: Jeannine Oppewall; Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau and Leslie E. Rollins
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs; Set Decoration: Cheryl A. Carasik
The Prestige
Art Direction: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Julie Ochipinti

Ack, but Nathan...? Ah, well, can't say Pan's Labyrinth's sets did not look absolutely fabulous and appropriate, can I? They were just gorgeous. But someday soon, Nathan (let's hope for The Dark Knight), someday soon...

Best Cinematography

Winner: Guillermo Navarro - Pan's Labyrinth
Vilmos Zsigmond - The Black Dahlia
Emmanuel Lubezki - Children of Men
Dick Pope - The Illusionist
Wally Pfister - The Prestige

Ack, but Emmanuel...? Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. This is really quite SHAMEFUL. While Pan's Labyrinth was very well lighted and all, I'm just-- *cries*
A nomination will do. Someday soon, Chivo, someday soon... (ditto for Wally Pfister, whose work is just so underestimated).

Best Costume Design

Winner: Milena Canonero - Marie Antoinette [here pictured with Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway]
Yee Chung Man - Curse of the Golden Flower
Patricia Field - The Devil Wears Prada
Sharen Davis - Dreamgirls
Consolata Boyle - The Queen

Aaah, that's one Oscar for Marie-Antoinette. Not to be mean, but the costume category wasn't too crowded this year. I still reckon Louise Mingenbach should have got all the awards, but nevermind...

Best Editing

Winner: Thelma Schoonmaker - The Departed
Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise - Babel
Steven Rosenblum - Blood Diamond
Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón - Children of Men
Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson - United 93

Ack, but United 93's team...? This is HIGHLY frustrating. I know Thelma Schoonmaker has been editing all of Marty's film throughout his career blah blah and blah, but she already got one two years ago for Aviator! Or at least, y'know, they should have given it to Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise, because they kind of deserved it, too.
But that's the fourth major award for The Departed; so either the Academy is trying to get Martin Scorsese to be the next AMPAS president and make up for the 'seven nominations and no wins' thing; or they really, really loved The Departed.

Best Makeup

Winners: David Marti and Montse Ribe - Pan's Labyrinth [awww, a couple! here pictured with Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Jack Black]
Adlo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano - Apocalypto
Kazuhiro Tsuji and Bill Corso - Click

Because, Click? That's the third 'tech' Oscar for Pan --the film was very well-crafted, that's for sure...

Best Music (Score)

Winner: Gustavo Santaolalla - Babel
Thomas Newman - The Good German
Philip Glass - Notes on a Scandal
Javier Navarrete - Pan's Labyrinth
Alexandre Desplat - The Queen

ACK, but Thomas...? Ahhh, that's JUST CRUEL. Wrong and mean and awful. Tom is the new Marty Scorsese: eight nominations, and still no win. Zip. Nada. None...
The worst thing is, Gustavo being the genius that he is, ALREADY won last year for Brokeback Mountain. I know the award should go to the most deserving blah blah but Thomas Newman... Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Somedaaaaay soon, Thoooomas, soon...

Best Music (Song)

Winner: “I Need to Wake Up” - An Inconvenient Truth
Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge
“Listen” - Dreamgirls
Music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler; Lyric by Anne Preven
“Love You I Do” - Dreamgirls
Music by Henry Krieger; Lyric by Siedah Garrett
“Our Town” - Cars
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Patience” - Dreamgirls
Music by Henry Krieger; Lyric by Willie Reale

I can't believe Thomas Newman and Emmanuel Lubezki still haven't won Oscars, and yet, there you are, an award for The Cheesiest Song in the History of Cheetos.
Is it just me or is the Academy holding a grudge against Dreamgirls? 3 nominations in this category and they're leaving empty-handed...

Best Sound Mixing
Winners: Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer and Willie Burton - Dreamgirls
Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Fernando Camara - Apocalypto
Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ivan Sharrock - Blood Diamond
John Reitz, Dave Campbell, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin - Flags of Our Fathers
Paul Massey, Christopher Boyes and Lee Orloff - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Oh, well, there you go, an Oscar for Dreamgirls. HAHA for Pirates not winning (I'm a horrible person, aren't I?)
Kevin O'Connell is still not winning (this is his eighteenth nomination), so I guess I can't complain about Tom Newman.

Best Sound Editing

Winners: Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman - Letters From Iwo Jima
Sean McCormack and Kami Asgar - Apocalypto
Lon Bender - Blood Diamond
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman - Flags of Our Fathers
Christopher Boyes and George Watters II - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

One Oscar for Letters, woohoo! Although it had to be expected since the team was also nominated for Flags of our Fathers.
Oh, and HEHE for Pirates *not* winning.

Best Visual Effects

Winners: John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Boyd Shermis, Kim Libreri, Chaz Jarrett and John Frazier - Poseidon
Mark Stetson, Neil Corbould, Richard R. Hoover and Jon Thum - Superman Returns

Well, that should shut me up for quite some time.
Actually, it won't.
I'm appalled at the thought of this appalling film winning an award, even if it's for visual effects.
Just like the box-office results, just like the public preference -and like the DVD sales as well, Dead's Man Crap kind of totally destoyed Superman Returns. It sort of makes me want to kill myself.

The rest of the winners...
Best Documentary Short Subject
Winner: The Blood Of Yingzhou District
Recycled Life
Rehearsing A Dream
Two Hands

Best Animated Short Film
Winner: The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time For Nuts

Best Live Action Short Film
Winner: West Bank Story
Binta And The Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)
Éramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour

The photopost
Ladies on the red carpet

Abigail Breslin, Anne Hathaway

Beyoncé Knowles, Cate Blanchett (best dress of the evening to my expert fashion eye)

Cameron Diaz, Emily Blunt

Eva Green, Gwyneth Paltrow (this is why she does not deserve Chris Martin as a husband)

Helen Mirren (here with husband and director Taylor Hackford), Jodie Foster

Jennifer Hudson, Kirsten Dunst

Kate Winslet (just lovelier and lovelier), Maggie Gyllenhaal (who looks stunningly beautiful!)

Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman

Naomi Watts (gorgeous!), Penelope Cruz

Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Weisz (or rather the amazingly beautiful Rachel Weisz!)

Rachel Weisz (the pic was just TOO GORGEOUS not to be posted), Reese Witherspoon

Gentlemen on the red carpet
The devilishly handsome Clive Owen, Daniel Craig

The ever-classy Djimon Hounsou, the genius Mexican trio --Alejandro González Iñárritu, Guillermo Del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón (awwwwww!)

Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna (hot! Sorry.), James McAvoy -cuuute! Sorry, again.

Michael "Tony Blair" Sheen, Mark Wahlberg (here pictured with partner Rhea Durham)

Ryan Gosling (where was Rachel McAdams?!), Mr. Steve Carell whom I love

Tobey Maguire (here pictured with a person which I can only assume is his fiancee Jennifer Meyer), Will Smith (with his happy family --wife Jada Pinkett and son Jaden)

And later on, in the night...
Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are still BFF! Even Hollywood producers know what friendship means! (If by 'friendship', you mean 'lucrative collaboration', of course.)

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig : Not the two handsomest men in Hollywood AT ALL.

Because having your dad as a successful film producer, your mom as an actress and Steven Spielberg as your godfather is not enough, your best friend just has to be Madonna. See, Chris would not like that. He, unlike others, comes from a middleclass family with some grounded, adorable friends... oh, fine.

Kate Winslet and Maggie Gyllenhaal : Not the two loveliest ladies in Hollywood AT ALL.

Tom Cruise: Tiny and creepy. Katie Holmes: tall and creepy.

A Spidey reunion : Willem Defoe shakes hands with Tobey Maguire. Awwww!

Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Mary J. Blige, Oprah Winfrey --who said the word 'influential'?

I daresay the Vanity Fair post-Oscars party was just packed with celebrities. Not pictured here but present were Natalie Portman, Brandon Routh (but where was Bryaaan?!) and most importantly of all, Paul Greengrass! There are also lovely pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet taken during that party (you can see the thumbnails here).

Woooow, if that's not the longest post in the history of my blog... But well, here comes the end of this year's award season! Until next year...

Edit: Forgot the documentary feature category. That had to be Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and indeed, it was. So thanks Mr. Gore for raising awareness on the issue, and making tons of dollars on it. I'll stop being cynical now, and here's a glass raised to an eco-friendly planet... XD

"'Cause I feel low..."

2007-02-17T16:33:00.000+01:00

*Well, that might have to do something with exams coming up and a presentation in front of the entire class on Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. Can't bring myself to prepare for that...

*There's also the fact that the third season of Six Feet Under gave me a really hard and painful time lately. Especially the end. I know I'm making a drama out of it all and it's just a TV show blah blah, but I can't cope with so much grief and despair, and that dream sequence very nearly killed me. I don't think I've ever been more depressed by an episode, and it was just so difficult to watch. Then I was hoping for the fourth series to make it feel a bit easier, but as Nate rightfully pointed out in the second episode, it doesn't. And I haven't mentionned the fact that everytime Nathaniel Sr. shows up, it reduces me to tears. Six Feet Under made a WRECK out of me, it really did. And yet I don't think I've seen a better show, in terms of characters and writing (or maybe I have).

*And just when I thought one TV show was enough to bring me down... Rome has already reached its midseason stage, and Monday's next episode, 'Philippi', is credited as Tobias Menzies' last appearance on the show. I'll lose my marbles over that one, I swear I will. I don't want to see that, I don't want to see Brutus getting humiliated, I don't want to see his legions defeated --but most of all, I don't want to see him kill himself, because there's just so much one can endure. And I hate myself for getting so emotionally involved with the character in the first place, because I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN. My heart is fuckin' bleeding for him, I can't see him go... Dooooon't maaaake meeee watch iiiiiittt... *goes nuts*

*In less depressing news, Priscilla and myself have bought our tickets for James Morrison's concert in Paris. Yay! I heart his voice...

*Elsewhere, the Vanity Fair Hollywood Portfolio scans have been posted. You can them here. It's sort of disappointing. My favorite one is the one with Helen Mirren and Judi Dench in the car. Beautiful! The rest is meh.

*Predicatably enough, Little Miss Sunshine won the Writers Guild Award for Original Screenplay. The Departed won the trophy for Adapted Screenplay. I'm happy for both, although I would have loved to see United 93 win. I'm used to it by now, though.

*Speaking of the Paul, The Bourne Ultimatum is now shooting in NYC. Of course, The Man Himself was in London to pick up his well-deserved Best Director Bafta for United 93 (pic credit to the British Acacademy official site). But apparently, they're back shooting in New York now (after a quick appearance in Berlin for The Good Shephard, Matt Damon has been sighted on set by People.com). It has also been confirmed this week that " [Matt] has already guaranteed his spot in the cast of the movie Greengrass will make about Iraq." Yay again!

*Marion Cotillard needs to be nominated at the Academy Awards next year, for her incredible, gutsy turn as Edith Piaf in Olivier Dahan's La Môme. Seriously. Allez Marion!

* Coldplay's official site informs us that Coldplay (sort of) won an Grammy Award. Hee! The BBC also recently caught up with Jonny and Chris, where they discussed their future album, Glastonbury and... Arcade Fire! You can read the quick chat here. Also, after four months and a baby, the band has resumed touring. Their first date was in Chile, on Valentine's Day (pic curtesy of My Coldplay.com). There's a hilarious video from that night, during "In My Place" in which Chris actually GETS BETWEEN GUY'S LEGS (wtf?)... No comment...

*Finally, I've updated the entire musicians fanlistings section (why I didn't do it before remains a mystery), and added a few others.

Films : United 93
TV Actors : Freddy Rodriguez
Musicians - Artists/Bands : The Arcade Fire, David Gray, Guillemots, PJ Harvey, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Sigur Rós, Sufjan Stevens, The Verve, U2

Baftas winners!

2007-02-11T22:05:00.000+01:00

The winners and photos are still off the press (I'm not even sure the ceremony is over) but the British Academy has chosen its winners. You can read Empire's early coverage here.

Winners are indicated in bold.
Best Film
Babel
The Departed
The Last King of Scotland
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

British Film of the Year
Casino Royale
The Last King of Scotland
Notes on a Scandal
The Queen
United 93

Best Film Debut
Andrea Arnold, Red Road (director)
Julian Gilbety, Rollin' with the Nines (director)
Christine Langan, Pierrepoint (producer)
Gary Tarn, Black Sun (director)
Paul Andrew Williams, London to Brighton (director)

Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Little Miss Sunshine
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93

Best Original Screenplay
Guillermi Arriaga, Babel
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Guillermo Del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
Peter Morgan, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93

Best Adapted Screenplay
Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis, Casino Royale
William Monahan, The Departed
Aline Brosh McKenna, The Devil Wears Prada
Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock, The Last King of Scotland
Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal

Best Foreign Film
Apocalypto
Black Book
Pan's Labyrinth
Paint It Yellow
Volver

Best Animated Feature
Cars
Flushed Away
Happy Feet

Best Actor
Daniel Craig, Casino Royale
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Richard Griffiths, The History Boys
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
James McAvoy, The Last King of Scotland
Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Leslie Phillips, Venus
Michael Sheen, The Queen

Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Toni Collette, Little Miss Sunshine
Frances de la Tour, The History Boys
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

Best Film Score
Babel
Casino Royale
Dreamgirls
Happy Feet
The Queen

Best Cinematography
Babel
Casino Royale
Children of Men
Pan's Labyrinth
United 93

Best Editing
Babel
Casino Royale
The Departed
The Queen
United 93

Best Production Design
Casino Royale
Children of Men
Marie-Antoinete
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead's Man Chest

Best Costume Design
The Devil Wears Prada
Marie-Antoinette
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead's Man Chest
The Queen

Best Sound
Babel
Casino Royale
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead's Man Chest
United 93

Best Visual Effects
Casino Royale
Children of Men
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead's Man Chest
Superman Returns

Best Make-Up and Hair
The Devil Wears Prada
Marie-Antoinette
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead's Man Chest
The Queen

The Orange Rising Star Award
Emily Blunt
Eva Green
Naomie Harris
Cillian Murphy
Ben Whishaw

Wow, what can I say? The Queen winning the top prize was very much deserved and expected. Two wins (Directing, Editing) for United 93 is just overwhelmingly satisfying. Congratulations Paul, you totally deserve it!! Children of Men getting Cinematography and Production Design is brillant (cheers, Chivo!). Andrea Arnold winning Best Debut for the magnificient Red Road is also very well-done. The Last King of Scotland turns out to be the big winner with 3 "major" Baftas -Best British Film, Best Actor and Adapted Screenplay; and so is Pan's Labyrinth with three "minor" prizes -Foreign Film, Costume Design and Make-Up. That was quite unexpected... So was Little Miss Sunshine winning Best Original Screenplay over The Queen...

On the lesser bright side, Happy Feet winning Best Animated Feature -I reckon both Cars and Flushed Away were superior... Pirates of the Caribbean 2 getting Visual Effects is neither surprising nor deserved (well, it is but--). Casino Royale and Babel, which were leading the nominations, got one prize each -Best Music and Best Sound. Not exactly the wins you'd expected... Finally, Eva Green is the breakthrough of the year. I love her, but Cillian Murphy -augh!

All in all, quite satisfying results, although I have to say, seeing Paul Greengrass winning is heavily clouding my judgement. I didn't really expected it; but the thought of an entire academy recognizing his achievement, over thesps' such as Marty Scorsese and Stephen Frears, it's quite surprising indeed...

Update : Empire's minute-by-minute blog is hilarious ! Thank God for these guys, really...

18.09
The lovely Kate Winslet presents the first award for Best
British Film in a lovely fashion. It’s a scientific fact that anyone who
dislikes Kate Winslet is actually the devil and will kill your granny. C’mon
United 93! We’re rooting for ya!
18.10
The Last King of Scotland?! Whaa? Good, but not the best of
the list. The loveliness of Kate Winslet is the only thing soothing our desire
to storm the stage, dragging Paul Greengrass up with us.
[...]
18.19
Really happy for the people who won the awards for short film and animation, but it’s a slow start. [Heh!]
[...]
19.14
Ricky Gervais steals the show mocking the boringness of awards ceremonies and taking the piss out of Jonathan Ross. The collective BAFTA producers are somewhere asking, “why didn’t we hire him to present?”
19.16
Ricky Gervais is awesome. Please, get him back next year. Those bloody penguins win Best Animated Film. Happy Feet was WEIRD and CREEPY.
[...]
19.38
Paul Greengrass wins Best Director. The only way we can express the glee of the assembled Empire staff is “WHEEEEEEEEE!” An elegant and eloquent speech from him.

Yup. Gotta love Empire...

In the movie world lately...

2007-02-10T17:59:00.000+01:00

*The traditional Academy Award nominees luncheon was held last Monday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. I was looking forward to seeing Paul Greengrass, but my guess is that he is too busy shooting The Bourne Ultimatum to show up... Other nominees were in attendence, though- pictured here are Leonardo DiCaprio, looking as handsome as ever, The Departed castmate Mark Wahlberg, queen Helen Mirren (as I like to call her), and ol' Steven Spielberg, nominted even when he doesn't direct a film (he produced Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima). More pics can be seen in the Road to Oscars gallery.

And then of course, here is the pic of all the nominees...
Picture credit goes to Oswarwatch.

Let's see whose face is recognizable -- I can spot Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, Paul Haggis, Penelope Cruz, Peter O'Toole, Helen Mirren, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Thomas Newman (!!), Rinko Kikuchi, Will Smith, Djimon Hounsou, Eddie Murphy, Randy Newman, Peter Morgan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Guillermo Del Toro, Gustavo Santaolalla, Alexandre Desplat, Adriana Barraza, Clint Eastwood, Jackie Earle Hayley, Todd Field, Forest Whitaker, Melissa Etheridge, Steven Spielberg, Gil Kenan, Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Hudson... That's twenty-nine people. A better score than last year's. Heh.
Loads of absentees, though! I've already mentioned Paul Greengrass, but there's also the three best actresses nominees - Judi Dench, Kate Winlset and Meryl Streep as well as Cate Blanchett or Ryan Gosling... I thought the luncheon was mandatory if you're a nominee? Ah, well...

*Following the Academy Awards' nominees announcement, the campaign ads have to adapt. For example, the latest FYC Ad for Little Miss Sunshine created quite a stir. I'll post my favorite two here -- cinematography and production design ad for The Prestige (I'm still so proud over Wally Pfister and Nathan Crowley getting a nod!), and a director-centered one for United 93, put on the front page of The Hollywood Reporter. How cool is the "Paul Greengrass, Academy Award nominee" thing? Heeeeeeee.

*Speaking of Paul Greengrass, I listened yesterday to his audio commentary for United 93, which was released on DVD recently in France, and it was truely fascinating. He spoke extensively of the differences between the pre- and post-9/11 world, as well as the experience of working with actual air traffic control professionals who portrayed themseves on screen. I felt that his intelligence was limitless -his words were just so accurate, and meaningful. He was very keen on insisting on the fact that we were still in this period where the answers to the 9/11 terrorist attacks still haven't been found, and that the breaking down of systems -systems on which our lives rely- really was what happened that day. He also threw in a few highly insightful remarks on religion and the role of political leadership, which I really agreed with. I cannot wait for his next project, after The Bourne Ultimatum, to start taking shape (The Daily Mail posted additional information on the project two weeks ago).
Watching the film itself, once again, was a real emotional ordeal for me. I bawled my eyes out, cried myself to sleep, cursing myself for willingly putting myself in this position. The last minutes were just so gut-wrentchingly painful that I simply had to look away. Because this is the world we live in, because that day happened... Not necessarily in the precise way portrayed in the film, but nonetheless. And I've never cried so much watching a bonus feature, I can assure you. I thought the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King's extended edition bonus was bad enough, but here, with the passengers and crew's families -who lost their dearest ones on that day; sharing their experiences, telling what the film has meant to them... *gulps* It was all very difficult and gruelling. Emotions aside, I reckon the photography and editing on this film are just astoundingly good. Barry Ackroyd's work is exceptional considering the fact that the film, obviously, was not shot on a plane. I just kept wondering how he achieved that lighting, which really had a plane-like quality to it! Simply incredible... And the editing... No wonder it took three persons -Chris Rouse, Clare Douglas and Richard Pearson- to make it. They really succeeded in emphasizing the important shots, and in capturing the subtlety of all the details. Most of all, the pace of the film is impeccable, which is really amazing since Paul's directing tends to be frenetic while the story itself isn't at all. The final result is just impressive. I wish they'd win the Oscar...

*This week's box-office results scared me. Out of the 5 films getting the most money, not one of them achieved more than a 50% approval rate from critics, as this screencap from RT shows.
I hate the fact that American audiences pull out the biggest figures when it comes down to box-office money, and yet, don't know HOW TO CHOOSE THEIR FILMS. No wonder Superman Returns 'failed to impress'...

*What looks like a teaser poster for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd has been posted on the film's IMDb forums. It will star Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen and the screenplay is written by John Logan. Brillant!

*Annie Leibovitz has had a busy schedule this month. She shot this beautiful ad for Disney, featuring Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella.

You can view the other two ads, featuring Beyoncé Knowles as Alice and David Beckham as Prince Philip, by clicking this link.

*Additionally, her talents were employed by Vanity Fair for their annual Hollywood issue.

Small preview of the cover-
Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Chris Rock and Jack Black (yay!).

Sneak peek of the photoshoot-
Edward Norton and Kate Winslet; Bruce Willis; Angelica Huston and Diane Lane; Rinko Kikuchi, Abigail Breslin, Bill Nighy, Penelope Cruz and Ben Affleck; Forest Whitaker and Robert Downey Jr.; Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz.

Behind the scenes photographs-
Jennifer Connelly, Julianne Moore and Kate Winslet; Jennifer Connelly and Robert DeNiro; Abigail Breslin.

An entire sneak peek of the photographs can also be seen in a video posted on the magazine's official website, here. Apparently, this year's issue has a special theme -"a film noir masterpiece to die for". There's also more behind-the-scences pictures for your viewing pleasure. I will probably post more pictures when the issue will actually hit newsstands!

*A lovely interview with the lovely Mr. Cillian Murphy can be found at the Premiere magazine website, right here. The gossipers at Oh No They Didn't also posted even lovelier scans of Cillian, which you can read right below by clicking the image.

*About the blog, in case you didn't notice, I added a little "lastly seen in DVD section" in the menu --just to keep you folks informed on the lastest films I'm watching at home. Not that you'd care but...
Well, I think that's about it for now. Tomorrow is the Baftas ceremony (my favorite!) as well as the announcement for the Writers Guild Awards winner. Well, you know me, I couldn't support any other film than United 93... Stay tuned for updates!

Filmmakers and critics

2007-02-05T20:36:00.000+01:00

Here's a little story I'd like to share with y'all. As surprising as it may be, it's about cinema...

Over the past few years, I've been feeding myself with all kinds of information about moviemaking. I've had my periods over directors and screenwriters - the movie brat generation, Peter Jackson, Bryan obviously, Chris Nolan, Paul Greengrass, Sam Mendes, all those guys I keep talking about.
Not to mention cinematographers -Emmanuel Lubezki, Janusz Kaminski, Wally Pfister, Tom Sigel, Rodrigo Prieto, Conrad Hall, Roger Deakins, Andrew Lesnie; film editors -Michael Kahn, Chris Lebenzon, Stephen Mirrione, Christopher Rouse, Lee Smith; music composers -Tom Newman, John Williams, Danny Elfman, Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, John Ottman, Gustavo Santaolalla, John Powell, David Julyan; production designers -Rick Heinrichs, Nathan Crowley, Grant Major, Dan Hennah, Stuart Craig, Dante Ferreti; costume designers -Colleen Atwood, Trisha Biggar, Ngila Dickson; and other kinds of crew members, such as Gabrial Hardman or Bill Bernstein, Klemens Becker or Avy Kaufman...
Heck, even Weta wizards (Richard Taylor, of course, and let's not forget Jeremy Bennett and Jamie Beswarick) got me all inspired. All these people sort of have my undying admiration for their careers, and what they've accomplished so far. They're examples of creativity and excellence in a cruel and unforgiving industry. In other words, they are stuff my dreams are made of. There's so many names I'm forgetting...

What's my point? Well, my point is that, although all these are 'role models' (in the sense where they're people I look up to), there also is an entire different kind of people I admire, not involved in the process of making movies but still in the film industry; and these are film critics.
I'm the first one to think everyone should have their own opinions and that one's judgement shouldn't have too much influence on someone else's -that naturally, film critics are despicable, elitists pricks (most of the times) who nearly always get it wrong. But the truth is, there are some journalists whose writings I love to read. The first one was this French critic, Gérard Delorme, who wrote in the French Premiere (it used to be way better than the American edition). And then, I discovered Empire, which is all-around the best film magazine I've ever had the pleasure to read, and still is. Over the years, there are some publications I've come to trust in terms of movie critics; five of them coming to my mind are Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Sight & Sound, The New York Times, Entertainement Weekly. I have my favorite reporters in all of them : the infamous Ian Nathan, Chris Hewitt, Kim Newman, Helen O'Hara, Dan Jolin, Olly Richards, Damon Wise -all Empire staff writers of course! And elsewhere Anne Thompson, Owen Gleiberman, Liza Schwarzbaum...
But today, today, I've found Mr. Scott Foundas and read all of his articles. Oh okay, not all of them, but at least a dozen -and I'm very well impressed with both his words and tastes. He writes for both Los Angeles and New York newspapers (L.A. Weekly and Variety in L.A.; Village Voice and The New York Times in N.Y.), which is quite amazing since these two groups of critics have been fighting for ages.
Anyways, I kind of agree on everything he says. The way he puts it into words is the exact expression of my thoughts, only with a 'better vocabulary' (as Harold Crick would say).
Here's what he had to say for this year's most memorable films -click to read the entire article.

United 93

Rather, as the film hurtles toward its inevitable conclusion and those aboard flight 93 prepare to take their fateful actions, [director Paul] Greengrass shows us people stripped to their very core, to their elemental survival instinct. In doing so, he restores something that is all too often lost in the transmission of moving pictures, be they those of a Hollywood movie or of the evening news: the felt value of a single human life.

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead's Man Chest

But the filmmaking itself is joyless, and despite the impressive enormity of the physical production, the images are flat and drab, with one major sequence (set in a voodoo priestess’s foggy lair) so stage-bound it could have been shot inside the Pirates ride. [Director Gore] Verbinski also can’t execute an exciting action scene to save his life. Even when he has a great idea for a stirring set piece — like a third-act, three-way sword fight that culminates atop a giant runaway mill wheel — he persistently turns his camera away from the action at the very moments he should be pulling us deeper into it, until you begin to wonder if Verbinski isn’t trying to mutiny his own movie. [...] Either way, [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer is laughing all the way to the bank. [Heh.]

Superman Returns

Visually, the movie is beyond anything [director Bryan] Singer (working with his longtime cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel) has done before, filled with moments of strange and ethereal beauty [...] What is finally most surprising about Superman Returns is how unexpectedly moving it is — for its nostalgia; for its yearning for hearth and home; and for its overarching belief in the fundamental goodness of people...

X-Men 3: The Last Stand

Indeed, long before the movie’s climax, in which Magneto (Ian McKellen) turns smashed-up automobiles into fiery projectiles to be hurled at his enemies, those in the audience will know what it means to behold a flaming hunk of junk. [Hee!]

The Prestige

The result is an oddly lopsided yet compulsively absorbing movie in which the director is less drawn to his main characters than to those on the periphery — to Tesla and to Angier’s wizened illusion designer Cutter (Michael Caine) and, by extension, all those other men through the ages who have sought to bridge the gap between the real and the illusory, the natural and the supernatural.
Directing his first period feature, with most of the same design team (including Oscar-nominated cinematographer Wally Pfister) that served him so well on Batman Begins, [director Christopher] Nolan has picked the ideal setting for his rationalist inclinations — that seismic moment at which the Victorian Era began to cave under the weight of the nascent Machine Age.

Children of Men

But it’s also one of the year’s most imaginative and uniquely exciting pieces of cinema. [Director Alfonso] Cuarón, whose interests as a filmmaker seem to know no boundaries [...] has made that rarest of cinematic hybrids: a brilliant genre entertainment that channels the spirit of a 1960s protest picture (the influence of the British faux-documentarian Peter Watkins is keenly felt); a political thriller in which the politics are never permitted to overwhelm the narrative; and a human drama that is about nothing less than the survival of the species.

The Departed

Indeed, the very vibrancy of this movie is tied to its familiarity, to the thrill of seeing [director Martin Scorsese] shrug off his yen for enshrinement in some ersatz canon and rekindle the old razzle-dazzle — the pulse-quickening energy, the restless zooms and tracking shots, the explosions of gory violence — that once made every young film student in America want to be him (before they decided they wanted to be Tarantino instead).

The Queen

As the resolutely populist Blair (deftly played by Michael Sheen, whose scenes with Mirren have a deliciously oedipal kick) runs interference between an increasingly bitter public and an intractable monarchy, what emerges isn’t so much a battle of wills as a clear-eyed portrait of a nation’s past meeting its future, the one wondering what (if anything) it might have to learn from the other. At the center of it all, [actress Helen] Mirren gives us a profoundly human Elizabeth...

Well, I don't know with you all, but to me, that's gorgeous English and insightful thinking. I love this guy (even though he didn't like King Kong)! Will be reading his reviews as carefully as I read my monthly Empire...

New layout!

2007-02-05T00:17:00.000+01:00

As you can see, I've changed the layout! Hope it turns out well for all browsers -I'm only using Internet Explorer, so all of you Firefox or Mozilla users, if you'd be kind enough to leave some feedback; it would be very much appreciated.

I'm rather pleased with this layout because it's both beautiful to look at (in my opinion) and practical. My blog just keeps getting bigger and bigger, with all the fanlistings and whatnots...

I sure do spend loads of time taking care of this blog for a person who has so much homework... But I guess you either have the sense of priorities, or you don't :)

Directors Guild Awards winner!

2007-02-04T14:15:00.001+01:00

And it's our tiny little Mr. Scorsese! He beat out Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu (Babel), Bill Condon (Dreamgirls), Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) and Stephen Frears (The Queen). He is here pictured with some random bearded guy -or God, depending on who you ask.

Very much like the Best Director Oscar, Marty got tons of DGA nominations (seven, to be precise) without actually winning. Looks like the curse is lifted...

Or is it? Is the Academy finally going to recognize a twenty-years-long carreer? And celebrate one of America's greatest filmmaker?

I know loads of people won't like him winning for The Departed, but the thing about Marty is that he should have won the statuette for so many years already that ultimately, it doesn't matter for which film he's winning. Not to me, anyway. All I want is the Academy to RECOGNIZE their bloody mistake and finally give him the award.

And I can't wait to see his speech, should he ever win -"Errr, thanks fuckers, should have given it to me twenty years ago, but never mind". Guess we'll know on the February 25th...

Stand tall, stand proud

2007-02-02T18:42:00.000+01:00

After reading Cecile's last post, and Juliette's, here's what I have to say. And listen to me girls, because this is mainly for you.
I think we're all going through the exact same thing. The truth is, we all had these insane dreams, ambitions, desires for next year --for our future. And we just couldn't help it, couldn't help believing in it, couldn't help hoping for it. But then reality gave us a huge kick in the arse (well, the RI department of our university did) and now we don't know what the bloody hell we're supposed to do with ourselves. I certainly know I don't. Two things I'm certain of, though -first, that the perspective of my own future has never looked any scarier or indeed, as empty as it does now; and second, that the bitterness of missing out the opportunity of studying abroad will remain, no matter how hard I've tried to convice myself that I didn't stand a chance in the first place. I also feel robbed. It's very selfish and pretentious to say so, but I reckon we deserved the fuckin' ticket out of France. And in the aftermath of all this, it's only natural that we should feel depressed, or down, or whatever way you want to put it (Robinson called it 'despondency', I call it 'un-fucking-bearable state of mind').
What is left of us, then?
Well, I don't have any answers for all of your questions, girls. About the world, about our place in it, about our fears, and our doubts. The only thing that comes to my mind is, that shit happens. It does. All around us, all the time, in our everyday lives, in the entire world. And we might as well start to cope with it right now, because it's only about to get worse. Now, this may sound like an overused, over-the-top statement, but I reckon we just need to get over it and move on. Or otherwise we might as well be dead. I'd rather die than give up my dreams. And as impossible as they may be, I'll just have to go ahead and try anyway, because that's all we can do, really. So yeah, we may feel depressed for a while, and disappointed, and bitter, and angry, even desperate, or anxious; but in the end, all that shit will always be utterly useless (not to mention harmful), and then we'll get back on our feet and try again. We have to believe we can succeed in some way. Because that's the only way to actually achieve things, and try to make sense out of this senseless mess that our lives, and the world, seem to be.

We're all in the same boat, and that's got to count for something as well, eh?

*Phew*

That's it for the rant of the week -or the month, or the year, since I'm not usually that angsty, I can assure you. I just needed to get those things out of my system. Writing is always so much easier than saying the words outloud. And I can't say that the past few days have been easy, but I reckon things will get back to normal quickly enough. They always do. Especially with the help of books and movies, and a a certain person who kind of saves my life on an everyday basis without even knowing it. And he's not even actually doing something. Heh.

I know I sound creepy, but if it wasn't for Bryan, or Paul Greengrass, or Christopher Nolan, and their films; I'd just...

I have this weird fixation on them at the moment, if you like. I don't know what it is with those three, but they're so inspiring, and sort of embody everything I could ever dream of doing, or... something. I've tried to explain it so many times without finding the words for it, so I'll just give up.

Now that I've confused everyone including myself, I'll switch to a less creepy subject. And that is Rome!

Here's the reply to Lydzi's excellent post (once again). Let's make it a weekly tradition, eh? Tee hee. Spoilers ahead...

1- I laughed out loud at this one. Amen, mate! If I were the Emmys or whatever stupid academy gets to give away television prizes, I'd give it all to Rome. From The Best Actor That Ever Portrayed A Fictional/Historical Character on TV award for Kevin McKidd, right down to The Most Gorgeous Production Design statuette for the whole crew who's been paying so much attention to details -they really deserve the recognition they're not getting. And yes, Tobias Menzies is gettingevenbetter *blushes*.

2- Word! Can't add a thing -I felt exactly the same way.

3- I got almost choked by tears when watching it. I know I'm being all drama queen and it's just fictional blah blah blah, but you care for the poor Vorenus, and seeing him behave that way, and literally fall apart... There's only so much pain one can endure, do you know what I mean? And he's just beyond despair, beyond everything...

4- Hmmm, I did feel sad for her -but on the other hand, with all her scheming, she should have seen it coming. She would have always ended up alone, I reckon. It's a bit tragic for her character, that goes without saying... I do wonder if Polly Walker is pregnant, though? She seems to have put up quite a bit of weight in the last episodes.

5- Hell yeah! I loved the constant, haunting presence Octavian seemed to represent in this episode. You certainly feel the consequences of it all. It's so well-written, that show...

6- I was surpised to see Agrippa, even though I shouldn't have! It was a pleasant surprise, though, as he turns out to be quite promising. We don't see him much, but he made me giggle with the immediate crush on Octavia. Hee! Antony and Cleopatra, we've been waiting ages...

7- Yup, and hopefully, we'll get another nice scene between Octavian and Pullo :) I'm quite anxious to see Simon Woods as the brand new Octavian. I'm not worried because obviously I LUUURRVEE the guy, but I'm still a bit nervous... Max Pirkis did make a tremendously great job on the character, I can only hope Simon Woods will live up to him.

As for Vorenus and Pullo's reunion, I don't really know what to expect. Either it'll be very awful and one of them dies at the hands of the other; or they actually get back together and ride off into the sunset for their own spin-off series. Poor Eirene gets dumped and Vorenus' redemption comes through his relationship with Pullo. Or something like that.

8- Okay, I won't discuss the scene here. Or maybe just a bit then. For the sake of its symbolic meaning, then fuck yeah, that was a neat job, it was really in tune with the character, it was absolutely beautiful and sad as well -Brutus always means 'sad and beautiful' to me, hee. There's something so inherently tragic to the nature of the character. The writers have done a wonderful job in capturing that so far. That's why I heart him so badly. TOO BAD I COULDN'T CONCENTRATE DURING THIS PARTICULAR SCENE. That being said, Scruffy!Brutus is distractingly good-looking.

9- Gaia is... okay. Don't like her as much as you do, but she's, well, okay.

10- 'These being the words of Marcus Tullius Cicero' -Best Title Episode ever, and the scene itself was pretty awesome. I love the actor who plays Cicero (a long way from Mr. Collins), and he did such a good job in the scene where Mark Anthony stands there threatening and daring him. Both actors were really good. Purefoy continues to impress me truely... But this week's acting kudos are once again for Kevin McKidd. He never falls into caricature, or anything. He's just so GOOD at giving his character depth and layers. It's the stuff Oscar winners dream of, I say! Giiiiiive the maaaan an awaaaaard! A paaaaay raise! Somethiiiiiing!

Heeem. Can't wait for next week's episode!

Oh, and there's this tiny little news about some book called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which will hit bookshelves on July, 21st. Having survived the end of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy -as well as the end of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and countless other works of fiction, I can positively say that I am not in the least ready for the end of Harry Potter and never will be. I will consequently consider July 21st, from now on, as the Day of Apocalypse. So that's 168 days until the Apocalypse. Not to overreact or anything.

Screen Actor Guild's Awards winners

2007-01-29T15:53:00.000+01:00

...and they were kind of predictable. Photos curtesy of Empire Online.

Best Ensemble Cast

WINNER: Little Miss Sunshine (Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Greg Kinnear)
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Dreamgirls

Best Actor

WINNER: Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness

Best Actress

WINNER: Helen Mirren - The Queen
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children

Best Supporting Actor

WINNER: Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Departed
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond

Best Supporting Actress

WINNER: Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Rinko Kikuchi – Babel

Ahhh, well. Can't say the wins aren't deserved, I haven't seen any of the performances except Helen Mirren's. Poor Leo DiCaprio left the ceremony empty-handed, while he was nominated twice. But these awards foreshdow what is going to happen on Oscar night, I guess. The Little Miss Sunshine cast winning over The Departed and Babel might be some sort of indication. They also pull off a suprise win at the Producers' Guild Awards last week. At this point, anything is possible in the best film race. The acting categories, though, are pretty much locked.

Also, I wanted to point out that I don't care much for the SAGs, since there isn't any prize for directing or any sort of technical recognition. Which makes sense since it's just the actors sef-congratulating each other. So, you know, whatever...

Last thing, especially for you, Juliette -Michael C. Hall attended the ceremony because he was nominated in for best TV actor in a drama series. Just as for the Golden Globes, he lost out to House's Hugh Laurie. But here's a pretty picture taken on the red carpet, curtesy of the IMDb.

Siiiiiigh. Gorgeous, isn't he... I really need to start watching Dexter!

Review of the month

2007-01-28T15:16:00.000+01:00

Okay, I haven't seen Blood Diamond yet, but I reckon it'll be featured in the Febuary review since it's released on the last day of the month.
Here are some thoughts about the films I've seen in theaters this month. Last time I reviewed one was Stranger than Fiction, I think.
Since then, I've seen...

* Casino Royale, for the third time. What? I loved it. I couldn't pass the opportunity of seeing Tobias Menzies, errr I mean, Daniel Craig on a big screen. Heh. Not my fault if the character of Villiers was more interesting than James Bond himself ...I'm only joking, of course. James was really, really interesting. In a Jason Bourne way interesting. Hee. I'll stop making fun of him now...

* Harsh Times, directed by David Ayer. It's quite a gem. It was terrific, full of good ideas and actual character development. The filming, however, was a bit sloppy, which is a shame since the screenplay (also by Ayer) is great. It's the sort of film which takes you in this completely fucked-up universe until you realize it's our own little world. People living among violence, corruption and murder on the streets of a great American city? Definitely a reality. The core of the film is this very manly relationship between Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez (aaww, Rico! Our little Rico!). They both pull off amazing performances, and I'll go as far as saying that Christian Bale's Jim reminded me of Robert DeNiro's Travis Bickle. Except that he has a friend. Of course, the film is nowhere near Martin Scoresese's masterpiece, it's close enough.

* Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, directed by Steven Shainberg. I'm not sure I'm really objective on that one since I waited for Shainberg to confirm the amazing talent he'd displayed in Secretary, but I thought the film was a bit of a bore. The rythym drags throughout the entire film, especially the first half, and it's never enough to catch the viewer's interest. They expect us to empathize with Diane, the main character, but there is nothing about her which is even remotely interesting. Yes, we know that Diane Arbus loved freaks, but is it really supposed to be the purpose of an entire film? If the film had a point, then I missed it. I just couldn't get involved. Which is a shame since I love Secretary, and Nicole Kidman, as well as Robert Downey Jr., were sort of trying really hard to make us believe in their characters. I studied some of Arbus' shots in class last year, and they were much more fascinating than the film itself...

* Cashback, directed by Sean Ellis. That was about the sweetest film I've ever seen, and with the best cast of characters in recent memory. I really, absolutely loved it. It was funny as hell, but also beautiful in the message it tried to convey, and the way it was shot. The wonderful thing was that it was so sincere, in the sense where you can immediately identify with the main character's ordeals -who hasn't suffered from love, or tried to find a meaning in life? It sounds hackneyed, but it isn't. And the voice-over technique, which is typically overused and cliché, really works here. It pulls you in and never lets go. All the characters are both memorable and touching. Overall, an excellent film, really.

* The Holiday, directed by Nancy Meyers. Another Christmas, another romantic comedy. This one really embodies the concept of 'romantic comedy', for better and for worse. On one hand, it's sweet, delightful, entertaining. On the other, it's already been done a thousand times, completely unrealistic and naive, and trying too hard to be funny. In other words, either you love it, or you don't. And I guess I'm in the latter category, since it's not really my type of films. I do like the giddiness of it all, but that's about it. I really fell for Jack Black's character, though. He's a music composer who's pretty much the man of my dreams. Except that of course, it's all fiction... The actors' performances were all very good, but the stand-out has to be Ms. Kate Winslet, who as usual, lights up the screen and succeeds in conveying pretty much any emotions imaginable without the tiniest bit of effort.

* The Illusionist, directed by Neil Burger. This film makes me scratch my head a little bit, because I still don't know whether it's a really good film or just a good film. I'm pretty sure than, had it been released before Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, it would have been fantastic. But the truth is, you can't help drawing the comparaison (even if the two films are completely different) -and The Prestige being, well, the outstanding excellent film that it is, The Illusionist cannot possibly live up to it. And it is completely unfair and unfortunate to say so. The Illusionist is beautiful to look at (not to mention gorgeous to listen to, as Philip Glass' music proves to be quite sensible indeed), but it lacks that extra dimension included in The Prestige, which takes its subject and characters way further than The Illusionist ever does. Although, I have to say, it still is a very satisfying film. Well-crafted and well-executed, I daresay. Edward Norton is still one of the best actors of his generation, and for a good reason. The photography is magnificient, and so is the production design.

* Little Children, directed by Todd Field. This one will get very high praise from me, because I absolutely, truely loved it. It was disturbing, provocative, emotionally challenging but most of all, smart and subtle. There were so many details, so many layers in all of its characters; I believe I've never seen a screenplay that was so polished and successful. The directing was so accurate, so incredibly focused. It's the sort of directing where every single shot could be analyzed and discussed. It's filled with tension and misunderstandings, underlying thoughts and unfufilled desires -lust, deperation and loneliness. I also loved the heavy, heavy silence which really gave it an edge -Thomas Newman's music popping up here and there, and the delicate sound effects such as the train passing by -it all made me shiver. The subject deals with serious themes such as infidelity, pedophilia, frustration etc. but the storytelling never gives it a heavily dramatic, sort of unbearable and fake treatment. In other words, both the screenplay and directing are absolutely outstanding, and it's really worth giving it a try. My favorite film this month. All the performances are excellent as well -from Kate Winslet's Sarah to Jackie Earle Haley's Ronnie. I do hope he'll get the Academy Award, because that was one hell of a difficult part to take on. Kudos, really...

* The History Boys, directed by Nicholas Hytner. Another excellent British film for this month. It was so endearing and adorable! The hardships of school, tell me about it... It was genuinely funny, and I have to admit that once again, I had no difficulty whatsoever identifying with the main characters. And Hector, their teacher, bears a suspicious resemblance with one of my own teachers (some people know him as Bill, heh). The kind of teacher which inspires and fascinates you. Similar to Robin Williams' character from Dead Poets Society as well, I guess. Well, I'm lucky enough to have one of those. Heeeem, anyway, the film was just delightful and sweet. Puts you in a really good mood, and has a very good soundtrack. It also features this brillant cast of young bright things who are all very good in their characters, as well as Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour in two excessively great roles. I couldn't find a flaw in there if I tried... Highly enjoyable and recommended!

Well, that's it for now -stay tuned, folks!

Holocaust memorial day

2007-01-27T23:52:00.000+01:00

Today is January 27th, and a crucial day of rememberance as it marks the liberation of the Nazis' Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.

A recent survey revealed that 41% of Brits believe a Holocaust could happen in Britain. The thought of it makes me really scared.
You can read more about it here.

Academy Awards nominees!

2007-01-23T21:35:00.000+01:00

And Thomas Newman is one of them!!
God, those nominations made me ECSTATIC. First I recieved a text message during my literature class from Marie on my phone, telling me that Paul Greengrass was nominated for Best Director and I went BERSERK. I tried to get a grip since there were about thirty people around me --but now I'm in my bedroom and insanely happy to see the people getting recognized. See, the thing about the Oscars is that there is so much build-up, with all the Golden Globes and Guild awards and whatnots, that it all feel quite dizzy and confusing when the actual Oscar nominees are announced. And of course, I don't care about the Academy since they gave the Big Prize to bloody Crash last year instead of Brokeback Mountain. But still, heh.
ANYWAY, let's discuss the nominees right now!

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Teh Category, of course. I predict the winner will be Babel, as a sort of consolation prize, but I reckon Letters From Iwo Jima could pull off an upset (since Crash did so very unfairly, you never know). I'm rooting for Little Miss Sunshine in this category, the little crowd-pleaser which was quite unexpected here. So is the fact that there is no Dreamgirls in there.

Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel
Martin Scorsese – The Departed
Clint Eastwood – Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Paul Greengrass – United 93

OKAY, I know, I know. Greengrass will never, ever win this --but the nomination alone is the coolest thing ever from the Academy. Think of how they'll be able to put in movie trailers and posters 'Academy-Award nominee Paul Greengrass'! Heh. But, hem, back on track. I'm insanely devoted to Greengrass' work but MARTY CANNOT NOT WIN THIS ONE. Or else, he might just shoot himself and everyone at the Warner Bros. PR departement. Clint Eastwood looks very threatening here, but if Marty doesn't win this year, I just don't know what to say anymore. We'll know when the Directors' Guild Awards winner is announced, and when the ceremony will take place, obviously (February 25th, that is). But, yeah, two words: GO MARTY (even though Paul Greengrass obviously...)

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio – Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling – Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole – Venus
Will Smith – The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker – Last King of Scotland

'Academy-Award nominee Ryan Gosling', heh. It's just so cool that he gets recognized while being so young. I guess they can stop calling him "up-and-coming" now. Anyways, Leo gets nominated and beaten again, because this category is such a lock for such a long time that further debate is useless. Forest Whitaker, ladies and gentlemen, is our Best Actor '07.

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz – Volver
Judi Dench – Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren – The Queen
Meryl Streep – The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet – Little Children

Well, that one's a lock, too. Dame Helen Mirren should and will win, of course.
I daresay Kate Winslet is nominated for the fifth time and has still won nothing. Are they waiting for her to be a Dame or what?
Meryl is now at a grand fourteen nominations if my memory's correct, a record. Dame Judi obviously has a record of her own --winning the Best Supporting Actress '99 for an eight-minute role, so I reckon she got enough love from the Academy for eternity.
But long live Dame Helen for a truely delightful performance. She's the rightful winner here.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Djimon Hounsou – Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy – Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg – The Departed

Oooh, the weirdest race this year, and indeed the picks are quite surprising. I heard Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children is really amazing, but I'll predict Eddie Murphy as the winner here. I'd root for Alan Arkin, although Mark Wahlberg was really quite amazing in The Departed. Totally stole the show, and the proof is that he got nominated over Jack Nicholson. That's quite something to pull off, isn't it? Well done, Wahlberg, well played...

Best Supporting Actress
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Cate Blanchett – Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin – Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson – Dreamgirls
Adriana Barraza - Babel

Love the two Babel ladies getting recognized! They were just both fantastic... And of course, lovely little Abigail getting nominated is just great. I'll root for her, naturally, but the actually winner will probably be Jennifer Hudson, since she's the hottest thing in Hollywood right now and people can't shut up about how great she was in Dreamgirls.

Best Original Screenplay
Guillermo Arriaga - Babel
Iris Yamashita - Letters From Iwo Jima
Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine
Guillermo del Toro - Pan's Labyrinth
Peter Morgan - The Queen

Heh! Pan's Labyrinth, who would have thought the Academy would be smart enough?! Anyways, I'm rooting here for Peter Morgan's amazing screenplay for The Queen. Well, I haven't seen Letters From Iwo Jima, so I can't really say... but the four screenplays left are quite amazing indeed. The Queen stands out here for me, because there was so much more beyond the words. The other three screenplays were quite straightforward, if I might say so. They certainly lacked the level of subtlety displayed in The Queen. But I really loved them all, so if any of these wins, it's fine by me.
I can't predict a winner here, though. It's a close call between Letters From Iwo Jima and The Queen, I think.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton & David Arata & Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby - Children of Men
William Monahan - The Departed
Todd Field & Tom Perrotta - Little Children
Patrick Marber - Notes on a Scandal

Children of Men! Children of Men! Children of Men! *dies*
Well, naturally, that's the one I'm rooting for. That's a bit of a surprise --were they even nominated at the Writers' Guild Awards? I can't remember...
The predicted winner, though, is William Monahan's The Departed.
Heh for Borat, too! Who would have thought? And I *love* Patrick Marber, I bet his adaptation of Notes on a Scandal is excellent, but it hasn't been released in France yet.

Best Foreign-Language Film
After the Wedding (Denmark)
Days of Glory (Indigènes) (France)
The Lives of Others (Germany)
Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico)
Water (Canada)

Oooh a nomination for France! Yay! *not objective at all*
I'll be rooting for Pan's Labyrinth no matter what, but the predicted winner is The Lives of Others, who's won pretty much all the European prizes I can think of this year. Or it might just well be Pan's Labyrinth, for that matter, since it seems to have gotten loads of Academy love. No Apocalypto, HEH.

Best Animated Film of the Year
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

Cars! Go Pixar! Fuck penguins!
Heeeeeem. I didn't mean that. Happy Feet was actually pretty cute and everything. So was Monster House. But it's nowhere near Cars' achivement in terms of detail and rendering.
Too bad Flushed Away didn't get a nod. Why isn't there five nominees like every other category? Knobheads.

Best Art Direction
Dreamgirls
Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
The Good Shepherd
Art Direction: Jeannine Oppewall; Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau and Leslie E. Rollins
Pan's Labyrinth
Art Direction: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Pilar Revuelta
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs; Set Decoration: Cheryl A. Carasik
The Prestige
Art Direction: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Julie Ochipinti

Woo hoo! Best cateogry ever! Especially the presence of Nathan Crowley! Congratulations to him and the entire Prestige art departement, they did a terrific job.
Are you wondering why I'm not bitching about Pirates of the Carribean's presence? Well, don't fret; one of the few things I actually loved was Rick Heinrichs' awsome design for the whole film. He's one of Tim Burton's famous collaborators, and he has a knack for making everything look gorgeous. I predict he'll win the little golden statue... even if I'm rooting for Nathan Crowley, obviously!
If John Myhre wins, it'll be his third consecutive win. Go figure...
Where is Marie-Antoinette, though?

Best Cinematography
Vilmos Zsigmond - The Black Dahlia
Emmanuel Lubezki - Children of Men
Dick Pope - The Illusionist
Guillermo Navarro - Pan's Labyrinth
Wally Pfister - The Prestige

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! That's me being hysterical over Chivo's nomination for Children of Men! Hehehehehehe.

Okay, let me explain --Emmanuel Lubezki, nicknamed Chivo by his peers, is one of my favorite directors of photography. Very much like Rich Heinrichs, he worked with Burton on Sleepy Hollow and has a gift for lighting anything and everything and make it look like a fuckin' piece of art. That's how talented he is. And definitely the one I'm rooting and crossing my fingers for!

Of course, there's a huge dilemma here since Wally Pfister gets his second straight nomination and I LOVE THE ACADEMY FOR THIS. The Prestige was nowhere to be seen during this year's award season, and here it pops, making me really happy and proud. Because ol' Wally has been working with Christopher Nolan since Memento, and he's really what Janisz Kaminski is to Steven Spielberg --a brillant collaborator which fits the director's vision in a way no one else can. Otherwise, they'd pick different ones, but they don't. And since I love Christopher Nolan so badly, it makes sense that Wally Pfister gets my wholehearted support, too. Only half-hearted here since he's up against Lubezki, and Chivo's almost this person who got me interested in cinematography in the first place. I remember having the exact same thoughts last year, since they were both nominated last year, too. But then Dion Beebe won for Memoirs of a Geisha and made this awfully sweet speech and he deserved the Oscar as well, so it wasn't too bad.

The winner might just be Lubezki, but who knows? Zsigmond is a very highly regarded cinematographer, and indeed The Black Dahlia looked absolutely fantastic --and The Illusionist's single nomination is this category as well. Pope is part of the BSC, but I don't think that would hurt his chances. I don't know much about Navarro except that his work on Pan's Labyrinth was quite awesome. That is such a close call...

Definitely the most interesting race this year!

Best Costume Design
Yee Chung Man - Curse of the Golden Flower
Patricia Field - The Devil Wears Prada
Sharen Davis - Dreamgirls
Milena Canonero - Marie Antoinette
Consolata Boyle - The Queen

Wow, all those new costume designers! That's quite a list, though, and sadly enough, the only nomination for Curse of the Golden Flower, which had huge Oscar buzz very early on.
The Queen will probably win this category, although I'm rooting for Marie-Antoinette.

Best Editing
Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise - Babel
Steven Rosenblum - Blood Diamond
Alex Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón - Children of Men
Thelma Schoonmaker - The Departed
Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson - United 93

Best. Nominees. Ever! Oh, well, I haven't seen Blood Diamond yet but I'm familiar with Steven Rosenblaum. More or less, since he edited the first X-Men film, if I remember correctly. That's weird, because I picture John Ottman as being Bryan's editor.
Anyhow, United 93 getting into this category is downright brillant, and so are the other three, really. I'm rooting for both United 93 and Babel, but that's only because Thelma Schoonmaker already got an Academy Award a few years ago. I didn't know Alfonso Cuarón actually edited Children of Men as well, but it's just great. Mind you, directors are always so closely involved in their editing, it's not such a big surprise after all.
The win should go to Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise, though, and a well-deserved one it would be!

Best Makeup
Adlo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano - Apocalypto
Kazuhiro Tsuji and Bill Corso - Click
David Marti and Montse Ribe - Pan's Labyrinth

What a weird group of nominees! No need to say I'm rooting for Pan's Labyrinth, not only because it was a visual feast, but also because the thought of Click getting the same number of nomination as, say, Superman Returns, is beyond my comprehension. Is that because of Adam Sandler's aging at the end of the film? Any good makeup artist could have pulled if off, I reckon. So I'll just ignore the fact that Click is nominated.
Predicted winner, though, is Apocalypto.

Best Music (Score)
Gustavo Santaolalla - Babel
Thomas Newman - The Good German
Philip Glass - Notes on a Scandal
Javier Navarrete - Pan's Labyrinth
Alexandre Desplat - The Queen

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
And that's when I go very crazy on your ass again because this is the EIGHTH nomination for Thomas Newman, if my memory's correct (and it might not be). How awesome is that?! I'm so proud of him. Yet again, he's done an amazing job, I'm sure -well, I haven't seen the movie, but I'm such a HUGE fan of his works that there's no way I can be objective in that category.
I might point out, though, that I love Philip Glass and Alexandre Desplat, both very classic in their own ways, and of course, Gustavo Santolalla, who won last year for Brokeback Mountain. And the music in Pan's Labyrinth, I daresay, is so intertwined with the film itself that it's as fantastic as the screenplay is.
But I'll still root for my Tom on this one. I'm so bloody proud of him.
The winner will probably be Alexandre Desplat, because his score for The Painted Veil got quite a reaction as well. And his work on The Queen was outstanding, so... oh, and he's French. Yay!

Best Music (Song)
“I Need to Wake Up” - An Inconvenient Truth
Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge
“Listen” - Dreamgirls
Music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler; Lyric by Anne Preven
“Love You I Do” - Dreamgirls
Music by Henry Krieger; Lyric by Siedah Garrett
“Our Town” - Cars
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Patience” - Dreamgirls
Music by Henry Krieger; Lyric by Willie Reale

Huh yeah, okay, that cheesy song from An Inconvenient Truth? No offense, but it was really quite mushy and all.
What are the odds of Dreamgirls losing this one? Answer: none.
I loved Randy Newman's song for Cars, it was so sweet! Plus, he's Thomas Newman's cousin, so... What a brillant dynasty of composers, those guys.

Best Sound Mixing
Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Fernando Camara - Apocalypto
Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ivan Sharrock - Blood Diamond
Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer and Willie Burton - Dreamgirls
John Reitz, Dave Campbell, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin - Flags of Our Fathers
Paul Massey, Christopher Boyes and Lee Orloff - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Awww, sad. The only nominations for Flags of our Fathers are in the sound categories. I mean, it's good enough, and there's NO WAY I'm rooting for either Pirates of the Carribean or Apocalypto over Clint's films so I'll just root for Flags of our Fathers here and predict Dreamgirls as the winner. They do seem to love musicals in this category -fair enough, the sound mixing is admittedly a bit trickier in that kind of film.

Best Sound Editing
Sean McCormack and Kami Asgar - Apocalypto
Lon Bender - Blood Diamond
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman - Flags of Our Fathers
Alan Robert Murray - Letters From Iwo Jima
Christopher Boyes and George Watters II - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Oooh, a double nomination. You won't see that a lot. Guess the afromentioned Alan Robert Murray is bound to win. And I'll root for him too because, ditto what I said earlier, I can't believe Pirates and Apocalypto get nodded in the tech categories. And I haven't seen Blood Diamond.

Best Visual Effects
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Boyd Shermis, Kim Libreri, Chaz Jarrett and John Frazier - Poseidon
Mark Stetson, Neil Corbould, Richard R. Hoover and Jon Thum - Superman Returns

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! That's me screaming outloud again, because I want Supes to win so badly. And expect a LONG ranting when I'll be seeing Dead's Man Crap winning over Superman Returns. GOD.
And what's up with Poseidon? Is Industrial Light and Magic giving away huge giftbaskets or what? Because there's no other explantions, really.
I wish Mark Stetson won this one. On behalf of all the people who worked so hard on Superman Returns, both at Rhythm & Hues and Sony Pictures Imageworks, but also because he's such an inspiration to all the VFX people out there. I know he was part of the winning team for Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, but that was five years ago. Pretty please? Can you get it right for once? It's the category I care the most about! After err, the Best Directing, Picture, Cinematography, Screenplay and Editing ones. Heh.

The categories left are the short films category. Well I don't know shite about those, so I'll just post the nominees here without any idea of what they actually are. Sorry...

Best Documentary Short Subject
The Blood Of Yingzhou District
Recycled Life
Rehearsing A Dream
Two Hands

Best Animated Short Film
The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time For Nuts

Best Live Action Short Film
Binta And The Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)
Éramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story

You might want to check this year's Newsweek's Oscar roundtable, which is sort of a tradition now. It's this interview with six of the acting nominees, and this year, they are : Brad Pitt (oops, not nominated this year), Forest Whitaker (future winner), Helen Mirren (future winner), Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio and Penelope Cruz.

I have to say, this year's nominations are pretty satisfying. Especially for Paul Greengrass, actually. He sort of nicked Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' spot, but I just... it's so important to recognize his work, and the incredible accomplishment United 93 represented as a whole. And to acknowledge him --not just as a director, but as a person who has things to say, and to show, about what was truely one of the darkest days in recent memory. And not putting forward any political opinion about it, but just showing the truth, as raw and brutal as it gets. I mean, I don't need the bloody Academy to tell me that, but the industry apparently does. And he's just... what Greengrass does, to me, is this new form of cinema, literally, with both Bloody Sunday and United 93. It's this new way of telling a story, which is basically a fiction, but putting it into a relevant context for today's audiences -but also for the next generation and so on, and trying to depict the events as accurately as possible. And truely, it constitutes a complex and exciting challenge, to both the filmmaker and viewer --because us, as ordinary people, have to react to it by not only getting emotionally involved but actually rethinking the whole situation. I love movies as entertainement of course, but ultimately, there's always a part of it which is in touch with our reality, our times. And to me, he's just it.

So, congratulations Paul for your well-deserved nomination, and here's to you, looking forward to seeing your next movies in theater, even if the upcoming one is this tiny little-budgeted thing called The Bourne Ultimatum.

in the world of movies this week...

2007-01-20T13:29:00.000+01:00

*Quite obviously, the Golden Globes results. Now, I love the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, but what's up with Dreamgirls winning 3 major awards? I haven't seen the film, but I'm pretty sure Little Miss Sunshine was better. Similarly, supporting actor going to Eddie Murphy rather than good ol' Jack or Mark Wahlberg for The Departed is kind of weird. Speaking of which, Marty Scorsese winning Best Director --heeee. That made me quite happy. So did Cars for Best Animated Feature (the most interesting category, I daresay). Peter Morgan winning for The Queen's screenplay was also a pleasant surprise. All the other wins were sort of predictable. The ceremony itself was pretty funny (mostly thanks to Sacha Baron Cohen's awesome speech), but nothing too interesting, especially since United 93 wasn't even nominated. Knobheads.
Pictures of the glam and the glitz are up at the IMDb, Yahoo! TV, MSN Movies and Empire Online. Emily Blunt, Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet were possibly the prettiest ladies of the evening, while Micheal C. Hall was definitely the better looking one in the whole bunch. Yup, even prettier than Brad Pitt in my opinion. Heeem, back to serious business now...
The award season was full-on this week as several guilds announced their nominees. Here they are, I'll only give the main categories, and there's a link if you want the full list--

The Baftas! My favorite ceremony of the year, and the best picks I've seen so far.
Best Film : Babel, The Departed, The Last King of Scotland, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen
Best British Film : Casino Royale, The Last King of Scotland, Notes on a Scandal, The Queen, United 93
Best Director : Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu for Babel, Martin Scorsese for The Departed, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for Little Miss Sunshine, Stephen Frears for The Queen, Paul Greengrass for United 93
I have to say, I was thoroughly pleased with all the nominees. 9 nominations for Casino Royale! Pan's Labyrinth and United 93 for Original Screenplay, Flushed Away in Best Animated Feature, James McAvoy for Best Supporting Actor, Abigail Breslin and Toni Collette for Best Supporting Actress, Children of Men for Cinematography, United 93 for Editing, Superman Returns for the visual effects --all those nominations are just incredible. To me, anyways. The British Academy rocks my socks. They always did, especially when they got Ralph Fiennes a tremendously deserved nomination in the Best Actor category last year while no one else did, for The Constant Gardener.
Costume Designers Guild
Contemporary Film : Babel, Casino Royale, Little Miss Sunshine, The Devil Wears Prada, The Queen
Period Film : Curse of the Golden Flower, Dreamgirls, The Illusionist, Marie-Antoinette, Pirates of the Carribean - Dead's Man Chest
Fantasy Film : Eragon, Pan's Labyrinth, The Fountain, X-Men - The Last Stand, V for Vendetta
Dang! I can't believe Louise Mingenbach got snubbed, Supes' new suit was quite good. I love how The Fountain could have fit in any of those categories, but was finally in the fantasy one. Anyway, the nominees are pretty okay, except for Eragon, of course, which was ridiculously unoriginal and therefore not worthy of any nominations whatsoever. Since I've seen all the movies in the contemporary and fantasy categories, I reckon that the most deserving winners are Little Miss Sunshine -I loved how their outfits all said something about the characters- and V for Vendetta.
American Society of Cinematographers Achievement Awards
Best Cinematography : Children of Men, The Illusionist, The Good Shepherd, Apocalypto, The Black Dahlia
Wow, what an unusual list! Of course, as long as Emmanuel Lubezki is nodded for his outstanding work in Children of Men, he's the one I'm rooting for. The only other movie I've seen in this nominees' list is The Black Dahlia, and although it wasn't a great film, it looked absolutely neat, so Vilmos Zsigmond's nod is only fair.
The Eddies, the American Cinema Editors' awards.
Best Editing - Drama : Babel, Casino Royale, The Departed, The Queen, United 93
Best Editing - Comedy : The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine, Pirates of the Carribean - Dead's Man Chest, Thank You For Smoking
WOOT! The Drama category is awesome. Stephen Mirrione (who edited Babel with Douglas Crise) is one of my favorite film editors, but I have to root for United 93 here, because the team of editors (Clare Douglas, Christopher Rouse and Richard Pearson) did such a terrific job at keeping the pace up while tracking the events on both the plane and the ground. It was fantastic. In the comedy category though, what's up with Pirates of the Carribean up there? The film was such a MESS --I can't believe people actually cut that shit up and pieced it all together. I reckon that's why they got a nomination, because the screenplay was so crappy and they had to make sense out of it (in which they didn't exactly succeed, if you want my opinion).
Writers Guild Awards, one of the most important race to me!
Best Screenplay - Original : Babel, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen, Stranger than Fiction, United 93
Best Screenplay - Adapted : Borat, The Departed, The Devil Wears Prada, Little Children, Thank You For Smoking
WOOT again! I love those nominees --Guillermo Arriaga, Michael Arndt, Peter Morgan, Zach Helm, and best of all, Paul Greengrass! They all deserve the award, really. And I love that the WGA was not scared of recognizing first-time writers such as Michael Arndt and Zach Helm. Way to go! The adapted screenplay category is also quite surprising --three comedies! Is Borat really adapted? Anyway...
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Best Ensemble Cast : Babel, Bobby, The Departed, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine
Best Actor : Leonardo DiCaprio for Blood Diamond, Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson, Peter O'Toole for Venus, Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happyness, Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress : Penelope Cruz for Volver, Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal, Helen Mirren for The Queen, Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada, Kate Winslet for Little Children
Well, those were predictable, especially for the women. Those five are highly likely to be the Best Actress Oscar nominees of this year. Too bad Kate Winslet keeps getting nominated, and never wins... But then again, if Helen Mirren doesn't win this year, it would be completely insane and unfair. For the men, it also looks like the five final Best Actor Oscar nominees, although I'm not sure Leonardo DiCaprio will get nominated for Blood Diamond over The Departed. If you click on the link, you'll see that Leo actually got a Screen Actor Guild nomination for his work in The Departed in the Best Supporting Actor category, which was the weirdest thing EVER, and pushed Jack Nicholson or Mark Wahlberg out of the list. That's what too many good performances in one film will do, and it's completely silly. Abigail Breslin also got a nod for Best Supporting Actress (yay!) but Jennifer Hudson from Dreamgirls is way ahead of little Abigail in this race. Shame...

Well, I think that's about it. The only thing I really care about, as far as award season is concerned, are the fates of United 93 and Little Miss Sunshine as well as MARTY WINNING THE BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR. Even if it means that poor, deserving Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu and Stephen Frears have to lose.

*The full Sunshine trailer was released this week. Because it is directed by Danny Boyle (and not because Cillian Murphy's in it), I hiiiighly anticipate this film. Oh well, right, maybe Cillian's got something to do with it. You can see it right here.

*We also got a good look at our Spider-Man 3 heroes, in brand new pictures from the brand new official site. They are all distractly good-looking in this new, shiny film -hee. You an see more new pics in the gallery at the link above.

I love Bryce Dallas Howard better than Kirsten Dunst, but whatever.
I really love this new Sandman pic as well. Dunno why, I just do.

*More informations about Spidey 3 are to be found in Premiere's extract of their exclusive featured article on the film.
*There's a brand new Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix pic as well- * -and three new production stills for The Bourne Ultimatum.

*Speaking of which, Variety announced this morning that Paul Greengrass's next project was to "write and direct a movie about the aftermath of the Iraq invasion". This will worry tons of people, but since this is PAUL GREENGRASS, and Working Title is producing, I'm not one of them. To tell you the truth, I can't think of a better person to do a movie about Iraq.
*There's a rather interesting interview of Stephen Merchant at Radar Online. I adore this guy as much as I love Ricky Gervais -their collaboration is pure genius. Plus, he really cracked me up on The Office DVD extras.

Well, I think that's about it for this week's movie news.
What about my week? I...
*Finished my Lord of the Rings marathon!
*Had a fantastic weekend in Canterbury, then a very full and exhausting Monday in London.
*Have been back to school since Tuesday, at the same ol' university.
*Turned eighteen on Wednesday. It felt... quite normal, actually.
*Learnt that Simon Woods was going to be playing older Octavian in Rome and almost died of a heart attack.
*Recieved amazingly amazing gifts from my friends and family, but mainly DVDs. And here's where I have to thank Pariss again for giving me the Six Feet Under Complete Series Box Set. I still can't get over it, I really can't!
*Have been to the movies three times this week but will from now on review all the movies at the end of the month because I've got loads of homework waiting...
*Started and finished reading the first book of the Dark Materials trilogy, Northern Lights. I actually read them for the first time about four years ago, but that was in French. So I'm pretty glad to get to reread them in English. I'm now moving unto the Subtle Knife.
*Am eagerly awaiting the new Rome and Prison Break episodes, of course!
*...and will have to work for the rest of weekend now that I've wasted so many minutes writing on my blog. Darn it!

When in Rome...

2007-01-17T00:05:00.000+01:00

This is a response to Lydzi's amazing post on the second season premiere of Rome, which I've just watched. Spoilers ahead, of course!

WORD! (to your post, heh!)

I'm so glad Rome is back. I can hardly wait for next week's episode. "Passover" is one of the best TV episodes I've ever seen in recent memory. Absolutely brutal, all kinds of awful, and yet, out-fucking-standing. Seeing it reminded me of how I love this show. It really did.

How I do agree with the 10 points (nine, actually) you've mentioned ESPECIALLY THE FIRST ONE.

1- You know how I've always loved Brutus --and Tobias Menzies' incredible job in portraying such a tormented, torn character. When he said, "you too, mother?", I actually gasped outloud. The tension of the whole scene was unbearable... God was he really good. And the character is so well-written. I love Brutus. Always did, still do. He's this incredibly conflicted, seemingly morally righteous character that always stood out to my eyes.

2- Vorenus' kids... I reckon they're not dead. Erastes knew he was going to his death, so he made it as swift and quick as possible, and the only way to do that was to get Vorenus mightily angry. Well, he certainly succeeded. That's how I see it. But yup, it'd be great if they could help Vorenus get back on track. The character's development scares me a bit, but it's also very fascinating to watch, since it's Vorenus, our beloved hero (not so heroic now, though). The shot of Vorenus and Pullo climbing the stairs at the end was epic, and beautifully photographed!

3- Yup, we can rejoice in Erastes' death, because he was so horrible. He gave me goosebumps everytime he appeared on the screen. Just because he was this looming, threatening presence. I'm glad he's gone.

4- Heh heh, Calpurnia rocks my socks. She spat on Servilia. Twice! I wouldn't have the guts, but she obviously did. I felt terribly sorry for her as well. Seemed to me as if she was the only one to truely mourn for Caesar.

5- James Purefoy was just so good in this episode. I especially LOVED his expression throughout the whole scene with Quintus, and the look on his face after slashing Quintus' throat. Priceless! His performance is always so neat, and impressive.

6- Octavian, once again, does one hell of a job in outsmarting all the adults surrounding him. I looooooooved the scene where he talks his mother and Marc Anthony out of leaving Rome. That was just so good. Definitely one of the best and most interesting characters (although they all are in this show). The fact that he is being played by SIMON WOODS later on also helps (yeps, Mr. Bingley from Pride and Prejudice '05! Remember how I had this huge crush on him?!).

7- Octavian's interaction with Pullo was very much welcomed indeed! What a fantastic scene, and unexpected, too! Nice bit of continuity. Well played, Bruno Heller, well played... And Pullo being so loyal and perfect... It was just so in tune with the character. In one word: perfect.

8- I'll discuss this point a bit further...

9- Heck yeah! I was sort of shocked, though, because he had this sweet smile on and then WHAM! It just happened. Amazing and awful, just as it always is on this show.

10- And obviously, Vorenus and Pullo were just... it was... too good to be put into words, really. Heh. Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson pulled off amazing performances in this one, as usual. They might be the best TV pairing in the history of ever. There's such a strong bond between them now... It's, gosh, I can't even find the words.

Okay, so now, the 8th point --about Mark Anthony's speech, well, I have to admit I would have LOVED to see it. Or Brutus', at least. I felt as if something was missing, just as I did when Caesar did not say TEH last line on the show. It might have been a good move, not to reenact that particular part, but I was still expecting it. I'm just curious about what it would have been like. It's okay that way, though...

Well, what else is there left to say? The second season looks terrific. And with Simon Woods onboard, I cannot even start on how this show makes me happy... It's just so satisfying in terms of writing, it's all so well played out. I've never seen anything quite like this before, never seen such a level of quality in a TV series. I guess this is also due to the fact that this is the last season, so they have to cram years of history and twist plots in twelve episodes. I'm just so glad to have the show back, and will be looking forward each week to see, discuss, watch again every episode of it.

The tyrant is dead, long live Rome!

Review of the week and movie news

2007-01-10T22:27:00.000+01:00

As you can notice, I deleted the links section and put it all on a sidebar to the right. It's much more pratical this way. I've also added the Harry Potter books to my favorites, since I had actually FORGOTTEN them.

Moving on...

I went to cinema four times this past week-- and saw A Good Year, The Departed, The Fountain and Stranger than Fiction. Now, obviously I loved The Departed and The Fountain, since it wasn't my first screening for both of them. So I'll just review the other two films.
Ridley Scott's A Good Year wasn't quite as bad as I expected -I'd heard some truely awful stuff on the film, and while it was sort of average for a Ridley Scott film, it was still quite okay. Of course, 'okay' is not a word you would usually employ to describe a movie directed by Ridley Scott. I like to think of Scott as an amazingly gifted filmmaker who's made some masterpieces or two (or three), and of course, he's among my favorite directors, part of the elite club etc. So of course I'm a bit frustrated to see that A Good Year is neither a very memorable nor grand film, but I reckon it's okay for him to do whatever pleases him, even if it means reducing the scale of his work. And Russell Crowe being Russell Crowe, one of the finest actors working today (yes, I'm not biased), I rather enjoyed it. Flawed and sometimes clumsy, but an enjoyable film indeed.
Marc Forster's Stranger than Fiction was something else entirely. It was fuckin' awesome. And I mean it. For the past few years, there's been some beautiful, kind of "where did that come from?" sort of films, which really melted your heart, because they werre wonderfully funny and awfully touching at the same time. Well, Stranger than Fiction is one of those. The last minutes completely blew me away. Not in a Usual Suspects/Sixth Sense way but because all the accumulated emotions are condensed in a gorgeous, accurate, well-written monologue. I really loved it. There's probably one word to describe this film, and it's lovely. It was lovely in its quirkiness and in its characters. And the casting was really good, especially Will Ferrell (who pulled off a very good performance) and Emma Thompson (as always). Highly recommended! And a hell of a way to kick off the 2007 year, too...

In the movie world, today:
*Robert Shaye, one of New Line's executives, is a real prick. As usual, money is more important than an ENTIRE GENERATION of Lord of the Rings fans. I'm positive about the fact that no one will go see The Hobbit if it's not directed by Peter Jackson.
*There's a tremendously interesting Time article discussing sequels, especially third parts. 2007 will see the return of Spider-Man, Shrek, Pirates, the Ocean team, the Rush Hour duo --but is it really a good thing?
I think this article is particularly accurate in depicting the situation as it is. I'm not saying I wish there were bad box-office results for Spidey or Shrek, but we've come to a point where, if these movies do not pull off at least $300 millions domestically, they will be considered as a failure or a disappointement. How insane is that? Production costs are continually increasing, thereby affecting the marketing sales and ultimately, expectations in terms of box-office results. It's a vicious circle the industry needs to be shaken out of. For everybody's sake, including the audience's. I do love getting to see my favorite superheroes in a two-year period, but they simply have to learn when to stop. Third film sounds pretty good to me.

The third one is about giving more,"says Ratner, who has also directed third films in the X-Men and Hannibal Lecter series. "More action if it's an action film, more laughs if it's a comedy, and all without compromising or changing the characters."

Shut up, Ratner.

*There was also the announcement of the Directors' Guild Awards nominees, and oh my! Clint Eastwood was overlooked. If that's not some sort of upset, I don't know what it is. Is it finally Marty's year, though? The five nominees are :
Bill Condon for Dreamgirls
Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris for Little Miss Sunshine
Stephen Frears for The Queen
Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu for Babel
Marty Scorsese for The Departed
Suprisingly enough, the Producers' Guild Awards nominees are the exact same five...
This year's awards season raises a lot of eyebrows, believe me. Mine as well, since United 93 seems to have completely vanished from people's memories.

*There's also a very interesting chart fresh from Serve with Chips that I wanted to repost here.

So Marvel is the winner of this showdown, with 57% of the share leaving D.C. with 43%. I love the irony of DC dominating the market and then crashing down with the disastrous Batman films, only to be overwhelmed by rising-from-its-ashes production company Marvel. How sad is it to see that Catwoman was the first DC film since almost a decade, though? Thankfully, Batman Begins was there as well. It's also funny to see how superheroes films have *multiplied* over the years, spawning wonders (the Spidey franchise) and horrors (the Fantastic Four, Elektra things). I, for one, rather love to see superheroes (which I tend to associate to Bryan, so there you go) but I wish they'd go for quality over quantity.
I was also reading Serve with Chips' analysis for the 2000 year and here's a quote which precisely echoes my thoughts.

It is amazing that the X-Men series has proven so profitable for Fox, as they have never given it much respect. Everyone knows that X3 suffered from rushed production and last minute director changes, but so did the original X-Men. The film was to be a holiday release in 2000, but production was rushed for a July release date after Minority Report was pushed back. I just wonder how good this trilogy could have been if it had been treated as more than just a cash cow.

Amen to that.
Fox's ability to handle new/old franchises is the worst in the business at this point. They hand over lucrative franchise potential to hacks like Anderson (Alien vs. Predator), Story (Fantastic Four) and of course Ratner. Rothman seems to hate comic books, and I wish someone would fire him so that Fox can stop being the laughing stock of the studios. And then Bryan could come back work on the X-Men franchise again. And then the world would be a better place. Absolutely not, but still...

*Elsewhere, Brigitte Lacombe has published some of her gorgeous film sets' pictures. Here's a sample, curtesy of her official website.

Matt Damon on the set of The Talented Mr. Ripley

Meryl Streep photoshoot for The Devil Wears Prada

Kirsten Dunst on the set of Marie-Antoinette

Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon; Jack Nicholson and Martin Scorsese on the set of The Departed

Well, that's it for now! Gee, my posts keep getting longer. Sorry about that --the movie world is a busy one! In between cinema screenings, I'm still finishing my Lord of the Rings marathon (I've been watching all the extended editions and bonus footage for days now). Oh, and Golden Globes ceremony is on Monday, but I won't be there, since I'm off in England for a few days! See you then...

2007 preview

2007-01-07T13:52:00.000+01:00

It's that time of the year again, and just as last year, here comes...

The 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2007

still a completely useless yet informative guide written by me.

Indicated release dates are the French ones only. Informations and summaries are provided by the IMDb and CS.net.

1. The Bourne Ultimatum (September, 18th)
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Starring Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, David Strathairn
Trailer and poster not available yet (still filming)

Plot summary : In the new chapter of this espionage series, Bourne (Matt Damon) will hunt down his past in order to find a future. He must travel from Moscow, Paris and London, to Tangier and New York City as he continues his quest to find the real Jason Bourne -all the while trying to outmaneuver the scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents with him in the crosshairs.

2. Spider-Man 3 (May, 2nd)
Directed by Sam Raimi
Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Chruch
View the trailer

Plot summary : In Spider-Man 3, based on the legendary Marvel Comics series, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) has finally managed to strike a balance between his devotion to M.J. and his duties as a superhero. But there is a storm brewing on the horizon. When his suit suddenly changes, turning jet-black and enhancing his powers, it transforms Peter as well, bringing out the dark, vengeful side of his personality that he is struggling to control. [...] Forced to choose between the seductive power of the new suit and the compassionate hero he used to be, Peter must overcome his personal demons as two of the most-feared villains yet, Sandman and Venom, gather unparalleled power and a thirst for retribution to threaten Peter and everyone he loves.

3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July, 11th)
Directed by David Yates
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter
View the trailer
Plot summary : Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) returns to Hogwarts for one of his most difficult years yet. Not only must he study for his OWL exams, but as the Ministry of Magic is gradually taking control of Hogwarts and spares no efforts trying to discredit him, he tries to tell the skeptical wizarding world the truth of Voldemort's return...

4. Ratatouille (August, 1st)
Directed by Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava
Starring the voices of Patton Oswalt, Janeane Garofalo, Brad Garrett, Ian Holm
View the trailer
Plot summary : Remy is a rat, constantly risking life in an expensive French restaurant because of his love of good food, as well as a desire to become a chef. His father and brother do not approve, and would rather stick to the normal rat life of eating garbage. The family can't be split up, but who is in the right? The one wanting the dangerous but better life, or the ones who believe in an easy, if somewhat lesser, life?

5. Zodiac (March, 7th)
Directed by David Fincher
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards
View the trailer
Plot summary : Based on the actual case files of one of the most intriguing unsolved crimes in the nation's history. As a serial killer terrifies the San Francisco Bay Area and taunts police with his ciphers and letters, investigators in four jurisdictions search for the murderer. The case will become an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues.

6. Sunshine (April, 16th)
Directed by Danny Boyle
Starring Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Troy Garity, Rose Byrne
View the trailer footage
Plot summary : Fifty years from now, the sun is dying, and mankind is dying with it. Our last hope: a spaceship and a crew of eight men and women. They carry a device which will breathe new life into the star. But deep into their voyage, out of radio contact with Earth, their mission is starting to unravel. There is an accident, a fatal mistake, and a distress beacon from a spaceship that disappeared seven years earlier. Soon the crew is fighting not only for their lives, but their sanity.

7. Lucky You (May, 9th)
Directed by Curtis Hanson
Starring Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall, Jean Smart
View the trailer
Plot summary : In the world of high-stakes poker, Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) is a blaster—a player who goes all out, all the time. But in his personal relationships, Huck plays it tight, expertly avoiding emotional commitments and long-term expectations. When Huck sets out to win the main event of the 2003 World Series of Poker—and the affections of Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore), a young singer from Bakersfield—there is one significant obstacle in his path: his anger toward his father, L.C. Cheever (Robert Duvall), the poker legend who abandoned Huck's mother years ago. As these two rivals progress toward a final showdown at the poker table, Huck learns that to win in the games of life and poker, he must try to play cards the way he has been living his life and live his life the way he has been playing cards.

8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (October, 17th)
Directed by Andrew Dominik
Starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Mary-Louise Parker
View the trailer
Plot summary : The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford delves into the private life and public exploits of America's most notorious outlaw. As the charismatic and unpredictable Jesse James (Brad Pitt) plans his next great robbery, he wages war on his enemies, who are trying to collect the reward money – and the glory – riding on his capture. But the greatest threat to his life may ultimately come from those he trusts the most.

9. Live Free or Die Hard (July, 4th)
Directed by Len Wiseman
Starring Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Maggie Q, Justin Long
View the trailer
No posters available yet.

Plot summary : An attack on the vulnerable United States computer infrastructure begins to shut down the entire nation. The mysterious figure behind the shattering scheme has figured out every digital angle - but he never figured an old-fashioned, "analog" fly-in-the-ointment: John McClane.

10. Letters From Iwo Jima (February, 21st)
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Starring Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase
View the trailer
Plot summary : Sixty-one years ago, U.S. and Japanese armies met on Iwo Jima. Decades later, several hundred letters are unearthed from that stark island's soil. The letters give faces and voices to the men who fought there, as well as the extraordinary general who led them, Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe). With little defense other than sheer will and the volcanic rock of the island itself, Gen. Kuribayashi's unprecedented tactics transform what was predicted to be a quick and bloody defeat into nearly 40 days of heroic and resourceful combat.

We still have all the Academy contenders coming up, (click title to see the trailer) eg. The Last King of Scotland, Venus, The Painted Veil, Notes on a Scandal, as well as ambitious kick-ass projects, i.e. 300 and Smokin' Aces. Let's not forget human drama Reign Over Me, prequels and sequels such as Hannibal Rising, Ocean's Thirteen, Shrek the Third... 2007 sounds great, eh?

Happy new year to y'all!

2007-01-02T22:57:00.000+01:00

Let's get the obvious thingie first --wishing to all of you a happy, happy new year, loads of good surprises and positive things! I usually hate celebrating new years (doesn't make a whole let of sense to me, I'm one of those people thinking it's just another date among others in the calendar...), but in this case, I had a wonderful evening with my friends, so cheers!

Here are the movies I've seen since the latest post-

I didn't go to the movies as much as I usually do lately, with the partying and all. Anyways, let's start off with the one I've seen in theaters, my latest film for 2006, Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain. This was a movie I highly anticipated since Aronofsky hadn't released a film since 2000's Requiem for a Dream -and that is the kind of movie you can't forget once you've seen it, the kind that gets under your skin, shocks and awes you in a manner few films do. Does The Fountain achieve that same effect? Unfortunately, it doesn't. Don't get me wrong, the movie is gorgeous, unconventional in many ways and effective in terms of characters. But it does get too pushy in its storytelling, in the sense that many, many viewers will either be confused or downright angered by the film's grand ambitions. Some might think it's pretentious and disconnected from reality (because it literally is), others will deem it brillant. I personally loved it --the photography and music, more specifically, and the fact that it is original. In its own right. It doesn't always make sense, but it doesn't have to. The problem was that I expected a bit more from Aronofsky -something along the lines of his previous film, of course, and it was nowhere near that. Then again, this is my fault and mine only. His directing on The Fountain was fine really, and Hugh Jackman's performance was quite good as well. Overall, a great, if not a bit disappointing, film.
I caught Batman Returns on the telly the other day, and I realized I sort of forgot how good it was! The French dubbing irritated me, but of course, Tim Burton is one of my favorite directors ever and I am an unabashedly superhero films lover, so it was kind of perfect. I love how his vision is so very different from Christopher Nolan's most recent one, yet as succesful. The Batman franchise got somewhat destroyed by Joel Schumacher fucking around and generally making the Bat universe utterly ridiculous; but I reckon Tim Burton's efforts, and Chris Nolan's as well, really paid off in their respective films. Batman Returns, frankly, is not only a hell of a good entertainment but more generally a good film, well-written and beautifully designed (as always with Burton). May I also add that Danny Elfman's score is to die for, honestly. I don't think his genius has a limit --and Burton's own, as well. Love 'em to bits, the both of them.
I kept the best for the end, though. And that is King Kong.
How phenomenally underestimated is this film, it's beyond my comprehension. What is wrong with people? It was hailed as one of the biggest disappointement of the 2005 year, because it didn't "deliver", because the budget went beyond its initial cost, because it was too long. Sounds familiar? Yep, it definitely does.
Anne Thompson from the Hollywood Reporter, one of my favorite film journalists (among many), also drew the comparaison, and here's what she had to say about those two films and other Hollywood blockbusters:

"Part of the problem is that studios are indulgent parents. They have gobs and gobs of cash to spend, and especially when they're investing in a huge potential franchise, there's no incentive NOT to let their smart, talented, imaginative directors throw more money—and length— into their movies. So Bryan Singer gets to spend $2.3 million on that bullet in the eye sequence. (Which I'm glad is in the movie.) [...] Superman Returns reminds me of King Kong. Because Peter Jackson was coming off the amazing Lord of the Rings trilogy, Universal let him do whatever he wanted—and got a three hour movie that barely scraped into profitability, and should have been trimmed. So too, at two and a half hours, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 has plenty of sumptuous effects. And as a devoted FX student, I will eventually see it. It's just that too many people have told me what a long slog the movie is. I know it's my duty to report how well this movie is opening, breaking the Spider-Man record, etc etc. But it depresses me. The more the studios get positive reinforcement from making pricey but less than well-executed movies like Da Vinci Code and X-Men 3, the more they'll keep feeling justified in doing more of same. Sigh."

And I have to say: WORD! Thompson loved Supes and Kong but justly recognized the difference with other Hollywood blockbusters. Just as I do. Those two films were just so underestimated, it makes me want to weep just to think about it.
Back to Kong, though. I was offered the Extended Edition (thanks to the five of you, really), and it was truely sublime. Made me cry buckets, just as it did in theaters. I haven't watched Peter Jackson's commentary yet-looking forward to it, but I did see the comprehensive bonus footage. The most interesting ones were the pre- and post-production features --a really fascinating and in-depth look at the making of the art design and visual effects. Simply inspiring and impressive.

Two things I'd like to point out, though.
*While I was watching it, I felt a silly small crush coming on two crew members- Jeremy Bennett, a conceptual designer (which I had already kind of liked in the Lord of the Rings bonus -he's sort of mild-mannered and fucking talented) and Jamie Beswarick, a creature designer and sculptor at Weta Workshop (although he's not credited for Kong in the IMDb -WTF?). I know it sounds SO dumb (not to mention girly and superficial), but I couldn't help noticing how they sort of ... stood out ... from ... others. Okay, I'm lame and weird.
*Bryan, (my Bryan, Bryan Singer) is featured in the Kong DVD. More precisely in the bloopers. And in a dodgy, memorable way. This is because, as you can see in the seventh Superman Returns' production diary, Bryan was invited on the Kong set for a little practical joke. Anyways, in the bloopers feature, the Kong videographer FOLLOWED BRYAN TO THE BATHROOM --ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FUCKING TOILET! I'm not kidding here! Bryan was understandably surprised and screamed at the top of his lungs to get the guy out... I mean, what the heck? The videographer guy must have a weird sense of humour, or an outrageously wrong sense of intimacy. I was shocked, because although I love Bryan more than I could ever describe, this was way more than I asked for. It was still kind of embarassingly hilarious. The fact that it made it to the actual bonus footage is also hilarious. Poor Byran. Cut him some slack, I think he suffered enough with his own videography guy (which I really liked although I can't remember his name right now).

The entire crew of Kong (most of which also worked on Rings and Narnia) is simply amazing. I can understand how it resulted in such a fantastic film --because they were all so dedicated to bringing Peter's vision to the screen. The only minus, tiny insignificant detail is that neither Andrew Lesnie nor James Newton Howard are mentioned in the bonus. But nevermind, there's already Pete Jackson, Richard Taylor, Dan Hennah, Grant Major, Christian Rivers --all these people I admire and look up to, sharing their experience and knowledge in the bonus features. Making a film is such an adventure, it's such a dream and an honor to be part of it. And it's more than I could ever dream of, this film. No wonder I adored it so much when I first saw it. I still do, very much so.

Well, that was quite a lengthy post. Sorry about that, I can't shut up once I've started!

Last thing, I've updated the fanlistings sections, and here are all the new ones. I've added the Kong FL (can't believe I haven't joined earlier) and the Prestige one as well. All others are all telly-related, because I've been watching so many amazing TV shows lately.

Films : King Kong, The Prestige
TV Shows : Six Feet Under, Rome, Prison Break
TV Actors : Michael C. Hall, Kevin McKidd, Wentworth Miller (*little hearts erupting everywhere*)
Characters : Characters of Rome, Michael Scofield
Relationships, TV : Lucius Vorenus & Titus Pullo, Michael Scofield & Sara Tancredi

That's it for now! Look out for the most anticipated films of 2007, a top 10 coming up in my next post.

"It was real, Sara -- you and me. It's real."

2006-12-31T15:11:00.000+01:00

*sobs*
I can't get over this scene, I just can't. I've been reading the TWoP Prison Break recaps for the past days, and when I arrived at this moment, I just... *tears*

Anyway, here's a wonderful Michael/Sara music vid set to Lou Barlow's "Legendary". It contains clips from the first and second season, so it might be a bit spoiler-ish. It's one of the best I've seen so far. I hate that it's all so difficult for the both of them, but it makes for great drama.

Happy Birthday Juliette!

2006-12-29T19:52:00.000+01:00

(Here's a pretty image of SFU you probably already have.)

Dearest Juliette,
the goddess of all things HBO,
one of the bestest girls I've met this year,
thanks for all the goodies you've made me discover (especially David Fisher),
and may you be blessed with happiness for this new year...
HAVE A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

(That was supposed to be a pretty Shakespearean sonnet -as Bill would have loved- but I was too tired to try and compose. So there you go!)

The prettiest man you'll ever see

2006-12-27T21:45:00.000+01:00

Like every girl watching Prison Break, I desperately fell for Wentworth Miller. Siiiigh.
The show itself is rather awesome --but really, you can't help noticing Michael is damn good-looking. He and Dr. Sara will have the prettiest babies on Earth.
I think I might have set a record with this show. I've watched about 23 episodes in the last 36 hours. And still counting.

Movie news and Christmas cheer

2006-12-23T00:23:00.000+01:00

"I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes...
Christmas is all around us, and so the feeling grows..."

Only a couple of days until Christmas, but I've been so busy lately, I barely noticed the Christmas spirit all around us. Thankfully, Billy Mack's (fake) song is here to remind me of it! Truth of the matter is, I'm having a gloriously great time since I'm on holidays. It's been all good so far -especially due to the short but nonetherless awesome visit of our favorite Swiss friend.

So what's new in the world of movies? Well, first things first, that amazing ad for Superman Returns. It very nearly killed me the first time I saw it. There's also an ad for Christopher Nolan I really like.

Aren't they absolutely beautiful? I love the design, and the fact that Warner Bros. actually believes Bryan is eligible for the Best Director race. I mean, heck I wish it was so, but unfortunately, with Clint and Marty and Paul Greengrass and Stephen Frears, and... Anyway, I reckon it's a really good ad. The Prestige ad is also very much recognizable -all the FYC ads look that way for this particular film.

Many trailers have also landed on the Web lately, and here are the most interesting ones. Click the titles to see the videos.

Grindhouse, co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. While Little!Bryan was looking up in the sky dreaming of Supes, Little!Rodriguez and Little!Tarantino were fantasizing about zombies, blood, naked ladies and violence without limits. And this is the result of their lifelong desire of bringing back old-fashioned B-movies to screen...
Miss Potter, directed by Chris Noonan. It looks cute, it sounds cute, it has those cute rabbits all over the place... Plus, Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger are both rather cute. In other words, one hell of a cute film.
Teaser trailer for Ocean's Thirteen, directed by Steven Soderbergh. The whole gang is back + Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin.
Live Free or Die Hard, directed by Len Wiseman. John McClane is back! Although we wished he wasn't directed by the genius who brought us Underworld and its sequel. Some people should just not make movies.
Speaking of which, the "Underworld producers" will soon bring us Blood and Chocolate, directed by Katya von Garnier. As if this was going to attract people. This looks like the crappiest film ever -based on an apparently successful book, the story follows "a teenage werewolf torn between honoring her family's secret and her love for a man". The only interesting thing here is that the afromentioned man is played by Hugh Dancy, who is of course the love of my life, and who looks almighty good in the film. Too bad he doesn't choose his parts wisely...

I've also seen quite a lot of movies, this week. First of all, there was Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho, which was really good and heartbreaking. River Phoenix's performance was outstanding -I wonder why he didn't get an Oscar nomination for it? Anyway, it was a really beautiful, intimate film. I also watched Sam Mendes' Road To Perdition yesterday, and again, absolutely adored it. I reckon it's very underestimated. The photography (by the late Conrad L. Hall, one of the best directors of photography of our times) was gorgeous, and so was Thomas Newman's music (of course). Today was the now-mandatory screening of Love Actually, the best Christmas film and romantic comedy ever. All the characters are just amazing. From Hugh Grant's Prime Minister down to the smaller parts (Thomas Sangster as an 11-year-old in love, Andrew Lincoln aching for his best friend's new wife, Martin Freeman playing a stand-in actor in porn films, falling in love with his 'acting' partner), it's all brillantly written and intertwined. I wish Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet had been part of the cast, because they were all so good -Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman, Laura Linney, Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley...

In theaters, I went to see Andrea Arnold's Red Road, which was excellent and very emotional. Full of tension and sadness -intense and gritty. I highly recommend it, although it is very heartwrenching and sort of difficult to watch. It reminded me of Isabel Coixet's the Secret Life of Words. The next day, I saw the most horrible, horrendous, sickening, [insert a synonym for 'shockingly bad' here] film, Eragon. It's a bit painful to think that such a bad movie can make it to theaters nowadays, so I won't linger on it too much, but I'm quite positive about the fact that this is by far the worst film I've seen this year. There you go. It was just appallingly ridiculous. I refuse to put up the poster for the film because it was just so awful. Yesterday, we went to see Hors de Prix, which is this nice French romantic comedy with Gad Elmaleh and Audrey Tautou. It was quite charming and cute, although, you know, it's been done before.

Well, that's it for now! Stay tuned, folks, and may you all have a jolly merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Coldplay...

2006-12-19T20:43:00.000+01:00

Watch the hilariously hilarious Christmas message from Coldplay posted at their the official site. That was just the most adorable thing I've ever seen. Love them to bits, those four...
Will really cracked me up. That dorky dance! And Jonny, what can I say? ...

Back on track!

2006-12-18T11:28:00.000+01:00

I guess I missed Blogger. Meh.
Well, that's pretty much it. Simple design will do for now. I'm way too lazy to work on a banner. I know it looks a bit empty, but I like it that way.
As I said earlier, I will now repost my top 15 of the 2006 year. Because that's verrrryyyy important to me.

The Best Movies of 2006

Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee
United 93, directed by Paul Greengrass
Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg
The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese/The Prestige, directed by Christopher Nolan
Pan's Labyrinth, directed by Guillermo Del Toro/Little Miss Sunshine, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Shooting Dogs, directed by Michael Caton-Jones
The Wind That Shakes The Barley, directed by Ken Loach
The Proposition, directed by John Hillcoat
Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood
Superman Returns, directed by Bryan Singer
The Secret Life of Words, directed by Isabel Coixet
Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuaron
The Queen, directed by Stephen Frears
Good Night and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney
Walk The Line, directed by James Mangold

+ (by alphabetical order) Babel, Capote, Cars, Casino Royale, C.R.A.Z.Y., Jarhead, An Inconvenient Truth, Marie-Antoinette, The New World, Pride and Prejudice, Romanzo Criminale, Tsotsi, The Science of Sleep, V For Vendetta, Volver. Those are the additional 15 worth mentioning, which were all on my list at some point or another, but ultimately did not make it. I really liked them all, though.
Onto the performances now...

Top 5 - Actors

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
David Strathairn, Good Night and Good Luck
Eric Bana, Munich

Top 5 - Actresses

Helen Mirren, The Queen
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Sarah Polley, The Secret Life of Words
Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
Reese Witherspoon, Walk The Line

Those were a bit easier to pick. Philip Seymour Hoffman was such an obvious choice, and so was Helen Mirren. The performances they both pulled off was just too unbelievable to be true. I struggled not to put all my favorites in there (Cillian Murphy and Joaquin Phoenix barely missed the top 5; Abigail Breslin, too). Last but not least, all the outstanding achievers this year, in my humble opinion.

Take a bow...
*Mexican cinematographers Rodrigo Prieto (Brokeback Mountain, Babel) and Emmanuel Lubezki (The New World, Children of Men).
*Composer Gustavo Santaolalla. Like Prieto, he worked on both Brokeback Mountain and Babel.
*First-time directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, as well as first-time screenwriter Michael Arndt, for Little Miss Sunshine. Hell of a way to start a career!
*Directors Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes The Barley) and Stephen Frears (The Queen), proving that British vets are still the best directors around.
*K.K. Barrett for production designing Marie-Antoinette.
*Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) and Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) for taking on iconic roles with intelligence and care, defying all their critics.
*Danny Huston, for popping out as a supporting role in the best films this year. He starred last year in The Constant Gardener, and this year in The Proposition, Marie-Antoinette and Children of Men. That's a lot of good films in a row.
*Sacha Baron Cohen, for being the ballsiest, bravest comic act of this year in Borat, an outrageous creation of Cohen himself.
*And finally, Paul Greengrass, for providing a thought-provoking, intensely emotional and much-needed film on 9/11 --without dramatization, political agenda or any patroniziong tone. He's the filmmaker of our times.

Farewell message, possibly

2006-10-06T20:21:00.000+02:00

Featured Coldplay song of the week is "Green Eyes". It's very obviously one of my favorite songs (yes, I have so many of them), since Chris said he wrote it "partly about this girl I met in America, and partly about our lovely guitarist, Jonny Buckland". But beyond that, of course, is the fact that the song is simply lovely, not overly melodramatic, and just downright perfect.

The big news in this post, or perharps not so big, is that I am currently moving to a new host. Yep. It's a sad announcement to Blogger who will lose one of its hundred of thousands of customers. What a tragedy... Long story short, that means there probably won't be any updates here for quite a while, not until I've finished the new blog anyway, which will approximately be by the end of the year. Nay, I'm just kidding -I'm going back to a very simple form of blogging, it should be ready in a few weeks. You'll see by then (do admire the suspense I am trying to create here).

Nevertheless, there are a few things I wanted to talk about. First of all, there's this trailer for the 300 which leaves me quite confused. Empire (the movie magazine, for those who are clueless) seems rather excited about it --in fact, they really are, but I'm still undecided. Surely a film which claims to be inspired by a Frank Miller graphic novel can only be great, but the fact remains that the trailer looks kind of... The movie sort of is... You can decide for youself by watching it here.
Second thing I wanted to mention is the Last Kiss, which will be released on October 25th in France. Now, this is directed by Tony Goldwyn (director of some Grey's Anatomy episodes apparently), was written by Paul Haggis (Crash director and Million Dollar Baby screenwriter) and has a dreamcast made up of Zach Braff, Rachel Bilson, Jacinda Barrett, Casey Affleck (*hearts*), Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson. Still, there's been a lot of cynical comments about it, such as this hilarious but mean postblog.
Well, yes, it does sound very similar to Garden State, but there's nothing wrong about that, is there? Zach Braff may be doing the same thing all over again, but as long he's good at doing it, then why not? And yup, the Last Kiss soundtrack features a lot of similar artists than the Garden State one, but Coldplay is one of them, so I really don't see what's wrong with it! Heh. Seriously, Zach Braff's music choices are amazing. There's been a recent recorded session of performances to promote the film's soundtrack, and all the videos can be seen here. Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek", as well as Rachael Yamagata's "the Reason Why", are really worth checking out. I know these songs from a certain, shameful TV show (*cough* The O.C. *cough*). But I've discovered Sufjan Stevens through The O.C. too, so I'm not embarassed at all.
There was also this funny article posted on the IMDb a while ago that I wanted to discuss. It was a poll given to the industry's specialists about Hollywood, and the posted results are very funny indeed. I can't believe Russell Crowe! That's quite upsetting, being the huge Gladiator fan that I am. And Jim Carrey?! Can you believe it? I certainly can't. Same goes for Doug Liman (cited here as one of the "most dysfunctional director").
On the other hand, hee hee for Ratner winning "Biggest Hack", and yay for all the promising directors (Christopher Nolan, Noah Baumbach and Bennett Miller). And no wonder at Scott Rudin and Joel Silver being the "most punishing" producers. Meh for Bruckheimer for "most effective", since I hate all of his ideas, especially the sequel to Pirates of the Carribean. And I would certainly fear David Geffen and Harvey Weinstein too, if I were in the industry ! By the way, Ron Meyer as the biggest mensch doesn't surprise me at all. I've always been fond of Universal, and the way they treat and support their movies (unlike 20th Century Fox, or to a lesser degree, Warner Brothers). For a huge Hollywood studio, that is. And it's tough being elected Hollywood's Most Hated, but that's what you get for being a psycho egomaniac. And Weinstein, although he's been quiet lately, definitely is.
Oh, and while we're at it, the first "For Your Consideration" ad was on the cover of Variety last week. The featured film is, unsurprisingly Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu's Babel, one of the strongest contenders with Stephen Frears' The Queen, Todd Field's Little Children and Martin Scorsese's The Departed, which all opened to rave reviews last week. The critics were a hundred per cent positive (or so) on the three movies... Anyways, picture credit is to Oscarwatch, and it's just as they say : "and so it begins..."

I'll probably see you on the new blog then, with more movie news (mainly ramblings about the Oscar season/race) ! I'll put up the adress as soon as it's finished.

Fanlistings, and the usual rambling

2006-09-29T21:30:00.000+02:00

Coldplay featured song of the week is "Amsterdam", the excellent ending track to A Rush of Blood to the Head. Chris once introduced the song by saying :

"This is about a city which is really wet. In this city, you can get stoned off your balls!! If you don't have balls, you can get stoned off something else. [Turning to the piano to start, then turning back to the audience] and if you only have one ball...yes, you can get stoned off that one itsy bitsy little ball!! This is called Amsterdam."

Dearest Chris. He will always crack me up, no matter what.
Although I've been very busy trying to study seriously, I've also watched the entire first season of Veronica Mars over the course of the week. I just couldn't help it! I got totally and unconditionally hooked up on this wonderful show. The episodes just kept better and better, until "Weapons of Class Destruction", which was it, really. I watched the season finale today, and I was screaming, gasping, jumping all over the place. That psycho! That ending! God. I didn't see it coming at all, as usual. I can't wait to start season two (Pauline, are you reading me? Eh?).
And obviously, the show also has the best couple in the history of ever, Logan and Veronica, with the two actors having the most incredible chemistry. Or second best couple in the history of ever, because Syd and Vaughn will always be the bestest. Heh.
Anyway, I've joined about five or six Veronica Mars-related fanlistings; Jason Dohring, Kristen Bell, Logan Echolls, Veronica Mars (character), Veronica Mars & Logan Echolls, Veronica Mars (TV show). Do not worry though, Coldplay and Bryan are ever-present in my thoughts as they were.
I've just learnt today that David Strathairn -which I absolutely adore since he was so amazing in Good Night and Good Luck, will play in the Bourne Ultimatum, which will be the third one of the Bourne series, still directed by Paul Greengrass, and still starring Matt Damon as Jason. Heck I couldn't believe my expectations could be any higher --and here comes this fantastic casting announcement! I do hope Joan Allen will come back though, as I understand David Strathairn's character is a bit similar to hers in the Bourne Supermacy. But I entirely trust Paul Greengrass, Tony Gilory (the awesome screenwriter who also worked on the two first films) and Universal on this one. I'm just so devoted to these films, it just can't not work. I've been sort of really disappointed lately --mainly thinking of X-Men 3 when saying this, but I'm pretty sure the Bourne movies will not go in that direction. Not as long as Paul Greengrass is directing them anyway, and not unlike some irresponsible, partygoing director who totally ruined a previously well-established saga. I'm not naming any names. But you recognized Brett Ratner, didn't you?
I'm still furious over his handling of the last X-Men, I really am. Though it rarely happens, I do get mad over bad films, so I'm trying to ignore them, and avoid the subject at all costs. So there. I'll stop right now before I get really upset on the topic. And don't even get me started on Pirates of the Carribean: Dead's Man Crap, or I'll just entirely lose it.
In the big news of the week, the Labour Party conference in Manchester is a very funny event to track (and so was Gordon Brown's face during ol' Tony Blair's farewell speech), and Evanna Lynch is very pretty as Luna Lovegood. Heh. Judging on pictures is lame, but I reckon she really looks perfect for the part.

All the new high-resolutions pics from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix can be found here. Am I actually excited? Nope, because I still stand by the books, which are the only legitimate versions of the HP universe to me--however, I have to admit this is all a bit fun!

Oh, alright, fine, Order of the Phoenix is obviously one of next year's most anticipated films, right up there with the Bourne Ultimatum, Indiana Jones 4 and Spider-Man 3. Even though those three are directed by three amazing artists (respectively : Paul Greegrass, Steven Spielberg and Sam Raimi) while Order of the Phoenix has an utter unknown guy at the head of the whole project. Oh well, at least, he's British. Which is supposed to be, y'know, reassuring.

Back at school!

2006-09-23T13:27:00.000+02:00

Featured Coldplay song of the week is "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face". This song is very particular because a) it's obviously one of the key songs for all the Syd/Vaughn shippers out there, b) it has the best bassline Guy ever pulled out, even better than the "White Shadows" and "Low" ones, which are pretty outstanding already.
This is my first week back at university, which sort of explains why I'm updating on a Saturday rather than on a Friday, and it has been rather hectic. The workload is already starting to weight, which is unexpected but quite welcomed, since I hadn't been studying properly for about a year now. My Literature classes are amazing -I'm thinking of creating a fanlisting for my teacher, heehee- and we're currently studying Hamlet, which is truely one of the most fascinating plays I've ever read. All my classes this year are way better than they used to be, so it's all good.
The euphoria from Tuesday's awesomely good news, the birth of Guy's little daughter, has pretty much lasted the entire week. I dunno why, I just love the idea of Guy being a dad! It's just too lovely.
New trailers have surfaced this week, all of which looks like potential heavy Oscar contenders. Yup, the race is about to begin, and as usual, the line-up is fantastic.
One of the most disturbing and creative trailers in recent memory, Little Children is a drama about adultery and appearances, directed by Todd Field and starring Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly and the very handsome Patrick Wilson. It can be seen here and features one the best use of a sound effect I've ever seen! This is definitely one of the movies I'll be the most looking forward to this season.
Another Jennifer Connelly picture, Blood Diamond (also starring Leonardo DiCaprio), is generating quite a lot of heat. Is it this year's The Constant Gardener ? Probably not, but you can still check out the awesome trailer at the following link.

The Good Shepherd tells the story of the birth of the CIA during the Cold War years, and is directed by Robert DeNiro. The cast is more than impressive, all of which are either Academy-Award winners or nominees (Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Joe Pesci, Alec Baldwin, William Hurt, and DeNiro himself). Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean the film is going to be good, but since Eric Roth is the screenwriter (himself Academy-Award winner for Forrest Gump and recently nominated for Munich), then I'll trust the movie will be pretty grand. The trailer is exclusively at Moviefone, and features Thomas Newman's score from Jarhead (gasp!) as well as a bit of John Powell's theme from the Bourne Identity. Heh.
You can't expect me to mention the Oscar race without talking about Flags of our Fathers, as this is the main Best Picture bet. The quite emotional, sober-looking trailer can be found here. True, members of the cast are all too young to be recognized, but Clint Eastwood and Paul Haggis are both Academy favorites -and deservingly so. And did I mention that Steven Spielberg was the producer of the film, too ? However, there isn't any trailer yet for Letters from Iwo Jima, the Japanese counterpart of the movie.
Finally, the talented Steven Shainberg directs Nicole Kidman in Fur, an Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus, about the life of the afromentioned photographer. The trailer is quite intriguing and can be viewed here.
Others Oscar contenders include (click to view trailer) : Dreamgirls, directed by Bill Condon starring Jamie Foxx; A Good Year, directed by Ridley Scott starring Russell Crowe; Stranger than Fiction, directed by my very beloved Marc Foster starring Will Ferrell (one of my favorite Oscar hopefuls, I have to admit); and let's not forget the early Cannes favorites, Volver and Babel. Venice film fest favorite The Queen, directed by Stephen Frears and starring Helen Mirren, about Queen Elizabeth's handling of Princess Diana's death, also has a very positive Oscar buzz, though a bit early. Indie favorite Running with Scissors, directed by relative newcomer Ryan Murphy, has a stellar cast and could upset the big names. The Good German, directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett, is the only anticipated film which doesn't have a trailer yet. I do wonder if it'll be released in time for this year's awards season. Another film facing release problems is United 93, because it came out so early on this year. I hope it'll find its way into one or two categories, because it was just too brillant and heart-stopping to be forgotten.

Wow, God, sorry about the long post about the Oscars. I get pretty passionate about it, because it's so exciting to have such great movies all at the same time!

Guy is a proud dad!

2006-09-19T20:45:00.000+02:00

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Guy Berryman and wife Jo, who just welcomed their baby daughter Nico into the world on Sunday ! The announcement was made today through the band's official site.

"In the latest addition to the Coldplay baby boom, bassist Guy Berryman and his designer wife Jo welcomed a daughter on Sunday, September 17th. Baby Nico weighed in at 7lbs. This is the first child for the pair, but she joins other Coldplay babies Ava Champion, born to drummer Will in May, and Moses Martin,
born to pianist/singer Chris (and Gwyneth!) in April."

Awww, God, I am so happy for them ! It's such a blessed and delightful event, and all my thoughts go to the happy parents ! Awwwwww... this is just so adorable. Guy's gonna be a fantastic dad, just like his bandmates.

Coincidentally, or not, it was also Bryan's birthday that day, as you can see in my previous post... But anyway, once again, congratulations to the proud parents ! This really brightened my day, I'm just so happy for them ! Baby Berryman is going to be the cutest girl ever... Aww, Goddamn it, I'm really happy for the two of them.

Bryan's birthday

2006-09-17T23:35:00.000+02:00

Just a few lines to wish a very happy birthday to Mr. Bryan Singer, the best director and man I ever knew. Except for the fact that I don't know him. But whatever. Heehee. Still, he's 41 today (my mum's age -scary), so many happy wishes for him! I'll just quote him for the occasion.

“Suddenly you wake up one day and you’re 40 years old and you’re like, ‘Whoa! What have I done?’” he says. “Well, on one side of my life, I’ve done quite a lot. On the other side, I’ve done nothing. On the personal side, I’ve really not evolved at all. I bought a house, and it had no furniture in it for four years, until someone finally said, ‘Hey, let me help you find some furniture for your house.’ Because I was happy to live like a college student, like I did in my dorm. It sounds a bit sweet and charming, but it’s actually a product of not acknowledging the passage of time. When you’re a filmmaker, you judge the passage of time in films, not in years — and sometimes films take more than a year. So I don’t realize it, but a good piece of time has passed since film school.”

A good piece of time has passed indeed, and five wonderful movies came along with it. So I guess if I had to say something to you, Bryan, it would be that I'm really glad you're not in film school anymore and that you've grown into this brillant, inspiring director I tremendously admire. Even if you are, as Total Film once said, a "40-going-on-12" director. Well now, it shall be 41-going-on-13 ! Happy, happy birthday !

Last week of holidays

2006-09-15T22:38:00.000+02:00

Featured Coldplay song of the week is "Square One", the brillant opening track to X&Y. Will's drumbeat is just amazing on this one.
I've also added a link to the Amnesty International "Irrepressible.Info" campaign. This is of tremendous importance to me -and it should be to everyone, especially in the media-orientated, Internet world we live in. You can find out more about it by clicking on the image, or following this link.
I've been watching loads of performances by the band lately, trying to catch up with everything I've missed. Hackney, Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight festivals, Times Square in NY, Sydney Opera House -I've watched everything I could find. One of my favorite concert, though, was definitely the Austin City Limits show. The band is pictured there playing "'Til Kingdom Come" -I'm thinking this image will be my next layout, it's so pretty! Anyway, they did an amazing cover of Joseph Arthur's "In the Sun" with Micheal Stipe from R.E.M., it was really great. The concert in Sydney was pretty funny, too, even though it's about three years old. It had a little Q&A and Chris, as usual, cracked me up. So did Will with his 'Vegemite' answer, because I love it too! Jonny was really shy and adorable. Guy was wearing white, which surprised me a lot, and looked absolutely gorgeous... And of course, Chris was very keen on embarassing Jonny as much as possible, saying that the somewhat discreet public "should not be intimidated by the presence of such a beautiful guitarist". Way to go, Chris, way to go!

Aside from Coldplay, I have a life. You wouldn't think so reading my blog, but I do. Alice left for Britain today, and we had a kind of farewell/birthday dinner for her. We had an amazing time, and I couldn't feel grateful enough, except that it ended too soon -and now she's gone. We're gonna miss you so badly, Lilice! You're one of the greatest gals I've ever met. May the Force be with you (you should do pretty good if you have your survival premium pack with you) !

Elsewhere, I've seen Little Miss Sunshine Y for the second time today, and loved it even more. Definitely on my top 5 of this year's best movies so far. Oh, and I also wanted to say that the trailer for Eragon, based on Christopher Paolini's Inheritance trilogy, is now online, and it looks a bit shitty. Which is a shame since I really enjoyed the books. Whoever did the casting clearly wanted to upset the fans. The video can be seen at Moviefone.

I can't wait for the Fountain, the Prestige, the Departed (that's a lot of "the") and Children of Men to be released... And also for the thirteenth of October to arrive. Although I'm also seriously dreading that day, the final book of the Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events saga should put an end to all the mysteries and answer all of our questions. Or not. The Beatrice Letters was bad enough to read, but the End will definitely be worse. Goddamnit, how come I love these books so much, then? They're filled with misery and sadness. I've never seen characters being mistreated this way. Gah.

Oh, and I'm going back to class on Tuesday. Not that it matters, really...

Minor updates and things

2006-09-08T14:06:00.000+02:00

Little update, as you can see -you can now listen to "Politik", the featured Coldplay song of the moment. I'll try and change songs as much as I can, but it will of course remain a Coldplay song, as it is all I can listen to, for the next few months anyways. Enormous thanks to the fabulous system by radio.blog.club (I've added them to the credits in the misc page).
I've also added some links in my profile section, eg. the very recent YouTube channel I've created, or my Launch music station. Although I doubt this is interesting to any of you, really!

Not much going on this week except the boring paperwork for my university year (cannot believe I'm still in this crumby place), and my parents' departure for Thailand. They're coming back in three weeks, so I'm all by myself at home for quite some time, with nothing else to do than playing Coldplay as loud as I can. Not that I'm complaining, obviously ! I've also listened to their press conference in Hong Kong earlier this summer, and they really cracked me up, especially when they were asked about the incident during the final of the World Cup :

Chris: I heard the Italian guy said to Zidane "You like Coldplay, don't you" and then all hell broke loose.
Will: He's more of a Keane man.

*rofl*
Also, the new trailer for the upcoming James Bond movie, Casino Royale, has been released and it's, er, okay *eyerolls*. You can see it here.

In other "interesting" news, Suri Holmes-Cruise does exist. Pics of the infamous photoshoot are up at the Vanity Fair site, right here. I reckon that baby is really, very cute.

Little Miss Sunshine

2006-09-06T20:40:00.000+02:00

This year's best movie. I mean, not really, since Brokeback Mountain and Shooting Dogs were so good, but definitely one of them. Little Miss Sunshine is a heartfelt, touching comedy about a dysfunctional family traveling on the road -in order to get the youngest daughter, Olive, to enter a beauty pageant in California. Each of the Hoover family member is as real as it gets, and their adventures on the road, their interactions and relationships will make you laugh and then cry harder, or vice-versa.

I have to say, Steve Carell is a real scene-stealer as the suicidal uncle, Frank, (I've added his fanlisting, right here) but all the performances are just outstanding. Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear are downright excellent; Paul Dano, despite his few lines, is impressive, and little Abigail Breslin is a real ray of sunshine indeed. Alan Arkin is a worthy supporting role, too -and the six of them have an exceptional 'family' chemistry.

I just had to post about this wonderful film, and I do hope everyone will see it, because I just couldn't praise it enough.

Also went to the premiere of Thank You for Smoking yesterday, and saw Aaron Eckhart up-close (even asked for his autograph) ! He was really lovely and polite, I just love him.

Fanlistings, posters and rambling

2006-09-01T19:18:00.000+02:00

I've added a bunch of fanlistings : four actors (Hugh Dancy, Brandon Routh, Paul Rudd and Gaspard Ulliel), one movie (The Shawshank Redemption), one character (Andy Dufresne) and about twenty Coldplay-related. This is actually true, since I've added all their albums FL (Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head, X&Y) as well as their songs FL : Brothers and Sisters, Clocks, Fix You, God Put a Smile Upon Your Face, The Hardest Part, In My Place, A Message, The Scientist, Shiver, Speed of Sound, Square One, Swallowed in the Sea, Talk, Til Kingdom Come, Trouble, Warning Sign, What If, White Shadows and Yellow. I wish there was a fanlisting for Green Eyes, Amsterdam, Gravity... and all their songs, really. Hee. Yep, they're that good.

Also wanted to post here the gorgeous posters released this week for movies I highly anticipate (click the title to see the trailer) : Children of Men (starring Clive Owen and Julianne Moore), the Prestige (starring Hugh Jackman and Chrisitan Bale) and the Departed (starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon).

This week is also the 4th Grand Slam of the year, the US Open ! I'm glad all my favorites, especially Andy Murray, made it past the first round. I really want him to make it to the quarterfinals -his best performance so far in GS was Wimbledon when he reached the 4th round. And I reckon he's got a fair draw, and he's been playing so well all summer on American hardcourts. The same can be said of Richard, of course. Both of them had great results at the Tennis Masters Series events preceeding the actual US Open (semifinals for Andy, final for Richard). So it's all good, even though in the end, I'd really like Andre Agassi to win the tournament because this is his last appearance in GS. Or, y'know, Roger would be okay, too. Or Rafael, really. Problem with me and tennis is that I love all the players (except a few), so I don't really want anyone to win, or to lose, for that matter... But of course, the aim of the game is to win, so whoever can make it to the end is great.

However, for the ladies, Amelie Mauresmo and Lindsay Davenport are the only two I'll always root for, no matter who they have to beat in order to get to the final.

Elsewhere, I had lunch with my friends from high school today, and it felt weird seeing them after a year or so. We chatted as if we were still in class together or something ! I kind of miss the ol' times with them -but then again I don't, because it was all so difficult and challenging. For me, anyway. It feels like such a long time ago, whereas it's not really.

The truth is, I don't remember so good the times where I wasn't thinking of Coldplay 99% of the time. God. I really need to stop being an obsessive fan of theirs. Although I do admit I spend lots of time thinking of Bryan, too. How creepy can you get...

Coldplay description

2006-08-28T18:37:00.000+02:00

I've stumbled upon those hilarious descriptions of all four Coldplay members, and it was just too funny not to be posted here. They are in fact the four different results you get if you do the "Which Coldplay member are you?" quiz. I've added some comments along the way.

Guy Berryman - "He of the thumping basslines" (hee hee hee)

Aloof, dangerously sexy (indeed), somewhat robotic (oh, come on!). Questionable hair (*laughing her arse off* He did get a haircut recently, though).

You sure do play a mean bass. Chris reckons you're damn sexy, but we wish you'd smile a little more. This robot is in dire need of an upgrade (this is really mean, I don't know why anyone would think Guy is a robot, especially the way he swings his hips when playing live, hee hee). If growing your hair into an afro is something of a statement, well then point taken (*still laughing out loud* NOT that having loads of hair has the same meaning than having huge hands/feet). Viva Six Appeal!

Jonny Buckland - "Guitar MASTAH" (*dies laughing*)
Quiet, likeable, perma-stoned (this is NOT true). Chris' soulmate (this, on the other hand, is...)
Guitarist Extraordinaire. Soft-spoken, unassuming, on the recieving end of Chris' mancrush (heh). Not that we blame you. You rock. The hair is a bit out of control and a shave would be nice, but your teeth ARE blindingly white (*ptdr*). Bravo. Lay off the ganja a bit, Jon (once again, this is *not* true, God!). The glassy-eyed look doesn't suit you.

Will Champion - "Thunder Sticks"

Friendly, articulate, likes his drink (definitely not the only one in the band). Official Band Babysitter (haha, to Chris and Guy, more like!).

Bad-ass Drummer and Unofficial Band Spokesperson. You're often charged with keeping Chris in check. The mature one. Has a habit of looking psychotic in pictures (this is so not true, and mean). You enjoy telling people no, especially the guys in your band (*mdr*). Multi-talented and lovely (of course!). Everyone loves Will.

Chris Martin - "The Elongated Frontman"
Pious, semi-viriginal, extremely charitable. Accused of being a bed-wetter (that's mean!).
Slightly neurotic and obsessed with your band. You write some darn purty songs and have extremely large hands (*ooh the innuendo here*). The ultimate mummy's boy. You very well could be the next Bono. Make Trade Fair, indeed.

One thing I'll add is, WORD. Except on the Jonny-smoking-weed thing. Guy's the one doing it! (I'm an awful person, aren't I ?!)