oscar predictions

made my predictions for the office’s oscar pool. here are my choices:

leading actor – daniel day-lewis (there will be blood) [shoe in]
supporting actor – javier bardem (no country for old men)
leading actress – julie christie (away from her)
supporting actress – cate blanchett (i’m not there)
animated feature – ratatouille [with persepolis also nominated, this might have been my hardest choice to make]
art direction – atonement
cinematography – there will be blood [it'll be a crime if this doesn't get this]
costume design – sweeney todd
directing – cohen brothers [no country for old men]
feature documentary – taxi to the dark side
short documentary – la corona
film editing – no country for old men
foreign language film – katyn
make up – pirates of the caribbean
original score – atonement
original song – “falling slowly” (once)
best picture – there will be blood
best animated short film – i met the walrus
best live action short film – le mozart des pickpockets
sound editing – no country for old men
sound mixing – no country for old men
visual effects – pirates of the caribbean
adapted screenplay – atonement
original screenplay – michael clayton

taxi to the dark side

the national archives are showing all the oscar nominations for best documentary leading up to sunday night’s acadamy awards. tonight’s showing – taxi to the dark side. director alex gibney, the man who brought you enron: the smartest men in the room, takes the audience on a harrowing look at the military policies towards prisoner incarceration and torture from afghanistan and iraq to guantanamo.

stunning, enlightening, and often sickening… this is a must see. it’s also my pick to win best documentary on sunday night.

cloverfield

well, i finally saw it. and in all honestly, i really really liked it. nothing deep, but a really fun hour and twenty minutes of cinematic monster mayhem.

also, props to HYPEFUL for compiling the trendy playlist from rob’s party pre-monster fiasco.

there will be blood

saw there will be blood this afternoon. as only paul thomas anderson can do, the movie leaves you exiting the theater scratching your head. the more i think about it though, the more brilliant i realize the film was.

daniel day lewis is flawless in his portrayal of the oil magnate henry plainview.

johnny greenwood’s score is phenomenal.

and the cinematography was absolutely incredible. pta at his finest.

atonement

atonement is a simply stunning movie.

persepolis

last night i saw the dc premiere of persepolis as part of the reel progress series from the center for american progress.

the animated film from marjane satrapi’s graphic novels was an insightful look at past 30 years of iranian history through the eyes of a troubled yet increadbly humorous girl. this film offers a education just as compelling as its story. a must see.

i’m not there

i saw i’m not there tonight and all i can say is wow… amazing stuff all around.

six actors, six personas, one bob dylan. this is one of the few must see movies of the year.

dear mr. watterson

as an avid and longtime fan of calvin and hobbes, this makes me very excited

grace is gone

i just got back from the dc premier of grace is gone, a film written and directed by james c strouse. the film stars john cusack, a father reeling from the news of his wife’s death in iraq who takes his two daughters on a cross country voyage to escape the grief while simultaneously keeping the news from his children. cusack’s great as always, taking on a pensive and understated role quite well. the true brilliance of the film comes in the performance of the two daughters, particularly the tremendous job shélan o’keefe did in her debut

despite the context for the film’s plot, the story avoids politics to focus on the personal struggle cusack in the wake of such a tragedy. this character-driven film is perhaps a bit light on the plot, but it serves justice to the families that have lost loved ones in our current military operations in the middle east.<!–

the film won two awards at the sundance film festival (best screenplay, audience award) and i highly recommend seeing this film. there won’t be many dry eyes leaving the theater.

sigur ros acoustic set / “heima” premier @ Gould Hall

i’ll keep this shorter than my previous entry, i promise.

so after a day of manhattan sightseeing and epic performances from arcade soundsystem, i treated myself to a nice little nightcap: a brief acoustic set from sigur ros and the midnight showing of their to-be-released documentary “heima”. the acoustic set, while brief, was impressive all the same. sandwiched between “agaetis byrjun”, a favorite i had never heard live before, and untitled 4, the icelandic quartet premiered “heima”, a lovely ballad which shares its name with the documentary.

the documentary was wildly moving, crafting a story of homecoming and self identification in the stunning visuals of iceland and the ever-dramatic music sigur ros performs.

sigur ros – heima

via the music slut