5 Days Until OSCAR...
Another Sunday night in Creston -- another disappointing evening at the movies.
There's one "bucket" where i think The Bucket List belongs, i tell ya. First things first, the film opens with narration from Morgan Freeman -- right there, that's a cliché on top of a cliché, isn't it? But it's not just that. Freeman, in character as one of the two old guys in the movie, is talking about the death of the other old guy, played by Jack Nicholson. So, the audience is led to believe that not only does Freeman's character live to tell the tale, as they say, but also that Nicholson's character dies first. Before Freeman's character dies.
Wrong. And wrong again.
Sorry to spoil the end of the movie for you, but Morgan Freeman's character dies first. But not to worry, Jack Nicholson's character dies too. And to make all of that perfectly clear, Morgan Freeman comes back to narrate the final minutes of the film -- post-mortem.
But it's not just the narration that i have issue with, even though it feels as though someone at some point must have said, "Hey Meathead, we can't have a dead character narrate the film -- at least not without some artsy irony." And then Rob Reiner said something like, "Hey, uhh, how would ya like to try this here chair? 'Cuz that one's mine!" The film feels like a collage of scenes pulled together like letters in a ransom note. Some are from the New York Times; some are from the Weekly World News. Well, okay, there's probably not one from the New York Times, but a good handful from the Toronto Star.
Back to the standings, loyal readers.
From this year's list of 44 nominated films, i've now seen 29:
Across The Universe
American Gangster
The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
Away From Her
The Bourne Ultimatum
Charlie Wilson's War
Eastern Promises
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
The Golden Compass
Gone Baby Gone
Juno
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
No End In Sight
Norbit
Once
Persepolis
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
Ratatouille
The Savages
Sicko
Surf's Up
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood
3:10 To Yuma
Transformers
La Vie En Rose (La Môme)
1 film on DVD, right here in my living room ready to go:
In The Valley Of Elah
1 film showing in Kelowna tonight:
Into The Wild
Nothing playing in Vancouver on Thursday afternoon that i still need to see!
That leaves me stumped for 13 films:
August Rush (Original Song)
Beaufort (Foreign)
The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher) (Foreign)
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon) (Cinematography, Directing for Julian Schnabel, Film Editing, and Adapted Screenplay)
Enchanted (3 nominations for Original Song)
I'm Not There (Supporting Actress for Cate Blanchett)
Katyn (Foreign)
Lars And The Real Girl (Original Screenplay)
Mongol (Foreign)
Operation Homecoming: Writing The Wartime Experience (Documentary)
Taxi To The Dark Side (Documentary)
12 (Foreign)
War / Dance (Documentary)
Once i've seen In The Valley Of Elah and Into The Wild, i will have seen all the films nominated in 13 of 21 categories (excluding Shorts):
Leading & Supporting Actor & Actress categories, Animated Feature, Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup, Original Score, Best Picture, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.
Still, 3 of the Big 8 categories have eluded me -- i won't be able to as completely invest myself emotionally in the awarding of statuettes for Directing, Adapted Screenplay, or Original Screenplay. This disturbs me.
There's one "bucket" where i think The Bucket List belongs, i tell ya. First things first, the film opens with narration from Morgan Freeman -- right there, that's a cliché on top of a cliché, isn't it? But it's not just that. Freeman, in character as one of the two old guys in the movie, is talking about the death of the other old guy, played by Jack Nicholson. So, the audience is led to believe that not only does Freeman's character live to tell the tale, as they say, but also that Nicholson's character dies first. Before Freeman's character dies.
Wrong. And wrong again.
Sorry to spoil the end of the movie for you, but Morgan Freeman's character dies first. But not to worry, Jack Nicholson's character dies too. And to make all of that perfectly clear, Morgan Freeman comes back to narrate the final minutes of the film -- post-mortem.
But it's not just the narration that i have issue with, even though it feels as though someone at some point must have said, "Hey Meathead, we can't have a dead character narrate the film -- at least not without some artsy irony." And then Rob Reiner said something like, "Hey, uhh, how would ya like to try this here chair? 'Cuz that one's mine!" The film feels like a collage of scenes pulled together like letters in a ransom note. Some are from the New York Times; some are from the Weekly World News. Well, okay, there's probably not one from the New York Times, but a good handful from the Toronto Star.
Back to the standings, loyal readers.
From this year's list of 44 nominated films, i've now seen 29:
Across The Universe
American Gangster
The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
Away From Her
The Bourne Ultimatum
Charlie Wilson's War
Eastern Promises
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
The Golden Compass
Gone Baby Gone
Juno
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
No End In Sight
Norbit
Once
Persepolis
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
Ratatouille
The Savages
Sicko
Surf's Up
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood
3:10 To Yuma
Transformers
La Vie En Rose (La Môme)
1 film on DVD, right here in my living room ready to go:
In The Valley Of Elah
1 film showing in Kelowna tonight:
Into The Wild
Nothing playing in Vancouver on Thursday afternoon that i still need to see!
That leaves me stumped for 13 films:
August Rush (Original Song)
Beaufort (Foreign)
The Counterfeiters (Die Fälscher) (Foreign)
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon) (Cinematography, Directing for Julian Schnabel, Film Editing, and Adapted Screenplay)
Enchanted (3 nominations for Original Song)
I'm Not There (Supporting Actress for Cate Blanchett)
Katyn (Foreign)
Lars And The Real Girl (Original Screenplay)
Mongol (Foreign)
Operation Homecoming: Writing The Wartime Experience (Documentary)
Taxi To The Dark Side (Documentary)
12 (Foreign)
War / Dance (Documentary)
Once i've seen In The Valley Of Elah and Into The Wild, i will have seen all the films nominated in 13 of 21 categories (excluding Shorts):
Leading & Supporting Actor & Actress categories, Animated Feature, Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup, Original Score, Best Picture, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.
Still, 3 of the Big 8 categories have eluded me -- i won't be able to as completely invest myself emotionally in the awarding of statuettes for Directing, Adapted Screenplay, or Original Screenplay. This disturbs me.