IBC

Once again Cubalicious will focus its attention on the world of cinema. The Oscar Nominations are out, and of course, we have some issues with the list. So, we're going to compare and contrast the actual nominees with the people and films that SHOULD have been nominated, at least according to me. It's important to remember that film, like most things, is a matter of opinion, and included in this list will be films and performances that might not be the "Oscar" type. I encourage anyone who enjoys films as much as me to post their lists here as well, because God knows the Academy almost never gets it right.

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR (ACTUAL LIST)
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR (SHOULD BE LIST)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Charlie Wilson's War
Juno
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

No film was more overrated this year than Atonement. Heavy, whiney, and even sloppily executed at times, it was a good movie with a great reputation. It's the David Eckstein of these movies. Michael Clayton was solid, but really shouldn't find itself anywhere near the Oscar race. But, because everyone loves George Clooney, me included, he's there and its hard to complain about it.

The two changes from their list to ours were The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Charlie Wilson's War. Jesse James was slow and moody and definitely not for everyone, so it's exclusion from the actual list is no surprise. However, leaving Charlie Wilson's War out in the cold is downright inexcusable. With wit and charm, the film tackled a very important issue, America's actions in the Middle East, and did so brilliantly. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, again and as always, steals the movie with his portrayal of one of three CIA Agents assigned to the Afghan desk. Tom Hanks goes outside of his usual Tom Hanks territory and delivers a stellar performance as Charlie Wilson, the man many say si responsible for defeating the Russians. Julia Roberts is blah, as always, but a more appealing blah than usual. The Academy should be ashamed of itself for leaving this one off the list.

WHAT WILL WIN: There Will Be Blood
WHAT SHOULD WIN: Charlie Wilson's War

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (Actual)

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

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (SHOULD BE)
Brad Pitt for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Daniel Day Lewis for There Will Be Blood
Tom Hanks for Charlie Wilson's War
Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real Girl

So, in the end, only two actors from the Academy's list remain on ours. There's no arguing with the performances Depp and Lewis gave, though both of their roles make you think of roles they've played before. Depp's smirk and english accent often remind viewers of Captain Jack, a role he was nominated for years ago, and Daniel Day Lewis's hardcore performance in There Will Be Blood bring back images of Bill the Butcher from Gangs of New York.

Pitt is added to the mix for his portrayal of Jesse James. He spends two hours playing every emotion known to man, but he does it all on his face. In fact, the entire movie takes place on the faces of the men involved. Everything is beneath the surface and from an actor's standpoint its a marvel to watch. Lars and The Real Girl hasn't been seen by many people, which is a shame, because its a fantastic little movie featuring a brilliant performance by Gosling, as always. And of course, lastly, we add Tom Hanks, who we've already talked about, for turning in the most charming performance of the year as Charlie Wilson.

WHO WILL WIN: Daniel Day Lewis, There Will Be Blood
WHO SHOULD WIN: Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson's War

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE (Actual)
Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie for Away from Her (2006)
Marion Cotillard for MÙme, La (2007)
Laura Linney for The Savages (2007)
Ellen Page for Juno (2007)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE (SHOULD BE)
Ellen Page for Juno
Amy Adams for Enchanted
Nicky Blonsky for Hairspray
Angelina Jolie for A Mighty Heart
Kiera Knightley for Atonement

In defense of Marion Cotillard, I didn't see MÙme, La. So, I cannot judge her, nor can I include her on my list. Blanchett was more of the same in Elizabeth, it was nothing we haven't seen before, though it was good. The girls from the musicals, Amy Adams and Nicky Blonsky, were both surprises when you first watched them on the screen and in the end, when looking at the final list, turned out to be very deserving of nominations. The exclusion of Angelina must be part of the Brangelina backlas that's going on, since both her and Brad were left out of their respective categories. But none of it matters, because no one was better this year than Juno herself, Ellen Page. Oh, and for the love of God, will someone please explain to the Academy that Laura Linney sucks.

WHO WILL WIN: Julie Christie for Away From Her
WHO SHOULD WIN: Ellen Page for Juno

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING (Actual)
Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood (2007)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007)
Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton (2007)
Jason Reitman for Juno (2007)
Julian Schnabel for Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007)

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING (SHOULD BE)
Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood (2007)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007)
Paul Greengrass for The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Jason Reitman for Juno (2007)
Julian Schnabel for Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007)

The Academy pretty much nailed this one. The only exception is how they continue to show no love to the Bourne Ultimatum, which, among film geeks, was arguably the best movie of the year. Greengrass has reinvented the action drama with the "Bourne Cam" and though its hard to handle for some, it draws others right into the action. Schnabel did an amazing job with The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but I don't think enough people saw it for him to win it.

WHO WILL WIN: Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood
WHO SHOULD WIN: The Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (Actual)
Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (SHOULD BE)
Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War
David Strathairn for The Bourne Ultimatum
John Travolta for Hairspray

Again, the Academy's list isn't bad in this category, though everything about Into The Wild was forgettable and this fascination with Michael Clayton, though a good movie, is undeserving. Travolta was likeable in a role thats never likeable, usually because its played by Harvey Fierstein or worse, someone trying to act like Harvey Fierstein. The three actors left over from the Academy's list without a doubt gave the three strongest supporting performances of the year, so no complaints there.

WHO WILL WIN: Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War
WHO SHOULD WIN: Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War


There are other categories, but I'm tired of writing, so maybe later...




[/u]

M. Clayton was the best movie I saw last year

When I read the title of this post, I thought it was for a new International player signing.

Who's Oscar Noms?

Too much baseball on the brain for me right now.

Best Picture:
I saw all the nominated movies, Charlie Wilson's War, and The Assassination, and couldn't agree less.

The best movie I saw this year was "Juno," as embarassingly non-hetero as that sounds. Also, it's an absolute travesty that Atonement is nominated and neither The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Savage's isn't.

Best Actor:
It's Daniel Day Lewis. I'm sorry, to say it's Tom Hanks over DDL is just absurd. I thought that Forest Whitaker was the best performance I'd seen in years, but DDL made him look like he was AUDITIONING to be in American Pie 37: The Naked Whatever.

Best Actress:
Laura Linney was fantastic in The Savages, but it's got to be Ellen Page.

Best Supporting Actor:
As great as PSH was, and as overrated as I thought NCFOM was, Javier Bardem was un-fucking-believable. He redefined "badass" to a level that makes Rambo look like a pussy.

Best Supporting Actress:
I thought the chicks from "Michael Clayton," "American Gangster" and "Atonement" were just ok, and I haven't seen the other two movies, BUT I think Jennifer Garner got hosed here. I want to make sure to state that I loathe her in real life, but she was absolutely incredible in "Juno."

Best Director: Dude from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Wait a minute, that Jesse James movie has already been out? It wasn't released here and you know me Gabe, if its a Western, I see it. I mean, I saw American Outlaws and that sucked. What I hate about the Oscars, is that 9 times out of 10, they pick a bunch of artsy movies that 10 people have seen as opposed to good, solid movies. I agree with you about Charlie Wilson's War, in fact, as soon as I got out of the theatre from that, I called you and left you a voicemail and told you to see it ASAP. I haven't seen No Country For Old Men yet, but it should be at the dollar movie within the next 2 weeks and I will see it then because I love Tommy Lee Jones.

I can't really think of anything I saw aside from Charlie Wilson's War that was left off. I mostly see comedies or war movies. We Own the Night was maybe the worst movie I've ever seen, if that counts for anything. And I never have anything bad to say about Robert Duvall movies

I just forgot and I don't know how

How is 3:10 to Yuma not nominated for Best Picture. Russell Crowe is awesome in it, one of those cases where the whole movie you're rooting for him to get away from Christian Bale, even though you're supposed to be hoping Bale gets him turned in. Bale was good too, but Crowe just blew him outta the water the whole film.

My snap judgments (Preface: I did not much take to The Assassination... It was very well acted, but the editing sucked bull balls).

Best Picture:
There Will Be Blood blew me away...it's hard to argue with its merits, though I would love to see Juno win.

Best Lead Actor:
I'm with Z here with Daniel Day-Lewis. Everyone else is fighting for scraps.

Best Lead Actress
If there were justice in the world, it'd be Ellen Page's.

Best Supporting Actor:
I'm totally down with Philip Seymour Hoffman here. Hell, he could have won an Oscar for any of his 2007 films.

Best Supporting Actress:
Let's go with Cate Blanchett here as Bob Dylan. That takes a bit of talent. Though Ruby Dee would make me happy.

Best Director:
Toss up between PT Anderson and the Coen Brothers. Whoever wins wil, be quite deserving

For Best Picture, agree about 3:10 to Yuma, shoulda been nominated. There will be blood was solid, but a much better "performance" than movie. Juno I think was the most over-rated movie of the year. I thought the performances were great, but the writing was unbearable. It was over-snappy, unrealistic, and the characters talked like they were in an episode of gilmore girls. My nod goes to No country, great pic, amazing cinematography, and a standout downright freaky performance by bardem.

Best actor is a walk for daniel Day-lewis, although I still will contend Bill the butcher is his greatest performance to date. Also if you haven't caught viggo mortinson's performance in eastern promises its as great a job as you will ever see that won't win an oscar.

Supporting actor has to go to Javier bardem, anything else would be a travesty.

Ill refrain from either of the actress categories because I haven't seen a lot of the movies for those, but for director I think Coen brothers should win in a close one, but PT Anderson will probably win instead because the academy eats up all his shit.

[quote="Rangers"]For Best Picture, agree about 3:10 to Yuma, shoulda been nominated.

Best actor is a walk for daniel Day-lewis, although I still will contend Bill the butcher is his greatest performance to date. Also if you haven't caught viggo mortinson's performance in eastern promises its as great a job as you will ever see that won't win an oscar./quote]

A nomination for a remake that's not as good as it's original? I think I'll pass

Although I'm with you on Viggo's performance--any other year and I'd be outraged if someone else grabbed it.

As great as Daniel Day-Lewis was, I honestly don't think There Will Be Blood was anything close to No Country for Old Men. It plodded along, was overly artistic, and I found it hard to relate to. Daniel Day-Lewis should absolutely get the Oscar, but the movie shouldn't get the win.

Haven't seen the original 3:10 Andrew. Its something I've been meaning to check out sometime. I'm trying to watch Once Upon A Time in the West right now, but through the first hour I'm not liking it too much

Also if you haven't caught viggo mortinson's performance in eastern promises its as great a job as you will ever see that won't win an oscar.

I'm hoping you were using hyperbole, because the fact that Peter O'Toole didn't win an Oscar for Lawrence of Arabia (arguably the best performance of all-time in arguably the greatest movie of all-time), losing to a guy (Gregory Peck) in a movie that was a terrible version of an amazing book (To Kill A Mockingbird), would be like the NBA assigning the title of "Greatest Player of the 80's and 90's" to Jeff Hornacek over Michael Jordan.

Gary Cooper over Orson Welles in 1941, Roberto Benigni over Edward Norton and Tom Hanks in 1998, Adrien Brody over Daniel Day Lewis in 2002, Nick Cage over Sean Penn in 1995, and the fact that Bill Murray wasn't even nominated for an award in 1994 for Groundhog Day are other disasters that come to mind...

Daniel Day Lewis was good in There Will Be Blood, but in the end, his performance kind of blended in with the rest of the movie, which seemed to scream "THIS IS AN OSCAR MOVIE! CAN'T YOU TELL?"

That won't stop him from winning, and to most it will be deservedly so, but there were several other performances this year that I enjoyed more. O'Toole not winning is the stuff of legend, but I don't know how anyone could of disliked Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird.

My issue with Jennifer Garner was that she seemed overshadowed in every single scene. Part of it is because she played the only unlikeable character in the movie, but then part of it is her as well. She couldn't stand up next to any of the people she shared scenes with.

Ruby Dee has been on my shitlist ever since The Stand. The piece of shit wasn't her fault, it was King's arrogance, but no one but Gary Sinice escaped from that POS without getting on my bad side.

How can you not like To Kill A Mockingbird? I had to show watch that probably 10 times in the past year subbing, and I never got tired of watching it. Fantastic movie. And Robert Duvall blows me away as Boo Radley, even though he doesn't speak. If I catch it on cable, I wait around just for his scene.

Speaking of people getting hosed for Oscars, the fact that Stephen Lang wasn't nominated in 2003 for Gods and Generals still pisses me off. I believed he was Stonewall Jackson, that's how good he was. Probably because the Academy didn't like how religous it was, or that it actually told the story of the war from both sides instead of just the Northern view of the war like always

It's one of my favorite books of all-time, and I just didn't think the movie competently captured the gravity of it. Had I seen the movie first, I probably would have had a different opinion - BUT, I read the book first, and was disappointed that they even made a movie, so I was pessimistic going in. The movie certainly didn't sway me.

I caught Gods and Generals on the movie channels and actually thought it was quite good - unfortunately it seemed much more ensemble then just Lang. That was a tough year - I thought, out of the top Actor nominees, Brody's performance was actually the WORST of the 5 - Adaptation was awesome, Michael Caine was amazing in The Quiet American (see this movie if you haven't, it's awesome), DDL in Gangs of New York, and Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt (which I would have hated if Jack didn't just throw that movie on his back). Also, as overrated as Chicago was - especially for the female leads - Richard Gere was outstanding.

Even if you considered Lang a supporting actor, that category was stocked - Cooper in Adaptation was unreal, Ed Harris in The Hours held that movie together, Paul Newman was just incredible in Road to Perdition, John C. Reilly was fantastic in Chicago, and Christopher Walken was amazing in one of the more underrated movies of the 2000's. I mean, just look at the names of those actors alone.

Lang was great, but was definitely fighting an uphill battle in '03.

I was saying that you can't do a much better job than mortenson and not win an oscar, not that he had the best performance of anyone who hadnt won one

Jesus, I totally airballed on this movie - "Into the Wild." Without question one of the 3 best movies I saw this year...

It was an incredibly affecting movie, and Emile Hirsch and Sean Penn deserve a lot more credit then they are getting...

Finally saw Eastern Promises, and holy shit as far as Viggo Mortensen goes. The movie was just OK (it leaves you wanting more but not in a good way), but Viggo was incredible. I hope he wins.

I just got back from No Country For Old Men. I loved the movie, Bardem was awesome. But I hated the ending. I get that you're supposed to infer what happens from Tommy Lee Jones' dream, but still, give me a real ending!

Totally agree with you on that Aaron, my exact thoughts coming out of the movie.

I saw No Country for Old Men with my brother's obnoxious art school friends (he's an acting student at NYU), and they all loved the ending, I guess when you think about it what else was left for them to tell? Chigur had the money, Moss was dead, Tommy Lee Jones was retired, what was missing? In that context I can live with the ending, though I agree it was unsatisfying, plus suddenly fading to black just make me think Sopranos ripoff. The only thing I didn't like about the movie was Woody Harrelson, what the hell was his character even doing? Didn't get developed enough for me to care or be impressed by how easily Chigur got him, so what was he doing there?

Wake me up for the Sundance Awards or the Spirit awards...and not the overhyped, over produced Hollywood rubbish.

That being said, I'll catch Juno on Netflix...looks like one of the few movies both the wife and I can enjoy in the spirit of Garden State.

Juno was surprisingly a very good movie. I thought it would be just a chick flick but it was much better than that. I dont think youll be disappointed.

Not sure how many of you actually watched...but of those who did, how many of you recognized the Field of Dreams theme as the background music when they played the history of Best Director? I'd be willing to bet at least one other person did...though that depends on how many actually watched.

I turned it off after Best Actor and went to bed. I thought Tommy Lee Jones was nominated for No Country and that's why I stayed up