Too Soon?

Micahel Jackson lived his last 10 years in relative obscurity. No one really talked about him outside of the annual child pornography accusation. No big deal. Then he goes and dies (pretty much tells his doctor to kill him) and now he is every where.

I guarantee you that his costume is going to be the number one Halloween costume for pieces of s**t this year. Anyone who can't think of anything original to be will just go out and be Michael Jackson. A quick Google search came up with many sites just dedicated to Michael Jackson costumes, here and here for example.

That's annoying but at least it will only last one day. Then there is that "movie," This is It that is in theaters now. I was trying to avoid it in hopes it would just disappear, but then I have been hearing multiple stories such as this one. An Oscar? Really? If that godbortion of a movie is even nominated for BEst Picture I will throw up right in my spot. The movie never would have come out if he didn't die. It's just 2 hours of footage preparing for his European Tour that never occurred. How is that even a movie, let alone in the conversation for best picture? God help us. You mean to tell me it is on par with movies like GOdfather, Shawshank Redemption, The Departed, Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Casablance, Elephant Man, and other classics.

We are doomed.

Pre Game Analysis

I figured I'd take a step back from all my anger for a moment and reflect on the Oscar's that are on tonight before they pick the winners, and I am sure I will get angry again.

Picture of the Year:
Should win: No Country for Old Men
Will Win: There Will Be Blood
I thought two movies were snubbed and should have been nominated before Michael Clayton, which wasn't that great. I though Gone Baby Gone was much better and even Lars and the Real Girl should have gotten consideration.

Male Lead:
Should Win: Daniel Day Lewis
Will Win: Johnny Depp
Oh god, Johnny Depp sings for a whole movie, give him the award. He is a good actor, but this is not his best performance, and he is young. Daniel Day Lewis is chilling in There Will Be Blood.

Female Lead:
Don't care

Best Supporting Actor:
Should Win: Javier Barden
Will Win: Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Actually, all these nominees are outstanding their roles, and steal their respective movies.

Best Supporting Actress
Should Win: Amy Ryan
Will Win: Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett plays a dude, Bob Dylan, anytime a female plays a male they win, see Hilary Swank.

Best Directing
Should Win Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men
Will Win: Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood
Everyone is going crazy because Anderson worked on his movie for like 3 years, and it is well done, but Coen brothers have made a dozen movies that they should have won for but never have. That is a crime. The guy who did Juno is the son of the guy who did Ghostbusters, so maybe he should win.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Should and Will: No Country for Old Men. I have heard it is exactly word for word from the book, but since I can not read I will never know.

Best Original Screenplay:
Should and Will: Juno. There has never been a movie written about something like this. Making teenage pregnancy hilarious and cool, brilliant. It is actually very well written. Funny when it needs to be and serious when it needs to be.

Give them the Award

Despite my last blog saying that all the terrible movies come out this time of the year, Lions Gate has decided to put out one of their Academy Award hopefuls for next year. Take a peek here:




Who in their right mind authorized this movie and put money into it? Why hasn't someone shot Larry the Cable Guy yet? Who is going to go see this? Why would you call yourself Larry the Cable Guy? These are just some of the many questions that come to mind when I first saw this trailer for Witless Protection on TV today. This might be the worst pile of crap ever made into a movie, and that is including Waterworld, The Postman, and every movie Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan have been in. The sad thing is there are a lot of people who thought Larry the Cable Guy Health Inspector was hilarious. There are some people who got that movie for a wedding gift. The dumbing of America is complete.

Give the man the award

I went and saw Talk to Me the other night, thought it was a fantastic movie. Was one of those rare movies that had something to say and through saying that it made you cry and laugh. It was actually quite funny when it needed to be, and was funny at all the right times. The movie is the true story of Petery Greene, a 1960s-1970s Washington D.C. DJ that revolutionized radio DJs and helped the capital cope with the death of Martin Luther King Jr and kept the country from rioting. Behind all that the movie was ultimately about the friendship between him and his manager and the ups and downs of that relationship.

The real reason for this post is Don Cheadle. Once again Don Cheadle was unbelievable in this movie. He kept up this very deep voice and managed to be loud and vulgar throughout the whole movie and you felt like you were in the 1960s. Don Cheadle may be the best actor of our generation. One day he can play a British thief in Ocean's Eleven, a convict in Out of Sight, an African hotel owner in Hotel Rwanda, a DA in Crash, a narcotic's investigator in Traffic, and be in the best Superbowl commercials. Every movie he makes is important to see. They all have something important to say and have an entertaining way of saying it.

He has been nominated for Hotel Rwanda but did not win, somehow he lost to Jamie Foxx in Ray. I mean Jamie Foxx, come on. He has a rap album out there, and it sucks. Here's hoping Don Cheadle is nominated for Talk to Me and actually wins. I know he won't be, the Academy will probably nominate the Rat from Ratatouille.

Fall of the Academy Awards

THE DEATH OF THE ACADEMY AWARDS

While sitting around late one night with a friend we had this idea that movie nominations have fallen in value recently, but not necessarily the overall quality of all movies. Good movies are out there its just that people are dumber and don't want to acknowledge them they would rather say that Seabiscuit or Chicago is a great movie. Please. Here is a list of academy award nominated movies since 1980, with the winner in bold. My comments follow.

1980: "ORDINARY PEOPLE", "Coal Miner's Daughter", "The Elephant Man",
"Raging Bull", "Tess"
1981: "CHARIOTS OF FIRE", "Atlantic City", "On Golden Pond", "Raiders of
the Lost Ark", "Reds"
1982: "GANDHI", "E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial", "Missing", "Tootsie", "The
Verdict"
1983: "TERMS OF ENDEARMENT", "The Big Chill", "The Dresser", "The Right
Stuff", "Tender Mercies"
1984: AMADEUS", "The Killing Fields", "A Passage to India", "Places in the
Heart", "A Soldier's Story"
1985: OUT OF AFRICA", "The Color Purple", "Kiss of the Spider Woman",
"Prizzi's Honor", "Witness"
1986: "PLATOON", "Children of a Lesser God", "Hannah and Her Sisters", "The
Mission", "A Room with a View"
1987: "THE LAST EMPEROR", "Broadcast News", "Fatal Attraction", "Hope and
Glory", "Moonstruck"
1988: RAIN MAN", "The Accidental Tourist", "Dangerous Liaisons",
"Mississippi Burning", "Working Girl"
1989: DRIVING MISS DAISY", "Born on the Fourth of July", "Dead Poets
Society", "Field of Dreams", "My Left Foot"

The 1980s are filled with usually of five films being of quality, no fluffy
picks any year. Winners like Oridinary People, Gandhi, Rain Man,
Amadeau,really have omething to say and hit you hard. None of the nominees
are really "talking animal movies" or family "Escape" movies.

1990: "DANCES WITH WOLVES", "Awakenings", "Ghost", "The Godfather, Part
III", "GoodFellas"
1991: "THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS", "Beauty and the Beast", "Bugsy", "JFK",
"The Prince of Tides"
1992: "UNFORGIVEN", "The Crying Game", "A Few Good Men", "Howards End",
"Scent of a Woman"
1993: "SCHINDLER'S LIST", "The Fugitive", "In the Name of the Father", "The
Piano", "The Remains of the Day"
1994: "FORREST GUMP", "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Pulp Fiction", "Quiz
Show", "The Shawshank Redemption"
1995: "BRAVEHEART", "Apollo 13", "Babe", "Il Postino", "Sense and
Sensibility"
1996: "THE ENGLISH PATIENT", "Fargo", "Jerry Maguire", "Secrets and Lies",
"Shine"
1997: "TITANIC", "L.A. Confidential", "As Good As It Gets", "Good Will
Hunting", "The Full Monty"
1998: SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, "Elizabeth", "Life is Beautiful" (Best Foreign
Language Film winner), "Saving Private Ryan", "The Thin Red Line"
1999: "AMERICAN BEAUTY", "The Cider House Rules", "The Green Mile", "The
Insider", "The Sixth Sense"

You can see a steady decline in this era of movies being nominated, but
still usually the best movie wins. But come on The Full Monty, Jerry
Maguire, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Babe are not best picture
nominees; they’re fluffy crap. Even Sixth Sense and As Good as it Gets,
come on are not great films, maybe good but not great. Would argue
Shakespeare in Love wasn’t best picture that year, the academy just wanted
it to win because it was easy and every housewife in America loved it;
Saving Private Ryan and Life is Beautiful were better but dealt with heavy
subjects of the cons of war. Movies that should have won: Shawshank
Redemption, Saving Private Ryan, Good Will Hunting, Fargo, SLing Blade (in 1996 wasn't even nominated) Goodfellas, and
maybe even Green Mile over American Beauty (I do like American Beauty but
something about Green Mile is really good).

2000: "GLADIATOR," "Chocolat," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Erin
Brockovich," "Traffic"
2001: A BEAUTIFUL MIND," "Gosford Park," "In the Bedroom," "The Lord of the
Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "Moulin Rouge"
2002: "CHICAGO," "Gangs of New York," "The Hours," "The Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers," "The Pianist"
2003: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING," "Lost In
Translation," "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," "Mystic
River," "Seabiscuit"
2004: "MILLION DOLLAR BABY," "The Aviator," "Finding Neverland," "Ray,"
"Sideways"
2005: "CRASH," "Brokeback Mountain," "Capote," "Good Night, and Good
Luck," "Munich"
2006: "Babel," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss
Sunshine," "The Queen"

Now the majority of these films have no right being best picture nominee
category. It may be because writing sucks and no better films came out but
I own movies from these years that are better but were not nominated.
Gladiator ( I liked it the first time when it was Braveheart), Chicago,
Million Dollar Baby, and Crash are not the best films that year. I think
they probably all deserved to be nominated that year but shouldn’t have won.
Erin Brockovich, Moulan Rouge, The Hours, Seabiscuit (come on), Master and
Commander, Finding Neverland have no right being on the list at all, those
are terrible movies. In 2003 21 Grams wasn't even nominated, its a hell of a lot better than Toby Maguire riding a horse. But then again it makes you think and who wants to think when watching a good movie. I’m sorry but the third Lord of the Rings was not the
best they gave it best picture because they forgot to give it to it the year
before when the second one was released, and that is the best one. Movies
that should have won: Traffic, Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, Lost in
Translation, Capote, Babel. 2004 was a bad year for movies but Kill Bill,
Garden State, and Closer were all better than those nominated. And why was
Ray nominated but not Walk the Line, same topic but walk the line is better.
Ray was the “feel-good” nomination. Everyone in America (except me)
wanted it nominated.