As for the show itself, I thought Hugh Jackman did a good job as host, the musical numbers were great. Only thing that was partially bothersome was his little spiel on how "the musical was back!" But then that dance he did with Beyonce (who looked incredible) was nice. I don't think I'd want him back as a host though, I prefer comedy over dance numbers, perhaps Conan O'brien can do it next year since he'll be in LA from now on.
The one part that really bothered me was the past winners coming out and slathering on the praise to all the acting nominees. I really don't care to hear Whoopi Goldberg or Robert DeNiro tell Sean Penn he's a really neat guy, and it all took so long. Once they were finally introduced it took damn near 10 minutes to finally give out the award, what happened to just showing a film clip of each nominee, I don't think they've done that for several years. Gives you a better idea of the performances the actors took part in.
I'd say the 3 best things of the night was the Tina Fey/Steve Martin bit, the Japanese guy who knew about 16 words of English and ends his speech saying, "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto" now that's play to your constituencies. And then when Will Smith flubbed his line and drops, "Boom goes the dynamite!" leaving an entire internet community in hysterics.
And finally the worst part of the night were some of the awards that were taken home. Martin McDonagh deserved Best Original Screenplay over Milk, Wall-E deserved some type of award for achievement in sound but of course the Academy couldn't go away from Slumdog for more then 3 minutes. And the best actor/actresses awards went to those not deserving. Kate Winslet was about the only thing I liked in the movie 'The Reader' it just flat out sucked, I'm almost surprised her boobs didn't get 3rd billing in the movie since they were on screen so much. We get it Kate you like to show off your body because it's what a real woman looks like, newsflash Kate, most people go to movies to see a bit of eye candy not something they can see walking up and down the street 500 times a day. Anne Hathaway was much better in Rachel Getting Married.
Excuse me I just remembered the absolute worst part of the night, during the in memoriam montage, they forgot George Carlin. How embarrassing.
And the biggest snub of them all was Sean Penn getting best actor. He was a distant 3rd in my opinion with Mickey Rourke and Frank Langella of Frost/Nixon neck and neck (with Rourke coming out on top.) What I hated the most was I have to hear Sean Penn being a douchebag 1 more time and he never fails to live up to his billing. I could give a crap to what you have to say about gay marriage, just get up there thank people and get off when the music starts. Hell I even agree with what he's saying about gays being able to get married but why does he feel obligated to speak as if he's some activist where people actually respect his opinion. Not to mention look at the possible badass speech we could have seen if Mickey would have won, here's a taste of what we missed out on
Now onto my 2008 review of film:
This will go down as the year of the Dark Knight and deservedly so. It had ungodly expectations not just as a comic book film but as a possible cinematic masterpiece and not only did it surpass it, but it did so with flying colors and with one of the most haunting and revered villains to ever grace the big screen. People will also remember Robert Downey Jr. from this year scoring big with Iron Man and playing a black guy in Tropic Thunder, had his upcoming movie 'The Soloist' with Jamie Foxx not been pushed back and was released when it was scheduled to, 2008 could have been called the year of the Downey. People will also remember this when Mickey Rourke made it back big with his role Randy 'the Ram' Robinson in the Wrestler.
I think 2007 was more top heavy with films like No Country for Old Men, There will be Blood and Gone Baby Gone but 2008 put out more quality top to bottom when comparing the best films of the year, but not many of them just blew you away. And as far as the Academy goes I think the Wrestler, Dark Knight and even Wall-E got the shaft.
Now onto my most hated films of the year:
Worst film of the year:
Normally I would never see such filth and I have an excuse as to why I was subjected to this giant piece of crap. The semester just ended up here at Oklahoma State and my parents were changing the carpet in our house and putting down tiles in there house. Apparently it took longer then it was supposed to when they were laying down cement. So when I got home I wasn't allowed to go into the house until the cement dried. So to kill a couple hours I went to the movies and since my brother couldn't get in a rated R movie we saw this instead of Role Models. It may have been the worst spent 8 dollars of last year. I'm ashamed that Jon Hamm (aka Don Draper in Mad Men) was associated with this. So everyone if you haven't been warned yet, stay away from this movie.Movie with a great premise but terrible execution:
Hancock - This actually could have been a really really good movie, the 1st half was okay but the 1st and 2nd half of the movie were like 2 guys wrote 1 half of the script and then combined it without even thinking about it. And then when you see it on the big screen you think to yourself, "What the hell is going on???" A chance to have an original concept for a superhero and then BOOM out of nowhere we find out he and Charlize Theron were lovers (or was it siblings?) and things take a horrific turn.
Movie that makes me wonder why the hell it got award consideration:
The Reader - I hate hate hated this movie. Plus the entire time I was watching this movie this scene from the fantastic TV show Extras starring Ricky Gervais was in the back of my mind. Enjoy.
Other giant disappointments or movies I wish I hadn't wasted my time on:
What happens in Vegas - there is really no excuse to why I watched this. I watched this with my roomate and we pretty much mocked it the entire time.
Vantage Point - this movie is partly the reason why I hate action films. I'm able to suspend my belief, but not to the extent of some or most people, watching the final scene where Dennis Quaid is chasing the bad guy in his car made me want to throw something at the screen.
Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay - This movie lacked the charm and whatever made the first one so great. They attacked race in the first film but it was funny, here aside from a few instances it just wasn't funny and then they almost tried to sound smart when attacking republicans but it just came up short. They were under pressure by a bunch of fan boys to make this movie but it was a disappointment as a whole.
Austrailia - I actually loved the 1st half of the movie but then it turned into a love story and was beyond repair. The stampede scene where they're near a cliff in the outback was thrilling stuff though.
Quantum of Solace - This was really disappointing especially considering how fantastic Casino Royale was. I felt dizzy through half the film too with all the shaky camera going on, particularly the opening car chase scene which all seemed like a blur as they were whizzing back and forth for the opening 10 minutes.
21 - A great premise from the book and then Hollywood gets a hold of it and does what they do best, add a love interest, violence where nobody can see and commotion between the main stars of the movie.
Films I liked but aren't making the top 10
Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Kevin Smith gets another comedy hit with this movie, only real beef was the rushed ending. Really ruined a good movie, it's almost like Smith forgot to write an ending and came up with it 15 minutes before he shot it.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - I liked it better when it was called Forrest Gump
Pineapple Express - Comedically I was disappointed by this, it was ok but the action scenes were fantastic, or a lot better then anybody could have expected. As a whole I kind of think comedies were a bit weak (I still need to see Role Models though)
Vicky Christina Barcelona - I was expecting this to be more of a comedy than it was. Barcelona looks gorgeous in this flick though and the confidence Javier Bardem has when he approaches Scarlett Johannsen and Rebecca Hall is something I will forever envy.
Burn After Reading - "I have a drinking problem? F*ck you, Peck, you're a Mormon. Compared to you we ALL have a drinking problem!" It's a shame when the funniest part of the whole movie comes five minutes in, but in all fairness it was one of the funniest lines of the entire year.
Waltz with Bashir - rarely do I see a film without seeing the trailer, this was one of the few cases where I watched purely on hearing positive things about it. So I was playing catch up not really knowing what it was about most of the movie and because of that, I believe the impact didn't hit me nearly as much as it should have, because I'm sure most people have been just absolutely blown away by the ending. I'd recommend this.
Milk - "My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you!"
This was a good movie with some good performances by the likes of Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch among others but I didn't think there was anything particularly special about it other then to show how dumb it was to hate on gays and how they almost lost there entire lives due to there sexual preference. Perhaps it will grow on me as the years pass since I'm sure it will age fine, perhaps even an iconic film for gay rights.
Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk - this was far and away the best years ever for comic books and I liked both of these films a great deal. In my opinion the action in the Incredible Hulk was better than Iron Man but the presence of Robert Downey and how he commands every scene he's in forces me to put Iron Man over the Incredible Hulk.
Step Brothers and Semi Pro - a couple of funny scenes and/or lines of dialogue surrounded by bits of mediocrity, which seems to be the common theme of Will Ferrell movies since Anchorman. Though the scene in Semi Pro where Tim Meadows calls Will Arnett a jive turkey was one of the more memorable of last year. Have a look for yourself, it's just so absurd it makes you laugh.
Leatherheads - I see this as a love hate film, I liked it alot after going in with low expectations. But George Clooney and Renee Zelwegger have great chemistry in this screwball comedy set in the 1920's.
Top 12 movies of the year...
Tied for 12/11/10 The Visitor/Doubt/JCVD
It was to hard for me to omit one of these pictures so I decided to just include all of them, there are all parts of each of these movies I really enjoy. For those who haven't heard of JCVD yes that is short for Jean Claude Van Damme, he stars in a movie playing himself where he's held hostage as a group of robbers try to make it seem as if he was the main culprit behind the robbery. Van Damme delivers a great performance and the subtitles really don't get distracting aside from one scene where VD delivers his heart felt monologue, this is the 1st of 2 Belgium films to appear on this list.
Doubt delivers great performance in the ensemble cast in this play turned movie. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is casted almost as a sympathetic figure despite being accused of molesting a child and all 3 women nominated for Oscars were deserving. Throughout the 1st half of the Visitor I just really dug the vibe of it as Richard Jenkins learns to play the djembe (skin covered hand drum) from his new found friend Tarek (played by Haaz Sleiman) You become attached to the characters as an outsider and feel sorry for Tarek and his wife Zainab as Tarek gets taken away by authorities for being an illegal immigrant.
9. Slumdog Millionaire
I awoke one Saturday December (or November) morning slightly hung over but wide awake enough to not go back to sleep. So I figured I'd kill some time by going to see a movie and after hearing good things about this movie I'd give it a go. It was good, real good but I'm not so sure it's deserving of all its praise it's gotten during award season. Just thinking back on it I just can't really get past just how implausible the entire movie and how all the pieces fall into place magically, and yet everyone's eaten it up. I don't think it deserved best picture or best director, but then again I don't think the most deserving people were even nominated. So out of it's competetion I guess it deserved it.
8. Gran Torino - "Get off my lawn!"
I loved Clint Eastwood's snarl and demeanor this entire film. Going into this I expected a typical Clint Eastood movie along with him trying to fit every type of racial slur he could think of. And I wasn't wrong, but I didn't hate it either despite how odd it is seeing a near 80 year old Eastwood playing a badass for the umpteenth time. The acting outside of Clint was nothing to write home about and at times laughable but it didn't take away from how much I enjoyed this.
7. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Judd Apatow's company once again proved why he's on top of the comedy world in what was my favorite comedy of the year by far. Starring Jason Segel, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand has a great mix of subtle and in your face humor that has still proved hilarious after several viewings. Mila Kunis just looked absolutely stunning in this, I mean in That 70's show she looked good, but she was smokin in this movie. And perhaps my favorite song of the year was Dracula's Lament
6. Rachel Getting Married
This movie or Milk probably produced the best ensemble cast of the year and Anne Hathaway deserved the Best Actress award for her portrayal as Kym the recovering drug addict who's coming home for her sister's weeding. Had Kate Winslet not been nominated about 31 times prior to this years Oscars I'd have given Hathaway a fair shot at winning this thing. As someone who's only been on the outside looking in at weddings there always seems to be plenty of turmoil surrounding the wedding and this portrayed it perfectly. And although there was a lot of conflict throughout the film and was overall very depressing family was able to overcome all the problems. And although the pre-wedding party went on a little to long along with the reception I still thought it was very well done. MY 4-5-6 films are all fairly interchangeable.
5. Wall-E
Burn After Reading - "I have a drinking problem? F*ck you, Peck, you're a Mormon. Compared to you we ALL have a drinking problem!" It's a shame when the funniest part of the whole movie comes five minutes in, but in all fairness it was one of the funniest lines of the entire year.
Waltz with Bashir - rarely do I see a film without seeing the trailer, this was one of the few cases where I watched purely on hearing positive things about it. So I was playing catch up not really knowing what it was about most of the movie and because of that, I believe the impact didn't hit me nearly as much as it should have, because I'm sure most people have been just absolutely blown away by the ending. I'd recommend this.
Milk - "My name is Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you!"
This was a good movie with some good performances by the likes of Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch among others but I didn't think there was anything particularly special about it other then to show how dumb it was to hate on gays and how they almost lost there entire lives due to there sexual preference. Perhaps it will grow on me as the years pass since I'm sure it will age fine, perhaps even an iconic film for gay rights.
Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk - this was far and away the best years ever for comic books and I liked both of these films a great deal. In my opinion the action in the Incredible Hulk was better than Iron Man but the presence of Robert Downey and how he commands every scene he's in forces me to put Iron Man over the Incredible Hulk.
Step Brothers and Semi Pro - a couple of funny scenes and/or lines of dialogue surrounded by bits of mediocrity, which seems to be the common theme of Will Ferrell movies since Anchorman. Though the scene in Semi Pro where Tim Meadows calls Will Arnett a jive turkey was one of the more memorable of last year. Have a look for yourself, it's just so absurd it makes you laugh.
Leatherheads - I see this as a love hate film, I liked it alot after going in with low expectations. But George Clooney and Renee Zelwegger have great chemistry in this screwball comedy set in the 1920's.
Top 12 movies of the year...
Tied for 12/11/10 The Visitor/Doubt/JCVD
It was to hard for me to omit one of these pictures so I decided to just include all of them, there are all parts of each of these movies I really enjoy. For those who haven't heard of JCVD yes that is short for Jean Claude Van Damme, he stars in a movie playing himself where he's held hostage as a group of robbers try to make it seem as if he was the main culprit behind the robbery. Van Damme delivers a great performance and the subtitles really don't get distracting aside from one scene where VD delivers his heart felt monologue, this is the 1st of 2 Belgium films to appear on this list.
Doubt delivers great performance in the ensemble cast in this play turned movie. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is casted almost as a sympathetic figure despite being accused of molesting a child and all 3 women nominated for Oscars were deserving. Throughout the 1st half of the Visitor I just really dug the vibe of it as Richard Jenkins learns to play the djembe (skin covered hand drum) from his new found friend Tarek (played by Haaz Sleiman) You become attached to the characters as an outsider and feel sorry for Tarek and his wife Zainab as Tarek gets taken away by authorities for being an illegal immigrant.
9. Slumdog Millionaire
I awoke one Saturday December (or November) morning slightly hung over but wide awake enough to not go back to sleep. So I figured I'd kill some time by going to see a movie and after hearing good things about this movie I'd give it a go. It was good, real good but I'm not so sure it's deserving of all its praise it's gotten during award season. Just thinking back on it I just can't really get past just how implausible the entire movie and how all the pieces fall into place magically, and yet everyone's eaten it up. I don't think it deserved best picture or best director, but then again I don't think the most deserving people were even nominated. So out of it's competetion I guess it deserved it.
8. Gran Torino - "Get off my lawn!"
I loved Clint Eastwood's snarl and demeanor this entire film. Going into this I expected a typical Clint Eastood movie along with him trying to fit every type of racial slur he could think of. And I wasn't wrong, but I didn't hate it either despite how odd it is seeing a near 80 year old Eastwood playing a badass for the umpteenth time. The acting outside of Clint was nothing to write home about and at times laughable but it didn't take away from how much I enjoyed this.
7. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Judd Apatow's company once again proved why he's on top of the comedy world in what was my favorite comedy of the year by far. Starring Jason Segel, Mila Kunis and Russell Brand has a great mix of subtle and in your face humor that has still proved hilarious after several viewings. Mila Kunis just looked absolutely stunning in this, I mean in That 70's show she looked good, but she was smokin in this movie. And perhaps my favorite song of the year was Dracula's Lament
6. Rachel Getting Married
This movie or Milk probably produced the best ensemble cast of the year and Anne Hathaway deserved the Best Actress award for her portrayal as Kym the recovering drug addict who's coming home for her sister's weeding. Had Kate Winslet not been nominated about 31 times prior to this years Oscars I'd have given Hathaway a fair shot at winning this thing. As someone who's only been on the outside looking in at weddings there always seems to be plenty of turmoil surrounding the wedding and this portrayed it perfectly. And although there was a lot of conflict throughout the film and was overall very depressing family was able to overcome all the problems. And although the pre-wedding party went on a little to long along with the reception I still thought it was very well done. MY 4-5-6 films are all fairly interchangeable.
5. Wall-E
This is Pixar's cinematic masterpiece and deserved a best picture nod and is some of there best work to date. I imagine this movie was a lot more for adults then kids, if I saw this as an 8 year old I would probably dislike it or be bored the majority of the movie with the lack of dialogue but it appears that the majority of the adult audience was blown away as Pixar scores another hit. Only a studio with the pedigree and critical acclaim as Pixar has the balls to do a movie like this where 1/3 of the movie is done with no dialogue at all. I was a little beaten over the head with the message the last half of the movie but I'm able to overlook that.
4. Frost/Nixon
"I'm saying that when the President does it, that means it's not illegal!"
Frank Langella was incredible in this movie in this compelling drama between Michael Sheen's David Frost and Frank Langella's Tricky Dick Nixon. Nixon was just so fascinating in this movie as a socially awkward and at times downright depressed individual while at other times being drunk and incredibly hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing when Nixon asked Frost if he had fornicated the night before. In the end Ron Howard leaves Nixon looking as a guy who had just been completely demoralized and defeated as he was trying to re-build his image. You leave the theatre feeling sorry for Nixon and I did because I just became enamored with Langella's character throughout the movie. If not for Mickey Rourke he would be my choice for Best actor, I also thought Sam Rockwell could have possibly picked up a supporting actor nod, but I digress. I don't really understand why this wasn't pushed harder at the box office because it was very well done.
4. Frost/Nixon
"I'm saying that when the President does it, that means it's not illegal!"
Frank Langella was incredible in this movie in this compelling drama between Michael Sheen's David Frost and Frank Langella's Tricky Dick Nixon. Nixon was just so fascinating in this movie as a socially awkward and at times downright depressed individual while at other times being drunk and incredibly hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing when Nixon asked Frost if he had fornicated the night before. In the end Ron Howard leaves Nixon looking as a guy who had just been completely demoralized and defeated as he was trying to re-build his image. You leave the theatre feeling sorry for Nixon and I did because I just became enamored with Langella's character throughout the movie. If not for Mickey Rourke he would be my choice for Best actor, I also thought Sam Rockwell could have possibly picked up a supporting actor nod, but I digress. I don't really understand why this wasn't pushed harder at the box office because it was very well done.
3. In Bruges
"If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't."
"If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't."
The most overlooked and underrated film from 2008. This film is much more then the comedy it's trailer makes it out to be and is a nice blend of comedy, drama, action and vioence. And lots and lots of cussing. And although the main character Ray (played by Collin Farrell) craps on the city Bruges the entire time, the film does a great job capturing the beauty of the city. Ralph Fiennes is hilarious as the boss hitman who's after Ray after a botched hit gone horribly wrong when Ray killed a kid claiming if he would have killed a kid he would have pulled the trigger on himself on the spot. I can't recommend this movie enough. It's bold brash, un-PC and doesn't hold back and Screenwriter/Director Martin McDonagh was deserving of best original screenplay in my opinion over Milk. But I suppose the movie was generally overlooked because of its early release date and it not being the typical Hollywood award film.
2. The Wrestler
"I'm an old broken down piece of meat and I deserve to be all alone, I just don't want you to hate me."
This movie and In Bruges were neck and neck but Mickey Rourke's performance was so iconic that in the end it just edged out In Bruges. Everything about this was terrific, from the wrestling scenes, the cinematography and direction of the film to the song 'The Wrestler' by Bruce Springsteen I just adored this movie. Mickey Rourke plays Randy 'The Ram' Robinson a broken down wrestler who's stuck in the past where he's a big star in the 80's and crashed and burned in the 90's. You can just see how stuck in the past he is when he's talking with Marissa Tomei and they're both so nostalgic on how great the 80's hairbands were (crazy, I know) and whenever he invites a kid living in the trailer parks to come play a videogame he was in on the original Nintendo until the kid suggests they go play Call of Duty 3. I thought the wrestling scenes were very well choreographed and Rourke looked pretty legit when in the ring. The movie carries a depressing tone much of the film (which for whatever reason I've always loved) as 'The Ram' keeps making mistake after mistake until he's left with nothing and all comes crashing down at the end. This is a must see for anybody and Darren Aronofsky was absolutely robbed of the best picture and best director nomination. (and probably should have won one of those.)
2. The Wrestler
"I'm an old broken down piece of meat and I deserve to be all alone, I just don't want you to hate me."
This movie and In Bruges were neck and neck but Mickey Rourke's performance was so iconic that in the end it just edged out In Bruges. Everything about this was terrific, from the wrestling scenes, the cinematography and direction of the film to the song 'The Wrestler' by Bruce Springsteen I just adored this movie. Mickey Rourke plays Randy 'The Ram' Robinson a broken down wrestler who's stuck in the past where he's a big star in the 80's and crashed and burned in the 90's. You can just see how stuck in the past he is when he's talking with Marissa Tomei and they're both so nostalgic on how great the 80's hairbands were (crazy, I know) and whenever he invites a kid living in the trailer parks to come play a videogame he was in on the original Nintendo until the kid suggests they go play Call of Duty 3. I thought the wrestling scenes were very well choreographed and Rourke looked pretty legit when in the ring. The movie carries a depressing tone much of the film (which for whatever reason I've always loved) as 'The Ram' keeps making mistake after mistake until he's left with nothing and all comes crashing down at the end. This is a must see for anybody and Darren Aronofsky was absolutely robbed of the best picture and best director nomination. (and probably should have won one of those.)
1. Dark Knight
As I mentioned earlier no film going into this year had more hype going into it, from the 1st time we saw pictures of Heath Ledger's joker to where we saw the 1st 6 minutes of the movie in December 2007. Hell at the midnight screening there were about 10 people dressed up as the joker, people were so amped for this movie. And after multiple viewings it has still held up great, even for a 2 and a half hour movie there's rarely a dull moment. And I don't buy the argument Heath Ledger is only being iconicized like this because he died, he had the best role out of anybody all year and will go down as one of the most remembered and revered characters in movie history. The fact that the role may have killed him makes it just a little more chilling. Christopher Nolan is proving to be one of the best directors in Hollywood today as he did a great job with the action, pacing, sound and everything else that went into making this. Just because it's a comic book film doesn't mean it's not deserving of nominations outside of the technical awards (sound, sound editing etc...) It was the best film of the year and will most likely be the film everyone looks back to when reviewing 2008. (whether people will view this as a positive remains to be seen.) I'll be shocked if the 3rd installment of Nolan's Batman is even close to this one. And before I go, this week was Conan Obrien's last week on the air until he takes over for Jay Leno in June. These last couple weeks of watching him has been fantastic watching all his clips of past events has been a joy. I trust that Conan won't change but I hope that everything around him doesn't either because that's part of what makes him the best Late show on TV. Here's my favorite clip from his show
conan o'brien play baseball
And if I didn't mention a film you liked, either I didn't see it or didn't care to write about it. Until next time...
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