Pajiba

This appears to be that rare Oscar year where, with a few exceptions, it will be hard to be too disappointed no matter who wins. It's very exciting!

No love for Julian Schnabel? I thought his depiction of locked-in syndrome was masterfully done.
My favorite movie of the year by far.

It's a RAT that COOKS! in a FRENCH RESTAURANT! in PARIS! What's there not to love? It's a story that teaches all young rats to dream and never give up...even in the face of extermination. I liked it.

Is it wrong that I don't give a flying fuck about the Oscars? I think they're tedious and pointless.

ratatouille kind of blew. i thought it was dull and repetitive.

Man, that Best Director category is fantastic!

Do you think Julian Schnabel will show up in formal pajamas? I think he should dress like a 50's Hefner. Because he can.

I kind of think that best original screenplay should go to Lars and the Real Girl, but what do I know? I also WANT Amy Ryan to win, but we all know that Cate Blanchett has that one in the bag.

On a side note, no, I don't think McCain hit it. Wouldn't surprise me if it's a half-baked landmine dreamt up by the Christian conservatives who still think Huckabee has a shot.

Yep. It's a very good year. I'm a bit disappointed that Gordon Pinsett got no love for Away From Her, as I think he actually pulled off the much more difficult role opposite Julie Christie.
I know it's a crowded field, but sure PSH could gracefully retire from this sort of thing now.

As for Ratatouille, I loved it - epecially after an underwhelming Cars.

Trying not to think about McCain with his trousers round his ankles...

Man, I just do not care about the Oscars this year. I don't remember caring last year either. I haven't seen one Best Picture nomination, and I'm guessing most of America feels the same way given the box office on some of these movies. I have nothing against them, and I really want to see There Will Be Blood, but I'm waiting for Netflix at this point. Trekking to the theater is just too much of an overpriced hassle lately. The whole Oscar race this year seems like a desperate hype job to get anyone to care. Even more than usual.

I think it's high time the very-deserving Laura Linney got some love, but god only knows what formula they use to actually issue the award. It seems a lot of the time talent has absolutely nothing to do with it.

I'll be happy all Monday as long as Bardem wins Best Supporting Actor. I can't remember ever having been that unnerved by a character. "Call it." Shudder.

+1 to Llism for the use of poonani. Love it.

I really liked Ratatoulle, for many little reasons. The importance of washing your hands before touching food. The way the doofus cook finally told the truth about the rat helping him. And that great food is really a trancendent experience!

I watched Shrek the Third after Ratatoulle. Then I swore I would NEVER follow a Pixar movie with a Dreamworks film. Too disappointing.

Rob, you're not the only one. I could care less about them this year. I believe that the movies are great, but I just can't muster up the energy to tune in besides to see who's wearing what.

Thank you for liking Ratatouille.
I find it hard to believe that No Country was THAT bloody good!

I hated Juno too. I have no idea what possessed them to nominate that movie for anything other than trying to look cool. But god help me, if Diablo Cody wins Best Screenplay my head will probably explode.

Other than that, I LOVE No Country for Old Men, hope it wins a lot, and I just saw Gone Baby Gone last night and Amy Ryan is quite good.

How am I gonna celebrate on Sunday? Easy. I'm getting shitfaced and screaming at the screen just like my mom used to do before they came and took her away...

In the event Bardem doesn't walk away with the Oscar, d'you think he's gonna be packing that captive bolt-gun of his for the after parties?

And perhaps I should stay in lurkdom until I learn to check my html tags before clicking Post Comment. :(

i liked juno. it was a cute movie, but i don't understand how it got nominated for best picture. i think that zodiac was overlooked.

Loved Juno, and I want hometown girl Ellen to take best actress (though with that competition, I don't imagine that it'll happen). However, I do not think the screenplay was among the strongest points of the movie. Haven't seen any of the others in the category aside from Ratatouille, so I won't venture an opinion on who should take it.

Also, I'm with boo--it'd be lovely to see Sarah Polley take the adapted screenplay Oscar. Talk about wisdom beyond your years, that girl is amazing.

By the way, nice to see some love for Gordon Pinsent from Simon B, if not the academy! I only recently found out that he lost his real-life wife last year, which must have made the role that much more emotional for him.

Oh . . . and I fell asleep in Ratatouille.

(I'm banished from this site now, aren't I?)

I have seen No Country for Old Men a ridiculous (to others, not to me) amount of times just from friends telling me they have yet to see it, and me dragging their asses into the theater. Not one has regretted the experience. The Coens deserve a sweep.

Re: Nancy

If Ellen Page were to win, which she won't as Christie has it wrapped, she would be far more deserving than many of the actresses who have taken the award home lately - Hilary Swank (for Million Dollar Baby - what a joke), Gwyneth Paltrow (give me a fucking break), Helen Hunt (where are you now, Helen?), Cher (are you fucking kidding me?), and Julia fucking Roberts (same performance, different movie - one of the all-time Oscar tragedies in my mind was Burstyn losing to his twathead). I think Page deserves one far more than any in the list above. Her performance is one that may actually be talked about in 20 years, if for nothing more than the quirkiness, whereas those above likely won't.

Aside from that, No Country should sweep except for sound mixing. The movie was hot. There Will Be Blood was wonderful as well, but it wasn't as fine-tuned as No Country. TWBB's scope was a bit bigger than No Country and in the long run, I think that hurts its chances. It's every bit as good as No Country. I mean, do Tom Cruise and the most of the other dildoes (how does one pluralize dildo?) that vote for these awards really sit through something like TWBB? I doubt it. If they did then Scorsese wouldn't have had to wait 35 years to get his while strokes and hacks like Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner (seriously, COSTNER???) and Ron Howard pulled down directing Oscars.

Let me note, in the grand scheme of things, these awards mean nothing. I just wished those who deserved the awards would get them (all my opinion, of course). That means Russell Crowe, Ron Howard, Jennifer Hudson, those mentioned above, et al., GIVE 'EM BACK!!!

I'll be watching for the dresses, Jon Stewart, and the montages. Yes, I like the montages. Wait, is montages even a word? Why is it starting to look so strange to me? Montages. Mon. Ta. Ges.

*quietly watching Kolby talk about montages*

No one ever talks about the "No Country" shotgun. Such an unusual, quiet sound with such a big result. Very good movie but I needed a shower and some comfort food after. Not as lifesucking as "Happiness" but I don't want to revisit it quickly, plus I don't know how the quiiiiiiet, slow pace plays on reviewing (though it sure works the firt time). Oh and fuckin Roger Deakins is the MAN.

I like "The Incredibles" much more than "Rataouille", but that moment of sparked memory towards the end, done with no dialogue, was.....MASTERFULLY effective. I wanted to spray tears when I thought about it later. "Juno" promotion and reviews went all out upon its LANY opening, weeks ahead of any kind of wide distribution. By the time it got here and shouted "I'm Yours!" I was like Eddie Murphy denied crackers for too long. Not that it's fair, but yeah, I'd had enough already. And just looking at Daniel Day Lewis made me weary. "Oh hell, he's gonna work the moustache and commence ta jigglin HOO HA isn't he?" Again, just a gut reaction, but I had no desire. A friend raved about it, but she'd already stung with me "No Country" and I backed off. "Yeah but you didn't say this 'great movie' was a dementor!!" Shoulda known better after "The Departed". Very good movie, but I was quoting Crow T. Robot by the end. "Talk about nihilism!" It'd be fun for me to see Johnny win, but I don't know that he should.

Oh and I saw Julie and one or two others lamenting a good dvd release guide. I've been watching this site lately:
http://www.joblo.com/dvdclinic/release_dates.php

Hope it helps!

"First thing I'm gonna do is buy me a montage! Yeah!"

Does that mean twig is judging? Whatever, I love em too. Just love 'em. "Yeah! That WAS cool! That WAS stirring!" What can I say? Cheap thrills! It's a long held wish that just once they'd play "People Who Died" over the memorial. And it wouldn't even be disrespectful!

Ooh, Jay, you rock my ass.

*bookmarks it

Lannie, me, too. Robbed.

FYI, to anyone who was curious after the directing/casting/script announcements of "Where the Wild Things Are" - there's early buzz that the entire thing will be reshot, possibly losing the director and script because - surprise, surprise - it was stranger and more subversive than the execs were expecting.

As if there is any possible way it could be more horrific than Cat in the Hat.

Needs more Schnabel love. I assume the lack of it is due to the fact that a large part of the staff might not have seen The Diving Bell and the Butterfly yet.

Meredith - you're right. If Ellen Page had gained/lost 30 pounds and the "Juno" character had been mentally disabled she would be a lock.

Samantha T,
I am convinced you're my long-lost twin sister as, too frequently to be a coinky dink, your thoughts parallel mine. Although I think we might have different fathers being that I'm of the black persuasion and I get the sense you're.....not. Rather illogical, but work with me.

Anyhoo, we must part ways on the Brolin love. I wasn't particularly impressed with his NCFOM performance. Actually, I think Garrett Dillahunt did a lot more with his itty-bitty role than Josh did with his leading role. And in general, I'm not a fan of Brolin's work. He's "middle of the road"ish, although I guess that's better than "off the road"ish. Or "dive off the cliff to your destruction"ish.

Also, I'm totally a "catch the Oscar highlights on MSN and Youtube the next morning" kind of girl. Saves me lots of time.

@ Rob,

You and I are of one mind. Whatever, right?

But here's where I have to depart from sanity. I hate, hate HATE (as I'm sure most of you do) the placid entitlement of these awards shows, and would probably pull a Mark Rothko before watching one willfully.

'Hey, remember that time when 'the pictures' saved all of the world's babies from all of the world's wells, while teaching us to hope and laugh at the same time?'

Fuck me, there's less wankery in a bukkake session!

Actually, I confess, I have no business being on a site like this, because when push comes to shove, I don't give two damp shits about movies or TV, and I never go to the theatre. There are shows I watch and LOVE, don't get me wrong. But this whole writer's strike thing? The shows were all gone, and I unexpectedly didn't miss one.

That's not to say I'm one of those self-righteous 'I don't watch television, and I didn't know that the Berlin Wall came down until 1996, because I was too busy admiring the swirl in a sunflower, and being struck by the BEAUTY of it all...which is to say I'm better than you' people. I'd actually like to hurt those people. T.V. is fun (when it's not terrible), but I can't give it any more energy than that. Films? I wish I could do more about this one. I'm sorry, I didn't give a flying fuck either way when the writer's thing...thinged. I'll say it again, I'm sorry.

I could say it's because I'm impovrished, live is the boonies (oh, yeah, Toronto has boonies and they're HERE), but I don't think I could really be bothered with going to the theatre if the situation were different. I know, like, QUELLE DOMMAGE, right? It's okay, rip on me if you like, everyone does. I understand that I'm the crazy person here. Oh, if you only knew.

But danged if I don't love this site, which says something. If you can get a terminally boring old cow like myself to care, you're doing the Lord's work.

completely off-topic but, has anyone heard anything more about Redbelt, the David Mamet film? It was mentioned in the trade round-up sometime last year. i just saw a trailer for it and it actually looks like it might be decent.

Am i the only person who didnt think Brad Pitt deserved at the very least an oscar nod for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"? I am an avid movie watcher, as well as a writer, and aside from Daniel Day Lewis, cannot remember a performance which has been more invigorating to experience. Brad Pitt has always provided amazing performances, but it is "The Assassination..." that really solidified in my mind that he is a premier performer. I was impressed by George Clooney's performance, and "Eastern Promises" was one of my favorite movies of the year because of Viggo Mortensen's portrayal...but only Javier Bardem came close to mastering the same sort of ownership that Brad Pitt brough to the screen in each and every scene. I am looking forward to the oscars, moreso than ever before...but for me, the nominations will forever feel tainted for the snub that Brad Pitt has recieved.

Halle Berry's performance in "Things We Lost in the Fire" is another object of contention.

Ratatouille was THE shit. Great physical comedy and charming as hell. That movie was all heart and you could tell how much time the creators put into it.

GOD, I love Pixar. WALL-E looks amazing as well.

"No Country For Old Men? More like Gay Country For Gay Men. AMIRITE?!?!"

I like your style. But you are wrong.

wow. i don't agree with any of these whatsoever. weird that.

Aaron: I agree with your love for Brad Pitt in "Assassination of Jesse James", and I actually feel that the film was robbed of a Best Picture nomination. I thought Michael Clayton was a good film, but not outstanding, so I'm not sure why it's in the running. In addition to my belief that Josh Brolin should have earned a Best Actor nod, I think Ryan Gosling deserves one for "Lars and the Real Girl". In the hands of a less capable actor, that movie would have been pathetic or offensive, but he was so earnest as Lars, he made the whole movie work. Love!

Hee -- all the "montage" and "enchilada" talk puts me in mind of the great Calvin and Hobbes strip where they're about to make art and Hobbes keeps saying "smock. smocksmocksmocksmocksmock."

*sigh* I miss them.

I haven't seen all of the above films, so I can't speak to the deservedness of the Best Actress nominees, but I agree with others here that loved Juno but don't see Ellen Page's performance as earthshattering enough to take home Best Actress.

Maybe Julie Christie does deserve the win -- but part of me wants Cate Blanchett to get it this year because she was ROBBED for the first Elizabeth. Although the only really true justice would be for for the presenter to rip Gwyneth Paltrow's Shakespeare in Love Oscar out of her hands ON STAGE and give it to Cate Blanchett. Then Cate could, in her most dignified manner, use the Oscar to clock Paltrow upside the head and then spit on her crumpled form. That would be sweet sweet justice.

Lizzie (greeneyed fem), if I lived in your world, I would be a happy woman. And I think Maggie Smith should do that actual ripping-away-from-Paltrow-and-giving-to-Blanchett, and then sort of stand back and smirk in that genteel way she has as Blanchett piledrives Paltrow.

*sigh* Happy days...

Oh my god, Smithy! I would PAY MONEY to see that. Cut to the Oscar audience: Dame Judi Dench clapping quietly, Meryl Streep trying to look shocked, and Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson holding on to each other, helpless with laughter.