Journey to Poplar Bluff, chapter two

The journey is ending. It was a hectic weekend and I was left with little time to blog. I'm back in the Charlotte NC airport (Greatest Airport in America, actually it's more like a mall that airplanes park at!) where I wrote my last entry 3 days ago. That unnamed chinese restuarant is called ManchuWok, just ate there again. And I'm feeling oddly disconnected from this weekend.

After landing in St Louis is was surprised that the boss had upgraded my rental and I was in a Chrysler 300. LOVED IT! Add the greatest collection of music ever assembled by man (located on my Ipod) and some GPS navigation, and that 3 hour drive through southern Missouri was almost fun. After visiting a Wal-Mart at midnight in Poplar Bluff, I think the 90 something Beauty Pageant contestants and their families raised the hotness level of that town by 3000% over the weekend. It was a hectic shoot, a lot of trouble shooting right up until show-time, and i was directing this weekend, which I love, but it means more headaches. As such (therefore) I had limited contact with the beauties. I didn't shoot the backstage footage, didn't ask them questions for interviews, and directed from the second level of a coliseum. I really didn't have any favorites going into the finals, but the winners were obvious. Add to that isolation a great book I just finished (The Man Who Heard Voices) and my laptop + Civilization IV, and I kinda kept my head down this weekend. I took a break to watch the Saints, what a waste. I'm blah.

BUT i did score aa awesome souvenir. Poplar Bluff high's mascot is THE MULES, and I found this great t-shirt at previously mentioned Wal-Mart! I now honor all my past fantasy football champion Trusty Mules teams!

AND St Louis Lambert Airport serves Boudin! At Josey Maroni's Sausage Kingdom! You think once I saw the name of that place on the airport map, that I didn't run there!

After spellchecking, I just realized I've been misspelling Missouri all weekend when labeling tapes.

Just picked up a new book at the airport, The Great Deluge (nonfic, of course, about Hurricane Katrina) by Douglas Brinkley. I met Brinkley once when I worked at C-Span, and worked an interview with him about a book he wrote on John Kerry. I was impressed by the man, and hold his work in high esteem.

Anyway, next weekend is off to Charleston South Carolina, a beautiful city that I barely see beacuse the airport, hotel and theater are within a mile of each other. Til then, thanks for your readership. I'll try to do better once I'm out of the Blahs. I think seeing my faminly tonight just might do it.

Journey to Poplar Bluff, chapter one

I just got the best fortune cookie I’ve ever had. Not in taste, though it was quite tasty. The fortune. From (insert generic Chinese restaurant name here) Wok. Charlotte airport. Stage one on this weekend’s journey to Poplar Bluff Missouri. From here I fly to St. Louise, rent a car and drive 3 hours to southern Mo, the show-me state. Poplar Bluff seems to be one of those places that’s about the same distance from every major airport (St. Louis, Springfield, Memphis, Nashville, Little Rock)

In the terminal I’m watching Flight of the Conchords, my favorite New Show of 2007. For those not cool enough to know, it’s about New Zealand’s 4th greatest comedy/folk duo who move to New York to make it big. It’s shot single-camera style (think the Office) and is hilarious in a offbeat absurd way. It was on HBO this summer and it’s funny enough to make me laugh out loud in a terminal full of people watching me watching Flight of the Conchords. On the plane I’m reading The Man Who Heard Voices, a biography about M. Night Shyamalan trying to make Lady in the Water. And it’s a excellent read.

I don’t know why but I only read Non-Fiction on airplanes. I read fiction constantly, mostly Fantasy/Sci-Fi (Forgotten Realms, Star Wars) or action/spy (Ian Flemming, Clive Cussler), and my boy Scott got me into Michael Crichton (he named his son after him after all!) But for some reason, I can’t read fiction on a plane. Maybe it’s the realness of flying, being surrounded by strangers, of the journey. It’s easier to get lost in fantastical fiction when you’re home, in the quiet alone times (I mean, dropping a deuce on the pot). I read travel accounts, biographies, history novels, as long as it’s good and it’s real. I also think it’s good to have rituals when embarking on a stressful path. I hate flying, so I have little rituals. I board the plane last. I get pleasure out of watching everyone in such a hurry to fall into line to board the plane where they will sit in a small uncomfortable place (like the back of a Volkswagen! - Mallrats) for the next 20 minutes. I , the king, will board last, after you little peons find your seats! I give the hull of the plane a little pat just before I get on, I am trusting it with my life after all. Sometimes I mutter, “C’mon baby stay together” (Han Solo, - Star Wars) I chew gum on takeoff and landing. Little rituals.

Anyway, the fortune said:

Even Popeye only ate Spinach when he had to.

Chew on that.

Miss North Carolina, Day 3

It's definitely 4:07 am. The rather unattractive lady behind the desk here at the Radisson is in full blown panic mode because all her crap turned back an hour overnight. I think it must be 4:08 am now, but you never know judging by the way this woman is carrying on and on about this disaster. I know the time change is next week, so I'm not worried. It's just aggravating. It's much easier to take stupidity from some one if they are beautiful. Which was what I dealt with on Saturday (I said turd) when my partner Bruce Wayne and I interviewed all 140 something contestants. I'm not saying they were all dummies. Far from it, many of the older girls have finished college and are teachers, nurses and doctors. But one girls said the judges asked her what book she was reading and she confessed to us she hadn't read a book since 5th grade! Half of the contestants didn't know who the Vice-President was! And when we asked them what their favorite movie was, some actually said "I don't really have a favorite movie, I like all movies equally." huh? But damn, she was sexy when she said it.

I've learned 1 in 5 girls here say "The Notebook" is their favorite. But one incredible girl (I believe it was the girl on the left, Jessie) said her favorite was "The Princess Bride" and when I asked her for her favorite line from the film she said "No more rhymes now, I mean it. Anybody want a peanut?" How awesome was that babe.


Anyway, the live show went great, I was on camera on Friday but Directed the shoot on Saturday. Between all the video work and the chatting with babes, there's a lot of carrying around heavy shit. And late nights. I'm on three hours sleep right now. And I never pick the winners correctly. My favorite teen didn't even make top 15, but my Miss contestant was first runner up, so maybe I'm getting better.

Your new Miss Teen North Carolina is Julie Dalton.















And your new Miss North Carolina, Andrea Duke, who had the best evening gown, no question.




BTW, the High Point Radisson (Radisshon) gets two big thumbs down for RUNNING OUT OF SHAMPOO! I travel light and depend on those little mini shampoos in hotel showers, then I like to steal them and use them in the showers in the exercise room at work. Yes you can run out of shampoo. But after that GET SOME FREAKING MORE! No shampoo for three days is unacceptable! Send out your ugly desk worker for more!

It is SOP (standard operating procedure) to wear an NFL jersey if you're flying on a Sunday. I broke out my Chris Cooley skin's jersey today, my airport shuttle driver is a cheesehead in a Farve jersey, and I'm looking at this wimpy Eddie Munster lookin' guy in a Julius Peppers jersey. Our eyes meet and we give a small, nearly imperceptable nod. We're in the club. We're the coolest. Even my pilot give me a "Go Skins!" when I exit the plane. I respond with a "Go Skins! Thanks for not crashing!"

Oh Yeah, Soulja Boy was on my flight. No shit. He was actually staying at the same hotel, and his tour bus was parked outside. He had about 5 ho's (and I am being quite literal with that , they were definitely ho's) or dancers or unemployed models get on his bus. While his bus drives to his next concert (he's in Cleveland tonight), he and a 2 man entourage got on the plane with me. Didn't he see La Bamba? You never take the plane while your tour bus drives to the gig! BTW soulja, ever heard of Los Del Rios? They were you ten years ago.

I'm tired and I miss my family. I miss holding my babies, and answering Dominic's questions, and fighting with my wife. In two weeks I do it all over again in Missouri. Maybe the blog will get a visit before that. NOW CRANK DAT SOULJA BOY HOOOOOOOO SUPERMAN DAT HOOOOOOOOO!http://lyrics.com/lyric.php?id=42865

Miss North Carolina, Day 2

My days at these things basically involve following around babes with a camera. All day. There’s 70ish teens and 60 something in the miss division. In fact there’s so many smoking’ hot hotties here that it’s almost a total babe overload. Like when Garth would just start going “Schwing! Schwing! Schwing!” over and over. The thing is they're all 8’s, 9’s or 10’s, between the ages of 16-24 and I’m a 32 year old married fat guy.

The great equalizer is the camera. People get friendly when you’re lugging around that camera on your shoulder. So here’s my favorites after day 1



Teens - Hillary




















Miss - Brittany








I’m not picking the winners. I suck at that. Just singing’ “I wanna tap it!” when these two walk by. If you don’t get that last remark, you should start watching “How I Met Your Mother” on Monday night on CBS IMMEDIATELY!

Confessions of a Beauty Pageant Videographer

This fall I’ll be working as a videographer for four Miss USA pageants. I'll try to Blog as I go. First up - North Carolina!

The Journey begins.

As I sit here typing this, an elderly woman 10 feet away is slowly strumming a guitar and singing “House of the Rising Sun.” That in itself is not a horrible thing (although I loath that song), but the truth of the situation is in the details. I sit here on an uncomfortable grey plastic seat on an ass that lost all feeling hours ago. Gate D-36, Thurgood Marshall Baltimore/Washington International airport, waiting on my 8:00 flight to New York. It’s currently 8:45. I left the dojo in Leesburg at 3:45, and began a 65 mile journey that would take precisely 3 hours. Which is a average speed of 21.6 to infinity mph.

I just heard the would-be guitarist saying that she’s taking a class and besides “House”, they are also learning Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd. Should I walk over and teach her? To bust my skills out upon this terminal of delayed passengers? Maybe. I don’t play much anymore, but I’ll never forget how to play that song. It goes against my nature, which is to sit here typing this blog and not do anything to get myself noticed. Also, on a side note, no hotties waiting on this flight.

Washington traffic is a big fat bitch. I get to the airport at 6:45. Shuttle to the terminal by 7. Check in by 7:20. Through security and to the gate by 7:35. I had to use my Olympic level Fast-Walking skillz to accomplish this. And then I see the big red DELAYED sign above my gate. Our plane hasn’t left New York. It’s raining across the entire eastern seaboard. (note: eastern seaboard is a fantastic phrase. I recommend using it whenever possible.) The plane leave NYC around 8:45. Might be here in an hour. I type these words at 9 o’clock. Air travel is a big fat bitch also.


9:45 and we’re in the air. Remember in Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indy takes off in the prop plane and it dissolves to a map with a glowing line that traces the flight? That’s what kind of plane I’m in. It’s the sound of the engines that takes me to that scene. 36 seats, only 17 passengers, 2 pilots, 1 flight attendant (I swear it’s Barbara Streisand), 1 guitar (I didn’t play it) and 2 propellers. I commend U.S. Air for the quick turnaround of this plane. But I really don’t think they had time to fuel it. Guess I’ll find out in about 30 minutes.

If you ever fly into La Guardia in NY from points south, sit on the left side of the plane. Awesome views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Sox up on the Rocks 2-1, top 7. C’mon Rockies, don’t get swept like punks. Grrr….they’re calling my flight, NY to Greensboro, North Carolina. Then on to High Point, home of the world’s largest chest of drawers. I ain’t bullshittin’!

I arrive at 1:30 am. I could have drove the 300 miles in 6 hours, instead, doorstep to hotel bed, 10 hours. I'm retarded.

We had this on the morning news today

Montgomery County police say 11 young gang members - including a 12-year-old - face attempted murder charges in the beating and stabbing of a mentally challenged Silver Spring man outside a party in Aspen Hill. Police say two of them also are charged in a double stabbing earlier Saturday night at the Wheaton Metro station. The boys range in age from 12 to 17 and claim to be members of the "Hotboyz/Shoot 'Em Up" gang. Ten of them are charged as adults with attempted first-degree murder, robbery and assault. The 12-year-old is charged as a juvenile.

First off, only a bunch of 12 year-olds could possibly think naming your gang the "HOTBOYZ/SHOOT'EM UP" gang would be a good idea. I must commend them with use of a "/" in their name though.

Secondly the only person they were brave enough to roll was a retard.

Thirdly, they stabbed him. Shouldn't they change their name to the HOTBOYZ?STAB'EM UP gang. The leader must've forgot to bring the one gun they had.

Fourthly, they must have squealed like little pigs when they got busted, because police arrested ELEVEN gang members. What ever happened to "No Snitching"

What a bunch of DONKEYS!

And the Oscar goes to...

It's about 45 minutes til showtime, so I'll get right to the point. I'll give you who I think WILL win and who I think SHOULD win. The only way to be fair though is to make my picks from films I've seen, so if I missed ya (sorry Dreamgirls, Blood Diamond, and Children of Men) so sorry, see ya at the party. (I'll put a DNS by the films I did not see).

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

Who will win: Cars
Who Should win: Monster House. The funnest film of the three and not just for adults. My 4 year old agrees.



BEST ORIGINAL SONG
An Inconvenient Truth - "I Need to Wake Up"
Cars - "Our Town"
Dreamgirls - "Listen" DNS
Dreamgirls - "Love You I Do" DNS
Dreamgirls - "Patience" DNS

Who will win: One of the Dreamgirls songs, probably Listen
Who should win: I can't pick from the Dreamgirls trio so I'll pick I Need to Wake Up. Even though it played over the credits, there were interesting environmental facts and tips that also ran, and the song made it more watchable.



BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Babel
The Good German DNS
Notes on a Scandal DNS
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

Who will win: Babel
Who Should win: Babel. The score actually served the film and moved it along. The most memorable score of the three films I've seen.



BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Curse of the Golden Flower DNS
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls DNS
Marie Antoinette
The Queen

Who Will win: Marie Antoinette
Who Should win: Marie Antoinette. The Queen and Prada are too modern to stand out here. Marie Antoinette was stunning.



BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns

Who Will Win: Pirates of the Caribbean
Who Should win: Pirates of the Caribbean. Didn't really blow me away, but Superman was not as Super as it could have been and Poseidon just blows.



BEST SOUND EDITING
Apocalypto DNS
Blood Diamond DNS
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

Who will win: Letters From Iwo Jima
Who Should win: It's hard to seperate Letters and Flags, both were done by the same team. So here's another for Pirates of the Caribbean.



BEST SOUND MIXING
Apocalypto DNS
Blood Diamond DNS
Dreamgirls DNS
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Who will win: Dreamgirls
Who Should Win: Flags of Our Fathers. The Musical will win, but of the two I've seen Flags had a better mix.



BEST ART DIRECTION
Dreamgirls DNS
The Good Shepherd DNS
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige

Who Will Win: Pan's Labyrinth
Who Should Win: While I wish The Prestige could take home something, Pan's Labyrinth is most deserving of this one.



BEST MAKEUP
Apocalypto DNS
Click
Pan's Labyrinth

Who will Win: Pan's Labyrinth
Who Should Win: Pan's Labyrinth. Hollywood's still mad at Mel and Click is Click.



BEST FILM EDITING
Babel
Blood Diamond DNS
Children of Men DNS
The Departed
United 93

Who Will Win: Babel
Who Shoudl Win: United 93. Incredibly skilled editing. The best in years.


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Deliver Us From Evil DNS
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments DNS
Jesus Camp DNS
My Country, My Country DNS

Who Will Win: An Inconvenient Truth
Who Should Win: An Inconvenient Truth. It's not the Presidency, but Hollywood loves Al Gore.



BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Borat DNS
Children of Men DNS
The Departed
Little Children DNS
Notes on a Scandal DNS

Who Will Win: The Departed
Who Should Win: The Departed. Well, It's flawed, but it's the only one I've seen here.



BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

Who Will Win: Little Miss Sunshine
Who Should Win: Little Miss Sunshine. It gets honored here cause it ain't winning Best Picture.



BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men DNS
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige

Who Will Win: Pan's Labyrinth
Who Should Win: This race is so close. I could give it to The Illusionist, but I'll ultimatly say Pan's Labyrinth.



FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
After the Wedding - Denmark DNS
Days of Glory - Algeria DNS
The Lives of Others - Germany DNS
Pan's Lanyrinth - Mexico
Water - Canada DNS

Who Will Win: Pan's Labyrinth
Who Should Win: Pan's Labyrinth. It could pick up the most Oscars tonight.



SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Adiana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal DNS
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls DNS
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel

Who Will Win: Jennifer Hudson
Who Should Win: Hudson is out for me, haven't see Dreamgirls. So here's to Adriana Barraza.



SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children DNS
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond DNS
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls DNS
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed

Who Will Win: Eddie Murphy
Who Should Win: Mark Wahlberg. That's Marky Mark bitches!



BEST ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz - Volver DNS
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal DNS
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children

Who Will Win: Helen Mirran
Who Should Win: Helen Mirran. No doubt here. But will be The Queen's only trophy.



BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond DNS
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O' Toole - Venus DNS
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness DNS
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland DNS

Who Will Win: Forest Whitaker
Who Should Win: I abstain. I only saw Half Nelson here, and hated it.

BEST DIRECTOR
Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu - Babel
Paul Greengrass - United 93
Martin Scorsese - The Departed

Who Will Win: Scorsese
Who Should Win: How can you not give it to Scorsese? You could give it to Paul Greengrass for brilliant work in United 93.

BEST PICTURE
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Who Will Win: The Departed
Who Should Win: The Departed.

Here's how I rank them
1. Departed
2. Letters From Iwo Jima
3. Little Miss Sunshine
4. The Queen
5. Babel

Now to fire up the Tivo and see what happen tonight. Enjoy!

Sprint to the Oscars - Marie Antionette

A tenacious Sneaky Cheetah knocks out one more film this afternoon during a snow storm!

Marie Antoinette
Nominated for Best Costumes

I'm somewhat torn by this film. On one hand it's a fresh angle on portraying 18th century royalty with humor and a modern spin in attitude and music, on the other it's overly long and features several amateurish montages that seem thrown in by whimsy. Using a New Age/Punk soundtrack was great, especially combined with the portrayal of the young royals as hard-partying rich kids completely out of touch with the people and country they are supposed to represent. Once the young Louis XVI becomes king, they drink, they gamble, there's even a scene of one royal lady doing coke. It contrasts with the ridiculous pomp and ceremony of Marie Antoinette's first year at Versailles. Of course the film takes a dark turn during the whole French Revolution thing, which is jarring after the frivolous first 3/4 of the story, though sadly it doesn't show Marie's eventual beheading at the guillotine. Kirsten Dunst is good and naked alot (bonus!). The costumes are incredible, definitely Oscar worthy. It also should have gotten an Art Direction nomination on the strength of the amazing food and chocolate shown throughout the film. It may have been overlooked since it was actually shot at Versailles, which couldn't have needed much more set decoration. B

The costume designer is the legendary Milena Canonero, winner of two Oscars in 1976's Barry Lyndon and 1982's Chariots of Fire, and nominated five other times for 1986's Out of Africa, 1989's Tucker: A Man and his Dream, 1991's Dick Tracy, 2000's Titus, and 2002's The Affair of the Necklace.

Sprint to the Oscars - Babel

This shall be the last film reviewed by the Sneaky Cheetah before Oscar showtime. sob...sob

Babel
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Original Screenplay, Editing, Music (Score), Supporting Actress (Adriana Barraza), Supporting Actress (Rinko Kikuchi)

Hmm. That's my thoughts after watching Babel. Looking at the bevy of nominations it earned, I expected a lot more. Babel disappointed me. The story simply does not work. It tries to tell 4 stories that all interconnect, and judging by the title, shows how the language barrier screws things up. Ehh. I guess it does. This may have been 2 good movies instead of mashing these threads together into one film. I felt each could have benefited from added storytelling, but they're all small parts that suffer from too much story to tell. The Moroccan boys who get their hands on a rifle was the best story to me. They shoot a bus and hit Ctae Blanchett, vacationing with hubby Brad Pitt after they lost a baby to SIDS (so they head to Morocco??), which causes problems for their illegal alien babysitter who crosses the border with their kids to get to her son's wedding. Oh yeah, the gun was given to a Moroccan villager by a Japanese hunter who's wife killed herself and their teenage deaf/mute daughter has some serious issues and acts slutty. WTF!??!?!

It does feature some compelling visuals, including using different lighting and cameras for Morocco, Mexico, and Japan (why no cinematography nom?). The strongest scenes are when the actors shut up and the soundtrack cranks up and lets the scene unfold, be it eerie flamenco guitar or the Mexican wedding band, playing something very similar to Cajun Swamp Pop. The rest of the time left me not caring for these characters because of their own stupidity. The film is not nearly as thrilling or emotionally wrenching as I was led to believe by the trailer and critics. Between the Supporting actresses nominated, Barraza is the more compelling. But neither will win this Oscar. The editing was very good, especially scenes in a Japanese rave. It actually made me take note and say, wow, great editing. And the soundtrack, while not beautiful or even good sounding, does play a major role in moving along the film. This is an only an OK film with an average screenplay executed by a talented visual director. Nothing more. C

The man responsible is Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, a first time nominee as director and as producer. He shares the Best picture nom with Jon Kilik and Steve Golin, both first time nominees. Also earning their first nominations are actresses Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi, screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, and editor Douglas Crise. Editor Stephen Mirrione won in 2001 for editing Traffic and composer Gustavo Santaolalla won in 2006 for the incredible score in Brokeback Mountain.

Sprint to the Oscars - The Prestige

One day to go as The Sneaky Cheetah valiantly tries to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

The Prestige
Nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction

A few minutes into the Prestige, I thought, "Damn you Christopher Nolan, can't you tell a story in a linear fashion? The first scene is the death of one of the main characters! WTF!" As the film ended, I was again stunned into admiration of perhaps the greatest filmmaker to emerge in the last few years. The Prestige grips you with it's style and acting and keeps you guessing til the end (except for me! I figured it all out about halfway through! Bet you didn't!) It was the perfect way to tell this story, as it kept the lines between protagonist and antagonist blurred by obsession and revenge. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Caine are all marvelous as turn of the century magicians, constantly one-upping each other. And don't blink or you'll miss a well disguised David Bowie! The twists are worth it. The cinematography is similar to The Prestige's sister film The Illusionist, though not as stylized. The art direction in very strong. The magician's props alone are marvelous, let alone the period costumes and all the lightning spewing thing-a-ma-jigs. I think The Prestige is the most under appreciated films of '06. It's in my top 5, and it easily deserved a Picture, Directing, Screenplay and Editing nominations. Though a dark film with themes exploring the worst side of human beings, it is always interesting and feeds you just enough clues to make you think you know what's really going on. But you don't. (But I did!) A

Nolan's cinematographer of choice is Wally Pfister, also nominated in 2006 for Batman Begins. The Art Director is Nathan Crowley and the Set Decorator is Julie Ochipinti, both receiving their first Oscar nominations.

Sprint to the Oscars - Half Nelson

One day to go as the Sneaky Cheetah valiantly tries to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards

Half Nelson
Nominated for Best Actor (Ryan Gosling)

Skip this one folks. It's a real stinker. That enough voters actually sat through this to give Ryan Gosling a nomination shocks me. His performance is what people call "understated." Which means he doesn't say much or show much emotion. He performance is actually ok, he makes great use of his eyes and body language, but is not great, or Oscar worthy. In fact this whole film is so "understated" and "nuanced" that it took me three sittings to get through it. And I have no idea what a half nelson is. Maybe it's poop. D

This is the first Oscar Nomination for Ryan Gosling, star of The Notebook. Hehe.

Sprint to the Oscars - The Queen

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards.

The Queen
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Helen Mirran), Best Original Screenplay, Best Music (Score), and Best Costumes

I found this film fascinating. Much like United 93, I felt I was watching a documentary, reliving a moment in time that I actually remember. Beyond the use of news footage of Princess Diana and the events unfolding in the week after her death, the portrayal of the Royal Family and Prime Minister Tony Blair was simply brilliant. It took a minor interest I have for the British Monarchy and politics and fanned it to a burning desire to learn more about The Queen, a desire I took to Wikipedia as soon as I returned home. There's no argument that Helen Mirran's performance borders somewhere between acting and actually becoming Queen Elizabeth II herself. Mirran's complete transformation has Best Actress all over it. Michael Sheen also deserves honors for his role as Tony Blair. It made me generally admire Blair, something that's been hard to do in recent years. While incredibly interesting (a testament to the top notch screenplay, I mean, how cool is it to see The Queen tooling around off-road in her Land Rover?) and impeccably acted, this is not a Best Picture. Nor a Best Directed film. Don't ask me why. I can't really tell you why, but I know it when I see it. The costumes were well done, but the goal was accuracy to 1997, which isn't really too hard, is it? And the score was not overly memorable. Look for the Queen to take home an Oscar for and possibly Screenplay. Most of my friends are sleeping on this film and it's apparent boring plot (no action, no thrills, no mystery, no sex, and we basically know the ending). This is a film that will be better viewed at home on DVD then the theater, in it's almost History Channel-esqueness. But if you're into that, and want to see some great acting, The Queen should not be missed. A

The Queen's trio of producers, Andy Harries, Christine Langan, and Tracey Seaward are all up for their first Oscar nomination. Director Stephen Frears was honored with a nomination in 1991 for The Grifters. Helen Mirren has two past nominations, both Supporting roles in 1995's The Madness of King George and 2002's Gosford Park. This is the first nomination for Screenwriter Peter Morgan, Composer Alexandre Desplat, and Costume Designer Consolata Boyle.

Sprint to the Oscars - Little Miss Sunshine

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

Little Miss Sunshine
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Alan Arkin), and Best Supporting Actress (Abigail Breslin)

This is a really good film that has assumed the role of "the little film that could" at the Oscars this year. Every year there's one indie comedy that sneaks into the races with the Big Boys. This year, it's a film that takes an honest look a family that lives together without knowing each other and the road trip to a child's beauty pageant that brings them together. This family is so alienated from each other, no one has even seen the dance young Olive will perform at the Pageant. It's funny, sweet, and you'll feel good after watching it. But it's not the Best Picture, folks. It's cast is excellent, Arkin and Breslin both got nods, and Steve Corell MAYBE should have gotten one instead of Arkin. Breslin steals the film every time she smiles. The screenplay is brilliant, it's characters are arch types without being caricatures. The screenplay has the best shot at taking home Oscar gold Sunday night. Little Miss Sunshine is in my top 10 of 07, and though a lot of films claim it, this really is the feel-good film of the year. A

There are three Producers listed as recipients of Little Miss Sunshine's Best Picture nomination. David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, and Marc Turtletaub are all first time nominees, as is Supporting actress Abigail Breslin and Screenwriter Michael Arndt. Alan Arkin was nominated twice before for Best Actor in 1967's The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming and 1969's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

Year of the Pig

The year of the Pig started Sunday, and I've managed to eat pork everyday since.

Sunday - Pork Chops

Monday - Red Beans and Rice w/ Sausage

Tuesday - Leftover Red Beans and Rice w/ Sausage

Wednesday - Ham Sandwich

It was unintentional at first, but now I feel obligated to keep the streak alive, like Cal.

I don't know how much longer I can keep this up...

Sprint to the Oscars - The Departed

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

The Departed

Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Supporting Actor (Mark Wahlberg)

This is it folks. I don't even have to see Babel or the Queen. The Departed is the Best Picture of the Year. And the reason is the best cast in a crime drama since Heat. Jack Nicholson has his juiciest role in years here, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon are two of the best actors of their generation, but the supporting cast of Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, and especially Alec Baldwin almost steal the show. This film is electric. It may be a tad long, but it zips along at a frantic pace, accompanied by a great soundtrack and score. (Bonus points for using Comfortably Numb during a sex scene, and a live Roger Waters/Van Morrison version at that!) Some have said they were confused by it, or there were a couple of loose strings that were never explained, but I was totally engrossed in the plot and found it extremely smart and comprehendable. As for the loose strings (mainly The Envelope) well, the shit hits the fan when people start dying. And if you haven't seen this yet, 4 of the 6 actors mentioned above meet their maker. This film is infinitely rewatchable and takes it's place as one of the greatest modern crime dramas. A

Martin Scorsese and the Oscars have become such a joke, it seems almost inevitable that he's gonna win one for this film. And he deserves it. It's a masterwork. But if the Best Director statue goes to Paul Greengrass for United 93, you won't hear a cry of outrage from me. The screenplay is strong, especially the filthy dialogue between the state troopers which is why Wahlberg got his nomination and Balwin should have also. Wahlberg was great, and I will finally stop calling him Marky Mark. Now he shall be known as Marky Mar..uh..Oscar-Nominated Actor Mark Wahlberg. But he's a long shot to actually win Sunday. The film has great editing that could easily win, but could also easily be beaten by United 93.

If the Departed wins best picture, producer Graham King (nominated for the Aviator in 2005) will hit the stage.

Director Martin Scorsese is the Dan Marino of the Academy. Great QB, never won the Super Bowl. He was nominated as Best Director 5 times previously, for 1981's Raging Bull, 1989's The Last Temptation of Christ, 1991's Goodfellas, 2003's Gangs of New York, and 2005's The Aviator.

Scorsese's longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker has won two Oscars, for Raging Bull and The Aviator, and also been nominated for 1971's Woodstock, Goodfellas, and Gangs of New York.

This is the first nomination for screenwriter William Monahan and Marky Mar..uh..Oscar-Nominated Actor Mark Wahlberg.

IMHO: Besides a Supporting Actor nod to Baldwin, There should have been a Best Music (Score) nomination. That Irish themed music with the pounding drums is still stuck in my head. And it actually propels the film along.

Sprint to the Oscars - The Devil Wears Prada

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

The Devil Wears Prada

Nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Meryl Streep) and Best Costume Design

Yes, it's a chick flick. But it's a damn good chick flick, one that I really enjoyed. The plot was nothing new, your basic "girl gets job, girl changes to succeed at job, boyfriend doesn't like the change, girl realizes she doesn't want to be like her bitchy boss and leaves job, gets boyfriend back and new job, the end." Those films are dime a dozen. What separates Prada is it's stellar cast and setting in the high powered fashion magazine world. Not only is Streep excellent as the worst boss ever, but so are Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and especially Stanley Tucci, who probably should have gotten a Supporting Actor nomination. As far as the Costume design, I must admit that fashion is over my head. The stuff that supposedly looked great didn't look much different then the stuff that was horrible. They changed clothes a lot, so there was definitely a great volume of costumes. What do I know? Hathaway is a hottie. A

Meryl Streep is the Hank Aaron of the Oscars. She's won 2 (Supporting Actress in 1980's Kramer vs. Kramer and Leading Actress in 1983's Sophie's Choice) and has racked up 11 other nominations (For Leading Actress: 1982's The French Lieutenant's Woman, 1984's Silkwood, 1986's Out of Africa, 1988's Ironweed, 1989's Evil Angels, 1991's Postcards From the Edge, 1996's The Bridges of Madison County, 1999's One True Thing, and 2000's Music of the Heart, and for Supporting Actress: 1979's The Deer Hunter and 2003's Adaptation.)

The costume designer is Patricia Field, scoring her first Academy Award Nomination.

Sprint to the Oscars - Flags of Our Fathers

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

Flags of Our Fathers
Nominated for Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing

After Letters from Iwo Jima, I couldn't help but be disappointed by Flags. It's definitely the lesser of two films, but a great companion piece if viewed as two sides of the same event. Eastwood even used identical shots in both films, which helps observant viewers match up the time line and locations of both films. When a certain gun pokes out of a concealed cave, Letters viewers will you know which Japanese commander is in that cave. There's also parallels in scenes where a Japanese unit commits suicide with grenades and an American soldier is pulled into a hidden cave and brutalized. Flags weakness is the half of the film that deals with the three surviving "Flag Raisers" celebrity status when they return to the states. The story is told in a confusing back and forth style. The soldiers on a money-raising tour back home with flashbacks to the battle. Even though the story concentrates on the six grunts who raised the flag (you get no insight into the commanders of the battle or the strategy, which is badly missed), you also don't really get to know the soldiers very well. I didn't care about any of them and had a hard time telling one from the other. C

Flag's nominations are Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. The sound effects editing is good, as it is in most war films. Nothing stands out to me. But the mix is very strong. There's some haunting piano music that weaves in and out of the battles that really brings home the mournful tone of the film. Flags is the front runner in this category out of the two films I've seen (the other is Pirates 2).

The Sound mixers are the Oscar winning team that did The Matrix. John T. Reitz (winner for The Matrix, nominated of 1978's Days of Heaven and The Perfect Storm), David E. Campbell (winner for The Matrix, nominated for Dick Tracy, Legends of the Fall, The Perfect Storm, and Curse of the Black Pearl), Gregg Rudloff (winner for Glory and The Matrix, nominated for The Perfect Storm), and Walt Martin (first nomination) make up a well traveled team of mixers.

The Sound Editors are the same team as Letters From Iwo Jima, and they're competing against themselves in the category.Alan Robert Murray (past nominations for 1985's Ladyhawk, 1989's Lethal Weapon 2, 1996's Eraser, 2000's Space Cowboys) and Bud Asman who also worked on Eraser and Space Cowboys.

Sprint to the Oscars - The Black Dahlia

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

The Black Dahlia
Nominated for Best Cinematography

Director Brian De Palma has created a nice little modern work of Film Noir. Not a great work, but it's got some good performances and some nifty camera work. The plots a bit too confusing and doesn't make a whole lot of sense by the end. Josh Hartnett is as stiff as ever, but Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank turn in solid efforts. Kudos to De Palma for making Swank actually look almost hot. That deserves an award.

The Cinematography is good in that it follows all the Film Noir traditions. Shooting through windows, rooms lit only by sunlight streaming through blinds, faces mysteriously covered in shadow while the rest of the person is plainly visible. There's also a few De Palma traditions. A POV shot from Hartnett's eyes that lasts a good 2 minutes without an edit. It's good cinematography, a bit "by the book," and probably not deserving an Academy Award. C

The Cinematographer was old pro Vilmos Zsigmond, who won an Oscar back in 1977 for shooting Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and was nominated in '79 for The Deer Hunter and '85 for The River.

Sprint to the Oscars - Click

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

Click
Nominated for Best Makeup

I thought I had outgrown Adam Sandler. I grew up with the Sandler /Farley /Myers SNL, and I find most of that cast's film work to be hilarious (Billy Madison = Most quotable movie ever!). But Sandler's films have been slipping of late. Click reverses that trend. It's a funny though predictable film. Great one-liners point to a better script than films dependant on Sandler doing a funny voice for 90 minutes. But it's still low-brow comedy at it's best/worst. So how did land an Oscar nom? Well, there is smokin' hot Kate Bekinsale, who should get the Oscar for Best Wearing of Short Shorts. Or maybe for throwing Hasselhoff a bone. But no, it's for makeup.

When Sandler uses his universal remote to fast forward time, it eventually starts to fast forward on it's own. So we get to see middle age Adam Sandler in a big fat suit and then old man Sandler in his 70s. The makeup is fantastic. It's hard to look at Sandler in the makeup and be fooled, but the work on Kate Bekinsale and Sean Astin is makeup magic at it's finest. Also, there's an Arab Sheik at the beginning of the film and it took me a few minutes to recognize Rob Schneider. Now that's great makeup! B

The Makeup Nomination is for Bill Corso, who previously won in 2005 for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and first time nominee Kazuhiro Tsuji.

SPOILER! - How cool would it have been to end the film as Sandler dies an old man, regretting the use of the remote and bitter at having missed the lives of his wife and kids? Tragic and Memorable. But instead we get the Scrooge ending. "It was just a dream! I can do things differently! It's not too late!" Bah Humbug!

Sprint to the Oscars - Monster House

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

Figured I'd round out the animated feature category so I rented...

Monster House

Nominated for Best Animated Feature

Right off the bat, I knew this was going to be a fun film. It's exec producers are Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemekis. Creators of the films that defined my childhood. Monster House reminds me of one of the best of those films, The Goonies. It's just kids on a fantastic quest with no adult help. The Goonies were following a treasure map, while the kids of Monster House battle a truly Monstrous House. Which can be pretty scary at times (at least to a 4 year old). But it's a better film because of it. The story of the monster house is creepy and morbid, it's got clever dialogue where the kids actually talk like kids, and it's funny on different levels, for adults and kids. The film uses 3D motion capture animation, a la Polar Express, but the technology has advanced and the humans don't look as mannequin-esque as that film. The vocal cast is very good, in that there's some big names that you don't immediately recognize, as opposed to Robin Williams hamming it up as multiple Penguins in Happy Feet.This is the most enjoyable animated film I've seen since The Incredibles, and believe me, I've seen 'em all. The animation is not the best you'll see, but the story is. Even if you don't have kids, rent this on a Saturday night, pop some popcorn, and prepare to enjoy a good film that 'll take you back to the fun films of your childhood. A

Spielberg and Zemekis put this film into the hands of first time director Gil Kenan. I heard he created a short animated film that caught Spielberg's eye and landed him this job. Good call Steven. You're pretty good at this.

Sprint to the Oscars - Happy Feet

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

So, after knocking out Letters From Iwo Jima, Pan's Labyrinth and United 93, I badly needed to see something happy, something bright, something NOT F-ING DEPRESSING!

CUE THE DANCING PENGUINS!!!
Happy Feet
Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film

I snuck The Dominator out of daycare one evening to catch a matinee of Happy Feet. The animation is near Pixar quality. The panoramas of Antarctica are breathtaking, the Leopard seal and Killer Whale chases are frantic and heart stopping. But the story is truly bizarre. It seems penguin society is based on singing. And when one penguin can't sing, but instead tap dances like a mofo, he's branded and outcast and banished from the tribe. So he meets other more tolerant Penguins and wins the heart of the hottest, bestest singing girl penguin. But wait. There's more. Then begins an entire new plot when said dancing penguin goes on a quest to stop humans from over-fishing the penguin feeding spots . He attacks a huge fishing ship, somehow swims to America, gets put in an aquarium, communicates
to the humans through dance, and is returned to Antarctica with a transmitter on his back. Huh? This is a kids film? Well, Dominator liked it, but was bored at times. The mix of songs sung by the Penguins is quite clever (reminiscent of Moulon Rounge) and the voices are well cast, but something's just out of step for Happy Feet. It's the weakest of the Best Animated Film noms, and it's nomination probably should have gone to The Ant Bully, a much more enjoyable film. C

Happy Feet was directed by George Miller, Oscar nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay in 1996 for Babe. He also scored an original screenplay nomination in 1992 for Lorenzo's Oil.

Sprint to the Oscars - United 93

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

United 93

Nominated for Best Director and Best Editing


I actually saw this on DVD about a week ago, but it's taken me awhile to collect my thoughts on it. The film depicts the events of September 11 from the perspective of the air traffic controllers, the military air defense command center, and the terrorists and passengers of United 93, the plane that didn't hit it's intended target that day. The film is unique in that it has no "stars." It follows no one character and most of the dialog is conversational with other actors talking at the same time and words running over each other. It's hyper-realism make this feel like your watching a documentary of the actual events themselves. And it's superbly well done. I didn't want to get up during this film. I couldn't turn away. I didn't want to blink. It is ensnaring in it's content and the memories and emotions that resurface during the viewing.

I don't think this will win in Directing but it should. It is a unique film with a deliberate style that is perfect for the message the director was trying to communicate. Paul Greengrass (center in the picture) knocked one out of the park with this film.
It has a much better chance at winning the Editing Oscar. The film almost occurs in real time, bouncing between New York and Newark air traffic control rooms, the military, the national air control room, the and flight 93 itself. It has great pacing, and the tension builds and builds til the end. I hope this film gets some recognition, and should have gotten a Best Picture nod. Since it didn't, winning in Editing would be the best way to reward this film.

Don't be scared to see this film. It's way too good to let fear dissuade you from watching it. And we NEED to remember that day. It's not too soon. It's been five years. I hope television starts showing this film EVERY September 11th. It's not about evil terrorists. It's not about the people who lost their lives in the twin towers or the Pentagon. It's about how America was attacked, and how Americans responded to the attacks. It's about the first Americans who fought back. And won. At the cost of their lives. To save countless others. And that should be celebrated. A

This is Paul Greengrass's first Directing nomination, and fist nominations for all three editors: Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson, and Christopher Rouse

Sprint to the Oscars - Pan's Labyrinth

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

Pan's Labyrinth
Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film (Mexico), Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Cinematography, Art Direction, Makeup, and Music (Score)

Dark. Poetic. Creepy. Magical. Haunting. Sad. These are the adjectives going through my head after watching Pan's Labyrinth, much like the striking images from the film keep replaying in my thoughts. It's a perfect little fairy tale, albeit one the kids shouldn't see. It's the Neverending Story and Alice in Wonderland tossed into a blender with Silent Hill. The film actually operates on two levels. It's set in WWII era Spain after that country's civil war, at a camp manned by Spanish soldiers (bad guys) trying to root out the revolutionaries (good guys) from the forest. Ofelia is a young girl brought to the camp when her mother marries the captain. The second setting is the magical world of Ofelia's imagination she creates to escape her unhappy existence. It's not a happy fantasy. It's dark, dirty, and scary. Reflections of Ofelia's hard life.

The Art Direction is the star of the film: the crumbling gothic Labyrinth, the wild verdant forest, the orderly yet confining camp. It's a unique vision created by writer/director Guillermo Del Toro, who's become a master of such work.

The makeup job may get the Oscar for the creation of one of the scariest creatures I've ever witnessed on screen.This guy to my left. The Pale Man. Holy Shit, what an entrance, what a scene! The Pan character is also a wonder of prosthetics and mechanical gizmos that make his ear's twirl, and those reverse legs of his were not CGI. It was all makup and movie creativity.

The score is a melancholy blend of strings and flutes that fade in and out of the film. Scores are hard to analyze on just one viewing, but Pan's conveyed the emotions of the film. That's the point isn't it?

Pan may be the front runner in the foreign language category, simply because it'll be the most viewed here in America. It may also have a shot at the screenplay award. It's a perfect little story. And very tragic. But eternally memorable. A

Pan's Labyrinth recieved 6 nominations and it's first noms for everyone of the honored. So to Director/Screenwriter Guillermo del Toro, Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, Art Director Euginio Caballero, Set Decorator Pilar Revuelta, Makeup Artists David Marti and Montse Ribe, and Composer Javier Naverrete, welcome to the show.

IMHO: If any film I've yet seen deserved the Sound Editing award, it's this one. Pan had his own unique sound every time he moved, something like opening doors/sliding furniture/snapping twigs/creaking wooden floors. There were incredible sounds for the bugs/fairies, even the chalk made cool sounds. It was an aural feast. And sorely deserving the Oscar for Sound Editing.

Sprint to the Oscars - Letters From Iwo Jima

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

Letters From Iwo Jima
Nominated for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, and Sound Editing


Well into his 70's, Clint Eastwood is hitting his creative peak and keeps pumping out some of the best films of the decade. He may have directed his career film in Letters From Iwo Jima. Filmed in less then a month on the actual island of IwoJima after Eastwood shot his studio picture Flag of our Fathers, Letters seemed almost an afterthought, a bit of indulgence for Eastwood. He used an entirely new cast, and the film is mostly in Japanese. It's now widely regarded as the better of the two films and I'll call it one of the greatest war films ever made.
It's stark and beautiful. A simple , ugly island with no vegetation, but majestic rock formations , Eastwood shoots the films in a near colorless palette , which further gives it the feel of a classic war film. He explores the soldiers many responses to a hopeless battle, doubting the righteousness of their cause and the honesty of their leaders. The responsibility to country or to morality. And in my eyes he doesn't pass judgement. Some have called this film anti-American, but I don't see it. Both sides are portrayed evenly committing atrocities and showing compassion. It's war. It brings out the best and worst in humanity.
As far as Eastwood's directing, less is more. He avoids the Private Ryan-like chaotic carnage for more restrained but no less exciting battle scenes. (The exception is a gruesome scene where an officer decides the battle is hopeless and orders his men to honorably commit suicide with hand grenades. And they do. One by one.) There's only a few obvious computer effects, another reason this film feels so Old School.
The screenplay was very good, bringing a few tears to my eyes at times. I can't remember any spectacularly memorable examples of the Sound Editing, but sometimes they say it's doing it's best work if you don't notice it. (or is that NFL lineman?)
Letters From Iwo Jima instantly jumped into number 1 as the best film I've seen all year. It is destined to become one of the definitive films of World War II, along with Schindler's List, Bridge on the River Kwai, Saving Private Ryan, and Band of Brothers. Deserving of Best Picture or Director? I think so. I haven't seen the others yet. But Iwo Jima is an All-Time Classic. A

Director Clint Eastwood is a two-time Best Director, in 1993 for Unforgiven and 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. He was also nominated in 2004 for Mystic River.

The Screenwriters are Paul Haggis (winner in 2006 for Crash and nominated in 2004 for Mystic River) and Iris Yamashita who scores her first nomination with her first screenplay.

The Sound Editors are Alan Robert Murray (past nominations for 1985's Ladyhawk, 1989's Lethal Weapon 2, 1996's Eraser, 2000's Space Cowboys, and also nominated this year for Flags of Our Fathers) and his partner Bud Asman who also worked on Eraser, Space Cowboys, and Flags of Our Fathers.

The Oscar history of the three producers of this film are ridiculous. I'm only going to mention their past Best Picture Nominations. You got Clint Eastwood (Best Picture winners Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, nominated for Mystic River), Steven Spielberg (Best Picture winner for Schindler's List, nominations for E.T., The Color Purple, Saving Private Ryan, and Munich), and Robert Lorenz a co-producer on Mystic River.

IMHO: When will Ken Watanabe get some respect? This guy is one of the greatest actors EVER, yet Oscar noms continue to elude him. (he got a Supporting nod in 04 for the Last Samurai) His performance is awesome here as Iwo Jima's commander, General Kuribayashi. Strong, emotional, genial, furious... he really is pulled in every direction as an officer who knows he will never leave the island, yet believing that every day he holds out is another day he keeps American forces away from Japan. A legendary performance.

Sprint to the Oscars - Poseidon

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

Poseidon
Nominated for Best Visual Effects

This is not a typo. Poseidon is actually nominated for Best Visual Effects. The film that gave us such classic dialog as "I'm an architect. This boat was not designed to float upside-down." And "That's a pressurized hatch. It'll only open under tremendous pressure!" This movie is such total crap, it sullies the Oscars just to have to say "Poseidon" on Oscar night. You must suspend disbelief for a film like this, but this pushes your disbelief to the limits time and again.
As for the viz effects, their OK. Not spectacular. The first few minutes of the film is a fly by of the Poseidon (the ship) that's total CGI and looks good. But the sinking of the ship is weak. You never get a sense of humongousness of the ship rolling over like you did on Titanic. And the rogue wave that swamps the ship is nowhere as impressive as the one on The Perfect Storm (ironically delivered by the same director, Wolfgang Petersen). No chance this takes an Oscar home. D

This is the seventh nomination for visual effects genius John Frazier, who won in 2005 for Spider-Man 2 and was nominated for Twister, Armageddon, The Perfect Storm, Pearl Harbor and Spider-Man. He shares the nomination with first time honorees Boyd Shermis, Kim Libreri, and Chas Jarrett.

Sprint to the Oscars -An Inconvenient Truth

The Sneaky Cheetah continues his quest to see every nominated film before the Academy Awards!

An Inconvenient Truth
nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best Music (Original Song)


Everyone should see this film. If you take it's message to heart, it will change the way you live. I do know a few scientists (seriously!) that don't believe in global warming at all, but this film presents some overwhelming evidence that the planet is in trouble and we need to do something NOW! As far as a documentary, it's average. The best parts are a straight ahead presentation of Al Gore's Global Warming Power Point Presentation that he travels around the world showing to anyone who'll pay him. It's a great show. But a great documentary that does not make. The slide show is inter cut with vignettes about Gore's lifelong battle to get this message out. The film seriously drags when this happens. This is definitely something people should see to learn about, but I don't think this breaks any new ground as a documentary. I haven't seen any other docs nominated, but I'm sure a few of them are better works of the art of documentary film making.
It's also nominated for Best Song, "I Need to Wake Up", a Melissa Ethridge song played over the credits. It's a good song and fits the film, but 1 of the 3 Dreamgirls songs are gonna take this award. B

This is the first Academy Award nomination for director Davis Guggenheim and songwriter Melissa Ethridge.

Sprint to the Oscars - The Illusionist

I sacrificed some nap time to begin the quest this week. Took stock of what's available on DVD and jumped in!

The Illusionist
Nominated for Best Cinematography

I loved The Illusionist. A small film big on performance and style, it's probably better enjoyed on the small screen then the big. The story of Eisenhiem the Illusionist, an early 20th century magician (Ed Norton) in Prague who is reunited with his teenage love Sophie(Jessica Biel), now a duchess in a forced engagement with a cruel Austro-Hungarian Prince (Rufus Seawell). They plan to escape the Prince and his loyal Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti). There's great mystery, wondrous magic, and a few twists here, which makes this the best film I've seen this year, SO FAR! (I've still got a lot to see!)

It's up for a cinematography award and the look of the film is unique. It's color palate is sepia toned and there's occasionally black edges in the corners of the picture, along with some slow circular fades and wipes, all of which gives it an "old fashioned" feel. It's very effective and is never distracting, perfectly executed. A

This is the first Academy Award nomination for Cinematographer Dick Pope.

IMHO: Paul Giamatti deserved a Supporting Actor nod, as this is his best performance since Sideways. And he's been in a lot of pictures since then. I was starting to get tired of him a bit. You won me back Paul!

Sneaky Cheetah's SPRINT TO THE OSCARS 2007!

Oscar noms came out this week and, shocker, I haven't seen any of the Best Picture Noms. My Theater Viewing skills are hurting!
So I'm embarking on an undertaking so ambitious, the surgeon general slapped a warning on me as soon as I thought of it.

(drum roll please)

The Oscars are on Feb 25. I have ONE MONTH to see EVERY FILM NOMINATED! This is my mission and it started 2 days ago!

I figure I've seen 22 films this calender year and only 3 have scored Oscar nods.
Here's what I thought:

Cars
Nominated for Best Animated Film, Best Music (Original Song)


Cars is up against Happy Feet and Monster House. I figure it's the favorite because Pixar's last two films (The Incredibles and Finding Nemo) have won this cat and while Cars is not as strong as those two, it's in my top 5 films of the year (of what I've seen so far!). It's really funny and touching and I've seen it 4 times. Have I mentioned I live with a 3-year-old boy? It SHOULD win, but never underestimate the power of dancing penguins!
The Song is ok. It's "Our Town," the tearjerker played during flashbacks of Radiator Springs glory days. The music rocks as a whole on this, though. Any use of a Tom Cochrane song is to be praised! But i'm assuming 1 of the 3 songs from Dreamgirls will take this award.A

Director John Lasseter was also nominated for best animated film for Monsters, Inc, got a sceenplay nod for Toy Story, and won Best Animated Short in 1988 for Tin Toy.

"Our Town" was written by the immortal Randy Newman who has won only one Oscar, for Song from Monsters, Inc. That was after 13 other Song or Score nominations. The List: Ragtime, The Natural, Parenthood, Avalon, The Paper, Toy Story, James and the Giant Peach, Babe: Pig in the City, A Bug's Life, Pleasentville, and Meet the Parents.

IMHO: Cars deserved a cinematography award. It may not qualify since no actual cameras were used, but the shot composition was stunning. From the nascar-like races to the route 66 desert scenery, the visuals on this film were flat-out scrumtrelescent.


Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Nominated for Best Visual Effects, Art Direction, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing

Pirates 2 was a disappointment. It never seemed to get moving, seemed disjointed in it's plot devices, and expected us to gawk at Johnny Depp's performance and maybe we won't notice it's crappy. It was shot simultaneously as Pirates 3 and it shows. It feels like an unfinished film. Luckily for it, all that has nothing to do with it's nominations.
The VizEffects were done by about 10 different companies, including ILM. They were VERY impressive. The destruction of the ships by the Kraken, Davy Jones fishy crew and Jones himself, aided by a great performance from Bill Nighy are very strong. I think it's the favorite here.
The Art Direction was top notch also. Almost overdone at times. There's immense detail in the construction of the ships, especially The Flying Dutchman, and EVERYONE and EVERYTHING is so grimy and slimy, you can almost smell the fish and salt-water through the screen.
Sound editing is for Sound Effects. Cannons booming, swords clashing, that sort of stuff. It's a veritable smorgasbord of sound effects. It's just that kind of film. Big, Loud, Over the Top.
Sound mixing is the combining of the sound effects, voices, and music into the finished product. My 10 year old home audio system is not the best environment for this, so I'll be Canadian and say 'eh' to this cat. My memory of the sound mix was this: it's not memorable.B

The Visual Effects team is John Knoll (previous nominations for The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Curse of the Black Pearl), Hal T. Hickel (Curse of the Black Pearl), Charles Gibson (winner in 1996 for Babe, also worked on Black Pearl), and Allen Hall (winner in 1995 for Forrest Gump, nominated in 1992 for Backdraft and 1999 for Mighty Joe Young)

The Art Director is Rick Heinrichs (winner in 2000 for Sleepy Hollow, nominated in 2005 for A Series of Unfortunate Events). The Set Decorator is Cheryl Carasik (4 previous Oscar noms for 1996's A Little Princess,
1997's The Birdcage, 1998's Men In Black, and 2005's A Series of Unfortunate Events).

The Sound Editors are Christopher Boyes (winner as sound editor for Titanic and Pearl Harbor, nominated for Curse of the Black Pearl) and George Watters II (winner for The Hunt for Red October and Pearl Harbor, 5 nominations for Top Gun, Star Teak VI: The Undiscovered Country, Crimson Tide, Armageddon, and Curse of the Black Pearl).

The Sound Mixers are Paul Massey (4 noms for Legends of the Fall, Air Force One, Master and Commander and Walk the Line), Christopher Boyes, pulling double duty (oscar winner for mixing Return of the King and King Kong, nominated for mixing The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and Curse of the Black Pearl), and Lee Orloff (winner for mixing Terminator II: Judgement Day and 5 nominations for The Abyss, Geronimo: An American Legend, The Insider, The Patriot, and Curse of the Black Pearl).

Superman Returns
Nominated for Best Visual Effects

After I saw Superman Returns, I was gushing over it. After reflexion, I think that was from the mere experience of seeing Superman, and seeing it done better then the last one, with today's modern effects. It was ok, but could have been much, much more. Brandon Routh was a good Clark Kent, but an average Supes. Maybe because Supes had very little dialogue. He didn't say much. Just swooped in, TCB, swooped out. It's expected to see Kent stumble and bumble over Lois, but we don't want Superman to seem so obsessed. ANYWAY... the effects were good. The rescue of the Space Shuttle was the best Visual Effects scene of the year. Read that again. The best of the year. But the bullet to the eye was CHEESY. Chester Cheetah Cheesy. It's already being mocked in Epic Movie. So in a foot race, I'd say this is below Pirates in this cat. It had the best scene, but on a whole, it wasn't as consistent, and had no WOW scenes in the end. B

The Visual Effects guys who worked on Superman Returns are Mark Stetson (previously nominated in 1984 for the film 2010 and a winner in 2002 for The Fellowship of the Ring), Neil Corbould (winner in 2000 for Gladiator), Richard R. Hoover (nominated in 1999 for Armageddon), and Jon Thum (winner in 1999 for The Matrix)


I've already started my quest by viewing The Illusionist (Cinematography) and An Inconvenient Truth (Documentary Feature, Song) this week. I'll post reviews in the coming days. Wish me luck and if anyone will offer their baby sitting services, I'll accept. GODSPEED! and MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME!

The Sneaky Cheetah