ONCE

Continuing the Sneaky Cheetah's monstrous quest to see every Oscar nominated film before February 24th!

Nominated for Best Original Song (Falling Slowly)

Every year a small indie film comes along and blows me away. This year, it's Once. And it's a musical. Sort of. Set in Ireland, it's the story of a lonely guy (a street performing singer-songwriter vacuum cleaner repairman) who meets a lonely girl (a pianist music lover with a broken vacuum cleaner). The film is so good, the performances are so nuanced, the writing so natural, that at times I forget it's a movie at all and not a documentary. The Guy and Girl (they aren't named in the film) begin to connect in a magical scene as they collaborate on a song in an instrument store. As a musician myself (retired musician I guess), this scene really touched me. It's such a special thing when people begin to connect and create music, some of the greatest moments of my life actually. And it's perfectly captured here. Most of the film is set to song, either the characters listening to them or performing them. But the film wouldn't work if the songs weren't good. Well, they're Damn Good! I'm going to get the soundtrack today. What also helps the realism of the film is the Guy and Girl aren't actors, they're real musicians. And also a real couple. Glen Hansard plays The Guy and he's also the singer/guitarist for Irish rockers The Frames (which writer/director John Carney was also a member). It's also the first acting role for The Girl, Marketa Irglova and the two actually fell in love during the filming and despite their age difference (as of this writing he's 37, she's 19), they're still a couple and recording music together. You can't make this shit up! The song Falling Slowly is also nominated for a Grammy and in my opinion a lock to win the Oscar. I loved this film, and it's in my top ten list. A must see for musicians, music lovers and romantics.

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: A

EASTERN PROMISES

Continuing the Sneaky Cheetah's hopeless quest to see every Oscar nominated film before showtime!

Eastern Promises' Viggo Mortensen is nominated for Best Actor.

This film feels like The Sopranos:London via Ukraine. That's a complement. It's one of the best mob films in years. It's a small scale film, the opposite of an epic, concentrating on a few characters and barely touching on setting and extraneous character development. It's set in London but London is not a character. This film could be set in any Old World city. There's a bare minimum of back story on these characters. You're plopped down into the middle of their lives and the film takes off from there. It's intense from the first scene and doesn't let up. The cast is great all around, and I always forget how good Naomi Watts is. As for Viggo, he probably got the nod for his total commitment to his role, as demonstrated in the famous naked fight in the bathhouse scene. Viggo insisted on literally letting it all hang out for this brutal sequence. Besides that he does a great Russian accent, but I don't think his character is complete enough to win the Oscar. There's not enough conflict to his actions. Overall a very good film that opens up a view into the ultra violent "Mob World" that seemingly exists in all big cities, and dares us, as it does Watts' character, to enter and survive.

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: A

This is Mortensen's first Oscar nomination (though he should have gotten a nod for The Two Towers or Return of the King!).

ATONEMENT

Continuing the Sneaky Cheetah's futile quest to see every Oscar nominated film in the next month!

Nominated for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Art Direction/Set Decoration, Costumes, and Score.

Atonement is a tale of a lie spoken by a young girl about her sister's lover that sends him to jail and eventually World War II, and the steps she takes to atone for that sin.

Before anything else, let me talk about "the shot" and if you've seen the film and have any awareness about camera movement and editing, you know what I'm talking about. Halfway into the film we are treated to a near 5 minute uninterrupted tracking shot (or steadycam shot, whatever you want to call it) of the beaches of Dunkirk, crowded with thousands of British soldiers waiting to be evacuated from France. It's truly one of the greatest single shots I've ever seen. About 30 seconds into it I realized what was happening and just sat in amazement at the scope, beauty and choreography of the shot. That was the high point of the film. (Though there is a nice twist at the end.) Don't get me wrong, this is a really good film, I don't know about Best Picture good. It starts in a lazy, happier time (pre WWII) when rich British kids just sat around the castle, writing plays and laying in the grass. It's got a meandering pace which serves the story, and crucial events are replayed differently from the point of view of different characters. It's effective though a few times they actually used a rewind like effect which is kind of hacky. Besides the aforementioned shot, the WWII scenes are underwhelming, I suppose intentionally to not turn this into a war film, but the carnage of the hopital scenes are intense.

The cinematography is beautiful as are the costumes and sets, Atonement could take any of those awards. It should definitely win for Original score, as composer Dario Marianelli uses typewriter sounds as a main component of the score, as well as weaving Sound events from the movie (water dripping, an umbrella striking a car) into the percussion of the score. It's pure genius. But it won't win Best Picture or Supporting Actress. Saoirse Ronan got the nomination for portraying Briony Tallis, age 13, but I was more impressed with Romola Garai, captivating as Briony age 18.

This was a very good movie, but a lot off it seemed familiar. Nothing specific but I feel like I've seen this film a few times before.

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: B


Best Picture: Producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner were previously nominated for Elizabeth (1998). This is producer Paul Webster's first nomination.

Screenwriter Christopher Hampton took home an Oscar for adapting Dangerous Liaisons in 1998.

This is the first nomination for 14 year old Saoirse Ronan (Best Supporting Actress) and Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey.

Art Director Sarah Greenwood, Set Decorator Katie Spencer, and Costume Designer Jacqueline Durran were all previously nominated for Pride and Prejudice (2005), as was Dario Marianelli for composing the score.

RATATOUILLE

Continuing the Sneaky Cheetah's futile quest to see every Oscar nominated film!

Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film, Original Screenplay, Sound, Sound Editing, and Score

Pixar has carte blanche in my mind by now. All they make are fantastic films (8 for 8 with no stinkers!) Ratatouille keeps the streak alive. But it is a little different then traditional Pixar, as it's the baby of Brad Bird, who also did the Incredibles. Pixar's other features are the spawn of John Lasseter (Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug's Life and Cars), Pete Doctor (Monsters inc.) and Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) all of whom have been at Pixar since day one, and have worked in various ways on each other's films. Consequently, they all tend to be more kid friendly then Bird's films. Bird visits more adult themes, less of the big laugh punch lines. He really makes great movies that just happen to be animated. This films is smart and tight, never pandering down to it's presumably young audience. It's part screwball comedy, part action, part romance, but mostly a drama that just happens to star a rat. It has great pacing that develops a rich supporting cast and you won't recognize it's non french vocal cast as they effortlessly pull off various french accents. Once again the bar is raised on quality animation, most evident on the trio of rats-eye-view chase scenes. Every shot is chock full of detail, really it's visual eye candy at it's best. The film is in my top five of the year so far and deserves serious consideration in every category it's nominated in.

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: A

As writer and director, this is Brad Bird's 3rd and 4th Oscar Nomination. He won Best Animated Feature and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay in 2004 for The Incredibles.

Best Sound: This is Randy Thorn's 10th nom for Best Sound. He won in 1983 for The Right Stuff and was nominated for Return of the Jedi (1983), Never Cry Wolf (1983), Backdraft (1991), Forrest Gump (1994), Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004) and The Incredibles (2004). Michael Semanick has two Oscars for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and King Kong (2005). He was also nominated for The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Two Towers (2002). This is Doc Kane's fourth nomination following Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Incredibles (2004).

Best Sound Editing: Randy Thorn is in on this one too, though his Sound Editing resume is not quite as impressive. He won for The Incredibles (2004) and was nominated for Forrest Gump (1994), and The Polar Express (2004). Michael Silvers shares that Oscar for The Incredibles and was also nominated for Monsters Inc. (2001), and Finding Nemo (2003).

Best Original Score: Written by Michael Giacchino, this is his first Academy Award nomination.

Race to the Oscars Preshow!

Its Oscar time, folks, and I’m going to try to repeat my Race to the Oscar blogs as I did last year. A whopping 45 different films received nominations this year, of which I’ve seen 7. Only 7 others are currently available on DVD with 7 more to be release between now and Oscar Night (Feb 24, I think) SO…I’ll knock out 21 films and try to at least see the Best Pic noms in theaters. Just goes to show you how weighted the nominations are with current films and a lot of earlier releases get screwed. I think the best film to be screwed this year was Zodiac, a film I absolutely loved but received no love from the Academy, and how can 300 not get a visual effects nomination? That’s lunacy. A writing nomination for Judd Apatow was deserved for either Knocked Up or Superbad, take your pick (THE great debate of 07: Knocked Up or Superbad?) Anyway, reviews and analysis will follow soon, all of which you may shamelessly plagiarize and use to impress your friends around the water cooler. Stay Tuned!

CLOVERFIELD

The Cheetahdude is back baby, trying to knock some dust off the ol' keyboard in time for the upcoming Race to the Oscars, Part DEAUX!

I got hooked with some passes for a sneak preview of Cloverfield last night. For almost a year I've been anticipating this film, I think it's first trailer debuted during last year's Superbowl. It's grainy home video footage of some guy's going away party in New York, and then the shit hits the fan in the biggest way. Maybe one of the greatest trailers ever. It's produced by JJ Abrams, the genius behind Lost, that fact alone got me into the theater.

First let me warn you: This is not a conventional film. It's Blair Witch on roids. It's entirely some guy's video camera found in Central Park after some event called "cloverfield." It's a gimmicky style, but the filmmakers commit to it. There's no cheating for the viewers benefit. You see nothing but what the guy holding that camera saw (his name is Hud, and after having the unwanted task of documenting the party thrust upon him, he continues documenting the frighting events that follow). There are no scientists explaining why this is happening, no generals planning a counter attack, no president solemnly saying "and may God help us all." Just video of some twenty somethings running around New York as it gets ripped to shreds by this (I'm not gonna spoil it) creature. That may turn off the average movie goer, but I think it's a great take on a story that's been told many times before. There are thrills, surprises, and some "Oh Shit!'s*" The actors are unknowns but their characters are interesting enough that you care and want them to survive.

Visually, the film is fantastic. The destruction of New York looks so real and on a few scenes I found myself actually wondering how they blended a crowd of stampeding New Yorkers with the destruction occurring around them while shooting it on a bouncy hand held digicam (and I KNOW how they do that shit!). Great work by the visual effects team and the editor.

My only knock is it perhaps borrows too much from the films that have come before (Godzilla and Aliens in particular)

If you can take the artistic direction this film uses and accept it as a "different" kind of film, then it is a must see on a big screen. If shaky camerawork makes you sick, stay away.


The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: B+



*"Oh Shit!'s" - a moment in a film so startling or frightening that it causes some mentally challenged audience member to yell out "Oh Shit!" during a movie.