Trailer Trippin'

After veiwing a couple of trailers this morning for "Reservation Road," and "The Kite Runner." I ask myself, am I having flashbacks to last year or what? I feel like I just saw two sister films for "Little Children" and "Babel."

Am I wrong? Or does anyone else out there feel the same?

Check out the trailer for "Reservation Road"


I don't think that this will get much Oscar buzz other than acting, maybe for Ruffalo. I think that too much is given away in this, and right away it reminded me of 'Little Children,' which was a much better tailer by the way, and just like little children this will also not be seen by enough people, the story is a turn off, and I think that's why they leave the gun shot in the trailer at the end, to give us that,'something's-gonna-happen-thing, but-to-who?


and the for the "Kite Runner" at Yahoo movies

This is the much better story but again its about a world that is not viewed as desireable. This is because we live in the Bush era of everything that is middle eastern is vile and we must beware the evil-doers who wear turbins. It will need the critics push and those who have read and love the book to go see the film and say that Marc Foster did a good job. This is going on my reading list, though.

Trailer Talk

Well I just caught the trailers for "Things We Lost in the Fire" and "Beowulf." I have to say that "Things" does look like huge Oscar bait, it looks like a three hankie film, which sometimes does not go over well with critics, i.e. "Regin Over Me." I know I will be looking forward to it, and I will have to remember to bring tissue. I do like when Del Toro plays the strong silent type. Now "Beowulf," looks like "300," (which I loved) but the question is it animated or real or what, something more like "A Scanner Darkly" I think. The thing I hate about this is that it's directed by Robert Zemeckis, whom I'm not too fond of. He is really is a hit and miss director. But the look of the film is very promising.

What to Think

While I am anxiously awaiting for my Harry Potter book to arrive, I've been checking out what I will be missing at the theatre this weekend. I can't believe the numbers for "Hairspray," Rotten Tomatoes has it a 94% tonight. I don't know when or if, I will get the chance to see it though. For the second time this summer a group of films that were only limited releases have made it to the Valley. I am so looking forward to catching a couple of them once I've finished reading my book. Hopefully later this week I can catch "Sicko," and "The Lives of Others." I would now also like to add "Hairspray." I think we will all have to consider what Oscar bait to cast for "Hairspray," although I will wait to make up my mind after I've seen the film.

It's been a long time since we've done three movies in a week, I remember those fond days when we would do three films in a day. (sigh)
And don't forget next week, "The Simpsons," "Sunshine," and "Rescue Dawn." I think its time to take a second vacation.

Movie Notes " Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"

I am so disappointed with the latest Harry Potter film, I feel so sorry for those of you who have not read the book, because you will be truly lost. This was the worst directed, the worst adaptation and the worst acted to date. How could they make the longest book in the series the shortest movie? That should have been my first clue. I was worried that a man who had never directed a big theatrical film before was a mistake and my worries were realized. Where was the direction? Where was the plot? The look of the film was not any different from what we know of the world of Harry Potter from the past four films. What truly worries me is that the fine plot points that were left out, are intricate to the plot in the next book/film, I don't how Steve Koves is going to fix that. I am puzzled as to why the screenwriter would leave certain things out and then put in scenes that were not in the book. I am both glad and sad that the screenwriter is not coming back for the sixth book, but I am deeply worried that this means the death of a movie franchise that should have been getting better not worse. What this film series needs is a director who can handle the mature change that the story has gone through. I did not like the first couple of books and I actually knotted off during the first film, which I was reluctant to go to. But, I have become a big fan, as the films got better my appreciation of the books grew and grew. I do prefer the books to the films, they can't compare.

Lust Caution Trailer

There is not much to get excited about lately except new movie trailers, and here is a brilliant one, that comes out in September. If it doesn't open wide and if the much delayed construction of the Alamo Drafthouse ever opens, I have no idea of when or if I will get to see this, so I will eat up this trailer and savior.

The Trailer for "No Country for Old Men"

AWESOME! This is one of my most anticipated films this year. And it looks so promising.

Trailer News

I've watched the trailers for "I Am Legend," "30 Days of Night," and "Invasion." I know that we are not going to see Will Smith in another scifi flick again, ever! And I'm not a big fan of Nicole Kidmans either, so that is a maybe. 30 Days sounded interesting before I saw the trailer, then I freaked, what the hell is Josh Hartnet doing in this, I had no idea he was in it, well that just put the kabosh on that film, it had better get good reviews before I fork over seven bucks. The horror mag Rue Morgue said it was their most anticipated film this year, but we will have to wait and see.

BAD/SAD movie news

It is reported that Steve Martin is to reprise his role as Inspector Jacques Clouseau in, now get this ... "Pink Panther 2." Isn't that just the most creative title you've ever heard? I had been a fan of his since seeing him on "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" and listening to his "Wild and Crazy Guy" album, which I still have by the way. But for about the last ten years the funny has left Mr. Martin and so has this fan. The last film we paid to go and see was 1999's "Bowfinger." Which by the way was, I thought a nice turn for Eddie Murphy as well. I love his work in the 70's and 80's and one or two films from the 90's but come on does anyone still think that this guy is funny? It just makes me sad.

American Gangster Trailer

These two performances don't strike me as impressive, I mean I don't see anything that I havn't seen from these guys before

The 'Michael Clayton" trailer

This looks a little like, and reminds me of "The Insider," directed by Michael Mann, the role Russell Crowe should have won for. Now, that was based on a true story, while this is not. I don't even know who directed this. I will guess that if the best actor field is weak this year, Geogre Clooney may have a chance at a nomination, but only if he get raves, I don't think thats likely at all, not the raves, but a nomination. Although, it looks like Tom Wilkinson may end up in my top ten supporting actors for the year.

Damn!

That John Rambo footage is bloody as hell. I don't know if I want to see this, not because of the bloody carnage, but it looks pretty stupid. Stallone is way too old for this shit.

I need a movie BAD, this is a tuff week...

and month, and the next dosen't too easy either. Any suggestions?

And now for something different?

My visits to the local cinemas has been scarce these last few months. But I have very good reasons, 1)I'm training three days a week for a CTF National Tae Kwon Do Championship tournament in June, 2)My favorite theatre the old Cine El Rey in downtown McAllen has been hosting live stage shows and not films. And now I've learned that a new potential owner is leasing the historic theatre, he has already begun renovations and there has not been any films shown for over a month now. He says that he intends to continue to show movies, but I know how hard it was to get the films that we have become accustomed to seeing there. So, I doubt he will stay true to his word. Oh, I don't doubt that the Cine del Sol film festival will still show films there this fall, but the local community college film club, that I doubt. And the 3rd reason that I haven't gone to the movies since the weekend that "Hot Fuzz" came out is because of what was offered here. There really is not a film that we are willing to spend more than twenty dollars on, I mean come on a teenage/thriller/remake, Tony Hopkins in the trailer for "Fracture" looks a little too much like Hannibal the Cannibal, so the ending is a dead give away, even if he didn't kill his wife. Another comedy from Will Farrell? Well, yeah, I would still like to see that. On another note, the now infamous 'Spider-Man' weekend went by, and so did my chances to see it. We stayed home and watched "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny" on DVD. The amount of money that 'Spider-Man' made just discuss me no end and I'm glad I was not apart of that, but don't get me wrong they are going to get my money, I do want to see it despite the reviews.

So, look for the summer movies that I plan to see and the ones I wish I could see. And I've got more updates on my Oscar predictions for the 80th Academy Awards comming soon.

Movie Notes "Hott Fuzz"

"Well, I wouldn't argue that is was a no holes, barred, adrenalin fuelled thrill ride. But, there is no way you can perpetrate that amount of carnage and mayhem and not incur a considerable amount of paperwork."

This was one of my most antisipated films of the year, and it was worth the wait. This is the way movie spoofs should be made. And what a great spoof, cop films, action films and oh, the gore! I espicaly liked the way it is sort of a reworking of "The Wicker Man." I didn't get that at first until the credits were rolling and I caught the name, Edward Woodward. My husband pointed out how this was "The Wickerman," where the cop wins in the end. This was so much fun. These are funny guys. I hope they make more films together, I will be there.

Cannes!

I was checking out the films that will be shown in Cannes this year, and I was quite surprised that I have already seen two of these films, "Zodiac" and "Death Proof," I'm shocked, that has never happend before. Normally I don't get to see any of these films usless they become huge successes. I am looking forward to someday seeing the following films:

"My Blueberry Nights," Hong Kong-France-China, Wong Kar Wai (the opener)
"The Age of Darkness," Canada, Denys Arcand (the closing film)
"Breath," South Korea, Kim Ki-duk
"No Country For Old Men," U.S., The Coen Brothers
"Paranoid Park," France-U.S., Gus Van Sant
"We Own the Night," U.S., James Gray
"Persepolis," France-U.S., Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

and the rest of the competition:

"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," Romania, Cristian Mungiu
"Alexandra," Russia, Alexander Sokurov
"Auf der anderen Seite des Lebens," Germany-Turkey, Fatih Akin
"The Banishment," Russia-Belgium, Andrey Zvyagintsev
"Les Chansons d'amour," France, Christophe Honore
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," France, Julian Schnabel
"Import/Export," Austria, Ulrich Seidl
"The Man From London," Germany-France-U.K.-Hungary, Bela Tarr
"Mogari No Mor," Japan, Naomi Kawase
"Promise Me This," France-Serbia, Emir Kusturica
"Secret Sunshine," South Korea, Lee Chang-dong
"Silent Light," Mexico-France-Netherlands, Carlos Reygadas
"Tehilim," France, Raphael Nadjari
"Une Vieille Maitresse," France, Catherine Breillat

Movie Notes "GRINDHOUSE!"

what can I say?
It was silly, stupid, bad, funny, sometimes really bad (QT's cameos), and yet I had a good time. It was like going back in time. Not that I actually got see those kinds of movies, but I grew up in a small town with four theatres, two showed the latest "Hollywood" films, one was a Spanish theatre, where I saw Mexican wrestler films and Cantinflas' films and the other was what we call today the second run/dollar theater where there was a double feature every week. What I remember about grindhouse type films from the late seventies were the previews, though not as wild as those featured with Planet Terror and Death Proof, I do have a clear memory for the double feature of Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. I also remember being terrified of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre trailer and wishing I could actually watch the karate films that were previewed. Alas I was sheltered as a child, had it not been for the invention of VHS tape, I would have remained a cinematic innocent. Oh the depravity of living in a small town with nothing to do but go to the local video store every weekend where I could rent all the films that I never got to see as a kid.

Of the two films I did like Death Proof more, the car chase scenes did it for me, Zoe Bell was amazing, but during the first half of the film I was so begging for the inane dialogue to end it was boring as hell. Oh, and thank God Quentin was only really in this film for a brief cameo. He pretty much ruined Planet Terror for me, I wish he would stay the hell away from the front of the camera. This film was nothing special, other than to see Jeff Fahey and Michael Biehn again that was cool. But even the soundtrack was lame, just the same old shit. The fake trailers were fantastic. I loved that they were actually directed by Rob Zombie and Eli Roth, though I liked "Werewolf Women of the SS" the most.

I was checking out lists of "grindhouse' films on line the other day and I was surprised that I actually have some of these titles at home like: Ilsa - She Wolf of the SS, Sex and Fury, Vampyros Lesbos, Dawn of the Dead, The Streetfighter and nine other Sonny Chiba films, and films that I actually got to see in a theatre like Zombie by Lucio Fulci.

Everyone has been adding their two cents about why this failed at the box office, and frankly I wasn't that suprised because of the weekend they chose to release it puzzled me no end, what the hell were they thinking? A three hour film during easter weekend, yeah the weather was bad here, but it was wet-cold-stay-at-home weather. So we saw it later during the week, and I watched as a group of people down from us got up to leave after the first film was over, like they had no idea that they paid for more. They are going to be released again sepratley? Yeah, like I'm really going to pay to see them agian. No way I got screwed when I bought Sin City right away and then felt ripped off when another dvd was released later. I'm not giving those two more money than I have too.

50 Films to Look For

Here is a list of 50 films that I think have a good shot at a nomination for best picture, of course I could also be wrong and none of these will make it. But I will bet that out of these there will be four of them that get a nomination.

Charlie Wilson’s War
The Kite Runner
American Gangster
Youth Without Youth
Lions for Lambs
Eastern Promises
Sweeny Todd
There Will Be Blood
Lust, Caution
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Brave One
In the Valley of Elah
Reservation Road
No Country for Old Men
My Blueberry Nights
Rescue Dawn
The Darjeeling Limited
Goya’s Ghost
Before the Devil Knows Your Dead
I’m Not There
Across the Universe
Into the Wild
Rendition
Margot at the Wedding
The Assassination of Jesse James
Love in the Time of Cholera
Closing the Ring
The Feast of Love
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
Things We Lost in the Fire
Atonement
In Bloom
Margaret
The Golden Age
Beowulf
A Mighty Heart
Nothing is Private
His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass
An American Crime
The Savages
King of California
Away From Her
Evening
Gone, Baby, Gone
Leatherheads
Silk
The Children of Huang Shi
Stardust
Michael Clayton
The Hoax

My first film of 2007

Zodiac was the worth the wait. Ah, finnally Fincher gave us a thrid act, well done! If you don't know that the Zodiac killer was never caught, then you will walk away unsatisfied and you are a moron.
Most defiantly the best true crime drama that I can remember. I don't know maybe since In Cold Blood. I know usually when i see a film about unsolved true crime stories I am left wanting a better conclusion, yes, yes I know they never caught the guy, but... I want closer, and when we are given a possible conclusion to what probably happened I am left unsatisfied and full of more questions as to why the writer and director went with that conclusion. When ficional elements are introduced to move the plot or give us character development it subtracts substance from the story and it ultimately fails the true crime and the victums. David Fincher stayed well away from adding fictional elements to the story or go the other route and shorten the telling in a nice, neat and tidy little way, you know and turn it into the TV thriller of the week. He stuck to the story and it draws you in and won't let go.
I was particuarlly impressed the attention to detail, the period setting in a time that I grew up in was a very uniqe experience to watch on screen (all except Gyllenhaal's Levis shirt with the little red tag - wrong era.) I have no complaints with this film, just when I felt that the story had run out of gas we were taken in a different direction and it was worth the ride and the almost two and a half hours. I was so happy to see Anthony Edwards again and in fine form also Charles Fleishcer, I've always liked that guy, and he creeped me out!

My Oscar Night post - how I did

ART DIRECTION/SET DECORATION
The Winner: Pan's Labyrinth
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
Who else?

MAKEUP
The Winner: Pan's Labyrinth
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
Yeah! Pan’s is on its way.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
The Winner: The Danish Poet
My Predicted Winner: The Little Matchgirl
My Alternate: The Danish Poet
Well this is my first miss.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
The Winner: West Bank Story
My Predicted Winner: West Bank Story

SOUND EDITING/EFFECTS
The Winner: Letters from Iwo Jima
My Predicted Winner: Letters from Iwo Jima

SOUND MIXING/DESIGN
The Winner: Dreamgirls
My Predicted Winner: Dreamgirls

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
The Winner: Alan Arkin
My Predicted Winner: Murphy
My Alternate: Alan Arkin
The first and biggest surprise of the evening.

ANIMATED FEATURE
The Winner: Happy Feet
My Predicted Winner: Cars
My Alternate: Happy Feet
This was a very, very happy surprise.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Winner: The Departed
My Predicted Winner: The Departed

COSTUME DESIGN
The Winner: Marie Antoinette
My Predicted Winner: Dreamgirls
My Alternate: The Curse of the Golden Flower
The Dark Horse: Marie Antoinette
Again, I missed another one here; I should have stuck with Marie Antoinette, which was my favorite choice.
Yeah, Dreamgirls didn’t get it!

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Winner: Pan's Labyrinth
My Predicted Winner: Children of Men
My Alternate: Pan’s Labyrinth
The third big surprise of the night, only a disappointment because I missed it. I started figuring out here that Pan’s could walk away tonight with the most awards.

VISUAL EFFECTS
The Winner: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
My Predicted Winner: Pirates of the Caribbean 2

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Winner: The Lives of Others
My Predicted Winner: Pan’s Labyrinth
My Alternate: The Lives of Others
I feel so bad now; did I jinx it and spoke too soon? Now I really have to see The Lives of Others.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
The Winner: Jennifer Hudson
My Predicted Winner: Hudson

SHORT SUBJECT
The Winner: The Blood of Yingzhou District
My Predicted Winner: The Blood of Yingzhou District

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
The Winner: An Inconvenient Truth
My Predicted Winner: An Inconvenient Truth

ORIGINAL SCORE
The Winner: Babel
My Predicted Winner: The Queen
My Alternate: Pan’s Labyrinth
The Dark Horse: Babel
Again, only my second big miss of the night. And I’m not happy about it. Sadly I think this will be the only win for Babel.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
My Predicted Winner: Little Miss Sunshine

ORIGINAL SONG
The Winner: An Inconvenient Truth
My Predicted Winner: “Listen” from “Dreamgirls”
My Alternate: An Inconvenient Truth
I can't tell you how happy I was that Dreamgirls lost. I was screaming.

FILM EDITING
The Winner: The Departed
My Predicted Winner: Babel
My Alternate: The Departed
Again, I should stick to my origianl picks sometimes.

BEST ACTRESS
The Winner: Helen Mirren
My Predicted Winner: Mirren
But of course.

BEST ACTOR
The Winner: Forest Whitaker
My Predicted Winner: Whitaker
The only performance of the five I've seen. He was scary.

BEST DIRECTOR
The Winner: Martin Scorsese
My Predicted Winner: Scorsese
I don’t remember a more nerve racking moment in all my years of watching this show. I was so afraid he wouldn’t win.

BEST PICTURE
The Winner: The Departed
My Predicted Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
My Alternate: The Departed
I took a chance this year and went with a hunch. I underestimated the Hollywood affection for Marty.
What I learned? Forget hunches, go with the consensus and your gut, and remember the curse of the Spirit Awards and THE FORMULA.

I didn’t do so great this year with my predictions only 14/24 (56%), but counting my alternates I got 22/24 (if only).

Maybe next year will remember this year’s lessons …. NOT!

Join in the competition

Hey wanna see if you can beat me? Check out these contests.

Offical Oscar.com Contest
PredictTheOscars.com
Oscar Pick 'Em, efilmcritic
The Road to Gold, The Envelope
Daily Press
FilmGuru.net
Oscarwatch's 8th Annual Predict the Oscar Contest
Box Office Mojo
Beat the Crowd
Film Fluff
movies.com
Oscar World Open - this is my favorite, I finished among the top ten last year, and I finished third the year before that.