Movie Marque Mashups

Here's a Flash of Genius for How to Loose Friends and Alienate People, it's Blindness, which is needed to for Beverly Hills Chihuahua. What's on Nick & Nors's Infinite Playlist, An American Carol; but Appaloosa is Forever Stong.

I can't remember the last time, if ever that eight movies opened around here on the same day. Mind bottling.

It's about Oscar Time

This site is called Oscar in the Valley, and you know it should probably be called something else now but, I can't think of what right now.
Anyway, I have been keeping track of what films are in play or could be in contention for Oscar this year, in fact I actually have quite a list going back to late June. But now that fall has begun it's the season for award watching to offically begin, for those of us who may not have anything better to do.
So, here are my predictions for October where the best picture is concerned.
BEST MOTION PICTURE
Most Likely
The Curious Case of … (Paramount Pictures) - my personal fav
Frost/Nixon (Universal Pictures) - looks good, but I don't like R.Howard
Milk (Focus Features) - looks very good, looking forward to it.
Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) - very, very interested
Revolutionary Road (Paramount Pictures) - I've come around a little, still sounds boring
Runners Up
Changeling (Universal Pictures) - looking forward to seeing this
Australia (20th Century Fox) - I don't know, I love Baz, but hate Kidman
Doubt (Miramax Films) - Anyone need acting lessons, watch this! Fantastic Streep!
The Soloist (Dreamworks) - looks interesting, I don't like Foxx
The Dark Knight (Warner Bros.)- yeah, like this has chance, I don't think so.
Dark Horses
The Road (MGM) - I love Viggo!
The Reader (The Weinstein Co)- I like WWII pics, and I love Kate.
Che (Focus Features) - I don't know ...
Happy-Go-Lucky (Miramax)- I love the trailer, and Mike Leigh
The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight)- Yeah! A comeback.
Longshots
Wall*E (Disney)- I really loved this.
Body of Lies (Warner Bros.)- I don't know, looks more like a Tony Scott film.
Defiance (Paramount Vantage)- I like WWII films, but Zwick messes up the ending of his films
Gran Torino (Warner Bros.)- don't much about this, other than its Clint and that's good
Valkyrie (MGM)- I like WWII films, but I hate Tom!

Vicki Christina Barcelona

My advice...my most humble advice. You should wait for the DVD release and then only watch the scenes with Penelope Cruz. Woody writing about love is similar to me writing about ballet, we each have a passing interest but completely without any understanding. Love to him is beautiful to look at but he understands it as well as he understands .... . Cruz steals the movie and her scenes show just how pedestrian the rest of the movie is. Love is both the punch in the nose and the kiss on the cheek.

Stupid.....stupid...stupid...

Hollywood is stupid. No good films come from the inbred plagaristic parasites without imagination. Do we need a 20 years in the making sequel to Lost Boys? Do we need a remake of Sisters? Do we need them to mess up the lovely reading experience of Watchmen? I say NO! What we need is some art in Hollywood or at least some passion. What about integrity? I ask for too much. Frak. Does anyone remember when Hollywood was where art and commerce met? Me neither. I am not sure that art is ever let out of the closet. Art is locked away like the secret inbred child that can never show it's face. LONG LIVE ART... may we see it one day.

Act III of Dr. Horrible - Tomorrow

Have you checked out Joss Wheldon's new thing? "Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog" at www.drhorrible.com
It is harlious and the songs are quite catchy.
I can't wait to see if he makes it into the Evil League of Evil.
If you haven't seen it, you've got to check it out.

Protect your material or abandon it

Alan Moore is correct. Hollywood destroys all source material that it touches. We love your book. We would like to make a movie of it. Can we have the rights? Great. Now we are going to change the plot, the names, and the ending but keep the title. Hope you don't mind although we do own the rights. How often have you read a book and fell in love with it. The kind of book you return to every couple of years. The kind of book that you give to friends (or loan to friends...knowing full well that they won't return it). You hear that it is going to be a movie directed by X (any big name director of famous director) . You sigh with relief as there is no way that you beloved book will be frakked up for the big screen. You buy tickets opening day. You get there early and actually buy the over priced crud because your favorite book is going to become your favorite movie. The movie opens and immediately you sense something is wrong. Wait. No. No. All wrong. How can they change the sex of a character. Wait...... No...Stop it. The central theme is not about X but rather about Y. There are no guns in the book. Why is Sean Connery killing a vampire? Oh. You can hear all the love for your book is slowly leaking out your ears... No one will ever believe you that it was truly a great book... I mean what a frakking bad movie. How could that ever have been a great book? You leave the movie with hatred in your heart. How could the author allow this to happen? Okay he had no control over the movie...but he has a producer credit. He has been out there promoting the movie.....STUPID WHORE. What is next? "Catcher in the Rye" as a musical scored by Britney Spears? I can count on one hand the good adaptations and I refuse to count the bad ones... as I long gave up trying to count to infinity.

Authors! Once you sell you soul to the big screen then you should take your name off. The title should stand on it's own. This way if it sucks then you aren't to blame. Don't get caught in the greedy little Hollywood game. Better yet....don't sell your soul to the devil. Protect your work. Make them come up with their own stories..

...no offense offered to Sean Connery. WE LOVE CONNERY.

Sad news today - RIP Geogre Carlin

The first thing to pop up on my screen this morning was the news that George Carlin had passed away last night. My first reaction was disbelief and great sadness. I was furthered saddened that I could only relay this news to my husband, who also holds George Carlin is high esteem, everyone else only remembers him for the last few film appearances he made and that Bill & Ted movie. Now that is truly sad. Lucky for us Will and I got a chance to see him in concert about five or six years ago, and we actually didn't have to far. I have great pictures from about the sixth row center. I will miss him dearly. And I will look forward to hearing him honored with the Mark Twain award and the Kennedy Center honors later this year. Cheers!

New Movie/DVD Warning

I recently bought the dvd of Toyoda Shiro's Portrait of Hell. I have read about this film for years and came across a copy at Half Price Books. I was fairly excited to find it and quickly read the back of the box. The film was written by Akutagawa Ryunoskuke. Please excuse my ignorance but I am not quite sure the correct way to present Japanese names in English. There is the warning at the bottom of the box.

"Warning: Contains Violence, Philosophy"

I am unsure of how to continue after this warning. Skip the violence part but, Warning:Philosophy!

Okay I recognize that philosophy may not be for everyone and many people try to ignore the subject/genre/art completely but a warning about philosophy on a dvd box. This leaves me dumbfounded. Since I do not have anything to say....then perhaps it is time for me to say no more.

MIIKE

Long Live MIIKE. Hollywood stay away!
Miike

For Will - Sukiyaki Western Django

• MTV
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This is soooooo coool!

Oscars '08 Summary Song

From Crackle: Oscars '08 Summary Song

Oscar Nominated films that I have not seen are:

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – this film never opened around here
Enchanted
American Gangster
Away from Her – this film never opened around here
Gone Baby Gone
Into the Wild – this film never opened around here
Lars and the Real Girl – this film never opened around here
The Savages – this film never opened around here
The Kite Runner
Persepolis – this film never opened around here
Surf's Up
Norbit
August Rush
Beaufort – this film never opened around here
The Counterfeiters – this film never opened around here
Katyn – this film never opened around here
Mongol – this film never opened around here
12 – this film never opened around here
Operation Homecoming – this film never opened around here
Taxi to the Dark Side – this film never opened around here
War/Dance – this film never opened around here
Freeheld – this film never opened around here
La Corona – this film never opened around here
Salim Baba – this film never opened around here
Sari's Mother – this film never opened around here
At Night – this film never opened around here
Il Supplente – this film never opened around here
Le Mozart des Pickpockets – this film never opened around here
Tanghi Argentini – this film never opened around here
The Tonto Woman – this film never opened around here
I Met the Walrus – this film never opened around here
My Love – this film never opened around here

My Final Predictions

Best Picture
My Predicted Winner: No Country for Old Men
My Alternate: Juno

Director
My Predicted Winner: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
My Alternate: Julian Schnabel

Best Actor
My Predicted Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis
My Alternate: George Clooney

Actress
My Predicted Winner: Julie Christie
My Alternate: Marion Cotillard

Supporting Actor
My Predicted Winner: Javier Bardem
My Alternate: Hal Holbrook

Supporting Actress
My Predicted Winner: Ruby Dee
My Alternate: Cate Blanchett

Adapted Screenplay
My Predicted Winner: No Country for Old Men
My Alternate: Atonement

Original Screenplay
My Predicted Winner: Juno
My Alternate: Michael Clayton

Animated Feature Film
My Predicted Winner: Ratatouille
My Alternate: Persepolis

Cinematography
My Predicted Winner: There Will Be Blood
My Alternate: The Assassination of Jesse …

Art Direction
My Predicted Winner: Sweeney Todd the Demon …
My Alternate: There Will Be Blood

Film Editing
My Predicted Winner: No Country for Old Men
My Alternate: The Bourne Ultimatum

Costume
My Predicted Winner: Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber …
My Alternate: Atonement

Makeup
My Predicted Winner: La Vie en Rose
My Alternate: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Original Score
My Predicted Winner: Atonement
My Alternate: Ratatouille

Original Song
My Predicted Winner: "Falling Slowly," Once
My Alternate: “Raise it Up,” August Rush

Sound Mixing
My Predicted Winner: Transformers
My Alternate: No Country for Old Men

Sound Editing
My Predicted Winner: Transformers
My Alternate: Ratatouille

Visual Effects
My Predicted Winner: Transformers
My Alternate: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Foreign Film
My Predicted Winner: The Counterfeiters, Austria
My Alternate: 12, Russia

Documentary Feature
My Predicted Winner: No End in Sight
My Alternate: Sicko

Documentary (short subject)
My Predicted Winner: Freeheld
My Alternate: Sari's Mother

Live Action Short Film
My Predicted Winner:
Le Mozart des Pickpockets
My Alternate: The Tonto Woman

Animated Short Film
My Predicted Winner: Peter & the Wolf
My Alternate: My Love (Moya Lyubov)

Oscar Widget Trivia

Michael Clayton- Good Movie but NOT Great

The lovely wife and I finally saw Michael Clayton at the second run dollar theatre. We had missed the first run and boycotted the re-release to first run because it played at the local Carmike. We try to skip anything at Carmike because of it's ever increasing prices and ever decreasing service. I refuse to pay their ticket prices to sit in an underlit screen where the noise feedback from the next screen is seeping in. Their sound is the worse. Do yourself a favor and skip anything musical from a Carmike. Michael Clayton is dark but in a provincial sort of way. One will not be having any existential angst because of the film. It is a turn on good lawyer doing the questionable but somehow getting to the right conclusion. It is nothing that you have not seen before although the acting is fantastic. Everyone is going on and on about George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson so I won't. I will say that Tilda Swinton is perhaps the greatest actress working today (...and I will stand on Dame Judi Dench's table in cowboy boots and spurs and say so). The dialog is rich and full and completely believable so I will give it best screen play but best picture and best director? I think not. The film ultimately is nothing more than a good thriller, which I am not knocking, but it has very little mental impact after it's over. The direction was good but best direction should be great. Go see the film (come on you cheapskate as it's only a buck). I liked it very much but perhaps not enough to see again (this is where Jesse James is such a better film). Sorry. Thumbs up as to whether one should see it. No thumbs at all as to whether it is best film of the year.

Juno Jargon Jenerator Widget

Oscar Pretiction Update

Here are my latest updates. There may not be any changes before the big night, except for maybe Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Art Direction, Documentary Short and Live Action Short Film. I might change my mind on those before the 24th.
so here they are:
Best Picture
My Predicted Winner: No Country for Old Men
My Alternate: Juno
Dark Horse: There Will Be Blood

Director
My Predicted Winner: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
My Alternate: Julian Schnabel
The Dark Horse: Paul Thomas Anderson

Best Actor
My Predicted Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis
My Alternate: George Clooney

Actress
My Predicted Winner: Julie Christie
My Alternate: Ellen Page
The Dark Horse: Marion Cotillard

Supporting Actor
My Predicted Winner: Javier Bardem
My Alternate: Hal Holbrook
The Dark Horse: Casey Affleck

Supporting Actress
My Predicted Winner: Cate Blanchett
My Alternate: Ruby Dee
The Dark Horse: Tilda Swinton

Adapted Screenplay
My Predicted Winner: No Country for Old Men
My Alternate: There Will Be Blood
The Dark Horse: Away from Her

Original Screenplay
My Predicted Winner: Juno
My Alternate: Ratatouille
The Dark Horse: Michael Clayton

Animated Feature Film
My Predicted Winner: Ratatouille
My Alternate: Persepolis
The Dark Horse: Surf's Up

Cinematography
My Predicted Winner: The Assassination of Jesse …
My Alternate: There Will Be Blood
The Dark Horse: No Country for Old Men

Art Direction
My Predicted Winner: Sweeney Todd the Demon …
My Alternate: There Will Be Blood
The Dark Horse: The Golden Compass

Film Editing
My Predicted Winner: No Country for Old Men
My Alternate: There Will Be Blood
The Dark Horse: The Bourne Ultimatum

Costume
My Predicted Winner: Atonement
My Alternate: Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber …
The Dark Horse: Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Makeup
My Predicted Winner: La Vie en Rose
My Alternate: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
The Dark Horse: Norbit

Original Score
My Predicted Winner: Atonement
My Alternate: Ratatouille
The Dark Horse: The Kite Runner

Original Song
My Predicted Winner: "Falling Slowly," Once
My Alternate: “Raise it Up,” August Rush
The Dark Horse: "That's How You Know," Enchanted

Sound Mixing
My Predicted Winner: Transformers
My Alternate: No Country for Old Men
The Dark Horse: The Bourne Ultimatum

Sound Editing
My Predicted Winner: Transformers
My Alternate: Ratatouille
The Dark Horse: The Bourne Ultimatum

Visual Effects
My Predicted Winner: Transformers
My Alternate: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
The Dark Horse: The Golden Compass

Foreign Film
My Predicted Winner: The Counterfeiters, Austria
My Alternate: 12, Russia
The Dark Horse: Beaufort, Israel

Documentary Feature
My Predicted Winner: No End in Sight
My Alternate: Sicko
The Dark Horse: Taxi to the Dark Side

Documentary (short subject)
My Predicted Winner: Freeheld
My Alternate: Sari's Mother
The Dark Horse: Salim Baba

Live Action Short Film
My Predicted Winner: Le Mozart des Pickpockets
My Alternate: The Tonto Woman
The Dark Horse:Tanghi Argentini

Animated Short Film
My Predicted Winner: Peter & the Wolf
My Alternate: My Love (Moya Lyubov)
The Dark Horse: Madame Tutli-Putli

What has John Woo Be Up to?

My Husband and I were just wondering that ourselves yesterday. And discussing his best "American" films, like Face Off and Windtalkers.
We came to the conclusion that foreign directors whose films have made them the talk of Hollywood should stay in their own country and make films there, and no suffer the 'Hollywood' "treatment."

Well here is the trailer for his next film "Red Cliff." For more on this film check out this link http://www.monkeypeaches.com/battleofredcliff.html
there are some great stills.

TCM Day O Ram

I love TCM. And this is my favoirte time of the year, besides "Summer Under the Stars." I will stay up late just to see a movie even if I have to go to work the next day, and usually nothing keeps from getting to sleep, just ask my better half.

... and yet another Pet Peeve: Remakes.

FRAKKING HELL. Those pinheads in Hollystupid are up to it yet again. They are forcing another pointless and needless remake upon the stupid and moronic masses: Near Dark. Now for all of you that have yet to see this film... well why haven't you. One of the few classic vampire films to come out of Hollywood. Most great vampire films are either indy films or European (Jean Rollin and that ilk... okay only some of them are good but they are cool at least). The film that had a little feud with Rice since she said it stole from "Interview...", but she was mistaken and look what a dud the film version of Interview was. A hip vampire road movie. Is there a down side to that? Those of you of a certain age that missed it, well I forgive you, that tripe of "Lost Boys" stole it's glory and audience. Two vampire movies over a single summer just didn't fly. I am not saying any thing here that has not been said before but what teen boy had a poster of Rob Lowe on their wall? Was lost boys actually closeted boys? "not that there is any thing wrong with that".... oh yea, back to "Near Dark". Lance Henrikson when he was actually scary (his other great film is Dead Man). Bill Paxton rules in this film. He is horrifying and his bad boy's evil is seductive and repulsive at the same time. Creepy kid (the least said about that the better for Near Dark virgins). Sexy female vampires (gotta have sexy female vampires). There is not a mis-step in this film. One of those films that just got overlooked. The studio should re-release instead of remaking. That has not been one remake that was either "great" or needed of a classic horror film. They have mostly sucked. We all suck for going to them and supporting this stupidity. Quit supporting this crap and maybe we get some new horror films. Gotta stop Michael Bay from doing this frakking crap. Go see Near Dark. The dvd is easy to come by. Bill Paxton needs to make another horror film (on either side of the lense ...see his great "Fraility").

Note to aspiring directors that might be doing a remake. If you are going to do it. Don't. But if you have to then completely re-imagine it. Change almost everything. Make it your film. If you need an example then watch the two versions of "The Thing". The first was creepy but after Carpenter remade it then "yikes" super frakking creepy. Do this.

Oh! I like the Rob Zombie remake of Halloween. I guess it is an exception to my rule and I guess I am supporting that/this crap. What happens in the directors cut of Zombie's Halloween? Should I buy it?