DVDs This Week
Pick of the Week
There Will Be Blood – Probably the best film released in this country this year, a total redefinition of film language and featuring a titanic performance, this is an unqualified masterpiece. It’s a brutal story and works on more meta levels that you’d care to recite, but perhaps still the most unsung praise must go to Jonny Greenwood’s crashing score, a dissonant swirl that fits the breadth and intensity of the movie. A genuine work of art.
Also out
The Bucket List – Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson do stuff before they die. Sounds and is crap.
The Accidental Husband – Yep. That bad.
The Gameplan – The Rock is always watchable and this looks like a decent effort for the kids.
Water Lilies – Not seen but apparently an effective coming of age story.
My Left Foot – Pretty excellent biography starring Daniel Day Lewis in his first Oscar winning turn.
Frontiers – Xavier Gens-helmed gorno rubbish.
DVD Round Up
Pick of the Week: Rescue Dawn – Terrific true-life POW adventure story starring a method Christian Bale and directed by the greatest of all eccentric geniuses, Werner Herzog. Manages to be a straight-ahead exciting adventure, blackly comic character study and uplifting humanist drama all at once. One of last year’s most underrated films.
Also Out:
Enchanted – Charming post-modernist Disney adventure with Amy Adams sparkling and James Marsden a square-jawed Prince Charming of the highest order.
The Darjeeling Limited – Decent Wes Anderson effort but below par by his standards. Performances are all great but a mixed tone and sense of thematic deja vu wear down a potentially marvellous film.
Mike Leigh Collection: Auterist oeuvre of one of Britain’s finest purveyors of the human spirit.
Hard Eight – Rerelease for Paul Thomas Anderson’s flawed but promising debut film.
Futurama; Bender’s Big Score – Pretty decent feature length effort from Futurama with enough quality gags to keep it from running out of steam.
Entourage Season 3 – Some people like this.
Region 1: There Will Be Blood – The Americans have a two-disc edition of this coming out on Tuesday. There don’t appear to be many extras for a double-disc but honestly, they could just put the film on there twice and I’d still buy it.
Movie Hall of Fame #1: There Will Be Blood
So this column will be a hall of fame for movies following the turn of the century. With the DVD release of the subject coming soon, I thought it appropriate to salute a film I’m not sure has even been matched thus far since 2000.
There Will Be Blood is among the finest works of movie-making I’ve ever witnessed. Prior to its release, the film garnered slavering praise from critics but warnings of impenetrability. The film, while considered already to be the masterpiece of a young filmmaker, was thought too daunting a prospect to capture an audience and could have too much fire in its belly to play with Academy voters.
Oscar Predictions: Betty, Tommy ‘n’ Johnny
So Betty and Tommy need to keep their spirits up and predict what will happen with the Oscar show tonight, trying desperately to keep up with me in the predictions race (which I am winning thanks to the Golden Globes). These are all set out at will win / want to win. Enjoy their losing after the jump.
Oscar Predictions: Director
Director Nominations: Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood), Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), Jason Reitman (Juno)
The Coens have been unstoppable in the precursors and so you’d be unwise to bet against them. This is often a place the Academy agrees with the prior judging groups so I’d put all my money on the brothers taking it.
Paul Thomas Anderson joins them in the category of ‘should have won before’ but it seems the momentum is with the Coens at this point. Schnabel too must take a dark horse spot due to the quality of his prior work, particularly regarding the snub for Before Night Falls.
Gilroy and Reitman are almost no-hopers, neither really taking control of the movies. Gilroy is the stronger contender of the two, due to the visual style particuarly, but the stars of his show are the ensemble and the script. Exactly the same with Reitman, except it’s Ellen Page who towers over the rest of the film.
Will Win: The Coens
Should Win: The Coens or Paul Thomas Anderson
Dark Horse: Julian Schnabel
Oscar Predictions: Actor
Actor Nominations: Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood), Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd), George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises), Tommy Lee Jones (In The Valley of Elah)
One horse race. I really cannot even envisage somebody beating out Daniel Day Lewis this year seeing as he gave the finest performance of his career. Subsequently, this places it among the top ten male performances of all time. True.
I suppose Clooney and Depp could manage to cause an upset but not only would I not hold my breath, I wouldn’t even close up my nostrils for second. Day Lewis will win, deserves to win and will not be defeated.
It should though be noted that I think both Casey Affleck in Gone Baby Gone, Josh Brolin in No Country For Old Men and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead deserve nods over Depp, Clooney and Mortensen. But there you go. Although, Mortensen should’ve got one for History of Violence. All’s fair, eh?
Who Will Win: Daniel Day Lewis
Who Should Win: Daniel Day Lewis
Dark Horse: Um… Clooney?
Oscar Predictions: Screenplays
Adapted Nominees: No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Atonement, The Diving Bell and the Butterly, Away From Her
So Sarah Polley is likely a no hoper in this one even though her adaptation of the Alice Munro short story is pitch perfect. It all depends on what exactly this is judged on. Is it judged on which is the best overall screenplay or which one best captures the essence of its source material?
In that sense, No Country For Old Men is by some distance the best adaptation, being as it is very faithful to the book while still managing to have a Coen’s stamp all over it. The Diving Bell too captures the essence of the novel and Atonement does an admirable job of adapting a book which uses a number of tricky, specifically literary devices.
There Will Be Blood isn’t really an adaptation, more it takes inspiration from Upton Sinclair’s novel and weaves its own patterns around the philosophy.
Who Will Win: No Country For Old Men
Who Should Win: No Country For Old Men or The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Dark Horse: Away From Her
Original Nominees: Juno, Michael Clayton, Ratatouille, The Savages, Lars and the Real Girl
So I’ll pretty much shove me money on the table and say that Diablo Cody will take this one. Juno’s script crackles with intelligence and a cheeky wit that the cast revel in. It thoroughly deserves what will likely be its only triumph of the night.
The Savages and Lars and the Real Girl are no hopers almost, I would perhaps give The Savages a minor, very outside chance if the judges were feeling particularly interested in mean folk. Michael Clayton and Ratatouille could both easily nip in but Clayton is probably lacking in too many really great lines, relying a little too much on quiet set-pieces and dense plotting. It would still be quite a worthy winner though. Ratatouille though would be an extremely deserving winner, although the triumph probably comes more in the quality of direction than directly from the script.
Who Will Win: Juno
Who Should Win: Juno
Dark Horse: The Savages
Awards Discussion
Well, I suppose not really a discussion with it only being me here but hell, I’m gonna have a darn good go. Awards season is in full swing now with all sorts of critics circles and guilds throwing awards left, right, centre and backwards. Concentration though has been heavily on the BAFTAs and the upcoming Oscars as we anticipate a night of easy predictions.
The precursors to the Oscars have been solid enough this year, mostly following a pattern of trying to give awards to everyone and their mother. The BAFTAs did this to the nth degree, handing out the awards so thinly across the major categories that the eventual big winner on the night was the flawed one woman show La Vie En Rose. That Marion Cotillard is incredible in the film is undoubted, but the prestige that holds hands with winning the most BAFTAs perhaps shouldn’t have been bestowed on a film that came nowhere close to a Best Film nod.
That said, Cotillard is my new favourite person. Her speech was about as cute as watching two tiny pups try to climb into a bobble hat. Better was the surprise on the faces of people in the audience who expected us stuffy Brits to awards our own and give the talentless Keira her award. Julie Christie would have been more deserving but Cotillard was better. Mainly though thanks should go to all and sunder who did not give anything to Knightley. The woman can’t act and has the body of a thirteen-year old boy.
Anthony Hopkins winning a fellowship was very touching but here’s the mistake. No clips at all from Fracture, The Edge or The Human Stain. The first is a masterclass in cheeky winking, the second sees him call a bear a ‘motherfucker’ and the third, well, he plays an African-American. Yeah. That’s right. But otherwise he deserved it. Remains of the Day contains his finest performance of the lot, a work of emotional art.
Best moments of the night though. First was Daniel Day Lewis’ slightly eccentric but very enjoyable speech about South London and then playmates. The man might be a little odd but his performance in There Will Be Blood is undersung despite the praise. Best since De Niro in Raging Bull or at least Spacey in American Beauty. Then there was This Is England, the visceral and touching work of personal socio-politics by Shane Meadows which won Best British Film. Deserving in every way.
The most lovely though was Javier Bardem’s marvellous speech after winning for No Country For Old Men in which he referred to the Coens as ‘Mummy and Daddy’. His performance deserved the win and so it felt only fair that he should have his moment.
So onwards to the Oscars and we will have predictions soon. On this form, Atonement looks good for the picture win even if it wins nothing else. Day Lewis is a shoe-in and Cotillard is far from a dark horse now. I suppose the most interesting category will be Supporting Actress. I was certain Cate Blanchett would sweep everything as Dylan but darn if Tilda Swinton didn’t nab one away in her bizarre Japanese bee costume. More awards talk soon. Tuck up folks, see you soon.
Oscar Predictions 2008
So after you’ve watched six possible nominees on Newsweek in the post below, you can see if you agree with my assertions as to whom will be nominated across the eight major categories. Closer to the day, we will also predict winner and I will hope to repeat my triumph in the Golden Globes and very soon, the BAFTA, predicatathons.
Until then though, comment away with you’re disagreements, agreements and wax angry about how I have got it all wrong. Predictions after the jump.
Electricity & Lust 
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