Craig's MovieBlog

Life Does Go On

The loss of Sydney Pollack is incredibly sad.  The world has chimed in with their loving thoughts: Roger Ebert, Ray Pride, David Poland, Jeff Wells, Anne Thompson, the LA Times, the New York Times, and so on.  The world is worse off without him.  Even if I just thought of his recent roles in The Sopranos, Entourage, and Michael Clayton, I'd feel that the entertainment world would have lost someone special.  Fortunately for us, Sydney Pollack gave us so much more, directing Tootsie, The Way We Were, Three Days of the Condor, Out of Africa... and even producing The Fabulous Baker Boys, Sense and Sensibility, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Iris, Cold Mountain, and on and on.  He was a powerhouse.

I had the opportunity to meet him a few years ago at the annual Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley.  I was a measly peon, there to support a non-entertainment executive, but I felt that I just had to go speak to Mr. Pollack during a down moment.  As you would expect, he was warm, generous, friendly, funny, engaging, and a good listener, even to a person who was clearly the least important person in the room.

I liked these quotes from his friends and colleagues:

George Clooney: "Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better.  A tip of the hat to a class act. He’ll be missed terribly."

Robert Redford: "Sydney’s and my relationship, both professionally and personally, covers 40 years.  It’s too personal to express in a sound bite."

I'm selfishly using this opportunity with the loss of Sydney, to also express why I stopped writing for a few weeks.  My heart truly wasn't in it, due to my family's own recent loss, making the entertainment world seem appropriately insignificant.  A few weeks ago, we received some tragic news.  In a horribly shocking, violent, awful moment, we lost our friend and family member, Kevin - a husband and father of two beautiful little girls, and my brother-in-law.  My heart hurts every day with the thought of Kevin, his wife, his girls growing up without him, and my kids not being able to play with "Dodo" anymore.

We are incredibly lucky though, in that Kevin's family is surrounded by hundreds of family and friends who love them and will support them through whatever it takes, whatever they need.

This is beginning to sound cliche and tacky.  I think I now understand Mr. Redford's hesitancy to put his true thoughts about Mr. Pollack in a sound bite.  At times like this, I wish I was a more elegant author.

We miss you, Kevin. 

We miss you, Sydney. 

And for me, it's in ways that are so different, I just don't have the words...

Predicting Tonight's Oscars

I've been super busy, family, work, life, honest to blog... blah, blah, blah, so I apologize for the lack of writing.  I'm about to take the kids out, but I figured I had to get a few chicken scratches out before tonight's big ceremony. 

Can't wait for Jon... but let's keep the strike jokes to a minimum - most of the country doesn't care.

Anyway, I wrote about this a while back, but here are my predictions (not what I want to win... what I think will win) for the categories that we care about:

Best Picture: No Country For Old Men will win - I'm feeling 100% confident about this one.

Best Director: The Coen Brothers, No Country For Old Men again - Super high confidence... 100%

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood.  Clooney would have had a shot in any other year that DDL didn't perform.  Confidence = 98%

Best Actress:  This is a total mystery to me.  I'll pick Julie Christie, Away From Her, but it could easily go to Marion Cotillard, who apparently has been making a big late push, and maybe they split the vote and give it to Juno's Ellen Page.  Confidence = 35%

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men.  This is done and done Friend-o.  Confidence = 100%

Best Supporting Actress: Another wide open one.  The critics love Amy Ryan and Cate Blanchett, but no one saw those movies and Cate literally just won for The Aviator when she played a real person.  I think Tilda Swinton gets this.  She's put up a great body of work already, the Academy gets to give a nod to Michael Clayton (which will unfortunately lose everywhere else), and it was one of the three phenomenal performances in my favorite film of the year.  Still... confidence = 60%

Best Original Screenplay: I still think Diablo Cody for Juno will win this, but I'm wondering if she's lost some ground to Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton, just because I'm not sure the Academy wants to put her up onstage (you know... the whole former stripper thing), but it's really the one script that everyone talked about all season.  Confidence = 85%

Best Adapted Screenplay: It seems like the Coens should get this, but I'm still wondering if there's enough sentiment to give something to There Will Be Blood.  I'm picking No Country For Old Men, but I'll put it at 75% confidence.

Oscar Nominations - Craig's Thoughts

Overall, no complaints.  This has been a very, very strong year, but if they have to cancel an Oscar ceremony due to the strike, this is the one.  The box office of the Best Picture nominees are staggeringly low (save Juno), so ratings will be down this year anyway.

Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Into the Wild, Sweeney Todd, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly get shut out here.

Best Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Tommy Lee Jones is the surprise here, meaning Emile Hirsch gets left out.  Also no James McAvoy...

Actress
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away from Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

I guess I understand why people don't want to nominate Angelina Jolie for A Mighty Heart, but Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth 2?  C'mon people...  that's just lazy.  And what did Kiera Knightley do to piss off the Academy so badly?  I guess that's how Cate and Laura Linney snuck in.

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James...
Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook, Into The Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Yep, sounds right.  Nothing surprising here.

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

I'm just gonna say it.  Ruby Dee is the only African American nominated in a major category.  Happy day after MLK day.

Best Director
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman, Juno
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Holy crap - I can't believe Juno and Michael Clayton snuck in here!  (Doing a little happy dance...)  So Sean Penn is out, Joe Wright can't get a nomination even with Atonement's tracking shot that people couldn't shut up about, and Tim Burton is still on the outside looking in.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Christopher Hampton, Atonement
Sarah Polley, Away from Her
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Yep - nice surprise for Sarah Polley, but this is going to the Coens.

Best Original Screenplay
Diablo Cody, Juno
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Brad Bird, Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

Sounds about right.  All the best picture nominees are accounted for in the writing categories (even Atonement)

Tracking Oscar Season

I've updated my page tracking the various year-end awards, and trends are definitely emerging.  The Oscars don't always (or ever) hold to this form, since we're tracking film critics instead of actual Oscar voters, but seeing wave after wave of the same people winning these awards must affect the way voters might think.

Almost nothing has changed since before the holidays, with the Big Board looking like this:

_____________________________________________

Best Picture: No Country For Old Men over There Will Be Blood (17-3).  I guess the only thing that can stop this film is if lots of people go to see it, and have the same reaction to the last 20 minutes that I did.  Namely, "huh"?  If Juno or Michael Clayton can pull off an upset, I'd be stoked... but I don't see it happening.

Best Director: The Coen Brothers over Paul Thomas Anderson (15-4).  This one is done.  I think they've got it in the bag.  If Tim Burton and Sweeney Todd push themselves over the edge, I'd be shocked.

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis over George Clooney (12-5).  DDL could win an Oscar any time he steps in the ring.  It's almost not fair.  By the way... could someone tell Paramount Vintage to OPEN THIS DAMN MOVIE IN SEATTLE SO I CAN SEE IT?!?!?  Cool - thanks.  Also, does it mean anything that Johnny Depp received no critic awards and no SAG nomination?  Just throwing that out there.

Best Actress:  Here's where the biggest only change took place - Julie Christie over Ellen Page (11-9).  Julie Christie was dominating before the holidays, but Juno's current box office momentum sent Ellen Page soaring up into what might be the only battle of the evening.  Marion Cotillard could still win, but she's not really on this radar screen.

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem over Casey Affleck (15-3).  I think this one is done too.  Even people who didn't love this movie know in their hearts that Bardem's performance was devastatingly terrifying.

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan over Cate Blanchett (14-4).  Even though this looks like a blowout, in my heart I believe that this one is still open, simply because I think approximately 4 people around the country have seen Gone Baby Gone and I'm Not There combined, and no one had heard of Amy Ryan before this film.  Does the combination of a previously unknown actress in a film that no one saw scream Academy Award winner to you?  I can definitely see Tilda Swinton pulling off an upset here.

Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody (Juno) will win this.  I wish I could give it to Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton, but it's not to be.  Original Screenplay usually goes to the quirky film that gets the Best Picture nomination, but not the win (Pulp Fiction, Sideways, Lost in Translation, Almost Famous, etc.).  You know... for the kids.

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Coens again seem to own this, with the only real competition coming from Paul Thomas Anderson.  It would be interesting if they wanted to recognize both films this year, giving Picture and Director to No Country for Old Men, but giving Screenplay to There Will Be Blood.  Hmmm....

Craigslist

Lots going on out there while I was traveling, so I thought I'd just throw them onto the pile for you:

• The critics awards have begun in a big way, and while MCN has their page, I'll probably find time to pull my annual recap together also. 
• Jim Hill creates an AMAZING list of cameos and cross-references throughout Pixar's film history.  For someone like myself who has been forced to watch Cars several hundred times, these are incredible.  But... he didn't call out the cameo from the Apple car in the first race.  It's just black and white, it wears the number 84, and it's only onscreen for a second or two. 
• David Poland calls Nikki Finke "a piece of shit."  Hee hee... 
• Anne Thompson reminds us that George Clooney is brilliant:  Why were films like Syriana and Good Night and Good Luck embraced by audiences while the more recent rash of political films have not been? "People like ambiguity," Clooney suggested, admitting that he had not seen all the films. "They don't want to be told what they should think."

Look Who Else Has a Wide Stance

Hilarious.  Watch George Clooney congratulate Julia Roberts on some award...

Michael Clayton - My Favorite of 2007 So Far

I can't emphasize enough how much I loved Michael Clayton.  When I make a movie, I want Clooney and Sydney Pollack involved... and probably Tony Gilroy.  Three-dimensional characters, terrific dialog, amazing visual and sound editing (watch the layers of almost any scene, as you're seeing one thing but hearing another). 

My favorite moment?  Clooney and Tom Wilkinson are arguing in a Milwaukee jail, verbally jabbing back and forth at each other, getting more and more heated, until Wilkinson finally pronounces, "I am Shiva, the God of Death."  There's a pregnant pause, and this seems to be the dramatic moment that everyone remembers.

Me though?  I remember the next line.  Michael Clayton, ever the pragmatist, responds almost sarcastically:

"Let's get out of Milwaukee first, and then we'll talk about it."

Loved it.

More Craig Links - Less Bitter This Time

Sorry, not sure what got into me yesterday.  The list of top ten tv shows just really rubbed me the wrong way.

Anyway, here are a few more links that caught my eye... other than the Cloverfield trailer that everyone is murmuring about and that Paramount is taking off of YouTube as fast as they can type...

• A new blog that I've been reading (mostly for the technology posts) called AppScout has a nice roundup of the best web marketing efforts from the movie studios this summer.  I'm sure Chris over at Movie Marketing Madness would love this... and have an opinion or two.
• The Chicago Tribune's blog, Pop Machine, held a poll asking readers which stars they could most rely on to imply quality in a film.  The results are in, and the winners are:

  9 and 10. Edward Norton, Denzel Washington (8 votes each)
  7 and 8. Christian Bale, George Clooney (9 each)
  5 and 6. Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman (10 each)
  4. Cate Blanchett (14)
  3. Johnny Depp (17)
  2. Kate Winslet (18)*
  1. Meryl Streep (19)*

  I'm stunned Andy Dick and Jessica Simpson didn't make the cut.  Actually, I'm more stunned that Tom Hanks didn't make the top 10, but I'm not sure who I'd remove from the list.  Wait, is anyone else surprised that Christian Bale got 9 votes?  Mind you, I don't disagree, and I would have voted for him myself, but I didn't think that he was popular enough to break into George Clooney territory.  To me, though, if Daniel Day-Lewis is in a film, that just screams high caliber work.  Looks like he only got three votes.

• This might be the best email exchange ever between two Hollywood heavyweights.

Fun With George, Brad and Matt

It's interviews like this that make me want to go see Oceans 13.

TIME: When you have so many stars in a movie, and it's the third in a trilogy, how do you keep it from going off the rails and becoming Cannonball Run 3?
CLOONEY: Well, we like to think it's more like Lord of the Rings, in the trilogy sense.
PITT: Wait, what's wrong with Cannonball Run 3?
DAMON: I don't even think there was a Cannonball 3. Look, you have us confused with deep thinkers. You've already put more thought into why we did the movie than we did.
CLOONEY: You're thinking that we're not just whores for money. There's your mistake.

Michael Clayton Trailer

If you're already weary of the Spidey, Shrek, and Pirates 3 films, you're in luck because here comes the serious stuff.  Check out George Clooney in the trailer for Michael Clayton which looks a bit like Erin Brockovich and A Civil Action, but seems compelling nonetheless.

But... am I the only one who thought Julia Roberts and Liam Neeson were in a movie of the same name about 10 years ago?

Also, is Clooney looking more like Taylor Hicks, or am I completely losing my mind?

Joe Carnahan Corrects Me

Well you could have knocked me down with a feather last night, as I was reading my email and received a note from (wait for it) Joe Carnahan himself - director of Smokin' Aces, Narc, and the upcoming White Jazz, an adaptation of the James Ellroy novel starring George Clooney.

Holy effin' crap.

Now, I fully realize how important and powerful I am in the entertainment blogosphere (that's sarcasm), but it's still not everyday that I receive email from major motion picture directors, much less ones that have directed a movie that blew my mind (Narc).

Joe wrote because he would like to correct something that I posted regarding the status of his leaving the Mission: Impossible 3 project, and he was kind enough to give me permission to print his email verbatim:

Craig:

Stumbled across your blog (good writing!) and saw an erroneous little tidbit about my being dismissed/fired/whacked from MI3. Not so my friend. It's been reasonably well documented but bears repeating nonetheless:

I walked out on my own...I called Tom (videotaped said call to boot) and gave him my sincerest regards but felt I couldn't stay with the flick at it's then present incarnation. We had an agreement to a disagreement and I went along my merry way.

Thems the facts. Thought it was worth updating you and remind you that I am free to fill in as an occasional fact-checker, should time permit.

Best,

Joe Carnahan

And so, without continuing to kiss Joe's ass too blatantly, I post this correction, a sincere apology, and I'm going back to any previous posts that refer to this incident to see if I can update them appropriately.

David O. Russell is Out of His Mind

I think Flirting with Disaster is one of the finest comedies of our time.  It's brilliant.  I think Three Kings was prescient about the situation we find ourselves in abroad, and it showed the world that Clooney and Wahlberg could actually act.  I couldn't have been more excited about I Heart Huckabees, but it was so bizarre, that I ended up not really being able to relate to it.

This video, however, makes that mess of a film all worth it.

The reality, however, is this won't stop Russell from working in Hollywood again.  The fact that it only made $12.7 million domestically however, that's an entirely different issue.

You can read more about the incident at The Hot Blog.

UPDATE: Head over to Wikipedia for more dirt on what happened during the making of Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees that will make anyone think twice about signing up for a David O. Russell film.  They've got lots of detail on the blow up between Clooney and Russell here. 

What a truly talented nutjob.

The Good German Trailer

Could Warner Bros. end up with the two best films of the year with The Departed and The Good German?  Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney team up yet again for a Casablanca-esque, The Third Man-ish war thriller.

The Oscars Already?

Movie City News has posted a Pre-Season, Pre-Toronto, Pre-Oscar Preview, and only Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers received a vote from every analyst.  Dreamgirls missed on just one ballot.

Here's the top 10... in August, for what it's worth:

1. Flags of our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood, written by Paul Haggis and William Broyles Jr.
2. Dreamgirls, directed by Bill Condon, based on the Broadway show, starring Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and Beyonce Knowles
3. The Good German, directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Paul Attanasio, starring George Clooney (of course) and Cate Blanchett
4. Babel, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett (again)
5. World Trade Center, directed by Oliver Stone, starring Nicolas Cage
6. The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese, remake of Infernal Affairs, starring everyone: Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, etc...
7. All the King's Men, directed by Steven Zaillan, starring everyone else: Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, James Gandolfini, Patricia Clarkson, etc...
8. A Good Year, directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe and Albert Finney
9. United 93, directed by Paul Greengrass - the only film on the list already released
10. The Queen, directed by Stephen Frears, starring Helen Mirren

Oscar Recap: What Everyone Else Thought

Before I get to my thoughts, here are a few links I've enjoyed since the end of the show last night.

• David Poland: I disagreed with him about Brokeback Mountain from the get-go, but his post-mortem is excellent today.  I also was thankful for his plea for "civil disagreement."  It's sad that on the internet, and through its anonymity, the hateful vituperation has hit an all time high.
• Jeffrey Wells does a play-by-play: I'm looking for more depth from him later.
• Time Magazine and Richard Corliss cover it as well, although he's ready to nominate George Clooney for President.
• A blistering, incendiary column from Ken Turan and the LA Times.  Wow - a must read.
• Can't go without Bill Simmons...  "Part of me still thinks Jack Nicholson saw "Brokeback Mountain on the winner card, took a deep breath, said to himself, 'Screw it, I hated that movie,' called an audible and said, 'And the Oscar goes to ... Crash!'"
• Box Office Prophets did a live blog, but you currently have to start at the bottom and read up.
• Better Than Fudge wrote a tremendously snarky photo blog with captions.  I'm loving this site more and more every day.

Notes for trivia dorks like me:

• Paul Haggis became the first person to write two consecutive Best Pictures (Million Dollar Baby and Crash).
• For the first time ever, the top 6 awards went to 6 different films.  (Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Walk the Line, Good Night and Good Luck, The Constant Gardener).