Craig's MovieBlog

Golden Globe Nominations 2008

Golden Globe Nominations 2008

Best Picture (Drama)	Best Picture (Comedy/Musical)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon The Reader Revolutionary Road Slumdog Millionaire	Burn After Reading Happy-Go-Lucky In Bruges Mamma Mia! Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Actor (Drama)	Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)
Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon Sean Penn, Milk Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler	Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona Colin Farrell, In Bruges James Franco, Pineapple Express Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges Dustin Hoffman, Last Chance Harvey
Best Actress (Drama)	Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married Angelina Jolie, Changeling Meryl Streep, Doubt Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road	Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia! Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder Ralph Fiennes, The Duchess Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight	Amy Adams, Doubt Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona Viola Davis, Doubt Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler Kate Winslet, The Reader
Best Director	Best Screenplay
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire Stephen Daldry, The Reader David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road	Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire David Hare, The Reader Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button John Patrick Shanley, Doubt

The Dark Knight: The Abridged Script

I don’t know how he does it.  He’s consistently funny.  Enjoy The Dark Knight in a whole new way:

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CHRISTIAN BALE IN A RUBBER SUIT flips HEATH’S TRUCK using his BAT-PHYSICS-VIOLATOR, then rides up a wall in order to turn around like a BADASS. FANBOYS in the AUDIENCE cheer wildly for this, even though it looks RETARDED.

HEATH LEDGER

So it’s finally here. Me at one end of a Chicago street, you at the other. The epic battle between good and evil, teased in every advertisement for the movie! This is going to be awesome.

CHRISTIAN BALE crashes his bike like a PUTZ. HEATH laughs, then gets arrested by GARY OLDMAN, who is alive after all. Then the scene ends.

Christian Bale FTW!

I have always wanted to use that acronym.  Thanks to My New Plaid Pants for this tidbit from the Today show, where Christian Bale verbally depants Matt Lauer:

Matt Lauer: So much was made of Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker. It was such a dark role. In some way, perhaps, do you think in real life, it caused him to slip across some line of reality and may have had some role in his accidental death?

Christian Bale: Personally, I find it to be a complete lack of understanding of acting. I also find it very rude to try to create some kind of sound bite for such a tragedy. The man was a complex man, a good man, but you know what? I saw him having the best time playing The Joker. He was someone who completely immersed himself in his role. As do I. But in the end of the day, he was having a wonderful time doing it, He couldn’t have been happier doing it."

Daniel Day-Lewis is Classy

Awesome.

 

Heath Ledger

Just awful.

Burbanked wrote a truly beautiful piece today, so I'll leave it at that, except to say that Alex over at FirstShowing.net could not have said it worse or have been less eloquent about such a tragic matter.  I'm deliberately not linking to it.

The Dark Knight Trailer and Joker Pictures

I just want to say two things about this new trailer for The Dark Knight.

First, let's just call it a genius casting move by giving Heath Ledger the role of The Joker.  I love that he and director Chris Nolan have decided not to play it for laughs, but going the "dangerously deranged" route.  I'm including my favorite pics below.

Secondly, why is no one talking about the fact that Katie Holmes literally got fired from this enormous franchise?  Is it because she stunk and we're so relieved to have Maggie Gyllenhaal there instead?  Because we're not allowed to speak ill of Mrs. Tom Cruise?  Because we're still in love with her from her Dawson's Creek days? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Academy Awards 2006 Trivia

Today the BBC wrote up the type of piece that statistical/trivia junkies like myself just go cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs over, as they did the deep dive on this year's Oscars.  For example:

• Brokeback Mountain leads the nominations with eight. It is the most open Oscars race since 2000, the last time a film topped the list with eight nominations (American Beauty). The leading films in subsequent years have received between 11-13 nominations each.
• It is a good year for Oscars newcomers - 14 of the 20 acting nominees have not been nominated before, the highest number for nine years. The remaining six have 13 previous nominations and four awards between them.
• For the first time in 25 years, all five nominees for best picture have also been nominated for best director - only the fourth time in Oscars history that the shortlists have been the same.
• Keira Knightley, 20, who is shortlisted for Pride and Prejudice, would be the youngest best actress winner if she won. The current record is held by Marlee Matlin, who won for Children of a Lesser God in 1987, aged 21.
• If Heath Ledger wins best actor for Brokeback Mountain, the 26-year-old would be the youngest winner of the award. Adrien Brody, who was 29 when he won for The Pianist in 2003, currently holds the record.
• George Clooney is the first person to be nominated for acting in and directing different films in the same year. He is up for best supporting actor for his role in Syriana, plus best director and best original screenplay for Good Night, and Good Luck.

Oscars 2006

It's November 7th, 2005, and it's very possible that we have not seen a single film that will be nominated for Best Picture.  Sure, there's been Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, A History of Violence, Crash, Jarhead, and Cinderella Man, but there's a good chance that none of those will hit their mark, and all five nominees will come from the remaining pool of movies that haven't yet been released (and there are only 8 weekends left in 2005) to qualify.

Frankly, I think this sucks.  We end up with crappy movies all year long, then the studios cram everything into November and December, but if those films don't get the boost of a nomination, they're gone... dead on the vine.  Good luck seeing them in a theater versus Blockbuster.

Anyway, here's a piece in the New York Daily News from Jack Mathews about the movies to come this year.  Also, I'm including Jack's top 10 hopefuls:

1. Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Eric Bana
2. Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal
3. Memoirs of a Geisha, directed by Rob Marshall, starring Ziyi Zhang and Ken Watanabe
4. The New World, directed by Terrence Malick, starring Colin Farrell
5. The Producers, directed by Susan Stroman, starring Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Uma Thurman, and Will Ferrell
6. Mrs. Henderson Presents, directed by Stephen Frears, starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins
7. Walk the Line, directed by James Mangold, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon
8. King Kong, directed by Peter Jackson, starring Adrien Brody, Jack Black, and Naomi Watts
9. Syriana, directed by Stephen Gaghan, starring George Clooney and Matt Damon
10. Match Point, directed by Woody Allen, starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers