Monday, May 2, 2011

What I Saw at Tribeca



My latest on Film Misery is up, notes on a few movies I saw at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The most indelible image though is that of Rifdha (pictured above), a brave smart precocious 10 year from the Maldives. She is one of 3 young contestants at a Koran reciting competition at the heart of Koran by Heart, a documentary from HBO. She was at the screening and I felt such warmth towards her. I wanted to protect her dreams and help her accomplish them. That movie was the most inspiring I've seen in awhile.

Read more here.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Summer Movies


I don't much care for summer movies. They tend to be dominated by my least favourite genre, superhero and/or big action movies. I admit some superhero movies are OK, The first X-Men , The Dark Night. But most are just intolerable. And the last Michael Bay film I saw was Bad Boys.

So for this summer 2 movies excite me. Bridesmaids and One Day. I guess I dig chick flicks.

Bridesmaids just looks so funny. I laugh out loud through the trailer. Watch Kristin Wiig's reaction when she's told she's "the worst bridesmaid". Priceless. Or when she says "I'm ready to parrrrty". I bet you are doubling down laughing.There is another trailer that I couldn't find in which John Hamm appears, and any movie with the dapper Draper is one I can't wait to see.



As for One Day, my anticipation stems from the fact that I loved the book on which it is based. No wonder these rights were swept up so soon, the book begs for cinematic interpretation. Reading it I could imagine a movie easily as it was written very cinematically. And the writer David Nicholls wrote the adaptation. Plus Lone Sherfig, who had such a sterling debut with An Education, is directing.Finally the lovely Anne Hathaway is starring. So yes count me in.


What are you most loking forward to this summer?

Thursday, March 24, 2011

How gay is Mildred Pierce?


Let's count the ways how this mini series is gay:

- directed by queer filmmaker Todd Haynes.
- a "woman's" story.
- original movie starred Joan Crawford, queen of the big gestures and the overripe drama i.e. gay gay gay.
- Kate Winslet is admittedly not much of a gay icon but she is an actress who has been nominated several times and won an Oscar. So she's kinda gay.
- Melissa Leo has a supporting role. Again the Oscar angle.
- The trailer is all about the period detail, costumes and art direction. Very gay.
- Haynes made the very gay Far From Heaven which was based on the dramas of possibly one of the gayest directors, Douglas Sirk.
- Me and many of my friends are super excited about this. That is very gay.

The only not gay thing is that I feel like I should get HBO, 3 years after I unplugged.

And by the way saying something is gay is the highest compliment I can give.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

More More More

I answer a few questions including which Cate Blanchett performance I like best over at Film Experience.

Plus you'll find more of my articles here, at Film Misery.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Live Tweeting the Oscars


I will be at this party live tweeting the Oscars tonight. Follow me at twitter.com/ME_Says.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

My Final Oscar Predictions



Best Picture
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3″
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, “Black Swan”
David O. Russell, “The Fighter”
Tom Hooper, “The King’s Speech”
David Fincher, “The Social Network”
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, “True Grit”

Best Actor
Javier Bardem, “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges, “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network”
Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech”
James Franco "127 Hours"

Best Actress
Annette Bening, “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman, “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams, “Blue Valentine”

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, “The Fighter”
John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”
Jeremy Renner, “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo, “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush, “The Kind’s Speech”

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter, “The King’s Speech”
Melissa Leo, “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver, “Animal Kingdom”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
Toy Story 3″
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”

Best Original Screenplay
“Another Year”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King’s Speech”

Best Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I”
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech
“True Grit”

Best Cinematography
“Black Swan”
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“The Social Network”
“True Grit”

Best Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland”
“I Am Love”
“The King’s Speech”
“The Tempest”
“True Grit”

Best Film Editing
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“The King’s SPeech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”

Best Makeup
“Barney’s Version”
“The Way Back”
“The Wolfman”

Best Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”

Best Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong”
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours”
“I See the Light” from “Tangled”
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3″

Best Sound Editing
“Inception”
“Toy Story 3″
“TRON Legacy”
“True Grit”
“Unstoppable”

Best Sound Mixing
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“Salt”
“The Social Network”
“True Grit”

Best Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I”
“Herafter”
“Inception”
“Iron Man 2″

Best Animated Feature Film
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“The Illusionist”
“Toy Story 3″

Best Foreign Language Film
“Biutiful” (Mexico)
“Dogtooth” (Greece)
“In a Better World” (Denmark)
“Incendies” (Canada)
“Outside the Law” (Algeria)

Best Documentary Feature
“Exit Through the Gift Shop”
“Gasland”
“Inside Job”
“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”

Best Documentary Short
“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Comes Up”
“The Warriors of Qiugang”

Best Short Film (Animated)
“Day & Night”
“The Gruffalo”
“Let’s Pollute”
“The Lost Thing”
“Madagascar, a Journey Diary”

Best Short Film (Live Action
“The Confession”
“The Crush”
“God of Love”
“Na Wewe”
“Wish 143″

Final ME_Says Awards



This long weekend I saw "Carlos" and I was tempted to add to my list of nominess particularly for Edgar Ramirez's performance. He is oustanding and clearly gives one of the year's best performances. But I'll stick to my previous nominations.

Best Film
For the win it was a battle between "The Kids Are All right" and "the Social Network" for me. Both are immensely enjoyable conemporary movies that comment on the way we live today. I've seen both several times already and they don't lose anything after multiple viewing. Here is my list in order.

The Social Network
The Kids Are All Right
Blue Valentine
Black Swan
Animal Kingdom
The Fighter
A Prophet
Rabbit Hole
Joan Rivers A Piece of Work
127 hours
Never Let Me Go

Bast Actor
Eckhart was just the most emotional performance of the lot. Gosling gave a fascinating heartfelt performance too.
Aaron Eckhart - Rabbit Hole
Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
James Franco - 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling - Blue Valentine
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet

Best Actress
Almost all year I was with Bening as my fave of the year. But Williams' performance is stronger in my mind and I only saw her performance once.
Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right
Julianne Moore - The Kids Are All Right
Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Emma Stone - Easy A
Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine

Best Supporting Actress
What a fantastic list. While Leo was great and so in sync with Bale, Adams was my fave in The Fighter. Ultimately I went with Weaver because it was the more surprising performance. Not because I didn't know much about the actress but because I was constantly surprised by her character.

Amy Adams - The Fighter
Loretta Devine - For Colored Girls
Mila Kunis - Black Swan
Melissa Leo- The Fighter
Naomi Watts - Mother and Child
Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor
Because Ruffallo made it look so easy. He wasn't acting, he was just being.

Christian Bale - The Fighter
Matt Damon - True Grit
Andrew Garfield - Never Let Me Go
Armie Hammer - The Social Network
Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right

Best Director
Fincher period. The Social Network was entertaining, thought provoking and it had great music, amazing performances, snappy editing and I was wowed and amazed even in my third viewing. And behind all this was one man.
Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
Lisa Cholendenko - The Kids Are All Right
Derek Cianfrance - Blue Valentine
David Fincher - The Social Newtwork
David Michod - Animal Kingdom

Best Original Screenplay
Just love that movie and those characters.Beautifully written dialogue and honestly drawn characters.
Animal Kingdom - David Michod
Blue Valentine - Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne and Joey Curtis
The Fighter - Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
The Kids Are All Right - Lisa Cholendenko and Stuart Blumberg
A Prophet - Jacques Audiard


Best Adapted Screenplay
That dialogue, man. That fast fast dialogue.
127 Hours - Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle
Never Let Me Go - Alex Garland
The Social Network - Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 - Michael Arndt
Winter's Bone - Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

Saturday, January 22, 2011

ME-Says Awards or If I Had An Oscar Ballot



I thought this was a great year for movies and particularly performances. I would have liked to have 8 noms for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress (where I cheated and put in 6). It was hard to decide who to take out. Sorry Barbara Hershey, Nicole Kidman, Amanda Peet, Patricia Clarkson, and Keira Knightley. And I didn't have a spot for Jim Carrey in Best Actor.

Best Film
127 hours
Animal Kingdom
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
The Fighter
Joan Rivers A Piece of Work
The Kids Are All right
Never Let Me Go
A Prophet
Rabbit Hole
The Social Network


Bast Actor
Aaron Eckhart - Rabbit Hole
Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
James Franco - 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling - Blue Valentine
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet

Best Actress
Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right
Julianne Moore - The Kids Are All Right
Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Emma Stone - Easy A
Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - The Fighter
Loretta Devine - For Colored Girls
Mila Kunis - Black Swan
Melissa Leo- The Fighter
Naomi Watts - Mother and Child
Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale - The Fighter
Matt Damon - Trur Grit
Andrew Garfield - Never Let Me Go
Armie Hammer - The Social Network
Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
Lisa Cholendenko - The Kids Are All Right
Derek Cianfrance - Blue Valentine
David Fincher - The Social Newtwork
David Michod - Animal Kingdom

Best Original Screenplay
Animal Kingdom - David Michod
Blue Valentine - Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne and Joey Curtis
The Fighter - Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
The Kids Are All Right - Lisa Cholendenko and Stuart Blumberg
A Prophet - Jacques Audiard


Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours - Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle
Never Let Me Go - Alex Garland
The Social Network - AAron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 - Michael Arndt
Winter's Bone - Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini