My Analysis For My Best Picture Nominee Predictions For October.

Hey everyone, so as promised, here is my analysis for my Oscar nominee Best Picture predictions for the month of October. I will try to do this every month until the Oscar nominees are announced, and of course as we get closer to the day when the nominations are announced, more and more of the films will have been out in theaters and then we will all be able to get a real gist of where the contenders stand in this race! And so far this looks like one hell of an interesting race! And later on in other posts, I will break down my Acting, Writing, and Directing predictions.

So anyway, lets get to it!

For best picture, I had Revolutionary Road, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, Changeling, and Rachel Getting Married as my top five nominees. It is a very surprising list as I have left off such films as Milk, Doubt, and Frost/Nixon and placed Slumdog Millionaire, Changeling, and Rachel Getting Married in their places. But I feel like Milk, Doubt, and Frost/Nixon will be more of acting showcases then of best picture nominees. But I do have a reason to my madness for my top five, and really I based most of my top five off of recent Oscar trends, as well as the recent trailers and reviews that have come out for these movies. But here is how I rank them for now.

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1. Revolutionary Road - With the new International trailer out, this movie looks phenomenal. This movie is the adaptation of Richard Yates well-known book, and I'm sure many Academy voters have read this book since it came out back in 1961, and maybe some can relate to it as well. The movie takes place in 1955 and focuses on Frank and April Wheeler (DiCaprio and Winslet), who move into suburban Connecticut and realize that they are different from their neighbors and they don't want to fall into the cliches of the typical, boring, everything the same suburban life. I will admit that I am in the middle of reading Richard Yates's book, and so far I have to say, it is a tough book to adapt to the screen, but after seeing the trailer and knowing that Sam Mendes is in charge, I think it will turn out great. I am so glad to see Leo and Kate reunite again after Titanic, which leads me to my number two selection...



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2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - This will be the "big-budget film" nominee, and think of this like Titanic, which is ironic because it will be going up against Revolutionary Road, which stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. But anyways, first of all, the trailer is major eye candy, and Brad Pitt looks great in this film. With a budget of $150 million, TCCOBB is based off of the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald which follows a man who was born in his 80's and ages backwards. TCCOBB is the tale of this man and the people and places he discovers along the way. This will be one movie not to forget, and I'm sure the Oscars will have open arms for this film when it is released during Christmas time.



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3. Slumdog Millionaire - It was the little film that made a big impact lately at the festivals last month, and many critics naming it one of the top five best pictures that will be shown in the year. Fox Searchlight Pictures has acquired the rights for this film, and they have tended to do quite well with the Oscars in the past year with recent Best Picture nominees such as Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine, and Juno. But not only would I compare this movie to those Fox Searchlight royality films, I would also compare Slumdog to Letters From Iwo Jima. No, Slumdog is not a war movie, but like Letters, most of the movie is not in the English language, though it's director speaks English. For Letters, Clint Eastwood was the director and it was mostly in Japanese, and for Slumdog, Danny Boyle is the director and a lot of the movie is in Hindi. So Slumdog may be the "foreign language nominee" of the year, but it also may be that film that everyone loves nominee, just like how Fox Searchlight's past best picture nominees were.



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4. Changeling - With the recent mixed reviews on this film in the past weeks, I've moved Changeling down to number 4 and have kept it in my top five mainly because it is a Clint Eastwood film and it stars Angelina Jolie. I would like to think of this film as Atonement from last year - you either loved it or you hated it, but the Academy was going to nominate it regardless. And so far with Changeling, you either love this film or you don't love this film, but simply, the Oscars love Clint and Angelina will bring in viewers (and Angelina going head to head with Brad, it's just what the Oscars need if they want to their viewership to go up, because they really need it up, and this is the year to do it!), so I think we will see this nominated "regardless."



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5. Rachel Getting Married - Call me crazy, I know, but I think this will be the "indie comedy" that gets nominated this year. Yes, unlike Slumdog Millionaire, and past "indie comedy" nominees, it is not from Fox Searchlight, it is from Sony Picture Classics though. And with the recent success of this film with both critics and box office alike, this film should really be considered much higher when it comes to predicting the nominees for Best Picture. Last week in it's opening weekend, RGM scored an outstanding $32,597 per theater, and it was only in 9 theaters last weekend. Unbelievable! Anne Hathaway has a brand new image in Hollywood from this movie and she is now being considered a "lock" for her amazing performance as Kym, the sister from hell who arrives at her sister's wedding after being released from rehab. The movie also comes from Jonathan Demme, who is very well known among voters considering he won for Best Director for The Silence of the Lambs, and maybe the Oscars will want to nominate this film because of how different this film is from all the other films that have premiered this year.



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So there you have it, my reasoning to my madness. Soon, I will have my analysis for my Acting nominee predictions, as well as Writing and Directing.

An Even Better Trailer For Revolutionary Road!

Hey Guys, sorry I haven't been able to post in a while. I swear, this is the most hectic time of my life right now, but anyways there is a new trailer for Revolutionary Road... and it's even better than the original!

Though this trailer for the first part is narrated in Swedish, the rest is all in English, and it is so much better! This trailer even shows a little bit of Kathy Bates. I couldn't find the "embed" link, but here is the site in which you can view it! - http://www.aftonbladet.se/webbtv/noje/article3481785.ab

I am so excited for this movie now!

EDIT: Here is the trailer without the Swedish narration.

I'm Back!

Hey Guys, sorry I haven't been able to blog in the past couple of days. I don't think I have ever been this busy in my life, but right now, it has slowed down a bit and I am able to get get back to blogging!

So to start off again, here are the tidbits of the day:

-Could Dubya really get an Oscar nomination? Of course, lately, it has been wishful thinking for Brolin to get recognized for playing the president, but could he really land a spot in the top 5? According to Politico (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13820.html),

People who have seen the film, and there are not many at this point, have said the most astonishing part of the movie isn’t the storyline, which doesn’t contain any shocking new information. And it’s not the liberties the film takes with reality — like any biopic, it includes invented dialogue, and several lengthy real-life events have been telescoped into a few minutes of screen time. Instead, “W.” watchers say that Brolin has positively nailed Dubya, channeling his very soul in the same way Jamie Foxx inhabited Ray Charles’ skin in “Ray,” Joaquin Phoenix captured Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line” and Jim Carrey became Andy Kaufman’s reincarnation in “Man on the Moon.”

Brolin is said to be so impressive that there has been discussion of using his performance to market the entire picture. “He gives off such an amazing vibe that Lionsgate should promote the movie as a great dramatic piece, instead of hyping it as another Oliver Stone controversy, because that’s going to happen anyway,” said a source close to filmmakers. While viewers have an awareness of Stone that no other
director enjoys, the campaign will be very “Josh-centric,” confirmed a studio insider who requested anonymity.

As a result, expect Lionsgate to move hard for a best actor nomination come Oscar season in order to move more DVDs, with release of the home video version of the film expected to conincide with Academy Awards hoopla early next year.

Stone said he then chose Brolin, who was “not a star” but felt “more rural Americana.” According to the director, Brolin was “scared sh-tless” at the thought of mocking the sitting president — probably because he remembered the grief that his father, James Brolin, went through after playing Ronald Reagan in a CBS TV movie that ultimately got bumped from the network. But the younger Brolin dove into his work, spending hours perfecting his Texas twang and listening to speeches, press conferences and other material to strike a proper tone.

One thing to be grateful about: Unlike Stone’s previous presidential picture about Richard Nixon that ran an interminable 192 minutes (and 212 in the subsequent “director’s cut”), his take on Bush is way more concise. Advance word from the London Film Festival (where the picture will make its European debut) indicates it will clock in at a mere 110 minutes.

-Is anyone else excited for Sasha Baron Cohen's Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt? Yeah, long name... but Cohen recently got arrested for it. Earlier this week, the notorious Cohen managed to somehow get backstage and walk down the catwalk before getting pulled away by security at Agatha Ruiz de la Prada show in Milan. After being bundled away by the Italian police, one officer recalled, "He was actually very funny, and the first thing he said was 'Can I make a phone call', like they do on TV."

Luckily, an Italian film crew captured everything that went on at the show:



-John Foote over at In Contention (http://www.incontention.com/?p=2075) wonders if Kate Winslet is the greatest actress of her generation? I think he is right!

-And speaking about Kate Winslet, Scott Rudin and Harvey Weinstein have finally come to an agreement! The Reader will be released on December 12, 2008 after a long and heated debate between Rudin and Weinstein, and even a rumored bet.

-And while we are still on the topic of the amazing Kate Winslet, Anne Thompson says that Paramount Vantage will officially debut the Revolutionary Road trailer during tonight's broadcast of Mad Men. This is very appropriate because Matthew Weiner, the show's creator, was mostly inspired to create Mad Men after reading Richard Yates's amazing book, Revolutionary Road.

-Will Helen Mirren be the next iconic action star? Mirren will star in John Madden's The Debt. According to Empire Magazine (http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=23323),

Mirren will play a former Mossad agent who, along with two colleagues, fails to capture a Nazi war criminal. They decide to cover their tracks, only for the criminal to resurface thirty years later, prompting Mirren to track him down before the truth can be revealed.

Seems like this could be a doozy of a role for the ever-wonderful Mirren – not only will there be a great deal of soul-searching and self-examination, there should be the chance to see a sixtysomething woman kick arse on the big screen.

To be honest, we should have seen Mirren’s casting coming the minute we discovered that the plot called for two actresses to play the main character – one in her thirties, and the other in her sixties. Quite frankly, there aren’t many actresses around these days who could handle a role like this – and Mirren is at the top of a very short list.

-An in Foreign Language submissions news, China has unusually submitted a documentary for their choice: Dream Weaver: Beijing 2008. It is about the country’s seven years of preparation for last month’s Olympic Games. It was produced by a state-owned company. Israel has submitted the animation flick Waltz With Bashir, which is about the director's attempt to reconstruct lost memories of his -- and the Israeli Army's -- involvement in the massacre of Palestinian civilians by Christian militias during the first Lebanon War in 1982. Waltz recently premiered at Cannes and won the top prize at the Israeli Film Academy Awards. France chose the Cannes winner, The Class, and Germany in a very surprising move chose The Baader Meinhof Complex. Most people thought Germany would choose The Wave, but instead they chose this movie which is about the early years of the RAF.



-And who will be the new Oscar host for this year? I say the amazing Kathy Griffin, but rumor is that Ricky Gervais will be the man! I am a huge fan of Gervais and I think he will make a great host. The Academy has made a statement that they have not chosen a host yet, but apparently some light bulbs were turned on with some execs when Ricky Gervais was telling Steve Carell to "Give me back my Emmy."



I swear, I crack up everytime I see that! Ricky Gervais is brilliant! Last week, after recieving praise, his movie Ghost Town premiered... and flopped at the box office. But hey, that could be like a punchline at the Oscars if he is the host. He has another movie coming out in 2009 called This Side of the Truth, in which he wrote and directed and stars along Jennifer Garner and the amazing Tina Fey.

-And by the way, Ricky Gervais has like the best blog ever! Check it out - http://www.rickygervais.com/thissideofthetruth.php

And now on to my OBSESSION of the week. Now, I just realized that I forgot to do my obsession of the week for last time, so I got two obsessions for you guys.

1. The trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. What a great looking trailer!



2. This has nothing to do with movies or tv or anything like that, but just the other day my friend told me about how there is a "secret menu" at Jamba Juice! I've always loved Jamba Juice and was excited when I heard about this "secret menu." She told me that she got one smoothie that was called "White Gummie Bear" and another one called "Pink Star" (which is suppossed to replicate a Pink Starburst - which just so happens to be my favorite flavor). Well, later on in the day, I googled up "secret menu jamba juice," and sure enough I found a few pages relating to this "secret." As I was looking down the list of names of these smoothies, I saw such titles as "Fruity Pebbles," "Skittles," "Wake-Up Call," "Push-Up Pops," "Strawberry Shortcake," "PB+J," "Hello Jesus," "Thank You Jesus," and my personal favorite "Screaming Orgasm" just to name a few on a very long list.

Well anyways, today I decided that I would go to my nearest Jamba Juice and order a "secret menu" item. I ordered the Pink Star. When I ordered it, the guy was like "no problem." And the woman at the check-out station rung me up like normal with a smile and without any questions. But here's the best part. As I was waiting for the smoothie to be made, there were like two people working the blenders there - the guy making my "Pink Star" and another girl. The girl asks the guy, "So, what smoothie are you making?" And the guy responds "Pink Star." And girl is like, "Are you seriously making that?" And they guy is like, "Who cares, it's already in the blender." And he rolled his eyes. Ah, that was great! Pathetic, but great. And it tasted so good too! It was like a Pink Starburst! So if you get a chance, go to your nearest Jamba Juice and order a secret menu item.

Trailer Round-up!

Finally, the real trailer for W. by Oliver Stone starring Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Banks. Based off this trailer, I am highly considering predicting Banks for a Best Supporting Actress nomination!



And here is a better version of the Revolutionary Road trailer, extended and without the Mary Hart narration.



And here is the trailer for Bride Wars starring Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson. This looks like it can be funny but not funny at the same time...



And here is the new trailer for Waltz With Bashir that is Israel's Official Selection for the Foreign Film race at the Oscars. Waltz With Bashir just won the top prize at the Israel Film Academy Awards (Israel's answer to the Oscars). Sony Pictures Classics will be releasing this film here.



Well this movie could be interesting... Here is the trailer for Notorious. For some reason, I had no idea that there was going to be a movie about this, and meanwhile I keep on thinking that I heard of it. But oh well...



And here is the trailer for Inkhart starring Brendan Frasier and Helen Mirren.



And to end it off, here are two clips from Adam Resurrected starring Jeff Goldblum.

Simple, yet Beautiful: Revolutionary Road Poster

Hey, sorry I've been gone...

Stupid computer problems... Ugh...

Well anyways, not only did the Revolutionary Road trailer get released, but also Changeling and The Soloist, and only in a matter of minutes, the Doubt trailer will be released on the Apple Trailers website.

And yes, I realize that I have been a little late on this, but in case you have been living under a rock for the past 2 days and have not seen any of the trailers, here they are:

Revolutionary Road (Entertainment Tonight Preview)



I loved the little preview, hopefully there is more to the trailer when it is actually released. I think RR will be a huge contender, and though I am only in the middle of the book right now, I was like watching the trailer and pointing out some things from the book and seeing how they are adapting Richard Yates's words. I think it will be such a great movie, and I have such high expectations for this movie. I think it could get a Best Picture nomination, let alone a win, as well as getting nominations for Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, who I really hope that this time can be her time to shine! I have to admit, maybe it was just the ET preview, but I was surprised to see no Kathy Bates in the trailer at all... But I think Sam Mendes will make another masterpiece, it looks beautiful!

Changeling



Angelina Jolie is a lock for a Best Actress nomination! She looks so amazing in this movie, and with all the positive reviews from the festivals!... Clint Eastwood, I can tell, has done a great job with this movie. I can't wait to see it!

The Soloist



I will admit, I was expecting a bit more from this movie, but after watching it a second time, it seemed better then when I watched it the first time. Robert Downey Jr. looks great in this movie! I really think that if the studios push him for Best Supporting Actor that he could get a nomination, and that nomination would also represent a "career nomination" as well for Tropic Thunder and Iron Man, but of course The Soloist is more "oscar-friendly." But then again, it seems as if he shares the lead spot with Jamie Foxx, but I would say that the studios should pull a Javier Bardem, who was lead with Josh Brolin in No Country For Old Men, and campaign him as supporting.

EDIT: Doubt (just released)



I have to say, maybe it's because I didn't see the play or read the script, but I didn't realize that Meryl Streep's character would be so bitchy... I'm not sure if Doubt will be a Best Picture contender, but I have to say, it seems more like an acting piece, where it may just as well get 3 or 4 nominations for acting (Streep, Hoffman, Adams, and Davis). I have to say, PSH looks good here. I actually wasn't expecting much from him, but he may surprise when the movie is released, the same goes for Amy Adams, who I love! She is just such a great actress! Hopefully she can get her second nomination!

Oh my god, I am so excited!

I can't believe it! My most anticipated movie of the year, Revolutionary Road, trailer will be premiering on Entertainment Tonight tomorrow night on the show. Finally! I am so excited. I was just watching ET and I was extremely surprised when they showed a little like 15 second preview of RR to advertise that they will be premiering the trailer tomorrow night, and I have to say, in just those 15 seconds, the movie looks amazing! I am actually currently reading the book right now, and Richard Yates is just a brilliant author, and it's a very tricky book to adapt for the screen, I will admit, but I have such high hopes for this movie! I think Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio will be amazing in their roles and Sam Mendes will once again make a masterpiece that we will always remember! Well anyways, I bet all that I will be thinking about tomorrow is "I can't wait to see the RR trailer!" Ah, I am so excited!

And also if you are interested, here is the official logo for RR: