82nd Academy Awards

Usually I see only one or two Oscar-nominated movies before the awards are handed out, but this year is an exception. Thanks to the makers of DVD's and DVD players for making this possible.

• District 9 (Picture, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Adapted Screenplay)


• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Cinematography)


• The Hurt Locker (Picture, Director, Actor, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Original Screenplay)


• Inglorious Basterds (Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Original Screenplay)


• Julie & Julia (Actress)


• The Princess and The Frog (Animated Picture, Original Song)


• Star Trek (Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects)


• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Sound Mixing)


• Up (Picture, Animated Picture, Original Score, Sound Editing, Original Screenplay)

50 States, 50 Films

I'm a little late in checking out 50 Movies for 50 States featured by the Rotten Tomatoes crew, but it's still fun. To complete this list, they chose "films that we feel really showcase each state in the Union." Here are the states/films that I've visited/seen:

• Alabama - Fried Green Tomatoes
• Arizona - Raising Arizona
• Colorado - Red Dawn
• Connecticut - The Ice Storm
• Georgia - Gone With the Wind
• Illinois - The Blues Brothers
• Indiana - Hoosiers
• Iowa - Field of Dreams
• Kansas - The Wizard of Oz
• Massachusetts - Good Will Hunting
• Nebraska - Children of the Corn
• New York - King Kong (RT means only the original, but I've seen all three)
• North Carolina - Bull Durham
• North Dakota - Fargo
• Ohio - Bye Bye Birdie (I'm from Ohio, so I've had to have seen this one, right?)
• Oklahoma - Oklahoma!
• Pennsylvania - Rocky
• South Carolina - The Patriot (They couldn't find a good movie to represent the state?)
• South Dakota - Dances With Wolves
• Utah - Broken Arrow (No Mormon movies out there, huh?)
• West Virginia - We Are Marshall
• Wyoming - Close Encounters of the Third Kind (I've even been to Devil's Tower...)

Twenty-two pairings. Not too bad. It's a totally subjective list, of course. I mean, Broken Arrow is a standard action flick, and not a good one at that, so why does it get to represent Utah? And no listing for Washington, DC. The most likely choice for DC be Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which I haven't seen.

Golden Globes 2009

Did you watch the broadcast? If not, you can check here for the listing of winners. Kate Winslet, who has yet to win an Oscar, won two GG awards, for The Reader and Revolutionary Road. She beat a lot of serious talent, including Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie. As expected, Heath Ledger won for his portrayal of the diabolical Joker in The Dark Knight.

Films which the GG's made me want to see:

• Slumdog Millionaire
• The Wrestler
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Recount
• Gran Torino
• John Adams (technically a mini-series)

UPDATED: Does Entertainment Weekly not know American history? The Florida recount drama occurred in 2000, not 2004.

for your consideration

The ads are out for The Dark Knight. While he may not deserve the actual statue, Heath Ledger deserves the nomination. It's difficult to think of a more memorable character this year than The Joker.

O'Keefe on film

Georgia O'Keefe will become the latest addition to the long list of artists who have had a biopic. Joan Allen will play her.

Ed Begley Jr., Tyne Daly, Linda Emond and Henry Simmons have been cast opposite Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons in the Lifetime original biopic "Georgia O'Keeffe." "O'Keeffe," from Sony Pictures TV, will follow the 20-year love affair between the American artist (Allen) and photographer Alfred Stieglitz (Irons).

Jeremy Irons usually plays the villain in his films, but not always. I'm guessing his character isn't going to try to strangle or smother Allen's.


Have you seen an O'Keefe in person? I have.

100 spoiled films

In four minutes! Shouldn't that be a record or something?

the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one... or even Sharpay

Only Chattaway can compare the High School Musical movies with the Stark Trek films.

"Slacker Uprising"

Michael Moore's film Slacker Uprising is being released online for free - "this is being done entirely as a gift to my friends." The film's original title was the more humble Captain Mike Across America. Well, maybe it's not entirely a gift.

You can sign up here to get it through your email.

no love for the Joker in Japan

The Japanese don't seem to care for The Dark Knight. Maybe the next Batman movie should showcase this dastardly, more-evil-than-Satan-himself feline.

Holy Joker Week, Batman!

Unless you live under a rock (and chances are good that you don't if you're reading this blog), you've heard that The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's sequel to his 2005 Batman Begins, opens this Friday, July 18. The late Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker is supposedly extraordinary. Are you going to see it? Is it silly of me to even ask the question?

Read the Associated Press review about how it "nearly lives up to the hype."

Read the Rolling Stone review about how the film is "a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie."

Read the Hollywood Reporter review about how it is "pure adrenaline."

Read about the possibility of Batman - or someone like him - actually existing.

Read the Time review about how Nolan "wants viewers to stick their hands down the rat hole of evil and see if they get bitten."

Read the Variety review about how the film has " a robust physicality and a commitment to taking violence seriously."

Read how the Entertainment Weekly review calls it a "ride for the gut and the brain."