Mike Elizalde

Jackie Jekyll – GoreMaster.com

Mike Elizalde, whose credits include “X-Men: The Last Stand”, both of the “Fantastic Four” films, both of the “Hellboy” films and most recently “The Land of the Lost” film, has been in the special effects business for over 20 years.   Mr. Elizalde was nominated for a “Best Makeup” Oscar for his work on Hellboy II (2008).  He is the owner of Spectral Motion an all purpose special effects shop offering Creatures, Props, Special Makeup Effects. His shop specializes in the design and creation of astonishing cinematic creature effects, special makeup effects, animatronics and action props.  Mr. Elizalde shares his journey into the world of filmmaking and special effects with GoreMaster.

Read the Exclusive Interview HERE!

Amazon Specials!

Varför firar man födelsedagar?

Handlar det egentligen inte om att man överlevt så och så många år? Många säger till mig att alla fyller år. Det är inget att göra åt, bara att acceptera. Men så är faktiskt inte fallet. Min son, Vincent, fick aldrig fylla år. Det är inget att göra åt, bara att acceptera. Han överlevde inte ens ett år, blev sju månader och en dag. Så alla fyller faktiskt inte år. Så varför firar man födelsedagar? Handlar det innerst inne inte om ett ett firande om att man överlevt X antal år?

Trots min extrema dödsångest som självklart hör ihop med att jag är rädd för att åldras, bli äldre, närma mig döden, något som man egentligen inte behöver närma sig på det sättet för det räcker ju faktiskt att ramla ned från ett lågt tak och landa på huvudet – men trots dessa smärre groende plantor inombords hade jag en bra helg när jag fyllde år, det hade jag; skön fest med divergerande vänner i tre dygn i sträck utan några allvarliga problem (Jag tänkte först skriva inga problem men man har alltid ett eller annat, åtminstone litet, problem).

Ibland kommer problemen i efterhand: nu har jag ont om pengar.

Visst fick jag pengar på min födelsedag, men i form av presentkort och flytande och materiella gåvor, något jag absolut inte klagar på – något egentligen, för mig – väldigt bra då jag nu inte kan göra av med sådana likvida medel på cigaretter och/eller alkohol.

* * *

För att nämna några födelsedagspresenter: min mors systrar med respektive; Anita Gustavsson med sin man Kent, och Gull-Britt Johansson med maken Sigurd (aka Sigge) gav mig tillsammans presentkort a´ 600 kr på Kappahl. Det blir nog en ny kavaj och ett par byxor. En fin flaska Whisky, en underbar Grant’s,  fick jag av vännen Andreas “Asphen” Asph, vilken jag verkligen uppskattade och njöt av. Sammy Helgesson gav mig en stor och vacker lyckoelefant i något som verkar vara Teak. Svarta finbyxor och tre röda rosor och annat trevligt uppvaktade min underbara kvinna mig med (det är tur att jag har Jennifer!). Vackra stolsdynor till mitt nya kök, och svenska kastruller erhölls från min mor, Inga-Lill Granlund och hennes man, Arne Falk. En mängd saker, faktiskt så mycket att jag inte kan räkna upp det här och nu, tja, det var, som Galenskaparna & After Shave kanske skulle ha uttryckt det, en himla massa roliga … saker – samt lotter och travsystem, som jag fick av min far Sune Granlund och hans fru, min underbara styvmor, Mona Granlund. Min farmor, Signe Granlund, och min fars före detta, ytterligare en kvinna jag älskar och saknar umgänget med, Sonja Ramnå skickade pengar och vackra kort. Vidare gav mig min vän Johan “Josho” Engelbrektsson mig 229 kronor i presentkort på Bokia till vad vi både antog var senaste Stephen King-boken: Vargarna från Calla – Det mörka tornet V (men jag fick också min favoritpenna Pilot V5 Hi-Tecpoint 0,5). Min svärmor Anita Schenck och hennes mor Inga-Britt Flodin, samt den övriga släkten i min svärmors närhet lade ihop och gav mig otroligt nog ett presentkort a´1 000 kr (!) på Bokia.

Kontentan: Jag blev minst sagt ordentligt uppvaktad!

Och som om det inte var nog med detta. Min far, hans fru Mona, min mor och hennes man, Arne, hade lagt ut en annons i Mariestadstidningen, vilket överraskade mig och verkligen gladde mig, på ett väldigt positivt sätt: F. G. 30 år, med ett vackert kort på mig när jag var liten, plus min fars, mors och de respektives namn. Jag blev verkligt rörd! Overkligt rörd. Detta såg jag som en verkligt vacker gest!

* * *

När jag i torsdags gick till Bokia med mina presentkort blev jag förvånad. Den Stephen King-bok jag hade fått ett presentkort till fanns inte inne. Däremot fanns en senare: Sången om Susannah – Det mörka tornet VI, som jag inte hade, för samma pris. Så jag tog den istället. Men, när jag stod i kassan och betalade, beställde jag del V i Stephen King: Det mörka tornet-serie, den bok jag hade varit på jakt efter. Inget gott. Allting gott.

Men jag upptäckte även att – den i mina ögon oerhört intressante, mexikanske – regissören Guillermo del Toro skrivit en skräckroman tillsammans med Chuck Hogan (foto till höger), tja, första delen i en trilogi, betitlad Släktet (The Strain), trots att undertecknad, som anser sig välinformerad om sådant här, faktiskt inte hört eller läst något om detta boksläpp. Underligt nog. Mycket underligt nog. Jag börjar undra. Hur gammal har jag egentligen blivit? Så här får det inte gå till.

* * *

Sist när något sådant här inträffade var det med Joe Hills debutnovellsamling “Vålnader” (“20th century Ghosts”), vilken jag länge letade efter på engelska, både på nätet och i affärer (särskilt i Göteborg och naturligtvis på SF-bokhandeln, där jag dock blev mycket illa behandlad av kassörskorna) i vad jag upplevde som evigheter, innan boken ifråga plötsligt en dag var översatt och publicerad och stod framför mig när jag råkade befinna mig på Bokia i just Mariestad.

Helt plötsligt fanns den bok jag hade sökt så på andra (läs STÖRRE) orter än Mariestad. Översättningen hade kommit och tryckts och gått ut till svenska bokhandlarna, utan att jag hade läst ett endaste omnämnande på någon enda litteratursajt på nätet, vilket jag de facto gör regelbundet: men plötsligt hade Norstedts förlag publicerat den novellsamling jag så ivrigt sökt i bl.a. Göteborg, trots att det var Bokförlaget Prisma som var först med att publicera denne Stephen Kings son, som är döpt efter frihetskämpen Joe Hill i Gävle, med Herr King-Hills debutroman “En hjärtformad ask” (vilken inte var så dum, även om jag anser att den snart spårar ur – och särskilt när boken ska avrundas. Tja, ärligt talat kan jag inte med gott samvete rekommendera den annat än för, och då helst bara, förströelseläsning. Om du ännu inte läst den och om du vill göra det – låna den då på biblioteket innan du köper den. Romanen ifråga är alldeles för omtalad. Visst är bokens film- och översättnings-rättigheter sålda till ett tiotal länder eller mer. Men boken En hjärtformad ask är faktiskt inte värst mycket att ha om man är bara något av en skräckkonessör. Den är helt enkelt inte bra; En förklädd berättelse i modern tappning vars slut, likt John Ajvide Lindqvists senaste bok, Människohamn, tappar totalt i slutet, och tyvärr blir alltför psykedeliskt.

* * *

När jag plötsligt och äntligen såg Joe Hills Vålnader den där dagen tänkte jag inombords, liksom när jag nu i torsdags såg Del Toros bok Släktet, något ungefär enligt följande:

“Den tar vi!”, sade djävulen och snöt sig i tapeten.

Detta måste jag läsa – även om det är skräp. Skulle förstås kunna låna boken på ett bibliotek, men detta sammanträffande är liksom för bra för att vara sant. Kul också att inhandla lite fantastik för att visa förlagen att det faktiskt säljer. . .

Men det är klart att den Oscars-belönade regissören Guillermo del Toro skulle kunna skriva några meningar som är skräp och få det publicerat med lite redaktörsarbete, för det han gör kommer ju garanterat att sälja. Visst är det så. Hellboy och Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Pan’s Labyrinth, Cronos osv.

Det denne man rör vid blir till guld. Det vet de som antagit manuset. Det är annorlunda om man heter Fredrik F. G. Granlund eller dylikt. Man måste kämpa. Aj fan, detta låter kryptiskt och konstigt. Visst har Del Toro kämpat. Självklart måste han ha gjort det. Naturligtvis.

Vad säger jag om min egen person då? Att jag kämpar? Ja. Att jag aldrig slutar att förvånas. Jovisst!

Men vad kommer härnäst? Ska Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Clint Eastwood, Sean Penn, Mel Gibson, och andra skådisar som numera blivit regissörer kanske börja skriva fantastikromaner tillsammans med tidigare etablerade eller semi-etablerade författare? Blir det i så fall seriösa försök? Handlar det i sådana fall om att skådisen/regissören ifråga lånar ut sitt namn i utbyte mot stora summor pengar?

George Lucas och Steven Spielberg har sedan länge sålt sina namn på detta sätt, och då menar jag inte alla miljarders miljarder de tjänat på royalties rörande leksakerna till Star Wars-sextanten. Till och med jag har läst åtminstone den svenska översättningen av Star Wars IV: A New Hope. Den boken överraskade mig inte. Fast, det är klart, det hade jag heller inte räknat med.

Kanske kan man urskilja en tendens, att rika Hollywoodkändisar som slagit igenom, tillsammans och särskilt med hjälp av en tidigare etablerad författare blir publicerade? Då måste vi förstås läsa och köpa deras böcker. (Tänk bara vad Clint Eastwood skulle kunna åstadkomma inom skräckgenren …   )

Men varför finns ingen Dario Argento eller Lucio Fulci i Hollywood, det kan man fråga sig gång på gång på gång … Jag vet att jag gör det.

* * *

Men vad som är än mer viktigt i mitt liv: vilket elände kommer härnäst när jag kämpar som jag de facto gör?

Jag har precis gått in i en ny period av mitt liv och det är väl inte konstigt att jag är så trött och sover mycket och mår sämre; jag kan inte längre sanningsenligt säga att jag är i 20-årsåldern.

* * *

Här publicerade jag ursprungligen, som avslutning på detta blogginlägg, en prosadikt, skriven under en fundersam, eftertänksam fylla, vilken jag nu strukit därför att jag precis fått veta att Peo Rask kommer att publicera den i tidskriften Komma, nr 4/2009.

Så jag hoppas ni som inte tidigare läst texten köper eller lånar numret av tidskriften och läser den. Annars brukar tidskriften Komma med tiden publicera sina nummer på nätet, varför jag så fort det är möjligt, när det är möjligt att läsa den online, kommer att länka till denna min prosadikt som jag ursprungligen publicerat här på Marmeladkungen.

Sofia Vergara

from AceShowBiz.com

Javier Bardem and Joaquin Phoenix are vying for Best Actor of the Year title, while Cameron Diaz, Eva Mendes and Penelope Cruz will battle it out for the actress kudo.

The honorees for ALMA Awards 2009’s special achievement in motion picture category have been unraveled by the National Council of

Eva Mendes

La Raza. On Tuesday, August 25 at a news conference at Beso Restaurant, NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguia and Executive Producer Eva Longoria revealed that there will be 11 actors and 8 actresses competing for Best Actor and Best Actress.

Among those vying for Best Actor of the Year title are “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” leading man Javier Bardem, “Two Lovers” star Joaquin Phoenix and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” actor Ramon Rodriguez. Meanwhile, the actresses receiving nominations include Cameron Diaz, Eva Mendes, Michelle Rodriguez, Penelope Cruz and Rosario Dawson.

Beside the performers in motion pictures, a number of film crew also get a shot at winning Behind the Scenes honor. “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” director Kenny Ortega, “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” helmer Guillermo del Toro, “Twilight” make-up artist Jeanne Van Phue and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” cinematographer Claudio Miranda are among them.

The larger number of nominees for each category is part of the significant format change for this year’s ALMA Awards. “If you like the ALMA Awards, you will love this year’s show because we’re bringing you more of what you love most, unique musical pairings and the best Latino entertainment,” Murguia shared on the changes.

The 2009 ALMA Awards will be taped on September 17 at the Royce Hall Auditorium at UCLA and aired on ABC Television Network the next day, September 18 from 8:00 to 10:00 P.M. ET/PT. Eva Longoria will co-host with George Lopez. To give special honors to Salma Hayek and Oscar De La Hoya, and special tribute to the late Ricardo Montalban, ALMA also honors the best in television, music and sports television.

Zoe Saldana

2009 ALMA Awards’ Special Achievement Honorees for Year in Film:
Best Actor of the Year:

Alfred Molina, “The Pink Panther 2″

Cheech Marin, “Race to Witch Mountain”

Freddy Rodriguez, “Nothing Like the Holidays”

Oscar Nunez, “The Proposal”

Clifton Collins Jr., “Star Trek” and “Crank: High Voltage”

Efren Ramirez, “Crank: High Voltage”

Javier Bardem, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

Joaquin Phoenix, “Two Lovers”

John Leguizamo, “Nothing Like the Holidays”

Luis Guzman, “The Taking of Pelham 123″

Ramon Rodriguez, “Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen”

Best Actress of the Year:

Elisabeth Pena, “Nothing Like the Holidays”

Sofia Vergara, “Madea Goes to Jail”

Cameron Diaz, “My Sister’s Keeper”

Eva Mendes, “The Women” and “The Spirit”

Michelle Rodriguez, “Fast and Furious”

Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

Rosario Dawson, “Seven Pounds”

Zoe Saldana, “Star Trek”

Press Release from the Saturn Awards – 6/29/09

It was a stellar evening for “The Dark Knight” as the Christopher Nolan film garnered five Saturn Awards at the 35th Annual Saturn Awards. The film was named Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film. The Warner Bros. release also received awards for Best Writing: Christopher Nolan & Jonathan Nolan, Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, Best Music: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, and Best Special Effects.

Also receiving multiple Saturn Awards were “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Iron Man” which won three Saturn Awards apiece.

“Battlestar Galactica” proved to be the most decorated series of the evening with three Saturn Awards including Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series, Best Actor on Television: Edward James Olmos, and Best Actress on Television: Mary McDonnell. “Lost” received the Saturn Award for Best Network Series. Show co-creator, J.J. Abrams accepted the award on stage.

The highlight at the awards ceremony were the special awards presented throughout the evening. Actor Lance Henriksen received the Life Career Award for his strong body of work in film and television. Actor Ed Harris presented the award to Henriksen on stage.

DreamWorks Animation studio head, Jeffrey Katzenberg, was awarded the inaugural Visionary Award for his efforts in advancing 3D film presentation. Top filmmaker Jerry Bruckheimer presented this prestigious award to Mr. Katzenberg at the event.

Genre icon Leonard Nimoy was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in film and television which covers five decades. Mostly known for his portrayal of the Vulcan, Mr. Spock, Leonard’s accomplishment extend to many more projects including the series, Mission Impossible, Columbo, and the recent show, Fringe. Presenting the award was top filmmaker J.J. Abrams, who recently directed the hit film, Star Trek, for Paramount Pictures.

Many genre leaders were in attendance including: Michael Emerson and Mark Pellegrino (from Lost), Zachary Levi, Justin Hartley, Kevin Feige, Jack Coleman, Cristine Rose and Adrian Pasdar (from Heroes), Scott Porter, Ann Robinson, Sean Faris, Carlos Bernard (24), Kristin Bell, Andrea Roth, Casper Van Dien, Kevin Sorbo, Jim Parsons & Simon Helberg (from The Big Bang Theory), Larry Cohen, Frank Darabont, Greg Cannom, Michael Biehn, Jennifer Carpenter, Dean Devlin, Edward James Olmos, Tom DeSanto, Vince Gilligan, Aaron Paul (from Breaking Bad), James Newton Howard, and Hans Zimmer. This year’s reception was hosted by Entertainment Weekly. The Afterparty was sponsored by Highlander Films.

The 35th Annual Saturn Awards were presented by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, a non-profit organization created in 1972 to honor, recognize and promote genre entertainment. The Academy was founded by noted film historian, Dr. Donald A. Reed, who passed away in 2001. Robert Holguin currently serves as President of the Academy. Mark Altman is Co-President of the Saturn Awards.

Best Science Fiction Film:
IRON MAN

Best Fantasy Film:
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Best Horror Film:
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY

Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film:
THE DARK KNIGHT

Best Actor:
ROBERT DOWNEY, JR.
(Iron Man)

Best Actress:
ANGELINA JOLIE
(Changeling)

Best Supporting Actor:
HEATH LEDGER
(The Dark Knight)

Best Supporting Actress:
TILDA SWINTON
(The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Best Performance by a Younger Actor:
JADEN CHRISTOPHER SMITH
(The Day the Earth Stood Still)

Best Director:
JON FAVREAU
(Iron Man)

Best Writer:
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN and JONATHAN NOLAN (The Dark Knight)

Best Music:
HANS ZIMMER and JAMES NEWTON HOWARD (The Dark Knight)

Best Costume:
MARY ZOPHRES
(Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)

Best Make-Up:
GREG CANNOM
(The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Best Special Effects:
NICK DAVIS, CHRIS CORBOULD, TIMOTHY WEBBER, PAUL J. FRANKLIN
(The Dark Knight)

Best International Film:
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Best Animated Film:
WALL-E

Best Television Series:
LOST

Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

Best Presentation on Television:
THE LIBRARIAN: THE CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE

Best Actor on Television:
EDWARD JAMES OLMOS
(Battlestar Galactica)

Best Actress on Television:
MARY MCDONNELL
(Battlestar Galactica)

Best Supporting Actor on Television:
ADRIAN PASDAR
(Heroes)

Best Supporting Actress on Televison:
JENNIFER CARPENTER
(Dexter)

Guest Starring Role on Television:
JIMMY SMITS
(Dexter)

Best DVD Release:
JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER

Best DVD Special Edition Release:
STEPHEN KING’S THE MIST (2 disc Special Edition)

Best DVD Classic Film Release:
PSYCHO (Universal Legacy Series)

Best DVD Collection:
THE GODFATHER-THE COPPOLA RESTORATION

Best Series on DVD:
MOONLIGHT

Best Retro Series on DVD:
THE INVADERS

The Life Career Award:
LANCE HENRIKSEN

The Lifetime Achievement Award:
LEONARD NIMOY

The Visionary Award:
JEFFREY KATZENBERG

BEST WIDE-RELEASE FILM
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
CLOVERFIELD
THE STRANGERS
THE RUINS
QUARANTINE
Write-ins: FUNNY GAMES; DOOMSDAY; MIRRORS

BEST LIMITED-RELEASE/DIRECT-TO-VIDEO FILM
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER
ROGUE
STUCK
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Write-ins: INSIDE; MACHINE GIRL; MOTHER OF TEARS

BEST ACTOR
Ron Perlman, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
Kare Hedebrant, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Marc Senter, THE LOST
Trevor Matthews, JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER
Leo Bill, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Write-ins: Brian Cox, RED; Anthony Stewart Head, REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA; Jay Hernandez, QUARANTINE; Kiefer Sutherland, MIRRORS

BEST ACTRESS
Lina Leandersson, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Naomi Watts, FUNNY GAMES
Eliza Dushku, THE ALPHABET KILLER
Jess Weixler, TEETH
Alysson Paradis, INSIDE
Write-ins: Asia Argento, MOTHER OF TEARS; Jennifer Carpenter, QUARANTINE; Liv Tyler, THE STRANGERS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Doug Jones, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
TIE: Michael Pitt, FUNNY GAMES/Vinnie Jones, THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN
Robert Englund, JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER
A.J. Bowen, THE SIGNAL
Write-ins: Luke Goss, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY; Jean-Pierre Jorris, FRONTIER(S); Noah Segan, DEADGIRL

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Beatrice Dalle, INSIDE
Anna Walton, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
Lauren Roy, THE CHAIR
Jennifer Ellison, THE COTTAGE
Lou Doillon, SISTERS
Write-ins: Selma Blair, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY; Megan Henning, THE LOST; Mylene Jampanoi, MARTYRS; Laura Ramsey, THE RUINS

BEST SCREENPLAY
John Ajvide Lindqvist, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Guillermo del Toro, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
Mitchell Lichtenstein, TEETH
TIE: John Ainslie, Jon Knautz, JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER/John Strysik, STUCK
Write-in: Dario Argento, Adam Gierasch, Jace Anderson, MOTHER OF TEARS

BEST SCORE
John Soderqvist, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
tomandandy, THE STRANGERS
TIE: Michael Giacchino, CLOVERFIELD/Ryan Shore, JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER
Robert Miller, TEETH
Write-ins: Danny Elfman, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY; Claudio Simonetti, MOTHER OF TEARS

BEST MAKEUP/CREATURE FX
Mike Elizalde, Cliff Wallace, David Martí, Montse Ribé, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
Robert Hall, QUARANTINE
David Scott, JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER
Jacques-Olivier Molon, INSIDE
Todd Tucker, Drac Studios, TRAILER PARK OF TERROR
Write-in: John Cox, ROGUE

WORST FILM
The top five vote-getters were:
PROM NIGHT
CLOVERFIELD
THE HAPPENING
SAW V
TWILIGHT

 With a tie for second place here, we’re inducting three new members into the FANGORIA HORROR HALL OF FAME:
Doug Jones, Forrest J Ackerman and Roger Corman.

Here is the full winners list: 

-THE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD went to Leonard Nimoy and it was presented to him by his most recent director, J.J Abrams.

-THE LIFE CAREER AWARD (whatever that means), went to one of the best character actors in the world, the one, the only, Lance Henriksen, and the award was presented to him by none other than pal Ed Harris.

-THE VISIONARY AWARD went to Jeffrey Katzenberg, and it was presented to him by everyone’s favorite multi-tasking producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

IN FILM:

-BEST SCI-FI FILM: Iron Man

-BEST FANTASY FILM: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

-BEST HORROR FILM: Hellboy II: The Golden Army

-BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER: The Dark Knight

-BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: Let The Right One

-BEST ANIMATED FILM: WALL•E

-BEST ACTOR: Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man)

-BEST ACTRESS: Angelina Jolie (Changeling)

-SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)

-SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Tilda Swinton (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

-BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUNG ACTOR: Jaden Christopher Smith (The Day The Earth Stood Still)

-BEST DIRECTOR: Jon Favreau (Iron Man)

-BEST WRITER: Christopher Nolan and Jonathon Nolan (The Dark Knight)

-MUSIC: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard (The Dark Knight)

-COSTUME: Mary Zophres (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls)

-MAKE-UP: Greg Cannom (The Curios Case of Benjamin Button)

-SPECIAL EFFECTS: Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, Paul J. Franklin (The Dark Knight)

IN TV:

-BEST TV SERIES: Lost

-BEST SYNDICATED/CABLE TV SERIES: Battlestar Galactica

-BEST PRESENTATION ON TV (???): The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice (accepted by uber producer Dean Devlin)

-BEST ACTOR: Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica)

-BEST ACTRESS: Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica, accepted by co-star and hottie Grace Park, on behalf of Mary)

-SUPPORTING ACTOR: Adrian Pasdar (Heroes)

-SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter)

-BEST GUEST STAR: Jimmy Smits (Dexter)

IN DVD:

-BEST DVD RELEASE: Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

-BEST CLASSIC FILM RELEASE: Psycho, Universal Legacy Series

-BEST COLLECTION: The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration

-BEST SERIES ON DVD: Moonlight

-BEST RETRO SERIES: The Invaders (accepted by show producer and infamous filmmaker Larry Cohen)

-BEST DVD SPECIAL EDITION: Stephen King’s The Mist (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition)

I’m a little confused by the best child actor.  “The Day The Earth Stood Still” was not good…at all.  And with Dev Patel in the running, how can you give it to Jaden Smith?  Next year, hopefully, Watchmen sweeps.

Lukas Eggen

Guillermo del Toro speaks to BBC Newsnight Review

   Mexican director Guillermo del Toro is on a quest to catalogue things that go bump in the night. Having tackled Hellboy and Blade, he is about to start filming his two part film version of J R R Tolkien’s Middle Earth drama The Hobbit. He is also planning his own filmic takes on Frankenstein’s monster and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

As if that wasn’t enough to be going on with, he has just published The Strain, the first of a planned series of horror novels about vampires written with Chuck Hogan.

Frankenstein, Jekyll, vampires – you’re steeped in horror at the moment, will it spill over into The Hobbit?

The intensity of the scenes of the Hobbit will have the intensity they had in the book when I was a kid reading them.

The spiders of Mirkwood are a pretty harrowing experience and facing the great goblin in the caves is quite a thrilling moment. The Battle of the Five Armies, the first encounter with Gollum – there are scary moments in the book.

But they are already there. We are not inventing or trying to do horror for horror’s sake we are trying to imbue those moments of intensity in the book into the movie.

Are you going to do anything different with Gollum to heighten that?
From a design standpoint it will be the same creature just a few years earlier, but I think that there is never a scene quite like riddles in the dark in the trilogy.

As an introduction to Gollum and a flashpoint in the origin of that character, it is so powerful and so primal that it would be different in that way. We are presenting a side of the character that is very strong and very beautiful and iconic.

What’s been the biggest challenge of working on The Hobbit so far?

Believing that it’s real! I am so happy doing this movie that I truly dread that it will be a dream. It’s fantastic.

I am 44, and it has taken me 44 years to really start living like a child. I go to work every day with the joy and enthusiasm of a kid, playing with his friends in a fantastic sandbox.

And next you get to put your own stamp on two other favourites, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Frankenstein. How will you do that?

They’ve never been told quite the way I am planning to tell them. I have a very strong and interesting take on Frankenstein. It’s my favourite creature ever, both in film and literature.

But I think there is still one story to be told, at least from my point of view. And that’s using the monster of Frankenstein as a very Miltonian figure, a man abandoned by his creator in a world he doesn’t understand.

For Jekyll and Hyde I have a very interesting take. It’s quite perverse.

There are two key things in the story I’m attracted to. One I will not reveal because it’s a good surprise. But the second one is the fact that Jekyll becomes addicted in a joyful and liberating way to becoming Mr. Hyde.

We always see addiction from the puritanical point of view. We always talk about the horrors of addiction. But people are addicted to substances and experiences for a reason. There is a powerful thing that fills something missing in their lives. Jekyll becomes addicted to Hyde.

Both Jekyll and Hyde and Frankenstein I would do as period pieces. I don’t want to modernise them or try to set them in the present day.

You have tackled vampires before in Blade II, why choose to return to them for your novels?

Both Chuck Hogan and I wanted to take Eastern European oral folklore about vampirism but give it a very CSI influenced, happening now, pandemic emergency feeling. Because that is what Bram Stoker did with Dracula in the 1890s. That book was a sort of brisk, procedural book that was steeped in Eastern European lore.

Little by little, in the trilogy, we’re going to reinvent anatomy, biology, the spiritual origins of vampires and the mythology.

I’ve been studiously reading both vampire fact and fiction since I was a kid. I love John Polidori’s The Vampyre, a penny dreadful called Varney the Vampyre, I love Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend and Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. I’m even more influenced by studies in Vampirism as fact in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

Vampires as fact? Do you think they exist in some form then?

No, but I believe that creatures and places can exist if they exist in the collective imagination. Although we’ll never find a vampire corpse or a real alternate species of human or sub-human, they do exist by virtue of the fact that we have all willed them into reality. The same as dragons and a few other creatures.

What draws you to all these dark creatures in your work?

Actually, normally I write and direct movies that show the monster as a creature more human than the humans.

But in the case of The Strain, the vampires nest in places of great tragedy [the site of the Twin Towers, Treblinka] and they ultimately represent our inhuman side. An inhumanity that is beyond our scope.

Guillermo del Toro’s filmography

2008: Hellboy II: The Golden Army

2006: Pan’s Labyrinth

2004: Hellboy                                                                            

2002:Blade II

2001: The Devil’s Backbone

1997: Mimic

1993: Cronos

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With a budget of 100 million dollars , Land of the Lost retells the story of a classic ‘70’s TV show. For those unfamiliar, here’s the storyline:

   On his latest expedition, Dr. Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) is sucked into a space-time vortex alongside his research assistant (Anna Friel) and a redneck survivalist (Danny McBride). In this alternate universe, the trio makes friends with a primate named Chaka (Jorma Taccone), their only ally in a world full of dinosaurs and other fantastic creatures. Can they all make it back to our world alive, and if so: Will Dr. Marshall can go from zero to hero with his discoveries?

   Look for dinosaurs and the return of the Sleestaks in this adventure/sci-fi/comedy.

IMDB list these talented folks in the Makeup and Special Effects Departments:

Steve Artmont ( Contact ,Constantine , Step Brothers ) is the makeup department head

Roland Blancaflor (Total Recall ,300, Hook) is the prosthetic department supervisor/speciality costumes

Mike Elizalde (Men in Black, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, X-Men: The Last Stand) is the creature and makeup effects designer

Bart Mixon (Iron Man, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest , X-Men: The Last Stand) is the special makeup effects artist

Brian Walsh (Fantastic Four, Hellboy, Lady in the Water) is the makeup production supervisor: Spectral Motion, Inc

Michael Lantieri (Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest) is the special effects supervisor

Russell Lukich ( Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Jurassic Park III ) is the on set supervisor: Key Sculptor, Puppeteer: Spectral Motion

Brent Baker (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Spider-Man, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer) is the  mold department and life-casting supervisor: Spectral Motion.

Get your very own Sleestak

Sleestak 12 inch Bank

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Voting is officially open for the MTV Movie Awards 2009 and for the first time ever, they have tasked viewers this year to select nominees for categories including ‘Who had the best kiss?’ the ‘Most insane WTF moment?’ and new category ‘Best Song From a Movie?’ The esteemed 2009 MTV Movie Awards panel has requested the help of Joe Public to determine who deserves what this year.

It appears last year’s teen-vampire-hit Twilight will go head-to-head with Oscar-winning Best Film Slumdog Millionaire at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards later this month. Each film has received nominations in six award categories including Best Movie, Best Kiss and Breakthrough Performance Male.

Last year’s 2008s wealth of comic book adaptations is indeed reflected in this year’s list of MTV Movie Award nominees, with 11 nominations spread over 7 categories — from the grand “Best Movie” all the way to the new, earlier mentioned, most head-scratching “Best WTF Moment.”

See the breakdown below courtesy of MTV Splash Page:

BEST MOVIE: The Dark Knight takes on Iron Man in this category — but the real question is whether either film will be able to compete with Twilight in the MTV audience. Come on, comic book crew, give ‘em heck!

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE: Angelina Jolie’s role as the super-sexy Fox in Wanted nabbed her a nomination for best female performance. Are you going to be the one to deny Fox a vote (or anything else, for that matter)? I didn’t think so.

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE: It’s Batman vs. Iron Man as Christian Bale’s performance in The Dark Knight receives a nomination alongside Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Tony Stark. Can either of them beat Zac Efron, though?

BEST VILLAIN: Sure, the late, great Heath Ledger is likely to have his great performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight recognized by fans, but Luke Goss is also in the running for his Hellboy II: The Golden Army role.

BEST KISS: Wanted gets another nomination for its steamy lip-lock between Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. But was it more memorable than the vampire-human makeout session in Twilight? Only you can decide!

BEST FIGHT: It’s another comic book twosome, but instead of locking lips, these comic book duets are fighting to be recognized as the best brawl of 2008. Christian Bale and Heath Ledger worked out their anger issues in The Dark Knight, but Ron Perlman and Luke Goss got downright supernatural in their Hellboy II battle.

BEST WTF MOMENT: It’s a big ol’ spoiler, so we’ll understand if you refrain from checking this one out — but there’s a lot to be said for the Wanted moment that’s vying for this head-scratching award. Sure, it was a bit of a departure from the comic book story, but it was still a big part of this hit adaptation. If you’ve seen the film, go ahead and vote it up, folks.

mediahustler favourite, Saturday Night Live & The Lonely Planet comic Andy Samberg will host the event as he joins the ranks of such comedic mega-stars as Ben Stiller, Mike Myers, Sarah Silverman and Eddie Murphy.

If you fancy being part of the voting-massive then here’s how you do it: Between May 4 – May 27, viewers can visit www.MovieAwards.MTV.com and vote for their favourites.

Late though this post may be, what with the Oscars come and gone, I decided it was finally time to put up my best of 2008 picks. So without further ado, I give you My Picks for 2008.

At last, the day is here when I release to all my adoring fans (yeah, right) what I thought was both the best and worst of 2008. But before I do, let’s talk a little bit about this year’s films. First of all, I have to say, in comparison with last year’s large crop of excellent movies, this year is like that one bad year Old Farmer Joe found worms had eaten about 25% percent of his crop, 50% had some bird droppings in them, and only 25% were actually good enough to bring home and eat. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I think you’re smart enough to get the idea. There were some gems, though, sparkly shiny ones, in addition to the turds, so let’s honor both of them, shall we? I saw fewer films this year than last’s, for a variety of different reasons, but I also found myself less inspired to go out and see them to due to aforementioned dearth. In any case, let’s get to it, shall we?

The Moments

3. Full Retard, Tropic Thunder

Disagree as some people may over whether “Tropic Thunder” was extremely smart or just downright dumb, usually what they can agree on is Robert Downey Jr.’s performance, as the renowned actor Kirk Lazarus, in that movie – a man so caught in becoming other men that he’s lost himself under a couple of layers of personality, so confused as to who he is that the only person he can really be is someone else. “I’m the dude playin’ a dude disguised as another dude!” Arguably his best moment in the movie comes in his conversation with Ben Stiller, when he dissects actors playing roles in retarded movies, warning Stiller’s character, Tugg Speedman, to “never go full retard” if he wants to win an award. It’s a clever skewering of the all-too typical drama where some “retarded” person ends up having a side quirk that makes the audience more comfortable with them – from Dustin Hoffman’s clever mathematics in “Rain Man” to Forrest Gump’s charming “the pants off the nation.” As Lazarus points out, “That ain’t retarded. Remember Sean Penn, ‘I Am Sam,’ 2001, went full retard? Came home empty-handed.”

2. Jackie Chan Vs. Jet Li, The Forbidden Kingdom

Finally, those of us who waited for this day ever since we first saw Chan kick ass drunk or Li, well, simply kick ass, were rewarded. Though the movie was not everything martial arts fans hoped it would be, this fight scene was – gorgeous, flowing, grappling, punching, kicking, swinging action. It showcased their unique techniques dramatically and breathlessly, was long enough to not feel like a cheap fight, and short enough to not feel like it was dragged on. And, appropriately, the two titans were evenly matched, drawing a stalemate in the end. Now that we’ve seen these two fight as allies, though, it’s time they showed up onscreen as mortal enemies. Unlikely, though, given Chan’s age. One can always hope, however….

1. Pencil in the Head, The Dark Knight

As if the heart-stopping, jaw-dropping bus-through-the-bank-wall-whatever-doesn’t-kill-you-make-you-stranger intro scene weren’t enough, the Joker continued to show us how devilishly clever and disturbingly funny he was. Without even a warning, down comes the goon’s head to an eagerly awaiting pencil. It’s brief, gruesome, makes you laugh out loud while choking back your voice in shock, and is one of the best villain intro moments in recent comic book movie history. Nobody could say it better than the Joker does a second later, sweeping his hands with showmanship at the empty spot on the table. “It’s gone.”

The Disappointments

3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Months of hype, a director that had just given us one of the all time best serial killer movies last year (Zodiac), and the opportunity to take some chances and have some fun with a unique and intriguing premise, and what do we get? A bloated, too long, simplistic, unfocused Oscar-wannabe behemoth. (And the Academy took the bait – the movie picked up 13 nominations(!)) “Benjamin Button” fails to do much with its premise at all beyond the overdone “time is short, treasure what you have now” theme. Despite the characters’ multiple claims that Benjamin has led an extraordinary life, it’s hard to believe where they’re getting that from – all he does is hold a series of job over the course of his life. Woop-de-doo. The fact that he ages backward is never really a big deal, and when it comes time to deal with the consequences of what happens when he gets younger and younger, the film cops out and we get a predictable epilogue that’s simply a montage of over-emotional scenes, and this isn’t even getting into its extensive similarities to Forrest Gump. The cast is great, and the effects that de-age Pitt are perfect, but it’s a damn shame they have to be mired in such a trivial story.

2. The Happening

You have to understand, I’m one of the guys who stuck with Shyamalan through both “The Village” AND “Lady in the Water.” I was ready to give him one more chance to show us something along the lines of “The Sixth Sense” or “Signs,” but then he gives us this, a terribly drab, melodramatic affair that takes itself so seriously the only real way to watch it is by having a box of kleenex ready to dab away your tears of laughter. It’s baffling trying to figure out what Shyamalan was thinking when he made this – some scenes, like one in which some random guy has his arm ripped off by a lion, are so awkwardly brutal that those kleenexes will come in handy and you have to wonder if nobody gave Shyamalan any weird looks when he told them about it. There are many Hitchcockian touches, not surprisingly, as Shyamalan’s first movie had people immediately comparing him to the master of suspense, which has probably given him a complex. Not to mention that the gore is entirely secondary to the scares – it’s obviously a gimmick. Look for the restricted trailer on youtube, and I kid you not, you’ve seen every single moment of blood in the movie. I’ll be nice and not give away the ending, though you should save yourself the trouble of watching the entire thing and just wikipedia it so you can wonder along with me what the hell he was thinking.

1. The X-Files: I Want to Believe

With this, I don’t wonder if Chris Carter is stupid; I just hate him. He honestly thought he could get away with milking the X-files hardcore fanbase just a little bit longer without investing any time at all into the script (joke’s on you, Carter – I work at a movie theater- got into it free. ). It’s like a two-part episode of the TV series, nothing more than a monster of the week, and not even one of the better ones. The in-depth exploration of Mulder’s beliefs that Carter had talked so much about turned out to be nothing more than an extended edition of what the show had done again and again for nine years, except the TV show was way better. If you’re a completist X-Files person, you’re probably gonna wanna see it, but otherwise, you wouldn’t be missing anything at all. It’s a waste of such great talent – both Duchovny and Anderson turn in excellent performances, and it is a rush to see them on the big screen for the first time in so long. But that’s it. If you bought it, left it with your the rest of your X-files collection for five years, forgot about it, then one day randomly decided to watch an episode and stumbled upon that, you’d shrug to yourself and say, “Eh, that was okay. Which season was that?”

The Underdogs

3. Role Models

The story is so straightforward that you may be tempted to think it’s a little too stereotypical with the cliched “kids help adults find themselves and get back on feet” type deal, but there’s a lot of evidence that the movie’s more than that, from the excellent performances across the board, to the subtle way it focuses on the characters, making us believe that these are real people going through these ordeals. It also, thankfully, doesn’t trivialize or make the role-playing thing into a gimmick. Like the best comedies, the script doesn’t create pointless out of control shtick situations just for hell of it, but instead these creative environments feel like legitimate extensions of the characters. It’s also just plain damn hilarious, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse in his second big screen role plays it perfectly while first timer Bobb’E J. Thompson steals the show as a bluestreak talking young black teenager.

2.Horton Hears a Who

We all want to forget them, but they’re there in our memory, like a haunting black stain on the wall, that’s always somehow just over your shoulder, letting you know that wrong has been done in the world, and there’s nothing you can do about it: the terrible Dr. Seuss adaptations. I mean, Mike Myers must have had the fattest paycheck in the world or been high on something to do “The Cat in the Hat”, so let’s try to forget about all of that. From the people who brought us the moderately entertaining “Ice Age” and its ho-hum sequel, and the visually explosive but playing-it-safe “Robots”, there’s this little gem of a movie (see, told you there were some of those) that manages to update the Dr. Seuss novel a little bit while maintaing the elements that were most important. And it takes the form of filmmaking arguably best suited to Dr. Seuss – animation. It’s crisp and sharp and unusually funny for a kid’s flick, too.

1. Definitely, Maybe

Kudos to everyone involved, from the director, to the great cast, to the excellent script writing, for pulling together that rarest of feats – the romantic comedy that manages to get you truly involved with the characters and doesn’t treat them like rag dolls to be thrown wherever the plot needs. It’s to the movie’s credit that by the time right before you find out who Ryan Reynolds had his kid with, you still don’t really know exactly who it is, and yet you still care for each of the characters and what will happen to them. When the end does go the sappy route, it doesn’t feel cheap or undeserved – it takes the happy way knowing it could have gone the sad one and been just as good, and as a whole, the movie, thank God, transcends such God-awful claptrap as “Good Luck Chuck” or “The Heartbreak Kid.”

The Worst

3. The Eye

Hey, Miss Alba! It’s good to see you again! Seems I’ve seen you on this list before, just a year ago, hm? Coincidence? I think not! “The Eye” was another one of those lame Hollywood rip-offs of a better Asian film (and the original one wasn’t even one of the better ones) that some exec threw money and a hot star at thinking he could get a profit. The dude from “Jurassic Park III” is in it. You know, the dude who almost got eaten by pteradactyls? Yeah, him. Anyways, “The Eye” plays like a wannabe version of “The Sixth Sense”, and the plot stumbles along with Alba through most of the film, who can’t act her way out of a paper bag, much less make it believable that this eye transplant is causing her to see ghostly images. In the end, it’s just another bullet that every Alba-hater can safely tuck into their rifle.

2. Meet Bill

Hey, look it’s another turd! Oh, wait, that’s just another bullet to add to the Alba Rifle 3000. Whoever concocted this soullless snoozefest should be carefully examined for brain damange – not only is it like some kind of monstrous conglomeration of the worst parts about movies which it shamelessly rips off, it also features some of the worst performances of fairly good actors, like Elizabeth Banks, Timothy Olyphant, and a neutered Aaron Eckhart. (Who would go on to play one of the most underrated roles of 2008 – Harvey Dent.) The script never quite makes sense, and never once stops to explain itself, other than to preach a nifty little “find yourself” message to the audience. Alba as a lingerie clerk is all over the place, never once finds a spot for her character, and seems content to just giggle at random moments. Somehow I have a feeling that my yearly lists won’t be free of her anytime soon.

1. Meet the Spartans

In Alba’s defense, she’s not the only one who’s been on this prestigious list. The lovely Carmen Electra has been in it more – last year’s “Epic Movie” (#4), and 2006’s “Date Movie” (#2). This year, it’s “Meet the Spartans”, a disjointed, barfed-up mess of a movie that is nothing more than cheaply regurgitated and screamingly obvious pop culture references strung together with bodily fluids and private part jokes. I heard “Disaster Movie” was worse, but I didn’t see it. “Meet the Spartans” is the worst movie I have ever seen, bar none, and I have no interest in putting anything above it. It’s painfully unfunny, and makes you want to somehow cause harm to the creators’ dogs. Don’t ask why. Just follow the voice.

The Honorable Mentions

3. Funny Games

French director Michael Haneke was raked over the coals for basically just doing a re-release of his original, and it grossed less than half of its budget. Though yes, it is a shot for shot remake, it’s arguably a necessary one – the kind of people who would go out and pay to see “Hostel” or any of the “Saw” sequels are the ones who need to see this movie, and they wouldn’t go looking in the foreign films section at your local Blockbuster – they’ go to the multiplex for a “fun” evening of torture and death on a family. “Funny Games” slapped these people in the face when it presented a disturbing, unsettling film that was ruthless with its audience to the point where it was even questionable that the movie itself was overstepping its boundaries. Once it starts the onslaught, it does become difficult to endure, but it’s a fascinating project, and different enough in small, subtle ways from the original that anyone who’s seen the first is bound to get something new.

2. W.

Oliver Stone’s movie about our no-longer-incumbent President didn’t raise a lot of eyebrows, but it probably raised more than several middle fingers – its sympathetic portrayal of Bush despite all the harm he’s done to this country and how much people hated him didn’t earn it many tickets – by the time it hit theatres all the Bush-haters were caught up in the Obamoments, and in the last few months while Obama and McCain were racing to the White House, nearly all of the focus was taken off of Bush and placed on the election. So not only did it fly under the radar, but those few who did see it were instantly turned off by Stone’s refusal to take cheap shots at Mr. Bush – what would be the point in making a movie that carbon-copied the political climate and people’s ideas? Why do you need a movie to explain to you what you already know or believe? Much more fascinating to have one that looks at Bush as a lonely, broken man who really only ever wanted to make Dad proud. Brolin’s performance as W. was Oscar-worthy, but that’s the last time I’m mentioning the Oscars in this note, because of how much Oscar voters just didn’t seem to give a crap this year.

1. Pineapple Express

What sets this Apatow production apart from others is its willingness to abandon the loser-guy-gets-life-together-to-be-with-amazing-girl, which, let’s be honest, is starting to get a little cloying. Instead, it starts out simple, a couple o’ potheads (played with easygoing everyman charisma and chemistry by Franco and Rogen), who need to run away from the law, then gets slowly more ridiculous. Criticisms of how over-the-top the last half hour is ignore how it’s all after a well balanced progressions of realism to fantasy. It’s also easily one of the most hilarious Apatow entrires, and doesn’t cater too much to the stoner audience to leave out what an audience not on drugs would find funny.

The Best

10. The Wrestler

What makes this movie so powerful is also what makes it so heartbreaking. Mickey Rourke’s character, Randy “The Ram” Johnson, is a man dealing with the consequences of a broken past, struggling to make ends meet, and things don’t work out for him. He bleeds, bruises, vomits, and makes you cringe every time a blow lands. The script isn’t afraid to put him through his paces, but it never feels like we’re watching a tear-jerker, partially because of how uplifting it is too. This broken man lives on, his wounds healed every time he’s performing for his fans, a rejuvenating act that can’t go on forever. Rourke’s performance is raw and real, drawn from Rourke’s own experiences, portraying Randy as a man lost without the call of the crowd. It’s riveting and visceral filmmaking, even if you couldn’t care less about pro wrestling itself.

9. Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Explosions, shards of falling glass, and evil geniuses in tights be damned and forgotten – Guillermo del Toro’s follow-up to the decent-but-not-great original took the universe from the first and expanded it, rendering it even more complex and fascinating, populated by ninja elves, tentacled super beasties, glowing piles of rock-monsters, and so much extra fantasy eye-candy it’s enough to make your mouth water. It was merely the gorgeous coat to a lean body, though – probably one of funniest superhero scripts ever written, it was solidly character-centric. You cared about these odd alien-like creatures, despite their deadly horns, webbed feet, and gills, and it made the slick action-fantasy that much more enjoyable.

8. Doubt

Oversimplification of the issue is always a danger when it comes to flims about the clergy. In “Doubt,” no question is oversimplified, no one person demonized over another, but instead all highlighted as inextricably human, crippled by doubt of one kind or another, and searching for someone in whom they can trust. The cast is one of the best of the year – each of them playing off one another gracefully and powerfully, which makes for quite a few poignant and heartwrenching scenes. No easy answer is ever offered, and the end leaves you hungering for something beyond the celluloid – that is where some of the best films take you.

7. Bolt

“Bolt” is a good sign – it’s sent a shock to Disney’s animation department and has pulled them out of their creative slump. With a cast of quirky yet surprisingly complex characters, even if there are some plotholes and the whole affair is a bit straightforward, “Bolt” succeeds through sheer energy and ethusiasm – everyone’s having a good time, and many of the visual gags have some Pixar touches, with pop culture references and animals talking hip bllisfully absent. The one who does talk even close to that is a pure loveable sidekick idiot, the hilarious hamster Rhino. It’s a zippy ride all the way through, and easily Disney’s best animated feature in years.

6. Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle is certainly a versatile director, but with his latest he’s outdone himself. The movie is a wondrous surprise, a unique, clever concept skillfully executed and buyoed by excellent performances from a cast of unknowns, including the amazing Dev Patel as the titular “slumdog.” The script manages to brilliantly convey themes of destiny, chance, and love by manipulating traditionally disparate elements (a game show with images of horrific child abuse) into a whole that’s not depressing or didactic, but utterly honest and hopeful. Literally no other film like it was released this year, and such uniqueness comes along only so often. Boyle is maturing more and more as a filmmaker, and it’s a sight to behold.

5. Burn After Reading

Don’t be one of those people who mistakes this for a movie, in essence, about nothing – because the nonsensical surface is merely a decoy, disguising and, by turn, illuminating the film’s main themes: greed, stupidity, paranoia, and government dunderheadedness, all made gruesome and dark in screwball strokes, as the people in the movie barrel onward to an obscenely ludicrous conclusion only possible in a Coen Brothers’ flick. Its apparent stupidity is part of its genius, as it can both be enjoyed as a silly little comedy and an exploration of today’s paranoid times. The cast’s hilarious performances are a nice fat bonus, especially Pitt’s as a clueless workout center employee, both bold and unforgettable.

4. Gran Torino

Faced with an ever-changing world, Clint Eastwood’s Walt Kowalski reacts by digging in his toes and growling away anyone who wants to pry him from mid 20th century USA. It’s not a gimmick or plot device that Walt is frightened of change, but a true expression of prejudices across America, and the necessity for reconciliation if we’re ever to overcome our pasts and move forward. Walt is classic Eastwood, a la Dirty Harry – hardboiled, bitter, gruff, and swearing up a storm of racial slurs to boot, but the most surprising thing about “Gran Torino” is its warmth – the gritty intensity spewed out by Eastwood isn’t ever really bothersome or offensive, but funny and endearing, because we understand how stuck in the past he is, and how even though he’s a mean old bastard, he’s a good guy at heart, and needs a little push. It’s a subtle, quietly beautiful movie, catching you by surprise, drawing you in, and it’s one of Eastwood’s best in recent memory. The fact that that he produced, directed, and starred in it all in less than a year makes it even more impressive.

3. Wall-E

Will Pixar never cease proving to us that it’s the greatest animation studio in the world right now? Hopefully not, because after wiping away the slightly bad taste from “Cars” with the perfectly delectable dish of “Ratatouille,” Pixar drops our jaws open in entirely new ways with “Wall-E.” From the first twenty minutes that carry all the grace and style of the golden age of silent films, to the endearing bot-love between Wall-E and Eve, to the visually explosive escapades through space, to the powerfully relevant images of an entire species floating through space staring no farther than five inches in front of their eyes, all the way to the cautionary tale of throwing away waste without regard to its consequences, the film is quite the achivevement, transending its own medium and producing something truly great.

2. Speed Racer

Box-office bomb, a bunch of exploded crayolas, visual onslaught, seizure-inducing colors – all of these phrases have been used to describe, in one form or another, the first film the Wachowski Brothers have directed since the third Matrix. And all of them, in one form or another, are over-simplifications that entirely miss the point of the movie – to be a sheer, all-out thrill ride, anime incarnate, a bombardment of images that unleash the ultimate kids’s fantasy – cars racing at hundreds of miles an hour, smashing into each other and breaking the laws of physics right and left as they flip, dash, and careen toward the finish line. Like in their previous films, the Wachowskis break new ground in the visual/digital world – you’ve never seen anything like “Speed Racer,” and you probably never will again. The cheesy dialog was also misunderstood. The script is, in fact, very deliberate – each line specifically tailored to mesh the debatably incongruous world of cartoons and real people, and each image a vibrantly colored bit of speed-enhanced candy. It’s a fun, unique, over-the-top, visual mind-f*ck, not to be missed.

1. The Dark Knight

No more Mr. Nice Bat.

With comic book movies, every now and then one comes out that sets new standards for the genre, elevating it to true art, but “The Dark Knight”’s real achievement is that it goes one step further – it’s not just a great comic book movie, it’s a great movie, already compared to such gangster classics as “The Godfather” or “Goodfellas,” and for once those comparisons don’t seem like overblown hype. The script by Chris Nolan and his brother, John, is pure cinema at its thrilling apex, a grandiose adventure expertly threaded with themes like the role of a hero, justice in this chaotic world, and good vs. evil vs. the gray in between. The cast was superb all around, from Christian Bale, darkening Batman down, a man so twisted in on himself he can’t really see which way is up anymore; Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart, who gives Harvey’s too-quick character arc an astounding depth and emotion, a fallen white knight corrupted by chaos. Heath Ledger as the Joker, not so much a person as an evil force, haunting the streets of Gotham, terrorizing its citizens, is simply breathtaking, and the actor vanishes beneath that paint and cackle, morphing into an instantly iconic villain, ravaged by god-knows-what and machine-gun blasting Jack Nicholon’s joker to oblivion. Then there’s Maggie Gyllenhall, a huge improvement over the ditzy Katie Holmes, who’s shares believable chemistry with Harvey while successfully conveying her brokenheartedness over having to abandon Bruce. And never has someone so noble been so fascinating as in Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Commissioner Gordon. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine in the smaller roles also shine. The special effects are some of the best out there, and they never once threaten to choke out the characters. The script is long, but worth every minute. Sometimes all the pieces come together in a perfect concoction so awe-inspiring it reminds you with every minute of why you go to movies in the first place. You watch “The Dark Knight” like the Batman vaulting off the spires of a skyscraper, soaring on the wind, exhilarated with every breath you take, amazed by what you see.

Anne: Golden Army lost to Benjamin Button for Best Make Up?
Anne: Are you fucking shitting me?
Chad: Dark Knight also lost to Benjamin Button in SFX
Anne: What a bullshit
Anne: I call shenanigans!
Chad: people are peeing all over themselves for the Benjamin Boring thing
Chad: I guess they feel guilty about letting Slumdog win teh Bestest Movie Evar
Anne: I roll my eyes at joo, Oscars.

It also won Best Special Effects. Huh. For what? It’s a story set in New Orleans AND SHOT IN NEW ORLEANS. I guess building a fictional city like Gotham or the Troll Market is not SFX-y enough. Feh.

—

Two years ago, I wrote about this. I’ve been waiting eagerly since then. Now it’s here and I don’t feel like seeing it anymore. R-13 with cuts? Well, aren’t we fucked.

Mejor Actor: 

• Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”
• Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”
• Sean Penn, “Milk”
• Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
• Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler.”

Mejor Actriz: 

• Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
• Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”
• Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”
• Meryl Streep, “Doubt”
• Kate Winslet, “The Reader.”

Mejor Actor de Reparto: 

• Josh Brolin, “Milk”
• Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”
• Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
• Michael Shannon, “Revolutionary Road.”

Mejor Actriz de Reparto: 

• Amy Adams, “Doubt”
• Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
• Viola Davis, “Doubt”
• Taraji P. Henson, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
• Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler.”

Mejor Director: 

• David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”;
• Ron Howard, “Frost/Nixon”;
• Gus Van Sant, “Milk”;
• Stephen Daldry, “The Reader”;
• Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Mejor Película Extranjera: 

• “The Baader Meinhof Complex,” Alemania;
• “The Class,” Francia;
• “Departures,” Japón;
• “Revanche,” Austria;
• “Waltz With Bashir,” Israel.

Mejor guión adaptado: 

• Eric Roth y Robin Swicord, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”;
• John Patrick Shanley, “Doubt”;
• Peter Morgan, “Frost/Nixon”;
• David Hare, “The Reader”;
• Simon Beaufoy, “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Mejor guión original: 

• Courtney Hunt, “Frozen River”;
• Mike Leigh, “Happy-Go-Lucky”;
• Martin McDonagh, “In Bruges”;
• Dustin Lance Black, “Milk”;
• Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon y Pete Docter, “WALL-E.”

Mejor película animada: 

• “Bolt”;
• “Kung Fu Panda”;
• “WALL-E.”

Mejor Dirección de Arte: 

• “Changeling,”
• ”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,”
• ”The Dark Knight,”
• ”The Duchess,”
• ”Revolutionary Road.”

Mejor Fotografía:

•  “Changeling,”
• ”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,”
• ”The Dark Knight,”
• ”The Reader,”
• ”Slumdog Millionaire.”

Mejor Mezcla de Sonido: 

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,”
• ”The Dark Knight,”
• ”Slumdog Millionaire,”
• ”WALL-E,”
• ”Wanted.”

Mejor Edición de Sonido:

•  “The Dark Knight,”
• ”Iron Man,”
• ”Slumdog Millionaire,”
• ”WALL-E,”
• ”Wanted.”

Mejor música original: 

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Alexandre Desplat;
• “Defiance,” James Newton Howard;
• “Milk,” Danny Elfman;
• “Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman;
• “WALL-E,” Thomas Newman.

Mejor canción:

•  “Down to Earth” de “WALL-E,” Peter Gabriel y Thomas Newman;
• “Jai Ho” de “Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman y Gulzar;
• “O Saya” de “Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman y Maya Arulpragasam.

Mejor Vestuario:

•  “Australia,”
• ”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,”
• ”The Duchess,”
• ”Milk,”
• ”Revolutionary Road.”

Mejor Largometraje Documental:

•  “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon),”
• ”Encounters at the End of the World,”
• ”The Garden,”
• ”Man on Wire,”
• ”Trouble the Water.”

Mejor Cortometraje Documental:

•  “The Conscience of Nhem En,”
• ”The Final Inch,”
• ”Smile Pinki,”
• ”The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306.”

Mejor Edición: 

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,”
• ”The Dark Knight,”
• ”Frost/Nixon,”
• ”Milk,”
• ”Slumdog Millionaire.”

Mejor Maquillaje:

•  “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,”
• ”The Dark Knight,”
• ”Hellboy II: The Golden Army.”

Mejor Cortometraje Animado: 

• “La Maison en Petits Cubes,”
• ”Lavatory – Lovestory,”
• ”Oktapodi,” ”Presto,”
• ”This Way Up.”

Mejor Cortometraje:

•  “Auf der Strecke (On the Line),”
• ”Manon on the Asphalt,”
• ”New Boy,”
• ”The Pig,”
• ”Spielzeugland (Toyland).”

Mejores Efectos Visuales:

•  “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,”
• ”The Dark Knight,”
• ”Iron Man.”

Greg Cannom
for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Academy Awards History
This is the 9th Academy Award nomination for Greg Cannom.  He was previously nominated for:

A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001) – Nominee, Makeup
BICENTENNIAL MAN (1999) – Nominee, Makeup
TITANIC (1997) – Nominee, Makeup
ROOMMATES (1995) – Nominee, Makeup
MRS. DOUBTFIRE (1993) – WINNER, Makeup
BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA (1992) – WINNER, Makeup
HOFFA (1992) – Nominee, Makeup
HOOK (1991) – Nominee, Makeup

Cannom also received a Technical Achievement Award in 2004 with Wesley Wofford for the development of their special modified silicone material for makeup appliances used in motion pictures.

John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
for THE DARK KNIGHT

Academy Awards History
This is the 2nd Academy Award nomination for John Caglione, Jr.  He was previously nominated for:

DICK TRACY (1990) – WINNER, Makeup

This is the 2nd Academy Award nomination for Conor O’Sullivan.  He was previously nominated for:

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998 ) – Nominee, Makeup

Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz
for HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY

Academy Awards History
These are the first Academy Awards nominations for Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz.

Thursday, January 22nd, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for their annual awards. If you don’t know, I’m talking about the Oscars. I look forward every year to the announcement and even more to the ceremony itself. some amazing motion pictures have been honored in years past. Movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Departed, All About Eve, Forrest Gump, Titanic, and Shakespeare in Love. There have been major upsets and surprises through the years, like when Crash defeated Brokeback Mountain, or when Million Dollar Baby defeated front-runner The Aviator. My personal Oscar irritation is when Dolly’s “Travellin’ Through” was upset by Three Six Mafia’s “Hard Out There For a Pimp” in the Best Original Song category.

The nominees this year were really all news to me. I, up until this weekend, had only seen one of the Best Picture noms. The nominees are: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, and Slumdog Millionaire. All of these movies are exceptionally good. I had my doubts about The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire, but was blown away. I’ll try to give a little review of them. I’ll not predict winners just yet, but I have a contender in mind.

I’ll review them all in seperate posts. In the meantime, here’s the complete listing of nominations!

Best Motion Picture of the Year

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn for Milk
Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie for Changeling
Melissa Leo for Frozen River
Meryl Streep for Doubt
Kate Winslet for The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

Josh Brolin for Milk
Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams for Doubt
Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis for Doubt
Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler

Best Achievement in Directing

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry for The Reader
David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant for Milk

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Frozen River: Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky: Mike Leigh
In Bruges: Martin McDonagh
Milk: Dustin Lance Black
WALL·E: Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt: John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon: Peter Morgan
The Reader: David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire: Simon Beaufoy

Best Achievement in Cinematography

Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Achievement in Editing

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Achievement in Art Direction

Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Australia: Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Jacqueline West
The Duchess: Michael O’Connor
Milk: Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road: Albert Wolsky

Best Achievement in Makeup

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Alexandre Desplat
Defiance: James Newton Howard
Milk: Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire: A.R. Rahman
WALL·E: Thomas Newman

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song

Slumdog Millionaire: A.R. Rahman, Gulzar (“Jai Ho”)
Slumdog Millionaire: A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam (“O Saya”)
WALL·E: Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman (“Down to Earth”)

Best Achievement in Sound

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL·E
Wanted

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL·E
Wanted

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year

Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL·E

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (Germany)
Entre les murs (France)
Revanche (Austria)
Okuribito (Japan)
Vals Im Bashir (Israel)

Best Documentary, Features

The Betrayal – Nerakhoon
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306

Best Short Film, Animated

Maison en petits cubes, La
Ubornaya istoriya – lyubovnaya istoriya
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

Best Short Film, Live Action

Auf der Strecke
Manon sur le bitume
New Boy
Grisen
Spielzeugland

Do you know how long I have been waiting to duel with someone. Seriously! I have the sword and everything.

For movie fanatics all over the world, this is the morning we wipe our crusted eyelids, roll clumsily out of bed and collapse on the couch to see the live announcement of the Academy Award nominations. It is more than a testament to the passion we have for cinema, it is a statement of how much we want to quickly and violently debate the fairness of the Academy’s choices. So, let the debate begin…

Best Motion Picture of the Year

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

- Frost/Nixon

- Milk

- The Reader

- Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner)

What can anyone do to stop the steamrolling power of the Slumdog? Pretty much nothing. Sweeping every category it was nominated in at the Golden Globes, Slumdog has all the momentum and all the passion of an Oscar winner. It’s uplifting, full of hope and adversity, and overall everything the Academy voters love to rally around. When it wins for Best Picture it will also help paint the picture of the Academy as a more international accepting body of voters. I give great credit to Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon for both being incredible films, but I don’t see them climbing over Slumdog for a win. Milk to me is over-nominated and I would have gladly let this one go in favor of The Dark Knight or Revolutionary Road. My disappointment over the snubbing of The Dark Knight isn’t truly due to thinking it would win the category, but because it would have given some validation to the comic book genre and really helped to boost the idea that these are not just costumed vigilantes on a violence bender, they are incredibly complex and moving stories available to be enjoyed by adults as well as kids. As for The Reader, Ricky Gervais must have been right when he told Kate Winslet at the Golden Globes, “See, just do the Holocaust movie and awards just come rolling in.”

Best Achievement in Directing

- David Fincher: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

- Ron Howard: Frost/Nixon

- Gus Van Sant: Milk

- Stephen Daldry: The Reader

- Danny Boyle: Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner)

This is the first time since 1944 where there is an exact match between the Best Picture category and the Best Director. Commonly the two awards go hand-in-hand, but there is usually one oddball or mismatch between them. Not this year and my feelings remain pretty much the same from the previous category. Danny Boyle will walk away the winner.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

- Richard Jenkins: The Visitor (deserves to win)

- Frank Langella: Frost/Nixon

- Sean Penn: Milk

- Brad Pitt: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

- Mickey Rourke: The Wrestler (most likely winner)

Now here is some excitement and tension for the night. The inclusion of dark horse Richard Jenkins throws a distinct wrench in the celebratory plans of Mickey Rourke, who took the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama. Jenkins hands down deserves the nomination and I am pulling for him to win. All these performances were incredibly strong, which could split the voting and leave Jenkins available for the sneak attack. The big money is on Rourke because of his Cinderella-esque return to the limelight, but I’m personally hedging my bets and putting some small change on Jenkins. Sean Penn can proudly stand here as the one thing I agree with in terms of nominations for Milk. He was the lightning rod for this film and it all hinged on his stellar performance. Langella and Pitt both were terrific, but the momentum and buzz are not behind them this year.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

- Josh Brolin: Milk

- Robert Downey Jr.: Tropic Thunder

- Philip Seymour Hoffman: Doubt

- Heath Ledger: The Dark Knight (deserves to win, most likely winner)

- Michael Shannon: Revolutionary Road

I was thinking about just leaving this area with one word, “Duh”, but that would steal my opportunity to praise and shout for the nomination of Michael Shannon. He was the most outstanding and powerful part of Revolutionary Road and I am thrilled he got the nod here. Yet, with that said, let me now return to my previous thought…

“Duh.”

Ledger takes this.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

- Anne Hathaway: Rachel Getting Married (deserves to win)

- Angelina Jolie: Changeling

- Melissa Leo: Frozen River

- Meryl Streep: Doubt

- Kate Winslet: The Reader (most likely winner)

Who is Melissa Leo and what is this film, Frozen River? Pulling a repectful Jenkins-like move, Leo throws this semi-strong category into a whirl. Hathaway and Winslet are the two obvious front runners, with Hathaway almost sure to take the Independent Spirit Award the night before the Oscars and Winslet still fanning herself off after the double grab at the Golden Globes for both her roles this year. Holocaust subject matter aside, I think Hathaway was stronger in her role as an ex-junkie struggling with reintegrating herself into her own family, where as if Winslet had been nominated for Revolutionary Road instead of The Reader I would be more inclined to begrudgingly hand it to her. Streep can’t be totally counted out, especially since all four of the main actors from Doubt got nominations, but I think she will fall by the wayside here. Maybe when she lands there, she can bring Jolie a drink, she’s been down there all year.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

- Amy Adams: Doubt

- Penelope Cruz: Vicky Christina Barcelona

- Viola Davis: Doubt

- Taraji P. Henson: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

- Marisa Tomei: The Wrestler (deserves to win, most likely winner)

Even though Vicky Christina Barcelona took home the Golden Globe for Best Comedy, I think Penelope is the only one is this category you can count out of the running. The two Doubt women, Davis and Adams, were both sensational, but they might end up splitting that audience in half. This leaves Henson and Tomei to battle it out, with Tomei a touch ahead since I think she only lost out on the Globe because she was battling Winslet on her night-of-all-nights. If Henson pulls it out here, she will most likely be one of very few of the thirteen nominations for Button that will result in a win.

Best Animated Film of the Year

- Bolt

- Kung Fu Panda

- Wall-E (deserves to win, most likely winner)

I’m still baffled by all the acclaim for Bolt, but it really doesn’t matter this year. Wall-E lost out on a Best Picture nod most likely because everyone just wanted to give it this award and be done with it. Plan on Pixar walking away once again, proud of its tiny trashman.

Best Adapted Screenplay

- Eric Roth: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

- John Patrick Shanley: Doubt

- Peter Morgan: Frost/Nixon

- David Hare: The Reader

- Simon Beaufoy: Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner)

There’s a good chance Slumdog will continue its reign here, but it’s a strong category so anything could really happen. The Reader has pulled in lots of support and you can count on a huge studio push for the win, but the rest of the pack are no slouches either. Shanley wrote the play for Doubt as well as the screenplay and he was already heaped with acclaim for the stage version (surprisingly, the same holds true for Morgan with Frost/Nixon). Hare succeeded greatly with taking an incredibly minute starting point, a much loved, but much thinner short story, so his skill and credit comes from the expansion and illumination of tale we are lucky to not have missed. Anyone’s game, but I’ll lean towards the Bollywood train based on sheer momentum.

Best Original Screenplay

- Courtney Hunt: Frozen River

- Mike Leigh: Happy-Go-Lucky

- Martin McDonagh: In Bruges

- Dustin Lance Black: Milk

- Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon: Wall-E (deserves to win, most likely winner)

Again, this is a category where Milk really doesn’t fit. I don’t see it as an original story since it was a biopic and mostly a dramatization of the documentary, The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. It’s a good film, but not what I consider an original story. Then there’s that mystery movie, Frozen River, once again. I really need to see this. Wall-E deserves writing acclaim without a doubt since the first twenty minutes were done beautifully with virtually no dialogue at all. That’s talent, people. Happy-Go-Lucky and In Bruges are getting more acclaim since both movies had their main actors recognized with Golden Globes this year, but I think this one will still end in the incredibly cute storage bin of our friend, Wall-E.

Best Achievement in Art Direction

- Changeling

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (deserves to win, most likely winner)

- The Dark Knight

- The Duchess

- Revolutionary Road

The Duchess is a period drama and those tend to do well in this category. As for the rest, they are all incredibly picturesque and beautifully designed films, ranging from the aging, earthy tones of Button to the stark and stunning colors of Road, any of these films deserves the accolade on this night. Just for the sake of picking a winner, I’ll toss my tiny iota of support behind Button. (Sorry, Dark Knight, I still love you.)

Best Achievement in Cinematography

- Changeling

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

- The Dark Knight

- The Reader

- Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner)

Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish the difference between Best Art Direction, which is how the film and its universe looks, and Best Cinematography, which is how the film is shot, which in turn show you how the universe looks. It’s a fine line, but this year I think the inventiveness of movement and pacing coupled with the saturated colors of India are going to bring Slumdog yet one more statue for the night.

Best Achievement in Costume Design

- Australia

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (deserves to win, most likely to win)

- The Duchess

- Milk

- Revolutionary Road

Except for The Duchess, these are all dramas set in fairly contemporary time periods, so the costume design was more about complementing the world and environment, whereas in Duchess gets to really show off the fashions of its 18th century era; big hair pieces, huge dresses and rib-crushing corsets. I’ll lean towards Button due it sheer volume of nominations and its clarity of vision inside the entire project, but this is truly a toss-up.

Best Documentary Feature

- The Betrayal

- Encounters at the End of the World

- The Garden

- Man on Wire (most likely to win)

- Trouble the Water

I can’t put “deserves to win” here since I have seen absolutely none of these. I love documentaries, but I happen to miss this grouping completely. I’ve heard amazing things about Man on Wire from both friends and industry readings, so I’ll go with that one.

Best Documentary Short Subject

- The Conscience of Nhem En

- The Final Inch

- Smile Pinki

- The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306

Umm…[tries to read tea leaves]…uh…The Witness? Yeah, that’ll win.

Best Achievement in Film Editing

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

- The Dark Knight

- Frost/Nixon (deserves to win)

- Milk

- Slumdog Millionaire (most likely winner)

Although the editing in Slumdog was sensational, I am happy to announce I think there is actually a better choice in this category. Frost/Nixon tackled a nearly yawn-inducing subject, one last interview with an old and broken man, and turned into a harrowing, sweat-filled ride towed along by brilliant pacing. Do I think it will actually win, nope, but it most certainly gets my vote for most deserving.

Best Foreign Language Film

- The Baader Meinhof Complex

- The Class

- Departures

- Revanche

- Waltz with Bashir (most likely winner)

Bashir took home the Globe and you can expect it will do the same here. Nothing but praise has been heaped on this oddly animated drama and I am itching for my chance to witness it myself.

Best Achievement in Makeup

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (most likely to win)

- The Dark Knight

- Hellboy II: The Golden Army (deserves to win)

The real choice here is what you find more impressive, making something look incredibly realistic with a mixture of CGI and practical makeup or making something fantastical come to life with prosthetics and makeup? The former would give you Button as the winner and the latter would give you Hellboy II, while the only makeup worth celebrating in Dark Knight is the insanely creepy and dripping face of the Joker. I would like to see Hellboy win here for the amazing work not only on the main character, but also the underworld villain Prince Nuada and his sister, Princess Nuala.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

- Alexander Desplat: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

- James Newton Howard: Defiance

- Danny Elfman: Milk

- A.H. Rahman: Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner)

- Thomas Newman: Wall-E

While this might be the happiest group of characters Danny Elfman ever scored for, I think he will lose and quickly return to his gothic roots. Slumdog has a good chance due to its unique international flavor and the Golden Globe A.H. Rahman is already carrying, but the other three are very much in the running.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

- Peter Gabriel: “Down to Earth” from Wall-E (most likely winner)

- Gulzar: “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win)

- A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam: “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire

There is a distinct lack of the man commonly referred to as “The Boss”! Why Bruce Springsteen didn’t get a nomination for the Golden Globe winning song he wrote and performed for The Wrestler is beyond me. Also surprising is the exclusion of Academy golden oldie, Clint Eastwood, and his warbling diddy for Gran Torino. With those two oddly out of the limelight, Gabriel could indeed walk away with it for his heartwarming tune, but Gulzar’s tune is the ending credits number and backs up a huge Bollywood dance number, which helps lift the audience to their feet after all the yearning and struggling they just witnessed. I’m going to put my mark there, while internally wishing I could actually dance like that.

Best Animated Short Film

- La Maison en Petits Cubes

- Lavatory – Lovestory

- Oktapodi

- Presto (most likely winner)

- This Way Up

Presto is the only one I have seen since it was shown before Wall-E in the theater, but the whole thing is done with no dialogue and is gut-wrenchingly funny. Plus, it’s a Pixar joint, so just give it the gold and be happy they want to make more.

Best Live Action Short Film

- Auf der Strecke (On the Line)

- Mannon on the Asphalt (most likely winner)

- New Boy

- The Pig

- Spielzeugland (Toyland)

I’ll go with Mannon on the Asphalt because it makes me think of a montage of skateboarders faceplanting.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

- The Dark Knight (deserves to win, most likely winner)

- Iron Man

- Slumdog Millionaire

- Wall-E

- Wanted

The fact Wanted can now call itself an Academy Award nominated film just tickles me. There was some great sound work by all the nominees in this category, but here I will lovingly and joyously put my ballot into the box of Dark Knight. From the sounds of the jet engine of the Batmobile to the bone-crushing thud of Ledger’s head hitting the interrogation room table, this was a symphony of audio accomplishment.

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

- The Dark Knight (deserves to win)

- Slumdog Millionaire (most likely winner)

- Wall-E

- Wanted

Evidently Iron Man didn’t mix as well as they edited. Odd. Anyway, I’d still like to see Dark Knight get this, but I think the voting block might split this one up. There might still be enough uber-love for Slumdog to pull this one through for them as well.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (deserves to win, most likely winner)

- The Dark Knight

- Iron Man

This is the one category where Button truly deserves to win, hands down. The character of Benjamin was so incredible and adorable, I couldn’t felt any more sympathy and yearning for him if he were sitting right in front of me. The only reason it worked was the sheer realism of this aged and decrepit child, so without any reservations, this one goes to them.

If you made it all the way down here, thanks once again for reading and I would love to hear your thoughts. Tell me I’m right, tell me I’m wrong, make me believe I missed out on something truly great or just let me know what you thought of that box of Raisinets you got at the movies (Were yours stale? Mine were last time, but I can’t stop getting them).
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Golden Tomatoes

This is the annual list of Rotten Tomatoes’ best reviewed (and the worst) films of 2008.

Wide Release:

WALL-E

1. WALL-E – 96%
2. The Dark Knight – 94%
3. Iron Man – 93%
4. U2 3D – 92%
5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army – 88%
6. Kung Fu Panda – 88%
7. Forgetting Sarah Marshall – 85%
8. Bolt – 85%
9. Tropic Thunder – 83%
10. Ghost Town – 83%

Limited Release:

Man on Wire

1. Man on Wire – 100%
2. Taxi to the Dark Side – 100%
3. The Wrestler – 98%
4. The Band’s Visit – 98%
5. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days – 97%
6. Let the Right One In – 97%
7. Bigger, Stronger, Faster* – 97%
8. Trouble the Water – 97%
9. Slumdog Millionaire – 95%
10. My Winnipeg – 95%

Moldy:

One Missed Call

1. One Missed Call – 0%
2. Strange Wilderness – 0%
3. Deal – 0%
4. Witless Protection – 0%
5. Disaster Movie – 2%
6. Meet the Spartans – 2%
7. The Haunting of Molly Hartley – 3%
8. In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale – 4%
9. 88 Minutes – 5%
10. The Hottie & the Nottie – 5%

Action/Adventure:

1. The Dark Knight – 94%
2. Iron Man – 93%
3. JCVD – 87%
4. The Bank Job – 78%
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – 76%

Animation:

1. WALL-E – 96%
2. Kung Fu Panda – 88%
3. Bolt – 85%
4. Chicago 10 – 79%
5. Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! – 79%

Comedy:

1. Happy-Go-Lucky – 94%
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall – 85%
3. Tropic Thunder – 83%
4. In Bruges – 81%
5. Burn After Reading – 79%

Documentary:

1. Man on Wire – 100%
2. Taxi to the Dark Side – 100%
3. Bigger, Stronger, Faster* – 97%
4. Trouble the Water – 97%
5. My Winnipeg – 95%

Drama:

1. The Wrestler – 98%
2. Slumdog Millionaire – 95%
3. Milk – 93%
4. The Visitor – 92%
5. Frost/Nixon – 91%

Foreign:

1. The Band’s Visit – 98%
2. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days – 97%
3. Let the Right One In – 97%
4. The Counterfeiters – 94%
5. Tell No One – 93%

Horror:

1. Teeth – 82%
2. Cloverfield – 77%
3. Baghead – 77%
4. George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead – 60%
5. Quarantine – 59%

Kids/Family:

1. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl – 78%
2. Son of Rambow – 74%
3. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – 63%
4. Journey to the Center of the Earth – 61%
5. Nim’s Island – 49%

Musical:

1. High School Musical 3: Senior Year – 67%
2. Cadillac Records – 66%
3. Hamlet 2 – 63%
4. Mamma Mia – 53%
5. Soul Men – 44%

Romance:

1. Ghost Town – 84%
2. Vicky Cristina Barcelona – 82%
3. In Search of a Midnight Kiss – 84%
4. Definitely, Maybe – 72%
5. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist – 72%

Sci-Fi/Fantasy:

1. Hellboy II: The Golden Army – 88%
2. The Spiderwick Chronicles – 79%
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 72%
4. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – 66%
5. The Forbidden Kingdom – 64%

Thriller:

1. Transsiberian – 90%
2. Paranoid Park – 76%
3. Stuck – 72%
4. Changeling – 59%
5. Valkyrie – 87%

I begin the challenge of reviewing every new film I see with Hellboy II: The Golden Army. As bogged down as my DVD collection can become with old black and white French movies, I have a place locked away for fantasy/action films such as this. Especially is they’re directed by Guillermo del Toro.

Though I wasn’t particularly fond of the first film when I first watched it, I have grown much fonder of it since setting aside my pretences and allowing myself to enjoy films for what they are, entertainment. After seeing El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth) I was much more interested in seeing anything else from the same mind. I love fantasy worlds where the rules of common sense and reality are bent. Del Toro bends these rules, but links them inherently to the world we see around us, creating a world that is almost believeable; a world residing on the bounderies of our own. As such, we are not presented with unimaginable fiction, but a reality he has dreamt up and presented us with.

The action in the film is something else. I swear to God that Prince Nuada is the hardest character in any movie since the T-1000. Or perhaps Bruce Lee. Either way, the bloke’s nails. The choreography of the fight scenes is exactly what you’d want if you’d come along hoping to see an all out action film. The climactic battle between Hellboy and Prince Nuada is brilliant, really. Without giving the ending away to anyone who hasn’t gotten around to seeing it yet, the way the setting becomes part of the battle as much as their weapons do is a testement to the attention given to each of the films lavish settings.

These created worlds underneath our own, or just a bit further away than we’d care to travel, have been so thoroughly and meticulously decorated and designed so as to complement their real world setting or the characters within them. The Troll Market under Manhatten looks as though it has been built into the city’s underbelly and the screen is filled with interesting things that draw the audience into the world of its denizens. This is my favourtie thing about Del Toro, his ability to create a world of his own, with its own laws and asthetics and mesh it into what we may see in our own.

The characters in the film are each given a story and personality, even the ectoplasmic Johann Krauss. Even the minor characters, such as the aptly named “Cathedral Head” are given a background, often linked to their physical appearence (see Del Toro’s Notebook special feature on the DVD edition). Saying this, however, they can at some points appear a little two-dimensional. Abe Sapien is nearly always wilting and bookish, Hellboy and Liz are nearly always torn between heart and mind; duty and decision. The main concept of the film, of choosing sides and exactly how humanity is going to be destroyed often rears its head and, though it is constantly in the audience’s mind, is too often written across the faces of the characters.

As a fantasy/action film, it is a great success, but it perhaps wise to leave any pretentious notions of the nature of humanity and society to other films. Though it is a subject discussed, it is brushed more than touched upon. Had it spent too much time on this theme, I feel that it would be a very different film. Probably much worse. It is his other films, such as El Laberinto del Fauno and Cronos that deal more effectively with this concept.

7/10

I’m not going to bother trying to list them in order of best to least best but I will say that Wall-E, The Dark Knight and The Wrestler were my three favorite movies of the year (in that order).

In alphabetical order:

1. The Dark Knight
   
2. Definitely, Maybe
3. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
4. Frost/Nixon
5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
6. Iron Man
7. Milk
8. Rachel Getting Married
9. Revolutionary Road
10. RockNRolla
    
11. Role Models
12. Slumdog Millionaire
13. Tropic Thunder
14. Wall-E
15. The Wrestler

Comme je le disais l’autre jour, j’ai reçu le DVD de Hellboy II en même temps que celui de The Dark Knight. J’avais goupé les commandes histoire d’économiser sur les frais de port puisque ce n’était pas une urgence de les revoir, les ayant vu récemment. Oui, effectivement, je n’avais rien écris dessus à l’époque, il ne faut pas chercher dans les archives. Pour The Dark Knight, c’est parce que j’avais fait une critique, une vraie, sur critictoo, mais pour Hellboy II, c’est juste que sur le moment, je ne l’ai pas fait et le temps est passé.

Bref, tout ça pour dire qu’en générale, je n’aime pas écrire sur un film que je connais déjà, surtout que celui-là je l’ai vu il y a à peine quelques mois. Mais bon, ça ne m’a pas empêcher de mettre le DVD dans la platine pour autant, ce qui montre que j’ai quand même énormément aimé le film. Je ne suis surement pas le plus impartiale qui soit sur le sujet. J’aime déjà beaucoup le premier opus, et je trouve ce second supérieur. Certes, je suis le public visé par Del Toro, donc, ce n’est pas difficile de me convaincre que c’est une réussite. L’histoire aurait pu être un peu plus complexe, ça n’aurait pas fait de mal, mais c’est compensé par le développement de l’univers, les scènes de combats excellentes, et les décors époustouflants. N’oublions pas les aussi les nouveaux personnages avec Johann Krauss, avec 2 “s”, qui a la voix de Seth MacFarlane, mais aussi Luke Goss qui jouait Nomak dans Blade II et qui, cette fois encore a le rôle du bad guy, le Prince Nuada. Et pour finir, la toujours charmante Anna Walton qui fait le princesse Nuala.

C’est en toute partialité que je mets une note de A-. D’ailleurs, je pense revoir le système de note pour la suite, je trouve que finalement, c’est assez abstrait. Je n’aime pas trop mettre une note sur 20, ou sur 10, donc, je vais y réfléchir et je vous présenterais ça bientôt.

Dure journée. Je viens de prendre une douche, histoire de confirmer que oui, la crasse est vraiment intérieure. Pire, avant cela, j’ai remangé de la bouffe pas franchement recommandée quand on est un lendemain de réveillon. Mais passons. Petit moment de calme, Viny a arrêté de ronfler (ce chat est un calvaire quand il s’y met). Je me dis alors que c’est le moment de faire quelque chose. Alors, pourquoi ne pas se recoucher et avancer sur ce top 2008. C’est alors que je lis cet article de /Film sur le pourquoi on lit des Tops. Ça ne m’avance pas, mais c’est intéressant quand même.

Bref, j’y ai quand même réfléchi un peu et il m’est apparu que je ne m’en sortirais pas. La première raison est que je suis nul pour ce type d’exercice. La seconde,  c’est que je pense que cela n’aurait pas grand intérêt vu le nombre de films que je pense qu’il aurait fallu voir pour avoir un top réaliste. Ensuite, tout le même problème des dates.

Du coup, cette année, pas de top. C’est définitif, ça m’enlève une épingle du pied (je me l’étais enfoncé tout seul).

Par contre, je peux vous recommander de relire mes avis sur les films que j’ai vu cette année sur ce blog. C’est assez incomplet. Pour dire, je n’ai pas parlé d’Hellboy II, mais vu que je viens de recevoir le DVD (avec The Dark Knight), je prendrais le temps de vous en reparler quand même.

Voilà, je vais donc retourner à ne rien faire ou je vais faire quelque chose. Allez savoir, la vie est pleine d’imprévus.