Oscar predictions update as of 8/29

Picture:
In Bruges
The Dark Knight
The Visitor
Traitor ( new )
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
*Out- Elegy

Male Lead Performance:
Javiar Bardem- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Don Cheadle- Traitor ( new )
Robert Downey Jr.- Iron Man
Richard Jenkins- The Visitor
Ben Kingsley- Elegy
* Out- Colin Farrell

Supporting Actor:
Robert Downey Jr.-Tropic Thunder
Brendan Gleeson- In Bruges
Heath Ledger- The Dark Knight
Joseph Gordon-Levitt- Stop-Loss
Guy Pearce- Traitor ( new )
* Out- Dennis Quaid

Rachel Getting Married Synopsis/Preview

Rachel Getting Married - Oct. 3rd

Directed by Jonathan Demme ( Silence Of The Lambs, Philadeplphia ) Starring Anne Hatheway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Debra Winger, Bill Erwin. Cinematography by Declan Quinn ( Coal Creek Manor, Leaving Las Vegas ) Edited by Oscar nominated Tim Squyres ( Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ) and written by Jenny Lumet.

In this family drama written by first time screenwriter Jennifer Lumet, daughter of director Sidney Lumet, and directed by the hot or cold Jonathan Demme, story about ex-model Kym ( Hathaway ) who has ping ponged her way in and out of rehab for the last decade, and has a rocky relationship with her immediate family. Kym decides that she is going to return home to attend her sister's ( Rachel-DeWitt ) wedding.
With her visit Kym opens old wounds and her long past of personal problem's. The family is hoping for a blissful, memorable weekend, but there could be possible concern's whenever Kym is in the picture, with her wise crack attitude and need for the dramatic, will certainly make for a very long weekend.

Any Oscar buzz ? Possible for Hathaway for Best Actress and Debra Winger in Support. Possibilty for Jenny Lumet for Original Screenplay.

New additions to categories

I now have Traitor in my Best Picture category. I have moved Don Cheadle into my Best Actor bunch and Guy Pearce in the Supporting category as well.

Muscial Nine in Fame boot camp rehearsal's

Lensing for the musical Nine won't begin until October for a hopeful December 09 release. But that hasn't stopped director Rob Marshall ( Chicago, Memoirs Of A Geisha ) from snapping the all-star cast into musical shape.

Word on the street has Marshall taking all the actors through a Fame style rehearsal bootcamp. Where you go from room to room and study and practice voice, dance, lines, choreagraphy, etc.

The already buzzed about cast consists of 2 time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis as Guido Contini the lead, with a supporting cast of Oscar gold with recent winner Marion Cottilard, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, Peneople Cruz, Kate Hudson and just recently cast Stacy Ferguson ( Fergie ) about a movie director stuck in a midlife crisis and all the women in his life that goes with it, his wife, his mother, his mistress and his muse.

I'm not so much a musical's kind of guy but this is such a awesome cast, that I have to see the final product.

Bainer's Best performance's of 2008 as of August 24th

I will not lie, and admit that I feel that this year, the first 8 months of the movie going year has been the weakest for a long time. It usually isn't hard to find good film's to choose from or performance's that really stick out, and I would have a hard time picking and choosing. This time it was like pulling teeth to fill the bracket's, but I got lucky and found some that I feel are the best performance's in their respective categories so far this year. Obviously, once October rolls around many of these names will be replaced. Hey, it's August, what do you expect ?

Picture:
Elegy
In Bruges
The Dark Knight
The Visitor
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
( Interesting to see if the Dark Knight will be Oscar nominated for Best Picture )

Male Lead Performance:
Javiar Bardem- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Robert Downey Jr.- Iron Man
Colin Farrell- In Bruges
Richard Jenkins- The Visitor
Ben Kingsley- Elegy
( Instead of scenery chewing, Kingsley's restrained performace is one of the best in his career )

Female Lead Performance:
Kathy Bates- Bonneville
Kate Beckinsale- Snow Angels
Tina Fey- Baby Mama
Melissa Leo- Frozen River
Julianne Moore- Savage Grace
( Bates is wonderful, also one of her best role's and Leo is amazing )

Male Supporting Performance:
Robert Downey Jr.- Tropic Thunder
Brendan Gleeson- In Bruges
Heath Ledger- The Dark Knight
Joseph Gordon-Levitt- Stop-Loss
Dennis Quaid- Vantage Point
( At this point I'd be very surprised if Ledger doesn't sweep the category and run the table )

Female Supporting Performance:
Joan Allen- Bonneville
Penelope Cruz- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Hope Davis- Charlie Bartlett
Rebecca Hall- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Amy Poehler- Baby Mama
( Cruz the best thing about VCB ? )

Direction:
Woody Allen- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Tom McCarthy- The Visitor
Martin McDonough- In Bruges
Chris Nolan- The Dark Knight
Ben Stiller- Tropic Thunder
( Yes, you read it correctly, I think it's by far Stiller's best effort, a career best )

As I have said, this list will have drastic changes as we conclude the year. From here on out, I will come back each week till the first of the year, to take off and add any other performance I feel warrant's it.

Burn After Reading film synopsis/preview

Burn After Reading- Sept. 12

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen ( No Country For Old Men, Fargo ) Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, Richard Jenkins, JK Simmons and David Rasche as the principle actors. Cinematography by 4 time Oscar nominated Emmanuel Lubezki ( Sleepy Hollow, Children Of Men ) Editing by Ethan and Joel Coen, and original music by Coen's regular Carter Burrell ( Three Kings, Adaptation )

Hot off their Academy Award leading get, No Country For Old Men, the Coen brother's take a stab at black comedy again, in a story concentrating on a foul mouthed CIA analyst, Osbourne Cox ( Malkovich ) who ends up quitting his job because of a demotion he recieves for his excessive drinking. He then begins to write his memoir about his experience's in the CIA, recording it on a disc.
At this point his life is pretty much in shambles, as his wife Katie ( Swinton ) wants a divorce during his demotion. She then is advised by her lawyer to make copies of all his financial records that are stored in his computer, also containing his memoir. Unbeknownst to Osbourne, Katie mistakingly leaves the disc at her gym Harbodies, where happless and dimwitted employee, Chad Feldheimer ( Pitt ) gets his hands on it and shares the information with fellow employee Linda Litzke ( McDormand ) and boss Ted Treffon ( Jenkins )
Litzke sees this disc as a financial gain as she is desperate for plastic surgery, so the two hatch a scheme to try to blackmail Cox.
Harry Pfaffar ( Clooney ) is brought in and assigned to the case to retrieve the disc, all the while Harry is sleeping with Katie, Osbourne's wife. And from there crazy situations ensue. 120 minutes.

Oscar buzz is primarily for Pitt, Malkovich and McDormand in supporting roles and also original screenplay.

I have read the script twice as I really liked the story very much. Malkovich gets some seriousiously funny scenes to chew on, but all character's will have their time in the sun.

Interesting note: This is the first movie since Miller's Crossing that the Coen's shot a movie without Acadamey Award winning cinematographer Roger Deakins.

Rated R for pervasive language and violence and some sexual situations.

Appaloosa film synopsis/preview

Appaloosa- Oct 3rd.
Directed by Ed Harris, Starring Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger, Jeremy Irons, Lance Henrikson, Robert Knott, Written by actors Harris and Knott ( Wild Bill, Pollock ) Cinematography from Oscar winner Dean Semler ( Dances With Wolves ) Editing by Kathy Himoff ( Killing Zoe ) and original music by Jeff Beal ( Pollock, Hide and Seek )

Appaloosa is a traditional Western, based on the 2005 novel byRobert B. Parker, that is centered around two men ( Harris and Mortensen ) hired to defend a town from a lawless rancher ( Irons ) when things don't go all as planned, as a recent widower ( Zellweger ) moves to town and shakes things up within main character's involved.

Film, direction, cinematography, music and acting all have Oscar buzz.

Tropic Thunder review ?

Naw... I'm not going to give you a film critic style review of the film because you probably already read a bunch of them and already pretty much know what the movie is about, so I'll just say a few things about what I thought about it.



Very entertaining. Great, quotable dialogue. Killer classic rock from CCR, The Stones, Steppenwolf. Never a boring moment and everyone is good in it. Especially Robert Downey Jr. I will see it again for some of the dialogue I missed when his character is talking a bit too fast and half mumbling. One thing that I haven't heard mentioned that really impressed me was the cinematography by John Toll, two time Academy Award winner for Legends Of The Fall and Braveheart back to back, some great dolly and tracking shots. The movie isn't over long and I laughed a lot in it which was nice for one since I didn't like Step Brothers or Pineapple Express. I cannot wait for the DVD because I'm sure there are some great making of and behind the scenes segments. Oh yeah, and Tom Cruise, pretty much unrecognizable, did a good job in his role as well, being that he has never played a character like that before. Well done Stiller, you really impressed me this time.

New addition to the nomination's categories

I will have to add Melissa Leo's name to the actress list as I was very moved by her performance in Frozen River. The movie as a whole is pretty depressing, but she carries it and is very good. She really sells that character. Too bad most people won't see it in the theaters because it's in very limited release. If you do miss the film, rent the DVD when it comes out , if for any reason, her excellent acting in it.

I also have to commend pretty much newcomer, Rebecca Hall for her job well done in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I personally liked her the best out of the entire cast. Hope to see her in future projects because she has that something. Charisma maybe ?

And just for personal reason's because I thought he was awesome, I will add Robert Downey Jr. to the Best Supporting Actor list for his pure sublime, disappearing act in Tropic Thunder. I know it's a satire, goofball comedy, but that was some great acting there. I know the Academy won't nominate him for this role, it will probably be for the Soloist, but to me, I think this is the second best acting job of the year so far just a tad behind Heath Ledger's.

Movie Synopsis- Changeling ( The Exchange ? )

Changeling- 140 minutes. Rated R for violence, disturbing content and language. Directed by Clint Eastwood.
Main cast: Starring Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Amy Ryan, Colm Feore and Jason Butler Harner. Script from J. Michael Straczynski ( Babylon 5 ), Cinematography from long time Eastwood lenser Tom Stern and editing by Joel Cox, another Eastwood regular. Score by Eastwood himself.

Changeling is a period thriller, that is set in the 1920's, and is based on a true story. When the young son of Christine Collins ( Jolie ) disappears and he considered as kidnapped, then is later found and returned to her by corrupt police, she fears and suspects the child is not her real son. The poilce are as said before corrupt, and Christine becomes villified by them when she raises a fuss about this " other " child and they attempt to claim her mentally ill and commit her, as she tries to confront police and authorties to find the real truth to her situation.
Positive reviews at Cannes Film Festival about the movie and Jolie's performance, where I read more than a few people say it's the finest so far in her career.

Release date will be the end of October, with it being released in limited form in the middle of that month.

Movies in August ?

The only thing that has interested me enough this month for me to get off my butt and go to the theater and plop down money to see is Tropic Thunder and Traitor. You can't go wrong with Don Cheadle can you ? I would see Bottle Shock, but it would likely be at one of the Hallmark theaters, so if it is, I'll pass and rent it. I know I'm going to get dragged to see Pineapple Express this weekend, but too me, that stoner-weed premise to a movie has been done before and by the best. I'll try to go in with an open mind.