Quoted from Murphy Just when I though you were making sense you come up with that. We could really fall out over that statement James!

Didn't mean to offend, homeskillet  . I hope my Juno rant still makes sense... and yes, I was being ironic.

Quoted from James McClung Besides, if you want to bash someone for being a pretentious hipster who's trying too hard, Wes Anderson's a much bigger (and better) target.

I've got time and energy to take on both.

Wes Anderson post-The Royal Tenembaums, that is.


Here's how the pitch The Life Aquatic went down:

WES ANDERSON: Hi Steve! I got this great idea for a movie! Basically nothing happens but we'll get a lot of celebrities to stand around in funny clothes and then we just let the camera stay on them for 2 minutes during which no one does or says anything!

PRODUCER: So nothing happens?

WES ANDERSON. Hillarious, right?

PRODUCER: I don't know. Sounds like you've lost it, Wes.

WES ANDERSON: Bill Murray's on board and he's got this great idea for a character that has a sardonic wit and a deadpan expression all the time. It's like nothing anyone has ever seen before!

PRODUCER: SOLD!

Death Monkey while that was funny I have to dsagree though, The life Aquatic is up there with my favourite movies of all time, easily my fave Wes Anderson movie, I think it is hillarious - I love the french guy on the guitar singing all the David Bowie songs and I thought it was directed so well, the way the camera pans along the ship, the colors he used througout the movie, everything just looks so good.

I have not heard great things about the Darjeeling Ltd but I am looking forward to watching in the hope I will be pleasantly surprised. I introduced my wife to Wes Anderson last year and she loves the Royal T's and Rushmore but did not like Bottle Rocket and it must be said that the Life Aquatic bores her to tears! I think it is one of those films you either love or hate.

I'm glad the Academy had the sense not to nominate The Darjeeling Ltd. for anything. It's bad enough that the majority of Anderson's characters are rich, snobby brats who act like they know what real problems are but to drop them into a country where the general population is fucking starving... no, just no. So kudos to those old farts. Plenty of more room for No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood.

Oh and well played, DM. I can always count on you for a healthy debate.

Quoted from Murphy Death Monkey while that was funny I have to dsagree though, The life Aquatic is up there with my favourite movies of all time, easily my fave Wes Anderson movie, I think it is hillarious - I love the french guy on the guitar singing all the David Bowie songs and I thought it was directed so well, the way the camera pans along the ship, the colors he used througout the movie, everything just looks so good. I have not heard great things about the Darjeeling Ltd but I am looking forward to watching in the hope I will be pleasantly surprised. I introduced my wife to Wes Anderson last year and she loves the Royal T's and Rushmore but did not like Bottle Rocket and it must be said that the Life Aquatic bores her to tears! I think it is one of those films you either love or hate.

Yeah. I'm more of a Bottle Rocket - Rushmore - Royal Tenembaums guy, I guess.

It's not that I think Wes Anderson is a bad director in any way, on the contrary, but I just think he needs to be poked with a stick every now and then. Until he does something new.

James, I've heard "homeskillet" but never "what the blog".

I remember when I used "How goes it?" in Entrances and Exits and everyone freaked out and said it didn't work at all, that it was the least believable part of a script about a guy stepping out of a 7-11 and into the old west, but I hear people say that all the time.  I dunno, Dialogue is pretty up in the air when it comes to slang.

I think the actual phrase is "honest to blog". That line made me lose faith in humanity.

Quoted from Death Monkey I think the actual phrase is "honest to blog".

That's the one. I stand corrected.

Quoted from The boy who could fly Best supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, this is %100

I'd say the long shot would be Philip Seymour Hoffman. Bardem will probably win but Hoffman's definitely competition, I'd say. Charlie Wilson's War has been getting rave reviews.

Anyway, those guesses are basically the same as mine except I wouldn't be surprised if There Will Be Blood won Best Picture or P.T. Anderson won Best Director. I also think the Coen bros. will win Best Adapted Screenplay and basically every nomination on the technical side of things.

I would not say that Bardem is as nailed on for this as people first suspected. James is right,  Hoffman is truly wonderful and was great in 'Charlie Wilson's War' and I would have no problem him winning, he is my favorite actor alive and richly deserves any acclaim his talent brings him.

But in my opinion Casey Affleck in 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' was easily the best performance of any actor in any movie last year (not seen There Will Be Blood yet so cannot comment on DDL but imagine  that if any of the oscars are beyond doubt it is his) and I really think that it will be recognized as such. The movie coming out on DVD this week is certainly great timing too for the last minute decisions.  I am absolutely gobsmacked the movie was not nominated for the best film oscar.


Best picture: No Country for Old Men or There will be blood.

Best director: P.T. Anderson or Coen Brothers. (this result will be the opposite of the above in the interest of fairness!)

Best Cinematographer: Roger Deakins The only question is for which film, NCFOM or Jesse James, I think Jesse James.

Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis - Nailed on I would think.

Best supporting Actor: Casey Affleck will spring the biggest surprise of the night, I am going to put money on it. What I would like to see is when he goes up for his award is for Javier Bardam to follow him up the stairs with his bottle of gas and put a hole in his head! when interviewed afterwards he would apologize saying that he was confused and though it was Ben Affleck who won. He would probably get let of with a caution for that.

Best Song: Once 'Falling Slowly' - One for the irish and would be great to see this wonderful film get an oscar.

Best Original Screenplay: Michael Clayton

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Acadamy is going to do the right thing and give this award to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and not NCFOM or TWBB. They will feel stupid for their own rules stopping the best two foreign language movies of last year being eligible for the foreign language category and will want to make amends and ensure that this amazing achievement in film making does not walk away without anything. This must of been an incredibly difficult book to adapt and the resulting movie is breathtaking.

Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor.

Javier Bardem for Best Supporting Actor.

Those two I'm sure about. Lewis and Bardem might as well be buying up their Oscar polish right now as far as I'm concerned. Everything else is still pretty up in the air. It would be wonderful if There Will Be Blood took home the big prizes (screenplay, actor, cinematography, director, picture) but I wouldn't be disappointed at all if No Country for Old Men scooped them up.


Matt.

I'm yet to see it, but I'm surprised Into the Wild didn't get many nominations. I've heard a lot of positive stuff about it from friends who've seen it and most of the reviews I've read have been good too. Perhaps, a poor box office showing hurt its chances.  

So today I put money down on Ellen Page for best actress and PT Anderson for best director.

$50 on Page and $20 on Anderson.

If Page wins I get $500 and if Andseron wins I get $120. Anderson was 6:1 whilst the Cohens were just 1,5. I think that's a bet I'm willing to take. And 10 times your money back on Page? Not bad. I almost put money on Saoirse Ronan for Atonement just because if she wins I would get my money 17 times back and look like I'm a genius.

Also Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton gets you your money back 17 times. Him or Hal Holbrook would be good bets too, if not for Bardem.  

The Oscars just got exciting!

Alright. I've found something to be upset about. Where the hell is the nomination for the Simpsons Movie in the animated feature category?

They've nominated three films: Persepolis, Ratatouille and Surf's Up. Surely The Simpsons Movie deserved, if not the Oscar, a nomination. And what's the deal with having only three nominees, anyway? Having The Simpsons Movie up for the award would've generated a lot of interest in this category.        

Quoted from Takeshi Alright. I've found something to be upset about. Where the hell is the nomination for the Simpsons Movie in the animated feature category? They've nominated three films: Persepolis, Ratatouille and Surf's Up. Surely The Simpsons Movie deserved, if not the Oscar, a nomination. And what's the deal with having only three nominees, anyway? Having The Simpsons Movie up for the award would've generated a lot of interest in this category.

I don't think it's deserved. I don't every animated movie should automatically be nominated for the sake of meeting a quota or whatever. In fact only Ratatouille and Persepolis deserve to be there, IMO. You shouldn't nominate something for pragmatic or political reasons either.