Oscars - you watching them? Yeah, me neither...

... but that doesn't mean I am uninterested in knowing who wins, or above some casual speculation about the contenders and pretenders. I will preface all this by saying that if I were still in Roanoke, I'd have seen more Oscar-nominated movies, and that in at least one category I'd be doing a little better than flying blind, that being....

1) Best Actor - Richard Jenkins, Frank Langella, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Mickey Rourke
Yeah, not seeing the movies for the two front-runners is gonna make this very hard. I don't think Pitt wins for this polarizing movie, and Richard Jenkins seems to be the guy for whom the nomination is essentially his win. This is a shame because I really liked the movie, and thought he was great. And besides, I liked him better than Pitt in Burn After Reading as well. But anyway, as mentioned in a previous blog, I was at times quite captivated by Langella's performance in Frost/Nixon, but I think the only way he adds an Oscar to his Tony is if the voters who for some reason can't go between Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke go his way. I'm gonna lean towards Sean Penn here, but if I somehow carve time out this weekend to see movies, I reserve the right to change my mind.
Preference: Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Bet: Sean Penn, Milk

2) Best Actress - Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Melissa Leo, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet
I was gonna make some sweet comment about Jolie and Brad Pitt both being nominated, and making comparisons to Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward or even Laurence Olivier/Vivien Leigh but then remembered they weren't hitched. Oops. Salad dressing trumps adopted non-American orphans, I guess. Moving on. Jolie, Hathaway and Leo are all supporting movies that didn't get much love in any other major category, and buzz-wise have fallen behind the umpteenth nomination of Streep (though she hasn't won in over 25 years) and Kate Winslet's 6th nomination meaning it's time for the Academy to give the career nod thing. Streep has fans who loved Mamma Mia as well, and Winslet got two Golden Globes for two roles, yet not nominated for Revolutionary Road. Catholic turmoil vs. ex-Nazi turmoil. Finally, just going with my preference.
Preference and Bet: Kate Winslet, The Reader

3) Best Supporting Actor - Josh Brolin, Robert Downey, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Heath Ledger, Michael Shannon
Admit it, you had to look and say "you mean there are four other people nominated in this category?" Shame for Hoffman and Brolin, but the former has an Oscar, and the latter has been seriously building momentum the last couple of years for another run later. Michael Shannon's nomination was probably the biggest acting surprise, unless you count the fact that there's an acting nomination coming from Tropic Thunder (what kind of odds could you have gotten on that a year ago), Good on ya, Robert Downey, Jr. More comedies should get nominated, but that's another soapbox. For what it's worth, I saw the winning role, found it very powerful, and don't really wanna give away a gimme.
Preference and Bet: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

4) Best supporting actress - Amy Adams, Penelope Cruz, Viola Davis, Taraji P. Henson, Marisa Tomei
Okay, I expected Kate Winslet to get her Oscar here before the nominations were announced, so here goes nothing. Let's say that Adams and Davis will split votes for their movie (I would have picked Davis outright if this were not the case), Henson's work in this most-nominated movie has the best shot for an acting win, but I don't see it. I am totally in favor of hot older actresses playing strippers (Tomei is much more eager to take off her clothes in recent years. Seen Before The Devil Knows Your Dead? Everybody say "YES!"), but I don't think she's ever gotten the momentum for this to get there. So, I'll play the thing about Woody Allen's actresses doing well on Oscar night.
Preference: Viola Davis, Doubt
Bet: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Christina Barcelona

5) Best director - Danny Boyle, Steven Daldry, David Fincher, Ron Howard, Gus Van Sant
Hmm, I felt all the candidates for the movies I have seen did fine jobs. In previous blog posts I have spoke glowingly about Danny and Opie (just sounds like it should be its own movie or something), and wouldn't fault any of these five. Lemme pull one out here...
Preference: Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Bet: David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

6) Best animated film - Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E
Okay, I'm taking an almost certain copout freebie here, but I have two things I want to say. One, Wall-E is one of the movies I have seen, so I should be allowed to pick it if I liked it. Two, I liked it, a lot, and wouldn't have even complained if it had snuck on to the nominees for Best Picture. So there.
Preference and Bet: Wall-E

7) Best picture - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire
My whole discussion should be on whether anyone can slow the momentum of Slumdog Millionaire, which has been quite the critical darling. The Indian fairy tale doesn't have major acting awards to shoulder some of the heavy lifting, and with the exception of Danny Boyle's Director nod, doesn't have any other real place to show love for the film. So, while the serious political messages of Milk make it best placed for the upset, I will say not this year.
Preference and Bet: Slumdog Millionaire

and several other "less major awards" I wanna see how I'd do, with preference/bets going towards movies I saw, wanted to see, or wanna go out on a limb on.

1) Original Screenplay - Milk
2) Adapted Screenplay - John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
3) Foreign-Language Film - The Class
4) Costume Design - The Duchess
5) Cinematography - Slumdog Millionaire
6) Visual Effects - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
7) Sound Editing/Sound Mixing: could I tell the difference? Probably not - The Dark Knight

So have fun, and let's see if I can match my Grammy post....

Grammy thoughts

It occurs to me, a bit late, that the Grammys are tonight. I do have thoughts and preferences which, while not intensely drawn out, I would like to share with you. I am not going to be comprehensive, but hit the majors and a few of the other ones I might care about, anyway....

1) Best New Artist: Adele, Duffy, Jonas Brothers, Lady Antebellum, Jazmine Sullivan -
Okay, if the Jonas Brothers win, I'm going to suggest the NARAS is locked in a room playing a loop of New Kids On The Block, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Tiffany, and Debbie Gibson. Just a thought. My preference is for Duffy, and my bet is on Adele.

2) Record Of The Year: Viva La Vida, Chasing Pavements, Bleeding Love, Paper Planes, Please Read The Letter - Hmm, I'm surprised to see the M.I.A. and Krauss/Plant entries here, so I will assume that for them, the nomination is enough. Let's think that the Adele and Leona Lewis votes split, and allow for my favorite amongst these to win. My preference is for Viva La Vida, and my bet is also on Coldplay's title track.

3) Album Of The Year: Raising Sand, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, Tha Carter III, Year Of The Gentleman, In Rainbows - Okay, Coldplay got nominated for everything that could, just about, but I don't see them winning everything. Li'l Wayne was the best-selling album of the year, and Radiohead is a critical favorite. I have no comment about Ne-Yo, as I know nothing except that modern R&B and Hip-Hop are not genres that tend to win these sort of awards. This is the category where the out of nowhere, "who's heard this?" kind of thing happens most often, so... My preference is for Coldplay, and my bet is for Alison Krauss & Robert Plant.

4) Song Of The Year: American Boy, Chasing Pavements, I'm Yours, Love Song, Viva La Vida - Well, Jason Mraz is a Virginia boy, and you would think Adele might win one of these big ones. Kanye West is an award-winning dude, but... My preference is for Sara Bareilles, and my bet is for Coldplay.

5) Pop Vocal Album: Detours, Rockferry, Long Road Out Of Eden, Spirit, Covers - Let's dismiss James Taylor's covers album first, and then any of the others could win. So, when in doubt, let's go with stuff I like. My preference is for Duffy, but either Sheryl Crow or Eagles would make the old fogies happy.

6) Rock Album: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends, Consolers Of The Lonely, Rock N Roll Night, Only By The Night, Death Magnetic - Did Metallica put out an album? Whoops. Kings Of Leon? Nope. Kid Rock should be shot for stealing. So, while I didn't like this Raconteurs album as much as their first, I don't want Coldplay to win everything. My preference is for The Raconteurs, and my bet is for Coldplay.

7) Alternative Music Album: In Rainbows, Modern Guilt, Narrow Stairs, The Odd Couple, Evil Urges - Gnarls Barkley, Radiohead, and Beck are all favorites with this group of voters, so I can't see My Morning Jacket and Death Cab For Cutie making off with this. Let's assume some of the voters paid whatever they wanted for Radiohead's album. My preference is for Radiohead, and that's where my vote is.

Enjoy not watching the show and thus not being able to see how I did. Auf Wiedersehen!!

Memories Can't Wait

As mentioned in the previous post, I went a-moviewatchin' recently, and aside from the movies, I had quite the visceral experience, or perhaps so disconnecting that the absence of something solid and known felt visceral, or some shit like that. I'll let you be the judge.

Got out of Frost/Nixon at the West Tower and walked over to Quizno's. On my way back to the car, I let my mind roam. This is a place I know, knew, well. It and the Ridge were the two places for someone in the West End to catch movies in the late 80's and early 90's. This is where I pushed Troy up against a wall after he and Eric threw snide comments and more tangible objects and Amy and me while we were trying to watch Pump Up The Volume. This where Joe laughed his ass off at (mostly) Becky, Mike and me for picking a movie to watch while standing outside the cinema, arguing that Robin Williams had been very good for years, and that we would surely enjoy the movie that he was in. The movie was Being Human, and after checking on IMDB to see that it's final box-office was only just over $1.5 million, I believe this confirms that we were incorrect, and if you're reading this, you did not join us at the movies for this particular flick. Yes, Mikey, we wandered into an art movie. One with a $30 million budget and a Robin Williams at the tail end of a run that included Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poet's Society, Awakenings, Dead Again, The Fisher King, Hook, Aladdin & Mrs. Doubtfire, in our defense. But I digress....

So it was something I knew well but don't know well. When I visited Richmond over the last 12 years, I didn't go to the movies, and didn't often travel far from the routes to my mother's or my father's houses from the main highways into and out of town. The only thing farther up West Broad Street than the West Tower I would go to on a regular basis when I lived here back in the day was the used CD store Digits, up at Broad and Tuckernuck. Yes, I visited Borders even farther up Broad occasionally when I came to town, but the drive up and back wasn't spent seeing how the things I knew were doing. It was going somewhere new. Yes, I am aware that if Digits (and they had very reasonable prices for a college student trying to augment his CD collection, met me tell you) had not been buried by Plan 9 (which I have spent quite a bit of money in at Carytown over the last decade or so), that chain would probably not have been able to expand to Roanoke, where I enjoyed it immensely (see the post Ramble On if you are so inclined). Yes, I also have been told that the Ridge is long gone. Thanks for the update. :)

So now I am living up above the West Tower, above Tuckernuck, even above Borders, and some serious action takes place above me, at among other places the center of civilization that is Short Pump Town Center. I've managed to avoid it thus far, but I will be meeting someone there on Monday. Chris Capehart, who I have not seen in at least 15 years, found me on Facebook (again, a whole other blog post of backstory if you want it), called me, and in a couple of days I will be talking to someone I once knew when I knew these streets in a place that didn't exist when that was the case. Yeah, yeah, expansion and progress and convenience and age, yadda yadda blah blah.

Not many people who knew or know me will relate to this. Most of them now live in places far flung like Pittsburgh, the DC area, SW Virginia, Tennessee, California, and parts unknown or undefined here, but you see the point. They come back and visit their parents or some other family (at which point you are free to call my overly pensive self, heh), or the parents have moved on, either out of town or to a new part of the area. It's like I'm seeing a ghost of something that isn't dead by any means, and seems to be thriving, if that makes any sense. I'm back, for the very first time. I'm living in a new city I grew up, and knew all my life, but don't know if I know it. Or know how I should look at it, which is probably the part where visceral came out. *shrug*

The post was written while listening to "Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car" by Iron & Wine and "Oregon Hill" by the Cowboys Junkies, the latter of which is to be expected, I guess.

Movie Review, Let's Play Two...

It's Oscar time, and with thanks to Ernie Banks, my title points out that the award fare is out and about in quantity at your local gigaplex. So in the interest of kickstarting some blogging on here, not to mention that because I felt like standing in line to pay outrageous prices to catch the wafting smell of Metamucil and the occasional chirping of someone's cellphone that they were too stupid to turn off, I undertook two cinema experiences in the last week.

Slumdog Millionaire - A definite spin on your "local boy makes good" theme for the Western audiences. Not quite the Horatio Alger type of hero, unless bilking tourists was a method from those stories that I forgot about. Jamal is forced, under extremely painful coercion, to detail how a virtually illiterate teenager got to the verge of winning a fortune on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. The backstory, laid down by question, is somewhat artificial in that as the story goes in order by question, so does the chronology of the life of Jamal. The struggle, the love interest, the rise to a dramatic finish, etc. That the ending is a little too easily-arrived at matters to me not in the least. I was so bitterly enchanted by the young Jamal and Salim (Jamal's older brother) as they struggled for their very survival in the harshest of landscapes that I will forgive the story for assuming Jamal would keep these minutiae in his head. The middle years did not enchant me quite as much, except for the circumstances by which Jamal was forced to forge a life separate from those of Salim and Latika, the apparent love of Jamal's life. It was the reaching of the present day, the absolute purity the protagonist shows in a situation that should be intensely stressful, and the decisions made by the antagonist that lead to his predestined downfall, that put this movie over the top. While I have not seen every Best Picture candidate, I can see how this one is coming on strong in the weeks leading up to the ceremony.

Frost/Nixon - I just finished watching this one, so forgive me if the thoughts have not yet finished becoming cohesive. I have not seen the award-winning play that preceded the movie, nor was I of an age to have watched the original interviews. However, I watched a couple of clips on Youtube (gotta love it, dontcha) so I am gratefully aware that a least a decent portion of the script is taken directly from the interview. We get a look of how a fairly lightweight TV personality managed to engage the only U.S. President to resign from the Presidency in a series of one-on-one interviews, and how both men variously triumphed at times in achieving their goals. Both leades reprise their roles from the play. Michael Sheen is engaging as the public personae of David Frost, and powerful enough as the struggling, doubting version of the man as well. Frank Langella, who previously won a Tony for his role as Richard Nixon, at times made you think this was Nixon. After views clips of the actual interview, I was even more impressed at this performance. If there is a definitely major award coming this movie's way, though, I think it should go to Ron Howard, for nicely giving actual footage of the time, progressing through the story, and using post-interview "follow-up" with some of the major players from both camps to serve as chapters for this movie. The selling point for me, I think, is that Howard allowed us to savor the people's victory of getting an admission of wrongdoing from Richard Nixon, the President, while allowing the viewer to be somewhat sentimental, because we have not been allowed to forget about the pain of Richard Nixon, the man.

Plans for more movie-watching are afoot, Watson...