Sulmoney’s Oscar Predictions – Best Actor

Hans got a compliment from his training teacher; he was commended on his ability to read. High five!

From a two woman race in the Best Actress category, we move on to a two man race for Best Actor. From a career resurrection, to another fine performance in his resume, the other nominees need not come Sunday night. The nominees include Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Sean Penn (Milk),  Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler). (Full disclosure: I still need to see The Visitor, don’t judge me!)

Who Will Win

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Hollywood loves a redemption story, and there is none hotter right now than Mickey Rourke’s. Poised to be the biggest Hollywood star of the 80s and 90s, Rourke took a well documented detour and became Hollywood poison. Slowly working his way back into everyone’s good graces, Rourke completed his comeback with perhaps his finest and most authentic performance to date as a broken down, aging wrestler out for one last hurrah, a role that critics point out was not hard for him to pull off as it is his story. Nonetheless, it was the best performance of the year by anyone, and one that will studied for years.

Who Should Win

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Mickey has this on lock. I hope. If it is not going to be Mickey Rourke though, it will be this guy…

Sean Penn in Milk

Sean Penn gives another amazing performance as Harvey Milk, and is just as deserving as Mickey Rourke for the grand prize. As awful as it may sound to say it, I feel that there may be some sort of homophobic backlash against Penn’s performance, and it may have rubbed some of the voters the wrong way, similar to how Brokeback Mountain and Heath Ledger were seemingly locks a few years back but came away empty handed, save for Ang Lee’s win. Penn is deserving of it, and becomes Harvey Milk, and it is another iconic performance.

Who Was Snubbed

Colin Farrell in In Bruges

Anybody who has followed this blog knows my love and admiration for In Bruges, and at the core of this great picture is a performance from Colin Farrell that will change his career. He earned a Golden Globe for it, and he was an outside shot at getting the nomination, but fans of the film will be rooting for Martin McDonagh in the Original Screenplay category. If you still have not seen this gem, definitely make the effort to see it, and treasure the performance by not only Colin Farrell, but also Bredan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes.

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Sulmoney’s Oscar Predictions – Best Supporting Actress

As we have recently finished up our top 10 lists of 2008, and the end of the award season coming up in just over one week, The Feature Preachers embark on prognosticating the major Academy Awards categories. We will make sure to belittle each other’s poor selections and life choices in true FP tradition. In our quest to bring something new to critiquing the films, we will not only be predicting who we feel will go home with those little golden naked men on February 22, but who we feel should win, and who was snubbed from receiving a nomination. To kick it off, we start with perhaps the most fiercely debated acting category, Best Supporting Actress. The nominations are Amy Adams (Doubt), Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Viola Davis (Doubt), Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler).

Who Will Win

 

Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

While I disagreed with Hans on the greatness of Woody Allen’s latest, I will give credit where credit is due: Penelope Cruz chews up the screen and brings a saving energy to the film. As soon as she enters the film in the second act of the film in her dramatic and fiery welcome, the entire film becomes better. She has perhaps the biggest supporting role compared to her competitions, and far and away the most flashy and loud, and will probably be why she wins. The frontrunner since its summer release, Cruz has rode the crest of momentum and should be soon able to append Academy Award winner to her name. 

Who Should Win

 

Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Forrest Gump comparisons aside, and the fact that critics were split on the film just as Hans and I were, I hope that we can at least agree that Taraji P. Henson gives a career defining performance as Benjamin Button’s adoptive mother. While Brad Pitt’s performance may have been cold, distant, and hard to relate to for some, we all could feel for Queenie and her desire to be a mother and subsequent unconditional love for her son born under unusual circumstances. She was the human core of the film, and was a touch of reality in an unbelievable story. 

Who Was Snubbed

 

Rosemarie DeWitt in Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married is a wonderful movie…but there is about 30 minutes of extraneous material that should have been cut, and the handheld camera photography was about 0% necessary, and about 100% unwelcome. There are some incredibly raw and human performances from Anne Hathaway (more on her in a future post) and the relatively unknown Rosemarie DeWitt. Playing the one getting married, DeWitt embodies the role of a seemingly forgotten about because of her normalcy sister and daughter to perfection, and personifies the roller coaster  of emotions of a bride masterfully. Though this may be the first time you have heard of Rosemarie DeWitt, I am sure it will not be the last.

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Sulmoney’s #1 – In Bruges

Well, at least we can agree on a couple things here: 1) Hans went with the uber-trendy pick of Slumdog Millionaire for his #1, and 2) Danny Boyle is going home on Oscar night with a little statue that says Best Director on it. But in all seriousness, I truly wish and believe that Slumdog Millionaire will go down in history as the winner of the Best Picture come February 22, and wish that the smear campaigns that have been raging against the film stop, and that people appreciate it for its wonderful story.

Alas, we finally come to the end of the top 10, and I am here to save this list with another Sulmoney original, my pick for the best of 2008, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges.

 

In Bruges

Release dates are everything when it comes to awards season, and getting recognized. In Bruges, a film that not many people I know have even heard of, came out way back in January 2008, and has easily been my favorite, and the best movie I have seen in the past year. Similar to how Hans has said that Slumdog Millionaire has reached the level of his all time favorite films, In Bruges has done the same for me. Here is a film that despite its January release date, has managed to lay relatively low, but found a way to get nominated for 3 Golden Globes (including a well deserved Best Actor win for Colin Farrell), and landed an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Martin McDonagh, who I am emphatically backing to add a second Oscar to his resume, after only his first major motion picture. 

 

"Did you see Hans' top 10 list? What a joke!"

While In Bruges may not have been about a slain gay politician, Nazis having sex with minors, a not really that important television interview, a biography of a man born under unusual circumstances, or wanting to be a millionaire, it is a profane, politically incorrect, and shockingly gruesome at times look at how one lives with the mistakes that they have made, how they are to be judged for eternity, and if they have the capacity to change for the better. Making full usage of his background as a prestigious playwright, Martin McDonagh presents In Bruges as a character study of Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), two English hitmen who have been sent to Bruges (it’s in Belgium) by their boss Harry (the delightfully devilish Ralph Fiennes) after a hit goes horribly wrong. What follows is an often hilarious, often touching look at the interactions between the two who are on opposite ends of the hitman spectrum. Oh yeah, there’s a midget as well thrown in for good measure.

 

The bullet wound would probably be in the chest

Without spoiling anything, as unlike many of the films on the list, you probably have not seen In Bruges, Ray has done something truly awful, and it is something that he will seemingly not be able to live with for the rest of his days. There is a moment in In Bruges when the two are killing time at the museum awaiting further instructions from Harry, when Ray comes upon a painting of the Day of Judgement, and he, along with the audience, realize that his time in Bruges is his Day of Judgement: his fate is being decided, and he is being judged solely on his actions in a very black and white manner. However, another side is trying to interject itself into his outcome, by showing his intentions and his nature, and trying to change those blacks and whites into shades of grays. Coming from an upbringing with a strong background in religion and a firm belief in the Hereafter, this questioning and analysis of how we are to be judged when our time comes struck a particular chord with me, and is what elevates In Bruges above any of the other films of 2008.

 

Want a discussion on race wars amongst the vertically challenged? In Bruges' got it.

 

I professed my love for Guy Ritchie and RocknRolla earlier, but In Bruges is all of his movies and the countless other English gangster flicks grown up. While they offer style and no substance, McDonagh offers both in what is (still) shockingly his feature film debut. Having won an Academy Award already for Best Live Action Short Film in 2005 for Six Shooter (starring Brendan Gleeson again), McDonagh establishes as a young director and writer to keep an eye on in the future. The much maligned Colin Farrell shows us what he is fully capable of as an actor with his very emotional portrayal of Ray, a man who is now just simply going through the motions of life. Gleeson, also nominated for  Golden Globe for his role alongside Farrell, is wonderful as the grizzled veteran of the hitman business who does all that he can for Ray to help him out. McDonagh’s greatest directorial decision may have been in keeping the scene stealing Ralph Fiennes off camera until the third act, leaving his presence in the story float throughout the first two thirds of the film through a telegram or a phone call. His absolute view on the business, as a man with principles is a noble one. Supporting roles from fellow Harry Potter film franchise alum Clemence Poesy, and the now legendary Jordan Prentice round out some of the performances that make In Bruges my #1 film of 2008.

Hopefully you have had as much fun as we have in writing up our respective top 10 lists, and we hope to have turned you onto some of our favorite films of the year, including some that you may not have seen or even heard of before. I know Hans’ list definitely made me check out some films that I had missed out on, and I am sure he would say the same. Stay tuned to The Feature Preachers as we continue spreading the good word!

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Sulmoney’s #4 – The Dark Knight

Well, I think we have Wall-E covered pretty extensively. And I am sure that we will be seeing my #4 movie pick come up in your top 3 sooner rather than later, and I beat you to it once again. Again, Wall-E is a transcendent animated film, one that has universal appeal, and it is money in the bank for Best Animated Feature at the upcoming Academy Awards. We will find out in the morning if it has enough love to crash the presumed locked in 5 for Best Picture (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire).

Enough foreplay, on to the biggest blockbuster since Titanic.

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight. THE comic book movie to end all comic book movies. Nearly $1 billion in worldwide gross revenue. The movie event of not only the summer, but all of 2008. But we know all that already. We have story after story about The Dark Knight, and frankly, I overdosed on it. We have all seen it, and we all recognize the genius in every aspect of the film, from Christopher Nolan’s expert direction, the wonderful cinematography by Wally Pfister, the score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, to the no need to mention it anymore iconic performance by the late great Heath Ledger. The only thing that I take offense to in the critical reception of the film is the seemingly forgotten performance by Aaron Eckhart in the tragic role of Harvey Dent/Two Face. Good thing I get to use this as my soap box to fight for him.

I really really believe in Harvey Dent

For all intents and purposes, the main story of The Dark Knight is the rise and fall of Harvey Dent. Even the title of the film indirectly references what Harvey Dent represented to the city of Gotham, as he was supposed to be their White Knight. For everything that Batman could do for the city in secrecy and in the cover of night, Harvey Dent could do in the light of day without hiding underneath a mask. Batman realizes this, and if there is one thing that he would want, it would be to be able to put his alter ego behind him, live his life as Bruce Wayne, and support Harvey Dent to the end of his days. One even gets the impression that Bruce Wayne wishes he was Harvey Dent. The first half of the film we are brought along through his biggest legal victories, and how he has cleaned up Gotham City to the best of his ability. This however leads to the coming out of The Joker, and we see the frustration of fighting a losing fight, the breaking of a good man’s spirit with the loss of his love, the subsequent birth of Two Face, and his final shameful acts.

Cue Daddy Yankee's Gasolina

Aaron Eckhart, lost amongst all the (well deserved) acclaim for Heath Ledger, merits recognition for what he brought to The Dark Knight. In his portrayal of Harvey Dent, Eckhart is the pulse of the film. As Two Face, he creates an absolutely terrifying villain that had too short of a shelf life in Nolan’s Bat-universe. Allowing us to come along for every rise and fall of his emotonal rollercoaster during the course of the film is a true triumph of acting, and Eckhart’s performance should elevate him to the upper echelon of Hollywood. When you rewatch The Dark Knight over and over for the rest of eternity, amidst all the wonderful pieces of the film, remember Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, Gotham’s White Knight.

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Hans’s #6 – Frost/Nixon

Brad Pitt is not a great actor. He was awkward and stilted in Se7en, terrible in Troy, cartoonish in Burn After Reading, and he’s pretty much played himself in every other notable movie he’s made (Fight Club, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Ocean’s Everything). Sorry Sulmoney, but his performance in Benjamin Button was not “wonderful” and “subdued,” it was boring and blank-faced. Despite its enormous promise (and premise), Benjamin Button was ultimately a fairly empty love story with a deceptively narrow scope set against a disappointingly lackluster backdrop. I guess the film was pretty striking from a visual and technical standpoint, though, so if you’ve got the mind of a raccoon that’s content with collecting shiny objects from the garbage heap, I could see it finding its way to #7 on your list.

And did I mention Brad Pitt is terrible with accents? Because he is. Here’s my #6:

Frost/Nixon

I heart the craft of politicking, and I heart the art of argumentation, so Frost/Nixon, a movie that’s literally about two people sitting in a room and arguing about politics, was a no-brainer for me. Sure, when you put it that way the story really doesn’t sound very cinematic at all, but what the premise lacks in showiness, the execution makes up for with a tried and true formula that’s worked for one famous film franchise at least 6 times. In one corner you’ve got Richard Nixon: master intellectualizer and heavyweight champion of the world with the hurting bombs to prove it (literally), and in the other corner sits David Frost: the underdog with nothing to lose and everything to prove. Who will win? Well, we kinda already know the answer, but we knew Rocky wouldn’t lose, either (at least in part II), and it didn’t stop us from enjoying that one.

You wanna know what napalm really smells like in the morning? Pull my finger.

The underdog structure is brilliant, but it’d be nothing without Frank Langella’s uncanny performance as Nixon. Langella deserves credit for refraining from playing Nixon as a complete douchebag, which deserves an Oscar nod in itself. Instead, he gives us a pretty rounded and surprisingly hilarious picture of one of the oddest political figures in our nation’s history. Like Rocky’s heavyweight adversary, Apollo Creed, we don’t necessarily hate Nixon, but after watching his arrogance slowly build through the course of the movie, we can’t help but cheer when the knockout blow finally lands.

Frost/Nixon is far from a perfect movie, but really nothing on this list is without flaw. It didn’t need the documentary style, it pushed the boxing metaphors a little too far, and the acting does get a bit hammy at times. The good far outweighs the bad, though, and the climactic clash of wits and words is so satisfying, you’ll forget where it went wrong.

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Sulmoney’s #7 – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Never in my life did I ever think a film starring THE Jean-Claude Van Damme would crack anybody’s top 10, but alas, Hans has put the man who portrayed Frank Dux in one of my favorite martial arts films ever into his ever degenerating top 10 list, one that will surely live in infamy. What’s next, Rambo? After all that though, I may or may not be acquiring the aforementioned movie at the moment…

Alas, we now enter the somewhat boring part of my top 10 as I select some of the obligatory movies, Kicking them off, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button…

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

From the moment I first saw the trailer before the midnight showing of The Dark Knight, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button grabbed my attention. What an interesting premise! Brad Pitt! Cate Blanchett! David Fincher! All the recipes for success were in place for something truly special, and the hype just grew exponentially for the next 4-5 months, and it was already being penciled in as an across the boards lock for award season. When the release date came about, the film was never able to live up to the enormous hype that preceded it, but still won me over as a true marvel and showcase of why I love movies in the first place, and a wonderful love story in its own right that kept my rapt attention for its nearly 3 hour running time.

David Fincher has been one of my favorite directors for a long time, and the time had come for him to make a pure blockbuster. While I still prefer the vastly underrated Zodiac (easily one of my favorites from 2007), Fincher is a director who is not afraid to take his time to tell a story. Much has been made of the slow pace of Benjamin Button, but I find it to be a strong point. I mean, we are talking about the full life of an individual born under unusual circumstances. To rush through any part of his life would have been an injustice to the wholly unique idea, hatched by F. Scott Fitzgerald back in 1921.

Meeting in the middle...

The film can not be mentioned without the incredible work put in by all of the actors. Brad Pitt is wonderful as the title character in a very subdued performance that could have been interpreted totally differently and probably would have ruined the film, and Cate Blanchett is stunning as has come to be expected as Button’s lifelong love Daisy, in what should net her another Academy Award. Taraji P. Henson especially shines in her role as Benjamin Button’s adopted mother Queenie, setting herself up for at least a Best Supporting Actress nomination, if not a win.

Finally, the special effects that went into this film set a new standard for what we expect from the movies. Superman, Star Wars, Jurrasic Park, The Lord of the Rings, and now, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are landmarks in technical achievement; nearly every shot is an effect shot with the complcated aging process with the actors, but it all is done so well that it allows you to enjoy the film for what it is: a magical epic dealing wth love and aging.

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