Posts Tagged ‘Jason Reitman’
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Award Season is Crazy Season. If you follow these things at all, you have been bombarded by information about the superiority of one film above another for months now. If you blissfully ignore all that stuff, you might even not have heard that a producer on The Hurt Locker is in trouble for trying to convince Academy voters to vote for his film instead of Avatar. His crime: sending an e-mail to his friends. Yes, things are crazy. So it is a good thing that with the Oscar telecast on Sunday, Award Season will be over. Until May or so, when the first discussions for next year’s favourites and winners will begin once more.
But before the Oscars, the most important of all the meaningless awards, are handed out on Sunday, it is time for my annual Oscar predictions. Last year, I picked 19 of the 24 winners. This year, let’s try to improve on that. But unlike last year, this year I actually feel like I am entitled to my own opinion, having seen 20 of the 58 animated films, 18 of the 38 feature films, and actually having seen all nominated films in three categories. So not only will I now predict the Oscar winners as promised, I will also tell you who should win. (Yes, my opinion constitutes objective truth in these matters.) The following list is ordered rather randomly and incomplete, an alphabetical and complete breakdown of all categories and predictions follows at the end.
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Tags: 2009, 2010, A Matter of Loaf and Death, A Serious Man, A Single Man, Aardman Animations, Ajami, Alessandro Camon, An Education, Anastasia Masaro, Anna Kendrick, Armando Iannucci, Avatar, award season, Bob Peterson, Carey Mulligan, Caroline Smith, Christoph Waltz, Christopher Plummer, Coen Brothers, Colin Firth, Coraline, Crazy Heart, Das Weisse Band, Dave Warren, Disney, District 9, El Secreto de Sus Ojos, english, Ethan Coen, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Faubourg 36, Gabourey Sidibe, Geoffrey Fletcher, George Clooney, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Helen Mirren, Henry Selick, In the Loop, Inglourious Basterds, Instead of Abracadabra, Invictus, James Cameron, Jason Reitman, Jeff Bridges, Jeremy Renner, Jesse Armstrong, Joel Coen, Kathry Bigelow, La teta asustade, Lee Daniels, Logorama, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marion Cotillard, Mark Boal, Matt Damon, Mauro Fiore, Meryl Streep, Mo'Nique, Morgan Freeman, Movies, Neill Blomkamp, Nick Hornby, Nine, Oren Moverman, Oscar, Paris 36, Penélope Cruz, Pete Doctor, Pixar, Precious, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Quentin Tarantino, Randy Newman, Sandra Bullock, Sheldon Turner, Sherlock Holmes, Simon Blackwell, Stanley Tucci, Star Trek, T-Bone Burnett, Terri Tatchell, The Blind Side, The Door, The Hurt Locker, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Messenger, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells, The White Ribbon, Tom McCarthy, Tony Roche, Un Prophète, Up, Up in the Air, Vera Farmiga, Wallace & Gromit, Wes Anderson, Woody Harrelson
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Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Review:
George Clooney lives in the air - on planes and in airports. 322 days a year, he is on the really high road (sorry for that horrible joke) in his job of professional employment terminator, i.e. he fires people and helps them cope with the situation by painting it in bright colours as a chance for a better life. And he is happy in that life of hotels and airports without any real human connections. Things change when he meets a woman he actually falls for while also encountering the enthusiasm of a young colleague fresh out of college, who invented firing over the internet. He takes her on a trip to learn the ropes while his life of solitude slowly dissolves. The film is often extremely funny while also dealing with a real dramatic problem (being laid off), but ultimately falls a little flat. It’s great fun to watch for the most part, but the end is hardly satisfying and feels disconnected and unreal.
Random Observations:
Up in the Air at the IMDb
This is the sixth of the ten Best Picture Oscar nominees (more about the Oscar nominations here) I’ve seen and I’m still rooting for one I haven’t seen - The Hurt Locker. The film is also nominated for Best Director (Jason Reitman), Best Adapted Screenplay (Reitman and Sheldon Turner), Best Actor (Clooney) and Best Supporting Actress for both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. Out of those, Clooney’s performance and Reitman’s direction are the most deserving winners, but both are unlike to walk away with the Oscar exactly one month from now.
Because there was an unusually long queue at the ticket counter, I actually missed the first few minutes of the film, something which I absolutely hate, and feel somewhat reluctant about the validity of my critique.
For the most part, the film worked as a realistic tale of human life, but the fact that somebody whose company fires people for other companies thinks that it might be a good idea to do so over video-chat, was too contrived and repeatedly took me out of the movie.
Tags: 2009, American Film, Amy Morton, Anna Kendrick, book adaptation, Chris Lowell, Comedy, Danny McBride, Drama, english, George Clooney, J.K. Simmons, Jason Bateman, Jason Reitman, Melanie Lynskey, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Oscar, roamnce, Sam Elliott, Sheldon Turner, Steve Eastin, The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, Vera Farmiga, Zach Galifianakis
Posted in Minute Movie Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies | No Comments »
Friday, February 5th, 2010
By now, it has been three days since the Nominations for the 2009 Academy Awards, more commonly known as Oscars, have been announced, and everybody has had plenty of time to comment on them, despair over the obvious oversights and dreadful inclusions, and ultimately come to accept them as the meaningless bullshit they are. So now I thought it would be a good idea to voice my opinions on (some of) the nominations, a complete list of which can be found here. My predictions as to who will win will be up in this very space in early March, in time for the, glorious, gloriously ridiculous and ridiculously overlong ceremony on March 7th.
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Tags: A Serious Man, Academy, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, AMPAS, An Education, Avatar, award season, Brokeback Mountain, Carey Mulligan, Christian Berger, Christoph Waltz, Coraline, Crazy Heart, Das Weisse Band, District 9, english, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Helen Mirren, Inglourious Basterds, James Cameron, Jason Reitman, Jeff Bridges, Kathryn Bigelow, Meryl Streep, Mo'Nique, Movies, No Country for Old Men, Oscar, Precious, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side, The Hurt Locker, Up, Up in the Air
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Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
Review:
Juno is a pretty typical American teenager - and also pregnant. She decides to deliver the baby and look for a family that will adopt it. The film tells the story of that year in her life, seldom moving into overly dramatic territory and instead focusing on the comedic aspects of it, yet without ever getting silly. Ellen Page in the lead role carries the movie (once more) and is helped along by a good supporting cast, set to the first soundtrack in this decade to sell independently well. An often funny and engaging film, Juno delivers what it promises: fun. And also a baby.
Random Observations:
Juno at imdb.com
Screenwriter Diablo Cody, a former exotic dancer (aka stripper), won an Oscar for the screenplay. I don’t really know for what, since in reality people occasionally use the normal words for things instead of just lining up metaphors; quirky dialogue alone is just lazy writing, not an accomplishment. If you want to really see a well-written film, watch “Lars and the Real Girl“.
Having “hip” and “independent” musicians do the soundtrack for a film is “the” thing right now, but in general it is preferable to actually use someone who can “sing”.
This is the 100th movie review published here - in just under 5 months.
Tags: 2007, Allison Janney, American Film, award season, Canadian Film, Comedy, Diablo Cody, Drama, Ellen Page, english, J.K. Simmons, Jason Bateman, Jason Reitman, Jennifer Garner, Juno, Lars and the Real Girl, Michael Cera, minute movie review, movie review, Movies, Olivia Thirlby, Oscar
Posted in Minute Movie Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
For a long time, I have been a reader of the website of the A.V. Club. As far as popular culture is concerned, there is no site on the great world wide interweb that I like more. And now for the third year running, they have asked readers to submit their Top Five Movies of the past year, which I of course dutifully did. I also wrote some short comments about those movies and since I feel disinclined to just let them get lost in the internetz and I also like reusing things to make it appear that I am creative or something like that, they are now also posted here. So here are my personal favourite movies of 2007:
1. Atonement
In a wonderful adaptation of a brilliant novel, Joe Wright almost manages to tell a better story than Ian McEwan. Beautifully shot and excellently acted (especially by Saoirse Ronan), the movie is a true gem. Combined with the great story and the surprisingly fitting soundtrack/score, this is easily the best film I’ve seen in 2007.
2. Gone Baby Gone
Ben Affleck should never have tried acting. He belongs behind the camera and he demonstrates it with his directorial debut. A good movie is made great by the twist at the end that makes a typical thriller into a morality tale, which makes you wonder what you would have done.
3. The Simpsons Movie
After 18 years, the Simpsons moved to the big screen and they did so in a fashion that surprised everybody. For 90 minutes, this movie is just pure brilliant entertainment. Maybe there were more meaningful movies in 2007, but there wasn’t a funnier one.
4. The Darjeeling Limited
Wes Anderson makes another movie that is so typically Wes Anderson that after 10 minutes you start to wonder whether he can only make one kind of movie. But you’ll soon stop, because the typically melodramatic comedy of Anderson, combined with beautiful imagery, great acting and music leaves you wanting more. It’s not The Royal Tenenbaums, but it’s still a brilliant movie.
5. Juno
I haven’t actually seen Juno, because it hasn’t yet been released in the backwater country where I live (it’s called Germany). But what I’ve heard is so great, that I’m sure I will love this movie. People might say that it was Ellen Page’s breakthrough performance, but everybody who has seen her in Hard Candy knows that she knows what she is doing.
I’d love to say something about how great a year 2007 was, but due to the fact that studios insist on releasing movies months later in Germany, I haven’t yet seen many hyped movies, such as There Will Be Blood or No Country for Old Men. But considering that I can’t remember the last time I was looking forward to movies that are released here in February, 2007 must have been a great year.
Tags: 2007, Adrien Brody, Anjelica Huston, Atonement, Ben Affleck, Bill Murray, Casey Affleck, Diablo Cody, Ellen Page, english, Gone Baby Gone, Hard Candy, Ian McEwan, James McAvoy, Jason Bateman, Jason Reitman, Jason Schwartzman, Jennifer Garner, Joe Wright, Juno, Keira Knightley, lists, Matt Groening, Michael Cera, Michelle Monaghan, Movies, Natalie Portman, No Country for Old Men, Owen Wilson, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, The Darjeeling Limited, The Simpsons, There Will Be Blood, Vanessa Redgrave, Wes Anderson
Posted in Movies, Top Lists | 3 Comments »
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