And the nominees are...

That’s right, it’s finally that time of the year again. If you’re like me and have been anxiously waiting for the Academy Award nominations to be revealed since the day after last year’s show…then we should really be friends. Anyway, you better bet that I was surprised by some of the nominees and just as surprised to see a few missing from the list, such as…

Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) for Best Actor. Way to go, Ryan! You definitely deserve it but I don’t think anybody saw that one coming.

Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) for Best Supporting Actress. The Academy has some weird fix on nominating cute little girls (strange, no?). Not that she doesn’t deserve it for her Olive’s infectious spirit, but it’s something to think about.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond) for Best Actor. I’m shocked that he got a nod for this one (even though he was really good) and not for The Departed (where he was really really really good).

Volver not up for Best Foreign Language Film. True, I haven’t seen any of the ones nominated, but come on, this one is so wonderful!

Click for Best Make-up. It just really bothers me that now on DVD covers it will read “Click: An Academy Award nominated film.”

Nominations for United 93, including Best Director. Although I have yet to see it, it’s nice to see a critically acclaimed film from last spring be remembered.

Dreamgirls not up for Best Picture (!!!). And that’s all I have to say about that.

Stay tuned for Ren’s Oscar Picks/Predictions in the near future!

Volver

Director Pedro Almodóvar likes women. He likes them a lot, and he likes to give them juicy roles. He also likes to show off their multi-layered attributes, as well as their physical ones. Penelope Cruz is absolutely stunning as a woman facing the rumored ghostly return of her mother and a good-for-nothing husband who winds up dead. It’s a very emotional role and Cruz’s ability to make it look effortless is mesmerizing. Like in his other films, Almodóvar uses bright and unnatural mixes of colors to give the film a sense of surrealism. In all its beautiful vivacity, Volver is really all about second chances, especially among female bonds that are often underappreciated, or even nonexistent.

Golden Globes

Here’s what I loved and loathed about this year’s Golden Globe Awards

Speeches. Can you say Sacha Baron Cohen?? That was THE most hilarious 90 seconds of the show. Also, Meryl Streep never disappoints and Jeremy Irons was funny. Hugh Laurie was a hoot and America Ferrara was touching.

Martin Scorsese wins for The Departed. Hell yes. You better own the Oscars!

Helen Mirren wins twice –what a dame!

British Fever! I think half of the nominees and winners were British, they are truly masters of their trade.

Jack Nicholson. This guy is at every single one of these shows (and he’s always placed right in front), and it never gets old to watch everybody mention him and pick on him. And Jack, like the cool cat he is, just sits there in his shades and laughs and makes the most awesome expressions.

Leo doesn’t win a single thing. What is wrong with the world?!

Jennifer Hudson wins. Ok, it’s great that she’s an underdog and all, and she gives an ok performance for never having been in a movie before, but honestly? Compared to the others in that category I don’t think she deserved it (I mean, did you see Babel??). She even said, “This makes me feel like an actress.” Wait, what?? So you’re not an actress? Let’s hope the Academy remembers this when they make their ballots.

Dreamgirls wins the most of any film with 3 awards (best comedy/musical, supporting actor & actress) Can you honestly say that this is a better film than Chicago? Because I can’t. I don’t think it even compares.

Overall, it was a pretty solid night of actors getting tipsy on champagne and giving awards to a number of newcomers. And actually, come to think of it, there was a lot of representation and recognition given to a variety of films and TV shows, rather than one sweeping all the categories.

FutureSexLoveShow

Because a friend mentioned to me that I should post a blog about this, I am going to do just that. And after actually seeing this non-stop show I thought, hey, why not? So here are the highlights of the most intense and engaging concert I’ve ever been to (to be fair, I haven’t seen that many).

Last weekend I let my inner girly girl let loose, the girl who loves pop music, and loves to blast it in the car, who itches to dance to it, and who really just genuinely likes it (Don’t tell me that you don’t secretly like the ridiculous lyrics and hypnotic beats, too). I giddily and shamelessly attended The FutureSexLoveShow of the one and only ex-Mouseketeer, Justin Timberlake. I don’t find him particularly attractive in real life, nor do I find him with a lot of interesting things to say (although D*** in a Box is now one of my favorite SNL sketches ever), but damn, put a guy in a pair of slacks, a button-up shirt, a tie, and a vest, and then watch that guy dance all over a stage, popping and locking, and even pulling off a few moonwalks…that’s H-O-T HOT. This was seriously a four-act piece, with Pink opening and pulling off an energetic 45 minute set, JT performing his songs in two halves, then Timbaland doing a DJ intermission show by spinning trippy dance remixes of Since U Been Gone and Over My Head, just to name a few.

But seriously, the place went crazy when Justin came out for the first time. The stage was set in the round so no one had a bad seat (even us in the very last row) and there were big screens that were used so every girl in the arena could see Justin up close and personal. My particular favorite set was for What Goes Around/Comes Around when Timbaland came out for the first time. Then JT held a camera in front of his face and sang right into it (remember the big screens) with this crazy red-filtering and it gave the sense of what a bad sex tape might look like (I think this was a burn to Britney) and then he went and flipped the camera off, just like a badass.

The show lasted more than three hours but it never once got boring. He mostly sang from his new album but stuck in a few good ones from Justified. And like I said earlier, he danced up a storm, and he was certainly not afraid to get frisky with the ladies. The arrangements for Damn Girl were particularly entertaining as the back-up dancers were dressed in burlesque-type costumes and he, how should I say…had his way with them if you know what I’m saying. The audience (read girls) went ballistic.

But perhaps the most unexpected element of the show was that when he wasn’t dancing Justin played a few instruments. He played the piano a few times and even pulled out a guitar. The absolute best part, and I mean the single BEST moment of the night for me was when he whipped out a keytar. Yes, that’s right, Justin Timberlake played a keytar. I thought I’d never see such a pairing up in my life. And it wasn’t just him playing a keytar that made it the best part, it was the moment that he grinded it. Yes, he humped the keytar and it was the funniest, greatest thing I’ve ever seen. My jaw literally dropped. And then the audience (read me) went wild and my life changed forever.

Blood Diamond

Initially I was put off by the trailers, which made it feel like some action flick that was trying to be worldly like Babel with its setting in Africa. And then there were brief shots of Leo speaking in a funny accent. But as I have learned in the past (i.e. Gladiator), some trailers are bad, but the movie is good, sometimes even great (but my theory still remains: if you have a bad trailer, then you probably have a bad movie). Blood Diamond takes the recent civil wars in Sierra Leone with resonating results. It does have a typical formula (guy with baggage has selfish motives + innocent civilian wanting to save his family + hot, yet smart journalist who flirts a lot, especially with her unbuttoned shirts = a love story subplot for only two of them), but it inserts unpredictable turns that prevent it from becoming one big cliché. I was actually quite relieved when certain events that one might expect didn’t happen. It also has shock value, although it’s not the kind that one would enjoy as it shows some disturbing images of genocide and kids being trained to do unthinkable things. More importantly, it’s thought provoking and makes one think a lot about the dirty diamond industry and the unfortunate souls that suffer just so that some yuppie can give his bride a fatty jewel to show their “love” for one another.

Ren's Best and Worst of 2006

Here’s my list of the best, worst, and noteworthy films, as well as performances, of the past year (of the ones I’ve seen, of course). Under each title I’m giving just a brief blurb on why I believe that movie belongs where I placed it. Enjoy!

My Top 10 Films of 2006 (in particular order)

1. The Departed: For giving Martin Scorsese an amazingly talented cast, great dialogue, a solid soundtrack (he’s a pro at this) and for shocking the hell out of me. I loved every minute of it.

2. The Queen: For letting Helen Mirren prove yet again that she is one of the most versatile actresses of our time (she has 3 golden globe nod’s this year alone!), and for giving a realistic and believable glimpse into the parliamentary system.

3. Little Miss Sunshine: For showing that being different is a good thing, and funny too. And for showcasing Steve Carell’s range as an actor, music by DeVotchKa, and that darn VW bus.

4. Thank You for Smoking: For the MOD squad, cancer boy, and Aaron Eckhart. So wrong, yet so funny.

5. Stranger Than Fiction: For Will Ferrell’s subdued guitar playing OCD Harold Crick, Dustin Hoffman’s quirky professor of lit, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s punky but sweet alter-ego. Hip graphics and sounds didn’t hurt either in this very original tale.

6. Volver: For Penelope Cruz and Almodovar’s love of portraying bold and beautiful women, with the help of rich and striking colors.

7. Inside Man: For being a jazzy heist movie that is every bit entertaining, surprising, and complete with social and racial commentary (thanks Spike Lee).

8. Babel: For its most original and moving story (that of the Japanese deaf-mute) and raw performances from the entire cast.

9. The Illusionist: For starring Edward Norton (has he ever given a bad performance?) and completely catching me off guard in the end.

10. Blood Diamond: For going far beyond my expectations and for Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou being absolutely wonderful.


Worst Films of 2006 (in no particular order)

Failure to Launch: For a stupid premise and the lack of chemistry between Parker and McConaughey

American Dreamz: For being plain out obvious and ridiculous.

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown: For letting kids believe that mammoths live happily ever after.

Take the Lead: For being overly melodramatic and having stereotypical situations. And for being the only movie that played on airplanes this summer during overseas flights. Damn you Air Canada!

Art School Confidential: For not being funny, or dramatic, or anything. And a murder-mystery? Seriously? Didn’t work for me.

Click: For immature humor. Sandler has showed that he can be more refined but still funny, yet here he’s going back in time. Well, actually forward in time, but you get what I mean.

The Good Shepherd: For simply being a disappointment. Spy thriller? Really?!


Honorable Mention

A Prairie Home Companion: For putting together a great ensemble and an endearing story.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story: For having fun by mixing literature, a film within a film, and dry English humor.

Borat: For showcasing Sacha Baron Cohen’s ass, as well as many other unforgettable stunts, both fabricated and authentic.

An Inconvenient Truth & Who Killed the Electric Car?: For addressing important global issues.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby: For once again letting Sacha Baron Cohen show his talent by playing a gay French NASCAR driver. And for some of the silliest dialogue this year.

Casino Royale: For getting the James Bond franchise back on track, and for Daniel Craig’s hot bod. Ohh yeahh.

The Matador: For being smart, colorful, and not being predictable.

Best Performances

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Steve Carell, Little Miss Sunshine
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Pierce Brosnan, The Matador
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Gael Garcia Bernal, The Science of Sleep
Alec Baldwin, The Departed
Matt Damon, The Departed
Aaron Eckhart, Thank You for Smoking
Edward Norton, The Illusionist

Dreamgirls

I had imagined that this was going to be the “it” movie this holiday season with all its hype, unfortunately this was not the case. Eddie Murphy knocks one out, though, with his energetic James Brown-like performer with many dark problems. And for newcomer Jennifer Hudson, who’s been getting all the rave reviews? I can’t say that I felt the same way. I mean, her vocal range is amazing, but her acting chops? Not so much. It would be a better movie if it were a musical in the sense that there are musical performances on a stage, not however, where Jamie Foxx is strutting down an alley “singing” cheesy lyrics. It’s all a bit too melodramatic, and a bit too giddy with using montages.

Night at the Museum

Ben Stiller continues his nice-guy-stuck-in-a-bad-situation scenario and teams up yet again with Owen Wilson. But it works. Or at least it works well enough to be mildly entertaining for an hour and a half. Even though the entire plot is a fantasy, there are some elements that are so ridiculous (like Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke being bad guys—Whaaa?), but you just have to go with it. A few brief scenes with Ricky Gervais are funny, although people who don’t get his humor might not think so, and he adds a different form of funny to the movie. It’s sweet, cute, and you get a few laughs, but it’s nothing extraordinary.