My Oscar Predictions

The Academy just released the nominations for the Oscars. There are some surprises, but nothing too crazy. Here are my predictions and who I think should win, and my reasons behind them:

BEST PICTURE:

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire

I think that Benjamin Button and Slumdog are both worthy of winning Best Picture. But, due to the momentum its been gathering after the Golden Globes, I think that Slumdog will win Best Picture, although I wish that WALL-E would have gotten its nomination for Best Picture.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

• Richard Jenkins-The Visitor
  
• Frank Langella-Frost/Nixon
• Brad Pitt-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
  
• Sean Penn-Milk
• Mickey Rourke-The Wrestler

I think that Brad Pitt should definitely win this award. He was a very good actor in Benjamin Button. But, unfortunately, Sean Penn will win for Milk. Don't get me wrong, he was great in Milk, but, for political reasons, he'll beat Brad Pitt who was a better actor, in my opinion.

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

• Anne Hathaway-Rachel Getting Married
• Angelina Jolie-Changeling
• Melissa Leo-Frozen River
• Meryl Streep-Doubt
• Kate Winslet-The Reader

I think that Kate Winslet will win this award--and I am so glad that she was not nominated for Revolutionary Road which looks like the most boring and plotless piece of Oscar-fodder I have ever seen.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Josh Brolin-Milk
• Robert Downey Jr.-Tropic Thunder
• Philip Seymour Hoffman-Doubt
• Heath Ledger-The Dark Knight
• Michael Shannon-Revolutionary Road

It's a tie for me between Robert Downey and Heath Ledger for best supporting actor. Downey was really, really funny and witty, and was frankly a good actor (also it would be ironic if he won, since in Tropic Thunder his character is supposed to be an award winner). Heath Ledger will definitely win. Since he is dead, and since he deserves it. Yes, Robert Downey Jr. was amazing and is just as deserving, but Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was so creepy, funny and perfect that he will definitely get this award.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Amy Adams-Doubt
• Penelope Cruz-Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Viola Davis-Doubt
• Taraji P. Henson-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Marisa Tomei-The Wrestler

I think that Amy Adams will win for her role in Doubt. But I think that Eve from WALL-E should win, but she wasn't nominated.

DIRECTOR

• David Fincher-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Ron Howard-Frost/Nixon
• Gus Van Sant-Milk
• Stephen Daldry-The Reader
• Danny Boyle-Slumdog Millionaire

I think that David Fincher should and will win for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The film was just phenomenal, mostly due to the direction given by Fincher.

FOREIGN FILM

• The Baader Meinhof Complex-Germany
• The Class-France
• Departures-Japan
• Revanche-Austria
• Waltz With Bashir-Israel

Waltz With Bashir should and will win for the foreign film category.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Eric Roth and Robin Swicord-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• John Patrick Shanley-Doubt
• Peter Morgan-Frost/Nixon
• David Hare-The Reader
• Simon Beaufoy-Slumdog Millionaire

This one is a tie for me between Slumdog and Benjamin Button. I'd be happy if either movie won, since they were both great films with great stories. But since I have to predict the winner, I'll say Slumdog due, once again, to its momentum from the Golden Globes.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Courtney Hunt-Frozen River
• Mike Leigh-Happy-Go-Lucky
• Martin McDonagh-In Bruges
• Dustin Lance Black-Milk
• Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter-WALL-E

WALL-E!! It was the best movie of last year. It didn't get nominated for Best Picture, so it had better win this category. You cannot deny that WALL-E's story is one of romance, action, sci-fi, adventure, and a truly touching connection between two things that we didn't think could love. The tie-in with Hello, Dolly! is brilliant, the character of WALL-E is flawless, especially having the eyes be the only "emotional indicator". WALL-E hands-down had the best screenplay of last year. It should, and will, and had better win the best original screenplay.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

• Bolt
• Kung Fu Panda
• WALL-E

Look at my response to the previous category. Do I need to repeat myself? Nope. GO WALL-E!

ART DIRECTION

• Changeling
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• The Duchess
• Revolutionary Road

I want Benjamin Button to win this one as well; I can't stress enough how much I loved this movie. Its style. Its subtly. Its use of time periods and its character development. Alas, I think that they will give this one to The Dark Knight, which also had good art direction.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Changeling
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire

Benjamin Button will win this award, for good reason. There were some points in the movie where I thought, "This cinematographer really knows what he is doing". The shots were just perfectly lined up. Button should and will win this one.

SOUND MIXING

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Slumdog Millionaire
• WALL-E
• Wanted

WALL-E! It had the best sound mixing. It should win, but, unfortunately, Hollywood doesn't yet take animated movies seriously. Hence the lack of a Best Picture nom for WALL-E. So, sadly, The Dark Knight is gonna take this one for the fancy BatPod sounds.

SOUND EDITING

• The Dark Knight
• Iron Man
• Slumdog Millionaire
• WALL-E
• Wanted

See my reply to the last category. I think WALL-E should win, but The Dark Knight will.

ORIGINAL SCORE

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Alexandre Desplat
• Defiance-James Newton Howard
• Milk-Danny Elfman
• Slumdog Millionaire-A.R. Rahman
• WALL-E-Thomas Newman

I think that Benjamin Button and WALL-E both had equally great scores. The score for Button captured the changes in time and the characters' emotions perfectly. WALL-E's score also portrayed the loneliness, longing for love, and space travel perfectly. But, since Hollywood doesn't think that animated movies are worthy of "real" awards, I think that Button will win.

ORIGINAL SONG

• Down to Earth from WALL-E-Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
• Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire-A.R. Rahman and Gulzar
• O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire-A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

I want WALL-E to win as many awards as it can, as you may have noticed. So, I think that WALL-E should win this one, but Slumdog will.

COSTUME

• Australia
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Duchess
• Milk
• Revolutionary Road

Benjamin Button should and will win this one. The costumes helped the audience to really transport themselves to that specific time period.

FILM EDITING

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• Slumdog Millionaire

The Dark Knight will win this one. Although it is a tough call between that and Button.

MAKE-UP

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army

I would say that Button should win this one, but most of that was digital, so I think that Hellboy II should get it. Hellboy's make-up is awesome and realistic. Plus Guillermo Del Toro is really cool.

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

• La Maison en Petits Cubes
• Lavatory — Lovestory
• Oktapodi
• Presto
• This Way Up

Definitely Presto. It was witty, relatable, fantastic and superbly animated. It was very creatively stylized and had a hilarious premise. Presto will, thankfully, win this one.

VISUAL EFFECTS

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Iron Man

This is a very tough one to call. I thought that the special effects in each of these movies was awesome. They are all deserving and all have the same chance at winning this one. I think that all of them should win it, but I think that Iron Man will win it. It has to win at least one award, right?

So, those are my predictions for the 81st Academy Awards. (You'll notice that I cut about 3 categories since I hadn't seen any of the films in them). As you can tell, I loved WALL-E, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, and The Dark Knight. Button got the most nominations at 13! Yay! Although I am very dissappointed that WALL-E didn't get a Best Picture nomination, and that it won't win big since it isn't considered to be a "real movie" when it is better thanevery other movie out there this year. Oh well. I guess only the actual results will let us know...

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'Dark Knight' Steps Down For 'Thunder'

The Dark Knight has been the reigning champ at the box office for almost four weeks. It has broken multiple box office records, and has wowed the critics.

But now, Tropic Thunder has beaten The Dark Knight at the box office! This weekend, The Dark Knight made almost $17,000,000, where Ben Stiller's comedy made approximately $26,000,000.

The only question remaining, is will The Dark Knight beat Titanic's best overall grossing at the box office? Titanic made a total of $600,788,188 while in theaters. Christopher Nolan's second Batman movie has made $471,493,000, thus far. One can only hope that it will pull through to the top box office champ of all time.


Source: Box Office Mojo

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The Dark Knight... Simpsonized

Here is a gallery I found. They are really awesome pictures of some of the characters from The Dark Knight if they were "Simpsonized":




These are from the blog Springfield Punx. Be sure to go there if you liked these, there are other "Simpsonized" characters such as Neo from The Matrix, James Bond, Pee Wee Herman, the Spiderman villains, among other pop culture icons.

Great stuff!

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Is There a Batman Curse?

Everyone is aware of the supposed Superman curse, which involved Christopher Reeves, George Reeves, and possibly others. When I went to see The Dark Knight again, I started thinking about whether a Batman curse has started to emerge. The evidence of this curse can be found in the fact that Christian Bale was arrested, Heath Ledger died, and Morgan Freeman was in a car accident. All of these people, as you probably know, played major roles in the new Batman movie. In addition to that, a special effects expert was killed on the set of The Dark Knight in a Batmobile-related accident. I know that its probably not a curse and just a big coincidence (as is the Superman curse, I'm guessing), but its still something to think about.

Watch out Aaron Eckhart!

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The Dark Knight vs. Past Batman Movies

It is no surprise that The Dark Knight had the biggest opening weekend of all time. It is a truly great movie. But how does it compare with past Batman movies? Here is a gallery that shows the visual differences between the most recent Batman adaptations and the older ones.

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Also, pulled directly from the New York Times, here are some quotes from these movies, as well as earnings, lengths, etc.:

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Batman: The Movie (1966)

Quote:
“Some days you can’t get rid of a bomb.” – Batman

Time and Rating:
105 minutes with a PG rating.

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Batman (1989)

Quote:
“Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light?” – Joker

Time and Rating:
126 minutes with a PG-13 rating.

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Batman Forever (1995)

Quote:
“Holey rusted metal, Batman! The ground, it’s all metal. It’s full of holes. You know, holey.” -- Robin

Time and Rating:
122 minutes with a PG-13 rating.

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The Dark Knight (2008)

Quote:
“Some men aren't looking for anything logical. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” – Alfred

Time and Rating:
152 minutes with a PG-13 rating.

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I think that The Dark Knight is the best Batman movie, and the best superhero movie, of all time. Click the source link below to read even more comparisons.

Source: The LA Times

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The Dark Knight Sets a Midnight Record (Updated)

The Dark Knight was released today, July 18. I am sure that you have heard how great it is, if not, here's my review. Not only is it phenomenal in its quality as a film, but it has done fantastically at the box office so far. In fact, it has set a record for the most successful midnight opening. It made about $18.5 million, beating Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith at $16.5 million.

Update: As of Sunday evening, The Dark Knight has set 8 box office records! They are:

1 - LARGEST NUMBER OF OPENING THEATRES WITH 4,366

2 - BIGGEST MIDNIGHT PREVIEW GROSS WITH $18.489 MILLION IN 3,040 THEATRES

3 - BIGGEST IMAX MIDNIGHT PREVIEWS SET AN NEW RECORD WITH $640,000

4 - BIGGEST SINGLE-DAY GROSS IN BOX-OFFICE HISTORY WITH $67.850 MILLION

5 - BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND GROSS IN BOX OFFICE HISTORY WITH $155.340 MILLION

6 - BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND GROSS FOR AN IMAX RELEASE IN BOX OFFICE HISTORY WITH $6,214,061 MILLION IN 94 THEATRES WITH $66,107 PER THEATRE.

7 - BIGGEST OPENING WEEKEND OF 2008 WITH $151.340

8 - BIGGEST JULY OPENING EVER

Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily

Go Batman!

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The Dark Knight Review

I attended the midnight showing of Nolan's newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight. It was spectacular. Right from the start you are sent deep into terror and suspense, and you aren't let go until the theater's lights come back on, and even then you are still a bit spooked with traces of an adrenaline rush. Throughout the movie, you are given tons of character development and plot lines, neither of which make the film feel confusing or long, they just add to the film's over all complexity and "feeling". They push you to either love or to loathe each and every character.


The outstanding performance in The Dark Knight, and I'm sure you will agree, is provided by Heath Ledger who plays the Joker. Now, don't get me wrong, Nicholson was a great Joker, but he was nothing compared to Ledger's supremely eerie and demonic take on Batman's most famous villain. Here's how Heath described his Joker: "a psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy." He was exactly right. Heath Ledger, in my mind, is confirmed to win an Academy Award at the next Oscars for his performance as the Joker. And believe me, it is well-deserved.


The plot line of The Dark Knight intrigues you greatly as the movie goes deeper and deeper into the story. You discover secrets, cheer for a member of the love triangle that arises, watch as Bruce Wayne struggles between his two lives...and all the while you have the Joker to worry about.


Out of 10, I'd give The Dark Knight a 10. It is suspenseful, laugh-out-loud hilarious, scary, action-packed, and very entertaining. Ledger's Joker is the definitive Joker, the most demonic Batman nemesis, and the best super-villain from any superhero movie. The Dark Knight, in my opinion, is one of the best superhero movies of all time, and is on par with The Godfather as one of the best crime dramas to ever be created. The Dark Knight delivers a truly extraordinary cinematic experience.

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