Happy Halloween!

Have a safe and a good one.

Oscar Oddity #5: Traffic (2000)

At the 73rd Academy Awards, Traffic was nominated for 5 Oscars, including Best Picture. It won Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Benicio del Toro), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing, but it lost Best Picture to Gladiator. This makes it the only Best Picture nominee to go 4/5 and lose the top prize.

Note: However, several films, such as The Adventures of Robin Hood, Miracle on 34th Street, and Jaws, have gone 3/4 and lost Best Picture.

Let the Games Begin...

Awards season is kicking off with some of the first FYC ads. Amour is gunning for multiple nominations, which is a realistic goal at this point. Rust and Bone, meanwhile, will be lucky to get a Best Actress nomination. Having not seen either film, I can't speak to the quality of the films, but hopefully Rust and Bone won't qualify for an Oscar Campaign Bust post.

Images from AwardsDaily.

Review: Cloud Atlas (2012)

The Wachowskis and Tykwer deliver.

Directed by Andy & Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer
Produced by Stefan Arndt, Grant Hill, Tom Tykwer, and Andy & Lana Wachowski
Written by Andy & Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer (screenplay); David Mitchell (novel)
Starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, James D'Arcy, Zhou Xun, Keith David, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, and Hugh Grant

Best Music: 1950s

Best Original Score:

1950: Sunset Blvd. (Franz Waxman)

Oscar winner: Sunset Blvd. (Franz Waxman)

Top 100 Favorite Films List Updated

My list has changed drastically since my last update, and it can viewed here. This update sees 18 new films entering my list and 18 others leaving it.

Films Added:
The Artist (2011), The Birds (1963), Black Swan (2010), Casino (1995), Chinatown (1974), The Deer Hunter (1978), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Gattaca (1997), Jackie Brown (1997), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Love in the Afternoon (1957), The Lovers on the Bridge (1991), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Pierrot le Fou (1965), Rashomon (1950), Rio Bravo (1959), The Seven Year Itch (1955), Se7en (1995)

Films Removed:
Barry Lyndon (1975), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Charade (1963), The Conversation (1974), Decision Before Dawn (1951), Gone with the Wind (1939), Goodfellas (1990), Grand Illusion (1938), La Dolce Vita (1961), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Marathon Man (1976), Mean Streets (1973), Network (1976), Out of the Past (1947), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Rocky (1976), Summer Hours (2009), Wild Strawberries (1959)

For archival purposes, here's a copy of my old list after the cut.

Review: Six Shooter (2005)

Conroy and Gleeson on the train.

Directed by Martin McDonagh
Produced by Kenton Allen and Mia Bays
Written by Martin McDonagh
Starring Brendan Gleeson, Ruaidhri Conroy, David Wilmot, Aisling O'Sullivan, Gary Lydon, Domhnall Gleeson, and David Murray

Top 10 Favorite Horror Films

I've been busy all weekend, so here's a quick and dirty list of my ten favorite horror films of all-time. Most of them need no explanation, but feel free to sound off in the comments.

Best Music: 1940s

Best Original Score:

1940: Rebecca (Franz Waxman)*

Oscar winner: Pinocchio (Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, and Ned Washington)

Was this nominated?: Yes

Mini-Reviews: Cosmopolis, Frankenweenie, and Oslo, August 31st (2012)

Thoughts after the cut.

Oscar Oddity #4: Best Picture & Actor 1966

In the 84 ceremonies of the Academy Awards, there have been five Best Picture nominees in 68 ceremonies. The Best Picture and Best Actor categories during these years have only matched once: in 1966.

Best Picture Nominees:

Alfie

A Man for All Seasons (winner)

The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming

The Sand Pebbles

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Best Actor Nominees:

Alan Arkin, The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming

Richard Burton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Michael Caine, Alfie

Steve McQueen, The Sand Pebbles

Paul Scofield, A Man for All Seasons (winner)

Note: The 1964 Best Actor lineup matched the Best Picture one, but not vice versa. This is because of Becket's two Best Actor nominations for Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. Their fellow nominees were Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (the winner), Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek, and Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove. However, Mary Poppins (the fifth Best Picture nominee) was not nominated in the Best Actor category.

The Living Daylights (1987) vs. Licence to Kill (1989)

Both 007 films are directed by John Glen and star Timothy Dalton as the famous British spy James Bond. (SPOILERS)

Mini-Reviews: Seven Psychopaths, Nobody Walks, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Check out my thoughts on each new film after the cut.

Review: Argo (2012)

Affleck delivers another solid film with this inspirational story.

Directed by Ben Affleck
Produced by Ben Affleck, George Clooney, and Grant Heslov
Written by Chris Terrio (screenplay); Joshuah Bearman (article)
Starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman

Best Music: 1930s

Note: The Academy didn't create the music categories until 1934.

Best Original Score:

1930: Under the Roofs of Paris (Raoul Moretti and Vincent Scotto)

Top 10 Favorite Directors of All-Time

Spoiler: Only one of these guys is on the list.

After talking with Alex Withrow, I've finally found the nerve to make this list. Check out his eloquent one here.

This is merely my opinion, and nothing else. These aren't these greatest directors of all-time. Though, some of them might be viewed as such by film lovers.

Here we go...

Oscar Campaign Bust #5: J. Edgar

In early 2011, Leonardo DiCaprio was finally going to receive his fourth Oscar nomination, and possibly win the whole thing for his riveting portrayal of J. Edgar Hoover. A full campaign was launched to nab this generally generic biopic a Best Picture nod, and director Clint Eastwood's film looked primed for at least some technical nominations and a nod for Best Actor. The film was pushed on voters, and sometimes that's all you need. As the award season played out, DiCaprio was nominated by the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The film even took home top ten awards from the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. Everything was lined up for Leo. Then the Oscar nominations were announced without his name being called. 

Did it deserve to be nominated? Certainly not for Best Picture (or even Best Makeup), but DiCaprio's performance - one of his best - deserved more consideration. Then again, so did Michael Fassbender's in Shame.

Review: Pitch Perfect (2012)

Beca (Kendrick) and "The Bellas"

Directed by Jason Moore
Produced by Elizabeth Banks, Paul Brooks, and Max Handelman
Written by Kay Cannon (screenplay); Mickey Rapkin (book)
Starring Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Adam Devine, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, John Michael Higgins, and Elizabeth Banks

Review: Taken 2 (2012)

"I got a telephone call from Istanbul..."

Directed by Olivier Megaton
Produced by Luc Besson
Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
Starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Serbedzija

Best Cinematography: 2000s

2000: In the Mood for Love (Christopher Doyle, Pung-Leung Kwan and Mark Lee Ping-bin)

Oscar winner: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Peter Pau)

Was this film nominated?: No

Director Quotes Relay Race

David from Taste of Cinema has given us bloggers a relay race in which we compile our favorite directorial quotes. He passed it on to Chris from Movies and Songs 365, who passed it on to Alex from And So It Begins…, who has graciously passed it on to me. Deep breath.

Oscar Oddity #3: Hal Mohr

A unique Oscar winner (left).

Hal Mohr won his first Oscar for Best Cinematography for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935). This cinematographer holds the distinction of being the only Oscar winner to win without actually being nominated. In the early years of the Academy Awards, write-in votes were accepted, and he won based on those votes. How bad must the nominees have felt? I wish the Academy would go back to this, because snubs would at least have a chance of pulling a shocker at the winners ceremony.

Previous entries here and here.

Review: Detour (1945)

A low budget, classic film noir.

Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
Produced by Leon Fromkess
Written by Martin Goldsmith
Starring Tom Neal, Anne Savage, Claudia Drake, and Edmund MacDonald

More Oscar News

Your 2013 Oscar host.

10/1 - Seth MacFarlane is hosting the upcoming ceremony. This could help him squeak through with a Best Original Song or Screenplay nod. I don't have as much faith as Julian Stark does though. Press release.

9/18 - Important Dates for the 85th Oscars are announced, with the nominees being revealed earlier on January 10, 2013 and the winners revealed on February 24, 2013. Press release.

9/14 - Documentary Feature entries have already been submitted. Press release.

9/13 - Don Mischer, who has directed opening ceremonies at the Summer and Winter Olympics and Super Bowl halftime shows (among other things), will be directing the 85th Oscars show. Press release.

9/5 - This year's Honorary Oscars are going to Hal Needham, George Stevens Jr., and D.A. Pennebaker. The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award will be awarded to Jeffrey Katzenberg. Press release.

Films I Saw in September

A fascinating little western.

The Best:
1. The Ox-Bow Incident - ****
2. Jackie Brown (x2) - ****
3. Blind Chance - ****
4. Pierrot le Fou - ****
5. Love in the Afternoon (1957) - ****
6. Frenzy - ****
7. Man with a Movie Camera - ****
8. A Separation - ****
9. Tape - ****
10. The Trouble with Harry - ****

More after the cut.