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