For Your Consideration: The Dark Knight

Warner Brothers has been working fervently to campaign for The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger for Oscar Nominations. This poster=probably the coolest thing ever.

Fun Stuff: The Lord of the Rings Drinking Game

This=Hilarious. I hope to try it out someday.

And one for all three films

Video: Prop. 8: The Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

This has basically been posted everywhere, but it is hilarious. And how on earth did they get all those people?

Trailers: Che (2008)

Sí?

Review: The Fall (2008)

This title is listed as 2006 on its IMDB page, but it was officially released in the states in 2008. And it's still 2008! Yay.

I pity anyone who jumped on the Across the Universe wagon last year, citing it as "breathtaking", "bold", or my favorite; "visually stunning". It was none of those things. The Fall is ALL of those things and more.

It's luscious and vibrant. The colors aren't overly-saturated, but just enough so that you can't look away. Not to mention a gorgeous black and white opening credits sequence. It may be the most aesthetically pleasing film I've ever seen.

The story is there, too. A young man (Lee Pace) and a young girl (Catinca Untaru) bond over a fantastical other-worldly adventure. It reminds me somewhat of Alfonso Cuarón's A Little Princess, one of my favorite films when I was young. You're mesmerized until you're just staring blankly at the screen. Eventually the story turns very dark, and I suppose it was all along, and we see our main characters in a most vulnerable light; completely exposed.

Lee Pace is beautiful and amazing and one day I will marry him. For now, though, I will watch him go unrecognized in the now cancelled Pushing Daisies. Catinca Untaru is incredible for being so young. She's silly, endearing, honest, sympathetic, and genuine. Her emotions are very sincere. You love her from the moment you see her. Who couldn't?

Grade: A

(71)

2009 Spirit Award Nominations

Award Season is underway; the nominations for the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards were announced today. The Spirit Awards will take place on the eve of Oscar Night (February 22). It's televised on IFC... Which means.. I won't be watching it.

Best Feature
"Ballast"
Producers: Lance Hammer, Nina Parikh
"Frozen River"
Producers: Chip Hourihan, Heather Rae
"Rachel Getting Married"
Producers: Neda Armian, Jonathan Demme, Marc Platt
"Wendy and Lucy"
Producers: Larry Fessenden, Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani
"The Wrestler"
Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin

See the full list here.

My mom has this thing where she has to see every film nominated for a major category at the Oscars. I may have to go one up on her and try and see all the films nominated for Spirit Awards. They should be some good ones. Tally-ho.

Review: Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

In Danny Boyle's latest film, he visits India to show us the hard-knock life of Jamal Malik, a "slumdog", who grew up to be a famous by winning "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". The only problem is, nobody believes he actually knew all the answers, so they interrogate him. What we get is an entertaining look through Jamal's life, complete with the little details as to how he knew the answer to the questions.

I think anyone can relate to that; whenever I know some random piece of information, someone will ask how I know that, and it's simple, this one time I was in this place and this thing happened and that's how I know. Jamal's story is a slightly more unique, though. He went through many hardships before he had even hit puberty. He spent time in tourist hot-spots conning people for money and stealing their shoes. He eventually got a job as an assistant, delivering coffee to people in one of those telemarketing agencies.

Then, he's on the show. But the only reason he is is not to make money, but to see if his long lost childhood soul mate is watching. I've been tricked into watching a love story.

Boyle's directing is decidedly un-tidy. There is a high-paced energy throughout the whole film--except when Jamal is on the hot seat, playing for millions. We see the history of Jamal and Salim (his brother with slightly higher ambitions) and Latika, their childhood companion from the slums; their "third musketeer". We see his heart breaking quest to find them both through his long journey, and he does it always with humility and a Bollywood ending.

I liked this movie a lot. I was always excited whenever Jamal would embark on another story telling. We see that he's not a genius, he's just a normal kid with slightly different life experiences from you or me. I thought his adventures were fun, and because the love story is actually the biggest factor in the whole movie, it'd be hard to tone it down. But I'd say that's what I didn't like so much about it.

The movie is generating a lot of buzz; just last night it won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Newcomer at the British Independent Film awards. It's on the short list for Best Picture at the Oscars. I guess it's supposed to be "this year's Juno or Little Miss Sunshine", but it fits more the underdog category than any of them do.

Grade: B