the pod bay door

:: By now you’re probably heard or read the Oscar nominations. There were a number of pleasant surprises, including Keisha Castle-Hughes for Actress in a Leading Role, Whale Rider, Djimon Hounsou for Actor in a Supporting Role, In America, and Samantha Morton for Actress in a Leading Role, In America. Notably absent from big nominations was Cold Mountain, which I think deserved better. I was hoping for In America to get Best Picture and Director nods as well, but at least Jim Sheridan and his daughters, Naomi and Kirsten, were nominated for Original Screenplay.

Will there be any surprise winners? Charlize Theron deserves a win for Monster, an amazing performance. The three other acting categories might not go as predicted. Will Actor be a showdown between Bill Murray and Sean Penn? Will Sean Penn attend the ceremony? Is Renée Zellweger a lock for Supporting Actress?

I’ve yet to see City of God, which received four nominations, nor have I seen Whale Rider, two films I will view very shortly. Some of the nominated films, including The Fog of War, and The Cooler, have yet to open in Edmonton.

My Canadian pride is strong today, as Denys Arcand received a nomination for Writing (Original Screenplay), and his movie, The Barbarian Invasions, won a Foreign Language Film nod as well.

In the end, I hope Peter Jackson and LOTR: TROTK win big.

David Poland offers this commentary on the 2003 nominations.

Who do you think will win? Would would you like to see win? Do you care?

:: It’s about to get really cold around here. It’s -17C right now, and a lot of snow is falling. And the temperature? Last night, the long range forecast had a high temperature of -37C and a low of -44C for mid-week. I’m on the Weather Network’s Edmonton page at the moment, and the forecast have been revised somewhat since yesterday. The low temperatures are now expected to be in the -32 to -37C range. *whew* I’m more concerned about the snow, which is forecast to continue falling until Tuesday, and makes driving treacherous. Ah, the joys of being Canadian!

:: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced its Orange British Academy Film Awards nominations this week. Leading the pack are Cold Mountain with 13 nominations, and LOTR: TROTK with 12. Girl With A Pearl Earring received 10 nominations, and Lost in Translation received 8. Interestingly, despite 13 nominations, Cold Mountain’s Nicole Kidman was not nominated for Actress in a Leading Role. However, Scarlett Johannson was nominated in that category twice, for Lost and Girl. Sean Penn also scored a double nomination for Actor in a Leading Role, for Mystic River and 21 Grams. The complete list is here.

:: Speaking of Cold Mountain, I saw it last night, and thought it was brilliant. After reading a few reviews, I went to this movie with few expectations, almost waiting to be disappointed. Some critics felt the film was slow moving, and that Kidman and Jude Law lacked chemistry. The movie is an episodic story of a Civil War deserter, Inman (Law), who leaves the south near the end of the war to return to Cold Mountain, where the woman he loves, Ada (Kidman), waits for him, in hopes that he is still alive. The Civil War scenes are brutal and realistic (movie depictions of any war scene have changed since Saving Private Ryan moved the bar way, way up.)

The chemistry between the actors is real, and the episodic nature of the movie, which gives the movie its length, does not detract from the richness of the story, but adds to it by introducing a number of fascinating characters, keeping us interested in the story. In addition to solid performances from Law and Kidman, Renée Zellweger is excellent as Ruby, a drifter who comes into Kidman’s life, at the time she is slowly spiraling downwards, following the death of her father. The aforementioned fascinating supporting characters are portrayed by some of our best actors, including Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Giovanni Ribisi, Eileen Atkins, Brendan Gleeson, Kathy Baker, Natalie Portman, James Gammon, Jena Malone, Lucas Black, and Cillian Murphy, from 28 Days Later.

This is a long film, 2 hours and 28 minutes, but I was never bored. Cold Mountain worked for me. My Blogcritics.org review is here.

:: The Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced its 2003 LA Film Critic Awards. Best Picture went to American Splendor, Director to Peter Jackson, Actor to Bill Murray, and Actress to Naomi Watts. The Triplets of Belleville picked up two awards, for Best Animation and Best Music Score. Leonard Klady offers these observations on the awards and their impact, if any. Further award details here.

:: Movie City News maintains a 2003 Awards Scoreboard, where you can see statistics by individal film in categories of Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Screenplay. In addition, this nifty online publication, edited by David Poland, gathers together critics’ top ten lists. There are at least 275 Top Ten Lists provided. You can also see the films of 2003 assembled in a Big Chart based on top ten lists, or view by Point Total or Title. Not to be missed: The Big Scoreboard of Bad, and yes, Gigli was the winner. Some of the Top Ten Worst Films of 2003 lists are also provided.

:: As a frequent movie goer, I tend to sit through a film until all the credits have appeared. All too often, there will be extra stuff like outtakes, or an extra scene when the credits have finished. There was an interesting article in the Sunday NYTimes (ID and PW: podbay) on how film credits are taking increasingly longer times to scroll because of the many categories and job titles listed. The article notes that in the credits for Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World, 16 alone were assigned to people working for Russell Crowe only: costumer, two hairstylists, makeup artist, two special makeup artists, stunt double, stand-in, dialect coach, trainer, swordsmater, three violin coaches, two assistants, as well as a company that provided his personal security. Credits for Star Wars in 1977 listed 143 people. By contrast, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, listed 559 names, Finding Nemo had 642, and The Matrix: Revolutions, listed 701. The article doesn’t list the number for the final LOTR movie, but notes that the credits take 9 minutes and 33 seconds to scroll. Be sure to check out the graphic that shows the difference in the length of credits between LOTR: TROTK and earlier films, such as Star Wars.

:: I’m still under the weather, fighting a cold and sore throat.

:: The Directors Guild of America has announced its nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2003. One notable absentee is Anthony Minghella, for Cold Mountain. Overall, it hasn’t been the best year for film. Sales of tickets in the USA dropped for the first time since 1991.

:: With the Spirit Rover firmly in place on Mars, the US will now move its search for WMD to the red planet itself. Meanwhile, The Beagle isn’t doing too well.

:: The Writers’ Union of Canada is “aghast” over cuts to Regina’s public library system.

:: I’m a bit cranky tonight. Last night while falling asleep, my right eye began bothering me. This morning I woke to a burning feeling in said right eye, and it has yet to subside. I know, I should have it examined.

:: I’ve been very lazy the past few days. I was in Calgary on Christmas Day, visiting my brother Chris and his girlfriend, Debra, where they treated me to a fine Christmas dinner and great company. I returned on Boxing Day (Dec 26 for my non-Canadian friends), and have been doing a lot of nothing since then, except seeing movies.

:: I wanted to see at least 100 films this year, and reached that number yesterday. In the past few days, I’ve seen Peter Pan, Morvern Callar, Paycheck (ok, so I needed to see a fluff film), 21 Grams, House of Sand and Fog, The Barbarian Invasions, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and LOTR: TROTK. I’ll see Elf this afternoon with friends. Despite my best attempts to keep a master list of the films I see, I believe I always forget to list a title or two each year.

:: In the remaining week away from work, I hope to get some cleaning done in the house, but given how lazy I’m feeling, I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll get anything done!