Resurrect Me

Sometimes, when I step out of a movie theater, I feel the reality slapping me in the face... but in a good way, because movies start to look like lousy computer games and there's nothing good about that.
The only reason I went to see Gamer was because I was late for District 9 screening, and frustration made me do it - I bought the ticket. The regrets kicked in 5 minutes into the movie. I like Jerard Butler, but he chooses his movies terribly - 300, P.S. I love you, and the latest romcom trash, The Ugly Truth, didn't score much credit with me.
Another computer-game-like excuse for a movie is Surrogates. It's as fake as Ving Rames' beard was, but not as deep Somebody should tell Jonathan Mostow that one bad movie about robots is enough for a director's entire career, no need to make another one.
I can't believe that I have to seize talking about sci-fi action movies in favor of a chick flick, but Julie and Julia is actually good. In fact, it made me go back to writing this blog. Yes, the blog is back. Woo hoo! Also, it made me go to my kitchen and try to master some wildly creative cooking. It didn't work out. Still, I enjoyed the movie and Meryl Streep, who was magnificent... again and will get an Oscar nomination... again. So far she has no competition this year. I feel like I should write a sentence about Amy Adams, who is also in the movie, so here it is.

After 8 years of suffering, the American people finally elected the president they wanted, someone who they can be proud of and show him off to the rest of the world.
Now that the hard times are behind them, they can go back doing what they do best - judging celebrities. The latest victim is the singer/actress/underage tease Miley Cyrus, who came out jogging one morning with her boyfriend and, oh dear God!, wore a low-cut top that exposed the bikini she was wearing underneath. Apparently, a 16-year old dating a 20-year old is OK, but showing a 16-year old cleavage while jogging is absolutely out of line. Like that is the reason for the world economy crisis.
I can go on and on for hours talking about teenage breasts and their contribution to the world without risking jail time because the Internet is a free net, but my words of joy will never make a difference. People will always talk and express their disgust at people more successful than them. Maybe this is the reason celebrities exist. But enough with being philosophical. When looking at the multiple teenage starlets that the industry has to offer, Miley Cyrus is the only one with enough reasonable talent and potential. There's a lot of work to be done, but she's on the right way. Though releasing an autobiography at the age of 16 is a little bit too much.

Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown are an infamous couple known for their long term marriage full of drug usage, breakups and reconciliations. They are also known for family violence, as Bobby would hit Whitney and she would forgive him every time.
Modern celebrities are not that different from the ones who used to be popular just for theit talent alone. History has a tendency to repeat itself and now there's a new couple in town, a knew generation of Bobby-on-Whitney. Reportedly, the singer Chris Brown attacked his girlfriend Rihanna and inflicted multiple bruises on her. Rihanna, as much as she would want to be, is very far from being as talented as Whitney Houston, but she seems to enjoy the same amount of fame as Whitney had back in the 80's and she has a boyfriend whose last name is Brown and who hits her and whom she is willing to forgive. In about 30 years from now, when they are married and have kids, she will tell the world how horrible it was for her to deal with a violent and drug-using husband and maybe will leave him for good. That in case someone still remembers who Rihanna is in 30 years.

Not So Serious

Once a year there comes a time when the Academy of Motion Pictures ignores the best movies of the year and gives awards to average movies. That time is tomorrow night.
It was a bad year for movies, especially after a great year like 2007, nobody expected another flood of masterpieces like the one a year ago. The year 2008 will be remembered for being average and for Slumdog Millionaire. The Academy of 2008 will be remembered as the stupid bunch of idiots who overlooked the truly best movie of the year and one of the best movies ever, The Dark Knight that is.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score:

The score for The Dark Knight isn't even nominated because of the stupid reason that too many people participated in its writing. With that being absent from the list, the Oscar will probably go to A.H.Rahman who is not Rahmaninov but managed to compose a nice soundtrack for Slumdog Millionaire.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:

This is probably the most unpredicted category this year, but i dare to narrow the competition to Amy Adams for Doubt and Penelope Cruz for Vicky Christina Barcelona. I would go with Amy Adams. Missing from the list is the true best supporting actress of the year: Cate Blanchett for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:

Heath Ledger. Enough said.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:

It's Kate Winslett's sixth nomination and it's about time for her to win one, but I was unimpressed by her performance in The Reader and would give the Oscar to the awesome Meryl Streep for Doubt. Melissa Leo and Anne Hathaway are not strong enough opponents and Angelina Jolie is not even worth mentioning for her artificial display in Changeling.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:

It's pretty obvious now that Mikkey Rourke will win for The Wrestler, but I strongly disagree and think that Sean Penn was much better in Milk. But through the eyes of the average Academy voter, Sean Penn already has one Oscar and Mikkey Rourke is making a comeback, so he should get the vote.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year:

In my opinion, Dreamworks should stop making animated films, because nothing good comes out of it. Kung Fu Panda is the best they can do? Come on! Pixar will take the award again with WALL-E, no doubt about it.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:

Waltz With Bashir will win this and I will be ashamed for being Israeli for a few moments.

Best Achievement in Directing:

David Fincher is making good, thinking-out-of-the-box movies and gets overlooked by the Academy all the time. Fight Club, Seven, Zodiac - nothing. But when he makes a Hollywood movie, he gets nominated for an Oscar. But the winner will be Danny Boyle who, unlike Fincher, remained true to his special style and made the third-world wonder Slumdog Millionaire, that everybody is falling in love with.

Best Motion Picture of the Year

Academy's mistakes often amaze me and make me angry, but this time they're beyond any criticism. The Dark Knight should be there and should win it! It's like not nominating Godfather for Best Picture. Out of the nominated movies, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is the better one, but the winner will be Slumdog Millionaire.

The Wheel Turns

Britney is back. The new album is out soon, the new song is No. 1 in the US and it looks like the bad days are forgotten. Who could have thought just a year ago that this would happen? Britney tried to make a comeback at 2007 VMAs, but her performance there only made things worse and the album flopped. But at this year's VMAs she unexpectedly won 3 awards for a so-so video and suddenly everybody loves Britney again.
The new video for "Womanizer" is sizzling hot and Britney is obviously naked in it, having fun as if she never was bald. Forget the rehab, the emotional breakdown, loser ex-husband, lost kids, horny sister and wearing short skirts in cars. Just keep those catchy addictive tunes coming and spice them up with steamy videos. The machine is back on track and life is good for Britney.
While we are all so happy for Britney getting her fame back, things don't look so good for the Queen. Madonna, the grandma of pop, is in trouble going through an ugly divorce with the British director Guy Ritchie who failed to make a single good movie while being married to her. It is still unknown who will get the kids and especially the African baby. Maybe Angelina will adopt him.

Part Time

Last night I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie for the second time, in order to stabilize my opinion about it without any pressure, excitement, nervousness, anticipation and huge expectations as they were on the first viewing.
The final conclusion is as following: it's good, but not Indiana Jones good and very close to being a disappointment. The movie is still pure fun and shows all the wannabes (National Treasure, Tomb Raider, The Mummy) how adventure movies should be made. If this is what came out after 15 years of preparations, I don't want another Indie movie to be made ever again.
Obviously, George Lucas is the man to blame for all the flaws of the movie. Nobody can ruin movie franchises like this guy. Ridiculous features like a refrigerator that survives a nuclear explosion, CGI hamsters, monkeys that attack the bad guys and Tarzan greaser make the movie look like a joke. Good thing there's Steven Spielberg to patch things up with witty one-liners and great actions scenes.
Since the last Indiana Jones movie 15 years ago, Harrison Ford became a very gloomy and grumpy actor and made some very bad role choices. Here he is young and happy once again and his Indy still kicks ass. He is joined by the rising meteor Shia LaBeouf as his perfect sidekick that might take over the series in the future (George, don't do it!!!). But the biggest star of the movie (and the best working actress in Hollywood right now) is Cate Blanchett as the devilish Russian Colonel Dr. Irina Spalko that wants all the treasures for herself and never blinks with those big beautiful blue eyes.

While Hollywood recovers from the writers strike and there's nothing on TV but the new and terrible Lost season, the Academy was able to give out the Oscars as planned. Surprisingly, the ceremony itself was really good and not boring. Too many good movies came out this year, so it was really hard for the Academy to screw this up and choose winners that aren't good. And still, they managed to rob Cate Blanchett of the Oscar she deserved.

Everyone's been giving out awards lately, and I thought - why not me?
So here's the list of best and worst of 2007, my version:

Worst Movie: Rush Hour 3
Worst Actor: Johnny Depp - Pirates Of The Carribean 3 & Sweeney Todd
Worst Actress: Megan Fox - Transformers
Worst Supporting Actor: Jerry Stiller - The Heartbreak Kid
Worst Supporting Actress: Angelina Jolie - Beowulf
Worst Director: Michael Bay - Transformers
Worst Animated Movie: Shrek 3

Best Movies:
1. Atonement
2. The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
3. There Will Be Blood
4. No Country For Old Men

Best Actors:
1. Daniel Day Lewis – There Will Be Blood
2. Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
3. Gordon Pinsent - Away From Her

Best Actresses:
1. Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
2. Julie Christie - Away From Her

Best Supporting Actors:
1. Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men
2. Casey Affleck - Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
3. Paul Dano - There Will Be Blood
4. Jason Bateman - Juno

Best Supporting Actresses:
1. Cate Blanchett – I'm Not There
2. Romola Garai - Atonement
3. Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
4. Jennifer Garner - Juno
5. Emily Mortimer - Lars And The Real Girl

Best Soundtrack: Dario Marianelli - Atonement

Best Song: Falling Slowly - Once

Best Original Screenplay: Juno

Best Adapted Screenplay: Atonement

Best Cinematography: Atonement

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood

Best Animated Movie: Ratatouille

Best Foreign Language Movie: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days