by switters - February 24, 2008
(For my mom.)
Are the stars out tonight
I don't know if it's foggy or light
But I only have eyes for...
Oscar!!!
That's right, folks. It's Oscar's night. The one and only night of the year when our favorite celebrities take their rightful place on the throne of national attention, for all intents and purposes canceling out the other 364 nights when they're relegated to the poorly lit corner of utter and total obscurity and anonymous existence. Truth be told!
How do they do it?!
It's movie night in America, where achievement in film is rewarded with accolades from The Academy Of Moving Picture Science And Industry, the highest award in the land for a director, sending hordes of fans to the "red carpet" like a retarded suicide bomber to a Bagdad market.
What a year 2007 was for the movies! I haven't seen Oscar competition for Best Picture this stiff since Towering Inferno went up against Volcano back in '79. Good thing Endless Summer shivved The Blue Lagoon in the shower at the last minute. Newman was robbed.
Danny Lewis (Two Left Feet) brings his considerable star power to the biopic There Will Be Blood For Oil. Directed by wunderkid P.T. Barnum (Mmm... Magnolia), Blood For Oil tells the story of one man's quest to control the world's oil supply by invading a country that's never attacked the U.S.A., claiming that the oil revenues generated after all the dust has settled will pay for the war and the price of a barrel of oil will drop to $8.95, having won the hearts and minds of "the natives". Based on Updike St. Claire's bestselling novel of the same name, it might be time to file this one under the "science fiction" section!
But look out for buddy film extraordinaire, Old Country For No Man, an instant classic "road movie" from the genius that is the Kohn Brothers, driving right off the highway and into our soul. Starring Tom Jones (Meet The Blacks, In The Valley Of The Dolls) and Josh Breslin (Diane Lane), No Man hits the gas on physical comedy with gunfire, pulling onto the off ramp straight into Hilariousville, with many a rest stop of zaniness! Who says the end of mankind as we know it can't be funny?
Ever wonder aloud to yourself, "I wonder what a movie about a serial killing bear in the Alaskan outback would look like anyways?" Well wonder aloud to yourself no longer, because Juno has the answer to all your serial killing bear movie questions. But it's up to Helen Paige's (Hard Candle) park ranger character to stop this bear in his tracks. Will she have enough time? Not on her watch! But when her partner comes to work with a bun in the oven, or, in this case, a cub in the dugout, and all bets are off on this "pregnant pause"! Ursine payback, and morning sickness, can be real bitches.
Go Baby Go proves yet again that you can never have too many talking infant movies ever. This installment has a rogue band of precocious toddlers running a presidential campaign: borrowing money from each other, changing tactics according to up-to-the-minute polling data, criticizing the opponent for his great speeches, firing each other, changing tone according to the regional dialect, crying, and yelling. You'll love the ending! "Shame on you, Philosopher King!" Great to see Ben Afflack behind the camera, i.e., off camera.
Meet Mike Clayton (George Dooley [Billy Ocean, Emergency!]) : mild-mannered insurance salesman by day, tough-talking heartthrobbing claims adjustor by night. But when an unauthorized accident-free discount slides across his desk, day and night meet, sending Clayton on the run from the angry accounting department when he can't account for the $3.62 difference in the deductible. Word gets out, and he's chased from cubicle to cubicle in a whirlwind manhunt with a twist at the end you won't believe. My inside sources tell me that the film was shot entirely in a small warehouse outside Dayton, Ohio. Where's the Best Editing nomination for that fact, Academics?!?
And Atonement is really good. Is it nominated? Er...
This horse race is way too close to call for yours truly. But isn't being nominated an honor enough, really? No. What 4 movies lost last year?
So I think I'll just sit back and enjoy the buzz!
switters also blogs at The Outer Sanctum. He lives somewhere that he insists on calling "The 'Ham" and claims to be gainfully employed.