2009 Oscar Nominations

Oscar Nominations are in and they are:

Best motion picture of the year
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn in “Milk”
Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Josh Brolin in “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in “Doubt”
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis in “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

Best animated feature film of the year
“Bolt” Chris Williams and Byron Howard
“Kung Fu Panda” John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
“WALL-E” Andrew Stanton

Achievement in art direction
“Changeling” Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
“The Dark Knight” Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
“The Duchess” Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
“Revolutionary Road” Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography
“Changeling” Tom Stern
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Claudio Miranda
“The Dark Knight” Wally Pfister
“The Reader” Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
“Slumdog Millionaire” Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design
“Australia” Catherine Martin
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Jacqueline West
“The Duchess” Michael O’Connor
“Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
“Revolutionary Road” Albert Wolsky

Achievement in directing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” David Fincher
“Frost/Nixon” Ron Howard
“Milk” Gus Van Sant
“The Reader” Stephen Daldry
“Slumdog Millionaire” Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”
“Encounters at the End of the World”
“The Garden”
“Man on Wire”
“Trouble the Water”

Best documentary short subject
“The Conscience of Nhem En”
“The Final Inch”
“Smile Pinki”
“The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306”

Achievement in film editing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“The Dark Knight” Lee Smith
“Frost/Nixon” Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
“Milk” Elliot Graham
“Slumdog Millionaire” Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year
“The Baader Meinhof Complex” Germany
“The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics) France
“Departures” (Regent Releasing) Japan
“Revanche” (Janus Films) Austria
“Waltz with Bashir” Israel

Achievement in makeup
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Greg Cannom
“The Dark Knight” John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance” James Newton Howard
“Milk” Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire” A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E” Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam


Best animated short film
“La Maison en Petits Cubes”
“Lavatory - Lovestory”
“Oktapodi” (Talantis Films)
“Presto”
“This Way Up”

Best live action short film
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
“Manon on the Asphalt”
“New Boy”
“The Pig”
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)”

Achievement in sound editing
“The Dark Knight”Richard King
“Iron Man” Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
“Slumdog Millionaire” Tom Sayers
“WALL-E” Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
“Wanted” Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
“The Dark Knight” Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
“Slumdog Millionaire” Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
“WALL-E” Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
“Wanted” Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
“The Dark Knight” Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
“Iron Man” John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Adapted screenplay
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
“Doubt” Written by John Patrick Shanley
“Frost/Nixon” Screenplay by Peter Morgan
“The Reader” Screenplay by David Hare
“Slumdog Millionaire” Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay
“Frozen River” Written by Courtney Hunt
“Happy-Go-Lucky” Written by Mike Leigh
“In Bruges” Written by Martin McDonagh
“Milk” Written by Dustin Lance Black
“WALL-E” Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

Julian D.

Canadian Music Rules in One Week

Michael McGowan's unabashedly Canadian feature 'One Week' is writer/director Michael McGowan's second feature film following 'Saint Ralph'. It boasts a great Canadian cast and stars Joshua Jackson in the lead role as Ben Tyler, Campbell Scott as the narrator and Liane Balaban as Ben's fiancee. The film features a road trip west across Canada and the scenery is beautifully shot in 30 iconic and idiosyncratic locations with many little touches emphasizing the Canadian connection. The awesome soundtrack, which parallels Ben's physical and emotional journey, features many top acts from the Canadian indie music scene and beckons to be enjoyed further.

Here is the soundtrack list with internet links to the songs where possible.

"AN AWFUL LOT OF SUNSHINE"
Performed by Hugh and Rosie
Courtesy of Noodily Wow Records
http://www.myspace.com/hugholiver

"IMAGINARY BARS"
Written by T.Dekker/Great Lake Swimmers
Published by Harbour Songs / (weewerk)
Courtesy Great Lake Swimmers / (weewerk)
Performed by T. Dekker/Great Lake
Swimmers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFUENsvG2Uo

"HARD ROAD"
Written and Performed by Sam Roberts
Courtesy of Universal Music Publishing
Group Canada

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0RniSNWdYM

"20 MILES"
Performed by Selina Martin
Lyrics and music by Selina Martin

http://www.myspace.com/selinamartin

"CALENDAR GIRL"
Performed by Stars
Courtesy of Arts & Crafts International
Written by Amy Millan, Chris Seligman,
Torquil Campbell, Patrick McGee, Evan Cranley
Published by Arts & Crafts Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc3MqxS-op0

"DON'T BOTHER (Demo)"
Written by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Published by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Performed by Kupek

http://www.myspace.com/kupekmusic

"OH CANADA"
Performed by Hugh Oliver
Courtesy Indie Joe Records
Written by Jody Colero, Tim Tickner, Michael McGowan and Marco DiFelice

"REBORN"
Written by Ged Flood (Ged Flood | PRS)
Published by The dBc ( Creative Elevation Music | SESAC)
Courtesy of Personiphonic Records
Performed by Ged Flood

http://www.myspace.com/floodscorner

"NICE DAY"
Written by Scott L.D. Walker
Published by Scott L.D. Walker
Courtesy of Endearing Records
Performed by The Salteens

http://www.myspace.com/thesalteens

"A MILLION DOLLARS"
Performed by Joel Plaskett
Courtesy of Songs for the Gang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjD564Q52jc

"SKYWAY BRIDGE"
Written by Melissa McClelland
Published by Starcana Songs (SOCAN)
Courtesy of Orange Record Label
Performed by Melissa McClelland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ2vRnW9hGw

"DOING OK"
Music and lyrics by Andrew Heintzman
Performed by Fried Up Fred and Co.
Used with permission.

"RICKY COME HOME"
Music and lyrics by Andrew Heintzman
Performed by Fried Up Fred and Co.
Used with permission.

"WEIGHTY GHOST"
Written by Paul Murphy, Loel Campbell, Tim D'Eon, Jud Haynes
Courtesy of Labworks/EMI
Performed by Wintersleep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-iW0zL2LI0

"THE GREAT ESCAPE"
Written by Patrick Watson
Published by Intrigue Music LLC
Courtesy of Secret City Records
Performed by Patrick Watson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA2h9PrIUxs

"PACIFIST'S ANTHEM"
Written by Andrew Penner
Courtesy of The Baudelaire Label and Carat Music Brokering
Performed by Sunparlour Players

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL7z9UeFtkA

"BLACKWINGED BIRD"
Written by Emm Gryner
Published by Emm Gryner Songs
Courtesy of Dead Daisy Records and Carat Music Brokering
Performed by Emm Gryner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoL1v6gJQSg

"UN CANADIEN ERRANT"
Performed by Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet
Published by Einstein Bros Music, Deloris Music, Ellchris Music, Melissa McClelland
Melissa McClelland appears courtesy of Nettwerk Management
Luke Doucet appears courtesy of Six Shooter Records
Arranged by Andrew Lockington
Produced by Andrew Lockington and Jody Colero
Recorded by Alex Bonenfant at the Orange Lounge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V-Rth-NKk4 (patient on this one for the first minute but it's worth it to see Cohen translate the song in his inimitable fashion.)

Julian D.

AFF's 2009 Season Opens With Michael McGowan's 'One Week'

The idea for making One Week came to writer/director Michael McGowan because he was interested in exploring the notion of what you would do if you had one week to live. He had always wanted to make a road movie loving the serendipity that travelling without an itinerary allows and also wanted to create a narrative that was a love-letter Canada. “I think we all have this escapist notion—this dream that we can escape from our life and hit the road. I kept putting myself in situations, imagining what would happen and what characters could be encountered that would seem organic to the story,” explains McGowan. And when it comes to hitting the road, what better road to choose than the Trans-Canada highway? Making this film about Canada, I really wanted to romanticize the country.”

Though the lead character Ben has cancer, McGowan didn’t want the film to be about that. Instead I wanted to use the diagnosis as a fulcrum to examine the fleetingness of life. As the narrator says, “We’re all on borrowed time.” Ben just happens to be more aware of it than most.

Perhaps because of his Irish ancestry, and their notion of joyful wakes, McGowan tried to juxtapose laughter with seriousness to open the audience up to a wider range of emotions. This is hard to do in a film that deals with cancer. To help lighten the tone further he let the narrator have a sense of playfulness

One Week was an ambitious project given the emotional depth of the script and the sheer magnitude of its backdrop. Navigating the broad landscape of Canada with a lead actor on a motorcycle poses challenges not found on most productions. The film was shot in thirty different locations from Toronto to Tofino (on the West Coast of British Columbia). On One Week, they maintained a very lean crew that allowed them maximum flexibility to shoot basically whenever they found a suitable location. Making the film in this way also allowed more room for improvisation. This type of guerrilla filmmaking mirrors the spontaneous nature of the story and the lead character’s journey.

One of the quirks of Ben’s character is his love for the “World’s biggest” monuments. “My research revealed that Canada has a proud tradition of erecting these edifices that lay claim to world bests,” McGowan explains. “I like to think that this tilting-against-windmills industriousness says something both about our national character and about Ben.”

As Ben, veteran actor Joshua Jackson turns in a poignant performance, delving into his character’s vulnerability and courage. Confronting the character’s internal struggle after learning of his illness allowed Jackson to reflect on the basic connection he shared with Ben. “Everybody has had those moments in their life,” says Jackson. “They sit back and examine their life and they ask ‘Why am I here? How did I get here, and what were the choices that I made? And does this in any way resemble what I had wanted? And while I’m asking the question, what do I want from my life?’”

Liane Balaban was able to embrace the role of Samantha, Ben’s fiancée, who wonders if he will return and fears he will not survive. The honesty of the relationship and was one of the reasons she signed onto the project. “I remember reading the audition sides for an emotional scene between Samantha and Ben in Banff where she’s begging him to go into treatment. And I was reading it at Starbucks, and bawling by myself.” Balaban has high praise for the writing, which helped her connect with her character

Through the work of its talented cast and crew, One Week allows the viewer the opportunity to reflect on life and the unexpected situations that can arise. The Canadian landscape is a beautiful counterpoint to the difficult story that unfolds.

Both source and score music play an integral role in the film. “This is a very music-heavy film,” McGowan admits. “The episodic nature of a road movie and the number of montages in the film made music an essential part of One Week. Without being didactic, we tried to incorporate songs that not only worked emotionally, but also told Ben’s story. In a way, they are the soundtrack to his emotions.” “Because our country has such a great musical tradition, I really wanted to feature Canadian singers in the source music.” To that end, McGowan has assembled a great mix of names in Canadian music both off and on the screen--starting with the lead singer for The Tragically Hip, Gord Downie. Downie had worked with McGowan previously on Saint Ralph, where he sang a version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

During the writing of the script, McGowan played Joel Plaskett’s “A Million Dollars” as the reference for the scene where Samantha decides to meet Ben in Banff. “It had all the emotional beats I was looking for,” McGowan explains. “Having said that, I never imagined that we’d get Joel to actually play the part of the Busker.”

Another singer, Emm Gryner, was also cast in the role of Tracey. “Because the song, “Un Canadien Errant”, features so prominently in the scene, I really felt that if we could get a great singer who could also act, we’d be in a much better position,”

The other songs featured in the film read like a Who’s Who of the Canadian indie music scene. Great Lake Swimmers, Stars, Sam Roberts, Wintersleep and Patrick Watson are among the artists featured in the film. “Our music supervisors, Jody Colero and Marco Defilce, have a long history in the music industry and have relationships with all artists, labels and managers. They used the patriotism card to convince artists to get involved with One Week,” McGowan explains.

“Un Canadien Errant” (A Wandering Canadian or The Lost Canadian) is a French-Canadian folk song written in the 1840s. The song is used three times in the film: once young Ben sings it for his parents, again in the scene with Tracey and as the closing credit song. For the end credits, the filmmakers wanted to marry some of the elements of the score with a re-imagining of the song.

“Our composer, Andrew Lockington, and I felt that thematically, using the song in the end credits would be fitting. Since we’d already heard it twice, Andrew wanted to make it feel more anthemic.” For the score, McGowan again teamed up with Andrew Lockington. This is their third collaboration. Lockington is quickly establishing himself as one of the world’s top composers as evidenced by his recent completion of the score for the summer blockbuster Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D. For One Week, the filmmakers wanted the instrumentation to be simpler, to reflect the intimate nature of Ben’s journey. "There's a raw intimacy to the sound of someone playing guitar and singing in front of a campfire,” Lockington explains. “Those moments always promote personal reflection and I wanted the score to achieve that same goal." Because the piano parts were recorded at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Lockington was able to use the same piano world-renowned Glenn Gould played on. “It seemed appropriate to use the instrument of a Canadian musical icon in a film that exudes so much national pride,” Lockington explains.
(Taken from the official website. For more info visit
http://www.mongrelmedia.com/press_info/?id=1441)

Leonard Cohen sings 'Un Canadien Errant)'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk4RDVs1M7I&feature=related

Joel Plaskett’s 'A Million Dollars'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjD564Q52jc

Post your comments and thoughts on the film.

Julian D.

Write on!

With the internet and blogsites, it seems that anyone can be a film critic. However, it is a special treat to read critics who have, not only a masterly knowledge of film but also of the English language. Roger Ebert has been recognized for his writing with a Pulitzer prize and remains one of my favourites. There are many other critics that I trust and that I especially enjoy reading. I'm proud to say that one of the best, though likely not known to you, is a film critic who also happens to be my cousin on my wife's side. James Rocchi currently writes for Cinematical.com as well as the ‘Now and Then’ column for the website of American Movie Classics, theatrical and DVD reviews for Redbox.com and the ‘Rocchi’s Retro Rental’ column for The San Francisco Chronicle’s SFGate.com. He’s also the weekly reviewer for Minneapolis/St. Paul’s 93X radio. He’s written about pop culture and movies for publications like Mother Jones and Metro Newspapers, and he was the film critic for Netflix from 2001-2005 and the film critic for San Francisco’s CBS-5 from 2005-2008. He’s a ‘Tomatometer” critic at Rotten Tomatoes, and a member of the BFCA (Broadcast Film Critics of America), LAFCA (Los Angeles Film Critic’s Association) and OFCS (Online Film Critics Society).

Here's a link to both his written and podcast work at Cinematical.

http://www.cinematical.com/bloggers/james-rocchi/

Also, here is his own website containing his daily blogs.

http://rocchireport.com/

I hope you enjoy his reviews and discussions.

Julian D.

Recapping 2008 and 2007

Matt Shapiro has a great knack of editing video compilations that capture a whole year of great films in just a few minutes.

Here's his video for 2008.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DNI94BXMj4

How many films have you seen? Better still how many can you identify?

Here's his great compilation from 2007.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67uI6cqBpFE

Enjoy. Thanks Matt.

Julian D.

2008 Top Ten Film Lists

As 2008 comes to an end, the film critics top ten lists begin to proliferate. One of the best websites for tracking the top ten lists is www.moviecitynews.com and this is the webpage that displays the scoreboard.

http://moviecitynews.com/awards/2009/top_ten/00scoreboard.htm

It's early so keep coming back to it through to early January to see how the list develops. Notice that you can see the scoreboard or view individual film critics' lists.

Unfortunately few of the top twenty will actually play in our region so you may have to travel a bit to see them.

Because most of the films just came out in December, few of them were available to us at this time.

Our first four films for our 2009 season are:

Monday January 12: One Week
Monday February 2: I've Loved You So Long
Monday March 2: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Monday April 6: The Class (Entre Les Murs)

More to come on these films later.

Julian D.

Oscars Are Around The Corner

Unfortunately, too many distributors wait until December to release their best films. For some reason they believe that only films distributed in the latter part of the year can possibly be worthy of Oscar nominations. This year, some of the films that were released in the first 2/3 of the year and definitely have Oscar potential include: The Visitor, In Bruges, Frozen River, Wall-E, The Dark Knight, Iron Man and Hellboy II. Interestingly, the last four were mainstream blockbuster hits and the last three were all based on comic material but neverless are excellent and have raised the bar for animation and Superhero genre films way up.

One of my favourite Oscar news tracking websites is www.awardsdaily.com. Extremely well written and always on top of all of the important Oscar developments that focus on the the main candidates for the various Oscar categories rather than irrelevant issues such as celebrity, gossip and fashion.

Another good site that actually tracks top ten film lists from legitimate film critics is www.moviecitynews.com. Check the side link that says 2008 top ten list. To see how it will develop take a look at last year's final 2007 top ten list. You may find many great films that you missed last year.

Entertainment weekly at www.ew.com has an interesting set of articles where horror master Stephen King picks his top ten flims, books and cds for 2008. His lists will definitely bring out his biases but nevertheless are worth a look. You'll definitely find items worth watching/reading or hearing.

Here's his link for his favourite films.

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20245818,00.html

Julian D.