#39: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir, 2003)

Because they weren't supposed to make 'em like this any more.

mainlymovies guesses the Oscars

The Golden Globe nominations are out, and they've thrown up a few surprises, and at least one shocker as far as I'm concerned: Sarah Jessica Parker for the godawful The Family Stone. I'm not a serious film-awards prognosticator - head on over to Nathaniel R's Film Experience for that - but I'm certainly a confirmed Oscar addict, and here, for the record, are the people and flicks I think are going to be getting nominated on Jan 31.

*=likely winner at this point

Best Picture

*Brokeback Mountain
Good Night, and Good Luck
King Kong
A History of Violence
Walk the Line

near-miss: Munich (get thee to the Variety review, folks: it's a death-knell)


Best Director

Peter Jackson (King Kong)
*Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
James Mangold (Walk the Line)
Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardener)
Steven Spielberg (Munich)

near-misses: David Cronenberg (A History of Violence) and George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck)


Best Actor

Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale)
*Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain)
Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line)
David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck)

near-miss: Ralph Fiennes (The Constant Gardener)


Best Actress

Judi Dench (Mrs Henderson Presents)
Felicity Huffman (Transamerica)
Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice)
Charlize Theron (North Country)
*Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)

near-miss: Laura Linney (The Squid and the Whale)


Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams (Junebug) (so damn good I think she'll be remembered)
Maria Bello (A History of Violence) (assuming category switch, which I think is likely)
Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener)
Shirley MacLaine (In Her Shoes)
*Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain) (Yep, I think a Brokeback sweep will carry her to a win, just like Binoche over Bacall in 1996. You may, or may not, have heard it here first.)

near-miss: Frances McDormand (North Country)


Best Supporting Actor

George Clooney (Syriana)
Matt Dillon (Crash)
*Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man) (classic consolation Oscar here)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) (a groundswell around the film should pull him back in)
Bob Hoskins (Mrs Henderson Presents)

near-miss: William Hurt (A History of Violence)


Best Original Screenplay

Woody Allen (Match Point) (I hear from every British critic I trust that the movie is dire - even worse than Allen's last few. US and French critics seem to love it, Brits loathe it for how silly and touristy it is. Not sure this will necessarily impact much on its Oscar chances. But, despite the possibility of Johansson for supporting actress, I'm sceptically confining it to this category myself.)
Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale)
*George Clooney and Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck)
Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco (Crash)
Akiva Goldsman and Cliff Hollingsworth (Cinderella Man) (only because it's such a weak year. My God, should it be Junebug...)


Best Adapted Screenplay

*Stephen Gaghan (Syriana)
Tony Kushner and Eric Roth (Munich)
Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana (Brokeback Mountain)
Dan Futterman (Capote)
Peter Jackson etc (King Kong)

And I'll stop there. Thoughts?

#40: Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)

Because I have eyes and ears.

Guilty Pleasures

This is Ginger's suggestion, and an excellent one. Come on, guys: what are the worst movies you secretly love? And no hedging your bets with "ironic" love, if you please. I want ardent devotion to the work of Adam Shankman. I want soft spots for Gigli. I want obsessive repeat viewings of Rob Schneider vehicles.

Fess up! I'll start the ball rolling with a picture. (No, I'm not kidding.)

#41: Crash (David Cronenberg, 1997)

Because it's the summation of Cronenberg's entire oeuvre, and dares you to hate it.

#42: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (FW Murnau, 1927)

Because it actually is timeless.

#43: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)

Because it's my second favourite Welles film.

A Kong rave

King Kong

..
o

It's the film of the year, by a country mile.

#44: The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

Because ears have walls.

Returning from The New World

..
~

We're going to need some kind of support group guys. I'm so sorry.

An excursion

Excuse even sparser posting than usual over the coming days, folks: I'm off for the weekend to this, which takes place at the irresistibly glam and happening venue of a Pontins holiday camp on the Sussex coast. Note, please, that the line-up includes someone called Beans Featuring Holy Fuck, someone else intriguingly called Mastodon, and various other dauntingly-cool-sounding bands I've never heard of with varyingly ridiculous names. Plus Antony and the Johnsons, whom I believe several regular site readers adore nearly as much as I do, the almost equally ace Coco Rosie, and a few other acts I'm pretty excited about too. Wish me happy moshing!

#45: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)

Because the gavel might just be mightier than the gun.

The New World

I'm seeing it on Monday night! Be still, my beating heart...

... cut that out!

...be still, I tell you!

It's no use. I'm a wreck with anticipation.

#46: Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)

Because it's Hitchcock's bitterest romance.

#47: Au hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)

Because there's a whole world of hurt in those eyes.

#48: Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)

Because it's all over much too quickly.

#49: Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)

Because it makes cynicism tragic.

#50: Anne and Muriel (François Truffaut, 1971)

Because it's miles better than Jules et Jim: a rapturous study of how love ebbs and flows.

#51: Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)

Because Spielberg set himself a high bar there.