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Saturday, March 12, 2005
Today's Feature: Luis
Buñuel's Los Olvidados
Luis Buñuel's (1900-1983) Los Olvidados (The Forgotten Ones), made
55 years ago in Mexico City, will be honored at Cannes this year. This is the film that brought world-wide attention
to Buñuel as a director. In 2003, UNESCO included the film in the most memorable films of the world. [Cannes
Official Site]
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Saturday, March 5, 2005
Today's Feature:
Pedro Almodóvar and Brother Augustín Resigned from Spain's Film Academy.
Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodóvar resigned from
Spain's Film Academy in December 2004. He was a member for 17 years. A release (7 January 2005) from Almodóvar's
production company, El Deseo, confirmed that he and his brother Augustín withdrew their memberships because
of a disagreement over the voting system used to select winners of the Goya Awards, Spain's version of the Oscars®.
Augustín is the main producer of his brother's movies.
Almodóvar's latest film, Bad Education, a movie about a young man haunted by an abusive priest from his childhood,
received four nominations for this year's Goya ceremony, but Almodóvar was left empty-handed while Alejandro
Amenábar's The Sea Inside swept all the major honors, and it was selected by the Academy as Spain's official
entry for the Academy Awards®. The Sea Inside won the Oscar® for Best Foreign Language
Film. [More Almodóvar]
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Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Continuous Showing: Academy Awards®
Today's Feature:
The Ratings Are In
The Oscar® broadcast Sunday night was three hours and 10
minutes, and averaged 41.5 million viewers, down 5 percent or 2 million viewers from last year. That, according
to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. Of course, the box-office powerhouse The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, was the big winner last year and had sustained a record commercial box-office gross.
The Return of the King drew viewers, especially younger viewers, to the broadcast. This year, there was no power-house
film in the race. Thus, Sunday's Academy Awards® also registered a three percent decline from last year's ratings
for the network's target audience of young adults, those aged 18 to 49, the group most coveted by advertisers.
Sunday night's best-picture champion, Million Dollar Baby, or The Aviator, had nowhere near the popular following that Return of the King brought to the Oscar®
ceremony last year. Also, last year's average viewer tally of 43.5 million was the largest Oscar® viewership
in four years.
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Monday, February 28, 2005
Continuous Showing: Academy Awards® - - Winner's Announced
Today's Feature:
Chewing the Choices . . .
There is no need for me to "eat crow," as I did fairly
well, calling 50% of the awards. I missed three awards that I should have called differently, and one award was
not deserved by the recipient, at least that's my opinion.
The Misses
I missed four major awards:
(1) Leading Actress. After I had closed my predictions, I thought
about changing to Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) instead of Annette Bening. I didn't, so I missed it. My worst call.
(2) Best Song. I should have gone with "Al Otro Lado del
Río" ("The Other Side of the River") from The
Motorcycle Diaries. I heard all the songs and liked that
one the best, but it was sung in Spanish. I didn't think a song in Spanish would win. Stupid me. I had never heard
a song sung in Spanish at the Academy Awards®. Why? Because this was the first Spanish-language song nominated
for Best Song in the Academy's history. I'm happy it won, and that it made history.
(3) Cinematography. I know very well that the Academy likes
big, panoramic films, and The Aviator is one. This was an oversight, and one I will not make again.
(4) Here again, my inner voice told me to go with Sideways for Best
Adapted Screenplay, and I should have listened.
The Hits
Picture (Million Dollar Baby); Director (Clint Eastwood, Baby); Actor in
Leading Role (Jamie Foxx, Ray); Actor in Supporting Role (Morgan Freeman, Baby); Original Screenplay (Eternal Sunshine ...);
Foreign Language Film (The Sea Inside, Spain); Documentary Feature (Born
into Brothels); Animated Feature Film (The Incredibles);
Animated Short Film (Ryan); Music Score (Finding Neverland); Costume Design (The
Aviator); and Makeup (Lemony Snicket's ...). As predicted, The Passion of the Christ,
nominated for three awards, received none.
Hear: All nominated songs - - - - All nominated film scores.
The Award Not Deserved. That honor goes to Cate Blanchett for
her portrayal of Katheine Hepburn in The Aviator. I have seen every film Miss Hepburn appears in and every television appearance
she made, some of the movies more than once. Besides admiring her acting skills, I admired the fact that, as a
woman, she lived her life as she wished and not according to the dictates of others. So, she was my role model
for my life. Trust me, Miss Blanchett did not capture her acting, mannerisms, etc., and exuded nothing of Miss
Hepburn's essence. Therefore, I do not count not choosing the Supporting Actress Award a miss, because I think
it was a bad choice by the voters of the Academy. Period.
I saw clips from the movies, heard all the nominated film scores
and songs thanks to National Public Radio, but I did not have an opportunity to see any of the films. According
to poles, I'm at par with 50% of moviegoers. This year's nominated files were seen by fewer people in the history
of the awards. What does that tell us? H-u-u-um, I'll chew that later.
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Saturday, February 26, 2005
Continuous Showing: Count Down to Academy Awards® Gala, February 27. . .
Today's Feature:
PRESENTING - - The presenters, performers and technical crew for the Oscar® gala.
Also, director Sidney Lumet will receive an honorary award,
according to Academy President Frank Pierson. An Oscar® statuette will be presented at the 77th Academy Awards®,
to honor Lumet's "brilliant services to screenwriters, performers and the art of the motion picture."
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Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Continuous Showing: Count Down to Academy Awards® Gala, February 27. . .
Today's Feature:
MY PREDICTIONS and Ballots Close
This year's Oscar® race makes predictions difficult because no one film stands out as a clear
winner. I may end up with egg on my face, but I have made my predictions. See the full list with my
picks for winners and my second choices, as well as the rationale behind my choices. I'll be back
Monday, 28th, possibly to eat crow.
Today at 5:00 p.m. all ballots must be at the PricewaterhouseCoopers
accounting firm. Not there? Not counted!
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Friday, February 18, 2005
Continuous Showing: Count Down to Academy Awards® Gala, February 27. . .
Today's Feature:
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES NOMINATED
Those who are concerned, if not horrified, by the increasing
erosion of free speech in this country now have one glimmer of hope. They are pleased with the growing popularity
of documentary feature films that take on major issues. This year, the documentaries nominated for the Academy
Awards®
not only deal with issues, but some are setting box office records for that category of films.
BORN INTO BROTHELS - - Issue: Children of prostitutes in India.
THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL - - Issue: Shows the lives of dwindling Mongolian nomads.
SUPER SIZE ME - - Issue: U.S. fast food restaurants and the obesity epidemic.
TUPAC: RESURRECTION - - Issue: Murdered rapper Tupac Shakur and violence in the rapper world.
TWIST OF FAITH - - Issue: Sexual abuse of a child by a Roman Catholic priest.
Since Michael Moore's anti-Bush Fahrenheit 9/11
took in $120 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices this summer, 2004 has been seen as the year in which documentaries
break the old rule that people won't attend non-fiction films in theaters. With $11.5 million in ticket sales,
Super Size is the No. 3 non-fiction film of all-time. Tupac is No. 6 at $7.7 million, according to box office tracker Exhibitor
Relations.
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Saturday, February 12, 2005
Continuous Showing: Count Down to Academy Awards® Gala, February 27. . .
Today's Feature:
Mimi has started her predictions of winners.
Okay, I've started making predictions for the Oscars®. The
full list of nominees with my picks as winners are here. Why did
I make the choices I did? Here.
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Thursday, February 3, 2005
Continuous Showing: Count Down to Academy Awards® Gala, February 27. . .
Today's Feature:
Final Ballots Mailed to Academy Membership
Final ballots for the 77th Academy Awards for outstanding achievements
in film, 2004, were mailed yesterday to the 5,808 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Listed on the ballots are the nominees in 19 Oscar® categories.
Separate ballots for five award categories (foreign language
film, short and feature-length documentaries and animated and live-action short films) will be distributed after
verification of mandatory member attendance at screenings. Completed ballots must be in the hands of PricewaterhouseCoopers
by 5 p.m., Tuesday, February 22. Any ballot received after this deadline is ineligible.
The auditing firm, from which I retired, tabulates the votes.
The winners names are placed in sealed envelopes. The final results are known only to one partner and one manager
in the firm, plus one person in word processing who prepares the envelopes and cards.
The envelopes are opened before the audience on Oscar Night®
. This year's event will be Sunday, February 27 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. (ABC, 8 p.m. EST / 5 p.m. PST,
beginning with a half-hour arrival segment.)http://www.oscars.com
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Sunday, January 30, 2005
Continuous Showing: Count Down to Academy Awards® Gala, February 27. . .
Today's Feature:
Two Memphis Filmmakers Win Top Awards at Sundance!
The two films I spotlighted yesterday WON top honors
at Sundance as independent dramatic films. For more information on them and the other awards, see my Film Festival's Page.
This week, I hope to start my Oscar® predictions. They
will be posted on mimipredicts05.htm.
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Saturday, January 29, 2005
Continuous Showing: Count Down to Academy Awards® Gala, February 27. . .
Today's Feature:
Memphis Filmmakers have Films at Sundance!
The two films are in the Dramatic Competition:
(1) Hustle and Flow
= Director, Craig Brewer
Djay is a pimp suffering a mid-life crisis and although nominally
successful, he yearns to record his flow and become a respected rapper. The barriers to fame and fortune are many,
and getting there may become an elusive goal.
Trivia: While filming in Memphis, Tennessee,' Anthony Anderson
(I)' and assistant director Wayne Witherspoon were arrested and charged with sexual assault on a woman who Witherspoon
allegedly lured to a production trailer. See IMDB for more.
(2) Forty Shades of Blue
= Director, Ira Sachs
Laura is a Russian woman living in Memphis with Alan, a legendary
music producer twice her age. Though she looks the part, Laura is no typical trophy wife.
See IMDB for more.
Sundance
Guide to All Films
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Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Continuous Showing: Count Down to Academy Awards® Gala, February 27. . .
Today's Feature:
Oscar® Nominations Announced!
For official list go to the Academy Page: http://www.oscars.com/
Here's the short list:
BEST PICTURE: The
Aviator, Finding
Neverland, Million
Dollar Baby, Ray, and Sideways.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: As
it is in Heaven (Sweden), The
Chorus (France), Downfall (Germany), The Sea Inside (Spain), and Yesterday (South Africa).
Yahoo! Movies gives more detail than the Academy list: http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/osc_03nominees.html
Michael Moore failed to get the paperwork in on time for Fahrenheit 9/11 in the Best
Documentary category, and the film was not eligible for Best Picture because of its early release to TV.
Gibson's Passion
of the Christ received three Achievement nominations: Makeup,
Cinematography, and Original Score.
I'll chew these nominations and get back to you.
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Friday, January 21, 2005
Continuous Showing: Count Down to Oscar® Nominations . . .
Today's Feature:
There are 267 films eligible for Best Feature Film consideration at this year's Academy Awards.
Academy member's nomination ballots should have been in the
office of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Los Angeles, by 5:00 p.m., Saturday, January 15. If they were not, they will
not be counted. That's the rule. The deadline was set before this year's Golden Globe's gala to lessen the Globe's
influence upon the Oscar® nominations. Of course, there's nothing to stop the influence of the Globes upon
members when they vote for the winning Oscar® categories.
The nominations for the 77th Academy Awards® will be announced
Tuesday, January 25 by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President, Frank Pierson, and Academy member
and Oscar®-winning actor Adrien Brody. Pierson and Brody will announce ten of the 24 categories at a 5:30 a.m.
press conference, which is expected to be attended by over 400 media from around the world.
Films submitted in the Foreign Language, Documentary, Animated
Feature and Short Films categories have different eligibility requirements and are viewed and selected by special
voting panels of Academy members. Fifty countries submitted
films for consideration in the foreign-language category.
[Full
list of films submitted.]
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Monday, January 17, 2005
Continuous Showing: Count Down to Oscar® Nominations . . .
Today's Feature:
Golden Globes awarded last night in gala ceremony.
Well, the likely nominees for Oscars left the starting gate
last night, and five films emerged as the possible nominees for Best Picture. Oscar nominees will be announced
Tuesday, January 25.
The five winners in major categories during last night's bling-bling
ceremony, filled with the most beautiful people in Hollywood, were: The
Aviator (Best Dramatic Film, Actor, and Original Score),
Closer
(Supporting Actor and Actress), Million Dollar Baby (Best Director, and Actress), Ray (Best Actor), and Sideways (Best Musical/Comedy
Film, and Screenplay).
Okay, in my humble opinion, The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby, and Sideways have
locks on getting nominated in the Best Picture category. Closer and Ray are "iffy," and Phantom
of the Opera, Being Julia,
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or Finding Neverland could edge either, or both, out.
However, you can forget about The Passion of Christ and Fahrenheit 9/11. The last is not eligible for Best Film, but will win in the Beat Documentary category. Certainly,
members of the Academy will not touch Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic, violent, biased, hateful, and highly fictitious
film, whereby he "duped" the gullible, hard-nosed fundamental Christians, filling his pockets with over
$200 million in the process. Hey, it's only a movie!
Also, keep in mind that the Foreign Press Association awards
the Golden Globes, whereas the Academy Awards are awarded by the movie industry, and the studios, and other corporate
interests play a huge role in who gets nominated and, especially, who/what wins. It's money within many facets
that determines the outcome.
[Mimi's short list of film winners.] [Full list of winners, including TV.]
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Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Continuous Showing: The Awards Have Begun . . .
Today's Feature: Peoples Choice Awards = Fahrenheit 9/11
No one was more surprised over the weekend at the Peoples Choice
Awards than Michael Moore when Fahrenheit 9/11 was named Favorite Movie of 2004.
Of course, the movie pundits are mostly all saying that Fahrenheit 9/11
and Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ will be ignored by Oscar. We shall see.
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Saturday, January 8, 2005
Continuous Showing: The Awards Have Begun . . .
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
and/or a wonderful holiday in whatever part of the world in which you may be!
The nominees for "outstanding," "best achievement,"
etc., are coming in fast a furious. Therefore, I can't keep up with them on this Blog. Please go to Mimi's
Awards Page for updates almost daily. The link
will remain in the red box above until after the Academy Awards. Also, refer to Mimi's Film Festival Page, as
the Sundance Film Festival kicks off the season, January 20, 2005.
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Monday, December 20, 2004
Continuous Showing: Let the awards begin. . . .
Today's Feature:
Spain's Nomination for Oscar compared to Pedro's latest.
 The Sea Inside
(Mar Adentro, Spain) is the latest Spanish film
released in the U. S. (December 17), following Almodóvar's
Bad Education, and Sea has been submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards in February [more below]. It has also
been nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Foreign Film of 2004 by the Hollywood Press Association [more below].
Education had grossed almost one million in the U.S. by the weekend of December 10-12, 2004. Now,
we watch to see how Sea compares with Education in boxoffice grosses for Spanish films released in the U.S.
The Sea Inside, directed by Alejandro Amenábar (The
Others, 2001, starring Nocole Kidman), is the
real-life story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro (Javier Bardem), who fought a 30-year campaign in favor of his right
to die with dignity. Two women try to change his life. Julia (Belen Rueda) is a lawyer who supports his cause,
and Rosa (Lola Dueqas) is a neighbor who wants to convince him that life is worth living. The two women's encounters
with the charismatic Ramon lead to changes in their own lives.
[MORE]
[Bardem
and Sea Inside]
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Thursday, 16 December 2004
Continuous Showing: Let the awards begin. . . .
Today's Feature:
European Academy of Cinema Awards
The European Academy of Cinema handed out its awards 11 December
2004 in Barcelona, Spain. The highlights of the awards are:
Major European Motion Picture - Against the Wall (GEGEN DIE WAND) [Germany]
Major European Director - ALEJANDRO AMENÁBAR, for The
Sea Inside (Mar Adentro) [Span/France/Italy]
Major European Actor - IMELDA STAUNTON, for Vera Drake [UK/France]
Major European Actor - JAVIER BARDEM, for The Sea Inside [Spain/France/Italy]
Major European Screenplay - Agnès Jaoui & Jean-Pierre Bacri for Look At Me (COMME UNE IMAGE) [France]
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS WENT TO: CARLOS SAURA, Director, Spain, and LIV ULLMAMNM, Actress
& Director, Norway.
[MORE in Spanish]
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Wednesday, 15 December 2004
Continuous Showing: Let the awards begin. . . .
Today's Feature:
Spain's Nomination for Oscar
The Sea Inside (Mar Adentro), directed by Alejandro Amenábar,
has been nominated by Spain's Academy of Arts and Film Sciences as Spain's entry for Best Foreign Language Film
consideration at next year's Academy Awards. The movie is based on the real-life story of a paralyzed Spaniard
who fought a legal battle for his right to die. [MORE]
The Sea Inside won the Silver Lion
Jury Grand Prix and best actor award for Javier Bardem at this year's Venice Film Festival. It is a commercial
success in Spain, being seen by 2.5 million moviegoers, and generating about $14.4 million at the box office between
its Sept. 3 debut and October 3. It is a Golden Globe nominee, is nominated for 15 Goya Awards in Spain, and is
one of my "Spotlight
Films".
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Monday, 13 December 2004
Continuous Showing: Let the awards begin. . . .
Today's Feature:
Golden Globe Nominations Announced
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association's 2005 Golden Globe Nominations were
announced this morning. For Best Foreign Film: The Chorus, France; House Of Flying Daggers, The People's Republic
Of China; **The Motorcycle Diaries, Brazil; **The Sea Inside, Spain; and A Very Long Engagement, France. (** A
"Spotlight Film" - See Spain/Cinema
Page)
The complete list is long, so go look for yourself: http://www.thegoldenglobes.com/
The winners will be announced Sunday, January 16, 2005 at the 62nd Annual Golden
Globe Awards Gala (NBC, 8:00 p.m., EST).
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Wednesday, 8 December 2004
Today's Feature:
Oscar Speculation
Coming Attractions: Breaking news about the upcoming race.
The buzz is that movies about real people will fill a void
at the Academy Awards this year, because there are no big blockbuster movies such as J.R.R. Tolkien, or "Harry
Potter" fantasies. The dead that were once alive in the "biopics" begin with what may be the "sweeps"
picture this year about billionaire Howard Hughes, The
Aviator. Then, there are the blind singer Ray Charles,
Ray;
the sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, Kinsey; the author of the book Peter
Pan, J.M. Barrie, Finding Neverland; the Good Samaritan
innkeeper Paul Rusesabagina, Hotel Rwanda; the future revolutionary Che Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries; the paralyzed
euthanasia advocate Ramon Sampedro, The Sea Inside.
Alejandro Amenábar's The Sea Inside and Walter Salles'
The Motorcycle Diaries, both foreign-language films that rarely win in the best-picture category, may
have better chances at acting and other nominations than best-picture slots. Two other foreign-language films,
Jean-Pierre Jeunet's World War I era romance, A
Very Long Engagement, and Zhang Yimou's martial arts epic,
House of Flying Daggers, have the same hurdle, but those movies have, apparently, caught a stronger best-picture
buzz than other foreign-language pictures. So, we shall watch the unfolding. . . .
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Wednesday, 24 November 2004
Today's Feature:
Almodóvar's
Bad Education
According to the Hollywood
Reporter, Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, Bad Education, will
carry an NC-17 rating, which means that no one aged 17 and under will be admitted. The film delves into the issue
of priestly sexual abuse within the context of a homoerotic
film noir. Although it intentionally does not portray childhood
sexual abuse, it does include a sexual encounter between two consenting adult men, played by Gael Garcia Bernal
and Fele Martinez.
Bad Education was
released Friday in New York through Sony Pictures Classics.
It opens Dec. 10 in Los Angeles. Almodóvar won a
screenplay Oscar in 2003 for Talk to Her, and a foreign-language Oscar in 2000 for All About My Mother.
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