April Fool's Day: Part II

This is the second part of the April Fool's Day celebration, with tiers of the films, performances and direction. The black signifies the nominees, the blue signifies the contenders and red signifies the long shots. Part II is Picture and Leading Actor/Actress. Part III is the less interesting part, with Director and Supporting Actor/Actress. With the exception of me, because Supporting Actress is just such a sexy category. Now excuse me while I run off to watch Grind House with zombies eating Fergalicious meat and getting shot down by Rose McGowan's undeniably sexy gun of leg.

Picture
Reservation Road
Charlie Wilson’s War
American Gangster
There Will be Blood
The Assassination of Jesse James...
Evening
In the Valley of Elah
The Golden Age
Stop Loss
Sweeney Todd
Rendition
My Blueberry Nights
A Mighty Heart
I’m Not There
The Golden Compass
Elegy: Dying Animal

Leading Actress
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Cate Blanchett, The Golden Age
Catherine Keener, An American Crime
Nicole Kidman, Margot at the Wedding
Halle Berry, Things We Lost in the Fire
Marion Coitllard, La Vie en Rose
Keira Knightley, Atonement
Julia Roberts, Charlie Wilson’s War
Anna Paquin, Margaret
Reese Witherspoon, Rendition
Norah Jones, My Blueberry Nights
Jodie Foster, The Brave One
Vanessa Redgrave, Evening
Ashley Judd, Bug
Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd
Julie Christie, Away From Her

Leading Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will be Blood
Brad Pitt, The Assassination of Jesse James...
Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson’s War
Joaquin Phoenix, Reservation Road
Denzel Washington, American Gangster
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Jake Gyllenhaal, Rendition
Don Cheadle, Talk to Me
John Cusack, Grace Is Gone
Christian Bale, Rescue Dawn
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Javier Bardem, Goya’s Ghosts
Ryan Phillippe, Stop Loss
James McAvoy, Atonement
Javier Bardem, Love in the Time of Cholera

April Fool's Day. Part I.

April Fool's Day doesn't mean incorrect predix. So let me get to the point. Here are my first predictions for this Oscar Race. Now before I get out, lemme just give you the Oscar predictions. These are for the major categories, and are ordered.


Picture
Charlie Wilson’s War
American Gangster
In the Valley of Elah
Evening
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford


Director
Mike Nichols, Charlie Wilson’s War
Kimberly Peirce, Stop Loss
Wong Kar Wai, My Blueberry Nights
Ridley Scott, American Gangster
Andrew Dominik, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford


Leading Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will be Blood
Brad Pitt, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson’s War
Denzel Washington, American Gangster
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah

Leading Actress
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Cate Blanchett, The Golden Age
Catherine Keener, An American Crime
Nicole Kidman, Margot at the Wedding
Keira Knightley, Atonement

Supporting Actor
Joaquin Phoenix, Reservation Road
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
Jason Patric, In the Valley of Elah
Matthew Fox, Vantage Point
Chris Cooper, The Kingdom

Supporting Actress
Mira Sorvino, Reservation Road
Rachel Weisz, My Blueberry Nights
Vanessa Redgrave, Charlie Wilson’s War
Flora Cross, American Gangster
Meryl Streep, Evening

Original Screenplay
Stop Loss
In the Valley of Elah
American Gangster
Cassandra's Dream
Margot at the Wedding

Adapted Screenplay
Charlie Wilson's War
Reservation Road
Beowulf
Evening
The Assassination of Brad Pitt by the Coward Ben Affleck's Brother

Bloggy Bloggy.

I've been sneezing the hell out of my blog for the last week, so that's why I haven't posted. Meanwhile, eBlogger has been acting up again. Hmph. I don't think I'll finish the Top 20 countdown by April Fool's Day...

But here's a little Kidman to glam you (or me) up.

From the upcoming adaptation "The Golden Compass."

#17: Talk to Me

Talk to Me, directed by Kasi Lemmons. Starring Don Cheadle, Taraji P. Henson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Martin Sheen and Cedric the Entertainer.

I love you, Taraji. Look, come over here, with a star-studded cast of above, along with Mike Epps and Elle Downs. Talk to Me chronicles "The real-life story of Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene (Don Cheadle), an outspoken ex-con who talked his way into becoming an iconic radio personality in the 1960s in Washington, D.C. Sparked by both the era's vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness, Petey openly courted controversy at a white-owned station. Relying on producer Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to run interference, Petey's unprecedented "tell it like it is" on-air style gave voice and spirit to the black community during an exciting and turbulent period in American history." Yes, that sounds heavy, but it sounds nice and baity, which might as well mean Oscar. Or is it too risky for this little-known actress-turned-director. Whatevs. I'll take any film with that jaw-dropping actress, after Hustle & Flow.

Nice hair, sistah. I hope that's Taraji (the original picture had her dancing with Cheadle).

2007 Preview Recollection
#18: Vantage Point
#19: Trade
#20: Things We Lost in the Fire

#18: Vantage Point

Vantage Point, directed by Pete Travis. Starring Forest Whitaker, Matthew Fox, Siguorney Weaver, Dennis Quaid and William Hurt.

Vantage Point is about " With a Rashomon narrative style, the attempted assassination of the president is told from five different perspectives." Death of a President plus Akira Kirosawa wannabes, anyone? But look at that cast! I failed to recognize Zoë Saldaña, Edgar Ramirez, Said Taghmaoui and Ayelet Zurer. Oh my. Well, of course I can't wait to see it, and although Quaid is sort of in his Bush-esque state, although the William Hurt plays President Ashton. From the interesting cast...I wonder whose playing the assassin, and etc. From the picture at the left, it appears Ricard E. Grant, Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox are all flanking Hurt. Oh my. I can't wait. Anyway, the question is how conservative or liberal this film will be. Will it edge towards conversatism like other films, or be oh-so Michael Moore-y. But with this unknown director, who directed such TV minseries as Henry VIII, this film could go dastardly wrong if treated incorrectly. Go left, young man, although we might as well be looking straight into the eye of a Best Picture nominee, or one of my predictions, a Best Supporting Actor nomination for the one and only Matthew Fox.

One last screenshot of Quaid, looking very Bush-y..

#19: Trade

Trade, directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner. Starring Kevin Kline, Alicja Bachleda-Curus, Paulina Gaitan, Kathleen Gati and Zack Ward.

Trade is about "Adriana (Paulina Gaitan) is a 13-year-old girl from Mexico City whose kidnapping by sex traffickers sets in motion a desperate mission by her 17-year-old brother, Jorge (Cesar Ramos), to save her. Trapped and terrified by an underground network of international thugs who earn millions exploiting their human cargo, Adriana's only friend and protector throughout her ordeal is Veronica (Alicja Bachleda-Curus), a young Polish woman tricked into the trade by the same criminal gang. As Jorge dodges immigration officers and incredible obstacles to track the girls' abductors, he meets Ray (Kevin Kline), a Texas cop whose own family loss to sex trafficking leads him to become an ally in the boy's quest. Fighting with courage and hard-tested faith, the characters of Trade negotiate their way through the unspeakable terrain of the sex trade "tunnels" between Mexico and the United States. From the barrios of Mexico City and the treacherous Rio Grande border, to a secret internet sex slave auction and the final climactic confrontation at a stash house in suburban New Jersey, Ray and Jorge forge a close bond as they give desperate chase to Adriana's kidnappers before she is sold and disappears forever into this brutal global underworld, a place from which few victims ever return ." Sounds Babel-y. Oh my. However, does that mean Oscar? While this may seem like a rip-off of Crash/Babel sans a respected director or a superb cast, with Kline leading the cast, I can see Oscars already. While I don't really want to write too much (I grab my plots from IMDb), I can say I'm a bit disturbed my the plot: child sex trade is quite a bit more disturbing than racial conflicts in L.A. or a worldwide tragedy hitting Brad Pitt. Well...it opens limited on August 30th, about when The Constant Gardener opened two years before.

One last screenshot of Kline and Gaitan...

#20: Things We Lost in the Fire

For the next month, I will be doing a feature on one film that I am expectantly anticipating as a 2007 Oscar contender, twenty total. At the end of the twenty affairs of upcoming films, I will be wrapping this up with my first blog-posted Oscar predictions for 2007. The first film is Susanne Bier's Things We Lost in the Fire.

Things We Lost in the Fire, directed by Susanne Bier. Starring Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro, David Duchnovy, Alison Lohman and Robin Weigert.

Things We Lost in the Fire is about "A recent widow invites her husband's troubled best friend to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his life around, he helps the family cope and confront their loss. ." Sounds Hallmark-y. Oh my. It does. But forget that, this is Halle Berry's big return to good films, although Perfect Stranger arrives in April. With such a seasoned cast, I'm anticipating an Oscar nomination for Berry, with chances for Del Toro and Lohman. God knows, maybe she'll be the next female Denzel Washington. Or not. Also, Susanne Bier (of Brødre and After the Wedding)

One last screenshot...seemingly of Berry and her daughter.