An animated Best Picture nominee? Why the "Wall-E" not?

I'm always hopeful when I hear a major group of critics sharing the kudos love with animated movies, even if in this case it comes a year too late.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, usually a contrarian bunch, has just named "Wall-E" as its pick for Best Picture, with "The Dark Knight" as its runner-up. I think they'll end getting one out of two right in the end, with "The Dark Knight" snagging the final Oscar slot (If I had to pick it today, with the caveat that this is mostly a list of movies I haven't seen, I'd say the final five will be "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Milk", "Revolutionary Road", "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Dark Knight.") And if that is the final list, count me among the "Slumdog" supporters.

"Wall-E," however, certainly has enough charms to merit it at least being in the conversation, so thanks to the L.A. crew for that. The first 45 minutes or so of "Wall-E" are just the most enchanting kind of romance, and even if it does become more and more conventional as the story goes on, it's still often a very magical movie.

But like I said, the only problem I have with any of this is that it comes a year too late. Where were the critics when it came to hailing "Ratatouille," the best animated movie I've seen in many, many years, and my pick for the best movie of 2007?

My final five, if I remember this right, were in fact "The Savages", "Into the Wild", "Once", "Zodiac" and "Ratatouille." Of those five, I think "Into the Wild" stands the test of time the best, since I just watched it again the other day and loved it even more.

Though I have a slew of prestige pics to catch up on when I get the chance to hit NYC for the end of the year, I have to say that so far it looks like this year just doesn't measure up as well. So, in that void, why not a win for "Wall-E"?

Demko's DVD shelf

UPDATE: Very alert reader Bob of Bob and Justin's Movie Blog (http://bobandjustin.blogspot.com/)alerted me to a serious omission on my part from this week's DVD listing."Charlie Wilson's War" was a real return to top form for both Mike Nichols and Aaron Sorkin and just first-rate political satire based on truth. Please feel free to insert in the third position on the list.

Man, I didn't think anything would top the first appearance of Robin Sparkles on "How I Met Your Mother," but last night's episode sure came close. A whole season with Robin and Barney as a couple should just be a treat.

But on to the matter at hand. It was a real slugfest this week to determine who would get my title of DVD pick of the week (though I'm fairly certain none of the participants knew they were in the running.) In the end, the presence of Laura Linney in one of my favorite movies of 2007 was just enough to nose out the second season of network TV's best drama. So, here goes:

1. The Savages
I really thought Tamara Jenkins' little movie would become a breakout hit a la "Little Miss Sunshine," but alas that never quite came to pass. I guess dealing with a parent slipping rapidly into dementia just isn't as cute as little kids competing in beauty pageants. Despite its rather depressing subject matter, however, Jenkins' flick is extremely funny in parts and moving in others, and it's a delight to watch Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as a brother and sister dealing (or often not) with life. Fans of "The Wire" should note that Gbenga Akinnagbe, a k a Chris Parlow, has a pretty big part in this as the nursing home attendant Jimmy.

2. Friday Night Lights: The Second Season
Season two of "FNL" got off to a seriously rocky start with the rather silly murder subplot involving Landry and Tara, but luckily wrapped that up pretty quickly and got back to its real strength: A very realistic portrait of life in small-town America (albeit with people a lot better looking than folks - me included - I see in my particular little burg.) Though season two could have used a little more football, the 15 episodes they managed to make, especially when it focused on Coach Taylor and the great Connie Britten, were just about the best thing on TV this year.

3. Cloverfield
Though I had my serious doubts about this one going in, it was pretty darn far from - as one old dude behind me said as the credits rolled - "the worst movie I've ever seen." It's not, for anyone worried as I was, a "Blair Witch Project" kind of fraud, but instead a pretty thrilling little monster movie that manages to keep the adrenaline flowing from start to finish.

4. The Orphanage
At his NYCC appearance last week to promote "Hellboy II," Guillermo del Toro apparently teased fans with the prospect of doing another Spanish horror flick to follow in the footsteps of "Pan's Labyrinth" and the even-better "Devil's Backbone" if he somehow doesn't sign on to do "The Hobbit" (which I thought was a done deal, but apparently not quite yet.) Even if he were to do so, that would be at least a couple of years away, but in the meantime his buddy Juan Antonio Bayona has stepped up with this very stylish and fairly scary flick. The ending, even by horror movie standards, just defies all limits of credulity, but what you see along the way is pretty darn fun.

The most despicable movie ever made?

My brother sent me a link Friday to a Politico.com story headlined "Post-Sept. 11 'comedies' coming." Its main peg was the return of Harold and Kumar this Friday, which I think could be pretty funny, but it also touched on something I had somehow never heard of by Uwe Boll - and I frankly wish I never had.

Boll, already hailed as pretty much the worst filmmaker in the entire world, is about to release a "shock comedy" about 9/11 - with the Soup Nazi as Osama Bin Laden. Mull around in your mind just how bad that might be, but I assure you in actuality it will be even worse than you could possibly imagine.

This opening clip - and remember, I did warn you - of the 9/11 hijackers prattling on in the cockpit about virgins, is just about the most offensive thing I've ever seen. I normally like to post clips here directly, but I just can't bring myself to do it this time, so you'll have to click here to see it.

I offer this only as a public service warning just in case anyone might actually be considering watching the whole movie once it comes out. All I can say is please, please, please just say no. Peace out.

Oscar nominations: Surprises and snubs

Before I do any complaining, and yes, there is some to do, let me start with two things that definitely made me smile during this morning's Oscar nominations announcement.

First and foremost, the word "Ratatouille" came up twice, once in the expected animated film category but also with Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco nominated for best original screenplay. A hearty huzzah to that!

The second thing wasn't so much of a surprise, since I predicted it (see the previous post to see just how right or wrong I was overall), but probably the most worthy nominee of all was Hal Holbrook in the category of Best Supporting Actor. I've confessed it here before, but I cried exactly once at a movie theater in 2007, and that moment came when Holbrook's character tried in vain to rescue Emile Hirsch's Christopher McCandless from his ultimate fate.

So much for the good stuff, because, me being me, I have plenty to complain about too.

First of all, I love Cate Blanchett as much or more than the average moviegoer, but "Elizabeth" is just one big flaming turd of a movie. Granted, any charms it has come from the presence of Blanchett and Clive Owen pitching woo, but that's not by a long shot enough to deserve a Best Actress nomination in my book. I was very happy to see Laura Linney make the cut for "The Savages" (and would love to see her win), but Helena Bonham Carter in "Sweeney Todd" was just loads better than Ms. Blanchett in "Elizabeth."

And Cate comes in for double fire from me today, for though I haven't seen "I'm Not There," I have to think her turn as Bob Dylan robbed the very deserving Kelly Macdonald of a slot for her superb work in "No Country for Old Men." I'll be very happy to see see Ruby Dee win this (partly because she's a very worthy winner and partly due to to my continuing atonement tour for assuming that she had died shortly after hubby Ossie Davis), but the snub of Ms. Macdonald was just egregious in my book.

But enough ranting for now. I did manage to predict four of the five Best Picture nominees (did anyone really see "Michael Clayton" coming?), and I'm fairly optimistic the writers will reach a deal and make the Oscars the truly joyous occasion they should be. Peace out.

Jane Austen's got the cure for your TV blues

I have to confess it's been years since I've tuned in regularly for PBS' Masterpiece Theater, but given the ongoing writers' strike and the show's revamped formula, I think I'll definitely be returning starting this Sunday.

What's new? Well, first of all, the programs will be hosted by "X-Files" and Masterpiece Theater ("Bleak House") alum Gillian Anderson, which I have to say is at least a slight improvement from previous host Russell Baker (and a definite improvement from the past few years, which, if I'm not mistaken, had no host at all.)

Secondly, for the first series of shows beginning Sunday, it will be all about Jane Austen, which is just fine by me. It's a bit hard to tell, but I believe the order goes like this: Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion (still my favorite Austen work), Pride and Prejudice and finally Sense and Sensibility. These aren't the Hollywood versions, but instead four new adaptations and two previously aired works (the only one I've seen is Pride and Prejudice, and though I know the ladies are rather devoted to Mr. Firth's Mr. Darcy, I just prefer Joe Wright's movie version instead.)

Check your local listings, of course, but in Georgia at least it airs at 9 p.m. Sundays (finally, a workout for my DVR, since I'll be watching "The Wire" whilst taping both that and Masterpiece.) Tune in for a definite alternative to the reality TV onslaught that's already started and will soon turn into a deluge.

Download Fox Searchlight scripts

I usually spend my brief lunch half-hour-or-so reading Chris Cillizza's fantastic The Fix political blog, but today I just might have another option.

Fox Searchlight has put the scripts for six (which may be all) of its 2007 releases up for download here, and it shows just how strong a year the studio had. Available for your perusal are the scripts for three movies that made my top 10 ("The Savages," "Once" and "Waitress"), two that just missed the cut ("Juno" and Mira Nair's charming "The Namesake"), and one I'd have to unfortunately call a failure, Wes Anderson's "Darjeeling Limited."

Speaking of "Juno," a quick visit to Variety, which somehow tracks daily box-office numbers, shows that Jason Reitman's little flick was actually at No. 1 for Tuesday, taking in $1,445,349 to National Treasure's $1,314,178. It has netted more than $54 million so far, and should approach the magical $100M with a few more weeks of wide release. Congrats! I think I'll be devouring Diablo Cody's script along with my soup this midday.

And kudos to Amy Ryan too

It was great to see Amy Ryan return on "The Wire" Sunday, even if it looks like her man McNulty may implode any day now.

If you haven't seen her performance in "Gone Baby Gone," do so as soon as you can. You can believe all the hype: If there is indeed an Oscars ceremony this year, there's no way in the world she shouldn't be taking home a Best Supporting Actress Oscar (unless it's main instead of supporting - I have trouble telling how they judge these things.)

And now she's joining the cast of Paul Greengrass' Iraq war thriller, which begins shooting today in Spain and is inspired by Rajiv Chandrasekaran's book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone".

Greengrass and Brian Helgeland turned that nonfiction work into a fictional thriller set in the "Green Zone," a walled and fortified area where U.S. troops stay during the Iraq occupation. Matt Damon plays an officer who teams with a senior CIA officer to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction, Ryan will play a New York Times foreign correspondent sent to Iraq to investigate the U.S. government's WMD claims, and Greg Kinnear plays another CIA officer.

It seems like stars of "The Wire" are popping up everywhere on the big screen, which I don't see how I'll ever consider to be anything but a great development.

"Sweet Land" in Macon this Sunday

Given the mostly pathetic wide-release lineup this week (with Juan Antonio Bayona's "The Orphanage" a clear exception - go see that one if you like stylish and smart horror), the Macon Film Guild has a definitely welcome other option on the slate this weekend.

Director Ali Selim's "Sweet Land," based on a Will Weaver short story, tells the tale of a German mail-order bride who travels to Minnesota to marry a Norwegian man during World War I. Her nationality, naturally, is an issue for the assembled locals, but I'm sure everyone eventually learns to get along. Sounds a little sappy for my tastes, but both of my parents soundly endorse this one, and that's good enough for me.

It's showing this Sunday at 2, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. at the Douglass Theatre in downtown Macon, and if you turn out for the 2 p.m. show I'll definitely see you there. Peace out.

My favorite movies of 2007

As I thought about this list over the weekend (and yes, I am enough of a geek that I put a lot of thought into it), I found several movies that I really adored in 2007 had sunk enough to just miss the cut, most noticeably "American Gangster" and, yes, "Juno."

Now, that doesn't mean I love them any less, just that they've lost a little sheen with the passage of time and that stronger movies that came after them simply took their spots. There's still room here for one truly juvenile (but smart) teen comedy and, surprisingly, one movie about a lost soul that I admit I just didn't get until it had had a while to sink in.

So now, without any further qualification, here are my 10 favorite movies of 2007, in only alphabetical order (but if you have to know, my single favorite movie of last year remains "Ratatouille," with "No Country for Old Men" a close second.)

"Breach"
I went into this one expecting some high Washington intrigue but instead got a very intensely claustrophobic and psychological cat-and-mouse game between Chris Cooper as turncoat spy Robert Hanssen and Ryan Philippe as the agent who pursued him (with just enough Laura Linney thrown in for good measure.) It's a real shame that Billy Ray has only directed two movies, with no more on the horizon, because with this and "Shattered Glass," about the wayward journalist Stephen Glass, he's crafted two nearly perfect flicks.

"Into the Wild"
I offer this as an apology to Sean Penn, because my distance from the character of Christopher McCandless made me unable to appreciate this film fully at first. I still find little to identify with in his tale of searching, but this movie is packed full of great performances from Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener, Hal Holbrook and others, and it's a deeply effecting flick.

"No Country for Old Men"
I would never even come close to writing off the Coen brothers, but I have to admit their output between the great "O Brother Where Art Thou" and this gem had me a little worried. By making Cormac McCarthy's meditation on violence all their own and mixing it with the most uneasy kind of humor, they managed to craft a movie that really only could have come from the Coen brothers. As far as I can tell, "Burn After Reading" should be next on their busy schedule, and I just can't wait.

"Once"
As with "Breach," I was a little off-base going into this one. I was expecting a full-scale musical, but instead got a perfect moment in time with two non-actors, Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard (from "The Commitments"), delivering captivating performances. But there are, of course, a lot of songs, and they all just fit right into this story that's as much about the creative process as it is about the power of love (cheesy, I concede, but it really does work.)

"Persepolis"
It's possible, I guess, that this just snuck in here because I saw it on the last weekend of the year, but I don't really think that's the case (Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood," which I admit I'm still digesting, for example, didn't make it even though it was viewed then too.) Using mostly a stark black and white palate, graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi and co-director Vincent Paronnaud nonetheless fill the screen with memorable images in this spirited autobiographical tale of Satrapi's life growing up in Iran and Europe. Highly recommended, if you can find it.

"Ratatouille"
I rewatched this again a few weeks ago and loved it just as much as I did the first time. That sequence which starts with Remy and Auguste looking down on Gustave's and finishes with Remy's first scamper through the kitchen remains my favorite of the year, and the movie is just full of enough magical moments to take my 2007 crown.

"The Savages"
Another one from the last weekend of the year, but if you've seen Tamara Jenkins' tender and often very funny family tale starring Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, I seriously doubt you'll argue it doesn't deserve this lofty spot. Watching the return of "The Wire" (thank God!) last night, it finally hit me that the nursing home attendant Jimmy was played by Gbenga Akinnagbe, who also plays hitman extraordinaire Chris on "The Wire," which judging from last night's season five premiere is definitely set to go out on top.

"Superbad"
Yes, that's right, "Superbad." After laughing through just about every minute of this one with my brother in Minneapolis this summer, I watched it again a few weeks ago and was struck by how much I enjoyed the B storyline about Bill Hader and screenwriter Seth Rogen as those two cops who just refuse to grow up. I probably identified with them much more than any healthy middle-aged person should!

"Waitress"
I was cheering for this one out of the gate simply because it was written and directed by the late Adrienne Shelly, who was murdered in 2006 for the simple offense of complaining about a neighbor's playing the radio too loud. Even without this depressing context, however, her romantic tale starring Keri Russell, Captain Mal and Andy Griffith was just the perfect counterweight to the summer blockbuster slate, and one that has lingered with me all year.

"Zodiac"
Although I misjudge these things all the time, I'm feeling a genuine surge for David Fincher's true-crime epic as a dark horse contender for a Best Picture nomination, and it's definitely got my support. There wasn't a better crime movie in 2007, or a better one about the power of obsession. I can't wait to see what Fincher does this year with "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," F. Scott Fitzgerald's tale of a man who is born at age 80 and ages in reverse through the 20th century.

And there you have it. I've included a honorable mention that features just about every movie I liked in 2007, so maybe you'll get some rental ideas of any movies you might have just missed. Peace out.

Honorable mention: Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls, Starter for 10, 300, The Namesake, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, The Lookout, Grindhouse, The Hoax, Hot Fuzz, 28 Weeks Later, Knocked Up, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Simpsons Movie, Rocket Science, Shoot Em Up, Eastern Promises, The Kingdom, Michael Clayton, Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?, Gone Baby Gone, American Gangster, Margot at the Wedding, The Mist, Charlie Wilson's War, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Juno, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, There Will Be Blood

The Savages are a clan you'll definitely want to get to know

It feels like forever since I've even bothered to write anything for this space, even if it's just been less than a week off. But now, after a sojourn to the city and (of course) a movie a day, I'm back and hopefully with some new vigor to start the new year (and as for early-morning motivational music to get back in the groove, you can't do much better than the Hold Steady's "Separation Sunday," which my brother just passed on to me.)

The flicks I managed to take in ranged from the epic ("There Will Be Blood") to the magical ("Persepolis") to the mildly disappointing ("The Orphanage.") I'll start today, however, with the one that has lingered longest in my mind, making it my favorite for the week, Tamara Jenkins' "The Savages."

I'm hoping against hope that this little flick has enough star power (Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman) to let it play very wide very soon, because it deftly deals with a subject which, even if we never encounter it ourselves, feels universal and perfectly natural (and surprisingly entertaining too.)

From the outset, what sets Jenkins' movie apart from other family comedy/dramas is its tone, which despite its often depressing subject matter never gives in to cloying sentiment and instead mines the most uncomfortable situations for the humor we all need to deal with life.

But I guess a word or two about the actual plot would be in order, since I can't imagine too many folks have had a chance to see this one yet. Linney and Hoffman play a slightly estranged brother and sister who are barely dealing with their own lives when they get a call from the daughter of their father's girlfriend. It seems that the girlfriend has died (in a very funny way), leaving their father (played with defiant fire by Phillip Bosco), who they haven't spoken to in many years, all alone in Sun City, Ariz., and unable to care for himself, suffering as he does from dementia.

His disgusting but, given the circumstances, perfectly understandable act of bathroom rebellion will make you cringe and laugh all at once, and Jenkins finds even more humor in the never-anything-but-natural rapport between a brother and sister who have yet to find much satisfaction from a world to which they feel very little attachment. As they slowly lose their father (I really don't think I'm giving too much away here) but grow closer to each other, the movie become more and more sad but all the while more effecting as it goes.

I had to look up Jenkins' name at the IMDB to find out I hadn't seen any of her previous movies, the most well-known of which is probably "Slums of Beverly Hills." With "The Savages," she's clearly taken on a subject she knows well (and I'd have to imagine dealt with herself) and turned it into one of the most endearing movies of 2007.

She's also coaxed two top-notch performances out of Linney and Hoffman. The latter will be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his very funny work in "Charlie Wilson's War," but if Ms. Linney doesn't get a Best Actress nod for her work here there is something seriously wrong with the whole process. And, if not for "Juno," this could certainly take the "little indy" slot in the Best Picture gang and be a worthy contender.

We're clearly entering the dark time of the movie year. Though "Juno" is finally playing wide enough to reach my little corner of the world this week, the only new movie opening in wide-release world, "One Missed Call," carries with it perhaps the worst tagline of all time: "What will it sound like when you die?" Sheesh. Hopefully Jenkins' little movie will step into this coming black hole and provide some welcome relief from the wave of mediocrity (or worse) that's clearly coming. Peace out.

Get back into "The Wire" with three prequels

My brother and I have a rather odd and, I'm sure some would say jaded, view of the spirit of gift-giving. Though we will indeed be exchanging Christmas gifts, each of us already know what we're getting, and it's exactly the same thing: Season 4 of HBO's "The Wire" - a k a the single greatest television show of all time - on DVD.

I suppose we could just skip the formality altogether and just buy our own copies, but we haven't given up on the holiday spirit quite that much just yet. It's just that for both of us there's nothing else out there on DVD that we could possibly want more.

And now, with the fifth and final season of "The Wire" rapidly approaching (coming in January, I believe), creator David Simon has produced three shorts that reintroduce fans to beloved characters. Two of them look at stickup man extraordinaire Omar and drug dealer Prop Joe as kids, while the other is about Jimmy McNulty's first day on the force with partner "Bunk" Moreland.

Here are the direct links for what I guarantee will the best five minutes or so of time you can waste at work today:

Prop Joe

Omar

McNulty and Bunk

Enjoy, and be sure you have that HBO subscription renewed when this great series comes to a close next year.

Got milk? A great cast does

It's not hard to see why the story of Harvey Milk is attracting so much attention. The story of the San Francisco city supervisor and gay-rights activist who was gunned down by a political rival is a compelling American tragedy and certainly a story that will resonate on the big screen.

It has in fact caught the eye of two prominent American directors at once, Bryan Singer and Gus Van Sant, and now it seems that Van Sant will be the winner (or at least the first one to the finish line.)

Van Sant's biopic "Milk" has attracted a rather impressive cast, with Sean Penn set to play Milk himself; Josh Brolin to play Dan White, the S.F. county supervisor who assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone; Emile Hirsch to play Cleve Jones, an intern and close ally of Milk's who went on to found the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt; and head geek James Franco to play Scott Smith, Milk's lover and campaign manager. Now that's a cast!

Singer may someday get around to making his own version, "The Mayor of Castro Street," with screenwriter Chris McQuarrie, but why in the world would we need two? Besides, what we, or at least I, need from Mr. Singer after he wraps "Valkyrie" is more "Superman."

Meet the Savages

For a movie I hadn't even heard of yet about two weeks ago, "The Savages" is one that's rapidly rising on my must-see list for the end of the year. First off, I like small movies with lots of smarts and heart, and this certainly seems to be one. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney (resounding huzzah!) star as a brother and sister (the Savages) who have little time for responsibility of any kind until they find they have to care for their ailing father. Enjoy the poster for this Tamara Jenkins flick (click to view much larger), and have a perfectly pleasant Wednesday.