Yes, this is an official bleg. One of my colleagues is running an Oscar pool (no money, just bragging rights). Despite having seen almost none of the nominated movies, I feel very confident about my picks in all the main categories. After all, I listen to NPR's Fresh Air regularly. But, ironically, the categories I feel I have no clue in are the soundtracks. Perhaps it is because I care most about these categories, and don't want to make a rash decision based on no information (I've only seen one of the movies). I don't feel the same way about acting, so I'm willing to go out on a limb with no reasoning whatsoever. Anyway, here are the categories and the nominees. Tell me who you think will win the Oscar, and why.
ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Alexandre Despiat)
Defiance (James Newton Howard)
Milk (Danny Elfman)
Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman)
WALL-E (Thomas Newman)
ORIGINAL SONG
“Down to Earth” from WALL-E (Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman)
“Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman and Gutzar)
“O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam)
As a related bleg, I'm also not certain about the short films (documentary short subject, Animated short film, and Live Action short film). Any advice on those also appreciated, but I won't clutter the blog with those more unrelated topics.
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Into the Woods
Last night and today I watched my latest Netflix movie, Stephen Sondheim's musical Into the Woods. I was deeply engrossed by the Broadway production, with fabulous performances and great scene design. I would've kept watching last night through the whole two acts, but held to my Lenten discipline of getting to bed at 10:30. I didn't start watching the DVD until 9:30, after finishing comments on all my students blogged analyses and grading their figured-bass realizations. So I watched more this morning after a nice 6.4 mile run and then finished it this afternoon while the kids were making Valentines. Sondheim used a musical language that was very reminiscent of Sunday in the Park with George or Sweeney Todd, with lots of quick Aaron Sorkin-esqe patter, pointillistic orchestration, and descending minor sevenths and diminished fifths to end vocal phrases. But that language works well for him, and served the story well.
I'd welcome Netflix recommendations of other musicals or operas. I've already seen A Love for Three Oranges, The Rake's Progress, and Rasputin. In my queue are waiting Tales of Hoffmann, Fidelio, Eugene Onegin, and Mlada. I've performed in the pit for the Offenbach, but have never seen the others.
I'd welcome Netflix recommendations of other musicals or operas. I've already seen A Love for Three Oranges, The Rake's Progress, and Rasputin. In my queue are waiting Tales of Hoffmann, Fidelio, Eugene Onegin, and Mlada. I've performed in the pit for the Offenbach, but have never seen the others.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
It's an honor to be nominated
The Academy Award nominations have been announced. I won't try to make predictions, since I've only seen two of the films nominated for the music categories (Enchanted and Ratatouille (yes, I have young children, why do you ask?)). For original score: Atonement by Dario Marianelli, The Kite Runner by Alberto Iglesias, Michael Clayton by James Newton Howard, Ratatouille by Michael Giacchino, and 3:10 to Yuma by Marco Beltrami. This is the second nomination for Marianelli (Pride & Prejudice) and Iglesias (The Constant Gardener), whereas Newton Howard is an old hand with four other Original Score nominations (The Village, My Best Friend's Wedding, The Fugitive, The Prince of Tides) and two Original Song nominations ("For the First Time" and "Look What Love Has Done"). Alex Ross has lauded Giacchino's work on "Lost" and "Alias", and Giacchino has won honors for his video game compositions (Call of Duty, Medal of Honor). He's also experienced at composing for animated films, having scored The Incredibles. Likewise Beltrami has plenty of experience with action films (Live Free or Die Hard, XXX State of the Union, Cursed, I Robot, Hellboy, Terminator 3, Blade II, Resident Evil, etc.).
For original song: "Falling Slowly" from Once, Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova; "Raise It Up" from August Rush, Nominees to be determined; and three songs from Enchanted by Alan Menken (music) and Stephen Schwartz (lyrics) "Happy Working Song," "So Close,” and "That’s How You Know." Of the three Enchanted songs, I like "Thats How You Know" best. But it is weird, since I felt all the songs in that movie were meant to be parodies of conventional Disney songs, with "That's How You Know" as a pastiche of Menken's Caribbean-flavored songs in The Little Mermaid and "Happy Working Song" poking fun at the songs of Cinderella. Thus I don't feel comfortable with the idea of this music being awarded as a best original song. (Sidebar: DePauw is doing a production of Schwartz's Children of Eden musical right now.) "Falling Slowly" is rather simple and veers perilously close to being overly sentimental, but has some good lyrics and Glen Hansard is very witty.
Here is a list of all the songs submitted for consideration.
For original song: "Falling Slowly" from Once, Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova; "Raise It Up" from August Rush, Nominees to be determined; and three songs from Enchanted by Alan Menken (music) and Stephen Schwartz (lyrics) "Happy Working Song," "So Close,” and "That’s How You Know." Of the three Enchanted songs, I like "Thats How You Know" best. But it is weird, since I felt all the songs in that movie were meant to be parodies of conventional Disney songs, with "That's How You Know" as a pastiche of Menken's Caribbean-flavored songs in The Little Mermaid and "Happy Working Song" poking fun at the songs of Cinderella. Thus I don't feel comfortable with the idea of this music being awarded as a best original song. (Sidebar: DePauw is doing a production of Schwartz's Children of Eden musical right now.) "Falling Slowly" is rather simple and veers perilously close to being overly sentimental, but has some good lyrics and Glen Hansard is very witty.
Here is a list of all the songs submitted for consideration.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Movie Meme
I'm still a little punch drunk (think Pierrot), so rather than try to write a meaningful post I'll just follow Pattie's lead with the AFI list of top movies. I have bolded those I have seen.
1. "Citizen Kane," 1941.
2. "The Godfather," 1972.
3. "Casablanca," 1942.
4. "Raging Bull," 1980.
5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952.
6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939.
7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.
8. "Schindler's List," 1993.
9. "Vertigo," 1958.
10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939.
11. "City Lights," 1931.
12. "The Searchers," 1956.
13. "Star Wars," 1977.
14. "Psycho," 1960.
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968.
16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.
17. "The Graduate," 1967.
18. "The General," 1927.
19. "On the Waterfront," 1954.
20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946.
21. "Chinatown," 1974.
22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.
23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940. (I've seen parts)
24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982.
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962.
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939.
27. "High Noon," 1952.
28. "All About Eve," 1950.
29. "Double Indemnity," 1944.
30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979.
31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941.
32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974.
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.
35. "Annie Hall," 1977.
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957.
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.
39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964.
40. "The Sound of Music," 1965.
41. "King Kong," 1933.
42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967. (I don't think I have...)
43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969.
44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.
45. "Shane," 1953. (My dad loves this movie, I don't get what is so great about it.)
46. "It Happened One Night," 1934.
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951.
48. "Rear Window," 1954.
49. "Intolerance," 1916.
50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001.
51. "West Side Story," 1961.
52. "Taxi Driver," 1976.
53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.
54. "M-A-S-H," 1970.
55. "North by Northwest," 1959.
56. "Jaws," 1975.
57. "Rocky," 1976.
58. "The Gold Rush," 1925.
59. "Nashville," 1975.
60. "Duck Soup," 1933.
61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941.
62. "American Graffiti," 1973.
63. "Cabaret," 1972.
64. "Network," 1976.
65. "The African Queen," 1951.
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981.
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966.
68. "Unforgiven," 1992.
69. "Tootsie," 1982.
70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971.
71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998.
72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994.
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.
74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.
75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967. (I've seen parts.)
76. "Forrest Gump," 1994.
77. "All the President's Men," 1976.
78. "Modern Times," 1936.
79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.
80. "The Apartment, 1960.
81. "Spartacus," 1960.
82. "Sunrise," 1927.
83. "Titanic," 1997.
84. "Easy Rider," 1969.
85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935.
86. "Platoon," 1986.
87. "12 Angry Men," 1957.
88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.
89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999.
90. "Swing Time," 1936.
91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982.
92. "Goodfellas," 1990.
93. "The French Connection," 1971.
94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994.
95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.
96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.
97. "Blade Runner," 1982.
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.
99. "Toy Story," 1995.
100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.
And here is another list of movies by PopMatter's (50 DVDs every film fan should own), which I'm very disappointed to see so heavily weighted towards exploitation and porn. I can understand getting one representative work of each, but so many?
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