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Staff Sgt. William James: You love playing with that. You love playing with all your stuffed animals. You love your mommy, your daddy, your nature pajamas. You love everything, don’t you? [beat] Yeah. But you know what, buddy? As you get older, some of the things that you love might not seem so special anymore, you know. Like your jack-in-the-box. Maybe you realize it’s just a piece of tin and a stuffed animal. But the older you get, the fewer things you really love. And by the time you get to my age, maybe it’s only one or two things. [beat] With me I think it’s one.

Posted in Movie Quote of the Day

5 Comments

Tags: 2009, Jeremy Renner, Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, the hurt locker

Jeremy Renner and the Best Actor Race

Feb 3

Posted by Marya E. Gates

I’ve yet to see A Single Man or Crazy Heart, mostly due to living in the middle of nowhere, and thus can only comment on the three performances I have seen. I enjoyed George Clooney in Up In The Air, but he was better in Michael Clayton. My opinion on Morgan Freeman in Invictus will come up later on in this post. That leaves Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker. And of the three I’ve seen, he has my vote. It’ll be a difficult race for him, but I think he has a chance of pulling it off. He had perhaps my favorite reaction to his nomination when interviewed on Good Morning America yesterday. When asked about his competition, he replied, “I’ve gotta break some serious legs.”

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Posted in Nominations, the Academy Awards

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Tags: A Serious Man, A Single Man, Alfred Molina, An Education, Anthony Mackie, Avatar, Best Actor, Crazy Heart, George Clooney, Good Morning America, Good Will Hunting, Invictus, Jeremy Renner, Matt Damon, Michael Clayton, Michael Stuhlbarg, Morgan Freeman, Steve Buscemi, Syriana, the Academy Awards, the Coen brothers, the hurt locker, The Informant!, The Messenger, The Oscars, Up In The Air

My Oscar Nominations Predictions

Feb 1

Posted by Marya E. Gates

The Academy Award nominations will be announced at 5:30AM PST tomorrow, February 2nd. I’ve got predictions for 10 of the 24 categories. I’m also going to supply some alternates. I love being able to predict what the nominations will be, but at the same time, it would be nice for some surprises to sneak in there too!

Best Picture:

(500) Days of Summer
An Education
Avatar
District 9
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Star Trek
Up In The Air

(Alternates: Up, Invictus, A Serious Man)

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Posted in Nominations, the Academy Awards

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Tags: (500) Days of Summer, A Serious Man, A Single Man, An Education, Anna Kendrick, Avatar, Carey Mulligan, Christoph Waltz, Christopher Plummer, Clint Eastwood, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Colin Firth, Coraline, Crazy Heart, Diane Kruger, District 9, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Gabby Sidibe, George Clooney, Helen Mirren, Inglourious Basterds, Invictus, James Cameron, Jason Reitman, Jeff Bridges, Jeremy Renner, Julianne Moore, Julie & Julia, Kathryn Bigelow, Lee Daniels, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Micahel Haneke, Mo'Nique, Morgan Freeman, Nine, Precious, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Downey Jr., Sandra Bullock, Sherlock Holmes, Stanley Tucci, Star Trek, the Academy Awards, The Blind Side, The Hangover, the hurt locker, The Last Station, The Lovely Bones, The Messenger, The Oscars, The Princess and the Frog, The Road, The White Ribbon, Up, Up In The Air, Vera Farmiga, Viggo Mortensen, Where The Wild Things Are, Woody Harrelson

15 Breakthrough Performers of 2009

Jan 31

Posted by Marya E. Gates

2009 was a good year for cinema. So good I had to have a Top 15 instead of a Top Ten (and now, after I’ve seen a lot of the End of the Year fare, I feel like I’d need a Top Twenty). There were some newcomers who blew us away and some actors/actresses who have been kicking around Hollywood for years waiting for That Movie that makes them a household name, and for them 2009 was that year. I’m going to do this list in alphabetical order by last name.

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Posted in BAFTAs, Golden Globes, SAGs, the Academy Awards, Top List

9 Comments

Tags: 2009, A Single Man, Adventureland, An Education, Anna Kendrick, Avatar, Ben Affleck, Bored to Death, Brideshead Revisited, Carey Mulligan, Center Stage, Chasing Liberty, Chris Pine, Christoph Waltz, Clash of the Titans, Colin Firth, Dahmer, David Fincher, Emile Hirsch, G-Force, Gabby Sidibe, George Clooney, Gigantic, HBO, Heroes, Inglourious Basterds, J J. Abrams, James Cameron, Jeff Daniels, Jeremy Renner, Jesse Eisenberg, Kathryn Bigelow, Kevin Kline, Kristen Stewart, Mandy Moore, Mark Zuckerberg, Match Point, Matthew Goode, Max Records, Michael Douglas, NBC, Oliver Stone, Peter Travers, Precious, Pride & Prejudice, Quentin Tarantino, Shakespeare in Love, Shia LeBeouf, SNL, Spike Jonze, Star Trek, Taylor Lautner, Terminator Salvation, The Brothers Bloom, The Emperor's Club, The English Patient, The Hangover, the hurt locker, The Social Network, The Squid and the Whale, The Town, Tom Ford, Twilight, Twilight Saga: New Moon, Up In The Air, Wall Street, Watchmen, Where The Wild Things Are, Woody Allen, Zach Galifianakis, Zach Synder, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Zombieland

BAFTA Nominations Are In

Jan 21

Posted by Marya E. Gates

There are a few odd things in this list, but keep in mind these are for Britain, so some films that are eligible for Oscar haven’t been released there yet.

The one thing that is certain is Jeremy Renner is closer now to being a lock for a Best Actor nomination by the Academy.

Full list of nominees and my analysis after the cut.

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Posted in BAFTAs, Precursors

The Hurt Locker – Can A Good Old-Fashioned War Movie Win Best Picture?

Jan 20

Posted by Marya E. Gates

I finally got to see The Hurt Locker today. I absolutely loved it. I am a big fan of War films and I’d put this one up there with my favorites, namely The Thin Red Line and The Longest Day.

Although I’ve yet to see Avatar, I do not want it to win Best Picture. I know I should reserve judgement until I’ve seen it. But I do not see how it can be as good as either The Hurt Locker or Up In The Air. To quote Quentin Tarantino “This CGI bullshit is the death knell of cinema. If I’d wanted all that computer game bullshit, I’d have stuck my dick in a Nintendo.”