What Is This, The High Hat?

This is still the best picture of 2008 despite whoever wins those silly golden statues.

Best Picture 

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: Milk

Best Actor

Will Win:  Mickey Rourke

Should Win:  Sean Penn or Mickey Rourke

Best Actress

Will Win: Kate Winslet

Should Win: Anne Hathaway

Supporting Actor

Will Win: Heath Ledger

Should Win: Heath Ledger

Supporting Actress

Will Win: Penelope Cruz

Should Win: Penelope Cruz or Viola Davis

Best Director

Will Win: Danny Boyle

Should Win: Danny Boyle or Gus Van Sant

Best Original Screenplay

Will Win: Milk

Should Win: In Bruges

Best Adapted Screenplay

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: Doubt

Best Animated Film 

Will Win: Wall-e

Should Win: Wall-e

Cinematography

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: The Dark Knight or The Reader

Costume Design

Will Win: The Duchess

Should Win: Australia?

Art Direction

Will Win: Benjamin Button

Should Win: Benjamin Button

Editing 

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: The Dark Knight

Score 

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: Wall-e

Song 

Will Win: Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: Down to Earth” Wall-e

Sound Mixing

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: The Dark Knight

Sound Editing

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: The Dark Knight

Visual Effects

Will Win: Benjamin Button

Should Win: Benjamin Button

Makeup

Will Win: Benjamin Button

Should Win: Benjamin Button

I haven’t seen many of these films starting now.

Best Foreign Film

Will Win: Waltz With Bashir

Should Win: The Class?

Best Documentary Feature

Will Win: Man on Wire

Should Win: Man on Wire

Best Documentary Short

Will Win: The Conscience of Nhem En

Should Win: ?

Live Action Short

Will Win: Toyland

Should Win: ?

Animated Short

Will Win: La Maison

Should Win: Presto

These are the movies I really liked, but didn’t quite make my top ten.  I still throughly recommend them all.  I still cannot believe The Visitor did not make my Top 10 list.  In no particular order.

Frost/Nixon is good movie with great performances.

A comedy by the Coen Brothers.  What is not to love.

The acting in Doubt is better than the movie itself.  Still, a very good, thought provoking time.

A very good movie.  More deserving of its’ best pic nom than Frost/Nixon of Ben Button.

A super fun movie.  Overshadowed by the Dark Knight, but arguably the 2nd best Super hero movie ever.

Son of Rambow is a charming comedy.  Seek it out.

Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut is considered a masterpiece by some. I’m still unsure of it, ultimately well worth watching.

The 11th best movie of 2008.  This is a must watch in my opinion.

I just watched this so I may be rating it a little highly, but I just loved loved loved it.

My weird pick of year.  If you like Japanese Cinema give this a chance.

Top 10 list coming soon

With Dark Knight coming out later this week I wanted to highlight more of a hidden gem of sorts. That gem is Mongol directed by Sergei Bodrov whose name sounds familiar, but I haven’t seen any of his films. Mongol was also nominated for best foreign film earlier this year at the academy awards, but who really cares (cause they didn’t nominate 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.) Mongol is a biopic if I’m using the right word about Genghis Khan. It focuses on the early life of the great Khan of Mongolia. This comes recommend if your a fan of the movies that feature epic storytelling and battle scenes.  However, It does drag a bit and it is no where near a perfect film.

This is the rough cut. When I finally re-watch some of these movies, I think the order will move around.

12

3
45

6

78

9

10
There are three movies that I haven’t had a chance to watch yet if I’m remembering everything. I have heard good things about Away From Her, Into the Wild and Gone Baby Gone, so I’m sure anyone of those movies could have been on my top ten list. Drop me a comment if there is any movies I missed.

I truly love all these movies, and they are all highly recommended.

One of my recent reads has been the Arrival. The Arrival is a unique story in that it doesn’t have words, it has pretty pictures. No really, the story is just about as good as everything else I’ve been reading and really deserves a wide audience. The Arrival is an immigration tale of sorts and an engaging one at that. Quick Awesome Sample Art.

Seriously it’s about as good as it gets, a must read in my opinion. I hope to be back later this week with a definite top 10 movie list and maybe top 10 comics, we shall see. Be prepared for a movie list like no other though, bye.

I have two comics to review. One trade and one floppie. These comics represent the best comics being published today, all that I love about comics. These comics should be read if at all possible. Coming up first is Scalped.

I remember when I first saw Scalped #1 on the shelf at the comic shop. The cover looked cool, but nothing about the comic really spiked my interest. I was probably thinking that’s another mediocre Vertigo series. Vertigo does publish some good stuff though and if you think about Vertigo comics still being published you think about 100 Bullets, Y: The Last Man, Fables, and DMZ. The comics just mentioned are all amazing but they really don’t hold up to Scalped if you really think about it. Scalped is just an amazing comic and the first trade collecting issues 1-5 is available for only $10. Jason Aaron the fantastic writer is offering money back guarantee on the first trade so there’s really no reason not to pick this one up immediately. Just about as good as comics can get.

Pax Romana #1

I didn’t even talk about the Scalped plot did I hehe. Pax Romana is based in the future where scientist’s working for the Vatican make a time machine. After much discussion betwixt the pope and his higher ups, the Pope decides to send back a team. They are to give Catholicism a better history by changing what happened during the crusades and such. The whole comic is fascinating and if the premise interests you even in the slightest pick this one up. A little bit wordy though, but in my opinion this has more interesting dialogue then some comics with 1/4 of the words.

A quick look at There Will Be Blood. This is not a review but a recommendation. This is an absolute must see. Daniell Day-Lewis gives the performance of the decade in what very well could be the best movie this decade. If you could only see one movie at the theater this year, go see this (Or Jesse James hehe).

I’ve recently read Shortcomings and Exit Wounds, but I didn’t even think of reviewing them so will see what comes out of this. I couple trades I’ve just finished include: Y: The Last Man Volumes 4 & 5, DMZ Volume 2, and Scalped Volume 1. I’m just going to review whatever I feel like starting with Shortcomings.

I feel like a really need to post something. I’m behind on posting because I haven’t read that many comics lately. Right after I finish this post I am going to finish the comic I am currently reading (Plastic Man, Kyle Baker). I have some new comics to read which I will try to review shortly. Now a couple of short movie reviews.

I was gonna Netflix this and maybe buy the 5 disc HD-DVD or Blue Ray discs when I have a player, but this was playing at a movie theater. I haven’t watched Blade Runner in a couple of years so I couldn’t tell you the main differences between the older directors cut and the final cut, but Blade Runner is just an amazing movie period and should be on any Sci-Fi fans must watch list.