The Beeb Noms

Best Performance by a Female in a Lead Role







Amy Adams, Enchanted






Hope Davis, Charlie Bartlett







Katherine Heigl, Knocked Up






Ellen Page, Juno




Emma Thompson, Stranger Than Fiction

Best Performance by a Male in a Lead Role







Casey Affleck, Gone Baby Gone







Christian Bale, 3:10 to Yuma







Josh Brolin, No Country For Old Men







Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises







Brad Pitt, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Best Performance by a Female in a Supporting Role







Jennifer Garner, Juno







Allison Janney, Juno







Nicole Kidman, The Golden Compass







Amy Madigan, Gone Baby Gone





Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Performance by a Male in a Supporting Role







Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men







Armin Mueller-Stahl, Eastern Promises







Sam Rockwell, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford







JK Simmons, Juno







Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Best Picture

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Gone Baby Gone

Juno

Knocked Up

Michael Clayton

No Country For Old Men

The Movies (Marchish 07 - Marchish 08)

Thumbs Way Up
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Bourne Ultimatum
Gone Baby Gone
Juno
Knocked Up
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
Sicko
The Simpsons

Thumbs Up
300
3:10 to Yuma
American Gangster
Charlie Bartlett
Charlie Wilson's War
Dan In Real Life
Eastern Promises
Flushed Away
Fracture
The Great Debaters
Hot Fuzz
Meet the Robinsons
Mr. Brooks
Pride
Reign Over Me
Stranger Than Fiction
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood
The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Wobbly Thumbs Up
27 Dresses
Atonement
Babel
Beowulf 3D
The Bucket List
Deja Vu
Disturbia
Enchanted
Evan Almighty
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Fred Claus
The Game Plan
The Golden Compass
Happy Feet
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I Am Legend
In the Valley of Elah
The Invisible
Just Like Heaven
The Kingdom
License to Wed
Lions for Lambs
The Lookout
Must Love Dogs
Nancy Drew
The Notebook
Ocean's Thirteen
Shrek the Third
Spider-Man 3
Under the Tuscan Sun
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
We Own the Night

Wobbly Thumb
1408
August Rush
The Brave One
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
Jumper
Lucky You
Mad Money
Pirates of the Carribbean: At World's End
Shooter
Superbad

Wobbly Thumbs Down
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Eragon
The Good German
Hitman
The Last Mimzy
Martian Child
Nacho Libre
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
No Reservations
Pathfinder
Slow Burn
Surf's Up
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Transformers
Zodiac

Thumbs Down
The Last Legion
Next
Untraceable
Wild Hogs

Thumbs Way Down
The Contract

Charlie Bartlett

I wasn't sure about this one. I had not heard much about it, but it seemed kind of interesting so I thought I would give it a shot. Turns out, I liked it quite a bit. There were some interesting relationships portrayed, between Charlie and his schoolmates, as school therapist/drug dealer (although in so kind a way it did not seem nefarious or dangerous at all, certainly a different kind of message); between Charlie and his Mom, almost incestuous in its adultness, though never actual physical. She seems to want him to be her husband. Between Charlie and the principal, between the principal's daughter and the principal. All seem to have some startling moments of realism. Turns out the principal was a good teacher and liked it better than being a principal. And was liked better as a teacher. Turns out Charlie doesn't have to be the hero of everything. It was the other guy who wrote the cool play and other people who starred in it. It was other people who led the protest over the cameras. Lots of good stuff here lots of different visions. One complaint I had was the omnipresent lack of realism in school settings in movies. I guess the romanticized/demonized visions that are most often presented are better for storytelling, but I wish someone would give us a vaguely realistic vision of school every now and then. Other than that, I liked this one quite a bit.

Jumper

Well, to be honest, I just don't like Hayden Christiansen. I think he always looks bad, or sullen, or pissy. This movie was the same. I did not like it much. While the action was somewhat entertaining, there seemed to be a lot of the story that got left out. Why were the Samuel L. Jacksons so determined to kill the Christiansens? Why were the Christiansens able to do what they did. Why did Diane Lane appear in the movie at all given her ridiculously underexplained role? Not much here other than some flashy bits and some interesting fight scenes and visuals. Not much to recommend.

The Bucket List

Two consecutive "old" movies. I think this was not as good a movie as Atonement, but my expectations were significantly lower, so I might have liked it a bit more. I suppose it was about how we face death, would you live differently if you knew death was imminent, but I don't think it actually dealt with the issue, choosing instead to spend more time on the humorous interplay between Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, making it more fluff that philosophy. Which is fine, I suppose, though being as it was probably shooting for a bit more I think it missed the mark a bit. I think if it had been a buddy comedy, it would have been better. But, it was ok.

Atonement

I thought this was OK, but not great. I did not find it worthy of all the hype it has been getting. There has been talk about an interesting finish, but I didn't think it was all that remarkable. I like James McAvoy and Keira Knightley, and I thought they gave fine performances, but I was just not brought in by the story. Perhaps it was not helped by the old talking audience that surrounded me, but, I was not particularly impressed.

Untraceable

Not a lot of choices at the theaters I visit this week. But, I like Diane Lane, this seemed like a thriller, so I wanted to see it. It was not any good. If the standard of torture porn is the Saw and Hostel series, I suppose we could call this soft core torture porn. There were some gruesome torture scenes, but they did not take over the whole movie. They were enough to make me uncomfortable with them, though. The story was interesting and it gave me some thought about Free Speech and the nature of allowable content on the internet, but I'm not sure it's point on the matter was cogent enough. I know how I feel about it, but I don't know what they thought about it. While they hinted at the issue, the filmmakers did not actually make a statement of any sort. Not good, but not revolting.

There Will Be Blood

This took a while to digest. It was arty and beautifully made. It was long and fairly slow. But it gave me plenty of time to think. It made me think a lot about Capitalism and socialism. I think Daniel was a kind of paragon of capitalism. He was attempting to be the most inventive, creative oil man in the business so that he could make the most money. Every one else was only viewed in terms of how they related to that pursuit. His relationships with everyone centered around the business and there was nothing else. The conclusion, which I thought was really interesting saw him finally eliminating the last thing that had been gnawing at him, the humiliation he had felt in one of his prior experiences. Then "I'm done." He had finished everything. I thought it was cool. Also, on capitalism and socialism, I think, or at least I am drawn to think by this movie, that Capitalism extolls the importance of the individual, who will be the best, the most creative, the most innovative, who will find the way to better the competition. But, this leads to the exploitation of everyone else when taken to its limits. Noone else matters, only the pursuit of being the best, and, in turn, the wealthiest. Socialism extolls the value of the group, working together as a team for the value of the whole. This can be criticized as eliminating the individual, turning them into faceless masses. However, it places the value on the progression of the whole, which in fact, means every indivdual is important. Everyone has value. It seems paradoxical and I like it. And, I liked this movie.

27 Dresses

OK. I didn;t want to see this movie. I like Katherine Heigl in Grey's Anatomy. I like James Marsden to the degree that I've seen him (Enchanted... and he seems familiar...). I really like Ed Burns. But, I was staying away to prevent myself from the sort of mistake that I make when I go see movies like this or Mad Money. So, I bought a ticket to see The Bucket List, but the projector broke, so they gave us free passes to come back and we could go into another theater right then. The most recent movie that had started and finished in time for me to make my other commitments and that I had not seen was 27 Dresses. So, I went in. I missed the first couple of minutes, but the rest was much better than I expected. I liked the story even though it was fairly standard romantic stuff. I liked all the people I usually like. I didn't think the sister was very good, but the rest were sufficient. I think Heigl essentially played her Grey's Anatomy character, but, I like that character, so it was OK. Not a great movie, but not bad.