Star Trek

Colleen's Thoughts:
You don’t need to be anywhere close to a Trekie to enjoy the new Star Trek movie that came out this spring. The plot of this Star Trek is that all the members of the original Start Trek show are just being recruited into Star Fleet. You get a glimpse at their pasts and learn how they became involved in the exploration of the final frontier. The word “entertaining” best describes this film. The dialogue isn’t fantastic and often cheesy and Chris Pine, who plays Kirk, does get on my nerves, but I found myself smiling throughout the film. The actor playing Spock, Zachary Quinto, did a great job with the character and it was fun to see the original Spock, Leonard Nimroy, in the movie. Also, Simon Pegg went all out with the few scenes he was in. (Unfortunately for Pegg he was sharing his scenes with weird “e-wok-esque/jar jar binks” creatures which were just silly). I don’t think it will make a strong showing at the Dolphins this year, but all in all it was a fun film. Star Trek is a good movie to lift your spirits and distract you from school or work.

Drew's Thoughts:
I'd describe my Trekkie status as not disliking Star Trek but not necessarily liking it either. It always seemed like an interesting premise/concept but the execution of the various TV series and movies left much to be desired in my opinion. Thus, my reaction to the news of J.J. Abrams's reboot of the series was pretty apathetic. Based on Colleen's review though, I figured it would be worth watching.
J.J. Abrams doesn't use much subtlety in telling the story but he manages to hit all the proper points to excite and engage the audience. Though the plot and dialogue are laden with cliches, the film manages not to get bogged down in them.
By far the worst element at work was the acting, the worst offender being Karl Urban as the doctor. He moves through every scene with his brow permanently furrowed and an unchanging scowl plastered across his face. Every word he speaks is steeped in a hilariously misguided "cynical" tone. Bogart he most definitely is not. Urban's performance had the makings of a great, campy performance if, you know, he actually realized how bad he was. Unfortunately, the best performance (Simon Pegg as Scotty) gets a scant amount of screen time.
The best element is the set design, which opts for a minimal amount of CGI. Obviously there's a fair amount of CGI in the film but it seems that the design department was consciously looking to the past, creating something more akin to Alien than the new Avatar-style bullshit.
Star Trek is not one the year's best films and though it's no Dark Knight, it's probably the best popcorn movie you'll get this year.

Joe's Thoughts:
I watched the first half of this movie, and don't have any immediate plans for watching the second half.

The Hurt Locker

Drew's Thoughts:
Director Kathryn Bigelow should probably get some special prize for making the first good film about the US's misadventures in the Middle East this past decade. After so many failures I doubted it was even possible until a good 10 or 15 years from now. That said, The Hurt Locker is good movie not a great one. Though it still manages to be one of the better war pictures I've seen, nowhere close to Paths of Glory or The Deer Hunter but still leaps and bounds above the usual Windtalkers/We Were Soldiers fare.
The story focuses on a small team focused on disarming I.E.D.s a.k.a. bombs. After the previous team leader dies, Jeremy Renner (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) joins as the new leader. Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty play the other two soldiers on the team. The acting in the film is generally pretty good, Renner suits his character embodying a thirst for the madness of war and a put-on informality. Anthony Mackie is nicely understated, finding working with Renner a constant source of frustration. Guy Pearce is also great in his much-too-small role.
The Hurt Locker mostly avoids politics, wisely I think. The film becomes a matter of experience instead of an agenda; furthermore, it deals with the madness of war without being satirical. Renner’s character is talented at his work but far too unprofessional in the wake of such serious circumstances, which continually discomforts Mackie’s character. What’s interesting though, is one doesn’t really get a sense if war has changed Renner into a madman or if he’s there because of a desire for, or addiction to, danger that existed far before he joined the military.
Bigelow's real talent exhibited in the film is her masterful control of intensity. What’s great about The Hurt Locker is the characters don’t necessary act like they’re in extraordinary situations. Even though nearly everyday they’re on the brink of death, it becomes routine. Bigelow and the actors create a sense of naturalness, everydayness, in the midst of terrifying situations. When Renner has difficulty disarming a bomb he expresses his frustration in a fit of swearing, the way someone might if they lock their keys in their car. The important thing is Bigelow never goes too far to show this naturalness. It just is.
In spite of this acclimation to danger, the soldiers are scared and Bigelow directs each military operation with an engaging and tightly wound tenseness—rattling the viewer by a slow application of pressure rather than loud explosions.
The film is at its weakest when it’s not focusing on military operations. A subplot involving one of the soldiers and a military psychiatrist (played by Christian Camargo, who is seriously the bastard child of James Woods and Marc Anthony) is pretty worthless and unnecessary but fortunately only amounts to two short scenes. Furthermore, there's a sequence later in the film that intends to develop Renner's character's hysteria but it ends up pushing the limits of believability that the film did such a good job creating elsewhere.
This year looks to be a fairly weak one cinematically and though it’s far from classic material, The Hurt Locker is a good, worthwhile picture and I imagine it could be one of the main contenders for the Dolphins, at least in the technical and director categories.

Donna's Thoughts:
Before watching this film I didn’t know what the title meant. I now know that sergeants on duty in Iraq speak of explosions as sending you to the “hurt locker”. Sergeant William James played by Jeremy Renner, Sergeant Jt Sanborn played by Anthony Mackie and Sergeant Owen Eldridge played by Ben Geraghty are a team assigned to the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (E.O.D.) Jeremy is the staff sergeant and plays the role extremely well. In 2005 he starred in Neo Ned which received many awards at festivals. His performance in Hurt Locker makes me want to look Neo Ned up. He also starred in The Assas. of Jesse James riding along Affleck and Pitt. I believe he could be nominated for an academy but the subject of the film doesn’t lend itself to a wide audience.
The screen writer Mark Boal was inspired by real events. Watching Sergeant William James remove a bomb purposely placed in a dead body of a boy, a friend who would ask him to play soccer made me look away from the screen.
Anthony Mackie’s performance was okay. Being trained at the Julliard School of Drama and acting in 8 Mile and Million Dollar Baby. I judge his performance in Hurt Locker as mediocre. He was outshined by Ben Geraghty who starred in Bobby a few years back. Ben‘s character is a sergeant not liking being a part of Sergeant William James’ life.
The film has a good beginning. I especially liked the part of a single suicidal bomber who has changed his mind and begs Sergeant William James to dismantle the bomb. The bomb has several padlocks attached to a metal frame around the man’s body and of a course time is running out.
There is some footage of the mother of Sergeant William James’s baby back home that I feel adds another dimension to the story. I would recommend the film, however, many of my friends don’t have the stomach for real war.

Joe's Thoughts:
I was very excited to see the Hurt Locker after my man Colbert kindly invited director/producer Kathryn Bigelow onto his show, in which she discussed her new film, "The Hurt Locker". The film opens with the discussion of how sometimes war can be used as a drug by the soldiers who take part in it. The film does a great job of taking one story and proving its point. But what i really appriciate about this film is that its not trying to make a statement about the iraq war, which i thought it might, it simply focuses on it's story at hand. Which revolves around a young man who needs danger and loves the idea of having many lifes including his own in one hand, and a ticking time bomb in the other.
The film keeps you totally on edge the entire film, as it goes from one adrenline rush to another, which i think is another great tool used by the film. As the lead character is going from one needed rush to another, the audience is as well. Which leads to the movie getting its message across. But what the movie also does really well is showing how this addiction does not mean this characer is evil, as we see him getting the caprie sun and having fun with the dvd kid, Even though this man was putting so many people at risk for a selfish need he was a caring a loving character and not one dementional at all. And its hard to hate him beucase while he is taking uneeded risks, he is diffusing bombs and in a way saving lifes.
The direction from Bigelow is impressive as we defentily feel like all the soldiers who surround the crazy lead, and the script is pretty good as well. I was also really impressed with the acting from three members: Jeremy Renner, gives a great preformence as the big headed sarg who needs his war fix, he was perfect for the role and may get some dolphin love. The African American Anthony Mackie was also very good at playing the frightened but strong soldier, look for him at the joes in the supporting actor category. And of course our beloved Guy Pearce puts on a show, but then dies in two minutes, one may think the movie might go on a downward spiral with the death of guy but thankfully this isnt the case.
With all this praise there is however one big flaw within this film, as before mentioned the movie goes from one adrenline rush to another as its trying to make its statement clear, but to me it almost makes its statement too clear, as the movie beings to get somewhat repetative, there are variation to some of the bomb defusing scenes, and there is the sniper scene and the scene in the back allies in the dark, but to me still to much repetition keeps the film from being very great, but still is a very very solid film.

Up

Joe's Thoughts:
“Up”- Made Me Want to Throw “UP”

I’m just kidding, as much as id love to follow in the footsteps of president drew dahles attempts to take reviews on pixar films to an all time minimal, I feel being this my first review of the year I owe our dear readers a great deal more. So here we go. Pixar scorched the silver screen with its debut film Toy Story, which was released in 1995. It depicted the lives of living toys that belonged to a boy named Andy. Before this film was released I felt the same way as director John Lasseter did, that when I indeed shut the door to my room to attend beockman creek primary my toys magically came to life, and as my sister has admitted to feeling the same way I think its safe to assume the majority of people with toys gave them some sort of life. And what happened when they came alive, each toy had a specific personality that somewhat related to who they were. This led to a great tale in which Lasseter utilizes every aspect of every toy, be it size or shape. He takes us into a new world in which we all had been to before, and puts a creative spin on it. Another terrific Pixar movie is one entitled Monsters Incorporated. Now, we all know monsters live in our closets or under our beds, and when the lights go out they groan and moan with lanky teeth and sharp claws in an effort to make us scream. What we didn’t know is why these monsters haunted us into the late evenings of our youth. Thankfully in 2001 pixar explained to us that monsters put us through agonizing pain simply because these monsters needed us to power their buildings and cars and houses. Director Pete Docter (who also directs UP) takes us into a new world in which we all had been to before, and puts a creative spin on it. And we all believe in super heroes, but what do they do at home? Or when the run out of steam? Luckily director Brad Bird introduced us to the domestic life of super heroes in his film The Incredibles. We see elasti-girl station ally vacuuming the entire house, while the Mr. Incredible lifts the couch with one hand. It’s a world we’d already been to, but with a new creative spin. That is when Pixar is at its best. When it takes hold of common old ideas, and brings creative life to them. UP does not do that. The story follows an old man who loses his wife, and when near certain eviction, he hatches a scheme in which millions of balloons turn his house into a flying boat. While this idea is clever, not much comes of it, or at least director/co-writer Docter chooses not to make much of it. Instead his main character lands on an unknown island with a child companion, where they find this magic bird thing that is being hunted, and of course the kid grows to love it and wants to save it. Where was this in my childhood? Or everyone else’s childhood? This wasn’t something that haunted me or took up my afternoons. Without much of a story the laughs for the movie have to rely on one-liners normally delivered by the kid, and they are disastrous. For example, he asks the old man if he should dig a hole before or after he takes a shit, only to reply it was suppose to be before. These awful jokes spew for the kid’s mouth the entire movie. The one clever thing, besides the flying house, was the invention of the device, which allowed dogs to speak. This creative idea had much potential only to prove to be minimal as many stereotypical dog ideas where used, which in turn led to an original idea becoming unoriginal. One can simply guess how exactly the story will end, I would say a half hour into the movie. There are however two things in which I thought were great aspects of the film. The score, though played a billion times, was memorable and maybe if it’s a weak year could be up for a nomination. And the best part of the movie was the cute relationship between the main character and his wife. Near the beginning of the film there’s essentially a 15-minute silent film that documents their lives together, and its really good and promising, and then she craps out and dies, killing the best part of the movie, and essentially murdering the movie all together. When is pixar going to get back to its old ways, in which it takes ideas we all cherished when young, and puts new and creative ideas into them, maybe next summer with Toy Story 3? I guess if I had to I would give UP a D+.

Donna's Thoughts:
Pixar Animation Studios released Up in May of 2009. This story about a grumpy old man named Carl Fredrickson and an overeager wilderness explorer, Russell reminded me of my life in the past and possibly in the future. Ellie, Carl’s wife has a dream about moving to Paradise Falls in South America. Of course many obstacles come in the way of her dream. I can certainly see this. We’re safer in doing “what is right” rather than take a risk to fulfill a dream. Ellie passes away never reaching Paradise Falls. I certainly relate to Ellie seeing myself doing “what is right” and being stuck in the suburbs the rest of my life. Carl isn’t in too much of a predicament. The city is growing around his house and he is unwilling to sell. I don’t see the city of Portland surrounding my house, so Carl should have looked at the bright side. As Shady Oaks Retirement Home sends their greeters to kidnap Carl after an angry mishap, he launches his house into the air with thousands of helium balloons. This is extraordinary, but when they come to hall me off to Shady Oaks, I won’t go willingly. (take note children)
I really enjoy Russell the wilderness explorer. I had a student that epitomizes his character. He is trying to find a way to get his merit badge for “assisting the elderly.” No one considers themselves as “elderly”. I know I never will! It’s a difficult badge to fulfill.
The story then enters a hard to believe point. An antagonist, Charles Muntz, is looking for the “flight less bird”. On their way to Paradise Falls Russell attracts the flight less bird with his candy droppings. Russell reminds me of Jack Black in Tropic Thunder. He just uses a different “candy”. The whole charades of Muntz, the unique bird and his dog pack is only entertaining to dog lovers, but I’m in the minority with dogs. I can see why Pixar went that direction. There are sentimental parts like when Carl looks at the empty journal pages behind Paradise Falls, when Russell returns Kevin to her chicks (the name Russell gives the flight less bird is Kevin which is a typical choice for a 10 year old boy), and of course when Carl takes the place of Russell’s father at the boy scout ceremony pinning the grape soda cap on Russell which earlier in the movie was pinned on Carl by Ellie. I laughed, had tears in my eyes and smiled throughout the movie and the best part is, it whisked me away from reality for 90 minutes.

Drew's Thoughts:
Joe's comment that when the wife dies the movie is murdered was hilarious but also somewhat of an overstatement. I think what amounts to roughly the first half hour of Up is a pretty good movie. The old guy and his wife make a cute couple and they are pretty enjoyable to watch; even after the guy is living by himself, the movie is still kinda funny. I laughed when the old man tells the business man, who looks like one of the agents from The Matrix, to "cut your hair, hippie!" or something like that. The score is pretty good too as Joe mentioned.
So anyway, I liked the first half hour of the movie but then Up self-destructs so immediately and so thoroughly it erased most of the goodwill it had already earned. Once the house lands in Paradise Falls the plot, jokes and characters wear thin instantly. And I'm not sure why we're supposed to care about that fat Asian kid/dumbass or find him to be anything but grating.
The movie starts out heartfelt with some emotional depth, something the viewer can connect with but devolves into unfunny jokes and unexciting action sequences, and any time the film refers back to the emotional moments it chokes on all the surrounding stupidity. I wish Pete Docter would have had the balls to make the whole movie with the same tone as first half hour because I think he would have ended up with a pretty good piece of work.
Still, even with its problems its a vast improvement over Ratatouille and WALL-E. Each year I face a choice on whether to give the new Pixar movie a shot (cause after all they gave me Toy Story and A Bug's Life) and I thought I was at the end of my rope this year but Up gave me just enough good stuff to not give up just yet. I guess I'll wait until Toy Story 3 to see if it's time to start ignoring Pixar altogether.

Where the Wild Things Are

Drew's Thoughts:
I've been waiting to see Spike Jonze's third film for quite some time. Jonze's work on Wild Things apparently began some ten years ago, and while initially set to direct what became last year's Synecdoche, NY, he handed the directorial duties over to Charlie Kaufman when the opportunity to finally get Wild Things into production came up. The production was obviously a complicated one that would take some time, experimenting with the technology to get the wild things right and so on, and this already lengthy production dragged on even longer due to a number of high profile battles with the studio.
Jonze is revered for his resourceful, inventive visual style and pitch-perfect comic timing. He makes all the crazy things in Charlie Kaufman's mind come to life better than anyone else. Something else Jonze does masterfully that often gets overlooked, is the way he works with actors to develop characters. He's directed Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich, Chris Cooper, Cameron Diaz and arguably John Cusack, Catherine Keener and Brian Cox to career best performances. Those performances all created characters who are fully formed and emotionally resonant. Jonze works his magic again with the wild things, which are essentially big furry suits with computer animated faces. Yet, they feel so real and I definitely got a little misty-eyed watching them. Their expressions are so nuanced and affecting it's a wonder they are products of a computer program. This is, of course, due in part to the phenomenal voice acting by Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, Chris Cooper, Paul Dano, Lauren Ambrose and especially James Gandolfini as the lead wild thing, Carol. The fact that Jonze pulled together those voices, guys in giant hairy suits and CGI to make these incredibly life-like beings is nothing short of a cinematic miracle.
Max Records performance as Max which the story centers on was pretty good I thought. Not up there with Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone, Dillon Freasier in There Will Be Blood, or the girls in In America but still impressive in that he didn't seem like he was acting, often the downfall of child actors. Something that could bother some viewers is that Jonze and co. have no problem making Max a bratty little bastard. Carol, the head wild thing, acts as Max's wilder double, mercurial, pouty and impulsively violent. Max initially identifies himself in Carol upon their first meeting but grows to find Carol's brattiness difficult and tiresome. There isn't a strong driving plot in the film which has it's pros and cons. I'm happy they didn't make it into standard children's fare by making a bad guy that they have to fight against because that would seem really inauthentic in light the material but at the same time the screenplay could have been stronger and delved more deeply into the character's minds and the conflicts of their relationships. That said though, there are some great lines and it's fun to watch to the wild things banter back and forth.
I think in my anticipation for the film I lost sight that it still is a children's movie. It's a phenomenal children's movie and certainly one adults can enjoy and be impressed by, but there isn't the depth there you expect from "adult" masterpieces. The wild things are all touching and expressive but they weren't given quite enough to express to completely satisfy an adult viewer. This can't be blamed entirely on the film itself though because after all this is based on a 10 sentence long children's book so the depth wasn't there in the first place. Visual mastery is top notch and a strange, bizarre vision is made into reality just like the book, but the film doesn't fill in that lack of depth absent in the book. It's not necessarily expected that it fill it in, but I feel that was the key element needed to elevate the film to full blown masterpiece status.
After the first viewing, I feel Where the Wild Things Are is a staggering directorial achievement worthy of much well-earned praise but the film as a whole, while good, doesn’t quite command that same level of awe.

Colleen's Thoughts:
In my opinion, Drew was far too generous with his review. I agree that the visuals in this movie are fantastic and the wild things really couldn't look any better. Also the cinematography surrounding the wild things is magical, breathtaking and definitely worth looking at again.
However, Max is an asshole. While I agree that it is alright for Max to be bratty he was way too much of a jerk too me and where the film was asking me to sympathize with him (his igloo being broken, having to lie on the floor and entertain his poor mother)I almost laughed. What a BRAT! It brought me back to babysitting days when I thought "If I was your parent I would be MORTIFIED!" Yes, it is ok for Max to be somewhat of a brat, especially if he is to undergo a transformation (which again was laughable) but the character was a liar and devoid of sympathy even when he was with the wild things. I also disagree with Drew in Max's acting, while it was great at some points at other points it really did feel "acty."
Alright enough with the rant, like Drew said it was a children's movie. Going in expecting to be totally impressed the way I was after seeing Adaptation was asking far too much. I also think that since Jonze usually teams up with screenplay mastermind Kauffman that I was expecting the screenplay to be somewhat on par with that work, which again, was asking far too much. (The visuals and not the screenplay are clearly the strength of this film).
The major positive besides the visuals is the voice actors. I totally agree with Drew that their performances were PERFECT for their characters. They were fun to watch and entertaining to the children. I especially liked Lauren Ambrose, Catherine O'Hara and Chris Cooper. Cooper was especially fun to watch and listen to in my opinion.
In closing, Where the Wild Things Are is a fairly typical children's movie with visuals that are anything but typical. If you are looking to be impressed by visual creations and mind-blowing backdrops (as well as some great voice acting) this is the film for you, but don't go in expecting much more.

Joe's Thoughts:
I read an interview not to long ago in which spike jonze (director of Wild Things) was discussing his approach to his most recent film. Though based on a worlds famous “children’s” picture book, Jonze stated that his plan was to make a film for adults. This led to many problems as the studio pictured his picture to be the stereotypical “children’s” film. And while the film may contain elements and ideas taken from childhood, and the protagonist is a child, the film contains thematic themes and great one liners in which children cannot understand, thus leading to a film which caters to adults. Where The Wild Things Are is not a “children’s” film, or if it is, it certainly didn’t feel like one to me. No child can fully understand the theme between gandalfini and Max (even though they may live it, they don’t fully realize what it means or they wouldn’t act that way). No child can understand the comedic greatness that comes from such characters as the chicken. Maybe this film will go down in history as a “children’s” movie but in my mind no child can fully take what is offered by the complexion of many elements of the film.
That being said what holds this movie back in a way is the simplistic story, but one cant expect much as the book contains only a handful of sentences. But this is the only major flaw I see in this film. I thought it was a fucking great movie. I was cracking up nearly the entire time, Chris Coopers chicken was splendid, and I think it was dano playing the goat, but who didn’t have a friend like that goat. I mean every time I had dirt clad war some little pisser was crying off in the distance that he was hurt. Catharine O hara and Forest Whittaker were a great couple leading to many laughs as she contemplated eating max the entire film. The movie was a riot. And even beyond the comedy some complex scenes with deeper meanings arose. My favorite scene in the entire film was when gandalfini was destroying the houses; I felt the characters pain as his lover KW had just walked out on him. And while his character proved to be somewhat of a “brat” throughout the film and in the scene mentioned above, that was something for the audience to understand and dislike. As my fellow dolphin member Colleen did. We were supposed to view those two characters as “brats” why do you think they were the only characters who couldn’t understand bob and terry. They were too uptight and unable to take a joke and relax, and that’s why people in their lives were walking out on them, because they were just being “brats”. Which both characters realized to some degree near the end of the film, in which Gandalfini howls and Max runs home to his mom.
Another element which leads to many laughs is how Jonze uses his Wild Thing characters, utilizing them in every aspect, they can knock down trees, build amazing tunnels, they sleep in giant dog piles, all fun ideas from Jonze and company, which lead to many laughs. And the voices were played to perfection, Forest Whittaker creates a great character with his loomy low voice, and Catharine O’Hara creates a witchy character with her high pitched crackling voice. Dano’s poor and helpless goat is amazing and perfect for the character and Chris Cooper, wow!
In closing I agree 100 percent with my other dolphin members in the sense that the CGI/Puppets were a miracle, and obviously the movie would not have been quite what it was without being able to see the emotion in the characters faces, but that’s not what makes the characters so great, its starts with there individual personalities and the lines written for them and in that sense Jonze creates amazing creatures, aside from the great cinematic CGI/Puppets. The cinematography is pretty great, especially during the scenes which take place at night or day for that matter. Oh, and I would have to side with Drew on Max’s acting.
A very great movie, and I cannot wait for more from Spike.

The 2nd Annual 2008 Colleen Awards

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Cean Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy & Frank Marshall
MILK-Bruce Cohin, Daniel Links & Michael London
Tropic Thunder-Stuart Cornfield, Eric McCleod & Ben Stiller
The Reader-Donna Gigliotti, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack & Redmond Morris
Doubt-Mark Roybal& Scott Rudin

Best Director
Daren Aronofsky—The Wrestler
David Fincher—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley—Doubt
Tarsem Singh—The Fall
Ben Stiller—Tropic Thunder

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Sally Hawkins—Happy Go Lucky
Melissa Leo—Frozen River
Meryl Streep—Doubt
Catinca Untaru –The Fall

Actor in a Leading Role
Michael Fassbender-Hunger
Sean Penn-MILK
Brad Pitt-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke-The Wrestler
Sam Rockwell-Snow Angels

Best Actor in a Supporting Roll
Robert Downey Jr.—Tropic Thunder
Brad Pitt—Burn After Reading
Heath Ledger—The Dark Knight
Eddie Marsan—Happy Go Lucky
Phillip Seymour Hoffman—Doubt

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams—Doubt
Viola Davis—Doubt
Frances McDormand—Burn After Reading
Samantha Morton—Synecdoche New York
Kate Winslet—The Reader

Best Ensemble Cast
Doubt
Tropic Thunder
MILK
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Synecdoche NY

Best Original Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black—Milk
Mike Leigh—Happy Go Lucky
Charlie Kaufman—Synecdoche NY
Guy Ritchie—RocknRolla
Ben Stiller—Tropic Thunder

Best Adapted Screenplay
David Gordon Green—Snow Angels
David Hare—The Reader
Eric Roth—The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons
John Patrick Shanley—Doubt
Tarsem Singh—The Fall

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins—Doubt
Colin Watkinson—The Fall
Roger Deakins & Chris Menges—The Reader
Anthony Dod Mantle—Slumdog Millionare
David Higgs-RocknRolla

Best Editing
Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Greg Hayden—Tropic Thunder
James Herbert—RocknRolla
Dylan Tichenor—Doubt
Joe Walker—Hunger

Best Art Direction
Ged Clarke—The Fall
Mark Friedberg—Synecdoche NY
Donald Graham Burt—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ralph Grot—Tropic Thunder
Brendan Rankin—Hunger

Best Costume:
Sex and the City the Movie—Patricia Field
The Fall—Eiko Ishioka
Doubt—Ann Roth
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—Jaqueline West
The Wrestler-Amy Westcott

Best Sound
Ron Bochar & Danny Michael—Doubt
Steve Cantamessa—Tropic Thunder
Ronan Hill—Hunger
Ed Novick—The Dark Knight
Tom Ozanich—RocknRolla

Best Make Up
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Greg Cannom
Tropic Thunder-Carlton Coleman & Heather plot
The Dark Knight-John Caglione Jr. & Conor O'Sullivan

Best Score:
Phillip Glass—Cassandra’s Dream
Carter Burwell—Burn After Reading
Jon Brion—Synecdoche New York
Alexandre Desplat—The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Tropic Thunder—Theodore Shapiro

Best Song
“The Wrestler” Written by Bruce Springsteen for The Wrestler
“Little Person” written by Jon Brion and Charlie Kaufman for Synecdoche NY
“Love Me Sexy” Written by Theodore Shapiro & Will Ferrell for Semi-Pro

Best Documentary:
Alex Gibney - Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Tony Kaye – Lake of Fire
James Marsh - Man on Wire
Stephen Walker - Young@Heart
Marina Zenovich – Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Nomination Tally: (Best Picture Nominees in Bold)
12 Doubt
11 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10 Tropic Thunder
6 The Fall
6 Synecdoche NY
4 Hunger
4 Milk
4 The Reader
4 RocknRolla
4 The Wrestler
3 Burn After Reading
3 The Dark Knight
3 Happy Go Lucky
2 Snow Angels
1 Cassandra’s Dream
1 Frozen River
1 Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
1 Lake of Fire
1 Man on Wire
1 Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
1 Semi-Pro
1 Sex and the City the Movie
1 Slumdog Millionare
1 Young@Heart

Drew's Thoughts:
I like the Colleens overall this year. I'm happy she used her better judgment and didn't nominate Slumdog for a lot. The Best Score category looks pretty solid though I think she was prejudiced towards the Dark Knight. Hunger, RocknRolla, and The Reader made pretty strong showings, keeping things interesting. The acting noms are solid even though they aren't exactly what I would have chosen. I was wondering if we'd have a (somewhat) dissenting voice on The Wrestler this year and here it is, It should have been recognized for Picture, in my opinion, but I'm glad Doubt, Benjamin Button and Tropic Thunder all showed up in that category. Doubt dominated the Colleens and I'm pretty confident it'll take home the big prize at the Colleens. Screenplay categories look fairly solid though I can't support a screenplay nom for Happy Go Lucky. I wonder if the surprise appearance of Eddie Marsan is too little too late for his hopes of a Dolphin nom. I am surprised with Colleens love of Hunger it didn't take home a nomination for costumes, I'd been predicting it. A nice set of nominations overall, looking forward to the winners cause I think there could be a few surprises.
Joe's thoughts:
A fun year viewing the colleen's this year, always have i greatly respected the judgement of my older sister. Her judgement this year was once again solid, but here are my comments. I'm looking forward to discussing these in person in the future because colleen defends her ideas with great conviction, so everyone should know these noms were well thought out.
happy to see: carter and jon getting love for their amazing scores, The Dark Knight getting a make-up nom in this very competative year of make-up work, the make-up in the dark knight is iconic. Sex and the city getting a costume nom, glad you and me found ways to great sex in their. Also glad wrestler got a costume nom as well, the ripped up parka was genious. Happy synecdoche got a art direct nom, great stuff in that movie. Glad someone gave love to deaks work in the reader, because there were a few memerable shots in that film. Glad someone else beside me gave samatha morton a nom because she got screwed at the other members awards. Really happy to see Eddie Marsen from happy go lucky get some love, i thought he was great and almost gave him a nom, glad to see his performence wasnt forgotten. Glad milk got lots of love as it was one of the better movies of this year, glad to see darren got a director nom, even though the wrestler got left out.
not happy to see: the best movie of the year, the wrestler, get totally shafted, what was up with that? How did the reader get a best pic nomination, not a very good movie at all, shocking to see it nominated. As your awards were very similar to drews i said this before but i have to say it again, how could a screenplay like the dark knight lose out to the reader and the fall, two childish scripts, i dont know how this happened. RocknRolla getting a lot of love. what was the deal, how can you think the rocknrolla script was better then bagheads? oh yeah, get rid of the ensemble category, im sorry but its a cop-out. if you loved them give them an award
things i was confused about: hunger, getting left out of the best pic category, especially when the reader made it. the nom for the actor in hunger, who, only had one scene of dialouge, losing the weight isnt enough. No dark knight for best score, how did that happen
my prediction: doubt takes home the best pic, beating milk in a close race

The Lovely Bones

Joe's Thoughts:
The Ugly Bones.

The 2010 Joe's

Best Picture

Animal Kingdom – Liz Watts

The Fighter – Dorothy Aufiero, Mark Wahlberg, David Hoberman, Ryan Kavanaugh, Todd Liberman, and Paul Tamasy

Greenberg – Jenifer Jason Leigh and Scott Rudin

The Social Network – Dana Brunetti, Cean Chaffin, Michael De Luca, and Scott Rudin

True Grit – Ethan Coen, Joel Coen and Scott Rudin

Best Actor

Jim Carrey – I Love You Phillip Morris

Jesse Esinberg – The Social Network

Colin Firth – The King’s Speech

Ben Stiller – Greenberg

Mark Wahlberg – The Fighter

Best Actress

Annet Bening – The Kids Are Alright

Jennifer Lawrence – Winters Bone

Julianne Moore – The Kids Are Alright

Natalie Portman – Black Swan

Hillary Swank - Conviction

Best Director

Darren Arronofsky – Black Swan

David Fincher – The Social Network

Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech

Christopher Nolan – Inception

David O. Russel – The Fighter

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale – The Fighter

Matt Damon – True Grit

Rhys Ifans – Greenberg

Sam Rockwell - Conviction

Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are Alright

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams – The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech

Barbara Hershey – Black Swan

Melisa Leo – The Fighter

Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Best Original Screenplay

Noah Baumbach and Jennifer Jason Leigh – Greenberg

David Michod - Animal Kingdom

Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Keith Dorrington - The Fighter

John Lassater, Lee Unkirk, Andrew Stanton, and Michael Ardnt - Toy Story 3

Mike Leigh – Another Year

Best Adapted Screenplay

Aaron Sorkin - The Social Network

Joel and Ethan Coen - True Grit

Scott Teems - That Evening Sun

Rowan Joffe - The American

Debra Granik - Winters Bone

Best Sound Editing

Black Swan

Inception

True Grit

Toy Story 3

The Good The Bad The Weird

Best Sound Mixing

Green Zone

True Grit

Inception

The Town

The Fighter

Best Editing

The Social Network

The Good The Bad The Weird

Black Swan

Animal Kingdom

Greenberg

Best Art Direction

Inception

Black Swan

True Grit

The Kings Speech

The Good The Bad The Weird

Best Cinematography

Inception

Black Swan

True Grit

The Social Network

Greenberg

Best Score

Inception

Black Swan

That Evening Sun

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

Costume

Alice In Wonderland

True Grit

Greenberg

The Good The Bad The Weird

Toy Story 3

Make Up

The Wolfman

The Killer Inside Me

Black Swan

Drew's Thoughts:
EMBARRASSING! Noms for The King's Speech and Black Swan??? What are these, the goddam Oscars?!

(I mean this in a playful tone. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings hehe)

FYI, you will not be able to vote for Toy Story 3 in Best Original Screenplay at the Dolphins because it is based on material and characters previously produced or published (Toy Story and Toy Story 2)

Colleen's Thoughts:

I have to say, I was disappointed in the lack of noms for some amazing films, not to mention Carlos being not included. It was released in festivals as a film and judged that way at sun dance. Colin Firth? Helena? Natalie? Tom Hooper? Get King's speech and Black Swan out of there. Both painfully mediocre films. Hopefully they will not get noms at the Dolphins. Disappointed Trotsky didn't get proper respect. Hilarious creative film with some great acting.

Happy to see Fighter and Social Network got their proper due at the Joes. Also glad to see Rockwell made his much deserved appearance. I was a little surprised not to see any noms for previous Joe favorites the Duplass brothers and their film Cyrus.

Head nod to the Mike Leigh screenplay nom. I have a soft spot for that guy and I was happy to see that Joe saw the film. (Now he has kind of met our host family in London)

Baghead

Colleen Kenny's Thoughts:
The Duplass brothers' (always one of Joe's favorites) second movie Baghead was funny and entertaining. The humor in Baghead is very similar to the Duplass Brothers' previous film Puffy Chair. Baghead, the story of 4 struggling actors who retreat to Big Ben to write a screenplay, starts out well. The "We are Naked" film they see by Jett Garner is hilarious, as well as, when Matt (Ross Partridge) uses his wallet as a cell phone to try and get into an after party. Partridge plays the role of Matt well and is fun to watch throughout the entire film.
As the female characters become more prominent the film starts to become less interesting. Both female characters are written very flatly. The ditsy Michelle character (Greta Gerwig) is irritating and Catherine (Elise Muller) is more a function of the plot rather than a character.
All in all it was a fun film but nothing spectacular. Chad (Steve Zissis) has some great faces especially when acting terrified at the end. I don't expect it picking up too many Dolphins but Baghead is worth seeing.

The 2010 Donnas

Best Picture

The Fighter

Social Network

I Love You Philip Morris

Conviction

Animal Kingdom

Best Actor

Jesse Esinberg Social Network

Jim Carrey Phillip Morris

Jay Baruchel – The Trotsky

Edgar Rameriz Carlos

Mark Wahlberg Fighter

Best Actress

Anette Benning - The Kids Are Alright

Jenny Lawrence - Winters Bone

Hillary Swank - Conviction

Emma Stone - Easy “A”

Natalie Portman – Black Swan

Best Director

Christopher Nolan - Inception

David O’Russell - The Fighter

Ben Afleck - The Town

Animal Kingdom – David Michod

Lee Unkirk - Toy Story 3

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale The Fighter

Evil Dude Animal Kingdom

Ewan McGregor Philip Morris

Sam Rockwell Conviction

Jeremy Renner The Town

Best Supporting Actress

Jackie Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Helena Bonahm-Carter King’s Speech

Amy Adams - The Fighter

Melissa Leo - The Fighter

Rebecca Hall – The Town

Original Screen Play

The Fighter

Inception

Conviction

Animal Kingdom

Toy Story 3

Adapted Screen Play

Philip Morris

Social Network

Shutter Island

The Town

Winters Bone

Cinematography

That Evening Sun

The Kids Are Alright

Social Network

Shutter Island

Winter’s Bone

Editing

Toy Story 3

The Fighter

Social Network

Animal Kingdom

Inception

Art Direction

The Fighter

Inception

Toy Story 3

Animal Kingdom

Social network

Costume

The Kings Speech

Shutter Island

Easy A

Inception

The Fighter

Documentary

Mormon Proposal

Mugabe and the

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Animated

Toy Story 3

Tangled

Megamind

Tangled

Book of Kells

Sound

Inception

The Town

Animal Kingdom

Shutter Island

The Fighter

Score

Animal Kingdom

I Love You Philip Morris

Inception

Social Network

Toy Story 3

Make-up

127 Hours

Conviction

The Fighter

Colleen's Thoughts:

I was greatly anticpating the announcements of the Donnas this year. I know she has been on top of seeing everything and takes her nominating very seriously so I was excited to see which movies would come out on top. I guessed that Conviction would make a strong showing as mom loves incredible true stories (Although, they have to be good; they can't be the boring 127 hours variety).

I know she liked it but I was slightly surprised to see Animal Kingdom nominated for best picture. Another surprise was Natalie Portman getting a best picture nom. Her one word reveiw of the film to me after she saw it was, "Bad!" I'm guessing Joe may have had something to do with the Helena and Natalie noms as they weren't particularly strong performances but made appearances at the Joe's. I burst out laughing on a break from work, reading the Dolphins and had to try and contain myself when I saw the nom for "Evil Dude." Classic. I was also glad mom didn't seem to forget about movies, Easy A got a few noms and That Evening Sun picked up a cinematog nom.

All and all I am looking very forward to the announcement of the Donna's this year.

2008 Phillip Award Nominees

Best Picture

Baghead – Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass - Baghead
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Cean Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall
The Dark Knight – Christopher Nolan , Charles Roven and Emma Thomas
Milk – Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks
The Wrestler – Darren Aronofsky and Scott Franklin

Best Director

Gus Van Sant – Milk
Christopher Nolan – The Dark Knight
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Darren Aronofsky – The Wrestler

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Sean Penn – Milk
Benicio Del Toro – Che
Steve Zissis – Baghead
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Kate Winslet – The Reader
Sally Hawkins – Happy Go Lucky
Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kate Beckinsale – Snow Angels

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Tom Cruise – Tropic Thunder
Brad Pitt – Burn After Reading
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Anil Kapoor – Slumdog Millionaire
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frances McDormand – Burn After Reading
Viola Davis - Doubt
Amy Adams – Doubt

Best Writing, Original Screenplay

Robert D. Siegel – The Wrestler
Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass – Baghead
Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Ben Stiller and Justin Throux – Tropic Thunder
Mike Leigh – Happy Go Lucky

Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay

Peter Morgan – Frost/Nixon
John Patrick Shanley - Doubt
Eric Roth and Robin Swicord – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Peter Buchman and Ernesto Che Guevara – Che
Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer – The Dark Knight

Best Cinematography

Maryse Alberti – The Wrestler
Roger Deakins – Doubt
Claudio Miranda – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Colin Watkinson – The Fall
Wally Pfister – The Dark Knight

Best Editing

Elliot Graham – Milk
Greg Hayden – Tropic Thunder
Lee Smith – The Dark Knight
Andrew Wiseblum – The Wrestler
Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration

Jeff Mann – Tropic Thunder
Kristi Zea and Debra Schutt – Revolutionary Road
Donald Graham Burt and Victor J. Zolfo – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Michelle Day – Slumdog Millionaire
Nathan Crowley and Peter Lando – The Dark Knight

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran – Happy Go Lucky
Lindy Hemming – The Dark Knight
Jacqueline West – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Albert Wolsky – Revolutionary Raod
Marlene Stewart – Tropic Thunder

Best Sound Mixing

Mark Weingarten – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Antonio Betancourt – Che
Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg and Gary Rizzo – The Dark Knight
Peter Hliddal – Defiance
Steve Cantamessa and Jason Oliver – Tropic Thunder

Best Sound Editing

Ren Klyce – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Gabriel Gutierez - Che
Richard King – The Dark Knight
Lon Bender – Defiance
Craig Henighan – Tropic Thunder

Best Makeup

Heather Plott – Tropic Thunder
Jean Ann Black – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Caglione Jr. – The Dark Knight

Best Music, Original Score

Alexandre Desplat – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Danny Elfman - Milk
John Williams – Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
James Newton Howard - Defiance
James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer – The Dark Knight

Best Music, Original Song
Bruce Springsteen – The Wrestler

Nomination Tally(Best Pictures in Bold)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 13
The Dark Knight – 12
Tropic Thunder – 8
The Wrestler – 7
Milk – 6
Doubt – 5
Che – 4
Baghead – 3
Happy Go Lucky – 3
Defiance – 3
Frost/Nixon – 2
Burn After Reading – 2
Slumdog Millionaire – 2
Revolutionary Road – 2
The Reader – 1
Frozen River – 1
Snow Angels – 1
The Fall – 1
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1

Drew's Thoughts:
I think the Phils turned out to be a little bit too much like Joes for my taste.
I'm happy to see he shared by sentiments for Benicio but not so happy to see shares Joe's sentiments for Steve Zissis. Very happy to see Brad and Frances and the cast of Doubt represented. One big WTF is where is Bob Downey????? How did Tom Cruise get nominated over him? Glad Button got a score nom, Brad got recognized by someone else for his fantastic work in that film. Though I don't really understand why Ron Howard got a Best Director nom when Frost/Nixon's directorial quality was on par with a TV movie, I respect Phil for blazing his own trail and nominating him. However, nominating Snow Angels ONLY for Kate Beckinsale is just nonsensical.