Life During Wartime

Drew's Thoughts:
Todd Solondz's latest film is an odd one for a number or reasons, not least of which is that it's a sequel to 1998's Happiness that he entirely re-casted with different actors. Apparently, Solondz wanted to see what different actors would bring to the characters; it's a risky move but it works and the film feels coherent with Happiness while also offering a fresh, more-or-less stand alone film for those unfamiliar with Solondz's previous work.
Solondz is known for challenging his audience with uncomfortable topics and this film is no different. Life During Wartime is a much funnier film than Happiness (it won best screenplay at the Venice Film Festival last year) and doesn't shred your nerves as much. Those who haven't seen Happiness will have to be patient and observant as Solondz does fill in all necessary back story but never in an overly expository, this-is-everything-that-happened way. The film is entirely character-driven and I think the cast, including Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire), Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club) and Ciaran Hinds (There Will Be Blood, Margot at the Wedding), did a uniformly good job with Paul Reubens and Allison Janney giving my favorite two performances.
There are a lot themes going on in the film: forgiveness, memory, masculinity, normalcy, guilt and responsibility (among many others) with Solondz using some of the tactics Colleen discusses in her Mrs. Dalloway thesis such as shared language and heteroglossia. Solondz seems to be particularly interested in our current time and place as both the "war" on "terror" and the internet now consistently permeate the characters' lives. I won't get into them here but there are many dilemmas here, Donna should be all over this!
Though overall I prefer this film to Happiness, there was nothing in it that matched Dylan Baker's incredible performance as Bill in the first film. Leaving me to ponder is it better to make a mixed film with an unforgettable, stand-out performance or a better film without one? I guess Solondz just side-stepped the question by making both.

Cyrus

Drew's Thoughts:
Cyrus is the third feature from the Duplass brothers, following The Puffy Chair much-lauded-by-Joe and the unfortunately Dolphin-nominated Baghead. It's no secret that I didn't care much for The Puffy Chair or Baghead but I liked Cyrus. With this film, the Duplass brothers benefit immensely from having a quality cast at their disposal including John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener and, in a rare bit of thoughtful acting, Jonah Hill.
The film is simple. Reilly and Tomei meet at a party and hit it off and then Reilly meets her creepily obsessive son (whom Tomei creepily enables as Colleen rightly pointed out after the film) and we watch what unfolds. The film is refreshingly mellow, it doesn't devolve into an escalating war of hi-jinx between Reilly and Hill as it could have and the characters are much more well-developed than the previous Duplass films. This is due to both the performances and a script that makes even the ridiculous characters pretty believable.
The film is pretty funny too, with master craftsman Reilly, and his numerous interactions with Hill, garnering the most laughs in the theater. The cast has a good chemistry and the small amount of characters in film allows the central trio of Reilly, Tomei and Hill a lot space to develop their relationship. I'd say the actors' work is really the strong point of the movie, and though things will most likely change by the end of the year, at this point all the actors are in the running for some love at the Drews.
I still don't care for the Duplass' directorial style (they gotta take their finger off of the zoom control!) but they've done good work directing the actors and I'd say Cyrus is enjoyable and a modest but
definite success.

Colleen's Thoughts:
For the most part, I would agree with Drew. I would say a moderate success is an adequate description of Cyrus. It was nice to see Marissa Tomei out of her typecast role as slutty/stripper/skank. All of the performances were enjoyable and the movie was cast impeccably. (I also applaud whoever was doing the outfitting /costuming). It was also nice that the movie didn’t devolve into a kooky comedy about Reilly and Hill pulling pranks non-stop. I thought it was a sweet entertaining movie. However, I would say that Tomei's character should be reamed more in the movie for her own terrible parenting skills. The movie had hints of what made Puffy Chair so special. For example, I like the whole running shoes bit. However, it was missing a little bit of the originality that set Puffy Chair apart from other movies. (For example the one person per hotel room bit that was oh-so-Kenny). I thought it was a cute movie that will appeal to a wide audience. I am looking forward to the next Duplass film which I hope will stay the course and not feel too “inde” but have a little more of the Puffy Chair flair.

Shutter Island

Drew's Thoughts:
It's not often you get a Scorsese movie within the first two months of a new year and I was justifiably concerned. February, the month in which this was released, is notorious as a dumping ground for studios to unload their crappiest productions since the heat of Oscar season is still on and a lot of people are just going to see Oscar movies anyway. As things turned out Shutter Island is a decent film so its release was more of a money-making strategy to be a big fish in a small pond of crappy fish.
Shutter Island is one of those twisty thrillers (like The Sixth Sense and all the other M. Night Shyamalan flicks) and the downside is that the film definitely doesn't transcend its genre or do anything especially interesting with it. However, Marty is behind the camera making the film about as good as can be within the genre limitations.
The film centers on Leonardo Dicaprio as a Federal Marshall investigating a mysterious asylum for the criminally insane on an isolated island along the northeastern seaboard and when Leo arrives he finds that something strange is going on. The less I tell you about the plot, the more fun it will be so I'll leave it there.
It's probably a good 20 minutes too long, but it was pretty fun to watch even with the obligatory "unexpected" final twist. (For once, I just want the twist to be that there isn't a twist!)
There's solid work by a strong cast, Leo D. and Ruffalo were good and Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children) and the always welcome presence of Patricia Clarkson (Good Night and Good Luck.) were fun in their single scenes, but the script doesn't provide a lot for the cast to really sink their teeth into.
The art direction was good, if a little overly CGI'd, and it could potentially make it to the Dolphin ceremony next year depending on what competition materializes. I also liked the score which has a cold, hard and very sinister presence.
This is no Raging Bull (obviously!) or even The Aviator, but it's more or less the quality level of The Departed, though Departed has some great scenes intermingled with some pretty bad ones and Shutter Island just maintains being pretty good throughout. I did enjoy it more than Cape Fear, Scorsese's other genre thriller, which may be the most apt comparison.
All in all though, Shutter Island is a slick mainstream thriller that benefits from actual craftsmanship and care behind the camera.

Colleen's Thoughts:
Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island has the stamp of entertaining approval from this Kenny. While the movie was no Taxi Driver or even Aviator (as Drew mentioned) it was entertaining and, I felt, well directed. I would like to watch the film again now knowing the twist to see what details I can pull out or see the clues I should have seen before. I am not that great at guessing twists so this one, of course, got me. It was plain to see beginning to end that the movie had a heavy dose of suspenseful psycho-thriller Hitchcock influence which, for the most part, served Marty well. The cinematography and art direction are worth remembering for this Dolphin Season. While I did thoroughly enjoy this film sometimes I can’t stop myself from wishing Marty would return to his 70s and 80s style and throw a bit more grit on the screen.

2009 Golden Dolphin Awards

Best Picture
Nominees:
Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro - The Hurt Locker
Jan Chapman, Caroline Hewitt, Mark L. Rosen - Bright Star
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - A Serious Man
Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler - Moon
Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy - In the Loop

Best Director
Nominees:
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Jane Campion - Bright Star
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen – A Serious Man
Duncan Jones – Moon
Spike Jonze – Where The Wild Things Are

Best Actor
Nominees:
Matt Damon – The Informant!
Tom Hardy - Bronson
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet
Sam Rockwell – Moon
Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man

Best Actress
Nominees:
Abbie Cornish - Bright Star
Penelope Cruz – Broken Embraces
Katie Jarvis – Fish Tank
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Audrey Tautou – Coco Before Chanel

Best Supporting Actor
Nominees:
Peter Capaldi – In The Loop
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Tom Hollander - In the Loop
Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker
Paul Schneider – Bright Star

Best Supporting Actress
Nominees:
Leonie Benesch - The White Ribbon
Marcia Gay Harden – The Maiden Heist
Mimi Kennedy - In the Loop
Sari Lennick - A Serious Man
Gina McKee - In the Loop

Best Original Screenplay
Nominees:
Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit - A Prophet
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - A Serious Man
Adam Elliot - Mary and Max
Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker - Moon

Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominees:
Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach – Fantastic Mr. Fox
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, Tony Roche - In the Loop
Scott Z. Burns – The Informant!
David Eggers, Spike Jonze – Where The Wild Things Are
Tom Ford, David Scearce - A Single Man

Best Cinematography
Nominees:
Lance Acord - Where The Wild Things Are
Christian Berger - White Ribbon
Roger Deakins - A Serious Man
Greig Fraser - Bright Star
Eduard Grau - A Single Man

Best Editing
Nominees:
Anthony Boys, Billy Sneddon - In the Loop
Nicolas Gaster - Moon
James Haygood, Eric Zumbrunnen - Where The Wild Things Are
Chris Innis, Bob Murawski - The Hurt Locker
Roderick Jaynes - A Serious Man

Best Art Direction
Nominees:
K. K. Barrett - Where the Wild Things Are
Dan Bishop - A Single Man
Nelson Lowry - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Tony Noble - Moon
Adrian Smith - Bronson

Best Costume
Nominees:
Moidel Bickel - The White Ribbon
Doug Hall - Crazy Heart
Janet Patterson – Bright Star
Arianne Phillips - A Single Man
Casey Storm – Where The Wild Things Are

Best Sound
Nominees:
Ray Beckett, Paul N.J. Ottosson - The Hurt Locker
Chris C. Benson, Craig Berkey, Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff - A Serious Man
Lori Dovi, Robert Jackson, Leslie Schatz - A Single Man
Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten, Gary Wilkins - Where the Wild Things Are
Eric McKimm, Peter Walker - Mary and Max

Best Makeup
Nominees:
Lily Beckett, Niamh Morrison - Bronson
Vivianna Delgado, Michael Fuentes, Alfredo Garcia et. all - Sin Nombre
Daniel Parker - The Hurt Locker

Best Score
Nominees:
Carter Burwell – A Serious Man
Michael Giacchino – Up
Marvin Hamlisch – The Informant!
Abel Korzeniowski – A Single Man
Clint Mansell - Moon

Best Foreign Language Film
Nominees:
Pedro Almodóvar - Broken Embraces
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Cary Fukunaga - Sin Nombre
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Ole Christian Madsen - Flame & Citron

Best Animated Film
Nominees:
Wes Anderson - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ron Clements, John Musker - The Princess and the Frog
Adam Elliot - Mary and Max

Best Documentary
Nominees:
Sacha Gervasi - Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Larry Psihoyos - The Cove
Chris Smith - Collapse
Jeff Stilson - Good Hair
James Toback - Tyson

The First Annual 1/10 Awards 2009!!!

The 1/10 awards are designed to highlight the worst of the year in film making. All nominees were culled from films I watched for the sake of the Dolphins, so it's the worst of what is "supposed" to be good. It should be noted that I never watched Amelia

Worst Picture
(500) Days of Summer
Avatar
The Blind Side
The Boat That Rocked
Coraline
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Julie & Julia
Public Enemies
The Road

Worst Director
James Cameron - Avatar
John Lee Hancock - The Blind Side
John Hillcoat - The Road
Michael Mann - Public Enemies
Sam Mendes - Away We Go
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds

Worst Actor
Sharlto Copley - District 9
Tobey McGuire - Brothers
Viggo Mortensen - The Road
Chris Pine - Star Trek
Sam Worthington - Avatar

Worst Actress
Amy Adams - Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Zooey Deschanel - (500) Days of Summer
Zoe Saldana - Avatar
Rachel Weisz - The Brothers Bloom

Worst Supporting Actor
Jae Head - The Blind Side
Eli Roth - Inglourious Basterds
David Schwimmer - Nothing but the Truth
Kodi Smit-McPhee - The Road
Karl Urban - Star Trek

Worst Supporting Actress
Anjoa "Ruhhhgby" Andoh - Invictus
Vera Farmiga - Nothing but the Truth
Eva Mendes - Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Mo'Nique - Precious
Charlize Theron - The Road

Worst Original Screenplay
(500) Days of Summer
Avatar
The Boat That Rocked
Cold Souls
Inglourious Basterds
Up

Worst Adapted Screenplay
The Blind Side
Coraline
Invictus
Julie & Julia
Public Enemies
The Road

Worst Editing
Avatar
Big Fan
Inglourious Basterds
Public Enemies
The Road

Worst Score or Soundtrack
(500) Days of Summer
Avatar
Away We Go
Invictus
Precious

Worst Animated Film
Avatar
Coraline
Up

Worst Technical Achievement
Avatar - Smurf Effects; "Costumes"
The Brothers Bloom - Pretending to be Wes Anderson
Cold Souls - Ripping off all its ideas from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation., Synecdoche, NY and Being John Malkovich; general lack of a point
Julie & Julia - Amy Adams' hair
The Lovely Bones - Peter Jackson's dumb vision of Heaven or whatever it's supposed to be

Special Achievement: Worst 2 1/2 Hour Video Game Advertisement Masquerading as a Film
Avatar

Lifetime Failure Award: James Cameron

Few filmmaker's have mastered the twin trajectories of wasting egregious amounts of money making completely asinine shit and being a huge, egomaniacal prick the way James Cameron has. We all know the crap he's made so I'll save everyone some time and remind you all just of a couple of his achievements perhaps destined to be less remembered. Cameron spoke in "Na'vi" during his pompous, god-complex-laden Golden Globes speech and also, earlier in the decade, confirmed that not only is he a complete douche but a horrendous actor during his multi-episode guest starring role on Entourage. Congratulations Jim!

Nomination Tally
4/10 Avatar
1/7 The Road
4/5 The Blind Side
0/5 Inglourious Basterds
0/4 (500) Days of Summer
0/4 Invictus
0/4 Julie & Julia
0/4 Public Enemies
0/3 Coraline
1/2 Away We Go
0/2 The Boat That Rocked
0/2 The Brothers Bloom
1/2 Cold Souls
0/2 Nothing but the Truth
0/2 Precious
0/2 Star Trek
0/2 Up
0/1 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
0/1 Big Fan
1/1 Brothers
0/1 District 9
0/1 The Lovely Bones

2009 Drew Awards

Best Picture
John B. Carls, Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Vincent Landay, Maurice Sendak - Where the Wild Things Are
Jan Chapman, Caroline Hewitt, Mark L. Rosen - Bright Star
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - A Serious Man
Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler - Moon
Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy - In the Loop

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Jane Campion - Bright Star
Duncan Jones - Moon
Spike Jonze - Where the Wild Things Are
Steven Soderbergh - The Informant!

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
Matt Damon - The Informant!
Tom Hardy - Bronson
Sam Rockwell - Moon
Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man

Best Actress
Abbie Cornish - Bright Star
Penelope Cruz - Broken Embraces
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Antichrist
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious

Best Supporting Actor
Peter Capaldi - In the Loop
Paul Higgins - In the Loop
Tom Hollander - In the Loop
David Rasche - In the Loop
Paul Schneider - Bright Star

Best Supporting Actress
Leonie Benesch - The White Ribbon
Mimi Kennedy - In the Loop
Edie Martin - Bright Star
Gina McKee - In the Loop
Catherine O'Hara - Away We Go

Best Original Screenplay
Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit - A Prophet
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - A Serious Man
Adam Elliot - Mary and Max
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker - Moon

Best Adapted Screenplay
Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, Tony Roche - In the Loop
Scott Z. Burns - The Informant!
Dave Eggers, Spike Jonze - Where the Wild Things Are
Peter Straughan - The Men Who Stare at Goats

Best Cinematography
Lance Acord - Where the Wild Things Are
Christian Berger - The White Ribbon
Greig Fraser - Bright Star
Eduard Grau - A Single Man
Gary Shaw - Moon

Best Editing
Anthony Boys, Billy Sneddon - In the Loop
Nicolas Gaster - Moon
Chris Innis, Bob Murawski - The Hurt Locker
Roderick Jaynes - A Serious Man
Joe Walker - Harry Brown

Best Art Direction
Dan Bishop - A Single Man
Nelson Lowry - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Anastasia Masaro - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Tony Noble - Moon
Adrian Smith - Bronson

Best Costume
Janet Patterson - Bright Star
Arianne Phillips - A Single Man
Monique Prudhomme - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Louise Stjernsward - Creation
Casey Storm - Where the Wild Things Are

Best Sound
Peter Albrechtsen, Kristian Eidnes Andersen - Antichrist
Ray Beckett, Paul N.J. Ottosson - The Hurt Locker
Chris C. Benson, Craig Berkey, Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff - A Serious Man
Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten, Gary Wilkins - Where the Wild Things Are
Erin McKimm, Peter Walker - Mary and Max

Best Makeup
Lily Beckett, Niamh Morrison - Bronson
Christine Beveridge, Kay Georgiou - The Informant!
Daniel Parker - The Hurt Locker

Best Score
Carter Burwell - A Serious Man
Carter Burwell, Karen O. - Where the Wild Things Are
Dale Cornelius - Mary and Max
Abel Korzeniowski - A Single Man
Clint Mansell - Moon

Best Foreign Language Film
Pedro Almodóvar - Broken Embraces
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Henrik Ruben Genz - Terribly Happy
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Ole Christian Madsen - Flame & Citron

Best Animated Film
Wes Anderson - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ron Clements, John Musker - The Princess and the Frog
Adam Elliot - Mary and Max

Best Documentary Film
Kirby Dick - Outrage
Sacha Gervasi - Anvil: the Story of Anvil
Louie Psihoyos - The Cove
Chris Smith - Collapse
Jeff Stilson - Good Hair

Lifetime Achievement Award: Warren Beatty for mastery in acting, producing, screenwriting, and directing in a career spanning 50 years.

Warren Beatty gave his breakthrough performance in Elia Kazan's 1961 melodrama Splendor in the Grass in which he starred with then girlfriend Natalie Wood. Even in his first performance, he displayed his charismatic, understated and naturalistic style he would go on to perfect throughout his career. Six years later, Beatty received his first Oscar recognition for producing and starring in the 1967 benchmark film Bonnie & Clyde. In the 1970s, Beatty co-wrote, starred and produced Shampoo (1975) and co-wrote, starred, produced and co-directed Heaven Can Wait (1978) two of the finest and funniest comedies of the decade, while also delivering good performances in films such as McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Parallax View and $ (Dollars). He received an Oscar nomination for Shampoo's screenplay and was also nominated for writing, acting, producing and directing Heaven Can Wait. In 1981, Beatty co-wrote, starred, produced and directed Reds, the epic biopic of John Reed, Marxist journalist and activist. Among nominations for writing, acting and producing, Beatty won Best Director for that picture, his first and only Oscar, as well as directing Maureen Stapleton to a Best Supporting Actress trophy as Emma Goldman. He is still the only person to receive Oscar nominations for writing, directing, producing and acting for the same film on two occasions. In 1990, Beatty made the pop art-styled Dick Tracy based on the popular comic. The film, despite a troubled production, was a big financial success and netted Al Pacino an Oscar nomination along with a series of technical nominations. With the exception of Madonna's presence, the film still remains one of the finest comic book adaptations in history. In 1992, Beatty was nominated for acting and producing for the final time in Bugsy, the biopic of gangster Bugsy Siegel, which co-starred Annette Bening his eventual wife and was written by recent Colleen winner James Toback. 1998 marked Beatty's final work as a writer and director, and his final Oscar nomination (for screenplay,) with the political satire Bulworth. Since 2001, Beatty has mainly been retired other than a executive producer credit or two.
He now, at the ripe old age of 73, receives his biggest honor yet, the Drew Lifetime Achievement Award. Thank you for all you have given to us, Mr. Beatty. You, sir, are a living treasure.

Win/Nomination Tally:
6/8 Moon
3/9 In the Loop
2/7 Bright Star
2/4 Mary and Max
2/4 A Single Man
1/4 The Hurt Locker
1/4 The White Ribbon
1/1 Collapse
1/1 Warren Beatty
0/7 Where the Wild Things Are
0/6 A Serious Man
0/4 The Informant!
0/3 Bronson
0/3 Fantastic Mr. Fox
0/2 Antichrist
0/2 Broken Embraces
0/2 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
0/2 A Prophet
0/1 Anvil: the Story of Anvil
0/1 Away We Go
0/1 The Cove
0/1 Crazy Heart
0/1 Creation
0/1 Fish Tank
0/1 Flame & Citron
0/1 Good Hair
0/1 Harry Brown
0/1 The Men Who Stare at Goats
0/1 Outrage
0/1 Precious
0/1 The Princess and the Frog
0/1 Terribly Happy

The 3rd Annual Donna Awards 2009!

Best picture
Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, Michael Katz, Margaret Menegoz, Andrea Occhipinti - The White Ribbon
Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro - The Hurt Locker
Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler - Moon
Melanie Coombs - Mary and Max
Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy - In the Loop

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Adam Elliott - Mary and Max
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Armando Iannucci - In the Loop
Duncan Jones - Moon

Best Actor
Edgar Flores - Sin Nombre
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet
Sam Rockwell - Moon
Michael Sheen - The Damned United
Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man

Best Actress
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Audrey Tatou - Coco Before Chanel
*There are only 4 that deserve the Dolphin Award

Best Supporting Actor
Peter Capaldi - In the Loop
Tom Hollander - In the Loop
Anthony Mackie - The Hurt Locker
Alfred Molina - An Education
Stanley Tucci - Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actress
Leonie Benesch - The White Ribbon
Paulina Gaiton - Sin Nombre
Sari Lennick - A Serous Man
Gina McKee - In the Loop
Julianne Moore - A Single Man

Best Original Screenplay
Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit - A Prophet
Mark Boal - The Hurt Locker
Cary Fukanaga - Sin Nombre
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker - Moon

Best Adapted Screenplay
Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, Tony Roche - In the Loop
Scott Z. Burns - The Informant!
Dave Eggers, Spike Jonze - Where the Wild Things Are
Tom Ford, David Scearce - A Single Man

Best Cinematography
Barry Ackroyd - The Hurt Locker
Lance Acord - Where the Wild Things Are
Christian Berger - The White Ribbon
Roger Deakins - A Serious Man
Stéphane Fontaine - A Prophet

Best Makeup
Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, Joel Harlow - Star Trek
Vivianna Delgado, Michael Fuentes, Alfredo Garcia et. all - Sin Nombre
John Henry Gordon, Jenny Shircore - The Young Victoria

Best Score
Carter Burwell - A Serious Man
Alexandre Desplat - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Michael Giacchino - Up
Marvin Hamlisch - The Informant!
Abel Korzeniowski - A Single Man

Best Foreign Lang. Film
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Anne Fontaine - Coco Before Channel
Cary Fukunaga - Sin Nombre

Best Anim. Film
Wes Anderson - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson - Up
Adam Elliott - Mary & Max

Best Editing
Anthony Boys, Billy Sneddon - In the Loop
Nicolas Gaster - Moon
James Haygood, Eric Zumbrunnen - Where the Wild Things Are
Chris Innis, Bob Murawski - The Hurt Locker
Juliette Welfing - A Prophet

Art Direct./Set
K. K. Barrett - Where the Wild Things Are
Dan Bishop - A Single Man
Frederick Blum - Coco Before Channel
Karl Júlíusson - The Hurt Locker
Christoph Kanter - The White Ribbon

Best Costume
Moidel Bickel - The White Ribbon
Catherine Leterrier - Coco before Chanel
Arrianne Phillips - A Single Man
Casey Storm - Where the Wild Things Are
Mary Zophres - A Serious Man

Best Sound
Ray Beckett, Paul N.J. Ottosson - The Hurt Locker
Ben Burtt, Mark A. Mangini, Alan Rankin - Star Trek
Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten, Gary Wilkins - Where the Wild Things Are
Erin McKimm, Peter Walker - Mary and Max
Brigitte Taillandier, Francis Wargnier - A Prophet

3rd Annual Golden Dolphin Nominations 2009

Best Picture
Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro - The Hurt Locker
Jan Chapman, Caroline Hewitt, Mark L. Rosen - Bright Star
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - A Serious Man
Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler - Moon
Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy - In the Loop

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Jane Campion - Bright Star
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen – A Serious Man
Duncan Jones – Moon
Spike Jonze – Where The Wild Things Are

Best Actor
Matt Damon – The Informant!
Tom Hardy - Bronson
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet
Sam Rockwell – Moon
Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man

Best Actress
Abbie Cornish - Bright Star
Penelope Cruz – Broken Embraces
Katie Jarvis – Fish Tank
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Audrey Tautou – Coco Before Chanel

Best Supporting Actor
Peter Capaldi – In The Loop
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Tom Hollander - In the Loop
Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker
Paul Schneider – Bright Star

Best Supporting Actress
Leonie Benesch - The White Ribbon
Marcia Gay Harden – The Maiden Heist
Mimi Kennedy - In the Loop
Sari Lennick - A Serious Man
Gina McKee - In the Loop

Best Original Screenplay
Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit - A Prophet
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - A Serious Man
Adam Elliot - Mary and Max
Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker - Moon

Best Adapted Screenplay
Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach – Fantastic Mr. Fox
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, Tony Roche - In the Loop
Scott Z. Burns – The Informant!
David Eggers, Spike Jonze – Where The Wild Things Are
Tom Ford, David Scearce - A Single Man

Best Cinematography
Lance Acord - Where The Wild Things Are
Christian Berger - White Ribbon
Roger Deakins - A Serious Man
Greig Fraser - Bright Star
Eduard Grau - A Single Man

Best Editing
Anthony Boys, Billy Sneddon - In the Loop
Nicolas Gaster - Moon
James Haygood, Eric Zumbrunnen - Where The Wild Things Are
Chris Innis, Bob Murawski - The Hurt Locker
Roderick Jaynes - A Serious Man

Best Art Direction
K. K. Barrett - Where the Wild Things Are
Dan Bishop - A Single Man
Nelson Lowry - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Tony Noble - Moon
Adrian Smith - Bronson

Best Costume
Moidel Bickel - The White Ribbon
Doug Hall - Crazy Heart
Janet Patterson – Bright Star
Arianne Phillips - A Single Man
Casey Storm – Where The Wild Things Are

Best Sound
Ray Beckett, Paul N.J. Ottosson - The Hurt Locker
Chris C. Benson, Craig Berkey, Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff - A Serious Man
Lori Dovi, Robert Jackson, Leslie Schatz - A Single Man
Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten, Gary Wilkins - Where the Wild Things Are
Erin McKimm, Peter Walker - Mary and Max

Best Makeup
Lily Beckett, Niamh Morrison - Bronson
Vivianna Delgado, Michael Fuentes, Alfredo Garcia et. all - Sin Nombre
Daniel Parker - The Hurt Locker

Best Score
Carter Burwell – A Serious Man
Michael Giacchino – Up
Marvin Hamlisch – The Informant!
Abel Korzeniowski – A Single Man
Clint Mansell - Moon

Best Foreign Language Film
Pedro Almodóvar - Broken Embraces
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Cary Fukunaga - Sin Nombre
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Ole Christian Madsen - Flame & Citron

Best Animated Film
Wes Anderson - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ron Clements, John Musker - The Princess and the Frog
Adam Elliot - Mary and Max

Best Documentary
Sacha Gervasi - Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Larry Psihoyos - The Cove
Chris Smith - Collapse
Jeff Stilson - Good Hair
James Toback - Tyson

Nomination Tally:
8 - A Serious Man
7 - The Hurt Locker
7 - In the Loop
7 - Moon
7 - Where The Wild Things Are
6 - Bright Star
6 - A Single Man
4 - The White Ribbon
3 - Bronson
3 - Fantastic Mr. Fox
3 - The Informant!
3 - Mary and Max
3 - A Prophet
2 - Broken Embraces
2 - Sin Nombre
1 - Anvil! The Story of Anvil
1 - Coco Before Chanel
1 - Collapse
1 - The Cove
1 - Crazy Heart
1 - Fish Tank
1 - Flame & Citron
1 - Good Hair
1 - The Messenger
1 - The Maiden Heist
1 - Precious
1 - The Princess and the Frog
1 - Tyson
1 - Up

1, 2, 3, REPEATER! - The repeat dolphin nominees this year
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th nominations. Hold the record for most dolphin nominations per person with 8
Sam Rockwell - 2nd nomination.
Roger Deakins - 4th nomination but no wins yet. The only person to be nominated at every Dolphin ceremony.
Skip Lievsay - 2nd nomination
Carter Burwell - 2nd nomination

Also, In the Loop is the second film with the distinction to be nominated 4 times in the acting categories. Doubt was the first and it went on to win 2 of them.

2009 3rd Annual Colleen Awards

Best Picture:
The Hurt Locker—Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier & Greg Shapiro
Flammen & Citronnen—Lars Bredo Rahbek
Bright Star—Jan Chapman, Caroline Hewitt & Mark L. Rosen
Moon—Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler
In the Loop—Kevin Loader & Adam Tandy

Best Director:
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Kathryn Bigelow –The Hurt Locker
Jane Campion—Bright Star
Armando Ianucci—In the Loop
Ole Christian Madsen—Flame & Citron

Best Actor in a Lead Female Role:
Abbie Cornish—Bright Star
Penelope Cruz—Broken Embraces
Katie Jarvis—Fish Tank
Gabourey Sidibe—Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire
Meryl Streep—Julie & Julia

Best Actor in a Supporting Female Role:
Leonie Benesch—The White Ribbon
Mimi Kennedy—In the Loop
Melanie Linskey—The Informant!
Blanca Portillo—Broken Embraces
Stine Stengade—Flame & Citron

Best Actor in a Lead Male Role
Edgar Flores—Sin Nombre
Tom Hardy—Bronson
Thure Lindhardt—Flame and Citron
Tahar Rahim—A Prophet
Sam Rockwell—Moon

Best Actor in a Supporting Male Role:
Peter Capaldi—In the Loop
Michael Fassbender—Fish Tank
Tom Hollander—In the Loop
Mads Mikkelson—Flame& Citron
Paul Schneider—Bright Star

Best Original Screenplay:
Lars Anderson and Ole Christian Madsen—Flame & Citron
Thomas Bidegain and Jacques Audiard—A Prophet
Jane Campion—Bright Star
Adam Elliot—Mary and Max
Cary Fukunaga—Sin Nombre

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach—Fantastic Mr. Fox
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, Tony Rochen— In the Loop
Scott Z. Burns—The Informant!
Tom Ford--A Single Man
Peter Straughan—The Men Who Stare at Goats

Best Cinematography:
Christian Berger—The White Ribbon
Greig Fraser—Bright Star
Eduard Grau—A Single Man
Jorgen Johansson—Flame & Citron
Rodrigo Prieto—Broken Embraces

Best Editing:
Anthony Boys & Billy Sneddon—In the loop
Sorren B. Ebbe—Flame& Citron
Nicolas Gaster—Moon
Chris Innis & Bob Murawski— The Hurt locker
Billy Murphy—Mary & Max

Best Art Direction:
Hidiki Arichi—Moon
Craig Fison—Mary & Max
Jane Levick—Bronson
Nelson Lowry—Fantastic Mr. Fox
Jeffrey Thorp—Where the Wild Things Are

Best Costume:
Manon Rasmussen, Margrethe Rasumussen & Rikke Simonsen—Flame & Citron
Janet Patterson—Bright Star
Sonia Grande—Broken Embraces
Arianne Phillips—A Single Man
Doug Hall—Crazy Heart

Best Make Up:
Lily Beckett & Niamh Morrison—Bronson
Vivianna Delgado, Michael Fuentes, Alfredo Garcia et. all—Sin Nombre
Daniel Parker—The Hurt Locker

Best Sound:
Erin McKimm, Peter Walker—Mary and Max
Ray Beckett, Paul N.J. Ottosson—The Hurt Locker
Hans Moller—Flame & Citron
Leslie Shatz—A Single Man
Benjamin Viau--A Prophet

Best Score:
Dale Cornelius—Mary and Max
Alexandre Desplat—Fantastic Mr. Fox
Abel Korzeniowski—A Single Man
Clint Mansell—Moon
Hans Zimmer—Sherlock Holmes


Best Animated Feature Film:
Fantastic Mr. Fox—Wes Anderson
Princess and the Frog—Jon Clements and Ron Musker
Mary & Max—Adam Elliot

Best Foreign Film:
A Prophet—Jacques Audiard
Broken Embraces—Pedro Almodavor
Sin Nombre—Cary Fukanaga
The White Ribbon—Michael Haneke
Flame & Citron—Christian Ole Madsen

Best Documentary:
Outrage—Kirby Dick
The Cove—Louie Pisihoyos
Anvil: The Story of Anvil—Sasha Gervasi
Good Hair—Jeff Stilson
Tyson—James Toback

Colleen's First Lifetime Achievement:
Lauren Bacall From The Big Sleep to Dogville few actors rival Bacall's commanding presence. She has a charisma to match her husband's--may they reunite in heaven.

Drew's Dolphin nomination predictions

I did some "analysis" yesterday tallying up the personal awards in an attempt to predict what some of these crazy Dolphin nominations will look like this year. We've already seen the Joes (I probably should be tweaking my predix but whatever) but I wanted to post this before I crack open the ballots and start tallying.

Best Picture
Moon - Drews, Joes, Colleens, Donnas
In the Loop - Drews, Colleens, Donnas
The Hurt Locker - Joes, Colleens, Donnas
A Serious Man - Drews, Joes
Bright Star - Drews, Colleens
Where the Wild Things Are - Drews
Fantastic Mr. Fox - Joes
The Informant! - Joes
Flame & Citron - Colleens
The White Ribbon - Donnas
Mary and Max - Donnas

We've got an interesting slate of Best Picture hopefuls this year, not a bad apple in the bunch. Moon has all but secured it's spot as the frontrunner being the only film grab spots at everyone's awards. Both In the Loop and The Hurt Locker and appear to have a strong amount of support as well. All three of those are good position for the Dolphin nom. A Serious Man and Bright Star both garnered two noms but their chances aren't as stable. A surprise win from any of the other best picture hopefuls could catapult them into the final five.

Best Director
Duncan Jones - Moon - Drews, Joes, Donnas
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker - Drews, Colleens, Donnas
Spike Jonze - Where the Wild Things Are - Drews, Joes
Steven Soderbergh - The Informant! - Drews, Joes
Jane Campion - Bright Star - Drews, Colleens
Armando Iannucci - In the Loop - Colleens, Donnas
Wes Anderson – Fantastic Mr. Fox - Joes
Ethan and Joel Coen – A Serious Man - Joes
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet - Colleens
Ole Christian Madsen—Flame & Citron - Colleens
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon - Donnas
Adam Elliott - Mary and Max - Donnas

Duncan Jones and Kathryn Bigelow each secured three nominations so the Dolphins could be a showdown between those two. Of the four directors to receive two nominations I think Spike Jonze and Jane Campion might stand a better chance since their films ended up being love it or hate it types. Getting a couple high votes is a lot more important a lot of low votes. From there it seems Soderbergh and Iannucci might be dueling for last spot but a surprise win from someone (Ole Christian Madsen maybe?) would overtake both of them easily.

Best Actor
Sam Rockwell - Moon - Drews, Joes, Colleens, Donnas
Matt Damon - The Informant! - Drews, Joes
Tom Hardy - Bronson - Drews, Colleens
Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man - Drews, Donnas
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart - Drews, Joes
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet - Colleens, Donnas
Michael Sheen – The Damned United - Joes, Donnas
Edgar Flores - Sin Nombre - Colleens, Donnas
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker - Joes
Thure Lindhardt - Flame and Citron - Colleens

To my surprise, Best Actor has turned into the most heated race of all. Other than Rockwell scoring noms with everyone like his film did, second place (and 3rd, 4th, 5th for that matter) is a tie between 7 actors. It's going to end up with the actors with the strongest bases taking the 4 spots. I feel like Damon, Stuhlbarg and maybe Hardy could all get in though I think we're going to see at least one if not two of Donna's remaining picks earn spots as well. I don't have much idea how this will turn out.

Best Actress
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank - Drews, Joes, Colleens
Penelope Cruz - Broken Embraces - Drews, Joes, Colleens
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious - Drews, Colleens, Donnas
Meryl Streep – Julie and Julia - Joes, Colleens, Donnas
Abbie Cornish - Bright Star - Drews, Colleens
Audrey Tautou – Coco Before Chanel - Joes, Donnas
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Antichrist - Drews, Joes
Carey Mulligan - An Education - Donnas

Barring a surprise win from Carey Mulligan or Audrey Tautou at the Donnas, I'm pretty confident we'll be seeing Jarvis, Cruz, Streep, Cornish and Sidibe at the Dolphins.

Best Supporting Actor
Peter Capaldi - In the Loop - Drews, Joes, Colleens, Donnas
Tom Hollander - In the Loop - Drews, Colleens, Donnas
Paul Schneider - Bright Star - Drews, Joes, Colleens
Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker - Joes, Donnas
Paul Higgins - In the Loop - Drews
David Rasche - In the Loop - Drews
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger - Joes
Brad Pitt – Inglorious Bastards - Joes
Michael Fassbender - Fish Tank - Colleens
Mads Mikkelson - Flame & Citron - Colleens
Alfred Molina - An Education - Donnas
Stanley Tucci - Julie & Julia - Donnas

Capaldi confirmed himself as the front runner at the Donnas today and Schneider and Hollander look solid as well. From there it's a bit of a crapshoot, Mackie is in surprisingly good position for a nom but I think we could see Fassbender and/or Harrelson enter into the five based on the love of Colleen and Joe respectively. You never know what Donna has up here sleeve either.

Best Supporting Actress
Mimi Kennedy - In the Loop - Drews, Joes, Colleens
Leonie Benesch - The White Ribbon - Drews, Colleens, Donnas
Melanie Lynskey – The Informant! - Joes, Colleens
Gina McKee - In the Loop - Drews, Donnas
Edie Martin - Bright Star - Drews
Catherine O'Hara - Away We Go - Drews
Jennifer Connelly– Creation - Joes
Marcia Gay Hayden – The Maiden Heist - Joes
Samantha Morton – The Messenger - Joes
Blanca Portillo—Broken Embraces - Colleens
Stine Stengade—Flame & Citron - Colleens
Sari Lennick - A Serious Man - Donnas
Julianne Moore - A Single Man - Donnas
Paulina Gaiton - Sin Nombre - Donnas

Despite an emerging 4 frontrunners who really knows with this category. Mimi Kennedy and Leonie Benesch look solid but it's hard to say anything more than that.

Best Original Screenplay
Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit - A Prophet - Drews, Joes, Colleens, Donnas
Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker - Moon - Drews, Joes, Donnas
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - A Serious Man - Drews, Joes
Adam Elliot - Mary and Max - Drews, Colleens
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon - Drews, Donnas
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker - Joes, Donnas
Cary Fukunaga—Sin Nombre - Colleens, Donnas
Pedro Almodovar – Broken Embraces - Joes
Jane Campion—Bright Star - Colleens
Lars Anderson and Ole Christian Madsen—Flame & Citron - Colleens

Surprisingly A Prophet's screenplay was the only one everyone agreed on and Moon has probably secured a nom with 3 notices. Otherwise just about all the choices seem possible, I'm guessing A Serious Man and Mary and Max will make appearances and I wouldn't be surprised if Flame & Citron creeps in either.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, Tony Roche - In the Loop - Drews, Joes, Colleens, Donnas
Scott Z. Burns - The Informant! - Drews, Joes, Colleens, Donnas
Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox - Drews, Joes, Colleens, Donnas
Peter Straughan - The Men Who Stare at Goats - Drews, Joes, Colleens
Dave Eggers, Spike Jonze - Where the Wild Things Are - Drews, Joes, Donnas
Tom Ford--A Single Man - Colleens, Donnas

I'm guessing Tom Ford's film will be the odd (single) man out come dolphin time.

The 2009 Joe Awards

The 3rd Annual Joe Awards


Best Picture

Moon – Stuart Fenegan and Trudie Styler


Best Actor

Sam Rockwell – Moon


Best Actress

Audrey Tautou – Coco Before Chanel


Best Director

Ethan and Joel Coen – A Serious Man


Best Supporting Actor

Woody Harrelson – The Messenger


Best Supporting Actress

Marcia Gay Hayden – The Maiden Heist


Best Adapted Screenplay

Scott Z. Burns – The Informant!


Best Original Screenplay

Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker – Moon


Best Cinematography

Roger Deakins – A Serious Man


Best Editing

Roderick Jaynes – A Serious Man


Best Art Direction

Nelson Lowry – Fantastic Mr. Fox


Best Costume

Janet Patterson – Bright Star


Best Sound

Ryan Juggle – The Hurt Locker



Best Make-up

Robin Pritchard – The Hurt Locker



Best Score

Marvin Hamlisch – The Informant!


Life Time Achievement-

Kirk Douglas

Let us take a look back at just some of the gifts Douglas gave to the movie industry
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
A Letter To Three Wives
Ace In The Hole
The Bad and The Beautiful
Lust for Life
Paths of Glory
The Vikings
Spartacus
The Last Sunset
And many more…..

May he live another 100 years.

Joe's and/or Drew's Predictions For The 2009 Colleens

Best Picture

Should be a very interesting year for the best picture category this year at the Colleens. With the little information Ive gained from Colleen and Drew I feel i can now make some educated guesses. Personally I feel she will be shocking the dolphin members this year with some surprise best pic pics.

Best Picture
A Single Man
In The Loop
Bright Star
Sin Nombre
The Hurt Locker

Im feeling pretty good about the first three. In the loop and bright star are the locks, im going with a single man after reading and hearing her positive reviews of the film. Sin nombre was another that colleen raved about to me, and the movie also seemed to spur her interests as she told me about the gang which was featured within the movie, so i think with it being a good movie and something in which colleen had been previously interested in and had prior knowledge of, i think it will find a way to get in. And I put the hurt locker in because drew thought it was gettin in, so im guessing its gettin in.

Im looking forward to the best actress category and I feel it will give attention to where attention is due.

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz - Broken Embraces
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Meryl Streep - Julie and Julia
Abbey Cornish - Bright Star
Gabbie - Precious

Id be willing to bet a lot o cash that I get this 1 100 percent correct. And as i was saying before i wouldnt take much offense to this list. And we know for sure Gainsborg want make it, though given representation by myself and drew, colleen does not and did not care for gainsbourg and her performence!

This is a category in which I think Colleen with have some fun, and I think it will be fun to see because it will be a bit different then the mine and drews awards.

Best Actor
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Sam Rockwell - Moon
Keats Impersonator - Bright star
Tom Hardy - Broson
French Guy - A prophet

Drew was thinking sam will get the deserved love, so ill stick with drew on that. Once again i think colleen felt something from a single man, and colin was good in that, so i see him on the list. Oh drew said tom was probably in, so thats why he's up there. And I know colleen liked a prophet and i think so i think to show it some love and to surprise up the french lead with make it. Colleen Loved bright star and i think to really love that movie you would have to love the keats guys performence so say hello to him, right?

Best Director
Kathryn Big's - The Hurt Locker
Jane Campion - Bright Star
Tom Ford - A Single Man
Sin NOmbre Director
Steven Sodebergh

The first two are obviously a lock, and i know she liked the look and feel of a single man so lets put tom in there. again im sticking with the sin nombre theme, and lets say sodebergh as he continues to surprise everyone, no im kidding with that, im actaully having a hard time deciding, uuuummmm, ill guess will find out tonight. cant wait.

Drew's:

Best Picture
Bright Star
In the Loop
The Hurt Locker
Flame & Citron
Moon

The alternate is probably A Prophet. I was thinking it would be F&G and A Prophet then I psyched myself out so I swapped in Moon because I think it has potential to noms at all the awards, we'll see. Sin Nombre could maybe make a late resurgence with a nom as Joe said. Or maybe it will be something else entirely.

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Jane Campion - Bright Star
Ole Christen Madsen - Flame & Citron
Duncan Jones - Moon
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet

I think In the Loop will get left out here leaving the others I was debating for picture noms to get rewarded. The alternate is, I don't know, a surprise like Spike Jonze?????

Best Actor
Tom Hardy - Bronson
Sam Rockwell - Moon
Matt Damon - The Informant!
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet
Thure Lindhardt - Flame & Citron

I'm pretty confident with the first three, Colleen was surprisingly taken with Tom Hardy and Damon and the Rock both gave undeniably great performances as well. The last two slots could go any which way Colleen said she had ten guys in the running. I think she'll probably reward Rahim's understated performance and stand strong with the noble descendents of Ron Howard by nominating Lindhardt. Alternate is Sin Nombre dude.

Best Actress:
Abbie Cornish - Bright Star
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Penelope Cruz - Broken Embraces
Gabby Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

Confident about this. I hope Audrey doesn't rear her cute french head here.

The 2009 Joe Awards

The 3rd Annual Joe Awards

Best Picture

A Serious Man – Ethan and Joel Coen
Fantastic Mr. Fox – Allison Abbate, Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, and Scott Rudin
The Hurt Locker – Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, and Greg Shapiro
The Informant! – Howard Braunstein, Kurt Eichenwald, Jennifer Fox, Gregory Jacobs, and Micahel Jaffe
Moon – Stuart Fenegan and Trudie Styler

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Matt Damon – The Informant!
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker
Sam Rockwell – Moon
Michael Sheen – The Damned United


Best Actress

Penelope Cruz – Broken Embraces
Charlotte Gainsbourg – AntiChrist
Katie Jarvis – Fish Tank
Meryl Streep – Julie and Julia
Audrey Tautou – Coco Before Chanel


Best Director

Wes Anderson – Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ethan and Joel Coen – A Serious Man
Duncan Jones – Moon
Spike Jonze – Where The Wild Things Are
Steven Soderbergh – The Informant!

Best Supporting Actor

Peter Capaldi – In The Loop
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Anthony Mackie – The Hurt Locker
Brad Pitt – Inglorious Bastards
Paul Schneider – Bright Star


Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Connelly– Creation
Marcia Gay Hayden – The Maiden Heist
Mimi Kennedy – In The Loop
Melanie Lynskey – The Informant!
Samantha Morton – The Messenger


Best Adapted Screenplay

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach – Fantastic Mr. Fox
Scott Z. Burns – The Informant!
David Eggers and Spike Jonze – Where The Wild Things Are
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armondo Innaccuci, Tony Roche – In The Loop
Peter Straughan - The Men Who Stare at Goats

Best Original Screenplay

Pedro Almodovar – Broken Embraces
Mark Boal – The Hurt Locker
Ethan and Joel Coen – A Serious Man
Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker – Moon
Thomas Bidegain, Jacques Audiard, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufailit – A Prophet

Best Cinematography

Lance Acord -Where The Wild Things Are
Peter Andrews -The Informant!
Roger Deakins - A Serious Man
Christian Berger - White Ribbon
Eduard Grau - A Single Man


Best Editing

Nicolas Gaster – Moon
Roderick Jaynes - A Serious Man
Stephen Mirrione - The Informant!
Andrew Wiseblum - Fantastic Mr. Fox
James Haygood and Eric Zumbrunnen - Where The Wild Things Are



Best Art Direction

Frederick Blum – Coco Before Chanel
Deb Jensen - A Serious Man
Nelson Lowry -Fantastic Mr. Fox
Anastasia Masaro - The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Niall Moroney - Sherlock Holmes

Best Costume

? – Fantastic Mr. Fox
Jenny Beaven – Sherlock Holmes
Catherine Leterrier – Coco Before Chanel
Janet Patterson – Bright Star
Casey Storm –Where The Wild Things Are

Best Sound

Ryan Juggler– The Hurt Locker
Ren Klyce – Where The Wild Things Are
James Mather – Sherlock Holmes
Erin Mckimm – Mary and Max
Patrick Owen – Moon

Best Make-up

Donald Brooker – Distric 9
Abigail Edwards – Harry Brown
Robin Pritchard –The Hurt Locker

Best Score

Carter Burwell – A Serious Man
Michael Giacchino – Up
Marvin Hamlisch – The Informant!
Abel Korzeniowski – A Single Man
Hans Zimmer – Sherlock Holmes

LifeTime Achievement – TBA

Predictions for the Joes

Drew's Predictions:

Best Picture
The Hurt Locker
In the Loop
Moon
A Serious Man
Where the Wild Things are

I'm very confident about the last three, pretty confident about the H-Lock, and no. 5 is wide open so I'm going with a wishful thinking pick (cause dammit it deserves it!!). It seems like maybe The Informant!, Fantastic Mr. Fox, or Mary and Max could get in possibly but I really don't know. Last year Joe nominated The Dark Knight which he had previously incinerated with flames of hate until he announced the nominations. That leads me to wonder, should I predict a movie Joe said he hated?

Best Director
Wes Anderson, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, A Serious Man
Duncan Jones, Moon
Spike Jonze, Where the Wild Things are

Again, I'm confident about the last 4 making an appearance here. I figure Joe may want to surprise us so I'm going with Anderson but maybe it could be Soderbergh?

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Matt Damon, The Informant!
Sam Rockwell, Moon
Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man

Again, pretty solid on the last 4. I have no idea about the last one so I'm throwing Bridges up there blindly cause I don't even know if Joe has even seen Crazy Heart!

Best Actress
Abbie Cornish, Bright Star
Penelope Cruz, Broken Embraces
Katie Jarvis, Fish Tank
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Antichrist
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

I know Joe is a big Streep fan so she's definitely in. The Best Actress field was really weak, so without a strong list of contenders this category could go in some weird directions. I'm keeping pretty close to my list just cause that's what I think are best and maybe Joe will too?

Don't have time for the other categories but Joe is gonna show he supports our troops by nominating Woody Harrelson and Anthony Mackie.

Looking forward to the nominations!!

Flame & Citron

Drew's Thoughts:
Ole Christian Madsen's Flame & Citron is the most expensive Danish film ever made at 10 million dollars (about 4 million more than The Wrestler cost) and tells the story of the title characters, controversial WW2 figures famous in Denmark. The Flame, named for his red hair not gayness, and Citron nicknamed, even more hilariously, because he worked for Citron vodka, are members of the Danish resistance who basically go around murdering Danish Nazi-sympathizers and informers. I had never heard of Flame and Citron before so it was interesting getting some idea of the political climate in Denmark during World War 2 through those two figures.
Stylistically, the film is what Public Enemies should have been, a slick, violent noir-inspired period piece. The film is pretty strong across the technical categories; editing, art direction, costumes, cinematography.
The other thing I liked about the movie is even though it's a WW2 espionage story Madsen didn't make the film like a WW2 espionage film. He seemed to take more inspiration from gangster movies, which is an inspired choice. The film brings up the question of how far does being on the "good side" go to exonerate someone from repeatedly committing violent, murderous acts? And it's much better than the similarly-themed, dumb piece of crap Inglourious Basterds.
I think Flame & Citron is certainly a worthy contender for a Foreign Film nom at the Dolphins next year, probably in some tech categories too.

Colleen's Thoughts:
I enjoyed this film much more than I had expected to. (Although to be fair, I really had no idea what to expect from Denmark’s most expensive film which is about WWII). As Drew has already discussed, this film centers on the characters Flame and Citron who are Denmark’s WWII heroes. (Flame is one bad-ass redhead which doesn’t hurt the film in this dolphineer’s eyes). Citron and Flame were the central and most uncorrupt members of the Danish resistance. This was a good film for someone like me because it showed two people fighting against fascism and injustice but also showed the complications of this task. Killing humans, Nazi or not, is still killing humans and the film did an excellent job of trying to shed light on this issue without unduly making the Nazis seem like good guys. An example of this is a moment in the film where Flame recalls how he once hesitated while shooting a Nazi. He says that was before he realized Nazis weren’t human. Immediately after this, Flame has trouble killing a target—showing he isn’t able to fully buy his line that Nazis shouldn’t be seen as people. I think this movie is a wonderful examination of the idea of heroes. It really probes issues that other character studies of heroic figures tend to avoid. For example, are Flame and Citron justified in committing murder? How do they know they are killing people they should be? Who can you trust even within the resistance? Beyond exploring interesting questions, Flame and Citron is just good story telling and film making. The acting is superb as well. If it wasn’t such a competitive year Thure Lindhart and Mads Mikkelsen would probably be getting some love at the Colleen’s. Flame and Citron was enjoyable start to finish.

Sin Nombre

Colleen's Thoughts:
Sin Nombre is yet another excellent foreign film from the Dolphin year of 2009. Sin Nombre is a captivating story about an ex MS-13 member on the run and a families journey to cross the Mexican/American border into America. As a freaked out watcher of the history channel, I had heard of MS-13 and their scary ways so the parts of the film showing the violence and tactics of the gang were not surprising to me .I loved Edgar Flores’s performance as El Casper or Willy. This was a very emotionally engaging story. For example, although the fate of Willy is pretty clear following his slashing of the gang leader ‘Lil Mago, I still found myself hoping at the end he would somehow make it out alive. This film has definitely left a lasting impact on me and I have recommended it to several people. This is a must-see Dolphin movie of this year.

A Single Man

Colleen's Thoughts:
While certainly not a flawless film, I thoroughly enjoyed this love story. I think it is important to tell stories not only focused on huge members of the social justice movement for gay rights such as MILK, but also stories such as A Single Man. A Single Man is a story of two human beings who were madly in love and who happened to both be male. Colin firth’s character George grieves just as many people would over the lost of a loved one. For me, the flashbacks were the strong point of this movie. Colin Firth and Matthew Goode had great chemistry. The scene with the couple sitting on the couch was for me especially memorable, probably because Drew and I often share the couch and I could see us having a similar conversation. Although the aesthetics of film is not something I am hugely educated about, I did enjoy some of the experimental and stylistic directions the film moved in. At times the close ups were jarring and perhaps did not flow seamlessly within the film, but they definitely made you view the film in a different way. (Wong Kar Wai seemed to be an obvious influence). I also liked the way the scene at the beach between Matthew Goode and Colin Firth was shot. The sounds for me made me feel like you had your ear up to a beach shell. A Single Man is a lovely love story.

Colleen's Predictions for the 2009 Annual Drew Nominations

I am not sure how close or how far off I will be but for what they are worth and for Drew's entertainment, here come the predictions:

Best Picture:
In the Loop
Moon
White Ribbon
Bright Star
A Serious Man

Best Director:
Spike Jones--Where the Wild Things Are
Joel and Etan Coen--A Serious Man
Duncan Jones--Moon
Kathryn Bigelow--The Hurt Lo
Either Jane Campion for Bright Star or Armando Ianunnci for In the Loop
(not too confident about these predictions. I could be wrong about the Coens' nomination)

Best Actor in a Male Leading Role:
Jeff Bridges--Crazy Heart
Tom Hardy--Bronson
Sam Rockwell--Moon
Michael Stuhlbarg--A Serious Man
Matt Damon--The Informant!

Best Actor in a Female Leading Role:
Abigail Cornish--Bright Star
Meryl Streep--Julie and Julia
Andrea Arnold--Fishtank
Penelope Cruz--Broken Embraces
Sandra Bullock--The Blind Side (Just kidding! I am curious to see who takes the fifth spot for Drew. I think it could be Gabrielle Sidibe for Precious but it could also be someone in a movie I didn't see, or it could be a surprise like Maggie Gyllenhall (although she may be supporting) or Audrey Tautou. I will have to wait until 8 to see.

Best Cinematography:
Bright Star
Where the Wild Things are
The White Ribbon
A Serious Man
I'm not sure what will take the fifth spot here either. Perhaps, A Single Man, Moon, The Informant! Bronson or something I am not thinking of.


These predictions may be a little optimistic. However,regardless, it should be an exciting night tonight. I look forward to seeing how accurate I am and what surprises Drew has in store this year.

The Lovely Bones

Joe's Thoughts:
The Ugly Bones.

Creation

Drew's Thoughts:
Creation is a handsome looking biopic about Charles Darwin with good performances from Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly. The second half of the film gets weighed down in flashbacks and hallucinations making the narrative more convoluted than it need be but overall it's a pretty good movie worth considering.

The Princess and the Frog

Drew's Thoughts:
Though I'm not the biggest Disney fan in the PFA (I'll let Joe and Colleen duke it out for that title) I was intrigued (and glad) someone at Disney is finally drawing again. Computer animation can be effective certainly but I'm getting pretty sick of it so it was nice to hearken back to the days of Aladdin and other non-computer animated childhood favorites.
The Princess and the Frog, written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), is a twist on "The Frog Prince" set in New Orleans. The story is pretty standard but all the New Orleans cliches/stereotypes make for a more interesting backdrop than usual. Tiana, who's not actually a princess, dreams of opening her own restaurant when she encounters the Maurice Chevalier-esque playboy Prince Naveen who has been turned into a frog by the villainous Dr. Facilier, a beatnik voodoo doctor voiced by Keith David (Requiem for a Dream). When she kisses the prince she unexpectedly turns into a frog and they go on an adventure through the bayou, meeting a jazz loving gator and Cajun firefly, in the hopes returning to human form.
It's not destined to be a classic but it's the most fun a Disney film has been since Enchanted.

Collapse

Drew's Thoughts:
Collapse, the latest film by Chris Smith (American Movie), is a 70 something minute discussion with Michael Ruppert, a chain smoking, dog loving, LAPD cop/whistle blower turned investigative journalist who predicted the current economic crisis in his self-published newsletter From the Wilderness. Going in, I have to say, I didn't think a feature length interview would be very interesting (I wasn't a big fan of Fog of War for instance.) Yet this film is actually very fascinating and engaging, due to the content and the director's brisk pacing of the film.
After a bit of back story about how Ruppert tried to expose the corruption facilitating a drug trade operating within the LAPD, Ruppert launches into the many facets of the current collapse discussing peak oil, energy production, food production, war and the financial system among others.
So the big question regarding the film is, is this guy a crackpot? One of the reasons that makes the film good is that the filmmakers aren't totally sure what the answer to that question is either (i.e. they don't exalt him in the way that many docs do to their subjects.) I'd say he's probably a little bit of a crackpot but he has a bevy of interesting and provocative things to say that are worth pondering regardless of whether you totally believe him.
And besides, Ruppert is very passionate about what he says and passionate people are always very engaging and fun to watch. He occasionally drops a few hilarious non-catch phrases like "you got to separate the ice cream from the bullshit."
One of the best docs I've seen this year.

(500) Days of Summer

Drew's Thoughts:
(500) days of shit... hoo! I'm throwing rocks tonight.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt continues to chip away at the goodwill he earned for his work in Angels in the Outfield as he plays the lamewad who falls in love at first sight with Zooey Deschanel who plays Summer (har har, get it??) the Belle & Sebastian-quoting indie dream girl who has cute quirks like loving Ringo Starr only because no one else loves him. To be honest, the movie sort of seems written to just make Zooey Deschanel feel good about herself because the narrator is very fond of saying how every male past age twelve is hopelessly and uncontrollably attracted to her.
Anyway, then Summer likes him because he listens to The Smiths and likes Knight Rider or something and then they hang out in IKEA which turns her on, then they have sex, then Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a big dance number set to Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams" to celebrate the achievement. Then they hang out some more, watching porn, yelling "penis" really loudly in parks for amusement and looking at buildings because JGL would rather be an architect than write greeting cards. Then they break up and JGL is sad.
So yeah this is so sickeningly "indie" that I couldn't even finish it (the soundtrack certainly doesn't help either.) I don't know if they get back together in the end and I definitely don't care.
W.O.T. (...waste 'o time)

Avatar

Drew's Thoughts:
Crapatar.

The Road

Drew's Thoughts:
The simultaneously best and worst thing about the big screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road is that it reminds you what a great book the novel is. Though it does so mainly by being a version of The Road from the alternate universe where everything good actually sucks.
For the most part, they got visual look of the film down pretty well. Everything is varying shades of grey, landscapes are desolate but not barren etc. Unfortunately, they don't have any other aspects down very well at all. Despite getting the look technically right, the film doesn't create any atmosphere whatsoever. The film opens with idyllic life, before the whathaveyou devastated everything, where Viggo has a mustache and horses and Charlize is pregnant and not on suicide watch; then it shows you when the whathaveyou devastates everything which was a really dumb choice. The story is about the man and his son not the man and his wife yet the boy doesn't get introduced until a little while later. In general, there's way too much Charlize Theron in the film anyway. And the kid is twice as old as he should be. And Viggo Mortensen is not a very good actor and doesn't do much to persuade me otherwise with this film. And moreover they don't really have much of a father/son chemistry, Viggo keeps telling me how much he loves the boy but I don't really feel it...
And the film falls into disappointing Hollywood conventions throughout, such as when "exciting" things happen thunderous music and quick editing are cued (there shouldn't have been any music in the first place.) And even despite that, the film still moves at a leaden pace. Most egregious of all though, is the film takes the book's enigmatic dialogue and makes it cheesy as hell, with the poor performances stripping away its thought-provoking nuances.
It's incredibly disappointing coming from John Hillcoat, whose first film The Proposition is very good and especially because this project had a lot of potential. McCarthy's works are very easy to adapt; the way he writes is easily filmable. No Country for Old Men turned out well, for instance. All a director really needs to do is figure out which parts to cut out and then put what's on the page onto the screen. He or she doesn't need to and should not write more scenes for Charlize Theron.
Up to this point, I've always wondered what the unnamed catastrophe in the novel actually was and now it seems like this film could very possibly be the disaster in question.

Fish Tank

Drew's Thoughts:
Fish Tank, Oscar-winning writer/director Andrea Arnold's coming of age story, is sort of an amalgam of Precious, An Education and Save the Last Dance; fortunately, it's better than all of those.
After a shaky start, the film finds its legs and ends up being pretty good. The film follows 15 year old Mia (played by Katie Jarvis) who lives with her mum and younger sister in low-income housing in London suburb, Essex. Her days consist of wandering around, watching MTV, and drinking two liter bottles of generic brand cider and practicing her dance moves in a vacant apartment.
Things change when her mum gets a new boyfriend Connor (Hunger's Michael Fassbender) and this is when the movie starts taking shape. Jarvis and Fassbender's scenes together are the heart of the film really and the exploration of their relationship is the most interesting aspect of the film.
The charismatic Connor is a lot nicer to Mia and her mum and sister than they are to each other and they are all rather smitten with him. He also encourages and aids Mia's interest in dancing, making Connor a quasi-father/older brother figure as well as an object of desire.
The film seems like it should have been slimmed down by at least 20 minutes; various symbolic bits and subplots, such as a white horse chained up in empty lot that Mia repeatedly tries to free, aren't really necessary or that effective. However, the bulk of the movie is good and suprisingly engaging. Fassbender is good as well and I think Katie Jarvis should definitely be added to the list of Best Actress contenders at the Dolphins this year.

Big Fan

Drew's Thoughts:
Big Fan is the directorial debut of Dolphin-nominee Robert Siegel who wrote last year's Best Picture winner The Wrestler. Unlike The Wrestler though this is more of a comedy, though a dark one.
The film follows Patton Oswalt as the titular character, Paul, a massive NY Giants fan whose life routinely consists of working in a parking garage tollbooth listening to his favorite radio show Sports Dog and writing out and rehearsing the statement he plans to make when he calls into the show after getting off work. He does this everyday, continuing an ongoing debate with Philadelphia Phil, another obsessed fan alligned with the rival "Eagle nation". On Sundays, Paul tailgates with all the other fans before watching the game in the stadium parking lot on a TV hooked up to a car battery.
What seems like a sudden turn of good fortune falls into Paul's lap when he encounters his favorite player one night but things turn nasty when the player puts Paul in the hospital.
Siegel has a lot to learn when it comes to directorial technique but he tells a very unusual story that moves in unexpected ways. Patton Oswalt also gives an engaging performance as someone you might ridicule normally but you certainly sympathize with him in the film.
Big Fan is a pretty good and uncommon movie, though I don't think it's strong enough to muscle out any of the preexisting Dolphin contenders.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Drew's Thoughts:
I love a well-done exposé as much as the next person but the documentaries that I really take to are ones that focus on people. It takes a wise film maker to know who's interesting enough to make a film about but with a good director behind the camera you get amazing results such as American Movie, The King of Kong, Grizzly Man and Dig! to name a few.
Anvil! isn't nearly on the same level as those I just mentioned but it is still quite good. Anvil, as you learn in the film's opening minutes, is a Canadian metal band that was continually poised for global mega-success at any moment. Except that moment never came and even as the 80s passed them by they kept chugging along in the hopes of catching their big break in a radically different music industry. The film catches up with them as they are gearing up for a massive European tour that they are justly stoked about it and follows them through imminent mishaps and failures.
You get to know the two core members, hilariously named Lips and Robb Reiner, and come to respect them and root for them even in the face of certain failure. There is something inherently compelling about watching people trying to achieve their dreams whatever they may be.
One of the best documentaries of the year.

Good Hair

Drew's Thoughts:
Chris Rock narrates this fascinating and hilarious look into African-American hairstyles, focusing somewhat on the idea of natural "African hair" not being conceived as "good hair." The film isn't really out to take a big stance on the subject one way or the other but it was interesting to learn about how much importance various hair treatments are to the African-American community (and the insane amounts of money the hair care industry makes annually from the black community.)
There are a variety of talking heads giving their viewpoints on the subject ranging from Maya Angelou and Al Sharpton to Ice-T. Nearly all the people weighing in deliver lively and funny commentary and it's a rare case when a documentary delivers quotable lines but this film does.
Good Hair is an immensely enjoyable film and one of the Best Docs of the year.