2010 Oscar nominations

And the winner is….well, we won’t know that for a fair few weeks yet but the 2010 Oscar nominations are in! Woo! All is pretty much as expected, with the big surprise being District 9 in the best picture category. Not that it will win, but it’s nice to see it get some acknowledgement anyway.

What isn’t nice is the bullshit exclusion of Moon in every freakin category! At the very least Sam Rockwell should have got a best lead actor nod and Duncan Jones a best original screenplay nomination. What. A. Joke. Other atrocities this year include Abbie Cornish missing out on a best actress nod and the movies robbed of an Academy high-five include Moon, Bright Star, Let The Right One In, Moon, Samson and Delilah, Moon and Nowhere Boy. Sigh.

Moving on, a very chipper Anne Hathaway read the Oscar nominations this morning and here is the full list. I’ve highlighted the winners I think deserve the shiny gold man, all things being true and fair in the world. Oh, but wait, they’re not *insert can kicking here*

Actress in a supporting role

Mo'Nique in Precious

Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air

Penelope Cruz in Nine

Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air

Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart

Actor in a supporting role

Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

Christopher Plummer in The Last Station

Matt Damon in Invictus

Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones

Woody Harrelson in The Messenger

Actress in a leading role

Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia

Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side

Helen Mirren in The Last Station

Gabourey Sidibe in Precious

Carey Mulligan in An Education

Actor in a leading role

Morgan Freeman in Invictus

Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart

George Clooney in Up in the Air

Colin Firth in A Single Man

Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

Animated feature film

Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)

The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker)

Coraline (Henry Selick)

Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)

The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)

Foreign language film

Ajami (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel)

A Prophet (Jacques Audiard, France)

The Secret of Her Eyes (Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina)

The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, Germany)

The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa, Peru)

Directing

Avatar (James Cameron)

The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)

Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)

Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)

Precious (Lee Daniels)

Writing (adapted screenplay)

District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)

An Education (Nick Hornby)

Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)

Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)

In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche)

Writing (original screenplay)

The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)

Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)

A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)

Up (Pete Docter and Bob Petersen)

The Messenger (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman)

Best picture

Avatar (James Cameron and Jon Landau, producers)

District 9 (Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, producers)

An Education (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, producers)

The Hurt Locker (nominees to be determined)

Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender, producer)

Precious (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, producers)

A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, producers)

Up in the Air (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, producers)

The Blind Side (nominees to be determined)Up (Jonas Rivera, producer)

Art direction

Avatar (art direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; set decoration: Kim Sinclair)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (art direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; set decoration: Caroline Smith)

Nine (art direction: John Myhre; set decoration: Gordon Sim)

Sherlock Holmes (art direction: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer)

The Young Victoria (art direction: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Maggie Gray)

Cinematography

Avatar (Mauro Fiore)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bruno Delbonnel)

The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd)

Inglourious Basterds (Robert Richardson)

The White Ribbon (Christian Berger)

Costume design

Bright Star (Janet Patterson)

Coco Before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Monique Prudhomme)

Nine (Colleen Atwood)

The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)

Documentary (feature)

Burma VJ (Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller)

The Cove (nominees to be determined)

Food, Inc (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein)

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith)

Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa)

Documentary (short subject)

China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill)

The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner (Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher)

The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert)

Music by Prudence (Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett)

Rabbit à la Berlin (Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra)

Film editing

Avatar (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron)

District 9 (Julian Clarke)

The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis)

Inglourious Basterds (Sally Menke)

Precious (Joe Klotz)

Makeup

Il Divo (Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano)

The Young Victoria (Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore)

Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow)

Music (original score)

Avatar (James Horner)

Fantastic Mr Fox (Alexandre Desplat)

Up (Michael Giacchino)

The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders)

Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)

Music (original song)

Almost There, from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman

Down in New Orleans, from The Princess and the Frog by Randy Newman

Loin de Paname, from Paris 36 by Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas

Take it All, from Nine by Maury Yeston

The Weary Kind, from Crazy Heart by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short film (animated)

French Roast (Fabrice O Joubert)

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell)

Logoramam (Nicolas Schmerkin)

The Lady and the Reaper (Javier Recio Gracia)

A Matter of Loaf and Death (Nick Park)

Short film (live action)

The Door (Juanita Wilson and James Flynn)

Instead of Abracadabra (Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström)

Kavi (Gregg Helvey)

Miracle Fish (Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey)

The New Tenants (Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson)

Sound editing

Avatar (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)

The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson)

Inglourious Basterds (Wylie Stateman)

Star Trek (Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin)

Up (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers)

Sound mixing

Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson)

The Hurt Locker (Paul NJ Ottosson and Ray Beckett)

Inglourious Basterds (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano)

Star Trek (Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J Devlin)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Greg P Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson)

Visual effects

Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R Jones)

District 9 (Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken)

Star Trek (Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton)

The Oscars are on March 7.

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You Mutey

As you well an truly know (given the amount of preaching I’ve done on this site) sci-fi outing Moon is one of my favourite films of this year. Innovative, compelling, original and intelligent, its been applauded by critics and audiences alike, not to mention currently sitting at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes *insert impressive whistle here*. Now with talk of Sam Rockwell being nominated for an Oscar for his brilliant performance, attention is turning towards director Duncan Jones’ next project. Another sci-fi for the son of David Bowie, Mute is the original script Jones offered Rockwell before deciding to write Moon specifically for him.

Although its release date is far off in the future (much like the movie), Mute starts shooting in Berlin next year. But don’t despair! Liberty Films, the production company, have released this gorgeous piece of concept art on their website.

Thoughts??? There definitely looks to be a Blade Runner flavour (Jones’ favourite sci-fi film) and a Sin City-esque vibe, me thinks. So far this is the only image or decent bit of information released on Mute, which explains my desire to try and get as much from it as possible. FYI the only visible word in the artwork is `Fremde’ which means `Foreign’ in German, and since the occupants of the building seem to be getting arrested by police, perhaps there are a few themes of racism in there too? Gah, I’m clutching at straws. A little more concrete is the plot, which follows a mute bartender who is abducted by two comedians while looking for his girlfriend. Intriguing.

Stay tuned for any more Mute updates and the progress of Rockwell’s long overdue Oscar campaign.

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To the moon and back

I saw Moon at the Brisbane International Film Festival last night. I had to break at least 13 different speed limits to make it there on time, but I made it.

And it blew my freaking mind!

Believe the hype. Believe the critical acclaim. Believe me, because this film is something truly unique and worth every second of your attention.

I explained the film in some detail a few posts ago so I don't want to be repetitive but this is a seriously impressive debut from David Bowie's son Duncan Jones (formerly known as Zowie Bowie).

Moon is an intelligent, complex, sci-fi, psychological-thriller that will catapult your peunie human mind into outer space.

The fact this is technically an indie film and made on a pathetic budget is hard grasp because the film looks so brilliant and slick.

Sam Rockwell is INCREDIBLE!

Okay, he's incredible in most movies he features but this really is the performance of his career. He is amazeballs.

Finally, without revealing a major spoiler, I was quite gobsmacked at the fresh take this film offered on a tired sci-fi feature.

So . . .I don't really know what else to say except SEE THIS FILM whenever and however you can.

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Rockwell by name, Rockwell by nature

I'm constantly altering the order of the entrants in my hypothetical `favourite actor's list'.However, one permanent feature has been the always awesome and versatile Sam Rockwell (above). Since his debut in the teen-horror Clownhouse, the 40-year-old has gone on to become a one-man gallery of crooks, rogues and oddballs. Critics adore him. Cinephiles applaud him. Yet still he manages to tread comfortably on the line between stardom and obscurity. Touted as `the next big thing’ for over a decade, Rockwell has made a career of playing the anti-hero. He shifts between supporting roles and leading parts as if they were gears in a car and is widely considered one of the finest actors working today. With a name like a character from an Austin Powers movie, Rockwell is the go-to man for directors with controversial or challenging parts. Thus, when Duncan Jones, son of David Bowie, entered into a career as a filmmaker it’s no wonder he wrote his debut feature Moon as a vehicle for Sam Rockwell. As audiences worldwide prepare to see him in the biggest the role of his career, I thought I'd put together this piece to look back at some of the his most memorable performances.

His breakthrough performance was in 1997 as a lovable oddity in Tom DiCillo’s Box of Moonlight. He went on to star in a number indie drama’s and had his first foray in to studio pictures as a child murderer in The Green Mile (below). Despite only having a small amount of screen time, Rockwell left a lasting impression as the charismatic killer.

Charisma was again a major feature in his role as Eric Knox in Charlie’s Angels. One of his most well-known parts, Rockwell was unforgettable as the quirky and deranged super-villain who was just as comfortable moon-walking to Pharaoh Monche as he was shooting missiles from his helicopter. However, it was his leading turn in George Clooney’s directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind that certified Rockwell as a rising talent. He won the Silver Berlin Bear for best actor at the Berlin International Film Festival for playing game show impresario Chuck Barris, who claimed to have been a CIA hitman.

With a growing reputation as a diverse character actor, Rockwell went on to star in several large supporting roles in films such as Matchstick Men, A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Snow Angels and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Perhaps his most controversial role was as a sex-addicted con-man in last year’s Choke which is based on a book by Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk. As a serious actor it would be difficult to find a juicer part than that of a man who pays for his mothers hospital bills by playing on the sympathies of those who save him from choking to death. On the surface it’s the kind of character that audiences should have loathed but Rockwell threw himself in to the part making him poignant and hilarious. He followed Choke with the Oscar nominated Frost/Nixon where he played passionate political writer James Preston Jr.

Although he has spent much of his career playing second fiddle, in his latest film Rockwell is back at leading-man. In fact, he is the only actor in Moon. He plays astronaut Sam Bell (below) who is wrapping up a three-year stint on the moon where he has been overseeing the mining interests of the Lunar Corporation. With the exception of recorded messages from his family and bosses back on Earth, his only company is the base’s computer Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey). That is until he meets a younger, angrier version of himself who claims to be there to fulfil the same three-year contract. Engaging the eye as much as the mind, Moon draws from classic science-fiction films and is propelled by an intense performance from Rockwell. Taking out the best British film award at the Edinburgh film festival earlier this year, it has been hailed as a remarkable debut from Duncan Jones who wrote the film to lure Rockwell in to working with him.

Made on a budget of $5 million and shot in 33 days, Moon has been hailed as an intelligent, intriguing and unique film held together by Rockwell’s performance. Critics have tipped this as the film to finally elevate the American actor to A-List, leading man status. Whether this will actually come to fruition remains to be seen, however Rockwell seems content with his position in modern day cinema. If nothing else the role will be another display of brilliance from the actor and can be added to his repertoire of unusual characters. In the mean time, his next move is away from the indie-circuit and back in to blockbuster mode as he stars alongside Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2.

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