Looking in to my crystal ball . . . . .

With the Oscars less than five days away, I figured it was time for Movie Mazzupial to unveil some predictions. Well, I say predictions but really these are the people/films I want to win. The people I think will actually win are highlighted in green and the people I want to win are in pink. If I believe the planets will align and what I want to win and what I think will win are the same thing, then it will appear in blue. Confused? So am I. If the following spins you out too much just wait for the actual Academy Awards ceremony which is on Sunday, February 22 or Monday, February 23 for us Aussies. And the winners are -
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
Best animated feature film of the year
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton
Achievement in art direction
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
Achievement in cinematography
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle
Achievement in costume design
“Australia” (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
“The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor
Achievement in directing
“Milk” (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle
Best documentary feature
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
“Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
Best documentary short subject
“The Conscience of Nhem En” A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
“The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306” A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde
Achievement in film editing
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens
Best foreign language film of the year
“The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
“Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel
Achievement in makeup
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam
Best motion picture of the year
“Milk” (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production, Christian Colson, Producer
Best animated short film
“La Maison en Petits Cubes” A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
“Presto” (Walt Disney), A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
Best live action short film
“The Pig” An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank
Achievement in sound editing
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers
Achievement in sound mixing
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
Achievement in visual effects
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
Adapted screenplay
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
Original screenplay
“Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
“In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh

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. . .but you can have the rest of my Milk.

Gus Van Sant's new film Milk is one of the top two films I wanted to see most in 2009. The trailer was epic and gave me all sorts of goosebumps. Watching Margaret and David's review of Milk in December as part of their summer special only fueled my intense desire to see this film with Margy giving it 4 and a half stars and Davy giving it (for the first time in my memory) a perfect five star review. I was finally able to catch an advanced screening of it last night and I was not disappointed. This is the kind of movie film students are going to study in years to come and definitely one of Gus Van Sant's best films which is saying a lot. Undoubtedly he is one of the best film makers of our time with creations such as; My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting,Finding Forrester and Elephant (to name a few). But Milk is something else. A true story, Milk is based on California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, a San Francisco supervisor who was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone. Sant seamlessly merges archive footage with acted scenes to the point where you're sometimes uncertain whether you're watching the actors or the real-life characters home movies, a newspaper clipping or tv news archive. Sant and his casting director have also done a brilliant job at not only rounding up a superb ensemble cast, but the actors bare an unbelievable resemblance to the real-life movers and shakers. The performances are nothing short of AMAZING especially for supporting cast members Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch and James Franco particularly who is beyond convincing as Harvey Milk's long time lover. You cannot, however, get past the brilliance that is SEAN PENN. He is in my number one favourite actor of all time and even I was blown away by this performance. SEAN PENN IS HARVEY MILK. I honesty thought nothing could beat Penn's performances in Mystic River and Dead Man Walking. I was wrong. wrong, wrong and Penn delivers his most subtle, heart-wrenching and memorable portrayal to date. He trumps Mickey Rourke in best performance by an actor in a leading role and Milk trumps Slumdog Millionaire for best major motion picture. Gus Van Sant trumps Danny Boyle for best director. Openly gay himself, to Sant's credit the bet thing he does is restrain any notion of over production. Although he has obviously and painstakingly crafted this film in a very intricate fashion, one of its biggest assets is Sant's lets the amazing true-story and incredible performances appear to do the work while his inventive and inconceivably creative camera techniques subtly add to the calibre that makes Milk a masterpiece in its own right. If I could have my way I'd give Milk every Oscar I could pry from the Academy's steel grip but frankly, whether it wins or loses in the coming weeks is irrelevant. Milk is and will always be an important film with a universal message of hope.

Milk opens in cinemas this Thursday, January 29.

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51 Films Movie Mazzupial is looking forward to in `09

Happy New Year and all that jazz!
It’s 2009 and majority of the Gold Coast population is waking up in a gutter somewhere with vomit down their front. I however am instead greeting the New Year with a post on some of the films I’m most excited about for 2009. I could write a brief run down on each film to explain it better but everyone knows my run downs aren’t brief. Therefore titles is all you shall get greedy, greedy readers and you will have to Google them at your own leisure. FYI there are 51 delicious titles listed here in order of my excitement. Ciao :o)

51 Films Movie Mazzupial is looking forward to in `09

The Lovely Bones

Let The Right One In

Caroline

Watchmen

The Brothers Bloom

The Fighter

Milk

Killshot

New Moon

Trick `R Treat

Up

State of Play

Shutter Island

Slumdog Millionare

Red Sonja

Sherlock Holmes

The Wrestler

New York, I Love You

Monsters vs Aliens

The Wolf Man

Little Ashes

Revolutionary Road

Where the Wild Things Are

Fantastic Mr Fox

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Doubt

The Spirit

Role Models

The Unborn

Bruno

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Public Enemies

500 Days of Summer

G.I Joe: Rise of the Cobra

Cadillac Records

Inglorious Bastards

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Game

The Surrogates

Old Dogs

Nine

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

Challenging

Nottingham

The Soloist

The International

Zac and Miri Make a Porno

The Box

Defiance

Adventureland

Notorious

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To welcome the New Year: four craptacular train wrecks

Okay, maybe a little harsh but tomorrow is Thursday, the first day of 2009 and my fancy isn’t even the least bit tickled with the four major releases opening tomorrow. They are; Bolt, Marley & Me, The Tale of Despraux and Yes Man. On second thoughts I might see Yes Man just because of the delightful Zoey Deschanel and Murray from Flight of the Concords. But I’d have to be bloody despraux to see a film about a mouse that goes to rescue a princess from rats. In my eyes no animated film on mice and rats can beat Ratouille. Ever. Bolt on the other hand looks like it’s overcrowded with painfully likable characters which are clichés stolen from every other animated movie ever made. And finally, Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston have a puppy that repairs their fractured relationship in Marley & Me. Vomit anyone? If the trailer is anything to go by then the best acting in that god-awful film is done by the dog who even has better hair than Wilson. I think I’ll read a book this week and instead count the days until the advance screenings of Milk.

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Got milk?

Hot damn, I wish I did! And no, I don’t mean the kind that comes out of a cows teat. I’m talking about the new film from super-awesome Gus Van Sant titled Milk which is getting all sorts of praise for great acting and superb direction. A true story, Milk is based on California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, a San Francisco supervisor who was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone. Not only is this directed by one of my top six favourite directors (Sant) it stars one of my favourite actors (Sean Penn) in the title role. Penn is backed up by a superb supporting cast with Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch and James Franco in another strong career move. I’ve seen the trailer no less than six times at the movies and it blows my mind every view. The link below will take you to said trailer of brilliance -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW0lQrWn5VI
I’d heard a little bit about this story thanks to the copious amount of gay friends I have and the movie looks absolutely brilliant from the 2 minutes and 35 seconds I’ve seen. From those who have seen Milk they’re tipping it to take out all five major categories at the coming Oscars including; best picture, best director, best actor in a lead role, best supporting actor and best original screenplay. Win or loose I’m pumped to see this asap. Milk is released January 2009 in Australia, probably at selected cinemas so keep your eyes peeled.

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The host of the party

It seems everyone’s favourite, non-violent Australian actor (sorry Russ) Hugh Jackman will take on one of the most sought after gigs in showbiz. Hughy or Jacko as I like to call him has been announced as the host of the up and coming Oscars. Woot woo. I’m pumped. I think Hugh is very likable and natural on screen so I look forward to seeing him host this years ceremony which apparently Gus Van Sant’s newbie Milk is going to clean up at. Those who take bets on this kind of thing tip Milk to take out best picture, best director and best lead actor (Sean Penn) when the Oscars get underway early next year. Movie Mazzupial will wait for the nominations before I make my call.

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