Devin is the final guest commentator of this week's Oscar Extravaganza! Long-time movie rate-er and blogger politico, D.'s your man if you wanna talk Russian history. I hope you've all enjoyed this week in If We Picked the Oscars (all six of you!) - Special K__________
Thanks to Special K for hosting this event, and No thanks to me for seeing my fewest movies in a year since... I don't know... since I moved out of parents' house? So, my selection is pretty limited, having seen just three "good" movies (Little Miss Sunshine, Stranger than Fiction, and Brick) and lots of mediocre and terrible ones. I'll put it this way. Slither, Stick it, and Lady in the Water made my top ten for 2007 so far.
BEST ACTOR
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, BrickNo, seriously. Joey Gordy-Levi's stoic turn made this teen film noir work. It couldn't've happened without his performance, which was fairly one-dimensional, but both important and functional. I have to say it was good to see Nathan Fillion's comic-tough guy schtick in Slither, too. But it was perhaps more impressive to see Gordon-Levitt's convincing performance given his long-running in-the-shadow-of-French-Stewart status.
BEST ACTRESS
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stranger Than Fiction
Okay, her comic timing and acerbic sarcasm was very good. More importantly, this is not just the prettiest she's ever looked, it's the most accessible and understandable character she's ever played. Stranger than Fiction is, if not a beautiful film, certainly an aesthetically pleasing film, and Gyllenhaal's performance matches its changing moods precisely.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Steve Carrell, Little Miss Sunshine
His turn in Little Miss Sunshine as the suicidal Proust scholar deserves mention, even in a great ensemble performance. It's not a set-the-world-on-fire performance, but he owns the pain & humiliation that this character has heaped upon him. Also, his fight with Greg Kinnear's character halfway through the film was just one of the best of the many laugh-out-loud moments in a great movie.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESSWanda Sykes, My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Sure, Sykes was good in Over the Hedge and Clerks 2, but she raised eyebrows and elicited 90 minutes worth of "Oh, Snap!" "No, she Di'n't!" and "Daaaaaamn" in My Super Ex-Girlfriend. At least to listen to pasty-white red-head-goateed dude next us.
BEST FILM
Stranger than Fiction
If there's one film that expressed exactly how I feel about movie endings, it's this film. I thought that Stranger than Fiction captured a lot about life, art, and story-telling. Also, Little Miss Sunshine is fantastic film, and one that I would recommend to everyone. I have a really hard time not giving it top honors, but StF ekes it out as it is just a little more ambitious.
Bonus badness!
Award for Series Jumping the Couch: Mission Impossible 3
Worst threequel EVAH: X-Men 3, beating out Matrix 3
Worst career downturn of an actress I like: Alyson Hannigan in Date Movie
Worst Socratic fool role: Audrey Tautou's in Da Vinci Code
Worst I'm in ur internetz stealin ur soulz: Pulse
Worst revisiting of a Hero mythology: Superman Returns
3 comments:
Hmmm... I've got to check out this Stranger than Fiction - I think it comes out on dvd soon. Good call on Wanda Sykes - she was the best thing about that otherwise awful movie!
Hmmm... just last week I told Rob that I thought Brick was perhaps the worst film ever made...
But I feel you on the Steve Carrell nod.
Honestly, it's just the sheer lack of decent movies that I've seen this year that put all of these folks in the "winners" circle. And mostly, the Sykes' pick is a joke, but really, she's at least memorable in a very dull year.
But Stranger than Fiction is a good film. It's got that Post-modern self-awareness in combo with a Bohemian-Surrealist mechanism, good doses of humor and yet still has a gentle nod to the romantic in the story. A great one to watch on snowy day with a hot toddy.
And Brick is a divisive film. Film-savvy, smart friends of mine have hated it, while others have loved it. One that's not for everyone, fo' sho'.
K-
Thanks for the debonair photo. Wish that my face was more up to the task.
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