Golden Globe Predictions & BFCA Fashions

I'm doubling up because aren't predictions and fashion rundowns fall on the same level of disposable fun. They're both instantly irrelevant pleasures: the reality of the winners will render predictions obsolete in mere hours, and tonight red carpet's will be totally "in the now" as opposed to 'soooooo two days ago!'. Plus, I'm scrubbing the apartment for a Golden Globes party tonight and time is short. Are you hosting a party or attending one?

Golden Globe Predictions
Drama: Up in the Air (?????)
Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Sexy Locker
I know that people have stopped doubting The Hurt Locker as a potential Oscar Best Picture winner but for whatever reason I still can't buy it as a big winner there or especially here. Even though I love it. It's too small and tightly wound when awards bodies generally prefer big and roomy (i.e. bloated with hot air). Then again, nothing else really feels like a slam dunk. The only win that would surprise is Precious. I think Avatar, Basterds and The Sexy Locker -- yeah, I renamed it. Deal -- are all more than robust possibilities. If there's ever going to be another tie at the Globes wouldn't it be great fun, if it was tonight?

• BFCA Best Dressed
  Zoe Saldana reminded that she wasn't uptight Lt. Uhura in Star Trek or nature girl Neytiri in Avatar, but a rising movie starlet. She was one of the only stars to take a fashion risk. It's fun, flirty and just weird enough (is that plastic wrap?) to be memorable. Winning always looks good on people but at least Sandra Bullock's basic black had some fun detailing (patterns, fringe). Diane Kruger isn't exactly a movie star (yet) but she plays on on the movie screen. And almost played one on the red carpet, too. All this needed was better choices in hair and makeup to really sell the glamour.
  

Comedy: (500) Days of Summer
Animated Film: Up
Actress (Drama): Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Actress (Comedy): Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
I still think the Oscar will end the season in Meryl's hands on account of momentum (27 years of it... but especially the past 3) but the media will definitely try and tip the scales towards Bullock, because that's how they do. Once you're this far into the season the performances matter far less than the stardom and the campaign. The performances and films become abstractions. Essentially they're the limos which have driven to the curb of awards season, and dumped the star on the red carpet. The rest is up to them. This is a long way of saying that usually when the media gets too involved [sigh. Crash over Brokeback] they don't use their powers for good... they just use them to create drama where there doesn't need to be any. They have to sell papers, magazines and page views. I enjoy Sandra Bullock, I really do. But she doesn't need to be an Oscar winner, for a charming but inconsequential performance. The Blind Side has been more than rewarding enough for her at this point.

Actor (Drama): Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Actor (Comedy): Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
Ever since they decided to release Crazy Heart, Bridges was finally going to win his Oscar. So why not all the other prizes, too? As for JGL. Why not? it's a weird category. Could be anyone and if any awards body is least resistant to young thespians, it's the Globes. I'm just going for broke.

Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious
I keep making this Harrelson prediction and it keeps biting me in the ass. Waltz may be a true sweeper but I keep thinking that somebody somewhere is going to tilt for Hollywood stardom and maybe it'll be the Globes who are far more likely to surprise in their acting categories than other awards shows are. In fact, I don't really think Mo'Nique is safe either. If the Globes want some of their rising starlet flashiness, they could easily crown Anna Kendrick.

• BFCA Boredom
  Why did everyone play it so safe fashion wise. It was a night of seeing stars wear things we've seen them wear before (Emily Blunt loves the silvery sleek, Marion Cotillard loves the mermaid dresses) or basic white, black and red (Heather Graham, lovely as always). Of these dresses, Julianne Moore's is the most risky but its sculptural beauty only worked from certain angles. Botched Opportunity: Kristen Bell was at a movie star event and should've been trying to look like a movie star rather than a TV star since she's trying to make the transition.
  

Foreign Film: A Prophet (France)
Screenplay: Up in the Air
Song: "Winter" Brothers
TV Drama: Mad Men; Actor: Jon Hamm, Mad Men; Actress: Anna Paquin, True Blood
TV Mini: Grey Gardens; Actor: Brendan Gleeson, Into the Storm; Actress: Drew Barrymore, Grey Gardens
TV Comedy: Glee; Actor: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock; Actress: Courtney Cox, Cougar Town
TV Supporting Actor: Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother; Supporting Actress: Jane Lynch, Glee

• BFCA - Worst Dressed
  Jena Malone & Carey Mulligan need several big meals before the Oscars. Slimming black when you need to eat might not be the best idea. The fussy flourishes don't help much. I still don't understand what Saoirse Ronan was wearing but at least she provided some of the only color of the evening (that wasn't red). Note to Abbie Cornish and her stylist: When someone is not nominated but they are invited anyway (presumably as "forgive us!", the best revenge is to look sensational and hit the best dressed list, not show up looking like you're attending a boring business event... even if that's exactly what it is.
  

The Golden Globe predictions above are not preferences though in several cases they overlap. On the TV front, since I rarely talk about it, I'm really hoping for a surprise win for January Jones in Mad Men (who doesn't get enough credit for that difficult-to-play character). And much as I delight in Glee I really think Modern Family absolutely deserves Best Comedy. I almost can't believe what an exquisite comic jewel it is week after week. It's got everything: brilliant writing, superb comic timing and great laughs per minute ratio.

Who are you rooting for tonight at the Golden Globes? What do you expect to see happen?

5 More From TIFF: Perrier's Bounty, The Joneses, The Hole, Survival of the Dead and A Serious Man

Faithful readers! You may have noticed my absence from the blog of late as I let friends fill in from the Toronto International Film Festival. The Canadian fest wraps today but we've got a few more TIFF related reports to get through. I hope you're enjoying (comment!). After the TIFF wrap, I'll be back. Things have been crazy for me. Apologies! (I can't wait to tell you about my star studded 'Oprah Day'). Here's five more capsules from Txt Critic who I like to argue with in real life (he sees everything) despite his anonymity here.

on The Joneses

This satire of consumerism starring Demi Moore (at TIFF with her man, left) and David Duchovny as parents of a fake family "cell" placed into suburbia to sell their neighbors on various products is about as stale and 'blah' as that plot description sounds. The screenplay leaves both leads grasping at straws to fill in the holes of their characters and it's awkwardly indecisive on a tone; the softball-satire "jokes" clash with the stabs at relevancy and pathos (including a "what have we learned here" climax), and none of the actors ever finds a consistent pitch. I'd be surprised if it gets theatrical distribution. (C)

on The Hole

While I didn't get to see the entire film (the fire alarm was pulled twenty minutes before the film was over!), I feel like I got the gist of this 3-D Poltergeist throwback from Joe Dante. The movie, which intends to be a horror film for family audiences (PG-13?), alternates between groan-inducing dialogue, family drama backstory and jumpy B-movie scares (e.g. a creepy clown doll that keeps reappearing in inconvenient locations). It’s not up to snuff with Dante’s Gremlins but what is? If you have any 8-to-12-year-old kids who like being scared, take them along. That said, you’d still probably be better off with a DVD of Coraline. (C+)

On Perrier's Bounty

Derivative of films like In Bruges (without the emotional heft) and Snatch (without the emphasis on style), this Irish crime comedy flew under the radar of most festival-goers, despite starring well-liked mick stars Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson and Jim Broadbent. Though it doesn’t bring a ton new to the well-worn genre, it boasts clever dialogue, fun performances (particularly Gleeson as the crime boss) and surprisingly off-kilter sources of humor, such as violence in the name of one’s affinity for dogs and dislike for homophobes. Seems a sure bet for small-time US distribution. (B+)

On A Serious Man

I can’t really be trusted when asked for my opinion on a Coen Brothers film. I’m more than a bit biased: for well over a decade, I’ve espoused the belief that they’re the best filmmakers working and I think even their worst movie (yes, The Ladykillers) is still pretty great. That said, even I was surprised at the level to which I was knocked out by their latest, which is supposedly their most personal film. It's about a much put-upon Minnesota university professor (Tony-nominated Michael Stuhlbarg) and how he attempts to grapple with the innumerable trials and tribulations in his life, most prominently via advice from the rabbis in his life.


Man recalls Barton Fink but definitively possesses its own unique identity. The film is consistently very, very funny but proves surprisingly weighty, too. A Serious Man depicts life as basically, ‘one fucking thing after the other,’ and espouses a supremely bleak worldview in an entirely original, oddly moving manner. While it possesses the Coens’ trademark immaculate filmmaking and shot composition, this is probably one of their most esoteric and least commercial films. It’s also, in my opinion, one of their three or four best films and in serious contention for my ‘best movie of the year’ title. (A+)

on George A Romero's Survival of the Dead

I appreciate the effort, but the guy should really give it a rest. I seemed to be one of the few in attendance who thought this was (mildly) more watchable than his last effort, Diary of the Dead. At least it featured a handful of fun, gory moments, and characters I didn’t want to instinctively murder. Overall, I think my reaction can best be summed up by my sold-out midnight audience’s behavior: they gave Romero a standing ovation when he showed up to introduce the film, and shuffled out of the theater as the credits rolled with their heads hung low -- not even bothering to stay for the Q&A with their hero. (C)

Whoa. High praise for the Coen Bros. After No Country For Old Men (my #2 of 2007) and Burn After Reading (#11 of 2008), both top-notch efforts, it's clear that they've jumped whatever hurdle they were struggling to clear in that weird mid-Aughts patch (The Ladykillers, Intolerable Cruelty). Well done.
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Movie Stars For EMMY

Since the EMMYs have 2,741 categories, we only focus on two things: first, how our favorite shows did and second, which big screen stars other than La Pfeiffer (she's always there with her television kingpin husband) will show up. Which of them got nominated for their small screen sojourns whether longform or more movie-like?

Speaking of which...

Drew Barrymore on the set of Going the Distance

Yes, you, Drew. But you knew she knew (everyone knew) that her affecting work in Grey Gardens as "Little Edie" was going to make the grade. "Big Edie" Jessica Lange also won a nomination for the narrative feature based on -- but also sort of jumping off from and commenting on -- the famous beloved documentary of the same name. I hope to have an interview with their director here soon.

Before we get to the rest of the big screen folks, here's the nominees in the big two categories

Big Love finally gets recognized. Strangely none of the actors do.

outstanding drama series (7 nominees. eep)

• Big Love (HBO)
  
• Breaking Bad (AMC)
  
• Damages (FX)
  
• Dexter (SHOWTIME)
  
• House (FOX)
  
• Lost (ABC)
• Mad Men (AMC)

No Friday Night Lights or Battlestar Galactica (sigh) but we expected as much. Some shows just aren't in the EMMY wheelhouse no matter how strong they are. The surprise here is definitely the exclusion of previous winner "24" which the EMMY's have previously loved in all its torture-approving glory.

Interesting note: Mad Men hogged 80% of the writing nominations with only Lost able to slip in there for the fifth slot. BOO! Rose Byrne's category fraud for Damages (she's competing in supporting) probably caused the snubbing of Marcia Gay Harden for that same show. Byrne is *not* a supporting actress on that show. Hello, it's a two-hander. I actually bet she has more screen time than Glenn Close not to mention that the story is usually told through her perspective.

outstanding comedy series (also 7 nominees)

• 30Rock
• Entourage
• Family Guy
• Flight of the Conchords
• How I Met Your Mother
• The Office
  
• Weeds

Two and a Half Men's reign of terror ends at last. Rejoice. BOO: No Pushing Daisies again. TV did not do right by their wonderful "gone too soon" series. YES: Especially good news here for the other Krak addicts out there: Jane Krakowski wins her first EMMY nomination after multiple merciless snubbings. Interesting note: 3 time consecutive supporting actor winner Jeremy Piven is not nominated for Entourage. Does this mean Neil Patrick Harris finally gets the gold?

Movie actors for EMMY
The following races mostly lean towards silver screen thespians. This time they're competing for that gold and winged woman trophy rather than the naked guy with the sword.

Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie pits Oscar winner Kevin Kline (Cyrano de Bergerac on PBS) against Kevin Bacon (Taking Chance on HBO), frequent supporting MVP Brendan Gleeson (Into the Storm on HBO) and Oscar nominees Sir Ian McKellen (King Lear) and Kenneth Branagh (Taking Chance) are all competing for . Hey, no fair: Kiefer Sutherland's TV character Jack Bauer from "24" somehow slipped into this category, spoiling its silver screen style.

Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie features the Grey Gardens girls alongside screen divas Sigourney Weaver (Prayers for Bobby) and Shirley Maclaine (Coco Chanel). EMMY & TV regular Chandra Wilson (Accidental Friendship) rounds out that category.


Lead Actress in a Drama Series usually contains a few movie stars who have migrated to the small screen once Hollywood stopped offering them amazing lead roles. That's the big screen's loss, obviously. Holly Hunter (Saving Grace), Glenn Close (Damages) and Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters) are competing once again with TV stars like Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) and Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men). Moss's character Peggy Olson is wonderful but she really should be competing in the supporting category where everyone but Jon Hamm belongs since the cast is so huge and screen time is limited. The other fine Mad Men women, January Jones and Christina Hendricks, were once again snubbed. This category is often frustrating. The brilliant layered work of Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) goes unnoticed again and Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica) four season snubbing for her work as President Laura Roslyn will surely have to go down in television history as one of the worst 10 offenses that EMMY ever committed.

Miscellania Oscar winners Ernest Borgnine (ER), Ellen Burstyn (Law & Order), Dianne Wiest (In Treatment) and Oscar nominees Brenda Blethyn (Law & Order) and Gena Rowlands (Monk) are all competing in Guest or Supporting acting categories.

Bonus. What's the best category this year?
My vote for the strongest category this year goes to either Lead or Supporting Actress in a Comedy both of which have really strong lineups with no bad apples spoiling the bunch by snubbing far superior work. The nominees are...

Toni Toni Toni and Toni. Do you think she'll win?

Lead Actress in a Comedy

• Julia Louis Dreyfuss, The New Adventures of Old Christine
• Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
• Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Show
• Tina Fey, 30Rock
• Toni Collette, The United States of Tara
• Mary Louise Parker, Weeds

Supporting Actress in a Comedy

• Kristin Chenowith, Pushing Daisies
• Amy Poehler, SNL
• Kristin Wigg, SNL
• Jane Krakowski, 30Rock
• Vanessa Williams, Ugly Betty
• Elizabeth Perkins, Weeds

What say ye? How well did EMMY do this year?

P.S. You can download a complete list of nominees here but be warned, it's 40 pages long.
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Welcome to the Academy Emily Blunt, Emily Blunt

It's that time of year again when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka AMPAS aka The Oscars) invites more Hollywood peeps to join them. In Contention shares the list and rather than repeat the whole thing for you or reiterate last year's first time nominees who are mostly invited (you remember them), I'd just like to pinpoint a few random names I'm especially happy / surprised to see so recognized. They are...

• Emily Blunt who should've been nominated for The Devil Wears Prada.
• James Franco ... was it the Milk snub?
• Hugh Jackman did such a fine job as host. Now that he's a member so there's one more vote for the next time Nicole Kidman gives a brilliant performance. Woot!
• Jane Lynch is always a comic highlight. Her inclusion delights me
  
• Jeffrey Wright still needs a movie role as good as his part in Angels in America
• Howard A Rodman the screenwriter of Savage Grace. I liked that movie a lot but invitations such as this always remind me that one can't truly know the inner workings of the Academy unless you're working its inners. Who knew that anyone in Hollywood would watch that movie? Ah, he's currently a nominee for the WGA's Board of Directors.
  
• Mandy Walker who lensed Australia and got the snub
• Brendan Gleeson who is always solid. Go In Bruges
  
• Clint Mansell is one of the best composers working with two classic film scores already under his belt and his latest Moon currently in theaters (review). But they'll have to invite a lot more composers like him to get the music branch to open up their minds a bit. They're so averse to new composers, so strange in their rulings, and so "default nominee" oriented.

Clint Mansell makes beautiful music
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The BAFTA Nominations for 2008 and The Madhouse Act of 1828

Trivia Time! It's been 180 years since an Act of the British Parliament allowed for the building of mental asylums. The first ever built was the 1st Middlesex County Asylum in West London which opened its doors in 1831. The British invented insane asylums! Who knew? And yet it all makes sense...

177 years later, ancestors of those first Middlesex patients voted on the nominations for the British Academy Film Awards (or BAFTA or "The Orange Film Awards" --make up your minds!) honoring the films of 2008. Gemma Arterton ("Strawberry Fields" in the latest Bond film) and Hayley Atwell (The Duchess) made the announcements which were... _ _ _ _ _ _.

(You saw where that was going I hope. Good.)

Years ago I paid no mind to these particular awards and, scanning over this year's nominees, I think I was probably of sound mind back then. Somewhere along the line, I lost my resistance to them -- I think it was when Kate Winslet won a prize and thanked Peter Jackson for discovering her? (It's all Heavenly Creatures fault!) -- and I have lived to curse my interest in them ever since. I grew deeply suspicious of the Orange Film Awards when they changed their schedule to become an Oscar precursor. Must everything be about the Oscars? You don't see the Goyas (Spain) or the Cesars (France) trying to predict American film prizes! Now I'm not suspicious so much as perplexed.

If you want their full list you can click on the link above but let's just talk Picture & Acting

Best Film

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire

Outstanding British Film

• Hunger, In Bruges, Mamma Mia!, Man on Wire and Slumdog Millionaire
  

I list these two categories together because I think it's odd and sad that they have a Best Picture prize and then a sort of ugly stepsister category to honor their own artists. ("Odd" wouldn't be the right word if we're talking more specifically about Mamma Mia!'s nomination. What is this, the British People's Choice Awards?)



Shouldn't the main prize "Best Film" be honoring their own films, the way virtually every country's academy does, responding first to their own productions while making room for the occasional import they really loved? The way their system is structured now they're basically telling you that the only film they made this year as good as an American film is Slumdog Millionaire and that's a) not remotely true since Hunger & In Bruges and the egregiously snubbed Happy-Go-Lucky are all pretty damn good pictures b) curiously self-loathing and c) inversely funny since the American Academy has often been accused of having Anglophilia. The grass is always greener I guess.

Side note 1: Despite's Milk's Best Picture nomination, they showed no real enthusiasm. Only four noms (Pic, Screenplay, Lead Actor and Hair/Makeup)

Side note 2: Has any film in history as unpassionately received as Frost/Nixon been so unanimously embraced by so many disparate awards bodies? It's a head scratcher. I haven't met anyone who hates it and a lot of people seem to think it's good and quite entertaining (myself included) but Best Picture every single time? What's more it has achieved this breezy awards champ status without public support -- It's made less than 8 million at this writing which is very low for an eventual Best Picture nominee, even if you're only looking at box office prior to nominations. (The lowest grossing future BP nominee in the past 2o years was Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima with only $2 million in the bank prior to its nomination. But that was an Eastwood picture and the normal rules don't really apply).

I know, I know... only 10 pictures were actually released in 2008 so I guess the chances for Frost/Nixon were like 50/50 [*snort*]

It gets worse.

Leading Actor

• Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
• Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
• Sean Penn, Milk
• Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Leading Actress

• Angelina Jolie, Changeling
• Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long
• Meryl Streep, Doubt
• Kate Winslet, The Reader
• Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

The best that can be said here is that they've put lead categories into a lead race (imagine that!). The worst that can be said is that the presence of Dev Patel definitely casts doubt on standard American perceptions that British actors are super serious about their craft.

We always marvel (rightly, I'd wager) that most of their stars actually train to act, rather than just show up at auditions hoping to be famous. But this is another reminder that acting well and judging artistic efforts are different skills. I wonder if Dame Judi Dench actually thought Dev Patel gave a stronger performance than Michael Fassbender in Hunger? Blargh!


I just don't have time for BAFTA anymore. At least if Patel gets nominated at the Oscars (likely) he'll be demoted to Supporting where they'll often nominate someone on the sole basis of their cuteness or luck at appearing in a popular film -- it's vaguely expected.

Supporting Actor

• Robert Downey Jr. Tropic Thunder
• Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
• Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
• Brad Pitt, Burn After Reading

Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams, Doubt
• Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Freida Pinto, Slumdog Millionaire
• Tilda Swinton, Burn After Reading
• Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Oh, BAFTA. Art is subjective so I hate to make crass generalizations but anyone who thinks Freida Pinto is a better actress than Viola Davis probably has no business passing out awards in film excellence. Am I wrong? I mean, if you saw Doubt, what's your excuse?

P.S. I love beautiful people. They're wonderful to look at. I actually think we should have more ridiculously beautiful people in the movies and Pinto's pure loveliness is actually sort of jaw dropping. But hear me out. Just add a "Most Desirable" category like they used to do at the MTV Movie Awards. I mean... since that's how you wanna roll. I think Keanu Reeves is one of the most beautiful men ever projected on the silver screen but you don't see me handing him Best Actor prizes.

Beauty is its own reward. Shouldn't it remain so?

P.S. 2 New readers should note that I am not always this crabby. BAFTA nominations merely make me long for padded cells... (it's safer to bang your head against the wall that way). I promise to be less filled with bile next week. Er... that's when the Oscar nominations come out. Uhhhh, I take that back.

P.S. 3 Oscar Predictions updates are coming tonight.
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Monologue: Ray's Remorse

Monday Monologues. Please note: The following post contains a small *spoiler* --a reveal that happens 25 minutes into the movie --that's also listed in every synopsis...;) In Bruges.

In Bruges begins with a voiceover by Ray (Colin Farrell), a hitman whose boss has asked him to hide out in quaint tourist-friendly Bruges, Belgium. His previous job went all kinds of wrong. He is to await further instructions there. Ray's partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson) dutifully takes in the art and the sightseeing and Ray, lost in his as yet undefined remorse grumbles and whines about their "vacation".

After a couple of reels of film, the reason for Ray's grief is made clear in flashback. And Ray, while looking at art with Ken, starts asking him theological questions. They wander to a park bench discussing violence and consequence which initally prompts amusing banter about when a murder is self defense or not. Ken once killed a lollipop man who was merely trying to save his brother (who he was there to kill). He feels bad about the act still but the man had come at him with a bottle. Ray, always eager for distractions from his own remorse, argues that Ken was justified. If it he had attacked him with only bare hands, say, the murder would have been uncalled for.

Ken: Well, technically your bare hands can kill somebody, too. They can be deadly weapons too. What if he knew karate, say?
Ray: You said he was a lollipop man.
Ken: He was a lollipop man.
Ray: What's a lollipop man doing knowing fucking karate? How old was he?
Ken: I'm just saying... Fifty.
Ray: What's a 50 year old lollipop man doing knowing fucking karate?! Was he a Chinese lollipop man? Jesus Ken. I'm trying to talk about...
[long pause]
Ken: I know what you're trying to talk about.

As happens so often in the movie, Ray's face starts to sour again as the weight of his guilt crushes him all over again. (Farrell is truly expressive in this role) The tone shifts quickly from comedy to drama, the mood of In Bruges falling as rapidly as each new shower of remorse.

Ray: I killed a little boy. You keep bringing up a fucking lollipop man.

I know I didn't mean to but because of the choices I made and the course that I put into action a little boy isn't here anymore. And he'll never be here again. I mean here in the world, not here in Belgium. But he'll never be here in Belgium either, will he? I mean he might have wanted to come here when he got older. I don't know why.

And that's all because of me. He's dead because of me. And I'm trying to --I'm trying to get me head around it but I can't. I will always have killed that little boy. That ain't ever going away. Ever.

Unless... maybe I go away.

"Don't even think like that" is his partners response. The most unexpectantly poignant thing about In Bruges is the way the film weaves in the details of this friendship between two killers. [What is the cinema's fascination with hitmen about exactly? A topic for another time.] Ray's paternal instincts and aged matter-of-fact demeanor are continually rubbing up against Ray's restless immaturity and loss of innocence to both comedic and dramatic effect. Ken merely wants Ray to be happy and live a good life. Even if he needs to find a new line of work. It's as simple and paternal as that.

In Bruges is wonderfully written by Martin McDonaugh and though it's his first feature length film, he seems pretty confident behind the camera too. This hitmen in hiding tale has got some neat plotting as well as some predictable beats that still manage to surprise. Those are the best kind of twists... the kind that make all kinds of sense, the kind where, even if you saw them coming... they didn't arrive in quite the way you expected. So, add this one to your rental queues if you haven't yet seen it. The quality of the writing shouldn't be a surprise to those familiar with Martin McDonaugh's plays (The Pillow Man and The Lieutenant of Inishmore among them) or his Oscar winning short (Six Shooter). If there's any justice in the world In Bruges will at least be talked up for Best Original Screenplay nominations when the year winds down. Not that there's any justice in the world...

1/2 Way Mark: The Acting

These are not Oscar predictions. They are my preferences -- the five performances in each category I have loved most this year from the 50 films I've screened. I'm doing this since the year is half over... and also just begun. (Oh, you know how Hollywood waits and waits to release the juicy stuff...) Unfortunately none of them will get any traction for acknowledgements later in the year when various groups start giving prizes. It's all in the timing...

Best Leading Actress
Amy Adams -Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day (review)
Irene Azuelas -Burn the Bridges
Famke Jannsen -Turn the River (interview)
Frances McDormand -Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day
Julianne Moore -Savage Grace (review)

Watch out people. Julianne comes roaring back into psychosexual territory and none too soon. I need redheads experiencing mental breakdowns in dramas like most people need warm blondes falling in sweet love in romcoms. I just do. Adams and McDormand are appealing if not extraordinary in Miss Pettigrew (though I was tempted to replace one of them with Katharine Heigl who was ready to do a lot more for 27 Dresses if the film or screenplay had only figured out what to ask of her), Azuela holds all the threads of Burn the Bridges to her bosom like a protective makeshift mother (any Mexican readers know anything about this young talent?), and Janssen announces again that Hollywood isn't properly utilizing her talents. She's strong in Turn the River.

Best Leading Actor
Robert Downey Jr -Iron Man
Colin Farrel -In Bruges
Brendan Gleeson -In Bruges
Espin Klouman -Reprise
Dominique Pinon -Roman de Gare (review)

[note: Before anybody gets their panties in a twist: I have not seen The Visitor. I do enjoy Richard Jenkins work generally so...] The hyperbole was really out of control on Robert Downey Jr's Tony Spark/Iron Man spin. It's not like he was reinventing the wheel. Still it was thrilling to see this great actor headline a big star vehicle for a change. Every other performance here was more surprising in a way but you can't fault RDJ for being reliable. He's been consistently charismatic and spot on since way back in the 1980s.

The other men didn't get even 1/100th of RDJ's praise but they deserve some as well. Colin Farrel especially. He gives his best performance yet in the deceptively simple but intricately enjoyable In Bruges (from the amazing playwright Martin McDonaugh --I'd also highly recommend his Oscar winning short film Six Shooter.) He plays a hitman with a guilt-ridden conscience and it's amazing to see him drift away from his sadness whenever something amuses or surprises him (dwarves, drugs, women) only for it to snag hold of him again as his mind invariably snaps back. There's so much happening in his face. Gleeson partners him well. Klouman (in his first major role) is beautifully attentive to all of his scene partners and a true natural. Finally, Pinon improbably transforms his weird self into something resembling a romantic leading man. Wow.

Best Supporting Actress
Audrey Dana -Roman de Gare
Shirley Henderson -Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Claude Sarraute -The Last Mistress
Charlize Theron -Sleepwalking (review)
Victoria Winge -Reprise

My apologies have to go out to Patricia Clarkson in Married Life (review), Eva Amurri in The Life Before Her Eyes (review) both of whom I talked up previously but I couldn't do without Henson's mesmerizing schemer, Sarraute's hilarious horny grandma, Dana's accidental muse, Theron's film stealing mojo and Winge (stealing a line from Pajiba here) "who looks like Björk if Björk was from Earth"

Best Supporting Actor
Eugenio Derbez -Under the Same Moon (review)
Ralph Fiennes -In Bruges
Val Lauren -True Love (previous notes)
Victor Razuk -Stop-Loss (review)
Channing Tatum -Stop-Loss

I am commentless at this moment.

Best Cameo / Tiny Role
Steven Coogan Finding Amanda
Ernesto D'Alessio Under the Same Moon
Henrik Mestad Reprise
Jérémie Renier In Bruges

I couldn't think of five but these men added wonderful notes to their films.

Drrrty (Most Indecently Luscious)
Asia Argento -The Last Mistress
Angelina Jolie & James McAvoy -Wanted
Gilles Marini -Sex & the City: The Movie
Julianne Moore & Stephen Dillane & Hugh Dancy & Eddie Redmayne & Elena Anaya & Unax Ugalde -Savage Grace (Too bad they're all such pervs)

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Which of these performances have you seen? Were you impressed? Whose acting reel (circa 2008) would you watch again?

Related Post: top ten of the year so far (Jan-Jun)