Safe

Note:  Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 4/27/04 w/ Additional Edits.

One of the most renowned independent filmmakers of his generation, Todd Haynes has always been a subversive filmmaker among his peers. In 1987, Haynes directed a short film called Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story about the tragic singer of the Carpenters. The film had a cast performed by Barbie dolls and the controversy surrounding the short proved to be huge when Karen's brother Richard and the company Mattel sued Haynes from getting the film released. Despite the controversy, Superstar became a bootleg classic as Haynes' 1991 feature-length debut Poison with frequent collaborator and producer Christine Vachon drew more controversy for its homo-erotic themes and subtexts. Despite the controversy, the film helped helm the New Queer Cinema movement of the early 90s as Haynes was becoming more experimental with his short film Dottie Gets Spanked for PBS in 1993 as he began work on one of the decade’s most disturbing films, Safe.

Written and directed by Haynes with Vachon as producer, Safe is a harrowing drama about a Southern California housewife whose perfect world crumbles as she becomes ill with diseases due to chemicals and environmental surroundings as she is forced to go to a New Age facility to cure herself. Starring Julianne Moore, Safe is set in the late 80s with some analogical references to AIDS and the environment that plays up to a sense of fear and paranoia in the late 20th Century as Haynes becomes more unconventional with storylines and his directing style. The film is partially a satire as well as a thriller and a drama as it bends genres in a complex style that disturbing yet compelling. One of the most eerie films of 1995, Safe is a cautionary film of isolation and manipulation.

It's 1987 and for Carol White (Julianne Moore), her idyllic, mid-upper class lifestyle in Southern California with husband Greg (Xander Berkeley) and stepson Rory (Chauncey Leopardi) seems to be just perfect. While her husband is at work and Rory in school, Carol is trying to finish work on renovating her house with new couches and a kitchen. Carol also enjoys life outside of her house as she picks up her laundry and goes to aerobic classes with her friend Sarah (Sarah Davis) where she notices that Carol never sweats during the exercises. Then one day as the day of the new couches were to arrive, they came in the wrong color and she goes out to the store to correct the order and run errands as suddenly while driving behind a truck with smoke coming out, she starts to cough erratically as she goes to a parking lot and collapses.

For Carol, her life begins to crumble as she tries new things like a fruit diet with Sarah and getting a perm at a hair salon where at the place, she started getting nosebleeds. She goes to Dr. Reynolds (Peter Crombie) who ran a few tests on her and said that she was fine but Carol isn't fine. Suddenly, the symptoms gets worse as she begins to have headaches frequently as Greg is annoyed and one morning as he tries to comfort her, she begins to vomit and is in tears over her illness. Carol tries to go on with her life as she begin to have trouble trying to ignore her problem until she saw a flyer about fumes as she briefly tried to talk to counselors over her problem. Carol's illness then worsens as during a baby shower, she begins to have trouble breathing and finds herself becoming increasingly ill.

Dr. Reynolds keep running tests and insists that she’s fine and the illness is due to stress and paranoia as Greg felt the same way. Carol though wants to look for answers, as she would go to seminars that revealed that she was suffering from environmental illness due to chemicals. She would go to seminars ran by a counselor (Beth Grant) as her lifestyle changed suddenly as she told Sarah, she can't wear makeup anymore and is forced to live in a room that is free of chemicals with an oxygen tank on her side. One day as she went to the dry cleaners, the place was being sprayed with fumes as all of a sudden, Carol goes into a shock as she is sent to the hospital and her paranoia of fumes increases as Dr. Reynolds has no idea what's going on. While resting at the hospital, Carol sees a TV ad for a New Age place called Wrenwood run by a guru named Peter Dunning (Peter Friedman) in New Mexico.

Carol goes to the place by herself where she meets counselor Claire (Kate McGregor-Stewart) as she learns that Peter is an AIDS-living man who is filled with positive thinking and Carol becomes overwhelmed by the place’s loving tone. Carol befriends a fellow patient named Chris (James LeGros) as she tries to learn about her symptoms while wondering if there's a cure. She also befriends Peter as they look at a man who is afraid to live or even breathe while Greg, during a visit, is wondering if Peter is for real as he is disturbed by Peter's self-love tactics. One day after a patient died, Carol sees an igloo-shaped house where she decides to move in as she begins to isolate herself from her past.

What makes Safe such a harrowing thriller without the conventional rhythms of past thrillers is in Todd Haynes' unconventional, linear tone that just smooth out the edges for something anti-climatic rather than being overtly shocking. The unconventional tone also relates to its pacing. It's slow yet works to convey the sense of paranoia and fear in Carol White. Haynes though, was merely trying to present the film as a cautionary tale by exploring Carol White's psychological turmoil rather than the disease itself. In that presentation, Safe comes off as original with its themes of paranoia and strange references to the environment and AIDS while bringing satire to the cult-like elements of Peter Friedman's guru character. These elements and restrained emotional drama bring strength to Haynes' complex, dour screenplay. Particularly in its pop culture references to the 80s as in one scene, Carol is listening to Rory's report on gang violence in Los Angeles in gory detail showing her naiveté and meek persona.

If Haynes' ability as a screenwriter is unorthodox in its approach as a storyteller, then Haynes' approach to directing is even more amazing. In many aspects, Haynes is channeling the directing style of the late Stanley Kubrick, as an auteur director who is looking for what kind of emotion he wants from the characters and what response the audience should have. In many scenes, the camera is often placed away from the actual place where the actors are. Here, there's a sense of detachment as the audience plays the role of the third person watching this poor, naïve woman disintegrating through her own illness. There are very few close-up shots in the film and that sense of detachment is even more amazing in the film's directing style. Even for the fact that the scenes of reference of environmental TV ads, radio, and all sorts of media play up to that detachment. In many respects, this is a definitive ideal of what a director should be.

If Haynes' directing style is obtuse in its town, then it is complemented perfectly by the vast cinematography of Alex Nepomniaschy. Nepomniaschy plays up to the film's eerie, isolation tone from its shots of Southern California suburbia and its idyllic tone to the smoggy world of downtown Los Angeles and its highways with shots of cars in traffic. Plus, the shots of the American Southwest with its sunny-like deserts and the orange tone of Wrenwood is masterfully shot as it plays up to the eeriness of late 20th Century paranoia.

James Lyons' editing also plays to that tone with its elliptical yet engrossing style of dissolves, fade-outs, and such where it has a style that works to Carol's state of mind. While the slow pacing might annoy audience and taste their patience. Patience is the key to understand White's state of mind as Lyons' editing is superb.

Adding the elements of paranoia is the film's score composer Ed Tomney whose score of shimmering, dense synthesizer is extremely haunting in its scenes that captures an ambient but space-like tone to the film as if it plays up to a sci-fi film gone horribly wrong. Tomney really captures that late 20th Century world of isolation and fear that is relevant now in the 21st. There's also a track from ambient pioneer legend Brian Eno in the film as well as some 80s pop hits from Madonna, George Benson, Kenny Loggins, and Belinda Carlisle that seems to be placed in a very offbeat way as if something is about to go wrong in the way Haynes plays with music.

The film's cast is wonderfully played in its small roles from its performances from Sarah Davis as Moore’s best friend, Chauncey Leopardi as the stepson, and Peter Crombie as the doctor to the more well-known actors like James LeGros as a fellow patient and the always enjoyable Beth Grant as a counselor. In the role of Claire, Kate McGregor-Stewart is wonderful as Moore's Wrenwood counselor who shows her its okay to be overwhelmed in a very touching scene where Moore breaks down. Peter Friedman is almost hilarious, even though his performance wasn't meant to be comedic, as the optimistic guru. Friedman plays up to the film's satire while balancing the self-love and self-blame persona on his characters that is very ambiguous in its approach as he blurs the perception of whether he's really trying to help them or he's just another false guru. Xander Berkeley is excellent as Moore's caring but ignorant husband as the audience understand how he feels about her although it's likely he could've done more but doesn't understand even though he really cares for her.

The film's most striking performance of course goes to Julianne Moore who brings a complex and harrowing performance as Carol White. Moore doesn't make Carol pathetic or selfish but rather as a woman who isn't very bright and is kind of meek but with good intentions. There's also a naiveté about Carol that makes her innocent while we see her develop as a woman having trouble with isolation and the illness that surrounds her. Moore puts a lot of herself and anguish into a performance that is masterful in its raw form and restraint. This film would really put her in the spotlight as she since have gone back and forth with big-budget Hollywood films and landmark independent films with a huge degree of success.

While it's not a film for everyone, Safe is still an evocative and haunting film from Todd Haynes helmed by his masterful presentation and Julianne Moore's eerie performance. Haynes since then would follow-up Safe with 1998's glam-rock film Velvet Goldmine before reuniting with Moore in 2002 for their crowning achievement, the Douglas Sirk-inspired melodrama of Far from Heaven. Though Far from Heaven is a more accessible film in its look, tone, performances, and style, Safe will likely draw to more serious film aficionados. In the end, the credit goes to Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore for their contributions to this film as Safe remains one of the 1990s’ most original and disturbing films of the decade.

Todd Haynes Films: Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story - Poison - Dottie Gets Spanked - Velvet Goldmine - Far from Heaven - I'm Not There - Mildred Pierce (TV miniseries) - Carol - Wonderstruck - Dark Waters (2019 film) - The Velvet Underground - The Auteurs #3: Todd Haynes

© thevoid99 2010

Inception

Ever since scoring a breakthrough with 2000’s Memento, Christopher Nolan has been considered to be one of the finest new directors making films at this time. 2002’s remake of 1997 Norwegian film Insomnia ensured Nolan’s place as one of the top new directors as he was selected to revive the Batman film franchise. In 2005, Batman Begins was released to a lot of acclaim as did its 2008 sequel The Dark Knight that is currently the third highest grossing film in the U.S. While 2006’s The Prestige was a break from the franchise that also maintained Nolan’s viability and anticipation running high for the third Batman film. Nolan returns to more original material with a film about mind extractions and other strange occurrences with Inception.

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Inception tells the story of a man who steals ideas from a company by extracting into their mind. In his job, he is also trying to deal with the death of his wife while hoping to do one last job before returning to his family. During this job, he encounters trouble as he tries to escape from his own guilt and everything else. A psychological drama of sorts mixed in with elements of heist films, Nolan crafts a film with a lot of ambition filled with dazzling visual effects and a complex story line that recalls some of his early films. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Tom Berenger, and Pete Postlethwaithe. The film also stars such Nolan regulars as Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, and Michael Caine. Inception is a remarkable, visually-stunning film from Christopher Nolan and company.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is at a party for a Japanese businessman to talk about his job which is to extract ideas from other people’s minds. Joining Dom is his right-hand man and researcher Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). At the party, Dom sees his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) where things go wrong. All of a sudden, Dom and Arthur have woken up in the middle of another world with Saito and an architect named Nash (Lukas Haas). When it is revealed that Saito really has nothing to be extracted from, it is clear that Saito used Dom and Arthur as an audition for what he really seeks. He wants to inject an idea into the mind of a corporate rival which is known as inception as he offers Dom something he couldn’t refuse.

The offer was for Dom to finally return to America if he takes the job. Dom’s inability to return to the U.S. to return to his kids was due to the death of his wife whom he’s been seeing frequently in his own dreams. Seeking guidance from his father-in-law and mentor Miles (Michael Caine), Miles gives Dom a new architect to work with in a young student named Ariadne (Ellen Page) who becomes part of his new team. Learning about how to construct dreams, Ariadne enters into a new world as she is joined by a forger named Eames who takes on various disguises and a chemist named Yusuf (Dileep Rao) who has created a powerful sedative for deep dream sleep. Saito joins the team as Arthur finds the target in Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), the son of Saito’s corporate rival Maurice Fischer (Pete Postlethwaithe), who is currently dying.

During the planning, Ariadne learns of Dom’s troubles as she would often see Mal or something from Dom’s memories into his subconscious as he could be a liability to the upcoming mission. Realizing that Ariadne is the one who knows what might’ve happened, Dom realizes that he needs her to keep him on check. With the entire team including Saito boarding a 747 plane with Robert Fischer on board, Fischer gets drugged as the whole team goes into his subconscious. Upon their arrival into Fischer’s subconscious, trouble ensues as they realize that Fischer has put some defenses. After kidnapping Fischer in his own subconscious, Eames disguises himself as Fischer’s godfather Peter Browning (Tom Berenger) to get some information.

Instead, it becomes more troubling as Fischer and the team have to go into another subconscious with Yusuf keeping an eye out for trouble. Inside becomes more complicated as Dom and everyone goes into levels of subconscious minds to get what’s inside the safe of the Fischer family. Yet, Dom becomes more troubled by his own past and the presence of Mal as he confesses his own guilt as he realize what he must do.

For a film as ambitious and complex as Inception is, what is more surprising is how simple the plot of the film. It’s about a man doing one more heist job by going into someone’s mind so he can go home. While that plotline seems simple, nothing in the mind of Christopher Nolan is simple as he fleshes out ideas that are truly complex and layered. Notably for the fact that he takes the audience into a journey that revolves around a man’s guilt as well as his attempts to break into people’s minds.

While the screenplay and concepts recall some of the work of Charlie Kaufman, Nolan creates a story where he distorts the idea of where people are at.  The film starts with a sequence of Cobb arriving into the home of an old man which would be revisited towards the end. Yet, it cuts to a scene of Cobb at a party with Arthur and Saito where the audience thinks its real. Then comes the realization that they’re all in someone’s subconscious and then what is going on now is someone else’s subconscious. While at first, what happens is hard to follow. Nolan is just giving the audience an idea of what is real and what is fiction. Immediately, the audience gets a chance to figure things and there’s a character that sort of becomes their guide in the form of Ariadne, the new member of Cobb’s team.

Ariadne is one of several supporting characters that does get a chance to stand out as she doesn’t just serve as a Greek chorus in a way for the audience. She is also the one person who goes deeper into Cobb’s mind and tries to help him deal with it. While another supporting character in Arthur does have an idea about Cobb’s state of mind, he only backs away just so he can do his job. Arthur, like Cobb, does become a mentor for Ariadne so she can be guided into what subconscious she’s in. Others like Saito, Fischer, Yusuf, and Eames don’t get as much development yet they’re characters that audiences do get to care about and get to know them a bit. Yet, it’s Cobb that is the man that drives the film as he is dealing with his own guilt over his wife’s death as well as his reasons to want to go home. When the audience is introduced to Mal, we see a woman who seems angry yet there’s a reason for her anger that is rooted in what Cobb might’ve done to her.

If Nolan’s creation of characters, environments, and how they interact to the different subconscious worlds they’re in. It’s Nolan’s direction that really takes the story to a level that is truly stunning. When the film is shown, it’s clear that Nolan uses his ambition to tell a story that is truly mesmerizing. In creating cities and places where things can fold on top of another or action sequences that involves a fight where the hallway is spinning around. Nolan is going for tricks where he doesn’t have to use CGI entirely by getting sets built and actually make sure it doesn’t look it’s being made by computers.

Nolan still utilizes certain framing styles and compositions along with close-ups and zooming shots to make audiences know that they’re watching a Christopher Nolan film. Still, it’s clear that the film the audience is watching is by a director who is refining his craft while learning new tricks to create something that is fascinating and jaw-dropping. Even in the visual-effects driven sequences about the recreation of cities where there’s a scene where a city folds on top of itself that looks truly amazing. Even as he uses visual effects for more than just spectacle but use it as a form of storytelling. What Nolan does overall with the film whether its creating high-octane action sequences reminiscent of chase movies or even James Bond-inspired action sequences. Even if it’s just a simple scene where they set up the heist. This film proves that Nolan is clearly at the top of his game as he is becoming one of the best filmmakers working today.

Nolan’s longtime cinematographer Wally Pfister does spectacular work with the film’s lighting design and visual look. Pfister’s photography is stunning in its wide scope along with dark shades for interior and exterior scenes to create a chilling mood. For the first inception subconscious sequence in the rain, the look of the film is dark but also pristine but without any kind of polish. It’s truly some of the best photography captured on film as Pfister is definitely becoming one of the best cinematographers in the business.

Another noted Nolan collaborator in Lee Smith does some fantastic work with the film’s editing. Taking on a mostly, leisurely pace for a majority of the film so it can move quite seamlessly without anything moving very fast or going too slow. Smith pretty much slow things down once the action sequences are done so audiences can have a breather. There’s even dramatic scenes where the cutting is fast but only to intensify what is happening in the heist while the action is fast but not hyperactive so the audience can have an idea of what is happening. The work that Smith puts into the editing is masterful and an example of how it should be done.

Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas, along with set decorators Larry Dias and Doug Mowat plus supervising art director Brad Ricker, does amazing work with set design for the film. While some of the film is shot on location in Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles, Tangiers, parts of England, and in Canada. Many of the interiors for some of the subconscious scenes, including the zero-gravity sequence, were built with a look that is polished but not in a bloated manner. The designs of the buildings and for Saito’s Japanese style home is superb as the art direction is truly stunning.

Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland does some excellent work with the look of the costumes that complement the visual look of the art direction. While a lot of the clothes is mostly casual in several scenes. Some of the scenes have the characters were suits or evening gowns to convey the sense of atmosphere in the subconscious the characters are in. Visual effects supervisor Paul J. Franklin is phenomenal in the use of CGI that doesn‘t look fake. For several of the subconscious-driven sequences, notably the folding building scene. Franklin, along with his team, succeed in not going overboard in visual effects as it’s an example of how it should be done.

Sound designer Richard King does amazing work in the film‘s sound editing and design to create broad layers for the locations the characters are in. Notably the action scenes that are layered with sounds of heavy rain, tire squeals, gunshots, and trains railing on the ground as the layering is phenomenal. King’s work is definitely another of the film’s technical highlights. The film’s music by Hans Zimmer is a haunting yet eerie score piece that is filled with broad orchestral arrangements mixed in with down-tempo yet smooth electronic textures. Adding flourish to the sound on guitar is legendary guitarist for the Smiths in Johnny Marr. The guitar textures Marr brings to Zimmer’s score is incredible while the rest of the soundtrack includes the drone-based score music of Zack Hemsey and the Edith Piaf song Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien that’s played throughout the film.

The casting by John Papsidera is definitely spellbinding as it‘s definitely one of the best ensemble cast team ever assembled. Small roles from Claire & Taylor Geare as different ages of Dom’s daughter Phillipa and Magnus Nolan & Taylor Geare as his son James are excellent for their small, face-less appearances. Others include Talulah Riley as a blonde in a subconscious fantasy scene and Tai-Li Lee as a man who helps people sleep longer in a brothel of sorts. Notable small but memorable appearances include Lukas Haas as Nash, an architect in an early sequence while Michael Caine makes a cameo appearance of sorts as Dom’s father-in-law/mentor who gives him advice about what to do. Tom Berenger is very good as Fischer’s godfather who tries to go into the secret code of Fischer’s vault while Pete Postlethwaithe is also good as Fischer’s hardened father whom Fischer has a strained relationship with.

Dileep Rao is excellent as Yusuf, a chemist who helps Dom and the team in their mission by creating a sedative for long sleeps while they’re on the job as he also gets in the action for a brilliant car chase scene. Tom Hardy, of Bronson fame, is great as Eames. A humorous forger who takes on various disguises while being the guy who goes into the action and be the shooter as Hardy’s performance is a real standout. Cillian Murphy is wonderful as Robert Fischer, the target of the inception who wonders what’s going on as he ends up becoming part of team despite his reluctance. Ken Watanabe is brilliant as Saito, the businessman who hires Dom for the inception as he also takes part in the action not knowing about the stakes of what has to be done.

Marion Cotilliard is phenomenal as Mal, Dom’s deceased wife who appears in Dom’s subconscious and others who seems to have a vendetta over the idea that Dom has abandoned her.  Cotillard’s performance is definitely complex as a woman who has no idea what happened to her but is determined to get into Dom’s head. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great as Arthur, Don’s right-hand man and researcher who helps organize the job while taking in part of the action. Gordon-Levitt proves to be able to stand with the likes of DiCaprio while getting involved in one of the film’s best action sequences as it’s another solid performance from the young actor. Ellen Page delivers what is probably her best performance to date as Ariadne, the new architect for the team. While not displaying the wit she had in Juno a few years ago, it’s definitely a more mature performance as she plays the observer and conscious of sorts. Even as she plays DiCaprio’s anchor where she shows her true dramatic talents in working with DiCaprio as it’s definitely a winning supporting turn.

Finally, there’s Leonardo DiCaprio in what is definitely one of his greatest performances to date. In the role of Dom Cobb, DiCaprio brings a tour-de-force performance as man struggling to get home while dealing with the death of his wife. There’s a sense of restraint and anguish to his performance while maintaining a sense of professionalism when he’s on the job. DiCaprio definitely shows his presence in doing physical stunts and such while he has a great camaraderie with the entire cast. It’s clear how far DiCaprio has grown as an actor since the days of Leo-mania when Titanic was the highest-grossing film of all-time back in 1997. His role as Dom Cobb proves that Leonardo DiCaprio is becoming one of the best actors working today.

Inception is a marvelous yet jaw-dropping film from Christopher Nolan and company. Featuring amazing technical work and a solid ensemble cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, it’s a film that definitely that challenges the audience of what can be done with a blockbuster. Particularly in an era where 3D and low-concept films with silly gimmicks are expected to bring asses in the seats. Fortunately, Nolan nor his cohorts believe in that as Inception is a film that is smart enough for audiences of moderate taste that they can follow. In the end, Inception is a remarkable film that shows that ambition doesn’t have to be presented with loads of CGI and gimmicks. All that is needed is a story and a vision that is unique as it comes from the spectacular mind of Christopher Nolan.

Christopher Nolan Films: Following - Memento - Insomnia (2002 film) - Batman Begins - The Prestige - The Dark Knight - The Dark Knight Rises - Interstellar - Dunkirk - Tenet - Oppenheimer - The Auteurs #13: Christopher Nolan

© thevoid99 2010

Update: 7/20/10

Due to some situations relating to Epinions.com, which has become an un-enjoyable to work at.

I will finally be posting some new reviews here just for the time being.  There will finally be some reviews though not frequently for now.

New Restructuring

Since I am now currently on hiatus from various projects and from Epinions.com due to personal matters. Whatever new writing material that has been completed will be released here for the time being. For now, this blog is on hiatus for the time being.

EXCLUSIVE: Yeah Yeah Yeahs-It's Blitz! Review

When the Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their debut album Fever to Tell in 2003 following two acclaimed EPs. They were one of the hot new bands from the New York City garage scene that also included the Strokes. Though they were signed to a label with affiliations with the major label Interscope, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were still considered indie by critics and their growing legion of fans. An unexpected hit in the song Maps gave them some mainstream attention as they were set to work on their second album. Vocalist Karen O was already going through high profile relationships with the Liars frontman Angus Andrew and film director Spike Jones.

Working with Jones’ brother Sam Spiegel for the Show Your Bones album, the band wanted to reinvent themselves musically as they leaned towards more acoustic instruments, broader arrangements, and diverse styles. The resulting album received some acclaim from fans and critics but some felt the album lacked the primal intensity of Fever to Tell as well as its cohesiveness. It was around the time that tension within the band was becoming troubling as Karen O, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase were dealing with fame and personal turmoil. 2007's Is Is EP featured re-recorded songs written from the Fever to Tell tour was produced by Nick Luanay. The famed producer who worked with acts like Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Public Image Ltd., and the Slits.

The record brought new inspiration from the band as they took a break to do side projects. In 2008, the band decided to return to the studio to work with Nick Luanay and their Fever to Tell producer David Andrew Sitek of TV on the Radio, who did additional production on Show Your Bones. For the next record, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs decided to reinvent themselves once again by trading guitars for synthesizers for some tracks. At the same time, the band explore the dance-punk sub-genre as well as more elements of post-punk for what is probably the band’s best work to date entitled It’s Blitz!

Written & performed by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with production by Nick Luanay and David Andrew Sitek, It’s Blitz! is an album filled with hypnotic, synthesizer-driven dance-punk songs, haunting ballads, and genre-bending cuts. With Karen O’s vocals more confident and engaging than in previous albums without the screeches of early albums. The musicianship of Nick Zinner on guitars, bass, keyboards, and synthesizers and Brian Chase on drums and other percussive-driven instruments reaches new heights in its performance and precision. The album features guest appearances from Sitek’s TV on the Radio cohorts Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, the Birds and the Bees instrumentalist Greg Kurstin, Yeah Yeah Yeahs touring bassist Imaad Wasif, and from the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, trumpet player Eric Biondo and saxophonist Stuart Bogie. The result isn’t just a new defining step for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but also one of 2009's most surprising albums.

The album opens with its leading single Zero, a song that opens with a shimmering, menacing synthesizer line with Karen O’s sensual vocal lead the way. With Brian Chase’s thumping, throbbing beats and hi-hat cymbal crashes, the song becomes this full-on, dance-punk song with a wailing synthesizer accompaniment as Karen sings lyrics of loneliness meshed with her high-octane vocals. The track features wonderful arrangements by Nick Zinner on a guitar and synthesizer that includes a melodic, buzz-laden synthesizer solo. Heads Will Roll is an upbeat, electro-punk track with Chase’s throbbing, rhythmic drum beats, Zinner’s hypnotic synthesizer layers with swift, arpeggio guitar melodies in the background. Yet, it’s Karen’s vocals that is filled with wailing, energetic cries and a soft, silky range that is filled with partying lyrics for a song that is truly a dance number with a unique punk energy. Soft Shock is a mid-tempo number with melodic synthesizer tracks and smooth, thumping rhythms from Brian Chase’s drums. With a flute-like synthesizer solo in the background that sounds like a guitar, Karen’s vocals are smooth and calm as she sings imagery-laden lyrics filled with wonderful description along with Zinner’s swirling, melodic guitar accompaniment.

The ballad Skeletons is one of the album’s chilling highlights with its ambient-like synthesizer shimmers and wailing accompaniment as Karen’s somber yet seductive vocals being the major highlight of the song. Filled with melancholic lyrics, it’s a ballad that is earnest in its melancholia with Brian Chase bringing in soft yet powerful tom-tom beats and tapping sticks along with Zinner’s wailing, woodwind-like synthesizer solo that recalls the early synthesizer experiments of late 70s era David Bowie. Dull Life starts off as a haunting, melodic ballad led by Zinner’s guitar and Karen’s haunting vocals filled with dark lyrics as it becomes a more intense, mid-tempo track with thumping beats. With its swift, energetic performance of rollicking drums and driving guitars, it’s the band getting back to their old sound but in a refined fashion due to the crisp, layered production of Nick Luanay and David Andrew Sitek.

Shame And Fortune is a mid-tempo song with fuzzy bass lines and Chase’s shimmering, hi-hat beat accompaniment. With Chase’s pounding drums and Zinner’s bass-driven presentation driving the song, it’s Karen’s sinister, wailing vocals filled with angry lyrics that reveal the band being confrontational but without any of their old fury. Instead, Zinner’s screeching guitar solo and simple rhythms show a new side to the band without going into their old punk energy. Runaway is a piano-ballad of sorts featuring Greg Kurtsin playing a haunting piano accompaniment with Karen’s soothing vocals filled with evocative notes in her vocals. With a momentum-building arrangement from Zinner’s sliding, ethereal guitar, a cello performance from Jane Scarpantoni, and Chase bringing in a thumping drum track. It’s a new sound to the band that has them getting into darker territory with its somber lyrics and broad presentation that is fierce but also seductive.

Dragon Queen is a mid-tempo, funky track that features TV on the Radio vocalist Tunde Adebimpe on backing vocals and guitarist/vocalist Kyp Malone an accompanying tambourine. With Zinner’s melodic, swanky guitar and swirling synthesizer accompaniment with throbbing beats from Chase as Karen and Tunde Adebimpe sings the song’s verse. With its colorful, abstract lyrics, it features funky guitar breaks in the chorus with Karen’s lush, evocative vocals leading the way. Hysteric is another mid-tempo track that features thumping beats, vibrato guitar riffs, and melodic synthesizer notes as Karen sings in a cool, ethereal vocal. For its soothing chorus with a lush synthesizer accompaniment, Karen’s vocals take on a new world with her dreamy lyrics as she’s later accompanied by saxophonist Stuart Bogie and trumpeter Eric Biondo in the second half of the song as it’s one of the album’s great cuts. The album closer is the somber, acoustic-ballad Little Shadow that features Karen’s soft, dreamy vocals filled with melancholic lyrics. With the band’s auxiliary musician Imaad Wasif playing a melodic acoustic guitar track, it’s Chase’s slow, vibrant tom-tom drums that creates a building momentum. Then the track becomes bigger with Zinner’s ambient-like synthesizer swirls and dreamy guitar as it accompanies Karen’s somber vocals to its evocative ending.

What makes It’s Blitz! superior than its predecessors is its consistency, flow, and the production of Nick Luanay and David Andrew Sitek. Whereas Show Your Bones had a sluggish flow and production that was too sparse despite an array of great songs. It’s Blitz! is a record that has the band taking on someone as experienced like Nick Luanay along with longtime cohort David Andrew Sitek to shape their album. Along with dabbling their experiment into more synthesizer-driven sounds and re-shaping their art-punk sound. It’s Luanay’s experience in working on various different musical styles and Sitek’s experimentalism that actually gives the album a balance previous albums didn’t have. The result is something that’s more fluid and songs that range from dance-punk, arty ballads, and hybrid songs that often range from bands like the Smiths to the Cure.

At the same time, there’s a renewed sense of confidence in the band in their performance as Brian Chase’s drums delve into more rhythms as he plays with a precision and energy that wasn’t really heard in Show Your Bones. Nick Zinner proves to be the band’s key musician as he’s really the drive to what makes this album unique whether he’s playing guitar or synthesizers while making the instruments sound each other. Then there’s Karen O as the screeching, grunts, and yelps of her vocals in previous album have changed for something more sensual, lush, and evocative as she truly is the heart of the album. Yet, it’s a Yeah Yeah Yeahs record at the fullest form as all three create something that really shows a unique progression that is surely going to make them a band to watch in the years to come.

It’s Blitz! is far and beyond a masterpiece from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that goes all over the place and doesn’t lose sight of what it achieves. Fans of the band will be surprised by what the album sounds like in its different styles yet be amazed they haven’t lost their energy or eclectic sound. It’s a record that is filled with dance tunes, funk songs, ballads, and romps that all fit in at the right place at the right time. Thanks in part to the superb production of Nick Luanay and David Andrew Sitek, it’s a record that is enjoyable in every note and sound as it makes it enjoyable and fresh with repeated hearings. In the end, It’s Blitz! is an album that proclaims that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are fulfilling their potential and more.

YYYs Reviews:

Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP: http://www.epinions.com/content_108272455300

Machine: http://www.epinions.com/content_109033066116

Fever to Tell: http://www.epinions.com/content_98296761988

Maps: http://www.epinions.com/content_462539165316

Gold Lion: http://www.epinions.com/content_224252300932

Show Your Bones: http://www.epinions.com/content_462706347652

Is Is EP: http://www.epinions.com/content_400106425988

Atlanta, GA-Echo Lounge 11/10/03: http://www.epinions.com/content_3594690692

Atlanta, GA-The Tabernacle 10/14/06: http://www.epinions.com/content_4873101444

81st Oscar Predictions

(Note: This project was written back in late January but due to Epinions.com's incompetence, it will be shown here)


2009 Oscar Picks


The Academy Awards is a time to celebrate the best of films and to show how out of touch the Academy always is in choosing nominees and placing rules and such for certain categories. The Oscars often do good in giving awards to films or individuals that deserve it but also are wrong in who or what they choose to win. There’s times the Oscar is willing to take risks with surprise winners but also end up copping out and give it to something that’s either purely sentimental or a political subject matter that has been explored with such dramatic contrivance. That’s the Oscars for you, where the beautiful people where glamorous clothing and maybe make fools of themselves or for a renegade to finally say something that will shock audiences but to the delight of true film fans. Well, it’s Oscar time and time to check out the nominees.


Pt. I: The Big 8, Animated, Documentary & Foreign-Language Films


Best Picture


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


A man aging backwards throughout the 20th Century while David Frost interviews Richard Nixon in 1977. The life of openly-gay city supervisor Harvey Milk is told as he becomes a hero for gay rights while a man recalls his relationship as a teenager with a woman who turns out to be a Nazi. Finally, a story of a young man playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as he’s one question away from winning it all while trying to get the attention of the girl that he loves. These five different films in various genres tell different stories about power, traumatic events, inspiration, determination, and curiosities. These are the nominees for Best Picture.


Who Will/Should Win: Slumdog Millionaire


Of all of the films in this category, Slumdog Millionaire was the film that no one expected to be a major contender in the Oscar race. Yet, due to the buzz it received from film festivals plus word-of-mouth from audiences since its limited release in November. This film became a true, sleeper, runaway hit that managed to be accessible to a wide audience while appealing to a Bollywood audience as it’s set entirely in India. Danny Boyle created a modern-day Charles Dickens story that proved to be inspirational and entertaining as it’s the film to beat. Most of all, it’s the one film that doesn’t look or feel like the traditional Oscar-type of film filled with prestige and large dramatic presentation.


Dark Horse: The Reader


One of the last projects that was developed by Sydney Pollock and Anthony Minghella, two Oscar-winning directors who had died in the past two years. The Reader was a passion project for the two as it revolves a man recalling his experience about an affair he had as a teenage boy with an older woman. Then when he learns that she was a Nazi, his world is crumbled as the man tries to recall those events. The reason this film is the least likely to win is that of its nominees, it’s dramatic structure is the most flawed as some complained that the second half of the film was too dramatic. Also, its nomination caused the following films to be snubbed in its favor: The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Revolutionary Road, Doubt, Che, and The Wrestler.


Best Director


Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk


Who Will Win: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire


One of Britain’s acclaimed and revered directors, Danny Boyle has always created films that delved in different genres whether it’s sci-fi with Sunshine, family drama with Millions, or a zombie-thriller in 28 Days Later. While those films managed to restore Boyle’s profile following the critical and commercial bomb for 2000's The Beach, Boyle hadn’t made a film that garnered as much attention and acclaim since 1996's Trainspotting. With Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle made his best film since Trainspotting with a vibrant, energetic, and inspiring film that mixes Bollywood with Boyle’s unique approach to storytelling. Particularly in capturing the scenes shot in Mumbai to capture its energy and realism with help from co-director Loveleen Tandan as Boyle is likely to win the Oscar and truly deserves it.


Who Should Win: Gus Van Sant, Milk


Of all of the directors in this category, no one is as revered or as influential than Gus Van Sant. From his art-house hits like Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho to some mainstream hits like To Die For and Good Will Hunting, Van Sant has been prolific in recent years working with experimental films about death and teen angst. The Death trilogy of Gerry, Elephant, and Last Days along with 2007's Paranoid Park provided Van Sant with more room to create films that are haunting and dream-like. With Milk, Van Sant returns to more mainstream territory while playing around with the conventions of a traditional bio-pic by providing audiences with a history lesson as well as profiling one of the most influential figures in the history of gay rights. Van Sant should win not just for his film but for his career as a victory for him would mean a victory for the other greats like Stanley Kubrick, Robert Altman, Akira Kurosawa, and others who never got their due.


Dark Horse: Stephen Daldry, The Reader


With only three films to his credit including Billy Elliot and The Hours, Daldry seems to be the least experienced and least well-known among the nominees. While he doesn’t have the commercial appeal of David Fincher and Ron Howard or the artistic prestige of Gus Van Sant and Danny Boyle. Daldry does stand out for his theatrical background and his unique take for his approach of a film like The Reader despite its flaws. Yet, his nomination does manage to get others like Clint Eastwood, Sam Mendes, Darren Aronofsky, Christopher Nolan, Andrew Stanton, John Patrick Shanley, and Steven Soderbergh to be snubbed this year.


Best Actor


Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler


A professor enlivened by new experiences from immigrants while Richard Nixon tries to defend his actions to the public in a televised interview. A gay businessman becomes a politician and an unlikely hero for gay rights while a man ages backwards as he experiences many wonders in his life. Finally, an aging pro wrestler contends with realism and regrets as he has the opportunity to wrestle for the big time again.


Who Will Win: Sean Penn, Milk


Already an Oscar winner for Best Actor back in 2003 for Mystic River, Sean Penn remains one of the most celebrated and revered actors of his generation. For the role of real-life, openly gay politician Harvey Milk, Penn strays away from the dark characters he had played in previous years for someone more likeable and open. Capturing all of Milk’s mannerisms and quirks, Penn brings Milk back to life in a performance that is inspirational while having Penn smile for the majority of the film giving him his most likeable performance since his 1982 breakthrough in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.


Who Should Win: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler


One of the most gifted actors to come out the 1980s, Mickey Rourke had it all including good looks and talent. Yet, he was also troubled and unpredictable as he was a bad boy who managed to squander his talents by the early 1990s and nearly labeled a has-been. While Rourke managed to find work in recent years, it was his portrayal of Randy "The Ram" Robinson for The Wrestler that proved to the ultimate comeback role. A role originally given to Nicolas Cage who decided to drop out for Rourke to play the character, Rourke manages to take all of his flaws and troubles into a character who wanted to please everyone but also struggle with reality. Rourke’s performance exudes all of the sadness and yearn for redemption in his character as a victory of him would truly be the ultimate comeback story.


Dark Horse: Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


While Brad Pitt might be the most well-known and famous actor among the nominees, there’s a reason why he’s a longshot to win. Veteran character actor Richard Jenkins might seem like the longshot since not many people have seen him playing a rare lead in The Visitor. Yet, Jenkins was the actor who garnered a lot of critical acclaim and buzz for his performance as a professor finding new life through friendships with immigrants. While Pitt’s performance in the title character is an excellent performance, it’s the one performance that seems too tailor-made for Oscar as Pitt seems clearly to be out-acted by the rest of his nominees. Plus, his nomination has managed to get actors like Clint Eastwood for Gran Torino, Leonardo DiCaprio for Revolutionary Road, Colin Farrell for In Bruges, and Benicio del Toro for Che to be snubbed.


Best Actress


Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader


A troubled model returns home for her sister’s wedding while a mother struggles to find her sons in the 1930s through police corruption. A working class woman helps smuggle illegal immigrants for money while a school nun makes accusations towards a new, progressive priest. A young woman has an affair with a man half her age as she would give the boy a mesmerizing experience.


Who Will Win: Kate Winslet, The Reader


Kate Winslet has been nominated several times for an Oscar but always managed to lose to someone. While she remains one of cinema’s most celebrated actresses, she still hasn’t one an Oscar where it’s even been joked in the British TV comedy Extras where Winslet stars in a Holocaust film so she can win an Oscar. Well, Winslet seems to take that idea by playing a woman who is later revealed to be a Nazi. While it’s Winslet providing the kind of subtlety and brilliance she displays as an actress, her chances to win seem high as she won 2 Golden Globes for this role and as a frustrated housewife in Revolutionary Road.


Who Should Win: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married


The youngest nominee among her fellow actresses in her 20s, Anne Hathaway proved herself to be a serious, credible actress in the role of an ex-model/former drug addict attending her older sister’s wedding. Hathaway, who had been known for acting in light-hearted films like The Princess Diaries, Ella Enchanted, and The Devils Wears Prada with fellow nominee Meryl Streep along with more serious films like Brokeback Mountain, Nicholas Nickelby, and Becoming Jane. Hathaway’s performance in Rachel Getting Married shows Hathaway stripping away from convention for a raw, intense, and dramatic performance as a character who is both sympathetic and unlikeable. It’s a true tour-de-force performance from the young actress.


Dark Horse: Angelina Jolie, Changeling


Already an Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress with 1999's Girl, Interrupted, Jolie, like her partner Brad Pitt, is the most well-known and more famous among her nominees. Yet, her as the longshot seems baffling when she’s up against not just three very likely winners like Winslet, Streep, and Hathaway, but also a more obscure actress in another veteran character actor in Melissa Leo. Yet, Leo came into the race with critical acclaim and awards buzz while Jolie’s performance has garnered mixed reviews with critics. Though Jolie has recently reminded audiences why she is an excellent actress with Changeling and Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart. She doesn’t seem likely to win while her nomination managed to get people like Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky, Cate Blanchett for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Rebecca Hall for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Michelle Williams for Wendy & Lucy to be snubbed.


Best Supporting Actor


Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road


An angry city supervisor becomes the man who would kill Harvey Milk while a white Australian actor takes his role way too seriously as an African-American platoon sergeant. A progressive priest defends himself against accusations from a nun while a nihilistic criminal wreaks havoc against Gotham City. A man watches a couple’s marriage disintegrate as he tries to break against the conventions of society.


Who Will/Should Win: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight


The late actor whose January 2008 death was a shock to the film world as Heath Ledger was poised to become one of cinema’s most gifted actor of his generation. In his penultimate role as the Joker for The Dark Knight, Ledger reinvents the characters as darkly humor nihilist hellbent on destroying Gotham to prove that there’s no good in the world. Straying away from the comic take of Cesar Romero in the TV version, the extravagance bravado of Jack Nicholson of Tim Burton’s 1989 film version of Batman, and Mark Hamill’s darkly-comic take on the animated versions of Batman. Ledger brings a twisted, punk-rock take on the character with grungy makeup and dark humor that is truly one of the greatest performances captured on film as it’s a brilliant performance from the late actor.


Dark Horse: Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road


Michael Shannon has been known as a character actor playing small roles and such throughout the years. Yet, he’s always managed to make his performances to be memorable no matter how small it is. In the role of a mentally-ill neighbor who sees a couple’s marriage disintegrating while dealing with the constraints of the neighborhood he lives in. His performance might seem the most traditional that’s expected in a supporting role but it’s one that also has garnered criticism from a few critics. Shannon’s nomination did manage to get several actors snubbed like Emile Hirsch and James Franco for Milk, Michael Sheen for Frost/Nixon, Bill Irwin for Rachel Getting Married, Brendan Gleeson for In Bruges, Eddie Marsan for Happy-Go-Lucky and Ralph Fiennes for The Reader.


Best Supporting Actress


Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler


A nun being caught in the middle of a scandal while a volatile artist disrupts her ex-husband’s relationship only to become part of it. A student’s mother face off against a nun over accusations while a woman takes care of an aging man. An aging stripper befriends an aging wrestler as she becomes his unlikely supporter.


Who Will Win: Viola Davis, Doubt


Though she’s only in the film for 10 minutes, Viola Davis’ performance as the mother of a boy who is the subject of scandal at a Catholic school is truly mesmerizing. In her lone scene where she faces off against Meryl Streep as the school’s principal, it’s a performance that gives the veteran actress a chance to shine against one of the best. While 10 minutes might seem not enough for a win, it should be noted that Judi Dench won the Best Supporting Actress 10 years before for a very small role as a queen in Shakespeare in Love. So that piece of history might help Davis win.


Who Should Win: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona


In the role of the fiery, volatile Maria Elena in Woody Allen’s comedy s

et in Spain, Penelope Cruz brings a role that truly is a tour-de-force and often unpredictable. Stealing the show from her co-stars including real-life boyfriend Javier Bardem, Cruz exudes the sexiness as well as suspicion of what her ex-husband’s new girlfriend wants in the relationship as a love triangle ensues. Doing the character both in English and her native Spanish, it’s a performance from Cruz that is mesmerizing to watch from the first time she appears to her final scene-stealing moment.


Dark Horse: Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


Taraji P. Henson is an actress that’s been getting some standout roles in the past few years with films like Hustle & Flow and Talk to Me. In the role of Benjamin Button’s adoptive mother who raises him as a boy in an old man’s body, Henson’s performance as a no-nonsense, charming woman who runs a retirement home is truly her best performance to date. Yet, it’s also a role that kind fits into a stereotype for African-American parts where they do something for white characters. Henson’s surprise nomination does manage to get other possible nominees like fellow Benjamin Button co-star Tilda Swinton, Rosemarie DeWitt from Rachel Getting Married, Alison Pill for Milk, Misty Upham for Frozen River, and Hiam Abbass for The Visitor.


Best Original Screenplay


Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh, In Bruges
Pete Docter, Jim Reardon, & Andrew Stanton, WALL-E


The life of an openly-gay politician is told during the 1970s Gay & Lesbian Rights movement while a working class woman and a Native American smuggle illegal immigrants for money. An upbeat woman tries to cheer up people in her life while two hitmen hide out in a small Belgium town. A robot in the future falls for another robot as he goes on a big journey to retrieve her.


Who Will/Should Win: Pete Docter, Jim Reardon, & Andrew Stanton, WALL-E


Of all the Pixar feature films since the 1995 film that started it all with Toy Story, WALL-E is a film that transcends all genres. While it’s a 3-D computer animated film, it’s a film that features silent comedy, drama, science fiction, musical, and adventure. While there’s not much dialogue in the script for the film, the story of a robot who becomes an unlikely hero is a universal one that reveals the brilliance behind the Pixar film team that consists of top animators like Pete Docter and WALL-E director Andrew Stanton. It’s a film that is both accessible to children and adults while having a story that is both enthralling and emotionally empowering.


Dark Horse: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River


The story of a working class woman teaming up with a Native American woman to smuggle illegal immigrants to the U.S. for money is an unlikely nominee but also worth-deserving. From Courtney Hunt, who won the Dramatic Jury Prize at Sundance for this film creates a story that is powerful that includes real human drama. While it’s most likely the least-seen film among its nominees, it’s nomination does raise the film’s profile. Yet, it also manages to snub the nominations of scripts for Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York, Robert Smigel’s The Wrestler, and Jenny Lumet’s script for Rachel Getting Married.


Best Adapted Screenplay


Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
David Hare, The Reader
Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth & Robin Swicord, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt


A young man from the slums of Mumbai takes part on an Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire while a young man has an affair with an older woman that would change his life. Richard Nixon battles David Frost in the 1977 TV interviews while a man ages backwards throughout the 20th Century. A nun running a Catholic school battles a progressive priest over accusations involving him and a child.


Who Will/Should Win: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire


Based on the novel Q&A by Vikas Swarup, Simon Beaufoy adapts Swarup’s simple tale of an Indian waiter who becomes the biggest winner in an Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire only to be accused of cheating. By exploring the world of India, the slums of Mumbai, and adding a love story subplot to the film, Beaufoy creates a story that is a modern-day Charles Dickens tale with a mix of Bollywood to create a universal story that is inspiration with characters to root for. At the same time, he takes Swarup’s exploration into why the protagonist answered these questions and how it relates to a memory in his life.


Dark Horse: David Hare, The Reader



Based on the 1996 novel by German writer Bernard Schlink, the adaptation of the film explores a man dealing with memories as a teenager whom he has an affair with a woman who is later revealed to be a Nazi. The script is an adaptation though some critics had problems with its second half of the story that revealed Kate Winslet’s character’s true identity and the man trying to explore the truth. Its nomination definitely caused other scripts like Jonathan and Christopher Nolan’s script for The Dark Knight with help from David S. Goyer and the adaptation for Revolutionary Road to be snubbed.


Best Animated Film:


Bolt
Kung-Fu Panda
WALL-E


A movie star dog enters the real world realizing he doesn’t have superpowers while trying to find a little girl. A panda tries to become a kung-fu master while helping other masters fight an escaped enemy. A robot in the future falls for a robot trying to find life on Earth only to follow her later into outer space. These nominees for Best Animated Film prove that animated films show the brilliance and art of animation as they all try to break new ground in the technical scale along with stories that prove to be entertaining and universal.


Who Will/Should Win: WALL-E


If there’s a film that raises the bar of what animation can do, WALL-E is that film because it transcends all genres of film while creating a story that is truly mesmerizing. With help from renowned cinematographer Roger Deakins as a visual consultant along with special effects master Dennis Muren, director Andrew Stanton creates a film that references classic sci-fi films while adding new layers to the genre. A film that is accessible to children and film buffs, WALL-E is a film that reveals in what animated films can do in its technical and visual scale with a story that can prove to be emotionally powerful.


Dark Horse: Bolt


While it’s clear that Pixar’s WALL-E is the likely winner, it will give its distributor Disney another victory in that category. With Pixar co-founder John Lasseter running the animation field for Disney while hoping to revive the 2-D, hand-drawn animation style of the past. Bolt marks a right step in the direction for the company as its 3-D animated film has a story that is entertaining yet heartfelt. While other animated films from other companies like Madagascar 2, Horton Hears a Who?, and Igor could’ve been nominated. None of those films have created the technical brilliance or strong storylines that its nominees has while Kung-Fu Panda is an unlikely film that is truly entertaining while exploring the martial arts genre. Bolt and Kung-Fu Panda might be longshots, their nominations are well-deserved.


Best Foreign-Language Film


Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (The Baader Meinhof Complex)-Germany
Entre les murs (The Class)-France
Revanche-Austria
Okuribito(Departures)-Japan
Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir)-Israel


Uli Edel’s story of West Germany’s terrorist group Red Army Faction from its beginnings in the late 60s to the student movement of 1977. A teacher inspires students an inner-city school middle school in Paris by Laurent Cantet. Gotz Spielmann’s ill-fated love story between an ex-convict and a Ukranian prostitute as they attempt a bank robbery. Yojiro Takita tells the story of a cellist who loses his job as he and his wife return to his hometown as he takes a new job dealing with the dead. Ari Folman re-creates his memories of his experience in the 1982 Lebanon war in an animated documentary. One of the most exciting and often controversial categories, it’s one that often gives these films from foreign countries the chance to be seen by American audiences.


Who Will/Should Win: Vals Im Bashir


Animated documentaries are a rare thing in films these days as Ari Folman tells the story of his own experience as a soldier during the 1982 Lebanon war. Recreating images through roto-scope style animation similar to the films of Richard Linklater like Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly. For Israel, an Oscar win might seem to be a huge victory as it’s often a country plagued with conflict. Yet, it faces serious competition with Entre les murs from France, the film that beat Vals Im Bashir at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival for the prestigious Palme D’or.
Dark Horse: Okuribito


While the Japanese film industry remains vital through the horror genre with a few art-house films popping up every now and then. It hasn’t gotten the same kind of international prestige when it was led by Akira Kurosawa. It’s story of loss and dealing with loss has been a film festival winner though it’s nomination does seem surprising. It’s often reason why there’s controversy over the voting process towards the foreign-film category. Films that could’ve been nominated like Italy’s Gommora by Matteo Gorrone, Sweden’s Lat den Ratte Komma in (Let the Right One In) by Tomas Alfredson, and another French film in Il ya Longtemps que Je T’aime (I Loved You So Long) by Phillippe Claudel reveal the controversy over the selection of what films should be nominated.


Best Documentary Feature Film


The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water


Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasvath explore a family from Laos leaving the country to go to the U.S. during Vietnam and eventual reunion between splintered families. Werner Herzog explores the mystifying world of Antarctica and the people who study the continent and its surroundings. Scott Kennedy Hamilton explores a garden made following the L.A. riots that is being threatened by bulldozers causing an entire community to fight against land developers. James Marsh explore Philippe Petit’s famous tightrope walk between the World Trade Center buildings in 1974. Tia Lessen and Carl Deal explore a couple’s survival during Hurricane Katrina as they’re trapped inside their house during the flood. The feature-length documentary is always one of the Oscar’s most exciting categories in its emphasis to document courageous stories based on fact.


Who Will Win: Man on Wire


James Marsh’s documentary about Philippe Petit’s famous walk between the World Trade Center in 1974 is truly one of the most mesmerizing tales in film. Marsh’s approach to recreate the event along with interviews with the people involved. With photos of Petit’s famous walk shown, it reveals the powerful feat of a man doing something impossible without any mentions of 9/11. It’s clearly the film to beat as it’s a film that’s garnered rave reviews as well as decent box office numbers.


Who Should Win: Encounters at the End of the World


One of cinema’s renowned personalities, Werner Herzog is a man who always made fascinating documentaries about nature with his unique, cynical point of view. For his documentary about Antarctica, the land, and the people that live and work at the place, Herzog creates the anti-March of the Penguins documentary for something more insightful. Talking to the scientists and people exploring the land with worlds that are never seen in other nature documentaries, it’s one of Herzog’s most enduring films. His nomination marks the first time Herzog has been nominated for an Oscar since his career began back in 1962. A win would be a glorious achievement for his career with fans knowing that a speech from him would be an entertaining moment.


Dark Horse: The Garden


Choosing a longshot in the documentary field is tough. Among the nominees, The Garden and Scott Kennedy Hamilton are the least known and profiled. While Trouble the Water was a film that won the documentary prize at Sundance while The Betrayal was co-directed by renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras. Hamilton’s tale about a garden created in the aftermath of the L.A. riots that provided a positive element to its community of urban farmers. When land developers tried to destroy the garden, a community rallies against the developers seems like an inspirational story but one that’s been told numerous times. Yet, the category is always complicated with films often snubbed either due to rules or votes leading to films like Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired by Marina Zenovich to be snubbed due to its rules.


Pt. II: Shorts & Technical Awards


Best Cinematography


Changeling-Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight-Wally Pfister
The Reader-Roger Deakins & Chris Menges
Slumdog Millionaire-Anthony Dod Mantle


Who Will/Should Win: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire


One of the prominent cinematographers of the Dogme 95 movement, Mantle’s unique hand-held style has been praised by critics for years. Mantle has become Danny Boyle’s regular cinematographer since 2002's 28 Days Later in which Mantle brought a loose, grainy style to the zombie thriller. For Slumdog Millionaire, Mantle complements the colorful world of India with his hand-held style with some grainy footage but also high colors to complement the nightlife of India. It’s clear that Mantle deserves the award for bringing something new and energetic to wide audiences in its depiction of India and the world of Mumbai.


Dark Horse: Wally Pfister, The Dark Knight


Pfister’s work in The Dark Knight truly raises the bar for the action film genre with sepia-like lighting motifs for some of the film’s action sequences, IMAX camera footage of city locations, and everything. The reason it’s the dark horse is often due that action films usually don’t get the win so it’s not likely to change despite Pfister’s brilliant work.


Best Editing


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter
The Dark Knight-Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon-Daniel P. Hanley & Mike Hill
Milk-Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire-Chris Dickens


Who Will/Should Win: Chris Dickens, Slumdog Millionaire


Dickens’ energetic, fluid editing to capture the energy of Mumbai and India itself truly is fascinating. With a rhythmic cutting for some of the film’s energetic scene to more slower yet hypnotic cutting for the more dramatic scenes. Dickens’ work is truly superb in its flow and rhythm along with moving the story back and forth to emphasize its idea of memory.


Dark Horse: Lee Smith, The Dark Knight


Smith’s work does go against some of the conventions of traditional action blockbuster films. At the same time, it emphasis on dramatic tension, suspense, and dark humor is to complement the brilliance of the film and Smith’s editing. The reason is a longshot is that action films often get slighted in the editing field for more dramatic features.


Best Art Direction


Changeling-James J. Murakami & Gary Fettis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Donald Graham Burt & Victor J. Zoffo
The Dark Knight-Nathan Crowley & Peter Lando
The Duchess-Michael Carlin & Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road-Kristi Zea & Debra Schutt


Who Will/Should Win: Donald Graham Burt & Victor J. Zoffo-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


The art direction of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by production designer Donald Graham Burt and set decorator Victor J. Zoffo is truly magnificent. From its early 20th Century look featuring the backwards clock that is an important part of the film to the 1960s duplex that Benjamin Button and Daisy live in. It’s got a very authentic look of early New Orleans to its pre-Hurricane Katrina look. It’s art direction at its finest in its recreation of a period and atmosphere.


Dark Horse: Nathan Crowley & Peter Lando, The Dark Knight


Production designer Nathan Crowley and set decorator Peter Lando do brilliant work with the look of the Wayne condo pad plus a new Batcave and other places. The problem is that the film has a contemporary look while the rest of its nominees are more period pieces. Films with a contemporary look in terms of art direction are likely to not win since there’s so much work made towards period sets.


Best Costume Design


Australia-Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Jacqueline West
The Duchess-Michael O’Connor
Milk-Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road-Albert Wolsky


Who Will/Should Win: Jacqueline West, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


Jacqueline West’s approach in the costume design for the film is truly magnificent as she creates various looks for the film as it moves from one period to another. From the early 20th Century to the present time, West’s work in the costume design is superb in creating various looks of clothing and such. Especially the suits that the men wear and the dresses that the women wear to reveal the work that it takes to create great costumes for a period film.


Dark Horse: Danny Glicker, Milk


Danny Glicker’s work to recreate the 1970s look of San Francisco from the early hippie-like look of the early 70s to the more buttoned-down, clean-cut look of 1978 for the character of Harvey Milk. Glicker’s work is brilliant but in comparison to the rest of its nominees. It’s the one film that seems more contemporary while its other nominees are more from different time periods like early 20th Century and 18th Century periods.


Best Sound Mixing


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, & Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight-Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, & Gary Rizzo
Slumdog Millionaire-Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, & Resul Pookutty
WALL-E-Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, & Ben Burtt
Wanted-Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montano, & Petr Forejt


Who Will Win: David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, & Mark Weingarten-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


The sound mixing in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is truly magnificent from the way it captures the raucous world of early New Orleans nightlife to a brilliant World War II sequence. It’s sound design and mixing at its finest as it deserves its nomination for the way it captures each period setting in all of its layers.


Who Should Win: Tom Myer, Michael Semanick, & Ben Burtt-WALL-E


Led by the legendary sound designer Ben Burtt of Star Wars fame, Burtt and his team of mixers recreate the idea of science fiction in its layering of voices, spaceship noises, and such. With Burtt providing the voice for the title character along with other robots, it’s truly sound design at its mastery with Burtt truly deserving the honor.


Dark Horse: Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montano, & Petr Forejt-Wanted


Action films are often longshots depending on the film. Wanted seems to be the one film that is not likely to win despite the layering of noise in gun fights and action they create. It’s largely because it’s a film that doesn’t get a lot of acclaim and is representative of a blockbuster film that gets a mixed response from audiences.


Best Sound Editing


The Dark Knight-Richard King
Iron Man-Frank E. Eulner & Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire-Tom Sayers
WALL-E-Ben Burtt & Matthew Wood
Wanted-Wylie Stateman


Who Will/Should Win: Ben Burtt & Matthew Wood-WALL-E


The sound work in WALL-E in terms of what is expected for an animated film is magnificent. Led by Ben Burtt and sound editor Matthew Wood, the sound editing work truly exemplifies the work that is put in terms of creating sound knowing when to not use it. Burtt’s sound work on the voices which were created by various objects and Wood’s cutting style is truly a landmark in what is expected in the terms of creating sound. Especially for an animated film and a science fiction film.


Dark Horse: Wylie Stateman, Wanted


Wylie Stateman’s work in Wanted is what is expected for the action film genre. The problem is that action films often overdoes itself in terms of creating lots of violence and sound bites. A film like Wanted seems to fall into those traps as it seems to be overwhelmed by its competition.


Best Makeup


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight-John Caglione Jr. & Conor O’Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army-Mike Elizalde & Thomas Floutz


Who Will/Should Win: Greg Cannom, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


Greg Cannom work to age Brad Pitt from an old man to a young version of him must be a challenge. Yet, it worked to show the mastery of makeup where Pitt looked old where as he got young, he looked like an older version of Marlon Brando to what Pitt looks like now. Cannom’s work on Cate Blanchett is also great from being a young woman to being an old woman having to take care of the young Benjamin Button.


Dark Horse: John Caglione Jr. & Conor O’Sullivan-The Dark Knight


In comparison to its nominees, the makeup work by John Caglione Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan seems to be a longshot since there wasn’t much work on the makeup with the exception of two characters. The grungy look of the Joker and the half-burned face of Two-Face are brilliant though it can’t compete with its nominees.


Best Visual Effects


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Eric Baba, Steve Pregg, Burt Dalton, & Craig Barron
The Dark Knight-Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, & Paul J. Franklin
Iron Man-John Nelson, Ben Snow, Daniel Sudick, & Shane Mahan.


Who Will/Should Win: Eric Baba, Steve Pregg, Burt Dalton, & Craig Barron-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


The visual effects work is truly mesmerizing in its recreation of New Orleans and Russia to putting Brad Pitt’s head on the bodies of its model actors. At the same time, it creates a certain atmosphere to the locations that Benjamin Button encounters along with the periods of time that goes on. It’s visual effects that works while not looking too fake for its imagery.
Dark Horse: Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, & Paul J. Franklin-The Dark Knight
Its nomination seems a bit baffling since it’s the one film that doesn’t use a lot of visual effects with the exception in the look of Two-Face. While there were a few visual effects sequence involving Batman flying in the air, its emphasis on stunts and such makes this film to be the longshot in terms of its nomination.


Best Score


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Alexandre Desplat
Defiance-James Newton Howard
Milk-Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire-A.R. Rahman
WALL-E-Thomas Newman


Who Will/Should Win: A.R. Rahman-Slumdog Millionaire


A.R. Rahman’s unique take of Indian-inspired music with its vibrant Bollywood sound and beat-laden electronic accompaniment truly makes the film’s score to be one of the most original scores heard in a film. Especially with elegant themes for one of the film’s main characters and suspenseful tone for the game show sequences truly has Rahman as the top contender for this prize.


Dark Horse: James Newton Howard-Defiance


James Newton Howard is one of Hollywood’s most sought-out and well-known composers. While creating a dramatic and intense, orchestral score for Edward Zwick’s World War II film, Howard is this year’s longshot because he is the film’s sole nomination and he’s up against more profiled scores and nominations.


Best Original Song


Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaire-A.R. Rahman & Gulzar
O Saya, Slumdog Millionaire-A.R. Rahman & M.I.A.
Down To Earth, WALL-E-Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman


Who Will/Should Win: A.R. Rahman & Gulzar-Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire


The song that appears during the final credits in a very memorable, bombastic Bollywood-style dance sequence. The song is definitely one of the film’s highlights with its loud beats, sweeping arrangements, and Indian-style vocals from Sukhwinder Singh, Tavi Shah, and Mahalakshmi Iyer. It’s clearly the song that’s going to win with a presentation of Bollywood-style dancing and energy.


Dark Horse: A.R. Rahman & M.I.A.-O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire


With its pulsating, pounding electronic beats and M.I.A.’s vibrant raps, it’s a song that captures the energy of modern India. While it’s nomination is deserved, to go up against another song from Slumdog Millionaire and Peter Gabriel’s Down To Earth from WALL-E makes this song a longshot. Yet, this category has become controversial as of late from its rule change of nominating three instead of five songs for the category provided Bruce Springsteen’s title song for The Wrestler to be snubbed that’s angered several people. At the same time, songs from films like Rachel Getting Married, Gran Torino, and more teen-pop style music from films like Bolt and High School Musical 3 to be snubbed providing more controversy to the nomination.


Short Picks: (Winners picked in bold)


Best Documentary Short


The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness-From the Balcony of Room 306


Best Animated Short


Les Maisons en Petite Cubes
Lavatory-Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up


Best Live-Action Short


Aur Der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)


That is it for the 2009 Oscar Picks. It’s likely that Slumdog Millionaire is going to win the majority of the awards that they’re nominated from. It’s nomination will at least make this year’s Oscars to be more exciting though the snubbing and new rules provide how out of touch it will be. At the same time, with all of the glamour and prestige the Oscars have, it will reveal that some things will change and some will not. That’s the Academy Awards. An organization that wants to be exciting while being extremely out of touch with what audiences and critics have in mind.

Oscar Picks 2008-Pt. 1: http://www.epinions.com/content_5170831492 & Pt. 2: http://www.epinions.com/content_5171486852
Oscar Picks 2007: http://www.epinions.com/content_4952268932
Oscar Picks 2006: http://www.epinions.com/content_4674723972
Oscar Picks 2005: http://www.epinions.com/content_4264534148
Oscar Picks 2004: http://www.epinions.com/content_3773735044