MOST ENTERTAINING FEATURE

Salt ——-WINNER——-

The Expendables

Machete

Tron: Legacy

Iron Man 2

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

How to Train Your Dragon

Toy Story 3 ——-WINNER——-

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

Tangled

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Exit Through the Gift Shop ——-WINNER——-

The Two Escobars

Waiting for Superman

Once Brothers

Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue

SLEEPER HIT OF THE YEAR

Unthinkable ——-WINNER——-

The Green Zone

Centurion

Daybreakers

Legion

BEST FOREIGN FEATURE

Four Lions - United Kingdom ——-WINNER——-

Animal Kingdom - Australia

Micmacs - France

Ondine - Ireland

Cell 211 - Spain

BEST INDEPENDENT FEATURE

Breaking Upwards

Winter’s Bone

Cyrus ——-WINNER——-

The Kids Are All Right

The Trotsky

THE ROE v WADE AWARD

Clash of the Titans

The Last Airbender

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Saw VII

Cop Out ——-WINNER——-

BEST ZOMBIE PICTURE OF THE YEAR

[Rec ²]

BEST PICTURE

Shutter Island ——-WINNER——-

Inception

127 Hours

The King’s Speech

Black Swan

BEST DIRECTOR

Martin Scorcese - Shutter Island

Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan ——-WINNER——-

Christopher Nolan - Inception

Danny Boyle - 127 Hours

Joel and Ethan Coen - True Grit

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Pete Postlethwaite (1946-2011)

For having one of the hardest names to pronouce in history, Postlethwaite became one of the most recognizable supporting faces in cinema. Though he scored a small part in Ridley Scott’s 1977 epic The Duelists, Pete’s talent was relegated to the small screen until 1992, when he was featured in David Fincher’s Alien 3 and Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans. Since then, he refused to let his jagged looks typecast him. Before losing a long, well-fought battle with cancer earlier this year, Postlethwaite left a legacy of amazing roles and a quiet, powerful screen presence that didn’t diminish even when his body did. Giuseppe Conlon, Kobayashi, Father Laurence, Roland Tembo. He even managed to go out in a blaze of glory, starring in Inception and The Town in 2010.
We’ve definitely lost one of the greats, but he lives on in one of the most impressive film collections of all time. Rest in peace, Mr. Postlethwaite.

MOST ENTERTAINING FEATURE

Salt

The Expendables

Machete

Tron: Legacy

Iron Man 2

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

How to Train Your Dragon

Toy Story 3

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

Tangled

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Exit Through the Gift Shop

The Two Escobars

Waiting for Superman

Once Brothers

Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue

SLEEPER HIT OF THE YEAR

Unthinkable

The Green Zone

Centurion

Daybreakers

Legion

BEST FOREIGN FEATURE

Four Lions - United Kingdom

Animal Kingdom - Australia

Micmacs - France

Ondine - Ireland

Cell 211 - Spain

BEST INDEPENDENT FEATURE

Breaking Upwards

Winter’s Bone

Cyrus

The Kids Are All Right

The Trotsky

THE ROE v WADE AWARD

Clash of the Titans

The Last Airbender

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Saw VII

Cop Out

BEST ZOMBIE PICTURE OF THE YEAR

[Rec ²]

BEST PICTURE

Shutter Island

Inception

127 Hours

The King’s Speech

Black Swan

BEST DIRECTOR

Martin Scorcese - Shutter Island

Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan

Christopher Nolan - Inception

Danny Boyle - 127 Hours

Joel and Ethan Coen - True Grit

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Pete Postlethwaite

The 2010 Gypsy Ballots

I love zombies.

For the last few thousand years, every culture on the planet has, in some way, evolved it’s own myths about the walking dead. Some are evil. Some are harmless. Some are just mischievous. But they are always present in one fashion or another.

Perhaps the first appearance of zombies in mainstream culture was Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein (turns out the first “zombie” novel was written by a 19-year-old girl. Go figure). The long-pondered idea that dead tissue could be reanimated was immediately given an iconic visage as Victor Frankenstein’s abomination.

When it comes to Hollywood, our monsters can be traced back to four basic archetypal figures:
Dracula: what we wish we could be. Seductive, sophisticated, powerful, enigmatic, ethereal, immortal.
The Wolfman: what we try not to be. Animalistic, violent, brutal, primitive.
Frankenstein: the idea that science is more powerful than death. We can bring back those we’ve lost.
The Mummy: the idea that there are forces more powerful than both. Something could bring us back and make us do unspeakable things.

While most “intelligent” film buffs will immediately dismiss the zombie genre as the aborted brainchild of a fanboy cult, if you look at zombies in the above context you have to admit they are actually interwoven in the fabric of our collective psyche, and have been for centuries. That is one reason I love zombies. The other reason?

They’re just fucking cool.

Whether it’s one zombie stumbling around groaning for “brains”, or thousands chasing down Ving Rhames and Milla Jovovich, I never get tired of seeing dead guys bite the shit out of frightened apocalypse survivors.

Though White Zombie (1932) and King of the Zombies (1941) predated it by more than thirty years, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) reinvented the monster. Instead of one or two zombies created to do their master’s bidding, Romero created thousands overnight, and set them loose on humanity. The infectious nature of the zombie was born, and rules were established:

1. Zombies are dead.
2. If a zombie bites you, you will die.
3. If you die, you will turn into a zombie.
4. Zombies can only be killed by a head wound.
5. There is no cure for zombies.

It is easy to dismiss Romero’s films; truth be told, they are very low budget and at times campy. But you have to look deeper. Night of the Living Dead featured an African American main character saving a bunch of white folk which, in 1968, was unheard of. Civil rights gave way to a blatant assault on American consumerism in 1978’s Dawn of the Dead, which takes place in a shopping mall. Day of the Dead, in 1985, took on many social issues, including the military, racism, and gender issues. You may have to look harder than you’d like for subtext in a zombie film, but trust me: it’s there.

Romero’s Zombie Dynasty spawned hundreds of imitators around the world. Lucio Fulci’s completely unrelated film Zombie was actually given the title “Zombie 2” to make it seem like a sequel, just to cash in on Dawn of the Dead’s success. 1994’s Cemetery Man was injected with so much artsy Italian fantasy and surrealism that it’s actually an amazing film. But it wasn’t until 28 Days Later… that new life was breathed into the zombie genre.

There is an ongoing debate amongst zombie fans whether or not Danny Boyle’s “fast zombies” were an affront to or a revitalization of the undead. Either way you lean, this film established a new rule when it came to making zombie films: You have to come original. The new mythos of a Rage Virus infecting humans in mere seconds as opposed to the longer zombification process of the 1970’s, and the zombies’ ability to sprint everywhere set the bar high for future filmmakers.

If you type the word “Zombie” into a Netflix search, you will come up with hundreds of results. ANYONE can make a zombie film. And virtually everyone has. But the ones that stand out are the films that think outside the box. Fido is a hilarious cultural parody about people keeping zombies as pets in an alternate 1950’s society. Shaun of the Dead is funny and freaky at the same time. Wasting Away is the first time the story is told from the zombies’ point of view. There are plenty of ingenious, inventive, and downright fun zombie films out there, but they all have one thing in common: they are different.

While writing my own zombie-esque screenplay and absorbing as many films as I could, I was extremely excited to see the first glimpse of the new AMC original series The Walking Dead.

“The First Zombie TV Show” is a huge achievement to put on a resume, and I was looking forward to the Halloween premiere. Then I found the pre-release copy online, and I immediately watched it.

Frank Darabont, you owe me an hour of my life back.

Frank Darabont is, in my opinion, a completely overrated writer/director who wasn’t getting any love doing bullshit films like A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 or The Fly II, so he decided to build a niche adapting Stephen King novels. I will admit, The Shawshank Redemption was a great film. But word of mouth has been overhyping it for sixteen years now, and in that time Darabont has given us films like The Green Mile (weak) and The Mist (super weak). So I’m kicking myself for being surprised that The Walking Dead (for which Darabont is creator, writer, and pilot director) is nothing but cliche, derivative, lazy filmmaking at it’s worst.

The opening sequence is great: The main character, a Sheriff’s Deputy in the Atlanta area, happens upon a deserted “parking lot” in search of gas. Crazy shit ensues. We then step back in time (we’re not told how long). After getting shot by some as-yet-unrelated motorists, our “hero” wakes up in the hospital (28 Days Later, Resident Evil) to find he’s the only one alive in a two mile radius. Armed with a hospital gown, a book of matches, and what I’m pretty sure is a woman’s bicycle (damn resourceful police), he stumbles around a generic zombie wasteland. For half of the next ninety minutes, it’s cliche after cliche after cliche. This is really as good as it gets.

The uncompromising and realistic violence is, if nothing else, commendable. However, two-dimensional characters, out of place emotional moments, questionable makeup, nonsensical details, ill-fitting music, and a tepid lead actor snowball into the lingering feeling that Darabont and his crew really thought they could survive on the bland, 50-year-old zombie mythos (or perhaps a wing and a prayer?) we’ve all come to yawn over.

Zombie fans are living in an age when Zombieland is actually the biggest “mainstream” zombie title to date. When Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide is a bestseller. When multiple cities across the US are holding massive, record-setting Zombie Walks. The undead masses have taken the barely literate masses by storm, and they are no longer relegated to film nerds and people with sideburns. Why is it, then, that so many people try to capitalize on this craze, but refuse to bring anything new to the table? The First Zombie TV Show Ever, and they couldn’t even get out of bed and write a fucking story. For shame, AMC. For shame.

I will be watching the actual premiere in two weeks, and I will be following the show for at least a few episodes. But I can already tell you that the necessary innovativeness is seriously lacking. The charm of Mad Men, the intrigue of Rubicon, and the intensity of Breaking Bad are nowhere to be seen…

…and it breaks my fucking heart.

REQUIRED ZOMBIE VIEWING

Dead Snow
Wasting Away
Shaun of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead
28 Days Later…
Zombie Strippers
Cemetery Man
[Rec] & [Rec2]
The Horde
Fido
Evil Dead Trilogy
The George A. Romero Zombie Dynaasty
Planet Terror
Zombieland

I know that I’ve been slacking on my pimping as far as movies go. I’ve been super busy with other projects and, honestly, August wasn’t a great month for film. However, September is jam packed with interesting and anticipated releases, and I couldn’t bring myself to skip it.

The American - Directed by Anton Corbijn, Written by Rowan Joffe
Corbijn may not have any films to speak of outside music videos. And Joffe’s only big one was 28 Weeks Later, but even the poster for this film - reminiscent of Peckinpah’s marketing - gets me excited. Clooney is an assassin doing his last job in Italy. The plot is really simple, but this is oldschool cinema at it’s best. I’m just hoping the cinematic maturity doesn’t hide a weak script. Looking forward to it.
George Clooney, Irina Bjorklund
September 1

My Dog Tulip - Written and Directed by Paul and Sandra Fierlinger
I’ve become a big fan of foreign animation over the years. This simple story of an old man finding a spirited canine companion, and the understated artwork seem like a cross between The Triplets of Belleville and Marley and Me, but with British sensibilities. And I’m willing to bet Rossellini does the voice of Tulip. Hey, it’s better than sex with insects
Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave, Isabella Rossellini
September 1

Machete - Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis, Written by Robert and Alvaro Rodriguez
I told you! If I put it in the last Coming Soon, it would get here faster. Finally, the wait is over for the craziest film to ever be based on a fake preview. Robert Rodriguez is a disturbingly cool individual and, though his producer presence wasn’t enough to salvage Predators, this is going to kick ass.
Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Jeff Fahey, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson, Lindsay Lohan
September 3

The Winning Season - Written and Directed by James C. Strouse
Ok, so a movie about high school girls’ basketball doesn’t sound cool. But what if Sam Rockwell is the coach? and Rob Corddry is the principal? Even if this got a wide release, I probably wouldn’t shell out ten bucks for it. But those two actors are enough for me to catch it on OnDemand (or the internets, whichever comes first). My only hesitation is a guy who’s been a sex addict, a con man, and been alone on the moon probably shouldn’t be let near a high school. Just saying.
Sam Rockwell, Emma Roberts, Rob Corddry
September 3

The Afterlight - Written and Directed by Alexei Kaleina and Craig Macneill
Most of you will pass on this film, especially if you watch the preview. It could either be a super mature film (which is what the critics are saying) that builds slowly and pays off at the end. Or it will be a pretentious artsy film that tries to say things with its silence and fails completely. The themes involve letting go of the past, starting over, and human connection. If the critics are right, it’s a surprisingly mature film for rookie directors. Who listens to critics though? Wait…
Michael Kelly, Jicky Schnee, Ana Asensio, Rip Torn
September 10

I’m Still Here - Directed by Casey Affleck
I’m only including this one because I think everyone should be aware of it. Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck decided to make a documentary out of Phoenix’s attempt to shrug off what must have been a sad, deeply unfulfilling (successful) film career and become a rapper. The younger Affleck hasn’t even proved himself a consistent actor, and he’s directing things now? That and the title is ironically apt, since I’m kinda getting irritated that Phoenix just won’t FUCKING LEAVE. I’ll download it to watch him make an ass of himself, but please for the love of god, don’t give him your money; it’ll only encourage him.
Joaquin Phoenix
September 10

Lovely, Still - Written and Directed by Nicholas Fackler
Fackler’s first endeavor seems to fall somewhere between The Notebook and Away From Her. I will be the first to admit that those are both damn good films, but when you’re watching a movie about old people dating for the first time in decades, you kinda know how it’s going to end. That aside, this looks pretty heartfelt and young at heart. Awww. They’re old.
Martin Landau, Ellen Burstyn, Adam Scott, Elizabeth Banks
September 10

Resident Evil: Afterlife - Written and Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson
I know that all the Resident Evil video game fans are pissed that this franchise isn’t the spooky, dark horror gore-fest they were expecting. But the first two films were pretty damn cool. Third one, not so much. Unfortunately, this one looks one step above Ultraviolet (worst movie ever), but in the midst of the misguided gimmick that is Hollywood 3D, the handful that are actually intended to be 3D will always have my attention. Because whatever you tell other people, you know Avatar’s 3D was the shit, and everyone secretly wants to see Piranha 3D.
Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Spencer Locke
September 10

The Romantics - Written and Directed by Galt Niederhoffer
I really thought this was gonna be another dumb chick flick (no offense, chicks). But after reading about it and watching the trailer, I think there’s something there. Niederhoffer wrote the novel, and she’s produced some off-the-radar goodness (Trucker, Dedication, Grace is Gone), so we know she has her indie integrity and character insight intact. The cast definitely makes me wonder, but separately most of them have one or two solid projects under their belts. Still not an Akerman fan, though. I dunno.
Katie Holmes, Anna Paquin, Josh Duhamel, Malin Akerman, Adam Brody, Elijah Wood, Jeremy Strong, Candice Bergen
September 10

Never Let Me Go - Directed by Mark Romanek, Written by Alex Garland
For those of you who don’t recognize the name, Alex Garland is a very talented screenwriter who teamed with Danny Boyle on The Beach, 28 Days Later…, and Sunshine. Granted, this coming of age story set at an English boarding school is a slight departure from zombies and space travel. And Romanek’s only film was One Hour Photo (Robin WIlliams’ continuing struggle to be taken seriously). But this could very well be this year’s Atonement, only with the welcome absence of Joe F-ing Wright.
Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins
September 15

Devil - Directed by Drew and John Erick Dowdle, Written by M. Night Shyamalan and Brian Nelson
The Good News: screenwriter Brian Nelson wrote Hard Candy and did work on 30 Days of Night, so we know he’s talented. Also, Geoffrey Arend is just funny no matter what.
The Bad News: The Dowdle brothers gave us Quarantine, which was a bullshit remake. Also, there is a complete lack of star power here.
The Worst News: Shyamalan is a fuckhead, and the twist is that he’s the devil, and the plummeting elevator is a metaphor for his film career. Fool me once, Shyamalan, shame on you. Fool me seven times…
Geoffrey Arend, Chris Messina, Bokeem Woodbine, Bojana Novakovic, Matt Craven
September 17

Enter the Void - Directed by Gaspar Noe, Written by Lucile Hadzihalilovic and Gaspar Noe
In Irreversible, Noe showed us the brutal side of life. His follow up attempts to tackle the beautiful side of death. A brother and sister make a pact to never leave each other. When the brother is killed in a Tokyo nightclub, he returns as a ghost to protect his sister. His last film was dark and gritty, but Void looks bright, colorful, and mesmerizing. A lot of cinephiles are already on its nuts, and I think I’m one of them. It will probably blow your mind.
Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta
September 17

The Freebie - Written and Directed by Katie Aselton
Aselton could arguably contend with Greta Gerwig for the title of Mumblecore queen. Acting, directing, writing; she does it all. The Freebie definitely classifies as Mumblecore. A young couple, in the face of a dwindling sex life, agrees to allow each other one one-night-stand to save their relationship. Dax Shepard always struck me as the poor man’s Zach Braff, but he puts on his serious face in this one, and it appears to work. Most likely won’t be coming to a theatre near you, but I’ll see it the first chance I get.
Dax Shepard, Katie Aselton, Bellamy Young
September 17

The Town - Directed by Ben Affleck, Written by Peter Craig, Ben Affleck, and Aaron Stockard
Say what you will about Ben Affleck the actor, but Gone Baby Gone was an impressive piece of directing. When you make a movie about goofily-masked bank robbers, you will inevitably be compared to Point Break. But really, Hall and Lively are both damn attractive, Hamm is spreading his Mad Men wings, and Renner is officially a fucking ganster now. Editor Dylan Tichenor and cinematographer Robert Elswit both worked on There Will Be Blood and Magnolia, and they each have an amazing resume besides. This is going to be a fun action movie no matter what.
Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Rebecca Hall, Chris Cooper, Pete Postlethwaite
September 17

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Written and Directed by Woody Allen
I’ve never been a huge fan of Woody Allen, but his last few attempts have been uncharacteristically subpar. This is his usual eclectic cast, interwoven stories and characters, quirky humor, and awkward moments. The cast is fantastic, and he seems to have returned to his usual tone. Unfortunately, that narration I’m not the least bit fond of is back in the trailer. I’m apprehensive.
Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Gemma Jones, Ewen Bremner
September 22

Jack Goes Boating - Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Written by Bob Glaudini
It wouldn’t be the beginning of autumn without Hoffman and his talented, artsy antics. It is understandable that, for his directorial debut, he chose Glaudini’s play about offbeat working-class relationships in NYC. Hoffman starring in the lead is of course a plus. This is definitely his wheelhouse, but we’ll see if he can pull it off behind the camera.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz
September 23

Buried - Directed by Rodrigo Cortes, Written by Chris Sparling
It bothers me when an unknown writer and an unknown director put out a super low budget film and are immediately compared to Hitchcock. It’s almost blasphemous. As good as Ryan Reynolds is, there have been numerous thrillers in the last decade which take place in a figurative or literal “box” and are hyped up and compared to classics only to fail miserably. That being said, I can’t help but be intrigued by Van Wilder stuck in a box for 90 minutes. Maybe.
Ryan Reynolds, Samantha Mathis
September 24 (Limited)

Howl - Written and Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
I feel like anytime you make a film about a compelling historical figure during a pivotal cultural period, James Franco needs to be involved. This feeling is apparently shared by newbies Epstein and Friedman (too easy). Franco plays Allen Ginsberg, the American poet who was put on trial for obscenity after publishing the poem “Howl”. This was a big hit on the festival circuit, and the supporting cast is near perfect. Can’t wait.
James Franco, Mary-Louise Parker, Jon Hamm, Jeff Daniels, Alessandro Nivola, David Strathairn, Treat Williams
September 24

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole - Directed by Zack Snyder, Written by John Orloff and Emil Stern
Animated features continue to surprise me these days. So it’s no surprise that they’ve upped the ante by placing the now-infamous Zack Snyder at the helm of this book adaptation featuring warrior owls. It reminds me of Watership Down and The Secret of Nimh, which is a good thing. The animation and 3D effects already look fantastic. Pixar has some competition this year.
Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Helen Mirren, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, David Wenham, Abbie Cornish, Ryan Kwanten
September 24

Like Dandelion Dust - Directed by Jon Gunn, Written by Stephen J. Rivele and Michael Lachance
This story is a little Lifetime network for me. But the preview seems to hint at a more in-depth analysis of human nature, love, and family. Pepper’s character is thrown in jail, prompting his newly pregnant wife (Sorvino) to give the child up for adoption. When Pepper finally gets out, the couple begins a campaign to reclaim their son. But his new parents are, on the surface, a much more stable and privileged family. It’ll be on cable before you know it, but don’t dismiss it too quickly.
Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Cole Hauser, Kate Levering
September 24

Waiting for “Superman” - Directed by Davis Guggenheim, Written by Davis Guggenheim and Billy Kimball
The director of An Inconvenient Truth is back to remind us that America is ruining the world with this bold and honest documentary about our education system. Most likely lacking in “new” or “groundbreaking” information, this will probably end up sweeping the nation much like its predecessor. The inclusion of Stock George Reeves Superman footage concerns me. But hey, it’s a step up from Futurama and Al Gore.
September 24

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - Directed by Oliver Stone, Written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff
As much as I dislike Oliver Stone, he’s not fucking around this time. Not only did he put a heavy hitting cast together (and Shia LeBeouf), but he got the scribes of Lolita and Things We Lost in the Fire to pen his script. The “new face” of Wall Street doesn’t really do it for me, and the mobile phone gag from the preview is a bit clumsy (Hey, remember Wall Street from the ‘80’s? I directed that! This movie is like that movie! Sequel!), but after being delayed for four months, I admit I’m eager to check it out.
Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan, Josh Brolin, Susan Sarandon, Frank Langella, Eli Wallach, Charlie Sheen
September 24

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN

Mesrine
This two-part story has been getting unanimously rave reviews since its premiere in 2008. French criminal mastermind Jacques Mesrine (Cassel) runs rampant across the country, robbing, killing, and becoming infamous. This is actually a true story from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. I finally found this online, and since it’s not coming to a theatre anywhere near me, I don’t feel bad watching it for free. There are plenty of American films like this, but the French have a way of making, uh, good films, while we make Public Enemies. If you get the chance to see either of these, take it.
Killer Instinct - Directed by Jean-Francois Richet, Written by Abdel Raouf Dafri
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Gerard Depardieu, Cecile De France, Elena Anaya
August 27 (Limited)
Public Enemy #1 - Directed by Jean-Francois Richet, Written by Abdel Raouf Dafri
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Ludivine Sagnier, Matthieu Amalric, Samuel Le Bihan
September 3 (Limited)

Suck - Written and Directed by Rob Stefaniuk
I am freaking sick of vampire movies, and I never want to watch another one. Unless it manages to get Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Moby, Malcolm McDowell, and the bassist from Rush on screen together. Good job, Rob Stefaniuk. This is artsy, ridiculous horror comedy at it’s best. Me and the half of Canada that isn’t starring in this film are going to love it. Screw everyone else.
Malcom McDowell, Dave Foley, Jessica Pare, Nicole de Boer, Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Moby, Alex Lifeson, Carole Pope
September 2 (Limited)

Tomorrow, When the War Began - Written and Directed by Stuart Beattie
Though response to this film has been lukewarm, I’m freaking excited about it. This may be Beattie’s directorial debut, but his writing credits (Collateral, Derailed, Pirates of the Caribbean, 30 Days of Night, Australia) speak for themselves. It is about a group of friends in Australia who return from a camping trip to find their country has been invaded by an anonymous foreign power. They must use every tool and weapon they can find to fight for their homeland. Possibly too serious for a fun teen movie, and too flashy for a serious adult film, this character study in friendship and patriotism might struggle to find an audience, but I’m hoping for the best.
Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lincoln Lewis, Deniz Akdeniz, Phoebe Tonkin
September 2 (Australia)

A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop - Directed by Yimou Zhang, Written by Jianquan Shi and Jing Shang
This is probably the film I’m most excited about this month. The director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers is remaking The Coen Brothers’ first film, Blood Simple. How fucking cool is that? It takes place in China in the late 1800’s, but the story is the same. This girl pays this guy to kill her husband, but this girl doesn’t know that this guy hired that guy to kill her and her husband, and nobody knows that the husband actually put a hit out on both of them. Admit it, it’s fucking cool.
Honglei Sun, Dahong Ni, Ni Yan, Xiao Shen-Yang, Xiaojuan Wang
September 3 (Limited)

Heartbreaker - Directed by Pascal Caumeil, Written by Laurent Zeitoun, Jeremy Doner, and Yohan Gromb
As romantic comedies go, I have to say I liked Hitch. So I am kind of curious to see this film about the anti-Hitch, a man who is payed to break couples up. He zeroes in on his target, only to fall in love over a shared obsession with Dirty Dancing. French people reenacting those famous scenes and singing ‘80’s music is amusing to me.
Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis
September 10 (Limited)

The Hideaway (Le refuge) - Directed by Francois Ozon, Written by Francois Ozon and Matthieu Hippeau
The director of the sexy Focus Feature Swimming Pool is again stranding his characters in a summer house. After a woman and her husband overdose, the husband dies and the wife realizes she’s pregnant. Unwilling to comply with his family’s requests to abort the child, she heads to a cabin accompanied by her brother-in-law. The two must come to terms with the loss of their loved one, the presence of the baby, and their feelings for each other. Steamy.
Isabelle Carre, Louis-Ronan Choicy
September 10 (NY)
September 17 (LA)

The Kid - Directed by Nick Moran, Written by Kevin Lewis, Nick Moran, and Mark Thomas
This is the gritty true story of Kevin Lewis, who was constantly beaten by his mother, and then acted out violently against everyone who cared about him later in life. We all know Natascha McElhone as the hot, patience-of-a-saint ex from Californication. So seeing her as a frumpy, ugly, abusive mother is a bit of a stretch. But the stark realism and honestly are compelling.
Natascha McElhone, Ioan Gruffudd, Rupert Friend, David O’Hara
September 17 (UK)

Alright people, it’s awards season again. Time to roll out the red carpet, dish about celebrities, and gossip about who’s wearing what and going with who, right? Wait, who said “right”? Get the fuck out of here, Hugh Jackman, no one wants to hear you sing!

This is sexy gypsy. Which means we’ve all spent the last few months hyping up Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker, and now it’s time to judge the nominees, talk shit about the winners, and make sure Kanye’s good and liquored up, just in case.

Last year’s Academy Awards were probably the best since 2006, with a lot of good films, and plenty of solid wins. Last year was also the first time we actually paid attention to the Golden Globes, and they appeared to be a good indicator of Oscars to come. This year, however, we have many mixed feelings; we’re confused, worried, and a little sleepy. Here’s why:

THE GOOD:

Best Actor in a Drama: After a lot of great roles, and some near misses, Jeff Bridges is finally getting some love for his role in Crazy Heart, taking the Globe for Best Actor in a Drama. Granted, he was up against Morgan “Like a Twinky” Freeman, and Tobey Maguire (who played his role in Brothers like Adam Sandler’s Waterboy), but it’s good to see him win.

Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical: It comes as no surprise that Meryl Streep is adding more trophies to the case. Despite an obviously lopsided script, Streep stole the show and became Julia Child, earning a Best Actress Globe. For anyone who says “she has enough awards”, that’s like saying Brett Favre has enough records. When you’re that good, it’s gonna happen one way or another.

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Musical: Saying you didn’t like Precious is the same as telling the liberal guilt-ridden among us that you hate puppies. Well we didn’t like Precious. (but we do love puppies!) First of all, the actual title is: “Precious: Based on a Novel by Sapphire”, which is just fucking stupid. Second, instead of an honest “look at life on these streets” film, they made a “look how sad and stereotypical and fucked up this poor black girl’s life is” film. Despite that, Mo’nique managed to de-board Soul Plane, and give an emotional performance with a despicable character, giving her a well-deserved Supporting Actress award.

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama: Probably the best choice this year was Christoph Waltz for his creepy-yet-articulate Nazi officer in Inglourious Basterds. Considering the competition (Stanley Tucci, Christopher Plummer, Woody Harrelson, Matt Damon), his Best Supporting Actor award gave us hope that the HFPA isn’t totally blind.

Best Screenplay: And finally, Jason Reitman brought home a Globe for his original screenplay for Up in the AIr. He was a little pissed that he lost best picture, but expect to see him at the Academy Awards as well.

THE BAD:

One word: Avatar. Avatar is an amazing achievement in CGI and motion capture technology, and the 3-D factor didn’t hurt. It is possibly one of Cameron’s best films, technically speaking. But winning Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Director is kinda ridiculous. The story was borrowed, the score was unoriginal, and even though acting and directing were on point, what made this film was the budget, pure and simple. With The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and Up in the Air in the same category, this was just a poor choice.

THE QUESTIONABLE:

Best Actress in a Drama: We haven’t seen The Blind Side yet, but it’s hard to believe Sandra Bullock could legitimately beat out Helen Mirren or Emily Blunt. However, it’s not the craziest win in recent years, for example—Jennifer Hudson. And both the HFPA and the Academy have been known to make…ahem…political choices. We just hope this isn’t one of those years.

Best Comedy or Musical: The Hangover is hands down the funniest movie since Anchorman. The sheer entertainment value and Vegas-style buffet of hilarious one-liners are obvious. As a film, though, we’re not sure it really stacks up against the writing of (500) Days of Summer, the acting talent in It’s Complicated, or the direction of Julie and Julia.

Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical: We can’t decide if Robert Downey Jr. picks bad projects to be great in, or if someone just needs to throw him a freaking bone, but his Best Actor nomination for Sherlock Holmes, immediately following one for Tropic Thunder, is kinda depressing. If Daniel Day-Lewis saw Sherlock Holmes on the street, he’d call him a Bastard in a Basket and throw him down a drill shaft. And with Matt Damon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the same category, this win warrants a pause.

Best Animated Feature: It’s difficult sometimes to rate animated features. Probably because 90% of them are so damned delightful. All of the nominees this year were solid films. But the serious, sometimes depressing tone of Up, pitted against the whimsical jello house that is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Wes Anderson’s first good film EVER (Fantastic Mr. Fox) is a tough call, and we’re not convinced the Globes made the right one.

Television Globes for the year were uninspired, and we really didn’t care; but for anyone dying to know, here’s some highlights:

Tru Blood was neglected…again. Californication was neglected…again. Michael C. Hall (Dexter) beat cancer, then he beat Hugh Laurie (House) for Best Actor in a Drama. Yes, Glee won best comedy/musical, so you can sing your fucking little heart out. Tina Fey (30 Rock) lost to a schizophrenic Toni Colette (United States of Tara). When they announced Alec Baldwin’s (30 Rock) win for Best Actor in a comedy, they found him in the bathroom doing blow off a groupie’s ass with David Duchovny (Californication). Not really, but wouldn’t that be the best damn crossover episode ever??

All in all, we can’t be too mad at the Golden Globes this year; there were very few horrible choices. We’re still not as excited as last year, though. Maybe it’s because our man-crush Danny Boyle got so many awards last time, but with all the questionable wins so far this could end up being a “What The Fuck?” year at the Oscars . And with 10 nominees in the major categories coming our way next month, we are less than pleased about it.

Finally. It’s over. The 2000s. The 00s. The aughts. Whatever the fuck you want to call it. We’re done. And with the close of the decade, comes the obligatory nostalgic look back. And while we’ve suffered through a lot of bullshit these past ten years, there is also much to be appreciated—especially when it comes to film.

When we sat down to compile the best of the aughts, our initial list was almost 300 strong. We were blown away by the sheer number of dope movies that had come out.

This decade: We were introduced to Rian Johnson and Jason Reitman. Danny Boyle got the props we’ve been saying he deserved for years. Christopher Nolan gave us a superhero movie that didn’t suck. Charlie Kaufman decided to actually direct one of his screenplays. The Oscars officially became a joke. And sexy gypsy was born.

A lot of coffee, cigarettes and Wes Andersen bashing went into making this list. But we’re happy with the way it turned out. Don’t expect to see dumb shit like The Lord of The Rings or Dream Girls here. Instead you’ll see films from The Coen Brothers, Jim Jarmusch and Takashi Miike. The few honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut are at the bottom of the post.

Anyway, without any further rambling, here it is. sexy gypsy’s Best of the Aughts…

(in alphabetical order)

1) Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000)

I was 15 years old when Almost Famous dropped and changed my life. It was the first time I realized people would pay you to run around, listen to music and talk about it. So in a way, sexy gypsy wouldn’t even be here without this movie. It featured a great cast—Patrick Fugit (who shows up twice on this list), Zooey Deschanel, Anna Paquin, Frances McDormand aka Willem Dafoe (seriously, look that shit up. They look exactly alike. We still maintain they are the same person), Jason Lee, Philip Seymour Hoffman and even Jimmy Fallon. Add that to an immensely personal Cameron Crowe script, perfect music, and Billy Crudup screaming “I AM A GOLDEN GOD!” from atop a roof, and you have one damn fine film. —BIG

2) American Gangster (Ridley Scott, 2008)

3) American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000)

4) Anchorman (Adam McKay, 2004)

5) Antichrist (Lars von Trier, 2009)

6) Audition (Takashi Miike, 2001)

7) Away We Go (Sam Mendes, 2009)

The Boondock Saints (Troy Duffy, 2000)

9) Brick (Rian Johnson, 2005)

10) The Brothers Bloom (Rian Johnson, 2009)

Last year, Rian Johnson’s Brick showed up on a sexy gypsy list of off-the-radar films, and we basically called it a one hit wonder. We officially apologize to Mr. Johnson. The Brothers Bloom, while very different from Brick, showed a matured sense of direction and style, with the same tone of homage and innovation, and a playful sense of humor. As an elaborate, yet completely character-driven con film, this is moviemaking at it’s finest. —GWG

11) Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch, 2005)

12) Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006)

13) Choke (Clark Gregg, 2008)

14) The Chumscrubber (Arie Posin, 2005)

Teenage suicide is never a good thing. Unless it brings about the complete destruction of idyllic white suburbia. What’s interesting about this film is that it doesn’t show you underlying problems around the neighborhood, and then culminate with a death. The suicide happens at the beginning, and instead of being the breaking point, or even the catalyst, it is the loose thread that unravels everyone’s secrets and facades. It is beautifully written and acted, with a multi-generational, eclectic cast that actually fits very well together. —GWG

15) City of God (Fernando Meirelles, Katia Lund, 2002)

16) Coffee and Cigarettes (Jim Jarmusch, 2003)

17) Collateral (Michael Mann, 2004)

18) Crash (Paul Haggis, 2005)

19) Criminal (Gregory Jacobs, 2004)

20) The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)

21) The Departed (Martin Scorcese, 2006)

The Departed is the only film on this list I had to fight for. The Great White Gypsy hated it. But he’s crazy, so I had to veto. Granted, I am a confessed Scorsese groupie. The man has never made a film I didn’t love. And I’ve seen them all. Even the obscure ones like Boxcar Bertha. So maybe I was a little biased with this pick. But to me, anytime you can put Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio in the same movie and not make people want stab themselves in the eye, it’s a fucking win. Bonus points for having Nas and Flogging Molly on the same soundtrack. —BIG

22) The Devil’s Rejects (Rob Zombie, 2005)

Admittedly, Rob Zombie’s first venture, House of 1000 Corpses, was retarded. However, with a little less Horror rip-off, and a lot more disturbing violence, the sequel was a cult classic opening weekend. Zombie knows how to work a camera, but this film is probably the pinnacle of his work with the soundtrack. It starts with The Allman Brothers’ Midnight Rider, swells with a violent sequence to the tune of Terry Reid’s To Be Treated Right, and finishes with the best use of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird to date. All of this is driven home by a sobering message: There is no ice cream in your fucking future. —GWG

23) District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009)

24) Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)

25) The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003)

26) Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, 2007)

27) Equilibrium (Kurt Wimmer, 2002)

28) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)

29) The Fall (Tarsem Singh, 2008)

This is one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. Tarsem Singh makes a huge leap up from his very respectable 2000 debut, The Cell, and tells us an engaging story in ways never before seen. In a time of crazy, overdone CGI and generic plot, The Fall was refreshingly organic. Great acting, directing, cinematography, and everything in between. —BIG

30) (500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009)

31) Garden State (Zach Braff, 2004)

32) Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2001)

33) Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)

34) Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck, 2006)

35) The Hangover (Todd Phillips, 2009)

36) Havoc (Barbara Kopple, 2005)

37) High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000)

Like Almost Famous, High Fidelity was one of those life defining movies for me. He owned a record store, argued about top five lists with his friends, organized his music collection autobiographically and pined over beautiful women. That was his whole life. How awesome is that? Almost Famous made me realize I could write about music, High Fidelity made me realize I wasn’t alone in obsessing over it. —BIG

HIGH FIDELITY BONUS: TOP 5 SONGS TO PLAY AT MY FUNERAL:

1) Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones

2) Ready To Die - The Notorious BIG

3) Bullet With Butterfly Wings - The Smashing Pumpkins

4) Funeral - The Clipse

5) Angel’s Son - Snot featuring Lajon Witherspoon from Sevendust

38) High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2005)

39) Humpday (Lynn Shelton, 2009)

One of the things I will always remember about this decade is my discovery of Mumblecore. I started with The Puffy Chair and soon devoured films like Baghead, Mutual Appreciation and Funny Ha Ha. Though not always the best executed films, the genre intrigued me. And with the success of people like Lynn Shelton and Mark Duplass, I hope more people discover it. Humpday is an experience. You’re in the room, a silent observer—not just someone watching a film. Effortlessly hilarious and purposefully awkward, it is one of my favorite films of this year and definitely deserves a spot on the list. —BIG

40) The Hurt Locker (Katherine Bigelow, 2009)

41) Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike, 2003)

42) Imaginary Heroes (Dan Harris, 2004)

43) In Bruges (Martin McDonagh, 2008)

44) In Search of a Midnight Kiss (Alex Holdridge, 2007)

45) Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)

46) Jarhead (Sam Mendes, 2005)

47) Juno (Jason Reitman, 2007)

48) Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003, 2004)

49) Kingdom of Heaven (Ridley Scott, 2005)

50) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Shane Black, 2005)

“You look up the ‘idiot’ in the dictionary, know what you’ll find?”

“A picture of me?”

“No, the definition of the word idiot, which you fucking are!!”

This film never gets old. Raymond Chandler meets Abbott and Costello. The mystery itself isn’t anything amazingly unique, but it’s entertaining and solid enough to hold up a great cast, one of the best narrations ever, and almost as many quotable quotes as Anchorman.

“Talking money…”

“A Talking monkey?”

“Talking monkey, yeah, yeah. Came here from the future. Ugly sucker, only says ficus.”

—GWG

51) Knocked Up (Judd Apatow, 2007)

52) Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)

53) Little Children (Todd Field, 2006)

54) Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris, 2006)

55) Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)

56) Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2003)

57) The Machinist (Brad Anderson, 2004)

58) Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston, 2004)

59) Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)

60) Milk (Gus van Sant, 2008)

61) Monsoon Wedding (Mira Nair, 2002)

62) Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)

63) 9 Songs (Michael Winterbottom, 2005)

A lot of people are quick to dismiss this film as unnecessarily explicit, self-indulgent, (not so) thinly veiled pornography. I couldn’t disagree more. Michael Winterbottom is a masterful storyteller, communicating an entire relationship with minimum dialogue and nine amazing songs. It’s an ambitious concept that in less capable hands would have failed miserably. But Winterbottom executes it perfectly. It’s on Netflix Watch Instantly right now. So if you haven’t seen it, do so now. —BIG

64) No Country for Old Men (The Coen Brothers, 2008)

65) O Brother Where Art Thou (The Coen Brothers, 2000)

66) Oldboy (Chan-wook Park, 2003)

The second film in Chan-wook Park’s Revenge Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance), Oldboy features some original camerawork, really cool fight scenes, and an emotional yet disturbing story that would make David Fincher blush. The hallway fight, done in one continuous shot, is a staple of discussion. But there are so many great scenes, so many impressive technical aspects and character moments, that it definitely warrants multiple viewings. We did want to include the entire trilogy on the list, as there is a noticeable arc and underlying theme across all three films. However, they are all separate, unrelated stories, and Oldboy stands out as the strongest link. —GWG

67) Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006)

68) Purple Violets (Edward Burns, 2007)

69) Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme, 2008)

70) Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)

71) Revolutionary Road (Sam Mendes, 2008)

72) The Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes, 2002)

73) The Salton Sea (D.J. Caruso, 2002)

74) Saw (James Wan, 2004)

75) A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater, 2006)

76) Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)

77) Shopgirl (Anand Tucker, 2005)

78) Sin City (Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, 2005)

79) Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle, 2008)

80) Snatch (Guy Ritchie, 2000)

81) The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach, 2005)

82) State and Main (David Mamet, 2000)

83) Sukiyaki Western Django (Takashi Miike, 2008)

What do you get when you mix Yojimbo, Django, and A Fistfull of Dollars? Actually, if you’re anyone but Takashi Miike, your head might explode. Lucky for us, the Japanese maestro of bloodshed helmed this crazy, entertaining, violent film about…Japanese cowboys? In Miike’s first American project, he decides to have Asian actors speaking John Wayne-style English while carrying six shooters and katanas. Oh yeah, and Tarantino has a couple cameos. Fucking great. —GWG

84) Surveillance (Jennifer Lynch, 2009)

85) Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)

86) There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)

87) Thirteen (Catherine Hardwicke, 2003)

In 2003, a pre-Twilight Catherine Hardwicke gave us a film that would alter the existence of little sisters forever. I saw Thirteen and wanted nothing more than to lock my sister in a closet until she was 20. That was the only conceivable way to save her from the unbearable plight of the teenage American girl. Most of the credit for this film goes to Nikki Reed, who was 15 when she wrote it. Thirteen is an exceptionally honest and powerful directorial debut from a director that proved to be a one hit wonder. —BIG

88) 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2003)

Not many zombie movies offer much more than cheap thrills and bloody carnage. We’ll be honest, that’s why we love them. With Danny Boyle’s version, though, every aspect of the film is striking. The character development, the landscape, the music, and the balls-to-the-wall tension throughout make this film stand an infected, disembodied head above the rest in the genre. —GWG

89) 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)

90) The United States of Leland (Matthew Ryan Hoge, 2003)

This film makes us miss the early 2000’s, when all-star casts could still deliver a patient, tempered, emotional film. As a whole, this movie exhibits the same complex subtleties as its main character, a simple-minded teenager accused of murder. Themes of perspective, miscommunication, self-examination and accountability underline interesting cinematography and a beautiful story. —GWG

91) The Wackness (Jonathan Levine, 2008)

92) The Way of the Gun (Christopher McQuarrie, 2000)

93) Wicker Park (Paul McGuigan, 2004)

94) The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky, 2008)

95) Wristcutters: A Love Story (Goran Dukic, 2006)

96) Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Kevin Smith, 2008)

Honorable Mentions

Infernal Affairs (Wai-keung Lau, Alan Mak, 2002)

Though infinitely better than The Departed, this film had it’s share of problems, and spawned two unnecessary sequels.

Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)

The story may have been borrowed, and the score unoriginal, but the visuals in this film (as well as the 3-D effects) will revolutionize cinema as we know it.

Life as a House (Irwin Winkler, 2001)

An amazing character study that develops well, with solid acting and a decent soundtrack. The downside: Hayden Christiansen

Irreversible (Gaspar Noe, 2002)

Very similar to Memento, this reverse film is well acted and directed, but without the intense, realistic, extremely long rape sequence, it might not have as much effect.

The Anniversary Party (Alan Cumming, Jennifer Jason Leigh, 2001)

Very well written and acted, even John C. Reilly tones it down a bit. Possibly a tad self indulgent, but the ecstasy scene is great.

Spartan (David Mamet, 2004)

Mamet’s esoteric uber-realism that doesn’t bother explaining itself to the ordinary viewer is the best and worst part of this film. It never stops moving, and maintains it’s staying power, it just doesn’t wait for anyone to catch up.

Layer Cake (Matthew Vaughn, 2004)

Great soundtrack, great acting, great story. Decent dialog, cinematography, cutting this one was hard, but just couldn’t stand up to some of the competition.

Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman, 2005)

Jason Reitman can do no wrong. Possibly Eckhart’s best performance. Another tough choice, but Juno kinda kicked it in the pork sword.

Hard Candy (David Slade, 2005)

Few movies can make me cringe. 15-year-old Ellen Page threatening to castrate Patrick Wilson? Really, really uncool. Great acting and writing, but a bit limited in it’s scope.

Renaissance (Christian Volckman, 2006)

Black and white motion capture animation set in Paris, 2054. The story’s a little muddled at times, but it’s just frickin cool to watch cartoon Daniel Craig shoot people in the face.

Whether you don’t watch movies very often, or you’re a cinema fanatic, we all have a soft spot for con game films. We are always willing to see one, we are much more forgiving of them, and Rian Johnson knows this. So he watched The Sting, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He watched The Last Waltz, and read Ulysses. And he crafted an amazing, entertaining, completely character-driven con film in The Brothers Bloom.

Q&A On opening weekend for The Brothers Bloom, Rian Johnson decided to do a one-man road show, and appear at screenings around the country to introduce the film and do a question and answer session afterwards. When I heard he was in San Francisco, I jumped at the chance. Moderated by Peter Sciretta of /Film.com, it was a surprise to most of the audience, and Johnson was candid and gracious. He spoke about his writing process (Bang Bang was his favorite character to write, and Rinko Kikuchi added a great comic element to the silence), how the film release was put on hold waiting for Oscar season to pass, and how he spent 65% of his budget on a set (the film was shot on location in Prague and several other areas of Europe). He actually released an MP3 file online that is basically his personal director’s commentary for the film, which you can download and listen to on your ipod in the theater (just don’t bother all the sensitive people with your light you inconsiderate basterds!). He was understandably vague, but says his next project will be a Science Fiction film involving time travel. The way he’s going after only two films, he just might give Danny Boyle a run for his money. Thanks to Rian Johnson for showing up, the guys at /Film, and my boy Jermain for chiming in with an intelligent question amidst douchebag comments.

First and foremost, we would like to thank all of you who supported us on Sunday and followed the live blog. It was a big day for Sexy Gypsy, and it really set the bar high.

Unfortunately, the Academy set the bar pretty low for hosting this year. Hugh Jackman, while slightly entertaining and charismatic at first, bored us to death with the constant musical numbers. This is the Oscars, dammit, we didn’t watch the Grammies for a reason. Also, the new format for actor awards runs a little long for our taste. Do we really need past winners standing up there talking one by one about the nominees for this year? We know Heath Ledger was an amazing Joker, do we really need Kevin Kline to tell us again? And if Cuba Gooding Jr. wants to be on stage at the red carpets, maybe he should be in a movie that doesn’t suck ass.

So despite some random last minute decisions, Sexy Gypsy did pretty well in predicting the Oscars this year. Our preview was right on the money for the big categories, even if our ballots weren’t. Unlike past years, there were no really big upsets. So let’s recap:

Best Picture: We all knew that Slumdog Millionaire was going to sweep the awards again. Milk was an amazing contender, but couldn’t stand up to the sheer brilliance in editing, direction, sound, and writing that Slumdog brought. Well deserved.

Best Director: David Fincher and Ron Howard have done better work. Stephen Daldry’s presence, not only in this category, but also in every other category The Reader was nominated, was a ridiculous, unwarranted usurping of Sam Mendes’ rightful seat with Revolutionary Road. Van Sant gave him a good run for the money, but Danny Boyle couldn’t be ignored any longer. Well deserved.

Best Actor: Minus Brad Pitt, this category was stacked. Jenkins, Langella, Penn, and Rourke all gave amazing performances. But it really came down to the latter two, and even though Prop 8 could’ve pushed Penn to the win, he was fantastic, and at least Rourke is again on the radar. Questionable, but well deserved.

Best Actress: Anne Hathaway hasn’t been as typecast as most people believe. Her role in Havoc was enough for us to take her seriously. Unfortunately, she was up against two major actresses (not counting Melissa Leo or Angelina Jolie). However, Streep has had her Oscar recognition, and Winslet was due after so many dead end nominations. Well deserved, wrong film (should have been Revolutionary Road).

Best Supporting Actor: If you read our preview, you know our conspiracy theories in this category. But there was only ever a slight doubt in anyone’s mind that Ledger would walk with this one. His “eclectic” career aside, this was not only his best performance, but one of the best of all time. Hey Downey, why so serious? Well deserved.

Best Supporting Actress: This category wasn’t really stellar, but everyone did a good job in their roles. Amy Adams, however, was definitely a head above the rest, in emotion and in screen time. Predicting this one was disappointing, because we knew Cruz would take it for being involved in an otherwise-not-nominated Woody Allen film. Undeserved.

Other categories of interest

Foreign Language: Waltz with Bashir should’ve taken this, and most people thought it would. Always gotta be on the lookout for the underdog.

Shorts: It is surprising that On the Line or Manon on the Asphalt didn’t take it, considering they were more the Academy’s usual taste, but Toyland was interesting and well edited, and the only WWII film even nominated this year. Also surprising, but definitely exciting, was the Academy’s decision to look past Pixar’s usual animated brilliance and give the Oscar to La Maison en Petits Cubes, the emotional Japanese film with a French name.

Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire was an amazing adaptation, as shown by its eight wins this year. However, we still believe that, with any other director, the script would have fallen short. Doubt, though sub par in acting and directing, was an amazingly well written film, full of amazing dialogue. Milk was the obvious choice for Original Screenplay. It built and developed all the characters for the actors to round out, and there wasn’t a weak link in the bunch.

Another surprise was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. All three of this film’s awards (Visual Effects, Art Direction, and Makeup) beat out The Dark Knight, which was a thousand times better in all of them. This is either an apology to Fincher for ignoring Zodiac, or an apology to Brad Pitt that he will never, ever, ever be Batman. Robin, maybe, but not The Dark Knight.

Overall, a good year for movies, and a solid Academy Awards ceremony. We will of course be starting this all over again next November, but for now we return you to your regularly scheduled programming. Thanks for the support.

-Sexy Gypsy

Best Picture

Of the five films in this category, only two really have a shot. Frost/Nixon was a great stage adaptation with amazing performances and, while solid, was ultimately compromised by Ron Howard’s lack of technical abilities. The Reader was boring, poorly constructed, and probably the most overrated film in the last 20 years. And Benjamin Button was average at best.

That leaves us with Milk and Slumdog Millionaire. And it’s close.

Milk was perfectly casted, acted and edited. Thankfully, Gus van Sant showed enough restraint not to fuck it up with his usual annoyingly pseudo-artistic direction. Add to that the best performance of Sean Penn’s career and you have a serious contender for Best Picture.

But, unfortunately for Gus van Sant and Milk, 2009 is the year of Slumdog. With great music, flawless direction and screenplay, Slumdog Millionaire has finally brought Danny Boyle to the forefront of cinema. He’s a versatile director who can excel in any genre, and Slumdog’s complex, non-linear story line really allowed him to showcase his skills. The result was a beautifully executed film whose broad appeal, blending of cultures, and surprising rise to recognition puts it over the top.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Slumdog Millionaire

WHO WILL WIN: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor

Why is Brad Pitt in this category? He gave a much better, rounder performance in A River Runs Through It and is the weak link in this category with his one-note portrayal of Benjamin Button. Richard Jenkins is finally getting the love he deserves, after years of being “that guy”—you recognize him, know he’s in things, but you don’t know his name or why you seem to remember him (if you still don’t know who he is, he’s the dead father in Six Feet Under). Unfortunately, his well-developed performance will be eclipsed by the big three: Mickey Rourke, Frank Langella, and Sean Penn. This will ultimately be decided by politics: the resurrection of Mickey Rourke, the Nixon scandal, or the gay character post-prop 8.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Mickey Rourke WHO WILL WIN: Sean Penn, because the Academy loves him.

Best Actress

First off, the Academy needs to decide what constitutes a leading role, because Kate Winslet should have been up for Revolutionary Road, not The Reader, both for technical and performance-quality reasons. She’ll probably win, but only because Stephen Daldry is a marketing whore and has been politicking for The Reader like he was Blagojevich selling a Senate seat.

Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie both had great roles, but it was more the writing than they acting that made their characters special. While Angelina Jolie will get a nomination for anything in which she’s not half naked shooting at people, Streep didn’t bring the expected veteran-actress energy to an already well written character—and it fell short.

Melissa Leo in Frozen River was an interesting choice. A small, low-budget, independent film shot in 24 days spawns a Best Actress nomination? But it’s a well-crafted story—solid throughout. As for Melissa Leo’s performance, as good a job as she did, she’s not beating out Streep, let alone Winslet.

Anne Hathaway, on the other hand, deserves credit for nailing her part as a fresh-out-of-rehab junkie—a role often cliched, parodied, and overplayed. Sadly, no one saw Rachel Getting Married. It’s not a great film but Hathaway more than makes up for it (Plus, Tunde from TV on The Radio plays her brother-in-law-to-be!)

WHO SHOULD WIN: Anne Hathaway WHO WILL WIN: Kate Winslet

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Downey, Jr. is an amazing actor and definitely deserves some fucking recognition. But Tropic Thunder? Really?? It’s picks like this that make people clown the Oscar. Everyone else was solid, but Josh Brolin, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Michael Shannon picked a shitty year to be nominated.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was miscast in the role of Father Flynn, and he did the best he could. Still, his subpar performance paled in comparison to most of his other work. Josh Brolin, though slightly outshone by the rest of the supporting cast, was impressive in Milk. He just seems to have bad luck—going against Daniel Day-Lewis last year, and now Heath Ledger. Michael Shannon had three great scenes, and blew me away in Revolutionary Road. He was the most interesting character in a Sam Mendes movie, which in itself says a lot, and he had a huge impact in his 120 seconds of screen time.

Yet as good as they were, Brolin and Shannon especially, no one is beating Heath Ledger. A solid, completely immersive portrayal of a psychotic clown in a movie that destroyed box offices everywhere? He deserves the award no matter what, and it only helps that he’s dead.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Heath Ledger (but only because he’s dead) WHO WILL WIN: Heath Ledger (but only because he’s dead)

Best Supporting Actress

How long do you have to be in a film to fulfill the “supporting” criteria? Viola Davis, though very emotional, had one scene in Doubt. However, she was just as memorable as Michael Shannon in her limited screen time. Penelope Cruz didn’t have a much bigger role, and she’s only here because she played a cup full of crazy in a Woody Allen movie, and her crazy wasn’t as good as crazies in the past (Wilkinson in Michael Clayton). But Amy Adams is a head above the rest in this category, and hopefully that’s enough.

Taraji Henson is here just because the Academy loved Benjamin Button, but it wasn’t a great film and she wasn’t all that good in it. Outside of Cruz, she’s the weakest nominee in this category. It was like she played the great-great-grandmother of her character in Hustle and Flow.

Marisa Tomei is the dark horse here. She gave an incredible performance in The Wrestler and she’s still ridiculously hot.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Amy Adams WHO WILL WIN: Penelope Cruz

Best Director

If you’ve ever read sexy gypsy, you already know our pick for Best Director. Motherfucking Danny Boyle.

Stephen Daldry is now on my shit list for The Reader—even more so for plugging the fuck out of an inferior movie and tricking everyone into thinking it was great. Who the fuck does he think he is, M. Night Shyamalan?

David Fincher is a great director with some amazing movies under his belt, but the travesty of Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not one of them. The sequence with Tilda Swinton and Brad Pitt was the only time you really saw Fincher’s influence, and it was the best part of the film.

Ron Howard is still Hollywood’s golden boy, so it’s not surprising he was nominated for Frost/Nixon. Aside from persistent anachronisms and mishandling of time, Howard preserved the spirit of the stage play and the camera work was excellent.

Gus van Sant finally decided to humble himself and make a solid, consistent film, and is really the only one who could challenge Boyle. The Academy loves him, and could look to make up for robbing him of Best Director in 1997, plus some Prop 8 guilt could come into play. This is definitely a category to watch.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Danny Boyle (with an honorable mention and apology to Sam Mendes) WHO WILL WIN: Danny Boyle

Conspiracies

• Who did Sam Mendes piss off? He is a great filmmakers and Revolutionary Road, though disturbingly depressing, was an amazing film. Camera work, editing, score, acting, screenplay—all great. Yet the Academy left him out of the running and even changed the nomination for Kate Winslet, calling her performance in The Reader a lead—a role which the HFPA considered a supporting a few months ago. I think he’s in the doghouse for some reason, and Michael Shannon’s nomination is an apology. I suspect that, though Ledger has it locked, they might upset everything and give it to Shannon, just to show there’s no hard feelings.
• Amy Adams deserves to win best supporting, but everything in Hollywood is political (which could also explain Winslet’s bump to lead role after Daldry’s whoring). My guess is that Cruz could walk with this one because the Academy loves Woody Allen and they’re sorry he made a dumb movie they can’t nominate for anything else.
• Again making up for its past mistakes, the Academy has shown major love to Benjamin Button. They want so badly to let Pitt have one, but Babel just wasn’t that good. And Zodiac, Fincher’s first Academy-worthy film, just came out too early for Oscar consideration.
• 4.) Robert Downey, Jr. has been in some great movies, always does his roles beautifully, and the Academy thinks he’s due for something. But since Charlie Bartlett got impatient and fucked off what could have been a serious, profound ending, he couldn’t get anything for that. And Iron Man was entertaining, but no actor will ever get an Oscar for playing a superhero. Downey’s next film is The Soloist with Jamie Foxx, directed by Joe Wright. It would have been a contender for the Oscars but was pulled from its November release date and slated for early March, 2009. So now it comes down to Tropic Thunder.

So now that we’ve all had a chance to absorb the Oscar nominations, it’s time to start placing bets. We already mentioned that, in the last three years, every Oscar winner for Best Actor and Actress also won the Golden Globe. This year, however, the nominations aren’t even the same. Kate Winslet won Best Actress for Revolutionary Road, but the Academy decided to nominate her for The Reader. Not surprising, but still unfortunate, is the lack of nominations for Sam Mendes and Revolutionary Road. Michael Shannon is the only one who got a nod, with a Best Supporting Actor nomination. We’re still unclear as to why Mendes is absent on the ballot this year, especially when The Reader is up for Best Picture, and Stephen Daldry is up for Best Director (boring movie, and he’s a rookie).

Heath Ledger has a little more competition in this race for Best Supporting Actor, but we’re hoping he gets what’s due him after arguably the best performance of 2008. And kudos must be given to the Academy for calling our bluff in this category. Robert Downey Jr. is up for Best Supporting for Tropic Thunder; we’re still going to complain, but Downey really deserves an award after being overlooked for so long, so the razor blades we promised will not be forthcoming.

On a lighter note, Danny Boyle carried over all of his Golden Globe nominations, and he’s all over the Oscars. With any luck, the Academy will think outside its microscopic box and give credit to the underdog instead of going with the predictable choice (Ron Howard). The only movie to really rival Slumdog Millionaire this year was Milk. Gus van Sant deserves the nomination, maybe the win. The editing wasn’t as complex as Slumdog, but it was still good. And Sean Penn is definitely giving Mickey Rourke a run for his money as Best Actor.

The Supporting categories are also a bit strange, in that several of the nominees had very little screen time in the film. Viola Davis has like two scenes in Doubt. Penelope Cruz wasn’t really in Vicky Cristina Barcelona until the very end. Taraji P. Henson had a slightly bigger role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but it was three hours long, and you didn’t see her that much. Even Michael Shannon only had three scenes in Revolutionary Road. Not that this is a first for the Academy (Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton, Ruby Dee for American Gangster), we’re just not sure how you justify giving an Oscar to someone who wasn’t really in the movie.

This year will not be the clash of the titans that last year was, but there are a lot of interesting choices, some standard nominations, and some unexplainable absences. It’s really anyone’s guess, but here at Sexy Gypsy, we’re smarter than everyone else, including the Academy, so be on the lookout for our official Oscar ballot choices next week.