.*BAFTA 2010 NOMINATIONS"-

And the nominees are...


Over the years I've come to prefer the BAFTAs over the Oscars, one reason is their choice of nominees which usually are more interesting than those of the Oscars. Whereas the Academy at times seems to be influenced by star quality and box office results, the BAFTAs appear more credible, with often some surprise nominees that I too feel are more deserving than some of the more obvious choices the Oscars go for. Also, with only one hour of time difference I'm able to watch the BAFTAs on the BBC without having to wake up in the middle of the night or actually early morning to watch the ceremony. 'Cause this is the case with the Oscars of which I can never be sure, by the way, that they will be broadcasted on Dutch television at all (!!!) And perhaps, yes, perhaps :D I just got a more loving kind of feeling towards the Brits! Just a little...maybe ;)

"]MY MISTAKE*(

I've been using the term prepatory for months when I actually meant preparatory, 'cause I've been going to preparatory school. I guess I've been confused 'cause in French it's préparé, so 'prepare' even though it's also préparatoire. Anyway, I just discovered my mistake while reading C.S. Forester's 'The General' :D The good that reading can do

Check out this band called Local Natives and their song Airplanes

Airplanes Split from Local Natives on Vimeo.

Such a wonderful song.
Very nice voice as well

I finally watched Låt Den Rätte Komma In (Let The Right One In) today. Dutch critics have called it the best film of 2009 and I might agree. I don't know what a 'best film' is, but Let The Right One In is definetly great. I especially loved the two young actors who play Oskar and Eli. They play their roles so well. I would seriously give them an Oscar for their performances if I was in charge. There's one scene where Oskar looks at Eli with such fascination. His eyes just gaze at her. I'm not sure if I've ever seen young love portrayed so well. I'm still a bit stunned.

<*DIRECTORS ROUND TABLE_)

They ususally do this with actors only when the Oscars draw nearer, but now there's a version with directors! As much as I like the ones with the actors, I'm more interested what the directors have to say. Featured are Jason Reitman, Jim Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, Lee Daniels, Peter Jackson and Quentin Tarantino, all directors whose films have received Oscar buzz over this past year



To watch part 2 & 3 head over to Awardsdaily.com

>.HOME CINEMA~+

Again I haven't gone to the cinema as I was planning to. Don't know what's wrong with me lately. Maybe next week I'll manage or tomorrow. I have watched some movies on my laptop at home, though. One of them being L.A. Confidential. Yup, I never saw that one before until last night. It's a very good film, solid, with good performances by all actors especially Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe although Crowe's character is a bit too much. Really, he's expected to kill someone over a woman? I don't care how much of a weak he has to protect women and stuff, but killing another man just because the guy made love to the woman Crowe's character has fallen for? Plus, Kim Basinger won an Oscar for her performance. Receiving a nomination already seems to me a bit too much. Yes she's very mesmerizing and alluring. There's a constant mystery surrounding her but I have a feeling that's just the natural Kim Basinger effect. That's something that's already there, she was born with it and it just so happens that it's very useful for the part she plays here. But winning an Oscar?! I don't know. What bothers me as well is that she creates this mystery, but then it turns out that her character doesn't have a hidden agenda at all so she's not at all that mysterious. She only makes herself appear that way. Some months ago I saw her in The Burning Plain and if she receives an Oscar nomination for that one I could totally udnerstand and wouldn't disagree a bit. Her performance is very powerful in that one. She appears to be completely vulnerable and you expect her to fall apart any moment. She really is that woman trying to escape her boring everyday home life by hooking up with another man. Though she is afraid to get caught and she might not feel real guilt towards her family she does seem to find it real hard to cheat on her family like that.
Sorry for giving away all this info, but I just had to explain :)
Perhaps there just weren't that many other great performances by Supporting Actresses that year.

I think I'm buying myself a ticket to see Dirty Projectors this Sunday...

New Kings Of Convenience video. My mum and I will be seeing them in a couple of weeks!




After having seen them live at Lowlands I'm even more excited for their next album and to my surprise there will be a new one already January 2010! Above you see the cover artwork for the new album titled Contra and a link to their website where you find a tracklist among other things

>=AWAY WE GO|]

I was going to watch Inglourious Basterds last night. It was the first time it was playing but I thought I would be okay at this one cinema where it's usually never that crowded. But this time, however, it was completely full. The end of the cue was outside on the street and when it finally was my turn the film had already sold out long time ago. So instead I went to see Away We Go which I wanted to see for a while already as well. First I didn't have that much interest in seeing it but that changed apparently and for the last couple of days it had been at the top of my 'movies I want to see the most'-list. Sam Mendes is best known for American Beauty and recently did the great Revolutionary Road. This one film is completely different. Some people will complain saying it's another one of those hipster indie feel good flicks like Juno or Little Miss Sunshine. True, there's the road trip with the frequent interludes of singer songwriter guitar music. But you can't help falling in love with these characters which are wonderfully played by the two leads. Especially Maya Rudolph who is probably best known for her work on Saturday Night Live is so gentle and brings such a calmth to her character. She had me completely. It's a beautiful performance. If I was the one handing out Oscars at the beginning of next year I would give her one. The only one outshining her is Maggie Gyllenhaal who has a small but very memorable role. Just the other day I watched The Hangover and I must say I'd choose Away We Go over that one anytime. I'm not saying I really disliked The Hangover but it's slightly overrated. One of the characters is so dumb it's not even funny. I much more prefer well written characters with character traits that make you laugh because they're so recognizable. Yes, some of the characters, like Maya Rudolph's former boss or John Krasinski's parents, are a bit over the top, perhaps trying a little bit too much, but they were really funny and characters I could identify with. Apart from that this film has some real substance, it's not all jokes. It's about two people realizing they've reached the moment in their life they'll be starting a real family but who aren't quite sure yet if they're up for it. I love that they go on a trip to meet friends or family and see the families they have and eventually they realize that there's no such thing as a perfect family and you just have to do it your way and see what happens. There's no textbook that teaches you how to do it. So by the end of last night I wasn't that disappointed for not having seen the basterds in action. I will soon probably. And perhaps on Monday I'll go check out a preview screening of Lars Von Trier's Antichrist :D

*%10 BEST PICTURE NOMINEES(+

Still one winner though. Thanks to Awardsdaily.com for pointing out this huge change. Instead of 5 Best Picture nominees at the Oscars they make a change next year with adding 5 more to a total of ten. Exciting news! This means more attention for 5 more films. Good thing. So who knows, perhaps Star Trek will get a best Picture nom then as well as Pixar's Up!

$:FINALLY SAW STAR TREK}~

Yesterday evening I finally saw Star Trek. It's a lot of fun, but Oscar worthy as some people on the net have called it?! No way. At least not for best picture and other important awards like that. There were just too many silly moments. I had no idea Star Trek was a comedy. Or perhaps the original isn't, but at times this film seemed to try to be one. Especially at the beginning James Kirk and Bones were acting as if trying to be a comedic duo. It was kind of awkward. But apart from those silly moments, Star Trek is pretty spectacular. I especially enjoyed some of the fight scenes and I always have a bit of a weakness for those team bonding films like X-Men and the like. And I was happy to see Zoe Saldana in such a big budget movie. She'll also be in James Cameron's Avatar. Wish the girl all the best. Also Zachary Quinto made for a very enjoyable Spock. So it's an okay film. Seems to be way better than the new Transformers one. The trailer was shown before Star Trek and oh wow it looked all kinds of awful filled with clichés. And overall it just looked dumb as if they don't think highly of their audience and just don't even bother to serve up something more intelligent. I have not seen the first one. I would like to maybe, because as a kid I did watch the cartoon and liked it. But seems to me these films pretty much suck apart from probably the special-effects.

Apparently there's this convention going on in Amsterdam right now which I knew nothing about. It's from June 21 to the 25th and is basically just for industry people unless you're willing to pay like one thousand dollars to attend. A lot of new films are screened in order to find distributors around Europe. One of them being Pixar's Up! It's a pretty big and important event and as a result has brought James Cameron to the convention to show some exclusive footage from his latest project Avatar. Among the cast and crew members that joined him was Ripley aka Sigourney Weaver. Thanks to AwardsDaily.com for pointing this out.

&#REALLY?|]

The list of winners for the 2009 Academy Awards has been leaked, or so they say.
This list below apparently is the list of winners. To know if this is correct you have to watch and find out tomorrow though. This list, however, could be the definite one, but then again anyone could have predicted this. Only real standout is Amy Adams' win for best supporting actress for her role in Doubt. She has been nominated before so a win could be the case. However, so far Penélope Cruz as well as Viola Davis have been the favourites, not miss Adams. Departures win for foreign language film over big names such as Entre Les Murs and Waltz With Bashir seems unlikely though...

Actor in a leading role: Mickey Rourke
Actor in a supporting role: Heath Ledger
Actress in a leading role: Kate Winslet
Actress in a supporting role: Amy Adams
Animated Feature Film: Wall-E
Art Direction: The Dark Knight
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Costume Design: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Directing: Slumdog Millionaire
Documentary feature: Man on Wire
Documentary short: The Conscience of Nhem En
Film editing: Milk
Foreign language film: Departures
Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Music (Score): Defiance
Music (Song): Down to Earth (Wall-E)
Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Short film (animated): Presto
Short film (live action): Auf Der Strecke (On The Line)
Sound editing: Wall-E
Sound mixing: The Dark Knight
Visual effects: Iron Man
Writing (Adapted screenplay): The Reader
Writing (Original screenplay): In Bruges

_*OSCAR OSCAR OSCAR^*

I'm home. Went back after my shift and after having picked up some of my tickets for several films. So here they are 2009 Academy Award Nominees:

81st Oscar Nominations

Performance by an actor in a leading role

* Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
* Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
* Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

* Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
* Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
* Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
* Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

* Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
* Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
* Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

* Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
* Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
* Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
* Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Best animated feature film of the year

* “Bolt” (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
* “Kung Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton

Achievement in art direction

* “Changeling” (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
* “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
* “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography

* “Changeling” (Universal), Tom Stern
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design

* “Australia” (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
* “The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
* “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Albert Wolsky

Achievement in directing

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Ron Howard
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature

* “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
* “Encounters at the End of the World” (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
* “The Garden” A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
* “Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
* “Trouble the Water” (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best documentary short subject

* “The Conscience of Nhem En” A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
* “The Final Inch” A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
* “Smile Pinki” A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
* “The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306” A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

Achievement in film editing

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Elliot Graham
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year

* “The Baader Meinhof Complex” A Constantin Film Production, Germany
* “The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
* “Departures” (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
* “Revanche” (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
* “Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

Achievement in makeup

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
* “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat
* “Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

* “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
* “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
* “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam

Best motion picture of the year

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production,Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
* “Milk” (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Nominees to be determined
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer

Best animated short film

* “La Maison en Petits Cubes” A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
* “Lavatory - Lovestory” A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
* “Oktapodi” (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
* “Presto” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
* “This Way Up”, A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

Best live action short film

* “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
* “Manon on the Asphalt” (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
* “New Boy” (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
* “The Pig” An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
* “Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank

Achievement in sound editing

* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Richard King
* “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
* “Wanted” (Universal),Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney),Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
* “Wanted” (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
* “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
* “Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Adapted screenplay

* “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
* “Doubt” (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
* “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
* “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
* “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay

* “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
* “Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
* “In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
* “Milk” (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
* “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

#&AWARDS SEASON)_

Today Oscar nominees will be announced! I won't be able to watch live on CNN like I've done the previous years 'cause I'll be working at the IFFR. Last night had a blast. Met two girls who I knew from my lectures, though we never really talked, we didn't really know each other just recognized each others faces. So I wasn't planning ons eeing the volunteers opening film Bronson, which was going to start at 10 pm and this meeting I had before was at 7 and would finish around 8pm, meaning that i had to wait two hours before the start of the opening film. So I thought, no, I'm going home. But I ended up having dinner with these two girls and two other people who we just randomnly met. So I had a really fun start of the festival. Rotterdam I have to say, I don't udnerstand the traffic really, trams everywhere. By night the Pathé and De Doelen look very nice. I havent had the feeling yet I've really seen the city so I cant really tell yet whether I like it or not. But because I've heard from a lot of people they were a bit dissapointed with Rotterdam I'm a bit more sceptical. But so far I like it.

Plus, I found out I had a 7.8 for one of my courses and I already had a 8.5 for another one. So I'm doing really well. Passed everything so far. Now only have one more course left which will start February 2nd and my final MA thesis.