BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

The Nominees Are:

• Everything in This Country Must


• Little Terrorist


• 7:35 in the Morning


• Two Cars, One Night


• Wasp

Erin’s Pick: 7:35 in the Morning

Marisa’s Pick: 7:35 in the Morning

Mandy’s Pick: 7:35 in the Morning

The Winner Last Year Was: Two Soldiers

As I’ve said the past two years, none of us frequent short films, so we’re just being arbitrary, picking the one with the most interesting title. It’s interesting how all three of us picked the same one independent of each other.

BEST SOUND MIXING

The Nominees Are:

• The Aviator


• The Incredibles


• The Polar Express


• Ray


• Spider-Man 2

Erin’s Pick: The Incredibles

Marisa’s Pick: Spider-Man 2

Mandy’s Pick: Ray

The Winner Last Year Was: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

I believe Sound Mixing refers to how all the audio tracks (dialogue, sound effects, music, etc.) are put together as a whole. This isn’t as favorable towards “special effects” movies as Sound Editing is, but they still do pretty well here.

BEST SOUND EDITING

The Nominees Are:

• The Incredibles
  
• The Polar Express
  
• Spider-Man 2

Erin’s Pick: The Incredibles

Marisa’s Pick: The Incredibles

Mandy’s Pick: The Polar Express

The Winner Last Year Was: Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World

I think I can actually try to explain the two sound awards as best I can understand it. This category deals with the sound effects and other stuff that is put into the audio track in post-production. The Incredibles certainly had plenty of chances to do this, with all the explosions and everything. Plus it was just an awesome movie. Mandy said something about loving the soundtrack for The Polar Express, and then went into singing the “Hot Chocolate” song.

It’s that time of year again…Time for

ERIN, MARISA, AND MANDY’S OSCAR PICKS

I’ve done this on Xanga for two years, and I thought it was fun so I’ll do it again this year, except this time we’re three strong as my roommate Mandy will be joining us. I’ll post the nominees for one category per day (although I’ll probably skip a day here and there because there are 24 categories and 30 days until the ceremony), as well as my pick, Mandy’s pick, and Marisa’s pick. Keep in mind that our “picks” are who we would LIKE to win, not necessarily who we think WILL win, although it’s cool when the two coincide. Feel free to join in on the fun and let me know your pick as well. Like last year, I’ll start with the tech categories and work my way up to the “big” categories. So without further ado, let’s get started. Today’s category is…

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Nominees Are:

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  
• I, Robot
  
• Spider-Man 2

Erin’s Pick: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Marisa’s Pick: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Mandy’s Pick: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The Winner Last Year Was: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The major difference between this year and last year (besides the addition of Mandy) is that this is the first time we’re gonna be doing this with no LOTR to root for (God, last year was awesome). As a result, there doesn’t seem to be a real front-runner in the Visual Effects category. Of these movies, Harry Potter is the only one I’ve seen, but I’d probably vote for it anyway. Marisa didn’t give me much reasoning this year (most likely because she had to send her picks via email), but I’m sure she had a reason (since she’s probably also seen Spider-Man 2). Mandy just finished watching Harry Potter about 10 minutes ago (literally) and loved it, so she wants to give it as much credit as she can.

CINEMA 328’S MOVIE OF THE WEEK

Star Wars

1977

Dir. George Lucas

Stars Mark Hammill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

I warned you this first one would be well-known, but as it’s my feature, I shall write on it anyway. I assume you all know the plot: Forces rebelling against the evil Galactic Empire steal plans for the Death Star, which is the Empire’s ultimate weapon, capable of destroying a planet. Princess Leia, one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance, is entrusted with the plans, but her ship is captured before she can rendezvous with the Alliance. She hides the plans in the memory banks of the druid R2-D2, who escapes the ship along with his sidekick C-3PO. The two land on the planet Tatooine, where they end up in the hands of farmboy Luke Skywalker, who longs to leave his planet and join the Rebellion. I can’t go any further without revealing plot points or getting extremely descriptive, so if you haven’t seen it, you’ll have to take my word for it.

            This movie is the quintessential classic, hands down. It draws on the mythological “Hero’s Journey” in so many ways. George Lucas weaves a web of intricate storytelling amidst the often critically-overlooked genre of science fiction. I think you get the point. There is some controversy over the Special Edition that first came out in 1997 and has been recently expanded upon in the 2004 DVD release. In these, the film has been digitally remastered and the sound has been cleaned up. Also, George Lucas has redone some of the special effects, as well as adding some deleted scenes. Cinema purists hate this. In fact, my Screenwriting professor made a point to say that the version we were going to watch for the class was the pre-1997 version (I did not go to the screening because I have both versions memorized anyways). Oddly enough, I don’t remember them slamming the Special Edition when it first came out. As for me, well, I haven’t seen the pre-1997 version since 1997, so there’s my opinion right there. Most of the redone special effects replace older ones, so there’s no inherent addition or detraction from the story right there. A person who had only seen the Special Edition would not have their viewing pleasure suffer from these shots. I think this makes up for anything that was lost from the added sequences. I can’t pass judgment on the DVDs either way because I’ve only watched Star Wars on DVD once, and I haven’t gotten to the other two in the trilogy yet.

Academy Awards nominations are out, and I shall have Oscar picks for you soon. My initial reaction is that I still want to see The Aviator, and it would’ve been nice if Phantom of the Opera had gotten the love it deserved, but I wasn’t really expecting it to. That movie was awesome, though.

I’ve some things to talk about, but first:

The votes are in, and the Worst Commercial of 2004 is…

CHERRY PEPTO BISMOL!!!

So you know what that means: You can avoid these atrocities of commercials until next year. Thanks to everyone who voted.

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With the ballot up, I couldn’t catch up on a few things, and since I don’t have class today, I’ll do that. For all you stalkers out there, here’s my class schedule:

Introduction to Philosophy: MWF 11:30 AM-12:20 PM

Current Topics in Astronomy: MWF 12:30-1:20 PM

            LAB: Every other Tuesday 7-9 PM or 9-11 PM

Screenwriting: MW 2:30-4:20 PM

As you can see, I have no classes on Thursdays, which I’m happy about. So far, Astronomy and Screenwriting seem to be awesome, and Philosophy is terminally dull, but I need the GE for it in order to graduate so it’s not like I have a choice. It turns out I’m in Screenwriting with Mandy, one of my roommates, and I’m in Astronomy with my friend John Henry (yes, that’s how he prefers his name).

Academy Awards nominations are announced (later today), and as usual, I’ll be spending the next month and a half doing Oscar Picks and inviting discussion. That reminds me: Marisa, would you please do Oscar Picks with me again?

Starting later tonight or perhaps tomorrow, I’m hopefully going to begin a new feature similar to the one I had my junior year when I was taking History of Cinema. For my Screenwriting class, I have to go to a movie showing every Tuesday night (which conflicts with my Astronomy lab, but such is life). As before, I would like to post my observations and opinions on this site. This time, however, most of the movies will probably be much more well-known than the movies I had to watch for History of Cinema. I hope you’ll find the insights of a film person “fallen from the pure faith” (i.e. me as opposed to a lofty cinema purist critic or student) interesting, or at the very least, a refreshing change from the ordinary. So, tomorrow will mark the first installment of “CINE 328’s Movie of the Week,” and just to warn you, the first movie is VERY well-known (I would rather have started out with a few movies that a good number of people may not have seen and then moved on to the more famous ones, but I didn’t set the schedule).

Before we get on with the voting, I'd like to welcome Anushka to my site. She's Marisa's sister, so go visit her.

It’s a little late, but…

VOTE NOW FOR THE WORST COMMERCIAL OF 2004!!!

Just leave your vote in the comments section. The nominations were a little thin this year, so I’ve racked my brains to come up with some more choices for you. As always, I’ve provided links to view the commercials online when available (like you’d want to, but if you want to make a more informed decision, there you go):

1. The Dell Interns (Submitted by Cortney_12): This is an ad campaign that is no longer running (at least, I don’t believe it is), thank God. Cortney’s specific complaint was the commercials that are made to look like action-movie trailers. The premise is that one of the interns has created this trailer on some software available on his Dell, and he is showing it to the other two interns. Cheesiness abounds, both from the trailer itself and the comments the other interns make.
   
2. Sony DVD Camcorder (Submitted by Cortney_12): I’m not 100% positive that this ad ever ran in 2004, but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. In the commercial, a teenage boy sings “You Are My Shining Star” with his girlfriend. Unbeknownst to him, his little sister records his performance on the DVD camcorder. Later, the family sits down to watch a movie, and the sister pops the DVD into the player, much to her brother’s embarrassment. The parents think it’s hilarious, which humiliates him even more.
   
3. Sprint PCS (Submitted by andromediva): If you’re living in the United States and have watched even a normal amount of TV, you’ve undoubtedly seen this franchise so I won’t get into details about the premise. Andromediva’s specific complaint was for one that ran around mid-2004 where a little kid is told that he went over his “macaroni minutes” by the cafeteria lady at school (I think. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this one. It could’ve been his mom). Obviously they’re trying to equate this with cell phone minutes, but it’s a stretch, and one that even I don’t completely understand.
   
4. “Need For Speed: Underground 2” Video Game (Submitted by Marisa): Marisa saw this in Australia, but I believe it ran in the United States, as it sounds vaguely familiar to me. According to Marisa’s description, the commercial shows footage of a car racing around while a voice-over monologues, “People either give you a nickname or give you one for yourself - like I had this alterego - his name was Whiplash - you know what I'm saying?" Then the voice over ends and you’re left with the product. Marisa comments that this makes no sense.
   
5. Mazda (Submitted by me): I’ve hated the “Zoom Zoom” commercials with the creepy kid in the suit for years, and it’s a mystery as to why I’ve never nominated it before. The most recent one is also one of the most annoying. It begins with a montage of 20-something “sexy” people answering their cell phones (which all have a ringtone of the commercial’s jingle). The thing is, most of them are engaged in activities where no one in their right mind would consider answering their cell phone (such as hang-gliding or riding a roller coaster), yet they do so anyways. Once that montage is over, the people are all cruising and racing around the desert in their Mazdas (all of which are different models). This is all made worse by the fact that I had to watch it about 900 times during the Olympics. NOTE: The website is entirely flash-based, so that link is the closest I could get you to the ad. To get the rest of the way there, click on the Drive-in theater, then click on the movie screen. Once the menu pops up, you want the cell phone commercial.
   
6. Medical Hair Restoration (Submitted by me): The commercial begins like it’s an ad for a Viagra-like pill, with a middle-aged balding man lying on a beach with a slightly-younger-looking woman (of course), while slow music plays and a voice-over talks about revitalizing your relationship. This is shortly interrupted by three of the cheesiest, most overacting individuals portraying an ‘80s hair band. The lead singer tells the guy that he doesn’t need a pill, he just needs his hair back. After some testimonials and before-and-after pictures, the commercial ends with one of the band members smashing a kid’s sand castle with his guitar. I’m not sure how this appeals to middle-aged balding guys, but they seem to think it does, much to my chagrin. NOTE: The commercial I'm referring to is called "Dysfunction" on the site (I've never seen the other two listed).
   
7. Cherry Pepto Bismol (Submitted by me): This one features a line of about 5 grocery store employees dancing in front of the check-out. This dance involves grabbing the parts of the body that Pepto Bismol treats (including stomachs and butts). Intermittently, a hand holding a bottle of Cherry Pepto Bismol pops in front of the camera, obscuring the view of the dancers. The hand kind of shakes or bounces the bottle to the beat of the music. I’m not sure who came up with this lame-brained idea, but they need to be fired. I kind of wonder how the meeting when this idea was first proposed went. NOTE: I couldn't find the ad, but the official website has a Java applet called "Create your own Dance Machine." You'll get the idea from that.
   
8. Mr. Wendy (Submitted by me): I believe this ad campaign is no longer running, thank God (not that the current campaign is any better, but they didn’t begin the current one until after January 1^st so it’s not eligible for nomination until next time). It features a guy who calls himself Mr. Wendy, the “unofficial spokesman” for Wendy’s. He has Wendy’s on the brain 24/7 and he keeps popping up during other important events (like baseball games and weddings) and convincing people to go to Wendy’s, even when it’s not convenient (like the groom 5 minutes before he’s supposed to get married). I’ve never understood or liked commercials featuring people with an unnatural fixation on a product or place, and this is one of them.
   
9. Visa Check Card with Donald Trump (Submitted by me): Donald Trump stands atop one of his skyscrapers to talk about the Visa Check Card, when all of a sudden the wind blows it out of his hands and it lands in a dumpster. Donald Trump races down to the ground floor and dives into the dumpster to look for it. Only after he finds it and climbs out does the announcer say that you are not responsible for faulty purchases made if your check card is lost or stolen, and by this time Donald Trump looks a little disheveled. Stupid premise, stupid commercial, ‘nuff said.
   
10. Priceline.com (Submitted by me): Everyone’s probably realized and accepted that William Shatner has become pretty much pathetic over the last 15 years or so, but it’s sad when Leonard Nimoy joins in on the action. The ad campaign premise was that Leonard was replacing William Shatner as the Priceline.com spokesman (to reflect that customers could now choose between two methods of saving money on the site), and Shatner just refuses to give up (he keeps trying to get into his hotel rooms, etc). Apparently he did give up, because I don’t see those commercials anymore, and now he’s done an album (which Mandy keeps getting requests for on her radio show, for some reason; she can’t play a lot of the songs because of the profanity, though) and he’s on Boston Legal (which isn’t much of an improvement, from what I can tell; that’s just one really odd show).

There you have it. Now all you have to do is vote, and you have until January 24^th to do that. Have fun!