Month: February 2007

  • Makeup and Costume

    BEST MAKEUP

     

    The Nominees Are:

    • Apocalypto
    • Click
    • Pan’s Labyrinth

     

    Erin’s Pick: Pan’s Labyrinth

    Mandy’s Pick: Apocalypto

    Rachel’s Pick: Click

     

    The Winner Last Year Was: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

     

    Hey, it looks like one of us is gonna get a point for this. Mandy picked Apocalypto because “making indigenous people takes a lot of time [and] patience.” Not to mention all the tattoos and piercings. I haven’t seen any of these movies, but I find myself reluctant to vote for something associated with Mel Gibson, and even more reluctant to vote for something associated with Adam Sandler (that and I’m not sure what about Click merits a Makeup nomination).



    BEST COSTUME DESIGN

     

    The Nominees Are:

    • Curse of the Golden Flower
    • The Devil Wears Prada
    • Dreamgirls
    • Marie Antoinette
    • The Queen

     

    Erin’s Pick: Curse of the Golden Flower

    Mandy’s Pick: Dreamgirls

    Rachel’s Pick: The Devil Wears Prada

     

    The Winner Last Year Was: Memoirs of a Geisha

     

    None of these really inspired me (I liked The Queen, but not for the costumes, and I’ve only seen part of The Devil Wears Prada, but its high points seem to lie elsewhere as well). I almost went for Marie Antoinette, but I heard that wasn’t a great movie so I changed to Curse of the Golden Flower, which I know nothing about except that it’s an Asian movie (and I think the villain from Memoirs of a Geisha is in it).

  • The Music Awards

    BEST ORIGINAL SONG

     

    The Nominees Are:

    • “I Need to Wake Up” from An Inconvenient Truth
    • “Listen” from Dreamgirls
    • “Love You I Do” from Dreamgirls
    • “Our Town” from Cars
    • “Patience” from Dreamgirls

     

    Erin’s Pick: “Our Town”

    Mandy’s Pick:

    Rachel’s Pick: “Love You I Do”

     

    The Winner Last Year Was: “It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp” from Hustle & Flow

     

    Well, this is a rather underwhelming list of nominees. Mandy abstained because the song she wanted (something called “You’re Gonna Love Me” and I don’t know the movie, cuz she didn’t tell me) didn’t get nominated and she hasn’t heard any of the nominees. I haven’t seen Dreamgirls, so I don’t know any of those songs. I also haven’t seen An Inconvenient Truth (I may be wrong, but I believe that this is the first time that a documentary has been nominated for Best Original Song), but I know Melissa Etheridge sings the song and I can’t stand her. That leaves me with “Our Town.” I don’t remember the song, but I did see the movie, so that’s gotta mean something.

     

     

     

    BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

     

    The Nominees Are:

    • Babel
    • The Good German
    • Notes on a Scandal
    • Pan’s Labyrinth
    • The Queen

     

    Erin’s Pick: The Queen

    Mandy’s Pick: Babel

    Rachel’s Pick: Babel

     

    The Winner Last Year Was: Brokeback Mountain

     

    What, no John Williams? Truth be told, I don’t think he did the score for anything last year. Anyways, this category has gotten weird lately. Brokeback Mountain won last year, even though the score mostly consists of the same six guitar chords played about every twenty minutes or so. I didn’t find the music in The Queen to be that spectacular (okay, but nothing special; the movie’s really good, though), but it’s the only one of the nominees that I’ve seen.

     

    ----

     

    Yes, I am in the area that got the big blizzard yesterday. UT cancelled classes yesterday and Tuesday, so I got to sleep in a little bit (though yesterday morning I woke up at 8:45 and I was absolutely not tired at all). I watched a little bit of The Devil Wears Prada (though so far I think I like the book better) and a ton of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes. In other TV news, Amazing Race All Stars starts Sunday and I still don't know when the new season of Doctor Who is supposed to start cuz nothing on their website gives me any hint.

     

    One more thing: My friend Correy had her baby Tuesday night (leave it to Correy to give birth in the middle of a blizzard). It's a girl (though we knew that already; you should've been at the baby shower...hundreds of outfits, and all of them pink). Her name is Lanna Christine, she's 6 lbs 13 oz, and 19 inches long (I don't know why I included that information except to pad the sentence, cuz just saying her name seemed too short a sentence).

  • The Short Films

    BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

     

    The Nominees Are:

    • Binta and the Great Idea (Binta y la Gran Idea)
    • Éramos Pocos (One Too Many)
    • Helmer & Son
    • The Saviour
    • West Bank Story

     

    Erin’s Pick: West Bank Story

    Mandy’s Pick: The Saviour

    Rachel’s Pick: The Saviour

     

    The Winner Last Year Was: Six Shooter

     

    As I’ve said the past four years, none of us frequent short films, so we’re just being arbitrary, picking the one with the most interesting title. Mandy said she picked The Saviour because it “sounds like Jesus and I love him.” I’d point out that this film is probably not about Jesus, but then again, West Bank Story is probably not an Israeli-Palestinian remake of West Side Story, so I’m in no position to criticize.

     

    BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

     

    The Nominees Are:

    • The Danish Poet
    • Lifted
    • The Little Matchgirl
    • Maestro
    • No Time For Nuts

     

    Erin’s Pick: Maestro

    Mandy’s Pick: Lifted

    Rachel’s Pick: Maestro

     

    The Winner Last Year Was: The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation

     

    Yeah, we’re being arbitrary again. For my part, I just went for the one that sounds most likely to be a Pixar cartoon, once again (actually the title that’s the most Pixar-ish is actually No Time For Nuts, but I didn’t want to pick that in case it turned out to be an Ice Age short with that stupid squirrel). Mandy picked Lifted because “sometimes we need to be lifted.” I think she’s still thinking about Jesus.

     

  • The Sound Awards

    BEST SOUND EDITING

     

    The Nominees Are:

    • Apocalypto
    • Blood Diamond
    • Flags of Our Fathers
    • Letters From Iwo Jima
    • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

     

    Erin’s Pick: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

    Mandy’s Pick: Apocalypto

    Rachel’s Pick: Letters From Iwo Jima

     

    The Winner Last Year Was: King Kong

     

    I will 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. For the first time, there are five nominees in this category. I picked Pirates for the same reasons that I picked it for Visual Effects (that and Curse of the Black Pearl got robbed in this category three years ago). Mandy picked Apocalypto because “[from] what I remember it was based primarily on sounds (tribal instruments, language, and the environment) and not a movie primarily focused on the English language with minor sound effects in the background.”

     


     

    BEST SOUND MIXING

     

    The Nominees Are:

    • Apocalypto
    • Blood Diamond
    • Dreamgirls
    • Flags of Our Fathers
    • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

     

    Erin’s Pick: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

    Mandy’s Pick: Dreamgirls

    Rachel’s Pick: Dreamgirls

     

    The Winner Last Year Was: King Kong

     

    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, as do musicals/movies based on musicians. See the Visual Effects blog for why I picked Pirates (I know I’ve picked Pirates for every category so far, but I promise you, I will not pick Pirates for the next one, okay?). Mandy picked Dreamgirls “for all the musical effort they had to put into that film including the instrumentals and vocals.”

     

  • It's That Time of Year Again...

    Time for…

     

    ERIN, MANDY, AND RACHEL’S OSCAR PICKS

     

    I’ve done this on Xanga for four years, and I thought it was fun so I’ll do it again this year. Joining us for the first time will be Mandy’s friend Rachel, and all I know about Rachel is that she is Mandy’s friend (and since her email provided no commentary, I can’t really give you insight into her picks). I’ll post the nominees for one or two categories per day (since I didn’t get emails until a couple days ago due to the aforementioned issue with my email provider and the Spam folder, I will have to double up occasionally) as well as my pick, Mandy’s pick, and Rachel’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:

    • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
    • Poseidon
    • Superman Returns

     

    Erin’s Pick: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

    Mandy’s Pick: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

    Rachel’s Pick: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

     

    The Winner Last Year Was: King Kong

     

    I still say that Revenge of the Sith was robbed of this award last year (it didn’t even get nominated), but I digress (plus the only reason I was reminded of this was because I’m using last year’s Oscar Picks as a template). Mandy says she picked Pirates because it’s the only one she’s seen. That’s true for me as well, though I find it hard to believe that Poseidon or Superman Returns have better effects, cuz the ones in Dead Man’s Chest were damn good (granted, the movie wasn’t quite as good as the first, but I still enjoyed it and am eagerly awaiting part three).