Movie Review: Julie & Julia

by James Evans

The story about Julia is okay and the one about Julie is okay. If they had gotten lesser actresses I don’t think this movie would have worked. Meryl Streep is always amazing and she is great as Julia Child. Amy Adams just may be the next Meryl and once again is captivating on screen.

Movie Review: Night at the Museum 2: Battle for the Smithsonian

by James Evans

Fun movie and better than the first one. This time around Hank Azaria and Amy Adams join the cast and they are both great. Amy is the next Meryl Streep. She can do no wrong in my eyes. She is sweet and smart and sexy and interesting and I can’t take my eyes off of her. It’s a fun movie for kids and adults. I loved Abraham Lincoln but was creeped out by some of the other additions. The best scenes are with the paintings. I cannot believe how cool those scenes were, and I loved the black and white sequence. This was a real surprise for me. I didn’t expect to like it and even though I won’t rush out to see it again I would if someone asked me to.

Movie Review: Sunshine Cleaning

by James Evans

Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are two of the best actresses working today, and they are great together as onscreen sisters who start a company that cleans up crime scenes. Of course, there is more to it than that. They have a father that is always looking for the next get-rich-quick scheme, and their mother committed suicide when they were young. The kid who plays Amy Adams’s son is the hit of the movie. I did like this movie, but it doesn’t feel like a fully realized film. You always think something else is going to happen with a storyline and then nothing does. The romance with Steve Zahn just ends. You think maybe a rivalry is going to happen with another clean-up company, but that doesn’t happen either. It felt like I was seeing only 15 minutes of every 20-minute reel.

The Oscars: 2008

by James Evans

The Oscars contenders this year are pretty much a joke for the most part, so I have no clue what is going to win this year.

Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire is the one that deserves to win this year. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon are both good, but not Best Picture material. Milk is okay to be on the list but The Reader is simply one of the worst movies of the year, and I cannot understand how this happened. The Dark Knight should have been up there instead. (Winner: Slumdog Millionaire)

Actor
I really want Mickey Rourke to win. He was great and the movie was terrific. Sean Penn and Frank Langella are both worthy, but Brad Pitt was just okay in Benjamin Button. Richard Jenkins is a good actor and it’s nice to see him recognized. (Winner: Sean Penn)

Actress
I love Meryl Streep, and she was good in Doubt, but I think the best performance this year was from Melissa Leo for Frozen River, and I’m so glad she was nominated even if she won’t win. No, they want to give it to Kate Winslet for a terrible movie (The Reader). Anne Hathaway was good in a not-so-great movie (Rachel Getting Married). And then we come to Angelina Jolie in Changeling. Another awful movie, and her performance was not that great. Watch the scenes where she is waking up to her alarm. She really needed some coaching in those scenes. (Winner: Kate Winslet)

Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger deserves it and not because he died. He simply was incredible in the best performance of the year. Robert Downey, Jr. and Philip Seymour Hoffman are both worthy, but Josh Brolin in Milk wasn’t a fully developed character. He should have been nominated for W instead. And who cares about Michael Shannon. (Winner: Heath Ledger)

Supporting Actress
I hated My Cousin Vinny but Marisa Tomei deserves it this time around for The Wrestler. I would be okay if Viola Davis won though. And Penelope Cruz was great in Woody Allen’s one good movie of the year out of the two he made (Vicky Christina Barcelona). Amy Adams and Taraji Henson I’m fine with being nominated but their performances were not stand-outs. (Winner: Penelope Cruz)

Director
Well, Christopher Nolan should have been nominated for The Dark Knight but since he wasn’t I would love to see Danny Boyle win for the second best film of the year. David Fincher has a good eye and Benjamin Button looks great, but it is lacking substance. I hate Ron Howard but I liked Frost/Nixon. I just don’t think he did anything special enough that makes him worthy of a nomination. Gus Van Sant I would be okay with winning for Milk. He did a great job of using real footage, and the movie was really good. I can’t even talk about Stephen Daldry for The Reader. (Winner: Danny Boyle)

Documentary
I have not seen all of these movies, but I had to mention Man on Wire. It simply was the best movie of 2008 and if you haven’t seen it yet then stop reading this and go rent it. Or just buy it. (Winner: Man on Wire)

Original Screenplay
Wall-E was okay. I love Mike Leigh and Happy Go Lucky was a fun movie. Frozen River was hard to watch but it was great, and Milk was well written. I think for originality it should go to In Bruges. Brutal but terrific film and on my top ten list for 2008. (Winner: Milk)

Adapted Screenplay
Again I would have to go with Slumdog since I want it to win Best Picture. Doubt and Frost/Nixon are worthy, but Benjamin Button is not and, again, I just want The Reader to go away. (Winner: Slumdog Millionaire)

Film Editing
This is always a strange category. How do you tell exactly? Well, I think Milk did a great job with the use of old footage at times so I would give it to them. Slumdog’s storytelling in flashbacks was well done, too. Benjamin and Frost/Nixon were okay and The Dark Knight was well done. (Winner: Slumdog Millionaire)

Animated Feature
Well, with only three of them, this is an easy one. Bolt was good but really doesn’t deserve to be nominated. Kung Fu Panda was more fun than Wall-E but the visuals alone in Wall-E make it the best of the year. (Winner: Wall-E)

Visual Effects
When you have The Dark Knight and Iron Man in this category, how is it that Benjamin Button is the one that deserves to win? Even though I didn’t think that much of the movie, the special effects are simply incredible. (Winner: Benjamin Button)

Cinematography & Art Direction – And Throw in Sound Mixing and Editing too!
These have to go to The Dark Knight and you will especially agree with me if you saw it in IMAX. If you didn’t, you really missed out. (Winners: Slumdog Millionaire, Cinematography; Benjamin Button, Art Direction; Slumdog Millionaire, Sound Mixing; The Dark Knight, Sound Editing)

Costume Design
Who cares. I didn’t even see The Duchess, but I’m sure there were a ton of big dresses that had to be made by someone. (Winner: The Duchess)

Makeup
Another one I don’t care about but Benjamin Button obviously used a lot of makeup on Brad. Just not as much as they did on Ron Perlman in Hellboy II. (Winner: Benjamin Button)

Original Score
I have to go with Slumdog Millionaire again. It really sets the tone for the film and when there are so many changes in tone, they did a great job. (Winner: Slumdog Millionaire)

Original Song
“Down to Earth” by Peter Gabriel in Wall-E? Don’t remember it. “Jai Ho” and “O…Saya” from Slumdog? Well, I am not humming them all day, but I do remember them fondly from a great movie. (Winner: “Jai Ho”)

Movie Review: Doubt

by James Evans

Meryl Streep once again gives a perfect performance. She is just amazing. Amy Adams and Phillip Seymour Hoffman are not too shabby themselves. Phillip is a priest at the church and school that Meryl is the principal of and she accuses him of something untoward with one of the students. They never exactly say whether or not he did it, but you will form your own opinion based on things that are said. It’s a hard subject to make into an enjoyable movie, but it is very well done. It is even funny at times. The hardest scene to watch is Meryl speaking to the mother of the child in question. I would assume acting nominations all around for this cast.

On a side note, the previews that I saw with this movie were the new Terminator film and Adventureland, the new comedy from the director of Superbad. And that’s all. Who the hell chose those previews for Doubt?