HOLY MOLY, BATMAN! IT'S LAST CHANCE HARVEY!

Lesson of the Day: Don't bet against Harvey Weinstein. The Reader pulls off a SHOCKING upset over The Dark Knight, which gets the Best Picture shaft, not to mention nothing for Christopher Nolan in the writing or directing categories due to the curious inclusion of Reader director Stephen Daldry and writer David Hare. Happy-Go-Lucky's Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan get snubbed yet writer-director Mike Leigh gets some love with an Original Screenplay nod. Should known the Academy would keep Waltz With Bashir in the Foreign Language category (where it is sure to win) so they Pixar could lock up another Animated Feature Oscar with Wall-E. Had a feeling Japan's Departures would sneak in. No love for Rachel Getting Married outside of Hathaway's nom. Brangelina BOTH get nommed (questionable, especially Jolie) while neither Leo or Kate get noms for Revolutionary Road, whose sole rep in the acting categories is Michael Shannon. That's because Winslet got nommed for The Reader, where she's been hiding in the supporting category all season. The move allows Taraji P. Henson to score a Supporting Actress nom for Ben Button. Robert Downey Jr. capitalizes on all his good buzz over the last couple years with a Supporting Actor nom for Tropic Thunder. Melissa Leo beats out Cate Blanchett and Kristin Scott Thomas for the last Best Actress slot. Richard Jenkins edges Clint Eastwood in the Best Actor category. Stephen Daldry sneaks in the Best Director lineup over Darren Aronofsky, while Martin McDonagh slips past Robert Siegel in the Original Screenplay category. Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel fails to cash in on his film's front-runner status. I was WAY OFF on the Score and Documentary categories. I should've known they'd go for Werner Herzog again. I NAILED the Editing lineup. Wanted pulled off a couple upsets in the Sound Mixing and Editing categories. Frankly stunned that Woody Allen wasn't recognized for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, or Tom McCarthy for The Visitor, in favor of newcomer Courtney Hunt, who wrote and directed Frozen River. Time to go to work... be back later with more meaningless analysis.

FINAL 2009 OSCAR NOMINATION PREDICTIONS

Most of you who read this blog know me personally, so you know that I'm the worst procrastinator in the history of the Internet. Thus, it's fitting that I'm making these final predictions at 5 a.m., a mere half-hour before the Oscar nominations are announced. Yet even I, a dedicated prognosticator, have no idea what to make of this year's contenders except for that in the end, as William Goldman once said of Hollywood, "Nobody Knows Anything." With that in mind, here's The InSneider's take on the 2009 Academy Award nominations. I'll be back soon with my "If I Had a Ballot" post. Please note: I will not be making predictions for the Live Action or Animated Short Film categories.

BEST PICTURE

1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Frost/Nixon
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
4, The Dark Knight
5. Milk

ALT: The Wrestler

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
2. David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
4. Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler
5. Gus Van Sant, Milk

ALT: Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon

BEST ACTOR

1. Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
2. Sean Penn, Milk
3. Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
4. Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
5. Richard Jenkins, The Visitor

ALT: Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST ACTRESS

1. Meryl Streep, Doubt
2. Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
3. Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
4. Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
5. Kristin Scott Thomas, I’ve Loved You So Long

ALT: Melissa Leo, Frozen River

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
2. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
3. Josh Brolin, Milk
4. Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
5. Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky

ALT: James Franco, Milk

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
2. Viola Davis, Doubt
3. Kate Winslet, The Reader
4. Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
5. Amy Adams, Doubt

ALT: Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. Dustin Lance Black, Milk
2. Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
3. Robert Siegel, The Wrestler
4. Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon, Wall-E
5. Thomas McCarthy, The Visitor

ALT: Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
2. Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
4. John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
5. Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight

ALT: David Hare, The Reader

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1. Waltz With Bashir, Israel
2. The Class, France
3. Everlasting Moments, Sweden
4. The Baader Meinhof Complex, Germany
5. Revanche, Austria

ALT: Three Monkeys, Turkey

BEST ANIMATED FILM

1. Wall-E
2. Waltz With Bashir
3. Kung Fu Panda

ALT: Bolt

BEST DOCUMENTARY

1. Man on Wire
2. Trouble the Water
3. Pray the Devil Back to Hell
4. I.O.U.S.A.
5. At the Death House Door

ALT: Standard Operating Procedure

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Claudio Miranda, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
3. Wally Pfister, The Dark Knight
4. Maryse Alberti, The Wrestler
5. Roger Deakins, Revolutionary Road

ALT: Catherine Martin, Australia

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. The Dark Knight
3. Iron Man

ALT: Hellboy II: The Golden Army

BEST MAKEUP

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. The Dark Knight
3. Tropic Thunder

ALT: Synecdoche, New York

BEST EDITING

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Milk
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. The Dark Knight
5. Frost/Nixon

ALT: Revolutionary Road

BEST ART DIRECTION

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. The Dark Knight
4. Changeling
5. Milk

ALT: Frost/Nixon

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1. Jacqueline West, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Deborah Hopper, Changeling
3. Michael O’Connor, The Duchess
4. Albert Wolsky, Revolutionary Road
5. Catherine Martin, Australia

ALT: Eiko Ishioka, The Fall

BEST SCORE

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. The Dark Knight
4. Revolutionary Road
5. The Reader

ALT: Gran Torino

BEST SONG

1. The Wrestler
2. Wall-E
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Bolt
5. High School Musical 3

ALT: Gran Torino

BEST SOUND EDITING

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. The Dark Knight
3. Iron Man
4. Wall-E
5. Slumdog Millionaire

ALT: Defiance

BEST SOUND MIXING

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. The Dark Knight
3. Iron Man
4. Slumdog Millionaire
5. Wall-E

ALT: Defiance

The 2008 Most Overlooked and Underappreciated Lists

It seems like the mainstream media is a broken record come Oscar season, talking about the same actors over and over again. It's because we all get caught up in the "serious contenders" who studios are spending money on campaigns for, as opposed to who we feel did genuinely deserving work. With this in mind, I compiled the following lists hoping to illuminate the best performances that were either overlooked or severely underappreciated this year. By this I mean performances that few were writing/talking about. So you won't find The Wrestler's Mickey Rourke or Wendy and Lucy's Michelle Williams on these lists because people noticed their exceptional work. And to be clear, some folks listed below did get a glimpse of the awards spotlight this season. I'm not saying that no one else appreciated Milk's Emile Hirsch or What Doesn't Kill You's Mark Ruffalo because that obviously wasn't the case... just that not enough people were passionate about them one way or the other. The following lists reflect my personal taste and represent, in my humble opinion, some of the best work of the year.

The Top 25 Most Overlooked and Underappreciated Supporting Performances

1. Ben Kingsley, The Wackness
2. Bill Irwin, Rachel Getting Married
3. Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky
4. David Harbour, Revolutionary Road
5. Emile Hirsch, Milk
6. Peter Macdissi, Towelhead
7. Aaron Eckhart, The Dark Knight
8. Ethan Hawke, What Doesn’t Kill You
9. Charlie McDermott, Frozen River
10. Kim Cattrall, Sex and the City
11. Jane Lynch, Role Models
12. Adam Scott, Step Brothers
13. Evan Rachel Wood, The Wrestler
14. Jason Butler Harner, Changeling
15. Emily Mortimer, Transsiberian
16. Martin Henderson, Battle in Seattle
17. Ari Graynor, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
18. Mark Strong, Body of Lies
19. Alan Alda, Nothing But the Truth
20. Noel Fisher, Red
21. Noah Emmerich, Pride and Glory
22. Gwyneth Paltrow, Iron Man
23. Chris Parnell, The Grand
24. Thomas Haden Church, Smart People
25. (tie) Toby Kebbell, RocknRolla and Catinca Untaru, The Fall

The Top 5 Most Underappreciated Movie Duos

1. Sam Rockwell and Oliver Platt, Frost/Nixon
2. David Kross and Ralph Fiennes, The Reader
3. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, Step Brothers
4. Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson, Let the Right One In
5. Edward Norton and Tim Roth, The Incredible Hulk

The Top 5 Most Underappreciated Dramatic Performances

1. Mark Ruffalo, What Doesn’t Kill You
2. Francois Cluzet, Tell No One
3. Naomi Watts, Funny Games
4. Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5. (tie) Brian Cox, Red and Andre Ramiro, Elite Squad

The Top 5 Most Underappreciated Comedic Performances

1. Adam Carolla, The Hammer
2. Danny McBride, The Foot Fist Way
3. Steve Coogan, Hamlet 2
4. Kat Dennings, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
5. Jack Black, Kung Fu Panda

The Top 5 Most Underappreciated Ensembles

1. The cast of Slumdog Millionaire
2. The cast of Young@Heart
3. The cast of Baghead
4. The cast of Zack and Miri Make a Porno
5. The cast of Forgetting Sarah Marshall

BONUS LIST: The Top 3 Most Interesting/Compelling/Fascinating Documentary Subjects

1. Phillipe Petit, Man on Wire
2. (tie) The Bagby Family, Dear Zachary and The Bell Family, Bigger, Stronger, Faster: The Side Effects of Being American
3. Hannah Bailey, American Teen

2009 OSCAR PREDICTIONS AS OF DECEMBER

Everybody else is doing it so why the hell not?

Going into the season, when I hadn't seen anything, I personally thought that despite all the Ben Button hype, Sam Mendes would prove he's truly The King of the World and Revolutionary Road would win Best Picture in the end.

Of course, I had no idea what Revolutionary Road was about because I hadn't read the book yet and the truth is, it's a small miracle this movie even got made. It's very good, don't get me wrong, but it softens the characters and their attitudes towards each other, losing a penetrating brutality that doesn't scar so much as bruise.

Kate and Leo were both excellent but the truth of the matter is that I was a little underwhelmed by Revolutionary Road. The end in particular did not sit very well with me. There were a couple missed opportunities in my mind.

Is it one of the top 25 films of the year? Absolutely. But do I think it's one of the top 5? No. To be fair, I think one would appreciate the film more if they've ever been married. But ultimately, while I thought DiCaprio was actually better, or at least more consistent than Winslet (although that may just be the characters), I don't think it was a character/performance he'll be remembered for. Winslet may be more memorable if only because you're not likely to forget one of the scenes toward the end of the film (a gorgeous sweeping shot across a living room). But you can't argue that it's not a career best performance from either DiCaprio or Winslet, and I'm just not hearing the passion out there for Leo this year, at least certainly not as loud as The Aviator or The Departed.

There are plenty of other questions to be sure. Will voters embrace Clint Eastwood like they have in the past? Will voters feel Frank Langella's Tony Award is enough? And will they snub the yin to Nixon's yang, Michael Sheen's David Frost. Will Sheen accept supporting status, despite the fact that both roles are clearly both leads. Of course, that line is getting blurrier each year. Heath Ledger, lead or supporting? Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder, lead or supporting? Could The Reader's Kate Winslet be nominated in the supporting actress category since she's a lock for a lead nom for Revolutionary Road? Will the dual nomination help or hurt her Oscar chances? Could Milk earn dual supporting actor nominations for its impressive trio of Josh Brolin, James Franco and Emile Hirsch?

I 'doubt' Miramax will push Philip Seymour Hoffman for lead even though he most definitely is a co-lead with Streep. The acting in the scene where they're without a third party in Sister Aloysius' office is the stuff movies are made of. Hoffman's performance walks an incredibly fine line and I feel it registers as one of the best of the year and his career. There's such focus and restraint in every scene. He's so careful to 'control the look on his face' as Sister Aloysius puts it. The way his eyes dart back and forth as Streep applies pressure. It's like watching two boxers in the ring, throwing acting punches at each other. And believe it or not, Amy Adams holds her own with them. Of course everyone will be talking about Viola Davis and deservedly so. She's fantastic. Lock her up on the chart cuz she ain't goin' nowhere!

I'm still waiting to see Australia, Valkyrie and I'm holding off on Button to hopefully save the best for last. I don't want to watch it during some week filled with screenings. I don't want Button to be an awards season casualty, a statistic, another notch on my moviegoing belt. I want it to be special and so it shall, on Christmas Day, so long as it's not sold out.

Meanwhile, I still have no idea what to make of The Dark Knight. Is it Best Picture material? Does that even matter? Who knows? Nobody. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button remains a giant Question Mark for me right now. Without further adieu...

BEST PICTURE

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

BEST DIRECTOR

Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant - Milk

BEST ACTOR

Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet – Revolutionary Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams - Doubt
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Jenny Lumet - Rachel Getting Married
Robert Siegel - The Wrestler
Andrew Stanton - Wall-E

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
David Hare - The Reader
Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley – Doubt

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Encounters at the End of the World
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
Man on Wire
Standard Operating Procedure
Trouble the Water

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Bolt
Wall-E
Waltz With Bashir

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Death threats? Let's hear 'em below.

2008 GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATION PREDICTIONS

Here goes nothing...

BEST PICTURE - DRAMA (a surprise sixth could be The Reader)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST PICTURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
Mamma Mia!
Tropic Thunder
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST ACTOR - DRAMA
Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

BEST ACTOR - COMEDY
Jim Carrey, Yes Man
Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man
Colin Farrell, In Bruges
James Franco, Pineapple Express
Dustin Hoffman, Last Chance Harvey

BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Keira Knightley, The Duchess
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

BEST ACTRESS - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading
Sarah Jessica Parker, Sex and the City
Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married
Debra Winger, Rachel Getting Married
Kate Winslet, The Reader

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant, Milk

BEST SCREENPLAY
Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married
Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, Wall-E

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E
Waltz with Bashir

Spot the Differences?

Could these posters be any more similar? I know it's only a teaser poster but is the best Fox Searchlight could do a week after HBO debuted its True Blood poster online? What ever happened to originality? How could they waste the opportunity to stick two babes like Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried on the poster? And when you have a movie called Jennifer's Body, wouldn't you wanna, I dunno, show off her body on the poster?? By the way, I've read Jennifer's Body and considering it was written by Oscar-winning (cough, bullshit, cough) scribe Diablo Cody, I was none too impressed. My expectations are considerably low but what do I know? I passed on Juno.

REVIEW: GENERATION KILL

If you're on the fence about watching HBO's new wartime miniseries Generation Kill, let me suggest that you give it a chance. In fact, I strongly recommend watching. I've seen all 7 of the episodes and the series definitely gets better as it goes along. The first episode is actually the hardest to get through, so if you've already sampled the first chapter, you might as well stick with it. It's true that it's nearly impossibly to distinguish the characters. I've spent more than 7 hours with the soldiers of Generation Kill and I only know a handful of the characters' names. But there is something captivating about the series. The finale is, in my opinion, the best episode, and the very last scene is a chilling montage set to a classic Johnny Cash song. I have more to say about the finale but I'll update this post later with what I took away from it. Stay frosty!