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Thursday, December 18, 2008
SAG award nomination reactions
Here are the Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. Commentary forthcoming.
Male Actor in a Leading Role
Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”
Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
Leonoardo DiCaprio’s work in Revolutionary Road was overlooked; that film has seriously lost momentum and its Oscar chances are in jeopardy. No nod for Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, which has divided critics. But I’m thrilled to see the very deserving Jenkins here; subtle work like his needs more attention. But I’ll guess Rourke for the win.
Female Actor in a Leading Role
nne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie, “Changeling”
Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep, “Doubt”
Kate Winslet, “Revolutionary Road”
The surprise here is Sally Hawkins’ omission for her Happy Go Lucky performance; I prefer her work over Leo’s. Otherwise, no surprises. Winslet may well win here; is there anyone more overdue than her?
Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Josh Brolin, “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Dev Patel, “Slumdog Millionaire”
As regular readers well know, I am a huge fan of Slumdog Millionaire, but Dev Patel’s nomination is one of the most egregious instances of category fraud I’ve ever seen. Who, exactly, is Patel supporting? The Who Wants to be a Millionaire host? Ridiculous. Ledger’s got this anyway.
Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams, “Doubt”
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis, “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
Again, no major surprises. As ever, I’m thrilled to see Adams in the group. The showier Davis is deserving too, but there’s more to Adams’ understated work than has met most reviewer’s eyes. But I won’t complain if Davis wins, although Cruz could take it too.
Best Stunt Ensemble
“The Dark Knight”
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army”
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
“Iron Man”
“Wanted”
Gotta be Dark Knight for the stunt work in the opening heist alone.
Cast in a Motion Picture
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Doubt”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
Go Slumdog! Love for the film just might carry it to a win. And it’s interesting to note that the cast nomination for Doubt is sort of redundant, since all four principals were nominated.
What do you think of these nominations?
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What’s opening Friday, Dec 19?/More new DVDs
New releases in theaters this week bring us some animation, Jim Carrey and Will Smith, while a major Oscar contender goes wide.
Milk: Sean Penn has earned well-deserved raves for his performance as San Francisco icon Harvey Milk. Too bad the movie as a whole isn’t nearly as good. Review runs Friday.
Seven Pounds: Will Smith reunites with his Pursuit of Happyness director for this drama about a man trying to atone for a tragedy. The trailers don’t tell us much, and in a way, neither does the movie. Review coming Friday (you get a double-header this week).
The Tale of Desperaux: So this animated vehicle is Emma Watson’s non-Potter debut, Fine, but I’d rather see her in a live action movie. Reviews so far are rather mixed, But hey, it has to do better than Delgo, which made about $72 last week.
Yes Man: Jim Carrey makes one of his periodic returns to physical comedy, this time as a man who just can’t say no. The delightful Zooey Deschanel is in tow. Again, reviews are iffy.
At the arthouses
The Neon opens Milk and retains the wondrous Slumdog Millionaire, which I continue to urge everyone to see.
Little Art opens The Secret Life of Bees and Baz Luhrmann’s underrated Australia.
DVDs after the jump:
With Christmas coming next week, the release calendar is a bit different.
Coming Friday:
The House Bunny: Likable but overly juvenile and obvious comedy that needed a script as funny as the very talented cast, led by Anna Faris as a Playboy bunny trying her hand at being a sorirtiy leader. GRADE: B-
Traitor: This didn’t make much of an impression when it came out, but Don Cheadle is forever watchable.
The Women: It took writer/director Diane English years to get this remake off the ground - and then no one cared. So much for Sex and the City spawning a wave of female-centered hits.
Coming Sunday:
Burn After Reading: The Coen brothers treat us to their unique brand of a paranoid conspiracy thriller, lacing it with the kind of quirky comedy only they can pull off. Great fun, and not as lightweight as it seems at first. Full review - GRADE: A-
Death Race: Well - Stephen King liked the remake.
Hamlet 2: The trailers for this comedy looked promising and then nobody came to theaters to see it. Perhaps it will gain a cult following at home?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: In Area Theaters
