Fun Poll Question!
Good afternoon, b-rollers! Two quick things today: First of all, the SAG Awards are tomorrow evening, so of course I shall plan to live-blog them. Feel free to join in, if you give a good damn about the SAG Awards (and I honest-to-God can’t blame you if you don’t).
Secondly, I have a theory that I’m working on for a post. (I can’t tell you yet. Suspense.) But I’d like your opinions, to see how far off I am. So allow me to throw out the vaguest possible poll question: Who are your favorite actors, and why? And to get even more specific, what are your favorite film/TV performances? Past, present, whatever (and I’m using “actor” for brevity, but this includes both genders). Chime in, b-rollers. Please and thank you.
Oscar Nominations
Well, the Oscar nominations are in, b-rollers. Let me tell you when I had my “oh, hell, my Drive prediction is screwed” moment this morning: I was watching Today Show, and just before the nominations were announced their Oscar analyst mentioned that the average age of the Academy voters was around 60. (For the record, I don’t really know who this person is and am completely taking her word for it.)
But…that makes total sense, doesn’t it? Hello War Horse, Gary Oldman, Janet McTeer; goodbye Drive, Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Shailene Woodley.
Now, I’m not saying that these aren’t worthy nominees (well, War Horse notwithstanding). By all accounts, Oldman and McTeer are phenomenal. And Rooney Mara beat out Tilda Swinton for the fifth Best Actress spot, so yay for edgy. I just think it’s worth mentioning, since Twitter promptly burst into flames.
Anyway, let’s take a look at some of the other surprises, shall we? Chime in with your thoughts, too.
- 9 Best Picture nominees! Holy hell. The only major surprise is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which I have not seen yet. I wrote a while ago that I really wanted to, but then the reviews came out and I gathered that everything that made Oskar (the kid) endearing and interesting in the book played as cloying and creepy onscreen. Most of the critics I like have responded with “what the hell?” reactions to this nomination, and yet now I feel obligated to see it. Dammit.
- Speaking of obligated, I’ve moved The Tree of Life to the top of my Netflix queue. I’m 85% sure that I will be playing sudoku within the first 30 minutes. But onward.
- On the Supporting Actor race: Which Academy member did Albert Brooks murder? Honest question. He was a frontrunner, wasn’t he? Like, a month ago? Wow. (I was 4/5 – Nick Nolte got Brooks’ spot.)
- 4/5 on Supporting Actress, too (but I was damn close, saying it would come down to McTeer v. Woodley. Take that!). Also, a note on Melissa McCarthy’s nomination for Bridesmaids: I read approximately 692 tweets today with some variation of “You TOO can get an Oscar nomination for pooing in a sink!” Guys, let’s not whittle a really excellent comic performance down to its most basic, vulgar element. Grow up, please. If that’s all there was to it, Adam Sandler would be attending his 17th consecutive Oscar telecast.
- Best Actor, well, this was not my year. Clooney, Dujardin, Pitt in; Gosling and Fassbender out in favor of Damien Bichir and Gary Oldman. My plan is to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Shame this weekend, so I’ll be able to directly compare and contrast the Oldman-over-Fassbender decision then. Stay tuned.
- I’m a little perturbed that only one song from The Muppets was nominated for “Best Original Song,” (“Man or Muppet”) and that there were only two nominees overall. How do you leave off “Life’s a Happy Song” and rob us of a Jason Segel/Amy Adams/ENTIRE MUPPET GANG production number?! This wound is deep, Oscar voters. Deep.
Okay, well, them’s my initial thoughts. What say you? (For the record, I officially went 25/34 of the categories I predicted. If I were a baseball player, you would find that batting average ridiculously impressive. And give me 214 million dollars.)
Oscar Predictions
Gracious good evening to you, b-rollers! The Oscar nominations are almost upon us, and so I bring you my official predix and reax. Won’t you reax in the comments below? (Sorry, I know that’s moronic. I’ll stop.)
Please note that I’m just talking about the big categories here, picture/acting/directing; I’m not in the loop or technologically astute enough to predict Best Sound Editing. But please feel free to do so if your hearing is better than mine.
Also, not to stall, but may I rant for a bit? I’d like to take a moment to discuss how, for this brief and shining moment, this is all kind of exciting and surprising; pretty soon, though, not so much. This endless awards season tends to iron out any of that pesky spontaneity, leaving us with a crisp, predictable Oscar telecast. Case in point: As much as I adore The Artist, it’s winning every award in reach, and the odds of it not tap-dancing away with the Best Picture prize are as likely as a professional NFL kicker missing a 32-yard field goal. (Too soon, Ravens fans? Sorry.) Anyway, my point is that if freshly-minted Golden Globers like George Clooney and Meryl Streep win a SAG Award this weekend, prepare yourselves for another charming, witty, rambling Oscar acceptance speech, rather than one of those, Oh my God, Adrien Brody won?! Wait, IS HE KISSING HALLE BERRY?!?!?! moments. Those days, I fear, are behind us.
Anywho, let’s get started.
Mea Culpa
Happy Sunday, b-rollers! I totally planned on bringing you my pre-Oscar nomination thoughts tonight, and I settled in to write as my beloved Patriots took on the Ravens for a trip to the Super Bowl. What a wonderful way to distract myself from the game so that I don’t get too nervous, I thought, completely forgetting that during Patriot playoff games I become anxious bordering on manic, and can only concentrate on repetitive and mindless things. So I played roughly 84 games of sudoku and ate a mountain of tortilla chips, but blogging, not so much.
(To give you an idea of how tense this game was, here’s the post-game exchange between me and my roommate.
Me: “We won! Ohmigod, it was heartstopping.”
Roomie: “But doesn’t that make it more fun?!”
Me: “No. Not at all.”
Roomie: “But it’s more exciting!”
Me: “No. I’ve lost three years of my life.”)
Anyway, I will make it up to you, I promise. I’ll be back tomorrow with my Oscar predictions and dream cast, and then on Tuesday with reactions to the actual nominees. Sound good? Awesome.
In the meantime, feel free to leave your good luck wishes to the Super Bowl-bound Patriots in the comments section. See you tomorrow.
Update your Internets
I’m movin’ on up to a registered domain name, b-rollers! b-roll is now www.betsywalters.com. You’ll be redirected from the old URL, but if you’ve got this site bookmarked (bless your heart), please update your settings.
I’ll be back with some fresh thoughts this weekend, by the way. I’ve been taking a post-Globes break; when live-blogging in a cake-fueled sugar rush, certain side effects may occur. Anyway, let’s reconvene shortly.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I hear Miss Piggy’s on Project Runway this evening…
Golden Globes Live Blog
7:12: Happy Sunday, b-rollers! We’re t-minus 45(ish) minutes from the start of the Golden Globes. In honor of this evening’s host, Ricky Gervais, I have had a very large beer, so this might get interesting. I’m about to check in with the NBC pregame show – sorry, red carpet; I’ve been watching a lot of playoff football this weekend – and will start snarking in short order. Please standby.
7:20: And we’re live! I’m happy to report that I’m live-blogging from my home in New Hampshire this evening, with my parents nearby. So expect a lot of b-roll parental exchanges this evening, such as me identifying Mary J. Blige, then my Mom asking what the hell she’s doing there. (Original song, I think?) This should be fun.
7:23: The red dress worn by one of the NBC co-hosts confounds me. It is side-less. How is that possible?
7:25: A John Carter promo, starring shirtless Tim Riggins! I’m so glad I skipped E. This almost makes up for FNL not getting a single blessed nomination. ALMOST.
7:26: How many marine mammals in danger stories do we need? Didn’t A Dolphin Tale come out six minutes ago? Hollywood is so out of ideas.
7:28: Madonna still sounding slightly, strangely British. To quote Gosford Park, “Is she British, or just affected?”
7:31: My Mom’s take on Claire Danes’ dress: “It looks like one of the rejects on Project Runway.” Well, then. (She’s also officially horrified that her comments might end up on the live blog. Too late.)
7:32: A lot of shiny, chain-mail-type dresses on the red carpet tonight. Not a trend I would have foreseen, gotta say.
7:35: Thank God Leonardo DiCaprio is this good-looking, because the oral J. Edgar Hoover bio that he’s delivering is boring the everloving crap out of me. Read more…
Golden Globes Precap
Happy Thursday, b-rollers! The Golden Globes are this Sunday, and if you don’t think that I’ll be live-blogging them – gleefully – than welcome to b-roll for the very first time. This will be my first live-blog since, um, last year’s Golden Globes. So I’ll be a little rusty, maybe. Be kind.
But before the Globes get rolling (Ha! See what I…anyway…), let me tell you who I’m rooting for, and give you my initial thoughts. Here’s the complete list of nominees if you’d like to follow along at home; I was amused to discover that the HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association) included hashtags* so that you can tweet about each category individually – because sometimes, you have a hankering to discuss “Best Screenplay” and nothing else – so in the spirit of the exercise, I’ll use their suggested hashtags, because I’m pretty sure no one else will. #analretentiveoverkillHFPA
*For those wondering “What the hell is a hashtag?” here is a Wikipedia cheat sheet.
The Girl With the Adaptation Fatigue
A few words today on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, b-rollers (and beware, spoilers hence). I’ve been dragging my heels a bit because if I’m being honest, I don’t know how I feel about it. Truly. Not “I think I liked it” or “I’m on the fence” but I genuinely have no idea if I like this movie or not. Since I’m rarely without an opinion, this is a profoundly jarring experience.
Let me unspool this.
I read Stieg Larsson’s novel when it became popular here in the US, and it hooked me. In fact, related story: While I was reading it a friend visited, and I wasn’t feeling well so I stayed home and gave her my keys so she could go out; I became so engrossed in the book that I was still reading at 3am, just in the middle of the climactic “torture chamber” scene when my front door opened. (Advice: Don’t ever do that.)
Now that I was officially on the Dragon Tattoo bandwagon (with a newly-minted heart condition), I anxiously awaited the Swedish film adaptation, and not just because it felt terribly artsy to say I was attending a Swedish film (hey, I didn’t have to specify which one). That version was taut and dramatic, carefully following the novel’s blueprint; it was fascinating to see the characters brought to life in such a vivid way, as it always is when a good book is adapted really well.
Then came the news that an American version was in the works, because God forbid Hollywood pass up a blockbuster remake (or people read subtitles), but it was promising: David Fincher (perfect). Daniel Craig (ditto). Appropriately creepy trailers. And the movie is just what we thought it would be – darkly atmospheric, violent, twisty.
But not a moment of it surprised me, because I know those twists, intimately. I envied the friend I saw it with who had no idea what would happen, and gasped in shock. There were a few tweaks, one pretty big one in particular, but I saw it coming because, well, duh – if you know the story, that is.
It just feels rather like a paint-by-numbers exercise: A little darker here, maybe, a little bolder there, but the same picture. Maybe it was just one version too many; when a movie hinges on suspense, what happens when you know way too much?
I guess if I have to compare/critique, I did think that Rooney Mara was an excellent Lisbeth Salander, fairly equal to the wonderful Noomi Rapace of the original film. But I actually preferred the Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, whose Blomkvist was a little less handsome and a little more flawed than Daniel Craig’s steely hero (who, incidentally, is the only main character without a Swedish accent – why, again?). But in plot and tone, Fincher’s adaptation is just as faithful to the novel as the last.
So, bottom line: As this new, improved? Dragon Tattoo appears to pick up steam heading into Oscar season (in a surprise, David Fincher received a Directors’ Guild nomination today over Steven Spielberg), should you see it?
Well, sure. You’ll like it, I think. Have you read the books? You should, they were great. And the Swedish movies are good, too, and they’re streaming on Netflix. But if you haven’t read the books, maybe see this one. Or just read it, then see it. Or the Swedish one.
Oh, hell. I don’t know.
Help me out, b-rollers. Any Dragon Tattoo fans out there – movie(s), book or otherwise? What did you think? And how do you judge a thriller when you know exactly what’s coming?
