The Road to Gold: The Oscars!

The Oscars are famous for being prestigious, glamorous, and star studded. However, they're notorious for being long, boring, and dull. You can't really blame' em, it's an awards show, and awards shows all have those tenancies. This year, Jon Stewart hosted, what would normally be a predictable year, and brought spice, wit, and humor to the Oscars. His jokes are hilarious (After the montage on the voting process, Stewart beams and says, "And I thought it was up to the super-delegates!"). The show was much more engrossing than last year. Though, this year's show had the lowest rating in history: only 32 million viewers. The last time it was that low, it was the 2003 show and Chicago won Best Picture. This year's winners were exceptionally predictable. Best Picture went to No Country for Old Men. Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor were very predictable and they went to Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) as a greedy oil miner in the west and Javier Bardem (No Country), as a hit man, respectively. Best Actress was a little surprising. French actress Marion Cotillard won Best Actress for her portrayal of French chanteus Edith Piaf and Tilda Swinton won for the court drama Michael Clayton. The Coen brothers won for No Country, and, unsurprisingly, Ratatouille won Best Animated Feature. "Falling Slowly" from Once won Best Original Song, trumping Enchanted's three nominated songs. The one surprise for me was that The Golden Compass won Best Visual Effects, and not Transformers. It was a pretty good show, other than it was 3 1/2 hours (which is actually an improvement from last year, it being 4 1/2 hours).

Grade: B+

Beatles "Revolution": Review for "Across the Universe" Soundtrack

Across the Universe is a complicated film to reccomend as is the soundtrack. The film's entire soundtrack is comprised of of Beatles covers by the cast, with cameos by U2 members, Bono and the Edge, Joe Cocker, Eddie Izzrd, and Selma Hayek.

The first song of the film is "Girl" which is very haunting. Jim Sturgess, though a relative newcomer to film, was in a rockband, and his Jude sounds originsl and new, yet at the same time somewhat old school Liverpool/Beatles style. His "Something", "Across the Universe", "Strawberry Fields Forever", and "All My Loving" are much in the same way. But his version of "All You Need is Love" is the real showstopper for him. The new version retain the formula, but adds a new elementand at first, lacks the annoying "dum-na-num-na-num" after each "all you need is loev". But once the pattern is added, in an electric guitar, it sounds much cooler than the original.

Evan Rachel Wood's Lucy is as girly as one would be in the '60s, but her voice gets stronger as her hcharacter gets more radicall. Her version of "Hold Me Tight" is cute and almost bubblegum like, yet has a Beatles-esqe class to it. Her rendition of "If I Fell" is heartbreaking and very sad and beautiful. The new version of "It Won't Be Long"is very peppy. Overall, she's very good.

Joe Andersonplays Max, whose voice has a Beatles like tone. His covers of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and "I Want You" are very well done and his version of "Hey Jude" is fresh and new and has a sound that is somewhatlike an homageto the original but still sounds new.

Dana Fuchs plays Sadie and her voice is very reminiscent of Janice Joplin (which is kind of a coincedence, due to her starring in a stage biography of the rocker called Love, Janice). Her "Why Don't Do It the road?", "Oh! Darling", "Dear Prudence", and "Helter Skelter" are really good, my favorite being "Oh! Darling".

Martin Luther McCoy plays Jo Jo, and his rendition of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is enough to make you weep. A smooth rock and roll sound with a mix of saucy R&B in it.

T.V.Carpio plays shy Prudence and she sings pretty well, if soft, version of "I Want to Hold Yor Hand", which, in my opinion, is better than the original. I always thought it was a corny song anyways, but Prudence's shyness in the song and the film make it a little melodramatic.

Guest singer Joe Cocker, famous for his rendition of a few Beatles songs, is back as he sings a raspy hard core version of "Come Together". A bold new sound to an already brave song that broke the boundries of cool.

Eddie Izzard (TV's The Riches) speaks the lyrics to "Being for the Benifit of Mr. Kite". Where they got the original lyrics...a circus poster. I never cared for the original and this version is even worse, it sounds as if he is add libbing the entire thing and sounds very odd and discombobulated.

Bono and the Edge leave their mark on "I Am the Walrus", which is perfect for them, a nice mixed version of a radical classic. His "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is okay, but it doesn't match the original. Almost none of these beat the originals. A few come close, but the Beatles made some of the greatest songs in history, and no one can beat someone who has already won the game... a long time ago.
Grade: A-

Best of the 2008 Oscars

Best Picture
No Country for Old Men

Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Best Supporting Actress
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Animated Feature
Ratatouille

Winners Circle:The Winners of the 80th Annual Academy Awards

Best Costume Design
Alexandra Byrne, Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Best Animated Feature
Ratatouille, Brad Bird

Best Makeup
La Vie en Rose, Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald

Best Visual Effects
The Golden Compass, Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Moriss, Trevor Wood

Best Art Direction
Sweeney Todd, Art Direction: Dante Feretti, Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Best Live Action Short Film
Le Mozart de Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets), Philippe Pollet-Villard

Best Animated Short Film
Peter & the Wolf, Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Best Supporting Actress
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Adapted Screenplay
No Country for Old Men, Joel & Ethan Coen

Best Sound Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum, Karen Baker & Per Hallberg

Best Sound Mixing
The Bourne Ultimatum, Scott Millan, David Parker, Kirk Francis

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

Best Film Editing
The Bourne Ultimatum, Christopher Rouse

Best Foreign Language Film
The Counterfeiters, Austria

Best Original Song
"Falling Slowly" from Once, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova

Best Cinematography
There Will Be Blood, Robert Elswit

Best Original Score
Atonement, Dario Marianelli

Best Documentary Short Subject
Freeheld, Cynthia Wade & Venessa Roth

Best Documantary Feature
Taxi to the Dark Side, Alex Gibney & Eva Orner

Best Original Screenplay
Juno, Diablo Cody

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Director
Joel & Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Best Picture of the Year
No Country for Old Men

Creep Show: Review for "Vacancy"

The thriller Vacancy is your standard issue slasher film, but it's better. Amy (Kate Beckinsale) and David (Luke Wilson) are on the verge of divorce. They've recently come from their parents' wedding annivarsary when they need to stop at a strange gas station to get some help. The guy who "fixes" their car makes it worse and it breaks down a mile or so down the road. They decide to stay the night at a hotel. While watching some of the videos, they see people getting killed in a low-budget horror flick way, but at the same time rather ghastly. They find out that people were killed in the same room. These sickos were watching them all along, like a sick peep show. But these victims are smarter and create a plan to get away. What follows is a cat and mouse game of high tension. This film was excellently writton, directed, and acted, though the ending was horrible. Very scary and exciting.

Grade: B+

The Bets: Who I Think Will Win

Best Actor will definately go to Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood. He's a brilliant actor and he's given a great performance. But I think Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd deserves it. He's scary and he slashes and he sings. Best Actress is a tough one, with the brilliant Julie Christie as an Alzheimers patient in a heartbreaking performance in Away From Her, Marion Cotillard in an outstandingly realistic portraylal of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, Ellen Page may also take it as witty Juno. But if I know the critics, I think it will be Christie. Best Supporting Actor is a no contest for Javier Bardem, who has gained many critics awards for his role as a hit man in No Country for Old Men. Best Supporting Actress is a little trickier, but young Soairse Ronan from Atonement has no chance. Gone Baby Gone's Amy Ryam gave a tremendous performance as well as Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton, Cate Blanchett as a Bob Dylan-esqe character in I'm Not There, and a short but sweet performance by Ruby Dee in American Gangster. Best Director may go to Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country or Paul Thomas Andreson for Blood and even Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Best Picture I think may go to No Country, which has been well received by critics. We'll have to see the winners Sunday night at 8/9 p.m. est LIVE from the Kodak Theater on ABC.

You Can Never Have Too Much "Spam": Review for "Spamalot"

Spamalot is somewhat an adaptation/remake of Monty Python's hilarious Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The original tale revolves around King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The title is a pun on "Camelot" and the long running Python gag "Spam", which, if you dot already know, is canned meat. There were several differences from the movie, which, in essence, shouldn't matter. Eric Idle, one of the originals, wrote the book and the lyrics for the play. The Lady of the Lake character is very funny, and the actress who plays her has a tremendous voice. Her rendition of "What Ever Happened to My Part?" is hilarious, in which she complains of not being on the stage for long and makes fun of Posh Beckham. However, in the style of those dirty minded comedians, there's plenty of swearing and ladies showing lots of skin. The show, though advertised for families, is not exactly family friendly. There are very funny parts in the second act when it was like the original film with the Ones Who Say "Nee" and the Black Knight scenes. Lancelot, who falls in love with Guenivere in the original tale, falls in love with Price Herbert. That doesn't bother me in the slightest, it was just the style that they did it in. A funny line that Lancelot said at the end of the show about same sex marriage is "To think that 2000 years in the future this will still be controversial." It is true and put very frankly. There are very clever scenes in which they use a projector. The play is clever, funny, and sometimes hilarious!
Grade: B+