Cinema Mishmash

Here are the short format nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards:
Best Documentary Short
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit à la Berlin
Best Animated Short
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of [...]

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While not exactly what I had in mind for the “List-Mash” column, I suppose this announcement qualifies. I am selling the majority of my DVD collection, for several reasons, really. They are available on Amazon Marketplace, and I am slowly and steadily adding titles to the list of those for sale. And, better yet, they [...]

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Watch this space for some of my thoughts about the best 2009 films I have come across so far. However, the Mishmash is certainly not confined to new releases, and I haven’t made it into my local cinemas to see nearly enough of the new films that have sufficiently piqued my interest. That’s where you [...]

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You can see where this is going. (See the companion post.) We tend more toward lovers, not haters, on these pages, but sometimes is it fun to explore the new films that truly sucked. As I try to avoid bad films, for me the list will be those that caused the greatest disappointment. I’ll start [...]

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Having just returned from the first of hopefully two summer getaways, the thought of what makes a good flick to watch on vacation came to mind. I’m not sure how to approach any formula for that one, but vacation-related films is an easier mark. I’ve just watched Transsiberian, which fits into the vacation cautionary tale [...]

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While this column is usually dedicated to lists of films, in lieu of this very exciting event honoring George Lucas (and giving much needed support to the best cinematic venue in Chicago, the Gene Siskel Film Center, we’ve decided instead to list 5 reasons why you should part with a little recession era cash in [...]

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= Winner
Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire 
Best Directing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: David Fincher
Frost/Nixon: Ron Howard
Milk: Gus Van Sant
The Reader: Stephen Daldry
Slumdog Millionaire: Danny Boyle 
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt: John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon: Peter Morgan
The Reader: David Hare
Slumdog [...]

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 = winner
Best Documentary Short
The Conscience of Nhem En: Steven Okazaki
The Final Inch: Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant
Smile Pinki: Megan Mylan 
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306: Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde
Best Animated Short
La maison en petits cubes: Kunio Kato 
Oktapodi: Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand
Presto: Doug Sweetland
This Way Up: Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes
Lavatory – Lovestory: [...]

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If you’ve seen all of the ABA’s top 25 legal movies, not to mention the honorable mentions, then broaden your horizons with the law as practiced and experienced elsewhere:
• Family Law
(Daniel Burman, Argentina, 2006)
• No End
(Krzysztof Kieslowskim Poland, 1985)
• The Sea Inside
(Alejandro Amenábar, Spain, 2004)
• Sophie School: The Final Days
(Marc Rothemund, Germany, 2005)
• Karakter
(Mike van [...]

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While Criterion is planning to release its first slate of Blu-ray titles this fall, the following foreign language titles are currently out on Blu-ray disc. (Please comment with additions or corrections):
• Black Book
• The Counterfeiters (out 08.05)
• The Curse of the Golden Flower
• District B13
• The House of Flying Daggers
• Letters from Iwo Jima
• The [...]

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Once again, my predictive powers when it comes to the Oscars were about as good as a coin toss:
= Mishmash prediction; = Oscar Winner
Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Best Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of [...]

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Best Picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Best Actor
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away from Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno
Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, [...]

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