Awards Season Movies

Always around this time of year we get to hear bits and bobs of whats going to be nominated for Oscars and such. As the Golden Globes have already taken place (sort of) and because what happens there is generally a preview of what will happen in Oscar Land, its become clearer at this stage which movies are going to be ones talked about next month but what is surprising is the quality of flicks this year, at least amongst the ones that will end up winning. Most of the time the movies they give the oscars too are ones that were made with Oscars in mind. This becomes quite tedious if you have to sit through another movie about a disabled person/troubled musician/little man fighting against the odds which normally win. I still have yet to see Capote, and Ray and A Beautiful Mind and Million Dollar Baby were shite so this year is a pleasant surprise. Here's 4 of the ones that you will hear of next month which are quite quite good.


ATONEMENT


I guarantee most of you have avoided this because you think its another fucking chick flick that your ma would love, which is a damn shame because this is easily one of the most stunningly made films I have ever seen. The soundtrack is excellent. It has one of the best shots I've ever seen. It has one of the most realistic sex scenes I've ever seen. Keira Knightley is hot. All crucial elements.

The poster and advertising havn't really sold this that well because it seems to give the impression that this is a love story. In some ways it is but thats not the main point of the film. Its about making up for mistakes (hence the title) and I'm not going to spoil too much by saying that its far too bitter a film to be considered a love story. Watch it a see. Oh and James McAvoy is a legend and deserves to be getting all the kudos he's been getting the last few years.

This has already been and gone in the cinema so you'll have to wait for DVD to see it which should be in the next month or so.


NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN


There are only two reasons you need to see this film. 1) Its the Coen Brothers and 2) Its the Coen Brothers back on top form.

For anybody who thought the Coens had slipped in the last little while then you can all collectively breathe a big sigh of relief that they've made this masterpiece. Personally I though Intolerable Cruelty was great. It was the Coens doing a screwball comedy and succeeding marvelously. Admittedly The Ladykillers was a waste of space but now they've gone back to their Millers Crossing/Fargo days with possibly their most violent film to date and easily the evillest bad guy in their canon. A man so damn mean and violent that he makes Peter Stormare in Fargo seem like a pussy. No wood-chippers here. Who needs a wood-chipper when you can use a cattle gun. I will be absolutely amazed if Javier Bardem doesn't get nominated for an acting award which he probably will seeing as he already won the Golden Globe.

No Country for Old Men came out last week in Cinemas over here.


JUNO


Most years we have what is known as "the-little-indie-film-that-could". Just like Little Miss Sunshine and Lost in Translation it will come out of nowhere and be nominated for tons of stuff, in the end only winning Best Original Screenplay. Juno has already proved to be this years answer to that in the U.S. and there can be little doubt it will do the same here. The fact is that the film is funny as fuck and is very very moving without being mawkish and over-sentimental like lots of similar flicks. Ellen Page is cute as hell and proves, after Hard Candy, that she can pretty much do anything and her support cast is awesome too with two Arrested Development alumni in Michael Cera and Jason Bateman as well as Alison Janney who will always be in my mind the legendary CJ Craig from The West Wing.

Juno comes out early next month


THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Daniel Day-Lewis once again puts on a stupid moustache to show us just how you play an American asshole however unlike Gangs of New York this film isn't marred by fucking awful Irish accents.

Paul Thomas Andersons first film since Punch Drunk Love is a slow burning, brooding, masterpiece which combines some lush visuals with a fantastic off beat soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) to amazing effect. At 2 hours 40 minutes this is one that makes your arse sore, and for some people the reasons I cited as to why this is a good movie are going to be the exact reason they DON'T like it. Day-Lewis is a legend as always and so is Paul Dano but their performances could come across to some people as being hammy and the soundtrack might just steer too far over the line of eccentric to alienate those people who didn't make it past their Junior Cert.

It really does depend on your temperment but there's no doubt that this is a great achievment. Like all of PTA's films it seems more like a really great album that you have to absorb all the way through to really appreciate its genius. Or even experience a few times.

There Will Be Blood is out sometime in February.

The following I havn't seen but are making some noise so no telling what will happen with them: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; The Kite Runner; Michael Clayton; Sweeney Todd; I'm Not There; The Great Debaters. American Gangster and Eastern Promises are also being knocked about too. I doubt either will win anything though. Eastern Promises is excellent and contains the only great performance by Viggo Mortensen that I've seen but American Gangster is average at best.