No Country for Old Men, directed by Ethan and Joel Coen won 4 Oscars out of the 8 it was nominated for. No Country was no doubt the big winner of 2008 at the Academy Awards. The movie won, Best Pircture, Best Adapted Screenplay (as the movie is based on the book written by Cormac McCarthy), Best Achievement in directing (Coen brothers), and Best Actor in a supporting role (Javier Bardem).
This movie was also nominated for Best achievement in cinematography, Best achievement in editing, Best achievement in sound, Best achievement in sound editing. It did not win any of those.
Although the Coen brothers were the big winners last night, they seemed less humble than Martin Scorsese was last year when he won best director. Thats just what I took from their acceptance.
Some think this film is very unrealistic, and does not reflect how things really are in this type of country. I disagree, I think it is excellent especially given that it was taken from McCarthy’s book. According to IMDB this movie follows the book to a T. The last scene in the movie can be found on the last page of the book, and much of the dialogue is taken from the book word for word.
In my opinion two people get the award for giving this movie the winning edge:
1) Javier Bardem, he’s not a clown or a ghost, but he scares the shit out of you when you watch this movie.
2) Cormac McCarthy, for his great imagination in writing the book that inspired the Coen brothers. As I said before, the book is so good, the Coen’s followed it exactly.
If you have not yet seen “No Country for Old Men” I urge you to see it, it’s an excellent film deserving of the four Oscars it won last night.
Straight from Hollywood the weekend of February 15th
Jumper
One day, Davey (Hayden Christensen) discovers he has an amazing ability. He can teleport himself to any location at will. Using his newfound power to find the man who killed his mother, Davey unwittingly becomes a target of National Security Agency officers and another person with the same exact power. Based on the popular young adult novel by Steven Gould.
As a father (Ryan Reynolds) goes through a difficult divorce, his young daughter (Abigail Breslin) starts questioning him on his entire romantic history. So, he tells her the tale of the three great loves of his life and she must guess which woman eventually became her mother. Is it the sweet-as-pie girl-next-door Emily (Elizabeth Banks)? His best friend (Isla Fisher)? Or the flaky journalist (Rachel Weisz)?
Jared Grace (Freddie Highmore) moves into an old house with his family, including his twin brother Simon (also Highmore) and sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger), that they’ve inherited from their great uncle Arthur Spiderwick. When bizarre things start happening on the estate, Jared finds a book that holds the secret to the mystery, which includes several strange creatures who lurk in the shadows. Based on the bestselling series of books.
Coming from a lower-class background, Andie (Briana Evigan) tries desperately to fit in at the elite Maryland School of the Arts. While there, she hooks up with a flashy dancer named Chase (Robert Hoffman) who gets her involved in a down-and-dirty dancing competition that may get her kicked out of school.
Straight from Hollywood, the weekend of February 8th, 2008:
The Bands Visit
An Egyptian brass band heads to Israel to perform at the opening ceremony of a brand new Arab arts center. But when the musicians arrive, they are stranded at the airport and have no idea where to go. Eventually, they wind up at a tiny village in the desert, where they play for the locals
This movie is a drama featuring Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz, Saleh Bakri, and Khalifa Natour, and is written and directed by, Eran Kolirin. This is rated PG-13 and opens in select cities today.
Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson are married treasure hunters on the brink of divorce, but they can stay together if they find one last big fortune.
In addition to Matthew McConaughey, and Kate Hudson, this movie also has Donald Sutherland in it. It looks like a fun movie and will be reviewed by us on the Zach and Bol Show on Wednesday the 13th. It is a romantic comedy directed by Andy Tennant , and is rated PG-13. It will open Nationwide today.
Since Bol and I are seeing it, I have inserted the trailer here.
Nate Cooper (Joel David Moore) moves back to Los Angeles to find the girl he’s had a crush on ever since he was six-years-old, Cristabel Abbott (Paris Hilton). Reconnecting with the love of his life, he finds out that she refuses to go anywhere without her super-homely best friend June Phigg (Christine Lakin). Even though Nate tries to fix June up so he can have Cristabel all to himself, he realizes that all guys run from the sight of this unsightly gal. Nate’s next plan is to give June an extreme makeover, which also uncovers June’s extremely attractive personality.
This movie features Paris Hilton (oh lordy), Joel Moore, Christine Lakin, and Johann Urb. It is directed by Tom Putnam, and classified as a comedy. It is rated PG-13 and opens in select cities today.
Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are hit men who, after completing their latest job in London, are ordered by their boss (Ralph Fiennes) to go hide out in Bruges, Belgium. Although they are supposed to stay out of trouble, they have no problem finding some — quickly.
This comedy features Colin Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson. It is rated R and will be released in select cities today.
Mason (Joel Moore) is a socially awkward telemarketer by day and a frustrated artist at night. He only has one friend in the whole world, Berkeley (Zachary Levi), who constantly looks out for his reclusive friend. Mason finally does start coming out of his shell when he hits it off with a cute new co-worker, Amber (Amber Tamblyn), whom he begins using as a subject of his paintings. However, when his love of art becomes a dangerous obsession, Mason may eventually put down his paint brushes and pick up a knife …
This movie is a Thriller and features Joel Moore, Amber Tamblyn, Zachary Levi, and Tricia Helfer. It is rated PG-13 and will be released in select cities today.
Actor Vince Vaughn travels the American heartland with four young comedians on a whirlwind tour of 30 cities in 30 days to perform 30 shows. This documentary captures the antics on stage, as well as the shenanigans that took place on the road.
This comedy looks very funny, especially given the fact that it is done by Vince Vaughn. It is rated R and will be released nationwide today.
Dr. RJ Stevens (Martin Lawrence) is a talk-show host who has built a mega-successful career for himself while simultaneously completely denying his humble Southern roots. Returning home for his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, the good doctor hopes to impress the small-town rubes who tormented him as a child with his fat bank roll and sophisticated airs. However, his family is completely unimpressed with how much of a snob Stevens has become and do their best to deflate his swelled head so he can rejoin the human race.
This comedy features Martin Lawrence, Margaret Avery, Joy Bryant, Louis C.K., Michael Clarke Duncan, and Mike Epps. It looks bad to me, I will be interested to see it and it’s feedback. it is Rated PG-13 and will open nationwide today.
(All block quotes in this post are provided by movies.com)
The new Happy Madison movie, ‘Strange Wilderness’ is out starring Peter Gaulke and Fred Wolf CORRECTION:IMDB was incorrect on 2/5/08, this movie is actually starring Steve Zahn and Allen Covert, a Happy Madison movie, produced by Adam Sandler.
Zach says: (out of 4) 1.3.
The idea for this movie (a wild life reality show comedy) could’ve been funny. They failed to capitalize on this, and severely missed the boat. I did not enjoy this movie at all, aside from a few funny one-liners.
Bol says: .5
The word strange is appropriate for this film because thats all that it is. In its own strange way its good, but thats only if you have the mind of a sophomore. With this production group and cast I thought that this would have been a better film, but sadly my expectations were not met and the move fell very short. Overall if you have some compelling desire to see this, punch yourself in the face and just watch the free trailer on apple.com because a majority of the funny scenes are there.
Well, all three of us, Zach, Bol, and our guest Mark were taken by surprise (to say the least) when the Giants defeated the Patriots. There is nothing more to be said.
Favorite Ads:
Zach’s favorite was the Coke-a-Cola “Jinx” with Bill Frist and James Carville.
Children’s entertainer Barry Louis Polisar, who’s song “All I want is you”, is played during the opening credits of the 2007 movie Juno, was pleasantly surprised when he went to see the movie. The Baltimore Sun reports that he was apprehensive to see the movie because he was afraid the song would be played in the movie as a character “turns the radio off in disgust.” He even called Jason Reitman prior to the release to confirm one last time that his song would be portrayed in a good light.
According to the Baltimore Sun prior to the release of Juno, Polisar’s MySpace page had 15,000 hits, and after it’s release that number grew to 150,000!
Juno is up for 4 academy awards including, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Achievement in Directing, Best Motion Picture of the Year, and BestOriginal Screenplay. It has grossed over $100 million since it’s release in early December 2007.
It’s soundtrack which features Polisar’s “All I want is you”, is #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and #1 on the iTunes soundtrack chart. If you have not seen Juno, go see it, and if you haven’t listened to the soundtrack go listen!
