Blog Archives

who was snubbed for an oscar

Posted on by
Reply

So, if you haven’t heard, the Oscar nominees were announced today.

(If you’re looking for a run-down of the nominees, head here)

A lot is being made about the Oscar snubs, and I’ve got to say: what’s the big deal?

So what if Gran Torino wasn’t nominated for Best Picture, and Clint Eastwood wasn’t nominated for Best Actor?

It really doesn’t matter, because I don’t think Gran Torino had any chance in either category.  You know what I mean?

The whole Oscar-snubs type of arguments is directly related to to sports and All-Star games, though the Oscars do actually mean something.  But if you saw the Golden Globes, or even just the winners, you’ve seen the favorites for each of the major awards.  And I don’t think that there’s going to be that much of a difference between the GG and the AA.

Slumdog Millionaire is (seemingly) the favorite for every category it’s in, Mickey Rourke is the favorite for Best Actor and Heath Ledger is a shoe-in for Best Supporting Actor.

I guess, with all of this being said, the only thing that is disappointing is that The Dark Knight wasn’t nominated for Best Picture.  I personally think it deserved it, even though I haven’t yet seen The Reader, which was (allegedly) the final film to make it in to the Best Picture nominees.

The Oscars air on Feb. 22.

how winslet got over her weight issues

Posted on by
Reply

Kate Winslet, a multiple Oscar nominee and the star of two allegedly fantastic films that are playing right now – The Reader and Revolutionary Road, is obviously a very accomplished actress.  As someone who isn’t, I would have to think that she would be satisfied with her work and wouldn’t let the media’s obsession with her weight affect her.

But it did.

Winslet recently said that she got over her weight problems by talking with Revolutionary Road co-star Leonardo DiCaprio during their time on Titanic 10 years ago.

“As a child, I was overweight and I was very chubby and I was always the wrong kid at the audition because my hair was wrong and the shoes didn’t fit,” Winslet said in a duel-interview with DiCaprio. “I did loose weight very sensibility when I was younger but those says are very much behind me.”

Turning to DiCaprio, she added, “I remember you saying to me one day, ‘You’ve really got to let the whole fat girl thing go’. And that’s the truth, you’re right.”

Of course, it was likely much more complicated than that through the process of filming and the release of Titanic.  But you get the gist – DiCaprio had an influence on Winslet getting over her weight issues, but the person who needed to be the one to get her through her body troubles was Winslet herself.

movies to see on dec. 25

Posted on by
Reply

As I’ve written in this space previously, I’m very excited for this season’s films to come out.  The big day is tomorrow, and that means I’ve been devouring pretty much every review out there.

Kate Winslet is in two very strong films, both of which she is expected to pick up an Oscar nomination for.  Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett star in a very unique film.  And we also have Leo DiCaprio and Winslet reuniting in a film directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), who is Winslet’s husband.

Here are the films you should be aware of, and for reviews of each you can either head over to Rolling Stone to read Peter Travers or visit RogerEbert.com.  Those are the two best critics, in my opinion.  But I’ll provide different reviews of each movie listed in the hyperlinked text.

Here are the films that you will hear a lot more about in the coming days and weeks…

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Pitt ages backwards, and Blanchette ages forward. The beginning and end of the film should be especially interesting, given the age differential.  Roger Ebert only gave this two-and-a-half stars, though.

- Valkryie – This has got pretty good reviews.  I hope it does well because I’m one of the few that still thinks Tom Cruise is a pretty good actor.  He seems willing to take risks too, which I like.

- Revolutionary Road - Features DiCaprio and Winslet as an unhappy married couple in the 1950s.

- The Reader - Features Winslet as a German woman during the Holocaust.  She has an affair with a 15-year-old boy.  This film is supposed to be great.

- Bedtime Stories - Adam Sandler stars in this Disney film.

- The Wrestler - Quietly could be the best film this year. 

- Gran Torino – Clint Eastwood reportedly says his good-bye to acting in this role, which could win him an Academy Award.

- Marley and Me – Conan O’Brien said that this film almost made him cry, which is good enough for me.

- The Spirit - I’ve been seeing the trailers for a solid two months now, and I have no idea what this is about.  That’s not a good thing, according to Mr. Roger Ebert.

Enjoy the holidays and the snow they’ve brought, everyone.  And if you tire of being with family, come back and check out some of our archives.

dicaprio and winslet are back

Posted on by
Reply

For those who have yet to familiarize themselves with the plot lines of Revolutionary Road – which comes out on Christmas – the Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslet-starring film might seem like a Titanic 2. 

In Revolutionary Road, Winslet and DiCaprio get married, have kids and live together.

But here’s the thing.  They are miserable with each other.  They’re simply bored with married life and everything that comes with it in 1950s suburbia, so they move to Paris to spice things up.

Though this is the case, it might be the pair’s best performance together.  DiCaprio says that it’s because of the relationship they built while working on Titanic 10 years ago.

“We very much took advantage of our friendship and our relationship for this film,” DiCaprio said in an interview alongside Winslet with the Associated Press. “When I read the script, I thought, look at these scenes, and I’m imagining Kate doing it with me and being able to push each other as much as we possibly could.

“That gave me immediately a desire to say, `OK, I can’t wait for these sequences to start. I’m really going to give it to her, she’s really going to give it to me.’ And I know the fact that she’s such a good friend of mine, we know each other so well, we know that we could push those boundaries, because we intrinsically know we have the best intentions for each other. So there’s no weird, hidden ego. There’s no hidden anything. It’s two people just trying to do their best and just pushing each other.”

Personally, I’m very excited to see this film.  Winslet is my favorite actress and DiCaprio is my favorite actor.  But it’s not because I fell in love with Jack and Rose.  I hated DiCaprio for the longest time simply because he was in Titanic – and then I saw Catch Me If You Can – and it was clear that he’s the most talented actor of his generation.

Winslet was much the same way.  I saw her in Little Children and Finding Neverland, and it was a similar reaction to Catch Me If You Can.

So, with all of this being said, I’m really looking forward to Revolutionary Road.  I might go the day after Christmas.

In the meantime, I would recommend the three films listed above as well as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Reader, and basically all of the movies DiCaprio has done.  His body of work is absolutely fantastic, minus some of his early stuff.  Arguably his best performance was in 1994′s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, where he stars along Johnny Depp. 

I would recomend Gilbert Grape above all his others.