AFTERTHOUGHTS (50)
THE BEST OF THE VES 2008

And while Sunday night meant the BAFTAs for British film geeks (see Afterthoughts (49) in the Archive), over in La-La Land, American film geeks looked to the Kodak Theatre, where the 6th Annual VES Awards took place.
This year, the Visual Effects Society favoured Michael Bay’s Transformers with four awards, including the big one, Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture.
Beyond Transformers though, the win that really made me go “Woot!” was…

Battlestar Galactica: Razor:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special (Mike Gibson, Gary Hutzel, Sean Jackson, Pierre Drolet)

But, just for the record…

Transformers:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture (Scott Farrar, Shari Hanson, Russell Earl, Scott Benza)
Best Single Visual Effect of the Year [Desert Highway Sequence] (Scott Farrar, Shari Hanson, Shawn Kelly, Michael Jamieson)
Outstanding Models or Miniatures in a Motion Picture (Dave Fogler, Ron Woodall, Alex Jaeger, Brian Gernand)
Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture (Pat Tubach, Beth D’Amato, Todd Varizi, Mike Conte)

Additionally, the award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial went to Nicklas Andersson, Mike Mellor, Sylvain Marc, and Florent DeLa Taille, for the Fatlip shots in Chemical Brothers – Salmon Dance.
Not exactly sure what that is, but hey, it’s the Chemical Brothers…

Steven Spielberg was also honoured with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, for “the contribution that his vast body of work, as both a director and producer, has made to the art and science of visual effects.”

On the downside though, I’d just like to say it’s such a sad thing that not only did Zodiac get no love from the Oscars this year, but VES passed it over too.
Zodiac was up for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture (for Washington and Cherry), but lost out to Ratatouille and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (for The Maelstrom) respectively.
It’s pissy since David Fincher’s use of visual effects in Zodiac is so seamless, it’s practically invisible. I guess VES gave him an invisible award too…
Don’t worry, Mr. Fincher, the Iguana luvs ya…

For a downloadable PDF of the complete nominee list, go here, and to see a complete list of the winners, go here.

Parting shot: Reviews of Razor, Transformers, and Zodiac can be found in the Archive.

(Battlestar Galactica: Razor DVD cover art courtesy of amazon.com; Transformers OS courtesy of wildaboutmovies.com; and Zodiac OS courtesy of impawards.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (49)
WHAT THE BAFTA?! 2008 (3)

Sunday night in London saw the BAFTAs handed out, and the wins that made me go “Woot!” were:

Control:
The Carl Foreman Award [for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer in their First Feature Film] (Matt Greenhalgh, Writer)

The Golden Compass:
Special Visual Effects (Michael Fink/Bill Westenhofer/Ben Morris/Trevor Woods)

Juno:
Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody)

No Country For Old Men:
Director (Joel Coen/Ethan Coen)
Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
Cinematography (Roger Deakins)

This Is England:
Best British Film (Mark Herbert/Shane Meadows)

Not surprisingly, The Orange Rising Star Award, voted for by the public, went to Shia LaBeouf.
Sorry, Shia, but I was kind’a rooting for Sam Riley. Ah, well…

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners. You can check out the complete list here.

Parting shot: Reviews of Control, The Golden Compass, Juno, No Country For Old Men, and This Is England can be found in the Archive.

(OS’s and Control and This Is England UK quads [designs by All City] courtesy of impawards.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (48)

48.1 WGA 2008 (2)
Just a few minutes before the start of the crucial WGA meeting last Saturday night to discuss the details of the tentative agreement that could put an end to the three-month long strike, this year’s recipients for the WGA awards were announced, and I’d just like to congratulate Joel and Ethan Coen, for winning Best Adapted Screenplay for No Country For Old Men, and Diablo Cody, for winning Best Original Screenplay, for Juno.
You can check out the complete list of winners here.

Now let’s all hope for the best with the on-going WGA ratification of the current on-the-table deal…

48.2 IN OTHER AWARDS NEWS…
… No Country For Old Men was also honoured at this year’s Producers Guild Awards. It’s now received awards from all four major guilds, SAG, DGA, WGA, and PGA.

Meanwhile, over in London, where the BAFTAs were handed out Sunday night (check out Afterthoughts (49) in the Archive), Guillermo Del Toro’s El Laberinto Del Fauno was honoured with this year’s BBC Four World Cinema Award, emerging at the top of a shortlist that included Turkey’s Iklimler (Climates), Germany’s Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others), Thailand’s Sang Sattawat (Syndromes and a Century), and the French-Italian co-production, La Science Des Reves (The Science of Sleep).

To all involved in both films, a hearty round of congratulations.

And on a BAFTA sidenote, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Das Leben der Anderen took home the Film Not in the English Language Award last Sunday, as it did the Best Foreign Language Oscar last year.

Parting shot: Reviews of El Laberinto Del Fauno, Juno and No Country For Old Men can be found in the Archive.

(All OS’s and Pan’s Labyrinth UK quad [design by All City] courtesy of impawards.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (41)

41.1 WGA STRIKE
As we hit the midpoint of January, the WGA strike moves into its 11th week, and while talks haven’t yet been resumed since the December 7 collapse, there has been some headway in getting the Hollywood machine up and running again.
Following an interim agreement with Worldwide Pants (which allowed David Letterman to get back on the air with his writers in tow), similar deals have been struck with Tom Cruise’s United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment, and Media Rights Capital.
What this means, of course, is that these companies can resume production and development of whatever projects they have on their slate, getting a jump on the majors who are still mired in the backwash of the WGA strike.
It isn’t the all-encompassing resolution that will end the strike, but it is movement that will hopefully spark a full-fledged return to the bargaining table.
You can read the full Variety story (“WGA pacts with Spyglass, MRC”) here, which partially details the terms of the interim agreement.

41.2 WHAT THE BAFTA?! 2008 (2)
And here are the nominations from the final BAFTA 2008 ballot that have got me excited.

Control:
Best British Film (Orian Williams/Todd Eckert/Anton Corbijn/Matt Greenhalgh)
The Carl Foreman Award [for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer in their First Feature Film] (Matt Greenhalgh, Writer)
Supporting Actress (Samantha Morton)

Eastern Promises:
Best British Film (Paul Webster/Robert Lantos/David Cronenberg/Steve Knight)
Leading Actor (Viggo Mortensen)

No Country For Old Men:
Film
Director (Joel Coen/Ethan Coen)
Adapted Screenplay (Joel Coen/Ethan Coen)
Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones)
Supporting Actress (Kelly Macdonald)
Cinematography (Roger Deakins)
Editing (Roderick Jaynes)
Sound (Peter Kurland/Skip Lievsay/Craig Berkey/Greg Orloff)

This Is England:
Best British Film (Mark Herbert/Shane Meadows)
Original Screenplay (Shane Meadows)

Control’s Sam Riley was also nominated for The Orange Rising Star Award, which is voted for by the public. Riley is up against Disturbia and Transformers star Shia LaBeouf, Juno’s Ellen Page, and Stardust’s Sienna Miller for the award.

Other nominations for films I’ve mentioned ‘round these parts before, though have yet to see are:

Away From Her:
Leading Actress (Julie Christie)

The Golden Compass:
Special Visual Effects (Michael Fink/Bill Westenhofer/Ben Morris/Trevor Woods)

Juno:
Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody)
Leading Actress (Ellen Page)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Costume Design (Colleen Atwood)
Make Up & Hair (Ivana Primorac)

Spider-Man 3 was also nominated for Special Visual Effects.

The film with the most nominations is Joe Wright’s Atonement (14), with No Country For Old Men and Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood coming in second (9 nominations each).
Congratulations, one and all. (For the complete list of nominees, go here.)

BAFTA night is on February 10, at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.

Parting shot: I must say though, that it’s a shame that Once (which was on 3 of the BAFTA longlists prior to the last cut) didn’t get onto the final ballot. Sad, sad shame.

Parting shot 2: Reviews of Control, Eastern Promises, No Country For Old Men, This Is England, Once, Stardust, Transformers, Disturbia and Spider-Man 3 can be found in the Archive.

(Control UK quad and Eastern Promises, No Country For Old Men, and This Is England OS’s courtesy of impawards.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (39)

39.1 PIMP MY BOOK (6)
Chapters 11 and 12 of Pelicula are up at the website, where you’ll meet a former Shake, Rattle and Roll star, and find out what’s the latest iteration of the CSI franchise!
Scoot on over to the website now.
And thanx to all of you who’ve been reading Pelicula, and to Carl, for keeping the website updated.

39.2 WHAT THE BAFTA?! 2008 (1)
So the BAFTA longlists are out.
Now, note that these are lists that will be whittled down from the current 15 entries to the 5 nominees per category for BAFTA night. (That second round of voting to choose the final five nominees for each category closes on January 14.)
Still, given the insane number of films released in any given year, to snag a spot on a BAFTA longlist is still quite the achievement.
So, the possible nominations I’m excited about are:

Control:
Film
Director
Adapted Screenplay
Make Up & Hair
Sound
Editing
Cinematography
Music
Leading Actor (Sam Riley)
Supporting Actress (Samantha Morton)

Eastern Promises:
Film
Director
Original Screenplay
Make Up & Hair
Editing
Leading Actor (Viggo Mortensen)
Leading Actress (Naomi Watts)
Supporting Actor (Armin Mueller-Stahl)
Supporting Actor (Vincent Cassel)

No Country For Old Men:
Film
Director
Adapted Screenplay
Make Up & Hair
Sound
Editing
Production Design
Cinematography
Music
Leading Actor (Josh Brolin)
Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones)
Supporting Actress (Kelly MacDonald)

Once:
Original Screenplay
Music
Leading Actress (Marketa Irglova)

Stardust:
Make Up & Hair
Special Visual Effects
Costume Design
Supporting Actress (Michelle Pfeiffer)

Other longlisted films for Special Visual Effects are Beowulf, Spider-Man 3, Sunshine, Transformers, and 300, which is also longlisted for Sound.

Again, note that the 15 entries in most of the categories will get streamlined down to 5, so each of those entries above has a 33% chance of ending up on the final BAFTA 2008 ballot (if I’ve got my math right).
Congratulations, and best of luck to all of them. (You can check out all the complete longlists here.)

39.3 MORE HONOURS FOR OLD MEN

The Coens’ latest was also honoured by the Online Film Critics Society with six awards, for best Picture, Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem), Cinematography (Roger Deakins), Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Editing, the three latter awards going to the Coen brothers.

The siblings were also acknowledged by the USC with this year’s Scripter Award, “which recognizes the year’s best cinematic translation from page to screen.” Author Cormac McCarthy joins the brothers in the honour.

And to cap this off, No Country For Old Men grabbed the # 2 slot on AICN writer Nordling’s 2007 Top Ten list, where he notes:

“Any other year, this would be # 1. And it's still a masterpiece by the Coens, and I take nothing away from it. Javier Bardem plays a villain as iconic as Hannibal Lecter or Darth Vader. Josh Brolin has had a fantastic year with this performance and American Gangster, and at first Tommy Lee Jones seems like typecasting but he gets to the heart of that character with such skill it's difficult to imagine another actor playing that part. It's a bleak movie but there's humor there and it treats the audience with intelligence that's been sorely lacking in too many studio films today. It defiantly forces you to make up your own mind. I know what the ending means to me, and I admire the Coens for letting me come up with it on my own. A perfect adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel.”

(At Nordling’s # 4 and # 3 spots: Once and Zodiac. His worst? Spider-Man 3. Check out the entire list here.)

Parting shot: Reviews of Control, Eastern Promises, No Country For Old Men, Once, Stardust, Zodiac, Beowulf, Spider-Man 3, Sunshine, Transformers, and 300 can be found in the Archive.

(Control UK quad and Eastern Promises and No Country For Old Men OS’s courtesy of impawards.com; Once image courtesy of Fox Searchlight and indiewire.com; Stardust image courtesy of aintitcool.com.)

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
(Review)

So I’ve just gotten to see the Coen Brothers’ latest, and I can see what the critics are raving about.
Now, I’ve mentioned ‘round these parts before that I’ve loved the Coens ever since they kicked my a$$ with their debut, Blood Simple. Admittedly, that could be construed by some as an indication that I’d be unfairly predisposed towards anything they’d put out. Let me assure you though, I’ve missed some of their oeuvre (The Hudsucker Proxy and Intolerable Cruelty) and wasn’t terribly fond of The Big Lebowski, so this one might have gone either way.
Their adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel though, proves to be a riveting piece of cinema that is certainly one of 2007’s best.

Josh Brolin is Llewelyn Moss, a Vietnam veteran who comes across a bunch of dead bodies, a whole lotta drugs, and a whole lotta cash. Soon, he’s got a stone cold killer named Anton Chigurh (a truly frightening Javier Bardem) on his heels, with Tommy Lee Jones’ Sheriff Ed Tom Bell trying to lend a hand, while reeling at how increasingly strange and bizarre life has become in the year 1980.
Asking the same basic question Scott Smith‘s A Simple Plan posed—what happens when an otherwise good man finds a crapload of dirty money and makes off with it?—the Coens’ adaptation of McCarthy’s novel is, on one level, the tale of the disastrous results one bad choice can engender.
On another level though, it’s about the inevitability of the future, no matter how unsettling and alien it may be, and how one responds to the juggernaut of time: one can either accept it with as much grace as can be mustered to temper the resignation, or one can struggle against it and face the consequences of that decision.
The message isn’t a comforting one, but then again, truth sometimes isn’t.

No Country For Old Men also displays two qualities film aficionados have come to admire in the Coen Brothers’ work: a great script and some great performances.
Jones is fantastic as the laconic and vaguely bewildered lawman faced with the inexplicable violence of this case, but then again, this is Tommy Lee Jones, so that’s hardly a surprise. And as much as Brolin’s performance was an eye-opener, the man who steals the show here is most definitely Bardem.
Whatever else may happen this awards season, Bardem is going down in my books as one of the Scariest Psycho Baddies of 2007: Chigurh’s like the T-1000, but with a really dodgy haircut. Bad news, kiddies.

At the moment, these are some of the nominations No Country For Old Men is up for: at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, it’s up for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, as well as two nods for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (for Jones and Bardem).
At the Golden Globes, it’s up for Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Bardem), and Best Screenplay.
And it’s on 13 of this year’s BAFTA longlists, which will be slimmed down during a second round of voting which closes on January 14; see Afterthoughts (39).
No Country For Old Men also took top prizes at any number of critics’ awards late last year including the Toronto Film Critics Association, D.C. Area Film Critics Association, New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review, Southeastern Film Critics Association, and the Las Vegas Film Critics Association, with a healthy portion of the Supporting Actor nods going to Bardem.
So, you know, don’t just take my word for it.

It will be recalled that Sam Raimi adapted Smith‘s A Simple Plan for the big screen, and that film is still Raimi’s best. It will also be recalled that Joel Coen worked with Raimi on The Evil Dead, so the fact that they eventually both directed films adapted from novels that ask the same basic question is interesting to note.
Now, as to whether No Country For Old Men is the best Coen Brothers film (as some critics have gone on the record as saying) is still up in the air for me. I honestly need to give that one a think. Blood Simple still holds a special place in my film geek’s heart (and I’m certain it always will), as does Barton Fink and The Man Who Wasn’t There.
So, the Coens’ best? I can’t say at the moment.
I do know this though: it’s a film that manages to find, amidst the blood and violence of an impending and uncertain future, instances of strange, mesmerizing beauty: in the bleak vistas of West Texas; in the stark, brittle sound of boots on the pavement; in the recollection of an old and tired man’s dream.

One of 2007’s best?
As I mentioned way up there in the first paragraph, most definitely.

Parting shot: Also notable in the film’s cast are Trainspotting’s Kelly MacDonald, who brings a sense of unassuming spunk and quiet defiance to her role of Carla Jean, Llewelyn’s wife, and all-too-briefly, Beth Grant (who I first took notice of in Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko) as Carla Jean’s mother, Agnes.

(No Country For Old Men OS courtesy of impawards.com; novel cover art courtesy of amazon.com.)