The New World Snubbed by Academy (expectedly)

Lets start with best actor, its not a bad selection but Eric Bana deserved a nomination. I like David Strathairn as much as the next guy, but his performance really wasn't amazing (I'd call it good), mostly he is just reenacting newscasts.

Best actress, Q'Orianka Kilcher gave EASILY the best performance by an actress this year. Evidently the academy didnt want to admit that they should all be taking acting lessons from a 14 year old. Is there some kind of rule that Judi Dench has to be nominated for something every year?

Supporting Actor, evidently embarrassed for forgetting about him last year the academy gives Paul Giamatti an apology nomination for his tiny and unmemorable role in Cinderella Man. Whatever, I like the guy.

Directing, Capote and Good Night and Good Luck? Really? I can at least give Clooney credit for making some interesting choices (even if they didn't all work out), I can't say the same for Bennet Miller (even though I liked Capote more than GNGL). No room for The New World, The Constant Gardener, Match Point?

The New World racked up its only nomination in the Cinematography category, and was ignored for Art Direction, and Costume Design. Just couldn't compete with Harry Potter, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, and King Kong I guess.

Munich gets noms for Picture, Directing, Editing and Music, but couldn't get into cinematography ahead of Batman Begins or Memoirs of a Geisha. Mike, am I missing something here?

Despite all this, relative to past years the academy did a pretty decent job. Heres to hoping "Its Hard Out Here for a Pimp" comes away with a statuette.

All Growed Up

"I've gained no insight, no mellowing... I would make the same mistakes again."
-Woody Allen on his 70th birthday

My Turn

Put together Allen, Rodriguez, and Spielberg showing up in top form, a dose of some good oooyipping, a sweet debut from Haggis, a little butt sex, a fat cousin that makes you cry, the man in black, Clooney's beautiful beard, and a dash of Joss Whedon for good measure. Whatdya get? My top ten.

1. Match Point
2. Grizzly Man
3. Crash
4. Brokeback Mountain
5. Munich
6. Constant Gardener
7. Walk the Line
8. Sin City
9. Syriana
10. Serenity

What a damn great year for film. Collateral and Sideways are probably the only two films of last year that would make a top ten of 04 and 05 combined.

I expect to amend this list when I see The New World and Cache.

This is not what you had planned

Warning: non-film content ahead.

My top 10 albums of the year:

1. Animal Collective: Feels
2. Antony & The Johnsons: I Am A Bird Now
3. Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary
4. My Morning Jacket: Z
5. Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine
6. Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
7. Spoon: Gimme Fiction
8. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: S/T
9. The Go! Team: Thunder, Lightning, Strike
10. Broken Social Scene: S/T

Honorable Mention:

Sigur Ros: Takk
The Clientele: Strange Geometry
LCD Soundsystem: S/T
The White Stripes: Get Behind Me Satan
Andrew Bird: The Mysterious Production of Eggs

Also excellent but disqualified for technical reasons:

Belle & Sebastian: Push Barman to Open Old Wounds
Jens Lekman: Oh You're So Silent Jens
Iron & Wine: Woman King

Bands with tons of hype in 2005 that I haven't been able to get into:

Bloc Party: The UK's next Big Band. So what's the twist? This time, they can't sing, write decent lyrics, OR come up with any hooks! Ingenious!

M.I.A.: I'm a little too old and dorked out to fight the power...with dancing.

New Pornographers: To me, these guys always sound like they are intentionally writing pop songs. As if they say to each other in the studio, "Hey guys! Let's make a Pop Song for the Cool Kids!" Their stuff sounds a little too shiny and fake. Not that, say, the Shins don't make pop songs. But it doesn't sound like they are intentionally making pop music; it just came out that way. As though it was a side effect of a larger plan. Hmmm...none of this is making any sense. Oh well.

The Hold Steady: Does anybody in this band write music, or does the lead singer/ranter guy just start babbling into the microphone and the rest of the band improvises to fill the gaps? I can't tell.

Akron/Family: To all those overeager indie e-zines that made me buy this album: the fact that these guys can play "50 instruments!!!" does not mean they can play one of them well. Just because I can say "Tik James Bond!" doesn't mean I'm fluent in Hebrew.

Here I Go Again On My Own

There is a moment in Harry Potter where Hermione tells Ron he should have asked her to the dance. This would go on my top 10 film moments of this year. I cried. When I got home, I purchased a September to August academic calender featuring Hermione Granger getting spanked by a different famous British Hogwarts professor each month. The rest of the Potter picture, like all Potter pictures and books, was a giant waste of my time, taking into account that I have nothing to do. Here's the list.

2005 Top 10
1. munich
2. crash
3. squid and the whale
4. constant gardener
5. a history of violence
6. shop girl
7. brokeback mountain
8. me and you and everyone we know
9. match point
10. syriana

Honorable Mention

sin city
grizzly man
the interpreter
batman begins
walk the line
march of the Penguins