Gone, guys, gone

Moral relativism

Sea of Chaos now available to purchase online

Check it out here:

soc.ndsilvester.com

-SALVARE

Oh gosh...

If you can, listen to some beautiful classical type of music as you look at these pictures.

The point of that site is to decide between two fairly equally beautiful photographs which one is prettier. It's a project programmed by the guy who writes xkcd; the program takes all the input from all the people who have pressed a button saying one picture is prettier than another and then compiles the results into the list linked above.

I couldn't even begin to compare any of those pictures. I'm glad I was listening to the Il Postino theme as I viewed them. Stunningly gorgeous.

-SALV

UPDATE: Although I just learned that at least some of them are manipulated via software. That's a little deflating, but it's still incredible.

Guys, we gotta be careful.

We've all done something like this before

xkcd is great. I mean that. It is great.

Unfortunately a large portion of the jokes are for those who understand the world of computer programming, but I think most people reading this blog have, if not an actual understanding of programming languages or common phrases, a respect and appreciation for the programming world.

Oh gosh. This one is great too:

The Salvare Film and Acting Rankings!

1. Once Upon a Time in the West
2. Schindler's List
3. The Fountain
4. Lawrence of Arabia
5. Star Wars (sentimentally Episode III, but favorite is VI)
The Matrix
It's a Wonderful Life
Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring
Life is Beautiful
Adaptation
Batman Begins
Cinema Paradiso
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
The Mission
Indiana Jones (all three, and hopefully #4)
Casablanca
Atonement
The Royal Tenenbaums
Hitchcock's obligatory top three (in no order): Rope, Rear Window, and Psycho (and honorable mention to North by Northwest)

GOSH, I don't know how to rank these last five. Hmm. Process of elimination, I suppose?

The Matrix is an awesome action movie and incredibly well-made with really interesting philosophical perspectives and culturally iconic action scenes that are probably the most stylistic and exciting in cinematic history. But Top 10 of all time? Hmm...maybe. I'll keep it in mind.

Same with It's a Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart's most memorable performance (although I might say his best is in Rope, which is in itself a great film). Beautiful story filled with happy tears at the end. Let's make it number 7.

6. Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring

Okay, I'm pretty sure Jean de Florette is in there, so let's make that number 6. Extremely watchable for a four-hour story seemingly about land rights and water supplies. Haunting ending that twists everything you saw for the previous three-and-a-half hours on its head and gives you an even deeper understanding of the tragedy of the whole story. I can't begin to talk about the wonders of this film.

Life is Beautiful is of course gorgeous and sob-worthy both for the beauty and the tragedy of the story. Nothing else to sum it up. I just wish it meant something more to me. Top 20 or so, not top 10.

Adaptation has the cleverest, most ironic and original script I've ever seen played out in a movie. And Nicolas Cage convinces me of his greatness by playing two twins that are completely different from each other but interact with a strange, familial tenderness....but although the writing and acting are incredible, it's not overall top ten material, at least when compared to the rest of the stuff on here. Definitely an honorable mention though.

Batman Begins...it might warrant a place on the list just for the sheer quantity of times I've watched it. Plus, I don't have any other Christian Bale or Christopher Nolan films on the list, and they're two of today's greatest filmmakers...hey, did anybody else notice that both of those guy's first names start with...?

What makes Cinema Paradiso so great is its ending, without it it would be just a nice film with a bittersweet storyline and beautiful music...but the ending is what makes it a classic. A movie needs to be completely and totally classic (not just the ending) for it to rank in my top ten. But definitely an honorable mention.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: like Adaptation, extremely awesomely written and impeccably acted. Gary Oldman's performance as Rosencrantz ranks among my most remembered and adored. But really, it just doesn't work as one cohesive cinematic experience; it was written as a play, and I think it's fine as a play, although it would have to be acted by Gary Oldman and Tim Roth, because I wouldn't like it nearly as much with anybody else in the role.

The Mission...hmm. Beautiful tragic film about the power of God and the sad inevitability of human nature. But the climax could have been filmed a bit more coherently and the music in the ending battle scene doesn't always reflect what is going on...I'm not sure why this is, but it almost takes me out of the emotion of what's actually happening. So not on my Top Ten, but of course amongst my all-time greats.

Indy is classic and iconic, and he might even be number 11. But I can't say he's personal enough to me to be put on my Top Ten list(this might change with the midnight showing of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, much like the midnight showing of Revenge of the Sith (WOW, haven't typed those words in a LONG time) gave me a passion for Star Wars that I have since been unable to shake ("I can't shake 'im!")). I say he's not personal enough, even though he is one of my favorite (fictional) people ever and his films are so exciting and clever and funny and awesome, because I haven't experienced any of his films on my own, where I discover him for myself and value the Indy Chronicles in a personal way. But like I said, maybe this will change on May 22nd.

Casablanca's going to make it, methinks. It works on every level that a film should: directing, writing (oh, the writing!), acting (iconic performances here), cinematography (gorgeously subtle and artistic), music (the ever-present "As Time Goes By," as well as the extremely famous (and rightfully so) "Le Marseilles" vs. German anthem that always --- ALWAYS --- brings tears to my eyes), and a wonderful story of romance and self-sacrifice and good triumphing over evil to match the individual elements put together. Yes, it definitely makes my Top Ten.

Atonement. It has an extremely emotional and affecting soundtrack and every shot in the film looks like a painting....but it is, overall, the storyline of a writer making up for a tragic and multiple-life-changing mistake through her God-given writing ability that puts it on the Top Ten for me. Unbelievable film with a heart-breaking and soul-rending ending. Ignore the rhyme there.

I originally included The Royal Tenenbaums on the list because I wanted Wes Anderson, who I consider to be extraordinarily talented with his quirky visual and directing style and perfect combination of offbeat, character-driven humor and touching, family drama in his scripts, to be on the list, and Tenenbaums is, I believe, his masterpiece (so far), but sadly, he just doesn’t qualify to be in the top ten of all time (IMO).

Hitchcock is sort of untouchable; his films are something else. They work both as thrilling entertainment (with both suspense and humor) and as technical paragons. They can't really be ranked with other movies, simply because they're not in the same category.

Looks like, between action movies Matrix and Batman, Batman made the cut, perhaps simply because the cast overwhelms me everytime I think about it: Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson...it's just incredible how Christopher Nolan could have assembled the greatest cast in the history of cinema after only two previous major directorial efforts, only one of which was actually critically lauded. Wow...they trusted him, and well done, everyone. And the script had the killer line: “It’s not who I am underneath: it’s what I do that defines me.”

So here is the top 10:

1. Once Upon a Time in the West
2. Schindler's List
3. The Fountain
4. Lawrence of Arabia
5. Star Wars
6. Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring
7. Casablanca
8. It's a Wonderful Life
9. Batman Begins
10. Atonement

Wow guys, that was way harder than it should have been. When I say critical things about the films that didn't make it, it seems like I'm disparaging them more than they deserve, and I am. They all in reality deserve to be watched, and, at some point, cried over. Please go watch them.

This Top Ten list is about films that I feel are both among the greats, if not the actual best ones, that also have emotional resonance, and aren't just exercises in technical expertise (No Country for Old Men, I'm looking at you), although that isn't shunned purposefully.

Top Five (relatively-current generation) Actors:

1. Liam Neeson
2. Gary Oldman
3. Christian Bale
4. Hugh Jackman
5. Ewan McGregor

All not American but English-speaking! Weird.

Also Kenneth Branagh, Peter O’Toole, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Michael Caine, Ralph Fiennes, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, and Jeremy Irons. Only three of these fourteen people have won an Academy Award, and half of them have not even been nominated.

Top Five Leading performances:

Peter O'Toole as Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia
Hugh Jackman as Tom Creo in The Fountain
Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones
Gary Oldman in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Honorable Mentions: Jimmy Stewart as It's a Wonderful Life, Nic Cage in Adaptation, Kenneth Branagh in both Henry V and Hamlet

Top Five Supporting Performances:

Liam Neeson in Batman Begins
Gary Oldman in The Professional
Daniel Auteuil in Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring
Claude Rains in Casablanca (or most things he's been in)
Alec Guinness in Star Wars Episode IV

Honorable Mentions: Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus and Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith in The Matrix, Edward Norton in Primal Fear

Top performances that may seem odd at first but take a closer look: Bud Cort in Harold and Maude, Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, Anthony Perkins in Psycho (there isn't really a main character in that movie if you think about it, but he's not really "supporting" as he's the character that drives the story)

Hmm. I didn’t include any females in this list, or even any movies where the primary role was female (except, perhaps, Atonement). Sexist? Maybe. Or just male, and can’t really tell when an actress is “extraordinarily good” when compared to just merely “good,” which reflects a certain bias on my part, but that’s innate and not purposeful. (Although I do deeply enjoy watching Audrey Hepburn in just about anything and Katharine Hepburn in most things, especially Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story.)

The whole deal with ranking greatness in films...it's just really impossible to do, because there is a massive amount of it all around. So you pretty much just gotta go with what has affected you personally. What means something to you as a film goer (although I do think you should definitely take into account the actual quality of the film in question, and from a variety of different angles — make sure it all holds up). So there are tons of films that are really really good and really really well thought out, and just really really well produced all around, and you can't really rank them...and yeah, I sort of tried to do it here. But I think the differences in quality and production values are so small, and so slight, that I can't really recommend one film over another except on the basis of knowing what kind of films a given person prefers and understanding that person's sense of humor and willingness to be engaged emotionally, and all that other stuff that comes with different kinds of films.

So basically that last paragraph makes moot all the work I put into this (a couple hours of thinking and researching at least), but whatever. I enjoy doing this kind of thing every once in a while, except when I have a headache at 2 AM and I really want to go to bed and the incompleteness of this post has been bothering me. So I shall now post and then go promptly to bed.

Good night.

Dang it, good morning I mean. Dang.

-SALVARE

Berkeley City Council Tells Marines to Leave

One more reason to hate Berkeley

And really, it's not an unfair reason at all.

-SALVARE

Google Maps conquers lowly Earthly inhabitants

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPgV6-gnQaE

I'm pretty sure I called this one like, a billion ago.

McCain wins Florida

That's how all the major networks are calling it. And Drudge is, too, so that tells us something.

The Florida Department of State has McCain up by 1.3% at this time. I'm not sure if all the votes have been counted so far, but it seems to be swinging that way.

To top it off, apparently Guiliani is going to be dropping out and endorsing McCain tomorrow. And Huckabee has a lot of hype on the blogosphere as having a significant chance of joining McCain's ticket as a VP candidate.

Well, damn. Now I don't regret spending money this late in the race on Romney gear and signs, though.

Edit: And now McCain's lead is as high as 4.3%.

President Hinckley has passed away

I don't think words, or at least my own, would really do this justice, but here's the link to the Church's press release.

One point that was made by a friend of mine (Mariel Wirth) was that he's now with his wife again.

Edited to add: Now that the news has been out for a couple hours, it's astonishing and, frankly, rather heartening to see how many big news sources are listing his death as a major news item. I'm sure it is partly due to Mitt Romney's campaign, but that can only mean good things for the Church, i.e. I'm glad we're getting this much media coverage that's not negative, and that, as a result, will probably end up being a positive thing in the big picture.

Credit Cards

You know that nice feeling you get when you find money in the pocket of your Levi's? Well, if you were wondering, it isn't nearly as satisfying when find your credit card there. Actually, it doesn't even come close to the stress you may have gone through when you lost the sucker in the first place. Luckily, I know myself well enough not to freak out too much when I am going through my wallet and find one of the credit cards is missing, because I do things like this rather frequently. Why did I ever put that there anyway?

Heath Ledger dead at 28

Wow. This is really surreal for me. A famous young actor, only 28 years old, starring in the movie I'm looking forward to most this year, dead from some sort of drug-related incident, possibly suicide. Check out Drudge for links on the latest.

I've never actually seen him in a movie other than the trailer for The Dark Knight, but now I'm going to be really sad watching that movie because A) it's his last film, and from what I can already see of the trailer, he looks absolutely incredible, and should probably have acted in more films, and B) I'll known that the person I see on screen is now deceased.

Incidentally, I really hope the Joker is killed off in this movie, otherwise the producers are pretty much screwed, and we might get some knock-off or a shoddy explanation for why he's not in the next one in a third installment.

-SALVARE

Reactions

The following was written over the course of the past two hours, the first half of which was my immediate reaction to the individual categories (in the order that they were presented on Oscar.com) and the rest a follow-up analysis to the whole thing.

See the full list in the order that I saw them below and in a more basic, organized way on http://www.imdb.com/features/rto/2008/oscars.

Admittedly, I wasn't up for the live announcement, but I was able to get them really soon after, so I'm okay with that. And it was more fun/suspenseful to get them one category at a time and to be able to have time to write my reactions down. And the following are my reactions in the following order (click on the links to see the actual nominees from Oscar.com):

Actor in a Leading Role
Actor in a Supporting Role
Actress in a Leading Role
Actress in a Supporting Role
Animated Feature Film
Art Direction
Cinematography
Costume Design
Directing
Documentary Feature
Documentary Short
Film Editing
Foreign Language Film
Makeup
Music (Score)
Music (Song)
Best Picture
Short Film (Animated)
Short Film (Live Action)
Sound Editing
Sound Mixing
Visual Effects
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Writing (Original Screenplay)

To see my own predictions, either scroll down or go here. Soon I'll do a literal side-by-side comparison of the projected nominees and the actual nominees.

Have at it.

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TOMMY LEE JONES! That came out of nowhere, did it not?

Woo, Best Supporting Actor list I had down pat!

Cate Blanchett made it into the Leading Actress category? With Laura Linney? Good for the latter, but I was kinda hoping for Angelina Jolie or Keira Knightley instead of the former. Will Blanchett score Supporting Actress too?

Yep! Along with Ruby Dee in place of my wild card Vanessa Redgrave. I’m okay with that! Mainly because Catherine Keener didn’t make it, and I hate her, and all my other four did! Next.
Animated Feature: Persepolis, Ratatouille, and...Surf’s Up? That was a surprise, but a welcome one! I liked that last movie. It was a lot better than The Simpsons Movie. Next.

Cinematography I am 5/5.

Directing...no. That has to be a typo. No WAY Juno could have been nominated for Directing over Atonement! That COMPLETELY ruins its chances to make it to the Best Picture category, even though it had that beautiful Dunkirk shot and everything else! GAH. Okay, I’m amending that list right now — instead of Atonement (which should have been there, and maybe won) Juno is going to be there. Wow, I can’t believe the Academy gave Juno a Directing nom.

And Michael Clayton gets a directing nom in place of Tim Burton for Sweeney Todd! That’s just depressing. That movie is now in the Best Pic race instead of Sweeney Todd, officially. LJADFLJf

Uh...wow. Norbit got an Academy Award nomination. After just getting nominated for all those Razzies yesterday. “Best Achievement in Makeup.” Sickening.

Woo! For Best Original Score, Atonement (of course), Ratatouille (yay!), Michael Clayton (James Newton Howard doesn’t really deserve it, methinks), The Kite Runner (which is AMPAS’s standard ethnic music nom), and...3:10 to Yuma! Like I was hoping somewhat irrationally! They have some sense after all!

Wow! For Best Picture, I was wrong! Atonement is STILL in, but Diving Bell got the boot! Michael Clayton and Juno are both in, in place of Sweeney Todd and Diving Bell and the Butterfly! That’s somewhat disappointing to me, because I was really hoping for Diving Bell to do well, as it’s apparently extremely uplifting and emotional, which is exactly what I like! So those three, as well as No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood.

Away From Her got an Adapted Screenplay nomination in place of Charlie Wilson’s War...that’s kind of disappointing, but I’m okay with it. Original Screenplay is where it’s all going to rest now...

Exactly the list I had: Juno, Lars and the Real Girl, Michael Clayton, Ratatouille, and The Savages.

Okay, aftermath, now...I looked up Best Director nom Jason Reitman (for “Juno”) and apparently he did an episode of The Office? And it was one of my favorites from Season 4, so I’m really quite okay with that nomination, even if I hated the movie overall and hope it dies in a fire.

Michael Clayton...eh...I’ve watched a little over half of it now and I can’t say I’m impressed by either the directing or George Clooney’s acting...I really like Tom Wilkinson though!

(By the way, I’m writing this a half hour after they were announced, as I’m reading them off of both oscar.com and imdb.com...I fell asleep while watching Michael Clayton [legal thriller indeed] and woke up at exactly 6:00 AM)

My most happy thing ever about these awards (besides being right on most of my choices, including Supporting Actor, most of Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, and Cinematography) is that Into the Wild got a total of THREE nominations, unlike the 5+ it was supposed to, and those were Best Supporting Actor (Hal Holbrook), Best Original Score (wait, what? I thought Eddie Vedder was disqualified? Maybe not, apparently), and Best Editing (a category which I do not claim to know much about, except I can tell when a film is badly edited). So that makes me really happy! Because I pretty much hate Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch (at least in this movie) and I hated hated hated the book it was based on.

I also really like that they decided to give Viggo Mortensen his much-deserved nomination for Eastern Promises.

Biggest surprises were Joe Wright not getting a Directing nod (which he whole-heartedly deserved more than Jason Rietman), Tommy Lee Jones getting a nomination for Best Leading Actor in place of James MacAvoy (which I’m somewhat okay with, as I really liked Jones’s performance in No Country for Old Men, but I would have liked to see Atonement earn its Best Picture nomination a little bit more awards-wise), and Norbit scoring a nomination, however inconsequential it may be (and probably was the only aspect of the movie Eddie Murphy was not a part of).

Disappointments include the above, as well as Tim Burton not getting the Best Director nod he might have deserved (I haven’t seen the film yet, but many have said it’s his best, and he’s never actually been nominated before), and Sweeney Todd and Diving Bell not getting Best Pic noms.

I’m going to dig through and see which awards exactly Atonement has been nominated for, to see if it does even warrant a Best Picture nomination solely on its nominations:

Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Saoirse Ronan)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Christopher Hampton)
Best Cinematography (Seamus McGarvey)
Art Direction (Sarah Greenwood)
Costume Design (Jacqueline Durran)
Original Score (Dario Marianelli)

and Best Picture, making 7 nominations total, the same as it got at the Golden Globes, except in different categories.

Hmm. Maybe. I think it would have earned it more so with the Directing nod for Joe Wright, and even more so with Actress Keira Knightley in place of Cate Blanchett (who is already nominated) and Actor James MacAvoy in place of Tommy Lee Jones (who might deserve it, but who knows; haven’t seen the film).

I think I’ll go through each Best Picture nomination and look at each of its other Oscar nominations to see how well each one deserves to be up there.

Juno:
Best Picture
Best Director (bleh)
Best Original Screenplay
Best Actress in a Leading Role

4 total

Michael Clayton:
Best Picture
Best Director (bleh, I don’t think he deserved it; the film was too boring/non-intense/undramatic)
Best Original Screenplay
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Original Score (odd, because I haven’t really noticed the score so far except to notice that it was really really ordinary/boring, and most definitely not James Newton Howard’s best work)

5 total

No Country for Old Men:
Best Picture
Best Directors
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Cinematography
Editing
Sound
Sound Editing

8 total

There Will Be Blood:
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Actor in a Leading Role (and will prolly win it)
Cinematography
Editing
Art Direction
Sound Editing

8 total

Hmm. How many did Diving Bell get?

Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Editing

Okay, I guess that makes a certain amount of sense...it wasn’t ever really up for any acting awards (except for potentially Best Supporting Actor for Max von Sydow) so really, Juno beat Diving Bell by just a hair. Bah.

So in conclusion, doing a little research, I discovered, just from iTunes’s music samples, that not only does The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford have absolutely mind-blowing beautiful cinematography (which one can tell just from the trailer, look it up on Youtube), but it has a stunningly-beautiful and haunting score. So check that out if you like movie scores, which I’m pretty sure nobody reading this blog does. So it probably should have gotten an Original Score nomination, at least in place of Michael Clayton. Yes, very much so.

In the REAL conclusion, No Country and There Will Be Blood both got the most, with 8 nominations, Atonement with 7, and the rest following in their wake. Those three, it appears, are the best three movies of the year? Cool. I’m down for that. I really enjoyed all of them and fully support them being nominated for best movie types of awards. Projections for actual wins are forthcoming.

-SALVARE

addendum

So Jonny Greenwood's score for There Will Be Blood is ineligible for Oscar nomination. The given reason was something about it being "diluted," I think because of a classical song put in there every so often, even though the only one I remember is at the very end, at the closing shot and into the credits? But Eddie Vedder's score for Into the Wild is also ineligible now, so basically, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hates rock stars. Can't blame them, but I can when said rock stars are trying to create orchestral scores to things.

Stay tuned for potential updates, including reactions to the announcements at 5:30 AM, in about two and a half hours. Movie I'll be watching till then besides doing homework? Michael Clayton.

-SALVARE

my stance on social programs

Recently, Governor Schwarzenegger proposed a large budget cut for the majority of programs in California. People were not thrilled about it. So I take this opportunity to talk about why I think that it was the right thing to do.
As I understand it, the reason for the budget cuts was to make up for a gap between the income and expenditures of the state, which is called a "budget deficit." Awesome.
I believe that the mindset of government has been very similar to the actions of the people in recent years, in terms of fiscal management. People (probably more in this state than others) don't seem to believe that there is anything that they should not have. The basic concept of spending less that we earn so that we have something in case of emergency seems to have escaped our society completely, as it has government.
My immediate thought was that this is causal, that the government's bad example was causing lenience from people in their own lives. Now I think it is more generalized slack over the whole of our population, including (and maybe especially) government officials. The average American's consumer debt rises, and government debt rises, too.
Now, about the budget cuts. Yes, I think it does some harm to take money away from social programs and schools. I think it is fair to say that I would rather not shut down state parks. I think education is an important investment for a strong economy in the future.
Here is the kicker: Why have we let ourselves depend on government for these programs in the first place? Do I believe that we should care for the poor and the disabled and even those who work but have a hard time affording a decent standard of living? Absolutely. Those are Christian values that will continue long after we do. I even believe that it is right for every citizen receive available health care. But, when we turn and say that the government is the only way for those things to happen, or worse, blame the government for taking away resources from those people and blame it for causing problems in the first place, we are denying the founding principle of democracy; that the government is us.
It is not the responsibility of the US Government to take care of the poor, or the sick, or those disadvantaged in any way (be it by youth, old age, etc.). It is the responsibility of citizens, as citizens and not as government agents, to relieve suffering, to make sacrifices for causes they deem worthy, and to correct any problems to the extent they are able (applying wise judgment and taking into account their own situation). If we want to take care of state parks, or schools, or the disabled among us, (this is not a comprehensive list of worthy causes that need attention, just a few obvious ones) let us band together and efficiently organize and volunteer our time to those causes, and to whatever other cause we choose. Let each able citizen maintain his finances so as to be able to contribute time, energy, and resources to those causes he deems worthy, and then let him work to make those things happen. This is the spirit in which it was said "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

My Oscar Nominee Projections

I guess there hasn't really been too much film discussion on this blog before, but here we go:

Best Picture:
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Atonement
Sweeney Todd
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Director(s):
Coen Bros. for NCfOM
Paul Thomas Anderson for TWBB
Joe Wright for Atonement
Tim Burton for Sweeney Todd
Julian Schnabel for Diving Bell

Best Original Screenplay:
Juno by Diablo Cody
Michael Clayton by Tony Gilroy
The Savages by Tamara Jenkins
Lars and the Real Girl by Nancy Oliver
Ratatouille by Brad Bird

Best Adapted Screenplay:
No Country for Old Men by the Coen Bros.
There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson
Atonement by Christopher Hampton
Charlie Wilson's War by Aaron Sorkin
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Ronald Harwood

Best Actor in a Leading Role:
Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood
Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises
George Clooney for Michael Clayton
James MacAvoy for Atonement
Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd

Best Actress in a Leading Role:
Julie Christie for Away From Her
Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose
Ellen Page for Juno
Angelina Jolie for A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley for Atonement

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men
Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There
Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone
Sairose Ronan for Atonement
Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton
Vanessa Redgrave for Atonement

Best Cinematography:
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Roger Deakins
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Janusz Kaminski
There Will Be Blood - Robert Elswit
No Country for Old Men - Roger Deakins
Atonement - Seamus McGarvey

Best Original Score:
Atonement - Dario Marianelli
Eastern Promises - Howard Shore
Ratatouille - Michael Giacchino
There Will Be Blood - Jonny Greenwood
3:10 to Yuma - Marco Beltrami

Actual Oscar nominations will be released about 25 hours from this instant, at 5:30 AM on Tuesday, January 22, 2008. Yes, I will be up at that time to watch the nominations live. That will be awesome.

Salvare's personal top movies of 2007 (in no particular order):
Gone Baby Gone
3:10 to Yuma
Atonement
No Country for Old Men

Honorable mentions: Eastern Promises and There Will Be Blood

So you get a feel for other movies I like, 2006's Top Four movies were (in no particular order except The Fountain as 1st): The Fountain, Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Prestige.

There is a big spray painted sign on Cowell Road that says "Happy Birthday Jesus." I am not always fond of big visual displays of faith (I believe Gordon B. Hinckley's view that our representation as believers is best based on how we live our lives), but it still made me happy to see that. I hope there are at least a few people who will think about where Christmas comes from and why we consider it so significant.

Christmas

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

Till ringing, singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!
-Henry W. Longfellow

Merry Christmas everyone!

A scene from Atonement

The following is a clip from a movie everybody who values true art and real beauty and intense drama in movies should see:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=i6tYtWYWgGo

The name of the hymn sung is "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind"; the name of the music played is "Elegy for Dunkirk."

BTW, the title of my next novel is in that hymn. I decided to do that to pay homage to it for inspiring the basic storyline and characters (although not the theme).

-SALVARE