Best Supporting Actor Possibilities?

There isn't a lot of competition this year for Best Supporting Actor Oscar, the winner is almost certain. Although I wouldn't say it's set in stone. The academy is known to send one or two curve balls once in a while. Of course I am going to have to start out the list with:

1. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight* - Like I said, it's almost certain Heath Ledger will be winning the award. He shined a new light on the familiar character known as The Joker. Many are calling it the best performance of the year.

2. Josh Brolin, Milk* - There is a pretty good chance he will be nominated this year after being snubbed last year for No Country For Old Men. His only other chance at a nomination would be for portraying George Bush in W. However, since this year's Best Actor race is so crowded he is much more likely to be nominated for his performance as Dan White.

3. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt* - PSH is one of the best American actors we have ever seen. He is phenomenal in Doubt (as always). He has already won one Oscar for Capote, and another nomination for Charlie Wilson's War.

4. Robert Downey Jr, Tropic Thunder* - This is truely the year of Robert Downey Jr. Two huge roles, the other being Tony Stark in Iron Man. He is getting the same attention Johnny Depp got right after the first Pirates film came out. In any other year I doubt The Academy would even consider nominating this kind of comedic role (especially one that involves black face!), but with the supporting actor race being so small this year he will most likely be nominated.

5. James Franco, Milk* - A role you don't see very often, the male housewife. When you do see it, it is usually very stereotypical and clichéd. However Franco plays it with this breath of fresh air. It proves he is one of the better actors of his generation.

6. Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder - The same thing I said for RDJ I say for Cruise, any other year he would not be nominated for this performance. This year might be different. Cruise has gone through a lot of ridicule the past couple of years. For his role in Tropic Thunder he got a different kind of spot light. People were praising his work again, not talking about scientology or the latest couches that he jumped on.

7. Ralph Fiennes, The Duchess - I don't know much about Fiennes work in The Duchess, although he was nominated for a Golden Globe. He is bound to get an Oscar soon though, he's been nominated twice for The English Patient & Schindler's List, winning neither. I've heard though his performance was very complex and that he stole the show. So let's see how The Academy takes it.

8. Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road - He stole every scene he was in in Revolutionary Road, and that's a hard thing to do when you share a scene with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. There hasn't been much buzz about his performance until recently (unlike Ledger, Downey Jr, and Cruise who have had buzz around the performance for months) so we will see if the voters will save room for him on their ballots.

* indicates my predictions this year for Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Possible nominees?

This will be my first post about The 81st Annual Academy Awards. WOO HOO!!! To start off our journey to the oscars I've come up with a couple of lists of possible nominees in the major categories. I can't wait to compare the actual nominees with my list of possibilities. Let's get started.

The Exorcist

So my first trip to the horror fest at the Broadway Theatre was pretty interesting. I was completely stoked to be going to see The Exorcist for the first time. We got there and there was a good sized audience, which made me even more excited. I love it when people go out to see older movies in theatre.
The first twenty minutes was a little dry. Following that old man through the desert with very little dialogue didn't really seem relevent, plus it was kinda boring. Even though it was a little boring I was still intrigued. Then the excitement level, rose pretty high in the final scene of the desert part of the movie. The statue, the exhusted and a little frightened old man, and not to mention the crazy barking dogs.
Then the story switches to the mother-daughter family of the MacNeils, Chris & Regan. Watching Regan slowly become taken over by this demon was so fascinating. And right when it got to be extrodinary the film burned up. Yep, it burned up. I WAS PISSED. I was forced to go home without knowing what happens next. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE? Well, let me tell you it is not pleasant, not at all. For the rest of the week I couldn't concentrate at all. I needed to finish that movie. I was bound and determined. By the end of the week I had an Exoricst party. I forced everyone to sit down and finish what we had started.
I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it so I won't go into how it ends, although its not that hard to guess what does. I just want to say that this was an extremely satisfying horror film, well it was more than just an extremely satisfying horror film, it was an extremely satisfying film in all. In every aspect: the acting, the writing, the directing, the special-effects. The Exorcist is one of those movies that makes you think long after you finish watching it. It stays in your mind and you go over it again and again. And let me tell you, every time you go over it it becomes a better movie. You appreciate it a little bit more. We need more movies like The Exorcist.

Scary Movies at the Cinema

So I found this theatre downtown on Broadway that often plays older movies. The entire summer, on mondays, they had the independent film revival. Now that that is finished they started to play scary movies. The line-up went as followed:

Nightmare On Elm Street

The Exorcist

The Thing

Army of Darkness

Psycho

I was not able to make it to Nightmare on Elm Street and Army of Darkness, but I made it to everything else! It's always a treat to see classic film on the medium it was intended for, the big screen.

The Wizard of Oz

First off, sorry for not posting in a while. I've been busy with school but I will be posting two or three times a week from now on.

Two weeks ago I traveled down to The Living Room Theater to see The Wizard of Oz on the big screen! As you all know I did a lot of research to find theaters in the Portland area that played classic movies.

The Wizard of Oz is probably the most magical film of all time. It's almost been a tradition for the American family to show your child The Wizard of Oz. It brings back so many childhood memories. I just think its amazing that 69 years after it's release that it still is as popular maybe even more.

It is such a different kind of experience when you see it in the theater compared to your television. It throws you into the land of oz head first singing the entire way. There was a mother there that brought her young children and they were singing the entire time. I really encourage everyone to go find The Wizard of Oz in a theater in your town or any other classic film.

Theaters with classic film

I have spent so long searching the internet for theatres in Portland that play older films. It took me forever. I found quite afew, but there are age restrictions do to them serving alcohol. Those sons of bitches!

I found the Laurelhurst theater on 2735 East Burnside. This one was kind of cool because it had a theme each month. This month, August, is 80's month. They showed Saint Elmo's Fire, Foxes, Streets of Fire, and Krull. Next month, September, is Employee Pick's Month and they will be showing Wayne's World, Conan The Barbarian, and Used Cars. Other interesting themes are Cult Favorites in February, Sci-Fi in March, and Viewer's Choice in November. I was so excited for this, but then I read that because of state liqour laws they cannot admit minors after 3 p.m., and all of the older movies don't start until the evening.

So I continued my search. Many people told me that the Hollywood theater plays a lot of older films. However, I looked on their website and they really don't have any lined up in the months to come.

I then looked at The Clinton Street Theater, which is famous here in the northwest for Rocky Horror. I got all excited when I saw films like Stand By Me, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles all lined up in the coming months. I quickly lost that excitement when the website said that no minors are allowed inside after seven except for Rocky Horror at midnight.

Next was The NW Film Center. I found a couple on their calender. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest played once, but sadly I was out of town. In mid-October they are doing a show-case of the british director, David Lean's work. Lean is most famous for three huge epics of the late-50s and 60s, The Bridge on The River Kwai (1957), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965). This little festival is trying to showcase 10 of his "smaller films. In Which We Serve (1942). This Happy Breed (1944). Blithe Spirit (1945). Brief Encounter (1945). Great Expectations (1946). Oliver Twist (1948). The Passionate Friends (1948). Madeline (1949). The Sound Barrier (1952). Hobson's Choice (1953).

I came upon Cinema 21 on 616 NW 21st. As far as I know they don't kick minors out. Looking through their past schedules I saw a lot of older films, but I don't see any in the upcoming month. I'm sure if I keep checking up on the website something will pop up.

Then I found The Living Room Theater, right across Powell's books downton. They have been playing classic movies every other week for a while. Films that range from The Adventures of Robin Hood to Ben-Hur to Forbidden Planet to The Wizard Of Oz. They don't allow minors into showings that start after 3:30 but that gives me lots of time to get to a showing. You will see me here regularly.

If you know any other theaters he in Portland that play classic movies please email me at jalal3haddad@yahoo.com. I encourage you to go find a theater in your hometown that plays classic films and enjoy it. They are hard to come by, but when you do it is a treat worth enjoying.

My Top 5

These are my personal five favorite movies of all time. I am not saying they are the best movies of all times because there are probably better. However, these five movies hold a special place in my heart that nothing else can fill.

1. The Color Purple (1985)

This is definitely my favorite movie of all time. It is magnificent in every way; the acting, the directing, the writing. It is based on the classic book of the same name. There were three brilliant performances from Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Margaret Avery. It is one of the most underrated movies of all time, 11 Oscar nominations and not a single win. You will go through so many emotions while watching it, but it is worth it, trust me.

2. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

The Rwandan Genocide has always fascinated me. How could someone want to kill an entire group of people because of something as ridiculous as social class. This film got so much emotion out of me. I bawled forever that night. Yes this film will make you cry, but it will also make you think. I saw this movie a couple of years ago and I still think about it all the time. It needs to be shown in schools. It's an important part of modern history that the world needs to learn about so it will hopefully never happen again.

3. The Silence of The Lambs (1991)

Shocking. Original. Instant Classic. There are so many great lines from the movie, too many too choose from. My favorite might possibly be: "I'm having an old friend for dinner." There were some phenomenal performances from the entire cast. So many directors have tried to make a credible FBI thriller that is on par with this and none have come even close. This will probably stand the test of time as one of the best American movies of all time.

4. The Breakfast Club (1985)

It's not just a teen movie. It's a movie about life, about understanding. It's a contemporary classic. Teenagers today can relate to this, it is timeless. There is a little bit of all 5 of them in all of us. This is another one that will stand the test of time as a teen movie that appeals to everyone.

5. The Bodyguard (1992)

Sorry, I couldn't find a good photo but I tried! There is something magical about this movie. A movie with an interracial romance. So many people can relate to the ending and the legendary song, I Will Always Love You. I could talk about the soundtrack forever. It is the best selling soundtrack of all time, and it is well-deserving. The soundtrack will make you love the movie.

I'll just start out by saying. I love film. I love the idea of different artistic elements coming together to tell a story and broadcasting it across the world. So of course this blog is dedicated to film. I'll review a movie. I'll talk about a list someone created. I'll post news or some fun little info. I'll spend the first couple of posts talking about myself and the films I love, just so you can get to know me. So come, read, comment.