LAMB #332 - Permission To Kill

URL: http://permissiontokill.blogspot.com/
Site Name: Permission To Kill
Categories: General
Rating: PG-13 (infrequent, coarse language)

What is the main focus of your site?
To review a wide variety of spy films and television shows

What are your blogging goals, personally and/or professionally? In other words, what, if anything, are you trying to get out your blog?
Mostly it is a form of self expression (as egocentric as that may sound), but ultimately I'd like to get a book or two out of it.

Do you prefer an interactive 'community' for your blog or are you the teacher and your readers are the students?
I'd love to say that I am the teacher, but truth be told, the people who visit the site and comment are incredibly knowledgeable and I find myself learning as I go along.

How long have you been movie blogging for, and how frequent do you post updates to your site?
The site has been going for two years and so far it has averaged out to a new review every three days (approx 120 per year), but in recent months I have been trying to increase the regularity of the posts.

Name up to three of your favorite movies (and no more).
North By NorthWest / On Her Majesty's Secret Service / Our Man Flint..

How did you hear about the LAMB?
Through Die Danger Die Die Kill (LAMB Member).

Any additional comments, or give yourself an interview question that's not listed above.
None.

The LAMB Devours the Oscars - Best Foreign Language Film

Editor's note: Welcome to the third of a 24-part series dissecting the 81st Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!









By Stephanie of The Flick Chick.

Although the Academy has named some pretty solid films as Best Foreign Language Feature in the past, the fact of the matter is that the way the nominees are chosen ensures the ultimate irrelevance of the category. More often than not, the most acclaimed films that international cinema has to offer are overlooked due to the politics of the nomination process. Every country is allowed to submit one film for consideration (which is good for countries with smaller film industries, but bad for countries like France, Germany, Italy or Spain who are in effect penalized for the strength of their film industries) and a committee whittles the list down to nine potential nominees. Those nine films are then screened by a 30 member committee that determines which five will get to go to the big show. It is... not the best system, especially when you consider that so many films made today are the result of collaboration (both artistically and monetarily) between people from different countries, which can make it difficult to define what country a particular film properly "belongs" to.

That being said, despite the category's shortcomings it does serve an important function by bringing attention to films that might otherwise never find an audience in the English-speaking world. This year's nominees:

The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
Director: Uli Edel
Plot: The film follows the exploits of the Red Army Faction, a group of domestic terrorists who caused chaos in West Germany in the late 1960s and 1970s. The members of the RAF are the children of those who lived through the Nazi era and see the current political regime as just another form of Fascism, with many ex-Nazis in positions of power. To combat political oppression, the group employs kidnappings, bombings and assassinations, all in the name of making society more humane.


I've seen a couple of German films which deal with the issue of domestic terrorism (The Legend of Rita and The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum), both of which were fairly sympathetic to the terrorists but were also released pre-2001. I'm very interested in seeing this film to compare how the issue is treated by filmmakers creating in a post-911 world.
Germany's Track Record: 17 nominations, 3 wins (1979, 2002, 2006)

The Class (France)
Director: Laurent Cantet
Plot: The plot sounds like something right out of the Hollywood playbook – a well-meaning teacher takes on students at an inner city school, where his efforts to teach are hindered by the clashing of cultures and the generation gap. He persists even as his students challenge his methods and somehow by the end of the school year he's accomplished his goal.


Though the bare bones of the plot are familiar from dozens of other movies, by all accounts this film delves deeper than the average "teacher movie." The students are played by non-actors and the focus is exclusively on their lives in the classroom and the ways that they learn and relate to each other. The film has been incredibly well-received, showing up on a number of Top 10s and winning the Palm D'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
France's Track Record: 34 nominations, 9 competitive wins (1958, 1959, 1962, 1966, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1992), 3 honorary Oscars

Departures (Japan)
Director: Yojiro Takita
Plot: An unemployed cellist, having given up on his musical aspirations, returns to his hometown and tries to regain a sense of balance in his life. Looking through the classifieds, he finds a job which requires "assisting departures" and decides to pursue it, believing the position to be in the travel industry. When he arrives, however, he learns that the job is in a funeral home and would require him to perform the ceremonial aspects necessary before cremation can take place. He reluctantly accepts and, against all odds, finds himself enjoying his new life.


I haven't heard, well, anything about this one so I'm not really certain how it's been received by critics, though it has won a few festival awards.
Japan's Track Record: 12 nominations, 0 competitive wins, 3 honorary Oscars

Revanche (Austria)
Director: Gotz Spielmann
Plot: A thriller about a thug who works for a brothel owner and falls in love with one of the prostitutes. The two run away together to the countryside, where they get involved in a botched bank robbery and are forced to cool their heels on the outskirts of the town, living with the thug's father in his cabin. Their lives soon become tied up with those of a local cop and his wife.


This is another movie that I haven't heard much about, though it's been much lauded in both Germany and Austria. The trailer (slightly NSFW – gotta love European cinema) is intriguing, though it seems a bit spoilery.
Austria's Track Record: 2 nominations, 1 win (2007)

Waltz With Bashir (Israel)
Director: Ari Folman
Plot: The film follows Folman as he attempts to remember his experiences as an Israeli soldier during the 1982 war with Lebanon. His inability to recall any of the events of this period bother him and in an attempt to understand what happened – and why he might be repressing it - he seeks out former friends, fellow soldiers, a psychologist and a reporter who covered the conflict. The story is related by means of a form of animation which combines classic animation with Flash cutouts.


A mixture of forms and genres, this animated documentary is certainly the leader amongst the nominees in terms of buzz, but it is also exactly the kind of film that the Academy has no idea what to do with, which is why it wouldn't surprise me at all if it walked away empty-handed. It has garnered a number of awards as Best Animated Feature, Best Foreign Language Feature and Best Documentary Feature.
Israel's Track Record: 8 nominations, 0 wins

The LAMB Devours the Oscars - Best Animated Feature

Editor's note: Welcome to the second of a 24-part series dissecting the 81st Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please just click on the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!










By Thomas from Pluck You, Too!

The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is only as old as 2001. Ten years prior, Disney's Beauty and the Beast broke out of the animation ghetto and was nominated for Best Picture. In the next decade, Pixar would explode onto the scene with Toy Story, a technical breakthrough that ironically brought us back to animation's sentimental, universal roots. The sequel Toy Story 2 came in 1999, and surpassed the original in both visual and emotional achievements, and in my mind, should have been nominated for Best Picture. It won the Golden Globe that year for Best Comedy/Musical, and I have a niggling feeling that the Academy recognized that animation just ain't for kids anymore, and that influenced their decision to give them a separate but equal category.



And yes, I chose words with bad connotations for a reason. For while it is nice for animated film to be recognized at the Oscars, it is unfortunate, especially now that CG has become so prevalent, to be shuffled off into their own little category. Is 300 an animated film? Is Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Should Persepolis be forced to compete with Ratatouille? Both are excellent films, but one chose a simple visual style over Pixar's insanely detailed character designs, where you can count rodent hairs if you want a future job as an FDA food inspector. By pigeon-holing them in the same category, Persepolis is at a distinct disadvantage. Perhaps it's no different than comparing Frost/Nixon's simplicity with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button's visual excess, and giving Animated Features their own category helps raise awareness for them.

However, the rules for the category seem to favor the big 3. The rules state:

In any year in which 8 to 15 animated features are released in Los Angeles County, a maximum of 3 motion pictures may be nominated. In any year in which 16 or more animated features are submitted and accepted in the category, a maximum of 5 motion pictures may be nominated.

So if fewer than 16 animated films are released in L.A. County, the Academy only nominates 3 films. And if fewer than 8 are released, there's no category that year. There have not been 5 nominees since 2002, when Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away won.

This year it's just the big three: WALL*E (Pixar), Bolt (Disney) and Kung Fu Panda (Dreamworks). The rules are why the excellent Horton Hears a Who! was overlooked, and I found it to be one of the most beautiful films of the year, and certainly better than Bolt and Kung Fu Panda for storyline. And I really liked Panda! Blue Sky Studios, who made the Ice Age movies, did a great job adapting Horton to the big screen and expanding it to feature length. It's a shame it couldn't be nominated. Waltz with Bashir, an Israeli soldier's nightmares after the first Lebanon war, sidesteps the animation cubbyhole by being in a foreign language; Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea didn't get a U.S. release, so it's out.

But let's get on to the Big Three.

1. Bolt
Bolt is the story of the star of a TV show I can summarize as "24 meets Inspector Gadget" -- he's a super-powered cyborg canine protecting Penny, a kidnapped scientist's daughter from the maniacal clutches of Doctor Calico and his Cackling Kitty Accomplice. The show depends on him thinking everything is real, so one day after a cliffhanger episode, he thinks he really needs to rescue Penny- and gets shipped in a packing crate to New York. Having lost his powers, he takes a street cat hostage, thinking she's the cat from the show, hooks up with a fanboy fuzzball in a hamsterball, has harrowing adventures, and learns the power of love, friendship and perseverance.

I enjoyed Bolt, but don't think it deserves nomination over Horton Hears a Who!- it's good fun, and has an emotional ending, but you can still see the Disney formula from stinkers like Home on the Range affecting it. For example, superstar Miley Cyrus voices Penny, but her character is given no real depth. She's there to get Hannah Montana fans into seats. In fact, according to IMDb, Chloe Moretz (Dirty Sexy Money) had already voiced the role of Penny before Cyrus was brought in to overdub it. They should have stuck with a real actress. John Travolta voices Bolt and does a fine job disappearing into the part. Susie Essman- the foul-mouthed wife of Jeff Garlin from "Curb Your Enthusiasm," steals the show as Mittens the New Yawk street cat who shakes down pigeons and teaches Bolt how easily humans throw away their pets like so much garbage. She's nearly upstaged by the crazy TV fanboy hamster Rhino (Mark Walton), who was just a little too crazy for me. I'm sure the kids loved him.

The humans are all Hollywood caricatures, meant to make us feel like little Hollywood insiders. Part of me wanted the whole "He's a TV star who thinks it's real!" gimmick to go away, and actually watch Penny and Bolt escape from endless attack helicopters, but kids have to get their dose of vitamins and irony these days. I can see Disney not wanting to tread on Pixar's toes when Lasseter & co. have had a lock on the classic sentimental cartoon for decades, but this story feels a little too much like a Hollywood pitch. There's a hilarious and exciting sequence where Bolt & co. escape from a shelter, and I found the ending genuinely touching, but there was just a little too much cliche here and there for me to consider this great instead of good, even in the small pond of Best Animated Features of 2008. Horton got robbed. TraBolta!!!!

Disney has gotten a lot better. Despite dropping their classic animation department for 3-D after the spectacular micro-managerial bungling of the otherwise good Treasure Planet, they've finally managed to claw a toe-hold and stand with the big boys in CG. Bolt may not be great, but it's a big move in the right direction. Maybe one day they will continue where Lilo & Stitch and The Emperor's New Groove left off.

2. Kung Fu Panda
I reviewed this in great detail here. I loved Kung Fu Panda, despite it being another Dreamworks film chock full of celebrity voices, because it has heart. It takes a standard kung fu story that could be a Sammo Hung movie, with a fat panda who works in his father's noodle shop, but wants to be a Shaolin warrior. When he tries to spy on the choosing of the legendary Dragon Warrior at the Temple, he gets inadvertently chosen by the Master for training, and hilarity ensues. Can a clumsy, goofy fat glutton save the village from Tai Lung, the sinister snow leopard?

Dreamworks learned that you don't need to recognize the voice actors to get asses in seats. Jack Black does his Jack Black thing, but everyone else blends into their character and doesn't go all Robin Williams wacky on us. Seth Rogen and David Cross are delightfully amusing as Mantis and Crane; Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, and Lucy Liu have understated spots as Tigress, Monkey and Viper. As you can see from the animal choices, they did some kung fu movie research before they made this, as the "Furious Five" are modeled after the 5 Animal Styles of Shaolin Kung Fu. And while much of the gags are on panda's big belly and goofy nature, when Master Shifu- played perfectly by Dustin Hoffman- decides to train the big galoot, the fantastic "chase the dumpling" sequence is as exciting as any such "battle" from a real kung fu film.

They even inject some emotion into the tale with Mr. Ping (the always-excellent James Hong), Panda's unlikely father, who is a duck. I expected this to be forgettable but fun, and it ended up surprising me. I would not mind being forced to watch this a dozen times with kids, and while Jack Black may grate on my nerves on the sixth viewing, Dustin Hoffman's wizened red panda and James Hong's hilarious duck characters will keep endearing the story to me. And the tragic character of Tai Lung, voiced by Ian McShane, is not your typical villain. It also helps that the animation is gorgeous; if this is the first kung fu film you've seen since critics told you to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon you'll be pleasantly surprised.

3. WALL*E
My full review has plenty of gushing, so I'll try to hold back. Imagine a simple story about a trash-compacting robot in the far future, the last of his kind still dutifully cleaning up our mess on Earth. His only friend is a cockroach, until one day he gets a visitor from above. And for the entire first act of the movie there is no real dialogue. Now imagine being in a theater full of kids watching this first act, with few if any big splashes or booms to keep them occupied. I thought it would be a nightmare of squalling and kicking and whining. But when I saw WALL*E at an early show, the kids were silent. It was as gripping for them as it was for me, watching this comical little robot go through his daily routine of crushing junk, saving little doodads that caught one of his mechanical eyes, finding Twinkies for his cockroach pal to sleep in, and watching a battered VHS tape of Hello Dolly. When Eva, a flying robot seemingly designed by Apple's SETI division arrives, we get a touching cybernetic love story that brought tears to my cynical old peepers.

It's so damn effective that you almost don't want WALL*E to have his adventure, where he meets the apex of human consumerism on a space ark where they await Earth's renewal. This was a terrific gamble, sticking such an obvious jab of social commentary in such a sentimental film. Chaplin did it, but he was Chaplin. Well, Pixar got away with it because they're Pixar- I think they only people who complained were Fox News and the Fat Acceptance wackos who envied the Buy-n-Large hoverchairs. The movie doesn't give us easy solutions or perfect endings, which is even braver. It says that fixing things will be hard work, but we can do it. It speaks volumes more than the insipid Oscar-bait of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and if I had my druthers it would be competing there instead of this category.

So, my conclusion?

This year Pixar has it cinched- WALL*E is not only a new masterpiece on a visual and technical level, but simply one of the best stories this year, animated or not. If people think The Dark Knight got screwed out of a Best Picture nomination, WALL*E fans should be even angrier at the Animated Feature category. At least the Globes separate Comedy/Musical from Drama, which seems a bit more fair. I think as more movies like Beowulf, 300, and Sin City blur the lines between animated and traditional film, this category may disappear, or perhaps used for only traditional hand-drawn animation. Time and technology will tell. Disney is returning to traditional feature animation with The Princess and the Frog this year, and both Kung Fu Panda and Ratatouille have credit sequences that seem to yearn for the old days of hand-drawn. Let's hope we see more of it, and this category can get more than 3 nominees in the years to come.

LAMB #236 - The MovieNess

URL: http://www.themovieness.com/
Site Name: The MovieNess
Categories: Reviews, General
Rating: I guess G or PG (I am not so familiar with the ratings, but the site is pretty harmless).

What is the main focus of your site?
Well, movie reviews. The blog is simply about (almost) every film I watch on DVD or at the cinema. I sometimes review actors or directors as well.

What are your blogging goals, personally and/or professionally? In other words, what, if anything, are you trying to get out your blog?
I started the blog for myself, so I would remember what films I had watched and what I thought about the film (Ive got a bad memory....) but since that Ive gotten quite a few readers, so now I enjoy writing for other people as well. Blogging is purely a hobby. I would like to get to know other movie fanatics.

Do you prefer an interactive 'community' for your blog or are you the teacher and your readers are the students?
Interactive! (Just need more readers for this, haha)

How long have you been movie blogging for, and how frequent do you post updates to your site?
I have been blogging since May 2008. At the beginning I had a lot of time to blog so it was very frequent. At the moment I am quite busy so it varies. I guess once or a couple of times a week.

Name up to three of your favorite movies (and no more).
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Swing Time, Singin' in the Rain..

How did you hear about the LAMB?
I saw it on someones blog (sorry, don't remember which one).

Any additional comments, or give yourself an interview question that's not listed above.
Why movies?

I have been a total movie fan all my life and I studied film production and acting.

The LAMB Devours the Oscars - Best Cinematography

Editor's note: Welcome to the first (!) of a 24-part series dissecting the 81st Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please just click on the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!










By T.S. of Screen Savour.

Unlike other technical awards, cinematography is rarely tied a film's chances at taking the Best Picture. Since 2000, no film has won both categories, and historically the record is also spotty: between 1967 (when the Academy did away with two separate categories for color and black-and-white) and 1999, only nine times* has the film of the year matched the recipient for cinematography.

The discrepancy makes a great deal of sense: a film needn't be good to look good, just as it needn't be bad for it to look average or below. The cinematography of a film also stands alone; because we expect the camera to play an important role in any movie, broader audiences are engaged with how the film looks (or, at least more engaged than other technical elements, like sound mixing, art direction, costume design, etc.). Anyone can judge cinematography, and frequently it can be among the most memorable aspects of the film.

Its wild card status of half-tech/half-general, with the complicated factor that a film doesn't have to be great to be nominated and win, makes it tricky then to predict. The nominees for 2008 are:

• Tom Stern, Changeling
Stern has been Eastwood's go-to director of photography since Blood Work in 2002, and despite lensing such films as Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, and Letters from Iwo Jima, this is Stern's first nomination. Although I thought the film had numerous problems, the cinematography wasn't one of them; Stern creates the washed-out, hazy look of 1920s Los Angeles surprisingly well. The film looks old and fragile, and there are moments where the camerawork captures an image or mood so bleak it looks for a moment like it might have crossed from color into black-and-white. It's not the best looking of the bunch, but hey, it's nice to be nominated, isn't it?

• Claudio Miranda, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Working in an all-digital format, Miranda's effort on Benjamin Button attempts to capture the epic passage of time from the 1910s through the 2000s, and aside from what we know about the story, it is the camera that helps us determine when and where we are. The overarching sensation that prevails in Miranda's camerawork is the fulfillment of a visual fantasy, which is certainly not easy to create. As much as the particular shots, angles, and styles create a mood in the film, there is also the issue of Miranda's lighting choices. Many scenes are hardly lit, save the warm glow of a few light bulbs. In many cases, too, Miranda's lighting greatly aided the film's make-up staff and helped the illusion of Cate Blanchett's aging and Brad Pitt's youth-ing. The Academy hasn't quite come around to the idea of all-digital work, but Benjamin Button is a step in the direction where some films will be heading.

• Wally Pfister, The Dark Knight
Although complaints about the film's direction and story have dogged it in some circles since its premiere, reaction to Pfister's cinematography on The Dark Knight has been widely positive. Twice nominated for Oscars (for Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and The Prestige), his work on the second installment of the rebooted Batman franchise involved extensive on-location filming in Chicago, filming in both night and day, and included many unique and unexpected shots. Pfister also has working in his favor the film's IMAX sequences, which neither he nor Nolan had ever shot in before, but which has received many accolades and suggested such exploration might be beneficial for films in the future. The memorability of particular shots may work in his favor as well – particularly the scenes with the Joker, including the 180-degree turn in last scene and the now-famous silent shot of Ledger hanging out of a speeding police squad car.

• Roger Deakins and Chris Menges, The Reader
Roger Deakins is a seven-time (now eight) nominee who has never struck gold. Last year he helmed the camera on three visually compelling films – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (nominated), No Country for Old Men (nominated), and In the Valley of Elah (not nominated), but he lost to Robert Elswit, who, in all fairness, deserved his award for There Will Be Blood. This year Deakins had another triple play with Revolutionary Road, Doubt, and The Reader, plus he served as a technical adviser on lighting and atmosphere for Wall•E. His nomination is shared with Menges, a two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer. The Reader pulled a surprise coup with its Best Picture and Best Director nominations, but I was not particularly awed with its camerawork. Others see great beauty here, and there's a possibility I'll be surprised come the telecast because my view on the film has soiled any potential appreciation of its cinematography. There is certainly some nice lighting, but like the film itself, I felt the camera seemed to play it too safe. You see a nomination like this and you begin to think how much the Academy must have hated Revolutionary Road. (Note: The reason both men are nominated for The Reader is that Deakins worked the first half of production before it stalled, and Menges worked the second half. There isn't much of a noticeable slip in the film in terms of cinematography, so that might be one of its strengths. A clear weakness, however, is that it wasn't intended to be a collaborative effort. You can't fault Deakins for that, but I'm not sure you can reward him for it either.)

• Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire
One word sums up Mantle's Oscar hopes: energy. Despite differing opinions on Slumdog Millionaire (the Academy seems to have wholly embraced it, whereas me ... not so much), the one thing you can say for Mantle's camerawork is that it is vibrant and energetic, and as such, much different than the four other contenders. Many sequences in the film are occasionally beautiful, and Mantle's cinematography sometimes strikes a precarious fairy-tale balance of dirty-made-beautiful-in-a-dirty-way, which could certainly draw support. Although there might be many awards awaiting Slumdog Millionaire on Oscar night that I wouldn't necessarily endorse (writing, among them), I think the film's look is its strongest element. That sort of achievement could speak well for Mantle, but then ... well, you now know how cinematography and picture don't always align.

Who Will Win: Mantle might have some wind at his back, with Slumdog Millionaire looking more and more like a shoo-in for picture and director; its chaotic style might pay off well in the cinematography category, especially since it seems to possess a different form of intensity that the others don't have. Deakins has had his Oscar coming for quite some time, and as much as it agitates me, the Oscars do love to honor better past work with average current work; still, it seems cold to split his honor with another cinematographer, no matter how acclaimed, since neither didn't worked the entire film. Pfister performed well in numerous aspects by working outside the box on The Dark Knight, which fared well in tech categories, and although the film has been a lightning rod in Oscar talk, people do seem to agree its look and style is among its best elements. Previous nominations might dictate seniority, which gives Pfister and Deakins & Menges a boost. Your true dark horse is Miranda. In other words, it's a tight race. If you plan to put money in a betting pool, you might follow the lead of the American Society of Cinematographers (4 out of the 5 are the same; they have Revolutionary Road instead of Changeling) or BAFTA (same line-up). Reshuffling the deck in order of probability: Mantle, Pfister, Deakins & Menges, Miranda, Stern.

If I Had a Vote: Pfister, followed closely by Miranda.

Others The Academy Could Have Picked (in alphabetical order by film): Mandy Walker, Australia (more trivia: a woman has never been nominated for cinematography); Peter Andrews (a.k.a. Steven Soderbergh), Che; Eduardo Serra, Defiance; Colin Watkinson, The Fall; Harris Savides, Milk; Declan Quinn, Rachel Getting Married; Deakins alone, Revolutionary Road; Maryse Alberti, The Wrestler.

* The nine films which have won Best Picture and Best Cinematography between 1967 and 1999 are: Gandhi (1982), Out of Africa (1985), The Last Emperor (1987), Dances with Wolves (1990), Schindler's List (1993), Braveheart (1995), The English Patient (1996), Titanic (1997), and American Beauty (1999).

LAMB Forum

FYI: I am aware that the LAMB Forum is currently down. I have a ticket in (so to speak) with the owner of the site it's hosted on (the Movie Fanatic) to get an ETA. I'll let you more as I know more.

Thanks.

The 2nd Annual LION Awards...Top 10 Films of the Year

The votes have been cast, the independent accounting firm of Fletch & Fletch has been consulted, and the time has come for the LIONs to be handed out.

This is the final post for this year's LION Awards. I'd like to thank the 59 voters who took part - a sharp jump from the 16 or so that we had last year. I look forward to over 100 next year.

I think that this year's choices are an excellent representation of the LAMB. Perhaps all of your favorites didn't make the top ten, but there were 160 total films entered on your ballots, and the films listed below show that we have a diverse mix of popcorn flicks and indies, from the #2 all-time box office earner to a film that's grossed less than two million in U.S. ticket sales to date. We even got a photo finish.

As it so happens, there was a tie for 10th place. I might have instituted a tie-breaker based on most first-place votes or total points, but they were tied using each of those parameters as well. As such, the Top 10 will be a Top 11, thus making the title of this post a typo already. So be it.

Here are the winners, from 10 11 to 1, with total points, and first-place votes in parenthesees:

10t. In Bruges - 71 points (1)

10t. Synecdoche, New York - 71 points (1)

9. Frost/Nixon - 74 points (1)

8. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 78 points (1)

7. Iron Man - 114 points (0)

6. The Wrestler - 128 points (1)

5. Let the Right One In - 130 points (3)

4. Milk - 142 points (2)

3. Slumdog Millionaire - 197 points (8)

2. The Dark Knight - 295 points (13)

And the LAMB's Film of the Year is...

1. Wall*E - 296 points (11)

Other films receiving first-place votes: Continental, a Film Without Guns, Don't Touch the Axe (The Duchess of Langeais), The Fall, Fugitive Pieces, Man on Wire, My Winnipeg, Paranoid Park, Silent Light, Speed Racer, The Sky, The Earth, and the Rain, Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna), The Visitor, and Wanted.

This concludes our broadcast of The 2nd Annual LION Awards, here on the LAMB. Coming later today (and for the next 23 days leading up to the Academy Awards)...The LAMB Devours the Oscars!

LAMB Chops 01/14 - 01/20

Eighteen (!) submissions this week, with one coming from a blog other than the submitter's.

Site Name: Sizzling Popcorn

Post Title/Link: Harvey's 'Last Chance' At Love

Submitted By: Sizzling Popcorn

Site Name: Bitchin' Film Reviews

Post Title/Link: The Clone Returns Home (Kurôn wa kokyô o mezasu)

Submitted By: Bitchin' Film Reviews

Site Name: retrospace

Post Title/Link: 3 Pop Gems from Forgotten Films

Submitted By: retrospace

Site Name: Phil on Film

Post Title/Link: Feature -the cast and crew behind Slumdog Millionaire

Submitted By: Phil on Film

Site Name: Blog Cabins

Post Title/Link: Imagining even more sequels that will never happen...

Submitted By: Blog Cabins

• You can now submit posts for 01/21 - 01/27.


• E-mail them to me at 1416andcounting@gmail.com


• Submit as many as you like from as many different sites as you like; just don't forget to tell me your site name so I know who to credit.

LAMB #235 - FilmFather

URL: http://filmfather.blogspot.com/
Site Name: FilmFather
Categories: Reviews, Children, Parents/Parenting, General
Rating: PG

What is the main focus of your site?
FilmFather is for guys who:
1) Love movies.
2) See a lot more kids movies now that they’re dads.
3) See less “grown-up” movies because they’re busy being dads, but wish they could see more.
4) Want a guide to what’s worth seeing from 2 and 3.

What are your blogging goals, personally and/or professionally? In other words, what, if anything, are you trying to get out your blog?
Our goal is to provide dads with reviews that cover (and answer) questions most dads have when considering a movie:
• Will I like it?
• Is it brainless fun, serious cinema, or somewhere in between?
• Can I watch it with my kids?
• Will my kids even want to watch it?
• Will my “FilmMother” like it?

Do you prefer an interactive 'community' for your blog or are you the teacher and your readers are the students?
Interactive.

How long have you been movie blogging for, and how frequent do you post updates to your site?
Blogging since July 2008; new review every 4-7 days.

Name up to three of your favorite movies (and no more).
Jaws, The Incredibles, High Plains Drifter..

How did you hear about the LAMB?
Google, baby, Google.

Any additional comments, or give yourself an interview question that's not listed above.
None.

The 2nd Annual LION Awards...Best Actor

The votes have been cast, the independent accounting firm of Fletch & Fletch has been consulted, and the time has come for the LIONs to be handed out.

Before we get started, I just want to say that I highly recommend clicking on the Lion-O picture and reading his intro for full comedic effect. Thanks.

Our seventh award for presentation is for Best Actor. There were a total of 55 votes, and what resulted was a dead heat between our top two vote-getters. Coming in second, with 13 votes, Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler:



Your winner, with 14 votes, is Sean Penn for Milk:



Meanwhile, the bonus award for Best Out-there Vote swung back to Scott of Mendelson's Memos. Scott chose Jason Bateman's career-defining performance in Hancock as his winner. Congrats, Scott..

Next up...The LAMB's Top 10 Films of the Year. Can you guess what they are? How about just the top 5? Stay tuned to the LAMB for more of the LIONs and for our Academy Awards series, The LAMB Devours the Oscars, as tomorrow we'll segue from one event right into the next.

The 2nd Annual LION Awards...Best Actress

The votes have been cast, the independent accounting firm of Fletch & Fletch has been consulted, and the time has come for the LIONs to be handed out.

Our sixth award for presentation is for Best Actress. There were a total of 50 votes, and the result is our second tie of the awards show. The winners, with 8 votes each...Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road and Anne Hathaway for Bride Wars, er, Rachel Getting Married! Congrats, ladies!*


Dreamrot of $7 Popcorn nabs the bonus award for Best Out-there Vote for the second award in a row by virtue of voting for Rhona Mitra for Doomsday. Congrats, Dreamrot.

Next up...Best Actor. Stay tuned to the LAMB for more of the LIONs, culminating with our Top 10 Films of 2008.

* Yes, I know that Cheetara is neither a lamb nor a lion. Still, the thought of using a famous female Thundercat for the Best Actress award was too good to pass up. And you better believe you know who will be featured tomorrow...unless I call an audible, that is...

Trailer Talk: And The Nominees Are...

I see Fletch has been busy with the year end best of stuff and now the upcoming Oscar festivities. Devouring the Oscars, huh? Neat.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to work my way through some awful late-into-early year writer's block.

The Oscar stuff got me thinking though...what if the winner of the Best Picture award were selected solely by it's trailer. Obviously, a lot more effort would go into them, but that's not what I mean. And I don't mean, what was the best trailer of last year. Just, looking at the trailer, if that was ALL you had to go on, who would win?

Imagine that you're some guy looking to jump into an office Oscar pool. You haven't seen any of the five movies, something I can relate to actually, but your selections are due tomorrow. There's no time to see them all! You run (metaphorically) to the YouTube and look up the movies. You watch the trailers and hope for the best.

So, watch the trailers and then vote for the winner. As much as you can, imagine that you haven't seen the movies. Try to base your guess off of that. Let's see what happens.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button:


Frost/Nixon:


Milk:


The Reader:


Slumdog Millionaire:


Go ahead and vote, and we'll see how close we come to the winner. The poll will close the Sunday before the Oscars, Feb 15th at Midnight.

Devours update

Here are the assignments for The LAMB Devours the Oscars 2009. If you see your name listed below, please start and finish your analysis as soon as possible! I've moved up the planned starting date one day to two days from now, Thursday, January 29th. Doing so will make this a once-a-day event, with 24 days and 24 categories running until the Best Picture article is posted on February 21, the day before the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

Name	Site	Category
Jess	Insight Into Entertainment	Best Makeup
DJ	Matte Havoc	Best Film Editing
Daniel	Getafilm	Best Documentary Feature
Pat	Doodad Kind of Town	Best Costume Design
Kirby	Movie Dearest	Best Original Song
T.S.	Screen Savour	Best Cinematography
Stinkylulu	Stinkylulu	Best Supporting Actress
TC	Popcorn N Roses	Best Original Score
Thomas	Pluck You, Too!	Best Animated Film
Anil	The Long Take	Best Original Screenplay
Paul	Careful With That Blog, Eugene	Best Visual Effects
Jennifer	The Dueling Cavalier	Best Adapted Screenplay
Blake	Bitchin' Film Reviews	Best Picture
Nick	R2D2	Best Director
Stephanie	The Flick Chick	Best Foreign Language Film
Jason	Invasion of the B Movies	Best Supporting Actor
Mikey	Spaghetti Sauce and Sweet Peas	Best Documentary Short Subject
Nayana	The Center Seat	Best Actress
Joe	Black Sheep Reviews	Best Actor
Joseph	Cinexcellence	Best Sound Editing
Dean	Filmicability	Best Live Action Short Film
Adam	The Jack Sack	Best Sound Mixing
Jason	YDKS Movies	Best Art Direction
Jeff	Culture Snob	Best Animated Short Film

If you'd like to be on the alternates/backup list in the case of anyone needing to drop out, feel free to email me (blogcabins@yahoo.com). Click the label below to read/check out last year's entries.

Thanks again to the excellent stable of writers that volunteered to take part in this year's event. We've got a diverse mix of people, with some tackling categories that they are subject matter experts on and others saddled with the challenge of learning more about one of not-so-glamorous awards. Please spread the word and help make this year's event even better than last year's!

Last call for Chops

Sorry for the delay, guys, but if you have Chops to submit for this week, you need to e-mail them to me at 1416andcounting@gmail.com ASAP. Don't forget the subject line "LAMB Chops Submission"!

LAMB #234 - The Horror Club

URL: http://thehorrorclub.blogspot.com/
Site Name: The Horror Club
Categories: Horror reviews/discussion (with a liberal dose of humor)
Rating: R - Due to language and themes.

What is the main focus of your site?
The main focus of my site is to talk about and review horror films. Also, it serves as a document of a group of friends and our horror watching adventures.

What are your blogging goals, personally and/or professionally? In other words, what, if anything, are you trying to get out your blog?
Personally I just love horror, and I want to discuss and share it with the world. Professionally, I'd like to have a career writing about or creating horror in some fashion.

Do you prefer an interactive 'community' for your blog or are you the teacher and your readers are the students?
I definitely prefer Interactivity, but in some cases, I do feel like the teacher; not in a petty way mind you, but so many people don't get the exposure to much of the horror product out there, so I love to open their eyes to what they might have missed.

How long have you been movie blogging for, and how frequent do you post updates to your site?
Publicly, I've been blogging since July 08. I try to update daily, but I think that 5+ times per week is more accurate.

Name up to three of your favorite movies (and no more).
The Exorcist, Suspiria, Lord of the Rings..

How did you hear about the LAMB?
Through other blogs I believe.

Any additional comments, or give yourself an interview question that's not listed above.
Why should people care about my blog?

I'd like to think that we know what good horror is, and that we try to present a fresh take on reviews. Tons of sites cover the technical aspects of film, or talk about theme or motivation; what we focus on are the things we sit around the dinner table and actually discuss... Which usually involves what we thought of the film and trying to be clever or funny while we talk about it.

The 2nd Annual LION Awards...Worst Films of the Year

The votes have been cast, the independent accounting firm of Fletch & Fletch has been consulted, and the time has come for the LIONs to be handed out.

Our fifth "award" for presentation is for the Worst Films of the Year. There were a total of 50 voters, some who placed votes for five films, while others named just their top two or three stinkers. Here, we honor the top five vote-getters.

Counting down, from fifth to first (votes to follow):


5. 10,000 B.C. (18 points from 6 voters)
4. Jumper (19 points from 7 voters)
3. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (20 points from 5 voters)
2. The Love Guru (27 points from 8 voters)
1. The Happening (43 points from 14 voters)

The bonus award for Best Out-there Vote is split amongst two voters: Dreamrot of $7 Popcorn and Scott of Mendelson's Memos each put in a vote for The Dark Knight as their worst film of the year. Really, guys - worst of the year? (It should be noted that Scott also voted for The Dark Knight as his second-best film of the year. Hmmmm.)

Next up...Best Actress. Stay tuned to the LAMB for more of the LIONs, culminating with our Top 10 Films of 2008.

The LAMB Devours the Oscars 2009 update 3

All spots filled! If you'd like to be on the alternates/backup list, feel free to email me. Official lineup to be posted early this week.

Thanks to all that volunteered!

The LAMB Devours the Oscars 2009 update 2

Updated: Saturday, 6:30 PM (new information below in green)

I have lots of good news and a little bad news. Let's start with the good...

First off, judging by the poll to your left, there should be at least 29 people (not counting me) that are up for our Oscars event, 17 of which are dangerously psyched about it. I was thrilled to see those results.

Better news: I received a number of emails within days of mentioning the signup time from those of your that were interested in writing for the event. Even better yet, 6 of you volunteered to take a "lesser" category (and one special case to be explained later). That's great! Lots of LAMMY points go out to all of you that have volunteered already.

Here are the awards already assigned. If you see your name listed below, please start and finish your analysis as soon as possible! I'm planning on starting the event no later than one week from today (Friday, January 30th), so the more I have in the bank, the better.

Name	Site	Category
Jess	Insight Into Entertainment	Best Makeup
DJ	Matte Havoc	Best Film Editing
Daniel	Getafilm	Best Documentary Feature
Pat	Doodad Kind of Town	Best Costume Design
Kirby	Movie Dearest	Best Original Song
T.S.	Screen Savour	Best Cinematography
Stinkylulu*	Stinkylulu	Best Supporting Actress
TC	Popcorn N Roses	Best Original Score
Thomas Pluck	Pluck You, Too!	Best Animated Film

* Stinkylulu's site is essentially devoted to the Best Supporting Actress category; as such, I've made an exception and granted him a "major" category free and clear.

Outside of those folks, there are another 10 (the authors behind...The Dueling Cavalier, Bitchin' Film Reviews, R2D2, The Flick Chick, Invasion of the B Movies, Spaghetti Sauce and Sweet Peas, The Center Seat, Black Sheep Reviews, Cinexcellence, and Filmicability) that have volunteered but have not been assigned a cateogry as of yet, as I'm waiting to fill out the roster before randomly assigning the rest. Which leads me to the bad news...

If you're a math major, by now you might have figured out that that's only 19 people. There are 24 categories. I need more excellent writers! If you are one, you should totally volunteer! Note: to those that volunteered and offered to do more than one entry - first of all, thank you, but I'd like to give as many people that are interested a chance, so for now the door remains open. But I very much appreciate the offer and may take you up on it as the event nears.

If you weren't a member last year, here's the quick skinny: we had an event where a different LAMB wrote up an analysis of each award that the Academy would be handing out. I got commitments from everyone, took volunteers for the "lesser" categories and randomly assigned the major ones. What we ended up with was a diverse, excellently-written daily series timed to lead up and stop on the day prior to the Oscars. It was linked to IMDb's Hit List and was generally an all-around hit for all involved, I dare say.

If you're interested in taking part this year, please respond to this via email (blogcabins@yahoo.com). Serious interest only, please, as we can't have empty days. There are but 24 categories at the Academy Awards, so it'll be first come, first served for starters. If you have interest in a category outside of the majors, let me know as well, and there's a good chance you'll get it. More details as we near the starting date, which ought to be right around the end of January (the Oscars ceremony will be held on February 22nd). Click the label below to read/check out last year's entries.

I will be in touch will everyone as soon as the lineup is filled out. Thanks again to all of the volunteers (and future volunteers)!

LAMBScores: Happy-Go-Lucky

The Flick Chick
Tractor Facts
Bitchin' Film Reviews
Pluck You, Too!

Doodad Kind of Town
Film Forager

Phil on Film
The Stop Button

From the Front Row

Blog Cabins

Average LAMBScore out of five, rounded to nearest half-LAMB: (10 sites)

Median LAMBScore:


Submissions for this film are now closed. To submit your rating/review for other new releases, visit the LAMB Forums (must be an existing LAMB to join).

The 2nd Annual LION Awards...Best Supporting Actor

The votes have been cast, the independent accounting firm of Fletch & Fletch has been consulted, and the time has come for the LIONs to be handed out.

Our fourth award for presentation is for Best Supporting Actor. There were a total of 54 votes, and as you might expect, it was a blowout. The runner-up, with four votes...Robert Downey, Jr. for Tropic Thunder.

And the no-doubt-about-it winner, with a LIONs-leading 32 votes, Jon Voight for Pride and Glory! Congratualtions on your big win, Jon.

Yeah, right. You know who it is...

The posthumous award goes, of course, to Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight. Though the bonus award for Best Out-there Vote does go to the person that voted for Mr. Voight: John of Flick Rater.

Next up...we'll go on a slight detour from the acting races to count down the Worst Films of the Year. Stay tuned to the LAMB for more of the LIONs, culminating with our Top 10 Films of 2008.