Winner
Best Picture
1st Annual Oscar Breach Awards
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Welcome to my third annual Oscar Breach Awards. I am including the best and worst of categories that are important to me. I also threw in a few creative categories that I like. The number of nominations/winners varies depending on how much I care about the category. By my rules, I can be biased for unrelated reasons (usually political), and I can only include films that I have actually seen for this year (except for the body of work category since that includes too many films). I may change a few of my choices later based on films I have yet to see. I welcome both compliments and criticism, so feel free to email me here. Enjoy!
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Winner
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| The Departed | Dreamgirls | The Queen | United 93 | World Trade Center |
| I still have not seen as many classic Scorsese films as I should, but if they're half as good as this was, bring them on. This rotationally twisted plot complete with suspense and surprise was filmmaking at its best. | I went into this without much expectation, but then the energy and charisma really drove me to like it. Great performances, enjoyable music, and artistic design make this a well-made picture. | I had my reservations about this as well. I have little knowledge nor interest in the royal family, but no other film got me more interested. And the controversy of monarchy vs. modernism in the backdrop made it an enjoyable political piece as well. | Though I prefer World Trade Center for its uplifting emotional connections, Paul Greengrass' take on 9/11 was equally powerful and honorable in paying tribute to the heroism that occured on that sad day. | Rarely do I encounter films I find so emotionally involved, ingeniously designed, and socially important as this. World Trade Center had me teary-eyed all the way through, but I walked out feeling better for myself and for my country. Well done, Oliver Stone. |
Best Popcorn Flick
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Winner
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| Cars | The Da Vinci Code | Mission: Impossible III | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | X-Men: The Last Stand |
| It's not as funny as Toy Story, not as touching as Finding Nemo and not as action-packed as The Incredibles, but the latest Disney/Pixar film still delivers good amounts of each. It's got humor, it's got lessons, and it's got Larry the Cable Guy. What more do you want? | I don't see why everybody else had such strong reservations about this. Assuming you liked the book, I don't see what's not to like about the movie which stayed surprisingly accurate. And the bad performances of the two leads are made up for with the amusing performance of Ian McKellen. | I'm actually surprised I somewhat liked it. If you can ignore Tom Cruise's personal life for a few minutes, you might like it too. It has clever heist schemes and some strong action sequences. But I had trouble finding Philip Seymour Hoffman threatening. | Comes in a close second. Sure it wasn't as original and plot-twisting as the original pirate voyage, but Dead Man's Chest still delivers some great eye-candy, thrilling action sequences, and of course Jack Sparrow making another good entrance and exit. | I admit it wasn't as thrilling as the complicated plots of the first two mutant movies. But it still brought more than any other blockbuster in a somewhat disappointing summer. Action mixed with drama mixed with society metaphor puts it with Lord of the Rings and the new Star Wars as one of my favorite trilogies ever. |
Worst Picture
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Loser
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| The Devil Wears Prada | An Inconvenient Truth | Marie-Antoinette | Superman Returns | You, Me and Dupree |
| Look. I'm a guy. I'm straight. And I have absolutely no interest in fashion. Can you really blame me for not being able to find the slightest degree of enjoyment in this? I didn't think so. | Lies, whoppers, and deception. No, I'm not talking about The Departed. This boring, exaggerated, egocentric, guilt-tripper of a film was nothing but inaccurate facts presented by the person with the greatest sum of ego and dullness. Then I walked out of the screening into 10 degree St. Louis weather and began to wish global warming was actually real. | Call me crazy, but the formula of Elizabeth meets Amost Famous just doesn't work for me. Not only was the film confusing by its mixture of historic and pop culture, but it was basically a biopic musical montage without any real focus. Plus, why didn't we see the guillotine scene? | I did not spend four years at one of the top ten engineering schools in the nation so I could NOT point it out when I saw laws of physics being violated onscreen! You cannot lift a humongous boat by grabbing it by a single safety bar! The bar would break off! And that's just where my problems with the film begin. | I saw this on a plane since I would never pay to see it. Now there is just too much crude sexual humor to really be considered a romantic comedy. And none of the characters are likeable in any way. The tiresome crude comedy of Owen Wilson, as well as other Frat-Pack members, seems to be going stale. |
Director
Winner
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Loser
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| Martin Scorsese (The Departed) | Bryan Singer (Superman Returns) |
| If it weren't for Oliver Stone's history, he would be in this spot. So instead I'll give the award to the always respectable legend that is Marty. Not only did he direct his actors to some career-best performances, but he kept the complicated plot moving, while slowing it down only for some intense scenes. Few directors could have made such a great film like this. | He used to be one of my favorite directors for surprising us with Kevin Spacey being Keyser Soze, and for twice making a real world rather than a comic one for the X-Men. Then he had to leave the X-franchise to direct this piece of crud. Not only did he abandon realism, but he sacrificed action and enjoyment for attempted breath-taking imagery and illogical religious metaphors. Forshame! |
Best Actor
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Winner
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| Nicolas Cage (World Trade Center) | Leonardo Dicaprio (The Departed) | Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) | Ken Watanabe (Letters From Iwo Jima) | Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) |
| We've seen Cage do all kinds of roles before, but his job in playing real-life PAPD sargeant John McLoughlin trapped beneath the tower rubble was something. While nailing the man's introverted mannerisms, Cage also expressed feelings of hope and regret while completely immobile. | I actually thought he was better in Scorsese's The Aviator, but does a respectable job here as the paranoid cop thrown into the mob. I look forward to the next Scorsese/Dicaprio project: a biopic of Teddy Roosevelt. | Though I wasn't a fan of the film in the least bit, Gosling did a great job in creating an original character with nothing to base it on, which is often the most difficult type of acting. His constant "spacing-out" was the most impressive aspect. | Here's an example of foregin actors giving better performances when they can do it in their native tongue. Watanabe was brilliant as the Iwo Jima General both strategic and sympathetic. And even his scenes that were in English he did well. | Certainly the best performance of the year. Though I was a little underwhelmed by the film itself, Whitaker made up for it by playing a two-faced character both charming and vile. Nobody else comes close to deserving it more. |
Worst Actor
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Loser
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| Tom Hanks (The Da Vinci Code) | Ryan Phillipe (Flags of Our Fathers) | Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) |
| It's not just the hair, it's the mild-mannerisms that is Hank's performance that is basically just waiting for a paycheck. | Following a good performance in Crash, I would have expected better from him. And it's a bad time to get divorced from America's sweetheart, since he'll now have more trouble finding work. | Why do you think he had so few lines? Because he can't act! Let this be a lesson: don't make casting choices based solely on a physical resemblance to Christopher Reeve. |
Best Actress
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Winner
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| Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal) | Helen Mirren (The Queen) | Keke Palmer (Akeelah and the Bee) | Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada) | Kate Winslet (Little Children) |
| Though not as creatively enjoyable as her reaction formation performance in Mrs. Henderson Presents, she still does a fine job as the villian. And her sadistic poetry writings in her diary made it all the more amusing. | This might be the first year where I agree with the academy's choices for all four acting categories (assuming Whitaker, Mirren, Murphy, Hudson). Mirren definitely had the best actress performance of the year for nailing the monarch's mannerisms as well as creating an inner struggle. | Here's one of the most underrated performances of the year, especially for somebody so young. She really made it understandable what it is like to be afraid of your own intelligence. Hope to see more of her. | She just barely made the top five. I believe the enjoyable villiany of her character is a result more of the script and the wardrobe, and less of the performance. I think she could have done more with it. But due to not seeing enough contenders, I have no choice but to include her. | She is now officially the most overdue actress working today, and she's still relatively young. She definietly deserved her fifth nomination, however, I admit it wasn't quite as impressive as her previous performances. It was a strong one nonetheless. |
Worst Actress
Loser
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| Beyonce (Dreamgirls) | Kirsten Dunst (Marie-Antionette) | Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) |
| In a film with a lot of great performances, Beyonce stuck out worse than John Lithgow's random cameo in the film did. She was miscast, she can't act, and she definitely will never get that Oscar she so desperately wants. | The biggest thing that bugged me was that she doesn't even try for some sort of European accent, like half the cast. She also did a terrible job at aging over the course of several years. | Basically, I got sick of her complaining about her boss. I think we can all say we've had bosses that were worse than Meryl Streep. So what's with the overacting about it? |
Best Supporting Actor
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Winner
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| James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland) | Ian McKellen (The Da Vinci Code) | Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls) | Jack Nicholson (The Departed) | Mark Wahlberg (The Departed) |
| Here's another of the most underrated performances of the year. Whitaker would not have been the charming tyrannical that he was without McAvoy's opportunistic but trapped young doctor to back him up. Looks like he has a bunch of roles lined up for next year though. | I believe he is one of the most overdue actors for an Oscar. This, along with his menacing Magneto performance in X-Men: The Last Stand, has made him one of the most versatile actors ever. He disappears into every one of his characters. I find it hard enough recognizing Magneto as Gandalf. That's real talent. | I'm glad to see he finally made something productive out of his career, just when he needed it most. Murphy gave Thunder Earley such energy and thrill, without the wackinees characteristic of most Eddie Murphy performances. This year, he and Will Smith did the best jobs in abandoning their common personalities for something different. | Yep, he just can't seem to not deliver, even so late in his career. Sure it wasn't as impressive as some of his prior performances, but it was a strong one nonetheless. Also, if you ever meet me, ask me to do my Jack impression because I think I've perfected it. | Now this has to be the best performance of Wahlberg's career. Normally he's the suave and occasionally comical cool guy, but for once he plays a dirty bully of a cop which feels so out of character for him. Because he pulls it off well, it makes a great performance for him. |
Worst Supporting Actor
Loser
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| Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) | Matt Dillon (You, Me and Dupree) | Martin Sheen (The Departed) |
| This is the second time in three years that Bloom won this category. That's impressive enough. It takes talent to be repeatedly bad. But to be fair, I thought he was pretty good in Kingdom of Heaven. | Following his strong performance in Crash, it was upsetting to see Dillon go on to do such a crude and lame role as this. He should be setting the stakes higher for himself now. | With all of the great performances around him, Sheen stuck out. From the moment he enters the screen, his talent falls like a body thrown out of a six-story window and splatters all over the sidewalk with his credibility as an actor splattering all over Leo. |
Best Supporting Actress
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Winner
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| Adriana Barraza (Babel) | Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal) | Maggie Gyllenhaal (World Trade Center) | Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) | Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) |
| It was a good year for a lot of breakout performances in this category. I was skeptical of Barraza's performance for most of the film, but those final couple of scenes with her desperately wandering the desert was just the right thing. | Not quite as good as her scene-stealing performance in The Aviator, but still the best supporting actress of this year. If I hadn't already given her an Oscar Breach Award two years ago, she would have won this. | With several great performances this year, she should have been nominated for at least one. And I believe this was the most deserving one. Playing the pregnant wife of a missing PAPD officer on 9/11 with such worry to the point of insanity was acting at its best. | This is my way of personally apologizing to Hudson for passing her off as talentless for the whole first half of the season. After seeing her onscreen, I am convinced that this is one of the finest debut performances in history, and I am glad to give her this award. | This was a surprisingly strong performance from another breakout. It's not easy acting without speaking at all, but Kikuchi does it with her expressions and mannerisms when she signs. I was very impressed. |
Worst Supporting Actress
Loser
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| Halle Berry (X-Men: The Last Stand) | Jessica Biel (The Illusionist) | Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns) |
| Let me say this. If you were in any way dissatisfied with how this trilogy concluded, you can send you hate mail to Halle Berry, courtesy of her salary-grubbing, screentime-needy, "I won an Oscar, so I'm better than you"-inflated ego, but you'll only get more bad acting in return. | It may be her best performance to date, but that really is not saying much. It's hard to believe she was stuck in the company of great actors like Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. That's a tough act to follow. | It was just a confusing performance. Does she love Superman or hate him? The script didn't make it obvious and her acting didn't either. Just one more problem with the film to add to the pile. |
Best Screenplay
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Winner
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| Cars | The Departed | Little Miss Sunshine | The Queen | Thank You For Smoking |
| John Lasseter and Disney/Pixar do it again in creating a world with characters that are things that don't normally talk. It takes real talent to come up with the conversions of our world to theirs (Generals into Humvies, hillbillies into motorhomes, cows into tractors, etc.). | It has to be the most ingenious plot of the year. Taking two warring factions: the cops and the mob, having each one place a mole in the other's organization, having each organization attempt to find the mole, and having both moles find eachother. Clever and suspenseful. | You've just got to appreciate the originality of it. First of all, creating such an eclectic mixture of characters whom hardly seem like they could be family at all, then throw them in a cross-country roadtrip. It makes for great comedy. | This can be appreciated for its unique blend of fact and fiction. Writer Peter Morgan implemented all the real known events of that infamous week, and created a story within it that presumably might have occured. It also gets credit for getting me interested in an issue I knew nothing about. | This is one of the funniest comedies of the year for its brilliant political satire, and creation of a great mix of characters. Not to mention several great one-liners: "You know the guy who can pick up any girl? I'm him. On crack." |
Worst Screenplay
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Loser
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| Children of Men | The Devil Wears Prada | An Inconvenient Truth | Snakes on a Plane | Superman Returns |
| The quality of this film comes from the creation of this apocalyptic world, and the lasting shots. The script however was overly simple and inconclusive. | Couldn't they have thrown in something for the guys who were bound to be dragged to this movie by their dates? | I haven't seen more lies in a script since Kevin Spacey made up a story to hide the secret of Keyser Soze. And there is no point in trying to write jokes since you know Al Gore's delivery will screw them up. | Whenever you need to rely on internet bloggers to come up with your infamous lines, you know you have a motherf***ing problem with your motherf***ing screenplay. | One question: when exactly did Superman become a metaphor for Jesus? This scrap of a script delivered nothing but pretty boy shots and no action. But thanks for giving very few lines to Brandon Routh, otherwise his acting would have been worse. |
Art Direction
Winner
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Loser
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| World Trade Center | Snakes on a Plane |
| The art directors recreated several layers of what ground zero was once like. Sure it may look like just a bunch of clutter, but being an engineer myself, I can appreciate the difficulty in making a pile of clutter sturdy and reliable enough to actually work around. I was also impressed with being able to create the tight cramped spaces while still shooting in them. | I hate it when films inaccurately portray the cramped spaces of airlines. How did these actors end up with so much more leg room than I always do? And I'm 6'3"! I've had it with these inaccurate motherf***ing spatial dimensions on these motherf***ing planes! |
Cinematography
Winner
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Loser
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| Children of Men | Superman Returns |
| Best cinematography in years I say. Reminiscent of the famous opening scene in Touch of Evil, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki somehow managed to do several long-takes without cutting that go through several spatial areas with all sorts of action surrounding them. Remember the chase scene in the car? Shots like that are very hard to do, but are amazing. | The camera should feel abused by now. It gave us a bunch of pointless pretty shots of our hero instead of being used for what we are supposed to be seeing: action! |
Costumes
Winner
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Loser
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| Apocalypto | V for Vendetta |
| Sometimes less is more. Sure most of these characters were not wearing much at all, but therein comes the challenge of making these characters look authentic without revealing too much nudity. And the jewelry and facial ornamentation should also get credit in this category. | I don't see much variability, do you? Aside from that, I would have expected fashion to be a little different in the future, but apparently it hasn't changed much at all. |
Makeup
Winner
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Loser
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| X-Men: The Last Stand | Babel |
| Apocalypto and Pirates also deserve credit here, but I'm awarding X-Men for its continuous work throughout the whole series. It has given us several well made-up characters as Mystique, Nightcrawler, and now Beast. Even Colossus wore some reflective metallic makeup for some of his scenes. The series was very creative with its mutations and the makeup played an important part in that. | It just felt weird. You can't make Brad Pitt look older just by giving him gray hair. I think that more could have been done. |
Visual Effects
Winner
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Loser
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| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | Snakes on a Plane |
| When I first saw the trailer and saw Davey Jones, I honestly thought that it was Bill Nighy under prosthetic makeup. That is the first time I actually believed an animated character to be real. That goes to show you how convincing it really was. | Those motherf***ing snakes are motherf***ing fakes! |
Sound
Winner
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Loser
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| Cars | United 93 |
| It must not have been an easy task to blend human and animal verbal noises with automotive noises, but the Pixar team did it quite well. This mixed with a great score from Randy Newman made this a very enjoyable auditory experience. | It's one of those cases where it feels like there should be more sound there but there isn't. I suppose this could be an artistic decision that Paul Greengrass intentionally had in mind, but it didn't work for me. |
Score
Winner (original)
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Winner (re-mixed)
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Loser
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| Craig Armstrong (World Trade Center) | Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) | Clint Eastwood (Flags of Our Fathers) |
| Moulin Rouge! composer Craig Armstrong gives his best score yet. In the most emotional and intimate moments, it's a gentle piano solo, but when it gets to the epic heroic conclusion, the same four-note sequence gets the all-out treatment. Memorable, touching, and appropriate for such an important film. | Sure it hasn't changed much since the first Pirates film, but it is still one of the most action-oriented adventure scores of recent history. But I also like the new theme they added during the entrance of Davey Jones. It was a very villiany nautical-like theme that fitted well. | Is it me or did this sound almost exactly like Clint Eastwood's score from Million Dollar Baby. Sure Clint is a good actor, producer, and director, but maybe he should let somebody else do the music for his films. I'm glad he let somebody else do Letters From Iwo Jima which had a significantly better score. |
Song
Winner
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Loser
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| Sheryl Crow "Real Gone" (Cars) | DeVotchKa "Til the End of Time" (Little Miss Sunshine) |
| This song opens the movie and is packed with great energy. It works well to overplay the opening montage and the race. Randy Newman's song "Our Town" from the film wasn't too bad either. | It sounded more like this song belonged in Babel. It was some Latin-American ensemble that I really couldn't cling onto. It really didn't feel appropriate. |
Young Actors
Male
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Female
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| Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters From Iwo Jima) | Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) |
| I know he may be 23 which is a little old to win this. But it was either him or Paul Dano for Little Miss Sunshine, and both of them are the exact same age (within two days). | Clearly a no-brainer. I think we can all agree that it is surprising to see her get an Oscar nomination before Dakota Fanning does. It just goes to show you that you need the right film. |
Ensemble
Winner
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Loser
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| The cast of: Thank You For Smoking | The cast of: You, Me and Dupree |
| All the actors put in superb and often hilarious performances, and all were well casted. Aside from Aaron Eckhart's morally-flexible tobacco lobbyist, there is William H. Macy's corrubtably idealized Senator, Rob Lowe's caffeine-induced movie executive, and Cameron Bright's young man acquiring his father's argumentation talent. Also Maria Bello and David Koechner making up the MOD Squad was a great inclusion. | One of these actors was just being himself, and the others have given significantly better work in their careers. It's sad to see them reduced to doing a piece like this. |
Most Overrated
Film
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Performance
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| Pan's Labyrinth | Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children) |
| I realize that about 96% of the critics are against me on this, but I stand by what I say. Sure I liked the movie for its artistic qualities. But in the end, I find this too violent for children and too fantastical for adults. So I really don't see how it is possible for anybody to enjoy it. | Sure he was convincing, but I think the credibility of his character's creepiness should go more to his image rather than performance. He never really says much, and then he cries at the end. I really don't think there was that much to it. |
Most Underrated
Film
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Performance
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| Apocalypto | Michael Pe�a (World Trade Center) |
| Say what you want about Mr. Gibson, but that doesn't change the fact that he made a great film. It triumphs in all technical categories making it one of the greatest feasts for the eyes and ears of the year. It can also be enjoyed by those who enjoy slasher movies. Even if you don't want to read the subtitles, you don't have to. It would work just as well with no dialogue at all. | Combined with his equally underrated performance and "invisible cloak" scene in Crash, this performance makes him one of the most talented up and rising stars. His ability to express hope while in a nightmare of a position in this film was an inspiration. I hope to see more of him. |
Best Body of Work
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Female
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Hugh Jackman X-Men: The Last Stand Scoop Flushed Away The Prestige Happy Feet The Fountain |
Maggie Gyllenhaal Sherrybaby Monster House World Trade Center Stranger Than Fiction |
| Great year for Jackman, and a good variety. He's got his iconic superhero movie, a light Woody Allen comedy, a dark thriller, an artistic drama and two fun animated pics. He's also got two or three films coming this year too. | Not only were these good films, but she also gave great performances in three out of four of them (the other was animated so you can't expect much). They are also a variety, and I definitely think she deserved a nomination for one of them this year. |
Worst Body of Work
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Female
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Tim Allen The Shaggy Dog Zoom The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause |
Jennifer Coolidge Date Movie American Dreamz Click For Your Consideration |
| Average critics rating between these films: 14%. I'm betting Allen enlisted Ben Affleck's help in picking scripts. | Average critics rating between these films: 32%. And she hasn't started off this year well either with Epic Movie. |
Best Hero
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Winners
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| Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) | Wolverine (X-Men: The Last Stand) | The passengers and crew of United 93 and the New York PAPD (United 93, World Trade Center) |
| Everyone loves Captain Jack. A drunk, deceiving, promiscuous pirate with a likeness to Keith Richards. It doesn't sound very appealing, but the fact that Johnny Depp can make him likeable is a great achievement. | Wolverine concluded the trilogy by finally finding his place in the humans vs. mutants debacle. Despite his desire for solitude, he managed to do what was right and save the world. | I feel I must pay triubte to the heroes who were both courageous and real. On the darkest day in our nation's history these individuals took it upon themselves to give their lives in the hope that the rest of us may live another day. They are just ordinary people, but nobody else better meets the definition of hero. |
Best Villian
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Winner
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| Frank Costello (The Departed) | Davey Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) | Magneto (X-Men: The Last Stand) |
| "When I was your age, folks would say you could become cops or criminals. What I say is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?" I think that line says it all. | I admit I was a little disappointed that there was not much to the personality of the villian. But I loved the artistic design. I give great kudos to whoever came up with the idea of a crab claw, a beard of tentacles, and a limp. | Magneto was great in the first two films, but here his villiany comes full circle. His Malcolm X method of violence for equality or even superiority is reflective of a modern America, especially with his comparisons to terrorism. At the same time his friend/enemy relationship with Professor Xavier is a fascinating one. |
Best Action Choreography (my favorite category)
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Winner
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Apocalypto Jaguar Paw vs. The Nine Hunters |
Cars Lightning vs. Chick Hicks |
Children of Men The Car Chase |
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Jack vs. Will vs. Norrington |
X-Men: The Last Stand The X-Men vs. Magneto's Army |
| This is mostly a long chase sequence, but it involves some unique ways in which Jaguar Paw takes down all nine of the enemies chasing him. This involves poison dart shooting, attacks from jaguars and snakes, and falling right into a deadly hunting trap. Both exciting and bloody. | Sure this wasn't really a fight scene, but a race scene like this one was very exciting. The title of the Piston Cup is at stake and three cars compete, complete with crashes and speedy pit stops. Yet I loved the ending where Lightning stops in his tracks and sacrifices the win to make sure the legend finishes the race. It's a tribute to Rocky. | This had to be one of the most diffiuclt scenes to choreograph since it all takes place in a single long take. During this shot we see cars crashing, motorcycles getting knocked over, and people getting shot. It's a very impressive piece of filmmaking. | This was a very weak year for fight scenes, but this one is definitely the winner. The sword fighting itself isn't that special, but making it a three-way battle made it more interesting, as well as setting it in a complicated obsticle course including atop a rolling mill wheel. Cleverly exciting stuff. | This involved a lot of small battles, all of which were exciting. Iceman vs Pyro, Storm vs Callisto, and especially Kitty Pryde vs The Juggernaut (bitch!). Throughout the series, Magneto always spoke of a brewing war between mutants and humanity. In the conclusion, the fans finally got the war, and it delivered big time. |
Most Painful Scene to Watch
| I thought I should create this category this year because there were so many worthy candidates. |
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Winner
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Apocalypto Cutting Out Human Hearts |
Babel Sewing Up Cate Blanchett |
The Last King of Scotland Hanging James McAvoy by his Nipples |
Pan's Labyrinth The Captain Sewing his Slit Cheek |
Snakes on a Plane Slicing Open the Kid's Wrist |
| Like Gibson's last several films, Apocalypto is full of bloody painful violence. But that sacrificial scene where the still-beating hearts are pulled from the bodies was just too much. Seeing Tapir testicles get eaten was equally disgusting. | Seeing the foreign doctor light the needle then stick it into Cate's wounded neck and hear her screaming was one of the cases where you can really feel the pain, but it just barely made this list. | I consider myself pretty desensitized to violence. But even this I could not watch. Seeing those rusty coathangers stuck into his nipples and raised so that he hung in mid-air from them has to be one of the most painful things imaginable. I cringe just thinking about it. | After getting his left cheek slit so as to have a Joker-like grin, the Captain sews it back up in a painfully close-up shot. Needles going right through skin repeatedly is not something I enjoy watching. It was however an amazingly convincing visual effect. | Did the writers ever consider the possiblity that maybe the audience doesn't want to see a young boy's venom-induced swollen skin be slit open with a razorblade and see the blood mixed with poison spill out? I've had it with these motherf***ing grossouts on this motherf***ing plane! |
Best Original Filmmaking Concept
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Winner
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| J.J. Abrams (Mission: Impossible III) | Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) | Clint Eastwood (Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima) | Paul Greengrass (United 93) | John Lasseter (Cars) |
| For the concept of designing a full-blown complicated and technical plan to infiltrate the Vatican, kidnap Philip Seymour Hoffman, and stage his death. It was complete with disguises, acrobatics, cool technology, and explosions. A really good scene in an okay movie. | For the concept of designing an apocalyptic world full of violence, riots, random explosions, darkened skies, martial law, and not a single cast-member under the age of twenty. The attention to detail was uncanny. Complicated and well created. | For the concept of making two separate films both about the same epic battle, but each told from a different side of it. This is important because it presents the idea that we are all the same type of people, just wearing different uniforms. | For the concept of hiring no-name actors, making sure the actors don't know one another, and having them stage out their dramatic scenes often with hour-long takes and some improvisation. The impact is creating a sequence with individuals who really are strangers to one another, but come together to do something extraordinary. | For the concept of creating a world inhabited and run only by motor vehicles. No humans, not even animals. Instead of cows we have tractors. Very thorough and clever. |
Most Creative Casting
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Winner
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| James Cromwell as Prince Philip (The Queen) | Sam Elliott as The Marlboro Man (Thank You For Smoking) | Kelsey Grammer as Beast (X-Men: The Last Stand) | Doug Jones as Pan and The Pale Man (Pan's Labyrinth) | Bill Nighy as Davey Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) |
| I find it interesting that he is the only non-British castmember in this film, and yet he fits in rather well and shares a strong resemblance to Prince Philip. | Who better to play the rugged and tarnished legendary Marlboro Man than Sam Elliott who brought the icon into the real world with an interesting afterlife? | From the comics and the '80s show, I always described Beast as a mutant who speaks like a Harvard English professor. From that description alone, you know that Kelsey Grammer is perfect. When I first heard about this casting choice, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. | Jones' history of mime-work helped him capture these two characters who act significantly with their unique bodily movements. Look for him later this year as the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four 2. | Bill Nighy is also a very physical actor, and his exaggerations of expressions were essential for Jone's expressions to be distinguishable through the CGI. A smart casting choice indeed. |
Best/Worst Line (Last Category)
Winner 1
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Winner 2
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Loser 1
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Loser 2
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Little Miss Sunshine Richard: Everyone, just pretend to be normal. |
World Trade Center John McLoughlin to his wife: You kept me alive. |
The Pursuit of Happyness Chris Gardner: Don't ever let someone tell you, you can't do something. Not even me. |
V for Vendetta V: People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people. |
| This sums up the movie. The family is disfuctional, and they all know it. When it looks like they are in trouble, what do they have to do? Be normal. Hilarious! | I know that this is sort of a cliched line, but it had more of an impact here than any other film because I really felt it to be true. What kept John and Will alive under that debris was faith in each other and faith that they will return to their families. When the nearly-dead Nicolas Cage says that under his breath, that is when it became the best film of the year for me. | Even though the movie itself was meant to be a big sympathy-grabber, this line just overdid it. Way too sappy and uninspired. If I were that kid, I would feel like I had to be the parent now. | I disagree. Ideally, neither one would be afraid of eachother and they would live in harmony. That is why I didn't like the film as a whole. The message that violence and terrorism can lead to a better society was just in bad taste. Nonetheless, Hugo Weaving's deliverance made every line more enjoyable. |
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Well, I hope that you enjoyed my Third Annual Oscar Breach Awards. What a year it has been. Now we must wait another year for my Fourth Annual Oscar Breach Awards. Thank you for reading. |
