Some shows worked well for what they were.  They can live on in the “I wonder what would have happened next” recesses of our brains.  However, the following is a collection of shows that ended too soon.

Wonderfalls – Created by Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Heroes, Dead Like Me) with executive producer and frequent Joss Whedon collaborator Tim Minear (Angel, Dollhouse, Drive) is a comedy with a splash of fantasy, a la Bewitched.  Jaye Tyler, played by Caroline Dhavernas, is a recent Brown University graduate who holds a go nowhere job as a sales clerk in a Niagara Falls gift shop.  Each episode centers on Jane being given cryptic instructions from inanimate objects (i.e. a wax lion, a monkey toy, etc) which would lead her to helping a person better their life.  Wonderfalls was mishandled by Fox in 2004.  It was scheduled to air in 2003, but held back.  It was switched from Friday to Thursday with nearly no advertising to notify the audience of the schedule change, and was canceled before the fifth episode.  It is available on DVD Region 1, and is totally worth checking out.

Firefly - Was a Space Cowboy action adventure dramedy created by Joss Whedon, who served as Exec. Producer with Tim Minear.  Once again Fox didn’t know what they had on their hands.  Fox continuously preempted broadcasts in favor of sporting events, which is a shame, because you really can’t get a more skewed audience.  The Whedon crowd aren’t typically the sit at the bar as the game goes into extra innings  crowd.  They are the read a great book, work on your cosplay, and brew your own beer crowd. Additionally Fox again aired the episodes out-of-order, making the introductions of characters awkward.  Whedon built the storyline around a seven season/year plan (Ha! reminds me of Uncle Buck) which was entirely too ambitious for a TV show.  Still, it would have been nice to see more of what he had planned.

Freaks and Geeks – Hands down the best coming of age show since the Wonder Years.  Created by Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow.  This was the story of Lindsay Weir and her younger brother Sam, the Freak and the Geek respectively.  The thing that made this show truly wonderful was the realistic and often bad choices the characters made.  It was true to life.  Their lives were never status quo by the end of each episode.  There were always true repercussions that reverberated through the rest of the characters’ lives.  Most shows are static.  Not a lot happens because producers are afraid to change-up the formula which is tried and true.  Freaks and Geeks was far from formulaic.

The Middle Man – The Middle Man was created by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, (LOST alum) for ABC Family, and is based on the Viper Comics series, The Middleman, also created by Grillo-Marxuach and illustrated by Les McClaine. The series ran for one season in 2008.  This very witty program focused on the larger than life adventures of photogenic temp employee Wendy Watson, as she is taken under the wing of a superhero codenamed The Middle Man.  Over the course of the 12 episodes, the Middle Man and sidekick Wendy Watson, AKA Dub-dub, face menaces like super intelligent primates, vampire ventriloquist dolls, Evil Lucha Libre Wrestlers, precious gem eating aliens, and alternate universe versions of themselves.  This show was on the wrong network, at the wrong time, in the wrong universe.  It should have aired in a place where I rule everything, because it would have been required watching for all of my subjects.  The Middle Man also featured some of the best episode titles in the history of television, including “The Flying Fish Zombification,” “The Cursed Tuba Contingency,” and “The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome.” I’ll go further in trying to coerce you into watching by sharing some funny dialogue from the show:

The Middleman: Special Agent Watson, slacking off the dress code, I see.

Wendy: Oh, I don’t do dress code after sundown.

The Middleman: It’s bad apples like you that put Mr. Hoover in a dress.

and…

Wendy: Uh, Sensei Ping. Like an unborn lotus festering in the mud waiting to blossom, I come to you with humble greetings to beseech your guidance, most awesome…

Sensei Ping: (laughs) Did The Middleman tell you to recite the most hallowed verse of greetings to Sensei Ping?

Wendy: Uh, yes.

Sensei Ping: He is such a comedian. You know, most of us masters of the martial arts are actually very laid back.

Wendy: Really?

Sensei Ping: No! (slaps her)

And here is a wonderful collection of one-liners from the show (Paul, I know you’re in the middle of watching The Middle Man, so skip this.  DO NOT WATCH!  Ha! A spoiler alert for an individual person…)

Drive – Drive broke my heart.  This was such a fun show.  What is wrong with you America that you let this go wrong so quick.  All you had to do was tune in.  You didn’t even need to watch.  You could have gone in the other room.  Drive was an action suspense  show created by Tim Minear (I’m apparently a huge fan of Minear’s failures) and Ben Queen.  Minear  described the show as being”a secret, illegal, underground road race that can be anything from Cannonball Run to The Game to North by Northwest to Magnolia-on-wheels.”  Sounds exciting?  It was!  Drive had an ensemble cast, but the Hitchcockian everyman to relate to was Nathan Fillion’s character Alex Tully.  The series began with Tully receiving a phone call informing him that his wife had been taken, and if he ever wants to see her again he needs to get to Florida, he can’t call the authorities, and he has to DRIVE.  It was so cool.

Story Matters at AMC, but so do ratings unfortunately...

Rubicon – AMC’s Espionage & Intrigue show was deliberately slow at first.  We discovered information as the characters did, which created a tension that was palpable. Rubicon featured a think tank group working for the American Policy Institute, API.  One of their analysts, played by James Badge Dale, uncovers a massive conspiracy involving a secret society that quite literally pulls the strings of governments, world markets, and populations through corruption, murder, profiteering, and the list just goes on and on.  It featured some wonderful nods to real world classic espionage techniques, like codes hidden in crosswords, park bench meetings, cover-ups, etc.  It was pretty awesome.  It was smart TV.  It was unfortunately canceled.  I’d love to see the creator make a film in the same genre.  I’d be first in line to buy a ticket to that.

Thanks for reading!

I got what I asked for.  Walking Dead Ep. 8 “Nebraska” showed some progress.  It was exciting!  There was story momentum!  We even got a decent shock ending.  I’m happy to say that I’ll tune in again next week. Faith is renewed.

I have a few disorganized thoughts about the episode.  If you watched “Nebraska” then it will make sense.  If you didn’t watch, then you should now, then return here.  Below my episode remarks is a quick bit of unsolicited character studies related to the Walking Dead Lawsuit making headlines now.  Enjoy!

The episode began at the exact moment that we left off a few months ago, which I have to admit, made me cringe.  I totally thought they were going to drag out the repercussions of what had just occurred.  I immediately imagined them bringing redundancy to a new level by sitting around a campfire for 30 minutes talking about what we had just seen.  Thank god they didn’t.

Rick shut up for a few minutes, which was refreshing.  Obviously, the reality of putting down Sophia weighed heavily on him.  It hurt him to discover that everything he was hoping for was completely off base.  As his brain re-booted, we see the rest of Hershel’s family come to terms with the loss of loved ones.  Some better than others.

Jumping ahead, Hershel and Rick’s ‘no hope’ discussion profoundly affected each of them.  They sort of led each other back from the cliffs of hopeless insanity.  Re-emerging from that journey of words, they both discovered a new willingness to do what needs to be done in this dead new world.  And what needs doing is simply WHATEVER IT TAKES to protect their loved ones, including the murder of Dave and Tony, who had just wandered into the wrong bar with their tough guy northeast accents and attitude.  Finally seeing Rick with that dead look in his eyes that I’ve grown to fear in the comic was pretty wonderful.  I feel like there is the chance that the Walking Dead is back on track.

In other news…. The Walking Dead Creators are suing each other!  You can read about it here:  Reuters Article , Publishers Weekly , and at The Beat -

The Robert Kirkman vs Tony Moore lawsuit  in the news over the weekend was timed perfectly for maximum news coverage!  Darn you pesky Lawyers love to get your cases in the spotlight!  I have no idea who is right, and who is wrong.  The contract that Tony Moore signed is not available to the public.  I have met Kirkman, Moore, and the current long running artist of the Walking Dead Charlie Adlard, and here are my impressions from meeting them.

Me & Kirkman

I’ve met Robert Kirkman on at least four occasions.  He has always been polite, fun and inviting.  He makes you as the fan feel like the important one.  He lets you know that he is nothing without YOU reading his work.  At comic conventions he has set times for signings.  I’ve witnessed him stay well past the scheduled time, just to make sure that he met everyone, and often hangs out just to talk.  In 2008 he was invited to join Image Comics as a partner, which is a comic company designed to publish creator owned graphic novels and comics.  In other words, every writer/ artist/ creator owns what they write/ draw/ etc.

And the awesome inscription Kirkman wrote to my son

And Kirkman signed this one before we had a name picked out.

From the Image Website – What does “creator-owned” mean?

“Creator-owned” means exactly that—the trademark and copyright of the work in question is wholly owned by its original creator. The majority of the comics and graphic novels published by Image are creator-owned. While Image as a company does have some say in the promotion and distribution of the titles it publishes, it is done with non-creative interference to protect the company and maintain responsibility for our public image.

My WD Adlard Page. It features most of the core cast. I love it.

Charlie Adlard is the current and very talented artist of the Walking Dead.  (Issue #7 – to the present, AKA just about 8 years)  I met him once at the New York Comic Con.  Also a warm inviting person, excited to meet his fans.  I shuffled right past him, so that is the extent of my impression.

Tony Moore, who initiated this suit, is someone who I have met as well at the NYCC, and that went quite differently.  I collect original comic art.  In fact I own a Charlie Adlard Walking Dead page.  So at shows, the artists will put their portfolios out for fans to peruse, and hopefully buy a page or two.  The moment I touched the book I was reprimanded and told to “be careful” and was told to “not bother looking if I wasn’t serious about buying.”  I was serious.  I noticed that he still had the majority of the art from the first 6 issues.  JACKPOT I thought.  Then I figured out why he still had them.  First, he is horrible at sales, by being rude, self-important, and basically condescending to people who could have been his fans at the con.  His prices are ridiculous!  The average price I saw was well over $400.00, and just to keep this in perspective, if you know comics, in my collection I own John Byrne, Adam Hughes, Chaykin, Larsen, Jim Lee, Mike Mignola, Dave Cockrum, Walt Simonson, Carmine Infantino and many other important artists’ works.  So you can see I’m not hesitant to spend a little money on some art.  These were just random interior pages, not worth the set prices.  Lastly, he comes off as very bitter about the Walking Dead, which is probably the only thing that people ask him about.  It’s all I wanted to talk to him about.  In that respect I feel sorry for him.  But keep in mind, that just because I really don’t like the guy doesn’t mean he’s wrong.  Maybe is due a huge payday.  I’m not a lawyer, and I haven’t seen this contract they’re all talking about.

In closing, it is a shame that a comic published by a “Creator Owned” company like Image is causing a dispute between two creators.  It gives a black eye to the industry and the creator owned movement.  My advice to them both is to go out, get a beer, air your grievances, and if that doesn’t work, they should duel to the death with a choice of these weapons – Knives, Maces, Zip Guns, or a socks filled with quarters.

That is my two bits.

See you all next Sunday for Walking Dead S2 Ep.9

I can’t blindly follow a television show anymore, not with literally a thousand channels available.  There is just too much available for me to settle for mediocrity.  If a show airs a boring episode, I simply change the channel.  I feel no allegiance to any show that I watch.    If you bore me, you’re off of my Thursday night line-up.  Simple as that.

That said, I’ve been watching the Walking Dead Season 2, and to put it bluntly, it ain’t that good.  In fact it’s been a lot of nothing.  It’s not horrible, but it is nothing to write about (except for what I’m saying here of course).  There were a few (very few) jaw dropping moments, but they have been very few and so far between.

I’m a reader of the comic and a huge fan of the first season, but something has simply gone wrong.  It lost its mojo.

I think a lot of it has to do with momentum.  The first season really grabbed you by the throat and didn’t let go.  Everything was life or death for the entire group.  Sacrifices were constantly being made.  Season 2 thus far has been a lot of waiting around, talking about what they’re going to do next.  Arguing.  Whining. Looking for Sophia. Scouting.  A few more arguments.  It was very tedious.   The entire first 7 episodes could have fit into 2 1/2 hours, and it would have been a really exciting 2 1/2 hours, but they dragged it out to 7.

The comic is  slow too, but it works because you can read an issue in ten minutes.  It doesn’t take an hour to reach the cliffhanger.  Comics are a different medium all together and does not translate perfectly to television or film (If it did, then the Spirit would have been a good movie).  It takes finesse.  It takes creative license.  It takes a large group of people with a vision.  While a comic takes 3 or 4 people with complete control over their portion of the finished product.

Waiting the 7 episodes to see what happened to Sophia was not worth the wait.  It was fairly obvious what happened.  Why?  Because it had to happen.  Walking Dead  moves too slow to have child actors on it (watch out Carl….)  If it makes it to season 3 Carl will be shaving and Sophia would have been six feet tall.   Walt was written off Lost for the same reason.

I still have hope for the rest of the season.  I hope Michonne walks out of the woods with dog collared zombies.  I hope Tyreese shows up to shake things up.  I hope they stop talking and start doing.  Simply putting some zombies down at the end of the last episode wasn’t enough.  This show needs to push buttons.  It needs to be as desperate as the characters in it.  It needs to shock us every minute or at least every other minute.  It needs Rick to stop being the good guy, and start being the character we all grew to be weary of in the comic.  It seems that the Hollywood powers-that-be want a gleaming knight on horseback to lead this band of survivors, and, well, that ain’t Rick.  In fact it is none of these people, and THAT is what has made these stories so great.  Robert Kirkman needs to whip these writers into shape and get them to tell a zombie epic worthy of the source material he’s written.

I’ll watch tomorrow, and sure I’ll enjoy it.  How could I not?  It is zombies.  Will I have anything to say about it?  Only if its worth saying.  But I swear, if its boring I’m switching to the History Channel because there is always one more thing I can learn about WWII, sharks, the Bible, or Aliens.

Walking Dead Sunday Feb 12th @ 9PM

Watch Here! Walking Dead Ep. 8 Preview “Nebraska”

Freaks (1932) , directed by Tod Browning. Freaks is regarded as a horror classic. In my humble opinion, labeling this film as just horror is a disservice. It is a crime film, a circus film, an unrequited love story, and a horrific tale of revenge. The first time I had heard of this film, was when Whoopie Goldberg and Lyle Lovett quote the line “One of us!” in the film The Player. Freaks is the story of a sideshow ‘freak’ / little person, Hans, falling in love with an acrobat named Cleopatra.

The interesting thing about freaks is the way that it reverses expectations. You assume that the freaks are going to be the bringers of HORROR. Because of their disfigurements, differences, etc. We assume that they want to enact revenge on the outside world like a Phantom of The Opera style character. This can’t be further from the truth. At the circus, they have a perfect community in which they accept each other, and potentially You, with open arms…. As long as you accept them for who and what they are. If you are all on the same page they will allow you to become “One of us!”

The real horror of this story is revealed in the black deeds of the regular people. Cleopatra plans to marry and murder Hans for his money that he has saved. She is a monster in every sense of the word.

The story culminates in a confrontation on a dark and stormy night between Cleopatra, her accomplice, and the circus freaks. And, let me tell you, you will not believe how they enact carny justice. Check it out.

Next up was Frankenstein (1931) directed by James Whale. I went into this expecting a hokey old film. Instead I was amazed to find a complex story of ethics. This film really is timeless for many reasons.

1. Boris Karloff’s performance evoked both fear and sadness with every moan, step, and lurch. Having just witnessed the birth of my son, I imagine the monster was a blank slate. Rather than being loved, he is chained in a basement, poked and prodded. Wouldn’t you go on a rampage after your Dad treated you this way?
2. The cinematography by Arthur Edeson was way ahead of its time. His composition is something of pure beauty. Stop and pause some of the wide shots and look at how perfect it is.
3. The surrealist production design of Charles D. Hall, seemed to reflect the inner madness of the characters.
4. The building of tension. Even though YOU know Frankenstein is right there, the characters don’t. This film lets the audience in on information that the characters are not privy to, and that makes for a few nail-biting, edge of your seat moments.
5. A universal tale. How? Well, Frankenstein is about crossing lines that shouldn’t be crossed. It is about going too far, and facing the repercussions for doing so. It is such a broad theme applied to such a horrific tragic tale. Medical science has reached a point where the Horrors of Frankenstein are very nearly here. We can transplant organs, limbs, eyes. It is a brave new world where ethics need to continuously be considered as fiction and reality are coming uncomfortably close to one another.

I look forward to watching this again soon. Perhaps next year.

If you have any suggestions for recent horror films, please share as I am always looking for a good one.

Up next? The Premiere of the Walking Dead Season 2, Cat People, and the Wolfman (Not the stupid new one though.)

New York Comic-Con was this past weekend. I went. I saw. It kicked my ass. I don’t know how I used to do these things. I’m still tired. I don’t have a lot to report on. The crowds were overwhelming at times, but never rude. It is a perfect place for geeks to gather and just be themselves for a couple of days in the greatest city in the world.

Wolverine pensively thinking about his Jean…

Bizarro!

the Bat-family!

The spider-man villains getting satisfaction

Python’s Black Knight

Spidey!  Watching video games.

Doctor Doom!

Bumblebee!

A Dalek!

Me meeting Robert Kirkman, creator of the Walking Dead!

And what he wrote to my son! (I told him that he can’t read it until 2027 because of the adult nature.)

An amazing drawing of Faith by Rebekah Isaacs, the current artist on the Buffyverse comic Angel and Faith.  If you don’t know what any of these things are, just go here: http://whedonesque.com/.

I bought a copy of Magus #s 1 and 2 from Isaacs and writer Jon Price, and now regret not buying 3,4,and 5.  It is a terrific story about Magic returning to the world.  Check it out at the 12 Gauge comic  site HERE.

One of my absolute favorite cars

And lastly me, in a Star Wars toy package.

Hope you enjoyed my quick post.  I have many more pics.  Perhaps I’ll post a few more tomorrow.

Director:

Danny Boyle

Life Less Ordinary – You might find this odd, but it wasn’t Shallow Grave or Trainspotting that made me sit up and notice Danny Boyle.  It was a Life Less Ordinary.  The whimsy of this film literally makes me smile when I think about it.  It felt like a Grant and Hepburn film of the fifties or sixties.  In  nutshell,  it’s the story of a man, Robert, played by Ewan McGreggor, who is faced with the stress of something we all worry about in this economy.  He loses his job when his employer decides to replace him with a highly efficient-yet-cartoony robot.

Robert, over-reacting, then goes on an absurd adventure which includes kidnapping, a pair of  matchmaking angels from heaven, a surreal musical number, and finding your true love.  The happy accidental miscasting of Dan Hedaya, Holly Hunter, and Delroy Lindow as angels is perfect.  Their chemistry on-screen is perfect.  You never know what they are going to do.  Which is perfect, because we mere humans should never be able to understand heavenly matters.

Lastly, the use of the song “Leave” by REM was nothing short of BRILLIANT.
This song utilizes a long instrumental opening building to a loud and  violent crescendo of electronic music and Michael Stipe’s voice  screaming the lyrics:

Nothing could  bring me closer.
Nothing could  bring me near.
Where is the road I follow
To leave, leave?

It’s under, under, under my feet.
The sea spread out there before me.
Where do I go when the land touches sea?
There is my trust in what I believe.

That’s what keeps me,
That’s what keeps me,
That’s what keeps me down,
To leave, believe it,
To leave it all behind.

Shifting the dream
Nothing could bring me further from my old friend time.
Shifting the dream
It’s charging the scene
I know where I marked the signs.

I suffer the dreams of a world gone mad
I like it like that and I know it
I know it well, ugly and sweet,
That temper madness with an even extreme.

That’s what keeps me
That’s what keeps me
That’s what keeps me down
I say that I’m a bantam lightweight
I say that I’m a phantom airplane
That never left the ground.

That’s what keeps me,
That’s what keeps me,
That’s what keeps me down,
To leave it, believe it.
Leave it all behind.

Lift me, lift me,
I attain my dream.
I lost myself, I lost the
Heartache calling me.
I lost myself in sorrow
I lost myself in pain.
I lost myself in clarity,
Memory, leave, leave.

That’s what keeps me,
That’s what keeps me,
That’s what keeps me down,
To leave it, believe it,
Leave it all behind.

That’s what keeps me,
That’s what keeps me,
That’s what keeps me down,
To leave it, believe it,
Leave it all behind.

Lift my hands, my eyes are still,
I’ll walk into the sea
Shoot myself in a different place
And leave it

I’ve longed for this to take me,
I’ve longed for my release
I’ve waited for the callin’
To leave, leave.

Leave, leave.
Leavin’, leavin’

REM is usually more upbeat, i.e. “Stand” “Shiny Happy People” even “It’s the end of the World as We Know it.”   This song seems like it never should have made it out of the studio, but I’m glad it did, because it is perfect in this film.  It brought a level of anxiety, desperation, violence, and love to this film that then brought me to the edge of my seat.

If you have not yet seen this film, move it to the front of your queue.  Do it now.

The Troll Hunter , aka Trolljegeren, is a 2010 Norwegian horror mockumentary written and directed by André Øvredal.

Without giving too much away, this film features a small university film crew from Volda College hoping to expose bear poachers.  While hot on the trail of a suspected illegal bear hunter, Hans, they see something unbelievable. “TROLLS!”  Without skipping a beat, their documentary switches focus to a new subject, the exposure of these ancient magical beings.

Following the formula laid out by past documentary style horror films, we experience the discovery through the eyes of the film crew.  In this case though, childhood fairy tale monsters have sprung to life and the crew can’t be more excited about it.  They run through the forest in the dark smiling ear to ear without any thought to what the Grimms, Anderson, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe attempted to teach  them.  Fairy tale monsters generally threatened to EAT the protagonist.  Many think of these tales as “Y’know, for kids,” and they were and still are, but they teach lessons as well.  They teach us not to go wandering off into the forest when our parents told us to do chores.  We learned not to eat edible houses.  Tolls must be paid to cross bridges.  Etcetera etcetera.

All in all, this was a wonderful film.  Acting, production value, script, and SFX all came together to tell a fun and exciting story.  It gives a modern take on an old story, in that the filmmakers, just like children in fairies tales of the past,  take it all a little too flippantly, and never treat the trolls with the caution that they deserve.

The film takes an interesting turn revealing man’s relation to trolls in Norway and a bit of a conspiracy surrounding the knowledge of their existence.  Through this twist we then get a final moment which made me yell out loud with laughter.

Some might say the docu-film technique is being over used now.  But I say nay.  This is a viable and fun way to tell a story.  It caters to what the masses want.  The numbers don’t lie,  as proven by the audiences that American Idol, Dancing with C List Celebrities, and all those Bachelor shows get every week.  But seriously, Troll Hunter works.  It makes the viewer feel immersed in what is happening, because we literally share a point of view with a character.

We’re not just a fly on the wall, We’re a person in the room.

Re-interpretation, rebooting, ret-coning, revising, all these techniques of re-tooling classic stories and ideas are necessary.  It paves the way to the future by telling us new stories that are rooted firmly in the past classics.

Below is the Poem “Instructions” by Neil Gaiman, (which I’ve actually heard him read on three occasions in person) about what to do if you ever find yourself in a fairy tale.  It is amazingly amusing.  Enjoy!

Actor in a Leading Role

• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” – Terrific actor, but I think the academy will allow for it to be someone else’s turn.
• Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” – Unfortunately, westerns generally don’t win.
• Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network” – While he was finally something different from his character in Roger Dodger, Zombieland and Adventureland, this still isn’t an Oscar worthy performance.
• Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” – THE WINNER
• James Franco in “127 Hours” – I would have no problem with the surprise win by Franco in this category.

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Christian Bale in “The Fighter” – They should just call this the Christian Bale Award.
• John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone” -
• Jeremy Renner in “The Town” – He was great in The Hurt Locker, but this sort of feels like we could have just nominated Stallone for the Expendables.
• Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” – Not all that great.
• Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech” – THE WINNER

Actress in a Leading Role

• Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” – Ehhhh
• Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole” – Ehhhh
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” – Amazing
• Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” – THE WINNER, I haven’t seen it yet, but this is still what I think.
  
• Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” – …….didn’t see it…… sorry

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams in “The Fighter” – She should win the Christian Bale award as well.
• Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech” – THE WINNER
• Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” – Fantastic, but…… just not enough.
• Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” – Her performance makes me sad that westerns don’t generally win. Hailee’s performance hearkens back to classic Hollywood cinema for me.
• Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” – Didn’t see it……

Animated Feature Film

• “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois – Adorable but predictable.
• “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
• “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich- Hesitant THE WINNER
• I would just give a second award to “UP”

Art Direction

• “Alice in Wonderland” – Really amazing, but it is just another Tim Burton movie. It was what I expected.
  Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” – Wonderfully Dark and Foreboding.
  Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• “Inception” - THE WINNER for upside-down cities, ancient crumbling skyscrapers, and Swiss Alp fortresses.
  Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
• “The King’s Speech” - Possible… The recreation of the Royals apartments and era were flawless.
  Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
• “True Grit” - Looked great, but just filler for the category.
  Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography

• “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
• “Inception” Wally Pfister – Amazing, but this is the New York Yankees of Movies. They just paid as much money as possible until they got exactly what they wanted. It seemed less cinematography and more exactly what Nolan wanted, to the frame.
• “The King’s Speech” Danny Cohen – THE WINNER Beautiful tracking shots through the palace. Close ups that made us uncomfortable while waiting for a person to speak. This is what movies should look like.
• “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
• “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design

• “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
• “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
• “The King’s Speech” Jenny Beavan
• “The Tempest” Sandy Powell – Hahahahahahaha ….. Spider man the Broadway musical… Hahahahahaha ….. Sorry, I just can’t see or hear or read anything about Julie Taymor without falling into uncontrollable laughter.
• “True Grit” Mary Zophres – OUT ON A LIMB – THE WINNER

Directing

• “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
• “The Fighter” David O. Russell – Great film, but the last 20 minutes sort of bored me.
• “The King’s Speech” Tom Hooper – THE WINNER
• “The Social Network” David Fincher – Maybe….
• “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen- The last 20 minutes were awesome, but the Coens don’t really need another award.

Documentary (Feature)

• “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz – THE WINNER
• “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic – I had no idea natural gas could cause so many unnatural problems.
• “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
• “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject) (Watching all of these tomorrow)

• “Killing in the Name” Jed Rothstein
• “Poster Girl” Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block
• “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
• “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
• “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing

• “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
• “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
• “The King’s Speech” Tariq Anwar
• “127 Hours” Jon Harris – THE WINNER
• “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film

• “Biutiful” Mexico
• “Dogtooth” Greece – THE WINNER
• “In a Better World” Denmark
• “Incendies” Canada
• “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup

• “Barney’s Version” Adrien Morot
• “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
• “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey – THE WINNER - This was a HORRIBLE movie, but …

Music (Original Score)

• “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
• “Inception” Hans Zimmer
• “The King’s Speech” Alexandre Desplat
• “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
• “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross- This music complimented the film in ways that amazed me. THE WINNER

Music (Original Song)

• “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
• “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
• “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong – THE WINNER
• “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3″ Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Picture (I will UPDATE later) I’m seeing Black Swan today.

• “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
• “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
• “The King’s Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
• “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
• “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• “Winter’s Bone” Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

• “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
• “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
• “Let’s Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
• “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
• “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)

• “The Confession” Tanel Toom
• “The Crush” Michael Creagh
• “God of Love” Luke Matheny
• “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
• “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

I’m watching the animated and live action shorts tomorrow before the show, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a great story! I do live in the New York City area after all! At the last Tribeca film fest my wife and I attended the shorts programs, and I had to leave the theater at one point for a moment. When I came back in, I stood in the back of the theater so I didn’t  distract anyone. The film was The Crush, nominated for the live action short Oscar. While I was standing in the rear of the theater others entered and stood with me. One man stood right next to me and commented on a point at which I laughed at the film. We spoke for a moment. I was critical of the film but told him that overall it was the best film in the series I had seen. When the credits rolled the directors of the films were called up and I realized I was talking to the film’s director, Michael Creagh, who is now nominated for an Academy Award. I met an Oscar nominee! Only in New York.

Sound Editing

• “Inception” Richard King – THE WINNER
• “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
• “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
• “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
• “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing

• “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
• “The King’s Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley – THE WINNER
• “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
• “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
• “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects

• “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
• “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
• “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb – THE WINNER
• “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
• “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin – THE WINNER
• “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
• “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Winter’s Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
• “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
  Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
• “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
• “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
• “The King’s Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler – THE WINNER

At the bottom of the post you’ll find my White Rabbit…

David E. Kelley, known for creating Ally McBeal, the Practice, Boston Public, Boston Legal and recently Harry’s Law, had been circulating a pilot script around the networks for months now. Kelley “ had been looking to do a contemporary take on the World War II-era Amazon” according to Deadline.

When asked what to expect from the new modern take on Diana Prince, Kelley said “It’s too complicated to categorize,” and “But that, for me, was the most fun thing: complicating the character and probing a lot of her human dimension — and not just the superhero.”

Not to flaunt my nerdiness, but Wonder Woman is not human.  She was created from the clay of the Earth on the island of Themyscira by the Gods.  She is a wonderfully dichotomous character in that she was sent to “man’s world” to be an ambassador for peace, but is a warrior.

Over at Salon, Mary Elizabeth Williams said “The guy who killed feminism is reviving Wonder Woman. Well, that’s just great.”  I couldn’t agree more.

Kelley was also quoted in Entertainment Weekly saying  the show would be “a reinvention of the iconic D.C. comic in which Wonder Woman — aka Diana Prince — is a vigilante crime fighter in L.A. but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life.”  WHAT?!  I really hope that there isn’t going to be a quirky theme song every time they transition to her local coffee shop which will probably be called “Juno’s Java”

Wonder Woman should be alien-like.  She should be above the everyday crap that Kelley characters care about like dates, restaurants, movies, news, biological clocks, etc.  The regular Kelley story issues shouldn’t even occur to her!

David E. Kelley is TV creator who probes the psyches of quirky lawyers, business people, teachers, and now super heroes?  Wonder Woman needs to solve world issues not local crime in L.A.!  She needs to commune with the ancient gods on behalf of mankind!  She’s not a corporate executive!  What next?  A Batman show where he also runs a bakery in Detroit!  How about a show where the Flash also runs a courier service just to meet his bills?  I just don’t know about this…