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Thought it was nice that Barazza and Kikuchi (both marvelous in 'Babel') were nominated in Best Supporting Actress category. Other than that, I wasn't too interested since they totally ignored the Techine/Deneuve/Depardieu film 'Changing Times'--althought I bet Mark Wahlberg is really good in 'Departed', because he always is. Enjoyed the shot of the Academy President and Selma up there--looked like cover for Los Angeles Magazine (the Movie Issue). However, that's currently got the hilariously witty one of Helen Mirren doing a little ultra-light Frederick's of Hollywood camp, so maybe they can make one of the issues of 'LA's 50 Most Powerful' the next time, except that they might not have quite enough money. Made me think of Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas somehow.

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I hope everyone gets the chance to see Pan's Labyrinth. I thought it was worth watching twice in theaters, something I rarely do anymore.

I couldn’t agree with you more. I haven’t had time to post about Pan’s Labyrinth, but it deserves all the raves it’s been getting. It’s getting good studio support as well as reviews, so I hope many people will get to see it.

canbelto writes: Maybe it's because I felt like all both the Empress and Emperor were pretty despicable, so siding with the Empress (Gong Li, which Zimou filmed in endless, voyeuristic closeups) is hard. As usual the film had great visual beauty.

Can’t say as I blame him. I can think of few moviegoing experiences more pleasurable than gazing voyeuristically upon the countenance of Gong Li, so that’s a recommendation IMO.

papeetepatrick writes: Thought it was nice that Barazza and Kikuchi (both marvelous in 'Babel') were nominated in Best Supporting Actress category.

I hope they don’t cancel each other out. I'd hate to choose between them but if you put a gun to my head I'd go for Barazza. I’ll start another topic for the Oscars, though.

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And Oscar noms today -- WHY was di Caprio nominated for Blood Diamond? He was 1000x better on The Departed.

I did start another thread for the Oscars, but to respond to your comment about DiCaprio, I’d say the Academy chose aright, for once. He’s okay in The Departed, but he’s lots better in Blood Diamond – the part is better suited to him, he’s running around Doing Stuff, initiating and dominating the action, not a victim of events and circumstance. (Also, the Academy likes accents and he was able to muster a good one.) I really enjoyed his performance, although the cynical-soldier-of-fortune-who-grows-a-conscience role is older than Methuselah.

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“The Painted Veil” seems to be falling through the cracks, so just a note that it’s worth catching if it should be playing in your vicinity. It’s more romanticized than the original story by W. Somerset Maugham, but that’s not necessarily bad IMO, and there’s good acting from Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, and Toby Jones, plus an amusing turn by Liev Schreiber as the sort of fellow who used to be called a bounder.

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I just saw 'A Comedy of Power' on its last day here in the short run it played in one theater, so most will find it on DVD soon--it's not going to get the cineplex bus-and-trucks. It's based on the 'Elf Aquitaine scandal of the 1990s, which exposed extensive corruption in France's giant gas company, then state owned' (quoted from review), and is Claude Chabrol's 2005 film and latest released in the U.S. Isabelle Huppert plays the judge who devotes all her time to the case and, of course, this is one of those determined types who never stops. Nevertheless, it is not nearly as predictable as one keeps thinking it's going to be. For this we have to thank Eric Rohmer and others who, as French who put up the good fight during blistering deliberations over the GATT agreement of the early 90s, made it possible for French cinema to continue to exist as itself. I'm still in disbelief they managed to pull it off. Without it, I don't know whether we would have had last years 'Cache' or even whether some of the films of Techine and Chabrol might have been tainted. In any case, I highly recommend and am glad I saved my movie money for discovering this the day before it disappeared from movie houses even in NYC. Even so, it lasted maybe 3 weeks, and was in a theater seating perhaps 30 people. There were 4 of us who attended this performance, which made it the most pleasant film experience I've had in years--and certainly the most disturbing: I saw 'Ballets Russes' in the same theater about a year ago, and even it had maybe 10 people.. wow..

Ms. Huppert is simply a marvel in this part. I don't see how she could possibly be any more nuanced and pro, but her range is huge.

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At least you were able to see it. I looked for that one but if it showed up in my vicinity I missed it.

papeetepatrick writes:

Ms. Huppert is simply a marvel in this part. I don't see how she could possibly be any more nuanced and pro, but her range is huge.

She gets better and better. I thought she was a beautiful blank in her younger days, but she has such authority now.

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I just had the honor of seeing Chris Cooper's amazing performance in "Breach".

Giannina

I hear he's great. Hoping to catch this before it's pushed out of theatres by new releases. I saw "Shattered Glass" by the same director, Billy Ray, on the subject of Stephen Glass, formerly of The New Republic, and it's a neat little movie with very good acting. (Not to mention helpful tips on what to say to your editor when he seems to think you're making stuff up: "Are you mad at me, Chuck?" "I feel really threatened right now," "Can you drive me to the airport? I don't think I should be alone," etc.)

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