Rysh Guild Nominations 2008

The Rysh Guild, after 7 ballots of nominating candidates, have determined those qualified for awards in each of the Class A Categories. The categories are: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Lead Actor, Best Lead Actress, and Best Ensemble Cast.



(Best Picture)
1. Changeling
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3. The Dark Knight
4. Doubt
5. Revolutionary Road
6. Slumdog Millionaire

(Best Director)
7. Danny Boyle for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
8. Jonathan Demme for ‘Rachel Getting Married’
9. Clint Eastwood for ‘Changeling’
10. David Fincher for ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
11. Sam Mendes for ‘Revolutionary Road’
12. Chris Nolan for ‘The Dark Knight’

(Adapted Screenplay)
13. Eric Roth for ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
14. Chris Nolan, Jonah Nolan for ‘The Dark Knight’
15. John Patrick Shanley for “Doubt”
16. David Hare for ‘The Reader’
17. Justin Haythe for ‘Revolutionary Road’
18. Simon Beufoy for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

(Original Screenplay)
19. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for ‘Burn After Reading’
20. J Michael Straczynski for ‘Changeling’
21. Courtney Hunt for ‘Frozen River’
22. Dustin Lance Black for ‘Milk’
23. Judd Apatow, Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogan for ‘Pineapple Express’
24. Jenny Lumet for ‘Rachel Getting Married’

(Supporting Actor)
25. Aaron Eckhardt as Harvey Dent/Two Face in ‘The Dark Knight’
26. Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus in ‘Tropic Thunder’
27. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn in ‘Doubt’
28. Heath Ledger as The Joker in ‘The Dark Knight’
29. John Malkovich as Osbourne Cox in ‘Burn After Reading’
30. Brad Pitt as Chad in ‘Burn After Reading’

(Supporting Actress)
31. Amy Adams as Sister James in ‘Doubt’
32. Penelope Cruz as Maria Elena in ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’
33. Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller in ‘Doubt’
34. Marisa Tomei as Cassidy in ‘The Wrestler’
35. Debra Winger as Abby in ‘Rachel Getting Married’
36. Kate Winslet as Hannah Schmitz in ‘The Reader’

(Lead Actor)
37. Frank Langhella as President Richard Nixon in ‘Frost/Nixon’
38. Dev Patel as Jamal Malik in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’
39. Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in ‘Milk’
40. Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button in ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
41. Mickey Rourke as Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson in ‘The Wrestler’
42. Anton Yelchin as Charlie Bartlett in ‘Charlie Bartlett’

(Lead Actress)
43. Cate Blanchett as Daisy in ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
44. Anne Hathaway as Kym in ‘Rachel Getting Married’
45. Angelina Jolie as Cristine Collins in ‘Changeling’
46. Melissa Leo as Ray Eddy in ‘Frozen River’
47. Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius Beauvier in ‘Doubt’
48. Kate Winslet as April Wheeler in ‘Revolutionary Road’

(ensemble cast – see below for ensemble lists)
49. Burn After Reading
50. Changeling
51. The Curious Case of Benjamin button
52. The Dark Knight
53. Rachel Getting Married
54. Slumdog Millionaire

ENSEMBLES
Burn After Reading – (George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, Elizabeth Marvel, David Raschle, J.K Simmons)
Changeling – (Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Gattlin Griffith, Jason Butler Harner, Amy Ryan, Michael Kelly, Geoff Pierson, Colm Feore)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Jared Harris, Elisas Koteas, Phyllis Somerville, Tilda Swinton, Elle Fanning, Madisen Beaty)
The Dark Knight – (Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhardt, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Sir Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Eric Roberts, Colin McFarlane, Chin Han)
Rachel Getting Married – (Anne Hathaway, Rosmarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Anna Deavere Smith, Tundle Adebimpe, Debra Winger)
Slumdog Millionaire – (Dev Patel, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Tanay Chheda, Madhur Mittal, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Irrfan Khan, Rubina Ali, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, Freida Pinto)

Doubt

“I have doubts…I have such doubts”

Dynamite on the Screen and Doubt Left in the Soul

After reading John Patrick Shanley’s 58 page play, it was time to go see his own adaptation of his play into the screen. He picked a great cast – Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis. The film was poised to be spectacular. And it was.

Set in 1960s Brooklyn, Doubt is about Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep), a cranky nun stuck in the dark ages, who mounts a campaign against Father Flynn (Hoffman), a more progressive priest, based on her certainty that he has had illicit relations with the school’s first negro boy. Because the play was short, and the film much lengthier, Shanley was able to place all the substance of the book into the film. And, although I would love to see this play on stage, I “doubt” that a lot can be done to outdo this film.

Honestly, there is so much that leaves you thinking because of this film, that I really don’t want to put too much substance into this review. However, the main theme is, obviously, doubt. Doubt is an emotion just as powerful as certainty. What can it lead to? Doubt in your own faith. Doubt in others? All of this is eloquently expressed by Father Flynn and emulated through Sister Aloysius. You will not leave the theatre without something to think about on the ride home.

As far as performances go – it will be a sin if one of these actors isn’t sent home with a statue. Philip Seymour Hoffman is not going to beat out Heath Ledger, especially since he already has a statue. Streep likely won’t beat out Kate Winslet or Anne Hathaway for the same reason. I would place my money on either Amy Adams or Viola Davis. I have my ‘certainty’ that both of them will receive nominations, and I would place money on one of them to take the gold from Penelope Cruz. Right now, it’s a complete tie between the two of them. If I had to make a guess – I would vote for Amy Adams, but Viola Davis will win. Either way, it works, and it is well deserved.

Because I don’t want to talk about details too much, just take my recommendation to heart and see this film before it is taken out of theatres for it’s likely 4 month segue to DVD. 2008 becomes a record year – I give this film a solid A, and that now makes 4 A-range film for 2008. Woot!

The Visitor

“We are not helpless children”

Immigration, Romance, and the Drums. Which way, which way…

Richard Jenkins has been getting a lot of buzz for his performance in The Visitor. None of the Redboxes had it, so I bought it for my mother for Christmas. Was it worth the money – maybe. Do I wish the Redbox had it – definitely.

The film centres on Prof Walter Vale (Jenkins), who while visiting New York for a conference, finds two people inhabiting his rarely-used New York apartment. They are illegal immigrants. The plot summary stops here, because if I go any further, I will have ruined the film completely beyond its mediocre grade it will receive.

The film’s obvious message is that illegal immigrants shouldn’t be considered illegal. I have my own theories about immigration policy, so rather than trying to debate Hollywood or the ACLU, I will just analyze the film. The film was way too ambitious to really touch any of its points strongly. Only part of the film focuses on the bureaucracy behind immigration. Another big aspect of the film focuses on the main character’s growing fondness of the supporting character’s mother. Finally, another aspect focuses on the main character’s midlife crisis, and how he is learning to discover his true identity. The main visual motif it uses for this is Jenkins learning to play an African drum. However, because the film directed its attention equally to each of these aspects, and because the real political backdrop behind the film was obvious, though weak in its argument, it accomplishes very little. The film tries to do too much – is it really about immigration, impossible romances, or midlife crises? Well, I recommend El Norte, Shakespeare In Love, and American Beauty for all of the above, respectively, for those themes.

Richard Jenkins was good. He played his part well, and there is no reason to try to take away any potential Oscar nomination he might encounter. He has paid his due to the film industry, and his performance was pretty much the only thing that made the film tolerable to watch. His nomination is still an ‘if’ at this point, but he certainly won’t be able to win, I’m fairly certain of it.

Richard Jenkins saves this film from a worse grade, which I don’t really need to discuss. But because this film got lost in its own sense of purpose, I give it a C-.

Slumdog Millionaire

“It is written”

The Outcast is Finally Helped

Dev Patel – I know him as Anwar in the Channel 4 Series Skins. I didn’t care for his character, which transitively made me dislike the actor. But, Slumdog Millionaire seems poised to win it all this year, so I was excited when it was released at AMC 24.

Slumdog Millionaire focuses on Jamal Malik, a 17 year old Moslem who is just one question away from winning the Hindi version of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’. The police suspect him of cheating, as he comes from the slums of Mumbai and there is no plausible reason as to why he would know the answer to some of the questions. But, he is not cheating. He knows the answers. The film goes through different portions of his life as he tells the stories about how he knows the answers to the questions. In these stories are different quintessential genres – the harsh life of a poor boy from a third world, oppression, abuse, and, most of all, the romantic aspect. Slumdog captures is all, and, astoundingly, it manages to not be overly ambitious.

The strongest theme this film embodies is the power of the human heart over material. Obviously, this was much easier to accomplish among slumdogs who have nothing material. It shows how the humblest of hearts are the ones that appreciate what loves. Now, this does not mean that everyone should go ditch their possessions in order to become good people. However, I did get one good thing from this film – try to empathize with Jamal Malik. He might have something to teach you. If you didn’t have a lot of ‘stuff’, what would you have? Love? Family?

Now, back to Dev Patel – now that I never ever have to see Anwar again, I can now redraw Dev Patel in my mind as Jamal Malik. He caught a break there! He was recently nominated for Best Lead Actor by the Rysh Guild and Best Supporting Actor by the SAG. Arguments could be made for both lead and supporting. Either way, I am glad he is getting well-deserved recognition for his brilliant performance. And although he is standing among bigger giants in either category come the Oscars, a nomination is well deserved at this point, and I think we can all expect more things to come from Patel.

I left the theatre satisfied. This film was one of the many good films of 2008. It’s turning out to be a great season. And, although I can’t rank it with this year’s elites, it was a great film and I would recommend it. I give it a B+.