The Squid and the Whale Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Last year's best actor, according to almost everyone in America, was Philip Seymour Hoffman. This year's is Forest Whitaker. But who is the better of the two? Luckily in the U.S., critics don't have to damage their brains deciding. In London, however, critics do. Thanks to later release dates in the UK, Capote is considered a 2006 movie there. So are Good Night, and Good Luck, The Squid and the Whale and The Upside of Anger. All four are featured among the nominees for the London Film Critics Circle awards, which will be presented February 8.

At least Hoffman hasn't been pit against Toby Jones, the other portrayer of Truman Capote, in Infamous. The former is in the Actor race while the latter is recognized in the British Actor category.

Neither Capote nor Good Night, and Good Luck, both of which were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar were considered by the London critics for Film of the Year. Their five picks were limited to more current releases, including The Queen, which received the most nominations, with seven.

Is it obvious that The Queen is recognized so well by the Brits? Well, considering it is a British film, it qualifies for more categories than other top contenders for the major awards. It is the only title to be listed in the Film of the Year and British Film ("The Attenborough Award") categories and Helen Mirren has been nominated for Actress and British Actress, an honor she shares with Judi Dench. Without the double mentions, The Queen would be tied with The Last King of Scotland for five noms.

As you know, the Oscar winners are determined by a highly secret, very scientific process guaranteed to ensure the very best of the nominees in each category will go home with the coveted statue of a naked golden man - and, let's be honest - who doesn't want a naked golden man on their bedside table or mantel? This year, as part of our extensive coverage of the awards show everyone loves to bitch about, we here at Cinematical headquarters are making our own highly scientific Oscar predictions in the top five categories, to assist you in placing bets with your bookies or office betting pools.

A few days ago, James Rocchi gave us his Oscar predictions, based on the Virtual Borgnine (tm), Rocchi's own invention based on the theory that Oscar winners are largely determined by old, rich, white men who have spent their whole lives in show business. Today, straight from the pristine lab located in my kitchen, we bring you Oscar predictions based on the Official Cinematical Pin the Oscar on the Donkey Oscar Prediction Game!

To assist me in the prediction process, I used my five assistants - my four (yup, I said four) younger children, ages 9, 6, 4 and 2, and my husband, Jay (he got to pick Best Picture, so I didn't have to deal with four kids fighting over who got to choose the last winner, but to keep it fair, the kids spun him around no less than 10 times. He's still recovering.) Each assistant was thoroughly blindfolded with an Oscar-worthy purple velveteen blindfold and spun around an appropriate number of times to ensure dizziness and slight nausea, which is pretty much what we feel when watching the Oscars anyhow. For purposes of determining the winner, the nominee that Oscar's head was closest to was judged to be the winner.

Without further ado, the Pin the Oscar on the Donkey Oscar Predictions:

Maybe I'm not as hip to the scene, but apparently Oscar song parodies have been all the rage for the past several years. Ever since producer Jack Lechner started an annual list along with his wife, Sam Maeser, folks all over seem to look forward to the way in which they take a popular song and change its lyrics to reflect some of the year's best films. However, according to the pair, this 10th edition may be their last - they're running out of songs.

A few of this year's parodies have popped up online, including Crash and March of the Penguins, though the favorite so far appears to be the one for The Squid and the Whale. Based off the popular Turtles song, this one is called Crappy Together and, instead of the original lovey-dovey lyrics, they're altered to fit the central theme of the nominated film. Here's an example...

[ Editor's note: the lyric excerpts have been removed at the request of Jack Lechner ]

You can view the rest of the song here. Lechner also creates parodies for The Independent Spirit Awards and you can catch some of them when the show airs this March 4th on Bravo and IFC. Feel free to come up with your own and leave them in the comments....I know you're just dying to tackle Brokeback Mountain.

Updated 2/17/06 by Kim Voynar

Noah Baumbach, whose The Squid and the Whale was one of the best American films of 2005, has signed some pretty big names for unnamed follow-up film. According to wire reports this morning, Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh (AKA Mrs. Baumbach) will costar in the project. Though details about the movie are currently hard to come by, it's known that the two will play sisters, and that the film is, not surprisingly, a comedy-drama. The story will explore the relationship between the sisters over the course of a weekend, during which one takes her son to visit the other.

Despite the lack of detail about its content, the combined success of Squid - as an independent film, its box office returns have been small, but it garnered universally positive reviews and has received a pile of awards - and the stature of its stars render this project an awfully exciting one. Frustratingly, there's no word yet on when production will get underway.

If you're one of those people who are in a pool at work, making some friendly bets with friends or dropping the big bucks in Vegas, and you're freaking out, not knowing who to go with, while it's just about that time - fear not! I have come to the rescue. Just to let you know ahead of time, I've kicked major ass in the past when it comes to predicting the big award shows. So, if you're looking for some last minute picks and need advice, feel free to follow. Trust me, all of your friends will envy you for coming out on top.

Here are my picks in the film categories only:

• Best Picture - Drama - Brokeback Mountain
• Best Actress - Drama - Ziyi Zhang (Memoirs of a Geisha)
• Best Actor - Drama - Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
• Best Picture - Musical or Comedy- The Squid and the Whale
• Best Actress - Musical or Comedy- Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)
• Best Actor - Musical or Comedy - Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line)
• Best Supporting Actress - Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain)
• Best Supporting Actor - George Clooney (Syriana)
• Best Foreign Language Film - Tsotsi
• Best Director - Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
• Best Screenplay - Crash
• Best Original Score - Brokeback Mountain
• Best Original Song - A Love That Will Never Grow Old (Brokeback Mountain)

 

Because the Golden Globes split up (don't even get me started on why I think this is a stupid idea) their best actor and actress awards into two categories - drama and musical or comedy, I feel they're a bit easier to predict. This is a fun year for best actress seeing as the category is dominated by award virgins (talking film here), mixed with an indie veteran and an old timer. While the veterans have won the last two years (Annette Benning and Diane Keaton), I feel this is the year where some new blood will ultimately rise to the top. Let's check this out...

 The Nominees:

1. Judi Dench (Mrs. Henderson Presents) - With her performance as the widowed Mrs. Henderson, hell bent on doing something a bit more daring with her life, Judi Dench once again finds herself amongst the year's best. The old timer in this group of five, Dench has proved before she doesn't need a ton of screen time in order to scoop up an award. In 1992, she won the best supporting Oscar for Shakespeare in Love after only 8 minutes on screen. However, with a quiet film (Jette described it as "one of those "prestige" pictures that you can watch with your dear old Mom ... provided your Mom won't be offended by the unclothed young ladies.") and tough competition, will it be enough to score the Globe?
2. Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice) - This film is based on the Jane Austen novel; Knightley plays Elizabeth; one of five sisters whose lives are turned upside down when two gentlemen arrive in their neighborhood. According to Ryan, Elizabeth is "an 18th-century fox, with tucked hair as short as a witch and legs taut and soccer-trained to deliver a swift strike to the generous derriere of her doppelganger, Bridget Jones." After taking home a Hollywood Film Award for Best Breakthrough Actor in 2004, this is Knightley's first time playing with the big boys...and it's all but guaranteed that it will not be her last.
3. Laura Linney (The Squid and the Whale) - Known for taking on roles of women who seem completely wholesome on the outside, yet complex on the inside, I would consider Linney an A-list indie actress. She's been nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for her performances in You Can Count on Me and Kinsey, however she's never quite been able to acquire the recognition she deserves. In The Squid and the Whale, Linney once again plays a troubled woman whose passion for writing leads to the downfall of her marriage and an affair with a younger man. Though her performance is powerful, as usual, it's only worthy of a nomination...not a win.
4. Sarah Jessica Parker (The Family Stone) - Like me, you're probably wondering where in the world Sarah Jessica Parker came from this year. Well, we know where she came from but what the hell is she doing with a Golden Globe nomination for, of all films, The Family Stone? This is Parker's first time on the film side of the Globes after previously winning for Sex in the City on the television side. Here, she plays an uptight girlfriend brought home for the holidays to meet her man's large and extremely WASP-like family. Though the film is labeled a comedy in its previews, there are definitely deeper and more dramatic elements to it. For all we know, Parker could steal a surprise win this year, but I wouldn't go and put any money on it.
5. Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) - Breaking away from the light and delicate romantic comedies, Witherspoon surprised us all with her portrayal of June Carter in Walk the Line. Playing Johnny Cash's road companion and eventual love interest, Witherspoon delivers a spoonful of southern charm with a mix of gritty "stand by your man" attitude. This is a whole new arena for the Legally Blonde actress and some feel she's a lock all the way through Oscar. Like her co-star, Joaquin Phoenix, she will have to win here in order to prove they're right.

My Prediction:

• Reese Witherspoon - If I were a gambling man, I'd go with Sarah Jessica Parker here. Because she sticks out and because the Globes are notoriously known for their wacky surprises, you'd think Parker was lined up perfectly to be one of those surprises. However, since the performances in Walk the Line cannot be ignored and because I feel Brokeback Mountain will take home the big awards, Witherspoon will join Phoenix in side-by-side best actor and actress wins.

After six ballots, the 55 film writers who make up with National Society of Film Critics chose Capote as the best film of 2005. In the second spot was A History of Violence, followed by a film that has received little notice this awards season, Wong Kar-Wai's 2046. Capote star Philip Seymour Hoffman also received top honors for his work as Truman Capote, just beating out The Squid and the Whale star Jeff Daniels for the honor. The gay cowboy, er, sheepherder, himself, Heath Ledger, finished third.

Refreshingly, apart from that whole Capote thing, this group of critics didn't really follow the 2005 awards trends, and ended up giving their prizes to a fairly diverse group of people and films. Other major winners were David Cronenberg, who took home the best director award (for A History of Violence), and Reese Witherspoon, who was named best actress for Walk the Line. Additionally, the rarely-mentioned pair of Ed Harris (A History of Violence) and Amy Adams (Junebug), won the supporting awards, while Noah Baumbach picked up yet another screenwriting nod for the hilarious, acerbic The Squid and the Whale.