PLUG: Matte Havoc

Robert Englund Scratches His Way to a Blogathon

SAN DIEGO, California (July 19, 2010) - Character actor Robert Englund has been selected by the blogger-in-chief of the movie blog Matte Havoc [ www.mattehavoc.com ] to be the subject of a special one-day blogathon event. The event has been scheduled to take place on November 9, 2010 at 2:28 PM (PST) and will appear on the Matte Havoc website. At the specified date and time there will be an appearance of a directory style list of URL links that will send all of the site visitors to a variety of articles, reviews, and editorials that have been published by the participating bloggers and writers. This could include ewe as a participating writer if it something of interest to ewe!

In 2009, the actor had published an autobiography book about his professional career as an actor. It was not until the middle of the 1980s when his work will be cemented in movie history when he appeared as a cultural icon of horror. The horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street was released on November 9, 1984 sparking an immediate impression on the international audience as well as spawning six sequels, a spin-off “battle” movie, and a remake film.

The only set of rules and qualifications that have been set for participation in the event would be as follows. Every participating writer must have the blogathon related material published on a pre-existing website or blog prior to the day of the event. The content of the material must directly relate to Robert Englund’s acting career in some form or fashion. All submissions must be sent in to the contact e-mail listed below before the day of the event; otherwise, it will be disqualified from participation. Make sure to include a direct URL link to each article in the submission. There is no limit to the number of submissions for the event.

Contact:
D.J. Heinlein, Blogger-in-Chief
mattehavoc@gmail.com
www.mattehavoc.com

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Got a Press Release, something to Plug, or a Screener available for review (or some combination of the three)? Ok, don't get all crazy about it. Just click here and give me the details (what, when, where, and a link, for starters) - I'll handle the rest.

The LAMB Devours the Oscars - Best Film Editing

Editor's note: Welcome to the fourth of a 33-part series dissecting the 82st Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!










By D.J. Heinlein of Matte Havoc.

Film editing is a visual art form in which the artist intentionally goes unnoticed in order to tell a story. In addition, the editor can be a lifeline for the success of the film and its crew. As noted in an interview for a documentary on film editing, Sean Penn has been quoted as saying, "I think great editing skill will protect a director from suicide." Good to know, I guess. With a certain amount of ingenuity and skill, Edwin S. Porter can be credited with the initial appearance of film editing as we know it today. When he started releasing his edited films in 1903, the editing style was rather basic with the technique of a cuts only form of transitioning between parallel sequences. Two notable movies from Porter’s collection of films released in 1903 that have utilized the rudimentary techniques of editing include Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery.

For the last eighty-two years, the film industry, prominently centered in Los Angeles, California, has been honoring the contributions made by numerous film artists. Particularly, the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have nominated several names of editors and associate filmmakers for their work that has been released during the year of 2009. The nominees are considered leading contributors for the art form over the course of the year. According to Rule 13 of the Academy Awards of Merit for Achievements During 2009, all editing nominees are appointed, confirmed, and finally selected with a single winner by means of the following procedural list. . .

1. A Reminder List of all eligible motion pictures shall be sent with a nominations ballot to all members of the Film Editors Branch, who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more than five productions.


2. The five productions receiving the highest number of votes shall become the nominations for final voting for the Film Editing award.


3. In accordance with Rule Two Paragraph 5, only film editors who hold principal position credit(s) shall be considered eligible for the Film Editing award.


4. Final voting for the Film Editing award shall be restricted to active and life Academy members.

In rule number three there is a reference to "Rule Two, Paragraph 5" as the legal definition of properly receiving a film credit. Here is that defining paragraph in its entirety. . .

"Eligibility for all awards shall first be determined by credits as they appear on the screen and/or as certified to the Academy by the producing companies, but final determination in any event shall be made by the Academy. The Academy shall not be bound by any contract or agreement relating to the sharing or giving of credit and reserves the right to make its own determination of credit for purposes of Awards consideration."

If all that has been previously stated was perceived by the reader as nothing more than incoherent gibberish, then here is a brief summary that I can offer in non-technical language. To nominate a person or group of people for a specific category, such as film editing, you must be an active member within the sub-branch of the Academy for which you are voting. You are allowed to nominate up to five recipients from a list of eligible contestants who has been legally credited for their work on a film by having their name listed in the screen credits and by the records of the production company who produced the film. Of course, the Academy has the final say on the approval of the credits for each candidate, thus allowing them to produce a list of eligible names from which each voting member can officially nominate another member for an achievement award.

In paragraph four of rule thirteen there is a simplified acknowledgment that all eligible members of the Academy, regardless of their sub-branch, are allowed to vote for one nominee out of the five most popular nominations in order to award a single candidate or team of candidates for their work completed on a film.

This has been a very long-winded way of announcing the following nominees for Best Achievement in Editing for the 82nd annual Academy Awards; also known as the Oscar Awards.

Avatar (2009)
EDITORS: James Cameron
John Refoua, A.C.E.
Stephen Rivkin, A.C.E.

Marked as the first film to earn over two billion dollars in ticket sales for an international release (see this news blurb for information) Avatar has been clearly labeled as James Cameron’s ultimate blockbuster film that outperforms the financial success of Titanic (1996). At the time, the film was nominated for the category of Achievement in Film Editing it had just passed the seventh consecutive weekend marked in the first place spot at the domestic box office in the United States. That figure alone is impressive to consider these days when most movies are lucky enough to have any consecutive number of weekends in one of the top five spots of domestic box office earnings. Now the question would be to consider the reason why the film would be nominated for an award for editing. It would be more comprehensively understand and even logical to keep it locked down to the categories of best use of special effects and sound design. I would like to say that the film might be deserving of technical achievement award for the integration of new 3D camera technology. However, after reviewing the recent winners of the Academy’s Scientific & Technical Awards the vast majority of the candidates have earned an accolade for the advancement of 3D technology. Oh, what a surprise it is to hear this news. (Note that I ended that last sentence with a period and not an exclamation point. It should imply my sarcasm for the situation.) I must say that I am a bit cynical about the plausibility that Mr. Popular deserves an award for the best achievement in editing. I have no evil intent toward the two co-editors of the film (Stephen E. Rivkin and John Refoua); because they both have established records that prove of their talent as individuals capable of doing an excellent job. In fact, I have seen several of the films that Mr. Rivkin has personally edited and have thoroughly enjoyed watching each one of them. Is the film really worthy of stomping out the competition in terms of earning the best achievement in film editing for the year of 2009? Special effects, yes. Sound design, yes. Film editing, maybe, but probably not as much. Although it has been reported that Steven Spielberg is comparing his experience of watching this film to the experience he had of watching the original Star Wars film (Episode 4: A New Hope) it would not imply that the editing for this film was the first thing on his mind. Can we say "amazing special effects" are the key undertone here? Anyone? I doubt he was suggesting the film to be receiving any award recognition for the editing. Or was he? Sorry, guys!

District 9 (2009)
EDITOR: Julian Clarke

It was the science-fiction surprise hit of the late summer season. It almost flew out of nowhere from a “little known” country of South Africa. Have you ever heard of the country? It is the same place where Charlize Theron is from. Observe the odd connection that she is also a recipient of an Oscar award, so it might be a good omen for this film. With a nod to the New Zealander bigwig by the name of Peter Jackson the movie District 9 was financed to be adapted from the short film Alive in Joburg (2005) and evolved into a feature length, science-fiction film that had just about everyone interested in seeing it last summer. The editing for the film was done by a young Canadian by the name of Julian Clarke. At the age of 32 years old, he has already reached the milestone of being nominated for an Oscar award. Congratulations are in order for him. Personally, I would like to see his work for District 9 garner a bit more attention since I consider it to have done a service in producing a great story with little distraction for the viewer. Although the film does contain quite a bit of special effects as would be the nature of any science fiction film (ahem, Avatar), but the film is not as flashy with the special effects which allows enough room left over to tell a quality story (ahem, take note Avatar). This allows an opportunity for the Julian Clarke, the editor, to bring all the pieces together in order to tell a story that will draw the in the audience completely.

The Hurt Locker (2009)
EDITORS: Chris Innis
Bob Murawski

Working on an action film could be quite a headache, I would imagine, when the time arrives to piece together the battles sequences that are action intensive scenes with a lot of sound editing to be mixed in with the film editing. The working duo for the editing of The Hurt Locker was the perfect selection for such an intertwining challenge. Both have garnered enough experience with their previous films to work upon an action film. Chris Innis (who is from San Diego, woohoo!) has a couple of film credits to her name working as a sound editor, a few more credits as an assistant film editor, and also an additional list of credits as an ADR voice actress. These three sections of work experience garner enough knowledge for her to be able to handle the audio portion of the film editing that would include all of the sound effects and the musical score. Her partner in the editing bay would be Bob Murawski. I would say he is quite the overachiever as an editor when it comes to big name credits as the Spiderman trilogy as well as several major horror films such as Drag Me to Hell (2009) and Army of Darkness (1992). These films have given him enough experience in cutting together action sequences as well as a large amount of tense moments of blood and guts in order to piece together a wartime film. Having these two editors work in a partnership for The Hurt Locker has conjured up a lethal combination that definitely works in favor of the film’s final cut. I would definitely want to place my vote in favor of this film winning the Oscar award for the best achievement in film editing for the year.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)
EDITOR: Sally Menke

Oh, how much the hardcore movie nerds love to watch the films from Quentin Tarantino so that they can point out the entire list of obscure movie references that he splatters throughout each one. Sometimes his egotism as self-proclaimed movie geeks can be one of the most prominent character flaws that would stand in the way of really connecting with the average movie-watching person. However, with the latest World War II action film Inglourious Basterds he was able to cross a new bridge that squashed any question that his critics may have raised with a hope that his career maybe fading out of existence. He has hit hard, hit fast, and found a new way to entertain the world. The editor for this film is Sally Menke. She has worked with Tarantino on several occasions before this film. Ms. Menke has even been honored with an Oscar nomination for her editorial work on Pulp Fiction (1994). It would be intriguing to see that she is recognized for her work, especially since she has quite a variety of genres and styles credited to her name. There is only one thing about this film that I am afraid will steal away all the attention away from her opportunity in earning any recognition for her work on the film. Ever since it was released to the public, there has been a large amount of attention given to the performance of actor Christoph Waltz. Although befitting to garner attention for a job well done by an actor in a villainous role, it should not steal all of the attention for the film. I have my fingers crossed that Ms. Menke will win an award for the film if not, at least, flies in with a close second place spot.

Precious (2009)
EDITOR: Joe Klotz

This film flew right out of the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival with such ferocity that it pushed Mo'Nique right into the realm of serious acting. Who knew that a comedian holds the talent of playing in a serious acting role? It has been proven before and has been proven yet again. The editor for Precious has been in the profession long enough to work on several projects, including Grace is Gone (2007) starring John Cusack and Choke (2008) starring Sam Rockwell. Both films are worth their while to sit down and watch. He has been flying under the radar for his entire career, which has left some people scratching their heads about his sudden arrival on the scene. I think Mr. Klotz holds a large amount of potential for going somewhere with his career. As far as winning on award for his editing work on Precious would not be a surprise to me. However, his opportunity may be pushed out of the water by the big blue sharks (ahem, Avatar) who are ferociously swimming through the Oscar terrain right now. Within the inner circle of nominees for Precious, it may be a concern that he could be out staged by the fierce head-to-head competition for Best Actress award between Mo'Nique and Gabourey Sidibe in addition to the point that the film has been nominated for the Best Picture of the year. It is a tough situation, but it may garner him a large amount of extra editing work in the near future.

Brutally Blunt Blog Blustering #20: Matte Havoc

It's Blusterin' Time!

And remember: Blustering should be a two-way street; if you've asked to be blustered, you better be a blusterer.

If you're new to this feature or need a refresher, click the label at the bottom of this post and see the first few posts. Otherwise, here's the basics:

What I'll do is list a site; you're asked to critique it. But here's the catch: to induce the most honest reactions, don't leave the comment using your normal alias/login - instead, go anonymous, and be as brutally honest (or complimentary) as you wish to be. Also, be specific, and naturally, don't be rude. If I deem anything inappropriate, I'll have no problem deleting the comment.

So, go to the site listed below, familiarize yourself with it for a few minutes, then come back and leave some constructive criticism and/or comments that you have.

Site: Matte Havoc
LAMB#: 20
URL: http://mattehavoc.blogspot.com/



















If you're up for this treatment for your site (and you're a LAMB), send me an email with the subject "Bluster Me!" If you've already done so, no need to do it again - you're on the list, and these will be going up in order of when I received your email (by the way, it could take a while for your site to be Blustered, since I don't run this more than once a week or so).

For Your Consideration: Matte Havoc

Hey you! Send me an FYC image and I will put it up! I don't care if I get one from 50 sites, I'll find a way to get them all up, and as soon as possible (the nomination voting period only lasts until May 4th!). When you're ready to vote, do it here: http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/430540

FYC #9 is from LAMB #20, Matte Havoc. No offense to MH author D.J. Heinlein or any of the remaining LAMBs that send in an FYC, but I'm afraid the intro to these is getting clipped, as I've gotten more of these than I had anticipated. This is a good thing, of course - it just means that I'm all the more pressed to get them all published in time before the voting ends. I'll let their artwork do the talking:

The LAMB Devours the Oscars - Best Film Editing

Editor's note: Welcome to the sixteenth of a 24-part series dissecting the 81st Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every day leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category of the Oscars. To read any other posts regarding this event, please click the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!










By DJ of Matte Havoc.

When I first started college I was very well entertained by the desire to become a successful film editor who would be hired to work on an Oscar award winning film. Now here I am sitting at my computer ten years later wondering why I have never finished that dream. At least I have the opportunity at this very moment to write about the top Oscar nominations for the category of best achievement in editing. Every single one of the nominated movies for the 2008 film season has been an achievement in the entertainment industry for their work. The editors who have been selected as the recipients for the nominations this year have a wide range of professional credits listed to their names. What makes their craft intriguing to me is that their work is expected to be unnoticed by the audience, yet their contribution is what defines the entire framework of the final cut of the story. If the editor’s work is flawed in some way then the viewer will notice that something is wrong with the movie, even if the person is unable to pinpoint exactly what it could be. For the year of 2008 there were several entertaining films that have been worked on by skilled editors, but for this year’s nominees there were a couple of difficult issues for them to face as they are piecing together their work.

Decades ago there was a company that started manufacturing a giant film workstation that was an ideal tool for film editors to slice together film strips that were developed after they were shot by a movie director and his crew. The Moviola workstation is seen in the photograph above and it allows an editor to watch a film strip being projected on to a small screen while comfortably handling and processing the materials as they were being moved through the workstation. Today's movie editors do not have to worry about handling such bulky machinery since the invention of digital editing workstations such as Avid and Final Cut Pro. Although the computer age has ushered in a convenience of space and organization for the editor's work room, it has allowed just about anyone with access to a computer to edit a movie right in their own home office. Because of the vast changes in editing technology, the gap between the skillfully, creative editor and the amateur computer user has quickly shrunk. The following nominees have proven themselves to be more than just a YouTube phenomenon.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Edited by Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

This film is the lengthiest story of all the nominated movies for this category. Could you imagine the amount of work that the movie's two editors had to handle in order to complete such a hefty task? The final running time has been clocked at three hours and six minutes from the start of the film to the last name that rolls across the screen in the end credits. Cutting together a three hour epic requires a lot of time to be spent in the editing room bringing together an endless amount of footage that was shot during the production stage. I could not even imagine what the film’s shooting ration must have looked like. A shooting ratio is a figure of how much film was actually shot during the production stage of the movie in comparison with how much of that footage has actually made it into its final cut. Some of the most outrageous figures that have been reported for production shoots include a heavy shooting ratio of 60:1 for Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain (that is sixty minutes of raw material for every one minute of screen time) and an incredibly huge ratio of 100:1 for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. Whether the editors of Benjamin Button are worthy or not of receiving an Oscar award for their work on the film will be determined by the Academy voters. In my personal opinion there is an opportunity that Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall deserve a fair amount of recognition for the large amount of time they must have spent in post production to bring together the massive story into one seamless film. If they would have failed or stumbled in their work then this film could have easily turned into a horrendously boring story that would feel like it could just go on forever.

The Dark Knight
Edited by Lee Smith

Working on a movie that includes a lot of action sequences, special visual effects, and a primary actor who has passed away before the post-production stage had been completed would mean that there would be no room available for a second chance. The editor, Lee Smith, must rely upon what is already available to him as he sits in his editing room piecing together all of the material. If there is a missing link in the story that was not discovered until the post-production stage it is possible for the crew to head back for the process of secondary shooting to add to the editing material. But secondary shoots costs a lot of money when it involves expensive sets, special effects, crew payroll, equipment, and the question of how to handle work around the problem of a dead actor if any of the missing material would involve reshooting a portion of the scenes he has appeared in. The Dark Knight was a perfect collection of action sequences and enough suspense to keep the viewer on the edge of the theater chair. When attempting to produce a successful moment of suspense that leaves everyone biting their nails tensely requires a tremendous amount of skill and collaboration between the director and the editor. For this movie it was successfully edited together in the sequence involving two separate river barges filled with people who are facing their untimely end. The perspective of the viewer jumps between four separate locations during the sequence, and the tension builds even more with each visit to any of the four locations. Will the people who are stuck in the first boat be willing to murder the lives of those who are in the other river boat by blowing it up with explosives? The entire situation is intended to be a very serious and intense, and the audience shares that tense feeling. If it was not edited correctly with the right amount of pacing and tempo then the audience would not experience the first hand feeling of tension that the characters in the story would be feeling. That is the power of excellent movie editing, I believe, and it proves the high quality of the skills of the movie’s editor.

Frost/Nixon
Edited by Mike Hill and Dan Hanley

Here is an editing challenge that can be very boring and tedious. You have a pair of talking heads who are sitting in a room together for an hour or so as one asks the other a slew of questions about the other person's job history. At the face value of this brief synopsis I am sure that the film sounds like nothing more than a boring job interview. But what if one of the two figures sitting in the interview was a former President of the United States who is charged with an illegal crime? Our interest, as the viewer, has been piqued a little bit. However, there is still the opportunity that we could be bored with the interview if it seems to drag on forever. As an editor who is piecing together a very lengthy interview how is it possible to make it intriguing to watch? It can be a tough challenge if the editor does not have the right amount of quality material to utilize. Director Ron Howard was quoted in an interview (found here) that he was thrilled with the job done by the film's editors. If I were a voting member of the Academy it would be easy to vote for this film. The story's climactic resolve takes place in an interview. How anticlimactic and physically inactive could that be? It's an wonderful challenge that was successfully pieced together by Mike Hill and Dan Hanley. Good job, guys!

Milk
Edited by Elliot Graham.

Editing a film about a real life politician such as Harvey Milk is like doing a term paper for a college class. There is a lot of material from the media that is available to the editor Elliot Graham and the director Gus Van Sant that they probably did not know where to begin. While editing together the archive footage alongside the footage that was shot by the production crew can be daunting for Graham, because he had to have all the material transferred to a unified digital format on his editing computer. some of the archive footage from the late 1970s was shot on 16mm film or Super 8 and then transferred to a tape format such as DigiBeta or Beta SP. Combining those materials with the 35mm film that was used to shoot the dramatic retelling of Harvey Milk's career can leave Graham in a state of discombobulation if he is unable to find a unified way of piecing together the final cut of the film. Although it is amazing that the computer technology has advanced to an amazing level that allows the editor to bring all these materials together conveniently I would still wonder if the tools that are used is what defines the skill of the artist. That is a topic for debate that I will leave to the professional editors, but reviewing the final cut of the film itself will be judged by everyone who watches it. The use of the archive footage in the movie could only enhance the value of telling the story, which I think is a wise and creative decision that benefits the film.

Slumdog Millionaire
Edited by Chris Dickens

So, this film is a touching story that is being hailed as one of the best films of the year. But what makes it so special to receive recognition for its editing? It was a balancing act for Chris Dickens to pull together several different stories from different time periods without having one time period over power the others. Not only is there the issue of domination in the time line, but also the balance of progression in the story. It would be premature to have one portion of the story to progress too far ahead before the other portions have a chance to catch up. It is a matter of telling a story in due time without arriving at the story's climactic ending too early. If the editor is trying to balance several different viewpoints of the same story he shouldn't allow one aspect of the story to become a runaway production. This dilemma is comparable to the experience of telling a story to a friend who keeps asking questions about something that happens way down the line in your story. If you allow your friend to set the pace of your narrative then your entire story could be a mess. This can be frustrating for the narrator to even tell the story if someone else is trying to set the pace. Editor Chris Dickens has faced that challenge when he was trying to set the pace of the story without allowing one portion of the film to get too far ahead of everything else. It is an excellent job, to say the least, and it should be interesting to see if the hearts of the Academy voters who were enthralled with the film's story will influence them to vote for this film's editor.

The LAMB Action Hero (Round One): Leon Vs. Nicholas Angel.

(Welcome to the second match of the first round of The LAMB Action Hero! Here you will read two different essays, both describing why one action hero would be a good roommate while their opponent's would be a bad roommate. At the bottom of the post will be a place to vote. Please vote as unbiased as possible, basing it on the essays. Vote for whoever you think would be the better roommate. You have three days to vote. If you haven't voted for the previous match, do so now! Today is the last day to vote for that match! Now let's enjoy!)

Update: Voting has now ended for this match.

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By DJ from Matte Havoc.

LÉON, also known as The Cleaner, is the ideal candidate to be my roommate for several reasons that immediately come to my mind. The first and foremost reason would be his sense of cleanliness and order. If you were to walk into his apartment, you may notice it is simple in design and decoration, but it is very clean. Not a speck of dust or swipe of dirt can be found in the entire apartment. His sense of pride is clearly apparent by the order he keeps in his own home. He even goes far enough to water and clean his potted plant by using a spray bottle filled with water and a clean cloth. He is a quiet roommate who usually keeps quiet and reserved. Despite the immoral nature of his profession as an assassin, you would think he was a small time accountant at a local business. He is a very responsible guy that you could trust to take care of his end of the household chores and not live in a pigsty. Even though he’s orderly and quiet doesn’t mean he is one of those goodie-two-shoes that can be a pain in the butt with a list of anal-retentive rules. There was one time I had a roommate who wouldn’t lift a finger to clean the bathroom we shared, but he would wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me that I should pitch in to clean it. How aggravating and annoying!

SGT. NICHOLAS ANGEL, also known as Service Agent 777, is a dedicated police officer that not only goes by the codebook, but he’s tremendously anal with enforcing the rules. He is the epitome of what I would like to avoid in a roommate, because I find the strict rulebook type of guys to be a royal pain. He is an overachieving police officer with a lot of success and recognition at work, but he’s the type of guy who brings his Type A personality home with him. I am not a Type A guy and the overbearing rulebook enforcers annoy the hell out of me. The reason why I believe Sgt. Angel would not be an ideal candidate as my roommate would be the clash of personalities. I would love to live with someone who knows how to be responsible at home, but also knows how to respect the boundaries of those he or she lives with. I am afraid that Sgt. Angel is a responsible guy who will consistently pay the rent on time and keep the house clean, but will he leave me be at home? Will he be like the previous roommate that would wake me up early just to tell me to clean the bathroom when he finds it to be an appropriate time? Someone who is anal retentive, such as Sgt. Angel, would not be an ideal roommate for me. I would have to pass on him as a potential candidate.

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By Nick from Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob.

Both Nicholas Angel and Leon, oddly enough, have the similar traits of never drinking alcohol, never smoking, and always taking care of a Japanese Peace Lily (making the air nice and fresh); therefore, the quiet cleanliness factor must be overlooked if we are to compare these roommates.

Let us first take a look at why Nicholas Angel would be my ideal roommate: First, he can easily be talked into watching just about any cool movie you want him to see, and he won’t mind a huge DVD collection (“By the power of Greyskull!”). His best friend is also a fellow movie fanatic, and we’d get along great. Sergeant Angel is also incredibly intelligent, and we would probably easily be able to discuss academics if the need came up. And nobody would dare try to rob the place. He’s a police sergeant, and could hunt the person down in no time. Not to mention he would be quite on time with his half of the rent. Just an all around good guy.

Leon, on the other hand, can’t even read. If he ever considered buying a DVD, it would be Singin’ in the Rain, which he would watch over and over and over. And I’m all up for musicals, but hearing the same songs played constantly would get on my nerves. He would also have a tendency to bring spunky preteen girls home, probably making the landlord think we’re running some kind of child brothel. Not to mention he’ll probably come home bleeding and stain up the shower. And if I bother him at all, he’ll shoot me in my sleep without any hesitance. He’s boring at the best of times and dangerous at the worst. And on top of that, he’ll probably have so many pissed off people coming after him that they’ll end up firing a missile into the apartment before Leon decides to strap on his grenade vest and blow up the entire building. I really don’t feel like losing all my stuff just because my roommate was having a bad day.

Nicholas Angel all the way.

The LAMB Devours the Oscars - Best Supporting Actress

Editor's note: Welcome to the twenty-first of a multi-part series (just two more remain!) dissecting the 2008 Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every weekday leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category (or more) of the Oscars (there are 24 in all). To read any other posts regarding this event, please just click on the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!







By DJ Heinlen of Matte Havoc.

In collaboration with my fellow LAMBs I have been assigned a special Oscar's themed category in which I will be basing this entire article upon. As explained by the prompt listed on the LAMB blog site I have been assigned to review the list of 2008 Oscar nominees for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The task may be interesting and challenging since I haven't seen the entire list of films in which the nominated actresses have starred in. But I am up for the challenge. Now, here is a list of nominees for this respective category:

• Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There.
• Ruby Dee, American Gangster.
• Saoirse Ronan, Atonement.
• Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone.
• Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton.
  

Now for the guts of the whole article rests upon my lack of talent for predicting the future. Who will win the 2008 Oscar award for best actress in a supporting role? The nominated films that are on that list that I have seen are Michael Clayton, Atonement, and American Gangster (click on the links to read my review for those films).

Actress: Cate Blanchett
Character: Jude Quinn
Film: I'm Not There

This film is receiving a large amount of positive reviews from around the world, and Cate Blanchett has received a lot of recognition for her contribution. It's interesting to hear about her nomination, because the last time a woman has been nominated for playing a man was back in 1983 when Linda Hunt won the Oscar award for the exact same category when she portrayed Billy Kwan in the 1982 film The Year of Living Dangerously. I should mention that I have every intention of seeing this film at my earliest convenience (most likely when it is released on to DVD), and I'm sure that ever cast member has done a superb job at portraying any one particular character trait of the famous singer and songwriter Bob Dylan. I did happen to stumble across a video clip from the film starring Cate Blanchett in the role from this film. Click here to watch the clip. And to those who have their curiosity running wild I should confirm that you're eyes and ears don't deceive you when you see comedian David Cross pull up in a golf cart with a full head of hair and a lengthy beard as he converses with a woman (Cate) who is dressed up as a man. Oh, the amazing world of movie wardrobe. I have mixed feelings about the idea of her winning the award for this film. She's also nominated for her portrayal as Queen Elizabeth in the period film Elizabeth: The Golden Age. In fact she's the winner of the Oscar award for portraying the same character in the first installment in the film franchise about the historical queen. It would be interesting to see if she wins two separate Oscar awards for portraying the exact same character. For the nomination as supporting actress I would say that she should be passed over this year.

Actress: Ruby Dee
Character: Mama Lucas
Film: American Gangster

I thought Ruby Dee has accomplished a terrific performance in this film as the lovable mother of criminal mob boss Frank Lucas (played by Denzel Washington). The film is an intense ride through the Frank's life, but his mother is the shining sigh of relief that makes you wonder how a sweet old woman ever went wrong with raising her children. My concern about her nomination resides the amount of screen time that she gets. Her role isn't a prominent enough to take a lengthy period of screen time, but she does have a strong effect on the story itself. Watching her relationship with her son sway back and forth with the ocean's tide is intriguing and emotionally moving. This is the first Oscar nomination for Ruby Dee, and the fact that it is a rare occurrence for an 80+ year old veteran actor (or actress) to receive an Oscar nomination or an award. Don't believe me? Check out the "age statistics" that have been posted on the Academy's website by visiting this page here. I must admit that if she does win this award there will be quite a few people who may experience the warm, fuzzy feeling of sentiment upon seeing her give an acceptance speech.

Actress: Saoirse Ronan
Character: Briony Tallis
Film: Atonement

You might want to definitely check out my review for this film, found here, because I do spend a little bit of time questioning how this movie was nominated for the Oscar awards. I am concerned why the Academy keeps allowing nominations to go through for people who are so young in age. I keep thinking about the hard working Joe Smoe adults who never earn the respective employee of the month award at their work and the sad "rub it in your face" feeling the person would experience if the recognition would go to a thirteen year old co-worker. I'm irked by the idea of hearing another name of a person who's too young to drive and yet has been nominated to receive such a high honor in the respective profession. I say this because I view it as a curse to the person's career. It would be long before the actor is confronted with taking the wrong turn by making a bad career move such as appearing in the a comic book movie (ahem, Anna Paquin) or dropping out the film business entirely due to a personal disaster (ahem, Tatum O'Neal). I don't want to see Saoirse win the Oscar this year, because I don't want to see her be subjected to the Juvenile Oscar Curse. I wish her the best of luck with her future career, but hopefully she'll be able to move on in life without winning the coveted award so early in her life.

Actress: Amy Ryan
Character: Helene McCready
Film: Gone Baby Gone

There's not much I could say for Amy Ryan. The movie itself was a huge hit and the box office (despite the fact that my parents walked out of the theater before the film even finished) and it promoted a lot of talk at the water cooler. You might want to check on an article that I wrote a couple of months ago about this film's odd correlation with the Madeline McCann story. You can read the article here and see the comparisons that I am talking about. As I had mentioned earlier I have seen this movie yet, but I did track down a video clip of the film, found here, and took a peak at her intense performance. I must admit that she was able to turn out such a detailed performance that I completely bought the ugly reality of the character's identity as a believable persona. I wouldn't be surprised if she did win the award for this film, because over the last few years there have been several Oscar wins for ugly performances. Take a look at Charlize Theron's win for Monster (2003) and Halle Berry's work for Monster's Ball (2001). If only this film was titled "Gone Monster Gone" then Amy's chances of winning will have been backed up by the "monster" good luck charm.

Actress: Tilda Swinton
Character: Karen Crowder
Film: Michael Clayton

As I clearly mentioned in my review for Michael Clayton this happens to be one my favorite films for 2007. I had originally seen a preview screening for the film a few days before it's public release and I was blown away by the lethal combination of the acting and the clever storyline. I have read a couple of other reviews that have been written against the quality of the film's final cut because of the way the time line of the story is projected on the screen. The film begins three quarters of the way into story, then jumps back to the beginning to allow the audience to catch up with everything that has proceeded beforehand. Tilda Swinton's character, Karen Crowder, is the villainous character of the film who is a professional businesswoman who was just promoted to a powerful executive position at the high profile company in which she works for. The sad twist in her character's professional career is the inheritance of a massive environmental disaster in which the company has attempted to cover up for several years. It is up to her to continue the covert operations to prevent the company from falling apart financially, but it comes with a heavy price. The company's key litigating lawyer, played wonderfully by Tom Wilkinson who was also nominated for his performance, completely falls apart after he stops ingesting medication that suppresses the symptoms of his manic depressive behavior. I believe Tilda exceeded expectations with her low-key performance. It wasn't over the top, but remained cool and study just as her character would want to project as a consummate professional. I would like to see Tilda win the Oscar award for this category, but I'm not sure she has a strong enough support from the Academy voters who may be tempted by the box office success of Gone Baby Gone. I guess I will have to wait until Oscar night to find out the results. Sigh.

The LAMB Devours the Oscars - Best Foreign Language Film

Editor's note: Welcome to the eleventh of a multi-part series dissecting the 2008 Academy Awards, brought to you by the Large Association of Movie Blogs and its assorted members. Every weekday leading up to the Oscars, a new post written by a different LAMB will be published, each covering a different category (or more) of the Oscars (there are 24 in all). To read any other posts regarding this event, please just click on the tag following the post. Thank you, and enjoy!








By DJ Heinlein of Matte Havoc.

In collaboration with my fellow LAMBs I have been assigned a special Oscars themed category in which I will be basing this entire article upon. I have been assigned to review the list of 2008 Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Language film. The task may be interesting and challenging since none of the nominees have been released into the theaters of mainstream America. I think I am up for the challenge.

I admit that I enjoy watching foreign films, because they can be a huge breath of fresh air. When shrouded within a room that plays the same American story lines repetitively the mental stimulation becomes clouded and the air in the room grows stale. I want something fresh, new, and mentally invigorating. That is when the outside world, also known as the foreign film market, can throw my mind for a loop. What concerns me is that the nominations for the 2008 Academy Awards list five different films in the Foreign Language category that I have not seen yet. The main reason for this would be that they are currently not playing at the local art houses. And if the titles ever have been listed on the marques of the theater I was too slow to have noticed their initial run. However, here are the list of nominations and a brief synopsis of each one alongside some of my own notable commentary.

TITLE: Beaufort (2007).
COUNTRY: Israel.
LANGUAGE: Hebrew.
[ View Trailer ]
SYNOPSIS: In 2000 the Israel Defense Forces are withdrawing from southern Lebanon. The military group has been a strong presence in the particular area of Lebanon for about eighteen years, and are suddenly packing up and starting to leave the territory. As the military forces are preparing for their change of location the story centers upon a small group of soldiers who lives their lives in the trenches of war and have to face the psychological and physical torments of war. The film's story was adapted from the book with the same name that was written by Ron Leshem. According to a comment from the director he was influenced to create the film's visual design from such notable classics as Das Boot (1981) and Paths of Glory (1957).
COMMENTARY: This film I could only imagine should strike a patriotic nerve among the Israeli citizens. The point that concerns me would be my hope to see something different. As I had alluded to in my opening statement it is wonderful to watch a foreign film to view a story that is different from the American films that I could see on any given weekend. At the core of the plot for Beaufort lies the same concept that I would see in any other war film that would be created by an American production house. However, I do believe there is the glimmer of hope that this film offers a new perspective to the American viewer. With the headlines that we read in the American papers about a war in the Middle East it may be a subject matter that feels so distant to some of us. Not every American citizen has a relative who is involved in the military. Not every American has taken a step outside of our country's borders. But to the citizens of Israel it is a call of duty and an act of honor to serve in their country's military. They can understand what it means to protect their home turf. This film should offer a unique perspective about the battles that occur in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East and northeastern Africa. I look forward to watching this film to find out what makes interesting enough to be nominated for an Oscar.

TITLE: The Counterfeiters [a.k.a. Die Fälscher] (2007).
COUNTRY: Austria.
LANGUAGE: German.
[ View Trailer ]
SYNOPSIS: Based upon the memoirs of Adolf Burger the film's story is about the largest counterfeiting operation in history. The character of Salomon Sorowitsch is the fictional counterpart for Burger's real life persona. Saloman is a professional counterfeiter who lives with the sleazy underworld of alcohol and women in Berlin, Germany during the peak era of the Nazi regime. He is thrown into a concentration camp by a Nazi superintended who later shifts him and a few other counterfeiters into a special collections group to produce counterfeit foreign currency for the Germany government. The group's illegal practice became known as Operation Berhard.
COMMENTARY: Honestly, I wonder how far from the tree this film lies from other class war camp films such as The Great Escape (1963) or Schindler's List (1993). Don't get me wrong here, because The Counterfeiters sounds like a promising film that I will definitely want to check out later on when I have access to watching it. Usually dramatic narratives of true events perform very well at the Oscar ceremonies. There have been several nominations and award winners that have been based upon memoirs or historical events. I can't quite place my betting money on this film, because the topic may be a little over done. How many World War II films are really vying for the Oscar nod and will establish a guarantee win? This film does have its sentimental drawing power, and I'm looking forward to see if this will be the deciding factor for the big night.

TITLE: Katyn (2007).
COUNTRY: Poland.
LANGUAGE: Polish.
[ View Trailer ]
SYNOPSIS: The Katyn massacre, also the Katyn Forest massacre, was a mass execution of Polish citizens ordered by Soviet authorities in 1940.Estimates of the number of dead range from 15,000 to 21,768. The victims were murdered in Katyn forest, Kalinin (Tver) and Kharkiv prisons and elsewhere. About 8,000 were officers taken prisoner during the 1939 invasion of Poland, the rest being Poles arrested for allegedly being "intelligence agents, gendarmes, spies, saboteurs, landowners, factory owners, lawyers, priests, and officials." (Borrowed on compliments of the Wikipedia entry for Katyn massacre.) The film Katyn is based upon the events that I've just described above that occurred during the time of World War II. The Soviets were the people responsible for the death for the thousands of bodies that were discovered by Nazi Germany in 1943.
COMMENTARY: Hmm, interesting! It's another foreign war film. I wonder what's on the mind of several countries throughout the world. This marks the third consecutive title out of the five films that I'm rolling through right now that deals with this heavy topic. There is a debate among a few people about the historical value of the film. Is it accurate? Will it reflect poorly upon the Poles, the Russians, or any other involved political group? The Katyn Massacre was one of many sad stories about the mass executions during the war. I had already mentioned about the correlation with the Oscar award winning film Schindler's List which is another sad story about the war. I would consider this film has a strong possibility of winning the Oscar this year. Just don't hold me to it if the film doesn't win.

TITLE: Mongol (2007).
COUNTRY: Kazakhstan.
LANGUAGE: Mongolian.
[ View Trailer ]
SYNOPSIS: In the early 13th century a warrior was building his career to create an empire in which he was its ruler. The warrior's name was Genghis Khan. The film's story begins in 1172 with Khan as a child who suffers through the torments of slavery As he grows older he gains notoriety among his peers as he forms the early part of his career. By 1206 the nomadic clans of central Asia join together under his leadership to begin the quest for world domination. This film marks the first installment of a planned trilogy of the career of Genghis Khan.
COMMENTARY: Did you know that the several people over in Kazakhstan have stated their gratitude for Sacha Baron Cohen's satirical character Borat? It's true! It was mentioned that if it wasn't for Borat then the country could have been overlooked by the Academy when the group was reviewing the submissions for the Best Foreign Film category. The comedic character has put the country on the map (in terms of recognition, of course). However, in regards to this film I think that it may be accepted by the American public for the way that it could be marketed to us. It appears to be a film about Mongolian people and the empirical world of Genghis Khan. It is now officially listed as an Oscar nominated film, which in its own right is a huge drawing power for people to grab the DVD off the rental shelf at Blockbuster. There may be a chance that a few viewers will want to watch this film because they heard it was produced by the country who is associated with Borat, but will it be a surprise to the viewer that this would be the only connection that the film and the character would have with each other? I believe the odds of this film winning the Oscar award are slim, but that shouldn't hinder its chances of a worldwide audience.

TITLE: 12 [a.k.a. 12 razgnevannyh muzhchin] (2007).
COUNTRY: Russia.
LANGUAGE: Russian.
[ View Video Clip ]
SYNOPSIS: A modern Russian remake of the American classic 12 Angry Men (1957) the movie takes place in the republic of Chechnya where twelve jurors must decide the fate of a Chechen teenager who has been placed on trial with the charges of killing his Russian stepfather. Among the twelve jurors include a list of wide range of Russian citizens such as a racist taxi-driver, a suspicious doctor, a vacillating TV producer, a Holocaust survivor, a flamboyant musician, a cemetery manager, and several others.
COMMENTARY: There are several opinions floating around about this film. One of those opinions, which I agree with, is the question of how a remake was able to receive an Oscar Nomination? But then again I must broaden my viewpoint to think that the American film producers have a laundry list of categories in which they could submit just one single title. Those same American businessmen are probably being wise by not putting all their eggs in one basket, if you know what I mean. As for the foreign film producers who only have one category in which they could submit their film I would like to think that it is a very rough competition to gain any recognition for it. Imagine a world of over 200 recognized countries and a large number of them may have the available resources to create a feature film. If all those countries were allowed to submit only one film title to one award category and compete with a couple of hundred other countries then the possibilities of getting one of the five nomination slots could be rather rough. I would have to say that the country of Russia had considered this film their best representative film for the year.

Now what makes this year interesting, as if things should really be any different, is that four out of the five nominees deal with the subject of war and fighting. There's two films about World War II, one film about the modern day civil unrest of the war torn area of the Middle East, and another film about the battle for world domination. Only one film differs from the rest of the group in terms of war related content, but it doesn't stray too far from the realm of civil unrest when it focuses upon the trial of a murder case. Considering the topics in which the films have focused upon and the history of Oscar winners, I have come to a decision with placing my bet for this year's winner. My vote will be cast for Israel's submission Beaufort. Modern day war movies have proven to be the latest trend in the genre of war time dramas. Regardless of my vote, I would hope that the best candidate will win.

LAMB #20 - Matte Havoc

URL: http://www.mattehavoc.com/
Site Name: Matte Havoc

What is the main focus of your site (reviews, editorials, news, lists, etc.)?
The main focus for every article must be relevant to the film industry. I cover editorials about industry news, film reviews, and eventually I'll start publishing short "lectures" about various industry terms (such as what does a gaffer do exactly?). I had started this blog as a personal venture to keep myself busy by creating a hobby from my own personal interests in watching movies. It's all I do in my own spare time that I love doing as often as I can.

What are your blogging goals, personally and/or professionally? In other words, what, if anything, are you trying to get out your blog?
In the future if I ever were able to expand the hobby into a professional career I'm sure I wouldn't mind earning a yearly income from my blogging, but in the meantime my goal is to work on the site as a personal hobby.

Do you prefer an interactive 'community' for your blog or are you the teacher and your readers are the students?
The site will continue to serve primarily as a one way tunnel. I don't have any knowledge in computer programming to create an interactive website, but I do look forward to having several comments posted on the site so that I can get feedback on the types of articles that the readers are interested in.

How long have you been movie blogging for, and how frequent do you post updates to your site?
Since August of 2007. My goal is to update the site with an average of 15 to 20 articles every month that cover a range of different styles.

Name up to three of your favorite movies (and no more).
My three all time favorite movies (and I feel restricted to list only three definitive films) would be 1) Requiem for a Dream (2000), 2) Clue (1985), and 3) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).

How did you hear about the LAMB?
I had heard about LAMB from the blog site Blog Cabins when I read the site's article about the five great things about Being John Malkovich.

Any additional comments.
None.