Hall of Awesome: Oscar Predictions for 2005

I think I've seen enough movies this year to make some solid predictions as to who's going to be up for a statue next year. Here are my predictions for the nominees for the 2005 Academy Awards:

Best Picture
Good Night, and Good Luck
King Kong
Munich
A History of Violence
Crash

Best Actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Viggo Mortensen, A History of Violence
David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck
Eric Bana, Munich
Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line

Best Actress
Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
Charlize Theron, North Country
Naomi Watts, King Kong
Keira Knightley, Pride and Prejudice

Best Supporting Actor
George Clooney, Syriana or Good Night, and Good Luck
Richard Jenkins, North Country
William Hurt, A History of Violence
Don Cheadle, Crash
Jack Black, King Kong

Best Supporting Actress
Maria Bello, A History of Violence
Amy Adams, Junebug
Catherine Keener, Capote or The 40-Year-Old Virgin :-)
Thandie Newton, Crash
Frances McDormand, North Country

Best Director
Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, Sin City
Christopher Nolan, Batman Begins
George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
Peter Jackson, King Kong
David Cronenberg, A History of Violence

Best Animated Feature
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Corpse Bride
Howl's Moving Castle

Best Original Screenplay
Judd Apatow and Steve Carell, The 40-Year-Old Virgin (it's wishful thinking, I know)
Angus MacLachlan, Junebug
Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, Crash
Woody Allen, Match Point
Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale

Best Adapted Screenplay
Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, Munich
Stephen Gaghan, Syriana
Frank Miller, Sin City
Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, Batman Begins
Michael Seitzman, North Country

Best Original Score
Yo La Tengo, Junebug
Mark Isham, Crash
John Williams, Munich or Memoirs of a Geisha
Danny Elfman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
James Newton Howard, King Kong

Useless Fact: The Last Post was the 200th Post!

I'm sorry that I haven't been delivering any new chapters to the DiMattiaFilms Hall of Awesome. I've just started writing a new short subject entitled A Loss for Words and I've been hard at work on it these past couple days. I promise to add the final segments (Best Music and Best Movies of the Year) within the next couple weeks.

Best Editorial Cartoons of 2005

NPR asked editorial cartoonists Mike Luckovich and Mike Peters to list their favorite pieces of 2005. Here's what they picked.

Here are my favorites from this article:











Thanks to Drawn!

Quote of the Day

"I have this sort of Mr. Magoo career. It looks like I'm about to fall on my face, but somehow that construction beam always slides into place."

--Seth MacFarlane, in an interview with Rolling Stone

Post-Christmas Report

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! My family and I just went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe yesterday and we were thoroughly entertained. While the climactic battle sequence at the end was a bit too much like Lord of the Rings Lite, the beginning and middle were enthralling, the dialogue was very witty and wasn't purely plot-driven, the acting was superb (a breakthrough performance for Tilda Swinton as the White Witch), and for this cynical film buff, it was a breath of fresh air in a holiday season that's churning out bad excuses for "family films" like Yours, Mine and Ours and Cheaper By the Dozen 2. With Narnia, Walt Disney Pictures might just get out of the hole they've dug themselves into.

Merry Christmas!

Since I don't know if I'll get a chance to post later tonight, I just want to wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Happy Kwanzaa, and all the other December-related holidays people are celebrating! I got off of work at 10 AM and am finally free of any and all obligations...at least until the 26th! Here are a few of my favorite Christmas songs to get everyone in the mood. Please enjoy with a heaping glass of eggnog or hot chocolate with marshmallows (real marshmallows, not those pitifully tiny ones that come in the Swiss Miss packets!!)

MP3s: (right click, save-as)
Ray Charles, "This Time of the Year"
Vince Guaraldi Trio, "Christmas Time is Here"
Squirrel Nut Zippers, "Sleigh Ride"
The Flaming Lips, "A Change at Christmas (Say It Isn't So)"

Something different for Christmas

Christmas is almost upon us and every year, I try to look for different or unusual-sounding Christmas albums. This year, I came across Bright Eyes' A Christmas Album, which is only available for purchase from the Saddle Creek online store. It's just eleven bucks, and all the proceeds go to the Nebraska AIDS Project. It's a bizarre-sounding Christmas album (especially during the flourishes of electronic noise in "Away in a Manger" and "Little Drummer Boy"), but when Conor Oberst hits just the right blend of classic holiday atmosphere with an indie-rock texture, it's a wonderful thing.

MP3s:
"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
"Silver Bells"

When I bought the album, it came with a signed Bright Eyes postcard, but can anyone tell me who it's signed by? My first guess would be Conor Oberst, but I can't make that name out of the scrawled signature. The first line is obviously "THX," meaning "Thanks." Anyone wanna take a crack at the rest?

Also, I've received little or no comments on my Hall of Awesome entries. What do you guys think of them? Are they providing actual insight or are they just coming off sounding like Pitchfork Lite? (Also, I've added Hall of Awesome links to the sidebar for easy access.)

Hall of Awesome: Best Compilation

• Jens Lekman, Oh You're So Silent Jens
  One of the most intimate and heartbreaking musicians out there right now is Swedish singer/songwriter Jens Lekman. Coming off as a witty cross between Beck, Nick Drake, and early Todd Rundgren, Lekman has a distinctive sound to his music, as well as a distinctive voice, showing that while he may not have mastered the English dialect, he has certainly mastered its vocabulary. "A man walks into a bar/orders a scotch and a bottle of coke/But the laughter has gone in his heart/You never told me the end of the joke," he laments on his new album Oh You're So Silent Jens, a compilation of EP tracks and rarities, but could as easily be confused for a full-length LP, as each song fits beautifully among the others. Lekman not only shows songwriting prowess, he also proves his worth behind the soundboard. All of Lekman's vocals have an eerie echo effect added, making it sound like the entire album was recorded in some long-abandoned high school auditorium. The lo-fi quality of the recordings lend to the intimacy of the songs, making the clean, seemingly effortless acoustic guitar appearing at the start of "Black Cab" quite jarring, but equally entertaining. Other songs stand out as well: the cut-and-paste bells of "Rocky Dennis' Farewell Song," making it sound like a Jem outtake; the dark humor of "F-Word," complete with a radio-friendly chorus; and the soothing "Maple Leaves," featuring every bell and whistle (literally) at Lekman's disposal. You'd be hard pressed to find a single bad song on this album. Oh You're So Silent Jens is a perfect introduction to this talented musician, and also succeeds on its own terms as an album that's scientifically designed to be enjoyed most anywhere: in a car, at home, at work, but most importantly, with someone you love. Visit Lekman's official website where you can download a ton of rare and unreleased tracks.
  
  
  MP3s:
  
  • "Black Cab"
    
  • "At the Department of Forgotten Songs"
    
  • "Pocketful of Money"
    
  • "F-Word"
    
  • "The Wrong Hands"

UPDATE: Sorry, I never got around to posting the honorable mentions. Here they are:

• Belle and Sebastian, Push Barman to Open Old Wounds
  Belle and Sebastian are one of the few bands that continue the tradition of releasing non-album singles and EPs. They also use these breaks to their advantage by placing on their EPs songs that break new ground but probably wouldn't fit on any of their proper albums. Push Barman to Open Old Wounds collects all of this material on two CDs and it's a collection any fan should not be without, especially since some of their finest work is showcased here.
  
  • MP3: "Slow Graffiti"
  
  
• Various Artists, Verve Remixed 3
  While it's not as solid as Verve Records' previous collection of remixed jazz tunes, it still has a lot of quality stuff, including excellent remixes from indie musicians like The Postal Service, The Album Leaf, Bent, and Dangermouse.
  
  • MP3: Nina Simone, "Little Girl Blue (Postal Service Remix)"

UPDATE #2: All of the Jens Lekman MP3's have been removed from his website. In place of them, Lekman is offering up his first three tour EPs free to download.

Today on the George Carlin Calendar

"Thanks to our fear of death, no one ever has to die; they can all just pass away. Or expire, like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital, it will be called a terminal episode. The insurance company will refer to it as negative patient-care outcome. And if it's the result of malpractice, they'll say it was a therapeutic misadventure."

Hall of Awesome: Best New Artist

• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
  Not only did they handcraft one of the catchiest songs of 2005 ("Oregon Girl"), they made an excellent album (Broom), a kickass split-CD (Catbird Records' Someone Still Loves You Michael Holt), and they made Spin Magazine's "Sign This Band Now!" list. Is there anything this Springfield quartet can't do? As if two new albums (as well as a new MP3 posted on their site every week) weren't enough, they've just announced that for $40, they'll send you a cassette tape of alternate takes, covers, and new material every month in 2006! And while Broom may not be the best album of the year, SSLYBY have proven themselves to be the most consistent and most giving band of 2005, and that's gotta be worth something, right?

MP3s:
"Oregon Girl" (from Broom)
"House Fire" (from Broom)
"Lower the Gas Prices, Howard Johnson" (from Someone Still Loves You Michael Holt)

Guerolito

All Music Guide just posted an interesting review of Beck's Guerolito, a companion disc to his last album Guero, featuring remixes of all the songs. The reviewer gives us a glimpse at how remix culture has affected music in 2005, and shows how albums like Guerolito are using that idea of the never-ending, constantly repackaged and remixed album. Also up for analysis is Silent Alarm Remixed by Bloc Party.

In other news: Guero makes my list of mediocre albums of 2005.

Most Disappointing Albums of 2005

NOTE: None of these albums are "bad," per se. They just have some really bad songs on them, or they're not up to snuff with the musicians' previous releases.

• Daft Punk, Human After All
  The title of this one really says it all. Daft Punk waited four whole years before they delivered a follow-up to their 2001 opus Discovery. So, why did they decide to spend a measly two weeks recording it? With so much riding on this release, is an album with just ten tracks (nine if you don’t count a 30-second interlude), most of which consist of one semi-catchy electronic riff repeated for four minutes, really worth the wait?
  
  
• Lemon Jelly, '64-‘95
  Lemon Jelly has traditionally been the “diamond in the rough” as far as electronic groups are concerned. Their warm, sunny acoustic guitars and playful melodies would make them the perfect music to play on Sesame Street, if Sesame Street had a disco. But with their newest album, they get bland, boring, and jarringly repetitive. Take the song “Don’t Stop Now,” in which a whispery voice repeats the title for seven minutes straight! Even songs that appear to be good in theory (like “The Slow Train” sampling a barbershop quartet) come off poorly in execution. Lead single “Stay With You” sounded great in a radio edit, but on the album, they pushed the lead vocal all the way back to the three-minute mark. Still, it doesn’t stop Lemon Jelly from pulling out a zinger. “Go,” the final track on the album, features a dark and hushed vocal performance from none other than William Shatner, and ends with a blazing rock finale. At least they know how to end with a bang.
  
  
• Röyksopp, The Understanding
  Röyksopp had delivered a solid debut album, 2001’s Melody A.M, featuring “Poor Leno,” my pick for one of the best electronic singles of all-time. But on their second album, they opt out of the organic production values that made that first record so great. Instead, they deliver an album that's all gloss, with a squeaky clean mix and no songs that compare to past hits like “Poor Leno” and the music box anthem “Eple.” Lead single “Only This Moment” is decent, but it’s not hard to imagine any electronic act in Europe churning it out. Melody A.M. delivered something distinctive in the tiresome electronic scene, but with The Understanding, it feels like Röyksopp is apologizing for trying to sound different from everybody else.

Albums That Were Decent (But Could've Been Better):

• Beck, Guero
  C’mon, Beck. Some of these tracks are alright (as a matter of fact, “Earthquake Weather” is one of your best), but don’t try to pass off “Hell Yes” as an actual song! No wonder you tried to get every DJ you could find to remix your album. Let’s hope they breathe some life into these bland tracks.
  
  
• Morcheeba, The Antidote
  Let’s see. Morcheeba replaces lead vocalist Skye Edwards with a Shirley Bassey clone and they end up with an album that sounds like it was made by Bassey, not by Morcheeba. How come no one saw that coming?

Alright, enough with the negatives! Best New Artist and Best Compilation are coming soon!

New header added!

So, I decided to download the 30-day free trial of Flash 8 and, within an hour, I put together the awesome Flash version of the DiMattiaFilms logo that you now see above this post (if not, you probably need to download the Flash player). Pretty soon, I'll try adding buttons to the header, so it'll be easier for new visitors to find my short films, the online store, and how to e-mail me. Please send me an e-mail or leave a comment if you've got an idea as to how I can improve this website!

New Catbird release!

Pet Politics' In My Head EP, the new release from Catbird Records, is now shipping! Get your hands on them before they're all gone!

Plus, when you buy it, you get to see a picture of the lead singer of Interpol playing ping-pong! Tell me that's not worth four bucks!

Pet Politics, "The Ghost Mary & Her Friends" (MP3)

Previously: I talk about the first release from Catbird Records, and post MP3s from it.

War of the Worst

Before I start the next part of the Hall of Awesome, I just want to say I saw a commercial during “The Daily Show” for King Kong and the song they had playing in the background? It was “Fix You” by Coldplay! I mean, I understand you gotta sell this movie to the ladies, but don’t get Chris Martin to do your dirty work for you! Instead, just pepper the ad with clips of Adrian Brody. Easy.

Alright, let’s get it on! Today, we’ll venture into the dark, musty attic of the Hall of Awesome for a segment I like to call: The Drawer of Disappointment!

Worst Movie of 2005:

• War of the Worlds
  Apparently, people must’ve been calling Steven Spielburg a pussy for not making any movies with bad aliens, ‘cause he pulled out all the stops and made the most blatant reason for putting everyone on Zoloft. War of the Worlds was the most depressing film of the year, featuring human beings meticulously slaughtered and harvested by aliens in nearly every scene, and when a scene appeared without aliens, it usually involved angry mobs fighting over a working automobile or having Dakota Fanning stumble across a river of corpses when she’s trying to find a place to use the bathroom. Now, some people were telling me that that’s the whole point of the movie, that it’s intended to be depressing. I don’t have a problem with movies that are depressing (Mystic River, for one). What I do have a problem with are movies that constantly repeat its initially-gripping first scene over and over again, each time in a different locale, each time with the same result. Not even Tim Robbins (who, oddly enough, was the best thing about Mystic River) could regenerate interest, especially since Spielburg gave him nothing to do, except to be quickly killed off by Tom Cruise. It’s not like Spielburg had been hitting a snag. On the contrary, Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can are two of his best films, and if Munich gets released before the end of the year, he might be responsible for the worst and the best film of 2005.

(Dis)honorable Mention:

• Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
  I think I’ve figured out why I just plain don’t like the new Star Wars trilogy. Look at the original films and notice how the main characters are loners, outcasts, and if they are royalty (like Princess Leia), they are so only by name. Now look at the new films. They’re about queens and princes who have pretty much everything, except dialogue that audiences would find interesting. George Lucas took the blandest of actors (and if they weren’t bland, like Ewan MacGregor, he gave them enough bad dialogue to make them bland) and made them stand in front of a blue screen as he had his effects team working overtime devising new and amazing things to have happen around the actors. Episode III took us full-circle, making us, as an audience, realize how far Lucas had strayed from his original vision. The film’s final scenes say it all. We almost sense Lucas hurrying in the last few minutes to quickly tie up all the loose ends, like a college student penning his graduate thesis ten minutes before its deadline. What made the original Star Wars movies good was the fact that Lucas knew what his limits were. Now his library of special effects is unlimited, and his films, sadly, are worse off for it.

Alright, the worst music of 2005 and the best new artist are coming up!

Grammyz for Gorillaz?

Self-proclaimed fake band Gorillaz have just been nominated for five Grammys: Record of the Year, Best Pop Collaboration w/Vocals, Best Music Video (all for kickass lead single "Feel Good Inc."), Best Producer (Danger Mouse), and...Best Urban Alternative Performance? For "Dirty Harry"!?

Don't get me wrong. A song featuring a children's choir singing about needing guns is probably about as urban alternative as it gets.

When informed of their five Grammy nods, bassist Murdoc had this to say: "I hear Grammys go for a really good price on E-bay."

Previously: Gorillaz perform at the Europe VMA's.

Hall of Awesome, Part 2

Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Here's part 2 (of an estimated 102 parts) of the 2005 DiMattiaFilms Hall of Awesome: the best of movies and music for the halfway mark of the first decade of the new millennium.*

Best CD Packaging:

• Michael Holt/Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Someone Still Loves You Michael Holt
  One of the coolest album packages I've ever had the pleasure of owning (at least until Catbird Records releases their next album), this split LP between Holt and recent indie-darlings SSLYBY featured 250 individually-painted album covers and a hand-bound notebook. Pretty damn awesome, if you ask me. Sadly, they've sold all their copies, so if you're looking for an album that's probably much easier to find...
  
  
• Gorillaz, Demon Days: Special Edition
  While I don't know if it's worth paying $10 more for than the regular album, the package is beautiful, complete with a fold out cover featuring drawings of all four Gorillaz members, as well as a booklet smothered with kickass Jamie Hewlett artwork, lyrics, and a bonus DVD featuring the video for "Feel Good Inc." It looks like Amazon's got it used for thirteen bucks. I say go for it.

Best Album Artwork:
(click on the pictures for a larger view)

• Andrew Bird, The Mysterious Production of Eggs (Jay Ryan)
  The illustrations of Jay Ryan are equal parts whimsical and slightly unnerving, like a children's book written by Crispin Glover.
  
  
  
  
  
• Bright Eyes, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Zack Nipper)
  Beautiful patchwork adorns this album cover. My only question is who ended up with the blanket afterwards?
  
  
  
  
  
• The Chemical Brothers, Push the Button (Kam Tang)
  Kam Tang's artwork for the Brothers' latest strays from the psychedelic nature of their last two albums and instead is inspired by the work of Saul Bass. Very cool, indeed.
  
  
  
  
• The Mars Volta, Frances the Mute (Storm Thorgerson, Peter Curzon, Dan Abbott, Bill Thorgerson)
  Storm Thorgerson is always interesting, even after years and years of crafting bizarre and disturbing album covers for Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and hundreds of others. Now, he takes Mars Volta's musical ideas and translates them visually, making the artwork for Frances the Mute almost as important as the music itself.
  
  
• Various Artists, Verve Remixed 3 (Hollis King, audio sculpture by David Ellis)
  The cool audio sculptures of David Ellis make for an easy translation to album covers.

Coming soon! We'll all get a little depressed as I talk about the Worst Movies of the Year and the Most Disappointing Albums of the Year!!

As always, feel free to discuss your favorite album cover and/or package in the comments!

*This phrase has probably already been copyrighted by VH1.

New Movie for Download!

For some reason, Blogger deleted my last post, so here it is again.

You can now download my final project for Intro to Film Production, entitled Dollars Don't Discriminate, off of my short movies page! Let me know what you think of it in the comments!