January 21st, 2009
Over at Turner Classic Movies’ Movie Morlocks blog, rhsmith shares some fond memories of the glory days of videotapes, lists some he’s pruned from his collection over the years and notes a few that he’ll never part with (including a KING KONG tape with a box that actually roars).
What’s more, he lists plenty of movies that haven’t arrived on DVD yet and probably never will. “The sheer wealth of films available on VHS tape back in the early 80s is staggering,” he writes. “We will not, mark my words, see the same kind of variety of films released to DVD.”
He’s not kidding. I was 16 when our family got its first VCR back in 1983, and those years were glorious times if you (like me) were looking for weird movies to watch. Even the smallest mom-and-pop video store in those pre-Blockbuster, pre-Netflix days had a wide selection of European horror flicks, drive-in oddities and cult classics. I love my DVDs, and I’m grateful for widescreen, pristine, extras-loaded discs, but there’s nothing quite like finding your first copy of DR. BUTCHER MD on the bottom rack of a hole-in-the-wall video store and realizing there are movies out there you can barely imagine.
January 21st, 2009
Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow, so here are my fearless predictions. These are right off the top of my head, so don’t put any huge stock in their accuracy. Right now, at this moment though, this is what I’m feeling:
BEST PICTURE
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, THE DARK KNIGHT, THE WRESTLER
BEST ACTOR
Mickey Rourke for THE WRESTLER, Brad Pitt for BENJAMIN BUTTON, Sean Penn for MILK, Frank Langella for FROST/NIXON, Ricard Jenkins for THE VISITOR, Clint Eastwood for GRAN TORINO
BEST ACTRESS
Kate Winslet for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (and she’ll win it, too), Anne Hathaway for RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, Sally Hawkins for HAPPY GO LUCKY, Cate Blanchett for BENJAMIN BUTTON, Meryl Streep for DOUBT
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Heath Ledger for THE DARK KNIGHT (and he’ll win it, too), Michael Shannon for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, James Franco for MILK, Robert Downey Jr. for TROPIC THUNDER, Phillip Seymour Hoffman for DOUBT
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kate Winslet for THE READER, Taraji P. Henson for BENJAMIN BUTTON, Viola Davis for DOUBT, Marisa Tomei for THE WRESTLER, Penelope Cruz for VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA
BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher for BENJAMIN BUTTON, Christopher Nolan for THE DARK KNIGHT, Gus Van Zant for MILK, Danny Boyle for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, Sam Mendes for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
How about you? Any predictions? Remember, you don’t have to have seen the movies to make an accurate guess.
