The Apartment: A Quick Review

"The Apartment," released in 1960 was directed and co-written by Billy Wilder.  The movie won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.  The movie surrounds C.C. "Bud" Baxter, played by Jack Lemmon, who works for a insurance company in New York City...which generally is a great place for a movie to be set.  He loans his apartment to various higher-ups in the company so they can have affairs.  Obviously this is an awful thing to do on several moral and logical levels.  However, for Bud, lots of promotions sound like a good idea...apparently whatever the cost...at least at first.  He ends up falling in love with his boss's (Fred MacMurrary) mistress, played by Shirley MacLaine.  To say the least, this complicates things slightly. Well this movie is considered to be a comedy and at times it's funny, but not necessarily laugh-out-loud...because we all know those movies very rarely win Oscars.  There also is a nice element of drama to the film.  The characters are all played by great actors who have chemistry with each other and play convincing people who are far from perfect.  I really enjoyed this movie.  I had never seen it before and had heard good things about it and I thought that it was very well made and had an interesting story, that makes it a lot better than many romantic comedies out there.  For the record there are very few romantic comedies that aren't a horrible movie-watching experience.  If you like any of those actors or just enjoy classic black and white movies then give it a try. 

-Joseph Sbrilli

Psycho: A Quick Review

In 1960 Alfred Hitchcock's "Pyscho" was released. It was a lot different than his previous films. Whereas he had been known for thrillers and mysteries like "Rear Window" and "North by Northwest," "Psycho" was definitely a horror movie...with plenty of thrills and suspense. It stars Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, a woman who steals $40,000 from the bank she works at. That was her first huge mistake. The next huge mistake is deciding to stay the night at the Bates Motel, run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). This of course leads to the infamous "shower scene" and several other things which I won't spoil for those who haven't seen it...because everyone should. It's one of the best movies and my personal favorite. Alfred Hitchcock was an amazing director who was so good at visually building up the suspense. The quick cuts and great views of the scene just add to the intensity. Bernard Herrmann's fantastic score only made things better...something about about violins is just so intense and murderous. By today's standards the violence is very tame (in 1960 the censors were ridiculous), but "Psycho" has stood the test of time. Nearly 50 years have gone by and the film is regarded as a classic, one of Hitchcock's best and continues to entertain and scare whoever decides to watch it...


-Joseph Sbrilli

Shutter Island

"Shutter Island" was directed by Martin Scorsese. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, and others. It was based off of the book of the same name by Dennis Lehane.

It's 1954. Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are the two U.S. marshals  who are sent to Ashcliffe Hospital for the criminally insane...for the select few people in America who haven't seen this trailer 87 times. They are there to investigate the disappearance of a female patient from the hospital. Michelle Williams plays Delores, Teddy's deceased wife who is frequently seen in flashbacks and such. Ben Kingsley plays Dr. John Cawley, the head of the hospital. There's a brief plotline...there are several twists in the movie. And I have decided to not ruin it for people because I think everyone should go out and experience it for themselves.

Well, Leonardo DiCaprio is a great actor. I used to not like him, until I saw him in "Catch Me If You Can;" then that all changed. But, in my defense, he was really annoying in "Romeo & Juliet." After Martin Scorsese decided to ditch Robert DeNiro, after 22 years of working with the actor, he decided to jump on Leonardo DiCaprio next and has casted him in all of his movies since. This turned out to be a great idea and we learned that Martin Scorsese brings out the very best in Leonardo DiCaprio. He is great as the lead character in "Shutter Island" and shows range in the character that is not immediately evident. The rest of the cast is great as well and everyone works very nicely with Leonardo DiCaprio. Good thing too, because otherwise the movie would have been a disaster. And one more thing, Sir Ben Kingsley is a great actor. I love the man and thought he deserved to be mentioned by name in this section. He also gives a fantastic performance in this movie.

"Shutter Island" is ridiculously visually appealing. I guess we have Martin Scorsese and the person actually operating the camera to thank for that one. There are great shots of the island, aerial, long, close-ups...everything - it's really great. The camera movement is also great with the quick zooms and quick shifts between different parts of a scene. Most of the scenes are dark, dull colored, making for the appropriate dramatic tone for this type of movie.

The musical score was fantastic in this movie. Just like in Alfred Hitchcock movies, ("Shutter Island" is being called a "Hitchcockian" thriller...yes, it's a thriller and not a horror movie no matter what people say) music is essential. The music is dramatic and intense and fits each scene so well and just adds to what the audience is seeing on the screen. Without it, the movie would have been significantly less entertaining and successful. Many times the score to a movie is even more important than the actual visuals. They should go together perfectly.

Normally a movie that is over 2 hours long (this one is 138 minutes if anyone was wondering) would cause my ADD to set in at least a little bit. That actually didn't happen. The movie is very well paced. Some scenes do seem a bit long, but they just help to explain things a little which is always good. The movie never got boring and as it progresses new things are revealed and obvious things are not as they seem...because that would suck the fun out of literally everything.

This movie currently has a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm not quite sure how that happened because this movie is way better than that. I assume that some of these reviewers just hate all movies and thus ruined the average for everyone.

Some people had a problem with the end of the movie. They felt like too much is blatantly explained to the audience. Once again I don't know what these people are talking about. I thought things wrap up well for the movie. Since when is explanation bad? It's better than having the audience completely make up in their own mind what actually is happening. It worked well in "Psycho" - having the ending explain what was going on...and it works well in "Shutter Island" as well...although "Psycho" is the best movie ever...but after Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese is my second favorite director of all time.

So this movie was supposed to come out last October, but it didn't...so I had to wait an extra 4 months. It was really depressing, but completely worth it. "Shutter Island" will most likely never be considered classic like some of Martin Scorsese's older films like "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," and "Goodfellas"...all three of those are amazing movies by the way and are highly recommended for everyone to see at least once in life. That doesn't stop "Shutter Island" from being a 4 star movie as far as I am concerned. It's the first great movie of 2010 and Martin Scorsese once again proves what a great filmmaker he really is. The acting directing, score, etc, come together to form an extremely well-made and highly entertaining movie. I will most likely be seeing it again in theaters and will one day own it on DVD...

-Joseph Sbrilli

Law Abiding Citizen: A Quick Review

Well...this movie was very violent and bloody. All the blood does not add to the movie. I know...crazy thought. Gerard Bulter plays Clyde Shelton. His wife and daughter were brutally killed in front of him. Ten years pass, one of the murderers is set free, and Clyde goes insane and is determined to kill the man who killed his family and go after anyone else involved in setting the murderer free. It's no big surprise where this is going to lead...let's just say the movie earned its R rating. Gerard Bulter and Jamie Foxx are far better actors than this movie shows. The plot was good, the execution not so much. The movie was okay, just too simple and nothing made the movie especially interesting to watch. I'm glad I didn't see it in theaters...definitely not worth 8 bucks...but I did get my dollar's worth out of my rental. Of course I did almost fall asleep toward the end, but in my defense it was getting late.

-Joseph Sbrilli

The Road

If anyone hasn't read Cormac McCarthy's novel "The Road," it's a great book. It is a novel that has the potential to be popular for decades and it definitely gets my vote for the first great novel of the 21st century. Pick it up and immerse yourself in the end of the world.

Obviously, I love the book, but how does the movie fare? The last novel-turned-cinematic masterpiece by McCarthy was "No Country for Old Men" and last time I checked that won awards from some guy named Oscar. I could be wrong, maybe I'll IMDb it later.

One of the aspects that makes "The Road" a timeless work of literature, is its lack of names. Viggo Mortensen plays "the father" and Kodi Smit-Mcphee plays "the boy." The father and the boy live in post-apocalypse America. It has been ten years since the entire country was devastated by some form of war. The sky is permanently darkened, most animals have died or been eaten, even the trees have started dying and fall at regular intervals, and the entire human population has degenerated into roving bands of cannibalistic cults. The father is trying to reach the coast with the boy before the onset of winter, to try and find something better for themselves.

If your Lit teacher asked you for the themes of "The Road" you would probably say: despair, hopelessness, moral degradation. "The Road" shows us a future where there is no food, and no hope - where the people turn to eating each other because literally there is no alternative. The father and the boy seem to be the only ones left who haven't let themselves destroy their humanity. They survive off each other. Their love for each other is the only thing that keeps them going and it shows. I almost teared up...almost.

The movie stays fairly close to the book, barring a few annoying flashbacks. Some scenes have been removed, and some added, but it's about as accurate as it can be. That said, the book is twenty times better. There is something about the written word and a person's imagination that can't be translated to screen. The book moved me farther than this movie ever could.

Somehow, Viggo Mortenson wasn't nominated for best actor. In my opinion, this is the biggest snub, because he does absolutely amazing and he always has, in every movie he has ever been in.

Three out of Four stars

-Christopher O'Connell

Manhattan: A Quick Review

Once there was a middle aged named Woody Allen. In 1979 he made a great movie called "Manhattan." He wrote, directed, and starred in the aforementioned movie. He filmed the movie in black and white and on location in New York City. This director also surrounded himself with a exceptional cast including Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep. The plot surrounds Woody Allen as Isaac Davis. He's in his 40s and his girlfriend is not quite a legal adult. Yes, that is disgusting and repulsive and yet pretty typical of a Woody Allen movie...just bear with me though. It really is a great movie. He finds out he's not in love with the young girl...I'm sure multiple people in New York could have told him that was an awful idea. But I guess when your ex-wife played by Meryl Streep becomes a lesbian things get a bit crazy. Well anyways Isaac then starts falling for his best friend's mistress (Diane Keaton). The dialogue is great and the characters are dynamic and real. They are severely screwed up and have multitudes of problems that they need to work out. People aren't perfect...so why should movie characters be? The film is a great romantic comedy...or relational comedy...the whole romance thing gets kind of sketchy. The dialogue is smart and funny...something sadly missing from many, many romantic comedies out there. The cinematography and scenery is beautiful! The only thing better than New York City, is New York City in black and white. Woody Allen and the person actually handling the camera got some great shots that add so much to the overal plot and theme of the movie. And a little...actually a lot of George Gershwin music doesn't hurt. I'm not sure, I might like this better than "Annie Hall." Watch this and then watch "Whatever Works"...the second movie will completely depress you...Woody Allen is a much better director than that movie showed. See "Manhattan" though...and if you don't like it...don't even bother to explain it to me.

-Joseph Sbrilli

When In Rome

Stupidly, I walked into "When In Rome" assuming it was going to be a comedy. I mean with people like Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard, Danny Devito, Jon Heder, and Will Arnett would you expect anything less?

Well, you shouldn't if you said yes, you silly person. The answer is no. I expected a comedy and got a subpar chick flick, which if we look at the international ratings for entertainment quality, rates slightly above indie horror flicks about mutated animals/people/piranhas, and slightly below chopping oneself's foot off.

Kristen Bell plays Beth, the very young and attractive curator of the Guggenheim museum in New York - which, as you know, only hires young, attractive women to run the place. Beth feels like no one loves her because her boyfriend is getting married and she loves her work too much to find a guy. The obvious solution would be to not work as hard and find a husband, but being a chick flick, rationality is thrown out the window faster than a dead mouse.

After being all mopey about her ex-boyfriend getting married, Beth discovers that her sister is getting married in Rome. Beth flies to Rome and gets involved with the best man Nick (Josh Duhamel, "Transformers") But when she sees Nick kissing another girl she climbs into the fountain of love and takes people's coins from the fountain. I guess this is some Roman legend, I'm not entirely sure, but every guy who threw a coin in the fountain that Beth picks up, falls instantly and magically in love with her.

Plot is not this movies strong point, but at least it starts getting funny around now. Several guys fall in love with her, a struggling magician (Heder), an Italian painter (Arnett), a model (Shepard) and a sausage company owner (Devito). Beth knows these characters don't actually love her, but she's not sure if she picked up one of Nick's coins who seems to have fallen in love with her as well.

Unfortunately, their scenes are incredibly underutilized, although amusing. If "When In Rome" has anything going for it, it has a great supporting cast who do their best to make this movie enjoyable. Shout out to Bobby Moynihan, an SNL regular who is great as Nick's best friend.

"When In Rome" fails on a lot of different levels, and if you do see it, do your best to enjoy the great scenes with the supporting cast.

One and a half out of four stars

-Christopher O'Connell

The Sixth Sense: A Quick Review

So I just watched M. Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense"...yes I know....a good decade after the majority of Americans saw it. I'm guessing most people know the plot but here goes...Bruce Willis plays Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist. Haley Joel Osment plays Cole Sear, a child who sees dead people. Saying that "The Sixth Sense" is a great film would be a huge understatement. M. Night Shyamalan was a great director...then 2004 happened and he hasn't been the same since. Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, and Haley Joel Osment all give fantastic performances. Haley Joel Osment has got to be one of the greatest child actors, ever. This film is amazingly successful at being an intelligent phycological thriller with one of the best endings of any movie. And I'm so glad someone didn't ruin it for me. This definitely earned its spot on the American Film Institute's Top 100 List.

-Joseph Sbrilli

An Education

"An Education" was directed by Lone Scherfig. It stars Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan, Alfred Molina, and Emma Thompson. "An Education" is one of the 10 Best Picture Nominees at the 82nd Academy Awards. The movie also got nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Carey Mulligan got a Best Actress nomination.

The movie takes place in England in 1961. Jenny Miller (Carey Mulligan) is 16 years old and plans on attending college at Oxford University. One day David Goldman (Peter Sarsgaard), a man roughly twice her age, comes along and everything changes. They begin a romantic relationship and he shows her such luxuries as concerts and going to Paris. Throughout this period in her life, Jenny learns a ridiculous amount of things...some of them more enjoyable than others. The title has at least two meanings that I can think of...

Carey Mulligan earned her Oscar nomination. She won't win because I'm assuming Sandra Bullock will win...even though she claims she won't..oh, Sandra Bullock.... But at least Carey Mulligan can say that she earned it. I had not heard of her before this movie came out, which makes sense because she has only been in a couple movies and this is her first starring role. She makes the character of Jenny believable as she matures and just learns from the experiences she is thrust into. She shows several emotions and gives her character depth, playing it all very convincingly. She even has some chemistry with Peter Sarsgaard...although every so often their relationship comes off as kind of strange and gross...which is actually a pretty legitimate comment. He is also great in his role...just not great enough to warrent a Oscar nomination. Alfred Molina as Jenny's father was a nice change from his role in "Spiderman 2"...the only other movie I have to judge him in...great actor. And although Emma Thompson was only in three small scenes, she was fantastic in this movie as the headmistress at Jenny's school. She worked so well with Carey Mulligan in those scenes as she talks to Jenny about college and her future and the affect that David could have on it.

The movie looks beautiful. The sets and everything were successful in conveying the 1960s time period. There are some great shots of various parts of England and France. The cinematography, which included various parts of certain scenes out of focus, aerial views of buildings, and general impressive composition and lighting, makes the movie extremely visually appealing.

The story is compelling throughout the duration of the film. The dialogue between the cast is well written and feels natural.

So as of now I have seen all 10 of the Best Picture nominees. And "An Education" is not going win Best Picture...because if the Academy has any idea what they are doing either "Precious" or "Up in the Air" is going to win. Or they could be ridiculous and give the award to "Avatar" which would be horrible because it's not Best Picture quality. At that point the Academy can no longer be trusted. I guess I should get back to "An Education" and stop ranting. The movie visually looked great and the actors all gave great performances. The script and whatever the heck else going into making a great, well made movie is present here. I would recommend it, but it might not be the kind of movie for some people. It doesn't really have mass appeal and is pretty artistic...4 out of 4 stars...

-Joseph Sbrilli

Crazy Heart

"Crazy Heart" was written and directed by Scott Cooper. It stars Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall, and Colin Farrell. The movie is based off the novel by Thomas Cobb.

Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) used to be a hugely successful country singer. Decades later he's estranged from his son, four times divorced, struggling with alcoholism and trying to make a comeback in his career since playing at bowling alleys isn't the first place he'd like to do a show. Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist about 30 years his junior, comes into his life. At first it's on a business basis as she is interviewing him, then it turns into a romantic relationship. So yeah, the whole movie is him trying to improve his life and his relationships. Robert Duvall plays Bad Blake's friend, Wayne Kramer, and Colin Farrell plays Tommy Sweet, a young country singer that Bad Blake worked with years before.

The main reason this was such a great movie is Jeff Bridges. He has been nominated four times for an Academy Award and has lost each time. If the Academy has any idea whatsoever what they are doing then this will be the year Jeff Bridges finally gets his Oscar. He is fantastic in this movie. Every single scene he is in, whether he's alone or interacting with another character is believable. He becomes Bad Blake; it's hard to imagine another actor in the role. Every drink he takes and every word he sings is just so real. There's a sympathy for a character who has seen better days, or years even. There's a sincerity to the character, that he actually wants to change his life. And he's not a bad country singer either...of course I have little or nothing to compare him to. It's great seeing him in this movie after seeing him play The Dude in "The Big Lebowski"...such drastically different roles in case you didn't realize it. He works great with the other cast members as well, mainly Maggie Gyllenhaal. I normally do not like her. I felt she was the weak link in the otherwise fantastic cast of "The Dark Knight." She is not bad at all in "Crazy Heart." Despite the pretty big age difference she has something resembling chemistry with Jeff Bridges. She also got an Oscar nomination this year.

The movie looks very nice. Visually it's nothing spectacular or unusual. You have your beautiful landscape shots and your close ups and such. It just fits very well for this movie. I am impressed that this is Scott Cooper's first film. What a fantastic start to his career. He also wrote and produced the movie, which usually works out well since he has the majority of the creative control and the assumption is the end result is how he envisioned it.

At times the pace can be a bit slow...But that's not really a legitimate criticism because it's never gets boring.

Jeff Bridges is winning that Oscar. His performance was one of the best of 2009...and there were some unbelievably great performances by various talented actors and actresses. The rest of the cast, the story, the songs - yes, I didn't mention it before but it's all original songs, including the Oscar nominated "The Weary Kind" - all come together to form a great, well made movie...engaging and memorable...one of the best of 2009. 4 out of 4 stars. I highly recommend this, even if it's later on in life and you rent it...of course if you don't like country music that is probably an automatic turn off for you...but come on...Jeff Bridges.

-Joseph Sbrilli

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards

It's that time of year again, where the biz hands out awards to the best movies made. All the nominations are out and JoeandChrisO have made their predictions for the categories you care about!

Best Picture Nominees:

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

A Serious Man

Up

Up in the Air

Joe's Prediction: "Precious" - The story is powerful and compelling. The cast is fantastic, especially Gabourney Sibide and M'onique who both gave some of the best performances of 2009. The two actresses definitely earned their Oscar nominations. And the film is just generally well made/directed/etc.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Precious" - As much as I'd love to see "UP" win this, it's not going to. Nothing can beat surviving a harsh background if last year's Oscars serve as any indication with "Slumdog Millionaire."

Side Note: If "Avatar" wins best picture both Joe AND Chris O will personally kill everyone responsible at the Academy.

Best Director Nominees:

James Cameron: Avatar

Kathryn Bigelow: The Hurt Locker

Quentin Tarantino: Inglourious Basterds

Lee Daniels: Precious

Jason Reitman: Up In The Air

Joe's Prediction: Jason Reitman - He is a fantastic young director and his most recent film is great and is much better...in my opinion than "Juno." "Up in the Air" is visually very well made and Jason Reitman used the impressive cast to their fullest potential. He succeeded in making a movie that is much more than a drama and much more than just a comedy.

ChrisO's Prediction: James Cameron - No contest, the man just directed one of the most gorgeous looking movies you'll see in your life. And somehow made it entertaining for 3 hours.

Best Actor Nominees:

Jeff Bridges: Crazy Heart

George Clooney: Up In The Air

Colin Firth: A Single Man

Morgan Freeman: Invictus

Jeremy Renner: The Hurt Locker

Joe's Prediction: Jeff Bridges - I haven't seen "Crazy Heart" yet, but based on the reviews his performance is the main selling point for the movie. He gives a dyamic, memorable performance that has previously been recognized by the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild.

ChrisO's Prediction: Jeff Bridges - As good as George Clooney and Jeremy Renner were, I feel as if this is Jeff Bridges's defining career moment. The buzz coming off of his performance is intense and is definitely going to win him an Oscar.

Best Actress Nominees:

Sandra Bullock: The Blind Side

Helen Mirren: The Last Station

Carey Mulligan: An Education

Gabourey Sidibe: Precious

Meryl Streep: Julie and Julia

Joe's Prediction: Sandra Bullock - Watch "The Proposal," then watch "The Blind Side"...then tell me that the woman doesn't have acting range...it just can't be done. She is fantastic in "The Blind Side" and pretty much carried the entire movie.

ChrisO's Prediction: Sandra Bullock - Gabourey Sidibe may have been good, but this is her first movie; stuff like that generally doesn't happen, and Sandra Bullock's performance outshines everyone else's. This is an almost hands down win for her.

Best Supporting Actor Nominees:

Matt Damon: Invictus

Woody Harrelson: The Messenger

Christopher Plummer: The Last Station

Stanley Tucci: The Lovely Bones

Christoph Waltz: Inglourious Basterds

Joe's Prediction: Christoph Waltz - The latest actor that Quentin Tarantino has worked with toward a Academy Award nomination. His performance in "Inglourious Basterds" was memorable and well-liked by critics. He has already won the award at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards and several other times...so it's pretty much a done deal.

ChrisO's Prediction: Christoph Waltz - As much as "Basterds" annoys me, this movie has some great acting. Christoph Waltz is phenomenally evil, funny, pshychotic and just a joy to watch interact with other characters. Another no contest.

Best Supporting Actress Nominees:

Penelope Cruz: Nine

Vera Farmiga: Up In The Air

Maggie Gyllenhall: Crazy Heart

Anna Kendrick: Up In The Air

Mo'Nique: Precious

Joe's Prediction: M'onique - I'm not familiar with her comedy...but her role in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" is anything but. She succeeded in portraying a character that should be hated with a burning passion and yet in some small way you feel her pain. One of the best performances of the year and very moving.

ChrisO's Prediction: Anna Kendrick - I know Mo'Nique is going to win. I do, but I absolutely loved Anna Kendrick in "Up In The Air," and can't wait to see more of her. She is the newest rising star and it would do you good to go out and see her act past George Clooney.

Best Original Screenplay Nominees:

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

The Messenger

A Serious Man

Up

Joe's Prediction: "A Serious Man" - the Coen Brothers almost always amaze their latest endeavor was no exception. They wrote a brilliant script, practically every line of dialogue was perfect. It was darkly hilarious.

ChrisO's Prediction: "The Hurt Locker" - Yahoo says that "Basterds" is going to win, and if it does I will cut people. Making a revenge story about WW2 is not original. Anyhoo "The Hurt Locker" is getting pushed out in every other category and I'm pretty sure the Academy will award Kathryn Bigelow with something, and this is probably going to be it.

Best Adapted Screenplay Nominees:

District 9

An Education

In The Loop

Precious

Up In The Air

Joe's Prediction: "Up In The Air" - I have never read the book...but if the movie is any indication at all it must be great. It turned out to be a great source material for a movie. The scriptwriters manage to combine a variety of emotions and realistic, dynamic characters into a highly entertaining, exceptionally written script.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Precious" - No contest. Sorry, "Up In The Air," you're getting shut out of everything.

Best Animated Feature Nominees:

Coraline

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Princess and The Frog

The Secret of Kells

Up

Joe's Prediction: "Up" - Pixar...that should be enough said right there. They manage to crank out movies where the demographic is the human race in general...brilliant animation, great script and characters, and enough emotion and laugh to please the average person.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Up" - Look at that list, narrow it down by movies made by Pixar, and what's left? Thats right, "Up." One of the most endearing, funny movies this year, and certainly one of Pixar's best, this doesn't even need to be a category, it should just say owned by Pixar.

Best Art Direction Nominees:

Avatar

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Nine

Sherlock Holmes

The Young Victoria

Joe's Prediction: "Nine" - The movie might have been kind of confusing...but visually the movie was fantastic. It's beautiful to look at and it's a shame that other aspects of the movie didn't measure up to the same quality.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Avatar" - Obviously.

Best Cinematography Nominees:

Avatar

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

The White Ribbon

Joe's Prediction: "Inglourious Basterds" - The movie is exceptionally shot and visually great to look at. Camera angles and everything come together well in what I assume to Quentin Tarantino's vision.

ChrisO's Prediction: "The Hurt Locker" - strictly because I think the Academy will feel bad for shutting out "The Hurt Locker" in every other category.

Best Costume Design Nominees:

Bright Star

Coco Before Chanel

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Nine

The Young Victoria

Joe's Prediction: "The Young Victoria" - The Academy loves to give this award to movies involving England in some way...

ChrisO's Prediction: "Nine" - I haven't seen it but I'm pretty sure its got this one.

Best Film Editing Nominees:

Avatar

District 9

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

Joe's Prediction: "Inglourious Basterds" - The movie was extremely well put together. This allowed various storylines to intertwine into a common piece. I expect nothing less from the man who brought us "Pulp Fiction."

ChrisO's Prediction: "District 9" - because I want to see more movies made like it.

Best Original Score Nominees:

Avatar

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Hurt Locker

Sherlock Holmes

Up

Joe's Prediction: "Up" - It's wonderful...it fits the tone of the movie so well and they have brilliant composers cranking out another memorable score.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Up" - I'd say Avatar, but I don't even remember any music, but I loved the music in "Up!"

Best Makeup Nominees:

IL Divo

Star Trek

The Young Victoria

Joe's Prediction: "Star Trek" - If you need me to explain myself you have issues to work out.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Star Trek" - The aliens were done extremely well and the wounds on Chris Pine's face were equally outstanding.

Best Visual Effects Nominees:

Avatar

District 9

Star Trek

Joe's Prediction: "Avatar" - James Cameron's budget that could buy a small country was good for something.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Avatar" - Did you expect anything else?

Best Sound Editing Nominees:

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Star Trek

Up

Joe's Prediction: "Avatar" - Its huge budget may have gone almost entirely to the visual effects....but let's give credit to the sound...because I will never give anyone credit for that script.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Avatar" - Because Joe seems to know what he's talking about.

Best Sound Mixing Nominees:

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Star Trek

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Up

Joe's Prediction: "Up" - Similar to my first comment about the score. The movie sounds great...although I have a hard time differentiating sound editing and sound mixing.

ChrisO's Prediction: "Up" - Again because Joe seems to know what he's talking about.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Joe's Prediction: "Das Weiss Band" ("The White Ribbon") - I haven't see it, but it has gotten great reviews.

There you have it! Make your own predictions and see if you score better than we do!

Edge of Darkness

Mel Gibson is back! Thank the acting gods for a moment please. All right, I may love Mel Gibson a little much but the man has been in some fantastic movies - i.e. "Braveheart," "The Patriot," "We Were Soldiers," cough "What Women Want" cough. Many of us have been waiting since 2002's "Signs" hoping to see Mel get out of the directing chair and flex his acting chops together.

Gibson plays Boston police detective Thomas Craven. Craven is eagerly awaiting the arrival of his daughter, Emma Craven, who has been working for Northmoor, a privately owned company that does research for the US military. It is a typical family reunion in which we learn that Emma is pretty much Craven's entire life. There's no mention of a mother at all. I'm not sure if she died, he adopted Emma or she just kind of showed up on his doorstep as a kid, or whatever. It's Emma's first night back and you already know somethings wrong; she's getting nosebleeds and throwing up and all sorts of gross stuff. Craven rushes to take her to the hospital and as soon as they walk out the door, a masked gunman blasts Emma with a shotgun. She flies back like she was just clotheslined by a low flying 747. The police tell Craven that the gunman was aiming for him, but whose going to fall for that? Pssh not me, and neither is Mel Gibson, especially after watching Emma barf up something awful and take 200 grams of buckshot to the chest.

It may have taken you longer to read that paragraph then watch that scene in the film. Which is great because as much as I love Gibson (a lot), he's not very good at the small talk, and the first 8 minutes of the film is small talk. What Gibson capitalizes on is intense emotion. The man knows how to contort his face into something that just twists your soul as he watches his daughter die. In "Taken" I had to sit through almost 20 minutes of cheesy dialogue before Liam Neeson opened up a giant can of whoopass on European scumbags. "Edge of Darkness" throws you right into the action almost as soon as the opening credits scroll past.

"Edge of Darkness" consistently amazed me with its cinematography. Every action scene is beautifully done, and everything just feels real. Its rated R, but the gore is toned down enough to not make me want to cringe in disgust (I'm looking at you, "Zombieland") but is enough to still convince me that yes, this person was shot and that's probably how they would look if a bullet penetrated their eyeball and exited through their brainstem. My mouth was open enough during this movie in awe of the scenes that I'm pretty sure my moviegoing neighbors thought that might be a permanent condition of mine (it's not).

Well, now that I've written the equivalent of a short story on the movie's good sides, it's time to look at the bad things. The plot of "Edge of Darkness" is incredibly large and can get a little muddled. It is just one of those things that just doesn't feel right within the story. I'll throw out words and let's see if you can connect them: conspiracy, murder, radioactivity, nuclear bomb and, extreme leftist hippie groups. Yeah, I didn't think so.

Much of the plot is lost as well. Some bad company hires this British guy to help clean everything up and whenever he has a conversation with Mel Gibson, almost every word is lost to what I like to call "old man jabber." They just jabber back and forth slurring words - one of those occurrences in nature that catches your attention for a few moments before you realize whatever they're talking about is probably really boring. The sound system in the theatre was perfectly fine, but the way they interacted took away anything that might have explained the plot a little better.

"Edge of Darkness" is a pretty decent flick, entertaining at best and muddled at worst. Definitely go if you love Mel Gibson, and remember: everything is illegal in Massachusetts.

Grade: two and a half stars

-Christopher O'Connell