New goal. Feature film by 26. Short film by new year.

A break.

Not that anyone really reads this blog, I figured a small polite disclaimer explaining my absence would be necessary. Basically, I have school and do not have a whole lot of time to write in a blog regularly. So, in the mean time go watch Gomorra, because it's fucking awesome.

Golden Globes Live Blogging.

Of all the unqualified people to do a live blog (sort of, I'm just watching nbc) of the Golden Globe awards, I'm probably somewhere between really unqualified and haven't seen all the movies. I've seen quite a few, but there are some titles that have escaped my viewing. No big deal though. Let's do this.

6:03 p.m. - My friend got his external hard drive apart. awesome.

6:05 p.m. - Diddy says earf.

6:09 p.m. - Realization that the Golden Globes logo looks suspiciously like the Golden Compass title.

I'm a polar bear!

6:21 p.m. - Heath Leger is the most popular person on the Red Carpet, and he's dead. And Zac Efron has a mullet.

6:25 p.m. - The way Dustin Hoffman is messing with the host is hilarious.

6:34 p.m. - Kate Winslet and Leo Dicaprio are there for the nominations in Titanic 2 *ahem* I mean Revolutionary Road.

6:39 p.m. - STING

6:44 p.m. - Mike is custom making our pizzas from Dominos. Now that's service!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - Kate Winslet (The Reader)

6:56 p.m. - If Kate didn't win, I would of shit a brick. You can read below how much I enjoyed The Reader.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG - Bruce Springsteen "The Wrestler"

7:01 p.m. - How the hell did Miley Cyrus even get nominated? Did they just not have enough nominees? Oh Well, The Boss takes it home.

7:05 p.m. - I can get the color I want with L'oreal. Whew.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MINI-SERIES OR SOMETHING OR OTHER - Tom Wilkinson (John Adams

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MINI-SERIES OR SOMETHING OR OTHER - Laura Dern (Recount)

7:17 p.m. - They need a more conservative title for those awards.

7:19 p.m. - The joke delivery on this show is fantastic. And has people introduce people who really have nothing to do with anything.

7:22 p.m. - Zac Efron still has a mullet.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA - Gabriel Byrne (Treatment)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA - Anna Paquin (True Blood)

7:30 p.m. - Ricky Gervais makes holocaust jokes. And it's hilarious. Also self-depreciation is the humor type of the night.

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED FEATURE - Wall-E

7:34 p.m. - Surprise Surprise.

BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL OR COMEDY - Sallie Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky)

7:40 p.m. - Time to bust out the non-alcoholic Cold Duck.

7:42 p.m. - Bring it, IMDB.

7:43 p.m. - Upon viewing the trailer, Confessions of a Shopaholic, I think this could be Ilsa Fischer's breakout role.

BEST MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE - John Adams

7:50 p.m. - Paul Giamatti's side burns are intimidating.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - Heath Leger (The Dark Knight)

7:52 p.m. - in case he won? There was no way he wasn't going to win. And Nolan just said sawr. RIP Heath Leger.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM - Waltz With Bashir

BEST ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE - Laura Linney (John Adams)

8:05 p.m. - Papa?
8:13 p.m. - They said 'Zach and Miri Make a Porno' really fast.

BEST SCREENPLAY - Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - Musical or Comedy - Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)

8:17 p.m. - Earnst and Young pose revolutionizes the public's view of the Golden Globed by making it look even more stuck up than the Academy Awards.

BEST ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR TV MOVIE - Paul Giamatti (John Adams)

8:25 p.m. - I'm still intimidated.

BEST TV SERIES - Musical or Comedy - 30 Rock

8:29 p.m. - 30 Rock is winning a lot of awards, unrightfully so? I guess that's not really up to me. But Zach is pissed.

8:32 p.m. - Fuck Target. I hate Christina Aguilera.

8:33 p.m. - Orencia's commercial is excellent "that's what she said" material.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - Motion Picture - A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire)

8:38 p.m. - Hell yeah, Slumdog Millionaire fucking Rules. Hopefully It keeps winning.

BEST ACTRESS IN A TV SERIES - Musical or Comedy - Tina Fey (30 Rock)

8:41 p.m. - "Seriously?" says Zach.

8:51 p.m. - Jurassic Park is obviously Steven Spielberg's best movie.

9:06 p.m. - The shoosh joke is getting old. And I'm getting lazier.

BEST DIRECTOR - Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)

9:08 p.m. - The master of all trades takes it. Fuck yeah.

BEST ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - Musical or Comedy - Colin Ferrel (In Bruges)

9:13 p.m. - I'm really really happy that this movie is getting attention. In Bruges was amazing.

9:23 p.m. - This is it....

BEST MOTION PICTURE - Musical or Comedy - Vicky Christina Barcelona

9:24 p.m. - I didn't see this but I wonder if it really was better than In Bruges and Burn After Reading.

BEST ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)

9:32 p.m. - Kate is currently hyper ventilating. But with how often she is naked on screen, you would think she would be more comfortable in front of people. Seriously though, Kate is one of the best actresses out there. Congratulations.

9:35 p.m. - WHOA! She's married to Sam Mendes. The more you know huh?

9:36 p.m. - "Hi, We're TV actors." One of the best lines of the night.

BEST TELEVISION SERIES - Mad Men

BEST ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)

9:44 p.m. - I haven't seen this yet either, but this is my most anticipated films of the year (2008). Just from the trailer, I can see why he won this. It looks soooooo good. Plus it has a 98% on Rotten Tomatos. Damn straight.

9:48 p.m. - I will thankfully not have to watch TV for another 2 months. Another hour of the commercials may drive me to a balcony where the jump would only break my legs.

BEST MOTION PICTURE - Drama - Slumdog Millionaire

9:53 p.m. - Apparently, Slumdog Millionaire shits Golden Globes. But seriously, it deserved every award.

9:53 p.m. - On one final note, Danny Boyle looks like a crazy mother fucker.


I need to find a better way to do this, or at least prep a document. Anyway, thanks for reading if you did. And I apologize if you got angry at how poor of coverage this was.

The Reader.

Stephen Daldry's adaption of the book by the same title is breathe taking and mentally stimulating. The story takes place between pre and post WWII Germany, narrated by an older Micheal Berg (Ralph Fiennes). The narration focuses on the affair between a younger Michael Berg (David Kross) and an older woman, Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet). As the affair progresses, Hanna Schmitz disappears From Micheal's life, only to reappear a decade later on trial for war crimes in a case that his class is studying.

Daldry does an amazing job of keeping the right distance from these characters to allow both sympathy and a thorough understanding. However, there wouldn't be any characters to connect with if not for the outstanding performances by both David Kross and Ralph Fiennes, and the absurdly spectacular Kate Winslet.

Let's get this out of the way. Give Kate the Oscar. Holy shit. Her portrayal of Hanna Schmitz was nothing short of her best role, not to mention one of the best performances to date, male or female. Her character seemed so emotionally distant at first, but broke down throughout the movie, revealing the layers upon layers of character that Winslet was portraying. This isn't to say that the male leads in this movie were not great as well. I think I speak for many people when I say we were all surprised by the rookie David Kross. He definitely held his own against powerhouse's like Winslet and Fiennes, and perhaps even outdid Fiennes. Ralph Fiennes played a very Ralph Fiennes type character in this film. A broody middle-aged man caught up on something or someone. But it was him that you felt the least connected too. His characters reactions were short and not properly portrayed in later scenes.

I will admit, In my first review, that I am not really a fan of holocaust movies. I haven't seen Schindler's List and I can't say it's a priority of mine either. I understand it's amazing, and most likely, rightfully so. However, there is something about these period pieces that don't agree with my tastes.

The Reader is not a Holocaust film. And I thank it for that. It takes place during the holocaust. It deals with the Holocaust. The film couldn't exist without the holocaust. But it manages to float above it all with overarching moral themes and complex characters that engage you to a point of fascination, yet leave you enough emotional room to examine the dilemma's that surround the characters objectively. It is here that the film walks an extremely fine line. To be too sympathetic would create a one sided forced view of these characters. The movie would MAKE you feel sorry for them. On the other hand, if the film delved too much on the intellectual and moral issues of this film, one would have felt too distant to apply these dilemma's to the character. It was this balancing act that allowed the film to present such a gray area surrounding the characters actions.

This movie is most certainly deserving of a Best Picture nomination, and it's unfortunate that Kate will only be recieving a nomination for Supporting Actress (however, there is Meryl Streep to go up against in the Lead category, and I would be hard pressed to tell you who was more awesome).

Overall: Solid A.

This is a movie blog.

This blog is here for two reasons:

1) For me to express my feelings about and review movies.

2) To improve my vastly underdeveloped writing skills.

I'm Josh and I thank you.