Waking Ned Divine

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would write something that is mildly Irish in flavor:

I am not a movie connoisseur, at least not to the level of most of my peers. Generally, I watch a handful of bigger titles, along with most sci-fi and action movies. As for horror, chick flicks, indie … I am a cinematically clueless. I rarely darken the cinema’s door. However, I have recently discovered that holiday breaks from school are prime time for me to make up for all the years I didn’t watch what everyone else was talking about.

Over Christmas Break, I had the pleasure of watching Waking Ned Divine, an Irish comedy. Though I am not extremely educated in film, I can safely say that Waking Ned Divine is strange. The plot is straightforward, but the humor is different. Not British humor, exactly—more like Irish humor, I suppose.

A quick synopsis: in a small Irish fishing village, Ned Divine wins the seven million pound lottery and dies from shock. Finding the winning ticket in his rigor mortis hand, the village conspires to fool the agency into thinking that Ned is alive in order to collect the money.

I would rate or critique the movie, but 1) I have already stated that I am not qualified in moviedom and 2) I watched the flick at around 2:00 in the morning, so I was not lucid enough to fully synthesize what I was watching. I would say that if you are in the mood for something a little different, you might look into renting Waking Ned Divine. Not a fantastic comedy, but everyone needs a little more Ireland in their life.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Steven Spielberg's Video Game

Good ole' Steven Spielberg. We've learned so much about life through watching his movies. Such as never ever go into water above your knees because monstrous sharks are always lurking just a little outside of your vision. We also learned that aliens are adorable and should be kept in closets and protected from the all-seeing eye of an uncaring national government. Also, Nazis make the perfect bad guys.

One could make the case that Steven Spielberg knows a lot about what makes a good movie. He's been nominated twelve times for Academy Awards and has won three of those times. Not only has he racked up the nominations, but he has done it across four decades: from Best Director for Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 to Best Producer for Letters from Iwo Jima in 2006. This man literally has a lifetime of experience in story-telling through cinema under his belt.

But now, the great film director has decided to try something new. It was announced some months ago that Steven Spielberg had contracted with one of the largest publishers of video games in the world, Electronic Arts, to direct two video games to be published under their label. One was to be a dramatic, narrative-driven game for the Microsoft XBox 360 and the Sony Playstation 3, and the other was to be a physics-based puzzle game for the Nintendo Wii. Few details were given, and much speculation abounded.

Could Spielberg make not one, but two great games that live up to his legacy as a director? Would he be able to direct a game that had very little narrative focus? Would EA shoehorn him into a budget and time frame that were impossible to accomplish like they have done for other developers? Would his games wind up looking like one of the many other craptastic games based on movie narratives?

The essential question derived from all of this is: Does Spielberg's directorial genius translate from the medium of moving pictures and narration to the medium of interaction, competition, and user-creativity?

I will admit, I was highly skeptical about this question for quite some time. No knocking Spielberg, but game design is hard work that few people can do with any success. However, now you can be the judge for yourself as to Spielberg's talent and ingenuity. Below is the very first video for his Wii game. It was released recently with little other information than its title: Boom Blox.

Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, so feel free to leave it in the comments. I believe that the video shows great ingenuity, and that Spielberg will prove he has a medium-transcending eye for design. If the game is released at a lower-than-normal price point, it has the potential to tear through the market as a must-have casual game.

Little is known of the progress of Spielberg's other game, but I'm feeling much less skeptical about both of them after viewing this video. Who knows, maybe he will even go the extra mile in his other game and throw in some Nazis!

Oscar predictions: "No Country For Old Men" vs. "There Will Be Blood"

This year, the Oscars will be held February 24. Two movies, "There Will Be Blood" and "No Country for Old Men," both excellent, have 8 nominations each. Although I saw "No Country for Old Men" several weeks ago, I was only recently able to see "There Will Be Blood," and it made me start wondering which movie will win in what categories. I looked up the categories of their nominations, and I thought I would share my thoughts on the two.

First, though, we need to know a little bit about the two movies. From Oscar.com, the summaries and nominations (categories in which they will compete are italicized):

"There Will Be Blood"
"In his ruthless pursuit of wealth, misanthropic oilman Daniel Plainview tricks a local farmer into signing away his valuable drilling rights and rejects his own son, H.W., when the boy loses his hearing in an accident. As he becomes increasingly isolated and unstable, Daniel places his trust in a vagrant claiming to be his half-brother, and finds his position unsettled by H.W.'s return and the growing popularity of the farmer's son, now an evangelical preacher."
Nominations - Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Achievement in Art Direction, Achievement in Cinematography, Achievement in Directing, Achievement in Film Editing, Best Motion Picture of the Year, Achievement in Sound Editing, Adapted Screenplay

"No Country For Old Men"
"When Llewellyn Moss comes upon a corpse-strewn drug-deal-gone-wrong in the middle of a barren West Texas range, he takes the bag of cash he finds at the scene and soon draws the attention of the county sheriff investigating the crime. Sheriff Bell will become Llewellyn's best hope for survival, however, when he finds himself the object of a relentless pursuit by hired killer Anton Chigurh, a murderous sociopath."
Nominations - Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Achievement in Cinematography, Achievement in Directing, Achievement in Film Editing, Best Motion Picture of the Year, Achievement in Sound Editing, Achievement in Sound Mixing, Adapted Screenplay

I decided I would go through each category they share and give my thoughts on how the two compare to each other. I can not necessarily say who will win that category, because I haven't seen all the other movies nominated, but I will say who I think will win in one of these two movies does.

Category: Achievement in Cinematography
Other Nominees: "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," "Atonement," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
I will go out on a limb and, even though I have seen none of the other three movies, say that "TWBB" wins this hands down. That's one of the things I noticed throughout the movie: the entire things, all 138 minutes of it, is shot to perfectly accent the scene taking place. There are some great effects using contrasts in light, as well as distance. "No Country" had some similar types of things, but not on the scale of "TWBB."

Category: Achievement in Directing
Other Nominees: "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "Juno," "Michael Clayton"
"Michael Clayton" is the wildcard for me, because sadly, I have not seen it. From what I hear it was excellent, and with 7 nominations, one less than "No Country" and "TWBB," it seems that critics liked it too. But like I said, I will only say who will win between "No Country" and "TWBB." And in that competition, I would have to lean towards the Coen brothers, and "No Country for Old Men." the Coens are responsible for movies like "Fargo," "O Brother, Where Art Thou," and "The Big Lebowski," and have been nominated for several Academy Awards, with Joel Coen winning in the Directing category for Fargo in '96. The director of "TWBB," Paul Thomas Anderson, has been nominated for an Oscar five other times, and has done "Magnolia" and "Boogie Nights." I'm no expert, and I don't really know completely what goes into winning Best Director, but I would go with "No Country."

Category: Achievement in Film Editing
Other Nominees: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "Into the Wild"
This is another category I don't know much about. I would pick "TWBB," but I don't know what to look for, so who knows. It did have some great cuts and such.

Category: Achievement in Sound Editing
Other Nominees: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "Ratatouille," "Transformers"
This is another one that I would predict "TWBB" winning with a strong margin. The score and the way sound is used in this movie is amazing. The orchestra is used to wonderful effect, and the sound (or lack thereof) that went along with Daniel's son H.W.'s loss of hearing worked marvelously. I went to see this with Drew, and as we walked out of the theater that was one of the things we both immediately latched onto, along with the cinematography. "No Country" was good, but I can't say much about it with "TWBB" in the running.

Category: Adapted Screenplay
Other Nominees: "Atonement," "Away From Her," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Having read neither "Oil!" by Upton Sinclair or "No Country for Old Men" by Cormack McCarthy, I can't tell you how true these were to the books, but if I had to pick one it would be "No Country." It just seemed a lot more cohesive. While both their plots had their own oddities, "No Country" fit together a bit better than "TWBB." Both were good, and I don't know how much the original books affect the decision for this category so I can't give a definite answer, but like I said, if I were forced to pick, I would pick "No Country."

Category: Best Motion Picture of the Year
Other Nominees: "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton"
The big one. It's a tough call, but I would have to just go with "No Country for Old Men." The entire thing, from screenplay to dialogue and action to sound and visuals just seems to all come together better than "There Will Be Blood." And I would call "No Country" to win the entire category, even over the other movies. I've seen a bit of "Juno," and while I liked what little I saw, it's not going to win. And I just can't see "Atonement" doing so either. "Michael Clayton," once again, is the wild card, but I feel confident enough in "No Country" that I would put it over that anyway.

So there are my predictions. And on a side note, I have one more. I think "TWBB" will win Best Actor as well, for Daniel Day-Lewis' performance. He was amazing. So, any disagreement? Let me know what you think, on these movies and categories or on others. And I'll see you on the red carpet (that is, if the writer's strike doesn't cancel the ceremony!).