3 days...

I'm excited about Wednesday. I really am. This was an early concept promo back when the release day was in May. Best one I've seen.

Me and Christian McKay

Working at a cinema, it's the films that only get a week's run that I tend to rush out and see. 'Taking Woodstock' a good example. A big name director was involved, with an unknown lead, but what looked like a charming story. 'Me and Orson Welles' is much the same, but rather than an unknown lead, it was always going to be about the unknown support. Had Christian McKay's portrayal of Orson Welles not been hailed by critics left and right, I probably would have stayed clear of this, the latest offering from Richard Linklater ('Dazed and Confused', 'School of Rock' and more impressively 'A Scanner Darkly'). I'm still not quite buying Zac Efron post-Disney, and Claire Danes hasn't made a decent movie since 'Romeo and Juliet'. So when all of the reviews pointed me in the direction of the unknown British actor, Christian McKay, there was a slight generation of interest. If nothing else, I would enjoy watching two American 'stars' being upstaged by someone in their first major role.

That pretty much sums up my feelings now that I've seen the film, too. Although I thoroughly enjoyed it overall (the production/costume design was most impressive, as was the screenplay), from the moment McKay appeared onscreen, the focus was on him and no one else. While fellow Brit Ben Chaplin contributes positively to a few scenes, it is all about McKay's interactions with Efron from start to finish. I really couldn't care less about any of Danes' involvement with our two charming leads as she was absolutely useless as the shared love interest.

Before settling in to watch 'Me and Orson Welles', I had already come to the conclusion that I would only be watching for McKay's performance and had almost resigned to the idea that his performance was all that I would enjoy. That's not strictly true, looking back. Although watching the film with that mentality certainly made it easier to look past Efron's Richard and Danes' ever-fickle Sonja, there were definitely some additional winning elements. Technically, it is superb. Linklater has again captured the sheen of the time with a perfect Hollywood gloss, and the relatively simple sets and beautifuly designed costumes (along with McKay) really bring this movie to life. Noticeably, while sparkling throughout, the sets are not as expansive as one would expect, nor do they need to be. Over half the film takes place in Welles' Mercury theatre, and the result is an ensemble cast that feels genuinely close knit. It almost feels as if Linklater has drawn on the directing styles of Welles himself, and transferred them into his own cast, his own film. He enables the viewer to immerse themselves in the theatre to personally endure the tireless preparation that goes into a Welles-directed Broadway show. By the time 'Caesar' opens, you feel like you have been there, rehearsing alongside Welles since day one. You are already familiar with the scenes and the characters, so to watch them deliver with such grace and fluidity makes the climax to 'Me and Orson Welles' all the more gratifying.

Will McKay be nominated for an Academy Award? Absolutely. He came out of nowhere and lit up the screen. From his tone to his mannerisms, Christian McKay is Orson Welles. He manages to capture the charm, the determination, the passion and the arrogance of Welles in his first scene and gives a truly breathtaking performance that will leave a smile on your face long afterwards. Whether or not he can compete against the likes of Christoph Waltz, Stanley Tucci and Woody Harrelson (?) is debatable, but I'm sure a first-time actor like McKay would be over the moon just to be mentioned in the same breath.

A movie that overuses the term 'swell' in the first half, yes, but a wonderful little picture overall. A nice change of pace from the blockbusting 'Avatars' and 'Sherlock Holmes's' the holiday season has graced us with, I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who has ever acted on stage.

Rare Poster O' The Day PT 2, although I don't know how many days I can keep it up for.

Thanks to Emmy-Lou who writes about TV over HERE.

I love rare movie posters thanks to my friend Bert and my housemate Mikki...

Unearthed this badboy earlier this evening. Incredibly cool.

OSCARWATCH PT 1.

Right, so, as of today I've seen exactly 100 films that have been released in 2009. Do you really want a list? I think not. Anyway, 100 is enough to, I think, start to put together some relatively educated predictions. I was trying to hold off until I'd seen 'Avatar' and 'Where The Wild Things Are', but seeing as the National Board of Review (NBR) recently honoured the best in film this year, I figured that it is at this point that we can start to approach awards season a little more seriously. I'm a serious man, even if my predictions are up in the air at the moment. Don't shoot the messenger! I'm just trying to give you a bit of an education.

Yeah, you read that right. Banter.

Without further ado, the NBR major category winners:

Best Film: Up In The Air

The more I read about this film, the more I look forward to it. Content-wise, it's current and you just know it's going to be well written. Apparently the ending's a real belter too. I don't know if it's the best film of the year, but I will reserve judgement until I see it. Unfortunately, it will be one of the last BP nominees I see before the winners are announced!

Top Eleven Films (In alphabetical order):

An Education

(500) Days Of Summer

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Invictus

The Messenger

A Serious Man

Star Trek

Up

Up In The Air

Where The Wild Things Are

What an awesome list! Just goes to show what a strong year in film it's been. By the end of the month, I will have seen seven of these. Seven of which I would agree wholeheartedly with being on any 'Best Of 2009' list. I'm especially ecstatic that '(500) Days of Summer' is getting the credit it rightfully deserves, and would be over the moon if it managed to wangle a BP nod, but would settle for a Best Orignal Screenplay nomination. I don't really need to see the other four to know that they're brilliant so will respect this list as it is. I'm still hoping 'Avatar' ends up being criminally good and hops on the awards train late in the day.

Best Director: Clint Eastwood, Invictus

Yeah, I buy this. Mr. Eastwood is one of the best directors alive and I can't imagine a Mandela biopic starring Morgan Freeman being anything less than stunning. My personal preference would probably be either Kathryn Bigelow ('The Hurt Locker'), Spike Jonze ('Where The Wild Things Are'), or maybe even James Cameron (who knows!), but again I'll hold back until I've seen everything. After all, this is only Part One of what is sure to be a barrage of Oscar related posts. Part of the fun of making predictions is updating them!

Best Actor: Morgan Freeman, Invictus and George Clooney, Up In The Air (tie)

I have no trouble believing that Morgan Freeman gives the performance he was born to give in 'Invictus', and apparently The Clooney rocks it like he's never rocked it in 'Up In The Air', but I have a feeling that come February, I'm going to end up siding with Jeff Bridges ('Crazy Heart') and Viggo Mortensen ('The Road'). It's just such a wide open category this year, I'd be happy to see any of these guys win.

Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, An Education

Yes, yes, yes. I was blown away by her performance in the trailer. While 'Julie and Julia' was great on the acting front, Meryl's been nominated like 47 times so she won't win for a movie that would have been average had it not been for the Streep/Adams double punch (She'd want Carey to win anyway), and as good as I'm sure 'Precious' is, it can't be that hard for an obese, black girl to play an obese, black girl (just like it's not terribly difficult for Michael Stuhlbarg to play a Jew). Sorry, Gabby Sidibe, but I'm pretty sure a strong screenplay strengthened your performance somewhat, just like it strengthened performances from Mo'Nique (spare me) and Mariah Carey. So, Carey for the win. Mulligan that is, obviously.

Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

I love Woody. Please, do not get me wrong. However, there is nothing Woody Harrelson could ever do to outact Christoph Waltz. I'm stoked for 'The Messenger', I really am. Apparently Ben Foster is brilliant too, I really can't wait. Never the less, Christoph Waltz's performance in 'Inglourious Basterds' is probably the best performance by anyone in anything this year. He played a quad-lingual, Jew-murdering Nazi colonel that you couldn't help but love. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as an audience we are not meant to gleefully chuckle everytime a character like that comes onscreen. Simply put, it's got to be Waltz over Woody every single time. There's talk of late surges from Stanley Tucci ('Julia and Julia' and/or 'The Lovely Bones) and Christian McKay ('Me and Orson Welles'), but as it stands I'm not backing anyone other than Waltz.

Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air

I'm going to go ahead and buy this too. As much as I despise the Twilight series, there's no denying Anna Kendrick is quite the talent. Early reviews declare that she upstages Clooney and blows Farmiga away, so I'm going to go ahead and believe the hype and pencil in Kendrick as a frontrunner. Mo'Nique can't stand a chance against this type of talent, surely.

Best Foreign Film: A Prophet

Well, yeah. It was either going to be this or 'The White Ribbon'. Will definitely try and see both before March.

Best Documentary: The Cove

Easy. I'm still bummed about 'Anvil: The Story of Anvil' though.

Best Animated Feature: Up

No brainer.

Best Ensemble Cast: It’s Complicated

Not so sure about this, even though it's not an Oscar category. Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and Meryl are all fantastic, especially in lighthearted comedies, but are you seriously trying to tell me that they outclassed the casts of 'Nine' and 'An Education'? I think not.

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

If it was by a leading actor, then I totally agree. Overall though, I think that once again, it's gotta be Christoph Waltz. Tarantino plucked him out of the depths of German cinema and made him a star overnight, literally. He won 'Best Actor' at Cannes for a supporting role for crying out loud! Maybe I'm biased.

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Okay, I'll give her this one. She'd better follow up with something else amazing, though!

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut: Duncan Jones, Moon, Oren Moverman,The Messenger and Marc Webb, (500) Days of Summer (tie)

Yes, yes and yes again! Nice to see Duncan Jones winning something for 'Moon', and equally nice to see Marc Webb picking up some sort of gong for what was (personally) my favourite movie of the year (notice I didn't say 'best film').

Best Original Screenplay: Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

Twas all a bit Jew-y, but another excellent bit of writing from the Coens. Blew 'Burn After Reading' out of the water, that's for sure. I still think '(500) Days of Summer' should pip it to the post though, it was neither 'Fargo' or 'The Big Lebowski'.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air

Yep.

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Wes Anderson, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Oh, sweet! There I was thinking 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox' would get completely overlooked and here we have Wes Anderson picking up a special achievement award! There is some justice. Now, if we could only get the Academy voters to be bold and give it an adapted screenplay nod.

Top Ten Independent Films (In alphabetical order):

Amreeka

District 9

Goodbye Solo

Humpday

In The Loop

Julia

Me And Orson Welles

Moon

Sugar

Two Lovers

Another interesting list. More justified love for 'Moon', which is encouraging. It would really be something if it managed a few nominations for some major awards. 'District 9' and 'In The Loop' were both excellent as well, and I have a sneaky suspicion that the latter may end up getting a few more major nominations than you would expect for a expletive-filled Brit flick. 'District 9' will continue to be underrated, even though it was one of the more impressive and thought-provoking films to be released this year.

I will be seeing 'Me and Orson Welles' this week, if only for what I'm sure will be a knockout performance from Christian McKay, so will report back on that one in the near future. And, I have still not seen 'Two Lovers'! I missed it in the spring so will have to catch it on DVD, but from what I've seen and read, it to is deserved of making onto more than a few Top 10s.

Food for thought, I hope. In the next week I'll be watching and reviewing a few more heavyweights, so bear with me. 'Where The Wild Things Are' will be blogged on Friday, with 'Avatar' the following Thursday (or even Wednesday night if I can't hide my giddiness).

Stay tuned for 'The Box', and thanks for reading! It's nice to write a more informal blog for once.