Winner
Best Picture
3rd Annual Oscar Breach Awards
2nd Annual Oscar Breach Awards
1st Annual Oscar Breach Awards
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Welcome to my fourth annual Oscar Breach Awards. I am including the best and worst of categories that are important to me. I also threw in a few creative categories that I like. The number of nominations/winners varies depending on how much I care about the category. By my rules, I can be biased for unrelated reasons (usually political), and I can only include films that I have actually seen for this year (except for the body of work category since that includes too many films). I may change a few of my choices later based on films I have yet to see. I welcome both compliments and criticism, so feel free to email me here. Enjoy!
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Winner
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| American Gangster | The Kite Runner | No Country for Old Men | Once | Sweeney Todd |
| This was one of the best gangster films ever, to the likes of Scorsese's work. Like The Departed, it told two parallel stories on opposite sides of the law that intertwine and meet. It's a thrilling combination of action, history and style. | I didn't go into this expecting much, but it really moved me. This isn't just for a touching story on friendship, but in a year with so many anti-American films being produced, it's nice to see a film that accurately portrays the Taliban for the terrorists they are. | Though I don't hold this film in as high of acclaim as most critics, I still respect the Coen brothers for their ability to break all traditions of filmmaking, which includes dead silence throughout and a big dropoff of an ending. | If you can get me to enjoy a romantic film, it must really be something. And accomplishing it on such a small budget is another admirable trait. This simple film doesn't need big production to tell how two people can come together through music. | Tim Burton has finally done it. He made a perfectly artistic film that deserves to be among the best films of the year. Not only does it have some of the best music I've heard on film, but the dark craft created by Burton makes it enjoyable for both musical lovers and horror lovers. |
Best Popcorn Flick
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Winner
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| 300 | The Bourne Ultimatum | Ocean's Thirteen | The Simpsons Movie | Transformers |
| Sin City introduced the stylized graphic novel adaptation, while 300 redefined it with its brilliantly stylized action sequences and characters. Like the 300 Spartans, the numbers may be against it, but it puts up a fight for the ages. | I was introduced to the Bourne franchise with the third film, but it was still clear enough for me to fully understand. I don't hold it in as high esteem as most others but it still was a stylized thrill that brings back simplicity to action films. No big showy effects, just some great stunts and camera work. | All three Ocean's movies had the same effect on me. I wasn't fond of any of them at first, but after seeing them three or four times and finally understanding them I can enjoy the brilliance behind the plots as well as the perfect comdedic chemisty between this group of actors. | Had the slightest thing been off, this film would have been a disaster. But it was perfect! The Simpsons has successfully transitioned to the big screen like no other show before it. The years of work that went into the film were totally worth it. Not only was it the funniest film of the year, but one of the most meaningful, this obviously coming from a longtime fan of the show. | This comes in a close second. Michael Bay, always good for an adrenaline rush, created the best action film since the last Star Wars ep. It may have its cheesy parts, but the sights of cars, tanks and jets slowly morphing into giant detailed robots and doing slow-mo kung-fu moves is the exact reason I am proud of my gender. |
Worst Picture
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Loser
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| Across the Universe | Elizabeth: The Golden Age | La Vie En Rose | Lions for Lambs | Shrek the Third |
| This is a close runner-up for worst of the year. Aside from the many little flaws (ie a guy from Liverpool with a Scottish accent), the songs are pointlessly stuck in mismatched scenes, the whole hippie agenda doesn't get my groove on, and many parts seem unintentionally homoerotic. | Apparently, pointless artsy shots and overacting are more important than structure. I had no idea that a film that looked so good to begin with could turn out to be so bad. It's like Atlanta, it looks great in the brochure, but you get there and there's nothing worth liking. | This film did the same thing for musical biopics that Scary Movie did for scary movies. It's just a random parody of all elements that make up recent musical biopics without anything unique. One good performance aside, I feel like I was watching Ray and Walk the Line all over again, and in a confusing order. | I love it when the critics agree with me to criticize Hollywood's blatant unneccesary political activism. You don't need a film that makes some sort of argument against the war in Afghanistan and hires big actors to get it off the ground. Can anybody actually believe Tom Cruise to pass for a Senator? Anyone? | What happened to this franchise? Corporate greed. Every so often, executives realize that they can dish out another episode of a franchise every few years without effort and people will see it just because "the first one was good." Well this one sucks. Apparently whitty comedy now involves Larry King and Regis Philbin playing sisters. |
Director
Winner
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Loser
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| Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd) | Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) |
| I've been a fan of Tim Burton's work for the longest time, both hits and misses. Yet this is his best film ever and deserves recognition for it. He has finally found an adaptation piece worthy of his superhuman power to suck all color and life out of everything. Sweeney Todd is that piece and his brilliant direction made it the best film of the year. | What happened to this guy? He did such a fine job introducing the virgin monarch in the first Elizabeth. Now he abandons all historical significance, plot structure and thrills in favor of kamikazee ship warfare, and a weird scene where a guy points a gun at the queen for five minutes and nobody does anything. |
Best Actor
Winner
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| Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will be Blood) | Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd) | James McAvoy (Atonement) | Viggo Mortenson (Eastern Promises) | Denzel Washington (American Gangster) |
| I am convinced that Day-Lewis might be the best actor in history. Had I been doing these awards longer, he would have two already for My Left Foot and Gangs of New York. No other actor has done such a variety of roles and is completely unrecognizable in each. This award is not just for Blood but for his career. I also give Daniel a message: Please, do more films! You're wasting your talent! | Johnny has been overdue for his first Oscar Breach nomination, and is runner-up for the win this year. Sweeney still can't compare with his brilliant performances in Ed Wood and Pirates, but he gives such a chilling look and singing performance that prove he can do anything. | This still wasn't as great as his tortured performance in The Last King of Scotland, and he just barely made this list. Nor was I a big fan of this film at all. In light of all that, he made this spot for his excellent job as a wrongly accused lover who is tortured the rest of his life. | Likewise, he wasn't quite as good here as his hidden arsenal performance in A History of Violence, but his perfect accent and clearly a willingness to do anything are enough for him to make the list for a second time. | Not nearly the best performance of Denzel's impressive career either. Come to think of it, none of these five are giving the best performance of their careers. But he still did a fine job as the brutal gangster killer from Harlem. |
Worst Actor
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Loser
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| Nicolas Cage (Ghost Rider) | Patrick Dempsey (Enchanted) | Clive Owen (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) |
| Apparently, superhero performances have turned into the sort of thing that can be done by either has-beens looking for a comeback or monkeys in a cape. | Not so McDreamy now, is he? Not that I would know. More like McStinky. | I guess he realized that the film was going to suck, so he went with the flow. His character was better-suited on the cover of a romance novel. |
Best Actress
Winner
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| Amy Adams (Enchanted) | Helena Bonham-Carter (Sweeney Todd) | Julie Christie (Away From Her) | Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart) | Ellen Page (Juno) |
| It's hard to pick a winner because the best three female performances (Adams, Blanchett, Cotillard) were all in bad films. I'm picking Adams as the winner as a happy medium. She wasn't the best, but her film wasn't the worst, and because of her unfortunate loss two years ago for Junebug. | She deserves more credit than she got this year. Hers was the finest performance in the film. It had the most difficult singing and a lot of necessary simultaneous physical action, yet she pulled it off perfectly. And only Tim Burton's spouse has the will power to play a woman who bakes human pies. | Christie was not as good as everybody else was saying that she is, but she did a convincing job as an Alzheimers patient. She gets sympathy for touching a lot of hearts as well as touching on an important issue. | Having stripped Marion Cotillard of her nomination here, I am happy to give it to Angelina Jolie, who put in an excellent performance as Marianne Pearl and served as a great comeback performance. | Although the performance wouldn't have been anything without Diablo Cody's spunky dialogue, Page was able to make Juno into an anti-stereotype teen. And I'm glad to see she keeps herself out of trouble as opposed to many "actresses" of her generation. |
Worst Actress
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Loser
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| Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) | Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man 3) | Katherine Heigel (Knocked Up) |
| It's always impressive when an actress repeatedly makes an appearance in this category. Of couse, she would be the winner if she hadn't won it two years ago. I always like to spread these out. | After three prior nominations in this category, Dunst finally gets her overdue win. It's these earned wins (or losses) that really make me happy. | Among all the talented comedic actors in this film, Heigel's presence really stuck out like an ugly baby in the geinacologist's office. |
Best Supporting Actor
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Winner
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| Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) | Paul Dano (There Will be Blood) | James Marsden (Enchanted) | John Travolta (Hairspray) | Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) |
| Bardem was good, but not as good as others were saying. Any talented actor could do the same blank soulless stare. And his accent could have been a little more cleared up. Nonetheless, it was a memorable performane and made for a great villian. | I can't believe the Academy completely overlooked this performance. But I guess it's difficult to get noticed when you're onscreen with Daniel Day-Lewis. Though it's a difficult role, he gives it everything he has vocally and physically. Day-Lewis wouldn't have had much to work off of if it weren't for Dano. | I think if Amy Adams is going to get so much acclaim for her performance as a fairy tale character in New York, then Marsden should too. His ego and narcissism were an inspiration to the Hollywood community. This is also compensation for being unfairly killed off in the last X-Men film. | I actually think this might be Travolta's best performance to date. He reminded us of the classic music and dance style that made him famous and combined it with the reserved attitude of a ham-loving/resembling mother. | Wilkinson was the best part of Michael Clayton. Few performances exhibit so many levels as a manic-depressive lawyer with a crisis of conscience. Wilkinson steals every scene, no matter what mood his character is in. This is the sort of performance Oscars are made of. |
Worst Supporting Actor
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Loser
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| Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) | Tom Cruise (Lions for Lambs) | Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3) |
| This would be Bloom's third win in this category, but I decided to give him a break this year, despite his determination to make the third Pirates film even more confusing than it already was. | Is it not obvious that this casting choice is a result of Cruise's firing from Paramount and his deal to be a part of Lionsgate's next picture, whether he fit the part or not? The result is that he clearly does not fit the part of a Republican Senator. | Eddie Brock / Venom is supposed to be a muscular tough New Yorker with a grudge against everybody. So the ideal casting choice is that wimpy stringy kid from That '70s Show. You see, this is why casting directors don't deserve their own Oscar category. |
Best Supporting Actress
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Winner
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| Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There) | Leslie Mann (Knocked Up) | Kelly MacDonald (No Country for Old Men) | Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) | Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) |
| This would be Blanchett's third win in this category if I didn't believe in spreading the wins around. But she is frontrunner material in every role she does, and I can't give her an Oscar Breach Award for everything. But every nomination she gets, she deserves. | Women giving excellent comedic performances is something rare these days, which is why Leslie Mann deserves extra attention for what she did. I don't know if any actress can get upset, teary-eyed and sadly cry out "I like Spider-Man." | The best part of this performance was her perfect Texas accent, particularly for a Scots woman. Aside from that, she did an excellent job as a Southern redneck whose calmness in the face of death is uncanny. | This is a late entry, and it pushes Saorise Ronan out of the top five, but Ryan definitely deserves it. The role is small but scene-stealing and memorable. Plus the deglamorization factor always helps actresses. | After strong performances in films like The Deep End and The Chronicles of Narnia, this talented actress, who has some of the creepiest eyes ever, deserves to win her first Oscar Breach Award for a performance that accurately portrays today's powerful female CEO. |
Worst Supporting Actress
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Loser
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| Megan Fox (Transformers) | Susan Sarandon (Enchanted) | Meryl Streep (Lions for Lambs) |
| Give her a break. When Michael Bay casts a woman, it's not because they're talented, it's because they look good. And if there were a category for looking good, she would win the Oscar. | Here's a paycheck role for this decomposing actress who should take her anti-American thoughts and throw them down a well like she did poor Amy Adams. | I would never have thought to see Streep end up in this category, but that's what she gets for giving a lame performance in a lame political lecture film. |
Best Screenplay
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Winner
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| American Gangster | I'm Not There | Juno | Ratatouille | The Simpsons Movie |
| This gritty crime drama managed to adapt a short article into a full historic film with fascinating characters, explosive scenes and makes a rather interesting portrayal of '70s Harlem. | This is the most original of the originals. While most musical biopics are a straight telling of a couple of decades, Haynes got creative and split Bob Dylan into six fictional characters, each representing a different aspect of him. An ingenious method, and was carried out well. | Though the story could have been longer and more wrapped up, this has some of the best dialogue ever written in a film. Each character only has to say one line and you know who they are. And it gives us several great one-lines like, "Doctors are sadists who like to play God and laugh at the lesser people's pain." | Although I don't hold it in as high of ranking as some of the other Disney/Pixar recipes, Ratatouille does provide another unique concept of a rat becoming a French chef. It may not be the funniest picture, but it is one of the most creative and original. | The credit for the funniest film of the year should go mostly to the eleven writers who all contributed to this 100-draft script. Not only did they find a way to include all Springfield residents, give each Simpson member a subplot, and provide a well-rounded story, but there are lines that will stay with me forever like, "Praise Jebus." |
Worst Screenplay
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Loser
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| Elizabeth: The Golden Age | La Vie En Rose | Lions for Lambs | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | Shrek the Third |
| Apparently, the writer for this must have worked on Days of Our Lives. They don't know how to do war sequences, or political strategy. Maybe they didn't write a script. Maybe they just made costumes, and assumed it would work everything out. | Whoever wrote this must have decided to put the scripts for Ray, Walk the Line and Walk Hard in blender, mix it up, and subtract the heart and significance from it. That's what you get in this meaningless film | This is what Senator Clinton would call "A vast Left-Wing Conspiracy." We know that liberals control Hollywood, therefore we didn't need an in your face reminder in this script, with Anti-American rhetoric and a sequence showcasing what Photoshop can do. | So let's see if I have this straight. Everybody secretly allies with the enemy, so they can get back at who they're working with, in a crazy scheme to beat the enemy. Of course! It's so simple! | I ask you to find one line or event in this script that was more funny than it was disgusting. Apparently, somebody thought that this series didn't need comedy writers anymore and the name and random voice actors would be enough. Because of the box-office, unfortunately they were right. |
Art Direction
Winner
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Loser
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| Sweeney Todd | Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer |
| Dante Ferreti's sets in this film were almost magical. While aiding the historical feel of turn of the century London, he gave it the Tim Burton touch of monochromatic darkness and lifelessness. Even small items like the mechanical barber chair are an achievement worthy of recognition. | This whole film seemed rushed into production in the first place, and the sets are an example of that. We're not going to believe that these scenes were shot in all the global locations they take place in. Like Jessica Alba's emotions, these sets were clearly fake. |
Cinematography
Winner
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Loser
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| The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford | Michael Clayton |
| This is a late entry, but a big deserver. Normally it's tracking shots that impress me, but rarely am I caught off guard by excellent lighting, contrast and colors that you see in this film, partiuclary during the train robbery scene. | There seemed like so many great opportunities to do more with these shots, but they didn't. That's like the Academy having a chance to nominate Tim Burton, but they didn't... Yes I'm still angry. |
Costumes
Winner
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Loser
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| Elizabeth: The Golden Age | Spider-Man 3 |
| Since the filmmakers here concentrated on only one aspect of the film: the costumes, they had to have turned out allright. Though I also believe 300 deserves some recognition here as well. | So they took the Spidey suit and made it black. Whoa! Don't get too creative. Furthermore, how did Harry manage to build such a high tech suit from his scientific knowledge that came out of nowhere? |
Makeup
Winner
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Loser
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| Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | A Mighty Heart |
| This is to reward the Pirates series for its excellent makeup throughout. This includes the decomposing look of the cursed black pearl crew, the savage design of the cannibal island natives, and most importantly now, the sealife growth that has developed on Bootstrap Bill. It's detailed and artistic. In general, the more hours in the makeup chair, the better. | Knowing what the real Marianne Pearl looks like, they didn't really do a realistic job making Angelina Jolie look like her. With those colored contacts she sort of looks more like a marmot. |
Visual Effects
Winner
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Loser
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| Transformers | Enchanted |
| These are certainly the best visual effects in a film that wasn't part of a trilogy (thus excluding Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Pirates). The coolest innovation is deriving mathematical equations that determine where each of the tens of thousands of parts go when one of the characters transforms. These effects were challenging, realistic, and plentiful, the three keys to having great effects. | I know this wasn't meant to be an effects-driven film, but they could have been better. That CGI dragon set us back ten years to the level of Dragonheart. |
Sound
Winner
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Loser
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| Transformers | Elizabeth: The Golden Age |
| Rarely do I notice the sound in film so distinctly, for its complexity yet clarity. The mixing and sound effects teams of Transformers did an excellent job creating some of the most unusal alien robot sounds, then blending them perfectly in chaos. | Isn't that cute. They tried playing war in this film. This film crew has no idea how out of their league they are. So they do what any lazy sound crew does when there is a lot of action: cover it with music. That's the American way of doing things. |
Score
Winner (original)
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Winner (re-mixed)
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Loser
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| Marco Beltrami (3:10 to Yuma) | Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd) | Charles Gunning (La Vie En Rose) |
| Frankly, this isn't a strong year for musical scores. Nothing really stood out and stayed in my head. But I still liked this energetic western piece. It fit the film well and aided the action spectacle. | It's not original, but I'm loving the orchestral music in this film. Just listening to the opening credits is a magical wonder. It's dark yet powerful. This is certainly my favorite soundtrack this year. | I had this stuck in my head for days after, but not in a good way, in the way Alvin and the Chipmunks songs get stuck in your head. I'm not fond of the French music from this period, nor the songs that are sung. I would have rather watched this film on mute. |
Song
Winner
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Loser
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Honorable Mention
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| Glen Hansard, Mark�ta Irglov� "Falling Slowly" (Once) | Diane Warren "Do You Feel Me" (American Gangster) | Hans Zimmer "Spider-Pig" (The Simpsons Movie) |
| Normally I'm not big on love songs, but this one really struck me. I can listen to it over and over again, but better yet, it fits in the wonderful film perfectly as the music that draws the loving couple together. Seeing the two play it together shortly after meeting and coming closer over it is one of my favorite scenes of the year. | I've loved Diane Warren's songs before like "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and "There You'll Be." But this song was a significant dip in quality. I can see how it fit the film well, but it was still just dull and mellow. | This isn't technically original, but it deserves credit for creating a phenomenon. It became the shortest song ever to enter the British top ten charts. It's a song you would hear people singing on the street. Even the acapella group at my school has been performing it. This song has truly created a strange phenomenon. |
Young Actors
Male
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Female
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| Marcus Carl Franklin (I'm Not There) | Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray) |
| It's not that often you come across a young actor that steals his scenes for being completely commanding, a trait that few young people are able to exhibit. | Her story of success has been quite a repeated tale this last year, and she deserves it. She was well-cast and took control of the role with cheer, enthusiasm and energy. |
Ensemble
Winner
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Loser
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| The cast of: Ocean's Thirteen | The cast of: Shrek the Third |
| This reward is acknowledging the perfected comic chemistry in this large ensemble cast over the course of this trilogy. Whether it's The suave joint-mind between George Clooney and Brad Pitt, the hot age gap magnetism between Matt Damon and Ellen Barkin, or the constant realistic bickering between Casey Affleck and Scott Caan. But I think the most credit should go to Carl Reiner for still putting in a great performance at the ripe age of 85. I also have been wondering how much adlibbing was in this trilogy. | This is where the term "phone-in performance" comes from, and in this case it is to be taken literally. You can tell the actors are in it for the paychecks and no longer care about the series. I seriously wouldn't be surprised if they recorded their lines while on their cell phones driving to the bank to cash their big fat checks. |
Most Overrated
Film
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Performance
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| The Lookout | Keira Knightley (Atonement) |
| This film was allright, but I don't see why it made so many top ten lists and among the best reviews of the year. It seems a little too much like it's trying to duplicate Memento, only it forgot how to. Pun intended. | Not only for Atonement, but for her last several performances and next several upcoming ones. All of these upper-class proper British woman essentially seem like the same character. She really needs to mix it up, and eat something for crying aloud. |
Most Underrated
Film
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Performance
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| A Mighty Heart | Shia Labeouf (Transformers) |
| I don't know why this didn't do better. It was a touching and relatively accurate portrayal of true events without attempt to glorify them or over-dramatize them. And Angelina Jolie nearly made my list for actress. | Shia did something that has been missing in all other Michael Bay movies: acting. Bay doesn't ask much of his actors other than to jump off buildings. But Shia did that as well as put in a memorably comedic and often adlibbed performance as the geeky teen Sam. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of him, especially later this year in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. |
Best Body of Work
Male
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Female
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Casey Affleck Ocean's Thirteen The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Gone Baby Gone |
Cate Blanchett Hot Fuzz Elizabeth: The Golden Age I'm Not There |
| Average critics score between these films: 79. That's a pretty strong record, and he managed to take on a variety of different films. And I'm particularly happy to see Affleck break into leading roles, and even upstage big brother Ben, despite how easy that might be. | Not all great films, but all are great performances, and certainly a wide enough range. Who else could play Queen Elizabeth I and Bob Dylan in one year? How many actors have such range? I am convinced she is the most talented actress working today. |
Worst Body of Work
Male
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Female
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Cuba Gooding Jr. Norbit What Love Is Daddy Day Camp |
Meryl Streep Evening Rendition Lions for Lambs |
| Average critics rating between these films: 9%. Wow. I believe that several friends of Gooding have attempted a "bad role choice - intervention." Let's hope it works. | Average critics rating between these films: 33%. I never would have expected to find Streep in this category, but she just had the unfortunate luck of starring in some terrible films this year. Surely somebody of her talent has the right to be choosy with scripts. But she has clearly abused that power. |
Best Hero
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Winner
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| Chris McCandless (Into the Wild) | Optimus Prime (Transformers) | Homer Simpson (The Simpsons Movie) |
| I'll be graduating from college soon and like Chris, I would love to go on a lost adventure seeking truth like he did. Too bad I'm too dependent on materials. But Chris was a great guy defying materialism and possession in search of higher meaning. It was a short life, but it meant more than most lives. | Brave, self-sacrificing, all powerful, Prime is less a hero than a god. No wonder the Autobots will follow him anywhere. However, I still prefer Optimus Primal, those of you who know what I'm talking about. | The greatest hero by accident on television is now the greatest hero on the big screen. Homer has become one of the most cherished characters in history, and he does it through complete self-indulgance and accidental fortune. But finally, out of dedication he answers the call of duty: "Now to rescue my family, save my town, and drop ten pounds!" |
Best Villian
Winner
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| Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men) | Xerxes (300) | The Zodiac Killer (Zodiac) |
| Now this is the kind of character that gives you nightmares. Javier Bardem and the Coens created such a psychopath who kills anyone without even blinking. And that cattle air-gun is what separates him from all psychopaths before him. A villian can always be defined by his weapon and the air-gun truly makes this man insane. | The uniqueness of this villian comes from the design. Xerxes believed himself to be a god, and by his size, voice and unique wear, you almost believe him. Rodrigo Santoro did a fine job playing such a self-inducted creator. | What's great about this villian is that he is ever elusive. Just when the case seems to be solved, it's not him. Of course, we are all lead to believe that Arthur Allen is the Zodiac killer, but it will ever remain a mystery, and that mystery is what makes him such a memorable villian. |
Best Action Choreography (my favorite category)
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Winner
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300 Spartans vs. The Immortals |
The Bourne Ultimatum Jason Bourne vs. Desh |
No Country for Old Llewelyn Moss vs. Anton Chigurh |
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Jack Sparrow vs. Davey Jones |
Transformers Optimus Prime vs. Bonecrusher |
| As far as anceint epic battles go, this has to be one of the best. It contained military strategy, uneven odds, and a variety of enemies. And they made it all outstandingly visual including the arrows that blot out the sun. | This is what great human one on one combat is all about. You really gotta' hand it to these two actors for performing a rapid-fast complicated fight with no stunt doubles as far as I can tell. Realism is a dying art in today's films. | This is really the only action sequence in the film but it was done well, with plenty of quick cutting and suspense. This isn't the most exciting sequence of the nominees, but it is probably the most realistic. The people here actually get crippled by their wounds. | The final battle between the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman is probably the only thing I enjoyed about this film. It was long-lasting, had all characters, an unexpected turn, and even a simultaneous marriage. But I still complain, why feature a whole fleet of ships if you are only going to use two? Time constraints I guess. | Now this is what a giant robot fight sequence is all about. It moves down the highway at 100 mph, it crashes through exploding buses, it uses the 300 technique of speeding and slowing at just the right times, and I only wish it went longer. Bonecrusher is one of the most awesome Decepticons but he got owned. |
Second-Best Action Choreography
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Winner
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Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer The Human Torch vs. Dr. Von Doom |
Eastern Promises Naked Bathhouse Fight |
Live Free or Die Hard Highway Chase Scene |
Spider-Man 3 Spidey vs. Sandman |
Transformers Optimus Prime vs. Megatron |
| This was creative and unexpected. The Human Torch takes the powers all all four Fantastic members and uses them to fight Von Doom one on one. There's nothing like being caught in a fiery rubber band that you can't see. | Just so we're clear, I did not enjoy this for the naked parts. I enjoyed it for the ability to choreograph a sequence where an unarmed man takes down two heavily-armed bigger guys. Not only that, but make it overwhelmingly graphic. | Now this is the sort of thing that would never happen. A jet pilot would never open fire on a civilian highway. And there were a few violations of laws of physics, like always. But it was exciting because it was so unrealistically unneccesary and in a way stupid. I mean, how many people saw Bruce Willis jump onto the back of a jet and say to themselves, "What the heck is this?" | I think the only thing the third film did better was some of the action sequences, particularly when Spidey fights Sandman in the sewer. There are creative uses of power, and all it took to win was water. Sort of like the aliens being killed by bacteria idea. | Megatron wasn't as badass as I was hoping, but he still put up a strong fight against all Autobots and the US military before being taken down by a 17 year old boy. But the other sequences in this city battle, involving Decepticons Blackout, Devastator and Starscream were even better, only they were too short. |
Best Original Filmmaking Concept
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Winner
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| Todd Hanyes (I'm Not There) | Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) | Matt Groening and writers (The Simpsons Movie) | Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd) | Michael Bay and concept artists (Transformers) |
| For the concept of making a musical biopic not about the individual, but about the characteristics of the individual by featuring six characters each exhibiting a different characteristic. This is quite a welcome change to the traditional form of musical biopics. Although I didn't understand it all, it worked for me. | For the concept of abondoning traditional plot structure and making an ending that is confusing, unexpected and completely out of the ordinary. Though it disappointed me the first time I saw that ending, after thinking about it, I realized that not all films have to end the same way. What's wrong with the way the Coens did it, really? | For the concept of Spider-Pig. In the commentary they say how they accidentally came up with the idea, and that accident has turned into a phenomenon. No other bit has had more talk on message boards, more views on youtube and more alternate video versions. The song "Spider-Pig" even became the shortest song ever to hit the British top ten charts, and the British made a giant Spider-Pig ballon like the one Pink Floyd had. It's amazing how an accident can become a phenomenon. |
SPOILER ALERT! For the concept of weeping blood. When Sweeney meets his own demise at the end by having his own throat slit, it drips over his dead wife in his arms as if he were tearing blood over her. Like never before has blood actually been used as a form of art, a concept that played repeatedly in this film, but worked perfectly for the conclusion. Truly brilliant. |
For the concept of designing the robots to be complicated and their transformations be physically possible. This must have been a lot of work. In the traditional show, the transformations were boxy looking, and you had mass-shifting or disappearing parts, thus not very realistic. But by designing these characters with a record number of tens of thousands of moving parts, the bots looked realistic and ingenious. |
Most Creative Casting
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Winner
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| Gerard Butler as King Leonidas (300) | Sacha Baron Cohen as Signor Adolfo Pirelli (Sweeney Todd) | Peter Fonda as Mephistopheles (Ghost Rider) | Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego (Ratatouille) | Keith Richards as Captain Teague Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) |
| This was perfect casting to play a powerful, muscular and brave King. We know how Leonidas looked in the graphic novels, and the casting of Butler really matched the look. | I'm glad we finally found a role for Borat in a prestige film. He was perfect as the rival Italian barber, and made good use of this comedy and dialect abilities. | I never would have pictured casting Peter Fonda as the devil himself. Casting Michael Moore would have worked. But I'm surprised Fonda was able to portray the epitome of all evil. Well done. | I'd say this was O'Toole's best performance in years, surpassing even Venus. He portayed critics as they are, corspe-like thrivers on human misery who dread out memorable lines like, "If I don't love it, I don't swallow." | We all knew this cameo was coming eventually, and it was pulled off well. It was subtle without much attention drawn to it. But I hear he was an obnoxious drunk when filming. Maybe it worked better that way. |
Best/Worst Line (Last Category)
Winner 1
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Winner 2
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Loser 1
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Loser 2
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300 King Leonidas: Tonight, we dine in hell! |
The Simpsons Movie Ralph Wiggum after seeing Bart naked: I like men now. |
There Will be Blood Daniel Plainview: I drink your milkshake! I drink it up! |
Ratatouille Gusteau: Anyone can cook. |
| This might be one of the most quoted lines of the year, and for good reason. Half of it is the writing, and the other half is Gerard Butler's brilliant delivery of the line while staring in the glorious face of death. | Hands down, the funniest line of the year. Ralph has always been one of my favorite Simpsons characters for his innoccently ingorant mind when he says random observations like, "That's where I saw the leprechan. He told me to burn things." But this random line tops them all because he has no idea what he is talking about. It's sweetly hilarious. | So many love this line. I know it's memorable, but only because it's distracting. Why milkshakes? It just seems so random that you stop thinking about the significance of what he is saying. Also, I have to check the historical accuracy if milkshakes existed at this time. | I disagree. If you ever had dinner at my mom's house, you would know this is certainly not true. It's the cause of my traumatic childhood. |
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Well, I hope that you enjoyed my Fourth Annual Oscar Breach Awards. What a year it has been. Now we must wait another year for my Fifth Annual Oscar Breach Awards. Thank you for reading. |
