Z's Top Ten of 2007

Well everyone who's anyone in the film world makes a top ten list every year so of course, I had to jump on the bandwagon as well! Now this was no easy feat. This year's crop of films were some of the best of the last ten years. I tried to create a list that reflected the diversity of great cinema 2007 offered. It was a fantastic year for comedies and action films, gangster flicks and westerns, but perhaps more than anything it was a great year for writing. Nearly every film on my list was driven by a powerful scrreenplay and some amazing filmmakers who knew precisely how to bring those scripts to life. So, without further adieu, here we go...

(Sidebar: There are still several films from 2007 I have left to see and critique so definitely stay tuned for an addendum to this list.)

10. No End in Sight



9. Ratatouille



8. The Bourne Ultimatum



7. Zodiac



6. Knocked Up



5. American Gangster



4. 3:10 to Yuma



3. Juno



2. Gone Baby Gone



1. No Country for Old Men

Real men....God bless 'em

Sigh

I'm taking this moment to reflect upon something. I don't often do this in my blog (there's a reason I abandoned LiveJournal) but this time I think it's important. Today was a really shitty work day. I won't go into the details although I will say that it had way too much of one thing (tedious bullshit) and not nearly enough of another (a certain lad I've recently taken to) and thus I came to a very valid conclusion. No matter how sad it will be to leave all of my friends here, and no matter how scary it will be to start a new job, I know now that it's the absolute best thing for me that I'm moving on. Yes, my job is easy. Yes, my job is comfortable. But my job is doing absolutely nothing for my peace of mind or my happiness, with the exception of the aforementioned friends and that certain lad.

So the point of this post is to tell myself to remember this moment. When times get tough and I wish I was back here, I need to read this post. Because there are truly times when I literally feel my soul being sucked into the asbestos infested vents. If you think I'm being dramatic than you've obviously never worked in a corporate office before. Most of the time I just have to laugh because it's all so ridiculous.

I'll admit, you've caught me on a bit of a bad day. Most of the time all of this stuff just bounces off of me and I really don't care. And I think if you let your job get the best of you then you are a sucker. Sometimes though it's good to recognize when you may be wasting your life. I think I have finally reached that point, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Golden Globs, indeed

Let me start this post off by saying...what the hell is with seven, yes, seven films being nominated for Best Drama this year?? Was it really THAT hard to narrow it down to five? I don't get it. This isn't the National Board of fucking Review here. Oh well. I think if they hadn't decided to give nods to so many films, American Gangster probably would have been left out of the mix. So I guess I should thank them for that.

The other interesting thing about the Globs this year is that they are facing some potential backlash from SAG members who are on strike. There's a really strong possibility people are going to boycott the ceremony or worse, cancel the whole thing. Now I wouldn't mind all that much if this went down. The actual Golden Globs ceremony can get tedious and relatively pointless especially now that the Oscars are held in February and everyone just wants to zip past everything to get to that. I sincerely hope, however, that the writers and the studios can reach an agreement by February because the Oscars will also be vulnerable to the strike. I just want to see Javier hold a tiny, golden man in his arms. Is that really so much to ask??

Well getting back to the subject at hand, some very great films and performances have been nominated and I want to take the time to recognize them. Rather than list every nod though I'm just going to call attention to my faves. And here they are in no particular order.

BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA
American Gangster
No Country for Old Men

BEST MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY/MUSICAL
Juno
Sweeney Todd

BEST ACTOR - DRAMA
Denzel Washington, American Gangster
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA
Jodie Foster, The Brave One
Julie Christie, Away From Her

BEST ACTOR - MUSICAL/COMEDY
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson's War

BEST ACTRESS - MUSICAL/COMEDY
Amy Adams, Enchanted
Ellen Page, Juno

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone

BEST DIRECTOR
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Ridley Scott, American Gangster

BEST SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, Juno
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

I'm not even going to address the nods for TV just because, well, I honestly don't care this year. Bravo reality programming will never be in contention and apparently fantastic shows like Lost and Friday Night Lights just aren't worthy and thus I really don't have much use for the television side of the Globs.

So congrats to all the peeps and movies that were nominated this year. While I hope my favorites pick up awards, what I really hope for is a resolution to the writers strike. These are the people who truly deserve reward and recognition, and it will be difficult to support the industry as a whole until they get it.

Oscar ads, Oscar ads, you've come back to me!

Some people may not be aware of this but I have a pretty extensive collection of Oscar advertisements that goes back to the mid-90s. Again, it must be my obsession with photography and cinema, but for nearly 15 years I have spent awards season ransacking every issue of Variety and The Hollywood Reporter I can get my hands on. And it doesn't end there. When a lovely little invention called eBay entered my life, I really went crazy. While it may be a bit sad how much money I have spent on Oscar ads retrieved through magazine purchases and eBay auctions, I stand by the addiction. To me Oscar ads are moments frozen in time. Not to get all 'cinema is magic' on your ass again (because I know it can get a little nauseating at times) but the Oscars really are the highlight of my year as a film buff. I look at my Oscar ad collection the same way I do my photo albums. These are the times and the people and the movies I want to remember for the rest of my life.

So here are some of my personal favorites from the crop of ads that have been released so far this year. I consider the ones that are pimping Cinematography to be the most beautiful and eye-popping so if you're skimming this post, as I imagine you might be, do at least give those a look.

Big week for awards, people!

The NY and LA Film Critics announced their award winners today and yesterday, respectively, and it looks like No Country and There Will Be Blood are shaping up to be two of the front runners in this year's race. And I must give a special congratulatory shout out to Javier for winning not only the Best Supporting Actor award from the NY Critics but from the DC Critics, New York Online Critics, and Boston Critics as well. His chances for nabbing the Oscar are looking better and better every day and I couldn't be happier!

Here are NY and LA's winners for the seven main categories:

NEW YORK



Best Film
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Directors
Joel and Ethan Coen, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Best Actress
Julie Christie, AWAY FROM HER

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Ryan, GONE BABY GONE

Best Screenplay
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN


LOS ANGELES



Best Picture
THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, LA VIE EN ROSE

Best Supporting Actor
Vlad Ivanov, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Ryan, GONE, BABY, GONE and BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD

Best Screenplay
Tamara Jenkins, THE SAVAGES


Stay tuned for the Golden Glob nominations on Thursday!

The most wonderful time of the year

When the holiday season rolls around and most people are thinking Santa...Eggnog...carols, I'm thinking Chicago Critics...Golden Globes...Director's Guild. Now don't get me wrong, I love the holidays as much as the next guy. It's fun and cozy and I adore all the little traditions my family has created over the years. But as a film buff, the highlight of the year for me is awards season. It is not only a time to celebrate the year's cinematic gems but also a time to reflect upon all the great memories I have that are associated with those films. Having dinner with Jen and Greg at a lovely seafood restaurant in Madison after 3:10 to Yuma and discussing Russell Crowe's career. Getting drinks at the Bad Genie with Katie, John, Ross and Amanda, and comparing No Country for Old Men to Fargo. While I primarily celebrate films for their technical and creative achievements, I can't help but embrace them for providing me with such a plethora of happy moments.

Today award season truly began with the announcement of the National Board of Review winners. If the NBR is any indication of what's to come, things are going to work out very well for the films and actors I'm rooting for this year. Here's a quick rundown of all my peeps who picked up awards last night...

Best Film
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Ryan, GONE BABY GONE

Best Ensemble Cast
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Directorial Debut
Ben Affleck, GONE BABY GONE

Best Adapted Screenplay
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Best Animated Feature
RATATOUILLE

Congrats to all the winners! :)

More delicious yum yums

While this weekend proved to be one of the worst I've dealt with weather-wise, it did prompt a little culinary creativity and some serious good eats. I don't really need to go through the whole song and dance of how these tasty bites came to fruition. Sufficed to say I was quite pleased that I was able to come up with some genuinely original ideas and have them taste as good as I imagined.

Lazy California Rolls

-8 oz. light cream cheese
-1 cup wasabi mayo
-half an avocado
-one cucumber
-3 oz. imitation crab
-four tortillas
-soy sauce for dipping

Blend the cream cheese and mayo with a hand mixer until it has a smooth consistency. Dice the avocado, cucumber and crab meat, and add it to the cream cheese and mayo. Stir the mixture until everything is well-incorporated. Spread the mixture onto a tortilla. Roll the tortilla and let it set and cool in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. Do this with the remaining tortillas. Slice each roll-up into pieces the size of sushi bites. Serve alongside soy sauce.


The Z Burrito

-1/2 lb. Italian seasoned ground turkey breast
-extra virgin olive oil (for browning the turkey)
-1/2 small red onion, chopped
-1/2 sweet potato, shredded
-pinch of cayenne
-1/2 teaspoon cumin
-salt and pepper
-3 eggs
-1/2 cup BBQ sauce
-2 Tbsp. ketchup
-1 cup of shredded cheese
-2 tortillas

Heat olive oil in a skillet then add the turkey breast. Break up the turkey and as it starts to brown, add the onion. As soon as the turkey and onions are cooked through, add the sweet potato and let everything rest on low heat for 5 minutes or so. Add spices, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir the eggs together in a separate bowl and add them to the skillet. Turn up the heat slightly and wait for the eggs to cook. Add the BBQ sauce and ketchup and stir. Shred the cheese (chipotle Gouda is delicious here) and sprinkle a layer onto the open tortillas. Divide the turkey mixture between the tortillas (there may be some extra leftover) and then roll them like you would a burrito. This dish is ideal for breakfast, lunch or dinner. In fact, I had it for all three over the weekend!