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2006 Bellview Awards

1/2/07

Folks--

Another year, another shitload of opinions...let's roll!

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Best Flick (tie)--"The Departed" and "Snakes on a Plane"

Everyone that has seen "The Departed" already knows the deal there--great movie, great cast, great director, great cinematography, great ending, great screenplay jacked from the Asian import "Infernal Affairs", which itself won literally every major award at Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan's set of awards three years ago.  It's almost funny that anyone would think the film WOULDN'T be great, but there are always going to be haters out there.  As good as the theater experience was with "The Departed", it doesn't even hold a candle to the experience I had seeing "Snakes on a Plane" at a Thursday-night screening of the film here in Northern Virginia; I'm telling you (and the other dozen folks that came with me will attest to this) that you almost can't have more fun in a theater with the right kind of crowd.  Don't bother renting "SOAP"; in general, it's an average film.  But, with people hissing every time someone was about to die, Sam Jackson hamming it up, gratuitous snake kills running rampant and "low-budget horror-thriller" brimming from every camera angle, I caught "SOAP" on a special night and for that, it shares the top prize.

3. "Little Miss Sunshine"

4. "Borat"

5. "Nacho Libre"

6. "Little Children"

7. "The Lost City"

8. "Wordplay"

9. "Renaissance"

10. "Dreamgirls"

 

Best Actress--Ellen Page, "Hard Candy"

Nothing has really changed since the mid-year point on this one; Page's work is scary stuff, because you know that "that girl" is out there somewhere

2. Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel."  Playing a deaf character who suffers the film's big heartbreaks, Kikuchi's deadpan stare stuck with me long after I left the theater

3. Kate Winslet, "Little Children."  This was just a great movie, but Winslet works wonders as the mom with an eye for the hot neighbor

4. Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal."  Come on, you just KNOW she's going to get nominated anyway, right???  Luckily, it's because she deserves it in this one; no one picks a mix of films like Dench, and to come so soon after another run as M in "Casino Royale" only makes the range seem wider

5. Helen Mirren, "The Queen."  Another lock for an Academy Award nomination, Mirren played a hitwoman in "Shadowboxer" and freakin' Queen Elizabeth.  Incredible!

 

Best Actor--Sasha Baron Cohen, "Borat"

"Yeah, the other nominees...not so much, not so much..."

2. Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Departed."  Much like two years ago with "The Aviator", Leo is going to get hosed again come Oscar time

3. Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness."  Aren't you excited for Will's future as an actor, instead of a movie star?

4. Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland."  Whitaker is a powerhouse in this film; he's almost as good here as he was in "Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai"

5. Jack Black, "Nacho Libre."  I don't even LIKE Jack Black, but he's money as a half-Mexican monk/wrestler who occasionally breaks out in song

 

Best Supporting Actress--Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine"

Hopefully, Ms. Breslin--our heroine Olive--will be able to follow this up with something, anything, nearly as funny; maybe she got lucky, but she was fantastic in this ensemble cast of characters

2. Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls."  For a non-actress, she was great as the woman scorned in the Beyoncé/Jamie Foxx musical hit

3. Vera Farmiga, "Running Scared."  In what has to be the most senselessly-violent, over-the-top adult film of the year, Farmiga's role as the wife of grunt Paul Walker was actually pretty entertaining, including her take on what to do about pedophiles

4. Jodie Foster, "Inside Man."  One of the surprise successes this year, Foster's shady character is fierce, but she can also credit her talent plus looking better on film than maybe ever, which is saying something

5. Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada."  Although I know some folks who liked the film more than I did, everyone can agree on one thing--Streep puts this film on her back, because without her, the flick is genuinely disappointing

 

Best Supporting Actor--Jack Nicholson, "The Departed"

In a film where damn near all of the major players will probably get nominated, Jack's got a real shot to win here because his moody Boston gangster is classic Jack mixed with a strong backstory

2. Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed."  Gets the most laughs of a surprisingly-funny film

3. Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine".  So many great lines, but "Fuck a lotta women, kid...not just one woman, a LOT of women" has to be right up there as the family's profanity-spewing grandfather.

4. John C. Reilly, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."  Ferrell must have been surprised to see during the final cut of this that Reilly had nearly stolen the whole film; great stuff

5. Philip Seymour Hoffman, "M:I-3."  Big-budget mainstream flick or not, Hoffman is great as the bad guy here, and he's better than advertised playing his own version of evil

 

Discuss.  On to Part II...

 

 

Comments?  Drop me a line at justin@bellviewmovies.com.