César Nominees 2009

The nominees for this year's Césars, better known as the French equivalent to the Academy Awards, were announced over a week ago, and for some reason I'm only just now getting a chance to go over them. A French copaine of mine tells me that, similar to several of my favorite Gallic films (Betty Blue, anything by Assayas), the French don't seem to care much for Laurent Cantet's The Class, even though it won the Palme d'Or, was France's official submission for the Oscars and is apparently nominated in several categories at the Césars. Obviously, I haven't seen most of the year's nominees, but I think it's a bit criminal to have ignored both Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Devos for A Christmas Tale in favor of Jean-Paul Roussillon and Anne Cosigny. I'd put my money on Guillaume Depardieu for best actor, à la Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. You can see the full awards via the Alternative Film Guide, and the ceremony will be held on 27 February. The nominees are as follows:

Meilleur film français [Best French Film]

Entre les murs [The Class] - dir. Laurent Cantet
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime [I've Loved You So Long] - dir. Philippe Claudel
Mesrine (Mesrine: L'instinct de mort; Mesrine: L'ennemi public n° 1) - dir. Jean-François Richet
Paris - dir. Cédric Klapisch
Le premier jour du reste de ta vie [The First Day of the Rest of Your Life] - dir. Rémi Bezançon
Séraphine - dir. Martin Provost
Un conte de Noël [A Christmas Tale] - dir. Arnaud Desplechin

Meilleur réalisateur [Best Director]

Rémi Bezançon - Mesrine
Laurent Cantet - Entre les murs
Arnaud Desplechin - Un conte de Noël
Martin Provost - Séraphine
Jean-François Richet - Mesrine

Meilleur acteur [Best Actor]

Vincent Cassel - Mesrine
François-Xavier Demaison - Coluche, l'histoire d'un mec
Guillaume Depardieu - Versailles
Albert Dupontel - Deux jours à tuer
Jacques Gamblin - Le premier jour du reste de ta vie

Meilleure actrice [Best Actress]

Catherine Frot - Le crime est notre affaire
Yolande Moreau - Séraphine
Kristin Scott Thomas - Il y a longtemps que je t'aime
Tilda Swinton - Julia
Sylvia Testud - Sagan

Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle [Supporting Actor]

Benjamin Biolay - Stella
Claude Rich - Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera
Jean-Paul Roussillon - Un conte de Noël
Pierre Vaneck - Deux jours à tuer
Roschdy Zem - La fille de Monaco

Meilleure actrice dans un second rôle [Supporting Actress]

Jeanne Balibar - Sagan
Anne Consigny - Un conte de Noël
Edith Scob - L'heure d'été
Karin Viard - Paris
Elsa Zylberstein - Il y a longtemps que je t'aime

Meilleur premier film [Best First Film]

Home - dir. Ursula Meier
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime - dir. Philippe Claudel
Mascarades - dir. Lyes Salem
Pour elle - dir. Fred Cavayé
Versailles - dir. Pierre Schoeller

Meilleur scénario original [Original Screenplay]

Séraphine - Marc Abdelnour, Martin Provost
Le premier jour du reste de ta vie - Rémi Bezançon
Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis [Welcome to the Sticks] - Dany Boon, Alexandre Charlot, Franck Magnier
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime - Philippe Claudel
Un conte de Noël - Arnaud Desplechin, Emmanuel Bourdieu

Meilleur scénario adaptation [Adapted Screenplay]

Deux jours à tuer - Eric Assous, Jérôme Beaujour, Jean Becker, François d'Épenoux
Le crime est notre affaire - François Caviglioli, Pascal Thomas
Entre les murs - François Bégaudeau, Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet
Mesrine - Abdel Raouf Dafri, Jean-François Richet
La belle personne - Christophe Honoré, Gilles Taurand

Meilleure photographie [Best Cinematography]

Séraphine - Laurent Brunet
Mesrine - Robert Gantz
Un conte de Noël - Eric Gautier
Home - Agnès Godard
Faubourg 36 [Paris 36] - Tom Stern

Meilleur film étranger [Best Foreign Film]

Eldorado - dir. Bouli Lanners - Belgium
Gomorra [Gomorrah] - dir. Matteo Garrone - Italy
Into the Wild - dir. Sean Penn - USA
Le silence de Lorna [Lorna's Silence] - dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne - Belgium
There Will Be Blood - dir. Paul Thomas Anderson - USA
Two Lovers - dir. James Gray - USA
Valse avec Bashir [Waltz with Bashir] - dir. Ari Folman - Israel

Meilleur film documentaire [Best Documentary]

Elle s'appelle Sabine [Her Name Is Sabine] - dir. Sandrine Bonnaire
J'irai dormir à Hollywood [Hollywood, I'll Sleep over Tonight] - dir. Antoine de Maximy
Les plages d'Agnès [The Beaches of Agnès] - dir. Agnès Varda
Tabarly - dir. Pierre Marcel
La vie moderne [Modern Life] - dir. Raymond Depardon

Meilleur espoir masculin [Best Male Newcomer]

Ralph Amoussou - Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera
Laurent Capelluto - Un conte de Noël
Marc-André Grondin - Le premier jour du reste de ta vie
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet - La belle personne
Pio Marmai - Le premier jour du reste de ta vie

Meilleure espoir féminin [Best Female Newcomer]

Marilou Berry - Vilaine
Louise Bourgoin - La fille de Monaco
Anaïs Demoustier - Les grandes personnes
Déborah François - Le premier jour du reste de ta vie
Léa Seydoux - La belle personne

Meilleur court métrage [Best Short Film]

Les miettes - dir. Pierre Pinaud
Les paradis perdus - dir. Hélier Cisterne
Skhizein - dir. Jérémy Clapin
Taxi Wala - dir. Lola Frederich
Une leçon particulière - dir. Raphaël Chevènement

2009 Notebook: Vol 3

I'm thinking that I may create a database somewhere online to keep track of my 2009 viewings, but as it stands now, my nose is like Niagara Falls, my ear like a fucking church bell and I'm still waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. Here's the last 10 films I've seen, all of which will be spoken about in more depth at a later date. All I'll say now is that Żuławski's Possession officially placed itself onto that list of my all-time favorites. January is a good month to resort to some of your old faithfuls (Muriel's Wedding, ha!), especially when your December was not only jam-packed with film watching, but jam-packed with films like Revolutionary Road, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Gran Torino. All of us deserve a month off (at least).

Brilliant! (?)

La vie nouvelle [A New Life] - dir. Philippe Grandrieux - France - 2002 - N/A - with Zachary Knighton, Anna Mouglalis, Marc Barbé, Zsolt Nagy, Raoul Dantec, Vladimir Zintov

Not Brilliant!

Via Appia - dir. Jochen Hick - Germany - 1990 - Strand Releasing - with Peter Senner, Guilherme de Pádua, Yves Jansen

Revisited

The Dead Girl - dir. Karen Moncrieff - USA - 2006 - First Look - with Brittany Murphy, Toni Collette, Rose Byrne, Mary Beth Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Kerry Washington, Nick Searcy, Giovanni Ribisi, Mary Steenburgen, James Franco, Piper Laurie, Josh Brolin, Bruce Davison

Happiness - dir. Todd Solondz - USA - 1998 - Lionsgate - with Jane Adams, Dylan Baker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lara Flynn Boyle, Cynthia Stevenson, Ben Gazzara, Louise Lasser, Rufus Read, Camryn Manheim, Jon Lovitz, Jared Harris, Marla Maples, Evan Silverberg, Dan Moran, Molly Shannon

Muriel's Wedding - dir. P.J. Hogan - Australia/France - 1994 - Miramax - with Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Bill Hunter, Jeanie Drynan, Gennie Nevinson, Matt Day, Daniel Lapaine, Sophie Lee, Roz Hammond, Belinda Jarrett, Pippa Grandison, Gabby Millgate, Daniel Wyllie

Palindromes - dir. Todd Solondz - USA - 2004 - Wellspring (R.I.P.) - with Emani Sledge, Valerie Shusterov, Hannah Freiman, Rachel Corr, Will Denton, Sharon Wilkins, Shayna Levine, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ellen Barkin, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Matthew Faber, Debra Monk, Alexander Brickel, Richard Masur, Robert Agri, Richard Riehle, John Gemberling

Possession - dir. Andrzej Żuławski - France/West Germany - 1981 - Blue Underground - with Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Heinz Bennett, Margit Carstensen, Michael Hogben, Johanna Hofer

Red Road - dir. Andrea Arnold - UK/Denmark - 2006 - Tartan Films (R.I.P.) - with Kate Dickie, Tony Curran, Martin Compston, Nathalie Press, Paul Higgins

Storytelling - dir. Todd Solondz - USA - 2001 - Fine Line Features (R.I.P.) - with Mark Webber, Selma Blair, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Robert Wisdom, Leo Fitzpatrick, Julie Hagerty, Jonathan Osser, Lupe Ontiveros, Noah Fleiss, Aleksa Palladino, Franka Potente, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Xander Berkeley

Welcome to the Dollhouse - dir. Todd Solondz - USA - 1995 - Sony Pictures Classics - with Heather Matarazoo, Angela Pietropinto, Brendan Sexton III, Matthew Faber, Eric Mabius, Daria Kalinina, Bill Buell, Dimitri DeFresco

How to Have Megan Fox Hair

How to have Megan Fox Hair - Megan Fox Hairstyles

Megan Fox is the latest sexy lady to catch out eyes on the big screen. Men want to date her and girls want to be her and with her reportedly being the new edgy chick to take over from Angelina Jolie’s once rollercoaster type role, it pays to show attention to her style!
2009 Spring Summer Hairstyles Edition - Megan Fox Hair

One thing that everyone seems to notice with regards to Megan Fox is the fact that her hair is super glossy and super sleek. This is not down to a thousand and one styling products but more to do with really great conditioned hair and the best way to recreate this is to leave your hair without washing it for as long as you can to allow the follicles to produce enough of the oils to get it rejuvenated again. There are plenty of hair accessories that you can use to cover dirty or greasy hair so why not give it a go and get glossy hair like Megan?
2009 Spring Summer Hairstyles Edition - Megan Fox Hair

Megan Fox has naturally black hair so to have the perfect Megan look then ideally your hair should already be this color or at least a very dark brown. You can always dye your hair to get the perfect look. You will also notice that her hair is worn usually down and long, almost more than halfway down her back.
2009 Spring Summer Hairstyles Edition - Megan Fox Hair

With this length there are some long layers cut in to give the hair style a little bit of shape and this also makes the hairstyle a lot more manageable.

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Imagine Me in Gwyneth Paltrow's Oscar Dress

Andrew Grant over at Like Anna Karina's Sweater was kind enough to bestow the Premio Dardos award to my site yesterday and needless to say, I'm extremely flattered. The award was given to him by Glenn Kenny. The Award is as follows:

"The Dardos Award is given for recognition of cultural, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the web.

The rules are: 1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog. 2) Pass the award to another 5 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgement, remembering to contact each of them to let them know that they have been selected for this award."

I will be doing the Haley Joel Osmont thing with the award in the next coming days. Thanks again, Andrew!

Medium Hairstyles in 2009

Medium Hairstyles in Year 2009 - Medium Bob Hairstyles Will Be In!

In the upcoming year, medium hairstyles will be seen less and less. As we move forward into difficult economic times, the world of hair fashion will respond this stressing environment by adopting and popularizing more extreme hairstyles.
2009 Spring Summer Hairstyles Edition - Medium Hairstyles

Scene hair will become the norm, and it will be longer. The Emo hairstyle will begin to venture out of the gothic nightclubs where it was born and start to appear at some red carpet events. Medium hairstyles will still be a widespread choice, but they will become more teased, tousled and twisted as the hairstyling world looks for hairdos that stand out in a crowded and hyper-competitive field. Thanks to the flexibility of the medium hair length, some of the most popular medium hairstyles today are based on a look that was initially designed exclusively for short hair, the bob!
2009 Spring Summer Hairstyles Edition - Medium Hairstyles - Bob Hair

In 2008, so many of Hollywood’s most attractive stars went with bob looks. Stylists were forced to stretch the basic definition of the bob to create enough individual looks for their clients. The result of this popular embrace of a short look is the lengthening of it! Stylists inverted the bob and tried other versions of the bob hairdo that required medium length hair. The models for the look were happy to oblige, and now the medium length bob is extremely popular! It looks fantastic on faces with delicate and balanced features, too. Medium length hair remains a versatile basic option, but despite this valuable characteristic, it will have to fight for a place in the sun during 2009.

Pictures by Stefie Jones

Because pedophiles love children...

I just rewatched all of Todd Solondz's films, for better or worse, over the past week, and though I posted about his new film's cast earlier and that it was an intended sequel to Happiness, I was unaware that Forgiveness will also feature all of the same characters, played by new actors. This is what the IMDb lists:

Shirley Henderson as Joy (Jane Adams)
Ally Sheedy as Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle)
Allison Janney as Trish (Cynthia Stevenson)
Ciarán Hinds as Bill (Dylan Baker)
Michael K. Williams as Allen (Philip Seymour Hoffman) !!!
Paul Reubens as Andy (Jon Lovitz) !!!!
Renée Taylor as Mona (Louise Lasser)
Chane't Johnson as Kristina (Camryn Manheim)

It looks like Ben Gazzara's character Lenny won't be in it and that Charlotte Rampling and Gaby Hoffmann will be playing new characters (the kids are all different too, by the way) and Paris Hilton doesn't have a character name listed yet. I can only hope that Forgiveness is Happiness good and not Palindromes bad. Look for it to open at one of the big film festivals later this year, and I'll be writing more about revisiting Solondz's films later on.

Don't get them panties in a bunch!

I'm almost sure this is erroneous news, but DVDRama.com is claiming that Ingmar Bergman's elusive, never-released-to-DVD English-language film The Touch [Beröringen], starring Elliott Gould, Bibi Andersson and Max von Sydow, is coming to DVD in March in France. I'm nearly positive that this is a mistake as Amazon.fr lists a completely different film with the title Le lien for a 24 March release date. However, this just begs the question as to why the powers that be are keeping us from seeing Elliott Gould act in a Bergman film. So, like I said, don't get those panties or false hopes up.

More DVDs for April/May

Your two favorite Oscar contenders (Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader) have set DVD release dates in the US. Slumdog will hit shelves on 31 March and The Reader on 14 April (although the website I originally found that from no longer lists a date, so don't expect that to stick). I've heard conflicting reports that Milk will either drop on 3 or 17 March; I'll let you know when it's officially announced. Small Oscar correction: I originally said that Japan's foreign language nominee Departures was without distributor, but actually Regent Releasing has the rights to it.

On the sleazy side of things, Hens Tooth Video will be releasing Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders on 7 April. Shriek Show is releasing Gorman Bechard's Psychos in Love on 28 April. Dark Sky Films will be releasing John Peyser's The Centerfold Girls on 28 April. And hold back your excitement for Warner to release another edition of Billy Jack on 19 May. They will also have the western Catlow, which stars Yul Brynner, Leonard Nimoy and Richard Crenna, on the same date.

PeaceArch is releasing JCVD on 28 April. Sony is apparently skipping a theatrical release for Fabrice Du Welz's (Calvaire) new film Vinyan, which stars Emmanuelle Béart and Rufus Sewell; the disc will street on 7 April in the US and 1 April in France. Montery Home Video will have Avi Nesher's The Secrets, which stars Fanny Ardant, out on 7 April. Also from Israel, VCI is releasing Moshé Mizrahi's I Love You Rosa, which was in competition at Cannes in 1972 and nominated for a Best Foreign Oscar the following year.

Universal is releasing Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra from 1934 with Claudette Colbert in the title role. In addition to Cleopatra, Universal will have a box-set of six "Pre-Code Hollywood" films which includes George Abbott's The Cheat, Dorothy Arzner's Merrily We Go to Hell with the wonderful Sylvia Sidney and Cary Grant in a small role, William A. Seiter's Hot Saturday with Grant and Nancy Carroll, Alexander Hall and George Somnes' Torch Singer with Colbert, Mitchell Leisen's murder/mystery/musical Murder at the Vanities and Erle C. Kenton's Search for Beauty with Ida Lupino. Both street on 7 April.

Magnolia will be releasing Franck Vestiel's Eden Log, with Clovis Cornillac, and Robert Celestino's Yonkers Joe, with Chazz Palmenteri, Christine Lahti, Linus Roache and Roma Maffia, on 19 May. PBS will have the documentary I.O.U.S.A. on 7 April. Kino has the documentary Kike Like Me on 21 April, and Facets will be releasing Julien Duvivier's Au bonheur des dammes on 28 April.

And finally, Soda Pictures in the UK is releasing Duane Hopkins' Better Things on DVD on 27 April. A quote on the box describes it as "The Dardenne brothers meet Lynne Ramsay," which is as much of a recommendation that I can think of for me. Anyone heard anything about it?

Announcing:

I wasn't sure if I was going to continue my annual Fin de cinema awards, but with the Oscars looking to be a bore-and-a-half, I've decided that I will. Look for them in the next coming weeks when I hand out the coveted "Macy Gray Award," as well as the "Vincent Gallo Award." I haven't even rounded up the nominees yet, but as soon as my nose quits feeling like Steve Nicks' circa 1977, I'll be on it. As for last year's big winners, you can revisit them here. You can also check out Reverse Shot's Two Cents for 2008, which is rather similar to my own awards. They're on target with most of their mentions, especially poor Rosario Dawson and their blasts on I've Loved You So Long and Natalie Portman (although I think they're completely offbase on The Edge of Heaven...).

Weekend Awards

Really? Lee Daniels' Push won 3 awards at Sundance this year including an acting prize for Mo'nique? Golly, it must have been a lousy year in Utah... but on the plus side, it turns out there were films I wanted to see at the festival after skimming over the titles and shrugging my shoulders. The two are: Alexis Dos Santos' Unmade Beds and Ondi Timoder's We Live in Public. In other news, the SAGs were announced with Sean Penn, Meryl Streep, Heath Ledger and Kate Winslet as the winners.

Layered Hairstyles in 2009

Layered Hairstyles in 2009 - Spring Summer

Among some of the best hairstyles out there, you have the layered hairstyles. The layered hairstyles will look good on all types of hair length. If you have short hair, then you will still be able to get a layered hairstyle. If you would like to keep your hair, then you will be able to get a long layered hairstyle. The layered hairstyles will add a lot of beauty to your hair and will make your overall appearance look great.. The layered hairstyles out there will be changing your complete look and it will look really good. The layered hairstyles will be increasing the volume of your hair and make it look outstanding. Within this article, we are going to tell you some more information on layered hairstyles.
2009 Spring Summer Hairstyles Edition - Layered Hairstyles

In order to get those layered hairstyles, you will need to cut your hair into different layers. One of the most popular layered hairstyles is the chin length layers where the layers are touching the ears. From the short layers, the length will continue increasing until it reaches the end of the hair. Some individuals have their whole hair length layered, then other individuals have just the lower hairs layers and there is nothing wrong with it. When it comes to layered hairstyles, it is fine to mess around with them and experiment. Also, when it comes to the colors on the layered haircut, there are a number of different colors you could choose that will give you an innovative style. You could also choose to add some highlights to your layered hairstyles.

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