James Cameron
Canadian directors James Cameron and Jason Reitman both been nominated for best director and best picture.
Cameron, the Oscar-winning veteran director of Titanic, is nominated for his work on Avatar. The epic science-fiction thriller was not even been publicly released yet and it is already receiving immense critical acclaim.
Reitman, a rising star in Hollywood, directed 2007’s Juno and 2006’s Thank You for Smoking. His newest release, Up in the Air, stars George Clooney (nominated for best actor in a motion picture, drama), and its dialogue and humour have captured the interest of thousands already.
Alongside the Canadians are veteran directors Clint Eastwood and Quentin Tarantino for Invictus and Inglorious Bastards. The two movies are up for best picture, along with several nominations for best acting awards.
Up in the Air, directed by Montreal’s Jason Reitman, won four awards Friday from the U.S. National Review Board, including one for best film, reports CBC.
The film, which stars George Clooney, opened in a limited number of theatres Friday, with wide release scheduled for Christmas Day.
The U.S. National Review Board’s awards are generally a good prediction for which films will be getting Oscar recognition in March. Recently, No Country for Old Men and Slumdog Millionaire went on to win best picture at the Academy Awards after being named best film by the U.S. National Review Board.
It’s official: Ellen Page and her pregnant alter-ego “Juno” are Oscar worthy.
The film received nods in several category where it will be the only comedy competing against some huge, heavy-hitter dramas. 20-year-old Page is up against the likes of Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Julie Christie (Away From Her), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) and Laura Linney (The Savages) for Best Actress.
“Juno” is nominated for Best Picture against the critical favourites “Atonement,” “Michael Clayton,” “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood.”
Screenwriter Diablo Cody and Canadian director Jason Reitman also scored a nomination for “Juno.”
Sarah Polley will also be representing Canada at the awards. She was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for her film, “Away From Her.”
With so many fantastic performances, it will be especially hard to guess the winners this year. The Best Actor category is an exciting list: George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood), Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd), Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) and Tommy Lee Jones (In The Valley of Elah).
Other notable nominations are 13-year-old Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men) and Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James?).
James McAvoy and Keira Knightley were noticably snubbed for their lead performances in “Atonement.”
Here is a complete list of the nominations:
BEST PICTURE
“Atonement”
“Juno”
“Michael Clayton”
“No Country for Old Men”
“There Will Be Blood”
BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”
Julie Christie, “Away From Her”
Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”
Laura Linney, “The Savages”
Ellen Page, “Juno”
BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”
Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd”
Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises”
Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”
Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”
Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”
Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”
Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”
Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”
Hal Holbrook, “Into The Wild”
Tommy Lee Jones, “No Country For Old Men”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”
Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton”
BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”
Jason Reitman, “Juno”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, “Juno”
Nancy Oliver, “Lars and the Real Girl”
Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”
Brad Bird, Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird, “Ratatouille”
Tamara Jenkins, “The Savages”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”
Christopher Hampton, “Atonement”
Ronald Harwood, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
Sarah Polley, “Away From Her”
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Beaufort” (Israel)
“The Counterfeiters” (Austria)
“Katyn” (Poland)
“Mongol” (Kazakhstan)
“12″ (Russia)
BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Persepolis”
“Ratatouille”
“Surf’s Up”
BEST ART DIRECTION
“American Gangster”
“Atonement”
“The Golden Compass”
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
“There Will Be Blood”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” Roger Deakins
“Atonement,” Seamus Mcgarvey
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” Janusz Kaminski
“No Country For Old Men,” Roger Deakins
“There Will Be Blood,” Robert Elswit
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“Across the Universe,” Albert Wolsky
“Atonement,” Jacqueline Durran
“Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” Alexandra Byrne
“La Vie En Rose,” Marit Allen
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street,” Colleen Atwood
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“No End in Sight”
“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience”
“Sicko”
“Taxi to the Dark Side”
“War/Dance”
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“Freeheld”
“La Corona” (“The Crown”)
“Salim Baba”
“Sari’s Mother”
BEST FILM EDITING
“The Bourne Ultimatum,” Christopher Rouse
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” Juliette Welfling
“Into the Wild,” Jay Cassidy
“No Country for Old Men,” Roderick Jaynes
“There Will Be Blood,” Dylan Tichenor
BEST MAKEUP
“La Vie en Rose”
“Norbit”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“Atonement”, Dario Marianelli
“The Kite Runner”, Alberto Iglesias
“Michael Clayton”, James Newton Howard
“Ratatouille”, Michael Giacchino
“3:10 to Yuma”, Marco Beltrami
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Falling Slowly” from “Once”
“Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted”
“Raise It Up” from “August Rush”
“So Close” from “Enchanted”
“That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted”
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“I Met the Walrus”
“Madame Tutli-Putli”
“Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)”
“My Love (Moya Lyubov)”
“Peter & the Wolf”
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“At Night”
“Il Supplente (The Substitute)”
“Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)”
“Tanghi Argentini”
“The Tonto Woman”
BEST SOUND EDITING
“The Bourne Ultimatum”
“No Country For Old Men”
“Ratatouille”
“There Will Be Blood”
“Transformers”
BEST SOUND MIXING
“The Bourne Ultimatum”
“No Country For Old Men”
“Ratatouille”
“3:10 to Yuma”
“Transformers”
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Golden Compass”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”
“Transformers”
Could Canadian cutie Ellen Page be the key to helping Jamie Lynn Spears cope with being a pregnant 16-year-old?
The New York Post reports that Spears is obsessed with the soundtrack to “Juno” – Page’s current film in which she stars as a 16-year-old who accidentally gets pregnant. Spears saw the film the day before her exclusive pregnancy announcement with OK! Magazine was released, and sources tell the newspaper that the film and music have inspired Spears. “She loves it and it’s helping her through her difficult time,” a source commented.
Page contributed to the “Juno” soundtrack when director Jason Reitman asked her what music she thought Juno would listen to. Page suggested the Moldy Peaches. Six songs by Kimya Dawson, a member of the Peaches, are included on the “Juno” soundtrack.
Young Canadian talent doesn’t get much better – or cuter – than Ellen Page and Michael Cera. Their sweet, funny, and real performances are just part of what makes “Juno,” as a whole, a touching, hilarious and wonderful film.
Page plays precocious and off-beat Juno MacGuff, who despite being damaged is very comfortable in her own skin. As a 16-year-old, she is also very naive about the world of adults – a world she is forced to join when she becomes pregnant by her best friend (Cera). A high school girl getting pregnant may seem clichéd (hell, doesn’t it happen every week on Degrassi?), but I can assure you, “Juno” is in a league of its own.
One of the most touching elements of the film is Juno’s relationship with her father and step-mother, played by J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney. When Juno announces to them that she’s pregnant, they are of course disappointed in her: as her father states, “I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when.” But in a blink, the pair go into automatic support mode, planning doctor’s visits and shopping trips for pre-natal vitamins. Their no holds barred love for their flawed daughter and ability to roll with the punches together is truly touching.
Janney especially shines, comedically and dramatically. She and Juno don’t exactly have the perfect-mother daughter relationship. So when she (hilariously) tells a rude ultrasound technician to “go back to night school and learn a real trade,” the bond between them is solidified. She clearly respects her young step-daughter, something that is so important and inspiring.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that their relationship suddenly becomes totally congenial, because “Juno” is all about being real. Its characters are imperfect, and the ways they have been hurt in the past are obviously a part of them. But the hurt is not dwelled on; every character just keeps on moving forward, and helping each other to do the same.
The only unrealistic part is the insanely snappy dialogue, but it’s so deliciously pitch-perfect that it doesn’t detract from the film at all. “Juno” is hysterically funny, but I barely allowed myself to laugh the whole time, because I didn’t want to miss a single word. This is screenwriter Diablo Cody’s first film, and there is a reason she has been nominated for both a Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award.
Cody’s script has a lot of amazing jokes, but she never makes fun of her characters. Even Jason Bateman’s character, the prospective adoptive father and wannabe rock star, is treated with dignity. Juno’s presence drastically changes his life and relationship with his wife (Jennifer Garner), and they are forced to come to terms with certain truths about themselves. It may not be pretty, but it’s honest. Director Jason Reitman also used creative close-up shots to visually tell the audience about the characters. His fantastic direction combined with brilliant performances make every character a fully formed and unique person.
At the Q&A session after its second showing at the Toronto International Film Festival, Reitman told the crowd that he saw “Juno” as a film about a girl forced to grow up too fast and a man trying to stay a kid. But it’s really much more than that. It’s about strong women, and the bond of family; about always being true to yourself; and about love, in the many routes it takes. “Juno” is not to be missed.
