The Gold Rush: An Oscar Discussion - Part 2

If you still need to catch up on the conversation you can see Part 1 HERE.

As we left our heroes, they were trying to recall great summer movies. With a grand total of three, we can assume they failed this challenge. But life goes on.

MK: I like the Animated Feature category this year, but it's too short. No love for Tangled?

SS: Oh, well, not enough animated films came out this year. That determines the number of nominees.

MK: Yeah, by one movie. That's kind of bull. And I didn't even get to see The Illusionist despite my best efforts.

SS: Wait, The Illusionist came out? It feels like only three critics and the academy got to see it.

MK: It's here. I wanted to see it, but timing hasn't worked out.

SS: Maybe next time Disney will release more straight-to-video flicks in one-week only LA runs.

MK: (Laughs)…So Toy Story 3, How To Train Your Dragon, or The Illusionist? I want How To Train Your Dragon, but I think it'll be Toy Story 3, which I do love.

SS: Same. Hard to beat a Best Pic nominee, but How To Train Your Dragon had to work independently. Toy Story 3 relies on your previous knowledge of the characters.

MK: Yeah, and How To Train Your Dragon was awesome and original and special and loveable, but we'll see. Pixar always wins and deserves to win but I want Dreamworks to recognize what a good thing they did… for a change.

SS: They do pretty reliably great work. Megamind was fun, How To Train Your Dragon was touching... but I feel like they get a bad rap because they're more entertainment than…

MK: ...Quality?

SS: Art. But yeah, quality too (Laughs).

More to explore after the jump.

The Gold Rush: An Oscar Discussion - Part 1

So the Second Annual (we're calling it) Gold Rush is here. Silver Screener and I are splitting it in two parts. His can be found here, and mine will appear above this post tomorrow. Silver Screener is an interesting fellow with a very specific vision of what cinema is. We've been enjoying films together for years and it's always a pleasure to sit down and chat with him.

The original post from last year can be found here if you find yourself interested.

5000 Fathoms

I'm falling into a rabbit hole. I never feel like this, like the world around me is so specific. I feel like everything is happening faster and faster and I'm doing an alright job of keeping up because I haven't taken a moment to look back. I guess this is that moment. This could sound like bragging and I suppose I'm pretty lucky, but I haven't felt bored for even a second in the last month. Every inch of living just feels like another moment of time. The world is grounded. My feet are always touching. The FF button is on and it's stuck.

5000 Fathoms:

1. Transhuman - Jungle Fiction
2. The Man Who Played God - Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse
3. Bañana Baby (Tomorrow Comes Today) - Gorillaz Vs. Space Monkeyz
4. One Of These Mornings - Moby
5. Money Worries - Bedouin Soundclash
6. The Birth - Stardeath and White Dwarfs
7. Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo) - Gorillaz
8. Monica - Tortoise
9. Come Rain Or Come Shine - Alison Eastwood
10. Proudest Monkey - Dave Matthews Band
11. Leil - Sufjan Stevens
12. It's Just That Simple - Wilco
13. In A Silent Way (DJ Cam Remix) - Miles Davis
14. Holland - Sufjan Stevens
15. River Man - Nick Drake
16. Ghost Return - Moby
17. Dirge - Bob Dylan & The Band

I'm Still Here... Why Did You Ever Pretend To Leave?

Finally got around to seeing this and I can only pull one intellegable thing from I'm Still Here...

But I don't know. I can see how Joaquin thought this would seem like a good idea, all-be-it interesting. I can imagine being in a situation where you're no longer happy with your life. The strain it puts on your mind. And then you think, maybe I can escape this feeling for just a little while. When I first saw that Letterman clip

I figured it was a set up to a movie, one that I hoped would be interesting. It sucks to discover that there was no actual plan. They just decided to roll with whatever happened and in the end it may have destroyed a once good actor's career. And yes, he's signed on to be in Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter which has potential to be a good movie. But who knows if it'll ever even happen. It sucks to think that no one stopped somewhere along the way and said, "Hey, you've put all your chips in this one basket. Now you've actually gotta make something out of it."

Even if you're trying to make a "documentary", you went into this process knowing it was really just another movie... right? So why would you do the things you did with the people you did them to for real? Does the fact that it really was for a movie make it alright to some of the folks who were screwed during that year? Anyway, I suppose in some very small way this movie isn't an absolute failure, because it made me feel an emotion strongly and I guess that's the emotion they wanted me to feel... but honestly, why would you ever want to make another human being feel that way?