The Strangers was not good.

I hated The Strangers. So much, in fact, that David and I spent twenty minutes screaming about it in the car. Because we were angry.

I was mad, for one, that they somehow managed to get a Joanna Newsom song on the same record (as in VINYL) as a Gillian Welch song. I don't think that the "strangers" came in at some point, switched the album from The Milk-Eyed Mender to Time (The Revelator) just so that the needle would skip during the part of "My First Lover" when Gillian sings "Quicksilver girl" (a reference to the Steve Miller song). Also, how did they get a demo version of "At My Window Sad and Lonely" by Billy Bragg and Wilco? (Here's a note to the film's director: just because you use non-mainstream music in your film doesn't mean you're not going to get someone who isn't a Daughtry fan to come see it and CALL YOU OUT ON YOUR SHIT. Sure, a lot of people didn't notice it but I DID and ALL OF MY OPINIONS ARE RIGHT.)

I was also very angry when the film started and the placard told us that it was based on a true story - which it is not, by the way. What's worse is that someone narrated that, as if the director anticipated that his audience would be too stupid to read what's on the screen. That should have tipped me off right there.

Oh, yeah, the Oscars are this weekend.

The Oscars used to be, like, the biggest night of my year when I was in high school. In the past few years, my excitement has waned a little, especially since I realized that the Academy honors movies that aren't that great while shutting out the smaller films that, in the long run, will make a bigger impact on film-making and -criticism. BUT this year is exciting, as the crop of films nominated are actually pretty good! And while I didn't see all of the nominated movies (I missed Michael Clayton and have yet to get it from Netflix), I saw enough to write a post about what will win. And we all know that all of my opinions are right.

So! Here are my picks and what I think will win. HERE WE GO:


Best Picture
Like I said, I didn't see Michael Clayton, but I think it's safe to say that it doesn't have much of a chance here. Juno was cute and funny, and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, but I don't particularly think it's Best Picture material. Atonement also exceeded my expectations: not only was it a faithful adaptation of one of my favorite novels, it was absolutely beautiful to watch; however, it only takes the Weepy-Romantic-War-Movie spot in the top five, so I don't think it will win. That leaves There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men. It's almost hard for me to pick, as both blew me away, but I think my favorite was No Country for Old Men, and I think it will take the prize at the end of the night.


Best Director
This one is tough, again because I think it's a toss-up between the Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men and Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood. I think I may have to go with PT on this one, if only because I don't expect the Academy to give the award (for the first time, by the way) to two directors.


Best Actor
I've only seen two of the nominees in this category, those being Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood and Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd. I think Day-Lewis has this one nailed. And I would like to point out, again, that Johnny Depp and Sweeney Todd suck my balls.


Best Actress
I'm kind of torn when it comes to declaring Marion Cotillard as the winner here for La Vie en Rose. The Academy loves loves loves to reward actors for playing real people (see: Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line, Jamie Foxx for Ray, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote, Nicole Kidman for The Hours, Cate Blanchett for The Aviator, just to name a few of the recent cases). While Julie Christie is her biggest threat, and delivered a very beautiful, subtle performance in Away From Her. BUT: Marion Cotillard is huge, brash, bold; she disappears and completely transforms into Edith Piaf, who, to many American movie-goers, is basically a fictional character. And it's also exciting to see an actress take home the American award for a foreign-language performance.


Best Supporting Actor
I only saw one of the nominated films in this category (well, one and a third if you consider that I'm forty-five minutes into The Assassination of Jesse James and, sure, Casey Affleck is pretty good). This one is another safe category, like Daniel Day-Lewis, Javier Bardem has this one in the bag. His portrayal of Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men was one of the most memorable of the year, and Bardem deserves all of the accolades he's received this year. It's been a while since a character made me so nervous, and Bardem's quiet, yet incredibly powerful, presence left me shaking after I saw the film (twice!).


Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett will win her second Oscar for her performance as the fictional Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. She was certainly impressive to watch, and as much as I loved the film, I'm happy to see it get some recognition (as it was way too polarizing to get any other nominations). This award, however, is too predictable (see above, when I talk about the Academy's love of caricature and impersonation). I would love to see Amy Ryan pick this one up for Gone Baby Gone; I feel like I was much more affected by her acting ability than I was with Blanchett's. (And, I might add, that it's a shame that Charlotte Gainsbourg has not been appropriately acknowledged for her role in I'm Not There, which was by far my favorite.)

Those are the big ones, and I'm not going to bore you (or myself) by writing about the rest of the categories in detail. I will say that I think Persepolis should win Best Animated Feature, if only to show that the category isn't actually Best Animated Feature That Pixar Released This Year, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Even movies about missing white girls make it difficult for me to care.

I watched Gone Baby Gone last night specifically because Amy Ryan is in it, and she was also on The Wire. I didn't know much about it other than Ben Affleck directed it, and I didn't have great hopes for it. BUT it did get moderately good reviews, and Netflix predicted I would give it four stars, so I gave it a whirl.

Unfortunately, it never got away from being a sub-par genre film based on what is most-likely a sub-par genre novel by mystery author Dennis Lehane. I've never read anything of his, but he did write Mystic River, which was an excellent film (which should have beat out The Return of the King for that year's Oscar for Best Picture). The difference between the two adaptations, however, is that Mystic River really focused on its characters as the basis for the film, while Gone Baby Gone tries to do too much stylistically and regrettably forgets to make the plot make any sense or make anyone in the film worth caring about.

I will say, however, that Amy Ryan was fantastic and deserves her Oscar nomination. It's tough, now, for me to decide if I think she should win over Cate Blanchett in I'm Not There (who will probably win, as the Academy loves it win famous people play other famous people in movies).

If you'd like more details about it, I suggest you read World Class Stupid's dead-on reaction to the film. And then go rent The Wire.

And a fun Wire-related bonus: OMAR was in it!

I'm sure you've been eagerly awating my Oscar nominations reaction post.

I used to get really excited about Oscar season because I was a big movie nerd when I was in high school. I actually would tape the press conference wherein the nominations were announced and watch it when I got home from school. One year, I won the Oscar pool at my local video store, and I got two free movie rentals every week for a year. (My parents blamed me for putting the video store out of business.)

Since college, however, I haven't been as excited. Sure, last year I won twenty bucks at an Oscar party, but I'm generally disappointed with both the nominees and the winners. Like most mainstream award shoes, the Oscars tend to shut-out independent offerings and hand out the top awards to fairly bland, crowd-pleasing films (I'm looking at you, Crash. And you, Chicago. And Gladiator. And Titanic. And Shakespeare in Love. And Forrest Gump. Etc.)

This year, however, I'm fairly excited. The best films of the year, There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men, tied for the most nominations. Of course, they will probably not win Best Picture (I've got a feeling they'll split the vote and it'll go to Atonement). I haven't seen Atonement, nor did I catch Michael Clayton during its brief theatrical run. I've got mixed feelings about Juno, and was going to wait for Netflix, but now I feel like I should give it a chance. And while Brittany is right, that it will most-likely win Best Original Screenplay despite the unrealistic dialogue, I'm already not as offended as I was about Little Miss Sunshine. (Don't get me started on that mess. It's NOT well-written, America.)

I share Adam's aggravation that Jonny Greenwood's score from There Will Be Blood was not nominated because it wasn't entirely scored for the film, but as I pointed out to him this morning, the nominated song from Once, "Falling Slowly," was released in 2006 on Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's album, The Swell Season. Ah, well.

On a related note, I saw Persepolis last night, and it was stunning. If Pixar wasn't guaranteed an Oscar for everything they release, I would expect it to nab the award for Best Animated Feature.

Albums of the Year: The Rest of the Best

David Karsten Daniels - Sharp Teeth
Dean & Britta - Back Numbers
The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City
The Good, the Bad, & the Queen - The Good, the Bad, & the Queen
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Mark Ronson - Version
The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Honorable Mention:
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - Once: Music from the Motion Picture
Various Artists - I'm Not There: Original Soundtrack

Albums of the Year: #1. Feist - The Reminder

I absolutely adore this album. I'm willing to look past Feist as a performer and a person, and the Starbucks affiliation, as well as the iPod ads, and focus solely on this collection because, in my opinion, it's an A+ record.

I've been a fan of Feist after I got a bootleg copy of Let It Die in 2004. It was her second album, and despite her work with Broken Social Scene, it was the one that gained her some indie credibility. It was a good album, but it was kind of touch-and-go. There were some stand-out tracks, like "Mushaboom" and "Let It Die," but the she had the tendency to slip into a mom-rock /soft-pop feel, which ultimately turned her off. Seeing her live, however, made me realize that she did have potential as an artist, and The Reminder solidifies that.

On a personal level, this album hit me hard. For reasons both good and bad, I'll always associate this album with what I was going through when it was first released at the end of April, when I was still dealing with a tough break-up, depressed and angry about everything. Not to mention my fruitless job search was underway, and my father had recently started cancer treatments. It was a rough couple of months, and this album guided me through it with songs like "Past in Present," "The Limit to Your Love," and "How My Heart Behaves." And there were the up-beat songs, too, like "1234," and "I Feel It All."

This album is pretty perfect, and easily shot to the number one spot in my favorites list early this year. I could care less about Feist at this point, but The Reminder will always hold a place in my heart for reminding me that I got through a shitty, shitty time and came out on top.

Video: "1234" (Duh.)

Albums of the Year: #2. The National - Boxer

I'm rather disappointed that I didn't know more about The National before Boxer was released. I'd certainly heard of them, but for some reason I was never interested in listening to them. Per Adam's suggestion, I gave this one a try, and immediately fell in love with it. It's one of the few albums this year that I've been able to listen to on a loop without getting tired of it. I can't really explain what about it is so appealing to me, but I find myself getting sucked in whenever I press Play.

Video: "Slow Show" (fan video)

Albums of the Year: #3. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga

I discovered Bright Eyes shortly after the release of Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground back in 2002. It was my first introduction into indie-rock, and it's still one of my favorite albums. Cassadaga is no Lifted, but it's pretty damn close. It features similar moments of huge orchestrations, guest-spots from other Saddle Creek band members, as well as Maria Taylor, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, M. Ward, Rachel Yamagata, and Janet Weiss. Like previous Bright Eyes records, Cassadaga focuses on both the internal and the political. "Four Winds" is an especially brilliant protest song, both musically and lyrically; it never gets too preachy, and keeps a level head in regard to its ideology. The rest of the album is brilliant, and one of Bright Eyes' best efforts.

Video: "Hot Knives"

Albums of the Year: #4. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha

Andrew Bird makes fascinating music that isn't so complicated and ambitious that you can't listen to it. He manages to layer on several instruments, samples, vocals, and whistling without overwhelming his audience. And he's got tremendous talent, which sometimes doesn't come out on his albums as much as it does when you see him live. I didn't really notice how powerful his whistling is until I saw him last year; it simply blew me away to know that it wasn't being augmented electronically. Armchair Apocrypha is ambitious in the sense that it features collaboration with Martin Dosh, who provides some gut-busting drums and a buttload of samples to compliment Bird's songs. It may not be the instant classic that The Mysterious Production of Eggs was, but I think it'll stand up on its own as Bird progresses musically. (And he gets points for having the best cover art of the year.)

Video: "Imitosis" (live in Paris)

Albums of the Year: #5. PJ Harvey - White Chalk

White Chalk is an extreme departure for Polly Jean, as she wrote the entire album on piano, which she learned while she wrote her songs. It's not the typical alternative-rock / PJ Harvey album, but it's still just as strong as her previous efforts. It's supposedly inspired by her childhood in Dorset, England, which seems appropriate as Harvey sings in a much higher register than she's used to, giving a very childlike, yet ultimately haunting, feel. In places her falsetto is wavering, yet it's impressive in others. It's a quite beautiful album, and probably ranks as one of my favorites of PJ's.

Video: "White Chalk / Silence" (live on Later... with Jools Holland)

Albums of the Year: #6. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

It seems like such a long time since Arcade Fire released Neon Bible, probably because the hype and expectations for it were huge. The sounds on the album are just as huge: it's bold and brash with gorgeous orchestrations. You can tell with this album that frontman Win Butler is heavily influenced by Springsteen (and maybe Eddie and the Cruisers?), which is alright with me. Like Springsteen, Arcade Fire's songs tend to make observations about our culture, ranging from religion, war, and pop music.

Video: "Intervention / (Antichrist Television Blues)" (BBC2 Session)

Albums of the Year: #7. The New Pornographers - Challengers

There's nothing new I can say about The New Pornographers, or Challengers. It took a while to grow on me, possibly because it's pretty similar to their last album, Twin Cinema. After seeing them live, however, I couldn't stop listening to it. They're a perfect pop-group, and this is a pretty damn good pop record (even if "pop" wouldn't be the word most would use to describe them). The group sure can blend together some beautiful harmonies and make some spunky music. And this album seems more of Carl Newman's baby than the others, even if a lot of people think of The New Pornos as "Neko Case's band."

Video: "Challengers"

Albums of the Year: #8. Grinderman - Grinderman

Grinderman could have just been another album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (the band includes most of the Bad Seeds). Had it been released ten years ago, it would have made perfect sense. But as Nick Cave has gotten older, his albums started to get softer. After 1996's Murder Ballads, Cave began writing ballads and love songs, seen primarily in The Boatman's Call (influenced by his breakup with PJ Harvey) and his last album, the two-part Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus. Grinderman represents a middle-age crisis sort of record; Cave learned to play guitar, and the result was a jerky, loud collection of garage-rock songs.

Video: "No Pussy Blues" (live on Later... with Jools Holland)

Albums of the Year: #9. M.I.A. - Kala

Despite the atrocious album cover, M.I.A.'s Kala is fantastic. It's also as complicated as Maya Arulpragasam is herself. It transcends genres, going from world music to hip-hop to electronica. It's political, bashing the West at the same time it asks for acceptance. The production is huge, at times sampling Bollywood and disco in the backing tracks, juxtaposing gun shots and cash register ca-chings, and featuring guest spots from Afrikan Boy and Timbaland. It's tough, natch, to categorize M.I.A. and her music; her American audience is more indie-rock inclined, probably because, compared to other hip-hop artists, her themes are so political and worldly. Seeing her last month in Chicago was surprising; I'll be the first to admit I don't see many hip-hop shows, and, as I expected, the mostly-white audience seemed to be filled with people who would be just as likely to attend any other indie-rock show. Her following aside, M.I.A. manages to produce post-Colonialist hip-hop, finally making Edward Said's Orientalism relevant to a jaded, superficially political hipster culture.

Video: "Bird Flu"

Albums of the Year: #10. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones wrote in a controversial article that today's indie-rock bands lack good, old-fashioned rhythm, using bands like Grizzly Bear and Arcade Fire as examples. In my opinion, it's kind of a ridiculous article; he's just as bad as any of the bands he criticizes for having a style that lacks what he's looking for. Sure, Grizzly Bear doesn't take a lot of inspiration from Motown or '70s funk, and Arcade Fire sounds more like Springsteen than Sly and the Family Stone. And while that may not be Jones's preference, it's silly to think that all bands should sound like Spoon, a top-notch band that sounds like what Jones is jonesin' for, despite their absence from the article.

Spoon has always sounded a little like a throwback to the soulful bands of the '70s, back when white dudes mixed guitars with a horn section. And on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, one of the band's strongest albums to date, they seem to play on that idea with their song titles, particularly the album-closing "Black Like Me." The white guys from Austin, Texas have had a soulful sound for their last few albums, and while this new one isn't much of a departure from that niche, they're certainly not in any hurry to fix something that isn't broken.

Video: "The Underdog"

Albums of the Year, Honorable Mention: Magnolia Electric Co. - Sojourner

Magnolia Electric Co.'s box set is, without a doubt, my favorite release of the year. Comprised of three LPs (Nashville Moon, Black Ram, and Shohola), one EP (Sun Session), and a DVD (The Road Becomes What You Leave), Sojourner features music from four recording sessions from which Jason Molina compiled his last album, Fading Trails. My biggest complaint with that album was that it seemed more of a compilation than a true album, and the release of this box set is magnificent. You can clearly see the vision Molina had for the three separate LPs, which were recorded and mixed by different producers at different locations. It's an A++ collection.

Video: "A Little At A Time"

All Of My Opinions Are Right: My Least-Favorite Albums of 2007.

Before I go crazy with my end-of-the-year list of my favorite albums, I have a short list of albums that I didn't like. And - surprise! - they're all from artists that I like a lot.

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
Adams had a great year in 2005 (29 notwithstanding) when he released two albums with The Cardinals: Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights. I thought he had gotten out of the Rock N Roll slump. I was excited to hear Easy Tiger, a third collaboration with The Cardinals (although they are mysteriously absent from the billing), but I felt like it was nothing new or interesting. The best songs were "Two," a duet with Sheryl Crow (meh), and "Halloween Head," which starts out with Ryan singing, "Here comes that shit again, I got a Halloween head." Whaaa?

Tori Amos - American Doll Posse
I know, I know. But I used to really love Tori Amos, but she hasn't produced anything worth listening to since Scarlet's Walk, a similar concept album where she followed a single character across post-9/11 America. Here she goes after five different characters (similar to her covers album Strange Little Girls). It's an interesting concept, which works great live (Tori opened for herself on her last tour as one of the different characters), but this album is a mess. She keeps going after a mom-pop/rock production, forgetting that she makes great music when it's just her and a piano. And, frankly, she's much more entertaining when she's being herself.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Living with the Living
I love Ted Leo, but I just couldn't get into this one. The songs were just as political as his previous offerings, but the production was to the point that I couldn't listen to them. Sure, "Bomb. Repeat. Bomb." may have a great message, but I can't sit through it. And then there was that song that sounded like a Dropkick Murphys cover. No thank you.

Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
I love "Silver Lining," but that's about it. This album sounds like a big change in direction for the band; there's less folk / country sensibility (which I guess Jenny Lewis covered on her album with the Watson Twins) and more big, pop sounds. It's just a personal preference; I like the old stuff.

If you interpret anything through dance around me, I will punch you in the neck.

I saw The Decemberists perform a free concert last night with the Grant Park Orchestra in Millennium Park, which was a pretty good show despite the rain and the chatty people on the lawn. The band's collaboration with an orchestra was such a good match, even though they did play about four songs on their own.

I will admit, however, that I kind of have a love / hate relationship with The Decemberists when it comes to their live shows. When I saw them a few months ago, I was very put-off by the pretentious on-stage antics. I understand that Colin and Co. have these playful personalities and they want to bring that out in their live shows, but really, we get it. We know the music, so we don't need to watch you reenact scenes from The Hobbit in the audience (because, really, not that many people can see it anyway). I'd much rather hear a band play music than see them do something crazy and kooky.

Luckily the show last night was so huge that they couldn't really do anything of that nature. And I was extremely pleased because they played one of my favorite songs, "I Was Meant For The Stage," and the performance last night may have been the second best performance of a song I've ever heard (the first being, hands down, Sufjan's Stevens singing "Romulus" at his Black Cat show back in 2004). But for every "I Was Meant For The Stage," there's at least two or three pirate-rock songs (a description Adam appropriately used to describe the band) that make me hate them a little bit. They ended their show with "The Mariner's Revenge Song," which is definitely not my favorite, especially when it's coupled with requested audience participation on Colin's part. I'm historically anti-clap- and sing-alongs, and I'm extremely against having to "scream like I'm being eaten by a whale" when instructed. No thank you, sir. What made the performance really get to me was the group of people behind us who decided to do an interpretive dance sequence to the song. As I'm watching one white guy with dreadlocks pretend to battle some meathead in a wifebeater as an indie-rock sea shanty blasted from the speakers overhead, I knew it was time to call it a night. And then I noticed that in the sea of "young people," a term I'm sure the twenty Grant Park Music Festival regulars used to describe the crowd's demographic, there were a lot of interpretive dancers looking just as stupid. The one major thought running through my head was, "This is the kind of crowd who prefers its irony on twenty-dollar T-shirts and its mix-CDs curated by Zach Braff." And that's the kind of crowd of which I want no part.