Oscar 2008: Nominations Buzz

Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men

Alex Ben Block at Hollywood Today:
"Even if the writer’s strike is over on Feb. 24 when Oscars are handed out, the appeal of this year’s nominees, led by No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton, will be limited. The 80th Academy Award nominations are not just art house movies, but most of the leading contenders are so dark, violent, slowly paced and often purposely confusing or obscure that it will put mainstream audiences off the awards this year."
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Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent in Away from Her

Tom O’Neil in The Envelope:
"If Julie Christie wins best actress for Away from Her, she’ll set a new record for longest gap between two [...]

Oscar 2008: Nine Foreign-Language Film Semi-Finalists

Oscar 2008: Best Foreign-Language Film Semi-Finalists
The semi-finalist films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Austria, The Counterfeiters, Stefan Ruzowitzky, director
Nazis have a Jewish prisoner create fake American and British currency in order to weaken their enemies’ economies

Brazil, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, Cao Hamburger, director
In 1970, during the height of the military dictatorship in Brazil, a boy is left alone in São Paulo’s Jewish quarter after his parents "go on vacation"

Canada, Days of Darkness, Denys Arcand, director
A civil servant finds solace from his drab existence by coming up with all types of Walter Mitty-like fantasies

Israel, Beaufort, Joseph Cedar, director
Israeli platoon leaves the last [...]

Berlin 2007: 300, THE COUNTERFEITERS, YELLA

300 by Zack Snyder (top); Nina Hoss in Yella (middle); In Memory of Myself by Saverio Costanzo (bottom)

Berlin Film Festival 2007: Part I
A few other titles that sound intriguing:

Inspired by Frank Miller’s drawings and directed by Zack Snyder, 300 depicts the battle of Thermopylae in the year 480 B.C.E. At that decisive battle, King Leonidas of Sparta and a mere 300 followers confronted invader King Xerxes‘ brush-stomping Persian army. If the film looks even half as good as the stills, it’ll win every cinematography and production design award for 2007. But I wonder if 300 will display anything resembling intelligent storytelling, or if it’ll simply be a series of extended battle sequences glorifying bravery, honor, sadism, and all those great [...]