Best Motion Picture of the Year Nominees:
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Diana Ossana, James Schamus
Capote (2005) - Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven
Crash (2004) - Paul Haggis, Cathy Schulman
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - Grant Heslov
Munich (2005) - Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Barry Mendel

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Nominees:
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005)
Terrence Howard for Hustle & Flow (2005)
Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line (2005)
David Strathairn for Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Nominees:
Judi Dench for Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)
Felicity Huffman for Transamerica (2005)
Keira Knightley for Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Charlize Theron for North Country (2005)
Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (2005)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Nominees:
George Clooney for Syriana (2005)
Matt Dillon for Crash (2004)
Paul Giamatti for Cinderella Man (2005)
Jake Gyllenhaal for Brokeback Mountain (2005)
William Hurt for A History of Violence (2005)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Nominees:
Amy Adams for Junebug (2005)
Catherine Keener for Capote (2005)
Frances McDormand for North Country (2005)
Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener (2005)
Michelle Williams for Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Best Achievement in Directing Nominees:
George Clooney for Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
Paul Haggis for Crash (2004)
Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Bennett Miller for Capote (2005)
Steven Spielberg for Munich (2005)

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Nominees:
Crash (2004) - Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - George Clooney, Grant Heslov
Match Point (2005) - Woody Allen
The Squid and the Whale (2005) - Noah Baumbach
Syriana (2005) - Stephen Gaghan

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published Nominees:
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana
Capote (2005) - Dan Futterman
The Constant Gardener (2005) - Jeffrey Caine
A History of Violence (2005) - Josh Olson
Munich (2005) - Tony Kushner, Eric Roth

Best Achievement in Cinematography Nominees:
Batman Begins (2005) - Wally Pfister
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Rodrigo Prieto
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - Robert Elswit
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - Dion Beebe
The New World (2005) - Emmanuel Lubezki

Best Achievement in Editing Nominees:
Cinderella Man (2005) - Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
The Constant Gardener (2005) - Claire Simpson
Crash (2004) - Hughes Winborne
Munich (2005) - Michael Kahn
Walk the Line (2005) - Michael McCusker

Best Achievement in Art Direction Nominees:
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - James D. Bissell, Jan Pascale
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) - Stuart Craig, Stephanie McMillan
King Kong (2005) - Grant Major, Dan Hennah, Simon Bright
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - John Myhre, Gretchen Rau
Pride & Prejudice (2005) - Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer

Best Achievement in Costume Design Nominees:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) - Gabriella Pescucci
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - Colleen Atwood
Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) - Sandy Powell
Pride & Prejudice (2005) - Jacqueline Durran
Walk the Line (2005) - Arianne Phillips

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score Nominees:
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Gustavo Santaolalla
The Constant Gardener (2005) - Alberto Iglesias
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - John Williams
Munich (2005) - John Williams
Pride & Prejudice (2005) - Dario Marianelli

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song Nominees:
Hustle & Flow (2005) - Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman, Paul Beauregard ("It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp")
Crash (2004) - Michael Becker, Kathleen York ("In the Deep")
Transamerica (2005) - Dolly Parton ("Travelin' Thru")

Best Achievement in Makeup Nominees:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) - Howard Berger, Tami Lane
Cinderella Man (2005) - David LeRoy Anderson, Lance Anderson
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) - Dave Elsey, Annette Miles

"I'd rather be lucky than good".

Have you been lucky all your life? I confess to be one who is giving everyone the luck (people get my numbers to strike 4D) and I have never won anything about $10 before. However, I am highly satisfied with my life, because everything seem to fall into the right places at the right time. Is this luck?

In a tennis match, with a little luck the ball goes forward and you win…or maybe it doesn't, and you lose. This is not a movie about tennis, but life, seduction, desperation and of course, luck.

I never watched enough Woody Allen movies, but this one is really cleverly done. Although the storyline sounds familiar, (Poor guy marries into rich family and has an affair with his brother-in-law's fiancee.) its treatment is otherwise real, dark, cynical yet charming.

Match that with a good looking cast including Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Bend It Like Beckham) and Scarlett Johansoon (Lost In Translation). Something's lacking in Match Point, perhaps it is the slow pacing at the middle, or keeping us somewhat lost somehow... I really love this movie's ending, although I don't really approve of it. The movie's a mockery on life, and who says life isn't a mockery anyway?

Match Point - Allen's Best Piece Yet.

Dear Blog,

I liked "I Not Stupid". I liked it so much I studied it in film studies during uni days and even used clips from it to conduct lessons now.

I didn't like "I Not Stupid Too". I mean, I do like the actors a lot. The 2 boy actors grew up to be really fine young actors. Despite the fact that Xiang Yun always gets the same roles, I still enjoy her acting.

I didn't like the theme song. OMG. What was the music producer thinking by doing a copy of Jay Chou? Listen and you will know. Whatever happened to "creativity"? Now, I learn to appreciate the "Liang Po Po" song better. Tuning it several decibels up on screen instead of fading madeit worse.

I didn't like it being lame. Examples of lame jokes are "Can I have a lame (lamb) chop?"

I didn't like it being more than 2.5 hours long. This is not LOTR or Titanic. A few issues would do fine. But if you continue to talk about everything to do with education, it would feel like a long drama serial.

I still like the 2 boys and Xiang Yun. Very fine acting indeed.

While it’s still January, I have officially watched the worst movie of the year. Jennifer Lopez just killed her movie career with this.

Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman were excellent actors, and might have gained more audience if the film was Brokeback Old Mountain. (I know Morgan Freeman is very good, but why is he always typecast as the silent person who sprouts all the wise lines in his slow, deep voice?)

The movie’s pointless. The ending’s predictable. The most exciting part about it was a screaming bear. This movie attracts a very niche audience, which unfortunately is not me.

Critics’ response range from “extremely old fashioned”, “chronic predictability” to “terminally uninspired”. I thought “Day of Our Lives in coveralls” probably sums it up.

An Unfinished Life - Better to leave unfinished

Cecil B. DeMille - Award
Anthony Hopkins

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Brokeback Mountain

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Felicity Huffman – Transamerica

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote

Best Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy
Walk The Line

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Reese Witherspoon – Walk The Line

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical Or Comedy
Joaquin Phoenix – Walk The Line

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
George Clooney – Syriana

Best Foreign Language Film
Paradise Now (Palestine)

Best Director - Motion Picture
Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Brokeback Mountain

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Memoirs Of a Geisha

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
"A Love That Will Never Grow Old" – Brokeback Mountain

This intimate French film tells the story of Reda (Nicolas Cazale), a young man just weeks away from his college exams, whose strained relationships with both his father (Mohamed Majd) and his culture are put to the test when he drives the older man on his pilgrimage to Mecca.

Reviews were rave, complimenting for being very human. I watched this film with another friend having a strained relationship with his father. It was indeed one of the more sincere and 'real' movie I watched in recent times. The release is timely for Hari Raya Haji and the final scene of the Mecca was spectacular.

You watch for what is not said more than what is said. It was frustrating for me, as many issues were left unanswered. I wished for a better ending, and it seem to be a 'father bias' movie. The father had every right to throw away the cell phone while the son had to tolerate being wronged. Was it equal and fair? It wasn't. But nothing's ever really equal and fair in this world isn’t it?

I am not defending either sides here, but issues could have been more evenly dealt with. Perhaps that was the way the director had intended it to be in the first place.

La Grand Voyage – A journey not reached

I went to the Proof thinking "Great Expectations", and therefore the great expectations. Reviews have been pretty mixed. Gwyneth Paltrow, who won an Oscar for Shakespeare in in Love (though Cate Blanchett deserved it better) was again nominated for Best Actress for the Golden Globe. Others slammed Gwyneth for not being able to manage the complexity of the Mathematical Genius.

I frankly thought this was one of her better performances, and was more convincing than Jake Gyllenhaal as a Mathematical lecturer. The casting for spot-on for Hope Davis as the fearful sister and Anthony Hopkin the brilliant but crazy father. Hopkins, besides being really hysterical, looks like he doubled his size. (On purpose or really a sign of bad diet?)

Proof is a poignant drama based on David Auburn's Pulitzer prize winning play. My main problem with this film is that what's good on stage may not work in cinema. While dialogues were intense, still shots and slow editing doesn't seem that appropriate for the big screen. Some of the intended suspense was lost, and much could be felt more for the characters.

Proof – A winning formula wrongly applied

Quotes you must remember:
No 1: A true geisha can stop a man in his tracks with a single look.
No 2: Every step I have taken has been to bring myself closer to you.
No 3: A story like mine should never be tooollld

Words you must know
No 1: Geisha = Dancer = Singer = A person who can stop a man
No 2: Danna = Special patron = Sugar Daddy = Hup Sup Boss
No 3: Maiko = New Geisha = Virgin = Danna will go after

Actresses you will remember
No 1: Hatsumomo (Gong Li) – Acting as herself. Super fierce. Stole the show. Don’t offend her, especially if your name is Ziyi.
No 2: Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang) – Needs more English lessons, but a lot better than "There is a fly in my soap." Avoid acting with Gong Li because you will be trashed. Will be very happy (along with David) if she wins Golden Globe, but won’t happen.
No 3: Mameha (Michelle Yeoh) – Accented English. Still very gorgeous. Good, but can be better, especially towards the end. (Incidentally, Maggie Cheung is supposed to act this role.)

Memoirs of a Geisha – Can watch, but won’t stop.

The cheese-loving Wallace and his ever-faithful dog Gromit-the much-loved duo shorts-star in a first full-length feature film.

As the annual Giant Vegetable Competition approaches, a huge, mysterious, veg-ravaging beast begins terrorizing the neighborhood, attacking the town's prized plots at night. The two enterprising chums tries to capture the were rabbit and impress the competition hostess Lady Tottingham.

Do not dismiss this as a just little movie made of clay. It is delightfully funny, and I just can’t stop laughing at the spoofs of King Kong and Werewolf. Intelligent dialogues matched with interesting accents. I like....

Lady Tottingham is gently entertaining, Wallace is silly-witty, and my favourite Gromit is just so cute with his silent brows. Aw.....

Wallace and Gromit – It’s More Than Clay

1. Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire
2. King Kong
3. Star Wars Ep 3
4. Madagascar
5. The Chronicles Of Narnia
6. War Of The World
7. Fantastic Four
8. Batman Begins
9. Constantine
10. Mr & Mrs Smith
11. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
12. Initial D (M)
13. Chicken Little
14. Hitch
15. The Maid (M)
16. They Myth (M)
17. I Do I Do
18. Kingdom Of Heaven
19. The Island
20. Meet The Fockers