Pete's weekend movie roundup: Oscar picks, classics on the big screen, and an Oscar voter dishes

Diablo's movie critic picks the winners and check in with an actual Academy voter/local caterer about the Oscars.

This Sunday night is the Academy Award show, and producers promise lots of surprises and a shake-up in format. Host Hugh Jackman breaks the mold of the past decade of having comedians (Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Rock) emcee the proceedings. Everyone complains that the Oscars are always too long and predictable, but I love the show, its one of my favorite television events of the year.

But first, there are a couple of mustn’t miss classics showing in theatres this weekend. On Friday night, Oakland’s Paramount Theatre is showing Casablanca, arguably the greatest Hollywood studio film of all time, unquestionably a masterpiece. If you’ve never seen it on a big screen, check it out. Especially because tickets are just $5.

Another really interesting booking is at Palo Alto’s Stanford Theater all weekend. In a nod to Oscar front-runner Slumdog Millionaire, the Stanford is showing a triple feature of classics from India. The Apu trilogy—Pather Panchali, Aparajito, and Apur Sansar—by director Satyajit Ray, is regarded as one of the great masterpieces of cinematic storytelling. Very classy of the Stanford to book it as a triple, and hats off to any movie buffs who log the triple!

Pete’s Oscar Picks

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire should and will win the top prize this year. It’s a feel good movie, fresh and vibrant and extraordinarily entertaining. I can’t see any of the other nominated films pulling an upset.

Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire. Boyle is one of my favorite directors, so I’ll be happy to see him get an award for his spectacular film, which infuses all the genres he’s explored in his very impressive career. If you’ve never seen Boyle’s work, check out Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Millions.

Best Actress: I think voters will go with Kate Winslet more for her career body of work than for her performance in The Reader. Winslet has been nominated repeatedly but hasn’t won, she’s a class act and had a big year, with acclaimed turns in The Reader and Revolutionary Road. Her biggest competition comes from the legendary Meryl Streep in Doubt, who hasn’t won since 1982, and is overdue for another statuette. Interesting note: The Reader’s director, Stephen Daldry directed Nicole Kidman to an Oscar-winning performance in The Hours.

Best Actor: This is a tight race between Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke. I’m a huge fan of Penn and his performance as Harvey Milk was mesmerizing, but Rourke’s turn as Randy the Ram in The Wrestler was my favorite performance of the year. Rourke’s personal story has a lot of drama, but Penn caught some momentum by winning the SAG award. I’m thinking Penn will walk away with the Oscar on Sunday.

Best supporting actress. I think voters will pick Penelope Cruz for the award for her vivacious role in Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona, but watch out for Viola Davis for her stellar work opposite Meryl Streep in Doubt.

Best supporting actor: The late Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight. Slam dunk, no doubt about it. In hindsight, Ledger should have taken home the best actor award for Brokeback Mountain a few years back. The fella who won that year, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote, is nominated against Ledger again this year for Doubt.

Best animated feature: Let’s hear it for the East Bay! Pretty certain Pixar’s Wall-E will win the gold.

Best documentary: The audacious antics captured in the fascinating Man on Wire should win here.

I had a great chat the other day with the owner of Walnut Creek’s Wild Thyme Catering, Sally Van Slyke. Van Slyke had a fascinating career in the movie and entertainment business before moving to Lafayette in 1995. We talked about food, movies, and her votes for the Oscars (she’s a voting member of the Academy).

Can you tell me about your career, pre-catering, in a nutshell?
OK, I grew up in Berkeley and I wanted to be an actress after graduating form Cal. Studied at Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and then moved to L.A. Of course, I waited tables for awhile, which was what got me really interested in food. But I took a job as a page seating audiences for the Norman Lear shows—All in the Family, etc. Norman used me to help with his warm-ups with the audiences. He opened a door for me to be a publicist, and then I got into the on-air news department doing fluff pieces about movies. Then I did all the publicity for Dynasty and all the Aaron Spelling shows. I got a phone call one day from a guy named Steven Spielberg who wanted me to do the PR for Amazing Stories, which brought me into the marketing department at Universal, who hired me vice president of West Coast publicity. I had the first cover of Rolling Stone ever for a TV show for Miami Vice. I was there when The Last Temptation of Christ came out and I ran the campaign. Had to have body guards for six months. I went up through the ranks and ran marketing for Universal Pictures. I was at Universal for 10 years, and I left 13 years ago in 1995 to get married and move to Lafayette with my husband.

Was the plan to open Wild Thyme Catering?
No, I came up to be a retired, married woman in Lafayette. It took me about six months to fall into Wild Thyme Catering, a small business, which was for sale for a small price. I love it.

Why do you get to vote for the Oscars?
I’m in the PR division. The first step is that I give your top three picks for Best Picture of the year. I went with Slumdog Millionaire, Gran Torino, and The Reader. Then, when all the nominations come out, I get to vote in every category.

Let's talk about some of this year's movies..
OK, Benjamin Button. The feeling I had during this movie was, “Get to the Money”, which is Brad Pitt looking beautiful. It took too long for that to happen.

I thought Gran Torino was one of the best films Clint Eastwood has ever done, and very pertinent to today’s world. I was disappointed that it did not get some nominations for Best picture and best actor.

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. Ok, in person Rourke is a slob. He’s vulgar. He smells. And that was the single best performance of the year—and he got my vote. But I think the winner is going to be Sean Penn. He was brilliant also.

I loved The Reader. Winslet was so good, the kid was good, Ralph Fiennes was dreadful. Winslet turned in two really fine performances—probably the better one was Revolutionary Road. I also thought that Revolutionary Road was a wonderful statement about the 50s. The shot of grand central station was spectacular. I voted for that for art direction. From the standpoint of being a woman who came along in that era, there was something really there. 

In the supporting categories, I liked Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler. She had the brass to play that character. And I loved Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road.

For best picture and director, I just loved Slumdog Millionaire and  Danny Boyle. In spite of the despair in that film, it’s incredibly uplifting at the end. We’re living in a time where people want to feel good when they go to the movies. You’ll see Hollywood trying to make a bunch of feel good movies after this.

How do you prefer to watch the Oscars? Do you have a party?
I like to watch at home, with really great food, in my pajamas. Oddly, it’s not fun to go to them—I’ve gone to cover it for TV, and to escort stars along for their interviews. You have to get dressed in the middle of the day. The theater is freezing. You’re locked in the place at 5 p.m. on and you’re exhausted by the time the parties get started.


 

Posted at 02:26 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink