Ebert Oscar Roundup

Just to get this out of the way; no, Ebert has not posted his yearly look at the Oscars. That won't start until the nominations are announced. What he has done is written some reviews for Oscar potential films. He gives "Valkyrie," Tom Cruises big "comeback" three stars. Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" gets a healthy three and a half stars. The much mangled (but Globe nominated) "The Reader" gets three and a half stars. "The Wrestler," Mickey Rourkes big comeback, gets the full four stars. And "The Curious Case of Benjiman Button," one of this years front-runners gets...two and a half stars? Wow, I have to say I didn't see that coming. I won't quote the whole review here, but here's a particularly savage excert from his review:

The movie's premise devalues any relationship, makes futile any friendship or romance, and spits, not into the face of destiny, but backward into the maw of time.

Rarely is a two and a half star review shredded so badly. His review for the latest Adam Sandler movie is kinder (and "Marley & Me," the movie about the dog, gets a passing grade with three stars). Ebert's been wrong on Oscar movies before (he gave bad reviews to "Unforgiven" and "Gladiator"), but it is nice to see a high profile critic dislike a movie that's been so widely praised before release. I doubt this will hurt Benjiman's Oscar chances, but it sure is interesting none-the-less.

P.S. On a side note, my fears about Frank Miller's adaptation of "The Spirit" might be warrented; Ebert gave it one measly star.

"Valkryie" Trailer Released

So we finally get a look at "Valkryie," Tom Cruises big comeback. I admit that I was skeptical of this movie. Neither Cruise nor director Bryan Singer have been worth talking about recently (movie wise that is), but this project is shaping up to return both men to some of their former glory. But will it be nominated for Oscars? I'm going to go out on a limb and give a very firm no. I'm sorry, but Cruise has been doing little more then destroying his career these past few years. He destroyed it in a few short weeks with the couch incident and the arguement about chemical imbalance, and he's been kicking the corpse ever since. Now, after he's killed and mutilated his corpse for a career he wants to revive it. Well, in Hollywood it can be done (ask Robert Downey Jr.) but it's going to take one hell of an effort.

I think the proper steps were taken when he took that cameo role in "Tropic Thunder" to shake things up, and if this movie is any good he'll have set the path for a full career revival. But I think the Oscars are going to pass this film on principle alone. His next project maybe...but there is one unwritten rule with the Academy: If you screw up in your career, you've got to prove you still want it before they give you an Oscar. And if you don't believe me on this, just go ask Eddie Murphy where his locked in Oscar went after "Norbit" was released.