Song of the Day: Don't Cry for Me Argentina

Today's song of the day is the show-stopping (literally if you've watched her latest youtube video... she is one scary bitch) Patti LuPone singing the song that made her famous - Don't Cry for Me Argentina from Evita.  This is a video from the 1980 Grammy Awards where Evita would win the award for Best Cast Album.  I love Patti, I think her talent is tremendous. I personally dont think very much of her as a person.  Her diva attitude is off putting and her most recent youtube video definitely exemplifies this.  I've met her a couple times as well and it's always been the same experience... DIVA!!!!!  Taking a look at this video reminds you that at one point in time she was humble and actually honored to be where she was in her career.  I have a feeling she probably takes it for granted now...

Note of Interest:  I got to see the opening night performance of Gypsy and Patti LuPone was definitely mind blowing in that role.

Knight Awards 2008 Continued: Best Original and Adapted Screenplay

Best Original Screenplay

Joel and Ethan Coen - Burn After Reading

Martin McDonagh - In Bruges

Dustin Lance Black - Milk

Jenny Lumet - Rachel Getting Married

Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon - Wall-E

Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Adapted Screenplay

Eric Roth - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight

Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon

David Hare - The Reader

Justin Haythe - Revolutionary Road

Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire

Knight Awards 2008 Continued: Tech Nominations Part II

Tech Nominations Part II

Best Make-Up Design

Simon Wajon, Martina Byrne, Anita Morgan - Australia

Greg Cannom - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Peter Rob King, John Caglione Jr. - The Dark Knight

Mike Elizalde, Lesley Smith - Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Edouard F. Henriques - Frost/Nixon

Mathew W. Mungle - W.

Best Costume Design

Catherine Martin - Australia

Jacqueline West - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Lindy Hemming - The Dark Knight

Michael O'Connor - The Duchess
 

Albert Wolsky - Revolutionary Road

Patricia Field - Sex and the City

Best Art Direction/Production Design

Catherine Martin, Ian Gracie, Karen Murphy, Beverly Dunn - Australia

Donald Graham Burt, Kelly Curley, Victor J. Zolfo -  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando - The Dark Knight

Stephen Scott, Peter Francis, Elli Griff, Zsuzsa Mihalek - Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Owen Paterson, Hugh Bateup, Peter Walpole - Speed Racer

Ralph Eggleston - Wall-E

Best Cinematography

Mandy Walker - Australia

Claudio Miranda - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Wally Pfsiter - The Dark Knight

Eduardo Serra - Defiance

Roger Deakins - Revolutionary Road

Anthony Dod Mantle - Slumdog Millionaire

Knight Awards 2008 Continued: Tech Nominations Part I

Tech Nominations Part I

Best Musical  Score

Australia - David Hirschfelder

Alandre Desplat - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard - The Dark Knight

Danny Elfman - Milk

Thomas Newman - Revolutionary Road

Thomas Newman - Wall-E

Best Sound Editing

Will Files - Cloverfield

Richard King - The Dark Knight

Frank E. Eulner - Iron Man

Glen Freemantle - Slumdog Millionaire

Ben Burtt - Wall-E

Eddy Joseph - Quantum of Solace

Best Sound Mixing

Wayne Pashley - Australia

Richard King, Ed Novick - The Dark Knight

Christopher Boyes - Iron Man

Steve Cantamessa - Tropic Thunder

Martin Cantwell - Quantum of Solace

Ben Burtt - Wall-E

Best Editing

Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Lee Smith - The Dark Knight

Elliot Graham - Milk

Tariq Anwar - Revolutionary Road

Christ Dickens - Slumdog Millionaire 

Andrew Weisblum - The Wrestler

2008 Knight Awards Continued: Best Ensemble and Best Director

Best Ensemble

Burn After Reading

The Dark Knight

Milk

Rachel Getting Married

Tropic Thunder

W.

Best Director

Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

David Fincher The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Sam Mendes - Revolutionary Road

Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight

Gus Van Sant - Milk

Andrew Stanton - Wall-E

Knight Awards 2008 Continued: Best Picture Nominees

Best Picture of the Year

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

In Bruges

Milk

Slumdog Millionaire

Wall-E

Knight Awards 2008 Continued: Best Actress and Best Actor

Best Actress 

Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Rebecca Hall - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Vicky Cristina Barcelona Clip
by CelebriNet2

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married

Watch more Rachel Getting Married videos on AOL Video

Julianne Moore - Savage Grace

Kate Winslet - The Reader

Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road

Best Actor

Josh Brolin - W.

Leonardo DiCaprio - Revolutionary Road

Robert Downey Jr. - Iron Man

Sean Penn - Milk

Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 

Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Knight Awards 2008 Continued: Best Supporting Actor and Actress

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Rosemarie DeWitt - Rachel Getting Married

Frances McDormand - Burn After Reading

Gwyneth Paltrow - Iron Man

Emma Thompson - Brideshead Revisited 

Marissa Tomei - The Wrestler

Best Supporting Actor

Richard Dreyfuss - W.

Ralph Fiennes - The Duchess

Watch more The Duchess videos on AOL Video

Bill Irwin - Rachel Getting Married

Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

John Malkovich - Burn After Reading

Gary Oldman - The Dark Knight

Knight Awards 2008 Continued: Best Actor and Actress in a Limited Role Nominees

Best Actress in a Limited Role

Kathy Bates - Revolutionary Road

Viola Davis - Doubt

Lina Olin - The Reader

Tilda Swinton - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Debra Winger - Rachel Getting Married

Evan Rachel Wood - The Wrestler 

The Wrestler The Wrestler

Best Actor in a Limited Role

Tom Cruise - Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder Tom Cruise - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Ralph Fiennes - In Bruge

In Bruges Shootout
by untraceable2008

Eric Roberts - The Dark Knight

Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road

J.K. Simmons - Burn After Reading

Jeffery Wright - W.

The 8th Annual Knight Awards Begin: Introductions, Top 10 I'm looking forward to in 2009, Top 20 of 2008, Special Awards

THE 8th ANNUAL KNIGHT AWARDS 2008

Welcome to my annual year end movie awards.  This is my eighth year straight doing this and each year it seems like it takes longer and longer to put together.  This year I went the extra mile and decided to put it up in blog format, so as a special treat this year there are clips and pictures to go along with many of the nominees.  Some general things you should know about these "awards" -

1.These awards and nominees are exclusively created by me and do not have input from other people whatsoever... in other words it's all just my opinion and you know the saying "opinions   are like assholes, everybody's got one."

2. I place six nominees per category.  No special reason for this except that I like even numbers and five nominees (i.e. the Oscars) are just never enough especially in the acting categories.

3. I have my own "special" awards that I give out at the beginning and one of them includes a Special Achievement in Filmmaking award which I give to a film that has some sort of groundbreaking work that pushes the medium forward.  This does not mean that I think the film is the best movie of the year or even anywhere near it, it simply means that there are aspects of it that really push what the boundaries of narrative and technical filmmaking can do.  Past winners have included Sweeney Todd, The Aviator, Lord of the Rings etc.

4. I include Best Actor and Actress in a Limited Role categories to award actors who have very small or cameo roles.

5. These are simply for me and I do this as a hobby, but I do enjoy hearing peoples reactions and opinions so feel free to comment and let your voice be heard.  Besides I do enjoy a good film argument every once in a while.

Without further ado let to 8th Annual Knight Awards Begin!  The Winners in all categories will be announced the night before the Academy Award telecast, which will be Saturday February 21st, 2009.  Enjoy!

Top 10 Films I'm Looking Forward to Next Year

10. Bruno

9. Nine

8. Where the Wild Things Are

7. Public Enemies

6. Shutter Island

5. The Road

4. Inglorious Basterds 

3. The Lovely Bones

2. Watchmen

1. Avatar

Top 20 Films of 2008 in Alphabetical Order

Australia

Burn After Reading

Cloverfield

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

The Duchess

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

In Bruges 

Iron Man

Milk

Rachel Getting Married

The Reader

Revolutionary Road

Slumdog Millionaire

Tropic Thunder

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

W.

Wall-E

The Wrestler

Worst Film of the Year

Funny Games (tie)

Mamma Mia (tie)

Most Disappointing Film of the Year

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Most Overrated Film of the Year

Frost/Nixon

Most Underrated Film of the Year

In Bruges (tie)

Revolutionary Road (tie)

Breakthrough Performance (male)

Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire

Breakthrough Performance (female)

Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Breakthrough Filmmaker of the Year

Martin McDonagh - In Bruges

Special Filmmaking Achievement of the Year

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (tie)

The Dark Knight (tie)

Lifetime Achievement Award

Woody Allen

Best Achievement in Visual Effects

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 

Best Animated Film

Wall-E

Best Documentary

Religulous (tie)

Roman Polanski Wanted and Desired (tie)

Note of Interest:  I felt it was a bit pointless this year to have a category for Visual Effects as the effects work in Button is some of the most incredible work to ever be put on the screen.  To put it simply, nothing else even came close.