The Studio

Want to catch some Oscar potentials on DVD? View a complete list of nominated films. In the meantime, this is what you can reserve at the Library.

Actor:

Richard Jenkins - The Visitor

Actress:

Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jolie – The Changeling

Melissa Leo – Frozen River

Meryl Streep – Doubt

Animated Feature:

Bolt

Kung-Fu Panda

WALL-E

Art Direction

Changeling

The Dark Knight

The Duchess

Cinematography

Changeling

The Dark Knight

Costume:

Australia

The Duchess

Documentary Feature

Encounters at the End of the World

Man on Wire

Film Editing

The Dark Knight

Makeup

The Dark Knight

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Original Screenplay

Frozen River

Happy-Go-Lucky

In Bruges

WALL-E

Sound Editing

The Dark Knight

Iron Man

WALL-E

Wanted

Sound Mixing

The Dark Knight

WALL-E

Wanted

Supporting Actor

Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder

Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt

Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight

Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams – Doubt

Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Viola Davis – Doubt

Visual Effects

The Dark Knight

Iron Man

Original Score

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (CD)

Defiance (CD)

Milk (CD)

Slumdog Millionaire (CD)

WALL-E (CD)

Original Song

“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”

“Jai Ho“ from “Slumdog Millionaire”

“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”

The Library receives new items every week. Here’ s a sampling of what’s being released this week. Even if they’re not available now, you can always click the link to place a hold.

New Releases for January 27th, 2009:

College

Fireproof

Lakeview Terrace

Pride and Glory

Rocknrolla

The Rocker

Vicky Christina Barcelona (also available in Blu-Ray)

Man, I just can’t get MGMT out of my system (like Christopher Walken in the More Cowbell skit from SNL). I have considered writing about this band for a couple of weeks and have not been able to do so, mostly because of my inability to define or even decently describe them.  It might be best if you stopped reading and go to Last.fm and give them a quick listen, the next paragraph can wait…

Their album Oracular Spectacular is an entrancing combination of electronica, psychedelic rock, and pop and is a rare combination of songs that makes it listenable from beginning to end over and over again. I listened to it for about a week while driving to and from work and am even considering purchasing it in CD format instead of just a digital version.

Give them a listen and tell me what you think, and how you would go about describing this new exciting turn in music.  I hope their next effort is as good and soon.

The Academy Award nominations have been announced. Click here to view the list. And what’s Oscar without at least a couple surprises? For example, Richard Jenkins is nominated for The Visitor and Melissa Leo for Frozen River - small dreams come true IMHO. Both actors gave fantastic performances in two very compelling movies. If you haven’t seen these yet, get on the reserve lists.

Not surprised – Heath Ledger has a STRONG chance to win in the Best Supporting Actor category for The Dark Knight. Also Meryl Streep is dynamite in Doubt.  At this point, Slumdog Millionaire has so much momentum, I think that it could go all the way to Best Motion Picture.

What do you think?

Remember to watch the Screen Actors Guild awards Sunday night, January 25th @ 7pm on TNT and TBS.  They usually are pretty good precursors for the Oscar wins!  WATCH!

Get ready!  The Oscar nominations come out Thursday morning, January 22 @ 7:30 a.m. CST…a mere 13+ hours from now!

As the title of this entry states it is a sad day for those who have enjoyed the enjoyed the universal genius that is Rumpole.

I loved watching and reading Rumpole and his defense of the indefensible, his love of terrible food, his fear of his wife, and his extreme Britishness.

If you  think you might like hilarious stories about an English barrister give Sir John Mortimer’s Rumpole a try.

The Library is showing classic Oscar-winning movies in February.

Tuesday, February 3 at 1:30pm

An American in Paris

Starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Carson

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Monday, February 9 at 7:00pm

It Happened One Night

Starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert

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Tuesday, February 10 at 1:30pm

The Apartment

Starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine

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Tuesday, February 17 at 1:30pm

The Sting

Starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford

(If you can’t make it on the screening dates, remember that we have all the movies on DVD in the AV collection.)

Looks like Slumdog Millionaire is the movie with the buzz. It won 4 Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – drama, Best Director (Danny Boyle), Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score.

Here is the 2009 list of winners.

My personal favorites that you can reserve at the Library include:

Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight, Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky, Colin Farrell for In Burges, and Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona for Best Musical or Comedy.

The 51st Grammy Awards will be announced on February 8. Link to a list of the 2009 nominations.

Did you know that the Library has many past winners?

Remember to check back for a list of the 2009 winners after Feb. 8th!