Acquired

I haven't mentioned purchases since... well it has been awhile. Acquisitions have been made, but they have been few and far between. Indeed Friday evening's purchases were the first of the year. I had anticipating buying a few books from my Winter Preview list, but when the moment presented itself I left the store empty handed.

Drood - Dan Simmons
This is a massive book, and it is a bit daunting. 775 pages is a formidable reading task for this reader. However, I am a sucker for the historical mystery. Plus, the cast of characters is too good. Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens. Com'on....

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
Meant to pick this up upon initial release, but things got in the way. Tons of critical accolades. One day I walked into the bookstore to buy it and exactly zero copies were for sale. I repeated that experience on a number of occasions until Friday.

The Watchman - Robert Crais
The Joe Pike book. I thought the first 20-30 pages of this book were fantastic. The very best kind of thriller writing, some of the best work I think Crais has ever done. For a variety reasons I have waited until now to purchase this book.

Beat the Reaper - Josh Buzzell
Big buzz on this book. Former Mob Hitman turned Doctor has a bad day. At some point maybe mid-January I felt obligated to buy this book, even with my professed burn-out over the New Pulp fiction of the last 3-4 years.

The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death - Charlie Huston
Dare I say this is going to be the best title and best dust jacket this year. They both seem to say that greatness lies within. The tiny tiniest of problems is that, again, for one reason or another I have yet to read anything by Mr. Huston yet. Ugh....

Safer - Sean Doolittle
Bless the non-series writer. Why? Because I can read this before I read Mr. Doolittle's fourth book, The Clean Up. This is the book I am most excited to get.... it also shipped separately so I have yet to get it into my hands. Grrrrrrrr. If you are not reading this guy consider our Bromance over......

OSCAR!

Knee deep into Oscar preparations. The Hungry Detective's better half is cleaning the house, and in a bit we will head to the grocery store. Trying to keep it healthy this year. Last year we had Chicken Wings. Oof!

Anyway here are my picks. Take these to the bank!

Best Picture
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

I think this is a mortal lock at this point. Lots of buzz about The Reader lately but this award was decided long ago.

Actor
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Not as big a lock for Mickey Rourke that everyone is thinking. Penn could nab this because Hollywood loves the bio-pic performance.

Actress
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

This could go three ways. Anne, Meryl, and Kate. Probably Kate because Hollywood wants to give her this award.

Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Gotta say that Heath Ledger is going to win, but I would not be surprised if Downey jumped in and got this award.

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

This awards just proves loud and shrill will always garner the most attention. The winner here should probably be Marisa Tomei, but Penelope will get it.

Director
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant, Milk
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

The Directors Guild of America gave their award to Boyle a few weeks a go. Only a handful of occasions has the Oscar gone to the non-DGA winner.

Foreign Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex, Germany
The Class, France
Departures, Japan
Revanche, Austria
Waltz With Bashir, Israel

Adapted Screenplay
Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt
Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
David Hare, The Reader
Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Simon Beaufoy could easily win this award, but past history suggests that the either of the screenplay awards acts as the runner-up prize.

Original Screenplay
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
Martin McDonagh, In Bruges
Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter, WALL-E

Toss up between In Bruges and Milk. However this could easily go to Milk

Animated Feature Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

If Wall-E does not win, this would be a huge upset.

Art Direction
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

Cinematography
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Sound Mixing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Sound Editing
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat
Defiance, James Newton Howard
Milk," Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman
WALL-E, Thomas Newman

Original Song
Down to Earth from WALL-E, Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman and Gulzar
O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Costume
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

Documentary Feature
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

Documentary (short subject)
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness -- From the Balcony of Room 306

Film Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Animated Short Film
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory -- Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

Live Action Short Film
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Move along... No Crime Fiction content to see here

Hey, Hey! Oscar Awards are this week. I pretty much love the whole ridiculous process. I know there are many people who cast a tsk,tsk glance at the Academy Awards. They turn up their noses at them because the routinely recognize what is only mediocre about American Cinema. I don't care about any of that. Some complain that the show is boring and/or a gross spectacle. Then don't take up space on my couch complaining about it all night.

I generally don't make my Oscar picks until the day of the show. Maybe if I can get my act together I'll post my picks then. As for today's post I have listed my compendium of 2008 films below.

The Top 10
1. My Winnipeg
Flat-out the funniest/craziest movie going experience I had this year.
2. Vicky Christina Barcelona
This movie caught me in the right mood. I found this to be hilarious.
3. Man on Wire
A great adventure movie. The home movie footage in the film is amazing
4. Redbelt
Another great, great performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor
5. Gran Torino
Okay the acting is not great, but everything else is pretty amazing
6. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Forest Gump criticism is pointless. I found it to be gorgeously heartwarming.
7. My Blueberry Nights
Okay, okay.... Norah Jones is not.... good, but I love Wong Kari Wai
8. The Dark Knight
I appreciate the grand ambitions of this film, even if the last 1/3 is a complete mess
9. Paranoid Park
I find most Teenage drama's to be whiny, but this is rang true with every moment.
10. The Promotion
Dude, the guy said Blapples! UK Office style humiliation is so good.

Honorable Mention (alphabetical)
Body of Lies, Gonzo: the Life and Times of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Happy-Go-Lucky,
Iron Man, Leatherheads, Kung Fu Panda, Milk, Rachel Getting Married, Revolutionary Road, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Slumdog Millionaire, Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains, Synecdoche, New York, The Vistor, Wall-E, X-Files-The Truth is Out There.

Just Fine (alphabetical)
Baby Mama, BeKind Rewind, Cloverfield, Doubt, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the Foot Fist Way, Ghost Town, Indian Jones and KOCS, Let the Right One In, Mrs. Pettigre Lives for a Day, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Quantum of Solace, Rambo, Snow Angels, Standard Operating Procedure

Take It or Leave It (alphabetical)
Bottle Shock, The Counterfeiters, Definitely Maybe, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, In Bruges, The Incredible Hulk, Mamma Mia, the Pineapple Express, the Strangers, Tropic Thunder, Zach and Miri Make a Porno

Bad, So Bad
Burn After Reading, The Happening, the Mummy 3, Semi-Pro, Step Brothers, Vantage Point, Wanted, You Don't Mess with the Zohan

My musings on a book I just read...

The Spellman Files - Lisa Lutz

I read so few books with a female perspective that I have been looking forward to reading Lisa Lutz's first book for a good long while. I had initially stayed away from the book because my feeling was THE SPELLMAN FILES was 'Chick-Lit' dressed as a crime novel. I don't want to negatively label any book, but the fact is I am guy, so 'Chick-Lit' holds little interest for me.

The other attraction for me was the implication that THE SPELLMAN FILES was going to be funny. And the book is funny, full of snarky asides that pleased this reader's occasionally juvenile sense of humor. As for my original concern that the female perspective was going to be.... a little too female, I can write that I am giving the book a pass. Probably a bit too much emphasis on male-female relationship issues. Boyfriends are referred to as Ex-Boyfriend #1, #6, etc., never by their real name. This falls a little to flat for me. It is neither funny or reveals anything about Isabel Spellman, our hero. They serve only as a punchline to a joke and not the overarching narrative.

THE SPELLMAN FILES is not a singular tale of one crime. The story presents many small narratives about Isabel growing up while living and working with a family of private investigates. About two-thirds of the book presents us with funny sketches of life within the Spellman Clan before settling down to focus on a cold case about a missing boy. This 'mystery' is never given the time to develop into a fully realized story, and one wonders what was so difficult about solving this case the first time around. Still the book was a lot of fun to read. One that will propel me into reading the Edgar nominated follow up CURSE OF THE SPELLMANS soon.

Just as a quick aside to Ms. Lutz's book. I was reminded frequently of the great Sparkle Hayter, and how much I enjoyed her books. I think REVENGE OF THE COOTIE GIRLS is pretty high on Mount Awesome in regards to comedic crime fiction... male or female.