Possum Holler

It's a little late, but now that Oscar season is over I thought I would post a few pictures from my trip with Benji to New York last month.



Here I am on the Brooklyn Promenade with the lower Manhattan skyline in the background.


Same shot, different character. Benji looks none too amused that I'm making him galavant all over the city, outdoors, in the sub-freezing temperatures.


Benji takes a moment to ponder the ramifications of jumping halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge.


The "Lazy Sunday" phenomenom means that now you must wait in a line that extends around the block in order to "mack on a cupcake." But the wait was certainly worth it.


This was the view from our hotel. A bargain considering it's location on 38th St. between 5th and 6th Aves. though everything in it was miniature. We lovingly dubbed the elevator "The Dumb Waiter."

Rather than wait in line for a couple of hours to go to the top of the Empire State Building, we opted for waiting 15 minutes to go to the top of Rockefeller Center...then took pictures of the Empire State Building.


...and Central Park, which looks pretty dead.


One of my favorite Ryan Adams songs is "Hotel Chelsea Nights" so I had to take this picture. Plus, Dylan Thomas, Mark Twain, Sid Vicious and any number of tortured artists have called this hotel home at some point.

And just for the heck of it:

Please don't think that I waited to post my Oscar follow-up so long because of my abyssmal predictions. It's just been a busy week.

I've been posting my Oscar Prophecies on this website for 4 years, and this was easily the worst. I only got 8 right besides missing the Best Picture for the second year in a row. Miles and Burly were the only bloggers that participated in the competition, and both fared better than I. Outside of the blogosphere, Sarah came out the winner with 13 correct predictions.

Shaking off this embarracing defeat, I would like to offer you all my top 15 lists of 2005:

Possum's Top 15 Films of 2005:

1. The Squid and the Whale
2. Good Night and Good Luck
3. The Constant Gardener
4. Brokeback Mountain
5. 2046
This Japanese film was absolutely stunning to watch despite its slow plot.
6. Crash
7. TransAmerica
Felicity Huffman was robbed of the Oscar even if it was another case of a woman dressing down for an Academy Award.
8. Syriana
A little overrated, but still a good movie.
9. Memoirs of a Geisha
I do not understand all the criticism this movie recieved. It was solidly crafted if ultimately forgetable. The awards it won is a credit to the filmmaker.
10. Junebug
Far too close to home........which is pretty incredible given the way that so many in Hollywood overplay the Southern family.
11. Munich
12. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
13. Broken Flowers
14. The Beat that My Heart Skipped
15. Match Point
I'm not sure that this movie makes the list for any other reason than the huge gasp from the audience at the Varsity when the twist at the end was revealed.

Possum's 15 Favorite Films of 2005:
1. Sin City
2. Me and You and Everyone We Know
"I am prepared for amazing things to happen. I can handle it."
3. RENT
I think this one disappointed the RENTheads and those who weren't familiar with the stage muscial. However, for those of us in the middle, who are content with having the music and characters presented to us on the big screen, it was more than satisfying.
4. Kung Fu Hustle
One of the most insane movies I've ever seen...as well as one of the most amusing. I can safely say it was the funniest subtitled movie I've ever seen.
5. Hustle and Flow
Regardless of the Brechtian Alienation, I was entertained by this story of everybody's dream.
6. The Squid and the Whale
7. The Aristocrats/The 40-Year Old Virgin
Despite their vulgar content, these two movies are amongst the most entertaining of the season. Several people group Wedding Crashers with these two, but I found it inferior to these comedy classics.
8. Memoirs of a Geisha
9. The Constant Gardener
10. King Kong
I found myself laughing at critical moments in this movie. That didn't mean that I found the intense scenes laffable...I just thought it was so ridiculous it was awesome.
11. Mad Hot Ballroom
12. Proof
The stage play is engrained in my head. I don't think it worked on screen, but I still loved listening to the dialogue. Gweneth gave the part of Katie much more depth than I had seen on stage, but I have to wonder if it was really one of the five best female performances of the year.
13. The Producers
I can understand all the criticism that this movie got, but it was still fun.
14. The Interpreter
This was the biggest surprise of the year for me.
15. Lord of War
I could say a lot of negative things about this movie, but in the end, I think I enjoyed it too much to pan it.

Possum Holler's biggest day is upon us: the day that Possum's Oscar Prophecies are announced. This year the excitement isn't confined to this tiny corner of the web universe. Other prophecies have been posted by Miles and Burly so far, and it is possible that we may have a couple of more entrants in the competition. I've done my best to see as many of these films as possible in order to offer the best predictions possible. The most noteable ones that I missed were Capote, March of the Penguins, History of Violence and Cinderella man...all of which should be coming throught Netflix in the next couple of weeks. So, here we go......

Best Picture: Brokeback Mountain
Crash has been gaining some momentum and could overtake Brokeback like Million Dollar Baby did to The Aviator a year ago, but I'm still going to go with the favorite.

Best Actor: Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
Despite the fact that this is pretty much a gimme, it is a very strong category. Ledger is the reason that I really liked Brokeback. Howard had a great year all around with Hustle & Flow being the crowning achievement. Even though I didn't like Walk the Line, I have to give credit to Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, and Strathairn was very strong in Good Night and Good Luck.

Best Supporting Actor: Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man)
The concensus seems to be that this will make-up for him not getting nominated last year for Sideways.

Best Actress: Felicity Huffman (TransAmerica)
This award may very well go to Reese Witherspoon, but Huffman is amazing as the man becoming a woman in TransAmerica.

Best Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz

Best Directing: Paul Haggis (Crash)
If I miss this one, I will probably miss Best Picture. I think that Brokeback and Crash will split these two awards. It could very easily be the opposite of my picks.

Cinematography: Good Night and Good Luck
I usually have an accurate feeling about this one, however, I did miss it last year.

Art Direction: Good Night and Good Luck

Animated Feature: Wallace & Gromitt: The Curse of the Wear Rabbit

Costume Design: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Documentary: March of the Penguins
But I don't understand why Grizzly Man and The Aristocrats were not nominated.

Documentary Short: God Sleeps in Rwanda

Film Editing: The Constant Gardener

Foreign Film: Joyeux Noel
2046 was one of the best movies I saw this year and Kung Fu Hustle was one of my favorites. I don't know why neither was nominated.

Make Up: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Original Score: Memoirs of a Geisha

Original Song: It's Hard out Here for a Pimp

Animated Short: Jasper Morello

Live Short: Cashback

Sound Editing: King Kong

Sound Mixing: Walk the Line

Visual Effects: King Kong

Adapted Screenplay: Brokeback Mountain

Original Screenplay: Good Night and Good Luck
Though I really wish it were Squid and the Whale.

I'll be back next week with my best and favorite films of 2005.