The Real Donnacha

My Oscar Expectations

At this point I’ve received several “psst, who’s going to win the Oscars? I know you know, you’re a nerd” messages, so I’ll make up this handy-dandy list that you’re free to use/ignore/curse out when you lose the pool. Winners in bold.

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
George Clooney in “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

He won the SAG award, which was the last time all the actors got together and gave a guy an award, so I doubt they’ve changed their mind lately.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Best of the lot anyway (at least, the best of the lot nominated).

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Again, I’m going with the SAG awards on this.

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Pick a year. What movies did you see from that year? Rank ‘em.

Have you ever sat down and figured out how many movies from a given year you’ve seen?

My esteemed acquaintance Brandon posted his “best of 1998” list on a message board we both frequent, the result of a random time-killing endeavor on a lazy Sunday. Naturally, Brandon invited us to do the same (or, as he put it, “just politely ignore my inanity”). I’m not sure what spurred his interest - I know he’s a big Lethal Weapon 4 fan, and we all get hit by sparks of nostalgia now and then - but I can’t say I wasn’t eager to make my own. (This is the sort of enthusiasm you get when you’re lonely at 2am.)

Making the list was interesting - to me, anyway - because I found myself remembering how I saw the films, when I saw them and why. I felt smugly amused when I remembered a film I saw back then whose filmmakers would go on to much bigger things, or at least which would soon get remade. I looked at the the films I’ve caught up on over the last decade-and-a-half that I took a while to get to. I’m a little disappointed that, fourteen years later, there’s a mess of films from then that I haven’t seen. But mostly, I remembered how I was at fifteen years old. That may not seem like anything major, but it’s strange to revisit a mindset like that; teenage me was a completely different pile of problems than I am now.

It’s weird to think I’m now twice that age. Wow.

So, I’ll post the list here: You may read it, you may not care. But following Brandon’s example, why not pick a year and figure out all the films you saw from that year? He used this website - http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/index1998.php - for a very complete list. Look at the films, look at the patterns, and look at the person you were.

Naturally, I’ve ranked them from best to worst.

 

Run Lola Run
Shakespeare In Love
American History X
Out of Sight
The Big Lebowski
The Butcher Boy
Rushmore
Ronin
The Red Violin
Dark City
The General
Bulworth
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
A Simple Plan
Blade
π
Croupier
Life Is Beautiful
Insomnia
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Following
Waking Ned Devine
The Truman Show
Ring
Six-String Samurai
Wild Things
The Last Days of Disco
Smoke Signals
Elizabeth
Pleasantville
Wilde
Saving Private Ryan
The Spanish Prisoner
Armageddon
The Rat Pack
Gods and Monsters
The Wedding Singer
Twice Upon A Yesterday
Fireworks
Live Flesh
The Boxer
The Mask of Zorro
The X-Files: Fight The Future
John Carpenter’s Vampires
There’s Something About Mary
Orphans
Your Friends & Neighbors
Rounders
The Faculty
City of Angels
Monument Ave.
Orgazmo
Half Baked
The Newton Boys
Lethal Weapon 4
Rush Hour
BASEketball
A Civil Action
Primary Colors
Antz
A Bug’s Life
The Replacement Killers
East is East
Apt Pupil
Mulan
Enemy of the State
The Negotiator
Dirty Work
Still Crazy
The Man in the Iron Mask
Great Expectations
Little Voice
The Parent Trap
Deep Rising
This Is My Father
Ever After
All I Wanna Do
Can’t Hardly Wait
A Perfect Murder
Mr. Nice Guy
54
Godzilla
Deep Impact
A Night at the Roxbury
Two Girls and a Guy
Halloween H20
Dance With Me
The Object of my Affection
Snake Eyes
Palmetto
Phoenix
The Waterboy
The Thin Red Line
Spice World
Jackie Chan’s Who Am I?
The Big Hit
You’ve Got Mail
Senseless
Dr. Dolittle
Disturbing Behavior
Phantoms
Velvet Goldmine
Black Dog
Sliding Doors
Small Soldiers
Practical Magic
Jack Frost
Lost in Space
Mafia!
The Avengers
Belly
Knock Off
Ringmaster

belikemilla asked: If this really the real Donnacha?

Milla would never ask that question. She would know that the real Donnacha would not pretend. That’s not being like Milla.