Because the Rick Ankiel (baseball-HGH) situation depresses me so much that I'd prefer not to address it right now, I thought it'd be fun to talk about the upcoming award season and what I'm looking forward to.
This list is comprised of films that debuted in Venice or Toronto as well as a few that I've seen previews or advance reviews for.
( Longish List of Films & Preliminary Opinions behind the cut )And now, on to
3:10 to Yuma. It is quite simply one of the slashiest films I've seen this past year. I adore Russell Crowe. I won't say I like him in everything he does (I liked his outfits in
Gladiator but the eye candy couldn't distract me from the fact that the story was utterly ridiculous). In this, he was very good. And any movie where he can smile and look relaxed is a wonderful thing (The foot massage scene in
L.A. Confidential is one of my favorites). Christian Bale turned in a fine performance as the object of Russell's fascination, but the guy who took the movie and ran screaming away with it was Ben Foster - I seriously thought that Russell's character was going to kiss him at the end of the movie (I seriously want to read some Ben Wade/Charlie Prince slash really, really soon). It's good and hot and fun (and yes, both Crowe and Bale have scenes to establish their characters' heterosexuality, but they really aren't fooling anybody). Go see it.
ETA: If anyone feels like recommending something that isn't currently on the list, I'm open to suggestions. Especially for comedies.