Collateral (2004)

So much to say in this post, where to start? Was skimming another blog today where they gave a task to do some free-flow writing, for 20 minutes, landed up with a whole lot of info (aka crap, well most of it) which I need to filter through (some which will land up in this post, some which won't).

I have never seen this film, I don't know why, it was pretty huge when it came out, and I was working at a movie rental store at the time, let's just put it down to movie overload that had me not get to this one - perhaps a few other factors, I'll get into that. As you will know if you follow this blog, and if you don't here's some info, I am on an Oscar nominated movie watching spree - this just happens to be one of those, so thank God I have finally watched it.

Jamie Foxx plays cab driver Max, like any cab driver in any movie, he is just doing what he has to do, this job is not a career of passion. Unfortunately for Max, he is about to get the nightmare of all nightmare fares in the form of his new passenger Vincent (Tom Cruise), an assassin with an evening of work which needs doing, and Max is now along for the ride...

This Thriller came out in the year that Jamie Foxx would not only get a Best Supporting Oscar Actor nomination for his work in Collateral, but would go on to be nominated and Win the Best Actor Award for his work in Ray (which I am also ashamed to say, I have not seen). But for now we talk of his work in this here film.

Collateral perfectly highlights the importance of the supporting Oscar nominations (and further begs an evaluation thereof) because the power of supporting your co-star is nothing but clearly defined when you see the work of the two stars of this film and how they feed off each other and work together to make Movie Magic - the supporting cast is critical to a successful performance and movie. But in my opinion, Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx are perfectly matched in this picture, each elevating the others performance and each integral to the plot and story, the tragedy being that Tom did not walk out with an Oscar nom, and it befuddles because he is excellent in the movie. Nor does it justify Jamie's nomination, because they are equally important characters to the story, and therefore they should both be categorized in the Best Actor category, even to go so far as to say that Max is our primary protagonist, so shouldn't he be the Lead - is it because Tom is the bigger star that his co-star would be immediately categorized as a supporting cast member? And I got love for Tom Cruise, but is he always gonna be an Oscar bridesmaid, destined to only ever get the Lifetime Achievement consolation prize, as has happened to too many stars?

I move on...

A few days ago, I saw a clip of Sandra Bullock accepting an award of achievement, in preparing her speech she googled herself, and humorously shared the horrors of opinion that were flung at her on the internet. I am gonna be quite conscientious about my opinions (try to be at least), I don't think that having an opinion is comparable to rape or war (ahem... Charlize and Gwyneth), but I am not going to be mean about it - after all, if you don't like something, avoid it. My predicament is that on my quest to watch Oscar nominated movies, I will occasionally be faced with watching actors and actresses and movies I can't handle, many times my opinion may change, even just for a single piece, but I am not going to be Uhgly! Vice versa, my opinions will sometimes remain in tact, to this statement I simply have to say that I am not a fan of Peter Berg, as an actor (HUUUGE fan of Very Bad Thing BTW), I am sure he is a cool dude in person, but on screen he just absorbs energy for me (I will never forgive for those two episodes of Alias, detached I tell you), thank God his appearance here is a brief one...

Finally I just want to say that I have heaps of Dramas ahead of me, Thrillers, Comedies and Adventures are a breath of fresh air, Collateral an awesome addition to the Oscar Nomination Cannon!

Okay, so I have been threatening and I have decided to do it, I have declared on this blog that I will be watching all Oscar Nominated movies since the year of my birth (1979) that have been nominated in the six categories I most value (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress). However, opinion in general has put more value in the Screenplay over the Supporting Acting roles, and while I am definitely a fan of actors, their process and the craft, it has been gnawing at me that at the core is the value of a good story, and so I am now including the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay in my quest - I have done the work, whereas before I had 530 movies to watch, I now have 613 to watch,  and while Collateral is the 67th Oscar Nominated movie (the 2nd of the 77th Academy Awards) I have watched for this blog, where I was 12.45% (nearly 1/8th) of the way to my target, I am now 10.92% to target - a whole lot of movie watching ahead - the numbers now very real...

nuff said...