Independent Spirit Noms Announced

Anne Thompson's got the full press release. A couple of thoughts right off the bat :

1. It would appear that Film Independent took last year's gripes, that the noms had become too mainstream, very, very seriously. The only film nominated in the Best Feature category that looks and talks like a Hollywood movie is Little Miss Sunshine; much to my chagrin, it's been so successful that I don't know if it can lose.

2. When did American Gun even come out?

3. I'm a moderate supporter of A Prarie Home Companion, but I've got to wonder: when was this list locked? Was Robert Altman's Best Director nomination guiltily slipped in at the last minute?

4. It's nice to see Wristcutters getting some attention. Why this film wasn't snatched up at Sundance, put into platform release in July, and made the sleeper hit of the year is beyond me. Oh - right.

5. The Road to Guantanamo qualifies as a documentary? Seriously?

6. Thank You For Smoking qualifies as one of the five Best Screenplays of the year? Seriously?

7. A logistic quibble: Four Eyed Monsters made its festival debut in 2005 and debuted theatrically this year. Stephanie Daley, as far as I know, has only screened at festivals in 2006, and will not debut theatrically until early 2007. I love both of these films and I'm happy to see them get this kind of attention, but how come both were eligible for nominations this year?

Update:
David Hudson is reliably collating responses at GreenCine Daily. I have my own round-up on Netscape here.

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Long weekend, much needed.

In a couple of hours, I'll meet up with Nick and we'll head off to New Jersey for a long-awaited holiday weekend in the suburbs. But first, I'm going to head into the city and try to track down a copy of the Criterion edition of Secret Honor, which I've never seen, but which since the death of its director, I can't get out of my head.

While I'm gone, take a look at this short documentary I found on You Tube, in which Sonic Youth discuss their collaborations with filmmakers such as Spike Jonze, Richard Linklater and Harmony Korine on videos and features. Towards the end, Lee Ranaldo says the band is eager to explore more film work: "We still haven't been tapped to do that ultimate Sonic Youth-meets-film soundtrack." Consider that a call to arms, girls and boys...

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Altman's Dead. Long Live Altman Junior!

As Jeffrey Overstreet puts (via the comments of David Hudson's obit at GreenCine Daily), "Pass the mantle to Paul Thomas Anderson, Altman's disciple, who will carry on the style and improve upon it, as Altman himself admitted."

So, above and below, Altman and Anderson's take on the same (musical) theme. Skip to about 1:50 0n the video below, if you must.

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Robert Altman is DeadI'm working on something for Netscape; more later.

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