The Hurt Locker and its musical score

Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders score for Kathryn Bigelow's EOD epic "The Hurt Locker". Featuring Khyber Pass by Ministry.

Kathryn Bigelow - Person of the Week

Hat tip: Awards Daily

James Cameron wants Kathryn Bigelow to win the Oscar

 

Who wants Kathryn Bigelow to win the Oscar for The Hurt Locker?  Her ex-husband James Cameron, that's who.  In a very gracious statement, the Avatar director said about the nominations today:

"I always believe it's very unlikely that lightning will strike twice. I believe it's very unlikely that we will win because I made such a jackass out of myself last time. Although there might be some curiosity about what I might do. The Hurt Locker is a very, very strong picture. Of the contenders, it's definitely the strongest. Certainly it's Kathryn's moment. I would happily lose to her. I've already got one of those damn statues. I'd be pissed off if somebody else won, but I wouldn't mind if she won."

And at least he knows that King of the World thing got old very fast.

Hat tip:  Perez Hilton

Kathyn Bigelow at the Directors Guild - a preview for the Oscars, I hope!

Kathryn Bigelow wins DGA award!! On to the Oscars!

I am doing my happy dance this morning!  I woke to the news that Kathryn Bigelow had won the Directors Guild award, the first woman in history to do so, for The Hurt Locker.  The winner of the DGA almost always goes on to win Best Director at the Oscars, so we have our front runner after The Hurt Locker also won the PGA award.  Bigelow won over the expected winner, her ex-husband James Cameron, director of Avatar.

Bigelow said she was honored to be "in the same conversation with all of you," referring to the four men she beat out.

 Finishing her brief acceptance speech, she said:

"This is the most incredible moment of my life," Bigelow said.

"This is amazing. I'm so deeply stunned, honored and awed."

 Kathryn Bigelow filmed the low budget Hurt Locker in the summer in Jordan.  It earned only $12 million at the box office (while Avatar breaks every box office record in history), but is one of the top DVD rentals and sales.  That is sure to increase when the Oscar nominations are announced on Tuesday morning.

I am thrilled beyond words.  She won in spite of being a woman, and it is an acknowledgment of a long career of excellence.

I talked to my husband this morning about how he dragged me to see The Hurt Locker.  I didn't want to see a movie about Iraq, but he had heard about how great this little movie was.  I spent the entire film clenching my seat rests, riveted.  It is an amazing film, and an fantastic achievement.  You go girl!!

Read Awards Daily's comments on what this means for the Oscar race here.  I couldn't agree more!

Watch the first 10 minutes of the film.

Director Kathryn Bigelow talks about The Hurt Locker

When James Cameron walked up to the podium Sunday night at the Golden Globes, he said what I was thinking, "I thought Kathryn would be up here."

I realized as he gave his very pompous speech, and again for Best Picture, how much I really want Kathryn Bigelow to be the first woman to win Best Director for The Hurt Locker.

The Golden Globes are not necessarily a bell weather for the Oscars (Robert Downey Jr. for Sherlock Holmes?! - good speech though).

I do think judging from the reactions of the audience that Jeff Bridges is a lock for Best Actor, Mo'nique for Supporting, and Christoph Waltz for supporting actor. Anything can happen in the 6 weeks we have left, and I still have high hopes for Kathryn, and The Hurt Locker. Here's a video of Kathryn talking about her movie on the site Making Of.

The Hurt Locker - Mini-review

Over the last years, I have avoided most movies about Iraq. This summer, I started hearing buzz about the film The Hurt Locker that grew and grew. The buzz centered on the director of the film, Kathryn Bigelow, who is almost certain to garner a best director Oscar nod. I have never seen her work before, but she is known for action films going back to Point Break with Keanu Reeves. My husband read about the film, too, and maybe I was just finally ready to see a movie about the war. The film slowly went from very limited release to reach us in the 'burbs.

This is an amazing film, and I am so glad I overcame my thing about Iraq war films to go see it. It is so filled with suspense that I was on the edge of my seat nearly the entire time, but there are no cheap tricks as you would find in a regular Hollywood film. The Hurt Locker is about a very elite unit that defuses roadside bombs in Iraq. They get a new member of their crew, Sgt. James, and he is both very, very good at diffusing bombs, and also an incredible risk taker. The other members of the crew are counting down the days until they can go home, and terrified every time they have to face another day under fire, but Sgt. James seems to live for the adrenaline rush and the danger.

The main characters in the film are played by mostly unknowns. Jeremy Renner who plays Sgt. James has done some other films and TV work, but he was new to me, so I was completely absorbed by the story. He is excellent, and I expect we'll be seeing more great roles for him. A few key supporting characters are played by bigger names like Guy Pearce, David Morse and Ralph Fiennes as a special ops guy. It all feels extraordinarily real, as the filming was done in Jordan. You could not replicate the kind of atmosphere for those street scenes on a studio set, and many of the extras are played by Iraqi refugees.

Everyone should see this film. Just as an action movie, it has enough to satifsy, but it is more, much more. It's very interesting to me that a woman director has made such an insightful movie about male soldiers, with very few female characters in it. Bigelow is an amazing director, and I hope she wins the best Oscar for directing. It's that good. Four stars!!

Watch the opening minutes of this fantastic film to get a sense of what I'm talking about. This is not a film to be missed. You will be hearing about this film come Oscar season, mark my words.

The Buzz About THE HURT LOCKER

This film, set in 2004 Iraq about an elite bomb squad, is getting major Oscar buzz, especially for director Kathryn Bigelow. From the Chicago Tribune yesterday:

"The Hurt Locker" made its world premiere at last year's Venice Film Festival; since then, the accolades have been relentless and the early, limited-release box office figures are promising. Bigelow seems assured of an Oscar nomination. Her work here isn't as overtly stylized as her earlier, pulpier screen efforts. Or rather, it's stylized differently, as a documentary-style fiction film, shot in Jordan, using four hand-held 16 mm cameras in blasting heat and adverse conditions.

The film has great actors like Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce in supporting roles, but the main characters of the elite bomb squad are played by relative unknowns. It's out in limited release, and will open in Chicago this weekend.

Watch the opening of the film to see what all the hype is about: