Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Very nice puzzle by our friends Barry C. Silk, Friend and Confidante to Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town and Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town.  The next time Will Shortz puts out a book of Lazy Sunday Puzzles or Puzzles To Do on the Beach or Puzzles That Won’t Make You Feel Like a Flipping Idiot this puzzle should definitely be in there.  Nothing all that hard about it but excellently constructed and a lot of fun to do.

The theme of The Cruciverbalist (which sound like it should be a TV show starring a Robert Urich-like actor) has to do with the steps of constructing and submitting a puzzle.

BRAINSTORM THEME IDEAS

DEVELOP BEST ENTRIES

RESEARCH AND WRITE CLUES

SEND PUZZLE TO EDITOR

SEE BYLINE IN NEWSPAPER

And that’s really all there is to it.  Maybe I’ll bang out one now.

This also marks our first Oscar prediction post here at the Ryan and Brian offices.  Up for Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

1A. Put to sleep (BORE).  What a snooze this was.  Almost 3 hours of Forest Gump-lite.  And the ending was such a cop out.  Ugh.

Frost/Nixon

5D. Dwindles (EBBS).  This is what my interest did by the end of this movie.  Really interesting material done in a not very interesting way.  I have a theory about Ron Howard.  He makes movies about human experiences that people should be able to relate to but Ron Howard has been a huge star since he was a little kid.  What does he know about experiences that everyday people can relate to?  For me, all his movies fall just a little short of enjoyable.  Plus, Frank Langella seems like a total pain in the ass.  He didn’t become Nixon, he was doing an impression but you can tell he thinks he’s the best actor ever.  Having said that, I thought Michael Sheen was great and the scenes with his team of researchers were the best in the movie.

Milk

54D. Better (OUT DO).  As one of my friends put it, Sean Penn was monumental in this movie.  Best performance I’ve seen in a long time.  He absolutely became Harvey Milk.  Watch that scene when he celebrates winning the election.  So simple but so good.  He should not only win the Best Actor award this year but he should win next year also.  The movie was fine, not great by itself but elevated to greatness by Penn.

The Reader

20D. Jacuzzi (HOT TUB).  Most of the first half of this movie took place in a bathtub.  Most of the first half of this movie had me rolling my eyes.  To be honest, though, I liked this movie a lot more than I thought I would.  It is way too melodramatic.  The unrelenting love scenes are laughable but the last 45 minutes really grabbed me.  The material was better than the romance novel treatment it received by director Steven Daldry.

Slumdog Millionaire

93D. Zip (OOMPH).  Most energetic and exciting 2008 movie I saw.  Also the most original.  It certainly has its faults.  The story is wafer thin.  But the direction, soundtrack, energy and EARNESTness make up for what it lacks in plot.  Unlike any other movie I’ve seen in a long while.

Who I think should win:

Best supporting actress: Viola Davis
Best supporting actor: Robert Downey, Jr.
Best actress: Meryl Streep
Best actor: Sean Penn
Best director: Danny Boyle
Best movie: Slumdog Milionaire

Who I think will win:

Best supporting actress: Viola Davis
Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger
Best actress: Anne Hathaway
Best actor: Mickey Rourke
Best director: Danny Boyle
Best movie: Slumdog Milionaire

Overall, a relatively weak year for movies.  Hopefully Hugh Jackman and his sexiest man alive aura will make up for that.

Next stop, Monday.