Academy Awards

I am indecisive in all aspects of my life and the Academy Awards are the worst. I don't understand how you can compare films in one category that are nothing alike. That being said, I have two pick categories; the one that will likely win and the one that should win.


Picture:

Silver Linings Playbook and Les Miserables were very different, yet both excellent films. I'm leaning toward Silver Linings. Argo should win but without a best director nod to Ben Affleck, it's doubtful. Life of Pi was visually stunning, but not a winner. Django Unchained is too controversial for the Academy and should have been edited better, although it too was excellent.

Actor:

Daniel Day Lewis will win. Hugh Jackman and Bradley Cooper are my close seconds. I will be amazed if Lewis doesn't take this category.

Actress:

One old, one young; not enough to win the award. Jennifer Lawrence was great and Jessica Chastain will most likely get the Oscar.

Director:

Without Ben Affleck getting nominated (wow!) I would resort to previous winner for the Fighter, David Russell. Steven Spielberg will most likely win for Lincoln.

Supporting Actor:

Robert Dinero was excellent in Silver Linings, but Christoph Waltz was amazing in Django and should win. Alan Arkin may win for Argo.

 

Supporting Actress:

Anne Hathaway was exquisite in Les Mis, but Helen Hunt may come out and take the win for The Sessions.

Winning an Oscar doesn't make a film better or a performance more outstanding. This is the product of the masses. Either way I will be watching with baited breath!

JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME

Starting a movie, or centering it around the movie "Signs" is in itself, not a good sign. However, Jeff (Jason Segel) makes the seamless move from slacker to hero in the course of 83 quick minutes. Paired up with his brother, Pat (Ed Helms) borders the bromance line, but doesn't cross it. Jeff lives at home and his mother (Susan Sarandon) gives him the simple task of repairing a shutter in the kitchen, but he is either too stoned or too dumb to get that done efficiently. Instead, he looks to the "signs" he has been getting about "Kevin" and follows his heart in search of an answer. And he has a big heart. His path intersects with his brother, Pat, who has a heart, but has been keeping it hidden. Together they tie the string of this plot tighter and tighter until the end when it snaps. The ending of this film is gratifying and worth the slow start. This is a beautiful little gem of a show. The characters are multifaceted and entertaining. Aside from the ending, my favorite scene was when Sarandon catches on to the idea behind the fire alarm sprinklers. Segel is a lovable and sincere actor. This is a movie that should be worth the 83 minutes of your life.

FEATURED THEME MOVIE OF THE MONTH: IN TIME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY:

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

Random thoughts for Valentine's day, 2004. Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.

Life is complicated enough, then you add in love and relationships. They are usually much more work and require a greater effort than does the initial attraction. So, is it worth it? The pain, the boredom, the real life, non romantic stuff? This movie wholeheartedly says yes. Often criticized for it's difficulty in following the out of sequence scenes, and the bizarre concept of memory removal, this film with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet present the magic upon meeting a "special someone" and the pain often associated with the years to come. Like most of my other favorite nontraditional movies, while this is a love story, it is also a Valentine's Day movie just because it begins on VD. The characters are engaging and quirky in their own right. I love both lead performances as well. Carrey gets to have serious and funny moments. I like him best when he isn't over acting. The concept is beautiful; a scientific way to erase a past relationship from your mind in order to move on with your life: the effects "on par with a night of heavy drinking." What I like best about the whole movie, is the last scene. Would you do it all again, even if it meant you would eventually feel pain and suffering due to whatever went wrong in the first place? Would you? If so, way to go. Make sure to catch this flick!

BEGINNERS: A TRUE LOVE STORY IN MANY WAYS

Hal: Well, let's say that since you were little, you always dreamed of getting a lion. And you wait, and you

wait, and you wait, and you wait but the lion doesn't come. And along comes a giraffe. You can be alone,

or you can be with the giraffe.

Oliver: I'd wait for the lion.

Hal: That's why I worry about you.

 

This film has the very essence of what I look for in a good film; it's magical and it's about love... the love between a parent and child, the love between a man and a woman, the love between a man and a life partner, the love between a man and a dog and the love a man has for himself. It really is a little slice of heaven. We meet Oliver (a cheeky Ewan McGregor who has just lost his father, Hal, to cancer. Lucky for us, we catch glimpses of their lives leading up to this time. Lucky for us we are engaged by Christopher Plummer as he finds himself widowed five years earlier and deciding it is okay to come out of the closet as a gay man and a man with a new lease on life. This performance is stellar. Oliver reflects on his parent's marriage and his upbringing as he meets and falls in love with a lovely french actress played by Melanie Laurent. Relationships are hard!!! It's amazing anyone has them at all. Of course, one of my favorite parts is the relationship Oliver creates with his father's dog, who does understand 160 words of English. The subtitles are very clever. Goran Visnjic is a surprising little gem as Hal's younger lover. It is a movie of hope within realistic perimeters. It is a story of love, struggle and redemption. It is a story you must see.  

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS: LOOKS PRETTY, JUST PEANUTS

Jacob: Who's the woman who works with the horses?

Camel: That ain't no woman, that's the boss' wife and she don't talk to nobody and you don't talk to her.

Really??? Could it really be this obvious what's going to happen after hearing a line like that? Oh, and of course seeing that picture on the cover of the box doesn't help much. This was just one big sad little film. It sure did look pretty, and everyone in it was pretty,but it was oh so predictable, and pretty sappy and the ending was so "happily ever after" I thought I might gag. I read online a review by someone who loved Titanic, so I suppose if you absolutely loved Titanic you might like this to. However, don't say you were not warned. Yuck!    

RED STATE: NOT YOUR AVERAGE "HORROR" MOVIE 

Well isn't this an unexpected present from director Kevin Smith. From the previews, this movie looks like one of those cheap, cheesy horror movies, but it is so much more than that.It begins with a simple redneck type tale of three teenage boys who think they have a willing sexual participant in an older more experienced woman who they go to meet up with one night. What they don't know, is that it is a set up orchestrated by the local right wing hard-core fundamentalist Christian sect. Once they are brought to the

 compound for their "redemption", does the movie truly turn into a horror movie.It is fast-paced, interesting, and thoroughly watchable. Melissa Leo does an excellent job as the leader's wife and Michael Parks is flawless as the charismatic leader of this sect. Watching him in this role is almost hypnotic. A truly surprising, disturbing and thoroughly enjoyable film. 

 SUPER 8: GOOD, BUT NOT SUPER

Yes, I am that one person who was not totally blown away by Super 8. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a good film and yes, I will admit to getting a little choked up at the end, however, I don't think that it came close to ET, the movie to which it was compared to endlessly. The story follows a bunch of kids who want to make a movie even if it means sneaking out at night to do the filming. One fateful night as they are filming,they are witness to a terrible train crash and they have a front row seat for the chaos that ensues. I think the thing that bothered me the most, was how the movie took such a hard right turn into sci-fi material while also trying to tug at the heartstrings. I won't say it was bad, just surprising, and just a tad off putting. Overall, however, I did enjoy the film.   

 THE DEVIL'S DOUBLE: AWESOME GLIMPSE OF HELL

They say that war is hell on so many levels, but whoever they are never met Uday Hussein. Dominic Cooper in a performance that is flawless stars as both the good guy and a bad guy in this riveting film. Based on a true story, we follow army lieutenant Latif Yahia as he is forced, literally at gunpoint, to become the body double for Saddam Hussein's thoroughly evil son, Uday. Not only is the story itself compelling to watch, but the way that they filmed Cooper in both roles was amazing. In fact, many people don't believe that the same actor played both roles. I loved this movie and his performance. Very much a must see film.Also, be sure to check out the DVD extras which feature the man who the story is based on.      

WRECKED: WHO IS HE??? WHERE IS HE???

A man, wakes up at the bottom of a ravine, surrounded by bodies and barely able to move...this is the setting for this terribly slow, but interesting movie. Honestly, I don't have strong feelings about it one way or the other. I think that Adrien Brody did a decent job with what he was given, which wasn't much. I was surprised to find him in this movie. However slow, the ending was fulfilling enough.  

RE-PRINT:
TOP THREE NON-TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS MOVIES FOR THE HOLIDAYS


#3: LESS THAN ZERO
A true '80s film that gives us a taste of what growing up white, over privileged and under supervised does to a person. Clay (Andrew McCarthy) returns from school back East for Christmas break after leaving his two best friends behind. Most of the movie is spent with him running after his ex/not ex girlfriend Blair (Jami Gertz) and his ex/not ex best friend Julian (Robert Downey Jr.) trying to help him out of a mighty mess with drug dealer Rip (James Spader). Stellar performances from all involved, especially (two of) my true loves, McCarthy and Downey. One of the few anti-drug movies that shows the ugly side of the pretty people's world.

Anecdotal note: On vacation in Vegas, my best friend and I are walking through a casino when a short man passes by me looking just like Andrew McCarthy. I tell her and she begins the chase, I follow at a much slower pace. She gets close enough to yell his name and he turns, which eggs her on more and sets him on a moderate jog back to hotel. She, not to be beaten easily, has the nerve to use the hotel lobby phone and asks the operator for his room and then thrusts the phone at me. Not knowing what to say, I ask if it's him, which of course it is, and I tell him we were the crazy girls running after him and beg for him to come to the lobby for a photo. Ever so kindly, he does not accept my offer as he has an "early call" on the set for whatever he was filming, but thanked me for calling. I was on cloud 9 for days. (sigh!) Good times.

#2: DIE HARD
New York cop, John McClain ( Bruce Willis) as he recalls the invitation "Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs...” has come to Los Angeles to visit/reconcile with his wife (Bonnie Bedelia) and children. Unfortunately there are several determined German terrorists led by a cultured bad guy Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman is brilliant) who try to get in his way. Being the tough as nails cop that he is (aren't all of NY finest like that?) he fights back and practically saves the day single-handedly. With one liners that were repeated far too many times for years after, this action packed, thrilling film has earned many kudos for being one of the best action flicks ever AND it just so happens during... Christmas! Bruce Willis owned this movie and the air around it. Yipee Ki Yay!

However, the #1 non-traditional Christmas movie will always be...

#1-THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT
Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is a typical almost boring woman except for the fact that she lost her memory. However, that does not stop her from being a mother to her 8 year old daughter and having some sort of a relationship with some guy. One day, out of the blue, a stranger appears at her door seeking revenge and somehow, out of instinct, she manages to save her family and kick his ass before passing out from a blow to the head. It is after that trauma that she and the last private detective she can afford, Mitch Henessey, Skillfully played by Samuel Jackson, ("...everyone knows, when you make an assumption, you make an ass out of "u" and "umption") head out to find some answers; and answers she does find. It turns out that Samantha is really Charly Baltimore, mysterious and lethal government agent who was thought dead; and that's where the fun begins. This is a great action film, but it is also a very funny, very clever film. The humor is dry and sometimes bawdy, but plain old fun. This time, however, the hero is a woman who can and will kick your ass. Geena does a great job of "switching" personalities without it being overly dramatic as Mitch notes, "What I'm saying is, back when we first met, you were all like "Oh phooey, I burned the darn muffins." Now, you go into a bar, ten minutes later, sailors come runnin' out. What up with that?" Samuel's one liners and earnest and funny; well... "in New York (he's) Frank, and in Chicago he's Earnest." The banter between them is as odd of a coupling as it is fun. Charly asks, "Were you always this stupid, or did you take lessons? To which Mitch retorts, "I took lessons". Timothy (Craig Bierko) is a very, very bad man as is my usually beloved David Morse as Luke. Yes, it is filled with language, violence and more violence, but those words and actions are chosen wisely and have purpose. Does this story have a happy Christmas ending??? Show times at my house through Christmas will be: 10:45 am, 12:40 pm, 3:20 pm (matinee prices) 7:05 pm, 9:33 pm and 11:12 pm.Watch the trailer at: http://imdb.com/title/tt0116908/trailers-screenplay-E11906-310

WRECKED: WHERE ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU?

I'm Adrien Brody damn it!!! Maybe somebody ought to have remembered that before making this film... perhaps, Adrien Brody?! This man wakes up. He is in a car. There is a dead body in the back seat, another tossed from the wreck and no civilization to be seen. What do you do? Call your agent! This is a slow movie, spent mostly watching Brody cope with the situation at hand of which he can't remember anything about. It is a long drawn out process which spans the entire length of the movie, until at the very end, we finally get the payoff. Let's just say, this time, I liked the dog. It reminded me a lot of 127 Hours, except it is more visceral and psychologically complicated. Again, not what I'd call a great movie, but it kept my interest and I cared about the ending.

MEET MONICA VELOUR: SATC, MEET NAPOLEON
Local boy makes it big! Tobe (Dustin Ingram) is a young man from Auburn, whose passion in life is porn; well, more specifically, a once popular porn star, Monica Velour. He is an avid fan, collecting bits and pieces from her life that no one else would know even existed. With star shaped pasties in his big naive eyes, he sets off to meet her once he hears she is making a public appearance. Yes, another coming of age film for a character that reminded me too much like Napoleon Dynamite. Of course, being a sophisticated screen audience, we can guess that he finds her hard worn by life. Kim Cattrall does her best poor version of Samantha with a drinking problem to portray a woman who has seen it all and lost hope somewhere between the first and last truck stop. The two of them make for an odd couple indeed. He wants to save her and she doesn't want to be saved. I wasn't crazy about this film, but it was certainly entertaining and there were a few laughs. There were several problems I had with some of the situations they found themselves in and the moral ambiguities, which normally doesn't effect me at all, but it was watchable. 

SCREAM 4: HORROR-BLE!

Most people don't (didn't)  know that horror movies are my guilty pleasure. I guess that secret is out now. I like thrillers and suspense more than blood and guts. Most times I can only watch them during the day, however. I liked the way the Scream series brought comedy into the genre. However, this time, we are laughing AT you, not with you. I was happy to hear that the original cast members would be involved with the film so many years after the last installment. Additionally, having Wes Craven on board seemed to be a get-out-of-jail-free card. The beginning was hopeful as their brand of humor poked fun at false starts to bad slasher films. Loved seeing Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell! But the energy drops there. Thing is, it ended up being highly predictable and disappointing. Cox, Campbell and Arquette seemed to sleep walk through their lines, not that the newbies proved any better. Things just didn't add up or make sense and the ending seemed almost an afterthought. The writing just wasn't above par for what we've come to expect from these and the pay off was a let down. Let's hope that in the future, trilogy's stay that way. Not worth seeing.

 PAUL: THE ALIEN IS THE LEAST YOU WILL BELIEVE...

Graeme Willy: Whats the matter Clive?

Clive Gollings: There is an alien in the kitchen making bagels and coffee.

Graeme Willy: Did you want tea?

Clive Gollings: No, I don't want tea!

Graeme Willy: Right, because tea is weird in America.

 

...which is to say, I didn't expect to have the following reaction to this movie about two British Comic-Con nerds and an alien; I absolutely loved it. Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are two uber-nerds who are in America for Comic-Con and a road trip across the center of America's alien highway, including area 51. While on their quest, they pick up a foul mouthed, sarcastic and surprisingly funny alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen). He is escaping being dissected by the military base where he has lived the last 60 years of his life. As in all good escape movies, there are the "men in black"; Jason Bateman, the most serious and threatening aside from the "big guy" a surprising casting coo (which I'll leave for you to find out!) The threesome become friends as they get to know each other. Be prepared for the obligatory anal probing jokes. They also add Fundamentalist Christian, Annie (Kirsten Wiig who stars in everything nowadays) who when given universal insight sets off to explore the world previously forbidden to her, more specifically the art of cursing. It sounds way out there and plausibly stupid, but I laughed out loud; many times. It had all sorts of clever jokes and inside winks to the sci-fi community. A fantastic cast, some totally unexpected. Pegg and Frost were fantastically brilliant and their chemistry was out of sight making this more than just a bromance. It also had its tender and sweet side which made the ending all that more enjoyable. I haven't laughed like this in a while. Be prepared for strong language, strong views on evolution and side splitting fun. You might say Paul was out of this world. (Of course, I would never...) Please to enjoy! (Also: be sure to watch through the end credits for additional scenes!)

BRIDESMAIDS: THE YEAR'S FUNNIEST FILM

Annie: You read my diary?

Brynn: At first I did not know it was your diary, I thought it was a very sad handwritten book.

This movie by far has proved that women can be funny, in a brash, in-your-face, out-loud, and over-the-top kind of way. In this film, we see women, some of them are actually very pretty, and they can act just as immature and petty and crass as men have acted in The Hangover, all of Judd Apatow's films and any other doofy "bromance". I think this is the first film where women can be pretty and funny and human. Mind you, this is no Kate Hudson-girl-planning-her-dream-wedding rom-com poof, stuck between two grooms.

Annie (a fabulous Kirsten Wiig) is the maid of honor to best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) who gets engaged at the start of the film. While Annie tries to do her bridal duties, her life is falling down around her bit by bit, but she keeps the mess hidden. Loved Jon Hamm as her self centered "boyfriend". Equally loved Officer Rhodes (Chris O'Dowd) as the actual nice guy who we like! This is a real movie about real women who are friends and screw up and make mistakes and can be redeemed by the end of the film. Megan (Melissa McCarthy) is a feminine Zach Galifinakis and delivers some memorable lines. Check out the line-o-rama on the bonus features. Please be advised that this is NOT a women only film. This is a VERY FUNNY FILM and stands alone in its own right. A total must see!