The Oscars: Final thoughts

Hollywood's big night is here! It's time I give my final thoughts on the biggest categories before we find out who the winners are.

BEST PICTURE
Overall, I found this year's Best Picture Nominees to be weaker than last years. Last year I truly loved 7 of the 10 nominees and really liked the other 3. I couldn't choose which one was my favorite, because each was as good as the next. This year I have an easier time choosing. The Artist really stands out amongst the nominees. It is this year's frontrunner and deserves to be.

BEST DIRECTOR
Even though he's up against some heavy hitters, I think this is Michel Hazanavicious's to lose. It was his vision that brought The Artist to life.

BEST ACTOR
Will it be Jean Dujardin or George Clooney? My vote goes for Dujardin. I will agree that The Descendants was one of Clooney's best performances ever, but Dujardin is really what made The Artist for me. Without his charisma, the film would not have been the same. If he doesn't win, I would like to see it go to Brad Pitt. He was excellent in Moneyball and is worthy of some recognition.

BEST ACTRESS
Another race with only 2 contenders, Viola Davis and Meryl Streep. I haven't seen The Iron Lady, so I really can't judge this race properly. I think Viola Davis will get it because everyone seems to get stuck on the idea that Streep gets nominated for everything. They seem to forget that even though she's always nominated, she's only won twice. This will never happen, but I would like to see Rooney Mara take the prize. She really owned the role of Lizbeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer is the predetermined winner here. I have not seen Beginners yet, so again, I can't really judge. Of the three performances that I have seen, I would say that Nick Nolte in Warrior was the most deserving. Sure, Jonah Hill did a good job in Moneyball, but I'm not going to give him an award for playing against type. Max Von Sydow gave a good performance in Extremely Loud, but his purpose in the film was a little questionable. I think that something must have gotten lost in the translation from the book.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Another race that has already been decided with Octavia Spencer coming out on top. She was excellent in The Help. How could she not be considering she was Kathyrn Stockett's inspiration for the character in the book? Even though Jessica Chastain is going to lose out to her The Help co-star, I think she is definitely someone to keep an eye on in the future. Last year, she appeared in 6 different movies and each performance was completely different. A winning performance is definitely in her future.

So that's it! Just a few more hours until show time. And I just want to end this blog with saying that I'm glad that Billy Crystal is hosting again. He definitely knows how to do it right. I was disappointed when they originally picked Eddie Murphy. I am not a fan. Here's hoping that the show opens with something as memorable as this.

A look back at the other nominees...

After sharing my thoughts of the Best Picture Nominees as I saw them, it wouldn't be right if I didn't mention the ones that I had seen before this blog was conceived.

Moneyball

While I don't really like sports, I'm a sucker for sports movies. I always love an underdog story. Moneyball manages to take something that should be incredibly boring, baseball statistics, and makes it into an engaging movie. It has a smart script that is really sold by Brad Pitt's charisma. And the movie does the impossible, it makes me almost like Jonah Hill.

The Help

Last summer, I listened to my first non-biographical audio book and it was Kathryn Stockett's The Help. I really enjoyed it and had a hard time putting my headphones down. I think the movie really did the book justice without changing too much. The cast is fantastic with too many wonderful actresses for me to list here. While this may not be new subject matter, it is really carried by a number of award worthy performances. The balance humor and drama help make this a sincere and entertaining film.

The Final Nominee...

Today I finally saw the last of the Best Picture Nominees with a few days to spare before the big show.

Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen sends us on a trip to the Twilight Zone with the story of a writer who finds himself transported back to the 1920's each night as he wonders the streets Paris. Here we are treated to a who's who of writers, artists and musicians from Paris's "Golden Age". I thought this was an enchanting film with a great cast of characters. I'm not always a fan of Owen Wilson, but I enjoyed his performance here. Marion Cotillard is fabulous as always. After watching the last few nominees, it was a nice change of pace to watch something light hearted.



 
So that's it! I've now seen all of the Best Picture nominees. There were a few other movies that I would have liked to have seen for the acting performances (My Week With Marilyn and The Iron Lady), but those will have to wait. 

Eight down, one more to go...

The Tree of Life

Last night I finally watched the copy of The Tree of Life that has been sitting on my entertainment center for over 2 weeks now. I kept putting it off, waiting until I'd be in the right mindset to watch it. Then I realized that there is probably no such thing as being in the right mindset for a movie like this, so I put it on.

What does one even say about a movie like this. There are those that think this movie is a masterpiece, a grand accomplishment of film making. Others find it to be pretentious nonsense, worst movie ever made. I can recognize this film for it's artistic accomplishments. It has gorgeous cinematography and excellent acting performances by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain. This impressionistic narrative surly is ambitious.

With that being said, I did not enjoy this film. I had a difficult time finding a connection with what was going on. I kept flashing back to all of the art films that I had to endure in my college art history classes. While I love the art of film making, I prefer when art is used to enhance a film, rather than when film is used to enhance art. Like all pieces of art, it is not going to reach everyone. Without that connection, one is just left sitting in the dark wondering 'Why am I still watching this?'

So is this movie a masterpiece? Possibly, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it.



I'm in the final stretch. One week left until the Oscars and only one more Best Picture Nominee to see.

AMC Best Picture Showcase

AMC Best Picture Showcase

I just want to give a shout out to AMC Theaters for providing a great Oscars experience. For the sixth year in a row, they are runnning a marathon of all the Best Picture Nominees before the Oscars. With the expanded number of nominees, you have the option of viewing all of the movies over 2 days.

Saturday February 18
War Horse
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
The Descendants

Saturday February 25
Hugo
The Help
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Artist
Midnight in Paris

If you are really bold, some locations are showing all 9 nominees in a 24 hour marathon on Saturday, February 25.

I've never been able to attend the showcase because I have to work on Saturdays, but I've always appreciated the opportunity that AMC provides to movie goers. It's a great chance to see the best films of the year on the big screen. Watch the movies back to back and see how they really stand up to each other.

Two more down

This past week, I finally had a chance to see the last of the Best Picture nominees that I needed to see in theaters. Oddly enough, both stories center around a boy hoping that mysterious a key would reveal a message from his deceased father.

Hugo

I will start off by saying that this movie is visually stunning. I have only bothered to see a few films in 3D and for the most part I've been disappointed. Avatar was an exceptional use of the technology, but everything else was just a waste of money. The only reason that I saw Hugo in 3D was because that was all that was still playing. And I have to say, it was not a waste of money. Scorsese's use of the technology truly lives up to what Avatar showed us was possible. I was fully immersed in this world and it's wonderful aesthetic.

The trailer for this film is pretty unappealing. Just trying to watch it again now, I couldn't get all the way through it. It's no wonder that it wasn't really successful at the box office. I don't blame them for not knowing how to sell this movie because even after seeing it, I would have no idea how to do it either. It is a film that starts in one place and then ends completely somewhere else. It is the story of an orphan that lives in a train station, who is in search of a key that he believes will deliver him a message from his deceased father. Somehow his journey ends up being a nostalgic love letter to the history of film. This movie is disguised as a kids movie, but I hardly see the story being appealing to children. The film is pretty dialog heavy and I don't know any kids that are really interested in the the early pioneers of French cinema. That being said, I am not a kid. I enjoyed the film, although I wasn't as enamoured with it as many were. Even though it unexpectedly ends up being about silent films, I found the plot progression to be pretty predictable. But even though the story lacked a little, it was a visual feast and I ate it up.


Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

This movie was probably the biggest 'huh' of the Oscar nominees. Overall, it is pretty poorly reviewed and criticized for being exploitative and emotionally manipulative. The 9/11 fictional film centers around a boy, Oskar, who believes a key will reveal a secret message from his father who died in the World Trade Center. I felt that this story could have been told if the father had died in a number of different ways and wasn't just a victim of 9/11. It's really just an observation, not a criticism. I can see why some people might see it as exploitative, but even though it wasn't necessary for the story, I think it was told tastefully. There were parts of the story that were lacking. It's a bit contrived. I wish that we got more out of the people that Oskar meets on his journey. I wonder if they were perhaps given more attention in the novel. Originally, the trailer for the film made me more interested in reading the book than seeing the movie. I intended to read before ever seeing the film, but since it is a Best Picture nominee, I had to see it sooner rather than later. Now that I've seen the film, I think I've mostly lost interest in the book. I wouldn't say that this was a bad movie, but it is just okay at best. It has some nice acting performances, but I think there were a lot of other movies that were far more deserving on a nomination over this one.


Seven down, two to go. I've had Tree of Life sitting on my entertainment center for over a week now, waiting for me to be in a proper mood to see it. I may have to watch Midnight in Paris on demand because Blockbuster's poor availability probably won't have it by Feb 26. I'm bummed right now because it was only $.99 on Amazon last week and now it's up to $3.99.

The Walking Dead Returns

I am more than ready for the return of AMC's The Walking Dead tomorrow night. My Sunday nights have not been the same without it. Although the first half of the second season has been very slow paced, I still have faith in the show. I love the mix of horror and human drama. I will be interested to see how the show continues without Frank Darabont.

Anyone who has not watched the show can catch up tonight. Starting at 8pm, AMC is airing all of season 1. Tomorrow, starting at 1:30pm they will run all of the season 2 episodes up to the premiere of the newest episode at 9pm.

If I didn't have to work tonight and tomorrow, I would definitely be watching them all again.