oscars, one week and counting

this will be a short post. I'll write more before the oscars, but it is late and I must go to bed!

Saw An Education on the flight back from Poland yesterday... I know, it's a complete crap way to watch a film... but I wanted to see it since I didn't know if the theaters would still be showing it when I got back.

Carey Mulligan certainly deserves her small buzz. She was really fantastic. The whole storyline is slightly creepy, but I've seen worse... and certainly the most disturbing Oscar goes to Precious this year. Peter Sarsgaard is a good 30 something creepster who befriends the 16 yr old Mulligan. I also always love seeing Alfred Molina in films. We needed more of his over-bearing totally morally skewed father on screen!

Otherwise, I leave you all with this feature from Esquire on Roger Ebert. Truly an inspirational story. I've looked up to Ebert since before I can remember. His Sunday show with Siskel was a staple in our home. I will truly, honestly miss reading his reviews every Friday when he eventually leaves us. He's funnier than ever, writing almost as much and remains to be a constant in the film community. While you might not all agree with him (I don't always either) he's been an amazing figure in the critic world. This article left me in tears... but you know me, I'm an emotional sap anyway.

oscars update

Oscar update!
I added The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, A serious Man and District 9 to the top of my queue, so hopefully I'll get those five finished before March 7th! I'm on a time crunch since I'll be gone on business in Poland from the 18th til the 27th. But even if I just did the 5 days when I get back - one per day, I'd make it. And even have 2 extra days!

Still have to find time to see An Education especially since Carey Mulligan is nominated for Best Actress... and I like to see all the actors in each category too. I'll have to see if The Last Station is playing anywhere around here, because if I've seen that one, then I've seen all the best actress noms! Once I've seen The Hurt Locker, I'll only have to see Colin Firth in A Single Man and I'll have seen all the best actor noms.
Surprisingly, I've already seen all the Best Supporting Actress noms... Mo'Nique is definitely a favorite for both me and the academy because of her globe win. But Vera was Awesome! in Up in the Air and Maggie Gyllenhaal's nom for Crazy Heart is well deserved too.

I'm not doing so well for Best Supporting Actor noms... have only seen Invictus! 1 out of 5! Ah! But again... if I get to Basterds and The Last Station then I'll be 3 out of 5. Still haven't decided on The Lovely Bones... got such mixed reviews, so it's not high on my list. Though Stanley Tucci certainly looks creepy in the previews! Good for him, he's one of my celebrity favorites.

This weekend will be seeing Valentine's Day and maybe I'll get to An Education since it's a long weekend! YESSSSS.

Avatar & Dear John

So I finally hunkered down in my movie theatre chair this past Saturday morning for an 11 am showing of Avatar (and let me tell you, it was BUSY for an 11 am Saturday showing)... Had put on my SNAZZY real 3-d glasses as soon as I got them, yes I was that kid walking through the movie theatre with my glasses on, and prepared my butt for a solid 3 hours of sitting.

And isn't it interesting to see a sci-fi movie with your father on your right who's seen it once before and your good friend sitting on your left who doesn't usually do sci-fi flicks... If you're like me... I wonder constantly what they're thinking... are they sleeping behind those glasses? Are they bored? Are they loving it?

So anyway... I was VERY impressed with the graphics. I mean, when people talk about how crisp and detailed they are... those descriptions don't even do them justice! Seriously, I would go again just to stare at the skin of the Navi... the details of the forest... everything! Even the way they did Sam Worthington's legs with CGI... very real.

The story line was not as bad as I was expecting. I prepped myself for the worst, so I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't totally awful. Sure, Cameron's script isn't worthy of a best screenplay nom (in my opinion)... that's why he didn't get one. If you're a sci-fi fan or even just an avid book reader/movie watcher, you know his story isn't original. It's like a combination of Fern Gully, Dances with Wolves and a little Pocahontas mixed in... nothing we haven't seen before in a script.

And the critics are right, the parts of Titanic that pulled on our heartstrings and got us so emotionally involved just aren't here in this latest Cameron flick. It certainly is a film of our time for the technical aspects and I did enjoy Zoe and Sam's performances... they did what they could with the script. Not overly amazing, but they did a good job with what they were given. I could stand to stare at Sam for another 3 hours... ; ) Maybe he could read the phone book to me with his sweet Aussie accent (yes, I know he was born in England... but grew up in Australia).

But before I saw Avatar; I saw Dear John on Friday evening with friends. Dear John certainly makes Avatar oscar worthy. The script was turned into this lifeless story... given the book isn't much better, but this script just picked up and changed all the wrong parts of Sparks' novel.

The best part of Dear John was Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum's chemistry with each other. Their chemistry was sooo good in fact, it made you question why they broke up about 2/3rds of the way through the film. They just looked like they had so much fun making the film together and I honestly question whether their real life significant others would be jealous of the on-screen chemistry. HOT HOT HOT.



So friends, what have you seen lately?

2010! Oscars!

I have seriously failed all few of you who may be reading this blog. I promise that in 2010 I will take the time to sit, write, share, contemplate, and enjoy good film, television and pop culture.

2010 has turned out to be a good year so far, I'm very grateful for great friends, great opportunities, a great job... I'm really optimistic for what the rest of 2010 will bring.

And it's that time of year! MY FAVORITE! OSCAR time! The Oscar nominations are out and it's going to be an INTERESTING show because for the first time we have 10 Best Picture Noms! Which will make my father's Oscar contest verryyyyy interesting. But I'm also excited to see how these new changes turn out... .who knows, it could be so bad they'll be back to 5 again next year.

And how sad I've only seen 4 out of the 10... I'm very far behind this year. Avatar is on my list for this weekend, The Hurt Locker is in my netflix queue and I'm going to try to get to An Education before that leaves! Inglorious Basterds is also on the netflix queue and I've got to see about District 9 and A Serious Man.

I really enjoyed Crazy Heart, the music, the acting, the story... all of it! T Bone Burnett really does a great job of making the song an integral part of the movie, like he's done with his others too.

For now though, it's time for bed. I'll update more this weekend. Goodnight you crazy folk.



p.s. help me think of a new name for this blog!