Oscar Nominations: initial thoughts

The official start of Oscar season was Tuesday’s announcement of the nominees! The biggest surprise for me was when I saw there were nine nominees. I was under the impression that the Academy was changing the process to get fewer nominees, but I guess I have a few more to see this year. (Not looking forward seeing War Horse though).

I was surprised by a few nominee choices (Melissa McCarthy– hilarious, but Oscar-worthy?) and snubs (poor Ryan Gosling). I haven’t seen Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close yet, but that seemed to be the biggest surprise among blogs and news articles. I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s definitely gotten mixed reviews, and some were downright bad. (As of 9 p.m. CT Jan. 25 it was only at 47% on Rotten Tomatoes). I blame it on the Sandra Bullock effect: the Academy loves her.

I was excited to see actresses from The Help and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo nominated, but I was disappointed to not see Charlize Theron nominated for Young Adult, which I thought was a great film. (Her co-star Patton Oswalt was great too).

I’m excited to see some more of the best picture nominees before the big day. I think the Artist is top on my list to see, and I’m going to try to accomplish that this weekend.

Lavilla

 

Justin as Elton? Sounds fabulous to me

When I heard the news earlier this week that J.T. might be playing Elton John in the biopic about the famous singer and performer, I was so excited. I’ve been listening to Elton and Justin Timberlake since I was a little kid, so it would be great to see them collaborate.

I can’t wait to hear the latest on this!

Lavilla

The most wonderful time of the year

Hi all,

It’s been a while since my last post. I was sick for a week and then you know how the holidays can be 🙂

Regardless, it really is the most wonderful time of the year. No, I’m not talking about Christmas, but awards show season! I’ve never been a huge fan of Christmas, but boy am I excited on Oscar Day. (I even planned a vacation around it last year).

I plan to tweet during the Oscars and will try to blog as much about it until the big day. I usually like at least see all of the best picture nominees, as well as some of the big movies for best actress/actor, etc. So far I have seen The Descendants and Moneyball, which I both loved.

The Descendents was a constant roller coaster ride, as I grieved for a character I had never even met. In the movie the main character, played by George Clooney, finds out that his wife was having an affair after she slips into a coma following a jet ski accident. The journey he takes with this daughters to find the truth and move on is haunting, sorrowful and often darkly humorous.

Moneyball is a great, smart movie about Billy Beane, the former manager of the Oakland A’s, and how he used statistics to improve his baseball team. It might sound boring, but the director made a great movie that both a lover and hater of baseball stats can appreciate. Plus, it has Brad Pitt in it, who I love. 🙂

Also on my list to see are:

Young Adult

The Ides of March

The Artist

Drive

New Years Eve (J/K … just making sure you are paying attention)

The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo

Midnight in Paris

My Week with Marilyn

Sherlock Holmes (okay, not super Oscar-worthy, but it should be entertaining)

Ones I should see because they will get nominated, but haven’t gotten great reviews so far:

J.Edgar

The Iron Lady (I’m just so burned out on bio-pics and British period pieces).

Am I missing a movie? Should I remove any from the list?

Lavilla