Oscars part deux

As we are only a few minutes away from the Grammy Awards, my favorite award show is again on my mind: the Oscars (of course).

Since I wrote last, I’ve seen a few more of the films nominated for best picture, actor, actress, etc. I just saw Drive last night, so it’s fresh in my mind. Maybe it’s because I just saw it, but I can’t get  that movie out of my mind. Between the music, the cinematography, the scorpion jacket and the man himself, Ryan Gosling, I was hooked after the opening scene. It’s super disappointing that it wasn’t nominated for more awards given how beautiful and haunting it was. I now understand my sister’s disappointment on nomination day when that didn’t even get as many nominations as Transformers 3.

I also saw Midnight in Paris this week, and loved it for entirely different reasons. The film was enthusiastically romantic and really brought be back to the days when Paris was the playground for folks like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso. While I’m not the biggest fan of Owen Wilson, I can appreciate him in movies like these, as well as his stints with Wes Anderson movies. Overall, the film was delightful.

The last Oscar-worthy movie I’ve seen since writing last was The Artist, which is by far to most talked about film of the year and the one to beat on the big day. I found that once I got past the initial novelty of a silent film about the end of the silent film area, it wasn’t that great of a story. Don’t get me wrong, it was done very well, but I judge movies largely based on plot, and it just didn’t hold up in that department. It did bring up some nostalgia for me because it reminded me of my recently deceased grandmother who grew up in that era. The film made me wish I had asked her about her younger years more.

So that’s my update on the Oscar films. I still have a few to watch that I’m not terribly excited about.

I still have to see Hugo, War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Any thoughts? Are they worth seeing or should I skip it?

 

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

 

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