Well, I dropped off in my blogging for the last week or
two. I didn’t, however, stop
watching movies. Now I have a lot
of catching up to do.
In my absence, this year’s Best Picture contenders were
finally announced. I’m in deep
doo-doo to say the least. I’m way
behind. The nominees are:
Argo – Haven’t seen it
Django Unchained – Haven’t seen it
Zero Dark Thirty – Check
Les Miserables – Check
Amour – Haven’t seen it, probably can’t see it (unless I get
to Boston)
Lincoln – Check
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Haven’t seen it
Life of Pi – Haven’t seen it
Silver Linings Playbook – Check
I’m at less than 50% currently.
I plan to see Argo and Beasts of the Southern Wild sometime
in the next week or so. I
desperately want to see Django, but I still need to schedule that one in. Amour literally isn’t playing anywhere
around here except Boston, and I’m not sure if my level of commitment is that
high. That leaves Life of Pi,
which I have avoided because it’s the same situation that kept me from
completing the list last year – it’s based on a book, and I haven’t read the
book (nor do I have the time to).
I didn’t see War Horse or Hugo last year for the same reason. I might have to break my own rule and
just see it anyway.
I saw Zero Dark Thirty today with my father. I must admit, I dozed off in the middle
somewhere for about 5 minutes.
Normally, I am poking him every two minutes in the theater because he
dozes off and starts snoring (although he claims that he is just “relaxed” and
snores although he is wide awake with his eyes closed might I add.) I was a total hypocrite today because
it was only noon time, and I was dozing off like an elderly woman out past her
bedtime. It was a looooong movie,
and I stayed up really late grading papers last night. Not a good combo. Overall, it was a good movie. I’m not sure it’s Best-Picture-worthy
material, though. No outstanding
acting performances, and no outstanding cinematography or artistic
directing. I think maybe the
subject matter got it a little further than it should have. Don’t get me wrong, it was pretty good
– but of all the nominees I’ve seen so far, it was my least favorite of the
bunch.
That brings me to my other mission. I have TWO to write about this time,
because I’m a procastinator and didn’t write as soon as I finished watching the
first one. Shocker, I know.
Chicago was next on my list. It won in 2002.
I have AVOIDED watching this movie for several reasons. The first one is simple and consists of
three words:
Catherine Zeta-Jones.
I can’t f-ing stand her. She annoys the crap out of me and she always has. Maybe this doesn’t happen to you,
because you’re probably normal, but sometimes I just can’t stand someone for
now particular reason – they just BUG me.
Another actress that gives me the same feeling is Jeanne
Tripplehorn. Many of you probably
don’t even know who the hell that is, but she bugs me on a monumental level, so
I can pick her out of any lineup.
As promised, Catherine Zeta-Jones was horrible in this
movie. It made me a little peeved
to find out she was the only actress/actor to win an Oscar from this movie for
her performance. I thought Renee
Zellweger (how the heck do you spell that anyway) was way better than her, but
I suppose I’m hate-biased.
The second reason I have avoided watching this is because I
never ever feel like it. I didn’t
know enough about it, I’ve never seen the musical before, don’t really know the
songs, and therefore, just generally was never tempted by it.
To keep this as succinct as possible, I HATED this movie in
the beginning, and then slowly but surely started to really like it. (This is pretty much the case with just
about anything in my life. I
always hate stuff and then later realize I love it) The music was pretty fantastic, and the cinematography,
choreography, and staging seemed to be incredibly effective for the
storyline. I would be interested
in seeing how the musical is done on stage to be able to make a better
comparison. My favorite scene is
when Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger do ventriloquist act. It’s weird but fantastic at the same
time. I’m surprised, given my fear
of dolls and such, that this doesn’t bother me more than it does. Rob Marshall did an excellent job
directing this scene in particular.
Here’s a link to that particular scene on youtube if you’re
interested:
I also watched Annie Hall.
I’m going to keep this one short and sweet.
It. Was. Brilliant.
Where has Woody Allen been all my life?
Stylistically, it was amazing. I love the direct address method he used. The directing, the acting, the script –
all brilliant.
I think I need to hunt down a lot more of his films. I’ve only ever seen Radio Days, which I
really liked. However, something
tells me that Woody Allen is somebody that I will really be able to connect
to. I appreciate his style. It reminds me of the way I feel when I
watch a Wes Anderson movie – how everything is so smartly done, so purposeful,
so subtle, and yet so effective.
Every choice seems to speak to me.
I love that in a director.
Of all the films I’ve watched so far in this thing, I would
rate this at the top. I’ll let you
know if anything else can knock it out of first place…
For next time, I will be getting Wings, which is the very
first Oscar winner ever!
I promised I wouldn’t give Netflix any more of my money than
absolutely necessary, but I may have to back down on that decision and up to
the two disc plan. This waiting around
in between movies is for the birds.
Until next time!
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